Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-05
Marriage
Anong
the
PintadOs

I u y
In the course of his South American travels,
Benedict Roezl, the great Hungarian naturalist,
came in contact with strange phases of In
dian civilization. degenerate and tatterdema-
lion civilization it is, for the most part, yet
there unmistakable evidences of that pecul-
lar development which the Spaniards found
and corrupted Along the headwaters of the
Amazon, where Spanish influences have left
few traces, the Indians preserve to a great de-
gree, their interesting, primitive customs.
One of these with which Roezl singularly
impressed, is the marriage custom among the
Pintados named by the Spaniards because of
their blotched compilations. Other Pintados In
dams have embraced the Catholic faith and
married according to the rites of the church;
but the tribes in the mountain valleys, where
few white men have ever ventured, still
heather in all their practices and ceremonies
They are agrarlans and are far from nomadic,
clinging to their fields until the soil refuses to
yield the abundance they expect Then they pro-
coed to locality clear the ground erect
their double row of houses and settle down to the
tranquility of the most remarkable family life
to be found anywhere in the world. AS this
life revealed itself to the astute Roezl it seemed
the elimination of prudery and reticence.
The village consists of long street, down
the middle of which is of family stones"
These fiat rocks, for each pair of huts.
On side of the street the huts for the
women and children. On the other side dwell
the husbands of those women together with the
older boys. At end of the street are the
fields titled by the women and away from the
other end stretch those titled by the men,
At sunset the women come home from the
days toll, enter the solitary street and proceed
to their homes, chatting softly with each other,
but they give not the slightest sign of recogni-
ton to their husbands and brothers as
these pass them on their way to their
homes.
The wife, having prepared the simple evening
meal carries her husbands share of it out to
the family stone and returns to her hut. The
man from across the way saunters out carries
the steaming calabash to his dwelling, and after
a little while, returns it, empty, to the stone
The wife, without a word takes it back to be
washed and put away until breakfast time
The men sit about their doorsteps gossiping
and smoking. The women, the street.
weave mind their little ones; but they never
under any circumstances betray the slightest in
terest in the masculine part of the population
The man who dares to enter his wifes hut under
any circumstances, is taken out and publicly
executed. From this law there is no recourse.
This perpleXing situation so interested Bene-
dict Roezl that he investigated further He
found that for each pair of cabins the village
street. there another cabin somewhere in the
forest In the secluson of this third house. the
actual family life was maintained Having
learned this much, he found himself wondering
how the courtship of these strange Indians was
carried on Before he left the village he was
given an opportunity to watch the whole unique
performance.
One of the young men had been casting
Sleeps eyes across the village street at one of
the young girls. After due consideration he