FORESTS OF THE UAUPES 331 
stood to be My mother ! why did you die, my 
mother ! " varied by an occasional angry exclama- 
tion directed against the paje (wizard) who was 
supposed to have caused her death. For among 
all the Indians on the Uaupes there seems to be 
a belief that death is always caused by some evil 
wish, or witchcraft, or putting secretly some poison 
into the food which should sooner or later prove 
mortal. In this case another old woman — very old 
— was pitched on as the paje, and had not her 
relatives been the most powerful family on the 
river (for she is aunt of Bernardo of Urubii-coara), 
there seems little doubt that they would have 
killed her. 
In the afternoon a grave was dug inside the 
house, and the body put into it, the lamenting 
going on all the while without intermission, and by 
sunset the whole population had assembled on the 
spot. As many as there was room for seated them- 
selves round the grave, some of them with pieces of 
wood in their hands, beating the earth hard down 
over the corpse, in order, said they, that the paje 
who had caused the woman's death should not 
carry off her body. When night closed in a large 
fire was lighted on the grave, that its occupant 
might not suffer cold deep down in the ground. 
Into the fire was thrown everything that had 
belonged to the deceased — her hammock, saya, 
baskets, tinder-box, etc. The fire was kept up and 
the people sang and wept round it all through the 
night. 
I inquired if they considered that nothing 
remained of the deceased save the body under 
their feet, and was told that her anga (soul) was 
