275 



tions. "They would not have murdered her 

 publicly/' said father Cereso, " but how was she 

 to be protected from the fanaticism of the natives, 

 in a country where it is so easy to give poison ? 

 The young girl told me of her fears, and I sent 

 her to one of the missions of the Lower Oroo- 

 noko." If the people of Guyana had remained 

 masters of that vast country ; if, without having 

 been impeded by Christian settlements, they 

 could follow freely the development of their bar- 

 barous institutions ; the worship of the botuto 

 would no doubt become of some political im- 

 portance. That mysterious society of the initi- 

 ated, those guardians of the sacred trumpet, 

 would be transformed into a ruling cast of 

 priests, and the oracle of Tomo would gradually 

 form a link between the bordering nations. It 

 is thus that community of worship (communia 

 sacra), religious ceremonies, and mysteries, have 

 drawn together, pacified, and perhaps civilized 

 so many nations of the ancient continent*. 



In the evening of the 4th of May we were in- 

 formed, that an Indian, who assisted in dragging 

 our bark over the portage of Pimichin, had been 

 stung by a viper. He was a tall strong man, 

 and was brought to the mission in a very alarm- 

 ing state. He had dropped down senseless ; 

 and nausea, vertigo, and congestions in the 



* Heeren, Gesch. der Staalen des Alterthums, 1799, p. 15, 

 71, 143. 



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