THE SACKED TRUMPET. 363 



are formed. Some oM Indians pretend to be better in- 

 structed than others on points regarding divinity; and to 

 them is confided the famous botuto, of which I have spoken, 

 and which is sounded under the palm-trees that they 

 may bear abundance of fruit. On the banks of the Orinoco 

 there exists no idol, as among all the nations who hare 

 remained faithful to the first worship of nature, but the 

 botuto, the sacred trumpet, is an object of veneration. To 

 be initiated into the mysteries of the botuto, it is requisite to 

 be of pure morals, and to have lived single. The initiated 

 are subjected to flagellations, fastings, and other painful ex- 

 ercises. There are but a small number of these sacred 

 trumpets. The most anciently celebrated is that upon a 

 hill near the confluence of the Tomo and the Guainia. It 

 is pretended, that it is heard at once on the banks of the 

 Tuamini, and at the mission of San Miguel de Davipe, a dis- 

 tance of ten leagues. Father Cereso assured us, that the 

 Indians speak of the botuto of Tomo as an object of worship 

 common to many surrounding tribes. Fruit and intoxica- 

 ting liquors are placed beside the sacred trumpet. Some- 

 times the Great Spirit himself makes the botuto resound ; 

 sometimes he is content to manifest his will through him to 

 whom the keeping of the instrument is entrusted. These 

 juggleries being very ancient (from the fathers of our fathers, 

 say the Indians), we must not be surprised that some un- 

 believers are already to be found ; but they express their 

 disbelief of the mysteries of the botuto only in whispers. 

 Women are not permitted to see this marvellous instru- 

 ment ; and are excluded from all the ceremonies of this wor- 

 ship. If a woman have the misfortune to see the trumpet, 

 she is put to death without mercy. The missionary related 

 to us, that in 1798 he was happy enough to save a young 

 girl, whom a jealous and vindictive lover accused of having 

 followed, from a motive of curiosity, the Indians who sounded 

 the botuto in the plantations. " They would not have mur- 

 dered her publicly," said father Cesero, "but how was she to 

 be protected from the fanatacism of the natives, in a country 

 where it is so easy to give poison ? The young girl told me 

 of her fears, and I sent her to one of the missions of the 

 Lower Orinoco." If the people of Guiana had remained 



