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Show Traveling Around America ! ; JUST A COUPLE OF SANS AS MAKING little heads out of big ones Is an old Jivaro custom once in voguej-now fast losing favor in the jung"les at the headwaters head-waters of the Amazon. The finished product Is known as sansa. The Jivaro, instead of collecting scalps, brings back his. victim's head and shrinks it. It is a long process which ' requires a great deal of patience and skill. First the bone structure 'Is carefully removed. The head Is then lowered into a boiling concoction of herbs which gradually shrinks It to the size of a man's fist, darkening It considerably In the process. When sufficiently shrunken the head Is removed from the liquid and with eyelids and lips tied Bhut is filled with hot sand and the features worked back Into their original form. The head thus filled with sand is hung upside down, of course in order to retain- the contents con-tents over a smoldering fire which smokes and preserves it When it It sufficiently "cured" to hold its shape, the sand is emptied out. The result is startling to say the least a tinj yet perfectly formed hollow head ' with full length brows, eyelash and long flowing locks. (The hair fails to Bhrink during these treatments.) treat-ments.) The whole process requires several days, for it is accompanied by weird ceremonies and much singing, sing-ing, dancing and drinking. It is comforting com-forting to note that these sansas always al-ways bear the features of a primitive primi-tive Indian, The JIvaros ar very friendly to white men who treat them with respect, and many travelers travel-ers taking the weekly cruise to the west coast of South America take time off to visit their villages. Edna Ma Stabs . |
