Chapter VI 

 DREAMS; IDIOCY 



Head Spirits are the causes of Dreams (86); the Unreality and Ideality of Dream- 

 life (87). Idiocy (88). 



86. From Mainland Caribs, those on tlic Pomeroon and Moruca 

 Rivoi-s, I Jiave h^arned t liat the Aka, or Akari, vSpmt (Soct. 69) resides 

 in the liead. Yiirokon, their Bush Spirit (Sect. 94), comes along 

 when tlie pereon is asleep, seizes the Akari, and takes it with liim 

 into the forest; this causes p(V)])]e to dream, hut sometimes Yurokon 

 forgets, and does not bring it back, with the consequence that the 

 individual dies. In dreaming, the Indians say that the spirit is 

 paying a visit to the world to pome (KG, i, 167) or has gone for a 

 walk, etc. (ibid., ii, 1,51). 



87. Wliile Coudreau (ii, 198) seems emphatic m liis remark con- 

 cerning the ITau]>es River Indians, tliat tiiey have tlie correct idea 

 of a dream, and do not take for realit_v the visions of sleep, im. Thurn 

 would seem to liave an equally jjositive o])inion to the contrary. 

 The latter (344-345) tells us how— 



One morning when it wa.s important for me to get away ... I found that one of 

 the invalids, a young Macusi, though better in health, was so enraged against me 

 that he refiLseil to stir, for he declared thai, with great want of con.-'ideratidn for his 

 weak health, 1 had taken him out during the night and had made him haul the canoe 

 up a series of diffit-ult cataracts. Nothing could persuade him that this wa.s but a 

 dream, and it was some time before he was so far i)acitied as to throw himself sulkily 

 into the bottom of the canoe. . . . More than once, the men declared in the morning 

 that some absent man, whom they named, had come during the night , and had beaten 

 or otherwise maltreated them; and they insisted upon much rubbing of the bruised 

 parts of their bodies. 



Laborde records similar experiences from the Island Caribs: "At 



night, I have heard tiiem, sometimes two at once, complain, cry, 



wake Avith a start, and tell me tliat the d(>vil wanted to beat them. 



They went on screammg when quite awake," etc. (BBR, 236). 



Rochef ort and Poincy confirm this for the same people : the Caribs 



are also subject to other Uls which they say come from Maboya, 



and often complain that ho is liitting them, especially during sleep 



(RoP, 474). The medicine-men appear generally to have enjoyed a 



great reputation as dreamers {Sect's,. 264,300). More than tliis, dreams 



were sometimes interpreted as omens and auguries; thus, in token 



of the missionary coming to visit them, and a sign of his approach, 



a certain cacique told Gumilla that he had dreamed tliat his lands 



sewn with seed were A-ery dry, and that the raui had fallen just in 



the nick of time (G, i, 311). 



165 



