Note 45 — Chapter I · THE MEDICINE-MEN, THEIR MODES OF TREATING DISEASE, THEIR SUPERSTITIONS, PARAPHERNALIA, ETC.
Reading edition
Vol. 3, p. 176.
"In every part of the globe fragments of primitive languages are preserved in religious rites." Humboldt, Researches, London, 1814, vol. 1, p. 97.
"Et même Jean P. C., Prince de la Mirande, escrit que les mots barbares & non entendus ont plus de puissance en la Magie que ceux qui sont entendus." Picart, vol. 10, p. 45.
The medicine-men of Cumana (now the United States of Colombia, South America) cured their patients "con palabras muy revesadas y que aun el mismo médico no las entiende." Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, p. 208.
The Tlascaltecs had "oradores" who employed gibberish—"hablaban Gerigonça." Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 6, p. 163.
In Peru, if the fields were afflicted with drought, the priests, among other things, "chantaient un cantique dont le sens était inconnu du vulgaire." Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, p. 128, in Ternaux-Compans, vol. 15.