"It is necessary for them to kill their enemies, and impale the heads, or nail them up to their huts."
"Is it a religious ceremony?"
"In some cases that is so. In some tribes the object is merely to show bravery and manliness. The more heads a man possesses the braver he is."
The vicinity of the hut was carefully examined,[p. 236] and Uraso brought to John a very curiously arranged shell, with a handle to it. It was, in fact, a rattle. John took the article, and after examining it for some time, remarked:
"These people will be difficult to deal with; very difficult."
"Why do you form that conclusion from the examination of the rattle?"
"This is a vele."
"A vele; and what in the world is that?"
"A vele is a sort of hoodoo; it is something that many natives believe in with such tenacity that if any one having this rattle points to him and declares him veleed, and announces that the veleed one will die the next day, he will lay down and actually expire as predicted."
"Do you believe such tales?" asked Harry.