ia; and that one Machetaurie Guaiava, who was lord or
cacique of Coaibi, the dwelling-place of the dead, was the first who went
there.

13. They say that the dead are shut up during the day, and walk abroad in
the night, when they feed on a certain fruit called guabazza, which is
something else during the day and changes to that fruit at night for the
use of the dead. The dead go about and feast with the living, who
sometimes think they have a woman of Coaibi in their arms who vanishes
suddenly; and they allege that those dead inhabitants of Coaibi may be
known by the want of navels. The souls of the living they name goeiz,
those of the dead opia.

14. There is a set of men among them called Bohutis, who use many juggling
tricks, pretend to talk with the dead and to know all the actions and
secrets of the living, whom they cure when sick. All their superstitions
and fables are contained in old songs which these Bohutis rehearse, and
which direct them in all things as the Moors are by the Coran. When they
sing these songs they play on an instrument named Maiohaven, like a
calabash with a long neck, made of wood, strong, hollow, and thin, which
makes so loud a noise as to be heard at the distance of a league and a
half.

15. Almost every person in Hispaniola has abundance of cemis; some have
their fathers, mothers, and predecessors and kindred, some in stone and
others in wood, some that speak, some that eat, some that cause things to
grow, others that bring rain, and others that give winds. When any one is
sick, the Buhuitihu is brought, who must be dieted exactly in the same
manner with the sick man. That is both snuff up a certain powder named
cobaba by the nose, which intoxicates them and makes them speak
incoherently, which they say is talking with the cemis, who tell them the
cause of the sickness.

16. When the Buhuitihu goes to visit a sick person, he smears his face
with soot or powdered charcoal. He wraps up some small bones and a bit of
flesh, which he conceals in his mouth. The sick man is purged with cohaba.
The doctor sits down in the house, after turning out all children and
others, so that only one or two remain with him and the sick person, who
must all remain silent. After many mumming tricks[2], the Buhuitihu lights
a torch and begins a mystic song. He then turns the sick man twice about,
pinches his thighs and legs, descending by degrees to the feet, and draws
hard as if pulling something away; the