Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-07

then caapi is served In little carved
courds. by cup-bearers who wear
| specially gorgeous headdress of about
| 81 600 worth of egret plumeS
This caapi deserves special notice.
| II 10 n thin. almost colorless liquid,
fat tasting. and bitter. concocted from
the leaves of a vine. AS to its Vaunted
| effect-well, what can i say! Both
| Young America and | partook or IL
| freely with the rest. and of one thihS
| wa are certain; ii ia not Intoxicating
| AT least. not Automatically SO. But II
| imparts distinct and almost tihihe
| date exhilaratiun. III cold retrospect
I can't call 1t courage, But one &C
o,ires n certain feeling of--well, devil
nay.care irresponsihility.
At shutdown the dance begins me
musicians set up sudden SIN ia
whistIing upon reed flutes; ana I'M
mediatelv the whole popuace. men
and women, form an immense circle
with arms interlocked over one an
others shoulders.
In the center of the circle stands
woman, holding by the hand hoy
and girl. The obvious symbolism
of this is to show the malignant spirit
who Expresses them that he isn't by
any means decimatinS the tribe.
With another shrill whistling the
circle breaks into what is no more nor
less than n nake.dance. The musl-
clans plav a plaintive melody that re-
peats itself every fifteen notes ana
carries a marked beat at every ffth.
This they accompany with brightly
painted gourd ratties containing litti"
pebbles with which they emphasize
the beat.
To this rhythm the dancers sway and
weave and coil and uncoil, stamping
the fifth beat with their feet. This
weird music. with its recurrent rhythm,
never ceases; the musicians work In
relays.
And in endless time with its
rhythm the dancers stamp and weave
and swing and coil increasingly
through the night. through the next
day, the next night. the day again, and
so 70 the third night-the dread night
of their meeting with their devil, face.
to-face.
From time-to-time a dancer breaks
from the line to snatch n breath and
a drink of cappi. II he stays TOO
long. the jeers OF the others force him
back. Some slight rest is thus gained,
though not much. The women drop
out early in the dance. The older
men gradually are weeded out. Only
the strongest young men stay TIL the
grim third night of the ordeal
X II X
A 5 dusk approaches. the women are
: all herded into the council moloca
and guards are posted TO keep them
strictly indoors; for 1t is death for
h. Y,,n ,ay.,r
Then, into the silence of that rhythm
comes a sound. Afar in the jungle at
first. Boom-boom boom boom! It
comes. Almost like deep drums. yet
too protracted for a drum.
"Aa.aah" a whisper goes up from
the still figures who stand about me.
The Jurupary comes"
And he comes swiftly. With sud-
den shock one notices that the
shadowy dancers have been aug
mented by fantastic figures weirdly
painted with white, which glImmers
in the freight. When they came or
how Is unknown.
They are just there; and they sway
and stamp back and forth among the
dim dancers and blow ever upon great
funnel.shaped horns from which is
sues this maddening booming. Some
one gaSpS In the dark near me.
"Amm-mu qua! The Jurupary.
Mma.u, six to choose from
SO here is the devil in person-for
this is their belief These men, the six
who blow upon the Jurupary horns. |
which symbolic the voice of the devil |
all-pervading, are neophytes OF the
witch doctors, who, while the warriors
have been performing their three-day
ceremonial of preparation, have been
in the deep jungle undergoing secret
preparation of their own at the hands
Of the ipages.
Details of this preparation I was
never able to ascertain; for it is Sc
cret even from the chiefs. But during
that preparation-which is surely some
form of spirit-raising. for the men APP.
pear to be in a sort Of trance-the
Jurupary himself has entered into the
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