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Show 448 THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS. have their superstitions ( abusiones); but I persuade myself that among them there is no formal idolatry. Devil towards man. 2nd, All that is done in the way of charms is such that it can be explained by natural causes. 3d, Should the Indians have had any intercourse with the Devil, there would be a name for him in their language. But it is a fact well known to all persons acquainted with the language spoken in this Province, that there is no such name. We may, therefore, come to the conclusion that the enemy of mankind was unknown to the heathen nation." All of which is vastly diverting to an initiate in the mysteries of the churches, and to one who knows as well as I do that his religion is the last thing an Indian will reveal to. a white man. Very likely the Indians had no such " sorcerers " as they found the missionaries to be, after enforced conversion to sorcery of another variety! Perhaps they never knew the Spanish Diablo or £ 1 Demonio till they heard his name. But sorcery was their religion, as of a truth it was that of the missionaries, and they had plenty of devils of their own, While the missionaries could boast of but one. " Point of view " makes a great difference. Take for example the Christian and heathen practice of praying for rain. The Rudo Ensayo, p. 173, says: " The Opatas had retained, until lately, among others a very curious custom. A number of girls, dressed in white or simply wearing a chemise, would come out at night to dance in a place previously well swept and embellished, leaving behind them, in the house from which they came, their musicians, who consisted of old men and women, making a noise with hollow gourds, sticks, and bones. This ceremony was called ' invoking the clouds/ for they performed it in times of drought, fully believing that in consequence of this performance the clouds would stop and sprinkle their fields. With God's help, however, this incantation became known to the Missionary Fathers in spite of the secrecy with which it was |