154 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [eth. ann. 30 



ciatcd with spii'its already there, we can speak collectively of Dream 

 (Sect. 86), Familiar (Sect. 89), Forest (Sect. 94), Mountain (Sect. 171), 

 Water (Sect. 178), and Sky (Sect. 195) Spirits. I have met with no 

 example of a freed spirit associatmg itself with a person's shadow, 

 and hence purposely omit the term Shadow Sph-its (Sect. 68) from this 

 category. The important thing to remember is that two or more difl'er- 

 ent kinds of spirits may have been derived from one and the same 

 body. The old Spanish Fathers used the word demonio as a generic 

 term for these Beings, in the same way that some of the present-day 

 Creoles employ the name Devil; there are, however, too many diverse 

 opinions held concerning the abstract and concrete nature of the 

 latter to permit of the term being profitably employed for compara- 

 tive purposes. Others of the Creoles as well as the "civilized " Indians 

 often employ the word "Mother," or Mama {e. g., the Mother of 

 Powis, the Water-Mama) . I propose using the term ' ' Spirit ' ' through- 

 out the foUowmg pages. Another matter to be borne m mind, how- 

 ever, before proceedmg further, is that these Sphits of the Forest, 

 Waters, etc., did not all have a human or an anunal origin. Unfor- 

 tunately the cA'idence at present available is insufficient to demon- 

 strate with certainty how, or along what lines, many of them thus 

 closely associated with the chief physical characteristics of nature, 

 came to have an existence at all. Cci'tam of them (e. g., Mountain 

 Spii'its) would seem to have been derived on a principle somewhat 

 analogous to that of choosing a picture to suit the frame; in other 

 cases, they may perhaps have been due to foreign introduction, 

 while I doubt not that a few, like Topsy, "growed" on tlieu' own 

 account. 



73. The extent or degree of the spirit's immortahty, if such an 

 expression may be used, varies from the primitive idea of its hovering 

 around the place of sepulture to the advanced view of its translation, 

 with or without apparent zoomorphic or anthropomorpMc reincar- 

 nation, to less defuied realms of happiness and bliss. There is notliing 

 to prevent the several spirits of the one body pursuing different 

 courses. Indications of some of these primitive ideas are to be found 

 in certain of the procedures followed with the corpse, namely, the 

 position in which it is laid to rest, its propitiation and address, the 

 objects buried wdth it, the eating of the flesh, the abandonment of 

 the place of death, and other customs. ''McChntock . . . says that 

 the . . . Akawoio races like to bury their dead in a standing 

 position, assigning this reason,-^' Although my brother be in ajiijear- 

 ance dead, he {i. e., his soul) is still alive.' Therefore, to maintain by 

 an outward sign this beUef in immortality, some of them bury their 

 dead erect, which they say represents life, whereas l^nng down repre- 

 sents death. Others bury their dead in a sitting posture, assigning 

 the same reason" (Br, 356). Certainly on the Pomeroon, with the 

 Arawaks, if a person should step over another lying down, the latter 



