BOTH] THE MEDICINE-MAN 339 



quiiiqiiiva, as well as certain, of the drippings from an exposed dead 

 body (Cr, 158). For the same colonj' Fathers Grillet and Bechamel 

 (GB, 48) record that the medicine-men profTer neither physic nor 

 divination "till they have made divers experiments, one of which 

 is so dangerous that it often makes them burst. They stamp the 

 green leaves of tobacco and squeeze out the juice of it, of which they 

 drink the quantity of a large glassful, etc.; so that none but those 

 who are of a very robust constitution, who try this practice upon 

 themselves, escape with their lives." Brett (Br, 362) also testifies 

 to the severity of the ordeal, for after the novice has been reduced to 

 the deathlike state of sickness to which the fasting coupled with the 

 drinking of tobacco-water has brought him — 



His death is loudly proclaimed, and his countrymen called to witness his state. 

 Recovery is slow, and about the tenth day he comes forth from the sacred hut in a 

 most emaciated condition. For ten months after the new sorcerer must abstain from 

 the flesh of birds and beasts, and only the smallest kinds of fish are allowed him. Even 

 cas.sava bread is to be eaten sjiaringly, and intoxicating drinks avoided during that 

 period. Meats and food not indigenous to the countrj' are especially tabooed. . . . 

 McClintock states that the "above rules are common to the Caribs as well as the 

 Waraus, but that the former are allowed during their period of abstinence to take 

 a little meat — the He.ih of the Acouri. . . . The Akawoios differ in some respects from 

 the other tribes, inasmuch as not less than fnur, and frequently more, become M. D.'s 

 at the same time." 



Gtmiilla (II, 25), on the Orinoco sj)caks of the apprenticeship of the 

 Piache in the following terms : 



In the forest of Ca-siabo, there was a medicine-man named Tulujay, so celebrated 

 that Indians flocked to him from all quarters, but they did not all come to learn, nor 

 subject themselves to his teaching, because this cost them verj' dear. For besides 

 adequate payment, he imposes such a rigorous 40-day fast on them, that few dare to 

 undertake it: of those that do, the majority leave the Master weakened with the fast- 

 ing: he who completes it is made to swallow, without che'iving, three pills, manufac- 

 tured of different herbs, of the size of a cherry-stone. These pills are said to be an 

 antidote for every kind of poison, and so render the disciple secure from all his rivals 

 and enemies. The credulity of the Indians is so simple that none of them will med- 

 dle with any individuals so treated (curados). 



Most of the above accounts are concerned mainly with the drinking 

 of the tobacco, an ordeal to which the old-tune missionaries and 

 travelers seem chiefly to have devoted their attention. Though it 

 would have been of coirrse more or less practised beforehand, the 

 tobacco ordeal in its entiret}' was reserved for the grand day when 

 the public installation took place. During Ms course of training, in 

 addition to his other instruction, the apprentice was taught to suffer 

 the pangs of hunger and thirst, and to experience the martyrdom of 

 pain without complaint or murmur. To teach him the latter, he 

 was either bitten \nth ants or cut on various portions of the body. 

 Among the Islanders "his body is scraped ^vith acouri teeth" (BBR, 

 230). The ants were fixed into the interstices of plaited diamond- 



