ROTH] CHIEF AND EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY 573 
he must also be put into a bed of cotton over a fire of green leaves, the 
thick smoke whereof ascending upward must needs be very trouble- 
some to the wretch who is so mad as to expose himself thereto, and he 
is obliged to continue there till he be in a manner half dead. This 
speaks a strange desire to be captain (RO, 519-520). 
749. On the islands, says Rochefort, when the Carib go to the 
wars, among all the captains they make choice of one to be gen- 
eral of the army, who makes the first assault. And when the 
expedition is over he hath no authority but only on his own 
island. True it is that if he hath behaved himself gallantly in his 
enterprises he is ever after highly respected in all the islands. But 
heretofore . . . there were many conditions requisite to obtain that 
degree of honor. It was, in the first place, requisite that he whom 
they advanced to that dignity had been several times in the wars, 
and that to the knowledge of the whole island whereof he was 
to be chosen captain he had behaved himself courageously and gal- 
lantly. Next to this it was necessary that he should be so active 
and swift in running as to surpass all competitors in that exercise. 
Thirdly, he who stood for the generalship of an island should excel 
all others in swimming and diving. A fourth condition was that 
he should carry a burden of such weight as his fellow pretenders 
should not be able to stand under. Lastly, he was obliged to give 
great demonstrations of his constancy, for they cruelly cut and 
mangled his shoulders and breasts with the tooth of an agouti; 
nay, his best friends made deep incisions in divers parts of his 
body. And the wretched person who expected that charge was to 
endure all this without betraying the: least sign of resentment and 
pain; nay, on the contrary, it was requisite that he received all with 
a smiling countenance, as if he were the most satisfied man in the 
world (RO, 519-520). 
750. Schomburglk mentions the case of an old Makusi widow 
woman, the largest proprietress of provision grounds at Curassa- 
waak, on the lower Rupununi . . . who commanded over the whole 
settlement. Kvyveryone appeared to be subservient to her, and, what 
was a riddle to the traveler’s party, the Carib even submitted to 
her orders (SeG, 259). On another occasion he came across the 
chief’s sister, a widow, acting for him during his absence (SR, 11, 
344). Kappler, in Surinam, also speaks of old women being the 
heads of Arawak and Carib settlements (AK, 203). 
751. There are a few records of certain insignia, ete., peculiar to 
the holder of the chieftainship. On the Moruca (SR, 1, 149) Schom- 
burgk describes how the Arawak chieftain strutted along and waved 
his scepter (Herrscherstab). Among the Uaupes River Indians 
Wallace speaks of a beautifully ornamented murucu, or spear, of 
