Jivaro

Flornoy describes his time, along with two compatriots (Flornoy is an ethnographer, his colleagues are a geographer and a photographer), in Ecuador and Peru, up the Amazon, engaging with the Jivaro headhunters. Flornoy alternates between playing down the danger and telling us how dangerous they are - but does a great job of cataloguing / explaining the everyday life, the ceremonies, the hunting and the general way of life of various different groups of Jivaro Indians.

There are a couple of maps and 22 photos which illustrate Flornoy's experiences, and while the photography was probably good for the time (1953), they are not up to much compared to nowdays.
Probably the most important part of the book is the explanation of the process for the infamous head-shrinking ceremony or process, which Flornoy witnessed on two occasions and combined the two to offer a more complete explanation for the reader.

Interestingly the (very brief) introduction is written by Brian Fawcett, younger son of Percy Fawcett who had famously gone missing with his elder son and another man in the Brazilian Amazon in 1925.

A quick and interesting read, fast paced and informative.

4 stars.