Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/222

208 and tipped, like the arrows, with flint or obsidian. These heads were from three to nine inches long and from one to four inches in width. The points of these spears, as also the arrowheads, were sometimes poisoned by dipping them into liquid made from a poisonous plant or by the drippings from a putrid deer's liver. The Indian was a sure shot at close range with his bow and arrow. He had many ingenious ways of decoying his game. Sometimes a hunter would disguise himself with the skin and horns of a deer, and in a stooping position crouch about the alkali spots where the deer were in the habit of coming to "lick" until he was close enough to the animal to be sure of his shot, when a flint-tipped arrow just behind the left shoulder was as sure as any bullet. A deer, unless frightened, never jumps anything of any height; it will walk around a very small log. The Indians discovered this trait, and used it to their advantage. They would stretch a buckskin line across a trail that deer were frequenting, and station themselves in ambush at each end. The deer would walk up to the line, pause to sniff at it a moment, then follow it to the end, and generally to his death.

The white man did not teach the Indian to gamble; it was born in him. Men, women, and children were slaves to its fascination. They had all kinds of queer games, in which furs, beads, and any property, in fact, that they might possess could be exchanged in a manner that would do credit to white people. The men often wagered their mahalas against a few furs or bows and arrows, and in such cases loss or gain would not seriously affect the commercial standing of the parties involved.

In regard to matters of morality, the general statement may be made that these Indians did not have any set punishments for what they regarded as crimes; the criminal was, however, ostracized by them. Polygamy was practiced to a large extent among them; one man often had two or three wives, and a chief sometimes more. Virtue was not held precious by the women, but the men had regard for it in so far as their own families were concerned. When an Indian had more than one wife he hired each to watch the other. They had no marriage ceremony; when an Indian made up his mind that he wanted a mahala for his wife, he went to her home and asked the father for her; if there was no objection he was asked to eat with them, after which he had the right to take his bride away whenever he wanted to. If the girl opposed her suitor she was given one chance of escape—she ran a race with him. She was allowed a certain number of feet the start when the signal was given to run. If she won she was free, but if he caught her she had to go with him without a murmur.