56 THE ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO

fEWKES]

RELIGION

57

Guamoretus

the}'found intheroof azeini.,called

Corocnotum

(Coro- cose),thatwas

made

ofcotton. Pei'sonshaving'two crowns intheir hair'^-eresupposed tobe relatedto thiszi'im',

who

liadafondnessfor lying with

women.

The

zends

known

asBaidrama,or twins,andcalled also

Bugid

y Aiba wasa

war

god. Fray

Ramon Pane

says that the Indians believed thattheirstrength couldbe

augmented

b}'thisbeing, andthat

when

they

smoked

inhonorofthis

god

their

arms

increasedinsizeandtheir eyesightwas restored.

They

could increase their strength also In'

bathingthe

body

inthejuiceof theyucca{giuca).

ZEJIIS OF

WOOD

LasCasas says that the Indians of Haitihadcertain statues

made

of wood,which

Columbus

describedin a letter tothe Catholicmonarchs, Ferdinand andIsabella,and adds that they placed in

them

bones of relativesandgave

them

the names of thepersons

whose

boneswere inclosed.

Some

oftheseimageswere hollow,and

when

the caciques consulted theidolspriestshiddenwithin responded. It happened on one occasion that a Spaniard,

who

had heard the responses issuing

from

the image, kicked it over, thus revealing the secretmeansb}'

whichitwas

made

toappear tospeak. There was ⁱⁿ one corner of the

room

containing the idolaspaceinwiiicli the person

who

really spokewas hidden behind shrubbery,hisrepliesto thepriestquestion- ing theidolbeing borne throughatubetothestatue.

The

idols aredescribed by Pane, whose account isquoted byLas Casas: '"The natives had certainstatues or idols towhichtheygave the

name

cdini,which they believed gave^water, wind,and sun wiien needed. Theseidolswere

made

ofstoneand wood."

Fray

Ramon Pane

wiites as followsregarding

wooden

znmin:

When

a nativewaspasi^ing l)yatreewhichwasmoved morethan others bythe wind, the Indian in fear callsout,''Whn are you'.'" Thetree responds,"Call hereaBohii orpriestandIwilltellyouwho^Iam."

When

thepriestor sorcerer hadcometothetreeami hadseatedhimselflieforeitheperformedcertainprescribed ceremonies,"andrisingrecounted thetitlesandhonorsoftheprincipal chiefs ofthe island,askedofthetree,''Whatareyoudoing here'? Whatdo you wishof me'?

Why

haveyouasked tohavemecalled? Tell

me

^ifyouwish

me

tocutyoudown andifyouwishtogo'withme,how1shallcarryyou,whetherIshall makeyoua house anda plantationand perform ceremonies fora year." Thetreeanswered thesequestions,andthemancutitdownandmadeofitastatue or idol of sinister look, for ordinarilytheymakethefaces oftheidolsinthe formsofoldmonkeys.

He

madeahouseandplantation,andeach yearperformedcertainceremoniesand consulteditasanoracle,askingasheretiredfromitspresence thingsgoodandbad, orpropheciesofwhat would happeninthefuture. Heannouncedthereplies tothe commonpeople.

aInChurchill'sVoyages,page574,whereRamonPaneissomewhatdifferently translated,these ceremonies arecalledcoriioba,^''whichco(/iobaistopraytoit,to pleaseit,toaskandknowofthesaid cefiiiwhatgoodor evilistohappen,andtoIjcgwealthofit.'' Cogiobaisawordforprayer,andas smokingtobaccoispracticallyamongprinntiveAmericans a formofprayer, cotnobaisthetermfor smoke andtobacco.

58

THE ABORIGINES

OF

PORTO

RICO [eth. axn. 25

ZEMIS OF STONE

The

Haitians,says anearly writer, had semis

made

^of stone,

some

ofwhichwere supposed to

make

the rain, others tocause the crops togrow,andstillotherstoaid

women

in childbirth.

We

havealso a statement that certain stonesei/u'sorlittle id(jls

—

the frontal amulets described later

—

weretied to the forehead bythe Carib

when

the}'

went

into battle.

Earlywritershavegiven us no figuresof the

many

kinds of stone zemisused byaboriginal Haitians orPortoRicans,but

we

canhardly doubt that

many

of those considered in the following descriptions belong to thiscategory. Itis believed bythe writer thatall three- pointed.stonesare practically semisand wereused"to

make

theyucca grow."

The

stoneheadsand

masks

that

form

striking objectsin col- lectionsof Porto Rican antiquities

may

havehadthesame name, but have been putto ditierent uses.

ZEMIS or COTTON

CLOTH

INCLOSINO BONES

The

skull or other bonesof thedead were

wrapped

in cotton cloth or basketryand preservedfor worship.

The

craniawere sometimes attachedto Ijodies

made

of cotton in

human form

andwere kept in a certain house, generally that of the cacique.

Human

bones were treatedas^.3V'////.vand preserved forreligiouspurposes.

The

Carib also

made

cotton images which contained

human

bones thatarethus referredtobyDavies:

They expect, in their sickness,the sentence of tlieir lifeordeath fromtliose detestable oracles, whichtheyreceive by themeansof these puppets ofcotton, whereintheywrap uptheworm-eatenbonesofsomewretchedcarcass,taken outof thegrave. ^. . . Theyburninhonorofthemtheleaves oftobacco,andsometimes they painttheirn<;lyshapesinthemostconsiderableplace of their vessels,which theycallpiraguas,ortheywearhanging abouttheirnecks a^littleimagerepresenting someoneofthosecursedspirits.

Peter

Martvr

mentionsseated semis

made

of cotton, butas objects of this kind are naturally perishable few specimens have been pre- served to the present time.

One

of thesefoundinSanto

Domingo,

formerl}'

owned by

Senor Rodriguez,consisted ofaskull inclosed in acottoncoveringand

mounted

ona

body

stuti'edwiththe .samemate-

rial. Apparently,artificialeyeswere^{inserted in} the eyesocketsand cotton orotliei-fabricsweretiedaboutthelegsandarms.

ZEJIIS I'AIXTEI)

ON

THEIU liOUIES ANT) FACKS

The

habit of painting the body andface with various pigments is

mentioned byseveral of the early writers,oneor

more

of

whom

have recorded that the pictures represented are tutelary gods, or si-mis.

Then> is unfortunatelyno account o'ivino-detailed information as to

FEWKES]

RELIGION

59