LIFE IN BOLIVIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 138, 13 June 1932, Page 8

LIFE IN BOLIVIA.

STRANGE INDIAN CUSTOMS.

SAINTS' DAYS ARE HOLIDAYS. STORY OF A WITCH DOCTOR. Returning to their respective home countries after an absence of live and ;i half years in Bolivia, where they have been engaged in ■ missionary work among the Indians and the half-castes, Mr. amid Mrs. S. Edmonds arrived, at Wellington by the Tainui from Southampton. Mr. Edmonds is an iVlMtl ilian and hie wife ie a Xew Zealandcr, and they are on a year'* furlough. Mr. and Mrs. Edmonds are attached to the Bolivian Indian Mission, the headquarters of which are at San Pedro, in the province of Charcas.

In an interview with a "Post" representative, Mr. Edmonds said that ho and his wife were stationed at a place- called Torotoro, situated on the eastern slopes of the Andes, where they conducted the usual evangelical missionary work, education, and medical work among the Cholae (half-castes) and the Quichua Indians. Although it was in tho tropics, Torotoro enjoyed a temperate climate because it was situated at an altitude of 8500 ft. The Indians had been in tho process of civilisation since the time of the Spanish Conquest, but the mission's work was to teach them the ideals of evangelism. If left alone the Indians were quite peaceable. The only time they became fearsome was when they were drunk. This they managed to do by drinking a native beer called chicha, which was brewed from niai/.e and wheat. On account of their low mentality they required a lot of educating, and this made them very difficult people to work among. Tliey were occupied principally in agricultural work, and exchanged their produce for medicine, treatment, etc. Sunday was the "rent market day in Torotoro. The people lived on the hillsides in thatchroofed cabins made of adobes (sun-dried bricks). Their implements for agricultural purposes were very primitive, wooden ploughs drawn by oxen being used.

"Generally speaking, they are Roman Catholics, and saints' days are well observed,'' said Mr. Edmonds. "In some districts a saint's day is declared a public holiday. The Indians come into the town with their bands, dance up and down the streets, and generally make merry. Especially is this so when they have been drinking native beer. Fighting on these occasions is quite a pastime. They come prepared with helmets made out of cow liid.ee, and in some districts they wear gloves made out of bits of rope, rags, and in some cases wire. The latter inflict nasty wounds. They challenge each other, a ring is formed and they get to battle. A light never lasts more than twelve spars, but the contestants come out of the ring bleeding and lacerated. Some of these tights have been known to end fatally."

The Indians were very superstitious and feared' imaginary spirits of the air, earth and water. There were also witch doctors, who claimed they could cure all kinds of diseases real or imaginary, and in effecting their cures they appealed to the spirits. Giving an example of a witch doctor's method of curing a person suffering from an ailment, Mr. Edmonds snid that in a town called Aiquilc one of the upper class men had an inflamed arm. A. witch doctor was called in, and he asked to be supplied with a sheet, four candles, flour and water, a jar of beer, and some cigarettes. He made a paste of the flour and water, put it into a piece of material, and wrapped it around the man's arm. He stretched the man out on the floor and covered him with the 6lu-et, on each corner of which h© placed the four lighted candles. The doctor sat down, chanted incantations, and then drank the beer and smoked the cigarettes. The man remained on tho floor for some hours, and on examination being made it was found that the paste had set and the arm had swollen terribly. The man was suffering agony, and he arose from the floor and kicked the doctor out of the house.