352 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS (eth. ANN. 30 



was never called upon by the sorcerer to assist or cure the sick man, but only the sub- 

 ordinate inhabitants of spirit-land.' 



316. As to the extraordinary variety of visible objeet.s iiLserted 

 into the body of the victim by the invisible Spirit and similar agencies, 

 and subsequently extracted by massage and suction, the following 

 will give some idea: Fangs of the much-dreaded Lachesis mutus, 

 "bushmaster" snake (McClintock, Ti., Jime, 1SS6, p. 94), grass-roots 

 (G, II, 27), gravel-stone, fish-bone, bird's claw, snake's tooth, or piece 

 of wire (Br, 364-5), a worm (IIWB, 244), a miniature bow and arrow 

 (Cr, 526). The last-mentioned is very interestmg m view of the 

 Ai-awak Indians' behef (Br, 361) that all pam is due to the Evil 

 Spirit's arrow (Sect. S30). The medicos of the Otomac nation suck 

 with such force as to extract blood from tlie patient, and when this 

 is spat out on a cleared space, minute stony particles are to be seen 

 in it (G, II, 27). Fathers Grillet and Bechamel apparently gave 

 approval (GB, 48) to this method of cure: "Besides divers sorts 

 of Plants, Gums, and Woods they use to cure diseases and wounds, 

 they have a way of sucking their patients in that part of the body 

 in which they feel their pain, and this method is most commonly 

 very successful." 



317. The idea that not only the patient but also his relatives and 

 others should abstain from certain diets was very widespread: "The 

 Piache's fii'st prescription is to impose a general fast on the patient 

 and all his kinsfolk: the majority of the Piaches demand that no one 

 belonging to the house should eat anything hot, anj'thing cooked, or 

 peppers" (G, x, 210). With the Caribs, Arawaks (Sect. 308), and 

 Warraus, the whole family — father, mother, brothers, and sisters — is 

 dieted on exactl}^ the same lines as the invalid. "If a man [Carib 

 Islander] gets wounded or Ul, he wiU ask his brother, sister, or some 

 relation to abstain from eating such or such a thing. This would 

 make their pain worse even if they were fifty miles off" (BBR, 250). 

 So also other observances may be incumbent on the whole family as 

 well as on the patient (Sect. 180). Among the Koucouyennes of the 

 upper Yary, Cayenne, besides tlie diet, the only Ucense which the 

 doctor allows the patient is to throw himself into the river when the 

 fever is very high (Cr, 117). As a matter of fact, when death ensued 

 in spite of the treatment, this was usually ascribed to disobedience 

 as to food-restrictions, though other causes were occasionally held 

 accoimtable. Thus, the implacable iuveteracj^ of the Spirit causmg 

 the mischief may be too powerful for the doctor to contend against, 

 or some rival sorcerer, whom the sufferer has unhappily made his 



1 This observation is quite correct because, from personal inquiry among the Mainland Caribs (Sect. S09) 

 and from the records left to us of the Island Caribs (Sect. 90), the Spiritslnvoked were imdoubtedlyof the 

 "FamUiar" class (Sect. SJ^).— W. E. R. 



