HEAD-HUNTING STILL GOES ON

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 120, 14 February 1941, Page 5

HEAD-HUNTING STILL GOES ON

In Jungles Of Ecuador GRUESOME TRAFFIC PERSISTS In the jungle fastnesses of littleknown Ecuador, the grisly pastime of bead-hunting still goes ou. In New Zealand traffic in human heads, smoked and dried, flourished a century ago: but since the days of the Maori wars it has been a thing of the past. But. on the slopes of the Andes it continues today. A practice which had its origin in the quest of renown as a warrior has in the past 75 years been converted into a profitable taxideriuic hobby by unscrupulous persons, not always Jivaro Indians, who have found a ready market for their product in the outside world. In such cases, writes Elsie Bramell in the Australian Museum Magazine, the craftsmanship is frequently superior to that of the genuine Jivaro product. Miss Bramell's article is prompted by the presentation to the Australian _fiuseum. Sydney, of such a head, reduced in curing to about the size of a-large orange. It bears, she says, an extraordinary lifelike expression of repose. Au examination of it at once rouses curiosity us to how the reduction in size, let alone the perfect stale of preservation could have been brought about. The process is actually quite simple. Au eye-witness. Up de (..’•raff. in LSDt), accompanied a Jivaro war party and watched the proceedings on Hs iriuinphant return. The operation was cuininenced by severing the head and part ef I lie neck from the body. The tlesh was slit up the back of the head, and rhe bones carefully removed, leaving the tlesh and hair only. r l'he slit was then sewn up, the lips skewered together, the eyelids drawn down, the eyebrows held in place with small pegs, and the nose and ears plugged with cotton. Ihe aim was to preserve the normal proportions of the head when it was tilled out with hoi sand. Next, each head was placed in a pol tilled with fresh cold water and brought slowly to boiling point. Just til this point, so that the tlesh miglu not be softened, the head was withdrawn and was found to have shrunk i o one-third of its original size. Hot sand was then poured into the head io toughen and shrink it even iurther; the outer surface was ironed over with hot hat stones. 'rhe treatment was carried on over a i>eriod of -IS hours to draw rhe oil and fat from the lace, which by this time was considered “cured.” When the full number of heads taken in the raid had been prepared, a warlike celebration was held. Head-liuntiug was once a widespread custom in the northern Andes. 'Phe Jivaros are the last tribe to retain the