The herald., 1918-01-31

and the Guarantees are first cousins
Rev. w. Il. Grubb. who knows mos:
about them. says: Although cannis
balism is not prncticed in the Chacc.
the people have many stories about
il, which may be only invented. But
1t is quite possible that they are the
result of a long-fOrgotten habit. These
cannibals are supposed TO be located
in the far West. and in that direction
among people Of Guarani descent,
such practices were evidently in
vogue" The most prevalent crime
among the Lengua-MasCoy Zone of the
Paraguay tribeS) Is that of infanticide,
which they do not rank in the same
category as the murder of grown
child or adult, and this evil is so gen.
eral, that the very existence of the
race is endangered. There are many
reasons for infantiCide. The strongest
incentive to the crime is the difficulty
of nurturing and bringing up a young
family under the most unfavOrabie
conditions, especially the shortage Of
food.
In Bolivia there are even today q
great number of distinct tribes of In
dians. The two most prominent fam
lilies are the Quetchuas and the Aim
araes. Having lived several years in
Bolivia, it was my Joy to establish
preaching services among the Aim
araes. The Quctchuas belonged to the
four original tribes which unitedly
composed the Inca empire.
The proud Aimara, once considering
himself the lord of the eternal noun
tains, is now a shy and crushed Serv-
ant. He evades the white man who
so treaCherOusly treated his fore
bears In the days 81 the Atahualpa. the
Croesus of his time. With the Span
iSh political yoke the religion of the
conquerors was enforced upon all ma
tives. Many of them little cared
whether one image, that of the sun or
moon, or another, that of the cross
or Of the mother of heaven" adorned
their temples or surmounted the hills.
Cannibals of Bolivia.
There are % more major tribes of
Indians in Bolivia. On the official
maps used in the Bolivian schools,
drawn by Or. Dan Bustamante. all
these are called "salvajes" or savages.
Some OF these, as the Guanas who are
bordering on Paraguay. or the Cha
caros Of the East Indies, are still can
nibals. No one knows their language,
and they hide in the marshes or climb
into the trees at the approach of the
white man. Lucky, indeed the for
eigner who, having been saved from
their poisoned arrows, has been permit
ted TO reach the outer border of their
domains.
| little wonder at the wild heather
rites and orgies after having seen sew
eral of the festivities and pagan dances
performed by the so-called Christian
Indians in Bolivia. These dances took
place during one Of their church festi-
walls
saw them gather for the dance.
sewed into the skins of the alpaca,
Initiating bears, or wearing masks rep
resenting lions or rats. This consist
cd of stepping slowly TO the weird
sound of bamboo flutes, meanwhile de-
scribing large circles. Suddenly they
stop at the sign Of their leader. turn
about and retrace in dancing step the
circle just marked. At another sig
nal they stop altogether, when their
squaws regale them with small fin
cups filed with diluted raw alcohol,
manufactured from sugarcane. In
few minutes dancing is resumed, and
some Of the men kept this up for forty
or forty-elght hours, when they fell in
death-like stupOr to the ground. They
never took Off their masks or fancy
dresses during all this time, and even
slept out their debauch In the attire
of their orgies.