BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AND VICTORY FEASTS 

 AMONG THE JIBARO INDIANS OF EASTERN 

 ECUADOR 



By Rafael Karsten 



INTRODUCTION 



The Jibaro Indians, who in their own language are called Shudra, 

 inhabit the virgin forests around the great rivers Pastaza. Morona, 

 Upano-Santiago and their affluents, regions politically divided be- 

 tween the Republics of Ecuador and Peru, and still form one of 

 the most numerous and most important Indian tribes of South 

 America. Although some Jibaros live in parts of the country to 

 which no white man has yet penetrated, their present total number 

 can without exaggeration be estimated at fifteen or twenty thousand. 

 The Jibaros are divided into a number of smaller tribes which are 

 generally hostile to each other. They have no uniform tribal or- 

 ganization and do not recognize any common political authority. 

 This division also stamps their social institutions and customs, which 

 are somewhat different among different tribes. Against the whites 

 the Jibaros have, in critical times, been able to maintain them- 

 selves as a united and homogeneous nation. The best proof of this 

 is the general insurrection which, on account of the oppression of 

 the Spaniards, was carried out in 1599 by all tribes living on the 

 Upano, Paute, Santiago, and Morona, and at which the majority 

 of the white population in the flourishing villages Sevilla de Oro, 

 Logrofio, and Mendoza were massacred by the Indians. Since that 

 time the whites have, on the whole, left the Jibaros unmolested, but 

 between themselves they have continued those destructive wars which 

 more than anything else have contributed to the diminution of the 

 Jibaro race. 



The Jibaros no doubt at present are the most warlike of all In- 

 dian tribes in South America. The wars, the blood-feuds within the 

 tribes, and the wars of extermination between the different tribes 

 are continuous, being nourished by their superstitious belief in 

 witchcraft. These wars are the greatest curse of the Jibaros and 

 are felt to be so even by themselves, at least so far as the feuds 

 within the tribes are concerned. On the other hand, the wars are to 



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