McoEE] THE ARROW-CHARMING 257* 



ill which the breatli is life, and the lungs at once the seat and the 

 symbol of vitality. Naturally the fleshly symbol is from a dead body; 

 and just as the lung denotes vitality in life, so (in primitive thought) it 

 denotes an emphasized, as it were an incarnated, antithesis of vitality 

 in death. Next, as the recipes continue, tiiis death-symbol is exposed 

 to the most potent agencies of death — to the bites of maddened rattle- 

 snakes, to the stings of irritated scorpions, to the venomed trailings of 

 harried centipedes. Then the deadly creatures are themselves killed, 

 and the fanged heads of the serpents, the stinging tails of the scor- 

 ])ions, and the fiery feet of the centipedes, together with portions of 

 redolent ordure from the grave-cairns, and other symbols of death and 

 decay are crushed and macerated with the mass in a wizard's brew, 

 grewsome beyond the emasculated and degraded witch's broth of 

 medieval times. Finally, the grisly mess is allowed to simmer in a 

 stinkpot' shell under the tierce desert sun until its ripeness and putrid 

 potency are attested by the rank fetor of death ; when it is ready for its 

 ruthless n.se. Thus the entire recipe is thaumaturgicin concept, necro- 

 mantic in detail; it represents merely the malevolent machinations of 

 the medicineman seeking success by spells and enchantments; it 

 stands for no rational system of thought or practice, but pertains 

 wholly to the plane of shamanism and sorcery. So interpreted the 

 recipe is readily understood; the several witnesses who have inde- 

 pendently obtained it are justified, and ISIashem's details and unwilling 

 intimations are made clear — especially if the sacrificed flesh about the 

 wound iu deer or lion be deemed an oblation, such asiirimitive folk are 

 given to making. 



While thus the motive of the medicine-mau in compounding his 

 loathsome mess is wholly necromantic, serious consequences of its use 

 must occasionally supervene ; and though these may be incidental so far 

 as the philosophy is concerned, they may tend reflexly toward the 

 peri)etuation of the custom. In the course of the i)reparation of the 

 charm-poison, and especially in the final ripening process, morbific 

 germs and ptomaines must be develoi)ed; these may retain their viru- 

 lence up to the time of use, particularly when a batch of poison is 

 prepared for a special occasion and the arrows are used while the appli- 

 cation is still fresh; and in such cases the wound might initiate septi- 

 cemia of the sort described in Oastaneda's early narrative and still 

 more clearly displayed by Senor Enciuas' saddle-horse (ante, p. 112). 

 Naturally the incidentally zymotic varnish frequently fails of effect, 

 and can hardly be expected to remain morbific long enough to be 

 detected in laboratory experiments; yet it is probable, as attested by 

 Mashem's guarded expressions, that the occasionally terrible results of 

 such poisoning are within the ken of the Seri shamans. 



It is noteworthy that the various early accounts of the Seri arrow- 

 poisoning are strikingly consistent, though sufiflciently diverse to 



' Cinosternum sonorense ( ?}• 

 17 ETH 17 



