rorH] DEATH AND MOURNING 665 
up and crack the whip. The other Indians, seated on their heels, 
applaud, ete. (Cr,258). The festival of the Toulé has been thus de- 
scribed: Toward 4 in the afternoon 20 men enter the village in In- 
dian file. They wear their small feather crowns with two red macaw 
tails on top. The head of the band, who is to the right, has a big bam- 
boo flute, with which he produces low and melancholy notes, at the 
same time balancing himself on his right leg. The others, with a 
smaller flute, respond, but in a higher key. Arrived at the center of 
the village, they form a ring, around which they start circling, con- 
tinually playing the same tune and nimbly beating time by striking 
the ground with the right foot. It is a living wheel, in motion all 
night, accompanied by the “ tootling.” Its axle is a large jar of cas- 
siri, where the dancers quench their thirst. As rewards to the women 
for having opened the floodgates of hospitality, the night through, the 
dancers, most of them strangers to the tribe, bring out next day va- 
rious articles, such as a shoulder basket, a sifter, a pot spoon, etc., all 
new and artistically worked, which the women are dying with envy to 
possess. The owner of the basket sits in the middle of the place with 
a stick which he hides behind his back. A young woman comes to 
seize the object, but instead receives a heavy whack on her fingers 
amid the laughter and plaudits of the audience. A second, more 
dexterous, avoids the blow and carries off the basket. This distribu- 
tion of the presents and the blows occupies more than an hour. The 
women respond to the generosity of the guests by bringing them 
three large jars of cassiri. ... The death of a woman is not fol- 
lowed by any kind of festival (Cr, 296). 
866. Oyampi—The Oyampi of the Oyapock River do not burn 
their dead like the Roucouyenne, but bury them in a very deep 
hole, though not more than a meter long. The body is placed verti- 
cally in the foetal position. Sometimes the body is allowed to de- 
compose out in the bush and at the end of a twelvemonth the bones 
are buried in an earthen pot (Cr, 157-158). 
867. Palicour,—When a Palicour dies on the road they strip off the 
flesh, boil the body, and remove the bones, which they guard with 
great care (until they get home again), or to save this trouble they 
may bury the body and come some time after to collect the bones 
(PBA, 230). 
60160°—24—_+43 
