CHARACTERS. 



553 



ed them for having truly said that 

 they should return with prey. 

 This lasted for about half an hour, 

 during which time Hans was at 

 the mercy of the women and 

 children. The two brethren, Yep- 

 pipo Wasu and Alkindar Miri, to 

 whom he had been adjudged, 

 then came and stated to him, that 

 their uncle, Ipperu Wasu, last year 

 had given Alkindar a prisoner to 

 kill, in order that he might have 

 the glory of making a feast ; but 

 it was with this condition, that 

 Alkindar should repay him with 

 the first prisoner whom he took. 

 He was the first, and therefore 

 the glory of making a feast of 

 him was to be Ipperu Wasu's. 

 Having explained this matter to 

 him, they added that the girls 

 would now come and lead him 

 out to apprasse. What apprasse 

 was he did not know ; but this he 

 knew, that it could be nothing 

 good. 



The young women came, and 

 led him by the cords which were 

 still round his neck, into the area: 

 the men went their way, and all 

 the women of the settlement, ga- 

 thered round him. He had been 

 stripped naked at the time of his 

 capture : they handled him till 

 they had satisfied their curiosity ; 

 then some took him up in their 

 arms, while others pulled the 

 ropes till he was nearly strangled. 

 Then, says he, 1 thought what 

 our Lord had suffered from the 

 perfidious Jews, and that gave me 

 strength and resignation. The)' 

 carried him to the house of their 

 chief, Uratinge Wasu, the Great 

 White Bird; a little hillock of 

 earth had just been raised at the 

 entrance, upon which they seated 

 him, holding him lest he should 



fall. This he expected was the 

 place of death. He looked round 

 to see if the slaughter-club was 

 ready, and asked if he was to die 

 now. Not yet, they told him. 

 A woman then approached with a 

 piece of broken glass set in a stick, 

 with which instrument she scraped 

 off his eye-brows, and began to 

 perform the same operation upon 

 his beard ; but Hani resisted this, 

 and declared that he would die 

 with his beard. They did not 

 persist now, but some days after- 

 wards sheared it off with a pair of 

 French scissars. 



Then they led him before the 

 door of the tabernacle, wherein 

 the Marica, or rattles of divina- 

 tion were kept ; they fastened a 

 string of little rattles round each 

 leg, and placed upon his head a 

 square coronal of strait feathers. 

 Two women stood on each side 

 of him, the rest made a circle 

 round, and bade him dance to 

 their singing. He could scarcely 

 stand for the pain of his wound, 

 nevertheless dance he must, and 

 keep time in his steps, that the 

 anklets may rattle-inin tune. This 

 dance was the apprasse : it seems 

 to have been a religious ceremony 

 in honour of the Maraca. After it 

 was performed, he was delivered 

 into the hands of Ipperu Wasu, 

 in payment for the prisoner with 

 which that chief had accommo- 

 dated his nephew. From him 

 Hans learned that he had yet 

 some time to live. 



All the Maraca were now 

 brought out. This familiar oracle 

 of the Brazilian savages is made 

 of a fruit so called, which resem- 

 bles a gourd, and is capable of 

 containing about three pints in its 

 cavity. This is fixed upon ^ 



