36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 79 



paniment of drums and the rattles of the women, and immediately 

 return to the entrance. The same maneuver is repeated twice more. 

 Kach time the slayer, led by the women, returns to the entrance of 

 the house. The aim of this dance is to paralyze the danger threat- 

 ening the victor from the spirit of the murdered enemy at the first 

 entrance into the house, which is regarded as particularly critical. 



The slayer now takes off the tsantsa and the latter is tied to a 

 chonta lance which is fixed in the ground close to the door at the 

 inner side. The lance must be made of the hard wood of the chonta 

 l^alm, to which the Indians ascribe a supernatural power. Another 

 kind of lance, for instance one having an iron point, would not do. 

 In this way the tsantsa is kept even at the following feasts during 

 the time it is not needed for the ceremonies. The trophy being tied 

 to the chonta lance, the spirit of the enemy attached to it is mortified 

 and kept at bay. 



The whuea lays his hand i jon the shoulder of the slayer and takes 

 him round in the house as if to manifest that he can now move 

 about there Avitliout danger. 



Meanwhile, close to the lance with the tsantsa tied to it, two small 

 vessels have been placed. One is a piece of an old broken clay pot 

 {hakachi) containing a little chicken's blood, the other an ordinary 

 small pot with a solution of genipa {sua). These three objects, the 

 lance with the trophy tied to it, the piece of the clay pot containing 

 chicken's blood, and the small pot with genipa, seem to be sacred; 

 no unauthorized person may touch them or even come near them. 



If among the warriors who took part in the killing of the enemy 

 two or more are from the same house, being for instance two brothers 

 or a father with his sons, a special broken clay vessel with chicken's 

 blood and a special small pot with genipa must be placed at the lance 

 for each of them. The ceremony numbuimartinyu^ thus, must be 

 performed separately with each slayer from the same house. 



The " washing of the blood " now takes place. The slayer takes 

 his seat upon a small round bank close to the vessel with the chicken's 

 blood and the whuea places himself at his side. Around them the 

 women form a semicircle, having their rattles around the cincture 

 as before. They are led by an old woman, called ohdha, who at the 

 feasts directs all those ceremonies at which the women play the main 

 part. The whuea at first gives the slayer juice of tobacco through 

 the nose. Then he grasps him by the hand, brings it down to the 

 vessel containing the chicken's blood, lets him dip the index finger 

 into it, and subsequently with the blood draw a broad line 2 or 3 

 inches in length along the front side of one of his legs, from beneath 

 upward. Thereafter the slayer, with the aid of the whuea, applies 

 a similar stroke with the blood to his other leg. While this is being 

 done the women, led by the ohdha, dance in a ring around them, 



