Chapter One - To Drink of Death: Tukup's Headhunter Autobiography and the Characteristics of Tribal- Warrior Autobiography

Summary

I want to begin this book with Tukup's autobiography for three reasons. First, To Drink of Death is a stunning narrative, one that deserves to be better known. Second, it presents most of the important characteristics of tribal- warrior and street- gang autobiography. Third, it does so with a near- absolute minimum of editorial interference. To Drink of Death is a carefully edited representation of a single, continuous oral performance entirely of Tukup's own devising.

Tukup's People

The Shuar (or Jívaro) Indians live in the mountains and hills that rise from the northeastern edge of the Amazon basin to meet the Ecuadorian Andes.1 Their reputation as a fierce people and as shrinkers of heads is of long standing. They drove out the mighty Inca invaders in 1527. Their revolt against their Spanish overlords in 1599 was the only successful Indian revolt against Spanish rule, and they were successful despite Spain's lust for the gold that lay thick in the rivers of Shuar territory. The Shuar have no story about this revolt in their oral traditions, but Spanish records provide a vivid account. A Shuar chief named Quirruba managed to bring together an alliance of several tribes. Quirruba led his warriors from one isolated Spanish town to the next. They managed to surprise each town in turn, killing most of the Spanish in their houses, before they could organize themselves to resist. The defeat of the Spanish was total; the vengeance of Quirruba was terrible. According to an old account, the Shuar found the house of a governor:

They killed all the people who were inside, except for the Governor […]. They told him that it was now time for him to receive the tax of gold which he had ordered prepared.

They stripped him completely naked, tied his hands and feet; and while they amused themselves with him […] the others set up a large forge in the courtyard, where they melted the gold. When it was ready in the crucibles, they opened his mouth with a bone, saying that they wanted to see if for once he had enough gold. They poured it little by little, and then forced it down with another bone; and bursting his bowels with the torture, all raised a clamor and laughter.

(in Harner 1972: 21)