"but they are very poor!" The father, however, may consider them fat
and nice, and the mother affably adds: "Of course, they are fat,
since they have eaten so much corn." They go about to roast them,
while the husband looks on. Generally the Tarahumares have a number
of traps set to catch mice. They are so fond of this "game" that,
when civilised, they have been known to ask permission from Mexican
acquaintances to go through their houses to hunt for them. The mice
are skinned and threaded on a thin stick, which is stuck through
their necks and serves as a spit.

Having enjoyed the dainty morsel thus set before him, the husband
now tells his wife what he is going to do to-day. He will run deer or
hunt squirrels, and accordingly takes his bow and arrows or his axe
with him. In spring-time he may go to the field. The wife also tells
of her plans for the day. The work that engages most of the time of
the housewives in Mexico is the grinding of the corn, on the metate,
for corn-cakes; and if she has any time to spare she boils beans,
looks for herbs, or works on her weaving-frame; but she never sits
about idle. She looks as conscientiously after her duties as any white
woman; she has always something to do, and many things to take care
of in her small way.

About sunset the husband returns, bringing a squirrel or rabbit,
which he carries concealed in his blanket, that no neighbour may
see it and expect an invitation to help to eat it. As he goes and
comes he never salutes his wife or children. He enters in silence
and takes his seat near the fire. The animal he caught he throws
toward her where she is kneeling before the metate, so that it
falls on her skirt. She ejaculates "Sssssssssss!" in approval and
admiration, and, picking it up, praises its good points extravagantly:
"What a big mouth! What large claws!" etc. He tells her how hard he
worked to get that squirrel, how it had run up the tree, and he had
to cut down that tree, till finally the dog caught it. "The dog is
beginning to be very good at hunting," he says. "And now I am very
tired." She spreads before him a generous supper of beans, herbs,
and maize porridge, which she has ready for him. And while he eats
she goes industriously to work removing the fur from the game, but
leaving on the skin, not only because it keeps the meat together
while it is boiling, but mainly because she thinks there is a good
deal of nourishment in it, which it would be a shame to waste.

When the man is at home, and neither sleeping nor eating, he may sit
down and make a bow or some arrows; or, stretched out on his back,
he may resort to his favourite amusement, playing his home-made
violin. Like all Indians of Mexico, the Tarahumares are fond of
music and have a good ear for it. When the Spaniards first came,
they found no musical instruments among the Tarahumares except the
short reed flute, so common to many Mexican tribes, the shaman's
rattle, and the rasping stick. But they soon introduced the violin
and even the guitar, and throughout Mexico the Indians now make these
instruments themselves, using pine wood and other indigenous material
in their construction, sometimes with remarkable skill and ingenuity,
and for glue the juice of a certain lily root. Having no idea of the
value of money, they frequently sell a tolerably good instrument for
fifty or even twenty-five cents.

Toward evening the Tarahumare father of a family gets more talkative
and chats with his wife, and then



"The day is done, and the darkness
Drops from the wings of night
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight."



And as the shadows deepen, he wraps himself closer in his blanket,
and before he knows it childlike slumber enfolds him. Frequently he
grows hungry in the middle of the night, and reaches out for food,
as well as for his violin, devoting himself to music for half an hour,
before he drops off to sleep again.

There are more women in the tribe than men, and they are looked upon
as of less importance. There is a saying among the people that one
man is as good as five women. Her prayers are not of as much value as
his, because she prays only to the moon, and her deity is not as big
as his, the sun. For this reason her place is behind the man in all
dances. Yet she occupies a comparatively high position in the family,
and no bargain is ever concluded until the husband has consulted his
wife in the matter. I am bound to say, however, that on such occasions
every member of the household, even the youngest and smallest child,
is asked to give an opinion, and, if one of the little tots objects,
the sale will not be closed. In such cases there is nothing for the
customer to do but to try to influence the young business man who
raised the objection, not directly, but through his parents. This
accounts for a good deal of the frightful loss of time incurred
in dealing with these Indians. The purchase of a sheep may require
two days, and the negotiations concerning an ox may extend over an
entire week.

That a woman of intelligence and character is appreciated even among
barbarians is proven by the fact that once a woman was made gobernador,
or chief, because "she knew more than men." She did not assume the
title, but she is said to have ruled with more wisdom and justice
than many of her predecessors and successors.

Husband and wife never show their affection in public except when
drunk. Parents kiss their little ones on the mouth and on the stomach,
and the youngsters express their love for each other in the same
way. On some occasions I have seen lovers sitting closely together, she
holding on to his forefinger. The women are of a jealous disposition.

The Tarahumare standard of beauty is not in accordance with the classic
ideal as we perceive it, nor is it altogether in conformity with modern
views on the subject. Large, fat thighs are the first requisite, and
a good-looking person is called "a beautiful thigh." Erect carriage is
another essential to beauty. In the face, the eyes attract more notice
than any other feature, and the most admired ones are "the eyes like
those of a mouse." This is the highest praise that can be bestowed
upon anyone's personal appearance. They all like straight hair, and
consider hair very ugly when it has a curl at the end. I once asked
a bright young Tarahumare how the man must look who is most admired
by women, whether his mouth and nose should be large or small, etc.,
and he replied, "They must be similar to mine!" Aside from good looks,
the women like best men who work well, just as in civilised countries
a woman may look out for a good _parti_.

But wealth does not make the possessor more attractive to the girls. In
Nararachic was an elderly man who owned forty head of cattle and
eighteen horses. When he became a widower, he had to live with an
elderly woman of bad reputation, as he could not get another woman
to marry him.

The young women enjoy absolute liberty, except as regards Mexicans,
against whom they are always warned. They are told that they become
sick from contact with such men. Never are they forced to contract what
would turn out to be a loveless marriage. A beautiful Indian girl was
much sought for by a Mexican. He spoke the Tarahumare language very
well, and offered to give her a good house and fine clothes and a
whole handful of silver dollars. Her brother, who was half civilised,
and therefore more corrupt than the ordinary Indian, also tried to
persuade her to accept the rich suitor. But she tossed up her head
and exclaimed, "Tshine awlama gatsha negale" which, freely translated,
means: "I do not like that fellow; love goes where it chooses."

The custom of the country requires the girl to do all the courting. She
is just as bashful as the young swain whom she wishes to fascinate,
but she has to take the initiative in love affairs. The young people
meet only at the feasts, and after she hag gotten mildly under the
influence of the native beer that is liberally consumed by all, she
tries to attract his attention by dancing before him in a clumsy
way up and down on the same spot. But so bashful is she that she
persistently keeps her back turned toward him. She may also sit down
near him and pull his blanket and sing to him in a gentle low voice
a simple love-song:


Se-(se)-ma-te re-hoy i-ru Se-(se)-ma-te re-hoy i-va
Beau-ti-ful man to be sure, Beau-ti-ful man to be sure.


If occasion requires, the parents of the girl may say to the parents
of the boy, "Our daughter wants to marry your son." Then they
send the girl to the boy's home, that the young people may become
acquainted. For two or three days, perhaps, they do not speak to
each other, but finally she playfully begins to throw pebbles at
him. If he does not return them, she understands that he does not
care for her. If he throws them back at her, she knows that she
has won him. She lets her blanket drop and runs off into the woods,
and he is not long in following her.

Sometimes the boy, when he likes a girl very much, may make the
first advances, but even then he has to wait until she throws the
first pebbles and drops the blanket, for, among the Indians, it is
the woman who seeks the man, and the fair who deserve the brave.

Next day they come home together, and after this they do not hide
themselves any more. The parents of the girl are advised to make
tesvino, as the young couple should not be separated any more, and
word is sent out to a few friends and relatives to come to the wedding.

The guests arrive in the afternoon and most of the people remain
outside of the house during the ceremony, but the bridegroom and his
parents go inside, where they seat themselves on skins spread out on
the floor. The mother of the girl has placed a large skin next to a
big jar of tesvino, and on this the father of the boy sits down. As
soon as he has taken his place, the host offers him three gourds
full of the drink and requests him to accept the office of honour,
the distribution of tesvino to all present, and he immediately enters
upon his duties. He first gives four gourds full to the mother of the
bride, as the mistress of the tesvino, and three gourds full to the
host, the master; then four gourds full to his own wife. The bridal
couple have been called in and told to sit down side by side, and
all the rest of the people come in and stand around the pair. There
is no special place assigned to anyone; but the father of the boy
stands up and his mother sits down, while the girl's father sits
down and her mother stands up. The boy's father now makes a speech,
telling the bridal couple that they must remain together, and never
separate nor fight. He specially tells the young man that he has to
kill deer and take care always to bring some animal home to his wife,
even if it be only a chipmunk or a mouse. He also has to plough and
to sow corn and to raise crops, that he and she may always have enough
to eat and not go hungry.

The father of the girl next takes the word, addressing himself mostly
to the bride. Now that she is united to the man of her choice, she
should always comply with her wifely duties. She must make blankets
for her husband, and be industrious, make tesvino and iskiate,
pinole, tortillas, gather herbs, etc., that her husband may always
have something to eat and not go hungry. He names all the herbs
singly. She must also help him, in her way, with the ploughing and
sowing, so that he may raise plenty of corn to make tesvino that
others may help him. She never must be lazy.

The father of the girl now gives tesvino to his future son-in-law,
whose father in turn gives some to the bride. The bridal couple are
covered with blankets, and in some cases his and her right hands
are tied together. There is no other marriage ceremony. But all the
guests partake of the liberally flowing bowl, and the festivities
end in general and complete intoxication.

About two weeks later, the parents of the bridegroom make a feast
exactly the same in character, but now the father of the girl
occupies the seat of honour next to the big tesvino jar and acts as
distributer. He also makes the first speech. The bridegroom gives
to his brother-in-law a flint for striking fire, and six arrows. No
matter how many brothers the bride has, they all get this present. It
is considered an exchange for the girl. The shamans avail themselves
of _jus primae noctis_.

After the marriage the bridal couple separate, each staying in the old
home for several weeks, after which the young man comes to live with
his father-in-law for half a year or a year, until he has had time to
make a house for himself. In the meantime the young couple are fed,
but they receive nothing else. The young man has his own animals, which
he got when he was small, and now his father gives him a piece of land.

Among the Christian Tarahumares the fiscal is advised of any
contemplated marriage. This functionary has charge of the church
edifice and the teaching of the children. It is his duty to take the
young couples to the padre to be married. But the padre is far away and
comes around only once a year, and sometimes even less frequently,
and then the fiscal, so to say, rounds up all the matrimonially
inclined. On account  of their innate ardour to comply with all
religious requirements the Tarahumares are willing to go through the
ceremony, though to them it has no significance beyond the payment of
one dollar. On this account they do not mind waiting for the padre's
blessing for a couple of years, until they get ready to part with
the dollar, thereby generally saving an extra trip for baptising.

As the padre's visits are so few and far between, the fiscal even
considers it incumbent upon himself to make up matches on his own
account, telling the people that when the padre comes they should
be ready to get married. But so independent are the Tarahumare girls
that it has happened that when the padre asks the portentous question,
they cry, "Kaeke, kaeke" ("No, no"), and run away.

In my time there was a padre (now removed) who emulated the example
of the shamans and was frequently in his cups. On one occasion he
was unable to perform the marriage ceremonies, and the sacristan
accompanying him had to take his place. All this man knew about the
rite was to ask the man and the woman whether they would have each
other. On hearing their "Yes" he would say, "Where is the dollar?" and
pocketing it send the couple off with, "Now you are all right."

When an addition is expected in the family the chief preparation of
the woman is to get ready a quantity of beer, calling on her friends
to help her, while the husband goes to look for the shaman. When
she feels her time is approaching, she retires to some lonely spot,
as she is too bashful to bear her child while others are about. She
tightens her girdle around her waist, and bears her child sitting up,
holding on to something above her, like the branch of a tree. After
the little stranger has arrived the husband may bring her a jar with
warm water from which she occasionally drinks. He also digs a hole,
in which, after he has gone, she buries the placenta, placing stones
on top of the place on account of the dogs. The umbilical cord is
cut with a sharp reed or a sharp-edged piece of obsidian, but never
with a knife, for in that case the child would become a murderer
and could never be a shaman. I once asked a Tarahumare where he was
born, expecting him to give me the name of some ranch; I was rather
amused when he pointed to a big stone a little farther on along the
slope. That was his birthplace.

The mother may lie down for that day, but the following morning she
works as usual, as if nothing had been the matter with her. The husband
does not work for three days, because he thinks his axe would break,
or the horns of his ox would fall off, or he would break a leg. The
third day he takes a bath.

When the baby is three days old the shaman comes to cure it. A big
fire is made of corn-cobs, the little one is placed on a blanket, and
with the father's assistance the shaman carries it, if it is a boy,
three times through the smoke to the four cardinal points, making
the ceremonial circuit and finally raising it upward. This is done
that the child may grow well and be successful in life, that is, in
raising corn. Then the shaman takes a burning corn-cob from the fire
and with the charred end makes three parallel lines lengthwise over
the child's head and three across them. He also sprinkles tesvino
on the head and other vital parts of the body to make them strong,
and cures the umbilical cord. He may, too, anoint the child with the
fat of the rattlesnake mixed with herbs, and leave it in the sun,
that the light may enter its heart. For his services the shaman gets
a little maize, beans, salt, etc.

On the fourth day the mother goes down to the river to bathe, and
while bathing leaves the little one naked, exposed to the sun for
at least an hour, in spite of all its wailings, that Father Sun may
see and know his new child. The baby is not washed until it is a year
old. Then it is cured again, by the shaman, who on various occasions
throughout its life repeats his curing, that the child may grow well
and that no sickness or bad accidents may befall it. To protect
it still further, pieces of palo hediondo or the chuchupate root,
the strong smell of which is supposed to avail against disease,
are wrapped in a piece of cloth and tied around the child's neck.

The mother nurses the child until it is three years old. In some
instances she begins to give it once in a while a little pinole when
it is only six months old. When two years of age a child begins to
walk and to talk. Sometimes when the mother is busy, for instance
at the metate, and will not stop to nurse him, the little rascal may
take a stick and in his way try to beat her.

The Tarahumare woman is a faithful mother, and takes good care of her
children. She generally has from six to eight, often more. While small
the children play with primitive dolls. They dress up corn-cobs with
scraps of textiles and put them upright in the sand, saying that they
are matachines and drunken women. They also play, like other children,
with beans and acorns, or with young chickens with their legs tied
together. Of course the youngsters maltreat these. Sometimes they
play, too, with stuffed squirrels, but there are no special children's
games. The father makes bows and arrows for the boys, and instructs
them in hunting and agricultural work. As the girls grow up, the mother
teaches them how to spin yarn and weave blankets, "for," she tells
them, "otherwise they will become men." She also warns them not to
have children too rapidly in succession, for there is no one to carry
them for her. Women cannot eat the tenderloin until they are very old,
because if they did they could have no children. For the same reason
they must not eat the pancreas. The women who fear lest they may have
difficulty in giving birth to a child make soup of an opossum and eat
it. Girls must not touch deer antlers, or their breasts would fall off.

A characteristic custom is that the children, no matter how old they
get, and even after they are married and have families of their own,
never help themselves to anything in the parents' house. The mother has
to give all the food, etc., and she gives as long as she has anything.

Parents never inflict corporal punishment upon the young people. If
a boy does not behave himself, he gets scolded, and his father's
friends may also remonstrate with him at a feast. Otherwise, the
children grow up entirely independent, and if angry a boy may even
strike his father. A girl will never go so far, but when scolded will
pout and weep and complain that she is unjustly treated. How different
is this from the way in which, for instance, Chinese children treat
their parents! It does not favour much the theory that the American
Indians originally came from Asia.





Chapter XV

Many Kinds of Games Among the Tarahumares--Betting and
Gambling--Foot-races the National Sport--The Tarahumares are the
Greatest Runners in the World--Divinations for the Race--Mountains
of Betting Stakes--Women's Races.


To my knowledge there is no tribe so fond of games as the
Tarahumares. There are few days in the year when a man has not a game
of some kind to play. Even when they become civilised and demoralised,
in spite of their depression and poverty this passion of theirs still
clings to them. While it is true that there is always something of
value, however insignificant, put at stake, their gambling spirit
is not vicious. They have some curious practices in their play: when
going to run a race, or when intending to play _cuatro_ or _quinze_,
they do not eat chile. Where holes in the ground are required for a
game, as in cuatro and quinze, they are generally made in the level
space on a rock.

Very common is it to see two young men amusing themselves with
shooting-matches, shooting arrows at an arrow which has been
shot out into the ground some fifty yards off as a mark. This
arrow, as well as the game itself, is called in Mexican Spanish
_lechuguilla_. In Tarahumare the game is called chogirali, and the
target-arrow chogira. The arrow coming nearest the chogira counts
one point; and if it comes within four fingers' width of the aim,
it counts four. The game  is for twelve points. The distance is not
measured from the points of the arrows, but from the winged parts,
one man measuring for all. If a shot arrow strikes so as to form a
cross with the chogira, it counts four. If it only touches the point
of the latter in the ground it counts two. If two arrows happen to
form crosses, neither counts.

Instead of arrows, three sticks may be employed. One is thrown
out at a distance and is the chogira, and the other two sticks are
thrown toward it, and count in a similar way as the arrows. Often
while travelling, the Tarahumares play this game, in either form,
as they go along the road, perhaps for the entire distance. Two and
three pairs may play together.

There is also a game very similar to quoits, played with stone disks,
fiat on one side and convex on the other. It is called rixiwatali
(rixiwala = disk), and two and two play against each other. First one
stone is moistened with spittle on one side to make it "heads or tails"
and tossed up. The player who wins the toss plays first. Each has
three stones, which are thrown toward a hole in the ground, perhaps
twenty yards off. One of each party throws first, then goes to the
hole and looks at it, while the other players make their throws. The
stone falling nearest to the hole counts one point; if it falls into
the hole, it counts four; if the stone of the second player falls on
top of the first stone in the hole, it "kills" the first stone. The
game is out at twelve. To measure distances, they break off small
sticks. Lookers-on may stand around and bet which of the players will
win. Another game is called takwari, "to beat the ball"; in Spanish,
_palillo_. It is played only by women. Two play at a time. One knocks
a small wooden ball toward one goal, while her opponent tries to get
it to another. This game is also played by the northern Tepehuane
women, who sometimes use two short sticks tied together in the middle,
instead of the ball. The sticks are thrown ahead from their places
on the ground with a kind of quick, prying movement, with the aid of
a longer stick.

Civilised Tarahumares, as well as the Mexicans, play with knuckle-bones
as dice. The game is called _la taba_, and the bones are taken from
either the deer, the sheep, or the goat. Only one bone is used by the
two players. Twelve points make a game, and each player has twelve
grains of corn with which he keeps count. He makes two rings in
the sand, and puts his twelve grains in one ring, and as the game
progresses he transfers them into the second ring until the game
is out.

Their greatest gambling game, at which they may play even when tipsy,
is quinze; in Tarahumare, romavoa. It is played with four sticks
of equal length, called romalaka and inscribed with certain marks
to indicate their value. Practically they serve the same purpose
as dice, but they are thrown in a different way. The player grasps
them in his left hand, levels their ends carefully, lifts his bundle,
and strikes the ends against a flat or square little stone in front
of him, from which they rebound toward his opponent. The sticks
count in accordance with the way they fall. The point of the game
is to pass through a figure outlined by small holes in the ground
between the two players. The movements, of course, depend upon the
points gained in throwing the sticks, and the count is kept by means
of a little stone, which is placed in the respective hole after
each throw. Many accidents may impede its progress; for instance,
it may happen to be in the hole into which the adversary comes from
the opposite direction. In this case he is "killed," and he has to
begin again from the starting-point. The advance is regulated by a
number of ingenious by-laws, which make the game highly intellectual
and entertaining. If he has the wherewithal to pay his losses, a
Tarahumare may go on playing for a fortnight or a month, until he has
lost everything he has in this world, except his wife and children;
he draws the line at that. He scrupulously pays all his gambling debts.

The northern Tepehuanes also know this game, and play with sticks
eighteen to twenty inches long. As these larger sticks fly quite a
distance off when rebounding, the players sit rather far apart.

Wrestling also may be observed, but what may be termed the national
sport, of which the Tarahumares are inordinately fond, is foot-racing,
which goes on all the year round, even when the people are weakened
from scarcity of food. The interest centres almost entirely in
the betting that goes with it; in fact, it is only another way of
gambling. It is called rala hipa ("with the foot throw"), the word
alluding to a ball used at the race.

No doubt the Tarahumares are the greatest runners in the world, not
in regard to speed, but endurance. A Tarahumare will easily run 170
miles without stopping. When an Indian is sent out as a messenger,
he goes along at a slow trot, running steadily and constantly. A
man has been known to carry a letter in five days from Guazapares to
Chihuahua and back, a distance of nearly 600 miles by the road. Even
considering shortcuts, which he, no doubt, knew, it was quite a feat
of endurance; for he must have lived, as the Indians always do while
travelling, on pinole and water only.

Where the Indians serve the Mexicans they are often employed to run
wild horses into the corral. It may take them two or three days,
but they will bring them in, the horses thoroughly exhausted, while
the men, who, of course, economise their strength, and sleep, and eat
pinole, are comparatively fresh. In the same way they will run down a
deer, following it for days through snow and rain, until the animal
is cornered and easily shot with arrows, or until it is overtaken
utterly jaded and its hoofs dropping off.

This propensity for running is so great that the name of the tribe
alludes to it. Tarahumare is a Spanish corruption of ralamari, the
meaning of which, though somewhat obscure, may doubtless best be
given as "foot-runners," because rala certainly means "foot."

The race is always between two localities, each side being represented
by from four to twenty runners. The two parties show in their
apparel some distinctive mark; for instance, all of one troop have
red head-bands, while the others may wear white ones.

A peculiar feature is that the men toss along a small ball as they
run, each party having one of their own. These balls are about
two and a half inches in diameter and carved from the root of the
oak. The foremost runner kicks it with the toes of his right foot,
so as to make it bound along as far as 100 yards, and he and all
the men behind him follow in the same trot as before. The first man
reaching it again kicks it onward. It must never be touched by the
hand, unless it happens to fall in some awkward place, as between
stones or in a water-pool, when it is picked up and kicked on.

There is never any laid-out track, but the circuit is determined in a
general way by crosses cut in trees. There are certain favourite places
always used as race-courses. The runners seem to have a preference
for the level tops of low ridges lying in a circle, wherever this is
possible. If this is not feasible, they may run forward and back on
a ridge, starting always near the middle, from some little plane or
other convenient place, where the people gather for the occasion.

There is a manager for each party, and the two arrange the time
and place for the race to be held, also the number and length of
the circuits to be made. A circuit may measure from three to twelve
miles in extent, and when the circuits are short as many as twenty
may be agreed upon. At one race-course near Carichic, the circuit
is about fourteen miles long, and twelve circuits may be run here
without stopping. Runners of equal ability are matched against each
other, each side being, of course, anxious to secure the best. The
managers take care of their men until the race comes off. The training
consists mainly in abstinence from tesvino for two or five days before
the event. When preparing for a big race the runners may practise;
not that they need training in running, for that comes to them as
naturally as swimming to the duck; but only that they practise kicking
the ball and try the ground.

Much more important are the magical devices by means of which they
endeavour to secure their own success and to defeat their opponents. A
daring manager may go to a burial cave, taking two balls with him. He
digs out a bone, preferably the tibia from the right leg, and sets
it on the floor of the cave in which it has been found. In front of
it he places a jar with tesvino and some vessels containing food. On
either side of these he lays one of his balls, and in front of all
he plants the cross. The food and the beer are the payment to the
dead that he may help to win the race by weakening the adversaries.

As human bones are supposed to induce fatigue, some may be brought
to the race-track and secreted there in such a way that the competing
runners have to pass over the spot, while the manager's own crew are
advised of the danger, to avoid it. The man uses the utmost care not
to touch the bones with his fingers, lest he should dry up; instead,
he uses sticks in handling and carrying them.

Scores of remedies are brought to the scene, either to strengthen
friends Or to weaken opponents. Certain herbs are thrown into the
air or shaken before the runners to enervate them. Some enterprising
Mexican may bring a white powder or similar substance, declaring that
it is very efficacious, and get a Tarahumare to pay a high price for
it. But whatever means are employed, one way or the other, there
is always a counter-remedy to offset its effect. Specially potent
is the blood of the turtle and the bat, stirred together, dried,
and mixed with a little tobacco, which is then rolled into a cigar
and smoked. Hikuli and the dried head of an eagle or a crow may be
worn under the girdle as a protection.

The services of the shaman are indispensable for the foot-runners. He
helps the manager, himself often a shaman, to rub the men with herbs
and smooth stones to make them strong. He also makes passes over them
to guard them against sorcery. On the day before the races he "cures"
them. Food and remedies are placed on a blanket beneath the cross,
together with many magical things. The herbs are very powerful and
have to be tied up in bags of buckskin or cotton cloth, as otherwise
they might break away. The water for the runners to drink is also
placed underneath the cross, and candles are set on either side of the
pile. The runners bring their balls and stand in a row around the
cross. Then the shaman, taking his position in front of the latter,
smokes incense of copal over them, and sings of the tail of the grey
fox, and other songs. He also makes a speech, warning them not to
accept pinole or water in other people's houses. All their food and
drink must come from their relatives as a guard against witchcraft
and illness. The runners drink three times from the water and the
strengthening remedies; then the principal runner leads the others in a
ceremonial circuit around the cross, walking as many times around it as
there are circuits to be run in the race. The men sleep near the cross,
to watch the remedies on the blanket. With them they have some old man,
for old men see even when they sleep, and watch against sorcery.

After the ceremony the shaman takes each runner aside and subjects him
to a rigid examination in regard to his recent food and his relations
with women. Fat, potatoes, eggs, and anything sweet are prohibited,
because all these things make the men heavy; but rabbits, deer, rats,
turkeys, and chaparral-cocks are wholesome, and such nourishment
enables them to win.

An augury as to which side will win is also taken. Water is poured into
a large wooden tray, and the two balls are started simultaneously and
rolled through the water over the tray. The party whose ball first
reaches the other end will surely win. This test is gone through as
many times as there are to be circuits in the race.

A race is never won by natural means. The losers always say that they
have been bewitched by the others. Once I was taking the temperature
of some foot-runners before they started, and their opponents,
seeing this, lost heart, thinking that I had made their contestants
strong to win the race. Often one of the principal runners becomes
disheartened, and may simulate illness and declare that their rivals
have bewitched him. Then the whole affair may come to nothing and the
race be declared off. There are stories about injurious herbs that
have been given in pinole or water, and actually made some racers
sick. It may even happen that some dishonest fellow will pay to the
best runner of one party a cow if he lets the other party win. But,
as a rule, everything goes on straightforwardly. No one will, however,
wonder that there are six watchmen appointed by each side to guard the
runners from any possible peradventure, and to see that everything
goes on in a proper, formal way. Tipsy persons are not admitted,
and women in a delicate condition are carefully kept away, as the
runners become heavy even by touching such a woman's blanket.

On the day of the race the forenoon is spent in making bets, the
managers acting as stakeholders. These people, poor as they are,
wager their bows and arrows, girdles, head-bands, clothes, blankets,
beads, ari, balls of yarn, corn, and even sheep, goats, and cattle. The
stakes of whatever nature are tied together--a blanket against so many
balls of yarn, a stick of ari against so many arrows, etc. At big
races the wagers may amount to considerable heaps of such articles,
and the position of manager requires a man of decision and memory,
for he has to carry all the bets in his head and makes no written
record of them. The total value of the wagers may reach a thousand
dollars, and what to the Indians are fortunes may change hands in
accordance with the result of the race. One man on one occasion had
$50 worth of property at stake.

The scene is one of great animation. As many as two hundred people
may assemble, among them women and children. At the gathering-point,
which is called in Tarahumare "the betting-place," all the bets are
made, and here the race is started and concluded. Here the managers
also place a row of stones, one stone for each circuit to be run,
and whenever a circuit is completed one stone is taken away. In
this way the count is kept. The runners walk about wrapped in their
blankets like the rest of the people. They have had nothing to eat
all day but pinole and tepid water, and their legs have been rubbed
with warm water in the morning by the managers.

When finally all the people have arranged their stakes the gobernador
steps forward and makes a speech, in which he specially exhorts the
runners not to throw the ball with their hands; if they do, they
certainly will go to hell! He also warns them against cheating of
any kind.

At a given signal, quick as lightning, the runners throw off their
blankets, and one man in each party, previously selected, throws his
ball as far as he can, and all the runners start after it. A second
ball is always kept in reserve, in case the first should be lost.

The racers wear rattles of deer-hoofs and bits of reeds tied together
on a strip of leather, which they stick in the backs of their girdle
or hang over their backs. The magic rattling keeps them from falling
asleep while running, so they say; besides, the deer-hoofs lend
them the swiftness of the stag. Some runners adorn themselves with
feathers from various birds, preferably the macaw and the peacock,
tying them to short sticks. The few Tarahumares who have ever seen
a peacock think a good deal of this bird, because it is considered
light-footed and mystic, being foreign to their country. Some runners
may be seen who paint their faces and legs with white chalk, near
Batopilas, for instance.

They do not run at an extraordinary speed, but very steadily, hour
after hour, mile after mile. Good runners make forty miles in six or
eight hours. At one race, when they covered according to calculation
twenty-one miles in two hours, I timed the leading runner and found
that he made 290 feet in nineteen seconds on the first circuit, and
on the next in twenty-four seconds. At a race rehearsal I saw them
cover four miles in half an hour.

The public follows the race with great enthusiasm from beginning to
end, the interest growing with each circuit. Many begin to follow the
runners, shouting to them and urging them on. They also help them by
pointing out the ball so that they can kick it without stopping to look
for it. The wives of the contestants heat water and prepare pinole,
which they hold out in drinking-gourds to the men as they pass. The
latter stop for a few seconds to partake of this their favourite
dish; and if this cannot be done, the tepid water is thrown over
the shoulders of the runners, by way of refreshing them. As darkness
comes on, torches of resinous pine wood are lighted and carried along
to illuminate the path for the runners, that they may not stumble,
making the scene one of extreme picturesqueness, as these torchbearers,
demon-like, hurry through the forest.

One contestant after another drops out. The excitement becomes wilder;
more and more people join in accompanying the few runners left, their
principal motive being to shout encouraging words to the runners and
urge them to exert themselves to the utmost. And at last the best
man comes in, generally alone, the others having either given up the
contest or being far behind.

The race usually commences at midday; but often the bets are not
finished until late in the afternoon. It may last four hours and
even longer. A famous runner, now dead, could run from midday until
sunrise. There is no prize for the winner himself, except the golden
opinions he earns among the women; and his father may accept presents
from lucky bettors. A man who wins a cow is expected to give two pesos
to the victorious runner; in case he wins a goat he gives half a real.

The race over, the wagers are immediately paid and the Indians quickly
disperse, soon to arrange for another contest.

Sometimes there is an old man's race preceding that of the young men,
the latter being always the principal event of the day. Races are
also run by women, and the betting and excitement that prevail on
these occasions run as high as at the men's races, though on a smaller
scale. Instead of tossing the ball with their toes, they use a large
wooden fork, with two or three prongs, to pitch it forward. Sometimes
they have a ring of twisted strips of yucca leaves instead of the
ball, but more often two interlocked rings which they throw ahead
with a stick curved at the end. This game, which is called rowe-mala
(rowe signifies a ring), must be very ancient, for rings of this kind
have sometimes been found in ancient cliff-dwellings. It is certainly
a strange sight to see these sturdy amazons race heavily along with
astonishing perseverance, when creeks and water-holes come in their
way, simply lifting their skirts _a la Diane_ and making short work
of the crossing.





Chapter XVI

Religion--Mother Moon Becomes the Virgin Mary--Myths--The
Creation--The Deluge--Folk-lore--The Crow's Story to the