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

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СКАЧАТЬ mouth, and applying his lips to the part affected, pretends to suck out the disorder; suddenly he rushes outside with cheeks extended, and feigns to spit out something, cursing and imprecating at the same time; he then assures his patient that he has effected a cure by extracting the cause of the pain. When the sickness is of a more serious nature, more elaborate enchantments are enacted, ending in the practitioner sucking it out from the sick person's body, not, however, without undergoing infinite trouble, labor, and contortions, till at last the piace thrusts a small stick down his own throat, which causes him to vomit, and so he casts up that which he pretends to have drawn out from the sufferer. Should his conjurations and tricks not prove effectual, the physician brings to his aid certain herbs and decoctions, with which he is well acquainted; their knowledge of medicine is, however, more extensive in the treatment of external than of internal diseases. The compensation given to the piace is in proportion to the gravity of the case, and the ability of the individual to reward him. In cases of fever, bleeding is resorted to; their mode of practicing phlebotomy is peculiar and attended with much unnecessary suffering. The operator shoots a small arrow from a bow into various parts of the patient's body until a vein be accidentally opened; the arrow is gauged a short distance from the point to prevent its penetrating too far.1037 Oviedo tells us that in the province of Cueba the practice of sucking was carried on to a fearful extent, and with dire consequences. The persons, men and women, who indulged in the habit were called by the Spaniards chupadores. They belonged to a class of sorcerers, and the historian says they went about at night visiting certain of the inhabitants, whom they sucked for hours, continuing the practice from day to day, until finally the unfortunate recipients of their attentions became so thin and emaciated that they often died from exhaustion.1038

      ISTHMIAN GRAVES AND MOURNING.

      Among certain nations of Costa Rica when a death occurs the body is deposited in a small hut constructed of plaited palm-leaves; food, drink, as well as the weapons and implements that served the defunct during life are placed in the same hut. Here the body is preserved for three years, and upon each anniversary of the death it is redressed and attended to amidst certain ceremonies. At the end of the third year it is taken out and interred. Among other tribes in the same district, the corpse after death is covered with leaves and surrounded with a large pile of wood which is set on fire, the friends dancing and singing round the flames until all is consumed, when the ashes are collected and buried in the ground. In Veragua the Dorachos had two kinds of tombs, one for the principal men constructed with flat stones laid together with much care, and in which were placed costly jars and urns filled with food and wines for the dead; those for plebeians were merely trenches, in which were deposited with the occupant some gourds FUNERAL RITES ON THE ISTHMUS. of maize and wine and the place filled with stones. In some parts of Panamá and Darien only the chiefs and lords received funeral rites. Among the common people a person feeling his end approaching either went himself or was led to the woods by his wife, family, and friends, who, supplying him with some cake or ears of corn and a gourd of water, there left him to die alone, or to be assisted by wild beasts. Others with more respect for their dead, buried them in sepulchres made with niches where they placed maize and wine and renewed the same annually. With some, a mother dying while suckling her infant, the living child was placed at her breast and buried with her in order that in her future state she might continue to nourish it with her milk. In some provinces when the cacique became sick, the priests consulted their oracles as to his condition and if they received for answer that the illness was mortal, one half of his jewelry and gold was cast into the river as a sacrifice to the god they reverenced, in the belief that he would guide him to his final rest; the other half was buried in the grave. The relatives of the deceased shaved the head as a sign of mourning and all his weapons and other property were consumed by fire in order that nothing should remain as a remembrance of him. In Panamá, Nata, and some other districts, when a cacique died, those of his concubines that loved him enough, those that he loved ardently and so appointed, as well as certain servants, killed themselves and were interred with him. This they did in order that they might wait upon him in the land of spirits. They held the belief that those who did not accompany him then, would, when they died a natural death, lose the privilege of being with him afterwards, and in fact that their souls would die with them. The privilege of attending on the cacique in his future state was believed to be only granted to those who were in his service during his lifetime, hence such service was eagerly sought after by natives of both sexes, who made every exertion to be admitted as servants in his house. At the time of the interment, those who planted corn for him during his lifetime had some maize and an implement of husbandry buried with them in order that they might commence planting immediately on arrival in the other world. In Comagre and other provinces the bodies of the caciques were embalmed by placing them on a cane hurdle, hanging them up by cords, or placing them on a stone, or log; and round or below the body they made a slow fire of herbs at such a distance as to dry it gradually until only skin and bone remained. During the process of embalming, twelve of the principal men sat round the body, dressed in black mantles which covered their heads, letting them hang down to their feet; at intervals one of them beat a drum and when he ceased he chanted in monotonous tones, the others responding. Day and night the twelve kept watch and never left the body. When sufficiently dried it was dressed and adorned with many ornaments of gold, jewels, and feathers, and set up in an apartment of the palace where were kept ranged round the walls the remains of his ancestors, each one in his place and in regular succession. In case a cacique fell in battle and his body could not be recovered, or was otherwise lost, the place he would have occupied in the row was always left vacant. Among other tribes the body after being dried by fire was wrapped in several folds of cloth, put in a hammock, and placed upon a platform in the air or in a room. The manner in which the wives, attendants, and servants put themselves to death was, with some, by poison; in such case, the multitude assembled to chant the praises of their dead lord, when those who were to follow drank poison from gourds, and dropped dead instantly. In some cases they first killed their children. With others the funeral obsequies of a principal chief were conducted differently. They prepared a large grave twelve or fifteen feet square and nine or ten feet deep; round the sides they built a stone bench and covered it with painted cloth; in the middle of the grave they placed jars and gourds filled with maize, fruit, and wines, and a quantity of flowers. On the bench was laid the dead chief dressed, ornamented, and jeweled, while around him sat his wives gaily attired with ear-rings and bracelets. All being prepared the assembled multitude raised their voices in songs declaring the bravery and prowess of the deceased; they recounted his liberality and many virtues and highly extolled the affection of his faithful wives who desired to accompany him. The singing and dancing usually lasted two days and during its continuance wine was freely served to the performers and also to the women who were awaiting their fate. At the expiration of such time they became entirely inebriated and in a senseless condition, when the final act was consummated by throwing dead and doomed into the grave, and filling it with logs, branches, and earth. The spot was afterwards held in sacred remembrance and a grove of trees planted round it. At the end of a year funeral honors were celebrated in memory of the dead. A host of friends and relatives of equal rank with the deceased were invited to participate, who upon the day appointed brought quantities of food and wine such as he whose memory they honored delighted in, also weapons with which he used to fight, all of which were placed in a canoe prepared for the purpose; in it was also deposited an effigy of the deceased. The canoe was then carried on men's shoulders round the court of the palace or house, in presence of the deceased, if he was embalmed, and afterwards brought out to the centre of the town where it was burned with all it contained—the people believing that the fumes and smoke ascended to the soul of the dead and was pleasing and acceptable to him.1039 If the body had been interred they opened the sepulchre; all the people with hair disheveled uttering loud lamenting cries while the bones were being collected, and these they burned all except the hinder part of the skull, which was taken home by one of the principal women and preserved by her as a sacred relic.

      ISTHMIAN CHARACTER.

      The character of the Costa Ricans has ever been that of a fierce and savage people, prominent in which qualities are the Guatusos and Buricas, who have shown themselves strongly averse to intercourse with civilization. The Talamancas are a little less untameable, which is the best, or perhaps the worst, that can be said. The Terrabas, СКАЧАТЬ