162 INDIANS OF THE SOUTIIWE.ST. 



deer was taken and eaten. The young man lived with 

 his father-in-law for some time and hunted for the 

 support of the family. A strict mother-in-law taboo 

 exists among the Athapascan tribes of the South- 

 west. The young man must never meet his mother-in- 

 law or any of her sisters or her mother. They are 

 never permitted to be in the same room together or 

 directly to address one another. When it is absolutely 

 necessary for communication to take place between 

 them, one shouts from a distance to the other using 

 the third person. ''Tell him to come and eat, his 

 dinner is ready, ^' his mother-in-law may call, and leave 

 her lodge while the young man comes to eat. The 

 penalty for the infringement of this taboo is believed 

 to be bhndness inflicted by some supernatural power. 

 The Indians assign no other reason for the existence of 

 this restriction and probably no other is felt than that 

 such meetings and intercourse are improper. 



The adult dead are buried at a distance from the 

 camping places and the graves are covered with stones 

 and brush. The personal property- is placed by the 

 grave and a horse or two is generall}' killed near by. 

 The Jicarilla used to cut off the heads of the horses so 

 sacrificed as is the custom among some of the Plains 

 tribes. Dead infants are usually suspended in trees 

 TVTapped in their cradles. The reason for this different 

 treatment of children is not known but the custom has 

 been noted in the preceding pages as a prehistoric one 

 in this region. Great fear is shown of dead bodies and 

 all objects associated with them. The Apache burn 



