TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
92
the fell orgies the ensuing night. At the expiration of the three days, he is released from their custody, exempt from further annoyance, and taken to the lodge of his captor, to enter upon his servitude. This course is not universal. Adult prisoners are sometimes deliberately put to death with protracted tortures, when the party taking them have suffered much loss of life in the foray. At such times, these savages will eat a portion of the flesh of their victims; and so far are liable to the charge of being cannibals. But they eat to gratify a spirit of revenge, and not to satiate a morbid and loathsome appetite. Cannibal- ism, disgusting in all its phases, is with them a purely meta- physical passion. It is perhaps more abhorrent, to a correct moral sense, though less loathsome than that which results from mere brutal appetite. When boys and girls are captured, they are not subject to any systematic punishment, but are imme- diately domiciliated in the family of the captor. If docile and tractable, they are seldom treated with excessive cruelty. They are employed in menial services, and, occasionally, in process of time, are emancipated and marry into the tribe, when they be- come, de facto, Comanche. There were a number of Mexican juvenile prisoners among them. Those I saw were reluctant to being redeemed, and a much higher value was set on them than on adults. Polygamy, to an indefinite extent, is permitted. One chief, Carno-san-tua, the son of America, a name I presume of Mex- ican bestowment, had ten wives, all of whom seemed to live together in uninterrupted harmony, although one of them was evidently the chief favorite. Wives are divorced unceremoni- ously by the husbands, and sometimes marry again. Infidelity, on the part of the wife, is punished by cutting off the nose; the excision is made from the lower. extremity of the cartilage, diagonally to the lip. I saw several instances of this revolting retribution. The women do all the menial work. They often accompany their husbands in hunting. He kills the game, they butcher and transport the meat, dress the skins, etc. One or more women will sometimes accompany a war-party, when they act as hostlers and serviteurs generally. When in the enemy's country, and near the scene of intended assault, the party se- lects some sequestered spot, in a dense thicket or chapparal, if to be had, where they encamp, deposit their feeble horses and surplus baggage, with a few of the aged or inefficient warriors, and the women, as a camp-guard, while they sally out, usually
Powered by FlippingBook