34 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth. anx. 47 



They have burros to carry their tent, bedding, and supplies when 

 they move. 



Property is owned by both men and women. Some own houses 

 and some women own herds of sheep. Property is divided among 

 the children at death. Theoretically, all land is communally owned, 

 but each farm is said to "belong" to some particular family. This 

 means that the_y are using it and that they have the right to continue 

 to use it, but should they neglect the land and allow it to lie idle some 

 one else may ask the cacique to allot the land to him. And the ca- 

 cique has the authority to do this. Recently, however, a family left 

 the reservation. The head of the famity "sold" his land to other 

 men in Acomita. He said he had a right to do this because he had 

 spent much money and labor in improving the land, clearing it of 

 brush, rocks, etc., and in fencing it. And he did receive compensa- 

 tion for it. The grazing land is commimal; the flocks of various 

 families wander about over the range almost at random. By mutual 

 recognition of "rights" which have crystallized from habit, conflicts 

 over choice grazing lands are avoided. All other property is owned 

 by individuals (except the communal buildings at old Acoma, of 

 course). 



The boys like to sing. They smg often in the evening while riding 

 through the valley or at some house. New songs are frequently 

 composed; ahnost anyone may (and often does) compose a song. 

 Favorites are learned by others and are kept for dances. Sometimes 

 boys (young men) gather at a house in the evening to practice songs. 

 Girls do not sing like this. 



There are one or two phonographs among them, but they are not 

 popular. The Government farmer once had a radio which interested 

 them slightly, not because of the music but to determine how the 

 sounds were produced. They refused to believe that the music they 

 heard was transmitted from Denver, Los Angeles, etc.; they insisted 

 that "there must be something inside" the box which made the 

 music. Witch-fighting medicine men they could believe in, but not 

 radio. 



KIN AND CLAN 



There are 14 clans at Acoma at the present time.^^ The clans are 

 exogamous; one must marry outside his clan. This rule, however, 

 is becoming a trifle lax nowadays, as we shall see shortly. Descent 

 is reckoned in the maternal line. The 14 clans are here Usted in 

 order of size: 



25 Hodge, in the Handbook of American Indians, lists, in addition to these, the 'Blue, 'Brown, and 

 White Com, Snake, 'Buffalo, 'Fire, and .\nt clans. Those marked with an ai^terisk he lists as extinct. 

 He fails to mention the Tansy Mustard clan. The White Corn, Snake, and Ant clans, then, have become 

 extinct quite recently. The last member of the Snake clan died only two or three years ago. 



