40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Ibdll. 79 



In regard to the question why tlie chicken's blood used at the puri- 

 fication ought to be kept in an old broken clay vessel {hakdchi) it 

 may be mentioned that the Jibaros make use of broken clay pots 

 at certain cathartic rites, when they try to get rid of some- 

 thing that is impure, detestable, and dangerous. Since the chicken's 

 blood which has purified the slayer afterwards is an impure and 

 harmful matter and accordingly is thrown away at once, it is con- 

 sonant with ritualistic principles that it should be kept in a useless 

 vessel, worthy of being thrown away, like the piece of a broken 

 clay pot. It seems to be due to similar considerations when the 

 Jibaros use a hakdchi for heating the sand with which the trophy is 

 reduced at the preparation. 



Again, if one asks what ideas underlie the choice of the slayer's 

 food — palm top, beans, mashed manioc, etc. — the Indians only give 

 the explanation that he ought to eat such light kinds of food that 

 remain in his stomach and which he does not run the risk of throw- 

 ing up, which evidently would be regarded as dangerous for him. 

 Their idea is, no doubt, that a very indigestible or irritating food 

 could become a means through which the invisible, supernatural 

 enemy of the slayer — the spirit of the killed enemy — could get an 

 opportunity to harm him, perhaps cause his death. That the guests 

 mainly eat chicken at the feast is probably only due to the fact that 

 numhuhnartinyu is an improvised feast, and that, therefore, such 

 kinds of food is given them as is most easy to procure. 



The prescriptions with regard to the diet and mode of life which the 

 slayer has to observe during the time immediately following the 

 " washing of the blood," or up to the feast called suamartinyu, which 

 is celebrated some months later, are very severe and strict. He is 

 not even allowed to dress completely, but only wears his loin cloth 

 (itipi) , tied up with a cincture, having the upper part of the body 

 bare. The hair is generally kept loose and is not arranged in the 

 three pigtails normally worn by the Jibaros. Only at the neck the 

 hair is occasionally tied up. He must not wear ear tubes, facial 

 painting, necklaces, or other ornaments of any kind. He can not 

 carry a lance or other weapon, nor handle poison * or other dangerous 

 matter, nor go out hunting or fishing or on new war expeditions, nor 

 take part in feasts. When the slayer goes out wandering he, instead 

 of the lance without which normally no Jibaro leaves his house, only 

 carries a short staff. He is also prohibited from having sexual inter- 

 course with his wife or even from sleeping in the women's depart- 

 ment of the house (ekinturu), but passes his nights in the fore room 

 or men's department {tangdmasha) . His diet is the lightest pos- 



*This prohibition rspecially touches- the arrow poison (seaaa), and the varvasco poison 

 (tima), used in fishing. 



