656 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH. ANN. 38 
monies taking place on the Vichada River in celebration of the an- 
niversary of a Guahibo chieftain’s death: Accompanied by her 
family, there arrives the widow carrying on her back the pack 
(hotte) containing her husband’s mortal remains. The men _ be- 
longing to the village play the flute (caruso) while a medicine 
man casts, or rather blows, a spell over (souffle pour jeter un sortilege 
ad) the individual who caused the death. They dance; they drink. 
Later on they bring a bag containing all the deceased’s prop- 
erty. ... The widow drops her pack in the middle of the hut, 
and, laying hold of the bag, takes out of it, one after another, all 
her late husband’s possessions: ‘“There’s his lap!” she exclaims. 
“ There’s his feather crown,” and so on, and as each article is exposed 
they all start lamenting. Everything is then returned into the bag, 
dancing and drinking is resumed, and a grave dug in the middle of 
the hut. The remains of the illustrious captain having been deposited 
in this hole—it is circular and about 14 meters deep—they are covered 
with earth. The widow is now placed on the grave, and the scrap of 
cloth which, for the occasion, has covered her chest, is removed. 
While she holds her hands above her head, a man comes forward and 
strikes her breasts with a switch—this man is her future husband. 
And though other men come to hit her on the shoulders, she submits 
to all this whipping without a murmur. The fiancé, his hands joined 
above his head, now takes his turn and receives his thrashing without a 
groan. On the conclusion of this ceremony, they put another woman 
on the grave and pierce the tip of her tongue with a bone (sec. 
924). The blood runs down her bosom. A medicine man besmears 
her breasts with it, and she is given drink. Dancing is renewed. 
During the course of the evening a big fire was made, and all dancing 
up to it, the medicine man jumped over, at the same time blowing 
into it with full force, the others, men and women, then following his 
example. They blew into the direction of the country occupied by 
their terrible neighbors, the Piaroa, who bring death into their midst 
by spells over them. The men finally squatted on the little benches, 
and the women painted them from top to toe with a red paste. The 
latter said that this would protect them from sickness. Burial only 
takes place a year after death, and in this instance the mortal re- 
mains of the chief had been drying all this time in the hut where he 
had succumbed. They had abandoned the old village after his 
decease (Cr, 548). 
854. Betoya.—When anyone [of the Anabali, a stock of the Betoya | 
died, they buried him in the place where he had his hearth, and coy- 
ering the grave with many mats, the people left their village and 
all their fields, to build and plant and till at 12 or 15 leagues’ dis- 
tance. They said that when once death had entered their settlement, 
