Childhood.

For a barbarian, the Tarahumare is a very polite personage. In
his language he even has a word "reko" which is the equivalent of
the English "please," and which he uses constantly. When passing a
stranger, or leaving a person, he draws attention to his action by
saying, "I am going." As he grows civilised, however, he loses his
good manners.

In spite of this he is not hospitable; the guest gets food, but there
is no room for him in the house of a Tarahumare. A visitor never
thinks of entering a house without first giving the family ample time
to get ready to receive him. When he approaches a friend's home, good
manners require him to stop sometimes as far as twenty or thirty yards
off. If he is on more intimate terms with the family, he may come
nearer, and make his presence known by coughing; then he sits down,
selecting generally some little knoll from which he can be readily
seen. In order not to embarrass his friends he does not even look at
the house, but remains sitting there gazing into vacancy, his back
or side turned toward the homestead. Should the host be absent the
visitor may thus sit for a couple of hours; then he will rise and go
slowly away again. But under no circumstances will he enter the home,
unless formally invited, "because," he says, "only the dogs enter
houses uninvited." Never will the lady of the house commit such a
gross breach of etiquette as to go out and inform him of her husband's
absence, to save the caller the trouble of waiting, nor will she if
alone at home, make any statements as to that gentleman's whereabouts.

The Tarahumare never does anything without due deliberation; therefore
he may, for quarter of an our, discuss with his wife the possible
purport of the visit, before he goes out to see the man. They peep
through the cracks in the wall at him, and if they happen to be
eating or doing anything, they may keep the visitor waiting for half
an hour. Finally the host shakes out the blanket on which he has been
sitting, throws it around himself, and, casting a rapid glance to the
right and left as he passes through the door, goes to take a seat a few
yards distant from the caller. After some meditation on either side,
the conversation, as in more civilised society, opens with remarks
about the weather and the prospects for rain. When this subject is
exhausted, and the host's curiosity as to where the man came from,
what he is doing, and where he is going to, is sat