The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-07

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chief priests left hand replied.
The old woman first at the right of the
altar took up the refrain; her sister at the
left followed, and so the weird chant
passed from left to right and back again,
until the last sukia had droned her part.
Then each man in the first circle of wor-
shippers chanted in his turn, and were
followed by each woman in the next row;
and so on until all had sung with voices
that rose and fell in simple and dismal
cadences.
Then the mother Of the victim broke
into a low and mournful wall, and all the
women Joined. When that was done and
forward, and with head wrapped in her
shawl threw herself face down, fat on
the floor, in the abandon of grief
The girl leaned against the edge Of
the altar. She took a blazing splinter
from the torch on the knees of the
stone god, and with it touched a hand
full of dry fibers of the banana stalk,
half hidden under splinters of pitch
pine. The new fire instantaly fiared up,
and illumined the face of the victim.
She was RaImunda, prettiest and sweet
est tempered of all the gentle little Carib
maids l have known. As the fame rose
and lighted her sweet, brown face,
murmur of congratulation ran around
| the room. The child smiled proudly as
I
The wizened priest opposite the child
bent slowly forward, touched her bet
ween the eyes with his fingers. then
withdrew his hand. his black
eyes steadfastly fixed on hers, upheld to
| meet that fascinating gaze. They
stood intently staring at each other for
fully five minuteS-it seemed an hour
while the bamboo pipes softly droned and
faint rumbling came form the drum.
The worshippers were breathlessly ST.
lent.
At sign from the priest the little
maid lifted both her hands and extended
them over the altar, her gaze still fixed
on the Offering eyes of the sukia Each
OF the old priests at the corners of the slab
of stone seized one of her wrists and
pulled her gently forward until
her bosom was almost over
the fire her own hands had kindled on
the sacrifcal stone.
The sukia, who stood before the girl
suddenly caught the stone knife from the
hand of the woman who did it and leaned
toward my little friend. | had believed
that the rites were no more than voodoo
mummery, and that no real harm would
come to her-otherwise that crowd, many
of them personally well known by me,
would not have dared to let me be wit
ness of their deeds; but now l yelled at
that grisly old devil to stay his hand.
Dub DC1OI6 L COulQ SIEuRGIc blIOuEu JuC
packed ranks of worshippers, that Jagged,
CLASSY edge swept twice across that ten
der breast. Raimunda gave no sign of
having felt the blade slash her flesh. She
seemed to be in dream.
The high priest caught few drops of
her blood in his hand and shook them into
the stone bowl on the knees of his god,
then sprinkled few drops on the fire. A
gasping cry filed the cave as the child
was caught in her mothers arms
That cry came from the frightened kid,
as its throat was cut by single sweep of
that blade of glass Its blood fell into the
bowl before the idol. its heart quickly
followed, and its flesh was at once cut
into minute bits and distributed, a piece
to each wOrshipper. 1t was at once de-
voured.
Then the music broke out wildly. The
big drum Numbered, the bow-strings
twanged, the bamboo flutes piped mer-
rily. Every man in the room sprang to
his feet, and circled around the altar in a
slow dance.
There was brief pause. Then the
heavy sound of the drum rolled again
through the cave, and the women joined
the dance. Around and around they cir
| cled, and the music and the dance grew
| faster and wilder. A dancer threw aside
his shirt, bearing his body, and one by
one the others followed his example.
One after another every garment was dis
| carded, until the light of the sacred fire
fell upon leaping mass of half crazed
humanity AS naked as the face of a
cloudless sky, they danced in frenzy of
religious excitement.
do not know how long they kept this
up. One after another dropped exhausted,
streaming with perspiration. After a
| time the ancient who had led the orgies
| gave an order in low tones, and the dane
ers arose, clothed themselves and slipped
! away.
l. When all had left the cave, except the
| priest and his half dozen assistant sukias,
the brands which still burned on the
altar were laid on the edge of bence,
and new torches were lighted.
| They moved the slab that was their
altar, and lowered their god of stone into
| the pit beneath, then laid the four stone
| pots beside it, The remains of the kid
were put in the bowl on the knees of the
image, and the obsidian knife was laid on
| them. One edge of the covering slab was
| lowered to its place, and the serpent
| which the old woman had held during all
| those hours was thrown into the pit. The
dove which the other woman held was
| thrust beneath the slab, to flutter blindly
| a moment before the stone was lowered to
| it's place, to shut out the last ray of light
| that poor bird would ever see; for it was
alive, to lengthen the days of the reptile
/ IndJ was lGII TO guard WIN poisoned Tang
the resting place of the craven idol of
| Caribs.
| Dust and the ashes of the fires were
! gathered, and all the seams that might
betray that hiding place were filed, con
cealing every joint. The blankets that
curtained the entrances were removed
and the priests and filed out of the
| cave.
! A little brown maiden strolled towards
my favorite lodging place under the
palms of La Caribe, few days after our
return from Utilla.
Come here, Raimunda; want you,"
| said 1.
"Raimunda is dead, " she gravely replied
as she came to me.
| ooh, dead, is she2'
"You know that she is dead, senior"
she answered reproachfully. "Tamaraca
ate her. You saw it youaself"
"Ah, yes, sol did. Then who are you,
now, my pretty little onel''
Il am Dolores, and I am daughter of
| Tamaraca See, look at his cross" and
she pulled from her breast the dressing
of leaves and exposed the two crossing,
wounds made by the knife of obsidian
in the hands of the priest. The dressing
! had kept the wound infamed, that the
! scars might ne larpe and distinct The