138 ANIMISM AND FOLK-LORE OF GUIANA INDIANS [bth. ANN. 30 



Wallace (348) also refers to similar instruments among the Uaupes 

 River Indians, upper Rio Negi'o, wliich are used at their festivals to 

 produce the Jurupari, or Forest-Spirit, music. He says that — 



These instruments, however, are with them such a m>;stery that no woman must 

 ever see them, on pain of death. They are always kept in some igaripe' [water-channel] 

 at a distance from the malocca, whence they are brought on particular occasions: 

 when the sound of them is heard approaching, every woman retires into the woods, 

 or into some adjoining shed whicli they generally have near, and remains invisible 

 till after the ceremony is over, when the instruments are taken away to their hiding- 

 place, and the women come out of their concealment. Should any female be sup- 

 posed to have seen them, either by accident or design, she is invariably executedv 

 generally by poison, and a father will not hesitate to sacrifice his daughter, or a hus- 

 band his wife, on such an occasion. 



Koch-Grimberg (i, 1S6~1S7) speaks of these "Devil" flutes on the 

 Aiary River (Rio Negro) among the Siusi, an Arawak tribe. He says 

 that these are sounded in honor of Ko-ai, the son of Yaperi'kuli, theii- 

 tribal Hero; that the festival at wltich they are used is held at 

 the time of ripening of the fruit of the manicole {Euterpe oleracea) 

 and turn iCEnocarpus hacaha) ; that on the same occasion there is 

 mutual flagellation with wliips. The flutes have to be carefully 

 guarded from the gaze of women, and when not in use are liidden 

 under water, etc. They take their name from that of the spirit in 

 whose honor they are sounded. Elsewhere (KG, i, 314-316) he 

 speaks of the dance as having magic powers; it can dispel sickness 

 and even heal big wounds. Granted that the whipping is part and 

 parcel of the festival, and the object of the festival is to ensure 

 abundance of fruit, the following extract from Gumilla is worth con- 

 sideration: Wlien the time arrives for clearing the open plains with 

 a view to sowing their corn, yucca, plantains, etc., they [the Salivas] 

 place the young men, some separated from the others, in lines, and a 

 certain number of old men provide themselves with whips and rough 

 thongs made of twisted agave (pita). As soon as intimation is given 

 that it is time to commence work, the wliipping of these young men 

 takes place, and notwithstanding the cuts and marks wliich their 

 bodies receive, neither groan nor complaint escapes them (G, i, 18S). 

 It is true that the missionary was told that they received the wliip- 

 ping to cure them of their laziness, but I am strongly inclined to the 

 view, corroborated as it is by the examples already given, that the 

 flagellation is a propitiation for favors already received or expected, 

 that the object of the whole festival in fact is comparable with that 

 met with in connection with the cassava plant (Sects. 165, 166). The 

 flagellations inflicted at the burial ceremonies (Sect. 75) would seem 

 to have a different origin. 



46. "Some other tribes of Indians, who likewise dwelt upon the 

 banks of the river Oronoka, paid to toads the honours due to the 

 divinity [Sect. 3Jf2]. Far from injuring these animals, they carefully 



