They Then Fell A
Bellowing Like Bulls, And Imploring The Aid Of Setebos In This
Extremity, Whom They Must Therefore Have Conceived Some Good And
Compassionate Being, As It Is Not To Be Conceived They Would Crave
Relief From An Evil Spirit.
Yet the voyagers reported strange things, of
horrible forms and appearances frequently seen among these people, such
as horned demons with long shaggy hair, throwing out fire before and
behind:
But these seem mere dreams or fables.
[Footnote 3: This must have been a Lama, Paca, or Chilihueque, of the
camel genus, vulgarly called Peruvian sheep. - E.]
Most of the natives of this country were dressed in the skins of beasts,
similarly to the one who first visited them. Their hair was short, yet
tied up by a cotton lace or string. They had no fixed dwellings, but
used certain moveable huts or tents, constructed of skins similar to
those in which they were cloathed, which they carry with them from place
to place, as they roam about the country. What flesh they are able to
procure, they devour quite raw without any kind of cookery, besides
which their chief article of food is a sweet root, which they name
capar. The voyagers report that these savages were very jealous of
their women; yet do not mention having seen any. Their practice of
physic consists in bleeding and vomiting: The former being performed by
giving a good chop with some edge tool to the part affected; and the
latter is excited by thrusting an arrow half a yard down the throat of
the patient.
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