Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-12-09

came fretful on hearing the cry of q
night bird and the peaiman, who was
present, declared that the bird was the
kenaima father calling his child and
the child wailing its answer. The next
day under tho direction of the peaiman
: me infant was roasted alive in a large
hole which had been dug for the pur-
pose and in which fire was built. But
the peaiman, deeming that further sac
rlfice was necessary to propitiate the
evil spirit, directed that the mother
also be taken and summarily dealt
with.
Such human sacrifice is an extreme
expression of peaiism as it prevails to-
day among these Indians of British
Guiana, and in this particular case
the peaiman has been arrested and will
be punished by the British authorities.
1t. Is q little difficult ,, to understand
clearly the belief in kenaimas or spir-
Its, but it is undoubtedly based prima-
rily upon the conception that man and
beast and bird, the rocks and waters
and all vegetable life consist of two
separable parts, the body, or visible
part. and the spirit. In certain indi-
viduals the power OF voluntarily sep
arating the spirit from the body is be-
lieved to be possessed. A kenaima is
one who uses this power for the pur-
pose of infiicting vengeance. 1t is be-
lieved to be the cause of every evil and
every death. Other sources of evil are
the picture rocks, the stones, tree
trunks, monster crabs, eagles, jaguars
and other animals and birds, all of
which are believed to consist of body
and spirit
Strange ceremonies are sometimes
observed to discover the secret kenai-
ma. Richard Schomburg in his book
on British Guiana tells of Macusi boy
who had died a natural death, but
whose relatives endeavored to discover
the quarter to which the kenaima who
was supposed to have slain him be-
longed. Raising terrible and monot-
onous dirge, they carried the body to
an open piece of ground and there
formed a circle around it, while the
father, cutting from the corpse both
the thumbs and little fingers, both the
great and little toes, and a piece of
each heel, threw these pieces into a
new pot which was filled with water.
The boiling of the water and the
throwing out of the pieces by the .agi-
tation Of the water indicated the direc-
ton where the kenaima would be
found. In thus looking around to see
who did the deed, the Indian thinks it
by no means necessary to fix on any
one VINO has been with or near the in
jured OF dead man. The kenaima is
supposed to have done the deed. not
necessarily in person, but probably in
spirit.
There is also the real kenaima, the
one who is bound to avenge the wrong
, or murder committed, against any. Of
his relatives. He follows, relentlessly
the object Of his vengeance until he
has obtained satisfaction.
Al The peaiman is credited with the
power of separating his spirit from his
body and holding converse with the
evil spirits. His art is a peculiar mix
ture OF ventriloquism and convulsive
rawlings similar to epilepsy, in fact boys
afflicted, with epilepsy are specially Sc
lected for training as future peaiman.
While in convulsion the spirit is sup
posed to have separated itself from the
body. The peaimen then by his art Of
ventriloquism talks with the kenaimas
and drives them away and thus pre-
tends to effect cures, or as in the case
Of the burning of the mother and babe,
prescribes some method of appeasing
the offended kenaimas.