OVER TRAIL AND THROUGH JUNGLE IN ECUADOR 



331 



scalps. The skin is opened up from the 

 base of the neck to the crown, and the 

 skull is removed entire, leaving only the 

 soft, pliant skin. 



The skin is now dipped into a vegetable 

 extract which dyes it a blue-black and 

 probably has some action as a preserva- 

 tive, and then the cut skin is sewed up 

 along the neck to restore the head to its 

 original form. 



The cavity is filled with hot sand or 

 pebbles, after which the head is constantly 

 turned and moved, so that the drying goes 

 on uniformly. When the sand has cooled, 

 hot sand takes its place, and this process 

 may last for several days before the head 

 is completely cured. 



Shrinking to an unbelievable degree 

 takes place, but it is so regulated that the 

 features retain their individuality to a 

 great extent, and the finished head is 

 about the size of a man's fist. 



The lips have been sewed shut with a 

 series of long cotton cords, the exact pat- 

 tern of this stitching varying with the 

 locality and seeming to have some signifi- 

 cance. 



Within a short time after the prepara- 

 tion of a head, generally within a month, 

 the victor celebrates the event by a cere- 

 monial dance at which there is an orgy of 

 wild drinking. After this dance it may 

 be possible to buy the head from the 

 Jivaro, if his interest can be aroused in 

 an object whose value he understands and 

 appreciates, such as a musket. 



SOUVENIR CRAZE STIMULATED HEAD- 

 HUNTING 



Because of the interest aroused in the 

 outside world by tales concerning these 

 head-hunters, there has been in the past a 

 lively trade in human heads. The Jivaros, 

 learning that there was this demand 

 which could be capitalized into muskets, 

 quickly gave a ready response ; so that it 

 became necessary for the Ecuadorean 

 Government strictly to forbid the traffic 

 in these objects. 



Tales are told of the results of this 

 practice which are not without a certain 

 grim irony. There is a story, for ex- 

 ample, of a red-headed white man who 

 went into the interior on a trip of ex- 

 ploration charged with the commission of 

 bringing out a dried and shrunken head. 

 It was months after he had departed that 



a shrunken head came out, by devious 

 channels, from the Orientc, but the head 

 had red hair. Perhaps a red-haired head 

 brought the price of two muskets ; who 

 can tell? 



Contrary to our expectations, after 

 hearing stories of the Jivaros (and to the 

 average Ecuadorean the word Jivaro is 

 synonymous with violent death and all 

 manner of disagreeable things), we found 

 them a good-natured people and very 

 friendly to us. 



Like the Quichuas, they are below 

 medium height, but with a splendid chest 

 development and with a rather pleasing 

 cast of countenance. The men wear their 

 hair long, but often cut it away to form 

 bangs in front, and it is ornamented with 

 tufts of bright red and yellow toucan 

 feathers on the crown and at the base of 

 the neck. 



The men wear slender tubes of bamboo 

 thrust through the lobes of the ears and 

 the women often have a short piece of 

 cane projecting straight out from the 

 lower lip. 



FAITHLESS WIVES RECEIVE DIRE 

 PUNISHMENT 



On their own trails, the Jivaro costume 

 could scarcely be considered a burden to 

 the wearer, but when these Indians visit 

 the border settlements they wear a one- 

 piece garment consisting of a cotton cloth, 

 which they weave themselves, caught up 

 around the waist. 



The men we saw appeared to treat their 

 women kindly and showed a considera- 

 tion for their wishes in minor matters. 

 If the wife is detected in any breach of 

 infidelity, however, she is subjected to a 

 terrific course of discipline. 



For the first offense the punishment 

 consists of throwing the erring woman to 

 the ground, holding her there, and cutting 

 down on to the crown of her head with a 

 large machete, or brush knife. The man 

 makes a great many cuts, which are at an 

 angle to one another, so that the scalp is 

 literally hacked into small pieces and all 

 the hair is lost. 



Should this not prove sufficient to in- 

 culcate fidelitv, the second offense results 

 in the woman's being pinned to the earth 

 by a long, iron-pointed lance, which is 

 thrust deep into the ground through the 

 fleshy parts of both legs. Given food, 



