[358] See im Thurn, p. 349. In Australia “one black fellow will often tell you that he can and does do something magical, whilst all the time he is perfectly well aware that he cannot, and yet firmly believes that some other man can really do it” (Spencer and Gillen, p. 130).
[359] Spruce relates a custom unknown to me practised by some tribes when astray in the bush. The Indian when lost “names the Curupira, and … twists a liana into a ring … throws it behind him … follows the direction in which it has fallen” (Spruce, ii. 437-8). The Bororo use a bull-roarer to drive the bad spirits off (W. A. Cook, The Bororo Indians of Matto Grosso, p. 55).
[360] The Caribs of the Pomeroon river actually attempt to counter the attack of epidemic sickness by blocking the forest tracks “to stop the passage of the spirits” (im Thurn, p. 356). In Guiana disease is regarded as an evil spirit that prowls around (Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 225).
[361] Bates, ii. 115.
[362] Jurupari is unknown south of the Japura. I can therefore give no particulars or description from personal investigation and knowledge of aught concerning this all powerful demoniac deity of the northern tribes.
[363] J. D. Pfleiderer, Die Genesis des Mythus der indogermanischen Völker, p. 48.
[364] Elsewhere this appears not to be the case. See Bates, ii. 114.
[365] Yacu = water, mama = mother, Mai d’agoa (Tupi). Pachamama, the earth, was worshipped in Peru, and the Inca also reverenced Mamaccocha, the sea mother (Joyce, pp. 154, 225).
[366] Bates mentions a boy at Ega being devoured by one of these huge creatures (Bates, ii. 113-15).
[367] Clough, p. 60.