of amber or agate is often worn by the men suspended from the neck as an
amulet. Here as in so many other parts of the world, the amulet is
believed to acquire especial efficacy when worn in this way, as it comes
in immediate contact with the person of the wearer.[610]
A very singular manner of using precious stones as talismans is noted in
Burma.[611] There are certain talismans called _hkoung-beht-set_, which
are inserted in the flesh beneath the skin. They are usually of gold,
silver, or lead, or else of tortoise-shell, horn, etc., but sometimes
they are rolled pebbles and occasionally precious stones. We are told
that when a prisoner is found to have such talismans on, or rather in
his person, the jailer cuts them out lest they should be used to bribe
the guards. The talismans owe much of their supposed power to
inscriptions in mystic characters, and they are so highly favored that
some of the natives wear one or more rows of them across the chest.
For the Japanese, rock-crystal is the “perfect jewel,” _tama_; it is at
once a symbol of purity and of the infinity of space, and also of
patience and perseverance. This latter significance probably originated
from an observation of the patience and skill required for the
production of the splendid crystal balls made by the accurate and
painstaking Japanese cutters and polishers.
The belief of Mohammedans in the Evil Eye claims the authority of the
Prophet to the effect that “the áïn (eye) is a reality.” The Arabs also
designate the Evil Eye as _nuzra_, “the look,” and _nafs_, “breath or
spirit.” It is not commonly regarded as the result of a definite
malevolent intention, but rather as an effect engendered by envy at the
sight of anything especially beautiful or attractive. Indeed, sometimes
the bare expression of great admiration is supposed to produce evil
results, as is illustrated by the assertion that when a man, on seeing
an exceptionally large and fine stone, exclaimed, “What a large stone!”
it immediately broke into three pieces.
In the Sahara, the horns of oxen, and sometimes their skulls with the
horns attached, are set over the entrances of dwellings to protect the
residents from this dreaded influence; in Tunis and Algiers, boars’
tusks are also used in this way. However, the most favored weapons of
defence are the outstretched fingers of the hand, sometimes but two
fingers, but more often all five. The gesture of holding out the fingers
toward the envious person is frequently accompanied by the utterance of
the words: _Khamsa fi ȧïnek_, “five (fingers) in your eye!” The number
five has thus acquired such a special significance that Thursday, as the
_fifth_ day of the week, is looked upon as the appropriate day for
pilgrimages to the shrines of those saints whose protection against the
Evil Eye is believed to be most potent.[612]
The Arabs of Arabia Petraæ believe that when anyone casts longing and
covetous eyes upon any animal belonging to another, part of his soul
enters the animal and the latter is doomed to destruction if it remains
in the possession of the rightful owner. The same idea prevails in the
case of a child whose possession is envied, or who is unduly admired.
Where the identity of the one who has cast the spell is known, there is
a fair chance of rendering it harmless if a piece of the guilty one’s
garment can be stolen and the animal or child rubbed with it. The virtue
of coral as a protection from such dangers is generally believed, and
almost every woman, child, mare and camel, wears or bears a coral amulet
of some kind. A special variety of amulets against the Evil Eye, worn by
equestrians, are small, smooth flint-stones, gathered at a spot where
two valleys unite; and, for horses, protection is believed to be
afforded by a ring of blue glass or blue porcelain, suspended from the
neck. Another queer superstition among these Arabs regarding the Evil
Eye is that if a child yawns, this is supposed to be a sign that he has
been smitten by the evil spell, and the mother is advised to place
glowing coals on a plate, strew alum over the coals, and bear the plate
around the child.[613]
Over the entrance gate of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, may be seen
the representation of a hand, and this is regarded as having been
figured there to serve for a talisman against the Evil Eye,[614] just as
some of the Arabs are still wont to paint or figure a so-called
“Fatima’s Hand” on doors or door-posts for a similar purpose. The idea
which has been advanced that the “horse-shoe arch” had some connection
with the belief in the luck-bringing quality of the horse-shoe, is,
however, scarcely to be admitted as an explanation of this most
characteristic feature of Moorish architecture.
IX
Amulets of Primitive Peoples and of Modern Times
The folk-lore tales of the settlement called Milpa Alta, in the Federal
District, Mexico, not far from Mexico City, have preserved many legends
from old Aztec times, as this community was originally settled by some
noble Aztec families fortunate enough to escape with their goods from
the Spaniards at the time of the conquest by Cortés. In several of these
legends the chalchihuitl (a green stone, often nephrite or jadeite) is
mentioned. Thus it is said that when some minor divinity sees fit to
confer upon a man or woman the endowments of a _tlamátque_ or “sage,” he
gave warning of this in a dream, and the truth of the vision was
confirmed when, during the ensuing day, the dreamer found on the ground
within his enclosure idols of _chalchihuitl_, or fragments of obsidian,
which were believed to have fallen from the sky, this usually occurring
during a rainstorm. Evidently the rain had washed them out of the earth
or volcanic ash in which they had been buried. These objects were
immediately picked up and preserved, as they signified that the person
whose dream had thus been verified was admitted to the companionship of
the gods. There appears to have followed some initiation ceremony to
render definite the consecration of the chosen _tlamátque_, and this was
to be connected with a fiery ordeal, the traces of which in scars or
severe burns, and sometimes even in the loss of eyesight, served to
recommend the “sage” to those seeking his aid. This was called for in
cases of illness and also for the finding of hidden treasure and for
predictions of the weather. In attempting to effect cures, the
_tlamátque_ made use of pieces of jade as talismans, fortified by
elaborate exorcisms and prayers.[615]
Among the lower classes of the Mexican Indian population of Milpa Alta,
to cure diseases the aid of a _tepo pohque_ (one who purifies the
disease) is sometimes called in. This once very general custom is,
however, gradually falling into disuse. The progress of popular
scepticism is illustrated by the half-apologetic tone in which this is
explained in the words: “If he does no good, he will do no harm, and
besides he is so cheap.” The healer may be either a man or a woman. One
of the most important helps is a chain of chalchihuitl beads. After
invocations of the various appearances of Christ and of the Virgin
chronicled in local tradition, and of the patron saints (for these
Indians are devout Roman Catholics), the healer chooses out a
chalchihuitl bead with which he pretends to extract the “air” from the
sick person. He successively touches with it the patient’s temples, the
sides and top of the head, the stomach, and lastly the affected part, at
the same time forcibly drawing in his own breath, producing thereby a
peculiar noise. The use of the stone is sometimes supplemented by that
of two eggs, one being held in each of the healer’s hands. A different
type or form of chalchihuitl is used for each different disease, and as
a final operation the affected part is moistened with alcohol, and then
“massaged” with the stone, bathing with a hot decoction of herbs being
also resorted to in some cases.[616]
A characteristic object secured in the Province of Chiriqui, Republic of
Panama, is a singular amulet of a fine quality of green translucent jade
(jadeite). This is fashioned into a conventional representation of a
parrot with a disproportionately long beak. The details of the bird-form
are but roughly indicated, what is supposed to represent the head and
body being but a trifle larger than the beak. In the region of the neck,
marked by a peripheral incision, there is a hole through which a cord
for suspension was probably passed. The type resembles that of the
Chiriquian gold parrots, and differs from that of the amulets of Las
Guacas, Costa Rica. As a much larger number of jade objects have been
found at this latter place than occur at Chiriqui, it has been
conjectured that the common source was a deposit of jade somewhere in
Costa Rica.[617] Chiriqui has also yielded a plain, highly-polished
amulet of pale green jade; the front is convex and is traversed by a
groove; a small hole has been pierced near the top to facilitate
suspension.
The South American Indians had a class of stone love-amulets,
representing more or less clearly two embracing figures. It was claimed
by their magicians that these had not been cut or fashioned in any way,
but were so formed by nature, and were endowed with the power of
attracting to the wearer the love of the chosen object of affection.
These special amulets bore in the native language the names of
_huacanqui_ and _cuyancarumi_. They were said to be found buried in the
earth where a thunderbolt had descended, and were thus a particular
class of the so-called “thunder-stones,” and a high price could be
obtained for one, more especially if the owner had to deal with a woman.
A characteristic specimen, presumably from Ecuador, is of black
serpentine.[618]
The Araucarian Indians of Chili and Argentina, who occupied a region
1000 miles in length, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, according to facts
communicated by the Rev. Charles Sadleir, had their medicine _women_,
instead of medicine-men. These women carried with them a quartz crystal
(as did many of the medicine-men of the Indian tribes) or a rolled
fragment of quartz found in the river beds. They affirmed that this
crystal had been entered by a mighty spirit who dwelt in one of the
great volcanoes which existed in that region (called _pillan_ in the
native tongue). This spirit inspired the medicine-woman with a knowledge
of what she should tell those who came to her for advice or for
forecasts of the future.
A medicine-woman will never show the crystal, because, as the abode of a
spirit, it must not be seen. While it is to be supposed that the
services of these “doctoresses” are not altogether gratuitous, the
Araucarians as a general rule detest gold, although they willingly
accept silver. This preference for the less valuable metal is due to the
traditions handed down to them from the time the Spaniards persecuted
their ancestors for the gold they owned, or were thought to own.
These Indians have a peculiar belief in regard to the nature of the
soul, which they regard as a dual being formed of a superior essence, or
spirit, which they call _pullu_, and an inferior essence, or soul, to
which they give the name _am_.
An agate charm in the shape of a dog’s head was found in the Valley of
Mexico. The material used here was a banded agate with a rich stain in
the centre. The great variety of markings presented by these stones
rendered them especially attractive for use as amulets, since fancy
could easily trace designs and figures of symbolic significance
calculated to secure success or protection.
Of all quaint ideas in amulet making and naming, none is stranger than
that of employing for this purpose artificial eyes from Peruvian
mummies. Originally eyes of the giant cuttlefish (_loligo gigas_), they
were used by the ancient Peruvians to replace the natural eyes of the
dead because these substitutes were more durable. Of course the rather
grewsome source whence these mummy-eye amulets were secured, bringing
them measurably in touch with a sort of necromancy, made them all the
more sought after by the superstitious natives. An example from a mummy
found at Cuzco, Peru, was exhibited by the writer in the Folk-Lore
Collection at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893.[619]
A strange animal figure from the Pueblo Bonito ruins, rudely carved out
of stone and having a band composed of pieces of turquoise set about the
neck, was undoubtedly an amulet. Two depressions in the stone where the
eyes should be indicate that these were of inlaid turquoise. In spite of
the imperfect form of this object, it gives evidence in some of its
details to the skill of the native artist who executed it, especially in
the care he has taken to protect the soft stone from the attrition of
the cord used for its suspension, a piece of bird-bone having been
introduced into the perforation near the neck, and the ends of the hole
countersunk and filled with gum into which a piece of turquoise was set;
one of these caps still remains in place. Frog forms, entirely of
turquoise, also appear in Pueblo Bonito, several tadpoles and frogs of
this material having been found in the burialroom explored by Mr.
Pepper. Sometimes the form is barely indicated by the protuberant eyes
and a slight incising which marks the place of the neck.[620]
[Illustration:
TURQUOISE INCRUSTED OBJECTS, PROBABLY AMULETS, FOUND AT PUEBLO BONITO,
NEW MEXICO
The work of ancient Indian dwellers in this region. From George H.
Pepper, American Anthropologist, vol. vii, Pl. xvii. 1. Turquoise
incrusted bone. 2. Jet frog with turquoise eyes. 3. Jet plaque with
turquoise setting.
]
The Pueblo Bonito ruins in New Mexico have furnished some very effective
examples of turquoise inlaying by the Indians of an earlier time who
dwelt in this region. The symbolic forms, the precious material used for
the inlays, and the labor and skill expended in the execution of certain
of these works, indicate that they must have been regarded as amulets.
Perhaps the finest inlaying-work is shown in the turquoise decoration of
a fragment of bone of peculiar shape, having alternate bands of jet with
a chevron-decoration of interlaced triangular pieces of jet and
turquoise. Another of these jet and turquoise amulets is a frog, the
body being of jet and the protruding eyes of turquoise; about the
creature’s neck runs a band of turquoise mosaic. Still another of these
relics is a square plaque of jet with an inlaid turquoise at each of the
four corners; two of these inlays have fallen out.[621]
The history of the turquoise, a stone which has been mined in Persia for
thousands of years, and has long been prized as one of the most
beautiful and attractive of the semi-precious stones, has been very
fully and ably treated in an exceedingly comprehensive monograph
recently published by Dr. Joseph E. Pogue.[622] This valuable and
interesting work contains extracts from all the older and more modern
writers on the subject, and also describes the stone fully from a
mineralogical point of view, besides discussing it from the historic
standpoints.
So highly was the turquoise esteemed among the Pima Indians of southern
Arizona, that the loss of one was looked upon as a most ominous event,
portending for the owner a serious illness or physical disability, which
could only be cured by the magic rites of a medicine-man. When one of
those worthies is called in to avert the impending misfortune, his
favorite remedy consists in placing a piece of slate, a turquoise and a
crystal in a vessel filled with water, the liquid being administered in
regular doses to the threatened victim. The threefold remedy, comprising
a specimen of the lost stone, is supposed to outweigh and counteract the
probable evil influences of the lost turquoise alone.[623]
The magic power that dwelt in these Indian fetishes was named _oyaron_
in the Iroquoian tongue, and each person or kindred was believed to have
a special _oyaron_ which exerted a controlling power over their good or
evil fortune. The material object in which this entity would take up its
abode was determined in a peculiar way. When a youth had attained
maturity, he was entrusted to the charge of an old man who took him to a
far-away lodge in the wilderness. Here he had his face, shoulders and
breast blackened to symbolize his lack of spiritual or occult
enlightenment. He was then compelled to fast for a considerable time and
was instructed to carefully note his dreams, and if he should have an
exceptionally vivid dream regarding any specific object, to tell his
guardian of it. The fact was then duly reported to the wise men of the
tribe, who decided whether the object was the chosen abiding place of
his _oyaron_. This having been satisfactorily determined, an object of
the kind was sought out and was preserved and treasured by the one to
whom it had been assigned in the vision. Perhaps the familiar spirit
might have elected to dwell in a calumet, a pipe or a knife, or else in
some animal, plant, or mineral form.[624]
[Illustration:
INDIAN MEDICINE-MAN
From “Histoire Générale des Cérémonies Religieuses du tous les Peuples
du Monde,” by Abbé Banier and
Abbé Mascrier, Paris, 1741.
]
The Midêwiwin, or, as it is sometimes erroneously called, the “Grand
Medicine Society” of the Ojibway Indians, is an association composed of
shamans, whose supposed powers are much in request among these Indians
of the northwest. Two other classes of medicine-men exist among them to
a very limited extent, the Wâbeno, “Men of the Dawn,” and the Jessakid
or “revealers of hidden things.” The members of this latter class, who
operate singly, are regarded as very dangerous and generally malevolent
sorcerers, having the power to call evil spirits to their aid, and are
even believed to practise the fearful art of drawing a man’s soul out of
his body, so that he either becomes insane or dies. The turtle is
regarded by the Jessakids as the abode or symbol of the mightiest
spirit. However, the Midês, members of the Midêwiwin, are far the most
numerous, and it is to them that the Indian looks for help and health.
While they usually “treat” their patients in their own abodes, when the
disease fails to yield to the might of ordinary incantations and spells,
the assistance of the great magic stone in the Medicine Lodge or
Midêwigen must be resorted to. For this purpose the sick person is
carried thither and is laid on the ground constituting the floor of the
lodge, so that the diseased part of his body may touch the stone. In
addition to this magic stone, which is set in the ground near the
entrance, three magic wooden posts rise up, one behind the other, and at
the end opposite the entrance is set a painted wooden cross, the base of
which is cut four-square, each side having a different coloring, namely,
white, for the East, the source of light; green, for the South, the
source of rain which brings the verdure; red, for the West, where the
red glow of the sunset appears and whither the spirits of the departed
wend their way after death, and, lastly, black, for the cold and
pitiless North, the origin of disease, famine and death.[625]
The various adjuncts of the sorcerer’s trade are carefully preserved by
the Midê or Jessakid in his medicine-bag. A good specimen of this was
made out of the skin of a mink, _Putorius vison_, Gapp., and adorned at
one end with two fluffy white feathers.[626] Often a flat, black,
water-worn pebble will be one of the great treasures in this sack. The
virtues of a stone of this type are said to have been put to a curious
test on the person of a Jessakid at Leech Lake, Minn., in 1858. The man
offered to wager $100 that if he were securely tied up, hand and foot,
with stout rope, but having his stone resting on his thigh, he could
remove the bonds without assistance. The wager was taken up and the test
duly applied; the Jessakid being left alone in his tent tightly and
firmly bound. Before long he called out to those on the watch outside
the tent that search should be made for the rope at a certain spot
nearby. This was done and the rope was found with the knots undisturbed,
while the Jessakid was to be seen calmly seated on the ground, smoking a
pipe and still bearing his magic black stone on his thigh.[627]
French missionaries of the early part of the eighteenth century reported
that the Indian wizards of some of the northwestern tribes would take a
pebble the size of a pigeon’s egg, and mutter over it certain
conjurations. This, they assert, caused the formation of a like stone
within the body of the person who was to be bewitched.[628] The
medicine-men of certain Canadian tribes of this time were not content
with muttered conjurations in treating their patients, but would not
infrequently resort to the charm supposed to be exerted by dancing and
howling before the sick person. The nervous shock produced by a
combination of such grotesque movements and discordant cries might well
“rouse” the patient, and perhaps had sometimes good effects in restoring
vitality.
[Illustration:
Canadian Indian Medicine-man. From “Histoire générale des cérémonies,
mœurs, et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde,” by
Abbé Banier and Abbé Mascrier. Vol. VII. Paris. 1741.
]
An interesting use of the Röntgen rays to detect hidden amulets is noted
by Stewart Culin. It was conjectured by Mr. Cushing that some pieces of
turquoise, conceived to be the hearts of fetichistic birds, were
concealed beneath the heavy wrapping of brown yarn that binds the
finger-loops of the prehistoric throwing stick in the Museum of the
University of Pennsylvania. This object was too valuable and too fragile
to permit of its examination, and therefore the Röntgen rays were used,
disclosing the presence of four stone beads, presumably of turquoise, as
Mr. Cushing had indicated.[629]
As the Point Barrow Eskimos are so largely dependent on fishing, they
especially favor amulets or talismans referring to this, and in many
cases the peculiar power of the talisman is accentuated by giving it a
specially significant form. Thus, from Utkiavwin was brought a piece of
dark crimson jasper two inches long, rudely fashioned by chipping into
the form of a whale, and also a similar figure made from a water-worn
quartz pebble.[630] Another Point Barrow amulet consisted of three small
fragments of amber, carefully wrapped up and placed in a cottonwood box
1½ inches in length. This box was cleverly made of two semicircular
pieces of the wood, the flat faces having been hollowed out so as to
leave space for the amber. They were then bound together by loosely
knotted sinew braid.[631]
A black jade, adze-shaped, that may have served as a fisherman’s
talisman for the Point Barrow Eskimo, was brought from Utkiavwin. It
measured 5.1 inches in length, and was slung with a thong and whalebone,
so that it could be suspended. Its weight is so considerable as to make
it somewhat burdensome for wear on the person, but as one of these
Eskimo wore a stone weighing two pounds suspended from a belt, the jade
artefact may really have been worn in this way. The form suggests that
of a sinker, as was also the case with the two-pound stone, and it may
have earned its repute as a talisman from having been used in former
times by some exceptionally fortunate or skilful fisherman, in the
belief that it would transmit his good luck to anyone wearing it.[632]
An artefact of somewhat similar form, 1.4 inches in length, and made of
red jasper, came from the same locality; this was slung in a sinew band
for suspension.[633]