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only part which they annually visit to collect the 

 fat. The whole authority of los padres was 

 necessary, to induce them to advance as far as 

 the spot, where the soil rises abruptly at an incli- 

 nation of sixty degrees, and where the torrent 

 forms a small subterraneous cascade*. The 

 natives connect mystic ideas with this cave, 

 inhabited by nocturnal birds ; they believe, that 

 the souls of their ancestors sojourn in the deep 

 recesses of the cavern. "Man," say they, 

 a should avoid places which are enlightened 

 neither by the Sun (ZisJ, nor by the Moon 

 (Nuna)T To go and join the guacharoes, is to 

 rejoin their fathers, is to die. The magicians 

 (jpiaches) and the poisoners (imorons) perform 

 their nocturnal tricks at the entrance of the 

 cavern, to conjure the chief of the evil spirits 

 (ivorokiamo). Thus in every climate the first 

 fictions of nations resemble each other, those 

 especially which relate to two principles, go- 

 verning the world, the abode of souls after 

 death, the happiness of the virtuous, and the 

 punishment of the guilty. The most different 

 and most barbarous languages present a cer- 

 tain number of images, which are the same, 

 because they have their source in the nature of 

 our intellect and our sensations. Darkness is 



* We find this phenomenon of a subterranean cascade 

 but on a much larger scale, in England at Yordas Cave, near 

 Kingsdale, in Yorkshire. 



