As Soon As A
Tribe Of Indians Come In Sight Of It, They Offer Their Adorations
By Loud Shouts.
The tree itself is low, much branched,
and thorny:
Just above the root it has a diameter of about
three feet. It stands by itself without any neighbour, and
was indeed the first tree we saw; afterwards we met with a
few others of the same kind, but they were far from common.
Being winter the tree had no leaves, but in their place
numberless threads, by which the various offerings, such as
cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, etc., had been suspended.
Poor Indians, not having anything better, only pull a thread
out of their ponchos, and fasten it to the tree. Richer
Indians are accustomed to pour spirits and mate into a certain
hole, and likewise to smoke upwards, thinking thus to
afford all possible gratification to Walleechu. To complete
the scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached bones
of horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All
Indians of every age and sex make their offerings; they then
think that their horses will not tire, and that they themselves
shall be prosperous. The Gaucho who told me this, said that
in the time of peace he had witnessed this scene, and that
he and others used to wait till the Indians had passed by, for
the sake of stealing from Walleechu the offerings.
The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as
the god itself, but it seems for more probable that they
regard it as the altar.
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