60 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO [eth. axn. 25 



the Spaniards, ■ were shamans, or meclizine men. We tind priests 

 sometimes called semis, ctcl-xcini, and z<'inh or idols called lioii, a 

 natural interchange of names among primitive peoples, where priests 

 often personate the gods or, when representing them in their cere- 

 monial festivals, assume their names. 



Among the manifold duties of the j^iehistoric priesthood may be 

 included divination, or the consultation of the zem'is for oracular pur- 

 poses, and recourse to them for aid in peace and war or the cure of 

 the sick. The priests also made offerings to the idols in their keeping, 

 performed secret rites for rain and the growth of crops, and were 

 the leaders in the public dancos ;ind religious ceremonies. 



Divination 



The zi iiiit were supposed to have jjrophetic powers and were con- 

 sulted l)y tiie caciques and common people through the medium of 

 tiie /'"//. An example of this divination is recorded in the early writ- 

 ings, where a Haitian chief, Guarionex, consulted his semi regarding 

 the fate of the country and its people, and received a reply so nearly 

 true that it has been commented on by earh' chroniclers. 



As alreadj' explained, elaborate mechanical contrivances were used 

 to deceive those seeking responses from the idols. 



Davies thus describes the method of procedure of these Jxiii, or 

 medicine men. among the C'aril): 



It is recjuisite, above uU things, that the home or hut into which the Boye is to enter 

 should be very neatly prejiared for his reception; that the little table, which tliey 

 call IMatouton, should be furnished with anakri' for Maboya" — that is, an offering 

 of cassava and onirou for the e\il spirit — as also with the first fruits of their gardens 

 if it be the season of fruits. It is further requisite that at one end of the hut there 

 sihould be as many low stools or seats as there are to be jiersous present at that 

 detestable action. 



After these preparations the lio'it, who never does this work but in the night- 

 time, having carefully put out all the fire in and about the home, enters into it and, 

 having found out his place by the weak light of a piece of tobacco .set on fire, which 

 he hath in liis hand, he first pronounces some barliarous words, then he strikes the 

 ground se\'eral times with his left foot, and, having put the end of tobacco which he 

 had in his hand into his mouth, he blows upward five or six times the smoke which 

 conies out of it, then, rubbing the end of tobacco between his hands, he scatters it iu 

 the air. Thereupon the devil, whom he hath invocated liy these spirit ceremonies, 

 shaking very violently the roof of the house or making some other dreadful noise, 

 presently appears and answers distinctly to all the questions put to him by the Boije. 



If the devil answers him that liis disease, for whom he is consulted, is not mortal, 

 the Bfjije and the aijparitioii which accompanies him comes near the sick jierson to 

 a.ssure him that he shall soon recover his former health, and to conlirm him in that 

 hope they gently touch those parts of his body where he feels most pain and, hav- 

 ing pressed them a little, they pretend that there comes out of them thorns, pieces 

 of bone, splinters of wood and stone, which were, as these damnable physicians 

 affirm, the cause of his sickness. Sometimes they moisten the part affected with 



"The groat power, "evil spirit," probably derived from vm, "great;" boija, "snake." 



