Ror] DEATH AND MOURNING 657 
they could not live in security. But when these folk subsequently 
advanced to a settled life, and a sick person died they immediately 
broke up his house and burned all his possessions (G, 1, 206). After 
having covered the body and placed a mound of earth on top, the 
Betoya sing and cry at the same time close to the grave. At night- 
fall all the relatives and friends are invited. The men come with 
their peculiarly constructed flutes (baxvones).... The girls are 
seated on one side of the grave, the boys on the other. Behind the 
girls are seated the women, and behind the boys the men. The func- 
tion begins with the widow or widower crying out in a sad tone, 
mixed with tears, “Ah! Woe is ours, now that he is dead! Woe 
is ours”! without another word. And then comes the reply in the 
chorus of voices of the women and boys and the flute accompani- 
ments and so on, producing a sad and melancholy harmony (G, 1, 
202). 
In Wallace’s time, the Tukano and Kobeua (both belonging to the 
Betoya stock) as well as the Tariana (Arawak stock) of the upper 
Uaupes River, disinterred the corpse about a month after the funeral, 
placed it in an oven over the fire, and pounding the mass thus charred 
to a fine powder, mixed it with cassiri and drank it (ARW, 347). The 
same thing is reported of the present-day Kobeua, except that a 
longer interval is allowed to pass, and the skull alone spared (KG, 1, 
152). Some death-festival dances from the present-day Kobeua of 
the upper Rio Negro have been described (KG, 11, 151-152). 
$55. Jirara, Ayrica, etc—The only reference I can find to the mor- 
tuary customs of these people is that given by Gumilla to the vary- 
ing signs of mourning adopted by the next of kin. Making from 
a fruit called jagua [probably Genipa americana| an infusion of a 
very black tint which lasts for a long time, notwithstanding wash- 
ing, the wife and children, brothers, and sisters, stain their whole 
bodies from head to foot; the relatives of the second degree of con- 
sanguinity, their feet, legs, arms, hands, and part of the face; rela- 
tives of the third degree, only the feet and hands, and a few spots 
or blotches on the face. These people are very careful to keep up 
mourning for the space of a year, and during this period the widow- 
ers or widows repel all offers of marriage (G, 1, 201). 
856. Carib—On the Orinoco we have the following account by 
Gumilla of the burial of a Carib captain: The body is slung up in 
a cotton hammock, and for a space of 30 days his wives have to take 
turn and turn about in keeping on either side of the corpse to see 
that no flies settle on it. Not only is this an almost insufferable task, 
even at the end of 24 hours in those tropical regions, but each woman 
is wondering to herself all the time whether she is to be the one 
chosen to accompany her lord to the grave. When the children and 
