76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 7f> 



The removal of the aforesaid ornaments — the cotton string and 

 the chonta pins — has been necessary for the washing of the fsantsa^ 

 a ceremony which will take place outside the house. The slayer 

 has to march out to the place destined for it, performing together 

 with the women the same dance, ihiamhrama., which we know as one 

 of the principal ceremonies from the first day of the feast. The 

 women arrange themselves in a long column, the wife and daughter 

 of the slayer as usual taking the foremost place. The slayer places 

 himself at the head of them, grasping his wife with his left hand 

 and the tsantsa with his right, and holding his arm stretched out. 

 On both sides of them the men range themselves in two rows. A 

 sign having been given, the slayer, followed by the women, proceeds 

 dancing to the door of the house, again returns to the interior, and 

 again proceeds dancing to the door, where he stops. He goes out, 

 with the aid of the priest hangs the trophy around his neck, and con- 

 tinues a few steps toward the place chosen for the washing ceremony. 



The slayer now takes a seat, placed on the ground for his use 

 (pi. 8, h). On another seat his wife seats herself, and on a third his 

 daughter. The priest and the medicine man take their stand close to 

 them. Around these persons the women form into a ring, grasping 

 each other by the hands. The four warriors who had performed the 

 ceremony yaktwyii within the house also take up positions ready for 

 fresh action. The priest gives juice of tobacco to the slayer and the 

 two women, a procedure that is repeated three or four times during 

 the following ceremonies, so that the said persons at last become 

 narcotized, grow pale, and begin to tremble throughout their whole 

 bodies. It is considered necessary that they should be brought to such 

 a state, since thus they are supposed to gain power of resistance 

 against the angry spirit during the important action which will now 

 take place, namely, the washing of the tsantsa. 



The medicine man fixes a chonta stick in the ground in front of 

 the slayer. The latter takes off the tsantsa from his neck and Avith 

 the aid of the priest places it on the top of the stick. Close to the 

 stick a clay pot, a round gourd containing water, and a piece of the 

 root of a liana called sikimuro are placed on a banana leaf. The 

 medicine man who will conduct the washing ceremonies receives the 

 sikimuro root from the wife of the slayer, who has kept it at her 

 bosom under her tarachi. When the root is cut in pieces and rubbed 

 in water it produces a white soaplike foam. It is with this soap 

 that the tsantsa will be washed. 



The medicine man cuts the sikimuro root into smaller pieces. 

 Then the priest gives juice of tobacco to the slayer, grasps him by 

 the wrists, and makes him pour some water into the clay pot from 

 the water bottle. Thereupon the priest makes the slayer take up 

 some pieces of the sikimuro root and put them into the pot. Now 



