KAKSTEN] BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AKD VICTORY FEASTS 61 



night there. Outside the ranch a fire is made. A chonta staff is 

 fixed in the ground close by the fire. The priest gives the slayer 

 juice of tobacco through the. nose, then grasps his hand and makes 

 him hang the tsantsa on the top of the chonta staff. With the aid 

 of the priest, he places three small round stones, provided for the 

 purpose, upon the fire to be heated. When they are sufficiently hot, 

 the slayer, Avhose hand is held by the priest, takes up one of them 

 by means of a stick cleft at the end, and drops it into the head 

 through the opening at the neck, holding the trophy with the left 

 hand. The small stone is allowed to roll to and fro in the head for 

 a moment; then the slayer takes it out and puts it back on the fire.. 

 The priest again gives him juice of tobacco, Avhereupon the same 

 procedure is repeated with the second stone, and lastly with the third 

 one. Every time that the slayer puts a stone into the head the priest 

 is holding his hand, and each stone, after being used in the way de- 

 scribed, is again put on the fire, where the stones are ultimately left. 

 The trophy is again hung on the top of the chonta staff. The priest 

 grasps the slayer by the wrist and makes him touch the hair of the 

 tsantsa with his hand, at the same time saying, " Kakdmma, pangi 

 ishamakaipa " — " Have courage ; do not fear the great serpent." 

 The trophy is subsequently taken back to the house by the other men, 

 but the slayer and the priest remain in the ranch. 



As we find, the same ceremony is repeated here as was earlier per- 

 formed with the trophy previous to beginning the work of prepar- 

 ing it. The procedure with the small heated stones seems to be 

 merely to mortify the soul of the enemy, attached to the head, to pro- 

 tect the slayer against the revengeful ghost, and favorably to prepare 

 for the important incident which will take place on the following 

 day — the entrance of the victor into the house of the feast. 



That the object of the ceremony described is essentially to par- 

 alyze the danger threatening the slayer from the dead enemy may 

 also be concluded from the last words addressed to him by the priest 

 in which he is warned not to fear the " great serpent." The great 

 boa serpent {pangi) is the most formidable of all demons who people 

 the spiritual world of the Jibaros. He is the original father of witch- 

 craft; it is from his body that the sorcerers receive the poison with 

 which their organism is impregnated and the invisible arrow (tunchi) , 

 which they discharge against their victims. After death the souls of 

 the medicine men are also believed to enter into the boa. The Jibaros, 

 like all Indians, therefore particularly fear this monster, and when 

 they kill a boa they think that they kill a powerful sorcerer. From 

 the above statement it appears that the giant serpent also is one of 

 those shapes in which the spirit of the killed enemy is believed to 

 meet the slayer. 



