The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-10-14

ga CRED GREEN SIGN b..
|A Wonderful Amulet Preserved by
the Natives on the Upper
Amazon.
Practically the whole surface of the
globe II strewn with relics of the rude
inhabitants OF the Palaeolithic or ancient
stone age. Whether we find them Id the
Whitley OF the Nile or IN the grayels Of
California, in the drift deposits Of Eng
land or in the laterite clay Of India. these
rough stone tools and weapons are. gener-
ally speaking, of the same type. From
Canada to Patagonia we happen upon
these indisputable traces of palaeolithic
man, traces identical with those discoy-
cred in the Eastern Hemisphere. Bras
seur de Borbonrg, Tyler and others have
pointed out analogies connecting the arts,
the ritual and the customs of the ancient
lncas and Aztees 1.-THE two Gourishing
races whom the Spaniards found domi-
nant on landing in America) with those
of Egypt, the Canary islands, Japan and
the Eastern Archipelago, some Of which
are 50 remarkable that they cannot be
sfortuitOus. And among the various tribes
OF North and South America are to be
found traditions, legends, scraps of Scrip
ture, stray amulets, symbols, and sounds
of speech furnishing faint traces of lost
languages, all pregnant with meaning for
the seeing eye, all eloquent Of origins on
other shores and, consequently, kinship
with the common ancestors of the race. 81
One of the latest, least known and
most interesting of such humble links in
the great chain of confirmatory evidence
Is the muyrakytan or sacred green jade
stone Of the Amazons, says the Brazilian
Bulletin. Among the numerous legends
piously preserved by the various Indians
of the Upper Amazon, that of the wonder
full stone amulet, the muyrakytan, al
most invariably figures in one form or
another, and specimens of the stone are
to be found in several of the regions here
about. There is nothing. perhaps, at first
sight, particularly startling i'll the plain
fact Of stone amulet being worn and
treasured by several Indian tribes. But
the interest attaching to this particular
amulet of green jade is threefold in sig
nifcance. First, there is no deposit of
jade in America, the only known deposits
being in Asia; second, the American spec
linens are cut and figured in precisely the
same way as the specimens found in the
various parts of Europe and Asia; third,
the: American legends about the origin
and use of the amulet find almost exact
,counterparts in Asiatic legends. Inevit-
able conclusions: The Asiatic origin of
the amulet, and, by consequence, the
early connection Of the American Indians
with Asiatics, if not the actual Asiatic
origin of those Indians. Let us, there
fore, endeavor to, elaborate these three
points of interest, and in doing so give all
credit that is due to that enterprising
Brazilian archaeologist, DR.. Barbosa Rod
rigues,. who has devoted so much time
and energy and learning to unrayelling
this engrossing mystery. =. g.. %.
= Found on the Upper Amazon.
DR.. sRodrigues first discovered the exist
ence of these green jade amulets among
the labor and Kunury Indians Of the Up
per Amazon and it's tributaries, the va
munda or Nhumunda, the Trombetas, and
the Yatapu, which inclose the romantic
region where Orellana located the famous
tribe of female warriors known as the
Amazons. The stones were worn sus-
pended from the neck as sacred talismans
possessing the priceless virtue of keeping
disease and misfortune at a distance, and
the old Iapuya squaw on whose neck
DIR, Rodrigues found his first specimen
refused to part with her Invaluable chat
tel for love or money. They are also
found in the "Iukacauas," or burial cases,
near the Lake Yacyuarua, which was once
important as the annual rendezvous of the
ancient Amazons-of which more anon
And these relics, erich and rare,'' of by
gone civilization occur not only in the
Amazon valley, but in many other parts Of
the new world, particularly in Peru, where
in all the legends of the Incas we find it
connected with 'the Children of the Sun
and the Serpent" and in Mexico among
the Aztec ruins and in various parts of
North America. = =
Now-and here is critical point-this
wonderful muyrakytan has been definite.
~ proved to be not the Amazonstein OF
German writer's. 1t is indisputably genu.
ity Of the variety found in Asia. Jade
is an extremely hard, fine stone, holding
the sixth place among the minerals. To
cut and polish it would be possible only
for a skilled lapidary., Yet these muyraky,
tans, the heirlooms Of the savage Ama-
zons are not only beautifully polished, but
are fashioned as cylindrical disks with fig
ures cut upon their surfaces in the shape
of little fishes, miniature hatchets or hors
es' heads. And these shapes and figures
are identical with those of the jade anu,
let's found in various parts Of the old
world. A stone of this jade of consider.
able size, in the shape of a horses head
found in the vicinity of the Nhumunda
river, is now to be seen in the Museum OF
Boulogne, the celebrated museum of Popt
Benedict XIV. In the ruins of the @Tem
pie of Mercurius,'' in France. which was
destroyed A. d. 451 by the Huns (whonl
archaeologists aver, to be the ancestors OF
the Aztecs), Masselin tells us that he
skeletons ut
whose arms were found miniature hatch.
cts of green jade, similar in form, color
and character to those found in many In
dian remains in Canada. And a celebrat.
ed French savant has three such stones in
his possession, one found in Mexico, one
in Naples and one in Calcutta. Identical
stones in the same shapes are worn by
from Cabul and Peshawer 1.-THE ancient
home of, the Hungarians) to visit the sa-
cred tomb of Gul-Baba (the Father of
Roses), near Budapest, in Hungary. In
Hayti another locality where we find
them, they are known as sZemis'' or "Ga-
kurals,"' and are worn to ward off evil.
China, too, knows the green jade stone,
where it goes by the name of "Yu," and
we have the learned Blondel telling us
the Emperor Koangti SO far back as 2637
Be. OF such venerable antiquity is
green jade and its talismanic virtue
Re The Jade in China.
In China it is related in the story of
the City of Khotan, taken from the Chi
nese annals, written during the dynasty
of Thiang, A. d. 632, that the jade is
collected from the river at full moon.
Twenty or more soldiers. closely guarded
by officers, plunge into the river at a
given signal, and the one who first finds
a specimen of jade jumps out and has
to make red mark on piece of paper.
When the gathering or Fishing, as it is
called, is over, the pieces are collected,
separated and marked and sent to Picking
under escort The specimens rarely ex-
coed forty centimeters in length. 1t is
said that this same ceremony is still OBJ
served today. ~
/ Now observe the similarity of these
facts concerning the finding of jade in
China and the Amazon legends concern
ing the origin of the muyraktan. Among
the Uape or Tabor Indians, already re-
ferred to, there exists the legend that at
certain seasons of the year the Amazons
collected on the shores of the lake
:" Yacyuarua'' and, after days of penance,
held a feast at full NOON. When the
feast was over and the moon was reflect
ed in the clear waters Of the lake, they
5diyed to the bottom and received from
tfhp mother IF tho n,l1v ra + ytan,, tho