274 POLICE AND WAR REGULATIONS. 



subjects of discussion ever transpire beyond 

 the precincts of the cavern. The council has 

 also charge of the interior police and tranquil- 

 lity of the village. One of their regulations is 

 to appoint a secret watch for the purpose of 

 keepmg down disorders and vices of every 

 description, and especially to keep an eye 

 over the youug men and women of the vil- 

 lage. When any improper intercourse among 

 them is detected, the parties are immediately 

 carried to the council, and the cacique inti- 

 mates to them that they must be wedded 

 forthwith. Should the <4rl be of bad charac- 



o 



ter, and the man, therefore, unwilling to marry 

 her, they are ordered to keep separate under 

 penalty of the lash. Hence it is, that the fe- 

 males of these Pueblos are almost universally 

 noted for their chastity and modest deport- 

 ment. 



They also elect a cnpitnn de gverra, a kind 

 of commander-in-chief of the warriors, whose 

 office it is to defend their homes and their in- 

 terests both in the field and in the council 

 chamber. Though not very warUke, these 

 Pueblos are generally valiant, and well skiUea 

 in the strategies of Indian warfare ; and al- 

 tliough they have been branded with cruelty 

 and ferocity, yet tliey can hardly be said to 

 surpass the Mexicans in this respect : both, in 

 times of war, pay but little regard either to 

 age or sex. I have been told that when the 

 Pueblos return from their belligerent expedi- 

 tions, instead of going directly to their homes, 

 they always visit their council cell first. Here 



