84 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 79 



man, and lastly partakes of it himself. The medicine man takes the 

 knife with the right hand and the tsa/ifsa with the left and takes 

 some juice of tobacco with the point of the knife and coats the tsantso. 

 with it at the neck opening. After this he cuts off a strip of the 

 skin from the trophy, removing nearly the whole part which formed 

 the neck. This strip is laid down on the shield. Into the holes in 

 the lips, where the three chonta pins had been stuck before, he in- 

 serts the three cotton strings, which are thus attached to the lips. 

 While the medicine man is engaged in these operations tlie women 

 dance round him and the other persons sit at the shield chant- 

 ing their usual incantations : cJiirahuyiruiiihd-yaindyuinhd^ etc. Like- 

 wise the four warriors at the critical moments are striking their 

 shields with the lances, performing the ceremony yaktinyu. 



The trophy is now ready. The priest thereafter enters in action, 

 his first task being to dress the slayer. The priest, as usual, gives 

 him juice of tobacco through the nose and helps him to hang the 

 tsantsa upon himself. Foinierly it was customary among the 

 Jibaros for the victor, before he took on the trophy, to swallow a 

 small piece of the skin which the medicine man had cut off from the 

 neck of the trophy, " in order to manifest that he was eating his 

 enemy." This custom is now seldom followed, and the piece of skin 

 IS generally simply thrown away. The priest thereupon grasps the 

 victor by the wrist, makes him take the loin cloth and the girdle, 

 blows upon these pieces of clothing, and helps him to dress himself 

 with them. The victor's hair is arranged. The priest helps him to 

 comb it and to divide it into three pigtails — one large one be- 

 hind and two smaller ones at the temples — which are customary 

 among the Jibaros, The pigtails are tied around with the bands 

 laid on the shield for this purpose. Then he in the same way re- 

 ceives the rest of the ornaments, the feather crown, the ear sticks, 

 etc., from the hands of the priest, who blows upon each article before 

 he gives it to the victor. Likewise the victor paints his face red with 

 ochre, with the assistance of the old man. 



Even the wife of the victor is ceremonially dressed by the priest, 

 receiving from his hand the female ornaments placed on the shield. 



During the whole of this dressing ceremony the women, conducted 

 by the priestess, have been dancing and chanting around the princi- 

 pal persons acting. 



The next thing that the victor as well as his wife and daughter 

 have to do is to break the fast. In the women's quarters different 

 kinds of food have previously been prepared. At a special fire 

 guayicsa has been cooked in a small pot. As soon as the drink is ready 

 the priest pours a little of it into a gourd, mutters a conjuration over 

 it and hands it to the victor, who washes his mouth with the solution. 



