Evening star., 1932-02-22
'LONE HIKE BEGUN
IN STRANGE JUNGLE
Mathew W. Stirling of Smith,
sonian to Study Jivaro
Indian Customs.

Mathew w Stirling. chief o. the
Bureau of American Ethnology of the
Smithsonian Institute. has started out
on foot into the jungles whose only
inhabitants are the Jivaro Indians, the
notorious head hunters of Ecuador and
Peru.
Before cutting himself off from COM
/ munication with the outside world,
Stirling had established friendly con-
facts with the natives and had de lined
an invitation to take part in head
| hunting expedition. according to his
last letters to associates at the Smith
sonian. before he and his companions
struck out INTO the forests. He expects
to be out of mail communication for
two months The Indians he has al
ready encountered. he wrote. are
highly interesting quite friendly and
real primitive tribes"
Customs to Be Studied.
Study of the customs of this jungle
people-who deal sudden death with
mysterious poisons on their arrow tips
| and preserve the dried heads Of their
victims as Souvenirs-is the main object
/ has penetrated parts of the J.yaro
country which lies around the great
rivers Pastaza Morona. Upano-Santiago
and their affluentS. regions politically
divided between Ecuador and Peru. This
land is covered largely with virgin for
: est The people arc among the most
warlike of all the Indian tribes of South
America. Their total number Is ,stl-
mated at between $4,000 and 10000.
They are divided into small tribes, gen.
orally hostile to each other.
Mr Stirling is especially interested IN
| their head hunting customs and in the
strange drugs used by the warriors.
When victory has been attained over
| another tribe it is the practice to sever
| the heads of the slain enemies. Most
,Iivaro warriors. according TO reports on
file at the Bureau of American Ethnol-
ogy would consider the whole war more
or less of a failure unless they returned
with head trophies. The rule Is that p
warrior who has captured head shall
celebrate a feast which opens the road
to honor and fame. to material Wealth'
to new victories o"er enemies, ana a
long life. This is the great mystery
feast of the tribe It is essentially a
religious rite
Reduced With Hot Sand.
Once the head is obtained. by a
laborious process of treating with hot
sand the grim trophy is reduced to
| about the size Of an orange o'lt yet
ret7ins its human features. Then II
is dyed b ack with Ch.rcCa'. The most
essential part Of the trophy is the hair
Am ne the Jiyaros the men as a rule
wear tho hair much longer than the
women They believe it is the seat OF
the soul The heads OF animals some
! times are prepared in the same way
One of the most powerful drugs
| known to the JivarCS. according I re-
ports to the bureau. is known as Mai
koa prepared from Jungle shrub. Ihe
drink has the power Of completely mar
! cotizing the Indian as well as causing
peculiar visions and haLuclnatlonA
! The souls of ancestors appear in all
| sorts Of terrible shapes, as tigers. eagles
/ giant snaFes and other wild animals. or
reveal their presence in stupendouS
phenc mena of nature. Only after a
man has experienced these visions can
he become a successful WarriCr.
The people among whom Mr. Stirring
| and his companions have gone are re-
puted to be quite quarre.some Thelr
| unbcunded sense of libe-ty Is one rea-
son why they d. not live in village
but each family separately. In this
wav quarrels most easily are avoided
| Witchcrqft beliefs are universal among
them. When a member Of family
dies the death is most likely to be at
tributed to spells cast upon the victim
by some member of a neighborlng fam
ilv Then one Of the great blood teuds
starts.