68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY tBDLL. 79 



the dance — first of all a back ornament made of the bones of the bird 

 tayu {Steatornh) , called tayuhunchi^ which is adorned ^Yith human 

 hair, toucan feathers, or small stuffed birds of the forest with bril- 

 liant plumes. • 



The face and the uncovered part of the body is carefully painted 

 with red ochre {Bixa orellana)^ animal figures, and figures of snakes 

 as well as geometric ornaments being the most common patterns. 

 The older men prefer to paint themselves black in the face with 

 genipa. Some younger men are seen painting themselves, previous 

 to the dance, with juice of tobacco, making with their fingers cer- 

 tain linear ornaments upon the face and breast — ornaments which, 

 however, are hardly visible upon the brownish skin of the Indians. 

 The body painting with tobacco juice is supposed to be a good prophy- 

 lactic against witchcraft. 



The haritsemiita^ which literally means : " The killing of the ene- 

 my's soul (hantsa),^^ is a ring dance. The dancers hold each other by 

 the hands and circle around the three central pillars of the house, 

 forming a large ring, or rather an elliptical figure, and moving alter- 

 nately to the right and to the left. The women at first arrange them- 

 selves for the dance, and foremost among them are the wife and 

 daughter of the slayer. Then follow the men, and foremost among 

 them the slayer, Avho thus during the dance is standing nearest to his 

 wife and daughter. He carries the tsantsa hanging on his back dur- 

 ing the whole time. Next to him the other men take their stand. At 

 the dance the Indians move about in the same way as in the dance 

 ihidmbrama, hopping side foremost, moving first the one and then 

 the other foot in quick time. The women hold each other under the 

 arms, hopping with both feet at once in order that their rattles may 

 sound more loudly. Having moved round for a while to the right, 

 the Indies change and dance to the left for a while, and vice versa. 

 The dance is accompanied by a chant or conjuration, and this, too, is 

 first performed by the women. This client principally consists in an 

 almost monotonous refrain, " od, od, od, ad,''^ etc., which is sung by the 

 women in a deep and strong guttural voice, so that the whole song 

 gives a disagreeable, almost dismal, howling effect. When the dance 

 reaches its climax the men also chant or shout, and the dancers seem 

 sometimes almost to reach a state of ecstasy. Each time the men, 

 during the dance, reach one of the doors at either end of the house, 

 they stop for a moment, hop up and down on the spot, stamping on 

 the ground and shouting in a loud voice : " Hystl, hysti, hysti, 

 hysti! '' At the same time the women hop on the spot, sounding their 

 rattles, while the drums are beaten and the flutes played. This pro- 

 cedure is repeated for a long time. The dancers through this action 

 are trying to keep off the spirit of the killed enemy, who, it is be- 

 lieved, is trying to enter through one of the doors to kill the victor. 



