KARSTEN] BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AND VICTORY FEASTS 59 



eating of the manioc for the feasts is a real t-eremon}' and is called 

 naum-a. (ienerally only the women take part in it, since the prepara- 

 tion of the beer is a work particularly incumbent on the women. Of 

 the fruit, however, only a part, or at the most a half, is masticated. 

 The rest of it is only mashed. The manioc masticat-ed is thoroughly 

 mixed with saliva and then spat out in a number of large clay pots 

 {muitsa). In each of these some of the mashed manioc is added 

 and the whole substance is carefully stirred. 



Generally the pots are now ow\y covered with banana leaves and 

 the substance allowed to ferment. For the great feasts, however, an 

 especial ferment, consisting of previously chewed and fermented 

 manioc, is added in order that the beer may turn out stronger. A 

 small clay vessel with this ferment is kept ready. The following 

 operations are, in the main, carried out only by the women — first 

 of all by the wife of the slayer, who is assisted by the priestess 

 {oJu'iha). However, even the slayer himself must assist at some 

 actions, to transfer his power to the beverage. The wife of the 

 slayer, whose hands are held by the priestess, carries each of the 

 pots containing the manioc substance to the shelter before mentioned, 

 where the fermentation will take place. Six or eight large pots are 

 thus placed under the shelter in holes previously made in the ground 

 for the purpose. In order that the pots may stand more steadily 

 they are supported underneath by pieces of the genipa fruit. These 

 pieces are placed under the pots by the sla3er in a ceremonial way, 

 his hands being meantime held by the priest. The wife of the 

 slayer, assisted by the ohdha^ now puts a little of the manioc ferment 

 just mentioned into each of the pots, but before the ferment is put 

 in the slayer has each time to taste a little of it. The pots are then 

 carefully covered with large leaves by the wife of the slayer, whose 

 hands are held by the oJuiha, and finally tied with lianas. 



Some of the large clay pots are tied on the outside with strips of 

 bast in such a way as to form ornamental figures or patterns like 

 those formed in basket weaving. The real significance of this ar- 

 rangement is not quite clear. It is possible that its object is only to 

 give strength to the pots so that they shall not burst at the fermen- 

 tation of the manioc substance. But it is also possible that some 

 mysterious power is ascribed to the strips as well as to the orna- 

 ments formed by them — a power Avhich will promote the fermenta- 

 tion and contribute to making the beverage strong. This, at any 

 rate, is the object of the genipa fruit placed under the pots. The 

 genipa — from which the magical black body-paint is prepared — will 

 communicate its power to the pots and the sacred substance contained 

 in them, a power further increased by the fact that the slayer himself 

 places the fruit there. 



