Chapter III 



TRACES OF SPIRIT, IDOL, AND FETISH CULT 



E\'idence very scarce, but recognizable in Familiar Spirits, and in the kickshawa 

 of the Medicine-man {4-S); Dancing with noisy instruments in front of Idola {44); 

 the Sacred Trumpets or Flutes (45); Frogs and Toads as divinities (4S); Snakes (47). 

 On the Amazons: Idols (4S); Other objects, of obscure signification, recorded from 

 within (49) and without (30) the Guianas, can hardly be regarded as Idols or Fetishes. 



43. It must be adinittecl that the positive evidence of idol or 



fc^tish woi-ship iiiuong (ht^ Guiana Indians is very scarce, even Schom- 

 burgk recording (Soil, ii, .'>21) that he never foiuid the slightest trace 

 of idolatry or of supplication to a fetish. And yet, in view of the 

 historical records (hat the people hving to the north, the west, and 

 the south of them, did certaiidy have something akin to an idol or 

 fetish cidt leads one to the belief that the Guiana natives, at some 

 not very remote period of their Itistory, may possibly have pursued 

 similar practices. Their northern neighbors, U\'ing on the islands, 

 apparently worshiped Cemi, or so-called familiar spirits, a cult still 

 traceable, as I jiropose showing (Sect. 93), in certain kickshaws of 

 the maiidaud medicine-man. 



44. Among their western tribesmen a religious rite performed by 

 some of the Orinoco tribes "was that of dancing to the sound of very 

 noisy instrinuents, before two small idols, to wliich they paid rever- 

 ence by chantmg extemporaneous couplets" (FD, 52). 



45. Tliis reference to noisy instruments suggests the sacred trumpet, 

 or hotuto, which was an object of veneration on the upper reaches of 

 the Orinoco, the Atabapo, and the Iniiida. It was sotuided under 

 the palm trees that they might bear a])undance of fruit. Humboldt 

 says that, to be initiated into tlie mysteries of the botuto, it is requi- 

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

 subjected to flagellations, fastings, and other paiiiful exercises. There 

 is but a small number of these sacred trumpets. The most anciently 

 celebrated is that upon a hiU near the confluence of the Tomo and the 

 Guainia. Father Cereso assured us, continues the celebrated traveler, 

 that the Indians speak of the Botuto of Tomo as an object of worship 

 common to many surrounding tribes. Fruit and intoxicating liquor 

 are placed beside the sacred trumpet. Sometimes the Great Spirit 

 himself makes the botuto resound; sometimes he is content to mani- 

 fest his wUl through him to whom the keeping of the instrument is 

 entrusted. "Women are not permitted to see tliis marvelous instru- 

 ment, and are excluded from all the ceremonies of this worsliip" 



(AVH, n, 363), at the risk of life. 



137 



