there was unusual activity around the house of don pancho, a little thatch-roof hut of oval shape, possibly fifteen feet by eight. two large posts supported a framework of poles on which was laid a gabled thatching of grass. only toward the center of the house could one stand upright, and a strong push would have sent tumbling outside, the stones heaped in a wall without the use of mortar or mud, which filled the space between the eaves and the bare ground.
the unwonted stir in the house of don pancho did not betoken any epoch-making occurrence even in the uneventful history of the little village of azqueltán which sheltered the remnants of the tepecano tribe. it was merely that don pancho was awaiting the birth of his child. and so the women of the immediate neighborhood gathered inside the hut while the men conversed in low tones without. francisco alone passed freely in and out. at last, after a longer pause within, he slipped quietly out of the door.
“gracias a dios! it is a son,” he said quietly and produced from somewhere a bottle of sotol[8] bought on his last journey to the nearest “civilized” village against this very event. the men crowded around him and drank heartily to the health of the newcomer. with true politeness they congratulated the father and then slipped away into the darkness toward their own little hovels. only the squalling of the infant broke upon the stillness of the mountain air.
again an air of unusual activity pervaded the village. word had come that the cura from the neighboring town would arrive that day to say mass. the church and the adjoining curato had been opened and aired, the dirt swept from the floor and the dust from the crude figures of the crucifixion. for the little church was the pride of azqueltán. a generation ago it had been built of adobe brick and stone quarried by civilized artisans, and its white front faced the torrid rays of the sun as valiantly as it did the sulphurous flames of hell. the little courtyard, too, shone with a freshly-swept air, not a blade of grass nor a speck of green marring its smooth surface.
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at last sharp eyes detected a cavalcade slowly descending the tortuous path. hastily francisco climbed the shaking ladder to the roof of the church and seized the clapper. well did he realize the importance of his office as mayor-domo of the church! and never while he lived would the sr. cura arrive without proper greeting! one of the several bells was still uncracked, and to it francisco devoted particular attention. the bells held a place hardly second to the church itself in don pancho’s affections, for had they not been imported at enormous expense from that far away capital, the city of mexico? a final clang and francisco hastened down the quaking ladder to be the first to kneel before the jocund padre and kiss his hand. roused by the pealing of the bells the inhabitants of the little valley began to wander in. reverently they entered the church, kneeling on the brick floor, the men and women on opposite sides, while mass was said.
the service finished, the aguilars, francisco and julia, his wife, stood up, bearing the child. beside them stood juan márquez and his wife, as godfather and godmother. a few drops of water resented, a few ritual words, and mother church had gathered another soul to her bosom. josé maría was the name the cura entered in his record.
but had these intervening weeks been entirely uneventful in the life of little josé or pepe, as he was familiarly called? by no means! francisco was too conscientious a man to take any chances with his son’s welfare. for centuries before the padres had told them of god and christ, the forefathers had worshiped father sun, mother moon and elder brother morning star. in fact it was quite obvious that god was the sun, the virgin maría the moon and jesus the morning star. for did not the beautiful picture of the virgin of guadalupe hanging in the church show her standing on the moon? the two religions could not be antagonistic, but merely supplementary, thought francisco, as far as he thought on the subject at all. nevertheless, there was no use arguing with the cura about it, for he would not understand. and so, immediately after the birth of little pepe, francisco made four prayer sticks with little squares of colored yarn attached, and went and deposited them at secret altars on the hills to east, north, west and south, breathing a prayer at each place for the health and fortune of his child.
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little josé grew up to boyhood, his status in the world a rather anomalous one—a little lower than the half-blood mexican peon on the rolling country to the south, a little above the pagan huichol in the mountains, yet despised by both. yet that worried him little. for was he not surrounded by loving parents and friends and a not ungenerous nature? to north and south stretched the canyon or barranca of the bola?os, a great rent in the earth’s crust, carved out through countless ages by the little silvery rivulet hiding in its bottom. hardly more than a brook in the dry season, it swelled to an impassable, turbulent torrent during the rains. on either side rose the steep sides of the barranca, those to the east leading to the rolling, flat country populated by the “neighbors,” the mexicans, while to the west the mountains rose higher and higher to form the great sierra madre range in which lived the pagan huichol and cora indians. occasionally small groups of huichol passed by or through the village on their way to or from their mountain homes, and josé peeked at them from behind the shelter of his mother’s skirts, and wondered at their strange dress with many little woven bags around the waist, their queer hats, their bows and arrows.
“when i was your age,” said old nestor, his grandfather, “we all dressed as they do now. then our wives wove us blankets and we made clothes of deer hide. but ave maría! now we must dress in white cotton blouses and trousers and look like mexicans!”
josé never tired of hearing nestor tell of the glories of the days gone by, when the tepecanos were a powerful people and held a great stretch of territory. but wars and pestilence had done their worst and the tribe had gradually withdrawn to the great barranca where josé was born. and even there the mexicans were gradually encroaching. some married into the tribe, while the more unscrupulous boldly appropriated the ancestral lands and recorded the first titles.
josé’s earliest impressions, of course, were those of home, to him a wonderful place, and his parents most remarkable people, omniscient beyond a doubt! surely there was nothing in the world they did not know or could not do! his mother in particular was the busiest person. as the first rays of the sun dimmed the morning star, she arose and put wood on the fire which had been smoldering all night under the pot of beans and under the comal or griddle, and by the time 206 the rest of the family were well awake the little, round, flat tortillas were toasting. these little toasted cakes of thin, unleavened corn dough were the staple food, not only of the tepecano, but of millions of mexicans of the peon class. torn in half and used as a scoop to carry a mess of brown beans and chili sauce to the mouth—ah! who could ask for anything more savory? surely not little josé. but what a drudgery it meant to his mother! not that she considered it drudgery—she knew of nothing else, and it was the lot of every woman.
and so se?ora aguilar bent all day—or most of it—over the stone metate grinding the softened, boiled corn into dough. the corn itself, the typical indian corn with yellow ears, black ears, red ears and ears of all these colors, lay husked in a corner of the house. every day a few ears would be taken, shelled and put to simmer in a pot with a pinch of lime to soften it. then it had to be ground on the metate with a stone grinder, patted into shape and toasted on the griddle. at almost any hour of the day could be heard in the hut the sound of the muller grating against the metate, or the sharp “pat, pat” on the cake. when night came at last, a mass of dough was always ready to be prepared for breakfast.
so josé watched his busy mother and wondered why she took no time to play with him. several times a day she took the great water jar on her shoulder and walked slowly with him down the long, winding trail to the little brook which supplied the household—yes, several households—with water. occasionally, too, they bathed in the clear waters—in the summer. but even then the water was cool and soap expensive, so baths were infrequent. and then the water was full of wonderful animals known as chanes. no one could see them, of course, except in rainy weather, when they appeared as great arcs or bows in the sky, striped with colors, head in one spring and tail in another, as they visited. but ordinarily they were invisible, though their forms were well known. they had the bodies of serpents with horns like cattle. they were to be treated reverently, as they had the power of sickening all who disregarded them.
“never drink directly from the spring, pepe,” his mother warned him, “or the chan will enter and sting you. dash the water into your mouth as your father does.”
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although corn cakes and beans supplied the major part of their dietary, there were other foods, in season and on a smaller scale, other crops, tobacco, chili-peppers and squash. squashes did not keep like corn or beans, unless they were cut into long strips and dried. more often the squashes were eaten fresh, at harvest time. a hole was dug in the ground and lined with stones and in this a fire was lighted until the stones were hot. then the fire was removed and replaced with squashes, and the whole covered and allowed to remain all night. in the morning the squashes were perfectly baked and delicious. but the best part of the squash was the seeds which were toasted, cracked open and the kernels eaten. these were indeed excellent! occasionally the juicy centre of a large cactus was cooked in the same way.
but with the advent of spring, that was the joyous time! it was the coming of the rains after the long dry season. the spring rains are the most vital factor in the life and economy of the natives of northern mexico, and on them all interests settle. then the parched land springs into verdure and the streams burst forth anew. then the nopal, the “prickly pear” cactus, puts forth new green leaves which can be cleaned of their spines and boiled to an edible tenderness, and the blue and purple tunas appear on their leaves. then the mesquite and vamuchile trees prepare to produce their fruit. but best of all, it is the time of the pitahaya, that luscious fruit of the organ cactus.
“the pitahayas are ripe! the pitahayas are ripe!” shouted and sang josé with the other children, while their elders prepared to desert their villages and repair to the heights where the cacti grew most abundantly, there to gorge themselves until the season passed. all year long the great reed poles leaned against the thatched roofs of the houses, awaiting the joyous spring when they would be used to pick the pitahayas from their high branches.
seldom it was that little pepe tasted flesh of any kind. to be sure they kept a few chickens, but the aguilars were too poor to eat many of them; they were sold to the itinerant trader to take to the larger civilized towns. too, the dried corn which the chickens ate meant just that much less for the family. nevertheless josé knew and relished the taste of chicken and eggs. a few goats, sheep, pigs and turkeys were kept in the neighborhood, and occasionally the 208 word was passed around that one was to be killed. the wealthier families purchased a few pounds, cut it into strips and hung it up to dry. for a few days, meat was added to the dietary of the aguilar family. a very few cattle and horses were kept by the very opulent, but these were seldom killed. they represented rather the wealth of the owner and were sold to mexican ranchmen. but when for one reason or another—generally by accident—one was killed, the word was noised abroad for many miles and, like buzzards, the population gathered to purchase or beg the meat.
“ah, but it was different in the old days!” exclaimed old nestor. “then the country was full of game. ave maría! so many deer! and rabbits and raccoons, ducks and pigeons! but now the gods are angry at us because we have neglected them and will send us no more deer.”
“is it really the gods who send the deer, little grandfather?” asked josé.
“surely,” replied the old man. “are they not the pets of our elder brother, the morning star? when one wishes to hunt deer he must first fast seven days and then go to one of the sacred altars with a prayer stick and beads for payment and recite the old prayer begging elder brother to lend him some of his deer. then he will be sure to shoot them. but he must not eat any of the first deer he kills, but must give it to the other people, and he must be sure to make candles of the fat and burn them. of course we always used bow and arrows to shoot them, as they would be offended and leave the country if they were killed by other means.”
“how interesting!” murmured little pepe. “and do the gods keep other animals too, little grandfather?”
“por dios, no! the deer are their only pets. but the scorpions are the cattle of the devil and one must also say a prayer and make a jícara[9] full of pinole[10] with beads in order to drive them away from one’s home. and then there are the great serpents which live in the mountains. one must also recite a prayer to get one of them.”
“ave maría!” ejaculated josé. “did you eat snakes too?”
“only small ones,” laughed nestor, “and iguanas. the large serpents we kept in the houses as protectors. they were brought 209 home and instructed to hold any one who came to the house to rob, and to give the alarm by striking the ground with their tails. but they had to be fed bread every thursday.” here old nestor smiled. “at least that’s what my grandfather told me. i never saw them myself!”
it was many years before little josé journeyed from home. there he played with the stones and the household objects, his dog and cat and his pet quail, learning the manifold secrets of the world about him. there were other boys nearby with whom he played; they had their bows and arrows—weapons discarded by their elders long ago—and their toys and dear possessions like boys the world over. there were few household objects for them to break in play, only a few pots and gourds, and, like all indians, the tepecanos seldom or never punished their children, preferring that they should grow up loving and with their spirits unbroken. an occasional trip to the nearest mexican village to purchase cloth or sugar, or to the house of a relation a few miles away was the extent of josé’s travels. for sweets he had the honey which might be taken from the hollow logs raised on forked posts outside of the house.
gradually josé learned to help his parents and, by the time he was fourteen, he was able to do most of the tasks expected of young men. he accompanied his father francisco on trips to the hills in search of natural products. the leaves of the agave were one of the most sought-after materials. these they carried home, stripped off the soft green exterior and put the strong interior fibers to dry. this was called ixti, and from it all kinds of cord and rope were made. many hours josé sat, twisting the wheel with which his father made rope. at other times he helped to make adobe bricks, mixing the mud to a proper consistency, pressing it into moulds and leaving it in the sun to dry. his father likewise taught him to weave strong sacks of ixti cord on a simple loom.
some of his spare time, too, he devoted to that eternal mexican pastime of hunting buried treasure. of course he never found any, but the joy of the search was in itself and had he not heard countless tales of fabulous wealth found in caves where it had been hidden during a revolution? one could never tell!
by this time josé was old enough to wear the typical costume of the men of the tribe. for a few years he had run naked, but not for 210 long, and during the greater part of his boyhood had worn clothes of a nondescript character. but about the time of puberty, his mother made him a suit of white cotton cloth consisting of blouse and trousers. these were so much more comfortable than the tight trousers affected by the civilized mexicans. nevertheless, the laws of the nearby towns prohibited any one’s appearing in the streets in the flowing calzones, so in each indian village was at least one pair of pantalones which were borrowed whenever any one wished to visit town. the trousers were upheld by a girdle of faja or wool, woven by his mother on a narrow loom with geometric designs in black and white. a little bag, woven of the same material, known as a costal, accompanied him wherever he went, for in this he carried all his little personal possessions and necessities, such as matches, tobacco and, at times, lunch, as well as the dozens of little knick-knacks dear to the heart of the boy. in the same way his forefathers carried their sticks to make fire, and his grandfathers their flint and steel. but in these enlightened days sulphur or wax matches were within the reach of even impecunious mexican indians, and josé very early learned to smoke cigarettes made of locally grown tobacco rolled in corn husks. as likely as not he carried the “makin’s” on the broad brim of his sombrero, an immense peaked hat of the braided leaf of the agave. sandals of rawhide completed his costume. the hat was extremely heavy, but it was the custom, so josé wore it with pride. but his greatest pride was his machete, that great steel knife carried by every man, which served every imaginable purpose. no boy was ever half so proud of his first watch as was little josé of his first machete.
josé helped his father in the labor of the field. in the winter they made a clearing by cutting and burning down the trees and brush. this was not a great task, for the rocky and infertile hillsides produced few trees or bushes and the cacti and grass were easily destroyed. then, after the first heavy rain of the summer, they went to their field, carrying the seed corn, beads and a jícara full of water in which corn meal had been mixed. they had already undergone a fast of five days and an ablutionary bath. it was indeed a very sacred and solemn occasion, for the success of the yield, if not the entire harvest, depended upon them. for was not corn the daughter of father sun? so they reverently placed the beads in the center 211 and four corners of the field, and sprinkled the pinole water to the cardinal points of the compass while francisco, reverently facing the east, recited the ancient prayer, promising father sun that they would guard well his daughter and cherish her. then they made little holes in the ground with sticks, dropped in the kernels and covered them over. but little attention was required until harvest time. then the corn was gathered with great joy, but the twin stalks, the corn plants with forked stem and two ears known as the milpa cuata, were left standing until the end. then father and son solemnly walked around the field as many times as there were stalks within it, and recited another prayer, begging permission of father sun to carry home his daughter and promising again to guard her well. these stalks, with the ears attached, were then gathered in a sheaf and fastened to the ridgepole of the house, or to a tree. and that evening nestor told again the old story of how father sun sent his daughter corn to earth to be of service to man and how she was wronged by her husband, toloache,[11] who used her bounty to support his mistresses, crow and badger, so that at last she returned to her father.
“therefore it is,” said old nestor, “that we must pray hard for only a little corn in place of the plenty which would have been ours. but toloache was punished by being fastened head downwards to the rock and being required to grant us whatever we may ask of him.”
at this story josé smiled for he was of the sophisticated younger generation, and he looked upon it as a pretty fable, but old nestor evidently believed it implicitly.
practically all the efforts of the people were individual or family affairs. it was only on religious or ceremonial occasions that any communal interests were attempted. but one day at the height of the dry season his father said to josé:
“pepecito, to-morrow we are all going to fish in the river and you are old enough to go along.”
the following day found them trudging toward the little river, their costales filled with gordas—tortillas made thicker than usual so that they retained their softness during the day. as they neared the river they were joined by other parties bound in the same direction. 212 all paths led to a deep hole in the river above a series of rapids where, it was suspected, the fish had all congregated. here all hands set to work making a tapexte, a weir or mesh of reeds laid together closely in a plane and tied with cord. one of the long edges was weighted with stones so that it sank to the bottom, and thus the entire mat could be dragged up or down the stream, carrying the fish with it. an entire day was consumed in making the tapexte and at nightfall all returned to their homes, worn out with exertion. the next day—ah! that was a wonderful day! sounds of shouting and splashing filled the air. dark skins glistened and sparkled in the sun as the fishermen plunged into the deep holes and endeavored to seize in little hand-nets the fish which had been cornered by the great tapexte. and that night fish boiled merrily in the pots of many happy households.
josé was of good physical type, of medium height and slim build. his hands and feet were small and well shaped, his features large but not coarse. his eye was dark and sparkling, his hair thick, straight, long and very black, his mustache, beard and body hair sparse. his forefathers used to pluck out their beards, considering that it made them look like the animal world, but he, like the younger generation, cut and shaved his as fashion dictated. his color was a dark brown. he was active, keen and bright when necessary, but inclined to slothfulness. after all, why should he do to-day anything he could put off till to-morrow? an unpleasant task, if procrastinated, might settle itself; if a pleasant prospect, why not prolong the enjoyable anticipation? when life contains so little variety, why do everything to-day and have nothing to do to-morrow?
josé liked to smoke, of course, but any luxury was too expensive for him to overdo it. and naturally he drank whenever he could get the various distillates of agave which sold in the neighboring villages as mescal, tequila and sotol. he drank to excess, for strong liquor gave him a surcease from monotony—it made him a different person in a different environment and he was glad to seek the change. of course drunken brawls were frequent and machete wounds occasional, but they were forgiven shortly afterwards and forgotten.
like all of his people, josé was naturally cheerful and from a certain point of view, honest. he would probably have considered it highly commendable to steal anything from a mexican or a gringo 213 stranger if he could escape undetected, but he couldn’t steal from friends. he was given to boasting—when the boast could not be checked up. always cheerful, singing and happy, few things worried him. although very emotional, like all indians he considered it weak to betray emotion before others. his one outstanding quality was his politeness, and this was of the heart, not a mere outward display; he was always ready to be of assistance to the helpless, sympathetic to the unfortunate. he could hardly be called literate though he could, after intense and laborious cerebration, manage to spell out a message or write a note. what with this illiteracy, his tendency to procrastination, ignorance of all trades and indisposition to continued labor, he would have been a miserable failure in an industrial civilization, although in his native environment he was a valuable member of society.
one year during the dry season, after the harvest of corn was in, josé accompanied several other young men of the tribe to a nearby mining town where labor was in demand, and here he experienced his first contact with “high” civilization. here with pick and shovel he could earn half a peso a day—twenty-five cents. even at that rate josé could save enough to return to the little village in comparative affluence after a few months, for money of any kind was seldom seen there, practically all business being done by barter and one was indeed deeply in debt who owed his neighbor a peso! josé’s native boss was easy-going and the men were not overworked, but the american foreman was a puzzle to josé. always on the go, he never sat down to rest. and such queer spanish as he spoke—principally profanity! then there were such wonderful and incomprehensible machines, there, which did the work of many men, run by steam and electricity: telephones, telegraphs, automobiles and countless other appliances.
but the most joyous days of josé’s youth were those of the fiestas. then the natives for miles around, both indians and “neighbors,” gathered in the little pueblo. ave marìa! what an assemblage! all the pretty girls with their best petticoats of bright red flannel, their rebozos[12] covering their sleek, black hair, their bright black eyes sparkling with excitement and their white teeth shining. all the men with their white trousers and blouses freshly washed, their hats 214 freshened up and their machetes polished. all roads led to the little village, most coming on foot, the more opulent on donkeys, mules or horses, for none owned wagons, nor could any wagon traverse the rocky trails. open hospitality reigned everywhere. relations who had not seen each other for months, compadres by the scores, old friends, new acquaintances, fell on each other’s necks and slapped each other on the back while the bottle of fiery sotol or tequila circulated freely.
frequently the fiesta began with some communal work on the church, for the church was the center of all activity. possibly a wall had to be erected and each one helped as he or she was able, the boys and women carrying single small stones, the men carrying frames on which many large stones were piled. an hour or so of combined labor and the wall was built. in the afternoon, sports were the order of the day. of these the most popular was that of colando al toro, in which the wealthy young men endeavored, each on his pet horse, to ride past a bull, seize him by the tail and overthrow him. how josé longed to be able to own a horse and gain the plaudits of the girls by his prowess!
“i might even,” thought he, “go to the great city of mexico and learn to be a famous torero and be the idol of the entire republic.”
at night there were cuetes exploded in honor of the day, which delighted josé hugely, and dances to the music of the violin. all day and much of the night the celebration kept up. little booths and tables were erected wherever vendors sold dainties, and the air was filled with the cries of the merchants.
“sweet oranges! four for a half-real!”[13]
“melon seeds! perfectly toasted!”
“peanuts! peanuts!”
“sugar cane! the very sweetest!”
“candies! who wants them?”
lucky was the boy who had a real to spend at the fiesta, for a goodly portion of anything would be sold at the standard price of a centavo.
meanwhile, over in one corner, the men gathered around a mexican from a nearby town who was running a gambling game with the cards, while his partner dispensed bottles of the agave 215 brandy. soon the inevitable vicious altercation would arise. to be sure it was limited to a violent flood of profanity and only reputation and dignity were injured, but the women shrank away while drunken cries filled the air. a few cool heads interfered before any irreparable damage was done, but it was not always thus, as a rude cross or two in the neighborhood of the pueblo, marking a place where a soul had come to a violent end, mutely attest.
it was the christmas season that was particularly celebrated at azqueltán, for then the old pageant of “los pastores” was performed. for weeks before, the performers, all prominent men of the village, were engaged in making their costumes of long, white dresses and their staffs decorated with colored tinsel and tissue paper. the words and music had been handed down from the days of the first spanish missionaries, and depicted the adventures of a group of shepherds journeying to the nativity. josé’s father, francisco, played the part of the hermit with a crude mask of wood and an immense rosary of wooden beads. it was josé’s ambition to take the part of satan, who attempted to prevent the pilgrimage.
“josé,” said francisco one day, “it is high time you were married. you are eighteen now and most of the boys of your age are married already. i cannot afford to support you any longer and you must set up for yourself. i’ve been hearing a great deal about your affairs with several girls—yes, and with some of our married women too! and it will have to cease.”
here don pancho chuckled to himself, for he had a great deal of pride in his handsome son and enjoyed the gossip of his amours. josé had learned to be a fair performer on the fiddle and the guitar, and would sit by night with a few other free lances of his own age under the eaves of some straw hut watching the stars come out in the beautiful crisp, evening air and singing melancholy love songs. most of the girls succumbed to his advances at once, but there was one who rejected them with affected scorn and she, of course, was the one he most desired. consequently he began to hedge at his father’s suggestion.
“but, little father,” said he, “i don’t want to get married yet,—possibly i never will!”
“what nonsense!” exploded francisco. “it’s all right for gringos to be bachelors; they can hire women to do their work; they 216 can eat in tiendas. but you! who’ll make your tortillas? who’ll make your clothes? don’t be a fool!”
josé knew it was up to him to get a wife, but he wished a little more time to press his suit with josefa, the much-to-be-desired daughter of cándido gonzales. “give me another month, little father,” he asked, and francisco agreed.
so josé sought out his grandfather, old nestor. bashfully he hesitated and “stalled” until at last the sly old man suspected the truth.
“come, come!” he ejaculated. “speak out! what is it, a girl?” josé presented his case. the old man swelled up with pride.
“ah! of a truth you have come to the right man! you knew your old grandfather was the one to aid you! there is now only one other man in the tribe who knows how to gain the love of a girl! a week from to-night at midnight will be the time. we must both fast for five days before, in order to appease the gods and maría santísima. get me a piece of the girl’s clothing and i’ll find the other things.”
josé didn’t relish the idea of a fast, for he was of the younger generation and took little stock in the superstitions, as he considered them, of the elders. nevertheless he was now in trouble and, with the natural faith of the helpless man, willing to try anything. so he endured the fast without a whimper and surreptitiously visited the girl’s house while she was fetching water from the spring and stole a small article of clothing.
when at last the night came, the old man was in a queer mood of neurotic enthusiasm and excitement, combined with sober dignity in contemplation of his important office.
“have you the clothing?” he asked eagerly. josé handed it to him.
“and now a piece of your own clothing!” a short search brought to light a discarded bit which would serve the purpose.
carefully the old man made a doll of the clothes of each, one to represent the boy, the other the girl. then he produced flowers of five narcotic plants which he had spent the day in seeking—güizache, palo mulato, garambullo, rosa maría and toloache—and with these he decorated the boy doll. when the stars indicated the hour of midnight, a candle was lighted and the figures were placed 217 in a large bowl of water, floating. josé watched with bated breath. not that he put much faith in the outcome, but the spell of the magic, the stillness of the night and the temper of the old man, who by this time had practically reached a state of self-hypnosis, had a profound effect. reverently, and in a low, tense voice the old man recited the ancient prayer begging of the intoxicated woman and the flower man, that the desired one should be brought to her lover. after this he produced his musical bow and, placing a bowl upside down on the ground, held the bow on it with his foot. striking the string with two small sticks so that it gave a sonorous twang, he began to sing the old song appropriate for the occasion. five times he sang it, and then jumped up and walked around the bowl with the floating figures, five times. the charm was then complete. eagerly he looked into the bowl and found that the two figures had floated together. with a delighted air he turned to josé, restraining his high-pitched emotion.
“it is well,” he said simply. “the gods and maría santísima have answered your prayer.” josé felt relieved, for, although at heart he doubted the efficacy of the charm, the old man’s emotion had a considerable effect upon him. so it was with greater self-confidence that in the morning he renewed both his meals and his assaults on the heart of the delectable josefa, until he felt that he might confidently put the matter to the test.
“father,” said he the following day, “will you speak to cándido gonzales about josefa for me?” his father chuckled.
“so that’s the way the wind blows! i guess we can settle the matter. it would be silly of don cándido to refuse such a promising son-in-law!”
there were many things to be arranged and the matter of the marriage of one’s children was too important an affair to be lightly settled, so old francisco and cándido had many long conferences. they debated the matter from every possible point of view and then all over again from the beginning. but even matters of greater pith and moment must eventually be squeezed dry, and at last the time arrived when neither the fertile don pancho nor the equally fertile don cándido could conceive of another topic of discussion, so they considered the matter formally arranged. the young people would await the next visit of the cura and then be married.
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but right there old nestor interposed a furious objection. here he was, the cantador mayor, the chief singer or high priest of the old religion, the keeper of the old customs, doing his best to preserve the tribe from dissolution and destruction because of the anger of the old gods. the young generation were deserting the gods and the practices of their forefathers. they no longer attended the old ceremonies, prayed and sacrificed to the gods, fasted or made prayer sticks. even the old language had nearly perished and the gods were so angry that they were permitting the tribe to grow smaller and smaller, yearly. it was only the fervor of a few devoted conservatives like himself which still induced the gods to send their rains in the spring. and would he allow his only grandson to be married without the practice of the old rites? por dios, no! and besides, he was one of the very few men who still remembered the old prayer and it was the custom to pay a peso per night to the one who recited the prayer. he had not the slightest objection to pepe’s being married by the cura—the more gods the better—but he insisted on his privileges and the observance of the old customs.
so, to please the old man and to keep peace, it was agreed to follow the old customs, and the next wednesday night the three men, nestor, francisco and josé, journeyed to the girl’s house. along the narrow, steep and rocky trail they stumbled, finally arriving at the house where they were cordially admitted by old cándido. seating themselves by the door, nestor immediately launched into the prayer which was a long one and recited with great gravity. he spoke in beautiful allegory of the creation of the girl in the heavens, and of her long wanderings before her birth. at last the long prayer came to an end and the party trooped home again.
for five nights on successive wednesdays and saturdays, this was repeated and on the last night cándido, who had been ably coached by nestor, arose at the end of the old man’s speech and spoke in reply, gravely, the traditional response which had served tepecano brides and grooms for centuries. he admitted that his daughter was lazy and worthless, but appreciated the honor of having her hand asked, and closed with an appeal to the gods for forgiveness from sins and for health. then he brought out a white cloth and on it were piled all the girl’s possessions and her wedding gifts. 219 then all four, the bride and groom and their fathers, seized each a corner, raised the cloth, and the ceremony was complete. josé remained with his wife’s people for several months while he built himself a new house and put his household in order before taking his bride to her new home. when the good cura came to say mass the next time, the couple appeared before him and were united according to the rites of holy church.
one day a melancholy figure appeared before the little hut of nestor and the old man hobbled out to greet his visitor.
“enter, enter, little grandson!” he greeted. “why so sad? what has happened?”
“it is my wife, little grandfather,” replied josé. “she is quite ill. we have done everything we can for her. all the neighbors have come, and each one has brought her some delicacy and forced her to eat it, but to no avail. can you not help her?”
the old man puffed up with a mixture of self-conceit, anger and contempt.
“ah, what could you expect from these old women? they expect to cure sickness by foods and drugs when it is necessary to appease or overcome something! verily you have come to the right man! let us see what we can do.” he disappeared within his house, made a judicious selection of objects, put them within his sack, and over the trail they went toward the house.
sure enough, there lay poor josefa on a mat on the floor of the house. the civilized physician would have diagnosed her malady as malaria and suggested doses of quinine and crude oil—the latter to be administered to the mosquitoes in the pools of stagnant water. a few sympathetic neighbors were gathered around, begging her to try one or another of the dainties they had so carefully prepared.
“truly, i have done my best, grandfather,” lamented josé. “i have sucked at the seat of pain as you have told me, but extracted nothing, and i have blown tobacco smoke on her and prayed, but without avail.”
“yes, my son, but one must have practice in such matters and the confidence of the gods. possibly it is the work of one of your enemies. it is well that you called me, for none else in the tribe has my power and influence.”
sending the neighbors home, he questioned josé with regard to 220 his sins of omission and commission, trying to determine the cause of his wife’s infirmity. had he or she any enemies who might wish to send sickness upon them? josé knew of none, except possibly one of her other old suitors. had he been careful to placate the chanes when he built his new home? josé was compelled to admit that he had ignored this matter entirely.
“ah, my son!” lamented the old man, “you young people laugh at us; you think we are silly, and yet when your own obstinacy leads you into trouble you come to us for aid! well, that is ever the way of youth. now let’s see what we can do.”
he laid josefa on her back, standing at her feet. lighting a cigarette made of corn husk and tobacco he assumed a serious attitude which rapidly became almost hypnotic. taking long draughts of smoke, he faced the four cardinal points in turn, blowing a puff of smoke in each direction, and then in a low tense voice recited a prayer, begging that the illness might pass from her and she be restored to health. then he blew five puffs of smoke on her hands, feet and forehead and, falling on his knees, began to stroke her body rapidly from the extremities to the seat of pain, at which place he then began to suck vigorously. finally arising, he spat into his hand a mouthful of blood. his state of tense emotion rapidly disappeared as he said gravely:
“this is a serious matter, pepito. it is not the chan; if it were, i should have sucked out only spittle. the blood proves it to be witchcraft!
“it is a matter of the greatest delicacy,” continued nestor, “and you are lucky to have one so powerful as i at your service. even for me it will require a whole week of fasting and praying to diagnose the matter correctly. and even for my favorite grandson i couldn’t afford to do it for less than the standard price of five pesos!”
after a half-hour’s argument the matter was amicably arranged and for a week the old man bathed, fasted and prayed, and by the end of that time had worked himself into an exalted state which combined with the weakness induced by the fast, made him see visions. on the evening of the seventh day he again appeared before the young man, the gravity of the business evidently weighing upon him very heavily.
“i have seen it all,” he said simply. “it was a young man. i 221 couldn’t see him plainly enough to recognize him. but he made a figure from a piece of her clothing and stuck a pin into it while another old man prayed that she might sicken and die!”
a wave of hatred passed over josé and he cursed the culprit violently. there was no longer the slightest doubt in his mind that old nestor spoke with authority. he had heard all these old tales about ways of harming an enemy by magical means, but he had never really put any faith in them. and now he was the victim! he ran over in his mind the names of those who might be suspected. there was pablo hernandez with whom he had had an argument at the last fiesta, and pedro martinez who claimed he had cheated him over a sale of corn last month. ah, but wait. there was margarito de la rosa who had been his pet rival for the hand of josefa. the more he thought of it, the more certain he was that it must have been he. all right! he would fix him!
nestor set about his cure with gravity and self-possession, knowing like any doctor that the best half of any cure lay in the confidence of the patient. first he produced his bundle of arrows made of a straight shaft of wood with a large feather from an eagle or a red-tailed hawk, hanging from the blunt end. these were the arrows that attacked evil and sickness. three of these he stuck in the ground at the patient’s head and a fourth at her feet. then he performed a number of motions with the arrows, which involved changing their positions, pointing them to the four cardinal points and waving them above the patient’s head to purify her. finally he fell on his knees and once again began to suck at the sorest spot in her body. after several attempts on various parts he finally arose with great emotion, his face a livid red from the intensity of his efforts, spat into his hand and showed josé—a pin! the latter gasped with astonishment.
now without doubt the old man had concealed the pin in his mouth before beginning to suck, nevertheless he had worked himself into such an intense emotional state that the fraud was probably quite unconscious. as for josé—had he not seen with his own eyes? the very pin which had been stuck into the figure representing his wife had been removed from her body! so that was the game, was it? very well, it was a game more than one could play at. from that time on he nursed his revenge.
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after he had brooded over his wrongs for a long time he again consulted nestor and told him of his suspicions. the old man nodded gravely.
“most probably it was he,” he assented. “now that i think of it, the person i saw in the vision was much like him. of course! i see him very plainly now. and the old man who helped him was that shameless old heleno montez who thinks he has more power than i. i’m certain of that. very well, we’ll show them!” and so the two conspirators secretly planned the untimely demise of margarito and heleno.
thus it happened that a few days later they met late one night in a secluded spot on the outskirts of the village.
“there are several methods of bewitching,” began nestor, after crossing himself. “you might as well learn them. one way is to make a figure of cotton and bury it in the cemetery, light a candle and place it at the head of a grave at midnight on monday, after having fasted all day. repeat this for five successive mondays and on the last day get a black stone from the river and hit the earth above the figure five times. then run home before the candle goes out. the corpse will cause your enemy to sicken and die within five months. but one must fast for the entire twenty-nine days.”
josé shuddered and looked furtively around into the darkness with the fear of one who dreads ghosts. neither the method nor the long fast appealed to him. but nestor, with the air of a devotee, warmed up to his subject.
“but a better way is to make a figure of cotton with hands and feet, head and mouth, wrap it up with the shroud of a dead man and then pierce the head and the heart with five thorns. pretty soon the victim will fall sick of the stomach and his heart will rot and—may god have mercy on his soul!” nestor chuckled. “a very pretty way it is, too! that was probably the method they tried on josefa. lucky you had me to counteract it!”
again josé’s anger rose at the thought of the villainy and he hardened his heart against the malefactors.
“another good way,” continued nestor, “is to make a clay figure and bury it in an ant hill at high noon. you must fast a day and say the creed seven times while counting your rosary and light a 223 candle. and when the candle goes out, the ants will come up and in five days the enemy will die of boils and hives and fever!”
“that’s a terrible death, little grandfather,” said josé. “we can’t do anything like that!”
“well, there’s still another way, the best of all. few men know this, but i will tell you the secret.” his voice sank to a whisper.
“first you must get a bone from the right hand of a dead man. take this and hide it in the thatch of the roof of your enemy’s house when no one is looking. then in the night he will see a black phantom and the following night a terrifying vision lamenting behind the house. unless he finds and removes the charm, he will continue being terrified until at last all the people of that house will die from fear of horrible nightmares of poisonous animals—rattle-snakes, centipedes, tarantulas, lizards, spiders and scorpions!”
but josé had heard enough, and was on his way home as if all these noxious creatures were after him. others might dabble in witchcraft if they pleased, but it was not for him! his difference with margarito he would settle with fist or machete!
this experience brought josé more closely into contact with old nestor. besides he was getting on toward middle life and beginning to recover from the agnosticism of youth and to take an interest in the old religion and customs of the forefathers. these, he was well aware, were kept alive by a few devoted old conservatives like nestor who believed that it was only their fidelity which kept the tribe from complete annihilation by the gods, angry because of the neglect of the younger people. the younger people regarded the conservatives as harmless old fools and their religious practices as amusing superstitions. in this they were encouraged by the padre who was anxious to see all the old beliefs rooted out. nevertheless he knew enough of human nature to realize that little could be accomplished by coercion and force, and enough of church history to remember that the church had always found it better to reinterpret the old pagan beliefs and incorporate them into the faith rather than to battle against them. consequently the conservative group considered themselves perfectly good catholics and saw no antagonism between the new and the old religions. nestor found josé in a receptive mood when he approached him on the topic.
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“josé,” said he, “it has always been a matter of great regret to me that my only grandson has not been one of the few who have kept faith with the ancient gods of the pueblo. but that is the nature of youth. i too, up to your age, took little part in the ceremonies, although at that time all of the elder generation were loyal. but now you have arrived at the age of discretion; your advice is sought and your example has considerable influence. i know you no longer laugh at our beliefs; you have frequently questioned me about them. but you have never affiliated yourself with us. delay no longer, dear little grandson. father sun is stretching out his hand toward you to gather you unto him. this is the fifth of january. to-night we celebrate the feast of the pinole. come and join us!”
there was an air of ecstasy about the old man and of hysterical emotion, due, as josé realized, to the long fast in preparation for the feast, as well as to the narcotic peyote. josé saw that a refusal would anger the old man and, besides, he felt a curiosity as well as a real religious interest in the proceedings.
“i will go,” he said shortly.
as the sun sank behind the western mountains josé and nestor followed the winding trail toward the place where the ceremony was to be held. just at dusk they arrived at the patio situated on the top of a small hill. of course in his boyhood days josé had frequently visited the patios where the ceremonies of the conservatives for untold generations had been held. he knew their general form well—a flat circular ground with a place for a fire in the center, a ring of stones which served as seats for the communicants, a circular path without this for the dancers, and a rude altar built of stones to the east. but now everything assumed a new significance.
on arriving, nestor and josé gravely made the requisite five ceremonial circuits of the ground, after which they bowed before the altar, while old nestor recited a prayer in a low voice. josé knew enough of the old tepecano language to get the sense of the prayer which begged permission of the gods to prepare and decorate their temple. after this, they set to work and cleared the ground of all growth until it presented an even surface, swept it smooth and started a fire in the center.
nestor then busied himself at the altar for a long time, and josé observed that he had opened his box and taken out many objects of 225 ceremonial importance which he placed in their proper positions on the altar. for a long time he busied himself there, carefully unwrapping every object and giving great care to its placing. josé, sweeping the court and nursing the fire, watched him out of the corner of his eye. at last the old man turned and called to him.
“joselito,” said the old man, surveying his work with the pride of a good craftsman, “it is well that you should understand the meaning of all our religious objects. doubtless you have heard malicious gossip and lies concerning them from the unbelievers of the village. they have told you that we worship idols here, and are in league with the devil in opposition to our holy catholic faith. lies! all lies! we worship god here just as we do in the church with songs and prayers. our dear cura is the leader of that branch of the church, and i of this. he needs his chalices and his sacraments just as i need the ceremonial objects you see here. just as the blessed images in the church protect the town from evil, so do these bring us health, relief from sickness, and rain for our crops. look here! this white cloth is the tapexte—it represents the heavens filled with great white rain clouds. these little square objects of colored yarn on a frame, you know well. they are chimales, shields, and represent the face of god, the sun. consequently they shield us from every influence and we even fear to make them until after the rainy season for fear they might keep away the rains! these arrows you know too. they are our active defense from sickness and evil and are hung with the feathers of the royal eagle and the red-tailed hawk.”
“why only those?” interrupted josé.
“because they are the most powerful, swift and strong; therefore the arrow will fly fast, hard and straight. it is with these arrows that people are cleansed from sickness and evil. then these sticks with tufts of cotton wound on them are bastoncitos. the cotton, of course, represents the great rain clouds, and these also serve to cleanse and purify and to bring the rains for the crops. all of these things you have seen and know fairly well. but these little objects of great importance you probably do not know.”
nestor pointed to the front of the altar where lay six or eight jícaras. some of these were decorated with designs made of small glass beads of different colors set in beeswax on the outer and inner 226 surfaces, but all of them contained various small objects resting on beds of cotton. many of them were natural stones of strange and unusual shapes and colors, others were little bone carvings and similar objects made by the ancient populations of this region, and occasionally found by the present people. a few others were, although neither of the observers realized it, manufactured objects from other lands.
“these,” said old nestor solemnly, “are the cidukam which are sometimes called our ‘idols.’ of course they are not. but they are very powerful and rare and are carefully guarded. one finds them here and there, where they are left by the gods that those with faith and observation may find them. they protect him from evil and sickness and bring to him health, wealth and happiness. i, as chief singer, have the largest number of most powerful ones which protect not only me, but the entire pueblo. and yet they care so little for it that the people laugh at my valuables and refuse to attend our ceremonies. but let them beware! the gods will not bear with this neglect forever! already things are not as they were in my youth. then the rains were longer and heavier, the corn grew more bountifully and the deer were more plentiful. while i last, i will keep the faith, but who will follow me? not one of the younger generation knows the prayers, the songs or the details of the ceremonies! well, at any rate, i shall have done my best to save them from the consequences of their neglect.”
“here,” he exclaimed, pointing to a spherical object resting on a bed of cotton in a beautifully decorated jícara, “here is the most powerful object in the collection. there is not another one in the tribe—yes, there cannot be another like this in the whole world.”
he raised the globe reverently and lovingly from its bed. now an american schoolboy would have recognized it as a large glass marble with the white corkscrew veins in the center. but to nestor and josé it was a wonderful object, and they feasted their eyes on the beautiful and regular shape and color.
“this is surely the spirit of the rain,” said the old man softly. “see! it is transparent like the water and in the centre the whirling rain descends. ah! if that should be lost or taken from the country, the rain would surely follow it and we would all die of drought and starvation!” he put it back into its place reverently.
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“here is a representation of the moon, white and round; this one is evidently the spirit of the deer. see how closely it resembles one with its horns! here is doubtless an ear of corn, and this one here is certainly intended for a chimal. and these—but here come more people!”
into the light of the fire brightly blazing in the center of the patio came three elderly men. josé knew them well, of course, as prominent in the conservative party. they walked five times around the circle and stopped before the altar and breathed their prayers before stepping out to greet the two. from this time on, the communicants arrived slowly, until by eight o’clock about a dozen had congregated, almost entirely elderly men. a few women also had come, but these made a fire for themselves outside the circle and took no part in the ritual.
presently nestor brought out a bow of the type used by the hunters of old, and tightened the string until it gave forth a resonant twang when plucked. then, scooping out a hole in the ground in front of his seat, he inverted a gourd bowl over this and held the bow, string uppermost, on the bowl with his foot so that it served as a resonance chamber. two small sticks were selected and the ceremony was about to begin. first, however, he called josé to him and formally recited to him another of the old speeches, handed down by tradition through centuries, delivering to him the care of the fire for the night. then he seated himself on his central seat, and on either side sat another old man. in each hand they held one of the ceremonial arrows which they had taken from the altar. these were waved slowly, and pointed in turn to east, north, west and south while the old man recited the traditional prayer opening the fiesta. this done, he settled himself on his seat and, taking the two sticks in his hand, struck the bow with a sonorous twang. then he began to sing in a low voice to the accompaniment of the monotonous twang of the bow. josé followed the example of the other men by getting up and dancing around the circle with a solemn, slow tripping step, stopping to face outwards for a moment at each of the cardinal points, and particularly to the altar at the east.
and so the long night passed. around polaris swung the bright stars, shining as they can only in the crisp air of high altitudes. all night long with but brief intermissions the old man sang. only four 228 songs there were in all, but these were very long and full of monotonous repetition. they told of the origin of the gods and of the world, and of the coming of the rain to refresh the world with its life-giving water. josé tended the fire conscientiously and danced with the other men for at least a portion of every song.
at last above the rim of the eastern hills appeared the glowing morning star like a heavenly torch, and all greeted it reverently. soon the great sun himself began to spread the light and warmth of his glow abroad, and finally showed his face radiant above the eastern hills. seldom had he seemed more majestic to josé and seldom had his warmth been more welcome, after the chilliness of the night.
about this time nestor finished his last song to the sun and the ceremony was almost over. once again the other two old men took their places beside him on the stone seats and once again were the arrows pointed to the cardinal points while the chief singer recited the prayer to close the ceremony. then, one by one, all the men approached the altar where they were given little tamales[14] to eat, while nestor purified them of all sickness and evil by waving over them an arrow, the feather of which had been dipped in peyote water. a few drops of the water were placed in the hand of each, and then water in which corn meal had been mixed was sprinkled over every one present, over the altar and the seats. the sacred objects on the altar were collected and replaced in their box, all the attendants, led by nestor, made their five ceremonial circuits of the patio and the ceremony was completed. josé went home and slept the rest of the day.
although josé still affected to ridicule the beliefs and practices of the conservatives, yet the ceremony he had witnessed had really quite an effect upon him. and he began to show a live concern for the old religion, studying it almost as would a scientific investigator. many were the conferences and long talks that he and nestor held together, the old man an intensely enthusiastic informant, the young man an interested listener and keen inquisitor. of course, like all the tepecanos, he already understood the basis of the old religion, how the trinity of father sun, mother moon and elder brother morning star watched over and protected their people; how father sun had sent his daughter, the corn, into the world that 229 they might have sustenance, and how the gods sent the welcome and necessary rains in the spring and summer, that the corn might flourish, requiring only that the people worship them with song and dance, with arrows and chimales. but all of the minor esoteric details opened a new field of interest to him. he learned the many set prayers which were enjoined for various occasions, the ritual songs sung at the four principal ceremonies, that of the rain in april, the ripe-corn in september, the corn-meal in january and the twin-corn in march. he heard of the tabus of fasting and continence enjoined upon the chief singer and, above all, of the influence and power of the magic peyote which played such a large part in all observances. he learned to make the various kinds of arrows and chimales and to know their special powers. he learned the locations of the altars, and particularly the four principal ones to the cardinal points, in each of which was a habitant spirit, and how to each pertained a special color—green to the east, gray to the north, black to the west and white to the south. he came to realize that the religion was practically based on the securing of rain, for which the gods were petitioned with prayer and song, and placated by sacrifices and fasting, for rain was the one essential to human life.
josé became particularly interested in the little cactus root known as peyote, that dried, shriveled-up little thing which produced such a wonderful effect when eaten. such a feeling of ecstasy and exhilaration, of joy and insensibility to fatigue, did they produce that they were certainly powerful instruments of the gods, if not near gods themselves.
“it is a kind of corn,” volunteered nestor of the peyote, “just as the deer are corn.” by that he meant that it was a food sent by the gods, for he knew well that it was the root of a cactus growing in a country far to the east.
“when i was young,” he continued, “we journeyed far to the east to gather the peyote root just as the huicholes do to-day. but now that i am old and there is no one to take my place, i must buy it from them.”
then and there josé swore that he would accompany the next huichol party to the eastern country in search of the strange plant, for he was still young enough to feel youth’s passion for visiting strange lands. he had frequently seen parties of peyote-seekers 230 passing through the village and had struck up an acquaintance with some of them, envying them their gaudy costumes and long trip. now he would go with them and himself bring back the peyote!
“may the gods be with you, joselito!” fervently prayed old nestor. “would that i were young enough to accompany you! but i shall fast and pray for you. when you return with the peyote you will have fulfilled one of the requirements for the office of chief singer, and i will go to my forefathers in peace, knowing that you will take my place. it is now october and some of the huichol men will be about starting out. you have frequently heard me mention my old friend benito torres who left azqueltán as a youth to live with the huicholes, and who has risen to be one of the most respected men of the tribe. go to him and he will befriend you. go with god!”
it was a bright, warm day in october when josé set out for the huichol country. josefa had filled his sack with gordas and his bule[15] with water. tobacco, matches, his machete and blanket were the rest of his equipment. he waved farewell to his wife and started up the hills to the west. higher and higher he climbed, now scrambling up a slope of rock talus, now following a trickling stream up a ravine, now skirting a fertile hill with the hay still slightly greenish from the recent rains. the little river in the bottom of the great barranca grew smaller and smaller, until at last it was lost to sight entirely, behind the hills of the upper edge. the heat grew perceptibly less as he climbed and the pine trees appeared singly and then in groups. the first night he spent by the side of a blazing pine fire on the edge of the mountain forests, while he listened to the howl of the wolves or the snarl of a jaguar or mountain lion.
early in the morning he was off again, still going westward through the pine groves until at last he began to see the fields and houses of the huichol. the houses were much like those of his tribe except that none was of adobe. they were also arranged in villages, but in every village was one larger house which served as the temple, in place of the open-air altars to which he was accustomed. the people looked very much the same, but their dress was different. they wore scarfs, belts and little pouches woven in designs of bright colors, wide hats with feathers, and their legs were bare to the knees. they looked askance at the traveler in the conventional cotton trousers 231 of the mexican peon. one or two accosted him in the huichol language. it was a queer tongue to him, with many sounds he had never heard before and was confident no civilized man could ever reproduce. he replied in spanish, but was not understood until one of the middle-aged men who had worked in the nearby mining town, and there acquired a small spanish vocabulary, happened along. from him josé learned that benito torres lived on a little ranch a few miles beyond the village. arriving there about sunset he kicked aside the snarling dogs which, as everywhere in mexico, prowled about the house, and called aloud. a middle-aged man came out of the house.
“cafh?van, armano!” jose greeted him. the man, after a moment of silent surprise, smiled and countered:
“cafh?van api! it is a long time since i have heard that greeting in tepecano,” he continued in spanish, “and the language has about failed me. enter! enter! here is your home! julia! bring food and drink for my brother wak?ri!” wak?ri is the name given the tepecanos by the huicholes.
“i am called josé aguilar,” said the traveler, “the son of francisco and grandson of nestor.”
“ah, yes! francisco and i were boys together, and many pranks we played on nestor. he himself was a young man then. how long ago that was! but when i was younger than you, i saw the way things were going. the mexicans were encroaching on our lands, the cura came and built the church and we were made to give up our communal land and each man take a piece for himself. as if the gods ever intended their land to be owned like a machete or a hat! as well divide up the air and the water in the river and make the new-born babe pay to breathe and drink! ave maria! and then they began to bring in strong drinks; they wanted us to put our legs in those long trousers you wear now, to give up our old language and speak spanish and to foreswear the old religion. i saw the way it was going and said, ‘not for me! not for benito torres!’ and i took my blanket as you have done and came up here with the huicholes where i have spent a long, happy life following the mandates of the gods. you are wise to have done likewise. i welcome you!” and he threw his arms around the younger man in a welcoming embrace.
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josé was pleased and yet troubled.
“yes, little uncle,” he replied at last, “it is quite true. there is little of the old left now in azqueltán. only old nestor and a few of the other old men keep to the old faith. but i am of the new order. these are the clothes i have always worn; spanish is my language, catholicism my religion. i cannot change to the old order any more than you to the new. and yet the new is inevitable; i see it even here.”
benito nodded a sad acquiescence. “yes, it is a losing fight. even here the old is passing. i have not postponed it for these people, but only for myself by coming here. in a century or so there will be no huicholes, no tepecanos, no coras, only mexican peones of indian blood. but why then have you come here?”
josé explained his mission, at which the sad face lighted up again.
“it is well,” he said. “i too went with parties several times after i first came here. but it is a task for young men. you know it involves harsh restrictions of fasting and great endurance?” josé insisted he was prepared for them.
“very well, then. in a very few days a party begins the preliminary fast. i will speak to their leader and you shall join them.”
and so it happened that through the good offices of benito, josé was accepted among the peyoteros and prepared to take his part in the work. he adopted the dress and paraphernalia of the party, taking bow and arrows and several small tobacco gourds. the evening before the departure he bathed and prayed, as he might not bathe again until the return from the long journey. there were nine other men in the party, including a leader who was the only one allowed to make fire while on the long trip. several burrows were taken along, to carry tortillas on the journey and bring back the peyote on the return. nevertheless they were expected to fast much of the time, and several men of the party ate little but peyote during the entire forty-three days they were away on the journey.
bidding an affectionate good-by to their wives and families, the little party started out. instead of passing by azqueltán, they struck eastward down the slopes of the wooded mountains and out onto the rolling plateau, dry, hot and sandy. day followed day in monotonous repetition, night followed night. generally in single file they 233 walked, dirty and hungry, but with their minds fixed on the goal before them—the attainment of the little cacti which would protect their villages and bring them rain. across the well known trail they went, camping each night in a certain place, so that the faithful watchers at home knew each night exactly where they were. this trail had been followed for centuries and went along the most inaccessible route, away from roads and villages, so that the pilgrims were seen by very few of the mexicans of even the more inhabited parts of the country they traversed.
but at one spot when the journey was about half ended, not far from the great city of zacatecas, they came to a road which could not be avoided. it was made up of short logs of wood laid parallel, and on these were fastened long, snaky iron rails. josé, though more civilized than the others, had never seen anything of the kind before, but one of the other men who had made the journey before, explained by signs that an immense monster, dragging behind him houses full of people, ran at tremendous speed along the road, as a horse drew a cart along a dirt road. from the description josé recognized it as a railroad, as he had heard about railroads when an open-eyed boy, from an itinerant peddler.
eastward, ever eastward they pressed, until two full weeks had passed, when the leader of the party informed them that their destination was but five days’ journey away and that from that time all restrictions must be rigidly observed. they were to walk in single file continuously, and eat nothing but peyote for the rest of the journey. in a few days josé began to see the first little peyote plants, but the leader affected not to notice them, although as the party pressed on the plants grew more abundant. at length, on the nineteenth day, when they had covered about three hundred miles, the leader called a halt. trembling with emotion, superinduced by hunger and fatigue, he cried:
“there is the peyote, appearing as a deer!”
at that, all drew their arrows and shot at a peyote plant, taking care not to hit it. then from the loads on the burrows various ceremonial objects were produced—arrows, chimales, bastones and other objects not used by the tepecanos—which were deposited as sacrifices to the gods and to the peyote. for the next three days all 234 collected the little cactus roots until the burros were loaded down and the men wore strings around their necks. on the fifth day after arrival they started their long journey homeward.
by this time the supply of tortillas had become entirely exhausted and josé, in particular, being more accustomed to regularity of food, and less accustomed to the diet of peyote, suffered greatly. the others appeared not to be greatly affected, for they consumed many peyote roots and walked with the sprightly, springy step that certain kinds of intoxication produce, though their thin limbs and drawn faces betrayed the strain upon them. now and again inhabitants of the country gave them food, but these were rare occasions and for the greater part they covered the first fourteen days of the return trip in a daze, sustained only by the stimulus of peyote and their nerve.
but at last the fourteen days were over and they approached the spot where, the leader informed them, a party from the village would meet them, five days’ journey from home, with loads of tortillas. and so indeed it happened! how good the corn cakes, bone dry after five days in the scorching sun! with renewed strength they continued their way to the edge of their pine forests, where they hunted deer for several days to obtain the meat demanded for the return feast.
a few days later, a body of thin and famished men, their figures only just beginning to recover from the privations of the long journey, but their heads high with elation and consciousness of probity and of duty well performed, their burros laden with sacks of peyote and deer meat and their necks bedecked with strings of peyote, marched down the street of the principal village. the tabu upon washing would not be removed until the great feast, and they presented a bedraggled and filthy appearance, yet they were heroes to the stay-at-homes in the village as they entered the temple and deposited their cherished strings of roots. then they again began to hunt deer in order to have plenty for the great peyote fiesta in january.
but josé was anxious to get home. he felt that he had done his share and should be excused from the month or more delay in preparation for the fiesta in which he had but little interest. benito took his part also and urged that he be allowed to depart. many of the shamans took exception, fearing that such a rupture of all the regulations 235 of peyote-gathering might anger the gods and work harm. but finally benito’s argument that harm, if any, would fall upon the culprit and his people in azqueltán and not on the huicholes, carried the day, and josé was wished god-speed, loaded with gordas made by benito’s wife, julia, and sent on his way.
how beautiful the great barranca seemed as he first emerged from the edge of the pine forests and saw the gaping chasm below! what joy to make out the little cluster of adobe and thatch shacks with the little white church in the center! as he neared his house, his loving wife ran out and embraced him. how good it was to be home again, and how much better were her tortillas than those of any of the huichol women!
but only a few minutes did he tarry at home in spite of his long absence, for josefa said at once: “old nestor is sick unto death and has been asking for you hourly. he has kept track of the time you have been away, and says you should be home about this time and that he will not go until he sees you again.”
hastily josé ran along the winding trail which led to the house of the old man, and as he neared it he heard the doleful wail of an old shaman singing one of his curing songs. on his blanket on the floor lay the old man, surrounded by his ceremonial arrows and other sacred paraphernalia. as josé entered, he smiled and motioned to the shaman to stop singing.
“it is useless,” he said simply. “i know my time has come. sooner or later it comes to all of us. but i knew you were coming to-day, my boy. i dreamt it last night, and i would not go until i saw you. i see you have brought the peyote for me. well, it will never benefit me. stay! give me a drink of it now. it will make my head clearer. but the rest of it you must keep for yourself. you are the only one of the tribe who has fulfilled the requirement for chief singer by going to the peyote country. and besides, you know all the songs and prayers and all the intricate details of our ceremonies. and i will leave you all my cherished valuables, my arrows, my chimales and my cidukam. they will help you in every need, and while you cherish them the gods will allow no harm to befall the pueblo. francisco! baldomero! must he not be chief singer after me?”
“it is true,” spoke francisco. “josé, my son, you are young in 236 years, but old in experience and knowledge. will you not do as grandfather wishes?”
reluctantly josé agreed.
a few days later a straggling procession wound its way to the little cemetery behind the church while strong hands bore a plain black box containing the body of old nestor. the burial customs of old had been entirely forgotten, and even if they had not, francisco would have taken no chances with fate by having the old man buried outside of consecrated ground. but nevertheless josé managed to slip a few of the old man’s most cherished sacred things into the box with him. later josé went to the principal altars in the hills to deposit other things, besides journeying to the seat of the cura to pay to have masses said for the rest of his soul.
for a year or so josé fulfilled his office as chief singer dutifully, but then the restrictions and fasts began to pall upon him, and he shirked the duties and finally abandoned them altogether. some of the conservatives remonstrated with him, but he replied that he could not see but that they had just as much rain and corn, without performing the ceremonies, and no more sickness and famine than when the ceremonies were performed, in which he was certainly borne out by the facts. and not long afterwards, when a “gringo” scientist came to the village to study the language and customs, he was glad to sell all of nestor’s sacrosanct valuables at a high price and call it a good riddance.
j. alden mason