ROTH] WAR AND WARFARE 589 
liberty, and joining some of the natives, introduced the custom of 
scalping among them” (GF, 423-438). These views require consid- 
eration. So far as Stedman is concerned, two excerpts are all that 
I can find from this author. One I have already referred to (sec. 
766); the other is the following: ... Also found a scalp fixed 
to the branch of a tree which we justly conjectured to be the 
remains of the unfortunate Schmidt, who was lost. This was the 
more surprising as we were at peace with all the Indians, and 
scalping was never practiced by the Negroes (St, 11, 160). Now, 
some 30 years before Stedman, Fermin had recorded the practice 
of scalping as of apparently usual occurrence among the Surinam 
Indians generally. Thus, the only consideration they have for 
their women is that on return from their campaigns, they bring 
back the heads of hair (/es chevelures) of the enemies they have 
killed, as a sign of victory, for their wives to adorn themselves with, 
and publish their triumphs (FE, 80). Again, even if scalping were 
not introduced by the Negroes, they certainly bore the reputation 
for practicing it, if we are to believe Pinckard, who, there is every 
reason to believe, was no less trustworthy an observer than Stedman. 
On the Demerara . . . they were surprised and defeated by 
the blacks; and very few of the soldiers escaped, most of them being 
killed, and their scalps, or bodies, fixed against the trees (Pnk, 1, 
372). Again, on the Berbice. . . . Our friendly conductor, M. 
Fenner, instantly took alarm, and begging us to desist (from sound- 
ing the huntsman’s call) desired that we would quicken our pace, and 
be still lest we should bring down the Bush Negroes, who, if they 
should find themselves able to overpower us, would certainly take off 
our scalps, and perhaps not leave us our heads (Pnk, 1, 481). With 
regard to Frederici’s hypothesis of deserters from the pearling fleets 
introducing the custom, it is far more likely that any such unfor- 
tunates would more probably have been butchered by the coastal 
tribes. Certainly it seems quite as reasonable to believe that the 
occurrence of scalping in the Guianas was introduced from Florida 
through the Antilleans. Even if the direct evidence of scalping 
among the Guianese Indians is scant, certain it is that they pre- 
served heads, hair, etc., as trophies (sec. 766), waist belts (sec. 543), 
ete. So, again, there is the possibility of its having been introduced 
from elsewhere in the South American continent. Thus, even up 
to a generation ago, scalping was certainly practiced on the upper 
Amazon. There is Simson’s authority for stating that the Jivaros 
of the Pastassa River have a most finished mode of scalping, by 
which the victim’s head is reduced to the size of a moderately 
large orange, maintaining tolerably well all the features. Only, 
the lips, point of the nose, and all the thicker fleshy portions, of 
