Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/387

 OF THE AMAZON. 347

pounded into a fine powder, and mixed in several large couches (vats made of hollowed trees) of caxiri : this is drunk by the assembled company till all is finished ; they believe that thus the virtues of the deceased will be transmitted to the drinkers.

The Cobeus alone, in the Uaupes, are real cannibals : they eat those of other tribes whom they kill in battle, and even make war for the express purpose of procuring human flesh for food. When they have more than they can consume at once, they smoke-dry the flesh over the fire, and preserve it for food a long time. They burn their dead, and drink the ashes in caxiri, in the same manner as described above.

Every tribe and every "malocca " (as their houses are called) has its chief, or " Tushaua," who has only a limited authority, principally in war, in making festivals, and in repairing the malocca and keeping the village clean, and in planting the mandiocca-fields ; he also treats with the traders, and supplies them with men to pursue their journeys. The succession of these chiefs is strictly hereditary in the male line, or through the female to her husband, who may be a stranger : their regular hereditary chief is never superseded, however stupid, dull, or cowardly he may be. They have very little law of any kind ; but what they have is of strict retaliation, — an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ; and a murder is punished or revenged in the same manner and by the same weapon with which it was committed.

They have numerous " Pages," a kind of priests, answering to the " medicine-men " of the North American Indians. These are believed to have great power : they cure all diseases by charms, applied by strong blowing and breathing upon the party to be cured, and by the singing of certain songs and incantations. They are also believed to have power to kill enemies, to bring or send away rain, to destroy dogs or game, to make the fish leave a river, and to afflict with various diseases. They are much consulted and believed in, and are well paid for their services. An Indian will give almost all his wealth to a page, when he is threatened with any real or imagi- nary danger.

They scarcely seem to think that death can occur naturally, always imputing it either to direct poisoning or the charms of rome enemy, and, on this supposition, will proceed to revenge it. This they generally do by poisons, of which they have