72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [buix. 79 



the wall close to the door, where it is left until it is dry and half 

 consumed, being then thrown awa3^ 



The slayer, whose hands are held by the priest, seizes the small 

 tobacco pot and pours its contents into the natertia pot. The drink 

 is now ready to be consumed. 



In the drinking of the natema at the tsantsa feast both men and 

 women, even half-grown children, take part, all " who want to 

 dream " being allowed to drink of the nai'cotic. Even the slayer, as 

 well as his wife and daughter, drink natema. The drinking has 

 throughout a ceremonial character. A number of beautifully orna- 

 mented clay dishes are placed on the ground in two rows. The priest 

 and two or three other old men fill them with natema and give them 

 over to the persons who are going to drink. Before they give the 

 dish to a man or woman they each time sing a long conjuration over 

 it, summoning the natema spirits. The person who receives the dish 

 quickly empties its contents, which amount to a little more than half 

 a liter. Immediately thereafter he or she goes out and throws up 

 the quantity drunk (for the natema at first has the effect of an 

 emetic). Then the person again enters the house, again empties a 

 pininga of natema,, which is given him by an old man Avith the same 

 ceremony as before, and immediately again throws it up. The same 

 process is repeated a third time. Each person who drinks natema 

 at the tsantsa feast thus has to empty three dishes of the sacred drink. 



The persons Avho drink natema have not previously eaten or drunk 

 anything, and afterwards also they have to fast strictly until they 

 have slept and dreamed. The majority of those who have drunk thp 

 narcotic leave the house and go out to sleep in some ranches of palm 

 leaves made in the forest at a short distance from the house. Most 

 of these are men, but at least one of them ought to be a womaji, a 

 female relative of the slayer. The slayer and his wife and daughter, 

 who also have drunk natema,, do not leave the house, but have their 

 dreams inside. The dreamers remain in the forest sleeping until the 

 afternoon. Then they take a bath in the river and return to the 

 house, where they tell the older Indians what kind of dreams and 

 visions they have had. Now they are also allowed to break their 

 fast. Their food consists only of a dish of boiled and mashed manioc 

 and boiled ripe bananas. The dreamer has to receive the dish con- 

 taining this food from the hand of the same old man who in the 

 morning had given him or her the natema. 



The object of the drinking of the natema at the tsa^itsa feast is to 

 ascertain whether everything will turn out favorably for the slayer 

 in the future, whether he will have a long life, attain to material 

 prosperity, and be lucky in his undertakings. The slayer, as well 

 as his nearest relatives who haAe drunk natema^ will see in the dream 



