KABSTEN] BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AND VICTORY FEASTS 3 



souls of the ancestors. These appear in all sorts of terrible shapes, 

 as tigers, eagles, giant snakes, and other wild animals, or reveal their 

 presence in stupendous phenomena of nature, in the lightning, in the 

 rainbow, in meteors, etc. They speak to the young Jibaro and ad- 

 vise and teach him in all kinds of manly businesses, but first of all 

 m warlike deeds. Only the Jibaro youth who has seen the ariitama 

 in the dream and has been spoken to by them can expect to become a 

 valiant and successful warrior, to kill many enemies, and himself 

 secure long life. When afterwards in real life he meets a tiger, 

 an eagle, a boa serpent, or some other wild animal he shows no fright 

 and does not flee, but bravely challenges it with his lance. Simi- 

 larly in the fight he without fear meets his enemy. 



Even older warriors who want to know who their enemies are and 

 whether in a war against them they Avill be victorious are in the habit 

 of drinking either maikoa or another narcotic drink, prepared from 

 the stem of the vine Banisteria caapi and called natema. Maikoa^ 

 the effects of which are much stronger, is, however, the particular 

 narcotic of warriors. If one asks a Jibaro why he drinks tnaikoa 

 he generally answers : " I do it in order to kill my enemies " {Shudra 

 mdtinyu). The Jibaro Avarrior generally receives the revelations of 

 the spirits while sleeping alone in the virgin forest in a small ranch 

 made of palm leaves, usually situated many miles away from the hab- 

 itations of the Indians. 



MEANS OF DEFENSE 



That the Jibaros are professional warriors also appears from the 

 way in which they construct their houses and from the defensive 

 measures to which they have recourse when particularly threatened 

 by their enemies. The Jibaros, like other Indian tribes inhabiting 

 the virgin forests of Amazonas, do not live in villages but in sundry 

 large communal houses in which several families of near relations 

 may find room. Such a house (called hea) is generally situated on 

 a high hill from which it is easy to dominate the surrounding country, 

 or in the angle of a river, which protects it from two or three sides. 

 Besides, the Jibaros rarely settle at the banks of the main rivers, but 

 prefer to make their houses at small affluents of these in the interior 

 of the country. Thus they not only avoid the whites, who now and 

 then travel along the great rivers, but are also better protected 

 against hostile Indian tribes. 



The houses themselves are constructed with great care, and even in 

 times of peace are provided with walls of strong chonta poles (pi. 1). 

 When a family is particularly threatened by enemies, the house is 

 fortified in a special way. On the outer side of the ordinary wall 

 another wall is made, consisting of big chonta stems, so that the 



