Evening star., 1901-01-05

least. 1t was common to see the men
come to our campfire and poke the Goals
with their naked toes. One fellow had
thus burnt all of his toe nails black, al
though his feet were otherwise uninjured.
Tn" toes of these people are remarkable also
on account Of their nimbleness. l saw c e
man pick up a red hot coal with his foot
to light his cigarette Another. walking
alcng road. thus clutched a stick which
he wanted to use for cane. He raised 1t
to his hand and continued on his way. l
gave child lump Of sugar; he dropped 1t,
but the nimble toes caught it and brought
It to his hand.
II learned that these people are dmin-
!sh,ng in numbers with unusual rapidly
L am accustomed to seeing primitive people
decreasing annually, but not so fast as are
hey. Where there were a thousand ten
years ago there are 500 today. The cause
OF their early determination viii be their
lad for wearing white mems clothing, which
IS simply smothering out their lives. They
make every sacrifice for the sake of this
new apparel. The men and then go
20 Yuma with their corn. each taking q
horse loaded with hundred pounds. One
IF these loads. after the three days jour
ney sells for but $3.50. all spent in cheap
clothing. The corn crop on each little
arm is thus disposed of early each season
he family for the remainder of the year
}eing limited to squasheS and grass seeds
The valued clothing is not removed when
he men work about the river and get soak
d from head to foot. Pneumonia and death
)fIen result from this carelessness. The
medicine men endeavor to sing, dance and
charm the disease away, but in vain.
Their houses simple little structures
hardly protected from the rain. Some have
roofs of earth. None are wind-prOof All
have watLled sdes-that is. made of boughs
1Gor or furniture. Some are mere bowers
built of tree branches.
The Dead Cremated In Their Houses.
"The burial customs of the Cocopas are
very interesting. Upon the death of one
IF the tribe his kinsmen all cut their long
hair to shortness proportionate to the
relationship of each to the deceased. If the
lead was possessed of property it is given
away to the different members of the tribe,
but never to his relatives. That is clever
device TO prevent family dispute as to
ownership of any of the property. Many
primitive people have taken such precau-
ion against the possible division of a house
hold against itself, for instance the
1other-in-laW taboo of certain Indian
ribes. This prevents any exchange of
words and any association whatever be-
,ween mother-in-law ana child-in-law.
That this general distribution of the
property of the dead is to occur is an
Iouncel by mess engers sent from settlement
% settlement. The house Of the deceased
having been deprived of all vatuahles the
'orpse is allowed to remain within while
fire is kindled beneath it. Thus, the hut of
aach Cocopa becomes his funeral pyre. The
destruction of the body Is almost always
complete. | saw a few heaps of earth
thrown up to cover a few remnants of
bones which had not completely crumbled
into ashes.
'rhese funeral fires occasionally wipe out
a whole settlement, the wind carrying the
flames from the hut Of the dead to the habi
tations of his neighbors. When a subchef
of the tribe dies all huts in the group over
which he ruled must be burnt. out of re-
spect, and all property belonging to his
people must be given away.
. The principal weapon of the COcopa is a
long, wooden club. which looks like a
large potato-mashes. sharpened at the small
end. The heavy end is for beating the vic
i'm over the head. the sharp end for prick
ing hin They also have a spear, combin
ing the functions of the fag-standard AMI
the lance. 1t Is feathered from end to end.
and. strange to say. the point is held in
The hand of the bearer. A COcopa cannot
60 to war unless he wear a large tag. made
Of shell. attached to his nose The cart-
lese between the nosrrils of all grown men
is pierced to hold this appendage.
All Of the Cocopas paint their faces and
are more or less tatooed The foreheadS of
the men are tatooed with circles ZigZag
marks. Upon marrying. the women must
be tatUoed with various designs.