1914.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 205 



upward, and causing the deep bend at the root of the nose, which is 

 characteristic of all genuine tsantsas, and, in the Academy's example, 

 has resulted in an actual breaking of the integument. 



The three piercings of the lips are also occupied by skewers lashed 

 in place; another stick is thrust into the auditory meatus and the 

 neck is secured to a wooden ring by stitching. 



The lips, then, in this unfinished trophy, are already pierced and 

 held together by skewers, which fix them rigidly in the desired 

 position. Together with the spike through nostril and vertex, they 

 form an essential part of the taxidermy and account for the char- 

 acteristic protraction of the lips. Certainly in both specimens 

 herein described, the perforations of the lips, like those of the lobules, 

 were accomplished while the flesh was comparatively soft. On the 

 other hand, the stick thrust into the auditory meatus would seem not 

 to have been a constant feature of the preparation, as the small hole 

 made by it is found only occasionally. 



Some sort of device must have been in use for keeping open 

 during desiccation the flaccid skin of the neck, and the wooden 

 circle of Colini's tsantsa would have admirably served this purpose. 

 The Academy's specimen shows at the section of the neck certain 

 fine grooves, running from the outer to the inner surface of the 

 flesh, as if it had been traversed by stitches and had later been cut 

 or broken away along the plane of the piercings, leaving the grooves 

 exposed. 



It seems to be certain that, whether the preparation occupied one 

 day, one week, or several months, whether it was by means of alter- 

 nate steaming and drying or by smoking, or by a combination of 

 both methods — as seems probable — the seaming of the scalp, the 

 piercing of the vertex and of the lips, and the insertion of the wand 

 from nostril to vertex must have' been done while the flesh had not 

 yet hardened; but, apparently, when the last of these operations 

 took place, the trophy was already reduced practically to its final 

 dimensions and, in the case of the Academy's tsantsa, had lost some 

 of its flexibility. 



Explanation of Plates VI, VII. 



Plate VI. — Tsantsa, mummified human head, prepared by the Jibaro Indians of 



Ecuador. A. N. S. P., No. 15,048. 

 Plate VII. — Tsantsa: a, front view; b, lateral view. Owned by Mr. Samuel 



Castner, Jr. 



