418 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
were accustomed to make the victims (male and female) drunk before- 
hand, so that none should escape the cruel ordeal. Among the Guamo 
and Otomac the signs of “ circumcision” were equally brutal (G, 1, 
118). The Omatia (Carib stock) at the sources of the Uaupes also 
practiced circumcision (Cou, m1, 161). To become skillful with the 
bow and arrow, the Yaruro (Jaruri) Indians of the Orinoco submit 
to a sexual mutilation with a sting-ray barb which is made to pierce 
the prepuce (Cr, 570). Davies gives the following from the Ama- 
zon: “ The man taketh a round cane as bigge as a pennie candle and 
two inches in length, through the which he pulls the fore-skin of his 
vard, tying the skinne with a piece of rinde of a tree about the big- 
nesse of a small pack-thread, then making of it fast about his middle, 
hee continueth thus till hee have occasion to use him” (DW, 414). 
508. The practice of pulling out the hair of the face and body 
seems to have been extremely common at one time among both sexes 
throughout the Guianas, but there are some notable exceptions. Thus, 
on the Orinoco, Gumilla speaks of the long beards of the Guamo, 
and the medium-sized ones of the Otomac (G, 1, 129). Among the 
Patamona on the upper Potaro, below the Kaieteur Falls, Brown 
came across some men who wore curious long thin beards arranged 
in a line on their chins like the teeth of a comb (BB, 207). Brett 
makes mention of three venerable Akawai patriarchs with white and 
long beards (Br, 425), and of members of the same tribe at Coroduni, 
a settlement on the Berbice, wearing small mustaches (Br, 307). 
On the upper Yary, Cayenne, Crévaux relates how the Indians con- 
sider the long beard of the European a most extraordinary thing. 
A Roucouyenne chief, who had never seen white folk, only consented 
to let the distinguished French traveler have a guide upon giving him 
some hairs out of his own whiskers (Cr, 112). Schomburgk on the 
Rupununi met with some Makusi, of whom only a few had retained 
their beards; and they seemed to be proud of their decoration 
(SR, 1, 365). While the eyebrows were equally commonly removed 
(Carib, Arawak, Makusi, Wapishana, etc.) only two recorded in- 
stances are known to me of the depilation of the eyelashes. These 
come from Cayenne, the reason of the practice being “ to see better ” 
(Cr, 112), and from the upper Rio Branco, among the Maiongkong 
and the Mauitzi (ScO, 403). The particular areas on the face 
whence such removal of the hair had been effected were often either 
painted or tattooed (Br, 343). In the depilation of the body was in- 
cluded that of the breast, armpits, and other parts (Pnk, 1, 518). 
With the Oyana, the hair on the legs and arms is sometimes partly 
pulled out, sometimes not at all (GO,2). Whereas it would seem that 
with the Arawak and Warrau the pubic hair was removed in both 
sexes, this does not seem to have been the case with all the Carib; 
