Note 115 — CLASSIFICATION OF KATCINAS

This is only time I have seen the Death god personified. The Paiakaíamû rushed up to me and demanded a knife, and when I refused to give it, not aware of their intention, they sought other ways to kill the poor brute. It was an exhibition of extreme savagery, but of course with no danger to any of the spectators. Later in their antics the gluttons themselves were lightly struck with a cactus branch, and the person who performed this painful act went from housetop to housetop touching the arm or neck of every spectator—man, woman, and child. During this dance these Tcukuwympkiyas performed the disgusting act of drinking human urine. Mr Cushing, in the Century Magazine, records the slaughter of a dog in a similar manner, except that he says that his life was threatened before the dog was killed, and it was by his defiant attitude that he was not seized by the performers.