380 THE TARUMARE INDIANS. Book II. 
Indian pueblos, although the majority of their present inha- 
bitants consist of " gente de razon/' " reasonable people," 
as the Spanish Mexicans call themselves, in •contradistinc- 
tion to the Indians. These Tarumares, although retain- 
ing their own language, have, however, given up the 
greater part of their old customs. But remnants of this 
nation exist in the more remote mountain regions, who, 
though calling themselves Christians, and standing in some 
degree of political connexion with the State, have still pre- 
served some portion of their own social system. Their 
land is held in common, and from time to time is redivided 
in proportion to the necessities and labour of each family. 
A certain portion is reserved for the exigencies of the old, 
the sick, and the helpless ; is cultivated by the united 
labour of the tribe, and the produce stored in a public 
magazine. These stores, as also those for whom they are 
collected, are under the care of especial functionaries of 
both sexes, called tenanches. One tribe of the Tarumares 
still exists, however, in some of the valleys of the Sierra 
Madre, near the celebrated mines of Batoseagachic, which 
retains, unchanged, its old Indian religion and social 
habits. These people, though not exactly inimical to the 
Spanish Mexican race, abstain from all intercourse with 
strangers. If a traveller enter their dwelling, they leave 
it ; if they see him coining, they avoid him ; if he speaks 
to them, they give no answer, even if they understand 
him ; and the largest sum will not tempt them to sell 
him anything. A traveller might die of hunger in one 
of their villages unless he appropriated what was abso- 
lutely necessary, a proceeding which this singular people 
permits. The characteristic stubbornness and reserve of 
the Indian race appear, among these, in their most rugged, 
though passive form. 
