QUICHÉ GODS.
The Quichés had a multitude of other gods and genii, who controlled the elements and exercised their influence upon the destinies of man. The places where they most loved to linger were dark quiet spots, in the undisturbed silence of the grotto, at the foot of some steep precipice, beneath the shade of mighty trees, especially where a spring trickled forth between its roots, and on the summit of the mountains; and here the simple native came to pour out his sorrow, and to offer his sacrifice. In some places this idea of seclusion was carried to such an extent that idols were kept hidden in subterranean chapels, that they might not be disturbed or the people become too familiar with them; another reason, however, was to prevent their being stolen by other villagers. The god of the road had sanctuaries, calledmumah, all along the highways, especially at the junctions, and the traveler in passing never failed to rub his legs with a handful of grass, upon which he afterwards spat with great respect, and deposited it upon the altar together with a small stone, believing that this act of piety would give him renewed strength. He also left a small tribute from his stock of food or merchandise, which remained to decay before the idol, for none dared to remove it. This custom was also observed in Nicaragua.
The household gods were termedchahalha, 'guardian of the house,' and to them incense was burned and sacrifice made during the erection of a building; when finished, a corner in the interior was consecrated to their use. They seem to have been identified with the spirit of departed friends, for occasionally a corpse was buried beneath the house to insure their presence.[XI-55]
Among the more superstitious highlanders, the ancient worship has retained its hold upon the population to agreat extent, in spite of the efforts of the padres. Scherzer tells us that the people of Istlavacan reverenced gods of reason, health, sowing, and others, under the names of Noj, Ajmak, Kanil, and Ik, who were generally embodied in natural features, as mountains, or big trees. They recognized an Ormuzd and an Ahriman in Kij, the god of light and good principle, opposed by Juiup, the god of earth and evil principle, who was represented by a rock, three feet high and one foot thick, supposed to be a distorted human face. The native priests generally took the horoscope, and appointed a nagual, or guardian spirit for their children, before the padres were allowed to baptize them. They are said to have sacrificed infants, scattering their heart's blood upon a stone before the idol, and burying the body in the woods to avoid detection.[XI-56]
The Choles and Manches of Vera Paz, impressed with the wild features of their country, venerated the mountains, and on one called Escurruchan, which stood at the junction of several branches of their principal river, they kept up a perpetual fire to which passers-by added fuel, and at which sacrifices were offered. At another place the padres found a rough altar of stone and clay surrounded by a fence, where they burned torches of black wax and resinous wood, and offered fowls, and blood from their bodies, to mountains, cross-roads and pools in the river, whence came all means of existence and all increase.[XI-57]
WORSHIP OF A HORSE.
The chief idol of the Itzas was Hubo, who was represented by a hollow metal figure with an opening between the shoulders, through which human beings were passed, charged to implore the favors of the gods. A fire was then lighted beneath the figure, and while the victims were roasting alive, their friends joined ina dance around it, drowning the cries of the victims with shouts and rattling of drums. No women were allowed to join in the temple ceremonies. On the chief island in the lake of Peten, the conquerors found twenty-one stone temples with stone roofs, the chief of which formed a kind of pyramid of nine steps. In this was found a large chalchiuite, representing one of their two battle-gods, Pakoc and Hunchunchan, who gave oracles and were supposed to join the people in their dances. This familiarity evidently bred contempt, however, for it is related that when a prediction of the oracle was not fulfilled, the priest without hesitation castigated the idol. In the same temple stood a gypsum image in the form of the sun, adorned with rays, inlaid with nacar, and having a gaping mouth set with human teeth. The bones of a horse, which hung from the rafters, were adored as sacred relics. These were the remains of a wounded horse left by Cortés among the natives when on his way to Honduras. Having seen the Spaniards fire from its back, they believed that the animal produced the flash and report, and hence adored it as Tziminchac, god of thunder, and brought it flowers, flesh, and incense; but such offerings did not sustain life, and it was not long before the bones of the apotheosized charger were all that remained to his worshipers. In another place was a stone and lime imitation of this horse, seated on the floor on its haunches, which the natives adored in the same manner. This animal-worship was the more readily admitted, since their gods was supposed to assume such forms.[XI-58]
Their idols were so numerous, say the conquerors, that it took over a hundred men a whole day to destroy those existing on the chief island alone; Cogolludo affirms that the priests had charge of all the idols.[XI-59]The chief god of the Cakchiquels, Chamalcan, or Chimalacan,[XI-60]had many of the attributes of Tohil, but took the form of a bat, the symbol of the royal house of Zotzil. Every seventh and thirteenth day of the month the priests placed before him blood-stained thorns, fresh white resin, bark and branches of pine, and a cat, the emblem of night, which were burned in his honor.[XI-61]
The purest form of sun-worship appears among the Lacandones, who adored the luminary without the intervention of an image, and sacrificed before it in the Mexican fashion. They had temples, however, the walls of which were decorated with hieroglyphs of the sun and moon, and with a figure in the act of praying to the sun.[XI-62]The Nahua tribe of the Pipiles also worshiped the sun, before which they prostrated themselves while offering incense and muttering invocations. Quetzalcoatl and the goddess Itzqueye were honored in the sacrifice,[XI-63]which generally consisted of a deer. The relative importance of Quetzalcoatl and Itzqueye, may be seen from the statement that the festival held in honor of the former on certain occasions lasted fifteen days, while that in honor of the latter was but of five days duration. The chief centre of worship was at Mictlan, near Huixa Lake, where now is the village of Santa Maria Mita, founded, according to tradition, by an old man, who in company with an exceedingly beautiful girl issued from the lake, both dressed in long blue robes, the man also wearing a mitre. He seated himself upon a stone on the hill, while the girl pursued her way and disappeared, and here, by his order, was built the temple of Mictlan, round which stately palaces afterwards arose; he also organized the government of the place.[XI-64]
TRADITION OF COMIZAHUAL.
Among the vestiges of older worship we find the natives of Cerquin in Honduras,[XI-65]venerating and praying for health to two idols, called respectively Great Father and Great Mother, which probably refer to the Grandfather and Grandmother of the Quichés. A faint idea of a Supreme Being, says Torquemada, was mixed up with the worship of the sun and stars, to which sacrifices were made. Their culture-tradition speaks of a beautiful white woman, called Comizahual, or 'flying tigress,' a reputed sorceress, as the introducer of civilization in Cerquin. She is said to have descended from heaven and to have been transported by an invisible hand to the city of Cealcoquin, where she built a palace adorned with monstrous figures of men and animals, and placed in the chief temple a stone having on each of its three sides three faces of strange and hideous aspect; by aid of this stone she conquered her enemies. She remained a virgin, yet three sons were born to her,[XI-66]among whom she divided the kingdom when she grew old. After arranging her affairs, she commanded her attendants to carry her on her bed to the highest part of the palace, whence she suddenly disappeared amid thunder and lightning, doubtless to resume her place among the gods; directly afterwards a beautiful bird was seen to fly upwards and disappear. The people erected a temple in her honor, where the priest delivered her oracles, and celebrated every year the anniversary of her disappearance with great feasts. Palacio refers to a stone, like the one with three faces, named Icelaca, in Cezori, which disclosed things past, present, and future, and before which the people sacrificed fowls, rabbits and variouskinds of food, and smeared the face with blood drawn from the generative organs.[XI-67]
The religious fervor of the people is shown by the fact that whatever work they undertook they commenced by sanctifying it with prayers and offerings and by incensing their implements that they might acquire more efficacy; thus, before commencing to sow, the laborers killed a turkey whose blood they scattered over the field, and performed other ceremonies.[XI-68]Simple in their mode of life, they did not importune the gods for vain luxuries: their prayers were for long life, health, children, and the necessaries of life. The first they hoped to obtain by scarifications and penances; to guard against disease, they sent the priest a bird, generally a quail, to sacrifice. When actually attacked by sickness confession was resorted to as a powerful means of propitiation, as was also the case on all important occasions to secure divine blessings and avert immediate danger. It is related by an old chronicler that when a party of travelers met a jaguar or puma, each one immediately commended himself to the gods and confessed in a loud voice the sins he had committed, imploring pardon. If the object of their terror still advanced upon them, they cried, "we have committed as many more sins, do not kill us!" and sat down, saying one to another, "one of us has done some grievous deed, and him the wild beast will kill!"[XI-69]
SPECIAL FASTS.
In their scarifications, those who drew the most blood, especially from the secret organs, were held to be the most pious. Among the Pipiles the women joined in drawing blood from the ears and tongue, and smearingit on cotton, offered it to Quetzalcoatl, and then to Itzcueye.[XI-70]On extraordinary occasions, as in the event of a public calamity, the priests and chief men held a council to determine the propitiatory penance to be imposed on the people, and the kind of sacrifice to be offered; the Ahgih were called upon to trace magic circles and figures, and to cast grains, so as to determine the time when it should be made. The esteemed task of collecting the fuel for this celebration devolved upon a royal prince, who formed the boys of the district into bands to forage for the wood. The efforts of the people alone were not considered sufficient at such times to propitiate the gods; it required the sanctified presence and powerful influence of the high priest to secure remission of sins. This personage, whether king or pontiff, subjected himself to a very severe fast and penance during the twenty, or even hundred days determined upon. He removed to an arbor near the hidden sanctuary of the idols, and lived in entire solitude, subsisting on grains and fruit, touching no food prepared by fire, sacrificing the offerings brought him during the day, and drawing blood. The fast over, with its attendant separation of man and wife, bathing, painting in red, and other acts of penance, the nobles went in a body to the retreat of the idols, and having adorned them in the most splendid manner, conducted them in procession to the town, attended by the high priest and victims. In places where the idols were kept in the temples of the town, they marched with them round the city. The various rites closed with games of ball, played under the supervision of the idols, and with feasting and reveling.[XI-71]
The Popol Vuh ascribes the introduction of human sacrifices to Tohil, who exacted this offering from the first four men in return for the fire given to the Quichés, while Las Casas states that Xbalanque initiatedthem. Their knives of sacrifice, he says, had fallen from heaven, and were accordingly adored as 'hands of God,' and set in rich handles of gold or silver, ornamented with turquoises and emeralds. The ordinary sacrifices occurred several times a month, and among the Pipiles, the number and quality were indicated by the calendar and consisted chiefly of bastard boys from six to twelve years of age. Their most solemn offerings were made at the commencement and end of the rains, and were attended by the chief men only. Juarros states that human sacrifices were not offered by the Pipiles and that the attempt of caciques to introduce them resulted in an insurrection; and, although this will scarcely apply to later times, it seems that formerly the sacrifices were very few in number. The Cakchiquels are, however, said to have abstained from the rite. Cortés relates that at Acalá the fairest girls to be found were selected by the priests and brought up, in strict chastity, to be sacrificed, at the proper time, to the goddess of the place. The Itzas, who, when captives failed, took the fattest of their young men for victims, had several modes of immolation, as roasting the victims alive in the metal image; dispatching them with the knife on the stone of sacrifice, a large one of which was found at Taysal; impalement, followed by extraction of the heart, as at Prospero; and in earlier times shooting, as was done by their Yucatec ancestors. According to Cogolludo, three persons assisted at the sacrifices, theadkulel, master of ceremonies, theadkayom, and a virgin who must be the daughter of one of these; but Villagutierre mentions that the stone of sacrifice at the chief temple at Taysal, was surrounded by twelve seats for the attendant priests; and assistants to hold the victims were certainly required. Cannibalism seems to have attended all these sacrifices, the flesh being boiled and seasoned, and the choice bits reserved for the high priests and chiefs.[XI-72]
THE PRIESTS OF GUATEMALA.
Each of the numerous tribes of Guatemala had a distinct and separate body of priests, who by means of their oracles exercised a decided influence on the state, and some, the Quichés for instance, were spiritually governed by independent pontiffs. The high priests of Tohil and Gucumatz, Ahau Ah Tohil and Ahau Ah Gucumatz, belonged to the royal house of Cawek, and held the fourth and fifth rank respectively among the grandees of the Empire; Ahau-Avilix, the high-priest of Avilix, was a member of the Nihaïb family; Ahau Gagavitz came of the Ahau Quiché house; and the two high-priests of the Kahba temple in Utatlan were of the Zakik house, and each had a province allotted him for his support. The Tohil priests were vowed to perpetual continence and austere penitence, and were not permitted to taste meat or bread.[XI-73]The pontiff at Mictlan, in Salvador, who stood on nearly the same level as the king, bore the title of Teoti, 'divine'[XI-74]and was distinguished by a long blue robe, a diadem, and a baton like an episcopal cross; on solemn occasions he substituted a mitre of beautiful feathers for the diadem. Next to him came an ecclesiastical council composed of the Tehuamatlini, chief of the astrologers and learned priests, who acted as lieutenant of the high priest, and superintended the writings and divinations, and four other priests,teopixqui, who dressed in different colors. These ruled the rest of the priesthood, composed of keepers of properties, sacrificers, watchers, and the ordinary priests, termedteupas, who were all appointed by the high-priests from the sons ofthe ministers. When the high-priest died, the body was embalmed and placed in a crypt beneath the palace. After fifteen days of mourning, attended by fasts, the king and Tehuamatlini drew lots for his successor from among the four teopixqui, the vacancy in their ranks being filled by a son of the pontiff, or one of their own sons. The elected purified himself for the office by blood-letting and other observances, while the people celebrated his accession with feasting and dancing. In Vera Paz the chief priest was elected according to merit from a certain family by the people, and ranked next to the king.[XI-75]As an instance of the lasting influence possessed by the priesthood over the people, Scherzer relates that at Istlávacan there were a few years ago as many as sixty priests, diviners, and medicine-men, Ahgih, Ahqixb, and Ahqahb, as they used to be termed, who exercised their offices among them. At Coban, says Villagutierre, a priest was so highly respected that the person who presumed to touch him was expected to fall dead immediately.[XI-76]
GODS OF THE NICARAGUANS.
The Nahua impress, noticeable in the languages and customs of Nicaragua, is still more strongly marked in the mythology of that country.[XI-77]Instead of obliterating the older forms of worship, however, as it seems to have done in the northern part of Central America, it has here and there passed by many of the distinct beliefs held by different tribes, and blended with the chief element of a system which is traced to the Muyscas in South America. The inquiries instituted by a Spanish friar among different classes of people in the Nagrando district go to prove that Tamagostat[XI-78]and Cipattonal,male and female deities who inhabit the regions of the rising sun, were the supreme beings. They created all things, stars as well as mortals, and re-created what had been destroyed by the flood, in which work they were aided by Ecalchot, surnamed Huehue, 'the aged,' and Ciagat 'the little.' In Tamagostat Müller at once recognizes Fomagata, the ancient sun-god of the Muyscas, who after his dethronement by a newer solar deity became more particularly the fire-god of that people, but retained more of his original preëminence in the countries to which his worship spread, as in Nicaragua. This view is supported by the statement that he inhabited the heavens above, or rather the region of sunrise. His consort Cipattonal, Müller, judging from their relationship, holds to be the moon; her name seems however, to be derived from a Mexican source, probably fromxipalli, 'dark blue color,' andtonalli, 'sun,'[XI-79]which may be construed as referring to the sun in its blue element, or, as the fainter sun, to the moon. In either case the connection of the two is perfectly legitimate. Ecalchot, who is represented as a young man, yet is surnamed 'the aged,' seems to be the same as the Mexican Ehecatl, 'wind, air,' an element ever young, yet ever old, and Ciagat may mean 'moisture;'[XI-80]both forming with the sun the fertilizing forces that create.[XI-81]Oviedo gives the names of these deities as Tamagostat or Tamagostad, Zipattoval or Zipattonal, Calchithuehue, and Chicoziagat,[XI-82]'father.' He further names Chiquinaut and Hecat as gods of the winds, which seems to be merely another version of Chicoziagat and Ehecatl.[XI-83]
The Guatemalan trinity reappears in the character of Omeyateite and Omeyatezigoat[XI-84]—easily recognizable in the Mexican Ometecutli and Omecihuatl—and their son Ruiatcot, the rain god,[XI-85]who sends forth thunder, lightning and rain. They are also supposed to live where the sun rises, doubtless because that seems the abode of bliss, and as fertilizing forces they are regarded as creators, but not connected with the two before mentioned. Quiateot was the most prominent, if not the supreme, member of the trinity, for the other two, as representing the thunder and lighting, the forerunners, or parents, of the showers, do not seem to have been invoked when rain was wanted, or to have participated in the sacrifices of young boys and girls offered on such occasions.[XI-86]
THE GODDESS OF THE VOLCANO.
The Nicaraguans had other deities presiding over the elements, seasons, and necessaries of life. Thus, Macat and Toste, also written Mazat and Teotost,[XI-87]the deer and rabbit, were gods of the chase. When a deer was killed, the hunter placed the head in a basket in his house, and regarded it as the representation of the god.[XI-88]Mixcoa was the god invoked by the traders, and those about to make purchases; Cacaguat was the patron of cacao-culture; Miquetanteot, god of hades, was evidently the same as Mictlantecutli of Mexico; there were, besides, others whose names have been given to the days of the month. In Martiari the chief deity was called Tipotani. In Nicaragua proper, they adored Tomaoteot, 'the great god,' whose son Teotbilche was sent down to mankind. This looks like another Christ-myth, especially when we read of attendant angels who had wings andflew about in heaven. The names of the two chief angels were Taraacazcati and Tamacaztobal.[XI-89]The Dirans revered in particular the goddess of the volcano Masaya; for her they placed food on the brink of the crater, into which they cast human beings, especially when she manifested her anger by earthquakes. On such occasions the chiefs and priests, who alone were permitted to look into the seething abyss, went to the summit and called upon the genius, who issued from the lake of fire in the form of an old woman and instructed them what to do. She is described as a naked, dark-skinned hag, with hanging breasts, scanty hair, long, sharp teeth, and sunken glaring eyeballs. The gods were invested with all the peculiarities of humanity, formed of flesh and blood, and lived on the food provided for man, besides blood and incense. They also appeared on earth dressed like the natives, but since the death of the cacique Xostoval these visits ceased.[XI-90]They were personified by idols of stone, clay, or wood, calledteobat,[XI-91]whose forms their forefathers had transmitted; to them were brought offerings of food and other things, which were taken in at the door of the temple by boys serving there, for none except the consecrated were allowed to enter the sanctuary.[XI-92]To encourage the piety that prompted these offerings, the priests never failed to remind the people of the punishment inflicted on the inhabitants of the ancient capital of Nagrando, who having given themselves up to the pursuit of pleasure, and neglected the gods, were one night swallowed up, not a vestige of their city being left.[XI-93]The most acceptable offering was, of course, human blood. At certain timesthe favorite idol was set on a spear and planted in an open place amid gorgeously adorned attendants holding banners, and flowers. Here the priests gashed their tongues, and other parts, smearing the face of the image with the blood that flowed, while the devout approached to whisper their desires into the ear of the idol. Songs, dances, and games attended these ceremonies.
Before each temple was a conic or pyramidal mound of adobe, calledtescuit, ortezarit, ascended by an interior staircase.[XI-94]From its summit, upon which there was room for about ten men to stand, the priest proclaimed the nature of the approaching festival, and the kind of sacrifice to be made, and here, upon a stone block, the victims, generally captives and slaves, had their hearts cut out, after which they were decapitated, the body to be cut up and prepared for the grand banquets, while the head, if that of a captive, was hung on a tree near the temple, a particular tree being reserved for each tribe from whom the victims were captured. The most prized victims were young boys and girls, who were brought up by the chiefs for the purpose and treated with great care and respect wherever they went, for they were supposed to become deified after death and to exercise great influence over the affairs of life. Women, who were held to be unworthy to perform any duty in connection with the temples, were immolated outside the temple ground of the large sanctuaries, and even their flesh was unclean food for the high-priest, who accordingly ate only of the flesh of males.[XI-95]
Fasts and baptismal rites, so prominent hitherto, do not appear to have been practiced in Nicaragua. A kind of sacrament was administered, however, by means of maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the generative organs, and confession was a recognized institution. Theconfessor was chosen from among the most aged and respected citizens; a calabash suspended from the neck was his badge of office. He was required to be a man of blameless life, unmarried, and not connected with the temple. Those who wished to confess went to his house, and there standing with humility before him unburdened their conscience. The confessor was forbidden to reveal any secret confided to him in his official capacity, under pain of punishment. The penance he imposed was generally some kind of labor to be performed for the benefit of the temple. Boys did not confess, but seem to have reserved the avowal of their peccadillos for maturer age.[XI-96]
PRIESTS OF NICARAGUA.
The office of high-priest was held by the caciques, who each in his turn left home and occupation and removed to the chief temple, there to remain for a year attending to religious matters and praying for the people. At the expiration of the term he received the honorable distinction of having his nose perforated. Subordinate duties were performed by boys. In the inferior temples other classes entered for a year's penance, living like the chief in strict seclusion, except at festivals perhaps, seeing none but the boys who brought food from their homes. The ordinary priests were calledtamagast[XI-97]and lived on the offerings made to the idols, and perhaps by their own exertions, for the temples had no fixed revenues.[XI-98]They had sorcerers,texoxes, who sometimes caused thedeath of children by merely looking at them, and who could assume animal forms, for which reasons they were much feared by the people. To strengthen this belief they at times disguised themselves in skins of beasts.[XI-99]In Honduras the idea of a Supreme Being and Creator was connected with a worship of the sun, moon, and stars, to which the people made sacrifices.[XI-100]Near Truxillo were three chief temples[XI-101]in one of which was a chalchiuite in the form of a woman, to which the people prayed, and which answered them through the priests. Preparatory to any important undertaking, cocks, dogs, or even men, were sacrificed to secure the favor of the gods. In each of the sanctuaries presided apapa, or chief priest, to whom the education of the sons of the nobles was entrusted. These were unmarried men, distinguished by long hair reaching to the waist, though in some places they wound it round the head in plaits. Their sanctity and superior knowledge gave them great influence, and their advice was sought on all affairs of importance by the principal men, for none else dared to approach them. There were also sorcerers who could assume animal forms, in which guise they went about devouring men and spreading diseases.[XI-102]
THE MOSQUITO PANTHEON.
Among the barbarians of the Mosquito Coast, we find, of course, a much lower order of belief, and one which calls to mind the ghouls and ghosts of Californian mythology. The natives acknowledged a good spirit or principle, to which they gave no definite name[XI-103]and rendered no homage, for there was no necessity, they said, to pray to one who always did good; as for thanking him for mercies received, such an idea seems neverto have occurred to them. In fact, they had neither temples nor idols, and the only ceremonies that partook of a religious character were the conjurations of theirsukias, or sorceresses, who were constantly engaged in breaking the spells of evil spirits, with which the people's fancy, excited by grewsome stories told round the camp-fire, had filled every dark and dismal place, every stream and mountain top. These gnomes were known by the name of Wulasha,[XI-104]and were supposed to issue from their hiding-places, especially at night, to do all manner of evil; they were especially addicted to carrying off solitary wanderers; it was, therefore, say the chroniclers, almost impossible to induce a native to go out alone after dark.
Amid the underwood and fallen trees about the sources of rivers, big snakes were thought to dwell. These monsters were assisted by a resistless upward current and a strong wind which swept the unwary boatman within the reach of the red jaws and slimy folds. Patook, among other rivers, had this bad reputation, and a white man who despite the warnings of the natives started to explore its mysteries, returned in a few days with the story that his progress had been opposed by a big white cock. Leewa[XI-105]was the name of the water spirit, who sucked the bather into pools and eddies and sent forth devastating waterspouts and hurricanes. Wihwin, a spirit having the appearance of a horse,[XI-106]with tremendous teeth to devour human prey, haunted the hills during the summer, but retired with the winter to the sea, whence he originally issued. In mountain caves, guarded by fierce white boars, lived the patron deity of thewarrees, the wild pigs of the country, of childish form but immense strength, who directed the movements of the droves. There were, besides, certainvenomous lizards, who after biting a man ran immediately to the nearest water: if the wounded person did the same and succeeded in reaching the water first, he was saved, and the lizard died; otherwise the man was doomed.[XI-107]The Sukias who were called upon to exorcise these malignant beings on every occasion of sickness, or misfortune, were generally old hags, supposed to have a compact with the evil one, in whose name they exacted half their fee before commencing their enchantments. The Caribs held regular meetings or festivals to propitiate these spirits, and the Woolwas, who seem to have had many religious forms in common with the Nicaraguans, had "dances with the gods."[XI-108]
GODS OF THE ISTHMIANS.
Among the Isthmians several forms of worship appear, that in the vicinity of Panamá resembling the system prevalent in Hayti and Cuba, says Gomara.[XI-109]The heavenly bodies seem to have been very generally adored, especially in the northern part of the Isthmus, where all good things were thought to come from the sun and moon, which were considered as man and wife; but no accounts are given of temples, or forms of worship, except that prayers were addressed to the sun.[XI-110]
The most prominent personage in the Isthmian pantheon was Dabaiba, a goddess who controlled the thunder and lightning, and with their aid devastated the lands of those who displeased her. In South America, thunder and lightning were held to be the instruments used by the sun to inflict punishment upon its enemies, which makes it probable that Dabaiba was a transformed sun-goddess. Pilgrims resorted from afar to her temple at Urabá, bringing costly presents and human victims, who were first killed and then burned, that the savory odors of roasting flesh might be grateful in the delicate nostrils of the goddess. Some describe her as a native princess,whose reign was marked by great wisdom and many miracles, and who was apotheosized after death. She was also honored as the mother of the Creator, the maker of the sun, the moon, and all invisible things, and the sender of blessings, who seems to have acted as mediator between the people and his mother, for their prayers for rain were addressed to him, although she is described as controlling the showers, and once when her worship was neglected she inflicted a severe drought upon the country.
When the needs of the people were very urgent, the chiefs and priests remained in the temple fasting and praying with uplifted hands; the people meanwhile observed a four-days fast, lacerating their bodies and washing their faces, which were at other times covered with paint. So strict was this fast that no meat or drink was to be touched until the fourth day, and then only a soup made from maize-flour. The priests themselves were sworn to perpetual chastity and abstinence, and those who went astray in these matters were burned or stoned to death. Their temples were encompassed with walls and kept scrupulously clean; golden trumpets, and bells with bone clappers summoned the people to worship.[XI-111]
In the province of Pocorosa the existence of a rain-god called Chipiripe was recognized, who inhabited the heaven above, whence he regulated celestial movements; with him lived a beautiful woman with one child. Nothing else was known respecting this divine family. This ignorance of the deity was further manifested by the absence of any form of worship; the moral laws were well defined, however, so that adultery and even lying were regarded as sinful.[XI-112]Las Casas states that Chicune, 'the beginning of all,' who lived in heaven, was the one being to whom the people of Darien addressed their invocations and sacrifices, though acertain sect, or tribe, among them worshiped the water. In another chapter he declares that the Isthmians had little or no religion, for they had no temples and few or no gods or idols.[XI-113]According to Peter Martyr, the embalmed and bejeweled bodies of ancestors were worshiped in Comagre, and in Veragua gold was invested with divine qualities, so that the gathering of it was attended with fasting and penance.[XI-114]Tuira, whom the Spanish writers declared to have been the devil himself, was a widely known being who communed with his servants,tequina, 'masters,'[XI-115]in roofless huts kept for this purpose. Here the tequinas entered at night, and spoke in different voices, to induce the belief that the spirits were actually answering their questions; the result of the interview was communicated to their patrons. At times the evil one appeared in the guise of a handsome boy without hands[XI-116]and with three-toed feet, and accompanied the sorcerers upon their expeditions to work mischief, and supplied them with a protecting ointment. Among the evil deeds imputed to these sorcerers was that of sucking the navel of sleeping people until they died.[XI-117]These men naturally took care to foster ideas that tended to sustain or increase their influence, and circulated, besides, most extravagant stories of supernatural events and beings. Once a terrible hurricane, blowing from the east, devastated the country and brought with it two birds with maiden faces, one of which was of a size so great that it seized upon men and carried them off to its mountain nest. No tree could support it, and where it alighted upon the rocks, the imprint of its talons were left. The other bird was smaller and supposed to be the offspring of the first.After trying several plans to kill these man-eating harpies, they hit upon the device of fixing a large beam in the ground, near the place where they usually alighted, leaving only one end exposed, on which was carved the image of a man. With the dawn of day the larger bird came swooping down upon the decoy and imbedded its claws so firmly in the beam that it could not withdraw them, and thus the people were enabled to kill it.[XI-118]
The knowledge that the human mind, no matter how low its condition, can be capable of such puerile conceptions, must bring with it a sense of humiliation to the thinking man; and well were it for him could he comfort himself with the belief that such debasing superstitions were at least confined to humanity in its first and lowest stages; but this he cannot do. It is true that the belief of the civilized Aztec was far higher and nobler than that of the uncivilized Carib, but can he who has read the evidence upon which old women and young maidens were convicted of riding upon broomsticks to witches' Sabbaths, by the most learned judges of the most learned law-courts of modern Europe, deny that the coarsest superstition and the highest civilization have hitherto gone hand in hand.
PHALLIC WORSHIP.
Before leaving this division it will be well to say a few words concerning the existence of Phallic Worship in America.
One of the first problems of the primitive man is creation. If analogies lead him to conceive it as allied to a birth, and the joint result of some unknown male and female energy, then the symbolization of this power is liable to take the gross form of phallic worship. Thus it is that among the earliest nations of which we possess any knowledge, the life-giving and vivifying principle of nature has been always symbolized by the human organs of generation. The Lingham of India, the Phallus of Greece, the Priapus of Rome, the Baal-Peor of the Hebrew records, and the Peor-Apis of Egypt,all have plainly the same significance. In most mythologies the sun, the principle of fire, the moon, and the earth, were connected with this belief; the sun and moon as the celestial emblems of the generative and productive powers of nature, fire and the earth as the terrestrial emblems. These were the Father and the Mother, and their most obvious symbols, as already stated, were the phallus and wares, or the Skuas and yoni of Hindustan.
It is unnecessary to multiply quotations respecting the basal though often veiled idea of One, underlying the polytheistic systems. The difficulty to the human mind of considering anything in another than human aspect, and our natural delight in analogies, leads, however, in many cases to the consideration in certain aspects of this deity as a duality or joint essence of the masculine and the feminine. Take the learned Cory's summary of ancient mythology: "It recognizes, as the primary elements of all things, two independent principles, of the nature of male and female; and these, in mystic union, as the soul and body, constitute the Great Hermaphrodite Deity, The One, the universe itself, consisting still of the two separate elements of its composition, modified though combined in one individual.... If we investigate the Pantheons of the ancient nations, we shall find that each, notwithstanding the variety of names, acknowledged the same deities and the same system of Theology; and, however humble any of the deities may appear, each who has any claim to antiquity will be found ultimately, if not immediately, resolvable into one or other of the Primeval Principles, the Great God and Goddess of the Gentiles."[XI-119]
RATIONALE OF PHALLIC WORSHIP.
To the moral ideal of the present age, an ideal derived from acquired habit, not from nature, phallic worship will doubtless appear repulsive and indelicate in the extreme. It was, nevertheless, the most natural form of worship that the primitive man could adopt; for him the symbol had no impure meaning, and was associated with none of the disgusting excesses by means of which, as he became more sophisticated, he converted his reverence of Nature into a worship of Lust.
What could be more natural than that he should symbolize the fecundating principle, the creative power, by the immediate cause of reproduction, or as he doubtless took it, of creation, the phallus. He recognized no impurity or licentiousness in the moderate and regular gratification of any natural appetite; nor did it seem to him that the organs of one species of enjoyment were naturally to be considered as subjects of shame and concealment more than those of another. As Payne Knight remarks of the ancient nations of the old world: "In an age, therefore, when no prejudices of artificial decency existed, what more just and natural image could they find, by which to express their idea of the beneficent power of the great Creator than that organ which endowed them with the power of procreation, and made them partakers, not only of the felicity of the Deity, but of his great characteristic attribute, that of multiplying his own image, communicating his blessings, and extending them to the generations yet unborn." Nothing natural was to them offensively obscene. When the Egyptian matrons touched the phallus they did so with the pure wish of obtaining offspring. The gold lingam on the neck of the Hindoo wives was not an object of shame to them.
RELICS OF PHALLIC WORSHIP.
That the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature was recognized and practiced in America, there is in my mind no doubt. The almost universal prevalence of sun-worship, which is, as I have already intimated, closelyconnected with phallic rites, would alone go far to prove this, but an account of certain material relics and well known customs is still more satisfactory evidence.
In Yucatan, according to Stephens, "the ornaments upon the external cornice of several large buildings actually consisted ofmembra conjuncta in coitu, too plainly sculptured to be misunderstood. And, if this were not sufficient testimony, more was found in the isolated and scattered representations of themembrum virile, so accurate that even the Indians recognised the object, and invited the attention of Mr Catherwood to the originals of some of his drawings as yet unpublished."
The sculptured pillars to be seen at Copan and other ruins in Central America, which are acknowledged to be connected with sun worship, are very similar to the sculptured phallus-pillars of the East.[XI-120]Mr Squieris of the opinion that they may be considered as such, and the Abbé Brasseur takes the same view in making the plain cylindrical pillar found in so many places the representation of the volcano, the goddess of love, and whence it issues as the symbol of new life. On another page he terms the phallus the Crescent, the land whence the Nahuas originated, and the continent of America the body.[XI-121]Some of the pillars appear without ornament, as thepicoteat Uxmal, a round stone of irregular form, which stood in front of one of the ruins, but the worshipers of Priapus at Thespia and other places were content with a rude stone for an image in early times. In Mexico according to Gama, the presiding god of spring, Xopancalehuey Tlalloc, was often represented without a human body, having instead a pilaster or square column, upon a pedestal covered with various sculptured designs.[XI-122]In Pánuco images of the generative organs were kept in the temples as objects of worship, and statues representing men and women performing the sexual act in various postures stood in the temple-courts.[XI-123]Near Laguna de Terminos, on the coast of Yucatan, Grijalva found images of men committing acts of indescribable beastliness, while close by lay the bodies of victims recently sacrificed in their honor.[XI-124]The united symbols of the sexualorgans were publicly worshiped in Tlascala, and in the month of Quecholli a grand festival was held in honor of Xochiquetzal, Xochitecatl, and Tlazolteotl, goddesses of sensual delights, when the prostitutes and young men addicted to sodomy were allowed to solicit custom on the public streets.[XI-125]On Zapatero Island, around Lake Nicaragua, and in Costa Rica, a number of idols have been found of which the disproportionately largemembrum generationis virile in erectionewas the most prominent feature. Palacio relates that at Cezori, in Honduras, the natives offered blood drawn from the organs of generation and circumcised boys before an idol called Icelaca, which was simply a round stone,[XI-126]with two faces and a number of eyes, and was supposed to know all things, past, present, and future.[XI-127]The frequent occurrence of the cross, which has served in so many and such widely separated parts of the earth as the symbol of the life-giving, creative, and fertilizing principle in nature, is, perhaps, one of the most striking evidences of the former recognition of the reciprocal principles of nature by the Americans; especially when we remember that the Mexican name for the emblem, tonacaquahuitl, signifies 'tree of one life, or flesh.'[XI-128]Of two terra-cotta relics found at Ococingo, in the state of Chiapas, one would certainly attract the attention of any one who had investigated the subject of phallic worship or had seen the phallic amulets and ornaments of the old world.[XI-129]In the Museum at Mexico are two small images which were evidently used as ornaments. Each of these represents a human figure in a crouching posture, clasping with both hands an enormous phallus. Col. Brantz Mayer kindly showed me drawings of these made by himself. One of these figures is reproduced in another volume of this work.
PHALLIC RITES.
The Pipiles abstained from their wives for four days previous to sowing, in order to indulge in the marital act to the fullest extent on the eve of that day, evidently with a view to initiate or urge the fecundating powers of nature. It is even said that certain persons were appointed to perform the sexual act at the moment of planting the first seed. During the bitter cold nights of the Hyperborean winter, the Aleuts, both men and women, joined hands in the open air and whirled perfectly naked round certain idols, lighted only by the pale moon. The spirit was supposed to hallow the dance with his presence. There certainly could have been no licentious element in this ceremony, for setting aside the discomfort of dancing naked with the thermometer at zero, we read that the dancers were blindfolded, and that decorum was strictly enforced. In Nicaragua, maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the genitals was regarded as sacred food.[XI-130]The custom of drawing blood from this part of the body was observed as a religious rite by almost every tribe from Mexico to Panamá, though this, of course, does not prove that it was in all cases connected with phallic worship. Circumcision is regarded by Squier as a phallic rite, but there is not sufficient testimony to support this view. Tezcatlipoca, the chief god of the Nahuas, who has been frequently identified with the sun, was adored as a love-god, according to Boturini, who adds that the Nahua Lotharios held disorderly festivals in his honor, to induce him to favor their designs.[XI-131]Orgies, characterized by the grossest licentiousness are met with at different places along the coast, as among the Nootkas, the Upper and Lower Californians, in Sinaloa, Nicaragua, and especially in Yucatan, where every festival ended in a debauch. During a certain annual festival held in Nicaragua, women, of whatever condition, could abandon themselves to theembrace of whomever they pleased, without incurring any disgrace.[XI-132]
The feast of the Mexican month Xocotlhuetzin, 'fall, or maturity of fruit,' is to me a most striking evidence of the former existence of phallic worship, or at least recognition of the fecundating principle in nature. I will, however, leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. This feast of the 'maturity of fruit' was dedicated to Xiuhtecutli, god of fire, and, therefore, of fertility, or fecundity. The principal feature of the feast was a tall, straight tree, which was stripped of all itsbranches except those close to the top and set up in the court of the temple. Within a few feet of its top a cross-yard thirty feet long was fastened; thus a perfect cross was formed. Above all, a dough image of the god of fire curiously dressed was fixed. After certain horrible sacrifices had been made to the deity of the day, the people assembled about the pole, and the youth scrambled up for the image, which they broke in pieces and scattered upon the ground.[XI-133]A great number of similar analogies may be detected in the rites and customs of the people, and it is almost reluctantly that I refrain from giving my views in full. I have made it my aim, however, to deal with facts, and leave speculation to others. Those who wish to thoroughly investigate this most interesting subject, cannot do better than study Mr Squier's learned and exhaustive treatise on the Serpent Symbol.
Aboriginal Ideas of Future—General Conceptions of Soul—Future State of the Aleuts, Chepewyans, Natives at Milbank Sound, and Okanagans—Happy Land of the Salish and Chinooks—Conceptions Of Heaven and Hell of the Nez Percés, Flatheads, and Haidahs—The Realms of Quawteaht and Chayher—Beliefs of the Songhies, Clallams, and Pend d'Oreilles—The Future State of the Californian and Nevada Tribes, Comanches, Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches, Moquis, Maricopas, Yumas, and others—The Sun House of the Mexicans—Tlalocan and Mictlan—Condition of the Dead—Journey of the Dead—Future of the Tlascaltecs and other Nations.
The hope, or at least the expectation of immortality, is universal among men. The mind instinctively shrinks from the thought of utter annihilation, and ever clings to the hope of a future which shall be better than the present. But as man's ideal of supreme happiness depends upon his culture, tastes, and condition in this life, we find among different people widely differing conceptions of a future. The intellectual Greek looked forward to the enjoyment of less gross and more varied pleasures in his Elysian Fields, than the sensual Mussulman, whose paradise was merely a place where bright-eyed houris could administer to his every want, or the fierce Viking whose Valhalla was a scene of continual gluttony and strife, of alternate hewing in pieces and swilling of mead.
IDEAS OF FUTURE.
It has been supposed by some that the idea of futurepunishment and reward was unknown to the Americans.[XII-1]This is certainly an error, for some of the Pacific Coast tribes had very definite ideas of future retribution, and almost all, in supposing that the manner of death influenced the future state of the deceased, implied a belief in future reward, at least. The slave, too, who was sacrificed on the grave of his master, was thought to earn by his devotion, enforced though it might be, a passport to the realms of eternal joy; had there been no less blissful bourne this prospective reward for fidelity would have been manifestly superfluous.
The future life of these people was sharply defined, and was of the earth, earthy. In its most common forms it was merely earth-life, more or less free from mortal ills. The soul was subject to the same wants as the body, and must be supplied by the same means. In fact, the pagan's conception of heaven was much more clearly defined than the Christian's, and the former must have anticipated a removal thither with a far less wondering and troubled mind than the latter.
In the Mexican heaven there were various degrees of happiness, and each was appointed to his place according to his rank and deserts in this life. The high-born warrior who fell gloriously in battle did not meet on equal terms the base-born rustic who died in his bed. Even in the House of the Sun, the most blissful abode of the brave, the ordinary avocations of life were not entirely dispensed with, and after their singing and dancing, the man took up his bow again, and the woman her spindle. The lower heavens possessed a less degree of splendor and happiness until the abode of the great mass of those who had lived an obscure life and died a natural death was reached. These pursued their avocationsby twilight, or passed their time in a dreamy condition, or state of torpor. As slaves were often sacrificed over their master's grave that they might serve in the next world, we must suppose that differences of rank were maintained there. The Tlascaltecs supposed that the common people were after death transformed into beetles and disgusting objects, while the nobler became stars and beautiful birds. But this condition was also influenced by the acts and conduct of friends of the deceased.
Sir John Lubbock[XII-2]does not believe with Wilson and other archæologists that the burial of implements with the dead was because of any belief that they would be of use to the deceased in a future state; but solely as a tribute of affection, an outburst of that spirit of sacrifice and offering so noticeable in all, from the most savage to the most civilized, in the presence of lost brotherhood, friendship, or love. In the first place the outfit in a great majority of cases is wholly unfit and inadequate, viewed in any rational scale of utility; they are not such as the dead warrior would procure, if by any means he were again restored to earth and to his friends. In the second place it was and is usual to so effectually mutilate the devoted arms and utensils, as to render them a mere mockery if they are intended for the future use of the dead. It is easy to classify this phenomenon in the same category with the deserting or destroying of the house of the deceased, the refusal to mention his name, and all the other rude contrivances by which the memory of their sorrow may be buried out of their sight.
This subject may be viewed in another light, however, by considering that these Indians sometimes impute spirits even to inanimate objects, and when the wife or the slave is slain, their spirits meet the chief in the future land. Do they not also break the bow and the spear that the ghostly weapons may seek above the hands of their sometime owner, not leaving him defenceless among the awful shades. The mutilation ofthe articles may perhaps be regarded as a symbolic killing, to release the soul of the object; the inadequacy of the supply may indicate that they were to be used only during the journey, or preparatory state, more perfect articles being given to the soul, or prepared by it, on entering the heaven proper.
The slaves sacrificed at the grave by the Aztecs and Tarascos were selected from various trades and professions and took with them the most cherished articles of the master, and the implements of their trade, wherewith to supply his wants. Passports were given for the different points along the road, and a dog as guide. Thus the souls of animals are shown to have entered heaven with man, and this is also implied by the belief that men were there transformed into birds and insects, and that they followed the chase. Another instance which seems to indicate that the souls of these earthly objects were used merely during the preparatory state, was the yearly feast given to departed souls during the period that this condition endured. After that they were left to oblivion. The Miztecs had the custom of inviting the spirits to enter and partake of the repast spread for them, and this food, the essence of which had been consumed by the unseen visitors, was regarded as sacred.[XII-3]
THE ROAD TO HEAVEN.
The road to paradise was represented to be full of dangers—an idea probably suggested to them by the awful mystery of death. In the idea of this perilous journey, this road beset with many dangers—storms, monsters, deep waters, and whirlpools—we may trace a belief in future retribution, for though the majority of travelers manage to reach their destination having only suffered more or less maltreatment by the way, yet many a solitary, ill-provided wanderer is overwhelmed and prevented from doing so. In exceptional cases, the perils of this valley of the shadow of death are avoided by the intervention of a friendly deity who, Hermes-like, bears the weary soul straight to its rest. Among the Mexicans Teoyaomique, the consort of thewar-god, performed this good office for the fallen warrior.
With the alternative of this not very attractive future before them, it is natural that the theory of metempsychosis should have found wide and ready acceptance, for with these people it did not mean purification from sin, as among the Brahmans; it was simply the return of the soul to the world, to live once more the old life, although at times in a different and superior sphere. The human form was, therefore, assumed more often than that of animals. The soul generally entered the body of a female relative to form the soul of the unborn infant; the likeness of the child to a deceased friend in features or peculiarities lent great weight to this belief. This reëmbodiment was not limited to individuals; the Nootkas, for instance, accounted for the existence of a distant tribe, speaking the same language as themselves, by declaring them to be the incarnated spirits of their dead. The preservation of the bones of the dead, seems in some cases to be connected with a belief in a resurrection of the body. The opinion underlying the various customs of preservation of remains, says Brinton, "was, that a part of the soul, or one of the souls, dwelt in the bones; that these were the seeds which, planted in the earth, or preserved unbroken in safe places, would, in time, put on once again a garb of flesh, and germinate into living human beings."[XII-4]Indeed, a Mexican creation-myth relates that man sprang from dead bones,[XII-5]and in Goatzacoalco the bones were actually deposited in a convenient place, that the soul might resume them.
IDEAS OF SOUL.
The most general idea of a soul seems to have been that of a double self, possessing all the essence and attributes of the individual, except the carnal embodiment, and independent of the body in so far as it was able to leave it, and revel in other scenes or spheres. It would accordingly appear to another person, by day or night, as a phantom, with recognizable form and features, andleave the impression of its visits in ideas, remembrances, or dreams. Every misty outline, every rustle, was liable to be regarded by the undiscriminating aborigine as a soul on its wanderings, and the ideas of air, wind, breath, shadow, soul, were often represented by the same word. The Eskimo wordsilla, signifies air, wind, and conveys the idea of world, mind;tarnak, means soul, shadow. The Yakima word for wind and life contains the same root; the Aztecehecatlsignifies wind, air, life, soul, shadow; in Quiché the soul bears the name ofnatub, shadow; the Nicaraguans think that it isyulia, the breath, which goes to heaven.[XII-6]Some hold that man has several souls, one of which goes to heaven, the others remain with the body, and hover about their former home. The Mexicans and Quichés received a soul after death from a stone placed between the lips for that purpose, which also served for heart, the seat of the soul;[XII-7]this was buried with the remains. The custom of eating the flesh of brave enemies in order to inherit their virtues, points to a belief in the existence of another soul or vital quality in the corpse. Some Oregon tribes gave a soul to every member of the body. A plurality of souls is also implied by the belief in soul-wandering during sleep, for is not the body animate though the soul be separated from it? Yet the soul proper could not remain away from the body beyond a certain time, lest the weaker soul that remained should fail to sustain life.
With the many contradictions and vague statements before us, it must be admitted that the phrase "immortality of the soul" is often misleading. Tylor even considers it doubtful "how far the lower psychology entertains at all an absolute conception of immortality, for past and future fade soon into utter vagueness as the savage mind quits the present to explore them."[XII-8]
METEMPSYCHOSIS.
Some tribes among the Hyperboreans actually disbelieved in a future existence, while others held the doctrine of a future reward and punishment. The conceptions of a soul were well defined however; the Thlinkeets supposed it to enter the spirit-world, among the yeks, on being released from the body. The braves who had fallen in battle, or had been murdered, becamekeeyeks, 'upper ones,' and went to dwell in the north, where the aurora borealis, omen of war, flashes in reflection from the lights which illuminate their dances; so at least the Eskimos regard it.[XII-9]Those who died a natural death becametákeeyeks, land-spirits, andtékeeyeks, sea-spirits, and dwelt intakankon, doubtless situated in the centre of the earth,[XII-10]the road to which was watered, and made smooth by the tears of relatives, but if too much crying was indulged in, it became swampy and difficult to travel. The tákeeyeks and tékeeyeks appear to have attached themselves as guardian spirits to the living, and were under the control of the shamáns, before whom they came in the form of land and sea animals, to do their bidding and reveal the past and future.[XII-11]The keeyeks were evidently above the conjuration of the sorcerers. The comforts of heaven, like the road to it, depended on earthly conditions; thus, the body was burned in order that it might be warm in its new home. Slaves, however, who were buried, were condemned to freeze, but the shamáns whose bodies were also left to moulder, had doubtless power to avoid such misery. All lived in heaven as on earth, earning their living in the same manner, to which end the implements and other articles burnt with them were brought into use; wealthy people appointed two slaves to be sacrificed at the pyre, upon whom devolved the duty of attending to their wants.The slaves carried their long-pending doom very philosophically, it is said.[XII-12]It appears, however, that the soul had the option of returning to this life, and as I have said, generally entered the body of a female relative to form the soul of a coming infant. If the child resembled a deceased friend or relation, this reëmbodiment was at once recognized, and the name of the dead person was given to it. Metempsychosis does not appear to have been restricted to relatives only, for the Thlinkeets were often heard to express a desire to be born again into families distinguished for wealth and position, and even to wish to die soon in order to attain this bliss the earlier.[XII-13]This belief in the transmigration of souls was widely spread, and accounts to some extent for the fearlessness with which the Hyperboreans contemplated death.[XII-14]The Tacullies and Sicannis asked the deceased whether he would return to life or not, and the shamán who put the question decided the matter by looking at the naked breast of the body through his fingers; he then raised his hand toward heaven, and blew the soul, which had apparently entered his fingers, into the air, that it might seek a body to take possession of; or the shamán placed his hands upon the head of one of the mourners and sent the spirit into him, to be embodied in his next offspring. The relative thus favored added the name of the deceased to his own. If these things were not done the deceased was supposed to depart to the centre of the earth to enjoy happiness, according to their estimate of it. The Kenai supposed that a soft twilight reigned perpetually in this place, and that its inhabitants pursued their avocations; while the living slept they worked. The soul did not, however, attain perfect rest until a feast had been given in its honor, attended by a distribution of skins.[XII-15]