Fig. 20 represents a kind of trumpet made of wood, and nearly seven feet in length, which Gumilla found among the Indians in the vicinity of the Orinoco. It somewhat resembles the _juruparis_ (Fig. 21), a mysterious instrument of the Indians on the Rio Haupés, a tributary of the Rio Negro, South America. The _juruparis_ is regarded as an object of great veneration. Women are never permitted to see it. So stringent is this law that any woman obtaining a sight of it is put to death――usually by poison. No youths are allowed to see it until they have been subjected to a series of initiatory fastings and scourgings. The _juruparis_ is usually kept hidden in the bed of some stream, deep in the forest; and no one dares to drink out of that sanctified stream, or to bathe in its water. At feasts the _juruparis_ is brought out during the night, and is blown outside the houses of entertainment. The inner portion of the instrument consists of a tube made of slips of the Paxiaba palm (_Triartea exorrhiza_). When the Indians are about to use the instrument they nearly close the upper end of the tube with clay, and also tie above the oblong square hole (shown in the engraving) a portion of the leaf of the Uaruma, one of the arrow-root family. Round the tube are wrapped long strips of the tough bark of the Jébaru (_Parivoa grandiflora_). This covering descends in folds below the tube. The length of the instrument is from four to five feet. The illustration (Fig. 21), which exhibits the _juruparis_ with its cover and without it, has been taken from a specimen in the museum at Kew gardens. The mysteries connected with this trumpet are evidently founded on an old tradition from prehistoric Indian ancestors. _Jurupari_ means “demon”; and with several Indian tribes on the Amazon customs and ceremonies still prevail in honour of Jurupari. The Caroados, an Indian tribe in Brazil, have a war trumpet which closely resembles the _juruparis_. With this people it is the custom for the chief to give on his war trumpet the signal for battle, and to continue blowing as long as he wishes the battle to last. The trumpet is made of wood, and its sound is described by travellers as very deep but rather pleasant. The sound is easily produced, and its continuance does not require much exertion; but a peculiar vibration of the lips is necessary which requires practice. Another trumpet, the _turé_, is common with many Indian tribes on the Amazon who use it chiefly in war. It is made of a long and thick bamboo, and there is a split reed in the mouthpiece. It therefore partakes rather of the character of an oboe or clarinet. Its tone is described as loud and harsh. The _turé_ is especially used by the sentinels of predatory hordes, who, mounted on a lofty tree, give the signal of attack to their comrades.