OVER TRAIL AND THROUGH JUNGLE IN ECUADOR 



329 



takes, but is not par- 

 ticularly addicted to 

 evil for its own sake. 



No important proj- 

 ect is undertaken with- 

 out first consulting el 

 diablo and getting 

 his views. The Jivaros 

 do not appear to have 

 a highly developed 

 priestly class and any 

 man may enter into 

 consultation with him. 

 To do this, it is neces- 

 sary to retire to the 

 seclusion of some spot 

 remote from the rest 

 of the Jivaros, and 

 here the would-be 

 communicant prepares 

 himself for the ordeal 

 by drinking a quantity 

 of a certain extract 

 made from a particu- 

 lar variety of bark. 

 This fluid is dark, 

 about the color of cof- 

 fee, and contains some 

 very powerful narcotic 

 principle, for it pro- 

 duces a stupor and 

 hallucinations, of a 

 different type but in a 

 way comparable to the 

 result produced by the 

 use of opium or hemp. 



While under the in- 

 fluence of this drink, 

 which may be for four 

 or five hours, the Ji- 

 varo imagines that the 

 devil comes to him and 

 discusses whatever 

 matter is afoot. Inas- 

 much as the mind of the man is filled with 

 his plans when he takes the narcotic, it is 

 but natural that his disordered reason 

 concocts a fanciful dialogue and arrives 

 at a confirmation of what he really be- 

 lieved when he first came. 



If the devil has properly coached his 

 client and the raid is eminently success- 

 ful, the hut of the victim is surrounded, 

 and when the latter steps out of the door 

 he receives at close range the contents of 

 all the guns in the party. The women 

 and children are hastily captured and the 



T SERIE DOES NOT 



LOOK THE PART 

 SAVAGE 



OE A HEAD-HUNTING 



But this is a case where appearances are deceptive. He wore a 

 perpetual smile while visiting the author and his party and seemed 

 the soul of good nature. His necklace is made of white buttons and 

 his hair shows that he gave it all the attention deserved for such 

 a momentous occasion, his debut before the "Gringos." "T'serie" is 

 also the name the Jivaros use for the small marmoset monkey. 



raiders seek the safety of their own 

 neighborhood, with the reasonable as- 

 surance that sooner or later they will be 

 raided in a like manner by relatives of the 

 slain man. 



PREPARING A VICTIM'S HEAD AS A LASTING 

 TROPHY 



The head of the victim is cut off, and 

 later, in the seclusion of his hut, the victor 

 prepares it into a lasting war trophy, 

 attaching to it the significance which the 

 North American Indian attached to 



