The Indians of the Painted Desert Region: Hopis, Navahoes, Wallapais, HavasupaisJames, George Wharton
Religion
The Indians of the Painted Desert Region: Hopis, Navahoes, Wallapais, Havasupais
James, George Wharton
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
From all I can learn, marital unchastity is uncommon, though where the
tribe is in close contact with the towns along the railway there are
generally to be found men who will sell their wives and daughters,
and mothers who will sell their girls to debased white men. Among the
respectable members of the tribe, if a man discovers that his wife, or
one of them, is unfaithful, he may take it upon himself to chastise
her, but such is the independent position of the woman that he must be
very wise and judicious or she will speedily leave him.
Divorce is not common, but is allowable for cause, the parties chiefly
concerned generally settling all the details. Occasionally, however,
a transaction occurs that in civilized society would occasion quite a
buzz of busy tongues. One such happened but a few years ago. Mr. George
H. Pepper of the American Museum of Natural History tells the story.
The facts were within his own knowledge. One of the husbands had a wife
who positively refused to wash and brush his hair. He would coax and
persuade, urge and command, threaten and bluster, but all to no effect.
The dusky creature was neither to be led nor driven. If he wanted his
hair washed and combed he must do it himself.
While the disappointed husband was cogitating over his miserable
marital experiences, a friend from a distance, with his wife, came to
visit him. As the men got to talking and finally exchanging confidences
about their wives, the one told the other of the unwifely conduct of
his spouse. The visitor condoled with his host and told what a good
wife he had, how very obedient she was, and the like, until he had
quite exalted her, and the host determined to take a better look than
he had hitherto given at such a paragon of a wife. Whether this was a
scheme of the visitor or not it was scarcely possible to tell, but,
anyhow, it worked out as well as if it had been carefully planned;
for as the host studied the visitor's wife he fell head over ears
in love with her, and, strange to say, a corresponding affinity was
discovered to exist between the two others. Accordingly, a day or two
later the visitor suggested to the host that as he (the host) wanted
a wife to wash and comb his hair, while he (the visitor) was content
with a wife that would do neither, what was to hinder their "swapping"
their life partners and thus making a satisfactory end to his domestic
difficulties? With joy the disappointed husband accepted the offer,--a
little "boot" was required to make the exchange satisfactorily, and
then the result was communicated to the women. Neither of them was
consulted in the slightest, but without any hesitancy they fell in
with the agreement. The visitor rode off satisfied, accompanied by his
new wife, while the wife who came as a visitor inaugurated her new
relationship by shyly coming into her new husband's hogan with an olla
of water, the necessary soap-root, and the whisk with which to wash and
comb her liege's hair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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