Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/28

 20 was especially worshipped. In the life to come the good would be rewarded; and in their Paradise they would meet once more their relatives, their friends, and principally many women. They held sacred a cavern whence, according to their belief, the Sun and Moon escaped and went to shine in Heaven. Every year they celebrated in that grotto a kind of public feast; the "Cacique" or one of the notables headed the procession of men and women marching to the place. The ceremony began with the offerings that the priests or "butios" presented to the gods or Zemes, whilst the women danced and sang the praises of the deities. Afterward prayers for the salvation and prosperity of the people were said. Then the "butios" distributed among the heads of the families pieces of cake, which they preserved with great care; these consecrated cakes, according to a belief the vestiges of which can be found even up to the present among some civilized nations, had the virtue of warding off all dangers and diseases.

Their gods were strangely typified; they took the form of toads, turtles, snakes, alligators, and of hideous human faces. The "butios" were at once soothsayers and doctors. By tradition and through personal observation they knew the power of many plants; the simples helped them to make cures; and the art of healing increased their prestige.

The aborigines called their island Quisqueya (big land) or Haiti (the hilly land). The authority was divided between five military chiefs or "caciques," each one independent of the others. The weapons of the