The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-03-27
A CURIOUS MUMMY.
South AmtricanS Used to Shrink the
Heads of Their Enemies.

The Charleston museum an
nounces a special exhibit Of unusual
interest to be opened tomorrow al
ternoon. This exhibit consists Of
the Fossil Man of Guadalupe, which
has been in the museum for more
than a hundred years and is now
emerging after a retirement Of over
ten years and of two mummied
heads from South America.
The Indian custom of scalping
ones enemies is mild in comparison
with the diabolic ingenuity of the
Jibaros in converting human heads
into cute little dwarf mummies. The
Jibaros live in the corner of Ecua-
dor and Peru and at the headwaters
of the Amazon, where they wander
in the forests. Juan de Velasco de-
clares them to be faithful, noble
and amiable'' as we'll as brave AMI
warlike.' In spite of these admira-
BILE qualities, or perhaps because of
them, they have from time immemo-
rial practiced the gentle art of pre-
serving the heads of their enemies
as permanent trophies of their
prowess.
The process is complicated one.
Through an incision in the back of
the heads all bones and flesh are re-
moved. Very hot pebbles are then
ton by passing the head from one
introduced and kept in constant mo-
hand to the other. AS the pebbles
touch the inside of the skin they
scorch it and perform the double
function of cooking it and shrinking
it. Much skill must be required to
prevent the pebbles burning too long
in one spot and to reach all parts of
the skin. When one performer in
this gentle rite becomes tired he
passes the head on to another, and
this work is continued for approXi-
mately two weeks. BY that time the
head is shrunken to less than one
fifth it's original size, but every de-
tail of eyebrows, nose, lips and ears
is preserved with grewsome perfec-
tion in this curious miniature.
Styles apparently change slowly
with the Jibaros, for these shrunken
human heads are always very SINH
lar in form and arrangement. The
face is drawn forward in sort of
snout and the lips invariably are
sewed together with three cords
which depend as long tassels. Some
times brilliant feather pendants
hang from the ears, as in the case
of the specimen now shown in the
museum.
The effect of this elaborate ma
nipulation is not as horrible as one
might suppose, but on the contrary
is quite dainty. Ones first emotion
on seeing one of these little heads
may be a feeling of repulsion, which
is invariably succeeded by one of
fascination. One lady who had to be
stimulated by two mint drops after
the first inspection was found the
next day fondly stroking the glossy
black hair with its tones of bronze,
and the only anxiety of the museum
authorities is that visitors may not
be willing to part from their new
Peruvian friend and will want the
privilege of taking him home.
The Jibaros used to practice their
skill only on their enemies, but
when museums and collectors began
to express in a financial way their
appreciation of these museum tro-
phies, the Jibaros very willingly be-
gan to make them to order, and the
collector might notice when he went
DdCh IOT HIS prize IudC lu0 Olu
grandmother was no longer a visi-
BILE member of the family. Occa-
sionally a white mans head appears
in this shrunken form, representing
perhaps some unpopular collector.
In view of these occurrences the gov
ernment has now prohibited the
manufacture or export of these pro-
ducts of the Jibaros. The occasional
specimens that turn up in the mar
kets of the world are valued at from
5000 to $400.
The specimen that will be exhibit
ed at the museum tomorrow was
presented by Mr.. Archer M. Hunt
ington, of New York City. It will
be installed temporarily in a
special case, together with an en-
tirely different type of mummied
head made by the Mundrucus Indians
lower down the Amazon and the