244 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 177 
truncated cones. The same kind of support was used with cooking 
vessels. 
Cooking pots were either rounded with a slightly constricted neck 
and everted rim, or globular with a slight, pedestal base and an in- 
curving rim. The former variety is said to have been made in various 
sizes, while the latter was always about 12 inches deep and 12 inches 
in diameter. (Farabee includes sketches of these forms in his field 
notebook.) Half of a large calabash or a pot of about a gallon capac- 
ity was used for drinking. Pottery drinking vessels are said to have 
been obtained from the Wai Wai. Large jars for storing beverages 
were sometimes decorated by crosshatching around the rim (cf. 
Kanashen Incised, pp. 216-217). 
Watercraft—The Taruma used both dugouts and bark canoes. 
Dugouts were 15 to 25 feet long, 15 to 20 inches wide, and were made 
from a solid log. Both ends tapered to a point. From 3 to 4 feet 
from each end, the sides were cut down an inch or more, giving a 
characteristic profile. During the drying, three sticks were inserted 
crosswise to keep the sides apart. Farabee describes the result as 
“cranky,” but notes that dugouts frequently carry a husband and 
wife plus four or five dogs and provisions. The bark canoes were 
formed by making a cut some distance from each end and lifting the 
end piece thus separated so that the edges of the cut overlapped. 
These points were reinforced with cross sticks and sealed with resins 
to make them watertight. The result was a craft with upslanting 
and pointed ends. A stiff pole, 1 inch in diameter, was tied around 
the upper margin for stiffening and reinforcement. A third cross 
piece was placed in the center. 
Disposal of the dead.—Failure to find any burial remains for the 
Taruma Phase indicated that urn burial was probably not practiced. 
Farabee’s data permit a more specific statement that the principal 
method of disposal of the dead was cremation. On death, a friend or 
friends of a deceased man or woman took the body away to the woods. 
The corpse and a few personal trinkets were placed on a pile of wood 
about 214 feet high, then covered with more wood until the pile was 
41% to 5 feet high. This was set on fire and left to burn down. Three 
or four days later, the Taruma returned and covered the ashes with 
leaves and brush. Children and shamans were buried, the former be- 
cause cremation was too much trouble, the latter because the people 
did not want to disturb the spirit and so disposed of the body as 
quietly as possible. Property of the deceased, such as canoe, bow and 
arrows, and dogs, was divided among the family. There was no 
ceremony and no mourning. However, the house in which an adult 
died was usually burned and another erected nearby (Farabee, MS., 
Notebook 2). 
