558 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH, ANN. 38 
one island hath killed another savage out of a fear of being killed 
by way of revenge by the relations of the deceased, he gets into 
another island and settles himself there (RO, 522-523). So also 
on the mainland the Jea talionis is observed rigidly (ARW, 347), 
a custom which, according to Hilhouse, tends greatly to prevent the 
increase of population (HiC, 230). The young Arawak who had 
shot his wife after a “ paiwarri” on the Arapaiaco was soon taken 
and brought back to the fatal spot. There two of them held him 
by the outstretched hands, and he submitted to his fate from his own 
brother, Kaikaibo, who took up a billet of wood and killed him 
by a blow upon the temples (Br, 104). At a paiwarri feast [at 
Tapacooma] an Arawak had been killed in a moment of irritation, 
and the murderer, a piai, or sorcerer, was sentenced by the tribe 
to be shot, after digging his own grave, by the nearest relative of 
the murdered man (A, 1, 133). It would be misleading, however, 
to regard tragic occurrences such as these, or even minor quarrels 
of any description, as arising directly and solely from intemperance, 
as stated by Bancroft (BA, 318) or by Brett, who remarks that the 
Indians lead a simple life, without quarrels, except such as arise 
from that fruitful source of evil, intoxication (Br, 102). As a 
matter of fact, though the Indian may lead a life of apparent amity, 
an injury is neither forgotten nor forgiven, but only bottled up, so 
to speak, to be subsequently sampled at the next drinking party, 
where his tongue is unbridled, his mind inflamed, and his actions 
are more or less irresponsible. So well is this known and recognized 
that at every drunken orgie one of the first concerns of the women 
is to hide all the paddles, cutlasses, and other weapons with which 
the men might damage one another. 
729. Infanticide would appear to have been more or less per- 
missible under one or other of at least three circumstances, whether 
the child were one of twins, a cripple, etc., or a female. On the 
Orinoco twins were regarded as dishonorable. Indeed, as soon as 
word went round that so-and-so had been delivered of a double birth, 
the other women, without considering that they might fall into a 
similar predicament, as was occasionally the case, would rush up to 
the patient’s quarters and crack their jokes, that she must be like 
a rat which gives birth to four at a time, ete. But the mischief did 
not end here, for the Saliva Indian, as soon as one child was born, 
and she felt another remaining, would immediately bury it so as to 
avoid the chafting and the joking of her neighbors as well as the dis- 
pleasure of her husband. For he, on his part, deeming that only 
one of these twins could possibly be his own, was fully convinced 
that the other must be proof of his wife’s disloyalty. An instance 
is recorded of a “ captain” publicly chastising his wife on this ac- 
