The magic of jewels and charms

The folk-lore tales of the settlement called Milpa Alta, in the Federal District, Mexico, not far from Mexico City, have preserved many legends from old Aztec times, as this community was originally settled by some noble Aztec families fortunate enough to escape with their goods from the Spaniards at the time of the conquest by Cortés. In several of these legends the chalchihuitl (a green stone, often nephrite or jadeite) is mentioned. Thus it is said that when some minor divinity sees fit to confer upon a man or woman the endowments of a tlamátque or “sage,” he gave warning of this in a dream, and the truth of the vision was confirmed when, during the ensuing day, the dreamer found on the ground within his enclosure idols of chalchihuitl, or fragments of obsidian, which were believed to have fallen from the sky, this usually occurring during a rainstorm. Evidently the rain had washed them out of the earth or volcanic ash in which they had been buried. These objects were immediately picked up and preserved, as they signified that the person whose dream had thus been verified was admitted to the companionship of the gods. There appears to have followed some initiation ceremony to render definite the consecration of the chosen tlamátque, and this was to be connected with a fiery ordeal, the traces of which in scars or severe burns, and sometimes even in the loss of eyesight, served to recommend the “sage” to those seeking his aid. This was called for in cases of illness and also for the finding of hidden treasure and for predictions of the weather.

Among the lower classes of the Mexican Indian population of Milpa Alta, to cure diseases the aid of a tepo pohque (one who purifies the disease) is sometimes called in. This once very general custom is, however, gradually falling into disuse. The progress of popular scepticism is illustrated by the half-apologetic tone in which this is explained in the words: “If he does no good, he will do no harm, and besides he is so cheap.” The healer may be either a man or a woman. One of the most important helps is a chain of chalchihuitl beads. After invocations of the various appearances of Christ and of the Virgin chronicled in local tradition, and of the patron saints (for these Indians are devout Roman Catholics), the healer chooses out a chalchihuitl bead with which he pretends to extract the “air” from the sick person. He successively touches with it the patient’s temples, the sides and top of the head, the stomach, and lastly the affected part, at the same time forcibly drawing in his own breath, producing thereby a peculiar noise. The use of the stone is sometimes supplemented by that of two eggs, one being held in each of the healer’s hands. A different type or form of chalchihuitl is used for each different disease, and as a final operation the affected part is moistened with alcohol, and then “massaged” with the stone, bathing with a hot decoction of herbs being also resorted to in some cases.[616]

A characteristic object secured in the Province of Chiriqui, Republic of Panama, is a singular amulet of a fine quality of green translucent jade (jadeite). This is fashioned into a conventional representation of a parrot with a disproportionately long beak. The details of the bird-form are but roughly indicated, what is supposed to represent the head and body being but a trifle larger than the beak. In the region of the neck, marked by a peripheral incision, there is a hole through which a cord for suspension was probably passed. The type resembles that of the Chiriquian gold parrots, and differs from that of the amulets of Las Guacas, Costa Rica. As a much larger number of jade objects have been found at this latter place than occur at Chiriqui, it has been conjectured that the common source was a deposit of jade somewhere in Costa Rica.[617] Chiriqui has also yielded a plain, highly-polished amulet of pale green jade; the front is convex and is traversed by a groove; a small hole has been pierced near the top to facilitate suspension.

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 “thunder-stones,” 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.[618]

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 Araucarians 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.

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 grewsome 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.[619]

A strange animal figure from the Pueblo Bonito ruins, rudely carved out of stone and having a band composed of pieces of turquoise set about the neck, was undoubtedly an amulet. Two depressions in the stone where the eyes should be indicate that these were of inlaid turquoise. In spite of the imperfect form of this object, it gives evidence in some of its details to the skill of the native artist who executed it, especially in the care he has taken to protect the soft stone from the attrition of the cord used for its suspension, a piece of bird-bone having been introduced into the perforation near the neck, and the ends of the hole countersunk and filled with gum into which a piece of turquoise was set; one of these caps still remains in place. Frog forms, entirely of turquoise, also appear in Pueblo Bonito, several tadpoles and frogs of this material having been found in the burialroom explored by Mr. Pepper. Sometimes the form is barely indicated by the protuberant eyes and a slight incising which marks the place of the neck.[620]

TURQUOISE INCRUSTED OBJECTS, PROBABLY AMULETS, FOUND AT PUEBLO BONITO, NEW MEXICO The work of ancient Indian dwellers in this region. From George H. Pepper, American Anthropologist, vol. vii, Pl. xvii. 1. Turquoise incrusted bone. 2. Jet frog with turquoise eyes. 3. Jet plaque with turquoise setting.

The Pueblo Bonito ruins in New Mexico have furnished some very effective examples of turquoise inlaying by the Indians of an earlier time who dwelt in this region. The symbolic forms, the precious material used for the inlays, and the labor and skill expended in the execution of certain of these works, indicate that they must have been regarded as amulets. Perhaps the finest inlaying-work is shown in the turquoise decoration of a fragment of bone of peculiar shape, having alternate bands of jet with a chevron-decoration of interlaced triangular pieces of jet and turquoise. Another of these jet and turquoise amulets is a frog, the body being of jet and the protruding eyes of turquoise; about the creature’s neck runs a band of turquoise mosaic. Still another of these relics is a square plaque of jet with an inlaid turquoise at each of the four corners; two of these inlays have fallen out.[621]

The history of the turquoise, a stone which has been mined in Persia for thousands of years, and has long been prized as one of the most beautiful and attractive of the semi-precious stones, has been very fully and ably treated in an exceedingly comprehensive monograph recently published by Dr. Joseph E. Pogue.[622] This valuable and interesting work contains extracts from all the older and more modern writers on the subject, and also describes the stone fully from a mineralogical point of view, besides discussing it from the historic standpoints.

So highly was the turquoise esteemed among the Pima Indians of southern Arizona, that the loss of one was looked upon as a most ominous event, portending for the owner a serious illness or physical disability, which could only be cured by the magic rites of a medicine-man. When one of those worthies is called in to avert the impending misfortune, his favorite remedy consists in placing a piece of slate, a turquoise and a crystal in a vessel filled with water, the liquid being administered in regular doses to the threatened victim. The threefold remedy, comprising a specimen of the lost stone, is supposed to outweigh and counteract the probable evil influences of the lost turquoise alone.[623]

The magic power that dwelt in these Indian fetishes was named oyaron in the Iroquoian tongue, and each person or kindred was believed to have a special oyaron which exerted a controlling power over their good or evil fortune. The material object in which this entity would take up its abode was determined in a peculiar way. When a youth had attained maturity, he was entrusted to the charge of an old man who took him to a far-away lodge in the wilderness. Here he had his face, shoulders and breast blackened to symbolize his lack of spiritual or occult enlightenment. He was then compelled to fast for a considerable time and was instructed to carefully note his dreams, and if he should have an exceptionally vivid dream regarding any specific object, to tell his guardian of it. The fact was then duly reported to the wise men of the tribe, who decided whether the object was the chosen abiding place of his oyaron. This having been satisfactorily determined, an object of the kind was sought out and was preserved and treasured by the one to whom it had been assigned in the vision. Perhaps the familiar spirit might have elected to dwell in a calumet, a pipe or a knife, or else in some animal, plant, or mineral form.[624]

The Midêwiwin, or, as it is sometimes erroneously called, the “Grand Medicine Society” of the Ojibway Indians, is an association composed of shamans, whose supposed powers are much in request among these Indians of the northwest. Two other classes of medicine-men exist among them to a very limited extent, the Wâbeno, “Men of the Dawn,” and the Jessakid or “revealers of hidden things.” The members of this latter class, who operate singly, are regarded as very dangerous and generally malevolent sorcerers, having the power to call evil spirits to their aid, and are even believed to practise the fearful art of drawing a man’s soul out of his body, so that he either becomes insane or dies. The turtle is regarded by the Jessakids as the abode or symbol of the mightiest spirit. However, the Midês, members of the Midêwiwin, are far the most numerous, and it is to them that the Indian looks for help and health. While they usually “treat” their patients in their own abodes, when the disease fails to yield to the might of ordinary incantations and spells, the assistance of the great magic stone in the Medicine Lodge or Midêwigen must be resorted to. For this purpose the sick person is carried thither and is laid on the ground constituting the floor of the lodge, so that the diseased part of his body may touch the stone.

In addition to this magic stone, which is set in the ground near the entrance, three magic wooden posts rise up, one behind the other, and at the end opposite the entrance is set a painted wooden cross, the base of which is cut four-square, each side having a different coloring, namely, white, for the East, the source of light; green, for the South, the source of rain which brings the verdure; red, for the West, where the red glow of the sunset appears and whither the spirits of the departed wend their way after death, and, lastly, black, for the cold and pitiless North, the origin of disease, famine and death.[625]

The various adjuncts of the sorcerer’s trade are carefully preserved by the Midê or Jessakid in his medicine-bag. A good specimen of this was made out of the skin of a mink, Putorius vison, Gapp., and adorned at one end with two fluffy white feathers.[626] Often a flat, black, water-worn pebble will be one of the great treasures in this sack. The virtues of a stone of this type are said to have been put to a curious test on the person of a Jessakid at Leech Lake, Minn., in 1858. The man offered to wager $100 that if he were securely tied up, hand and foot, with stout rope, but having his stone resting on his thigh, he could remove the bonds without assistance. The wager was taken up and the test duly applied; the Jessakid being left alone in his tent tightly and firmly bound. Before long he called out to those on the watch outside the tent that search should be made for the rope at a certain spot nearby. This was done and the rope was found with the knots undisturbed, while the Jessakid was to be seen calmly seated on the ground, smoking a pipe and still bearing his magic black stone on his thigh.[627]

French missionaries of the early part of the eighteenth century reported that the Indian wizards of some of the northwestern tribes would take a pebble the size of a pigeon’s egg, and mutter over it certain conjurations. This, they assert, caused the formation of a like stone within the body of the person who was to be bewitched.[628] The medicine-men of certain Canadian tribes of this time were not content with muttered conjurations in treating their patients, but would not infrequently resort to the charm supposed to be exerted by dancing and howling before the sick person. The nervous shock produced by a combination of such grotesque movements and discordant cries might well “rouse” the patient, and perhaps had sometimes good effects in restoring vitality.

An interesting use of the Röntgen rays to detect hidden amulets is noted by Stewart Culin. It was conjectured by Mr. Cushing that some pieces of turquoise, conceived to be the hearts of fetichistic birds, were concealed beneath the heavy wrapping of brown yarn that binds the finger-loops of the prehistoric throwing stick in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. This object was too valuable and too fragile to permit of its examination, and therefore the Röntgen rays were used, disclosing the presence of four stone beads, presumably of turquoise, as Mr. Cushing had indicated.[629]

As the Point Barrow Eskimos are so largely dependent on fishing, they especially favor amulets or talismans referring to this, and in many cases the peculiar power of the talisman is accentuated by giving it a specially significant form. Thus, from Utkiavwin was brought a piece of dark crimson jasper two inches long, rudely fashioned by chipping into the form of a whale, and also a similar figure made from a water-worn quartz pebble.[630] Another Point Barrow amulet consisted of three small fragments of amber, carefully wrapped up and placed in a cottonwood box 1½ inches in length. This box was cleverly made of two semicircular pieces of the wood, the flat faces having been hollowed out so as to leave space for the amber. They were then bound together by loosely knotted sinew braid.[631]

A black jade, adze-shaped, that may have served as a fisherman’s talisman for the Point Barrow Eskimo, was brought from Utkiavwin. It measured 5.1 inches in length, and was slung with a thong and whalebone, so that it could be suspended. Its weight is so considerable as to make it somewhat burdensome for wear on the person, but as one of these Eskimo wore a stone weighing two pounds suspended from a belt, the jade artefact may really have been worn in this way. The form suggests that of a sinker, as was also the case with the two-pound stone, and it may have earned its repute as a talisman from having been used in former times by some exceptionally fortunate or skilful fisherman, in the belief that it would transmit his good luck to anyone wearing it.[632] An artefact of somewhat similar form, 1.4 inches in length, and made of red jasper, came from the same locality; this was slung in a sinew band for suspension.[633]

The native Greenlanders of a couple of centuries ago had a great variety of amulets, and Hans Egede, in his Description of Greenland, notes these “Amulets or Pomanders” which the natives wore about the neck or arms, the materials being of the most heterogeneous kind, pieces of old wood, old fragments of stone, bones of various animals, the bill and claws of certain birds, and many other objects whose form or associations had suggested the possession of a magic potency.[634] A similar account of old Greenland amulets is given by David Crantz, another early author, who even asserts that some of the amulets were so grotesque that the natives themselves occasionally laughed at them. In the absence of any more definite talisman, recourse was sometimes had to the expedient of binding a leather strap over the forehead or around the arm.[635] Possibly, however, some talisman was hidden beneath this strap, or else it may have been designed to serve as a point of support for an amulet that had been taken off at the time the traveller saw the strap.

Animal amulets, that is to say, amulets for animals, are in use in the Arctic regions, one class of these being stones that have fallen from a bird-rock. These the Eskimo attach to their dogs, proceeding upon the theory that as these pieces of rock in falling from a great height have traversed the air with tremendous rapidity, they will communicate the quality of fleetness to the dogs.[636] This transmission of an acquired quality of the stone to the person wearing it is shown in other instances, a favorite amulet with the Eskimos being a piece of an old hearth-stone. This is believed to give strength to the wearer, because the stone has so long endured the attacks of fire, the strongest and fiercest element. Such fragments of stone are often worn by Eskimo women, who wrap them up in pieces of seal-skin, making in this way a decoration to be worn on the neck.[637]

Not only does the medicine-bag of an Eskimo medicine-man serve to guard his trusted amulets and talismans, but some of these wonder-doctors claim to be able to draw within it the soul of a sick child, so as to keep this soul hidden away from all harm and danger. In fact, the opinion has been expressed that many personal amulets have owed their repute to their supposed power as soul-guardians, the owners’ souls having been transferred to the material body of the amulet, which is more easily concealed and kept out-of-the way of injury than is the human body, the tabernacle of the spirit. A trace of this belief has been found by some in the term battê ha-nephesh, used by Isaiah (chap, iii, ver. 20). These feminine adornments are called “perfume boxes” in the Revised Version, but the literal meaning is “houses of the soul (or life).”[638]

The natives of southwestern Australia regard shining stones with so much veneration that only sorcerers or priests are believed to be worthy to handle them, and so great is the faith in the innate power of such objects that any ordinary native does not dare to touch them and cannot even be bribed so to do. For the preservation of the virtue of these stones it is considered essential that no woman shall be permitted to touch them, or even to look upon them. A particular form of talisman is made by winding lengths of opossum yarn about a fragment of quartz, of carnelian, of chalcedony, or some other attractive stone, and thus forming a round ball about the size of a crochet-ball; these are worn suspended from the girdle. Talismans of this type are very highly prized for their supposed power to cure diseases, and in case of illness a tribe which is not provided with one will borrow it from a more fortunate tribe.[639] White quartz is used by the natives in New South Wales, Australia, for the manufacture of a charm to cast a spell over an enemy. This charm is called muli, and consists of a fragment of white quartz to which a piece of opossum-fur has been gummed; it must then be smeared with the fat of a dead body and placed in a slow-burning fire. It is confidently believed that the person over whom the spell is cast wastes slowly away and dies.[640]

Jade carvings of an exceedingly peculiar type are the hei-tikis (neck-ornaments) greatly prized among the Maoris of New Zealand. The grotesque representation of the human form here realized by the native carvers, the association of these objects, treasured up as heirlooms, with the personality of some renowned ancestor, the story that the special portraiture to be made was sometimes communicated in a dream or vision, all this induces the belief that in former times, though perhaps not at the present time, the Maoris looked upon their hei-tikis as amulets, or possibly even as fetiches.[641]

The Dowager Queen Alexandra is said to greatly value as a talisman a pendant consisting of a nugget of massive gold surmounted by a figure of a hunchback, executed in green enamel. The nugget is hollowed out and opens when a secret spring is touched; within appears a heart-shaped ornament made of New Zealand jade. The story runs that this jewel was given to his mother by the late Duke of Clarence, the elder brother of the present King George V.[642]

The popularity in England of these queer hei-tiki amulets, made from the punamu or “green-stone” (nephrite) of New Zealand, has been ascribed by many to the wearing by Queen Alexandra of ornaments made of New Zealand jade, and to the report that every member of the “All Blacks,” an almost invincible English foot-ball team, carried some little trinket made from this material while he was engaged in play. The popular faith in “lucky jade” was further corroborated by the story that Lord Rosebery had on his person a jade amulet when his horse Cicero won the Derby and that Lord Rothschild was wearing such an amulet as his horse St. Amand carried his colors to victory.[643] When we consider to how great an extent popular enthusiasm is excited in England by her great and classic horse-races, we need not hesitate to believe that these reports did much to render jade amulets generally fashionable.

An old Polynesian legend recounts that jade was brought to New Zealand from a distant land by a certain Ngahue, who sought by this means to save the precious material from an enemy who coveted it. He settled at Arahua, on the west coast of the middle island, and in this region he found an eternal and safe resting place for his jade, which he valued above all things.[644] This legend has often been adduced as a proof that the New Zealand jade was brought from other countries, but as it proceeds to state that Ngahue made neck and ear ornaments of this material, there is at least as great probability that we have here the supposed origin of the hei-tiki ornaments, and that the legend testifies to the popular belief that the art of making these objects came to New Zealand from without.

The quasi-magic character of New Zealand jade (nephrite) in the eyes of Maoris of the olden time is proved by the fact that certain superstitious restrictions were established in regard to the cutting of nephrite, one of these being that no woman should be allowed to approach the jade-cutters while they were engaged in their task. For the drilling of holes in jade implements or amulets the cord-drill was employed, and the surface of the object received its polish by rubbing it with a piece of sandstone, after it had been roughly fashioned, by chipping, to the desired form. The toughness of jade is such that infinite patience and long-continued effort must have been necessary to complete any ornament or implement under these primitive conditions.[645]

A curious and characteristic jade artefact, known as nbouet or koindien, is found among the natives of New Caledonia. This is a more or less circular disk of jade, with a cutting edge. In most cases this disk is attached through two perforations to a straight cylindrical handle, having a slit at the upper extremity into which the jade disk is introduced. The lower extremity has an ovoid termination, or else it is set in a cocoanut shell, usually covered with the integument of a pteropod. Attached are pendants of beautiful marine shells, and sometimes the cocoanut shell is filled with small pebbles so that it can be used as a rattle. These nbouet were originally used as cleavers to cut up the dead bodies for the cannibalistic orgies, and this use seems to have been thought to impart a kind of talismanic virtue to the objects, for they eventually became insignia of the chiefs of the native tribes.[646]

The ornament most highly prized by the natives of New Caledonia is a necklace of perforated jade beads. One of these necklaces, in the rich collection of Signor Giglioli, contains 122 jade beads, somewhat larger than peas; another necklace comprises eight beads alternating with small shells of the oliva, a species of mussel. As a pendant hangs an oudip, or slung-shot, of steatite.[647] Necklaces of this kind are called peigha by the natives, and the high esteem in which they are held probably arises from their supposed talismanic powers. The jade ornaments or artefacts found in the neighboring Loyalty Islands have all been brought from New Caledonia, and we are told that so great was the value placed upon them that the natives of the Loyalty Islands often traded their young girls in exchange for objects made from the greatly coveted jade.

From a Fijian mission teacher at Goodenough Island comes a tale of a magic crystal. Many years ago some Europeans embarked in a boat manned by two Fijians to visit one of the smaller islands of the group. After they had landed and gone off to explore the island, one of the Fijians said to the other: “You look after the boat while I take a look around.” He had not gone far when he saw two strange men, one of whom fled at his approach; the other he seized, holding on to him fast, although dragged along for a considerable distance until after scrambling up a hill the strange man finally loosed himself and disappeared in the hollow of a tree-trunk. For some time the Fijian lay in a trance, but awakening from this he found his way back to the boat. In the course of the afternoon the strange being appeared to him suddenly and told him “to go back to the tree, where he would find a small stone wrapped up in a piece of calico.” This he duly sought and found; it proved to be a crystal, like glass. In the night time the man or spirit again appeared and strictly enjoined the Fijian not to let anyone see his crystal but told him that if he wished for anything he only had to look into the stone. The possession of this treasure earned a wonderful repute for the Fijian as a medicine-man, as when any sick person sought for help one look into the stone revealed the proper remedy for the disease. All this time, however, no one had been allowed to see his crystal, or to suspect the source of his wisdom.

At last his fame reached the ears of some European doctors, who called him in to help them in their hospital work, and while he was at the hospital two young men came in and asked him to prescribe for a sick friend. The Fijian consented, but, unluckily for him, the men saw him take out his crystal and look into it before prescribing the treatment. They told this to the doctors and the man was locked up for two years, his crystal being taken away from him. The mission teacher who related the story believed that Sir J. Thurston, at this time governor of the islands, had secured possession of the confiscated crystal.[648] It is rather difficult to determine in what proportions truth and fiction are represented in this tale.

The doctrine of sympathy finds an echo among the natives of Melanesia. In the Banks Islands, for instance, if a native comes across a piece of coral to which the action of the waves has imparted the form of a loaf of bread, this will be taken to signify that such a coral has an affinity with the bread-fruit tree, and the native will bury it under such a tree in the confident expectation that its fruit-bearing quality will be enhanced thereby. Chance may perhaps seem to prove the truth of his belief, and in this case he will permit his neighbors to bury stones near his own, so that somewhat of its virtue may pass into them.[649]