KARSTEN] BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AND VICTORY FEASTS 65 



The tsantsa is again tied to a chonta lance and the latter is fixed 

 in the ground at the door, the usual way of keeping the trophy when 

 it is not needed for the ceremonies. 



All the ceremonies described iiave one and the same object: To 

 protect the victor against the spirit of his enemy. Within the house 

 those conjurations will take place through which the wakdni is 

 trodden under foot, mortified, and completely made the slave of 

 his conqueror. The first entrance into the house is, therefore, be- 

 lieved to be particularly critical for the latter. When the victor 

 approaches the house the spirit is believed to meet him in the 

 invisible shape of a man trying to kill him. Juice of tobacco is 

 repeatedly given him to increase his power of resistance against the 

 machinations of the invisible enemy. The chonta staff fixed in the 

 ground in front of the slayer, when he approaches the house, has for 

 its object to prevent the wakdni from meeting him. The three 

 warriors, who, previous to the dance ihidmhrama^ rushed into the 

 house brandishing their weapons and shooting, likewise were try- 

 ing to keep off this enemy and inspire him with terror, for the 

 lance and the shield, and still more shots from firearms, are feared 

 even by the spirits. Lastly, the object of the whole dance ihidm- 

 brama, as we have seen before, is to secure the victor's first entrance 

 into the house. 



The ceremonies at the " entrance " of the victor may vary some- 

 what in certain details. Thus at another tscoitxa feast the proceed- 

 ings were as follows: Some of the older warriors took the f.tanfsa^ 

 placed it on a shield, and carried it with caution to the rancii out- 

 side the house, Avhere the slayer and the priest had passed the third 

 night. The shield, with the fsanfsa, was set down on the ground, 

 and all warriors started to dance around it, making menacing 

 gestures against it with their lances. Thereafter the slayer, followed 

 by the other warriors, began slowly to move toward the house. The 

 priest placed the shield, with the tsantsa, on the ground a few steps 

 in front of the slayer. As soon as the latter had reached the shield, 

 the priest again moved it a short distance from him on the ground, 

 and so on until they reached the door of the house. Here the slayer 

 exchanged his old loin cloth for a new one. The priest made him 

 touch the tsantsa with his mouth and helped him to hang it around 

 his neck. Thereupon, the dance ihidmbraiyia took place in the way 

 described above. 



With these introductory ceremonies the official part of the morn- 

 ing's program is finished. A general drinking bout now commences, 

 manioc beer being brought in large piningas to each of the guests 

 by the women. Food is also offered them, consisting of boiled 

 manioc and boiled ripe bananas, as well as of meat — game and fish. 



