The Mysterious Men of Peccary Country

The Mayangna people (also derogatorily known as the Sumu or Sumo) live on the eastern coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua in the so-called Mosquito Coast region [1]. Their folklore is rich, featuring tales of many different gods and monsters - but today we are going to focus on the entity referred to as *wari dawan/siwi daniwan/sawi dakawan*. This being is said to be the owner or keeper of all the peccaries in the land - specifically a variety of peccary called the warree. I promise that the terminology will be less confusing as we go on. So anyway this wari dawan is seemingly only visible sometimes (as was said to be so by the Mayangna in 'former times'), and when he is visible he is surrounded by a drove of very large and aggressive white warrees. Apparently wari dawan leaves a certain bird with his droves of peccaries to help guide them to good feeding grounds - and this bird can indeed often be found with real peccaries. It probably feeds on ticks and other parasites living on the animals - and the Mayangna daren't kill such a bird out of fear of incurring the wrath of wari dawan.

## The Curse of the White Peccary

Anyway, that's all well and good but it's clearly just mythological, right? What do tales of wari dawan have to do with ancient mysteries and lost lands? Well - there is a tale published by British ethnologist Eduard Conzemius in which it seems that the potential truth in the wari dawan legend is revealed. According to Conzemius, there was once a member of the Mayangna people who went out to the bush to hunt for white-lipped peccaries (*Tayassu pecari*) when he suddenly came across a drove of fat-looking white peccaries. These weren't the hogs he was looking for, and in fact he had never seen a specimen of this type before, but he had heard of their existence from his elders. However, nobody he knew had ever succeeded in killing one. He was determined to be the first.

He stalked closer to them, drawing his bow and getting read to fire upon them - but at that very moment they all darted off at a great speed. He followed them, not willing to let them go so easily. Eventually he caught up with them and saw that they were feeding off the fruit of the 'hog plum tree' (*Spondias mombin*) - but once again they all ran off just as he was about to shoot one for himself. This apparently happened several more times until he finally saw the creatures running into a cave, into which he followed them. It was pitch black inside the cavern, but he could hear and smell the hogs moving about. As he kept walking, he eventually came to a solid wall of rock blocking his path. The peccaries had seemingly vanished. Somehow knowing what to do, the Mayangnan man made a small cut under his tongue and put some blood onto the rocks crosswise. Instantaneously, the stone wall receded and he was able to continue on forward. He could once again sense the hogs in front of him. He came to another wall of rock and repeated the same ritual. This was repeated several times until he suddenly caught sight of a streak of light in front of him. Following the light, he now found himself outside of the cave and in a 'strange country'.

This strange land abounded in all sorts of peccaries. The big white kind (known as sauakaya) were seemingly the favourite food of the inhabitants of this bizarre nation, seeing as there was a specimen being prepped for the dinner table in every house the Mayangnan man could see. The inhabitants of peccary country were not friendly towards the man, clearly angered to have an intruder in their secluded settlement. Explaining himself, he told them of how he had made it to their dwelling and how he was anxious to obtain some peccary meat for his wife and children. The people told him that they were the owners of all peccaries, and that they would only occasionally send some of the hogs out to the Mayangnas so that they could have something to eat. They stated that the white peccaries were for their exclusive use and that this was why nobody had ever managed to shoot one of them. Seemingly displaying some kindness perhaps uncharacteristic for such fickle folkloric beings, the peccary people fed the man before giving him an entire white peccary to take back for his family. However, they warned him not to mention anything of his adventure or else face his immediate death. It can be inferred that he agreed to this, for he was then told to close his eyes and was taken by the hand away from peccary country.

After a while, he felt himself to be alone - and was comfortable enough to open his eyes once more. He looked around, and was astounded to find himself only a few steps away from his own house. When he got home, his wife wanted to know where he had been for so long, but he refused to tell her the truth out of fear of vengeance from the wari dawan people. Instead, he simply told her that he had gotten lost in the bush. However, she knew that he was lying - something extraordinary must have happened to him if he had succeeded in killing a white peccary for himself...

Eventually he caved and agreed to tell the story of his adventure in peccary country. He sat in his hammock, surrounded by all his neighbours, and started to narrate everything that had happened to him on that fateful occasion - much to the amazement of his compatriots. The moment he had finished the story, however, he dropped dead.

## Analysis

Now, this story is obviously folkloric in nature - or at the very least heavily ameliorated with mythological aspects - but it's its similarity to some of the 'Hollow Earth' tales narrated in sources such as FATE Magazine which really intrigue me. Did the unnamed man in this story really travel to a mysterious nation, presumably deep under ground? Or was the whole tale simply just an excuse for him having gotten lost in the bush one day? I think that's up for you to decide. I've done some research and all the species of animals and trees mentioned in this story do indeed exist. My source is the '*Ethnographical Survey of the Miskito and Sumu Indians of Honduras and Nicaragua*' by Eduard Conzemius, which can be read here.