In Indian Mexico

In Indian Mexico

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Title: In Indian Mexico (1908)
Author: Frederick Starr
Release Date: July 2, 2005 [EBook #16183]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[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