Anura

“ Pain and sickness are the invisible shafts he shoots at men, yauhahu simaira the arrows of Yauhahu, and he it is whom the priests invoke in their incantations. Once upon a time, men lived without any means to propitiate this unseen divinity; they knew not how to ward off his anger or conciliate him. At that time the Arawacks did not live in Guiana, but in an island to the north. One day a man named Arawanili walked by the waters grieving over the ignorance and suffering of his nation. Suddenly the spirit of the waters, the woman Orehu, rose from the waves and addressed him. ”

“ ANGORA, or Enguri, the ancient Ancyra, a city of Turkey in Asia, capital of the vilayet of the same name, situated upon a steep hill, near a small stream, which flows into the Angara, a tributary of the Sakaria or Sangariuo, about 220 miles E.S.E. of Constantinople. The modern town is not well built, its streets being narrow and many of its houses of mud ”

“ Men and women of the same totem may intermarry, their children need not belong to the totem of either father or mother.
The process by which Arunta totems came thus to differ from those of all other savages is easily understood. Like the other tribes from the centre to the north (including the Urabunna nation, which reckons descent through women) , the Arunta believe that the souls of the primal semi-bestial ancestors of the Alcheringa or “dream time” are perpetually reincarnated. ”

“ There is also another goodly river beyond Caroli which is called Arui, which also runneth through the lake Cassipa, and falleth into Orenoque farther west, making all that land between Caroli and Arui an island; which is likewise a most beautiful country. Next unto Arui there are two rivers Atoica and Caura, and on that branch which is called Caura are a nation of people whose heads appear not above their shoulders; which though it may be thought a mere fable, yet for mine own part I am resolved it is true, because every child in the provinces of Aromaia and Canuri affirm the same. ”

“ Its climate is the most healthy in the island. In the external characteristics, the greater part of Ankova may be considered hilly, rather than mountainous. Few of its eminences rise above five or six hundred feet above the general level of its surface. The capital itself, Tananarivo, is situated on the summit of a long, irregular hill, about five hundred feet in height. The summits in the neighborhood are distinguished as the scenes of legendary tales, recounting the mighty achievements of giants, and other monstrous beings, supposed to belong to a fabulous age. ”

“ Warned by the authorities that West Angra was not a port of entry, and that we must move to East Angra.
Thursday, August 21st.—Clear fine weather. I am charmed with the appearance of Terceira. Every square foot of the island seems to be under the most elaborate cultivation; the little fields divided by hedgerows of what appeared to be sugar-cane. The white one-storied houses are dotted thickly among all this cultivation, giving evidence of great populousness in this primitive paradise—so far removed away from the world, and so little resorted to by commerce. ”

“ Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women and excessive heat. The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the land by the sources of the Rangha, where people live who have no chiefs. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created Winter, a work of the Devas. There are still other lands and countries, beautiful and deep, longing and asking for the good, and bright. ”

“ At nine o'clock we encamped upon the small river Angari, that gives its name to a district which begins at the Bowiha where Anderassa ends. The river Angari is much smaller than the Bowiha: it rises to the westward in a plain near Montesegla; after running half a mile, it falls down a steep precipice into a valley, then turns to the N.E. and, after a course of two miles and a half farther, joins the Bowiha a little above the ford. ”

“ ANGORA III.—THE MARVELLOUS ATMOSPHERE OF A GREAT BIRTH In all my wanderings, East and West, over Europe and America, I have nowhere been so much thrilled by a dominating sense of “real effort” as at Angora. Against a background of prehistoric civilisations, the human bees swarm in and out of their Parliament, buzzing away night and day, a free and independent Turkey.
What will their “delegation” accomplish at Lausanne? Is the war only postponed, or will there be peace? “At one moment our spirits rise to the most daring hopes; we see ourselves marching into Constantinople. ”

“ Natives of the Banks Islands are far in advance of the Arunta in all the arts of life, as well as in relation to Totemism which they seem to have outlived. Is it admissible to take some trait of their life as an example of what may have existed amongst the Arunta at a stage of culture which is generally assumed to have been inferior even to the present? When the antecedents of an institution have been lost amongst any given people, and we set out to supply them from parallel cases amongst other peoples, must we not require the same relative order of development? ”

“ Narea, the southmost province of the Abyssinian empire, is still governed by its native princes, who are called the Beneros; its territory reached formerly to Bizamo.
The Galla have quite surrounded them, especially on the south-east and north. What is to the west is a part of Africa, the most unknown. The people of Narea have a small trade with Melinda on the Indian Ocean, and with Angola on the western, by means of intermediate nations. Narea is abundantly supplied with gold from the Negro country that is nearest them. Some have, indeed, said there is gold in Narea ”

“ This river of Orenoque is navigable for ships little less than 1,000 miles, and for lesser vessels near 2,000. By it, as aforesaid, Peru, Nuevo Reyno and Popayan may be invaded: it also leadeth to the great empire of Inga, and to the provinces of Amapaia and Anebas, which abound in gold. His branches of Casnero, Manta, Caura descend from the middle land and valley which lieth between the easter province of Peru and Guiana; and it falls into the sea between Maranon and Trinidad in two degrees and a half. ”

“ Comparing the Banks Islands and their people with Central Australia and its people, one discovers hardly anything common to them. And Arunta tradition (whatever worth) shows no sign of anything like the southern Melanesian culture: the Alcheringa ancestors are represented as having been already Totemists. To assume, however, that the former condition of the Arunta was even lower than the present, may not be justifiable: social degeneration is not uncommon. There would be something to guide our judgment if we knew how recently the desiccation of their country approached its present severity. ”

“ The population of Ankova is widely scattered in numerous villages over the surface of the country, which usually contain from fifty to one hundred houses each. The capital, Tananarivo, was supposed to contain in 1836 about 20,000 inhabitants, but at the present time the population is probably somewhat larger. It is at the distance of some two hundred miles from Tamatave, the principal sea-port on the eastern coast of the island, between which two points the roads are kept designedly bad for the purpose of rendering the interior of the country difficult of access to Europeans. ”

“ It is unique in having a sandy shore, and is surrounded by an amphitheatre of low hills. Behind it to the west rises the high central ground of the island, beyond it, on the other side, is the eastern plain; it thus approximately terminates the strip of land held by the Miru (fig. 97) . There are now at Anakena the remains of six ahu, a few statues, and the foundations of various houses. Ngaara held official position for the whole island, but he was neither a leader in war, nor the fount of justice, nor even a priest; he can best be described as the custodian of certain customs and traditions. ”

“ Angora, our native place, has a well-deserved reputation throughout Asia Minor for its varied and extensive fruit-gardens. Almost all the families residing there have their own gardens a few miles outside the town, and most of them have their summer residence in the midst of their gardens. ”

“ ANGRA, or Angra do Heroismo (“Bay of Heroism,” a name given it in 1829, to commemorate its successful defence against the Miguelist party) , the former capital of the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, and chief town of an administrative district, comprising the islands of Terceira, St George and Graciosa. Pop. (1900) 10,788. Angra is built on the south coast of Terceira in 38° 38′ N. and in 27° 13′ W. It is the headquarters of a military command, and the residence of a Roman Catholic bishop; its principal buildings are the cathedral, military college, arsenal and observatory. ”

“ With the disappearance of evil from the universe, good will prevail everywhere and for all time; and the accursed name of Angra Mainyu will be forgotten. Ahura Mazda will be forever, even as he has been from all eternity. ”

“ While we lay at anchor on the coast of Canuri, and had taken knowledge of all the nations upon the head and branches of this river, and had found out so many several people, which were enemies to the Epuremei and the new conquerors, I thought it time lost to linger any longer in that place, especially for that the fury of Orenoque began daily to threaten us with dangers in our return. For no half day passed but the river began to rage and overflow very fearfully, and the rains came down in terrible showers, and gusts in great abundance ”

“ There is another town three leagues from Angra, called Praya, or the town of the shore, situated on a shore which cannot be approached by ships, so that it has no trade, and the town seems a kind of desert, though well built and walled round.
The inhabitants raise sufficient provisions on the island for all their wants, being pleasant and fertile, and all covered with corn-fields; and so abounds with flesh, fish, and all sorts of victuals, that even in times of the greatest scarcity, there is enough for all the inhabitants. ”

“ The settlers in the river Angara are also exempted from taxes of all kinds, and from recruiting, on condition of their supplying government and private travellers with skilful pilots and guides, for which they are of course likewise well requited by those who employ them. This is necessary on the Angara, that river being one of the most dangerous in the world. ”

“ The Angora, unlike the sheep, does not lose or drop its beautiful silky fleece when introduced into a warm climate. It is, however, desirable to shear the mohair twice a year instead of once, in order to avoid loss that might come from pushing its way through heavy underbrush in the mountains. ”

“ The Angora cats are confined to the same district with the goats. The soil is a fine red marl; but there is no peculiarity so striking in the site, soil, or air, as to offer any probable induction concerning the origin of those two remarkable breeds of animals, so dissimilar from those of other regions of the East.
Angora is one of the neatest cities I have yet visited. The streets are paved with large granite, but without foot-paths. Wax is produced in the neighbourhood, to the value of two thousand piasters a year; one fourth of which quantity is generally consumed in the city itself. ”

“ Local chiefs exercise some small authority in each village. Anudha, or Aunta, is properly the name of a small island, for there is no one great mainland, but many islands separated by very narrow salt-water creeks and rivers, along which a skiff may be sculled. ”

“ Tercera is the chief island, being fifteen or sixteen leagues in circumference, and so high and steep in many places that it is almost impregnable, and they have built forts in such places as are accessible. The only port is before the capital, named Angra, and as it is in the form of a half-moon, it is called the Half-Moon of Angra. At each horn of this half-moon there is a mountain, which are called the Brazils, which project out into the sea, appearing from a distance as if two islands ”

“ Their exploration of the country convinced the Spaniards that the eastern part of Uraba was richer and more fertile than the western. They therefore divided their forces and, with the assistance of a brigantine, transported one half of their people thither, the other half remaining on the eastern coast. The gulf is twenty-four miles long, growing narrower as it penetrates inland. Many rivers flow into the Gulf of Uraba, one of which, called the Darien, [8] they say, is more fortunate than the Nile. ”

“ They had laid down the wife of Taras on one of the broad wooden benches of the deserted place. The heart-broken woman was a sight to move any man; some of the women were striving to comfort her, especially the good little popadja and a kindhearted Jewess, the innkeeper's wife. Poor Anusia had recovered from her swoon; she lay with wide-open eyes, moving her lips, and burying her hands wildly in the black masses of her hair, which hung about the death-like face. ”

“ God never guided me back to Tanna; but others, my dear friends, have seen His Kingdom planted and beginning to grow amongst that slowly relenting race. Aniwa was to be the land wherein my past years of toil and patience and faith were to see their fruits ripening at length. I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace of God Aniwa now worships at the Saviour's feet.
The Island of Aniwa is one of the smaller isles of the New Hebrides. It measures scarcely seven miles by two, and is everywhere girt round with a belt of coral reef. ”