SUPERSTITIONS. 



161 



painted upon them: perhaps rough imitations of the cards 

 used by the Spaniards ; but this may be doubted. 



According to Falkner, the native of Patagonia is a super- 

 stitious polytheist. I cannot add to, nor have I reason to 

 doubt his account ; and shall therefore repeat what he says on 

 this subject, abridging it slightly. 



" The Indians imagine that there is a multiplicity of deities, 

 some good, others evil. At the head of the good deities is 

 Guayara-kuimy, or the lord of the dead. The chief evil agent 

 is called Atskannakanatz, or Valichu. This latter name is 

 applied to every evil demon.* 



" They think that the good deities have habitations in vast 

 caverns under the earth, and that when an Indian dies his soul 

 goes to live with the deity who presides over his particular 

 family. 



" They believe that their good deities made the world, and 

 that they first created the Indians in the subterranean caverns 

 above mentioned ; gave them the lance, the bow and arrows, 

 and the balls, to fight and hunt with, and then turned them out 

 to shift for themselves. They imagine that the deities of the 

 Spaniards created them in a similar manner, but that, instead 

 of lances, bows, &c., they gave them guns and swords. They 

 say that when the beasts, birds, and lesser animals were 

 created, those of the more nimble kind came immediately out 

 of the caverns ; but that the bulls and cows being the last, the 

 Indians were so frightened at the sight of their horns, that they 

 stopped the entrances of their caves with great stones. This 

 is the grave reason they give why they had no black cattle in 

 their country, till the Spaniards brought them over ; who, 

 more wisely, had let them out of their caves. 



* The Pataginians call the g-ood deity the Creator of all things, but 

 consider him as one who afterwards has no concern about them. He is 

 styled by some Soucha, or chief in the land of strong drink ; by others, 

 Guayara-kunny, or lord of the dead. The evil principle is called Hue- 

 covoe, or the wanderer without. Other spirits are supposed to take care 

 of particular people — protect their own and injure others : they are called 

 Valichu. — Pennant, p. 61. 



VOL. TI. M 



