The youths were required to keep away from the fire, in order that they might learn to suffer with bravery and courage.  They were forbidden also to eat certain kinds of foods, to teach them to bear deprivation and to learn to control their appetites.  In addition to these there were certain ceremonies, which included fasting, abstinence from drinking, and the production of hallucinations by means of a vegetable drug, called pivat (still used, by the way, by some of the Indians of Southern California), and the final branding of the neophyte, which Boscana describes as follows:  “A kind of herb was pounded until it became sponge-like; this they placed, according to the figure required, upon the spot intended to be burnt, which was generally upon the right arm, and sometimes upon the thick part of the leg also.  They then set fire to it, and let it remain until all that was combustible was consumed.  Consequently, a large blister immediately formed, and although painful, they used no remedy to cure it, but left it to heal itself; and thus, a large and perpetual scar remained.  The reason alleged for this ceremony was that it added greater strength to the nerves, and gave a better pulse for the management of the bow.”  This ceremony was called potense.

The education of the girls was by no means neglected.

“They were taught to remain at home, and not to roam about in idleness; to be always employed in some domestic duty, so that, when they were older, they might know how to work, and attend to their household duties; such as procuring seeds, and cleaning them—­making ‘atole’ and ‘pinole,’ which are kinds of gruel, and their daily food.  When quite young, they have a small, shallow basket, called by the natives ‘tucmel,’ with which they learn the way to clean the seeds, and they are also instructed in grinding, and preparing the same for consumption.”

When a girl was married, her father gave her good advice as to her conduct.  She must be faithful to her wifely duties and do nothing to disgrace either her husband or her parents.  Children of tender years were sometimes betrothed by their parents.  Padre Boscana says he married a couple, the girl having been but eight or nine months old, and the boy two years, when they were contracted for by their parents.

Childbirth was natural and easy with them, as it generally is with all primitive peoples.  An Indian woman has been known to give birth to a child, walk half a mile to a stream, step into it and wash both herself and the new-born babe, then return to her camp, put her child in a yakia, or basket cradle-carrier, sling it over her back, and start on a four or five mile journey, on foot, up the rocky and steep sides of a canyon.

A singular custom prevailed among these people, not uncommon elsewhere.  The men, when their wives were suffering their accouchement, would abstain from all flesh and fish, refrain from smoking and all diversions, and stay within the Kish, or hut, from fifteen to twenty days.