10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 79 



the relatives. They are perhaps ready to admit that he has not caused 

 the evil intentionally, but this circumstance does not free him from 

 responsibility and from the obligation of at least paying a material 

 compensation for the positive loss he has caused to the family which 

 through him has been deprived of a useful member. In a case like 

 this, therefore, compensation may enter instead of blood revenge. In 

 the same way the Indian is apt to recognize extenuating circum- 

 stances even in other cases where the evil has not been caused will- 

 fully — for instance, when somebody in a state of drunkenness or 

 under the influence of a narcotic drink has been the cause of another 

 person's death. If, on the other hand, the doer refuses to pay com- 

 pensation, blood revenge is likely to be carried out against him. 



Again, in cases where the evil intention is prominent, the moral 

 indignation aroused by the deed is so much greater, and particularly 

 witchery is regarded as so grave and unpardonable a crime, that it 

 can be atoned by blood only. 



Not seldom bloody feuds arise among the Jibaros for the sake of 

 the women. The Jibaros live in polygamy and hold their wives in 

 high estimation. The women, as a matter of fact, have much to say 

 in Jibaro society and are generally treated well. The men, however, 

 are very jealous of their wives and adultery is severely punished, the 

 husband maltreating his unfaithful wife with the lance or a knife 

 so as to sometimes cause her death. In such cases, however, the rela- 

 tives of the woman frequently take her part, alleging that she is in- 

 nocent. If in their opinion she has been punished wrongfully or 

 with undue severity, they try to take a corresponding revenge upon 

 her husband. Under such circumstances more than one Jibaro has 

 l.»een killed by his father-in-law or his brothers-in-law. Thus on the 

 Kio Upano a young Jibaro had once taken the life of his wife on ac- 

 count of unfaithfulness, real or supposed, on her part. Some time 

 afterwards the cruelly mutilated dead body of the Indian was found 

 in the forest. He had been murdered by the relatives of his former 

 wife. Ordinary captures of women, which frequently take place 

 among the Jibaros, also give rise to blood feuds. A Jibaro carries 

 off the wife of another Indian or takes her with her own consent. 

 The offended husband summons his friends and starts to persecute 

 the seducer to kill him. If under such circumstances a murder has 

 been committed, this usually causes a new murder from the party 

 offended, and so on, until either all grown-up members of one family 

 have been exterminated, or, what happens more generally, each 

 party gets tired of the feud and they decide to leave one another in 

 peace. Sometimes the affair is settled by a formal agreement. 



The Jibaro Indian is wholly penetrated by the idea of retaliation; 

 his desire for revenge is an expression of his sense of justice. This 

 principle is eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life. If one repre- 



