The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-01
NAYAJ6;; MOTHER R-IN.IYAW.
THE MOST STRANGE INDIAN CUS-
 rom
That Prevails Among n New Mexican
 Tribe.

N'thtNN'''S traders store at Gallup, N. M. A group of Navajo Indian bucks and squaws were squatted close by outside, squab- bling in their own tongue about the value of a lot of blankets they had brought from the reservation for selling to the trader Suddenly there was warning screech from one of the squaws and instantly one of the stalWart lndt- ans-a powerful slx-footer, who would seem a match for man or beast almost anywhere-sprang to his feet and dashed into the store and ran in fear behind pile of wooden boxes The re- maining Indians in the group grinned and chattered at the sudden change of base, while wretched little, Wrinkled, dried-up old squaw came hobbllng down d side street and joined the squatters on the sunbaked earth. The big Maya io buck remained secreted few nm utes and then, assuring himself that no red face followed him, he shamefacedly CdIIlG OuI lIolll bClliliei hiiS "~~N~N' did not 20 out of doors while the little old squaw was in sight.
 "What's the matter?' said the trader as he laughingly repeated our eXclana- tion. "Oh, nothing but mother-ln-iaW on the scene"
 Then he told a custom among the Naya1os. centuries old-a custom Whlch we found later is universal among the great Indian tribe all over it's reserVa- ton. All Navajos have belief that IL is a blight upon husbands life to nave any communication with or assoclatloh with his wife's mother. The greater part of the Navajos believe that hus- band who looks upon his mother-ln-laW is tempting all the evil spirits upon himself and many are so intense m the belief as to say that huseband Who eazes at his mother-in-law will surely have his eyeballs wither and drop out of their sockets Navajo lore Is full or legends about great warriors in the past who have had visitations of hideous phvsical ailments and helplessness upon them for defiance of the law of the tribe. But while no Navajo can cite a modern instance of blindness or pao luck or paralysis or decrepitude because of a husbands accidentally looKlhs upon his mother-in-la the superstl- tion is just as potent. The Navajo who accidentally comes in contact with hls mother-in flaw is the subject Of commls- eration by all his relatives and is very much pitied by the mother-in-law her self
 No one knows how old the tribal be- lief Is, or concerning its origin. De Vargas, a Spanish Jesuit missionary, who was the first to labor for Christian ity among the Navajos, wrote in his d. ary in 1893 that the custom dated rom remote antiquity. In De Vargas day mothers Jaw were frequently burned to death by angry Navajos because they had not been sufficiently careful to warn their unsuspecting sons-in-law of their approach, and they (the mothers in-law) had thereby brought dreadtul suffering upon the unfortunate hus- bands of their daughters Some tWen- ty years ago Navajo squaw, who had a dispute with her married daughter and had avenged herself by walking de- liberately in upon her son-in-law as ne lay in the family hogan (huD so that he inyoluntarily spoke to her and looked her full in the face, was beaten to death by her own husband and children Tor her fearful act. The fact that this Vlc- tim of a mothern-laW's anger sickehed and died a year later is ample proof in the Navajo logic that he had been mys- teriously cursed by his wife's mother.
 Marriage among the Navajos IS a matter of purchase, and the mother of the prospective bride is particularly consulted to know whether the son-1n- : law is agreeable to her, and, if he is agreeable. whether she will make his life happy and prosperous by keeping out of the sight and giving him full warning whenever she comes near to his presence. Many Navajo sehdc constant gifts to his mother-in-law fol her kindly consideration by her avoid ance of his sight. The purchase prlce of a Navajo bride is almost universally a horse Any sort of a horse goes. The more attractive the Navajo girl the bet ter the horse Here and there is gir whose proud parents demand severa horses for her hand in marriage anc the pledge of the girls mother to for ever love and help her son-in-laW by Keeping away from him Here ane there also are some Navajo maidens whose marriage price is fixed at any olc raw bones of a superannuated nag thai may be had in the reservation.
 Naturally one would think from the universality of this custom among the Nayaios that woman's place in the tribe is degraded, but the contrary is the case The Navajos are not strictly an agricultural people, Their farming operations are limited and of recent or jgin, and the young women very seldom work in the fields, except at harvest time. Most of the wealth of the tribe is in sheep and horses, principally the former, and the sheep belong exclusive 1y to the women; they are her persona property Moreover, descent and inner itance are in the female line, the chil- dren belong to the mother and are mem hers of her clan, the father having nc rights In the matter
 The purchase money, or rather pur- chase horses, are of no direct benefit tt the parents Payment is made to the uncIes and brothers of the bride in cer- tain proportions. Should domestic troubles arise which are due to some foult of the woman the horses are re- turned, but should the failure lie witf the man the woman can and does leave him and return to her people. In that ease the horses are retained in her fam, +xrf