THE SACKED TBHMPET. 
3G3 
are formed. Some old Indians pretend to be bettor in- 
structed than others on points regarding divinity; and to 
them is confided the famous botuto, of which I have spoken, 
and which is sounded under the palm-trees that they 
may bear abundance of fruit. On the banks of the Orineco 
there exists no idol, as among all the nations who have 
remained faithful to the first worship of nature, but the 
botuto, the sacred trumpet, is an object of veneration. To 
be initiated into the mysteries of the botuto, it is requisite to 
be of pure morals, and to have lived single. The initiated 
are subjected to flagellations, fastings, and other painful ex- 
ercises. There are but a small number of these sacred 
trumpets. The most anciently celebrated is that upon a 
bill near the confluence of the Tomo and the Guainia. It 
b pretended, that it is heard at once on the banks of the 
1'uamini, and at the mission of San Miguel de Davipe, a dis- 
tance of ten leagues. Father Cereso assured us, that the 
Indians speak of the botuto of Tomo as an object of worship 
common to many surrounding tribes. Fruit and intoxica- 
ting liquors are placed beside the sacred trumpet. Some- 
times the Great Spirit himself makes the botuto resound; 
sometimes ho is content to manifest his will through him to 
Whom the keeping of the instrument is entrusted. _ These 
juggleries being very ancient (from the fathers of our fathers, 
say the Indians), we must not be surprised that some un- 
believers are already to be found ; but they express their 
disbelief of the mysteries of the botuto only in whispers. 
Women are not permitted to see this marvellous instru- 
ment ; and are excluded from all the ceremonies of this wor- 
ship. If a woman have the misfortune to see the trumpet, 
s be is p U t to death without mercy. The missionary related 
t( ? Us, that in 1798 he was happy enough to save a young 
girl, whom a jealous and vindictive lover accused of having 
followed, from a motive of curiosity, the Indians who sounded 
fhe botuto in the plantations. “ They would not have mur- 
dered her publicly,” said father Cesero, “but how was she to 
° 6 protected from the fanatacism of the natives, in a country 
''here 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 
bower Orinoco.” If the people of Guiana had remained 
