The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-04-19
HOW WOULD YOU
LIKE TO BE ONE
OF THE JIBAR0S

If you are looking for a real wild
Indian, seek the Jibaro. Perhaps you
never heard of him, but you should,
for he's the widest, most savage and
uncultured type of redskin who
thrives today. War and the Jibaro
are SYNONYMOUS. No other Indian
tribe in history has so determinedly
and successfully resisted efforts to
conquer and Christianize it as this
tribe Of the Jibaro.
Today the Jibaro, $1,000 strong,
rule supreme over the vast forest
"egions OF Ecuador, between the San
tiago and Pataso rivers and south ,
ward to the Amazon. 1t Is one, ii
not the most fiourishing, picturesque
and primitive of all surviving tribes
Of redskins. Once, when partly sub
juCated to Spanish rule, they were
goaded to rebellion by enforced
labor in the mines Of their taskmak-
ars and marched 10000 strong into
the stronghold of their enemy and
in ono night completely annihilatod
the 1900 inhabitants. rs an ex-
ample ofatheir savagery they killed
the Governor by pouring molten
gold down his throat in order that
he might have his fill or gold
Like tactics are still pursued and
the Jibaro is little moleSted. War
is their normal condition, their IA
vorite weapons being the lance. the
iavelin and the blow-gun with pois
oned arrows, which have served
them with deadly efficiency.
A traveller recently returned from
their territory told of walking miles
through a forest and seeing a verita-
Bile canopy of human heads, blacken~
de from burns yet wonderfully life
| like. Some of these heads, he learn
| ed, were almost a century old, prac-
tically fossilized by unique method
| of preservation known only to the
Jibaro. These heads, according to
the Catholic Encyclopedia, are those
taken from the bodies of their enc
mics and thus preserved as emblems
of war by an ingenious method of
smoking process which practically
| preserves the features.
The Jibaro have ancient and pc
| culiar customs which are observed
with the strictest conformity.
Thousands of small deserted
structures which once served for
houses are found everywhere in the
forests. These are tombs for the
| dead. 1t Is the custom among the
| Indians to make the spot where one
of their number dies his f1nal resting
place. If a Jibaro dies in the open
air the tree nearest the spot is hol-
lowed and the body entombed
therein.
The houses are from fifty to
eighty feet long, with a door at
each end, one exclusively for men
and the other for women. Disregard
of this rule is punishable by death
Parrots, dogs and monkeys are idol
| lied as household gods. The Jibaro
are never permitted to use salt, but
has an inherent love for certain
salpeterous clay.
The Jibaro is robust, of rotund
body, exceedingly handsome as a
race, although never tall They
| live in luxury, are very immoral and
polygamy is general There is no
| tribal organization or civil author
ity, the only bond between families
being their habitual attendance at
yommon festivals Witchcraft
hourishes and every death is at
| tributcd to this cause. Little is
known of their religious or mytho-
logical beliefs, There are about
| 400 Jibaros who are Christians put
few of thsse are Of the full-bIoode1
| type and are scorned by the major
ity of the tribe. Missionaries say
the Jibaros will never break from
ancient customs. ID