Note 776 — Chapter V · NEW MEXICANS.

The Comanches 'have yearly gatherings to light the sacred fires; they build numerous huts, and sit huddled about them, taking medicine for purification, and fasting for seven days. Those who can endure to keep the fast unbroken become sacred in the eyes of the others.' Palmer, in Harper's Mag., vol. xvii., p. 451. If a Yuma kills one of his own tribe he keeps 'a fast for one moon; on such occasions he eats no meat—only vegetables—drinks only water, knows no woman, and bathes frequently during the day to purify the flesh.' Emory's Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110. 'It was their (Mojaves,) custom never to eat salted meat for the next moon after the coming of a captive among them.' Stratton's Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180; Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402; Domenech, Jour., p. 13; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 125-6.