The Wild Jivakos. 171 



with the hammock of the deceased wrapped around him. 

 The very old men are buried with the mouth downward. 

 They make use of a narcotic drink called Ayahuasca, 

 which produces effects similar to those of opium. The 

 Zaparos are pacific and hospitable, but there is little social 

 life among them ; they never cluster into large villages, 

 but inhabit isolated ranches. Nomadic in then* habits, 

 they wander along the banks of the Napo, between the 

 Andes and the Maranon. They manufacture, fi^om the 

 twisted fibre of the chambiri-palm,* most of the twine and 

 hammocks seen in Eastern Ecuador. Their government is 

 patriarchal. 



The Jivaros, or " Red Indians" jpar excellence, are the 

 most numerous and the most spirited of the oriental tribes. 

 They are brave and resentful, yet hospitable and industri- 

 ous. AYhile the Napos and Zaparos live in rude, often 

 temporary huts of split bamboo, the warlike Jivaros erect 

 houses of hard wood with strong doors. Blood relations 

 live together on the communal principle, the women keep- 

 ing the rear half of the house, which is divided by a parti- 

 tion. Many Jivaros approach the Caucasian type, the beard 

 and lighter skin hinting a percentage of Spanish blood ; 

 for this tribe was never conquered by the Incas, nor did it 

 brook Spanish avarice and cruelty, but in one terrible con- 

 flict (1599) the intruder was swept out of existence. The 

 wives of the El Dorado adventurers spent the rest of their 

 days in the harems of the Jivaros. These Indians have the 

 singular custom and art of compressing the heads of their 

 notable captives ; taking off the skin entire and drying it 

 over a small mould, they have a hideous mummy which 

 preserves all the features of the original face, but on a re- 



* This thorny palm is called tucum in Brazil, The fibres of the budding 

 top are used. A woman will twist a hundred yards of twine a day, and make 

 a \\\mg by selling hammocks for twenty-five cents a piece. 



