146 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



rubbing the paint in her left hand smooth with the palm of the right, 

 she scored marks across the paint, and again others at right angles, 

 leaving the impression of as many crosses, which she stamped upon diffe- 

 rent parts of her body ; rubbing the paint, and making the crosses 

 afresh after every stamp was made. 



" The men, after having marked themselves in a similar manner 

 to do which some stripped to the waist, and covered all their body 

 with impressions), proceeded to do the same to the boys, who were not 

 permitted to perform this part of the ceremony themselves. Manuel, 

 Maria's husband, who seemed to be her chief assistant on the occasion, 

 then took from the folds of the sacred wrapper an awl, and with it 

 pierced either the arms or ears of the whole party, each of whom, 

 presented in turn, pinched up between the finger and thumb, that portion 

 of flesh which was to be perforated. The object evidently was to lose 

 blood, and those from whom the blood flowed freely showed marks of 

 satisfaction, while some, whose wounds bled but little, underwent the 

 operation a second time. 



" When Manuel had finished, he gave the awl to Maria, who 

 pierced his arm ; and then, with great solemnity and care, muttering 

 and talking to herself in Spanish (not two words of which I could 

 catch, although I knelt down close to her and listened with the 

 greatest attention), she removed two or three wrappers, and exposed to 

 our view a small figure, carved in wood, representing a dead person 

 stretched out. After exposing the image, to which all paid the greatest 

 attention, and contemplating it for some moments in silence, Maria 

 began to descant upon the virtues of her Christ, telling us it had a 

 good heart ('buon corazon') and was very fond of tobacco. Shortly 

 after this the image was carefully packed up again, and the traffic, 

 which had been suspended, recommenced with redoubled activity." 



Of another class of ceremonies — namely, those relating to 

 the burial of the dead — Falkner thus writes : — 



" When an Indian dies, one of the most distinguished women among 

 them is immediately chosen to make a skeleton of the body, which is 

 done by cutting out the- entrails, which they burn to ashes, dissecting 

 the flesh from the bones as clean as possible, and then burying them 

 underground till the remaining flesh is entirely rotted off, or till they 

 are removed (which must be within a year after the interment, but is 



