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Amulets of Primitive Peoples and Modern Times: Indians

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 "thunderstones," 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. 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 Araucarains 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 grew-some 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.