388 



HUILLI-CHE SUPERSTITIONS. 



Jan. Feb. 



August 18^9 the day tides were higher than the night, I am 

 quite certain ; and an old Biscayan, resident near point Arena, 

 told me that they were always so in winter : hence we may 

 conclude they are regularly higher at that time of year. 



I refrain from entering here into many very interesting 

 customs of the Huilli-che, because they are almost the same 

 as those of the Araucanian Indians, about whom so much has 

 been sung or said by Ercilla, Molina, and others, because 

 my pages are limited, there being still information of a newer 

 character to be written ; but I would ask the reader, who may 

 feel interested about the migrations of our race, to compare 

 such customs with those of the Polynesian islanders, especially 

 that of the ' Minga,** and making ' Cava.' ^ 



The superstitious ideas, arising out of a debased Romish 

 doctrine, have not deprived the Huilli-che of their belief in 

 witchcraft, a belief held in common with all ignorant nations. 

 Mr. Douglas, in his MS. Journal, says : — " No Chilote doubts 

 the existence of wizards (bruxos). When I was a magistrate, 

 a complaint was made to me of a young woman who, they 

 asserted, had tried to bewitch a young man. The witnesses 

 stated that she had bought from a professed witch (bruxa) a 

 charm (Uapui), which was produced in evidence. It consisted 

 of a piece of loadstone, with iron filings adhering to it ; some 

 fish-scales ; some hair and soap suds, proved to have been on 

 the young man's face, and sold by the barber ; some parings of 

 his nails ; a small dead lizard ; some slips of a peculiar tree ; 

 and many other ingredients. With this charm, with two pre- 

 pared apples, and a bottle half full of a liquid mixed by the 

 witch, she proposed to win the young man's affections to such 

 a degree that he would give her all his property. The liquid 

 appeared to be a decoction of the deadly nightshade, and some 

 poisonous ferns. The witnesses stated also, that this witch had 

 a lantern made of the skin of a still-born child, which she 

 lighted with a candle that burned with a blue flame ; and gave 



* The Minga is described in Molina, and Spanish authors. For an 

 excellent discussion respecting the Cava, see Burney-— Brouwer's Voyage, 

 1643, vol Hi. p. 137,8,9. 



