FUNERAL RITES 
a shallow oval grave just outside his hut. A wooden 
beam was placed directly over the body, and then the 
hollow was covered over with some six or eight inches of 
earth. A few branches of trees and some thorns were 
thrown over it, to indicate the spot. 
For twenty days, in the evening and night, moans 
resounded through the air. More tears were shed by the 
relatives and by the barih, who frequently proceeded to 
the grave to pour water on it. On the twentieth day, 
while some one set at play the awe-inspiring, revolving 
board, others proceeded to exhume the body, by then 
in a state of absolute decomposition. The remains 
were taken to the stream, and the bones cleaned with great 
care. The skull was placed within two inverted, hemi¬ 
spherical baskets, whereas all the other bones of the body 
were heaped into a third concave basket of a larger 
size. 
It was on their return, with moans and chanting, to 
the bayto, or meeting-place in the aldeja , that the most 
touching scene ensued. The skull was decorated with a 
design of coloured feathers, while those present inflicted 
wounds upon their own bodies, shedding blood upon the 
basket of remains. The women, moreover, tore one by 
one each hair from their heads and bodies in sign of 
mourning. 
After this the skull and bones were placed within 
another basket, and were either cremated or thrown to 
the bottom of a river. The property of the deceased was 
then set ablaze. 
I noticed in a hut a skirt made of long palm leaves. 
It was donned at funerals. There were also several long, 
rudimentary flutes, formed by a cane cylinder with a 
rounded mouthpiece inserted into another. These flutes, 
too, were used only on such mournful occasions. 
The barih received a present from relatives at the 
death of individuals in the tribe. The family remained 
vol. i. — 15 225 
