60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Ibull. 70 



It is supposed to be of essential importance that the clay pots 

 should be placed firmly in the "ground, for then the fermentation 

 also will take place steadily, and no disturbing influences will make 

 themselves felt. 



All these preparations have taken the main part of the day to ac- 

 complish, and are not finished until the afternoon. The fermenta- 

 tion, which in a way is the most important detail of the whole thing, 

 however, still has to take place. In order to hurry or favorably in- 

 fluence the process of fermentation all the women sit down on the 

 ground around the pots containing the manioc substance and, led by 

 the priestess, sing a sort of chant or conjuration. With this cere- 

 mony, which lasts for about half an hour, the preparation of the 

 manioc beer ends. 



The fact that only the women have to brew the manioc beer — 

 wdiich is the rule among all Indians — is due to the same reason as 

 make the cultivation of the manioc fields a business solely incumbent 

 on the female sex. According to the animistic ideas of the Jibaros, 

 all plants are animated by human spirits {inakani) ^ some of male 

 sex, some of female. The manioc, like most other domestic plants, 

 has a woman's soul. Hence — according to the principle "like is best 

 known by like '' — the women have to cultivate this plant just as, in 

 regard to the preparation of the manioc beer, they are believed to 

 have a special power of promoting that mysterious and, to the Indian 

 mind, unintelligible process of nature which is called fermentation. 



After the slayer has, in the way described, assisted in the prepara- 

 tion of the manioc beer and the manioc wine, his role with regard to 

 the preparations for the feast is finished. The following days and 

 nights he has to spend outside his own house, making on the third 

 day, when the feast commences, his solemn entrance into the same. 

 The first two of the three nights he thus stays outside he passes in 

 another house a few hours away from his own ; the third night, again, 

 in a ranch made at a short distance from the house of the feast. The 

 priest (whuea), who always must remain in the neighborhood of the 

 slayer and take care of him, follows him on this excursion. 



All the three nights that the slayer is alisent his friends in the 

 house of the feast, and particularly the young men. perform the dance 

 wuimenshi in the same way as on the first night, from the fall of 

 night until the dawn. 



On the afternoon of the day previous to the commencement of the 

 feast, when the slayer has been absent for two nights, the following 

 cei'eniony takes place in a ranch made a short distance from the 

 house of the feast. Some of the older Indians take the trophy, which, 

 as usual, is kept hanging over the fire, place it upon a shield and 

 carry it to the ranch mentioned. In this ranch the slayer and the 

 priest now stay, and they will also pass the following third and last 



