348 



ON THE ABORIGINE^ 



many which are most deadly in their effects : they are given at 

 some festival in a bowl of caxiri, which it is good manners 

 always to empty, so that the whole dose is sure to be taken. 

 One of the poisons often used is most terrible in its effects, 

 causing the tongue and throat, as well as the intestines, to pu- 

 trefy and rot away, so that the sufferer lingers some days in the 

 greatest agony : this is of course again retaliated, on perhaps 

 the wrong party, and thus a long succession of murders may 

 result from a mere groundless suspicion in the first instance. 



I cannot make out that they have any belief that can be 

 called a religion. They appear to have no definite idea of a 

 God ; if asked who they think made the rivers, and the forests, 

 and the sky, they will reply that they do not know, or some- 

 times that they suppose it was *'Tupanau," a word that appears 

 to answer to God, but of which they understand nothing. They 

 have much more definite ideas of a bad spirit, JurupanV or 

 Devil, whom they fear, and endeavour through their pages to 

 propitiate. When it thunders, they say the "Jurupari" is 

 angry, and their idea of natural death is that the " Jurupari " 

 kills them. At an eclipse they believe that this bad spirit is 

 killing the moon, and they make all the noise they can to 

 frighten him away. 



One of their most singular superstitions is about the musical 

 instruments they use at their festivals, which they call the 

 Jurupari music. These consist of eight or sometimes twelve 

 pipes, or trumpets, made of bamboos or palm-stems hollowed 

 out, some with trumpet-shaped mouths of bark and with 

 mouth-holes of clay and leaf. Each pair of instruments gives 

 a distinct note, and they produce a rather agreeable concert, 

 something resembling clarionets and bassoons. These instru- 

 ment, however, are with them such a mystery that no woman 

 must ever see them, on pain of death. They are always kept 

 in sone igaripe, at a distance from the malocca, whence they 

 are brought on particular occasions : when the sound of them 

 is heard approaching, every woman retires into the woods, or 

 into some adjoining 'shed, which they generally have near, and 

 remains invisible till after the ceremony is over, when the 

 instruments are taken away to their hiding-place, and the 

 women come out of their concealment. Should any female 

 be supposed to have seen them, either by accident or design, 

 she is invaribly executed, generally by poison, and a father 



