In Indian Mexico (1908)

The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Indian Mexico (1908), by Frederick Starr This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: In Indian Mexico (1908) Author: Frederick Starr Release Date: July 2, 2005 [EBook #16183] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN INDIAN MEXICO (1908) *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Illustration: THE MUSIC AT CANCUC] IN INDIAN MEXICO A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL AND LABOR BY FREDERICK STARR CHICAGO FORBES & COMPANY Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Starr, Frederick, 1858-1933. In Indian Mexico. Reprint of the ed. published by Forbes, Chicago. 1. Indians of Mexico. 2. Mexico--Description and travel. 3. Starr, Frederick, 1858-1933. I. Title. F1220.S78 1978 972'.004'97 74-9025 ISBN 0-404-11903-4 First AMS edition published in 1978. Reprinted from the edition of 1908, Chicago. [Trim size of the original has been slightly altered in this edition. Original trim size: 15.5 x 23.7 cm. Text area of the original has been maintained in this edition.] IN INDIAN MEXICO IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO A.A. ROBINSON TO WHOM ALL MY WORK IN MEXICO IS DUE AND WHOSE INTEREST HAS BEEN CONTINUOUS AND UNFAILINGPREFACE The reading public may well ask, Why another travel book on Mexico? Few countries have been so frequently written up by the traveler. Many books, good, bad, and indifferent, but chiefly bad, have been perpetrated. Most of these books, however, cover the same ground, and ground which has been traversed by many people. Indian Mexico is practically unknown. The only travel-book regarding it, in English, is Lumholtz's "Unknown Mexico." The indians among whom Lumholtz worked lived in northwestern Mexico; those among whom I have studied are in southern Mexico. The only district where his work and mine overlap is the Tarascan area. In fact, then, I write upon an almost unknown and untouched subject. Lumholtz studied life and customs; my study has been the physical type of south Mexican indians. Within the area covered by Lumholtz, the physical characteristics of the tribes have been studied by Hrdlicka. His studies and my own are practically the only investigations within the field. There are two Mexicos. Northern Mexico to the latitude of the capital city is a _mestizo_ country; the indians of pure blood within that area occupy limited and circumscribed regions. Southern Mexico is indian country; there are large regions, where the _mestizos_, not the indians, are the exception. From the time of my first contact with Mexican indians, I was impressed with the notable differences between tribes, and desired to make a serious study of their types. In 1895, the accidental meeting with a priest from Guatemala led to my making a journey to Central America. It was on that journey that I saw how the work in question might be done. While the government of Mexico is modeled upon the same pattern as our own, it is far more paternal in its nature. The Republic is a confederation of sovereign states, each of which has its elected governor. The states are subdivided into districts somewhat corresponding to our counties, over each of which is a _jefe politico_ appointed by the governor; he has no responsibility to those below him, but is directly responsible to the man who names him, and who can at will remove him; he is not expected to trouble the state government unnecessarily, and as long as he turns over the taxes which are due the state he is given a free hand. Within the districts are the cities and towns, each with its local, independent, elected town government. The work I planned to do among these indian towns was threefold: 1. The measurement of one hundred men and twenty-five women in each population, fourteen measurements being taken upon each subject; 2. The making of pictures,--portraits, dress, occupations, customs, buildings, and landscapes; 3. The making of plaster busts of five individuals in each tribe. To do such work, of course, involved difficulty, as the Indians of Mexico are ignorant, timid, and suspicious. Much time would be necessary, in each village, if one depended upon establishing friendly and personal relations with the people. But with government assistance, all might be done promptly and easily. Such assistance was readily secured. Before starting upon any given journey, I secured letters from the Department of Fomento, one of the Executive Departments of the Federal Government. These letters were directed to the governors of the states; they were courteously worded introductions. From the governors, I received letters of a more vigorous character to the _jefes_ of the districts to be visited. From the _jefes_, I received stringent orders upon the local governments; these orders entered into no detail, but stated that I had come, recommended by the superior authorities, for scientific investigations; that the local authorities should furnish the necessaries of life at just prices, and that they should supply such help as was necessary for my investigations. In addition to the ordersfrom the _jefes_ to the town authorities, I carried a general letter from the governor of the state to officials of every grade within its limits. This was done in case I should at any time reach towns in districts where I had been unable to see the _jefe politico_. It was desirable, when possible, that the _jefe_ should be seen before serious work was undertaken. As Governor Gonzales of Oaxaca once remarked, when furnishing me a general letter: "You should always see the _jefe politico_ of the district first. These Indians know nothing of me, and often will not recognize my name; but the _jefe_ of their district they know, and his orders they will obey." In using these official orders, I adopted whatever methods were best calculated to gain my ends; success depended largely on my taking matters into my own hands. Each official practically unloaded me upon the next below him, with the expectation that I should gain my ends, if possible, but at the same time he felt, and I knew, that his responsibility had ended. In case of serious difficulty, I could not actually count upon the backing of any one above the official with whom I then was dealing. Upon the Guatemala expedition, which took place in January-March, 1896, my only companion was Mr. Ernst Lux, whose knowledge of the language, the country, and the people was of the utmost value. As the result of that journey, my vacations through a period of four years were devoted to this field of research. The first field expedition covered the period from November, 1897, to the end of March, 1898; the plan of work included the visiting of a dozen or more tribes, with interpreter, photographer, and plaster-worker; the success of the plan depended upon others. Dr. W.D. Powell was to serve as interpreter, Mr. Bedros Tatarian as photographer; at the last moment the plans regarding the plaster-worker failed; arrived in the field, Dr. Powell was unable to carry out his contract; the photographic work disintegrated, and failure stared us in the face. Reorganization took place. Rev. D.A. Wilson