90 RELIGIOUS CEREMONY. May 1827. 
saying she was going for meat (carne), mounted her horse, 
and rode off at a brisk pace. Upon her departure a most 
active trade commenced : at first, a mantle was purchased for 
a string of beads; but as the demand increased, so the Indians 
increased their price, till it rose to a knife, then to tobacco, 
then to a sword, at last nothing would satisfy them but ‘ aqua 
ardiente,’ for which they asked repeatedly, saying ‘‘ bueno es 
boracho— bueno es—bueno es boracho ;”*—but I would not 
permit spirits to be brought on shore. 
At Maria’s return with a very small quantity of guanaco 
meat, her husband told her that I had been very inquisitive 
about a red baize bundle, which he told me contained “‘ Cristo,” 
upon which she said to me ‘* Quiere mirar mi Cristo” (do you 
wish to see my Christ), and then, upon my nodding assent, 
galled around her a number of the tribe, who immediately 
obeyed her summons. Many of the women, however, remained 
to take care of their valuables. A ceremony then took place. 
Maria, who, by the lead she took in the proceedings, appeared 
to be high priestess} as well as cacique of the tribe, began by 
pulverising some whitish earth in the hollow of her hand, and 
then taking a mouthful of water, spit from time to time upon 
it, until she had formed a sort of pigment, which she distri- 
buted to the rest, reserving only sufficient to mark her face, 
eyelids, arms, and hair with the figure of the cross. The 
manner in which this was done was peculiar. After rubbing 
the paint in her left hand smooth with the palm of the right, 
she scored marks across the paint, and again others at right 
angles, leaving the impression of as many crosses, which she 
* It is good to be drunk, it is pleasant to be drunk. 
+ Two Portuguese seamen, however, who had resided some months with 
them, having been left behind by a sealing vessel, and taken off by us at a 
subsequent period of the voyage at their own request, informed us that 
Maria is not the leader of religious ceremonies. Each family possesses its 
own household god, a small wooden image, about three inches in length, 
the rough imitation of a man’s head and shoulders, which they consider 
as the representative of a superior being, attributing to it all the good or 
evil that happens to them. 
