Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-28

l ID klilcO 10 dCCOupdly LhIi, etuu oil
| his weapons, utensils and trlnketS are
buried with him for use IN the Sunset Land.
| The friends of the deceased put food on the
grave every night for weeks, and when
| foxes, wolves and other wild creatures de-
Your it during the hours of darkness they
! believe that the dead man has eaten it and
| is refreshed on his long journey.
The Llanisto are firm believers in Cici-a
| mythical parsonage who takes the place of
! the Christians Satan-a real, living, walk
ing and talking evil one, as when in the
| garden Of Eden he assumed the form Of a
| serpent and conversed with Grandmother
Eve. 1t was Cici that caused the ocean, at
! one time, to rise over all the earth, and the
| Indians prove it by shells and the bones of
| marine animals, which may be found high
in the mountains. 1t is Cici too, who in
duces people to steal and lie and murder. A
I4lanista accused of theft is always granted
a hearing. Hearsay evidence or circum-
stantial, won't do; there must in every case
be two eyewitness to establish The guilt
of the offender. During our stay in the
camp the precious mouth organ changed
hands The Indian to whom we gave it in
return for some service, and who priced it
as the apple Of his eye, missed it one morn
ing from among his treasures. His trans
ports of grief and rage induced the entire
village to Join in the search. At last ii was
discovered hidden unker pile of skins in
the hut OF another brave. Circumstantial
evidence was rather strong against the lat
ter, but as nobody saw him steal it during
the hours of darkness, it was taken fer
granted that Cici had perpetrated the mis-
chief. In a case where the two eye-wit-
nesses are forthcoming, the thief is not
punished, but is required to return the
stolen articles uninjured; or. if that is I'M
possible, to pay their full value to the in
iured party. If the thief is unable to pay,
his friends must pay for him, and if they
will not or cannot do so, then the friends of
the loser may take it out of the culprit in
deadly combat. He is challenged to fight
the strongest man among them, ond II the
thief should happen to kill his adversary he
is completely indicated, his success being
conclusive evidence that he was not guilty
and that mistake had been made in ac-
cusing him; and if he seeks revenge by
numbering the ''eye-witnesses, nobody in
terferes with him.
It is lawful among all the Araucanians for
man TO have as many wives as he likes;
and the established rule is that each day
every wife shall give her husband dish Of
food, prepared at her own fire. Therefore,
the number of fires in each hut indicates
the number of wives, and the polite way
of ascertaining the size of a warriors
harem, is to ask him the number of fires in
his house. A woman about to become
mother is compelled to flee to some place
where is water and strict seclusion and there
to endure her time of trial entirely alone.
When she starts on this journey, she filings
a stone at the sun, il it is shining, or at the
moon or q bright star, if it be in the night
time, praying: "May my child be as bright
as thou art, and may my suferidg be as
swift as the fight of this stone" Soon as
the baby is born, she battles it and herself
in the cold stream, no matter how incle-
ment the weather. and then returns to her
home. But even then her trials are hardly
begun, for instead of finding friends to re-
ceive and care for her, the house is de-
serted-husband, mother, everybody, hay
ing gone elsewhere. Even the furniture,
such as it is, the cooking utensils, food
everything except some skins for her to
lie on and new suit of clothes-have been
removed. For eight days she must remain
there alone, to live or die, starve or feed
herself, as best she can, when her friends
return.
baby is named with ceremony-generally
after some bird, flower or animal, and a
period of feasting ensues.
The ice cold bath which the infant has
received IN the stream upon whose banks
he was born, Is an appropriate commence
ment to his career of hardShips. He is
firmly bound to board, so that he can
conveniently be set up in corner, and his
cold bath continued daily, without fire and
with but scanty allowance of clothing. In
order to make him hardy, he is compelled
throughout babyhood to sleep out of doors |
in all kinds of weather and is never given
monthful of meat, though the dogs may
sneak in to the fire and are generally well
fed Should the lad become too fat of his
vegetable diet, his friends at once take him
in hand.
He is sent on very long errand on which
he is required to be fleet, and if he does not
run fast enough he is pursued by trained
runners, who prick him with sharp thorns
and bits of bone, to let the blood out so
that he may run faster. He is then denied
salt, as his parents believe it is that which
makes him heavy.
If the poor child dies of exposure or this
ordeal, the relatives rejoice that he has SO
soon become happy bumble-bee, which is
infinitely better than to have grown up a
sickly Araucanian.
1t is the survival of the fittest, and the
urchin who survives under such harsh
treatment land most of them do) soon COM
mences his education. The great school
master is the mischievous Cici. When the
lad arrives at the proper age he is taken
every day to some dark recess and there
the Evil One teaches him the art Of public
speaking. This exercise is kept up until
he becomes a man and has learned how to
appear well before an misunderstanding
to Araucanian ideas-and to entertain the
wise men with fine flow Of language. The
education of the majority ends here; but if
q youth is particularly bright, and can OBJ
tain the consent Of the council, he way also
learn how to detect and cure witchcraft.
1t is believed that all sickness is due to
witches, and when an Araucanian becomes
proficient in detecting the witch and the |
poison she has given TO the ailing individual. !
he is at once full-fedged medicine man"
and enjoys high honors among the people.
When the medicine man is called to see |
sick person, he converses long time with |
the Evil One, in a loud, gruff voice, de- |
manding to know how the illness may be |
cured. Sometimes he gets instructions to |
plant young tree in front of the patients |
house; sometimes to hold religious services
by rafting gourd containing some small |
stones over the sick mans body; and some
times, when the afflicted is rich in sauaws
and ponies, and the medicine man desires q |
fat fee-he decides upon wonderful sur
gical operation. It is attended with q great |
deal Of ceremony. The physicians assistants |
beat loudly upon drum-like instrument,
raise an Internal din with gourds, tin pans
and cast-oh buckets, and sing in q fearful /
monotone, to drive away any lingering
witches.
Meanwhile the doctor, bending over the
patient, with blanket covering them both |
and shielding them well from view, pro-