AN INQUIRY IXTO THE ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF 

 THE GUIANA INDIANS 



By Walter E. Roth 



Chapter I 

 NO EVIDENCE OF BELIEF IX A SUPREME BEING 



Originally, Indians had no terms expressive oi the conception of a Supreme Being; 

 such terms as they now possess have been framed to suit civilized, especially mis- 

 sionary, rofpiirements (J).' On the other hand, traditions of certain Tribal Heroes 

 liave been iinconsoiously assumed as indicative of the existence among the natives of 

 tJie knowledge of a God (^). 



1. Careful invostigation forces one to the conclusion that, on the 

 evidence, the native tribes of Guiana had no idea of a Supreme Being 

 in the modern conception of the term. This contention is confirmed 

 in a way by Gumilla (ii, 7),- one of the early missionary fathers on 

 the Orinoco, who writes as follows: 



In three nations which will be mentioned directly they have a word indicative, 

 after tlieir fashion, of Gfid : we tnist that time and lalx)r will also reveal, in other tribes, 

 a name which until now they have furnished no sign of recognizing either by word or 

 expression. Even in the said nations no outward ceremony of divine worship or 

 adoration has been observed. Nor are the terms which express God in the different 

 languages so particularized and indubitable as to con's-ince us of their sure and certain 

 signification. The Caribs call God Quiyumoc6n, i. e.. Our Big Father, but it is not 

 sufficiently clear whether they mean by this expression the PHrst Cause or the most 

 ancient of their ancestors. Tlie Salivas say that Ptiru made all that is good; that he 

 lives in the expanse of tlie sky . . . The Betoyes, before their conversion, used to 

 say that the Sun was God, and in their language, they speak of both God and Sun 

 as Theos. 



The nations of the upper Orinoco, the Atabapo, and the Inirida, as 

 Humboldt records, have no worship other than that of the powers 

 of Nature: they call the good principle Cachimana; it is the Manito, 

 the Great Spirit, that regulates the seasons and favors the harvests 

 (AVH, II, 362). In Cayenne there is the similar evidence of the 

 Jesuits Grillet and Bechamel (25) : "The Xouragues and the Acoquas, 

 in Matters of Religion, are the same with the Galibis. They acknowl- 

 edge there is a God, but do not worship him. They say he dwells 

 in Heaven, without knowing whether he is a Spirit or no, but rather 

 seem to believe he has a body . . . Tlie Nouragues and the Acoquas 

 call him Maire, and never talk of him but in fabulous stories." They 



1 This and similar reference numbers correspond to section numbers, wliich appear in bold-face type. 

 ! See Note under Woeks of Reference (p. 113) as to the system employed in this memoir in the 

 citation of authorities. 



<t 117 



