The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-02-10
[ r INDIAN WOMEN.
NAVAJOS WILL NEVER LOOK AT
MOTHERS-IN-LAW,
Trouble for PolyEamists-How Pesh-la-
Kali Got Around 1t he Had a
Effect.

Why is it that mothers-in-law arc
deemed tit subjects for the wit which
flnds expression on the stage and in
the so-called comic journals? The in
dlVldual experience Of the average man
certainly affords no justification for
such jests, and the really estimable
mother-in-laW, regarded as highly by
the man Of the house as by his wife,
IS so common as almost to constitute
the rule, say the New York CONNER
cial Advertiser. We must look else
where than in the conditions Of to-
DAY FOR the origin of this curious idea
and We find it far back in the DAYS
when the human race vas young. The
2odS OF a primitive people and their
heroic acts become in a later stage
the nursery tales of the same race.
nus the sacred narrative Of the gene
SIS OF human beings becomes the story
or Jack the Giant Killer In like
manner the belief in the evil influence
OF a mOtner-ln-laW, at n time absO-
lutely Justified by the primitive con
dltlOnS in which there vas real en-
1h1ty, becomes in an intormedite stage
il curious custom and later a subject
TOR jest. The intermediate custom, in
the form o. a mother-in-law taboo,
still exists. being found in many
African tribes, but nowhere more def
nltely developed than among the
Navajo Indians Of New Mexico and
Arizona. These people still cherish as
an article Of faith the old belief that
If a man should speak to or even look
at his mother-in-law he will become
Instantly dumb and blind. In that
stage Of culture which we term en-
l~lghtened the advent of his morher-in-
law has been known to strike q man
dumb, but as a rule blindness does not
follow.
during a recent surveying eXpedi-
ton into the Navajo reservation I
camped one night in December near
Il Navajo hogan, Or hut. The night
was bitterly cold, with a sharp, pierre
ng wind, but happening to walk over
to the hut, perhaps an eighth of a
mile away, l stumbled over what ap-
peared to be a bundle of old rags, but
which on examination by the dim
light Of the stars turned out to be an
old woman, decrepit and bent with
age, and SO feeble that she had fallen
from sheer weakness. In her hands
she held a few bits Of sage brush,
which she had been collecting to make
a fire. and as she revived under our
ministrations she muttered, "Bes kaz.
Bes kaZ.' CIT is cold: it is cOld.) Be
ing asked why she did not remain
within the shelter of the hut on such
a night she explained that her daugh-
ter's husband had come to visit them,
and as she had no other place to go
she had wandered out on the Open
plain. The situation is complicated
by the prevalence of polygamy in the
tribe, with the result that some one
or another of a man's mothers-in-law
is apt to pop out almost anywhere and
,oaVe him a poor manned wreck. AS
the belief is perfectly sincere this is a
real danger, Tar more dreadful to the
Indian mind than an encounter with
an armed enemy. I have seen an old
warriOr-a man whose courage had
been tried in battle and was beyond
doubt-turn and run like a rabbit when
notified that his mother-in-law was
approaching. If no such escape is pos
sible the man Will drop down by the
trail and drawing his blanket over his
head remain thus ostrich-like until
th~ lnronr ic mast C1t if w, sc l,:,
friends are about they will hustle the
woman away and conceal her behind
a rock or even behind some sage brush
until he can escape. The woman is. of
course soundly berated for thus inter-
fering with the comfort and conyen-
fence of her son-in-law.
We had much fun with one Of our
herders, an ~ill-favored Navajo perhaps
35 years old, who had married the
daughter of an old woman who lived
neal our camp. The wife had been dis
carded for good and sufficient reasons,
but that made no difference so far as
the old woman was concerned. Once
a mother-in-laW always a mother-in-
law is the Navajo rule and we expend-
ed much ingenuity in the attempt to
bring these two face to face. We
never succeeded but several times we
came very close to success and were
rewarded by the intense excitement
which tool possession of the crowd of
hangers-on always about camp. On
one occasion | called the old woman
into the kitchen tent and gave her
what was left of the coffee, always in
demand by the camp followers. While
she was drinking it l sent out word
to the herder whom | saw coming pp
the hill with the horses that l wanted
to see him at once. He came up On
a trot, smiling as usual, and had &C
tually placed his foot in the doorway
when a tremendous yell broke from
the hangers-on outside. Some word
was shouted that l did not catch: the