The Adventurers

by Gustave Aimard

  CHAPTER XXI.

  THE OBSEQUIES OF AN APO-ULMEN.

  The emotion caused by the death of the machi gradually died away, andorder was re-established. Curumilla and Trangoil-Lanec, abjuring anyfeeling of enmity, exchanged a fraternal embrace, amidst the franticapplause of the warriors, who loved both the chiefs.

  "Now my father is avenged, we can restore his body to the earth,"Curumilla observed. Then, advancing towards the strangers, he bowed tothem, saying--

  "Will the palefaces assist at the obsequies?"

  "We will," Louis replied.

  "My toldo is large," the chief continued; "my brothers will do me honourby consenting to inhabit it during their sojourn with the tribe."

  Louis was about to reply, but Trangoil-Lanec hastily prevented him.

  "My brothers the palefaces," he said, "have deigned to accept my poorhospitality."

  The young men bowed in silence.

  "Good!" the Ulmen continued. "Of what consequence is that? Whichever bethe toldo the Muruches may choose, I shall consider them as my guests."

  "Many thanks, chief," Valentine replied; "be assured that we aregrateful for your kindness."

  The Ulmen then took leave of the Frenchmen, and resumed his place by theside of his father's corpse, and the ceremonies commenced. The Araucanosare not, as some travellers have led us to believe, a people destituteof any faith; on the contrary, their faith is warm, and their religionrests upon bases which are not deficient in grandeur. They have nodogma, and yet they recognize two principles--that of good and that ofevil.

  The first, named Pillian, is the Creating God; the second, namedGuecubu, is the Destroying God. Guecubu is in a state of continualstruggle with Pillian, endeavouring to disturb the harmony of the world,and destroy what exists; by which we see that the doctrine of Manicheismwas embraced by the barbarians of both the old and the new world, who,being unable to penetrate the causes of good and evil, have imagined twocontrary principles. In addition to these two principal deities, theAraucanos recognize a considerable number of secondary genii, who assistPillian in his contest with Guecubu. These genii are males and females;the latter are all virgins, for--and it is a refined idea which we couldnot expect in a barbarous people--procreation is not necessary in thesupernatural world. The male gods are named Geru, or lords; the females,Amey-Malghen, or spiritual nymphs.

  The Araucanos believe in the immortality of the soul, and, consequently,in a future life, in which the warriors who have distinguishedthemselves on earth hunt in game-abounding prairies, surrounded byeverything they have loved. Like all American aborigines, the Araucanosare extremely superstitious. Their worship consists in assembling inthe medicine toldo, where there is a shapeless idol, said to representPillian. They weep; they utter loud cries, with numberless contortions;and sacrifice to him a sheep, a cow, a horse, or a _chilihuegue_.

  At a signal from Curumilla, the warriors drew back to give place to thewomen, who surrounded the body, and began to walk in a circle, singingin a low and plaintive tone the noble feats of the deceased. At theexpiration of about an hour, the cortege moved off after the corpse,which was borne by the four most renowned warriors of the tribe, anddirected its course towards a hill where the place of sepulture wasprepared. Behind followed the women, casting handfuls of hot ashes overthe traces left by the passage of the funeral train; so that if the soulof the defunct should have any inclination to return to its body, itwould not be able to find the way to his toldo, or come and trouble hisheirs.

  When the body was laid in the grave, Curumilla cut the throats of hisfather's dogs and horses, which were placed near him, to enable himto hunt in the happy prairies. Within reach of his hand was placed acertain quantity of provisions for the nourishment of himself and the_tempulazzy_, or boatman, appointed to convey him to the other country,and into the presence of Pillian, where he is to be judged accordingto his good or evil actions. Earth was then thrown in upon the body.But, as the defunct had been a renowned warrior, a heap of stones wascollected, of which a pyramid was formed; then everyone walked slowlyonce more round the tomb, pouring upon it a great quantity of chica. Therelations and friends returned dancing and singing to the village, whereawaited them one of those Homeric repasts of Araucanian funerals calledcahuins, which last till all the partakers lie upon the ground utterlyintoxicated.

  Beyond a little natural curiosity, our travellers did not take muchinterest in the ceremony or feast; they were fatigued, and preferred ashort repose. Trangoil-Lanec guessed their thoughts; and, as soon as theprocession returned, he left his companions, and offered to conduct theyoung men to his dwelling. They availed themselves of his kindness withalacrity. Like all Araucanian huts, this was a vast wooden building,covered with whitewashed mud, in the form of a rectangle, the roof beinga terrace. This simple, airy residence displayed, in its interior, aperfect Dutch cleanliness.

  Trangoil-Lanec, as we have said, was one of the richest and mostrespected chiefs of his tribe, and had eight wives. Polygamy is allowedamong the Moluches. When an Indian is desirous of marrying a woman, hedeclares his purpose to her parent, and fixes the number of animals heis willing to give. His conditions being accepted, he comes with a fewfriends, carries off the young woman, throws her on the saddle behindhim, and gallops off to the woods, in the depths of which the coupleremain three days. On the fourth they return; he slaughters a youngmare in front of the hut of the father of his bride, and the marriagefestivities begin. The abduction of the bride, and the sacrifice ofthe mare, take the place of a civil contract. After this fashion anAraucano is at liberty to marry as many wives as he can support. Andyet, the first wife, who bears the title of unem domo, or legitimatewife, is most honoured; she has the direction of the household, andis the superior of the others, who are called inam domo, or secondarywives. All inhabit the same toldo, but in different apartments, wherethey employ themselves in bringing up their children, in weavingponchos with the wool of guanacos and chilihuegues, and in preparingthe dish which an Indian woman is bound to place every day on the tableof her husband. Marriage is held sacred, and adultery is consideredthe greatest of crimes; the man and woman who should commit it wouldinevitably be assassinated by the husband and his relations, unless theyredeemed their lives by means of a compensation imposed by the injuredhusband. When an Araucano leaves his home, he confides his wives tohis relations, and, on his return, if he can prove that they have beenunfaithful to him, he has the right of demanding of the guardians all hethinks proper to ask; so that the relations are interested in watchingthem. This strictness of morals only regards married women; othersenjoy the greatest liberty, and take advantage of it without any personpresuming to find fault with them.

  The two Frenchmen, thrown so suddenly into the midst of these strangemanners and customs, were some time before they could comprehend Indianlife. Valentine, in particular, was completely at a loss; he was ina state of perpetual astonishment, which, however, he took good careshould not appear in his words or in his actions; for the adventure ofthe machi had raised him so high in the estimation of the inhabitantsof the toldero, that he dreaded, with reason, lest the smallestindiscretion should cast him down from the pedestal upon which hemaintained his erect position.

  One evening, when Louis was preparing, as he frequently did, to visitthe various toldos, in order to inquire after the sick, and administerto them all the relief his limited knowledge of medicine permitted,Curumilla came to the two strangers to invite them to be present at thecahuin given by the new machi, who had been elected that day, in placeof the dead one. Valentine promised that they would come. From whatwe have said before, it may easily be comprehended what an enormousinfluence a sorcerer possesses over the members of the tribe; the choiceis therefore difficult to make, and is seldom a good one. The sorcereris generally a woman: when it is a man, he assumes the female costume,which he wears for the rest of his life. In almost all cases the scienceis inherited.

  After smoking a considerable number of pipes, and making endlessspeeches, t
he Araucanos had chosen, as a successor to the machi, an oldman, of a mild, kindly character, who, during the course of his longexistence, had only made friends. The repast was, as may be supposed,copious, abundantly furnished with ulpo, the national dish of theAraucans, and moistened with an incalculable number of couis of chica.Among the other delicacies which figured at the feast was a large basketfilled with hard eggs, which the Ulmens swallowed in emulation of eachother.

  "Why don't you eat some eggs?" said Curumilla to Valentine. "Do you notlike them?"

  "On the contrary, chief, I am very fond of eggs, but not cooked in thatfashion; I have no inclination to choke myself, thank you."

  "Oh! yes," the Ulmen said; "I understand; you prefer them raw."

  Valentine burst into a Homeric fit of laughter.

  "Not better than these," he said, when he had recovered his gravity;"I like eggs boiled in the shell; I like omelettes, or pancakes, butneither hard nor raw, if you please."

  "What do you mean by that? Cooked eggs must be hard."

  The young man looked at him with astonishment, and then said to him in atone of profound compassion--

  "Now, really, chief, do you mean to say you are only acquainted withhard eggs?"

  "Our fathers have always eaten them thus," the Ulmen replied, quietly.

  "Poor people! how I pity them! They have been ignorant of one of thegreatest enjoyments of life. Well, my friend," he exclaimed, raising hisvoice with jocular enthusiasm, "I am determined you shall adore me asa benefactor to humanity! In short, I will endow you with soft-boiledeggs, and with omelettes; at least, the remembrance of me shall not diefrom among you. When I am gone, and you eat one of those two dishes, youwill think of me."

  In spite of his sadness, Louis could not help laughing at the burlesquehumour and inexhaustible cheerfulness of his foster brother, in whom,at every minute, the gamin prevailed over the serious man. The chiefswelcomed with joy the offer of the spahi, and asked, with loud cries, onwhat day he would carry his promise into execution.

  "Oh, I will not make you wait long," he said; "tomorrow, on the squareof the tolderia, and before all the assembled tribe of the Great Hare,I will show you how you must set about boiling an egg, and making anomelette."

  At this promise, the satisfaction of the chiefs mounted to the highestpitch, the couis of the chica circulated with increased vivacity, andthe Ulmens soon found themselves sufficiently intoxicated to begin tosing as loud as they could shout, and all together,--a sort of musicthat produced such an effect upon the two Frenchmen, that they madetheir escape, stopping their ears. The feast was kept up long aftertheir departure.