The Native Races (Complete 5 Part Edition). Hubert Howe Bancroft

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СКАЧАТЬ sketches, or battles are depicted. The people of Honduras are fond of disguising themselves with feather tufts, and skins of animals, whose actions and cries they imitate. The favorite entertainment of the Sambos is to put on a head-dress of thin strips of wood painted in various colors to represent the beak of a sword-fish, fasten a collar of wood round the neck, from which a number of palm-leaves are suspended, and to daub the face red, black, and yellow. Two men thus adorned advance toward one another and bend the fish-head in salute, keeping time with a rattle and singing, "shovel-nosed sharks, grandmother!" after which they slide off crab-like, making the most ludicrous gestures imaginable. This fun exhausted, fresh men appear, introducing new movements, and then the spectators join in a 'walk around,' flourishing white sticks in their hands, and repeating the above-mentioned refrain in a peculiar buzzing tone produced by placing in the mouth a small tube covered with the membrane of a nut.998

      GUAJIQUERO DANCE.

      The Guajiqueros in an interesting performance described by Squier, depict incidents from their history. A square piece of ground having a tree in the centre is marked off, and two poles adorned with feathers are erected in opposite corners, one bearing the head of a deer, the other that of a tiger. A dull, monotonous music is heard, and two parties of youth, fantastically dressed up and painted, move up to the square in a slow, but not ungraceful dance, and station themselves round the poles that bear their respective insignia. A man, stooping as if bent with age, starts out from the deers, dances round the ground, trying to arouse the mirth of the spectators with his grotesque movements. The tigers also dispatch a man, who does his best to excel the other one in contortions and grimaces. After a while they meet, and commence a discussion which ends in open rupture, the rising passions being well delineated. The two men who represent ambassadors then return to their party with an account of the mission, the result of which is a general excitement, both factions starting out, dancing backwards and forwards, up and down the square, until they meet under the tree, in the centre. The leader of each then steps out and recites the glories and prowess of his tribe, amidst the applause of his own men, and the disapproval of the others. As soon as they are worked up to the requisite pitch of irritation, the dialogue ceases, the music strikes up, and a mimic combat ensues, in which the armies advance and retreat, close and separate, using short canes for weapons. At last the tigers lose their standard and take to flight, whereat the victors execute a dance of triumph; but finding how dearly the victory has been bought, their joy is turned into sorrow, and they bend their head upon the knees, breaking out in loud lament. In a few moments one of them starts up and begins a panegyric on the fallen brave, which is followed by a mimic sacrifice and other ceremonies. The vanquished are now seen to approach with downcast eyes, bringing tribute, which they lay at the feet of the victors, who receive it with imperious bearing. The music at these entertainments is not of a very inspiring nature; drums, consisting of a section of hollow tree covered with skin, which are generally beaten with the hand, and flutes of bamboo with four stops on which eight notes are played with different degrees of speed for variety, being the usual instruments. The Guajiqueros also use the chirimaya, two flutes joined in one mouthpiece; the syrinx, or Pan's pipe; a long calabash with a narrow opening at the small end, into which the performer blows suddenly, at intervals, to mark time; and a sort of drum consisting of a large earthen jar, over the mouth of which a dressed skin is tightly stretched. To the centre of the skin, and passing through an opening in the bottom, is attached a string which the performer pulls, the rebound of the membrane producing a very lugubrious sound. In western Honduras the so-called strum-strum is much used. This is a large gourd cut in the middle, and covered with a thin board having strings attached. The marimba, and the jews-harp which has been introduced by the trader, are, however, the favorite instruments for a quiet reunion, and the few tunes known to them are played thereon with admirable skill and taste. Songs always accompany their dances and are usually impromptu compositions on suitable subjects, gotten up for the occasion by the favorite singers of the village, and rendered in a soft, but monotonous and plaintive tone. They have no national melodies, but on the receipt of any good or bad message, their feelings generally find vent in a ditty embodying the news. Talking is a passion with them, and as soon as a piece of news is received at a village, two or three younger men will start with their women and children for the next hamlet, where it is discussed for hours by the assembled population, who in their turn dispatch a messenger to the next village, and thus spread the news over the whole country in a very short time. In story-telling, those who concoct the biggest lies receive the most applause. Of course, the pipe must be smoked on these occasions, but as their own tobacco has become too mild for them, recourse is had to the vilest description of American leaf. When this is wanting, the smoke-dried leaves of the trumpet and papah-tree are used by men as BEVERAGES OF HONDURAS. well as women. The favorite drink is mishla, prepared chiefly from cassava-roots; but others from bananas, pine-apples, and other fruits are also used. A number of young women provided with good teeth, untiring jaws, and a large supply of saliva, are employed to chew about half of the boiled and peeled roots requisite to make a canoeful of liquor, the remainder being crushed in a mortar. This delectable compound is stirred with cold water, and allowed to ferment for a day or two, when it assumes a creamy appearance, and tastes very strong and sour. Plantains are kneaded in warm water, and then allowed to stand for a few days till the mixture ferments, or the fruit is left in the water in small pieces, and the kneading performed in the cup previous to drinking. A fermented drink from powdered cacao and indigenous sugar-cane juice is called ulung, and pesso is the name given to another made from crushed lime-rinds, maize and honey; in early times mead was a favorite drink in Honduras. The cocoa-nut palm yields monthly a large quantity of liquor known as caraca. The tip of the undeveloped shoots are cut off, and the branch bent down so as to allow the fluid to drip into a calabash placed beneath. Its seeds, when crushed and steeped in hot water give the acchioc.999

      MOSQUITO CUSTOMS.

      No name for a supreme good spirit is found in the vocabulary of the Mosquitos; all their appeals are addressed to Wulasha, the devil, the cause of all misfortunes and contrarieties that happen. The intercessors with this dread being are the sukias, or sorceresses, generally dirty, malicious old hags, who are approached with gifts by the trembling applicant, and besought to use their power to avert impending evils. They are supposed to be in partnership with their devil, for whom they always exact the half of the fee before entering upon any exorcising or divination. These witches exercise a greater power over the people than the chief—a power which is sustained by the exhibition of certain tricks, such as allowing poisonous snakes to bite them, and handling fire, which they have learned from predecessors during their long preparation for the office, passed amidst exposure and fasts in the solitude of the wilderness. The people of Honduras had also evil sorcerers who possessed the power of transforming men into wild beasts, and were much feared and hated accordingly; but their priests or hermits who live in communion with materialized gods, in small, elevated huts, apart from the villages, enjoyed the respect of all, and their advice was applied for on every matter of importance. None but the principal men could approach them without the necessary offering of maize and fowl, and they humbly knelt before them to receive their oracular answer. Preparatory to important undertakings, dogs, cocks, and even men were sacrificed to obtain the favor of their idols, and blood was drawn from tongue, ears, and other members of the body. They thought it likewise necessary to their welfare to have naguals, or guardian spirits, whose life became so bound up with their own that the death of one involved that of the other. The manner of obtaining this guardian was to proceed to some secluded spot and offer up a sacrifice: with the beast or bird which thereupon appeared, in dream or in reality, a compact for life was made, by drawing blood from various parts of the body. Caribs and Woolwas assemble at certain periods every year, to propitiate controlling spirits with ceremonies transmitted from their forefathers. A variety of ghosts, as Lewire, the spirit of the water, are supposed to play their pranks at night, and it is difficult to induce anyone to leave the hut after dark, unless in company. The belief in dreams is so firmly rooted that their very course of life is influenced by it. Every dream has a direct or indirect meaning; thus, a broken calabash betokens loss of wife; a broken dish, the death of a mother. Among other superstitions, it was believed that the lighting of an owl upon the house-top would be followed by the death of an inmate; when thunder roared, cotton-seed was burned; broken СКАЧАТЬ