ror] DEATH AND MOURNING 641 
if still in the flesh, for some journey, a hunting or fighting expedi- 
tion, there were certain objects placed in the grave for a special pur- 
pose; e. g., a bow and arrows (Warrau), a knife (Akawai), or 
thongs (Makusi) for dealing with the murderer (human or spirit) 
who had done him to death both to kill him or to tie him, when 
caught, to a tree. 
835. The Atorai (Arawak stock) and Oyana (Carib stock) cre- 
mated certain of their dead and buried the ashes, in the latter case 
a year after they had been collected in an earthen vase, and preserved 
in the widow’s hut. Bodies or bones might be cremated after ex- 
humation (sec. 838). Though the Betoya buried the deceased and 
burned his effects, the Island Carib either buried his property with 
the body or burned it over his grave. This might possibly provide 
a reason for the fire kept lighted for some days on top of the graves 
of Warrau, Makusi, Cayenne, and Island Carib. The signification 
of the mourners jumping over the fire at the Makusi (sec. 864) or 
Guahibo (sec. 853) burial is not, however, forthcoming. It may have 
something to do with the fact that to step over a live person when 
lying on the ground is to offer him a serious affront. The recumbent 
person would rightly say, “you can cross me when I am dead. I 
am not dead yet” (WER, v1, sec. 220). 
836. Urn burial has been met in the extreme eastern and western 
Guianas as well as in southern British Guiana, the contents of such 
vessels being either ashes or bones, the latter sun dried, painted, or 
varnished. Some of these urns were of huge size, upward of 5 feet 
in height, and were buried either in natural caves or specially pre- 
pared pits, each leading to an excavated chamber (fig. 338). The 
latter have been recorded from the Counani, south of the River Oya- 
pock (GOL, pl. A). Tribes practicing urn burial were the Ature 
(sec. 852), Oyampi (sec. 866), and Oyana (sec. 865). With the 
Atorai (sec. 848), though the burial of the ashes in an urn is not 
specifically stated (SR, 11, 388), the recent discovery of urn burial in 
the neighboring Makusi country (Philadelphia Mus. Journal, Vol. 
VI, No. 1, p. 53) makes it practically a certainty. 
837. Mummification was practiced by the Piaroa (sec. 852) and by 
Oyana, but with the latter only on the medicine men (sec. 865). 
838. After exhumation or other method of cleansing the bones— 
on occasion they were even painted—they were either preserved, dis- 
tributed among friends, or burned. They were preserved in baskets 
suspended from the roofs, or else in earthen jars (sec. 852), but the 
true object or objects aimed at in their preservation is none too clear— 
whether for fear or respect, for propitiation, etc. Father Acuifia’s 
remark is very much to the point, when he says: “For some keep 
them [bones] in their own houses, that by having them always before 
