The herald., 1895-02-24

| to be considered great hunter. Among
! other distinctions and privileges of a sue
| cessfu hunter was that he could take as
| many wives as he pleased, and he gener-
| ally and modestly appropriated only four
They had no marriage ceremony, and
one of the acts ef hospitality was to place
these women at the disposal of the guests
Sea otter and fur seal, the blubber Of the
whale, wild parsnips berries and sea
weed constituted their bill of fare. They
did not bother themselves about cooking
the meats or vegetables. but believed in
the consumption of the raw material.
Both sexes bathcd together in the sea,
and their idea of raising children was
unique, to say the least. Castoria and
paregoric medicines were unknown to the
Aleuts, and when their children cried,
they were carried, even in winter to the
seashore and held naked in the water
until they became quiet.
During the month of Decem Der the tri be
devoted themselves to dances and festivals,
at which naked men beat drums and the
women wore dresses, that could hardly be
called decollette.
Curiously enough when they had their
religious dances, hundreds OF nude
women, wearing masks, danced in the
moonlight, and at those festivities men
were rigidly excluded and punished with
death if they intrudcd.
In the custom of buria lthey had pccu-
liar ideas The poor were wrapped in
their clothes or in mats and laid in clefts
of the rock with mark over the face.
The wealthy were placed in a sort OF boat
or cradle, with their clothing and arms.
The coffin was slung to horizontal pole
and left hanging in the open air.
But the advent of the Russians has
changed all their old habits and customs.
They now dress in clothing obtained from
the Russians and they no longer live in
their underground dens. They cultivate
potatoes, but their food is still largely
the flesh of sea animals. They speak
the Russian language and profess to be
Greek Catholics. They are farther ad-
vanced than any other native American
tribe, but are far from being civilized.
They are greatly addicted to the use of
snuff and of liquor, especially the latter
when they can obtain it. Crime is almost
unknown among them and their devotion
W ltllSl is Ncly Conspicuous.
When an insult is offered no fight or
dispute follows, but the one who has been
insulted fixes nickname on the offender,
and that nickname rests with him as
stigma.
Their business methods are of such char
acter that such practice in home circles
would be rather expensive. They transact
all sales through a middleman, and who
ever desires to sell an article sends it to
an agent, who seeks purchaser.
The Yuma Indians will attract no little
attention, dressed in their native costumes
and their faces painted as if ready to go
on the war-path. The history of these
Indians is no less interesting than that of
other ancient tribes. Their home is on
both sides of the Colorado River, near its
junction with Gila, and for that reason
they call themselves Sons of the River.
The Spaniards knew of the Yumas in
early times, and the tribe was visited in
1701 by Father Kuber, and by Sc >elmayr
in 1744 and 1748.
IL was not until 1880, however, that
Spanish settlements were started among
them with two Franciscan missions. The
Spaniards Immediately took possession of
the most fertile lands, and as the Yumas
did not appreciate these acts, they mas
sacred all the whites during the month of
July, 1871.
In the latter part of the last century
their number was estimated at 5000, and
but little was known of the religion and
customs until the territory came into
the limits of the United States, and they
were visited by Lieutenant Whipple of the
Army. At that time the Indians had be-
come reconciled to the whites, but had
not forsaken their rude habits.
They inhabited excavated huts, with