Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1908-07-21
THE BLACK SHADOW.
A Very Curious Superstition Of the
Tupi Indians

We had been listening to the !
stories of an officer recently re- !
turned from service in the Philip /
pines about the curious supersti-
tions among the brown races, when
one of the party, who had been sew
eral years a resident of Brazil, re-
lated an experience he had had
among the native Indians along the
Amazon river at the time of lu-
mar eclipse He said: L noticed
that for several days every Indian
employed in my hosts sawmill, ten
or twelve in number, spent their
entire noon hour in making ar
rows and testing them by shooting
them at large tree, not less than
100 yards distant, which stood in
the clearing around the mill.
'Of course these men are familiar
with the use of firearms and use
guns in hunting. But for some rea-
son, probably a tradition, supersti-
ton or prophecy, still preserved, it
is a part of nearly every Indian
boys education to make and use
bows and arrows, ,Sen though re-
siding in the cities. / was aston
ished at the skill these men dis
played. They rarely missed the tar
get or struck it so high that they
could not reach and withdraw the
arrows. When asked what so many
arrows we're made for, their only
answer was 'To shoot the black
shadow which to me was no expla-
nation at all.
''Now, making these arrows is
both difficult and delicate work.
Both shaft and feathers must be
carefully chosen, while fashioning
the points, which are made of a
separate piece of harder wood and
charred and shaped in the fire, re-
quires both skill and patience. Only
the wing feathers Of a bird possess
the spiral twist necessary to give
the arrow a rotary motion in flight.
''The night of the eclipse went
to my hammock, as usual, not re-
membering that one was due. 1t
occurred about midnight. l was
sleeping soundly when l was awak-
ened by some one gently shaking
my hammock. Rousing myself, ]
found the oldest man employed in
3 the mill bending over me. The
$ eclipse was on and the room was sc
dark that I could not distinguish
;. his features, but his voice was very
. grave as he said in Portuguese
: Pardon, senior, but do you no
+ want the moon to shine again ?
r Moon-what's the matter with it?
e I asked, only half awake. Tt ha
gone out and will not shine agai1
y until we shoot the black shadow
r VIII the senior let me take his gu1
q to begin driving it away%
y II gave him my double barre
gun and half a dozen cartridges
. and he went out. Greatly mystifed
n I followed him moment later. Al
% the Indians were assembled in tn
j. open space before the house, an
every one had his bow and arrows
t. watching the moon, which was nov
J. entirely obscured. I did not joi
e them, fearing to disconcert then
T. but watched the strange perform
20 20 ance from the door.
|EFirst, the old man, after findln
good rest for his gun, took a lon9
careful aim at the moon and free
r, repeating the shots as fast as b
ct could reload. When the cartridge
lg were all used, the bowmen drew u
C. in line, and, taking an equally carr
" full aim, shot scores of arrows at tn
~ offending black shadow. Then the
u ID all sat down on the ground, Ighte
X their cigarettes and waited result
so I left them watching and went
al and was again asleep when the O.
IS man awakened me by entering wit
tn the gun. He was jubilant at tt
or success of their assault on the blat
Up demon and thanked me for my a
sistance in the ponderously poll
phrases characteristic of his race
Dewey Austin Cobb in Los A.
geles Times.