The Pima Indians/Sociology/Social organization

by Frank Russell

SOCIOLOGY

Social Organization

OFFICERS

The Pimas are governed by a head chief and by a chief for each village. These men are assisted by village councils, which do not, the author believes, appoint any representatives to the tribal councils. The office of head chief is not hereditary, though the present incumbent succeeded his father. He is elected by the village chiefs.

The present head chief is Antonio Azul (pl. II, a), known among his people as Uva-aʼtûka, Spread Leg, from a peculiarity in his gait; also as Ma’vĭt Ka’wutam, Puma Shield, and by other names less elegant. The calendar records are silent upon this, and as to the date of his accession, reference to it in contemporary literature has been seen. He became chief before 1864, as Poston mentions in his report as special commissioner in that year that Antonio had just had his commission revoked for bad conduct.^[1]

Antonio's father had been the preceding head chief. He was known as Culo Azul, also as Ti’ahiatam, Urine. His predecessor was Rsân’talĭ Viʼakam, who was killed by Apaches before Kâmâl tkâk, who is probably 75 years old, was born. His predecessor was named O’sĭvf, Joseph. No recollection of any earlier chief remains. In the Rudo Ensayo Tavanimó is named as the chief about the year 1757,^[2] and it is possible that he was the predecessor of O’sĭvf.

The decrees of the councils are announced from a house top by the village crier, who is selected because of possessing the loudest and clearest voice. There are sometimes two of these officials in a village.

In each village there was also a "ceremony talker," or master of ceremonies, whose duty it was to arrange and control the details of the festivals and general ceremonies not especially provided for by the religious fraternities.

At the command of each council was a messenger who might be sent to summon those required by that body.

Any man of acknowledged courage might, with the approval of his fraternity (the information obtained at this point was somewhat vague—perhaps "neighbors" or "the community" is the better term), organize a war party. He was then called Tcunyĭm or Tcuʼyĭnyĭm, Smoker, or War Speaker. His name and authority ended upon returning from the campaign.

It is important to note that the tribe acted as a unit against the Apaches. With their compact territory and well-developed agriculture they might well have easily developed yet further their division of labor and established a warrior class. Then, with their increasing numbers under the stimulus of material well-being, they might have easily extended their power. No neighboring tribes except the Apaches and Papagos surpassed them in numbers; the former were without resources, the latter were related and friendly. The advantages of confederation had been learned from more than half a century's experience with the Maricopas, a tribe of alien speech and blood.

GENTES

Descent is traced in the male line and there are five groups that may be called gentes, though they exert no influence upon marriage laws nor do they manifest any evidences of organization so far as ascertained. The names of these groups have lost all meaning. They are called Â’kol, A’pap, A’pŭkĭ, Ma’-am, and Va’-af.

The first three are known as the Vulture or Red People, the last two as the Coyote or White People. However, they are spoken of as the Sûwû’kĭ O’himal and Sto’am O’himal, or Red Ants and White Ants.^[3] In the Pima creation myth presented in full in this memoir reference is made to black ants, tcotcĭk tâtâny, and to the termite, hiapĭtc, but no connection is supposed to exist between them and the o’himal.

The Red People are said to have been in possession of the country when Elder Brother brought the White People from the nether world and conquered them as described on page 226. There were more than two gentes of the White People, but Coyote laughed too soon at them and the earth closed before the others got through. The author suspects that this division signifies that the tribe was formed by the junction of two peoples, the only trace of the original groups being the names and the maintenance of the laws of vengeance.

SLAVES

The slaves taken by the Pimas were chiefly from the ranks of the Apaches or their allies.^[4] Though war was waged for many years against the Yumas it was not of a character to enable them to capture many Yuma children. When captured, Apache children were not killed; they were soon forwarded to Tucson, Altar, or Guaymas and sold to the Spaniards or Mexicans, These captives were well treated, but their origin was never forgotten and the fear and suspicion of the tribe found expression at times in the decrees of the medicine-men that certain misfortunes were caused by the presence of the aliens. Somewhat rarely the girls were married into the tribe and an appreciable amount of foreign blood was introduced in this way which doubtless had its effect upon the vigor of the race.

SOCIAL MORALS

It would be a more agreeable task to write of the morality of primitive Pimas than of that which developed as a result of contact with Spaniards and Americans. To the honesty and virtue of the tribe a score of writers have testified, leading to the belief that. moral standards in Pimería at least equaled if they did not resemble our own. Life and property were secure. By their industry they had mastered the difficulties of their environment. The relations of the sexes and the division of labor had been adjusted in a manner creditable to them.^[5]

The law of vengeance operated to prevent homicide. "Speak not foolishly," said the elders; "do not quarrel and kill your neighbor, for that leads to retaliation." Thus the youth were instructed and the abhorrence of bloodshed grew deep and lasting. Within the tribe there was but one exception to this—to kill the convicted sorcerer was meritorious.

No odium attached to the crime of suicide. The body was buried in the usual manner and the property was similarly divided or destroyed. Several instances of self-destruction were ascertained. A blind old man had shot himself and a young man had ended his career because his father would not let him sell some piece of personal property. Another man had shot himself because hie wife had deserted him and their family of small children. A woman had starved herself and baby in the hills of the desert because her husband had left her.

The crime of arson was unknown, though dwellings were frequently burned by accident.

Adultery was punished by turning the woman away from the home. Sometimes the husband shot the horse of the offending man and "then he felt all right."

Prostitution with its train of diseases has not depleted the numbers of the Pimas as it has the population of so many surrounding tribes. Loose women are said by the old people to have been rare in the old days. Independent testimony of the whites accords with this. "They are exceedingly jealous of their females; and their chastity, as far as outside barbarians are concerned, remains, with a few exceptions, unimpeachable."^[6] One informant assured the writer's party that the infant daughter of a prostitute by an unknown father was always destroyed lest she "grow up to be as bad as her mother."

Theft became a common crime with the increasing vagabondage arising from deprivation due to the whites. An extensive system of horse and cattle stealing grew up, whereby the Papagos stole in Sonora and sold to the Pimas, and the latter stole from one another and sold to the Papagos, who bought or stole to sell again in Mexico.

During the worst period of their demoralization they stole wheat from each other and sold it to buy whisky. It is to be remembered that by far the greater part of the tribe disapproved of such deeds, and the few that engaged in such enterprises had not the support of public opinion, which even in an Indian village is an autocratic power.

Thus intoxication was always regarded as reprehensible, though a distinction was made between the persons guilty of drinking the white man's whisky and those who followed the immemorial custom of getting drunk on native-brewed liquors during the saguaro harvest.

Laziness was condemned, and boys and girls were taught to spin and delve—how well may be judged from the fact that the tribe produced a large surplus crop year after year during the early period of American occupancy of the region and at the same time fought back the Apaches and aided the soldiers materially, while the Americans and Mexicans with all their soldiers and outside resources were driven into the shelter of the forts.

Cleanliness is learned by imitation. The floors of the houses are kept free of such objects as can be picked up with the hands and the yards are swept with bundles of arrow bushes or mesquite branches. Bathing was a daily practice.

Public opinion strongly condemned lying. Stinginess could not be more abhorred. The chiefs, especially, were expected to bestow liberally all gifts within their control. The present chief has had a canny sense of thrift and possesses a large bank account, which renders him much less popular than he might otherwise be.

FORMULAS OF POLITENESS

No conventional words of greeting were in use before the introduction of the Spanish and American forms. Tciârs tam wu’sahaĭn, "the god sends his regards," were the closing words of any speech. Hâʼiku-ult, "good-bye," was the usual response of the listeners. Sometimes in finishing a story the narrator exclaimed atoa’tûk, "anus," at which those present said the word expressing the degree of their relationship to the speaker, or if they were not related they said na’wotc, 'friend." The same expressions are used in accepting a gift.

Hand shaking was unknown until introduced by the whites, though it is now universally practised.^[7] It is said that the custom of kissing was confined to mothers and infants. Accurate information of the primitive custom can not now be obtained. Formerly, when long-separated friends met they expressed their joy in tears. The terms expressing their degrees of relationship or simply "friend" were sometimes used.

Guests were offered pinole upon arrival if it were not near mealtime. Pinole was easily prepared without cooking and stayed hunger. At meals guests were helped to food in a dish apart from the common bowl out of which the family ate.

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1. See Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1864, 153, 1865.
2. Records American Catholic Historical Society, V, 129.
3. The same divisions exist among the Papagos, and José Lewis, the Papago who interpreted for Professor McGee, submitted specimens of the ant as examples of the insect referred to as "o’himal."
4. "Que los Cocomaricopas apressan los muchachos Nijoras (que todos son gentiles) y tos venden por esclavos á los mas, y estos á los Españoles, que los compran en cortas cantidades." Villa-Señor, y Sanchez, Theatro Americano, 1748, pt. 2, I, 396.
5. "The Indians, although they were crowding about our tents, and everything was exposed to them; made no effort to steal anything." Captain Johnston, Journal, 600.
   "Um das Bild dieses indianischen Volksstammes zu vervollständigen, muss ich nur noch hinzufügen dass derselbe mit seinen friedlichen und liebenswtürdigen Eigenschaften eine unbestrittene Tapferkeit verbindet, die selbst dem wilden Apachen Hochachtung einflösst. Ich glaube nicht dass sich bei irgend einem anderen noch erhaltenen Stamme der Charakter der amerikanischen Urbevölkerung auf eine vortheilhaftere Weise darstellt." Julius Fröbel, Aus Amerika. II, 448, 449.
   Emory found them "surpassing many of the Christian nations in agriculture, little behind them in the useful arts, and immeasurably before them in honesty and virtue."
   "The heathen Indians received us with jubilee, giving of their provision to the soldiers, and we counted two hundred persons, who were gentle and affable." Mange's Diary, from an extract translated by Buckingham Smith in Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, III, 303.

   "These Gila Pimas are gentle and comely." Ibid., 301, from Diary of Pedro Font.

6. C.D. Poston, in report as special Indian commissioner, in Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1864, 152, 1865.
7. "Antonio and his son had tipped fingers and grunted in token of joy." wrote J.R. Browne, in describing the meeting of the chief and his son after a long separation. Adventures in the Apache Country, 84.