St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-07-02
TERRIBLE ORDEAL.
How the B4Fbarous PAao8oniehe
Choose the King Who Ii to
Rule Over Them.

The system used by Patagonians
when selecting king to rule them in
peace and lead them in war is as fol-
lows: Every ten years fieet-footed
courierx are dispatched throughout the
length and breadth of Patagonia to
summon the able-bodied men of the ma
ton to grand powwow at some CEN
trail point in the great plains. When
the braves are all assembled and the
king has called the peeting to order,
volunteers for the position OF ruler for
the ten years to follow are called for.
The king of Patagonia rules for but
ten years. and then anew monarch is
selected. Nobody is barred who wishes
to undergo the ordeal through which
a ruler of these people must pass,
whether he be member of their race
or not. The Patagonians love brave
man above everything 9nd likewise de-
spise a coward, and any man, be his
skin white, bIaek or brown. who is
able 60 successfully undergo the terri
bic torture toswhich all aspirants to the
king,y scepter are putis good enough
in the eyes and estimation OF these
strange people to be invested with the
mantle of sovereignty over all the Pata-
gonians and given power to rule that
niieht be envied by a car.
The details Of the ceremony show tor
ture of the most revolving kind, and the
man who can go through the ordeal
without wincing must surely be pos
ses4ed Of a heroic heart. Two hundred
or 200 of the stalwart braves of the
tribe generally volunteer to undergo
the torture. Each Is led in turn to q
tree, against which he is told to stand
erect, with his arms held straight up
above his head and against the trunk OF
tree. Then one Of the old men of the
tribe, selected By the braves to perform
the ceremony, seizes stone hammer OF
native mold and proceeds to nail the
|nspirant to kingship to the tree with
riyets made of a wood of wonderful
hardness which is found in that part
of the world. These rivets are driven
through the hands of the applicant. and
through the fieshy portions of his lower
limbs.
If the. volunteer should stand this
horrible torture without murmdring
and without giving external evidence OF
suffering he is hailed with a mighty
acclamation and pronounced fit TO un'
dergo the finishing touches of the cere.
mony, which consist of selected mum.
ber Of the braves approaching the trans.
fixed applicant with mocking gestures
and cries OF derision and each jabbing
him in the fieshy parts of his body with
small, sharp darts and spears.
Often the whole number of volun
tcers is exhausted without finding :
man with sufficient bulldog grit an6
stamina to go through the ceremony
without giving way 10 the physical tor
:ure and either fainting from the pair
for.begeiag -tosh>s sye1aased--@-A 4fsaSl
complement of braves willing to be tor
tured for a chance to be king is callet
for.
When at last man is found who il
able to go through the ordeal withou
a sign of fear or an evidence of suffer
| ing, he is at once released and is ther
and there proclaimed king of tine Pata
| gonians for the ten years to follow. Hi
power is absolute, and the reverence
with which mis- subjects regard him
amounts to the worship of god
Bloomington Eye.