Across Unknown South America Part 21

"'They have made me suffer,' he said, 'and I shall take my revenge. Come with me, and we shall all be happy together.'

"They went to a beautiful spot. He climbed a mountain, and from there proceeded to produce lightning, thunder and wind, which exterminated the rest of the tribe in the _aldeia_. That is why, when the Bororos see lightning, they say that it is someone's vengeance coming upon them."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bororo Women.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bororo Women.]

In the Bororo language, lightning was called _boeru G.o.ddo_ or "angry people"; thunder was _bai_ _gabe_ when near, and _boya ruru_--or deaf sound--when distant.

The Bororos related an interesting legend of a great flood or deluge.

"One night a Bororo went with his bow and arrows to the river in order to fish, at a spot where a cane snare or trap had been made in the stream.

He killed a sacred fish. No sooner had he done this than the water immediately began to rise. He was scarcely able to get out of the water and run up the mountain side, lighting his way with the torch of resinous wood he had used in order to attract the fish while fis.h.i.+ng. The water kept almost overtaking him, it rose so rapidly. He called out to the Bororos of his tribe to make their escape, as the water would soon drown them, but they did not believe him and consequently all except himself perished. When he reached the summit of the mountain he managed to light a big fire just before the rising water was wetting the soles of his feet. He was still shouting in vain to all the Bororos to run for their lives. The water was touching his feet, when he thought of a novel expedient. He began to remove the red-hot stones which had lain under the fire and threw them right and left into the water. By rapid evaporation at the contact of the hot missiles, it is to be presumed, as the legend does not say, the water ceased to rise. In fact, the water gradually retired, and the Bororo eventually returned to the spot where he had left the tribesmen. All were dead. He went one day into the forest and he found a doe--which had in some mysterious way escaped death--and he took her for his wife. From this strange union were born children who were hornless and quite human, except that they were very hairy. After a few generations the hair entirely disappeared. That was how the Bororo race was preserved."

That extraordinary legend was, to my mind, a very interesting one--not in itself, but from several facts which in its ignorant language it contained. First of all, the knowledge of the Bororos concerning a former hairy race--a hairy race referred to in legends found all over the Eastern Asiatic coast and on many of the islands in the Pacific from the Kuriles as far as Borneo. Then it would clearly suggest a great deluge and flood which most certainly took place in South America in days long gone by, and was indeed quelled by burning stones--not, of course, thrown by the hands of a Bororo, from the summit of a mountain, but by a great volcanic eruption spitting fire and molten rocks.

As I have stated elsewhere, there was every possible indication in Central Brazil that torrential rains on an inconceivable scale--naturally followed by unparalleled floods--had taken place, in the company of or followed by volcanic activity on a scale beyond all imagination. One had only to turn one's head round and gaze at the scenery almost anywhere in Central Brazil, but in Matto Grosso particularly, to notice to what extent erosion and volcanic activity had done their work.

Another curious belief of the Bororos was worth remembering. They claimed that men and women did not come from monkeys, but that once upon a time monkeys were human and could speak. They lived in huts and slept in hammocks.

The Bororos possessed no geographical knowledge. Beyond their immediate neighbourhood they knew of no other place, and did not in any way realize the shape or size of the earth.

They called themselves _Orari nogu doghe_--or people who lived where the _pintado_ fish (_orari_ in Bororo) was to be found. The Bororos spoke of only three other tribes: the _Kaiamo doghe_ (the Chavantes Indians), their bitter enemies; the _Ra rai doghe_--the long-legged people--ancient cave-dwellers, once the neighbours of the Bororos, but now extinct; and the _Baru gi raguddu doghe_--a name better left untranslated--applied to a tribe living in grottoes.

In the way of religion the Bororos admitted of five different heavens, in the last of which dwelt a Superior Being--a deity called the _Marebba_.

Marebba's origin was unknown to the Bororos. All they knew was that he had a mother and a powerful son. Marebba only looked after the men--but he was so occupied that when the _barihs_--through whose mediation it was possible to communicate with him--wished to be heard, they had to shout at the top of their voices in order to attract his attention. Only the higher _barihs_ could communicate with him, the lower _barihs_ being merely permitted to communicate with his son.

They also believed in the existence of a bad G.o.d--an evil spirit called _Boppe_. Boppe inhabited the mountains, the tree-tops and the "red heaven." There were many _boppe_, male and female, and to them were due all the misfortunes which had afflicted the Bororos. Some of the _barihs_ maintained that they had actually seen both Marebba and some of the _boppes_. They gave wonderful descriptions of them, comparing them in their appearance to human beings. The Bororos believed that in any food it was possible to find a _boppe_--there established in order to do evil.

Therefore, before partaking of meals, especially at festivals, they first presented the _barih_ with fruit, grain, meat and fish in order to appease the anger of the evil spirits.

The Bororos believed in the transmigration of the soul into animals. They never ate deer, nor jaguar, nor vultures, because they thought that those animals contained the souls of their ancestors. The jaguar, as a rule, contained the soul of women. When a widower wished to marry a second time he must first kill a jaguar in order to free the soul of his first wife from suffering.

They also seemed to have an idea that the _arue_, or souls of the dead, might reappear in the world and could be seen by relatives. Men and women all became of one s.e.x on leaving this world--all souls being feminine, according to the Bororos.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bororos Thras.h.i.+ng Indian Corn.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Bororo Blind Woman.]

The apparition of the souls before their relatives was, of course, merely a clumsily arranged trick of the _barihs_. This is how it was done. They made a circle of branches of trees--in order to keep the audience at a distance--and then erected a large wooden gate, so arranged that when the souls appeared it fell down in order to give them free pa.s.sage. The souls--generally not more than two together--upon being called by the _barih_, entered the ring with their faces covered and hopping with a special step of their own. They did not respond to prayers or tears, and kept on twirling about within the ring. The body was that of a woman, wearing from the waist down a gown of palm leaves. The face was covered by a mask of vegetable fibre which allowed its owner to see and not be seen. Upon the head was worn a cap of wax in which were stuck a great number of arrows, so that it looked just like the back of a disturbed porcupine.

Naturally those "souls" were merely special girls dressed up for the occasion. But credulous Bororo women believed they were actually seeing the souls of their dead relatives. They worked themselves into a great state of excitement.

The same implement which was employed by the Bororos to reproduce the sound of the _aigi_ or _ajie_ (hippopotamus)--a board some ten inches long and three inches wide attached to a string and revolved from a long pole--was also used by them to announce the departure of souls from this world to the next. The women were ordered to cover their faces or hide altogether inside their huts when these noises were produced. Should one be curious enough to inquire into their origin and look, she was generally condemned to death--frequently by starvation. The Bacururu--or the Coroado Indians--believed that, after such an indiscretion, nothing could save the life of a woman.

Before starting on a hunting or fis.h.i.+ng expedition prayers were offered to the souls of the departed, so that they might not interfere with the success of the expedition, and if possible help instead.

The funeral rites of the Bororos were singular. On the death of a man, a chorus of moans began and tears were shed in profusion, while some one sang for several days the praises of the defunct in a melancholy monotone. The body was covered for two entire days, during which all articles that belonged to the deceased, such as bow and arrows, pots, and musical instruments, were smashed or destroyed. The debris was stored behind a screen in the hut, where subsequently was also kept the hea.r.s.e in which the body was conveyed to the burial spot. The body, wrapped in a palm-leaf mat, was then interred in a shallow oval grave just outside his hut. A wooden beam was placed directly over the body, and then the hollow was covered over with some six or eight inches of earth. A few branches of trees and some thorns were thrown over it to indicate the spot.

For twenty days in the evening and night moans resounded through the air.

More tears were shed by the relatives and by the _barih_, who frequently proceeded to the grave to pour water on it. On the twentieth day, while some one set at play the awe-inspiring revolving board, others proceeded to exhume the body--by then in a state of absolute decomposition. The remains were taken to the stream and the bones cleaned with great care.

The skull was placed within two inverted hemispherical baskets, whereas all the other bones of the body were heaped into a third concave basket of a larger size.

It was on their return--with moans and chanting--to the _bayto_, or meeting-place in the _aldeia_, that the most touching scene ensued. The skull was decorated with a design of coloured feathers, while those present inflicted wounds upon their own bodies, shedding blood upon the basket of remains. The women, moreover, tore one by one each hair from their heads and bodies in sign of mourning.

After this the skull and bones were placed within another basket, and were either cremated or thrown to the bottom of a river. The property of the deceased was then set ablaze.

I noticed in a hut a skirt made of long palm leaves. It was donned at funerals. There were also several long rudimentary flutes, formed by a cane cylinder with a rounded mouthpiece inserted into another. These flutes, too, were used only on such mournful occasions.

The _barih_ received a present from relatives at the death of individuals in the tribe. The family remained in mourning from five to six months.

The widow, at the death of her husband, was expected to tear each hair off her scalp, one by one, until her head remained as bald as a billiard-ball. She generally did it.

The corpses of women were treated slightly differently. When a woman died she was buried _pro tem._ A feast was given to the tribe. The process of denudation having been given ample time to leave her skeleton clean, her bones were collected, and placed in a special basket and then cremated.

The ashes were scattered to the winds, and so were all her clothes, ornaments, chattels, smashed to atoms, and articles of food. Even fowls, if she possessed any, were destroyed. Usually they were eaten by her friends.

The Bororos did not possess a sense of honour resembling ours. Theft was not considered dishonourable, and was not looked down upon nor condemned by them. If a Bororo liked anything belonging to any one else, they could see no reason why he should not appropriate it. That was their simple way of reasoning, and as no police existed among them such theories were easily followed.

Taking something belonging to a stranger was, in fact, rather encouraged, and in our experience we had to keep a sharp watch when Indians came to our camp, as things disappeared quickly. They seldom took the trouble to ask for anything; they just took it and ran away.

The measurements of Bororo heads in the table on page 261, taken, as an average, from several of the most characteristic types, will be found of interest, especially when compared with some from Papuan and Malay tribes of the Philippine and Sulu Archipelagoes with whom they have many points in common.

Due allowance must be made for the artificial deformation of the cranium in the case of the Bororos.

I had no end of trouble in obtaining these measurements, as the Bororos would not hear of being measured. They were frightened of the nickel-plated calliper I used for the purpose. It was quite beyond them to understand why any one should want to know the length of their noses.

In fact, although many, after a lot of coaxing, submitted to have other measurements taken, few of them would let me measure the nose. None at all would permit me to measure the length of their eyes, as they feared I should intentionally blind them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bororo Children.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bororo Women.]

I met other tribes of Bororos as I went along, and I was able to add to the curious information already collected and given in previous chapters.

It appeared that at the birth of a child the head, while the skull was still soft, was intentionally compressed and bandaged, especially at the forehead and back, so as to flatten it and produce an abnormal shape of the skull. In many cases only the back of the head was flattened by the application of artificial pressure. The elongation was both upwards and sideways. This deformation was particularly confined to male children.

Bororos.

Bilan, Island of Mindanao Philippine Archipelago.

Man.o.bo.

Mahommedans West coast of Mindanao I.

Guiangas.

Samal.

Bagobos.

Ilocanos.

Mandayas (Gandia).

Tirurays.

Mansakas (of Panter).

Yacanes.

----------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre. Metre.

----------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- Vertical maximum length of head 0.264 0.215 0.222 0.212 0.236 0.222 0.234 0.229 0.233 0.240 0.221 0.220 Bizygomatic breadth 0.1415 0.130 0.131 0.137 0.138 0.130 0.132 0.125 0.129 0.130 0.123 0.131 Maximum breadth of forehead 0.145 Minimum breadth of forehead at lower part of temples 0.130 0.133 0.124 0.131 0.126 0.126 0.136 0.131 0.127 0.128 0.130 0.131 Maximum length of cranium (from forehead to back of head) 0.199 0.215 0.193 0.181 0.183 0.173 0.183 -- 0.199 0.192 0.184 0.185 Breadth of skull one inch above ear 0.1945 Maximum breadth of lower jaw 0.132 0.132 0.123 -- 0.117 0.121 0.124 0.116 0.109 0.117 0.110 0.125 Length of nose 0.064 0.060 0.050 0.052 0.058 0.052 0.055 0.057 0.062 0.053 0.056 0.060 Breadth of nose at nostrils 0.0375 0.043 0.037 0.041 0.035 0.045 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.043 0.037 0.039 Distance between eyes 0.033 0.032 0.034 0.030 0.031 0.033 0.032 0.034 0.028 0.033 0.035 0.031 Length of ear 0.066 0.055 0.052 0.056 0.074 0.063 0.072 0.060 0.065 0.062 0.060 0.063 Length of mouth 0.057 0.065 0.050 0.050 0.056 0.055 0.050 -- 0.052 0.057 -- 0.055 Length of lower jaw from ear to centre of chin 0.1365 Breadth of upper lip 0.025 0.023 0.021 0.017 0.023 0.020 0.027 0.024 0.022 0.024 0.021 0.020 Breadth of lower lip 0.020 ----------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------

N.B.--For further particulars see "The Gems of the East," by A. H. Savage Landor.