Note 113 — Chapter II · GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVERY.

Bancroft, describing the Apache family (including Apaches, Comanches, Navajos, Mojaves, etc.), says: “All the natives of this family hold captives as slaves”113. But his account of the Comanches does not quite agree with this general statement: “Prisoners belong to the captors and the males are usually killed, but women are reserved and become the wives or servants of their owners, while children of both sexes are adopted into the tribe”114. According to Schoolcraft, “prisoners of war belong to the captors and may be sold or released at their will”. Captive children are adopted and afterwards are on a level with the members of the tribe115. Gregg speaks of prisoners being enslaved and ill-treated by the conquerors. But whether he means to say that they remained slaves is not clear116. Cessac also speaks of slaves. “If, among the captives of the deceased, one was particularly loved by his master, he is sacrificed and buried with him.” “If a favourite slave is sacrificed, it is to give the master a fellow-traveller.” No more particulars about these slaves are given. In their wars against the Mexicans they spare none but the children, whom they treat as their own. “These captives forget their origin and later on, when full-grown, become an integral part of the tribe”117. It is not clear whether the slaves Cessac speaks of are identical with these adopted children; he would not have used then the term “slave” in its proper sense. Ten Kate, a careful observer, states that a number of Mexican captives, altogether about fifty, live among the Comanches and Kioways; they have almost entirely adopted the manners and customs of the Indians and are regarded by the latter as members of their tribes118. Another author tells us of a Mexican boy and girl, taken prisoners by the Comanches. The boy was afterwards sold to the Cherokees, the girl was married against her will by a Comanche. Another captive Mexican woman was married to a Comanche chief119. Comparing these several statements, we think it probable, though not quite certain, that the Comanches did not keep slaves, but adopted their prisoners.