CONJECTURES WHY THE ABIPONES TAKE THE EVIL SPIRIT
FOR THEIR GRANDFATHER, AND THE PLEIADES FOR
THE REPRESENTATION OF HIM.
When you read that the Abipones take the devil for their grandfather,
you may laugh with me at their folly, and behold their madness with pity
and wonder, but, if you be wise, let all this be done in moderation, for
still grosser errors have been entertained amongst many nations
civilized by laws and arts both human and divine. If you do but look
into history sacred or profane, you will allow that there is scarce any
thing to which divine honours have not formerly been paid. Such madness
and folly in many polished nations should so exhaust our indignation and
wonder as to make us judge mildly of the savage Abipones, educated
amongst wild beasts, and unacquainted with letters, if they simply
dignify the evil spirit with the title of their grandfather, without
giving him the name or honours of a divinity. During a seven-years'
residence amongst the savages, I never discovered any thing of that
nature. If secretly or in our absence they did any thing which a divine
would condemn, I think it proceeded from no religious inclination
towards the evil spirit, but only from fear of him, and from the
compulsion used by the jugglers; so that they rather merit the
imputation of stupidity than of blasphemy.
Not only the Abipones, but likewise the Mocobios, Tobas, Yapitalakas,
Guaycurus and other equestrian people of Chaco, boast themselves
grandsons of the evil spirit, partakers no less of their superstition
than of their madness. But how different are the opinions entertained by
the southern equestrian tribes, who wander up and down the region of
Magellan! They are all acquainted with the devil, whom they call
Balichù. They believe that there is an innumerable crowd of demons, the
chief of whom they name El El, and all the inferior ones Quezubû. They
think, however, every kind of demon hostile and mischievous to the human
race, and the origin of all evil, regarding them in consequence with
dread and abhorrence. The Puelches, Picunches, or Moluches, are
unacquainted even with the name of God. These last ascribe all the good
things they either possess or desire to the sun, and to the sun they
pray for them. When a priest of our order told them that God, the
creator of all things, and amongst the rest of the sun, should be
worshipped before the work of his own hands, they replied; "Till this
hour, we never knew nor acknowledged any thing greater or better than
the sun." The Patagonians call God Soychù, to wit, that which cannot be
seen, which is worthy of all veneration, and which does not live in the
world; hence they call the dead _Soychuhèt_, men that dwell with God
beyond the world. They seem to hold two principles in common with the
Gnostics and Manichæans, for they say that God created both good and
evil demons. The latter they greatly fear, but never worship. They
believe every sick person to be possessed of an evil demon; hence their
physicians always carry a drum with figures of devils painted on it,
which they strike at the beds of sick persons, to drive the evil demon,
which causes the disorder, from the body. The savages of Chili are
ignorant of the name and worship of God, but believe in a certain aërial
spirit, called Pillan, to whom they address supplications that he will
scatter their enemies, and thanksgiving, amidst their cups, after
gaining a victory. Pillan is also their name for thunder, and they
worship this deity chiefly when it thunders. The devil, which they call
Alveè, they detest with their whole hearts. Hence, as they think life
the best of all things, when any of them dies, they say that the evil
spirit has taken him away. The Brazilians and Guaranies call the devil
Aña, or Añanga, and fear him on account of a thousand noxious arts by
which he is signalized. In Virginia, the savages call the devil Okè, and
pay him divine honours. Since numerous and neighbouring savages regard
the devil with fear and contempt, I cannot imagine why the Abipones give
him the affectionate and honourable appellation of their grandfather.
But there is no need of reason and argument to induce the savages to
embrace the absurdest opinions, and to take what is doubtful for
certain, what is false for perfectly true. The lies of a crafty juggler,
the dreams of a foolish old woman, listened to with attentive ears, are
more than enough to make them swear that the devil is their grandfather,
or any thing still more absurd.
Why they believe the Pleiades to be the representation of their
grandfather, remains to be discussed. On this subject also I can advance
nothing but conjecture, nor can any thing certain be derived either from
the Abipones or from the historians of America. The seven daughters of
Lycurgus were placed by Jove amongst the stars, because they educated
Bacchus in the island of Naxos, and distinguished by the name of
Pleiades, as poets feign. What if we say that the Abipones, who are so
fond of drinking-parties, worshipped those stars, because they were the
nurses of Bacchus? But this pleasant idea would suit conversation better
than history. It deserves attention, that, though various nations have
paid divine honours to the sun, moon, and other stars, we cannot find a
syllable respecting the worship of the Pleiades in any part of holy
writ; unless, indeed, you say that they were adored by those nations
mentioned in the 17th Chap. and the 3d verse of Deuteronomy: "That they
go and serve other Gods, and worship them, the sun and moon, and all the
host of heaven." For, as St. Jerome observes, the "whole host of heaven"
means all the stars, including, of course, the Pleiades amongst the
rest.
After long and frequent consideration of these things, it appears most
probable to my mind, that the savages of Paraguay derived the knowledge
and worship of the Pleiades from the ancient Peruvians; who, although
they venerated God the creator and preserver of all things, (under the
name of Pachacàmac,) are nevertheless said to have adored the sea,
rocks, trees, and, what is of most importance to the present subject,
the Pleiades, whom they called Colcà. The Inca Manco Capac, their ruler
and chief lawgiver, afterwards substituted new superstitions for old
ones. He decreed, that divine honours should be paid to the sun. To it
alone divine veneration and sacrifices were paid, though the moon also,
which they call the consort of the sun, and certain stars, which they
call the handmaids of the moon, were honoured with silver altars and
adoration to a certain extent, but inferior to that paid a divinity.
Amongst the stars they thought the Pleiades worthy of a distinguished
place, and chief honour, either from the wonderful manner in which they
are placed, or from their singular brightness. After the Spaniards
obtained dominion over Peru by force of arms, it is credible that the
Peruvians, to avoid this dreadful slavery, stole away wherever they
could, and that many of them migrated into the neighbouring Tucuman, and
thence, for the sake of security, into the deserts of Chaco, close by;
where, amongst other superstitions they may have taught the inhabitants
a religious observance of the Pleiades. But since the Abipones, you will
object, cannot even express the name of God in their native tongue, and
respectfully address the evil spirit by the title of their grandfather,
why did they not learn from the Peruvians the name and worship of God,
with a hatred and contempt for the evil spirit? The latter certainly
entertained such a reverence for the God Pachacàmac, that they thought
it a part of their religion not to utter his name except on very
important occasions, and whenever they did, to accompany the mention of
it with great marks of reverence. On the other hand, they held the
devil, whom they called Cupay, in much contempt. Why did not the
Peruvians impart that reverence for God, and contempt for the evil
spirit to the Abipones, at the same time that they instructed them in a
religious observance of the Pleiades? Because vice is more easily learnt
than virtue, as healthy persons are sooner infected by the sick, than
sick ones cured by the healthy. Yet, if you persist in denying that the
knowledge of the Pleiades was brought from Peru, I will oppose you no
longer; but what hinders us from believing that it crept into Paraguay
from the neighbouring Brazil, where the Tapuyas, formerly a fierce and
numerous nation, greatly venerated the rise of the Pleiades, and
worshipped those stars as divinities with singing and dancing. As no
memorials are at hand from which any thing determinate can be elicited
on this subject, I have thought fit to adduce all these conjectures,
opinions, and probabilities which may seem in any way to relate to the
evil spirit, the infamous grandfather of the Abipones, and to the
Pleiades the representation of him.