74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOL,OGY [bull. 79 



being headed by the priestess {ohaha). The latter on this occasion 

 wears a feather ornament on her head, winch normally are never 

 worn by the women, and also a kind of black collar prepared from 

 the bark of a certain tree which the Jibaros call tnupish. This col- 

 lar, to which the Jibaros ascribe some magical j)OAver, is hung round 

 the neck of the priestess by the priest before the ceremony commences. 



Outside the ring of the w^omen, moreover, four warriors, armed 

 with lances and shields, take their stand. The role which they have 

 to play is presently to be described. The first thing to be done is to 

 provide seats for the persons mentioned — the slayer, his wife and 

 daughter, as well as the priest and the medicine man — and this is 

 done in a ceremonial way. The wife of the slayer grasps her hus- 

 band with one hand and the priest with the other hand from behind 

 at the waist, and all three go and fetch the seat of the slayer, which 

 has been placed near the wall a few steps from where the ceremony 

 will take place. The slayer, both of whose hands are held by the 

 priest, bends down, grasps the seat, passes his hand round its edges, 

 lifts it up a little, immediately sets it down again, lifts it up a second 

 time and, accompanied by the priest, who continues holding his 

 hands, and by his wife, who holds both men from behind at the 

 waist, carries it to the spot from which they had started. Here the 

 seat is ceremonially laid down on the earth, the slayer with the 

 aid of the priest setting it down, again lifting it up and the second 

 time setting it down. Now the seat has been firmly placed, and 

 must not be touched by anybody until the slayer seats himself upon 

 it. During these operations, both when the seat was taken up and 

 when it was placed upon the spot Avhere the ceremony is to take 

 place, the w^omen have been dancing around the slayer and his wife 

 and the priest, incessantly repeating, in slow time and almost 

 monotonously, the refrain: ''''Chimhuylmmha-yamdyuiiiba^ chim- 

 huylrumbd-yamdyurtiha . . ." etc., i. e., " Take up the seat, 

 set down the seat,' . . ." etc. Thereupon the slayer, his wife, 

 and the priest go and fetch another seat upon which the priest will 

 sit during the ceremony; and this is done in the same way as the 

 first time, the women dancing and singing their " C hiinbuylrujiihn- 

 yamayumha " when the seat is being lifted up from the ground, and 

 when it is placed on the spot where the priest will sit. The slayer's 

 and the priest's seats are placed opposite each other. Three more 

 seats are subsequently brought for the medicine man and for the 

 wife and daughter of the slayer. 



The slayer and the priest, accompanied by the slayer's wife, who 

 holds both men from behind at the waist as before, now go and 

 fetch a shield which had previously been placed by the door, and 

 which will serve as a table at the ceremony. The shield is placed 

 on the ground between the seats. At last the same persons go and 



