184 



A SACEED WAR TEOPnT FROM ECUADOR. 



When the head is thus prepared, the tribe is called together 

 before the expiry of nine days after the Iig-ht, othei'wise 

 the spirits of the killed Jivaros would not be satisfied, nor 

 could the head bo deified. On the tenth day a feast is held, 

 and the natives, both men and women, dressed in holiday 

 grandeur, surround the priest, while he in groat state goes 

 through the ceremony of making a holy oi'aclo. After giv- 

 ing a minute description of this ceremony, which need not 

 be here repeated, the writer adds : " Tt sometimes happens 

 that, being hai-d pressed by the enemy, tlioy have not time 

 or opportuTuty to cut off the head of a fallen foe; in this 

 case the ceremony is performed upon the head of a sow, 

 which is adored as if it were an idol hiead." But as no such 

 head has been seen or mentioned elsewhere, this statement 

 may be only hearsay. 



The specimen thus referred to was shown in the Inter- 

 national Exhibition of 1H02, in the Jilcuador court, and was 

 the second instance witnessed in England. "Wo were told it 

 was stolen from a small temple on the river Patassa, and 

 that it was worn in battle as a charm. Professor Owen 

 " thought it had been reduced by tanning the skin " ; and 

 Mr. Bollaci't adds, " It struck me that it might have been 

 shrunk and dried over a fire on a mould of clay." Othei-s 

 again have suggested slow drying by hot sand ; but none of 

 these processes can be accepted without hesitation, they 

 being more or less inconsistent with our experience. Mr. 

 Frank IJuckland, the best taxidermist of iiis day, remarks 

 on this matter: "I must confess that a great deal of dex- 

 terity and ingenious manipulation has been employed in a 

 manner of which I am sorry to say I am at present igno- 

 rant." 



I am indebted to Dr. Alfred Pullar for the loan of the 

 specimen before us, which was sent to him by his relative 



