roTH] GAMES, SPORTS, AND AMUSEMENTS 49] 
one another, and seized onto each other’s naked body, until the one 
thrust the other beneath him to the ground (App, u, 278). The Ta- 
ruma do not wrestle at all, while with the Parikuta and Waiwai it is 
almost a ceremonial, a part and parcel of the salutation. After the 
drinks have been handed around and partaken of (sec. 811) an indi- 
vidual will stand upon the sounding-board (sec. 581) and challenge all 
and sundry to a wrestle, A rival coming up, they will give one another 
with a long whip a terrible lash or two around the back and across 
the belly, and then proceed with their wrestling. In this case the 
object is to throw one’s opponent so that his back strikes the ground. 
When another tribe visits these Parikuta this wrestling must be 
gone through with every man of the visiting party. When Parikuta 
visit Parikuta it is optional (JO). 
608. For the earliest mention of the shield game of the Warrau we 
are indebted to Schomburgk, who saw it played by these people at Ca- 
ruabo (Caruwava, Caruawa) ... It is played in parties two against 
two, and the champions, painted and dressed in the distinguish- 
ing modes of their tribe, show their athletic skill by attempting to 
push each other from a space of ground by means of the haha (naha), 
which resembles a shield. It appeared to us an innocent pastime 
which gave ability to their limbs and displayed to the greatest ad- 
vantage their muscular power and fine proportions (ScB, 181). 
Again, among the same nation on the Barima, the distinguished trav- 
eler describes how the people of the settlement divided themselves 
into four parties and proceeded to an extensive cleared circular 
space at some distance from the village. On a given signal the com- 
batants, two at a time, with their shields tried to shift one another 
from a certain point in the circle (pl. 172 B). The one who succeeded 
in doing so was declared victor until challenged by another whose 
activity or strength took the championship away from him, and so 
on. The two combatants finally remaining from the opposed sides 
were finally led with rejoicing and shouts of triumph as victors to 
the paiwarri trough, where the girls met them with calabashes al- 
ready filled (SR, 1, 294). It is noteworthy that Schomburgk makes 
no mention anywhere of the wrestling match determining the settle- 
ment of anything in the way of quarrels or disputes, an absence fol- 
lowed by Brett (Br,349), who speaks of it as a trial of strength 
practiced by the Warrau at their drinking bouts. On the other 
hand, Im Thurn, some 30 years later, talks of its use as a practical 
means, a trial by ordeal, of settling disputes which may have arisen 
between distinct groups of Warrau, stating that it is the only game 
known to him which is not accompanied by drinking (Ti, Dec., ’89. 
p. 292), though he had previously recorded its being practiced at 
the paiwarri feasts (IT, 326). True it is that certain of the older 
