Carbuncle (Spanish: Carbunclo, Carbunco or Carbúnculo) is a legendary species of small animal in South American folklore,[1] specifically in the mining folklore of northern Chile.[2] The animal is said to contain riches of some sort; in some versions it is a precious stone that gives fortune and good luck to its owner.[1] It may originate from the medieval guivre, which was said to have a carbuncle on its head.[3][4]
The description of the animal vary. The chaplain and explorer Martín del Barco Centenera describes it in La Argentina (1602) as "a smallish animal, with a shining mirror on its head, like a glowing coal".[1][A] As explained in the Book of Imaginary Beings Barco Centenera "underwent many hardships hunting the reaches of Paraguayan rivers and jungles for the elusive creature; he never found it."[1] In the same book, the mirror in the carbuncle's head is said to be akin to two lights observed by Spanish explorers in the Strait of Magellan. Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés identified these lights with the gemstones hidden in the brains of dragons.[1] The association is likely derived from the 7th-century Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville.[1]
In Chile some say it moves like a firefly in the night. In Tarapacá, it is said to look like a bivalve with a strong white-blue shine from within the shell which can be observed from a great distance.[2] This "bivalve" is said to have the form of a maize ear, with more than four feet.[2] The "bivalve" Carbunclo is said to have a very good sense of hearing, which it uses to hide from people by closing its shell to be mistaken for a stone.[2] The shining in the interior of the carbuncle is thought by some miners to come from the gold it has inside.[2]
During the great drought of 1924–25 there were reported sightings of carbunclos on moonless nights.[2] Around 1925 a family of carbunclos was seen descending from the mountain of Tulahuén towards Río Grande (Coquimbo Region). Also in northern Chile, a man named Gaspar Huerta is said to have encountered a carbunclo while digging an acequia, but reportedly he could not see what its shape was because he killed it on the spot to recover its riches.[2]
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