[177]
Among the Spokanes "all household goods are considered as the wife's
property."[178] The stores of roots and berries laid up by the Salish
women for a time of scarcity "are looked upon as belonging to them
personally, and their husbands will not touch them without having
previously obtained their permission."[179] Among the Menomini a woman
in good circumstances would possess as many as from 1,200 to 1,500
birch-bark vessels, and all of these would be in use during the season
of sugar-making.[180] In the New Mexican pueblo,
what comes from outside the house, as soon as it is inside
is put under the immediate control of the woman. My host at
Cochiti, New Mexico, could not sell an ear of corn or a
string of _chile_ without the consent of his thirteen-year-old
daughter, Ignacia, who kept house for her widowed father.
In Cholula district (and probably all over Mexico) the man
has acquired more power, and the storehouse is no longer
controlled by the wife. But the kitchen remains her domain;
and its aboriginal designation, _tezcalli_ (place, or house,
of her who grinds), is still perfectly justified.
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