654 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
four corners and halfway down the sides were planted six excellently 
carved columns, two of which terminated in crowns, two in birds, and 
the two front ones in figures represented in an attitude of lamenta- 
tion, with hands before their eyes. As each company of visitors 
arrived in happy mood, it commenced crying in earnest upon reach- 
ing the house of mourning, their wailing being answered by those 
within the building. This melancholy business over, each company 
started singing and dancing.” Among the funeral musical instru- 
ments which Gumilla had never seen before were certain tubes or 
trumpets made of clay, bamboo, and bark (secs. 556-559), to the 
accompaniment of which a number of very pretty and varied 
dances were executed. Among the dances described were a series 
in which 12 men, extraordinarily decorated with macaw feathers 
and feather ornaments, took part. Each one carried in his right 
hand a long osier, entirely covered with a variety of plumes, and 
tied to the very top of a ring, also inclosed in feathers, the weight 
of which made the 12 sticks almost bend into a semicircle, so that 
together they formed a dome or beautiful cupola, from the center 
of which hung the ring. On the following morning the deceased was 
finally eulogized: “* What an excellent fisher we have lost!” ‘“ What 
a clever archer has died!” ‘“ He never missed his mark,” etc. Then, 
followed by some more dancing, a procession was formed to the 
river, those from the house of burial coming last, together with the 
four Indians who carried all the mortuary decorations and musical in- 
struments, which were now thrown into the stream. They next all had 
a bath and returned to the houses, where the women of one company 
brought food and drink for the men of another company, and vice 
versa, this bringing the ceremony to a conclusion (G, 1, 191-196). 
Brinton says that the Saliva had a custom of disinterring the bones 
of their dead after the expiration of a year, burning them, and then 
collecting the ashes to mix with their drinking water (BRI, 267). 
Similar practices apparently took place [?by Carib] in Surinam 
(BA, 231), among the Betoya (ARW, 347; KG, 1, 152) of the Uaupes 
district and among the Carib Islanders (PBR, 252). 
852. With the Piaroa when a person dies they immediately tie him 
up in the foetal position inside a shoulder basket, to prevent rigor 
mortis, and then roll this in bark, which is bound up with vine rope 
like a bundle. This they place in a hole dug in the savanna. They 
do not cover it with earth, but construct a palm-leaf shelter for it. 
At its side is laid cassava, bananas, a blowgun, and a quiverful of 
arrows dipped in curare. A year later the remains are removed to 
the common cemetery in a hollow under a big rock, most often very 
far from the village (Cr, 548). On certain mummies of these people 
which were opened by Crévaux on the Mataveni River (a branch of 
