234 THE WILD. 



had great difficulty in persuading them to pass beyond 

 the outer part of the cave, the only part of it which they 

 visit annually to collect the oil ; and the whole authority 

 of the Padres was necessary to make them penetrate as 

 far as the sj)ot where the floor rises abruptly, at an incli- 

 nation of sixty degrees, and where a small subterraneous 

 cascade is formed by the torrent. In the minds of the 

 Indians, this cave, inhabited by nocturnal birds, is 

 associated with mystic ideas, and they believe that in the 

 deep recesses of the cavern the souls of their ancestors 

 sojourn. They say that man should avoid places which 

 are enlightened neither by the sun nor the moon ; and to 

 " go and join the guacharoes," means to rejoin their 

 fathers — in short, to die. At the entrance of the cave, 

 the magicians and ^^oisoners perform their exorcisms, to 

 conjure the chief of the evil spirits.* 



The following incident, which occurred to Mr Atkin- 

 son in his travels in Central Asia, is not without a ro- 

 mantic interest : — 



" Our course had hitherto been alono: the middle of the 

 river, passing on our way several small islands which di- 

 vided it into different streams. The Cossacks were rest- 

 ing on their oars, not a sound was heard, when we glided 

 into a narrow channel, between a long island and a thick 

 bed of reeds. Our canoes had not floated more than fifty 

 yards, when one of the Cossacks struck the reeds with his 

 oar, and sinmltaneously they all gave a loud shout. In a 

 moment there came a shriek, as if a legion of fiends had 



* Personal Ncmxitive. 



