The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-08-23
A BARBAROUS PEOPLE
PHYSICALLY. THEY ARE THE
FINEST IN CENTRAL ASIA.
But, Morally, They Are Utterly De-
graded Shocking brutality to Their
Women and Cruelty to Their
Children. "

the world are the Sifans of Thibet, al
though, physically, they are among
the finest races to be found in Central
Asia. They are not uniform in color,
some being black and some brown.
But they are uniformly thievish and
lazy.
Among their bad traits are ungov-
arnable hostility to one another and
love of warfare. Each tribe is always
at war with it's neighbor, and gener-
ally upon the most trivial pretext.
Two men may quarrel over the posses
sion of a knife or an equally trifing
article. The aggrieved party returns
to his tribe and reports the facts of the
case to his chief. His right to the arti-
Gle in question is never considered; it
is enough that he should have quar-
relied over it. Wal is Immediately de-
clared on the tribe of his rival by
sending messengers with arrows
dipped in blood and the head of any
unfortunate prisoner of war who may
have been captured prior to the out
break of hostilities. From that mo-
ment the quarrel becomes deadly. No
concerted action is taken, the strife
being in the nature of a gigantic feud.
When a man of me tribe meets one
of the rival tribe a combat takes place
until one or the other has been killed,
the victor cutting off the head of his
vanquished foe as a trophy of his
rrowess. Poisoned food and the poi
soning of wells are s~tratagems which
either tribe feels itself quite at liberty
to use to compass the downfall of a
rival. This sanguinary feud may last
for months, or ever years, until, both
sides firing of the loss of life, a settle
ment is effected through the media
ton of some powerful chief, who is not
a party to the quarrel.
The lives of the women are one of
horrible abasement. Polyandry is
generally practiced, increasing the
horror Of the woman's position, for
she is required to be a slave to a num-
Der of masters, who treat her with
most vigorous ~harshness and brutality.
From the day of her birth until her
death, and Sifan M seldom live
to be so. her life is one protracted
period of degradation. She is called
upon to perform the most mental and
degrading services and the entire
manual labor of the community, it be-
ling considered degrading for a man
to engage in other labor than that pro-
vided by warfare n the chase. The
right to her possession among her nu-
merous husbands is determined by age.
When the oldest lord and master is
not engaged in some expedition which
keeps him absent from his village, he
places his boots and weapons over the
door of his dwelling, and until he has
gone the others are obliged to keep
away, when the next in age takes up
the ownership Of the joint property.
Should the eldest husband die, how
ever, the rights of succession are de-
termined by force of might, which Gus
tom gives rise, not infrequently, to
bloody and long-protracted feuds, The
life of woman, being held in little or
no esteem, is taken without the least
conjunction, and suicide among the
female population is of frequent oc-
currence.
Among nearly all savage races a
certain affection for their offspring is
manifested by parents. Among the
Sifans, however, such an abstract
moral quality as affection is entirely
unknown, and when one has witnessed
the hardships attending the early life
of the children Of this strange race,
one cannot help wondering how they
manage to survive. When a child is to
be born the mother is driven from the
village in which she lives, and is COM
pelled to take up her abode in some
roadside hut or cave in the open coun-
try, a scanty supply of food, furnished
by her husbands, being brought to her
by the other women of the tribe.
When the child is born. the mother
remains with it for one or two months,
and then, leaving it in the cave, re-
turns to the village and informs her
eldest husband of it's birth and the
place where she has left it. If the
child is a male, some consideration is
shown to her; should it be a female,
however, her lot is frightful, for, aside
from the severe beating to which she
is subjected by her husband, she SUI
fers the scorn and contumely of the
rest of the tribe. If it is a male child,
the husband goes to the cave and
brings it back to the village; if it is
of the opposite sex he takes n OF
several courses-sometimes he returns
with the female infant; as often he
ignores it entirely and allows it to per