The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-01-08
INDIAN MOTHERS N-[AW.
ANYTHING But A JOKE TO THE
NAyAJOES.
They Firmly Believe That He Who
Looks UpoA .sss Mother-fn-Law
VIII He Stricken Dumb and Hind

deemed III subjects cdr the Wit
which finds expression on the
wv stage and IN the so-calied
u comic Journalist The iHS.isd-
ual experience % tho average
man certainly affords no Justification fer
sucn tes;s- ard the really sss+Eaaoie
mosher-in-law. regarded as highly by the
man Of the house as by his wife Is so COM
mon as almost To- constitute the rule. We
must look elsewhere than ia the conditions
or TO-DAY for the origin OF this curious idea,
and We find IL far back IN the days when
the human race was young.
The gods 81 primitive people and their
heroic acts become il a later stage the
nursery tales OF the same race. Thus the
sacred narrative OF the genesis OF hunlas.
beings becomes the story OF Jack the Giant
Killer, In Ike manner the belief In the
evti influence of a nlother-ia-i law az one
time absolutely justified by the primitive
conditions in which there was real en-
nifty. becomes in an intermediate stage a
curious custom and later a subject for Jest.
The intermediate custom. in the form OF a
mother-in-iaw taboo, still exists being
found in many African tribes but nowhere
more definitely developed than among the
Navajo Indians OF New Mexico and Ari-
iona.
These people still cherish as an article
or faith the old belief that If a man should
speak 10 OF even look at his mother-.n-law.
In that stage Of culture which we term en-
hgh'ened the advent OF his mother-in-law
mas been known To strike a man dumb but
as rule blindness does not follow.
During recent surveying expedition
into the Navajo reservation ! camped enc
night in December near a Navajo hogan
or hut. The night was bitterly cold with
a sharp, piercing wind. but happening 10
walk over 10 the hus, perhaps an eighth
Of nile away. l stumbled over what APP
peared 20 be bundle OF old rags but
which on examination by the dim light
OF the stars turned out 10 be an cid wo-
man. decrepit and bent with age and so
feeble that she had fallen from sheer weak
ness. In her hands she held "a few bits OF
sage brush, which she had been collecting
to make fire, ard as she revived under
our ministrat.ons she muttered, .'Bes kas.
Bes kas:' ct is cold; il is cold.) Being
asked why she did not remain within the
shelter Of the hut on such night, she ex-
planned that her daughters husband had
come to visit them, and as she had no
other place to so she had wandered out
on the open plain.
The situation is complicated by the pre-
valence OF polygamy In the tribe, with the
results that some one or another of q
mans mothers-in-law is apt to pop out al
most anywhere and leave him a poor
MANNED wreck. As the belief IS perfectly
sincere this is a real danger. far more
dreadful 10 the Indian mind than ali en-
counter with an armed visemy. | have seen
an Old warrior--a man whose courage had
been tried In battle and was beyond doubt
turn and run Ike a rabbit when notified
that his nother-in-law was approaching
IL no such escape is possible the man
WI! drop down by the trail and drawing
his blanket over his head, remain thus os-
trich-lke until the danger s. past But
If any OF his friends are about they will
Il. tr<
behind rock or even behind some sage
brush until he can escape. The woman
is OF course. soundly berated for thus IN
terfering with the comfort and convenience
OF her son-n-law.
We had much fun with one Of our herd
ers. an ill-favored Navajo perhaps thirty
five years old. who had married the daueh-
ter OF an old woman who lived near our
camp. The wife had been discarded for
good and sufficient reasons, but that made
no difference 50 far the old woman was
concerned. once mother-!n-law always
n mother-n-law is the Navajo rule. and
We expended much ingenuity In the at
tempt 70 bring these two face 10 face We
never succeeded but several times we came
very close to success and We're rewarded
by the intense excitement which took pos
session of the little crowd of hsngers-on
always about camp.
On one occasion l called the old woman
was left OF the coffee, always I'm demand by
the camp followers. While she was drink
ing Ii sent out word to the herier whom
l saw coming UP the hill with the horses
that 4 wanted 10 see him at once He
came up on a trot smiling MS usual. and
had actually placed his foot I'm the door
way when n tremendous ven broke from
the hangers-on outside. Some word Was
shouted that did not catch: the smile on
the mans face changed to alarm; ne wheel
ed and shot off down the hin like an ar
row. How far he ran I never found out
but he did no, make his appearance for
more than three hours and for week
after that he was very surly.
The Navatoes have been termed the IN
dian Yankees. and many schemes 20 OBJ
viate the mother-in-law peril have been
devised. Pesh-ia-Kai. the silvcrsmith sho
hammered good American silver coin Into
bracelets. rings buttons and other articles
OF jcwclry. had given the subject much
thought He was one OF the most prom
inent men in the tribe. quite wealthy and
very influential. and II was incumbent upon
him. IL he wished TO maintain his social
prestige. 20 have at least three wives But
his business took him all over the reserva-
non and the recourse Of the ordinary In
dian who moved his home 10 another par,
of the country from that occupied by his
mother -in-law. .as not open tn him. In
his emergency he had brilliant idea lie
found a woman who bad three cookbook
ing daughters arr. he married them all on
hand. thus reducing the mother-in-iaw
peril 70 tia lowest terms. Then, with Il
bribs 81 40 sheep and FIVE ponies he Undue
ed his ore mother-inJaw to move q hum
dred rniies away to the outskirts OF the
reservation Since then ne has lived
happy ard untroibled existence. New
York Commercial Advertiser.