﻿752 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  INDIANS 
  [B. 
  A. 
  E. 
  Bull. 
  143 
  

  

  claimed 
  to 
  derive 
  her 
  power 
  directly 
  from 
  r/ 
  8 
  nechen, 
  the 
  Supreme 
  

   Being, 
  and/or 
  from 
  deceased 
  shamans. 
  She 
  also 
  called 
  upon 
  deceased 
  

   machis 
  to 
  intercede 
  with 
  the 
  Supreme 
  Being 
  to 
  give 
  her 
  power 
  to 
  cure. 
  

   She 
  was 
  likewise 
  helped 
  to 
  get 
  in 
  touch 
  through 
  trance 
  with 
  the 
  spirit- 
  

   ual 
  world 
  by 
  special 
  spiritual 
  helpers 
  and/or 
  by 
  projection 
  of 
  her 
  own 
  

   soul 
  out 
  of 
  her 
  body. 
  

  

  Ancient 
  methods 
  of 
  treatment, 
  as 
  described 
  in 
  detail 
  by 
  Bascufian 
  

   (1863, 
  pp. 
  159-61), 
  included: 
  Use 
  of 
  the 
  Drimys 
  winteri, 
  the 
  drum, 
  

   fumigating 
  with 
  tobacco 
  smoke, 
  killing 
  of 
  an 
  animal 
  with 
  extraction 
  

   of 
  the 
  heart 
  and 
  licking 
  of 
  the 
  blood 
  therefrom, 
  pretended 
  extraction 
  

   and 
  replacement 
  of 
  the 
  patient's 
  entrails, 
  and 
  shamanistic 
  trance. 
  

   Other 
  older 
  practices 
  included 
  massage 
  and 
  extraction 
  by 
  suction 
  or 
  

   other 
  method 
  of 
  the 
  small 
  stick, 
  worm, 
  or 
  other 
  object 
  responsible 
  for 
  

   the 
  disease. 
  

  

  All 
  these 
  features, 
  apart 
  from 
  the 
  pretended 
  entrail 
  extraction, 
  were 
  

   common 
  in 
  more 
  modern 
  shamanistic 
  treatment 
  of 
  disease, 
  together 
  

   with 
  a 
  certain 
  number 
  of 
  additional 
  features. 
  Such 
  more 
  modern 
  

   ones 
  were: 
  Recitation 
  of 
  powerful 
  curative 
  prayers 
  or 
  magical 
  for- 
  

   mulas 
  given 
  to 
  the 
  shaman 
  by 
  the 
  Supreme 
  Being; 
  climbing 
  by 
  the 
  

   machi 
  of 
  the 
  ladderlike 
  pole 
  of 
  the 
  rewe 
  (pi. 
  153, 
  top, 
  right), 
  and 
  falling 
  

   in 
  a 
  sort 
  of 
  swoon 
  therefrom 
  and 
  being 
  caught 
  by 
  assistants 
  in 
  a 
  blan- 
  

   ket; 
  prayers 
  or 
  incantations, 
  charges 
  on 
  horseback 
  with 
  shouts, 
  and 
  the 
  

   palm-to-mouth 
  war 
  cry, 
  to 
  put 
  to 
  flight 
  the 
  evil 
  spirits; 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  

   calabash 
  rattle, 
  and 
  playing 
  of 
  flutes 
  by 
  the 
  machi's 
  assistants. 
  Ac- 
  

   tually, 
  the 
  rites 
  in 
  modern 
  treatments 
  were 
  very 
  elaborate 
  and 
  compli- 
  

   cated. 
  

  

  Moesbach 
  and 
  Felix 
  Jose 
  took 
  the 
  view 
  that 
  the 
  shaman 
  had 
  

   no 
  part 
  in 
  the 
  ryillatun 
  rite. 
  And 
  Robles 
  Rodriguez 
  is 
  silent 
  on 
  such 
  

   participation. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  Guevara 
  and 
  Housse 
  have 
  pre- 
  

   sented 
  data 
  showing 
  clearly 
  that, 
  in 
  at 
  least 
  some 
  cases, 
  the 
  machi 
  

   entered 
  lintimately 
  and 
  actively 
  into 
  the 
  ^illatun 
  rite 
  as 
  an 
  interme- 
  

   diary 
  between 
  the 
  people 
  and 
  the 
  Supreme 
  Being. 
  

  

  The 
  line 
  between 
  the 
  shaman 
  (machi) 
  and 
  the 
  sorcerer 
  (kalku) 
  

   cannot 
  always 
  be 
  easily 
  drawn. 
  From 
  the 
  native 
  standpoint, 
  it 
  would 
  

   seem 
  that 
  the 
  machi's 
  function 
  was 
  fundamentally 
  a 
  socially 
  beneficent 
  

   one 
  ; 
  the 
  sorcerer's, 
  a 
  fundamentally 
  maleficent 
  one. 
  A 
  kalku 
  believed 
  

   to 
  be 
  responsible 
  by 
  use 
  of 
  poisons, 
  of 
  mythical 
  servitors, 
  or 
  of 
  ivunche 
  

   (stolen 
  infants) 
  for 
  the 
  death 
  of 
  a 
  person, 
  was 
  apt 
  to 
  be 
  put 
  to 
  death, 
  

   and 
  commonly 
  by 
  being 
  burnt 
  alive. 
  (For 
  details 
  on 
  sorcerer, 
  cf. 
  

   Robles 
  Rodriguez, 
  1942, 
  pp. 
  167-72.) 
  

  

  MYTHOLOGY 
  

  

  Much 
  of 
  Mapuche-Huilliche 
  folklore 
  has 
  been 
  deeply 
  influenced 
  by 
  

   European 
  sources. 
  It 
  is 
  often 
  very 
  hard 
  to 
  determine 
  just 
  where 
  

  

  