formed. When, however, the general interest of the race is
in question, then he comes boldly forward in support of the whole. The
usual assemblages are for the arrangement of long hunting excursions,
and warlike expeditions. The departures and the returns are celebrated
by tumultuous feasts, in which intoxicating drinks flow freely. Most of
the liquors are prepared from Yucca, or the fruits of the Chunta, called
the _Mazato_, or other species of palms. In the most remote forests, and
among the most insulated tribes, the preparation of intoxicating liquors
is known; and there certainly is not in all South America an Indian race
which is not familiar with it. Wild dances form part of the
entertainments, and the banquet usually ends with a sanguinary battle.

Marriage in most races is celebrated socially, but not among those in
which polygamy prevails. The formula observed on the occasion differs in
different tribes; in some the union is effected under painful ceremonies
to the bride, in others with fasting and penitential torments to the
bridegroom. In general the Indian selects a wife for himself. In the
greater number of tribes a maiden is set up as a prize, and the young
men commence a life or death contest for her. The oldest warriors are
arbitrators, and from their hands the conqueror receives the prize. This
is the practice among the inhabitants of the Rio de Santa Catalina. With
them, as well as with most of the tribes of Western Ucayali, the birth
of a child is festively celebrated. The oldest individuals of the race
assemble to receive the child, which is repeatedly blown on to drive
demons and sickness away from it; the name of an animal is then given
to it, and, according to Don Pedro Beltran, the witnesses of the
ceremony mark with a wooden pencil some hieroglyphic characters on two
leaves, which are carefully preserved, and on the death of the Indian,
deposited in the grave with him.

The dead are buried in the huts. The survivors having testified their
sorrow by a melancholy howl three times repeated, leave the place and
build a new residence for themselves in a distant district. They break
in pieces all the household furniture of the deceased, but they bury
with him his warlike weapons and his agricultural implements, under the
conviction that he will use them in the place to which he is going. A
peculiar custom among several races is this: the oldest son cuts a
piece from the heel of his deceased father, w