Balder the Beautiful Part 8

[121] emile Pet.i.tot, _Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-ouest_ (Paris, 1886), pp. 257 _sq._

[122] Fr. Julius Jette, S.J., "On the Superst.i.tions of the Ten'a Indians," _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 700-702.

[123] Compare _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 70 _sqq._

[124] James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, pp.

311-317 (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History_, New York, April, 1900). As to the customs observed among these Indians by the father of a girl at such times in order not to lose his luck in hunting, see _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 268.

[125] James Teit, _The Lillooet Indians_ (Leyden and New York, 1906), pp. 263-265 (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History_, New York). Compare C. Hill Tout, "Report on the Ethnology of the Stlatlumh of British Columbia," _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, x.x.xv. (1905) p. 136.

[126] Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report of the Committee on the North-Western Tribes of Canada_, pp. 89 _sq_. (separate reprint from the _Report of the British a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science_, Leeds meeting, 1890).

[127] James Teit, _The Shuswap_ (Leyden and New York, 1909), pp. 587 _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History_, New York).

[128] G.H. Loskiel, _History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians of North America_ (London, 1794), Part i. pp. 56 _sq_.

[129] G.B. Grinnell, "Cheyenne Woman Customs," _American Anthropologist_, New Series, iv. (New York, 1902) pp. 13 _sq_. The Cheyennes appear to have been at first settled on the Mississippi, from which they were driven westward to the Missouri. See _Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico_, edited by F.W. Hodge (Washington, 1907-1910), i. 250 _sqq_.

[130] H.J. Holmberg, "Ueber die Volker des Russischen Amerika," _Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae_, iv. (Helsingfors, 1856) pp. 401 _sq._; Ivan Petroff, _Report on the Population, Industries and Resources of Alaska_, p. 143.

[131] E.W. Nelson, "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," _Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington, 1899) p. 291.

[132] Jose Guevara, "Historia del Paraguay, Rio de la Plata, y Tuc.u.man,"

pp. 16 _sq._, in Pedro de Angelis, _Coleccion de Obras y Doc.u.mentos relativos a la Historia antigua y moderna de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata_, vol. ii. (Buenos-Ayres, 1836); J.F. Lafitau, _Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 262 _sq._

[133] Father Ignace Chome, in _Lettres edifiantes et Curieuses_, Nouvelle Edition (Paris, 1780-1783), viii. 333. As to the Chiriguanos, see C.F. Phil. von Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerika's, zumal Brasiliens_ (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 212 _sqq._; Colonel G.E. Church, _Aborigines of South America_ (London, 1912), pp. 207-227.

[134] A. Thouar, _Explorations dans l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1891), pp. 48 _sq._; G. Kurze, "Sitten und Gebrauche der Lengua-Indianer,"

_Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xxiii. (1905) pp. 26 _sq._ The two accounts appear to be identical; but the former attributes the custom to the Chiriguanos, the latter to the Lenguas. As the latter account is based on the reports of the Rev. W.B. Grubb, a missionary who has been settled among the Indians of the Chaco for many years and is our princ.i.p.al authority on them, I a.s.sume that the ascription of the custom to the Lenguas is correct. However, in the volume on the Lengua Indians, which has been edited from Mr. Grubb's papers (_An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_, London, 1911), these details as to the seclusion of girls at p.u.b.erty are not mentioned, though what seems to be the final ceremony is described (_op. cit._ pp.

177 _sq._). From the description we learn that boys dressed in ostrich feathers and wearing masks circle round the girl with shrill cries, but are repelled by the women.

[135] Alcide d'Orbigny, _Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale_ vol. iii.

1to Partie (Paris and Strasburg, 1844), pp. 205 _sq_.

[136] A. Thouar, _Explorations dans l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1891) pp.

56 _sq._; Father Cardus, quoted in J. Pelleschi's _Los Indios Matacos_ (Buenos Ayres, 1897), pp. 47 _sq._

[137] A. Thouar, _op. cit._ p. 63.

[138] Francis de Castelnau, _Expedition dans les parties centrales de l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1850-1851), v. 25.

[139] D. Luis de la Cruz, "Descripcion de la Naturaleza de los Terrenos que se comprenden en los Andes, poseidos por los Peguenches y los demas es.p.a.cios hasta el rio de Chadileuba," p. 62, in Pedro de Angelis, _Coleccion de Obras y Doc.u.mentos relativos a la Historia antigua y moderna de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata_, vol. i. (Buenos-Ayres, 1836). Apparently the Peguenches are an Indian tribe of Chili.

[140] J.B. von Spix und C.F. Ph. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_ (Munich, 1823-1831), iii. 1186, 1187, 1318.

[141] Andre Thevet, _Cosmographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1575), ii. 946 B [980] _sq._; _id., Les Singularites de la France Antarctique, autrement nommee Amerique_ (Antwerp, 1558), p. 76; J.F. Lafitau, _Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 290 _sqq_.

[142] R. Schomburgk, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_ (Leipsic, 1847-1848), ii. 315 _sq._; C.F.Ph. von Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerika's, zumal Brasiliens_ (Leipsic, 1867), p. 644.

[143] Labat, _Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guinee, Isles voisines, et a Cayenne_, iv. 365 _sq._ (Paris, 1730), pp. 17 _sq._ (Amsterdam, 1731).

[144] A. Caulin, _Historia Coro-graphica natural y evangelica dela Nueva Andalucia_ (1779), p. 93. A similar custom, with the omission of the stinging, is reported of the Tamanaks in the region of the Orinoco. See F.S. Gilij, _Saggio di Storia Americana_, ii. (Rome, 1781), p. 133.

[145] A.R. Wallace, _Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro_, p. 496 (p. 345 of the Minerva Library edition, London, 1889).

[146] _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 105 _sqq._; _The Scapegoat_> pp. 259 _sqq._

[147] J.B. von Spix and C.F.Ph. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_ (Munich, 1823-1831), iii. 1320.

[148] W. Lewis Herndon, _Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon_ (Washington, 1854), pp. 319 _sq._ The scene was described to Mr. Herndon by a French engineer and architect, M. de Lincourt, who witnessed it at Mandua.s.su, a village on the Tapajos river. Mr. Herndon adds: "The _Tocandeira_ ants not only bite, but are also armed with a sting like the wasp; but the pain felt from it is more violent. I think it equal to that occasioned by the sting of the black scorpion." He gives the name of the Indians as Mahues, but I a.s.sume that they are the same as the Mauhes described by Spix and Martius.

[149] Francis de Castelnau, _Expedition dans les parties centrals de l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1850-1851), v. 46.

[150] L'Abbe Durand, "Le Rio Negro du Nord et son ba.s.sin," _Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie_ (Paris), vi. Serie, iii. (1872) pp. 21 _sq._ The writer says that the candidate has to keep his arms plunged up to the shoulders in vessels full of ants, "as in a bath of vitriol," for hours. He gives the native name of the ant as _issauba_.

[151] J. Crevaux, _Voyages dans l'Amerique du Sud_ (Paris, 1883), pp.

245-250.

[152] H. Coudreau, _Chez nos Indiens: quatre annees dans la Guyane Francaise_ (Paris, 1895), p. 228. For details as to the different modes of administering the _marake_ see _ibid._ pp. 228-235.

[153] Father Geronimo Boscana, "Chinigchinich," in _Life in California by an American_ [A. Robinson] (New York, 1846), pp. 273 _sq._

[154] F. Stuhlmann, _Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika_ (Berlin, 1894), p. 506.

[155] As a confirmation of this view it may be pointed out that beating or scourging is inflicted on inanimate objects expressly for the purpose indicated in the text. Thus the Indians of Costa Rica hold that there are two kinds of ceremonial uncleanness, _nya_ and _bu-ku-ru_. Anything that has been connected with a death is _nya_. But _bu-ku-ru_ is much more virulent. It can not only make one sick but kill. "_Bu-ku-ru_ emanates in a variety of ways; arms, utensils, even houses become affected by it after long disuse, and before they can be used again must be purified. In the case of portable objects left undisturbed for a long time, the custom is to beat them with a stick before touching them. I have seen a woman take a long walking-stick and beat a basket hanging from the roof of a house by a cord. On asking what that was for, I was told that the basket contained her treasures, that she would probably want to take something out the next day, and that she was driving off the _bu-ku-ru_. A house long unused must be swept, and then the person who is purifying it must take a stick and beat not only the movable objects, but the beds, posts, and in short every accessible part of the interior. The next day it is fit for occupation. A place not visited for a long time or reached for the first time is _bu-ku-ru_. On our return from the ascent of Pico Blanco, nearly all the party suffered from little calenturas, the result of extraordinary exposure to wet and cold and of want of food. The Indians said that the peak was especially _bu-ku-ru_ since n.o.body had ever been on it before." One day Mr. Gabb took down some dusty blow-guns amid cries of _bu-ku-ru_ from the Indians. Some weeks afterwards a boy died, and the Indians firmly believed that the _bu-ku-ru_ of the blow-guns had killed him. "From all the foregoing, it would seem that _bu-ku-ru_ is a sort of evil spirit that takes possession of the object, and resents being disturbed; but I have never been able to learn from the Indians that they consider it so.

They seem to think of it as a property the object acquires. But the worst _bu-ku-ru_ of all, is that of a young woman in her first pregnancy. She infects the whole neighbourhood. Persons going from the house where she lives, carry the infection with them to a distance, and all the deaths or other serious misfortunes in the vicinity are laid to her charge. In the old times, when the savage laws and customs were in full force, it was not an uncommon thing for the husband of such a woman to pay damages for casualties thus caused by his unfortunate wife." See Wm. M. Gabb, "On the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica,"

_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia_, xiv. (Philadelphia, 1876) pp. 504 _sq._

[156] J. Chaffanjon, _L'Orenoque et le Caura_ (Paris, 1889), pp.

213-215.

[157] Shib Chunder Bose, _The Hindoos as they are_ (London and Calcutta, 1881), p. 86. Similarly, after a Brahman boy has been invested with the sacred thread, he is for three days strictly forbidden to see the sun.

He may not eat salt, and he is enjoined to sleep either on a carpet or a deer's skin, without a mattress or mosquito curtain (_ibid._ p. 186). In Bali, boys who have had their teeth filed, as a preliminary to marriage, are kept shut up in a dark room for three days (R. Van Eck, "Schetsen van het eiland Bali," _Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie_, N.S., ix.

(1880) pp. 428 _sq._).

[158] (Sir) H.H. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Ethnographic Glossary_ (Calcutta, 1891-1892), i. 152.

[159] Edgar Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_ (Madras, 1909), vii. 63 _sq._

[160] Edgar Thurston, _op. cit._ iii. 218.

[161] Edgar Thurston, _op. cit._ vi. 157.

[162] S. Mateer, _Native Life in Travancore_ (London, 1883), p. 45.

[163] Arthur A. Perera, "Glimpses of Singhalese Social Life," _Indian Antiquary_ x.x.xi, (1902) p. 380.

[164] J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_ (Paris, 1883), i. 377.