90 



RELIGIOUS CEREMONY. 



May 1827. 



saying she was going for meat (came), 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, 

 called 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 priestessf 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 he drunk, it is pleasant to be drunk. 



t 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. 



