SUPERSTITIONS. 163 



" The profession of the wizards is very dangerous, notwith- 

 standing the respect that is sometimes paid to them ; for it 

 often happens, when an Indian chief dies, that some of the 

 wizards are killed ; especially if they had any dispute with 

 the deceased just before his death; the Indians, in this case, 

 attributing the loss of their cacique to the wizards and their 

 demons. In cases also of pestilence and epidemic disorders, 

 when great numbers are carried off, the wizards often suflFer. 



" On account of the small-pox, which almost destroyed the 

 Chechehet tribe, Cangapol ordered all the wizards to be killed, 

 to see, if by such means, the distemper would cease. 



" There are wizards and witches. The former are obliged 

 to dress in female apparel, and are not allowed to marry. The 

 latter are not restricted. Wizards are generally chosen when 

 children ; and a preference is always shewn to those who, at 

 that time of life, discover an effeminate dispositio'n. They are 

 clothed very early in female attire, and presented with the drum 

 and rattles belonging to the profession which they are to follow. 

 Those who are seized with fits of the falling sickness, or 

 the ' Chorea Sancti Viti' (St. Vitus's dance), are immediately 

 chosen for this employment, as selected by the demons them- 

 selves ; whom they suppose to possess them, and to cause all 

 those convulsions and distortions common in epileptic pa- 

 roxysms." 



The Patagonians, and indeed all the South-American 

 aborigines, have faith in witchcraft. They all believe that 

 the wizards or witches can injure whom they choose, even to 

 deprivation of life, if they can possess themselves of some part 

 of their intended victim's body, or that which has proceeded 

 thence — such as hair, pieces of nails, &c. ; and this superstition 

 is the more curious from its exact accordance with that so pre- 

 valent in Polynesia. 



The tribe, or subdivision of the Tehuelhet who generally live 

 near Magalhaens' Strait, have learned to pay a sort of homage 

 (perhaps it may be termed worship) to an image of wood, cut 

 into the figure of a man's head and body, and called Cristo ; 

 this image they rarely produce to strangers, or even amongst 



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