weakening the stomach, they only drink on the fifth day a beverage in which maize-meal has been dissolved, and little by little their strength comes back. But perhaps it may not be useless to know the manner of summoning people to the ceremonies and the instruments used.

Goaded by their love of gold, a numerous band of armed Spaniards went one day to explore the banks of the Dabaiba River. They cut to pieces a cacique they met on the road, and robbed him of about 14,000 gold pesos. This gold was in the form of artistically wrought articles, amongst which there were three trumpets, and as many bells. One of the bells weighed six hundred pesos while the others were less heavy. When asked for what these trumpets and bells were used, the natives replied that the notes of the trumpets delighted them on feast days and the tinkling of the bells summoned people to ceremonies. The tongue of the bell seemed to be made as are ours, but was so brilliant and so fragile that at first glance one would have thought, save for its length, that it was made of pearls or of the shells of pearl oysters. It was later discovered that it was made from fish-bones. Although beaten gold has a dull sound, the natives affirm that their bells give forth sweet, soft tones which charm the ear. The bell tongue only strikes the extremity of the bell, when moved; just as do ours.

Amongst this plunder there were thirteen hundred golden bells, and all have a pretty tone, just as in Europe. There were also golden pouches, in which the nobles carried their private parts, attaching them behind their backs with little cords. Their priests are obliged to abstain from luxury, and if any one of them were convicted of having violated the laws of chastity, he would be stoned or burned, for they believe that chastity pleases the Creator above everything else. While fasting or praying, their faces are washed and rubbed, but at all other times they paint their bodies. They raise their hands and eyes

towards heaven. It is not only from lascivious women and all carnal acts they must abstain during this period, but even from their wives.

So simple are these natives that they have no name for the soul, nor do they realise its power. When asked what is this mysterious something, invisible and incomprehensible, which gives life to men and animals, they are amazed and stammer. They, however, affirm that there exists something after this terrestrial life. This something after our passage through this world has to do with eternal felicity if we live unpolluted, and have preserved from contamination the body confided to us. If, on the contrary, we have allowed ourselves to be carried away by some shameful passion or have committed acts of violence or fury, we shall suffer a thousand tortures in gloomy places under the centre of the earth. In speaking of this, the natives raise their hands and point to heaven, or they lower them and point to the interior of the earth.

The bodies of the dead are buried in tombs, and women follow the funerals of their husbands. A man may have as many wives as he chooses, but not among his near relatives, unless they are widows. The reason of this is a superstitious belief, sufficiently ridiculous in itself, but which has taken a firm hold upon them; for they pretend the patch visible upon the face of the moon, when it is full represents a man who is cast into that, damp and freezing planet to suffer perpetual cold, in expiation of incest committed with his sister.

Above each tomb a small cavity is scooped out, in which every year a little maize and some of their usual drinks are deposited; for they believe these gifts will not be useless to the manes of their deceased relatives. A barbarous act in excess of anything one could imagine is the following. When a nursing mother dies, the living child is buried with her. Widows either remarry with the brother or

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the nearest relative of the husband, especially when they have children. The natives are easily deceived by their priests, and from this arise a thousand silly practices which they religiously preserve. Their life is passed in the country watered by the Dabaiba River.

I quote some other similar particulars which have been reported to me by trustworthy witnesses who have visited these southern countries. It is well to remember that these details have been omitted by Egidius Gonzales and his companions. Besides Egidius, a number of other captains have, as I have stated, frequently explored with their fleets these immense regions and tribes towards the south.

Not to mention many errors peculiar to them, there is one amongst the caciques of this country like unto which I have never read or heard anything. The king and the nobles alone are considered to have immortal souls. Other people possess souls which die with their bodies. An exception exists for indispensable servants of princes and those amongst them who, when their masters die, choose to be buried alive with them. In fact they are convinced that the souls of kings, once freed from their human bodies, enjoy perpetual delights, in evergreen gardens where they eat, drink, play, and dance with young women, or divert themselves as they did in their lifetime. This is the tradition handed down from their ancestors and for them is an article of faith. For this reason, numbers gladly cast themselves into the graves of their masters. If the prince's servants fail to fulfil this duty, their souls forfeit immortality and perish. We have already noted the same custom among the widows of caciques in other regions.

Each year the heirs of the cacique and the lords repeat the funeral ceremonies, according to ancient rites. The ceremony proceeds in the following order: The cacique or lord invites his subjects and neighbours to the tomb. Each one brings some of the usual wine but the organiser

of the ceremony supplies all the food. Men and women, but especially the women, pass the whole of the first night watching, during which they give vent to mournful cries, deploring in funeral canticles the fate of the dead, especially if he has been killed by his enemies in war; for although they are content with so little in their life, the barbarians nourish eternal hatred amongst themselves.

They speak in offensive language of the life and morals of the victorious enemy, heaping furious insults upon him; they call him tyrant, cruel traitor, accusing him of having triumphed over their master and ravaging the country by fraud, and not by courage and virtue. Such indeed is the habit of these barbarians. Presently they bring a figure representing the enemy, and engage in mimic combat with it, wounding it and finally cutting it into bits, as a sterile sort of vengeance for their master. Then they give themselves up to eating and drinking, until drunkenness and nausea overtake them.

They have intoxicating herbs, from which they manufacture different drinks, as the Flemish make beer of barley and fruits, and the Galicians cider from apples. Afterwards they begin to dance and sing until they drop exhausted, exalting the virtues of their master, congratulating him on being good, generous, devoted to his people, self-sacrificing for the good of his subjects, free-handed in distributing seeds amongst them,--this being the chief duty of the cacique, and finally upon being a brave soldier, and a skilful general in war. The lamentations are renewed and they begin again to deplore his death, crying, "He has robbed us of you, O illustrious Prince! Alas! the fatal day that has deprived us of such a great joy. Alas, unfortunate creatures that we are, to have lost such a father of the country!"

After many repetitions of these laments and others of the same sort, they turn to the reigning cacique and praise his merits, his courage, and his other virtues. They

I

surround him, leaping and dancing like the furies of the carnival; regarding him with respect and adoring him, declaring that they behold in him the present and future remedy of past misfortunes, and the consolation for all their troubles. Like courtiers, they declare him to be the most elegant of the elegant, the handsomest of the handsome, the most generous of the generous; pious, gracious; in a word, they overwhelm him with all sorts of praises and compliments.

At daybreak they leave the house, bearing an image of the dead to a boat which has been prepared; it is dug out of a tree-trunk and capable of carrying sixty rowers. In fact it is reported that very lofty trees grow in this country, especially lemon-trees, which are plentiful and of which I recently learned that they possess a quality I had before ignored. The planks of the lemon-tree, in addition to their already well-known properties, are incorruptible, for they are bitter to the taste and are never attacked by the pest of worms, which, wherever the sea is deep, bore the hulls of ships more effectually than an auger. These worms are called by the Spaniards bromas. This boat, which is held to be that of the dead, is filled with drinks, herbs, fruits, such as he loved during his lifetime; also with fish, meat, and bread. The administrators of the cacique have had it already prepared against the moment when the organiser of the ceremony shall come out of his house. The guests raise the boat on their shoulders and carry it round the house, bringing it to the place from which they started, where they burn it together with all its contents. They believe the smoke from this fire is agreeable to the dead man's soul. While this is happening, the women, who have drunk immoderately, let down their hair, strip themselves naked, and foam at the mouth as they stagger forward. Their legs tremble under them, and they cling to the walls or fall, sprawling as do the Bacchantes; or In other words: Le roi est mort, Vive le roil