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Jibaros of Ecuador.

Wm. Bollaert.
On the Idol Human head of the Jibaro Indians of
Ecuador ( Trans. of the Ethnol. Soc. of London 1863.)

La Condamine (1745.)

Lubbock (1871.) — &c., &c.

Jibaros live in the vast triangular region bounded
on the west by the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes, on the north-
east by the river Pastaza, on the south by the river Marañon, and
the Cordillera de Condor. — Absolute ethnic unity of savages in-
habiting this great territory. Their habits and customs totally
distinct from those of surrounding tribes. Different language.
The Jibaros form an ethnographic unit. Independent, intelligent
and fierce.

"Armés de simples lances de bois, ont su garder
jusqu'à l'ovée du XX siècle, toute leur pureté de race et leur
originalité." Neither conquered nor converted. Known since
XV century. — Buried in impenetrable forests. No villages, only
scattered huts. Attempts of Spaniards to found 9 towns in
Jibaro region (XVI cent.) all a failure. Logroño attacked at
night by 20,000 Jibaros and wiped out. Chief makes Spanish govern-
or drink melted gold to "appease his taste for riches". 12,000
killed. All Spanish towns had disappeared by end of 16 cent.

Jesuits and Franciscans attempt same invasion in
XVII cent. — Religious expeditions. Man-hunting through the
forest by missionaries. The few Indians caught escape or commit

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suicide. Attempts continue in XVIII cent.

When the Padre Antonio Prieto (Franciscan) visited the region in 1816, the Jibaros received him amicably, and showed him an orange-grove, saying: "Here your ancestors, the white men, are buried". The tradition of the great Logroño massacre had been faithfully handed down since 1599. Padre Prieto also saw the ruins of a group of buildings, fortified, and covering a large piece of ground. They were already overgrown with trees.

Jesuits again attempt in 1871 to convert and colonize. — Driven out by Jibaros. — The Franciscans alone have kept one or two missions. — Results are nil, but many interesting facts learned from missionaries.

Weapons—the lance and the "Sarbacane"— from which small arrows with poisoned tips are shot. The poison is a black paste obtained from the Ticuna Indians. Called ticuna or yagua (name of another tribe.) — The Jibaros add to it poisonous ants called *izulas*, and then cook it. This poisons animals but not men.

The Shanza—Mummy head.

The head is cut off very low down, on a line with the shoulders. Then an incision is made in the skin at the middle of the back of the head, from the top of the skull to the nape, or sometimes a double incision laterally from the nape to the back of the ear. The scalp and skin of face are thus detached, and the skull extracted.

The skin is then put in water and boiled, an infusion of herbs being added. Then the skin is put on a heated round stone serving as a mould. This is repeated several times, each stone being smaller than the preceding one, the last no larger than

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an orange. Meanwhile the Indian irons the exterior of the skin
with another heated stone. The lips are pierced with three holes
corresponding in the upper and lower lip and laced together to keep
the mouth shut. The skin thus hardens, shrinks and takes a dark
bronze tint. The work is done in a day. The immense "chevelure"
is combed and decorated with ornaments. The head is filled with
hot sand and exposed to the heat of a fire. — The skin is often
like black leather, but sometimes pale bronze. Extremely dry and
firm, they don't break or crumble. The nose and mouth are pushed
out, so that they form a sort of snout. The ears are very small
and delicate and the fold along the nape is preserved. Inside the
head is often a dried ball of resin, used to stop up the opening at
the back, and rattling in the tiny hard head like a tongue in a
bell. These heads are about the size of