April 5, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
431 
They believe that the sun takes care of the 
world during the day; therefore, they ne\er 
transact any business until the sun is gone 
down. They call him the "Father Sun.” The 
“Mother Moon” is ruler during the night, and 
her son, the morning star, helps her to watch 
and command the other stars. The Tara- 
humares arc rather good astronomers, and they 
love to study the different constellations, most 
of which they know by sight. The nominal 
Christians also believe in a Tata D/ios, or god¬ 
father; a Madre Dios, or godmother; (the 
Virgin), his wife, and also in a devil, who is an 
old man with one eye and a long beard, like 
the Mexicans. The devil has many children, 
who are Mexicans. The belief in the cross is 
followed by the pagan Tarahumares also, and 
they explain it as representing the sun, the per¬ 
fect man, with extended arms. In most homes 
they have three crosses, one representing the 
sun, one the moon, and one the morning star. 
This is the same as the Christian Trinity. They 
believe in immortality and claim that death is 
only a change for the better. 
The medicine man, who is, at the same 
time, the chief of the tribe, plays a great part 
in the life of the nation. He is the high priest, 
the medical adviser and judge. They are 
clever prestidigitators and hypnotists, for, in 
many cases, they make the poor sick Indian be¬ 
lieve he is cured. The medicine man must be 
very clever, as his lot is not very enviable if he 
is not sticcessful. Although they have some 
good medicinal herbs, in the most cases the 
medicine man’s cures are made with prayers. 
After a thorough examination, they put a very 
small tube made from human bone into the sick 
part and suck out worms, and stones. The 
cure must be made effective, however, by the 
immediate burial of the stones and worms, and 
these must not be disturbed, otherwise the 
medicine man’s efforts will have been in vain. 
The cause of most sicknesses is believed to be 
some spirit which entered the body, and which 
must be driven out. The same explanation is 
made for a headache, the sufferer believing that 
a spirit is hammering inside the head. Quite 
frequently the Tarahumares use steam baths, 
which have an excellent effect. They dig a 
hole in the ground in which a person can re¬ 
main sitting. IntO' this hole they throw hot 
stones, covering them with green cypress or 
cedar twigs. Most of the patients are taken 
out more dead than alive, but frequently cured. 
The Tarahumares believe in brujas (female 
witches) also, and it is the high priest’s task 
to drive out the bad spirits inculcated by these 
witches. Sacrifices of animals to the gods are 
very common, and when they are sick the In¬ 
dians try to induce the gods to help them by 
means of votive offerings. The same thing is 
done when the rains are delayed. Throwing 
water toward the heavens is a common cere¬ 
mony, and the sacrifice of pet animals is in¬ 
dulged in. 
Although they believe in immortality, they 
believe also in the transmigration of the spirits 
of dead humans into animals. To find out into 
what animal the dead person has been changed, 
they leave a meal with the corpse over night 
and throw ashes around the bier. Next morn¬ 
ing, they study the tracks of the animals which 
visited the corpse during the hours of dark¬ 
ness, and thus decide into what variety of ani¬ 
mal the person has been turned. The dead 
walk during the night: therefore the Tarahu¬ 
mares keep indoors, so as not to disturb' 
wandering spirits. The Indians believe that all 
nature is alive, that plants and animals have 
souls, and, therefore, they are careful not to 
destroy wantonly any forms of life. 
The dances (donzas) are mostly of a re¬ 
ligious character, and often last two or three 
days, as the Tarahumares claim that the gods 
are pleased with such ceremonials. Men never 
dance with women. The dances are of about 
the same nature as their music, slow in move¬ 
ment and melancholy. The two principal dances 
are the rutuburi, which they learned from the 
turkeys, and the yumari, taken from the deer. 
In dancing and in drinking tesgiilno they ex¬ 
press all their desires to the gods. I spent 
more than a week in Guachichic, and, although 
we suffered a great deal from the lack of good 
food, altogether it was an enjoyable time I 
passed with the Tarahumares there. At the 
same place I met a Tarahumare who was taken 
to the Chicago World’s Fair. I had a rather 
long conservation with him, but he was not 
greatly impressed with what he had seen in 
Chicago, notwithstanding the fact that he played 
a great role in the village, and that his history 
probably will be handed down to posterity. We 
made many side trips, as far down as Zapuri, 
and other small villages. One afternoon we 
got into Tomachic, where I had the good luck 
to be present at one of their periodical dances. 
It was nothing like an American Indian war 
dance. In the beginning it seemed rather mo¬ 
notonous, but, after catching the strain of their 
music, I found it interesting. The dance goes 
on for a few minutes in even rhythm, and when 
the tune of the music changes, the whole crowd 
bursts out in a short shout, and then on they 
go again. The only interruptions they have 
are to drink tesgiiino. In the evening the dance 
is continued by torchlight, until, at a late hour, 
the dancers drop out one by one, less from 
fatigue than from imbibing too much of their 
native beer. During the harvest, they never pay 
their help, but the neighbors assist each other, 
and a peculiar custom goes with it. When the 
work is finished, they take the owner of the 
land, bind him hand and foot, and carry him 
to his house, where he is compelled to furnish 
plenty of tesgiiino and a good meal before his 
neighbors liberate him. The whole proceeding 
is carried on with such a serious manner that 
a stranger would believe that the man is going 
to be punished for some crime, but it seems 
natural with the Tarahumares, as they seldom 
are seen to smile. 
From Guachichic we took the trail to Minas 
de Oro, and from there to Guadalupe y Calvo, 
which lies in the most southern part of the 
State of Chihuahua. Guadalupe y Calvo was 
one of the best known mining camps of the 
early thirties' of the last century. It was 
worked mostly by Englishmen, who took untold 
millions from the camp. At present the town 
is deserted, but the whole aspect is that of an 
English village, with nicely laid out streets, 
covered with cobblestones, but with grass 
growing everywhere, I met a few Americans, 
and it was really a pleasure to taste fresh food. 
My animals and runners were in good shape, 
so I pushed on northward, toward the govern¬ 
ment reservation of Tecorichic. 
Passing the Rio Fuerte, we climbed a 
rather steep barranca, but when we reached the 
high plateau, we found ourselves in the midst 
of a wonderful timber tract. For miles and 
miles the great pine trees reared their heads, 
proudly, like giants, more than a hundred feet 
in air, seemingly paying little attention to 
human beings far below. Next day we reached 
the continental divide, about 10,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, and, though we could not 
see to the Pacific or to the Atlantic, we had 
the idea that we governed with our sight the 
two great oceans. At this altitude, the nights 
were rather cool, but we did not suffer to a 
great extent with the cold. 
Continuing on the Parral to Guadalupe y 
Calvo road, we got into Tecorichic Sunday 
morning. Before arriving at the village we 
were surprised to see so' many empty houses, 
but it was explained to us that as soon as a 
member of a Tarahumare family dies, the house 
is vacated, and, in some nearby valley, another 
is built. In Tecorichic we were welcomed 
heartily by the new schoolmaster, Edmundo 
Loya, and the chiefs of the Tarahumares. In 
Tecorichic there is much farming, and most of 
the trees are cleared from the land. Edmundo 
Loya told us of the different great lagoons 
near here, so we decided to cut short our visit 
to Tecorichic, and to return after our ex¬ 
cursion to these lakes. Following the course 
of the Tecorichic River, we approached the 
Nanaruchic Mountain, about 9,000 feet high, 
and, to get a good view of the surrounding 
country, we climbed the easily accessible peak. 
From there we saw the five lakes, and decided 
to put up our camp for the night, near the 
I.aguna de Juanota, which has an area of about 
half a mile in width by a mile in length. We 
arrived before sunset and, erecting our tents, 
we enjoyed a pleasant evening around the camp¬ 
fire. Next morning we had a pleasant surprise. 
The lagoon was covered with thousands on 
thousands of ducks, as well as many other kinds 
of waterfowl. I liked the place and planned to 
remain there at least two or three days. The 
nearby Tarahumares came into my camp ani 
were surprised to see a white man around 
there. The first thing I tried to do was to ex¬ 
plore the lagoon, and for that purpose I built, 
with the aid of the Tarahumares, a raft. This 
was a revelation to the Indians, and they never 
thought that such a craft would remain on the 
surface of the water. I got a good deal of 
pleasure from boating on the lagoon, and when 
I reached the most southern point of the lake, 
I saw, on a small elevation, quite a number of 
Tarahumares in earnest consultation. Expect¬ 
ing to find something interesting, I approached 
the meeting place and discovered that they were 
deliberating about the election of a new gov¬ 
ernor of the Tecorichic reservation. They 
spoke very little, but it seemed that, with few 
words, they came to an understanding. 
The time passed all too quickly at the 
lagoon, but as I planned to spend a few days 
in Tecorichic, we broke camp and retraced our 
steps toward the village. Edmundo Loya spoke 
Spanish fluently, and I had a good chance to 
get a great deal of information concerning the 
Tarahumares from him. The whole Tecorichic 
district contains about 2,000 souls. There is a 
small adobe church, and the Catholic priest 
(Continued on page 450.) 
