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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 


i. s- BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
iv BULLETIN 143 


HANDBOOK 
OF 


SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


JuuLian H. Stewarp, Editor 


Volume 1 
THE MARGINAL TRIBES 


Prepared in Cooperation With the United States Department of State as a Project of 
the Interdepartmental Committee on Cultural and Scientific Cooperation 


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SAARC UNITED STATES 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
WASHINGTON : 1946 


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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. 
Price $2.75 


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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 


SMITHSONIAN INsTITUTION, 
Bureau oF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, 
Washington, D.C., April 1, 1944. 


Str: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled 
“Handbook of South American Indians. Volume 1. The Marginal 
Tribes,” edited by Julian H. Steward, and to recommend that it be 
published as a bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 

Very respectfully yours, 
Frank H. H. Ropserts, Jr., Acting Chief. 

Dr. C. G. Anpor, 

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 


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CONTENTS 


PAGE 

J ORE EE 1 (ee = oats FN Se ag 5 a ae aia te xIxX 
Imtroduction; by Julians Steward) Widitor=—- 2-2 22" Ser 1 
PresentationJommaterialssnanener - es os ee ee 5 
Acknowledomentsmeetneene ts see arn tat se ters one soaeS: 8 
Contributors wor Volumes seer 6 = set ttt 8 ee Ee sek eee 11 
Pant 1. Indians of southerm*south Americal — 0 °° 208 13 
The Southern Hunters: An introduction, by John M. Cooper__-_-_-__- 13 
The archeology of Patagonia, by Junius Bird______-______________- 17 
Introduchoneaee ssnremees Se 2m ere = 9a eee a ee ee l7¢ 
Estory offimvestivapionsis ==" 022 kn Te ee ee See 18 
Culture sequence at the Strait of Magellan-.__________________ 19 
Culture sequence at Beagle Channel_________________________ 20 

RIL TC] ay ae = ee ae ae & 2 ee ee a eee eee 21 
Pata POniaireul Mm Tes oe =~ tenes Ce See ene ee er ts 22 
Chilosvigihacaseee = + =e SS 8 8 A ee eae ee ee ee 23 
esearchproplemseasanee = st ses = 8 eee ee ee ee 23 
Psion pareays th yee oS A SS Se Oe eee 24 
The archeology of the Greater Pampa, by Gordon R. Willey_.-__-_- 25 
Geopraphyrandtenvironments* ==" <~ 22 *< 920" Se 25 
SOlITCcs aeamnman ¢ at Bihee ss sone hm oe me we ers ne EI ae 26 
The basic) eulturejofthe;Greater Pampa! 9 ee 26 
Limits of the Greater Pampa archeological area______________- 30 
SubdivisionsyofttiesGreater Pampa’ - 2 31 
Conclusiqnstandsproblems 2" 2732" se2= seer nee 45 

1 By fof uLoy ces {OLD i 2 os 2, pet aye ae eg payed fi tell pe a 46 
The: Chono, by Johny MinCooper:s 2.2257 et Se ee 47 
Natural ‘environment * 2" toot reno esos ns Re 47 
WerntoryAasetee ster stotastocer tafser OT eee 47 
NSCS AHO n Me nvasIOn SS 2 = so S258 = Se soe eee See oe ee ie 48 
Pistory otmnyvestipation =" "72S. + sce s= snares as ee 48 

en Ste pee ee See ee eo SS = PE Se PS ie ee a 48 
‘Populationse2n4-pasnt ce rots S97 nests sen ae heen es. 49 

ean puree She 8 bs Fe ee AN ROSES Ser ee rere hee es 50 
Subsistenceractivitiess: Sant tc ee eee ee 50 

HiguRestes shes Sete ae >= 2 treme er tee 9 NEUEN oe 51 
Dresstandornaments=*27 = ese sers Moen Oana ek bil 
Dransporiationcs sears * =~ * <= oS ene ee a 51 

NATE UCCR ae SoS B= et eemels Venera eee sever. eee eer 52 
peciopoliticaltcmliume:.4 5° * == == "<= 9 Ae ee ea aoe 52 

ihitetey .clemeeenmaie = S25 8s 4 Oe 8 tae BEER ee eS 53 

Esthetic and recreational activities._._...._.._......____-_-- 53 

RetpIOuEr A Sar en hehe nem netn meme = PFIE Ee oo aa 53 

ane alacahit poy uniusr Did oe Set mabe eles re Tet OE 55 
Flabita rn nmeMiistory Sewer nee: ee ee we eee een fe meri so 2 55 

IG LILET 2) arenes nets attest eS aa a ied lela eh dn pen ic adatom 58 
Caliimc Saneae Seen no nk Se Chee a se ee bh NS Ee ey ys) 58 
DUDRISteNnCeAChiVviliCs= |= 92h Se =r eee eee ee a ae 58 


VI CONTENTS 


Part 1. Indians of southern South America—Continued. 
The Alacaluf, by Junius Bird—Continued. 


Culture—Continued. PAGE 
Domesticated animals= >= Os seas ae see See es 63 

TET US eee rae ee Se ee ee en 64 
Dress: and’ ormaments2478te ee. 3 = Sea eee ase oe ee 66 
Transportation and communieation—_-------=-=--2-.--__= 66 

IVD TN TER CHUN CS iS Se ee ae ee a pr 68 
Exchange and distribution of goods__---_-__-_----------- 70 
Social and political organization_--..-=.-.-.-.. -----_._._.~ 71 
Wrartare: © 2. oo Se BS ee ee ee eee ene ea al 
Whifeseyelec wiz 2h 2 Sobek cee ee oe ee oe 71 
Esthetic and recreational activities_.._.._._.._._._._.____-__- 77 
Shamanismiandicuning 22 222 ee 2 ee 78 
Religion.2- 2235 see eee oe ee 78 
Bibliography -2.22=5---2---s2--5s-ssees-05 6p ee eee 79 
The Yahgan, by John M: Coopers] = 22385 eee 2a eee 81 
Introduction==. = =5.25 593s a ee eee $1 
G@ultur@: 222 5-262 22222 Se et 83 
Subsistence\activities=2s-2- 22-6 25 ae 2 eee ee 83 
Campsiand sheltersa 22-5 See Aa ee 84 
‘Dressanadormaments tae ats ae a ee ee 86 
TANS pPOLtaviON==a.)> sae e ne ee a eS 88 
Manufactures: ococo ssf. oslo neee eee eee ee = = 89 
Socialyand politicallifes)== = se" ss eo a a eee 91 
Economicvlites 2-2 2522s See ee ee ee 95 
Btiquettelss=! senate se oes eee ae ee eee ae ee 97 
Warfare and cannibalism = es. yee pee eee 97 

Life cyclesy2 2225 cee oS te a Se oe we 97 
Esthetic and recreational activities=2=— p22) sae ee 100 
Religionev = S232 22325 Sei ae ee ee a 103 
Mythology =< 2-2 525225 oe ena ee eee 105 
Lore ‘and learning 2. <3 2 jo et ee ee 105 
Bibliography. ===. 2-32 252-66 5226 See 106 
The Ona, by John M. ‘Cooper. -.22.. .-2-2 ==- 5 - ee eeee 107 
Naturalvenvironment=22 5. sees oe oe eee eee 107 
RETVMItOLY..$ 252 Se Se ose een eee ee eee ee 107 
Pribaliaivislons — c= = SS ee ee ee ee 108 
Ioanouage. 22.292 ce bs aoe eee ea eee es ee eee eee 108 
Population. 2.2. Sees non Sete nen ae ee anaes 108 
History ob investigation’ 22 8a - ese sae ee ee ee eee 109 
Culitres] Se soho SO ee ae See ee ee 109 
Subsistence svc tiwlGie ses ee ae ee 109 
Shelterse ie Sse Se ony gL ee oe 110 
Dress and omaments =. 32s ee ee ee ee Halal 
Transportation... = 22262 552 ee eee ee 112 
Manufactures: 2 302. o2ccce 2 oc aoe eee eee aa 112 
Social: and political life. ._.5. teen ee ee eee 115 
Heonomie life: =. 32 oe ee er 118 
Whifevevcle: 2. =. -22c25s.ke 5500 See ee ee ae 119 
Esthetic and recreational activities.__..-_.-2-—.=---4 2=--- 122 
Religion... - 2 2.-.-s<-s2c0 oes see ee eee 122 
Mythology. 2.2 --.3- 2025 5o 25355055 ee ee ee 124 
Eore ‘and learning... 2 2.22.2 55 eee ee ee 125 


Bibliography — 22-22-25 3555 so aeeee ee ee eee 125 


CONTENTS VII 


Parti. Indians of southern South America—Continued. PAGE 
The Patagonian and Pampean Hunters, by John M. Cooper-------- 127 
Naturalkenvironments. << -eeeeeee eee ee eeeee eeeeeeaee es eee 127 
The Patagonian and Pampean tribes...--------------=------- 128 
History. of-investigation..-=-.---2--=<=-<<-<]-e SSI 855_ SL - 138 
@ulturemehe. oe =e ee ee tock ecco a LES = = 140 
Tohwelchetculturess2 eee ee A ee = = 141 
Subsistenceractivities=-_- 5a eee ee a eS 142 

Camps and shelters_-_-....-------- MAMIIONRATE: 1438 
Dressrandsonrnaments= ee eee eee ee 144 
MransportatioNacew-e-— cece cee eee eS ee - = = 146 
Manuactinese -<-2-ee- cece esse eee == Se. 146 
SOCialglife nie ties SE ee eee cee eee Sa ee Sees 149 
Polittcalalitetet as se. 2 een eee ee ee A ee 150 

Wrartarcesse ts dete s Se ethene cee Oe 152 
Heonomicccultunetass=-5.. Soe Y ae eas == 153 

Ubihes cy. Cle ae See le pyc es react OEE A 153 

Warfare, anducannibalism—- =a ae eee 156 

Esthetic and recreational activities___.__-__----------- 156 

Religions 3+—-beeetede feet eet I = 157 
Shamanisnises) tio tee oe 52 eS 159 
Mythologytsssuede teats = SOUDOL) TO TAU aE, Oo. 159 
iLoreiandtlearming ta ae. eee Sse ee eee STR? 8 oe | 159 

Roya Cultun@sie eta e eect Spann oreo mre <2 ct ee 160 
Ruelcheycul turestete. ee Serr cer eee eS SE 161 
Subsistenceractivitiess..- a ee a eee 162 

Sheltersel palin oe eee eee eee = 162 
Dressyangxonnaments eee ee ee ee See ee 162 
PransponbawObee joc oe oe otc e oe cio et OO 163 
IMamuUPACtlines ees eeewe Ss eee eee eae eee See 163 

SO Gi allie eee ee ge ee et SO SS 163 
Politicaldlifes jess cece eee SE aE AS. E 164 
Hconomicicultunex=ate se SE SE 164 

Wuideney. Cle eee et ee eee eee BES 165 

Esthetic and recreational activities_______.-_--------- 167 

Reli@ione jee eee cece eee eee Se Se eee ee ames 167 
Sham am Sree py ey Ee bee 168 
Nia DO ORY, == See ee ee ea eee es 168 
ILoresand learning sooo ee J Oe. = #68 
Bibliography=<.....2.2-- 42 seu) Die Awe ek) eee Sh. 168 
The Muarpesbyssalvador Canals. Fran... 3 Eee - 169 
Tribalidivisions and history Jess. ene Sue A ee Seen 169 
@ulturnes cere eee ete, ee ees Lae. 170 
Subsistence activities... = 2... SS e eee ae lene et 170 

FIG UISCS ee nthe nn ete ee eo E - 171 
IDTEessvan GUORNAM CNS S22. a ee ee ee = 171 
PUANSPONt AION sep SIO I eS 171 
INiamUfactlnes Sentero ee ee ae EE Cee 172 

Social and political organization_-__-_--------------- = dvs 

Esthetic and recreational activities.___.____------------ 175 

Me PION gence etre ee ee SR 175 
Bibliogsaphys ooo oso TU _ La Seg Jute se oee 175 
Indians of the Paran4 Delta and La Plata Littoral, by S. K. Lothrop. 177 
TG RO CLUE © Tene ee ge ote A eee Wid 


VIII CONTENTS 


Parr 1. Indians of southern South America—Continued. 
Indians of the Parana Delta and La Plata Littoral, by S. K. Lothrop—Con, PAGE 


Sources2_-2 25 ee eo ere ee Eee 178 
Cultural summary .-_ .* . - setae seen 9 eee eel aye)" P = 178 
The (Guarants: 2222252502 2.522 52.): eae eee at ed 179 
Subsistence activities-2. =. 2-2 ub 5 = eee sas Ss be eh pea etort y= 179 
Housesiand' villages= 2222022 See aeey epee 2 on 2 179 
Dresssandornaments-=- 2 =~ Sass ee eee ea ES 180 
Transportation: - ——.——- == 5— ye e e e e e 180 
Weapons): 22. 28 ok ee ee ee ees 2s oe te 180 
Socialtculturés: <2: 20255555 22 eee hee oe eS 180 
The-Querandic os: 225 52.22 22522. ele ees Fe ee 180 
HIStory oe on pee eee eee eee ee re eee ae 180 
Physical type- 2 - sa. os2o2220 220522 eee eee 181 
Wangtagel.ss2 2200s So es Set Sees yee eae eee 181 
Subsistence activities. --=- =2 — = Seal Bie eee 182 
THOUSCS? = = see eo ee eee tee Ee Ee eee 182 
IDressvand ornament sha ees ae ae ee eee 182 
Weapons. 2 =.. S222 a tenet ees fan eae ee =e 182 
WiSThSTO™ ee cee ee SRS Oe ek eee re Se 183 
Socialtculture: oases sss 5 eed er ere 183 
The Manuanélor Gitenode- sen. nee eee eee ee ee 183 
History. se ee eo ee ee eee st a = © 183 
Cultures 2 ss Se ae Se es Se eee Speen es Ae 184 
The WarGe. 2 foe ee eee he eee eee Se 2 184 
History... 3225502252505 eee en eaters eee 184 
Cultures 22 ee te ee pees Se Se eee sees 184 
The: Bohané: 2 oc eee ee ee Be eee eee 185 
The ‘Change o> 22250555522 22" 3 32 ee a erp eee es 185 
History. 22 oe ce peas eee ee ee Se re eee 185 
Cultures 4 f2" = 223 Sees Be eee es eee ee 186 
The Chang=Mberué..- 25220-2225 s Se ee eee eS 186 
The, Chané-Timbt. S222. 3b. 2s = ee eee ee ee 186 
‘Phe Mberian 2 a2 SA es ee ee ere 187 
The Timbt.. =. - ae eed ye a ed ERE SS ES 187 
WIStONY score eee ee eee ae ee 187 
Physical appearance. 2° .- >> So oe eae 2 ot est a Se 
@ulture. =e | bts Sane beet ss eee eeneren ere sss 187 
The: @arcarana- 2-2-0002 eee Se Bee es BEE eee 190 
The Corondé, Quiloaz4, and Colastiné_______..__._-.-.-..--.--- 190 
Bibliography. _._. 2 ae a eA ee eta el anes 190 
The Charrua, by Antonio Serrano. --- sestent bas eeeeete ieee se 191 
Tribal divisionsand history.20= "2" 2> "=" = 9 ee eee nee 191 
Physical characteristics. _' .. = eatseten «eee eee DSS 192 
Language: ne A Se See oe ere Se 192 
Cultures 2 ee ey epee eae ne ee > 192 
Subsistence activitiess..= >> 5 ee ee eee ee 192 
HMOuUses- eae eee ee eee ae et 192 
Dress and! ornaments tse ya) el a ie ps Seb ee 193 
Transportatione:!2 b-(446 taint tees Fig al eee eee ee 193 
Manufactures. 2.5. - oo ee eee eee 194 
Social and political organization. = =~ =<= "22 = Sabena 194 
Warfare: 2-1 Jssefticl 2ta/9 woh Saeed ete See ead 194 


CONTENTS 


Part 1. Indians of southern South America—Continued. 
The Charrua, by Antonio Serrano—Continued. 


Culture—Continued. 
Esthetic and recreational activities__._..__._...___..__--_- 
iene aes wee eee A ee eee Serene Tee Se eee 
Bibliopraphy2e2* ele reson ee ste es os Sete re ss Stee tee ee- 


Rae?) indianstotsthe Gran’ Chaco22 222 = 22 oe. eat ee eee 
Ethnography of the Chaco, by Alfred Métraux_____-_------------- 


Geopraiiyeee sen a eee eee foe 
Post-Contactenistoryt.-- 8-2-6 eke ee oo pea eee eee 2 
SOUTCESRE ae weet ne ts ee ARE ee ee PA cent eon ee 
Archeology or tne Chaco. 8 68 koe ce Loe eee So 
Cultural influences’on the’ Chaco areas _ = __2- 2 >= 2422-422 2-2. 
hinguisticvandhtribalidivisionsh 3 foes a eee oe ee ee 
LherGuaicuruan linguistic family 22 = Sees ta eee aT 
iherMascolanilinowistic family == ees s "sor eee eee eile 
Dremiule-Valelanslinewisticwamily, 2 eec8 See! ee ee 
Tribes of the Bermejo Basin of uncertain linguistic affiliation _ 
The Matacoaningnisticvamily, = 435 er eS 
The Dupi-Guaranian linguistic family 22-222) 2265252229" 
LherArawakan lino wistic family 22 5325 Seay er ee 
‘Dhe’Zamucoan linguistic family +2 2222 2" 222" Sis eee * 
Unidentified Indian tribes on the Upper Paraguay--_------- 
CGM TT eye tol ac ry Rap genre vt, Wheeled Hal. 


Housestand villages... 222 "Se crn terrors sos ees 
EITC UTe eee mes eee sens fy oe EY ae ne See ae tee S 


ransporcanion® 298 san PA& te ha Rees ee 
VESTA CURE Se eee ete eee eee ene ee ee ae eee cre 


Social/and! politieal-organtzation! 222-023 25.. - e  - 
tiquet tesa = sae n Seen Tne arn inte eee awe 
Visint ane yee both 9 One yee ee Sey Ree 
IGIFENCY.Cle Re eet ee Deel eee Te ee 
Esthetic and recreational activities__.........._._------._- 
EDU RV OPC Ue MO a ea le gpl ee nag yi aeging aMpinted: ghelctetinls | TY BM 
REGENT Sas ape orn 2d i a ee a 
BVA UENO LO poy Pt ee LR Oe Reg eg on Tae eg 
UBT OU SCSY eae OS ip yeng a yy ii ly yt app ep ei alg UT UaTY AL. 


The present-day Indians of the Gran Chaco, by Juan Belaieff_____-_- 


Introductions see eS ee ne ee ee 
Culture 


Social-and’ politicalorganization_— 
PACE C OC Ht ee treat nie pres a oe ee 
UDG SEE A ate el oa ee padeareat peat iy yew ani Jak eae oml ts pe), 
RE ORC CLC ee ee ee ew ERE EAT Oe 8 ee ee ee oo 
Religion and folklores---. een e ee ee 


IX 


x CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Pant 3., Che indians of eastern prac. os anne see ee eee ees 381 
Eastern Brazil: An introduction, by Robert H. Lowie_._._________- 381 
introduction= =~ + -++-=-- 2902 The ENO er We ae Wier | SS: 381 
Culture-s===>2222ss222-2=2222225422822 22252 ss - st: 382 
Subsistence activities === 2==<22==252=22+-2- ues 382 
Houses:and-villages. > 2=-2<=- 222 Ms ee ae FO ah = 383 
Dressrand-ornaments22 24 _ Ye VES Ser 1? MBs 384 
APransporta tion. ~~~ ee ee 385 
Manufactures =+2-2-24222:2 229-50 eee Oey ® 385 
Social-and political organization. --2-222=2====22.— 220222 - 387 

Wrarlarés==ss2ee2 420225183235 5-> eee ee ee eee 391 

fnite-ey clé- ++ =4<- 2. == S828 Se ee ee 391 

Esthetic and recreational activities!22-2_- 22 202 PPT eee eee 392 
DUpernacuralism=<4= = CMs See eee See ee 394 
Miythologys:22s>==2>s See eee See See eens See eae 397 

Lagoa Santa Man, by Anibal-Mattos] Saag! Bites sreths Ok 225: 399 
BIDNOOTa DT ye ee oe tee ee sat ee eee Oe ee ae een ae 400 
The sambaqufs of the Brazilian coast, by Antonio Serrano_-_-_-______- 401 
Introductions 42 2% = 5 21S s" See eee ee eee 401 
Origin. of the-saniaquiss == \ARees Pee See eee eee ete 401 
Morphologyse2=222222 522 Sees ee eee eee 403 
ANtiGUityaOlsbhe sal Aq Ulises sae ee eee ee eee ee 404 
Culturés-and Taces+)-5s--5 P5552 2s es see Shes eee rere eee 404 
‘Bibligpraphy=2 532222 242+ 24 44ss 2 eee eee oe 407 
‘heiGuato- by -Alfred’Métraux=22=2 22 22a ae ee eee eee 409 
Archeology s2 52S 2A' sane sae 352 es Ce ee ene 409 
History and geographical*position 2) = ss2>=s22 5 seen = 409 
Cultvites- 2 SS kS- ss ss4 055553 8200s eR eee 410 
Subsistence activities’ = ee eee 410 

Houses*=2 £22828 eek Soak eas Heese eee eee 411 

Dress and ornaments = ee ee eee ee re ee een ee 412 
Pransportation= === += se eee eres lee ee aa ce 412 
Manutactires® 23222 S22 2s! s824s <= S8se ener eee a 413 
Secial-and-political organizations 223555" =s==2e aes > 2 417 

Wiarfares 2242+ 522 usu cae de de ae eetat ea ete Se eee oe 418 
Esthetie-and-recreational ‘activities. == 22 2_ 222s ee ss 418 
Bibliography: === 204-+ == =< 28eeese se ones eese see: 418 
ELH eMBOLOKO aDy=hLO bers OWiles= \ === aan === Ss seen neren nr Sone 419 
Dibaltdivisions’and history =—— = 20 oes ee ee eee 419 
Gulgure sa Awe ss 4 = + + NA eee eae doa eee eS eee 420 
SUbsIstencevactivitiess: |. ee ee oe eae ee ee eee ee 420 
Mousestand‘villages=====<=22eS's2s 52225 sess a 420 
Dressand ornaments==-22 ee = 2s 2 eee eee 421 
‘Pransportation=-=-+ =~ =2e 24 4< sore yee eee eee a oe 422 
Manuftactires*<-s< A> sa2 45ers OR ee eee eS 422 
Sociasandspoticallorgzanizavion= === === eee 426 

Warlaress8 i242 -< +5245 25 554 ss Obs ee eee Ae avew ses oe 428 

Bite-ey cle: <= == 2 ===. - Oe Ram See ee ee SS 428 
Hsthetievand recreational activities:==2=2" "222-2245 22-—_—— 431 
Relicionsand shamanisme==== ===" === == === =ae eee eee 432 

My thology 2-8 Ea ee Se RRR OEE See ew er 433 


Bibliggraphy#s224 <2 244+ -4+ Su 203 2 See ee eee oe 434 


CONTENTS XI 


Part 8. The Indians of eastern Brazil—Continued. PAGB 
The Guayaki, by Alfred Métraux and Herbert Baldus____--_-------- 435 
History and geographical situation....-...-..-...... 430283 435 
Cilia eae Bit See Pe et eects ES. 436 
Subsistencerictivities= so. oo sec eee eo IE 436 
Camps fand houses... YOU Pets vel soetats. 3 438 
Dresstand Ornaments. 2 ee eee eee ee oS. 438 
Dransgortabioneletwe 222220. as occ c owen EA. 439 
Manufacturess)4 karti s. och sien? atau) arynoyrey jb 439 
Socialyand. political organizationsavaht jure sanieeth Jager’ . 441 
icifereyi Clem we oreetinnn gable Whee 2 oes eae 442 
Esthetic and recreational activities__......_._..----------- 443 
Religion. 2... Mies cee an en e-beam! 443 
Mythology zee tenis... -.ceecel eden cc eee sees 444 
Medicines Pas. eee cece ence cS Siar: an nod ss 444 
Bibliography 2). lewis = eet 444 
The Caingange byeAlired Métraux.._..-....-....2egesteneM... 445 
Mribalidivisions and! historyesis4sie amen fentrlaey Ren leis 445 
Present situation of the Caingang groups._...-_-_-_----------- 448 
Culture te . veer pt. jie. . wiptletinp ye here epee Eo 450 
Subsistence, activities. ooo ee ee OT 5 450 
Houses. eos). Bebieling been jeanne hae obted ted _ _. .. 453 
Dress and ornaments... =... eater hae omineteds_ = 456 
PErANSDOrLAtION. 2. Scececc ene ooece cece een eee Teele 457 
Manufactures... 2s... -8zente bowls. et. iene 3 457 
Socialiorganizations2s__... ead Jee panielih dated 461 
Political Orpanizagion = ccc eas ccce ne mseea se cse Sane 463 
hifeteyclewt 1 i sve... 2 5. sable apoetgiedee os. 463 
WYER RTO oo ree is Ee ee pe A 467 
Ptiquetiess: Mitirans |. staneenany bye apeyl To 467 
Esthetic and recreational activities..__.c...-._..-....----- 468 
Communication=) Si sees 8 = ee epee k= 470 

RCH PIONS ee a pean lng 3 oo 470 
IMivthOlo Gyo eo ee oe ese ee eee) 473 
APSR mre 0S eS ee re i RR 475 
The Northwestern and Central Ge, by Robert H. Lowie__---------- 477 
Tribal divisions... _.... s2H4iebies_lesoiieewat has wtbelee 2 477 
PEC O NO Diy pee cea Se ee eg, Sea 479 
History of the Geq 025 oes) eee 2 see MS. 479 
DOUINCEG te Shee 5 9 te Nee 480 
Coltured. .9fi-re} sltglenaqil tipiat! ben Adaste dongle he 4 480 
Subsistence. activities... 2ytebwaceeh~ py) Pee pero SM _ _ _ 480 
Houses, and, villages. ....-....-eroteid hee sapiviolh jadiv'l - 482 
Dress.and ornaments. 2 6 222 222 ek ee ce one seebe 484 
Transportation: - 25 eden orem thie... 486 
Manuiscturesss 22 oe oe ee ee cc 487 
Politiealorganization _.—..--.. aeaeepuers Supe weet 8 488 
Social organization 2. 22s eee oe . eeeetioee Mock. 490 
Warfare). =... 5-2 -eebbostiaeow: Innitiien baw leianZ 498 
Utevevelecs = sero oo Aes So Se Ss eee oe 499 
Esthetic and recreational activities___......_...----------- 501 
Supermatiralisme sic foe eet ee pee. 28. 509 
Mythology and literature. ..- - 2222. .=-2-22-222es=nelds - 515 
MOnCMmNGUICA TMCS. setae ee Be ee tn oe eee 516 


Paap phe ee eee bee ee eee e es eoeee 517 


XII CONTENTS 


Part 3. The Indians of eastern Brazil—Continued. PAGE 
The Southern Cayapé, by Robert H. Lowie___________.__________- 519 
Bighory <2 5 ae ee ee ae eee et 519 
Ui): i a a emi Se epi PP |! + 519 
Bibhopraphy—_.. -_. -_.-- ._._-_- . Se 520 
The Guaitacs, by. Alfred Métraux___-._... 20st) bee wee 521 
@uilbure se sco on ce be ee ce 522 
Bibliography. - = = 522 
The Purf-Coroado linguistic family, by Alfred Métraux_____________ 523 
Tribalidivisions and. history2esss ee Sa ee pe 523 
Qoittunes = es oe ae eee en ee Bee es 524 
Subsistence activities:2:2 0) Uae tavine? Bee apres 524 
Domesticated animals... .— ~~... ccccnee RM. = 525 
IQUSeS Heo 222 Oe ee Bee ee coe ie 525 
Dress and jormmaments. 2 ee ee 525 
‘Pransportation. <2 =< Wesco ce ee ee 526 
Mannfacturnes: =.=. = Pe a eh ee) s 526 
ocial._ and political organization=--5) 2.45 Saale ie PeeE ye = 527 
Courtesy xites.... Seuere Nee) Ab Olas: Jieere ss 527 
Warfare and cannibalism... 2-22 cee cece ceca] Se 528 
Tifercycle. 228. oe ee ee Oe 528 
Esthetic and recreational activities__.___.._....__.__-____- 528 
Shamanism and religion__________ SS ACLO Dik wares 529 
Bibliopraphy.. —- 2 = ooo ace es oe 530 
The Batocudo, by Alfred Métraux...._..-...-.... Sees 531 
Tribal/divisions‘and. history... . -.... 84) Ae ae 531 
Cultures23 2.2 oo os eS 532 
Subsistence /activities=—.c aoe ee ee 532 
Houses. and. villages... -oe ce ckeeet  e 534 
‘Dress .and (ornaments... 2 oe Gc 534 
‘Transportation. ...2 262 298 enol ee bie Oe ee 535 
Manufactures= 2 oe ee 535 
Social organization 2c. <u eee eee 536 
Cannibalism: — << <ctee ae eee 537 
Life cyclen. nc eee eee ee eee 537 
Medicines! JF) Tiida Fa_ Se) ie) ie Sesion 4 537 
Esthetic and recreational activities____.__.___..-__------- 538 
IRPRRION- <2 oe cn ech ee Cece oer eee eee es = eee 538 
Mythology... 22-2 ec cee cece ee Oe ee 540 
BIBHOpERONY. 8. ee eee ee eee eee 540 
The Mashacalf, Patashé, and Malali linguistic families, by Alfred 
Métraux and Curt. NimuendajG..... 0 V8 nee. 541 
ribal divisions ‘and history.....2....29ueiy Ei memes 2 8 541 
Cultures a2. - 2. ee ee 542 
Subsistence activities... .._....._ ae 542 
Houses... 2. 2. <2 eee ee eee eee eee ee 542 
Dress‘and ornaments__......... Soeeegie eee 543 
Manufactures... ...- -. =... -=.--l ee ee 543 
Social and political organization. __._._...-._------------- 544 
i a ee 544 
Esthetie and recreational activities__...._._.__----------- 545 
Religion... - . = 2 cence sce che ee ee ee 545 


Bibliography-— 2+. =2-22.-.2.-.2. 2a Bee ee ee 545 


CONTENTS XIII 


Parr 3. The Indians of eastern Brazil—Continued. PAGE 
The Camacan linguistic family, by Alfred Métraux and Curt Nimu- 
CAG CL Ce oh eee Ch ete terme ie RICE 547 
tribalkdivisions! and histonyes. =4---s2- se eee ee oe eae s 547 
(CUM GTR as he 00 Le ee 548 
Subsistence activities! eedue_t Ceti bt 2. ose eee eee 548 
EQUS CAR ee ete Brett eS at ce ore te de 548 
Dressy andiornamentsssewneee PO! ee eee boca 548 
MiamuiactUnes ase eae Some ea ee tae SS ee as ee 549 
Mifereyelenn cece ec wk cece cds. eeAL aah tel sels 549 
Esthetic and recreational activities___._______________----- 551 
Mythology. andifolklore.... ... Sesto. soe) Bet bo saepoeh 55 
Bibhosraphy.—..< <M o-ccececs SE Senet) 20). in soeaeh 552 
Thexsilapuya; by thobertitiis Lowe... serieewial asbeemetal weqods 553 
Bibliographyte. 2fes Pt eae onan SUS) sess. sot Jasleoloss 556 
The) @aririnbysRobertees Wowiess2) .Jeteads. sieeell _ sails Jasiealoas 557 
Pribalidivisionsvand *historyset! _Jocwed.) alunghl . satie lentenloue 557 
Culfures Peweseteee eet ge Im abt. werter pen) 4 558 
Bibliography! 222 cece occa c . OAM lo fd. eliery lt 559 
ihevpsncarari,: by Robert) Hag Lowie.._.._.4aliesall i sinsta_ sg slererols. 561 
Bibliggraphyaeesiee..c ==. 2. Bee A a ay eieepen tS. 561 
ThesParairin iby Robert. H.. Lowie-cesen! 2agak 444 45. atalog. altos 563 
PLIStORy ou Ser Sete Boneust slisenina seit pak ene) oty 563 
(uli ure oe ek eee eee eee ee ne Se 564 
Bibliggraplivee- eee ook se So eee eee een ea ee 566 
TheWJeicosby tRobert H. Lowie_..- een ee SOS I 567 
Bibliograpliyat. - «ce meee eee eee oe I pond aes 567 
TheGuck by, Robert...Lowie.....SuLi nk. five. merle one 569 
Bibliography. 250 a a 2 oe Hee upp, eels 569 
iheiulmo; by: Alfred) Métraux ...-.. =. cayorat iow) einetiten a2 571 
Bibliography wet cece eee eee cee pot ahs 571 
iheweremembé iby. Alfred. Métraux..—....--..-=..-~._e1eleeet tele 573 
SUS) 2S 2 1 ae a eee eR pce thet hee o 573 
(CiilGore Fe cece eee cee ee ee Dsl 573 
Bibliographyee. Sete ey wees oo ete eee ee pee 574 


EibliggraphyitosVolume, Wace sass eab wee ey 8 a ee See 575 


CONAN WNHE 


ILLUSTRATIONS 
PLATES 


Southern! Patagonian jlandscape=..--------=---=--= ees Sat 
jisouthern’ Patagonian. landscapes! vibe. beas 222s bea ade 
AiLandscapes of the. Greater Pampa_.._ =. 532bi'9! tues sees ee 
//Landseapes of the Greater Pampa_...-..--------.----=2#e22eete - 
mSouthern Patagonian landscapes = .. -2s- 4-2) eeaast et Sass 


Archeological sites, southern Chile______.__.._..---.-. =a 


. Archeological sites, Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego______--------- 
. Archeological sites, Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego____----------- 


piratigraphy, strait of Magellanse.2.:2-—-_....-----2.-.- Sse) 
Stratigraphy, Strait of Magellan... —-.2...--2.--..2.-s9¢¢eeeeees — 


Hotratigraphy, strait of. Magellan: _. 222225! east o25 beer - 


Siratigraphy,. Strait, of Magellan. .__--._..._-___=-___ pee - 
Projectile points of the Pampa proper_=s2-+-+- 225225 22. 422224 = 


. Sherds from San Blas Peninsula, Buenos Aires Province__---------- 
mOicrand!SsnHergs>_ . 2-5. -s-eseeceas-s-cosce-b eS eee = 
mQuerandfsherds2- 2. 2u..- Sh sn24-2- 3 sks en ono eee 
MOQ uerandicsherds= 22.226. 22224.....-...22Se See ee 
moQuerand! bonevartifacts..-.....---- = =2-5-5-=22=-- eee 
eePottery., Mendoza ‘and Angol, Chile___._ste<e1. 34 _se52ig3t 2s “Se amEe 2 
MOP olished stonexartifactssec<2..- = — -<2-25se55e5seee 5. eee 
eeotone, artifacts) from, Neuquén. ..____-—_ Sea See eee 
mSherds:fromiuC@ordobas.. === 3525-52 S52 eee ee eee 
peAlacaluf.termitory. 2226. = 22222. 26eee eoe s ek eee 
mea lacaluiterntory eS Se a eee ka ee 
meAlacalubichildreneee ea. 2 ee oe ee ek See eee ee 
neAlacaluft camps s5-..--- <2 2a ase ses ete ee ee 
meAlacsluf dius. oo ee eee ee er 
PALA Cali Ete see ot. Aagr-a rene s Soi eh ee oe ye 2s 3 eee 
PEP AAC AINE AN OCS es a— oes eee ee 
PF Alacalut plankiboats and implements. 2....=...+22228= 2 2 ees 
PerAl ac aluiganb aCe aioe eee a ae nee ye ee a 
| Alncalubiindian types so. .22_. 24240) Soe osuce ee Sie Se 
| Yahoaumitemndcnranuliaciuresiia5 42... 2 oe ee Sa ee 
 Vahpaneparkicanoe: Sx" Aiere 2 5 Wo So ee ee ee eee ae 
+ Valranserritorysand Canoes. <<..--- ses e eee ee 
f Yahpanapear GhkOwan Gees no 6 no ee eee 
~ Onaand#stehueleheshelters = .52- -= = 2958 see ee ee eee 
. Ona and wlehuelchecultunes]s=2 2) 2 8 eee ee 
mwhehuelehercosoumerana. ceremony == 4. = = aa ee ee 
2. Pehuelehe un pimp: eee =e! welt ei 8 ee 
Group, ofaCharrin, US322. 5 2a ee ee ee ee 
« Charruia pottery and stone merke 26 wee = 2822 eee est 
. Projectile points from the middle Rfo Uruguay-_------------------- 
. Chipped-stone artifacts, Charrua territory__...-.__-_-------------- 


XIV 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


a Chaco"landscape l= 222 2S iks Mai, SOME sgt eB ea a et ceptee Ie Bees. Spt id 
BuO HACOsAM GSC ap CS ss a ph a pe ep Ne a 
7 Chacor indians, 1 Othvcentuiny eae a ar ee ete 
. Chaco fishing techniques=. 5 S228 Ie see ee ete 
|, ‘Chaco"women’ preparing algarroba-=----255...se-besuseeee ee hee! 
pC haco"houseses] 222 Sas See ee tee oe Bae eet ey nf 
. Chaco houses, granaries, and water carrying_---------------------- 
. Chacoshousest 246 ce tesa het se kt Sgt eee Syne osteo: eee 2 
Me © WA COnCOSU UM Gs mere = = em ete ae ee nt at oe ee ee 
Caduveo facial and body, painting: B2_LUlwe tet ah tat 
. Chaco face‘and body ornamentsly 0) Lt alka eee Gee ft con poe” 
-Chacotcostumes®: 225: 2h. Ws) SA. Fate ope eee as tent 
) Chaco head ornaments and-baps=22---- 2 s2et ateeeatt bere ahs” 
, Pilags footgear and skin DAG 222 22. -. += 2-48 See cheat 
CaCO COSGUMES =") Bees Oe ier ten =. Lens ps esee ssl eee eet 
; (Chaco bags. 2 Bae) Seas. Wee eaten ho oe mepeemeetoues faye ilentas 
POITeO exile MmaAmUTAChUNChtes 2 oS = 22 yi ate oe as 
A RGODa ApINMINg WOOl = == +2 AeeMeUeI ER. 65 oto So ae ee 
Lops wOMmMantmaking Carrying NCb-= == 42 3b sete oe 
CHhAaCO POLlery MANULACUUNC=s 9+ 222 s\22225 2 ee cee ote enone nace = 
SC HACOMWOOGUCALVIN Ge oe. Ue as seein an SE ee ee oS ce oe 
. Chaco children__ 
. Chaco children _ - 
RC HAcORUn Gian tyes eee Ree nm oe = sere om yn eee ae ee ay me 
PC HhACOrGeCa LM CUSlOMse enna e = 2 sam pois oe eee eee eee 
heVistacostree SUrial on se. \ 22 nase ake eee eee ee eee meee = 
Fa CHACOPreCrea lon ess see ete eee ams a ae mae eRe eae eee 
emChaco-religion and gameseen 2 hanes fet Bee ee ee eee 
PAC ACO SUANTATIISIN Soe ent Re TE EShe) “VE ita Bye ee Bene Uae 


CHacoimcianetypes eee seats Re ee serene tart arte gee oy ie ray 


PC HACOMMGIAN TYPES’ <2. tate et merece Se ee eee meen ae eae 
MAC Naor MNGian Cy PESt oo ee ee eee ee ye ene mies ee 


Structurevof sambaquiter Steen 220 ese a eee eee eee eee 
Sambaqi artifacts, archaic phase. 5252222 cee eee ee 
Sambaquf artifacts, meridional and media phases____________--_--- 


. pambaqut artifacts; meridional phase_-- => == 222 oe 
PPCM GO ELE LGIMOMGS = =o oan 2 mite ee eee a ey oh ea 
2 .Guato Indian types from) Caracara. River: 2222. -= 4 --_-_---,- 
TPB OROTLORCOMNtTyranGphOUse = — 8 os oo ke eae i 
. Bororo houses- -- 
. Bororo village of 

. Bororo archery - - 


PERC STG eh pees et ge ee Sh PN a yr ce 


Bororo festivalat village Gf. Kejara_ 25-2... ___-__-___-_...._-.,---- 


aeiororoyruneralecremonyes-222 5002.02 30 Solo lien a ae ene 
MES OLOLO) JS2 UAE I PCLSONALON 29 ho. o Stan lo age ee ee me 
MBOLGLOnIMGIAN VCR ease kaa ceo ne ose ewe se aa ae nS oxic se 
. Bororo women_-_- 


352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
352 
408 
408 
408 
408 
418 
418 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
432 
444 
444 
512 


XVI ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 
98. Apinayé and Sherente artifacts. -.-.=+=22=--=+--.=s00S0220eL onan 512 
G9:. Ge-artifactsseoon25-2sss22ss2eseececsce252225522- eee ae 512 
100; ‘Sherente-artifacts=<==4--=2<=-s=-22--222 US 2 See ee 512 
(Ol. SherenteartifactSs==+=s=2-=s-22-s=+-s--->- 28ers 512 
102, Sherente-masqueraders’. 2 >< =<~2 222 SE SIA SOO Cone 512 
$03. Ge Indians-and artifacts. =< <--2--=-s2=++-+<+<2+2252 ee ee 512 
104. Ge Indiane:--=--:--2-.2-20. CUS Tee Bos JOO e ARUOR oope 512 
105. Arms, ornaments, and utensils of the Botocudo, Puri, and Masha- 
Calis-Lssees iets 2 Peel a sccssscscen cece seen OO Oreb 574 
£06; Botocudotamily +2 2222255252 2=2 222800120 208 28 AL erro 574 
107. “Hastern- Brazil landscapes: = = 2s === =-2) S200 Yee OR ae ae 574 
108. EPurftdance-and: burial... 222 222 522222¢2222e+s2e+e Oa ae 574 
109: Coroado-and ‘Botocudo'lifey =: - =. =... 2282098 AGO Bees. 098d 574 
105"Coroado ‘and ‘Purf‘shelters-<-. 2.222 -2-2-214 224¢ DAG Aol geen 574 
wh Camacan'dance-.- 22822 s222 2eseeL Se eose 4-224 eee Be 574 
112. Patashé and Camacan weapons and artifacts_________----___----- 574 
FIGURES 
1. Chipped-stone work from the Buenos Aires coast____-------------- 29 
2. Ground-stone work from the Buenos Aires coast_.________--__------ 33 
3. Querandf incised sherds from Arroyo Sarandf___.__..__.-----__---- 35 
aPasinted snerds irom ATTOyO SaTAandiog—. 22). 2 2625 e ees eee es 36 
5 Q@Querand1 artifacts from Arroyo Sarangi.--._-.-2-.. 2-2) ee eee 37 
OSE SHLD ACO eORa ISLC T Or JOO CUCU ys a ees ee 39 
7. Chipped-stone artifacts from Neuquén____----_-._.--------------- 42 
SeuerTaved stone plaque from Rio Negro. 2 = - ee one eee 43 
GMCrossseculon Ott wOmsHOrNOs, (OL6 lO Ob1] as yee ee 44 
ROMPAUTCalUihUG frameCONSEDUCtION a. == se ee 65 
Tle Vea Mowery Lovee oVOYa LOU oVel oo) (ishov hye Ne ee ee eee 85 
Zeid Cam MOCCASIN. = oo a2 255 cee Ge oe a er 87 
i wOetailsvor VYahgan coiled basketry ..-.-.-- +2 =-2 eee 90 
Nees oad ecOrative PAbtCEUS ao. ee oe ea ee 101 
eee at cervot Ona MOCCASIN 2... Sa 5 2 ee ey ee wily 
NG ROMAIN SIGS. a2 ep ape gs ps eee 113 
IV Ae ONS DOWEAT GVATTOW 22252 oso ose oe oa ee le ne 114 
18. Tehuelche arms and instruments__________________--_--- ees Si ch pe 145 
no) Wesipns trom Tehnelche puanaco Tobe.) 2a. ee ee ee 147 
20. Tehuelche child’s cradle for use on horseback__________/____------- 154 
Zl elotor balsa. Guanacache Lagoons. ..2..-- ..---4 52-25 =ss5--e eee 172 
Zo quanacachesuwined basketry Getailge=) 2s — ee ee 174 
Zo musrivsGramings Of the LimbU. 5. eee nee = ee ea eee 188 
24. Ashlusiay fishermen with barring nets_._ 2250 "2- 2 ee 254 
25am CHONOtipHSOBeCNCC sae 22 oa 2 eee itn smpcwbe aioe pre yh ND 255 
AAD NUD SHC HTT C1 Ea a lm a ERT hg) ore PH 258 
DAME LC OMUEAISS Ene 2S sae a eae ee he a 259 
Pte AN EYES EPO EE HO A FY aR eg a rN ay pe 260 
2 OS Choro uemailbshit ee oe so ns ey ee 273 
Boe lencunane © norotyMeaGgear. 2... 2s. onsen eee 276 
SE mao AGA tLOOIN gee ee oe ee cape ce oh ee Eh ee 281 
Dye MG AC OMIM ATIUL CCID S 9 hy ee oe ee a 283 
Jo-mCNAaCO Netuing and lacing techniques.._2 2-2-2 35s eee ee 287 
34. Mbay4-Caduveo painted pottery plates__--..___.._.---------------- 291 


47. Guaté house construction 


IO Oe ~ 


. Pilagd flat wooden whistle 


. Guaté harpoon and pellet bow 


. Bororo arrow points 
. Feathering of Bororo arrows 


. Modern Caingang houses 


. Guide to the tribes and subjects of Volume 1 of the Handbook 
. The tribes of southern South America, at the first European contact 


. The Greater Pampa archeological area and subareas 
. Tribes of the Gran Chaco: Locations at the first European contact____ 
. Tribes of the Gran Chaco: Present-day locations 
. Distribution of the four sambaqui culture phases 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


. Pilag4 and Choroti utensils and dress 
MO RACONWCODONS Sa Sts oes ee ete ee we ae Sa ie 
. Chaco weapons and imploments=_-<- 225022222 oboe ee eset 
. Motifs on Pilagdé belts and woolen bags 
MAA pao © NOTOU: so8 amas e= oe lla eee Se te 
. Chaco toys and musical instruments 


Pe HA CORON ACCOMDIPCS Sea aaa oe ee est ee ee i Be Se 
sJochematic promeor Lorres'site. 2. 2222.22. 2252222 eeesesc see elke 
. Schematic cross section of camp site at Torres____________________- 
. Cross section of stratified sambaqui of Guarahy Mirim 
. Ground-stone artifacts from the sambaquis 


“Ouatonpwining techmiquescs§ 32650 25k eek eo es osc ces ke 
Guat6 arrows, bows, and spears 


. Bororo textiles and pottery 
. Bororo manufactures 


i es 


Bull-roarers with various clan designs 
Primitive Caingang wind shelter 


- @aingane MANUIACtUITES = 2 ==. Rs ee eS ee 
Caingang weapons and artifacts 
MC Angane Ouray MOUNRG. = wae en ne se ee ee eee eo See oe oe 
WiDiagrami\or Sherente bachelors, hut. -......=<-2s2-2ses-eeslols—. 
. Canella decorations on forehead bands and sashes______---.-------- 
. Sherente body-paint decoration for the various ships4 age classes___- 
BROMCTCNLEMACIN MORES hen. a ae ee 8 i ee ed 
POGeMOlIsiCal Wits tEMIMeN Sena. ee sa ee cae cea eee eo ee 
. Timbira type flute made of gourd from the Apinayé 
ApinaAycucouTarattles! £25 22. Vener Lome re ws Ip. Dies tear 
2 buri-Corondo;-manitactures. 22 22 2 eee eee eee 8 
. Tapuya man and spear thrower 


MAPS 


The tribes of eastern Brazil at various dates since the Conquest 


XVII 


PAGE 
294 
296 
298 
335 
337 
340 
344 
348 
402 
402 
403 
406 
412 
413 
415 
416 
423 
424 
425 
426 
429 
454 
455 
458 
460 


483 
502 
503 
504 


ie 
j A119 
Ha i ati 


al ; 

ive ‘ 

at _ 
: ht “4g by ra i 
*~ *~ pacers a cae ~~ ¥ 

6 

Aarne teenie <p —-- os RGR ERATE RS RS es 
, mene iets --. <---> ele weep Ec nn 
iis Gea ee ne ee~-- - 656 -->-* ee Ss a + a ie ey ~ 
Can Madeeee site esas > --+= eS ald i a 
Siw Saiiieeit.-.--5--- ++ 9-0 eee 
51 lal a2-aurrn e e! neers uf 


Rtas A . ---- gon jaca a quite | Coty ue 


b Wasa tiatee Piaarw tri dA, yilarertd Xo wpa 
Se ee ee . wapadaae » th ab 
7 ee a ee eee ned 


oF ee ee ale eee van en <» « eeiplttion) 


eee = paw aenaeee sna siiaoge baa yw Ai 
\ Polen beeces oes! 32 --as bi tea ahi toting tara Besnsinbers 
J yrs a+ # ; ymitog bie esliiza) cote <i 
>? aye _ ee eee _enuloelugent oiot0l Sa 


oy eee eetlitiog wor o1gtoll 2a 
2 swone ororoll to gabediast 28 
nats aruay slw eeeortind 28 


~ oor 68 


i, ea 


wee: pa gps Bele waagetyo avidienie'T 08 
RE 3 2 cael 496 Salen usaacie) awhoM 50 
: So ious geagoia 37 a 
a AA elie bow nieqaew gama) 08 
= GRE 8 ere teri gaogaley 20 
: pe Pl eB Sed yrolaioad alowed to mergeitt AD 
uy os ytiier Eihue WhO haodotyloo eintteroaaty aligaa) 20 


a =~ nigel on be tide Broa Sd) 401 erik fener, rT dang-r bout sditenol Bit) 
ms gel yiiswe stoped A 
a Oe _ td lanianrt of) SD 
.=2 7abhy A ety mort bio, 16 Teach guiogrt wdeiT 
£ get ay ay Sata Pigoy Seong’ 
Pan 7 7 eyusatiitann obsovad-tat q 
im. " 


—— 


raivatt tone bon pent eorgel 


; Bik vty: Y 
er { a ‘ 
er hee sa cde danaild 3 uy ih In Loalo leaden Rea eodist 1 ont al abiok 

). Visteatdns. natiqewe 4s: ult te ,soiroms (wok, aadtiuos td sede ode 

Sh Ceicapen. o's ~. ee wes deal 
1 DiveSewes 4s ine teriloc bad bots ‘ibe igolooilain acon Dowp tan 
BO. «casshowinco aeoqow)l fetit adh te ecorinro,t dead) hare add : 
Sa ee ‘gas _. Au) tasot sha iyanwrh Soom Nee one Bo poe 


wt an Ss as onedy Ssvutiuoe aad irrrs y0T ae 
WAS) Pe Guus cctaety(o 1? Sooke aodall gitoliay te ieee riaes to eset 


IAs 
e 


e825 52 


FOREWORD 


The present monumental work is ideally suited to carrying out the 
purpose of the Smithsonian Institution, “the increase and diffusion 
of knowledge,” as well as that of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 
the promotion of “ethnological studies among the American Indians.” 
Furthermore, it exemplifies the Institution’s century-old policy of co- 
operating with others in the advancement of science, for it is in two 
senses a cooperative work. In this country the Department of State 
the National Research Council, and the Smithsonian Institution have 
joined forces to make the Handbook a reality; on a hemisphere scale, 
anthropologists of the two American continents have shared in the 
preparation of the manuscript. 

The scope of the work is outlined in the introduction by Dr. Julian 
H. Steward, editor and guiding force of the project. ‘These volumes 
provide for the first time a comprehensive summary of existing knowl- 
edge of the Indians of South America, which it is to be hoped will 
stimulate increased interest and further research in this fascinating 
field. 

ALEXANDER WETMORE, 
Acting Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. 

Ocroser 20, 1944. 

xIx 


ane i - } 
no ina i r 

le OL, 

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HANDBOOK OF SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


INTRODUCTION 


By Jouxian H. Srewarp, Eprror 


A developing sense of internationalism in the Western Hemisphere 
has brought increased recognition of the importance of the indigenous 
American civilizations and their survival among millions of present- 
day peoples. It has simultaneously emphasized the need for a more 
complete understanding of how these civilizations developed during 
prehistoric eras and how, after the Conquest, they blended with Euro- 
pean culture to produce modern societies which are neither wholly 
Indian nor wholly European. The task of revealing these long chap- 
ters of American history is truly a pan-American one, requiring the 
assembly of thousands of local fragments from throughout the Hemi- 
sphere. Scientists of the American Republics have consequently long 
urged that more effective means be found of pooling and exchanging 
their information, while teachers and students have pleaded that the 
materials be published in convenient form. 

It has particularly been felt that information on the great South 
American civilizations, which left so deep an imprint on modern life, 
should be made generally available to scholars and laymen alike, for 
present sources on South American Indians are published in so many 
languages and places and frequently have such limited availability that 
no one could have access to more than a fraction of the literature. No 
comprehensive general work on the subject exists, and none has even 
been attempted, because the task has such magnitude that it could only 
be accomplished by the joint effort of a large number of specialists. 

As the need for a comprehensive Handbook of South American 
Indians became more acute, the National Research Council, stimulated 
by the late Baron Erland Nordenskiold, in 1932 appointed a committee 
consisting of Dr. Robert H. Lowie, Dr. John M. Cooper, and Dr. Leslie 
Spier to explore the possibilities of preparing one. This committee, 
subsequently expanded to include other anthropologists with a special 
interest in South America, prepared a statement of the kind of work 
that was needed. 

The Smithsonian Institution through its Bureau of American Eth- 
nology accepted responsibility for the preparation of the Handbook 


1 


2 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLy. 1438 


and began work in 1940, when the project became part of the program 
of the Interdepartmental Committee on Cultural and Scientific Co- 
operation, a program carried out by special appropriation of the Con- 
gress of the United States through the Department of State. The 
task became cooperatively inter-American in the broadest sense, for 
more than 100 scientists from throughout the Americas generously con- 
tributed their time and knowledge to preparation of the manuscripts. 
In fact, their enthusiastic participation in the task has, despite the in- 
numerable delays and difficulties brought about by the war, put the 
project well ahead of schedule, so that the material has been written 
and prepared for the printer in 4 years instead of the 5 originally 
planned. It would be difficult to find more unselfish dedication of indi- 
vidual effort to an international undertaking. 

The general objective of the Handbook is that laid down by the com- 
mittee of the National Research Council: To provide a concise sum- 
mary of existing data that will serve as a standard reference work for 
the scholar, a textbook for the student, and a guide to the general 
reader. At the same time, it is intended to take stock of the present 
state of knowledge, revealing its deficiencies and suggesting problems 
that will stimulate future research in both the field and library. Only 
by enlisting the collaboration of many specialists, each summarizing 
the data of a limited field, could the objective be realized. 

It is not supposed that the Handbook has exhausted existing sources 
in a manner to render their future consultation unnecessary. To the 
contrary, the articles simply orient the reader to the salient facts and 
to the literature; future research on the many problems of current 
interest, such as post-Contact acculturation, and on problems that un- 
fold in the future will require repeated re-use of the sources on which 
the present summaries are based. 

Although there was unanimity concerning the general need for 
a Handbook, the concrete terms for presenting its material were 
inevitably fraught with difficulties. The greatest difficulty was that 
of satisfying diversified modern interests with data that had been 
collected largely at random. Existing information comes primarily 
from missionaries and travelers, whose accounts are overloaded with 
descriptions of Indian dress, weapons, dances, and other readily 
observable items, but are almost wholly silent on social structure, 
religious patterns, land tenure, and other less conspicuous but ex- 
tremely important aspects of native cultures. Even the great ma- 
jority of the more recent anthropological monographs on South 
American tribes are composed in the 18th- and 19th-century traditions 
and aim to collect facts for their own sake rather than with reference 
to anthropological problems. 


1Some of the research needs and possibilities revealed during the preparation of the 
Handbook have already been summarized (Steward, 1948 a, 1948 b). 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 3 


It was obvious that the necessity of presenting culture elements 
atomistically must dissatisfy those who look mainly for function, 
pattern, and configuration, or who seek psychological characterization 
of primitive peoples. It was clear that emphasis on primitive cul- 
tures would not greatly interest persons concerned with modern, ac- 
culturated Indians. It was apparent that the very division of sub- 
ject matter was fraught with controversial points. An adherent of 
the kulturkreis, or “culture historical” school, would organize this 
material differently than a member of the American historical school. 
There was expectable difference of opinion as to whether a linguistic, 
geographic, or some other basis should be chosen. 

Fully aware of the impossibility of satisfying everyone, the editor 
formulated a detailed plan that adhered as far as circumstances per- 
mitted to the original proposition that the Handbook should sum- 
marize the facts of aboriginal ethnology. At the same time, he urged 
that modern problems be kept in mind, and that the literature be ap- 
praised in a manner to acquaint research workers with its value to 
diversified interests. 

The Handbook centers attention on the culture of each tribe at the 
time of its first contact with Europeans. Where the prehistoric past 
of the Contact period culture has been revealed, as in the Andean 
area, a substantial amount of archeology is included by way of back- 
ground. Post-Contact acculturation is brought up to date when 
information is available. Although little research has been done 
on acculturation, so that it remains a vast field for library and field 
work, any ethnographic description necessarily is acculturational in 
some degree. As accounts of Indian tribes at the moment of the 
Conquest are nonexistent or are sketchy in the extreme, reconstruc- 
tions of aboriginal ethnology must rely on documents ranging over 
the 400 years of the historic period, during which profound Spanish, 
Portuguese, and even Negro influence reached the most isolated jungle 
tribes. To avoid compressing these four centuries of post-Contact 
data into two-dimensional ethnographic pictures, as if they faith- 
fully portrayed pre-Columbian cultures, authors were urged to present 
their data chronologically. The articles consequently reveal much 
post-Contact change, and show that new economic, social, and reli- 
gious patterns followed the introduction of European crops, steel 
tools, new trade relations, Christianity, and many other factors con- 
tingent on the arrival of the White man. The final absorption of the 
tribes of the Tropical Forests and marginal areas into European civili- 
zation has never been studied, for until recently anthropological in- 
terest has ceased when tribal custom has been lost. But in the Andean 
area, a strong native civilization reintegrated with Spanish elements 
and patterns survives among millions of Indians, and gives accul- 
turation practical as well as scientific importance. More complete 


4 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLL. 143 


information on this area makes it possible to sketch broad trends 
from the earliest archeological beginnings of Andean civilization 
through the /nca Empire, the Spanish Conquest, and the post- 
Conquest period to the present day. 

A volume will be devoted to each of Cooper’s fourfold culture 
divisions of South America (1940, 1941): (1) Marginal hunting 
and gathering tribes of Eastern Brazil, the Gran Chaco, the Pampa, 
Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego; (2) the Andean civilizations; (3) 
the tribes of the Tropical Forests and Savannas; and (4) the Circum- 
Caribbean cultures, including that portion of Central America which 
was strongly influenced by South America. The fifth volume will con- 
tain a description of the impact of Old World civilization on the 
Indians, the geographical background, the physical anthropology, a 
summary of linguistic relationships, Indian demography, and articles 
describing various aspects of the cultures comparatively and distri- 
butionally. 

The Handbook subdivisions and their length have been governed 
by expediency. Tribes with great cultural similarity are treated as a 
unit when possible. In many cases, however, it seemed more important 
to place on record the specialized knowledge of a certain contributor 
than to group or divide according to uncertain cultural frontiers. In 
other cases, difficulties facing all contributors during the present world 
situation required last-minute reassignment of subjects. The result 
has been to split the Handbook into an increasing number of separate 
articles as specialists were found with knowledge of particular subjects. 

The lack of uniformity in treatment and proportion of detail in 
articles is explained by several considerations. First, there are in- 
evitably individual differences among 100 contributors. Second, it 
was a policy to include more detail in articles based on early documents 
and on obscure, scattered, and inaccessible sources, which are published 
in many languages, than in articles treating subjects that are well 
covered in generally available recent monographs. Third, there is 
unevenness in the original source materials. The only sources, espe- 
cially for tribes which have long been extinct, are often early missionary 
and travelers’ accounts, which generally afford only extremely spotty 
and tantalizingly incomplete information. 

It was hoped at first, when the Handbook was planned as a closely 
unified, one-volume work, that all contradictory statements could be 
reconciled and eliminated. As the Handbook has increased in size, 
however, and as the material has been divided into five volumes, each 
of which is to be published as soon as it is completed and therefore 
before all articles for subsequent volumes are received, it is impossible 
to avoid including conflicting views. Differences of opinion, however, 
are quite expectable in the present stage of knowledge of South 
American Indians; and to present the material as if all authors were 


VoL. 1] INTRODUCTION—STEW ARD 5 


in agreement would give a fictitious certainty to many interpretations 
which are no more than tentative opinions. In a vigorous science, 
moreover, there will be diverse points of view, especially among the 
scientists working on the same problems. These, however, are of 
a purely intellectual order. Dedication of effort to a common problem, 
often through the closest personal and professional cooperation, con- 
stitutes a fundamental bond between individuals, regardless of their 
failure to agree on particular points. 

To make the Handbook as widely useful as possible, it includes 
articles of varying breadth. The introductory sections are intended 
for persons seeking a brief, comprehensive view of the major areas 
and subjects. Necessarily synthetic in nature, these naturally tend 
to be more interpretative and theoretical than the more specialized 
articles which are essentially factual. But it is frankly recognized 
that the very selection and organization of fact unavoidably imply 
some theoretical presuppositions. 

It is unfortunate that the war has made it impossible to take ad- 
vantage of the knowledge of our many European colleagues who have 
spent years in South American research. At the same time, the very 
necessity of finding personnel from the Americas to write all the 
articles has made the work as truly pan-American in execution as in 
scope. The awakened interest in mutual problems as well as the 
contacts created between scientists foreshadows a new era of research, 
most of it necessarily cooperative, directed toward fundamental human 
problems of the Americas. The appropriateness of inter-American 
collaboration on these problems can hardly be questioned. 


PRESENTATION OF MATERIALS 


Article outlines.—The material in each article is arranged according 
to a standard sequence. When an examination of a large number of 
standard ethnographic monographs revealed wide variation in sub- 
ject arrangement, the authors agreed to follow an arbitrary outline, 
so far as their materials permitted. 

The articles start with an Introduction, which often includes a 
geographical sketch. Tribal Divisions and History then follow. The 
history traces the major post-Contact events which have affected the 
tribe. When local archeology can definitely be linked with the 
historic tribe, it is included as a background to the history. Otherwise 
it is treated in a separate article. The next section evaluates the 
principal anthropological sources. The cultural summaries com- 
mence with Subsistence Activities (Farming, Collecting Wild Foods, 
Hunting, Fishing, and Food Preparation and Storage). Then come 
Villages and Houses, Dress and Ornaments, and Transportation. 
Manufactures, which follows, is essentially technological; the func- 
tional aspects of material culture are described under other headings 


6 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 148 


appropriate to the use of the objects. This section includes Basketry, 
Weaving, Ceramics, Bark Cloth, Metallurgy, Weapons, and other 
types of manufactures. The following section is usually Trade or 
Economic Organization. Social and Political Organization, which 
follows, describes the general patterns and structure of the groups. 
If necessary, special accounts of Warfare and Cannibalism come 
next. Life Cycle then sketches Birth, Childhood, Puberty rites and 
initiations, Marriage, and Death observances. Esthetic and Recre- 
ational Activities includes Games, Music, Musical instruments, 
Dancing, Narcotics, and Intoxicants. Religion describes beliefs about 
supernatural powers and beings, and magical and religious rites, 
functionaries, and structures. It also includes concepts and prac- 
tices concerning the medicine man or shaman, unless shamanism is 
sufficiently developed to warrant a separate section. Mythology and 
Folklore follow. Finally comes Lore and Learning, which includes 
cosmogony, measurements of weight, time, and space, and other 
special beliefs or concepts of an essentially nonreligious nature. 

Tribal names and synonyms.—Each chapter of Volumes 1 to 4 
carries a heading, Tribal Divisions, which lists tribes, subtribes, and 
synonyms, the last usually in parentheses. An effort is made to 
account for all the significant names appearing in the literature, a 
prodigious task complicated by conflicting usage and innumerable 
synonyms. 

The inclusiveness of tribal designations varies tremendously. At 
one extreme are terms like Arawak, Carib, and Tupi or Guarani, 
designating widespread peoples, each with great linguistic similarity 
and some cultural homogeneity, but lacking any political unity. 
Some terms are more restricted. Z’uwpinamba, for example, embraces a 
large number of Z’wpi peoples, who, though culturally homogeneous, 
are split into independent and locally named groups scattered along 
2,000 miles of Brazilian coast. At the other extreme is the practice, 
commonly employed for large portions of the Amazonian and Mar- 
ginal culture areas, which lists every independent village, band, or 
horde as a separate tribe even though it consisted of but a single 
family. Thus, there is a name for each of the many localized, 
patrilineal bands which compose the Ona of Tierra del Fuego, for 
the innumerable independent hordes of the Ge, for the many 
migratory families of the Alacaluf, and for the independent family 
villages of the Z’ucano. As it would exceed the physical limits of the 
Handbook, as well as the bounds of usefulness, to list all these names, 
we have attempted to group them into what may, in a cultural and 
linguistic sense, be considered tribes. 

Efforts to systematize tribal classifications and to clarify tribal 
names have been only partially successful. Many names appear in 
the early lists without explanation. Others are so inadequately ex- 


Vow. 1] INTRODUCTION—STEW ARD 7 


plained that the nature or the magnitude of the groups in question is 
obscure. Some are doubtlessly synonyms of well-known tribes, 
whereas others probably designate minor and unimportant groups. 
But until new data from the field or the literature clarify their 
significance, the tribal lists and the tribal map of South America will 
have an enormous number of small tribes—more, perhaps, than other 
comparable areas of the world. 

The standard name chosen for each tribe is that best established by 
usage, except in a few cases where a secondary name is selected to 
avoid confusion between similarly named tribes. Coronado (crowned) 
and Orején (large ear), for example, have become the established 
designations of so many unrelated tribes that we have substituted 
synonyms for these names to distinguish them from one another. 

All synonyms are included in parentheses following the first listing 
of the standard tribal name. Important differences in nomenclature 
are also explained in the text, but many synonyms are mere variants 
of spelling. 

Spelling follows a simple orthography, which aims to be intelligible 
in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Vowels have their Spanish 
values, and accents fall on the antepenult unless otherwise indicated. 
As & does not occur in Spanish and Portuguese, ¢ has been substituted 
before uw, 0, and a, except in spelling which is too well established to 
permit change. No attempt is made at phonetic spelling, for it would 
serve only academic interest even if it were possible to know the 
native rendition of those names originating in Indian languages. 

Following North American usage, the singular form of the tribal 
name serves as the collective noun, and linguistic families bear the 
ending an. 

All tribal names and synonyms will be listed in the general index 
in the last volume. The more important tribes will be shown on the 
general map, the locations being those at the time of the first contact 
with Europeans. 

Bibliography.—Citations of sources are usually placed in paren- 
theses in the text, the author’s name, the date of his publication, and 
frequently the volume and page or pages being indicated. When only 
the date and pages are cited, the latter are indicated by p. or pp., for 
example, Jones, 1915, p. 10. When the volume is included, it is indi- 
cated by the number following the date and the pages are indicated 
by a colon, for example, Jones, 1915, 2:10-15, which means Jones, 
1915, volume 2, pages 10 to 15. 

The full titles and place of publication of each reference will be 
found in the general bibliography at the end of each volume, where 
all the publications cited throughout the volume are given under the 
authors’ names, which are listed alphabetically. 


8 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buu. 143 


Handbook contributors have compiled complete bibliographies on 
their subjects, briefly and critically commenting upon each article, 
monograph, and book. It was the original plan to publish these in 
a single large bibliography which would form a part of the Handbook. 
As the complete annotated bibliography will, however, probably in- 
clude nearly 10,000 items, publication of this material in full is deferred 
in the hope that special bibliographic volumes may some day be 
prepared. 

Maps.—Each volume will carry a guide map to the articles con- 
tained in it. In addition, certain articles are accompanied by special 
tribal maps. A general tribal and linguistic map will accompany 
Volume 5, but will also be made available separately. 

Except where special dates are indicated, maps give the location of 
tribes at the time of their first contact with White men. On the 
coastal regions and in Highland Peri, this was early in the 16th 
century. Along the main waterways and other routes of exploration 
and travel, many tribes were encountered later in the same century. 
In other regions, especially around the periphery of the Amazon 
Basin, the Indians were first discovered much later, many of them only 
in the present century. There are even regions so imperfectly ex- 
plored today that the identification and location of tribes is based on 
the merest hearsay. 

Special mention must be made of the three maps which cover, 
respectively, the area north of the Amazon River, the portion of 
Brazil lying east of 56° W. long., and the area extending south- 
ward from the Amazon River to include the lower Jurué, Puris, and 
Madeira Rivers, and a portion of Matto Grosso. These, which are 
unusual in detail and in the location of tribes at different dates, were 
traced directly from a large map especially prepared by Dr. Curt 
Nimuendaji for the Handbook. It is regretted that Dr. Nimuendaji’s 
original map could not be published, but its size, 6 feet by 8 feet, and 
the large number of colors indicating the linguistic affiliation of all 
tribes, made this impossible. In addition to being traced directly for 
the three maps just mentioned, other parts of Dr. Nimuendaji’s map 
served, along with special maps prepared by other contributors, as a 
source of information for the general tribal map, which was prepared 
by the editor. 

Index.—A complete index to the entire Handbook will be issued 
under separate covers. It will include all the synonyms of each tribe 
in order to facilitate the identification of tribes. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


Individual acknowledgments in a cooperative work are scarcely 
necessary. All persons involved had a part in urging the necessity 
of the Handbook, in planning it, and in carrying it to completion. 


Vou. 1] INTRODUCTION—STEW ARD 9 


All have given unselfishly of their time. Those who found their 
normal work redoubled after the war involved the Western Hemi- 
sphere, even those who eventually left their countries to fight with the 
armed forces, somehow found time to complete their promised con- 
tributions. 

A special word of gratitude, however, is due Dr. Alfred Métraux. 
The extent of his contribution is by no means indicated by the large 
number of articles appearing under his name. With an unsurpassed 
knowledge of South American ethnology and ever generous with his 
time, his advice and help to the editor and contributors alike have 
been a major factor in the successful completion of the work. 

Dr. Robert H. Lowie also merits particular thanks for his help in 
arranging and editing the materials of Volume 3 and for writing the 
general article on the Tropical Forests. Similarly, to Dr. Wendell 
C. Bennett the Handbook is indebted for constant advice in planning 
Volume 2, in integrating its articles, and for preparing the general 
article on the Andean civilization. 

The Handbook acknowledges with gratitude the gracious coopera- 
tion of the Hispanic Foundation of the Library of Congress, and es- 
pecially the Foundation’s Director, Dr. Lewis Hanke. The wealth 
of readily available materials in the Foundation’s collections and the 
conveniences and courtesies accorded Handbook contributors in con- 
sulting them have added immeasurably to the completeness of the 
work, 

Gratitude is due the innumerable persons and institutions which 
generously made photographs available for reproduction without cost 
or restrictions. These are individually acknowledged in credit lines. 

For translation of several manuscripts in Spanish, Portuguese, and 
French, the Handbook is indebted to the kindness of the Central 
Translating Division of the Department of State, to the Strategic 
Index of the Americas, and to several members of its own oflice staff. 

Finally, special praise must be given the untiring office staff for 
carrying out the vast routine tasks of preparing the manuscripts and 
materials. The editor is particularly indebted to Miss Ethelwyn 
Carter who, almost since the beginning of the project, has helped with 
the innumerable details necessary to its smooth functioning, and to 
Dr. Gordon R. Willey who assumed responsibility for the final as- 
sembling and preparation of illustrations and manuscripts. 

Epitor’s NoTE.—While this volume was in press, word was received of the death 
of Dr. Curt NimuendajG during a field trip late in 1945 to the T’ucuna Indians of 
the upper Amazon. Scientists everywhere will deeply feel the loss of this emi- 
nent Brazilian scholar, whose extensive researches made him the foremost of all 
ethnologists working in the South American field. 


iit iat otes 7, 


. id ine nygtationy 
i ns ddl bib et “tee? 
pilates 2 


aid ibn nivale eve ba! seni B to vgbsivon, 
| resi oaila eorndiiinos bab nadie isd inn) aoirbin raidyocntis | 
WO) “Show dj ta wetoleee lodaasoous eifenbagiont Ropeneygmeed 
aah at Ot ett datosihien atisin vale oteol— FL inedodl: ad 

ed givin ro? bentaniole te aleiresind achh paitibe ‘Baalgstguanes uy 

— Bebre W 2G of pyindl chi Gtaow A lasigoY? ailbigo slotiia 

tinal ci viv ba timalbyolhetlehai a doodbnskt alia i 
pete silt gabe tet bite walniies ati pat engetet AhyQ bento 
sd trave', veny Erithe Wee ese Onnidatilacle deobhAoteoeinags 
Lirraupannes andi stiehitiqarg dite eyhelroodlon aloddimeHiedtBon | 
the heen 2ess goo) tonyr dedi D endt to ab techie piconets ortho sant 
dtliee od? Loketvbbratwidl.« sedoweil> sltoitsband: od 

silt fin aioriaidlos Bnotiebute’e® alin? abemapaan aldulinraaghibeok Ae 
“eo wi eidindiaiaos adoodhazH belrrosse ewiesitves bite eonsiaevites 
out te aererrsane=non ob: berwrannes neti bohfen ound otetht, gases 


4 


| 1 iver, GHe-F ort 
Hoiitt-¢ wrtgerdiinal baw envied aie: rousshs tisk ane oathy vinaharienh..« 
hem idodiiw sotsaberqd rot sldpliogd ange tgatostg, haa 
ideeh tibet> ar hey bblwonslon ql bivihai Ganeed Dy eapieeiiemag 
feter end urgudto8d dakianiai bagitoay nace lings en oot 6p | 
leties oi: to menbuideads ob batdabai si doodthaphladinuloae 


hiyodiexit: off! ot) el dit) 2. totemrreeGl og, boy monatei(h, yid 
els actio wine 2ii Yo, eted gent) Lirtevas. od bam, emai ieccds tm 
tot Mate soil warttancedt ping ocd dant acien lode 
dite edqirvotss Hm edt gatsaqeiguto aiieg? onilwor deny it i 
myrledact x “iM o) botdalwn Wiaalooitsed, al wadube ehh: sora 
dite howled anil ux Hing ads te. Ruistarg wud sil) opie, demeuha odveany . 
Oh hon gyanoiocel sdoeate aL obit, eigioh( aldgemgeagh 
sal bia haul) rot ilidianoqeet banueen ody yl W JL m0 “i on 
Lyi eu, 299 Tied a ete ero eriten liz: 29 oni amnqerd, bra vgcl ld apap 
Sekt OO Ie be isow cave brow agony tee eet ean eee | 
Se srditen LewwowS Bil) of TOL aig pied egeben SlaboesmlY joo Cl to 
siny #1012 Yo gaol off! low vid Mie oredwewye allineise cosaeiaé uma oily” 
ie do Mwoursi0) suit ould son adleonenee~ oviagepepeamiy yiatlores salliees Jape 
ion cmiemA dive ad) ol goltiow alaigoloadig 
Mmoireraiive. WHT er eenale 
. Pare ix ary ee Cit oneal Gy 
1}, CRIP IOE Wy Se Vole ae 


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME 1 
OF THE 


HANDBOOK OF SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


Hersert Baupus, Séo Paulo, Brazil. 

JUAN Beuaterr, Asuncion, Paraguay. 

Junius B. Brrp, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 
New York. 

Sanvapor Canats Frau, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, 
Argentina. 

JoHN M. Cooper, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. 

SamueEt K. Lorurop, Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Rosert H. Lown, University of California, Berkeley, California. 

Awntpat Marros, Instituto Historicgd e Geografico de Minas Gerais, 
Minas Gerais, Brazil. 

Aurrep Métravux, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 

Curt Nimvuenpasu, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belém do Para, 
Brazil. (See Editor’s note, page 9.) 

AnTONIo Serrano, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, Ar- 
gentina. 

Gorpon R. WitiEy, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 

11 


ee=pueeG 
Ge a 


Map 1.—Guide map of the tribes and subjects of Volume 1 of the Handbook. 
(Parallel-hatched, the Andean Civilizations, Volume 2; stippled, the Tropical 
Forests and Savannas, Volume 3; cross-hatched, the Circum-Caribbean cul- 
tures, Volume 4.) 1, Southern Hunters; 1A, Fuegians; 1B, Alacaluf; 1C, 
Chono; 1D, Tehuelche and Patagonian archeology; 1E, Puelche and Pampa 
archeology; 1F, Querandit and Pampa archeology. 2, Huarpe and Mendoza 
archeology. 3, Parand Delta. 4, Charrua. 5, Gran Chaco. 6, Lagoa Santa. 
7, Guaté. 8, Bororo. 9, Guayakt. 10, Caingang. 11, Southern Cayapdé. 12, 
Northwest and Central Ge. 13, Purt-Coroado. 14, Guaitacd. 15, Botocudo. 
16, Mashacali. 17, Camacan. 18, “Tapuya.” 19, Pimenteira. 20, Cariri. 21, 
Teremembé Tarairiu. 22, Teremembé. 


12 


VOLUME 1. THE MARGINAL TRIBES 
Part I. INDIANS OF SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA 


THE SOUTHERN HUNTERS: AN INTRODUCTION 
By Joun M. Cooper 


Under “Southern Hunters” are here included the Yahgan, Alacaluf, 
Chono, and Ona of the Magellanic Archipelago, and the 7’ehuelche, 
Poya, and Puelche of Patagonia and the Argentine Pampa (map 1, 
No.1; map 2). Inasmuch as extensive bibliographies and fully docu- 
mented studies of the culture of the Yahgan, Alacaluf, Chono, and 
Ona are readily accessible in the works of Cooper (1917), Lothrop 
(1928), and Gusinde (1931, 1937), source lists and page references in 
the present papers on these four tribes are kept to the minimum con- 
sistent with the objectives of the Handbook. Since, however, we lack 
similar over-all documented studies of the Zehwelche and Puelche, 
much more copious sources and page references are included in the 
sections dealing with them. 

All these Southern Hunters belong to the South American marginal 
peoples, as distinct from the silval and sierral ones. These marginals 
may be divided into: The Southern Coastal, of the Magellanic shores 
and channels; the Campestral, of Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, the 
Argentine Pampa, the Uruguayan plains, and the Chaco; the Savan- 
nal, of the Brazilian highlands and adjacent regions; and the Intra- 
silval, scattered here and there within or near the broad expanse of 
the tropical rain forest (Cooper, 1942 b). 

The Southern Coastal marginals are the Yahgan, Alacaluf, and 
Chono. The Ona, Tehuelche, Poya, and Puelche are the more south- 
ern of the Campestral marginals. 

The Yahgan, Alacaluf, Ona-Tehuelche, and Puelche represent dis- 
tinct linguistic families. The Chono may have spoken an Alacalufan 
dialect, the Poya an Ona-Tehuelche one. Physically the Yahgan, Ala- 
caluf, and Chono may be classed together, at least loosely and pro- 
visionally, as may also the Ona and Tehwelche. Classification of the 
Poya and Puelche is much more problematic. 

Culturally, these seven peoples had much in common, although man- 
ifesting many marked divergences. The Yahgan, Alacaluf, and Chono 


13 


14 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buin. 143 


should best be bracketed together; likewise the Ona, Tehuelche, Poya, 
and Puelche. In either case much of common culture is conditioned 
by the natural environment—archipelagic for the first group, insular 
and continental for the second. 

All seven shared in common the following cultural elements: A col- 
lecting economy, with gardening lacking, except for traces among the 
Poya and Chono in touch with the Araucanians; absence of tobacco 
and alcoholic beverages, except among the Poya and perhaps the pre- 
Columbian Puelche,; simple movable shelters, of lean-to, domed, con- 
ical, or toldo construction; sleeping on the bare ground or on brush 
or skins, with the hammock and raised bed absent; weapons and 
utensils of stone, bone, or wood, with metals quite lacking; absence of 
gastronomic and ritual cannibalism; well-organized family system, 
with prevalent (not strict) monogamy; the band as the more common 
economico-political unit, usually made up largely of relatives by kin 
or marriage; chiefs either absent or, where present, of most limited 
authority ; societies, sibs, and moieties quite absent, and social strati- 
fication almost entirely so; land-tenure systems, where our informa- 
tion is at all clear, approximating the family hunting ground system ; 
again, where information is clear, well-marked theistic as well as 
shamanistic beliefs and practices (Cooper, 1942 a, pp. 10-11; 1942 b, 
pp. 149-150). 

Between, however, the Southern Coastal peoples and the Campestral, 
and, for that matter, between the several tribes within these two divi- 
sions, there were numerous and often marked divergences (Cooper, 
1925). 

The Southern Coastal tribes were predominantly canoe people, 
fishermen, and gatherers of sea food, with well-developed types of 
watercraft. Little clothing was worn. The chief weapons of chase 
and war were the spear, harpoon, sling, and club. Basketry was of 
coiled or looped techniques. 

The Campestral Ona, Tehuelche, and Puelche were predominantly 
land people, hunters of the guanaco in particular. Clothing covered 
most of the body. Their chief hunting and fighting weapon was the 
bow and arrow, although the Puelche when first known to the Whites 
had the bolas and the 7'ehuelche later acquired it. Bags and contain- 
ers were mostly of skin. 

The principal post-Columbian changes in culture among the South- 
ern Hunters of the mainland north of the Strait of Magellan, apart 
from such direct European importations as steel tools and weapons, 
firearms, and Christian religious concepts, came as a result of or a 
sequence to the introduction of the horse. The Puelche must have 
acquired the horse well before 1700, but our information on the point is 
slight. The Zehuelche acquired it, from either the Araucanians or 
the Puelche, some time between 1670 and 1741, more likely around 


Vou. 1] THE SOUTHERN HUNTERS—COOPER 15 


U D 
UCH, ye 


(Map, 


az 
a 
az 
0 


Map 2.—The tribes of southern South America, at the first European contact period. 


1725. At the time of or subsequent to the adoption of the horse by the 
Tehuelche, a great many new developments occurred in their culture, 
all or most of them being accretions from without: the bolas, lasso, and 
lance ; hide helmets, coats, and shields; pipe smoking and the use of in- 
toxicants; earrings and the tupu; gambling; the musical bow (Cooper, 
1925, pp. 408-409). 

Both the ethnological and the archeological evidence suggests, with- 
out, of course, rigidly demonstrating, that the Southern Coastal and 
Campestral marginals included in the Southern Hunters are not cul- 
tural reverts (Bird, 1938), but instead are cultural tarriants who have 
retained in an appreciable measure a very archaic pattern of culture. 
(Nordenskidld, 1931; Krickeberg, 1934; Cooper, 1925, 1941, pp. 9-13, 
1942 b.) But in the descriptive treatment which is called for in the 
present volume of the Handbook, fuller discussion of this large prob- 
lem of historical interpretation is not in order. 


JRISE Wk tilos HR 


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dase ‘Lu 


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PLATE 2.—Southern Patagonian landscapes. Top: Typical grassland country, north side of Strait of 
Magellan. Bottom: Volcanic crater and core in g nd aréa, north side of Strait of Magellan. (Cour- 
tesy Junius Bird.) 


(o10UIQO AA JapuBXeTy AseqINoD) “Kooy [B1oUds) JBI OIdIN OTY 94 ) ule[d p 1 (Yybis) wojOog “dsdUIAOIg Sally sousng 
(fa) Wwoyog ‘dsULAOIg Selly soueng UL seysTeyy *(7Y624) doy ‘ejedez iwou odevospurl ugnbnon :(j/a7) doy “edureg 10}8915) 94} JO sodeospuey—'e ALVIdg 


(piemays “FT uelpne Asaqa ) “SedUIAOIg O1BON O1Y puB UoNbNON JO 19piog IBAaN ‘sopuy outyUNsIW | (74624) 
ulojjog (a10W140\\ JopuRxe[y ASojInoD) “BzZOpudsy, UT SO{[IIo1jI0g 4e AoT[BA UBepuy -(7/27) wWoyo_ (‘o10UI4o A JopUuBXeTy ‘OIUOJUY UBg OGeD IBON ° Old 


Sally soueng jo sounp pues :(7Y621) do (9100140, JopuBxXeTy ASsaqIn0,)) OY [Blouse wOU ATJUNOD BIBIN O1Y : ‘edwueg 1938015 94) JO sodvosp 


THE ARCHEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA 
By Junius Birp 


INTRODUCTION 


The geographical limits of Patagonia have never been fixed by law 
or even by common usage. In the present instance, Patagonia is used 
broadly to include the southern Chilean archipelago and the Argentine 
territory south of the Rio Negro. The island of Chiloé, though not 
properly within its limits, may for cultural reasons also be included. 
We deal then with a roughly triangular area, about 1,200 miles (1,920 
km.) by 600 miles (960 km.) at its widest (map 1, Vos. 1A,1B,1C, 1D). 

The archeology of this region is of more than local interest. Some 
of America’s most primitive cultures survived here almost unaltered 
until recently. If, as supposed, they stem from ancient prototypes, the 
sites offer possibilities for revealing the changes they have undergone, 
the succession of cultures, and the time which has elapsed since they 
first reached the tip of the continent. 

Some information is now available, and the prospect for a complete 
recovery of the archeological record is unusually good here for sev- 
eral reasons. Most of the grasslands are unglaciated, and the moraines, 
marking different stages of the ice advance, he far from the east 
coast, except at the Strait, so that sites have not been destroyed. 
Furthermore, the land has gradually risen since before human occu- 
pation became possible so that sites close to the shore are preserved 
and their antiquity may be correlated with the elevation of the land. 
Finally, the many rock shelters and caves, especially in lava, served 
as sites where cultural remains have been excellently preserved for a 
long time (pls. 5, 6). 

The archeological problems of our area are somewhat simplified 
by the environmental influence on the cultures. The remains are al- 
most exclusively those of nomadic hunters and fishermen. Pre-Co- 
lumbian agriculture never extended south of Chiloé, and to this day 
the excessive rainfall and rugged topography of the southern archi- 


1 All evidence indicates that the native populations of Fuegia at the southern end of this 
region ultimately came from the north. Nothing supports hypotheses of trans-Pacifie mi- 
grations, either direct or via Antarctica. 

17 
583486—46——_2 


18 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


pelago discourage cultivation. On the Argentine side, the land is 
even now used primarily for grazing, although Europeans have suc- 
cessfully farmed the limited quantities of arable land in the northern 
valleys. 

Our region, however, has two cultural areas: that now occupied by 
the canoe Indians—Chono, Alacaluf, and Yahgan—in the archipelago 
west of the Cordillera, and that of the foot Indians—Tehuelche and 
Ona—in the broad, open country of Patagonia. There was little cul- 
tural exchange between these areas, except in the region of the Strait 
of Magellan, where the canoe and foot tribes had ready access to one 
another. 

On the densely forested and overgrown archipelago south of Chiloé, 
the food supply was principally shellfish, sea lions, and sea birds; land 
game was limited. Travel is possible only by boat or canoe, so that 
the preferred camps are, and always have been, protected moorings 
or landings which are close to sources of food. Contrary to what 
one might suppose, the most desirable part of the archipelago is in 
the extreme south, along the southern side of Tierra del Fuego, where 
a better climate induced people to remain. There is, in fact, a much 
greater concentration of middens there (pls. 6, 7, 8) than anywhere 
else south of Chiloé. 

The Atlantic coast is by contrast desolate. Vegetation from the sea 
back to the foothills is limited to grass or low bushes, and in places 
suffers from scanty rainfall. Beaches are open and unprotected, 
harbors are infrequent and poor, and shellfish, fish, and sea lions are 
not as plentiful, or at least as accessible, as on the Pacific side. Mate- 
rial for the construction of watercraft is absent, though a people with 
the skill and ingenuity of the Eskimo could, with any real inducement 
to develop a strictly coastal culture, have managed. Actually, land 
game provided the staple food, with the products of the beaches 
secondary. 

At the beginning of historic times, guanaco and rhea and probably 
Patagonian cavy were the important game in the grasslands, and the 
native economy centered on their pursuit and capture. Permanent 
camps could not be maintained, but sites that were sheltered from the 
wind, accessible to water, and in a good hunting district were used 
repeatedly. If not damaged by erosion, such sites are likely to yield 
data on a long period of human occupation. 


HISTORY OF INVESTIGATIONS 


The first recorded archeological discovery in this area was in 1578, 
when members of Drake’s crew, while digging a grave, found “a great 
grinding stone, broken in two parts” (Fletcher, 1652, p. 33). Interest 
lagged, however, until the latter part of the last century when settlers 
began to collect surface material. As this filtered into museums, espe- 


VoL. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA—BIRD 19 


cially in Buenos Aires, it aroused interest, and led to Dr. Félix F. 
Outes’ detailed report on existing collections (1904 a), long the stand- 
ard reference on Patagonian artifacts. This was supplemented by later 
papers (Outes, 1905, 1916) and the reports of other Argentine scien- 
tists, Ambrosetti (1903), Aparicio (1935), Vignati (1923 a, 1923 b, 
1933) treating mainly surface finds, graves, and rock paintings. 

The first archeological report on the far south was Lovisato’s account 
(1885) of his examination of a midden on Elizabeth Island in the Strait 
of Magellan. The discovery of a Mylodon skin in a huge cave near 
Ultima Esperanza in 1895 stimulated excavation in search of additional 
remains of this animal. (For bibliography, see Gusinde, 1921.) In- 
vestigation exposed a small amount of late camp refuse, a burial, and 18 
artifacts, 2 of which may have been as old as the sloth remains. The 
remains were variously explained, some persons even concluding that 
the Indians had stabled giant sloths in the cave, an explanation which 
has persisted even though one of the most reliable excavators (Nor- 
denskidld, 1900) doubted that the Mylodon remains and artifacts 
were really associated. 

On Tierra del Fuego, the first archeological study and examination 
of shell mounds on the east coast was made by Vignati (1927). In 
that year, Lothrop (1928) visited the area for ethnological and archeo- 
logical reconnaissance. His survey of portions of the south side of 
Tierra del Fuego revealed abundant evidence of human occupation. 
In the same season, Guifiazti (1936) mapped additional middens on the 
east coast. A few years later Sir Baldwin Spencer came from Aus- 
tralia to work in the same section, but died shortly after his arrival. 

From 1932 to 1937, the American Museum of Natural History spon- 
sored two field trips with the kind cooperation of the Museo Nacional 
de Historia Natural of Chile. These included a general survey of 
various sites south from Puerto Montt to the Strait of Magellan and 
intensive excavations on Navarino Island and in Chilean territory east 
of Punta Arenas (Bird, 1938). 

These sources, supplemented by valuable information from private 
collectors in Argentina, afford a reasonably reliable basis for a sketch 
of the prehistory of Patagonia and the Archipelago. 


CULTURE SEQUENCE AT THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN 


The longest cultural sequence was found in several caves and shelters 
in the grasslands along the north shore of the Strait of Magellan in a 
section beyond the limits of the last ice advance. There were five 
prehistoric periods of the inland culture. The oldest consists of re- 
mains of people who hunted the ground sloth and the native American 
horse; the latest is indentifiable with the culture of the Ona of Tierra 
del Fuego. The periods are distinguished by the types of projectile 


20 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


points and by the presence or absence of certain other artifacts. All 
lack pottery, which is found only rarely in this region on historic 
Tehuelche camps (pl. 5), associated with modern horse bones and 
trade beads. All have in common simple stone scrapers for working 
wood and bone. Blades for scraping skin, however, show an abrupt 
change in pattern and are an important diagnostic trait. The first 
three periods used large blades, which varied in size and proportions, 
while the fourth had the small “thumbnail” type which, because of the 
manner of hafting, is much more uniform in size. The last is used 
to the present day. 

First period.—The oldest culture can be most readily recognized 
by the projectile points—barbless blades with tapering stems expanded 
at the base. The few associated artifacts are: Bone flaking tools, bone 
awls, scrapers, rough chopping tools, and flat lava disks of unknown 
use (pl. 9). At this time cremation burial was practiced. 

Second period.—The second cultural level yields bone projectile 
points of varying form and size, two types of awls which seem to be 
confined to this level, and numerous scraping tools (pl. 9). 

Third period.—The third period produces stemless stone points, 
the majority of which are triangular in outline with rounded bases; 
awls; scrapers; and bolas stones. These stones are mainly small ones 
for taking birds, a significant fact in view of the use of bird bolas else- 
where in America (pl. 10). Contemporary human skeletons are flexed 
and smeared with red clay. 

Fourth period.—In the fourth period, stemmed knife and projectile 
points replace the stemless types and are accompanied by the small 
hafted scraper already mentioned. There are also simple beads and 
ornaments, awls, and large bolas stones of various forms (pl. 10). 
Burials thought to be of this period are found in stone cairns, the 
body extended. 

Fifth period.—Although artifacts of the fourth period may have 
been in use until the historic period, the presence of a fifth cultural 
group is evident. Small arrow points of a type characteristic of the 
Ona (pl. 11) associated with other typical Ona artifacts such as combs, 
beads, and rough bone tools show the relatively late presence of this 
tribe on the mainland. 

Historic period.—The only evidence of White contact at the Strait 
is the material on Tehwelche camp sites. The abundance of modern 
horse bones probably dates them at about the middle of the 18th 
century. Plain undecorated sherds, pipes, hammered copper orna- 
ments, and sometimes glass trade beads are found. 


CULTURE SEQUENCE AT BEAGLE CHANNEL 


On the shores of Beagle Channel, south of Tierra del Fuego, are 
innumerable shell middens, some quite large, with compact refuse 


VOL. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA—BIRD 21 


over 10 feet (3 m.) deep. They contain evidence of two distinct 
cultures. 

Early period.—The older is characterized, as in Alacaluf territory, 
by the use of mussel-shell knives, single-barbed harpoon points, bird- 
bone awls, whetstones, sinkers, rough choppers, simple ornaments, and 
the complete absence of the pressure flaking technique of stoneworking 
(pl. 11). In the Fuegian middens these items are accompanied by 
large bolas stones and small hafted scrapers, both of which must have 
been acquired from the foot tribes who, according to mainland chronol- 
ogy, first had them in the fourth period. Similarity of ornaments is 
further evidence that Tierra del Fuego borrowed from the mainland 
during this period. 

This simple culture evolved with slight change into the modern 
Alacaluf in the territory between the Strait and the Gulf of Penas. 
Its extension into Tierra del Fuego may indicate that the Alacaluf 
were then in what at the beginning of historic times was Yahgan 
territory. 

Recent period.—The late material, which forms the upper portions 
of the Beagle Channel middens, is identifiable as Yahgan (pl. 12). 
The use of pressure-flaked arrow, lance, and knife blades of distinctive 
forms, pit huts, drinking tubes, wedges, bark removers, and many 
scrapers distinguishes the Yahgan from their predecessors, while the 
use of single-barbed harpoons (though slightly modified) , bark canoes, 
sinkers, bird-bone awls and beads, and the same food habits were 
common to both. This seeming blend of two cultures does not appear 
to have occurred along Beagle Channel, where the transition is 
abrupt. 

There are no later changes, except for the introduction of the 
saw-toothed spear, possibly in historic times. 


ANTIQUITY 


The structure of the Beagle Channel middens and the beach deposit 
on which they rest shows that the land has risen about 15 feet (4.5 m.) 
since the first occupation of the sites, and 214 feet (0.75 m.) since 
the introduction of the Yahgan culture. As stone-tipped arrows, 
indicating the Yahgan culture, were reported in this district in 1624, 
the 214-foot change must represent over 300 years, so, if the uplift 
was constant—and there is some reason to believe it was—in this case 
the total age of the deposits cannot be less than 1,800 years. 

Lothrop (1928, p. 197), by estimating the population of a district, 
the volume of the middens, and the consequent rate of deposit, cal- 
culated the age of the middens to be between 1,300 and 2,600 years, 
and gave 2,000 as an approximation. 

Along the north shore of the Strait, 190 miles to the north, there 
is evidence that the land has risen 4214 feet (13 m.) above sea level 


22 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buu. 143 


since human occupation of the section began. If the land rose at 
the same rate as at Beagle Channel, 5,100 years is the minimum an- 
tiquity of the oldest cultures, Estimates of 5,400 and 3,000 years 
were secured by calculating the rate at which the cave deposits had 
accumulated since the first occupants disappeared and the sloth and 
native horse became extinct. 

Other geologic evidence of antiquity is that since the sloth hunters 
occupied Fell’s Cave on the Rio Chico that stream has dropped 16 to 
1914 feet (5 to 6m.). Furthermore, it has been shown that during 
the first culture period, shortly before the sloth and native horse dis- 
appeared from the grasslands, there was a violent volcanic eruption 
along the present Chilean-Argentine boundary, apparently the last 
such activity in that area. Finally, and perhaps most important, 
human occupation has been correlated with the recession of a glacial 
lake, Laguna Blanca. This lake, which lies in a basin between the 
third and fourth (final) moraine systems, was studied, mapped, and 
described by Caldenius (1932). Within this basin, well below the 
terraces marking the old lake levels, is a shelter which was occupied 
by Indians almost immediately after the recession of the lake. The 
artifacts on the cave bottom, beneath 8 to 9 feet (2.4 to 2.7 m.) of 
soil, are of the third culture period, which was, however, almost im- 
mediately succeeded by the fourth period, showing that the lake 
had receded only shortly before the arrival of that culture at this site. 

The antiquity indicated by the glacial evidence is not clear. De 
Geer believed he had correlated the Patagonian varve series with the 
Scandinavian series and that Caldenius’ fourth or finiglacial moraines 
were contemporaneous with the Scandinavian finiglacial. Regard- 
less of the validity of such claims, it is worth noting that, in com- 
menting on the territory that has been freed from ice since the fall 
in the lake level, Caldenius states (1932, p. 147) : 

Within the two youngest [moraines] the original glacial topography is many 
times so well preserved that one is astonished not to find the glacier still in 
activity. 

PATAGONIAN CULTURES 


Argentine Patagonia has no stratigraphic studies for comparison 
with those made in the south. The large collections of surface mate- 
rial, published and unpublished, show marked uniformity north to the 
Rio Negro. Most of the projectile and knife points are identical or 
similar to those of the fourth period at the Strait, except for slight 
differences due, perhaps, to the better quality of stone available. 
Small Ona type arrow points also occur to the Rio Negro, but around 
and north of Deseado are other small arrow points differing from the 
Ona type. The latter are unknown farther south. Points belonging 
to the third period at the Strait have been found at scattered localities 


Vou. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA—BIRD 23 


up to Comodoro Rivadavia, and similar points occur in the Chubut 
Valley. In northern collections they occur in about the same very 
small proportion as in surface collections gathered near the Strait. 
Points of the first period have not yet appeared in the collections. 
Various types of scrapers and bolas stones give additional evidence of 
the general archeological uniformity. 1t seems probable that north- 
ern Patagonia will produce a sequence similar to that found at the 
Strait. 

The distinctive features of the north—the greater number of pot- 
sherds (some of them decorated with simple incised or punctate mark- 
ings), the drills (abundant in the north and almost unknown at the 
Strait), and rare pieces such as polished celts (Vignati, 1923 b), per- 
forated club heads (Outes, 1905, p. 437), curiously shaped objects (re- 
ferred to by Outes (1916) and Vignati (1923 a) as ceremonial axes), 
and engraved stone tablets (Outes, 1905, p. 469)—may all represent 
elaborations of the late periods. How the numerous cave paintings 
and petroglyphs relate to the chronology remains to be seen (Aparicio, 


1935). 
CHILOE ISLAND 


Brief comments may be included on Chiloé Island and the adjacent 
area. Along the shores of the Gulf of Reloncavi and Corcovado and 
down the eastern side of Chiloé are many large shell middens. As yet 
we know all too little about their contents. The absence of pressure- 
flaked stonework in the lower portions of the deposits and the pres- 
ence of a few artifacts duplicating those found farther south show 
that the culture was identical to that in Alacaluf territory. Later ref- 
use, yielding pressure-flaked points of a type absent farther south and 
on the Argentine side, drills and polished celts (pl. 12), suggests influ- 
ence from the Chilean mainland. Pottery is rare, and may antedate 
the arrival of the Spaniards by only a short time. 


RESEARCH PROBLEMS 


Perhaps the most important task of the future is to learn more of 
the oldest cultures, the first two periods discovered at the Strait. 
This will have to be done in Argentine territory, where a further 
check on the correlation of the cultural and glacial periods can be 
made. 

One of the most puzzling problems is the origin of the Yahgan 
culture. Its distinctive stonework has not yet been found anywhere 
north of the Strait. Its pit house, impractical in the western archi- 
pelago but suited to the drier, windy country east of the mountains, 
has never been noted north of Elizabeth Island in the Strait. To un- 
derstand this culture, perhaps the first task should be a careful study 
of the house pits on northern Tierra del Fuego. 


24 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


A third great need is to investigate fully the Chilotan middens. 
This is bound to be a tedious task, which will yield little in material 
specimens, yet the information gained may clarify the relationship 
between the oldest coastal cultures of northern and southern Chile. 
(See Bird, 1948, p. 309.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Ambrosetti, 1903; Aparicio, 1935; Bird, 1938, 1943; Caldenius, 1932; Fletcher, 
1652 ; Guifilaz, 1986; Gusinde, 1921; Lothrop, 1928; Lovisato, 1885; Nordenskidéld, 
1900 ; Outes, 1904 a, 1905, 1916; Spencer, 1931; Vignati, 1923 a, 1923 b, 1927, 1933. 


PLATE 5.—Southern Patagonian landscapes. Top: Rio Chico Valley, Chile, near Argentine border. 
Bone fragments of Period 4 camp refuse in foreground. Bottom: East side Laguna Blanca, Chile. 
Rock shelters are common in these canyons. (Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


PLATE 6.—Archeological sites, southern Chile. Top: Midden site, north side of Navarino Island. Canoe 
runways and markings on beach below midden. Bottom: Cave in volcanic outcrop, Chile-Argentine 
boundary, containing extinct horse bones and a few artifacts. (Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


PLATE 7.—Archeological sites, Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. Top: Midden (center of picture), Na- 
| varino Island. Bottom: Navarino Island midden. Depressions mark pit house locations. (Courtesy 
Junius Bird.) 


ews 


page % 
tons 


PLATE 8.—Archeological sites, Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. Top: Midden, Puerto Pescado, Naya 
rino Island. Bottom: Cross section of above midden. (Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


aS 
ae 


as sim 


PLATE 9.—Stratigraphy, Straitof Magellan. Top: Period 1 artifacts. a, End scrapers; 6, side scrapers; 
c, chopping stones; d, rubbing stones; e, early type chipping tools (?); f, bird awls; g, early type stemmed 
projectile points. Bottom: Period 2 artifacts. a, Side scrapers; b, end scrapers c, bird awls; d, bone 
awls; e, bone points. (After Bird, 1938, figs. 27, 26.) 


PLATE 10.—Stratigraphy, Strait of Magellan. Top: Period 3artifacts. a, Bolas; b, bone scraper; c, straight- 
stemmed projectile points (very rare); d, hafted scrapers (very rare); é, end scrapers; /, side scrapers; 
g, stemless projectile and knife points. Bottom: Period 4 artifacts. a, Chipping tools; b, incised bone; 
c, beads and ornaments; d, bone awls; é, side scrapers; f, end scrapers; g. hafted scrapers; h, Patagonian 
projectile points and hafted knives; 7, bolas. (After Bird, 1988, figs. 25, 24.) 


PLATE 11.—Stratigraphy, Strait of Magellan. Top: Period 5 (Ona) artifacts. a, Chipping tools; b, Ona 
projectile points; c, beads and ornaments; d, bird awls; e, bone awls; /, bark remover (?), early; g, combs. 
Bottom: Beagle Channel, shell-knife culture artifacts. a, Bolas; 6, fishline sinkers; c, bark remover (?), 
early; d, bone awls; e, bird awls; f, round-shank harpoons; g, hafted scrapers; h, comb; i, beads and orna- 
ments; j, Shell knives; k chopping stones; /, side scrapers; m, whetstones. (After Bird, 1938, figs. 23, 21. 


3 in. 4 
uk om 


PLATE 12.—Stratigraphy, Strait of Magellan. Top: Beagle Channel, recent period. a. Whalebone wedges; 
6, drinking tube; c, shell knives; d, fish spear; e, bolas; f, fishline sinkers; g, whetstones; h, flat-shank har- 
poons; i, bone awls; j, side scrapers; k, end scrapers; /, bark remover, late; m, bird awls; n, beads and orna- 
ments; 0, chipping tools; p, projectile and knife points. Bottom: Early and late Chiloé artifacts. a, 
Potsherds; 6, projectile points; c, polished celts; d, whalebone wedges; €, pointed shell tools; f, beads and 
ornaments; g, hafted drill; h, flaked sinkers; i, whetstones; j, chopping stones; k, flaked tool (?). (After 
Bird, 1938, figs. 20, 22.) 


THE ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA 


By Gorpon R. WiLtey 


GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT 


The country lying north of the Rio Negro, east of the high Andes 
which separate Chile from Argentina, west of the Parana River, and, 
roughly, south of parallel 32°50’ S., is considered in this paper as 
the Greater Pampa (map 1, Vos. 1, 1F, 2). It embraces, geograph- 
ically, the central one-third of the Argentine Republic. Beginning 
at the south, it includes a portion of the Territory of Rio Negro, the 
Territories of Neuquén and La Pampa, the Province of Buenos Aires, 
rather vaguely defined lowland portions of the Provinces of Cordoba, 
San Luis, and southern Santa Fé, and most of the Province of Mendoza 
(map 3). The natural environment is varied. On the extreme west 
are the Cordilleras and eastern piedmont of the Andes. The latter 
slope down gradually to the Dry Pampa of western La Pampa and 
San Luis and the lowlands of Cérdoba. Continuing east, the Dry 
Pampa gives way to the Humid Pampa of eastern La Pampa and 
Buenos Aires. These plains were originally covered with clusters of 
scrubby trees and grasses, a vegetation type known as “monte.” 
Toward the southeast, in the Province of Buenos Aires, the rainfall is 
heavier and the summers are cooler. Tall prairie grasses were prob- 
ably once the most important cover in this section (James, 1942, pp. 
284 ff.). 

These Pampa lands with their heavy soils were not adapted to cul- 
tivation with Indian techniques, and the region offered a barrier to 
both the Andean and Tropical Forest types of horticulture which, 
in aboriginal times, bordered the Pampa on the north. Exceptions 
to this are the settlements at the Parana Delta, where the land is wet, 
marshy, and favorable to cultivation, and the inter-Andean valley 
settlements of Mendoza, where a highland type of agriculture was 
practiced. For peoples living in either the mountains or Pampa, on a 
nonhorticultural level, the country offered resources sufficient to sus- 
tain numerous small nomadic or semisedentary groups. The rhea 
and the guanaco were the most important food animals. These were 
supplemented by deer and otter, and various small birds. Roots, 


25 


2°26 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


wild fruits, and berries were gathered; and fish and shellfish formed 
a large part of the diet of the river and coastal groups (Joyce, 1912, 
p. 246). 

SOURCES 


With but a few exceptions, the present knowledge of Pampa arche- 
ology is due to the persistent efforts of Argentine scientists over a 
period of a great many years. Beginning with F. Ameghino (1911 and 
many other titles before and after this date) there have been a suc- 
cession of investigators. The present paper is based largely upon their 
writings. In the earlier decades Ambrosetti (1902, 1909) and Outes 
(1897, 1904 b, 1905, 1906 a, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1926 a) were outstanding 
contributors. Oliveira Cézar (1895) and Lehmann-Nitsche (1916 a) 
were other important authors. These were followed by L. M. Torres 
(1922, 1923) and more recently by an outstanding leader in the field, 
Vignati (1931 a, 1931 b, 1931 c, 1931 d, 1937 a, 1937 b, 1937 c, 1939 b, 
1940, 1940-41, 1942). Other able and well-known archeologists and 
anthropologists of the contemporary scene are Serrano (1930, 1936, 
1940 a, 1940 b, 1940 c, 1940 d, 1940 e), Marquez Miranda (1934), Fren- 
guelli (1941), Frenguelli and Aparicio (1932), Aparicio (1935, 1940, 
1942), Greslebin (1928 a, 1928 b), Basavilbaso (1937 a, 1937 b), Bruz- 
zone (1931), and Salas (1942). 

Métraux (1929) conducted important studies in Mendoza, and has 
been followed in this region by the Argentine scientist Rusconi (1940 a, 
1940 b, 1940 c, 1940 d, 1941 a, 1941 b,1941c). The Swedish investigator 
Boman (1908, 1920) and the North Americans, Hrdlicka (1912), 
Holmes (1912), and Lothrop (1932 b), must be added to this list. 
This by no means exhausts the references to the literature on Pampean 
archeology. However, from the sources cited the reader may orient 
himself in the subject. 


THE BASIC CULTURE OF THE GREATER PAMPA 


The basic culture throughout most of the Greater Pampa area is 
founded on a hunting and gathering economy. The artifactual re- 
mains and the nature and disposition of archeological sites imply a 
simple, conservative culture. In spite of subareal variations, the 
basic culture traits are similar or identical for the entire area. That 
this widespread Pampean culture once existed in a pure state is an 
hypothesis. Documentation, which ranges from the middle 16th to 
the early 19th century, reveals alien influence at different periods. 
Most early observers recorded a culture which had been influenced by 
important European innovations. They also reveal late Araucanian 
influences which modified the simpler culture of the Pampa. Begin- 
ning in late pre-Conquest times, traits such as metal ornaments, from 


Vou, 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY Di. 


the northwest, and, possibly, some knowledge of maize cultivation, 
from both the northwest and the northeast, were filtering into the 
Pampa. Because archeological sequences are imperfectly known for 
the southern Andean and the Parana River areas, as well as the Pampa, 
it is not easy to factor out foreign elements from the old culture of the 
Pampa (Cooper, 1941, 1942 a, 1942 b). 

Stonework.—Because of the importance of hunting throughout 
the Pampa, chipped-stone weapons and implements were universal. 
Stone-tipped projectiles were used to kill game, and scrapers of all 
types to clean and treat hides. Authorities agree that the lithic in- 
dustry is an old Pampean trait complex but disagree as to its antiquity 
(Hrdlitka, 1912). An Argentine paleolithic, correlated with pre- 
Pleistocene geological periods, is still seriously considered by Argen- 
tine scientists (Frenguelli, Handbook of South American Indians, 
vol. 5). Various sites along the Atlantic coast, and elsewhere, have 
been classed as paleolithic and equated with the geologic Tertiary. 
A crude hand-ax or chipped pebble is the principal artifact type for 
this paleolithic (Ameghino, F., 1911). Holmes (1912), who studied a 
number of these hand-axes gathered by Hrdlitka from beach sites 
between the mouth of La Plata and Bahia Blanca, considered them to 
be cores, from which flakes had been struck for the manufacture of 
scrapers and projectile points, and not utilitarian objects. Outes 
(1909) considered them to be artifacts but of a relatively recent age. 
Hrdlicka (1912) also denied that the geological associations at the 
sites indicated the great antiquity claimed. 

Lack of demonstrable vertical series makes it necessary to discuss 
Pampa archeology in typological and distributional terms. This 
does not mean that all archeological material gathered to date can be 
subsumed in a brief, recent period. Leaving aside paleolithic claims, 
it is probable that there is considerable time depth to the basic culture 
of the Pampa. ; 

Considered as a single, undifferentiated horizon, the chipped-stone 
industry presents a number of weapon and utensil types, most of 
which occur throughout the Greater Pampa, although with some dif- 
ferentials in distribution. The forms include small and _ large, 
stemmed and unstemmed projectile points, knives, a variety of scrap- 
ers, drills and punches, crude grooved axes, gravers, and flake knives. 
They were made by percussion and percussion combined with pressure 
flaking. In competent workmanship and their moderate abundance, 
these artifacts are, as Holmes (1912) pointed out, comparable to the 
stonework of the Middle Atlantic States of North America. 


1In fact, for the present, a horizontal segregation of sites in Buenos Aires Province sug- 
gests a pre-ceramic to ceramic sequence to Outes (1897). His differentiation between tal- 
leres (workshops for flint tools), without pottery, and paraderos (sites), with pottery, could 
be interpreted sequentially instead of functionally. 


28 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLn. 143 


Chipped stone is better developed in the southern Pampa than the 
northern region around Buenos Aires. Large, carefully chipped leaf- 
blade artifacts, especially stemmed projectile points, are characteris- 
tic of the Rio Colorado and Rio Negro country, but the common points 
of the north Pampa are small, stemless, and triangular. The hand-ax, 
of paleolithic mention, is a feature of the north but is lacking in the 
south. Plano-convex scrapers are present in the southern Pampa, but 
a notable northern form, the small hafted duck-bill scraper (fig. 1, 
top row), is only occasionally found there.? 

There is less areal differentiation of ground stonework than of pro- 
jectile types. The bolas is universal in the Greater Pampa. Bolas 
stones vary in size, and are spherical, biconical, or ovoid. They were 
attached to the thong by a medial or end groove, or were tied in a 
small hide bag. The wide archeological distribution of the bolas in 
southern South America suggests antiquity.2. Numerous grinding and 
pounding tools in all parts of the area attest to the importance of 
food gathering as well as hunting in the native economy. Mortars, 
pestles, mullers or manos, grooved hammers, pitted hammer stones, and 
anvil stones are, technologically, much like those from the early hori- 
zons of the eastern United States. Polished stone lip plugs and ear- 
plugs are scattered allover the Pampa. Their original sources, or cen- 
ters of distribution, were probably northern. Pipes, the origins and 
antiquity of which are puzzling, have a modified monitor form. They 
are widely distributed. Rather elaborate polished and sometimes en- 
graved stone axes and plaques (placas grabadas) are found in the 
southern and southwestern portions of the Greater Pampa (Holmes, 
1912; Outes, 1905). 

Ceramics.—The pottery of the Greater Pampa is uniform as com- 
pared with the technologically more advanced ceramics of the Andean 
or Tropical Forest areas. It is medium-well to poorly made and fired, 
and is thicker and coarser than the Andean or Tropical Forest ware. 
Forms are simple bowls and subglobular bowls or jars. With very 
few exceptions, it is unpainted. A large percentage is undecorated. 
Decorative techniques include incising, punctating, “drag-and-jab” 
or stippled-line punctating, and textile impressing. The first three 
techniques in special combinations characterize subareas or cultural 
divisions of the Pampa. Pottery is most abundant, and is best made 
and most elaborately decorated in the northern part of Buenos Aires 
Province. Its antiquity in the Pampa cannot be known, but it is 


2 The small hafted scraper is not common in extreme southern Patagonia until the fourth 
archeological period in that region. This is only shortly subsequent to the beginning of 
historic times. (See Bird, 1938.) 

8 Bird (1938) shows bolas first appearing in his third period in southern Patagonia. 
They became much more numerous and varied in form in his fourth period. (See also 
Bird, this volume.) 


Vou. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 29 


\ 
oN) 
NG 


FicurE 1.—Chipped-stone work from the Buenos Aires coast. Top row: Duck-bill scrapers 
from Campo Peralta and Necochea. Center row and bottom (left): Plano-convex blades 
from Campo Peralta (14 natural size). Bottom (right): Nucleus of quartzite from which 
flakes have been removed (14 natural size). (After Holmes, 1912, figs. 29, 31, 27.) 


30 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 143 


definitely pre-Conquest. Its manufacture seems to have been discon- 
tinued by 1767 (Cooper, this volume). 

Miscellaneous.—Ornaments of shell and projectiles, awls, and 
punches of bone are found in many of the sites. More rarely, silver 
pins and ear ornaments and ornaments of rolled sheet copper are 
found. Metal objects, when not post-Conquest, are undoubtedly the 
result of contact with the Andean cultures to the northwest, and the 
objects themselves are probably trade pieces. 

Dwellings and burials.—Dwellings are not known from arche- 
ology, but early accounts describe them as temporary, pole-supported 
structures of a kind that leaves little archeological evidence except 
post molds. Burials were in, or near, the midden sites or sometimes 
in caves. They are both secondary and flexed primary. The bones 
often were painted before interment. 


LIMITS OF THE GREATER PAMPA ARCHEOLOGICAL AREA 


The basic culture of the Greater Pampa contrasts with the cultures 
of adjacent areas. Its geographical limits, however, are not sharply 
marked; it has blended with adjoining cultures to form archeological 
subareas along the northwestern, northeastern, and western peripheries 
of the Pampa, which are included as parts of the Greater Pampa area 
(map 8). 


s 


Urucuay Fi) 


Buenos Aires ATLANTIC 


OCEAN 
— Pampa 
% 


I PAMPAS PROPER 


I QUERANDI SUB-AREA 
II MENDOZA-NEUQUEN SUB-AREA 


IZ SAN LUIS-CORDOBA LOWLAND 
SUB-AREA 


Map 3.—The Greater Pampa archeological area and subareas. 


VoL. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 31 


In northwestern Argentina, the Atacamefan cultures of Jujuy and 
Salta and the Diaguita or Diagwita-derived cultures of Tucumin, 
La Rioja, Catamarca, San Juan, and Santiago del Estero are Andean 
intype. There is no revealed archeological evidence in these provinces 
of simpler cultures similar or comparable to those of the Pampa. 
Farther south, the highlands of Cérdoba and San Luis were the seat 
of the historic groups, the Comechingon and Sanaviron, who repre- 
sent the southeastern extension of the Andean agricultural pattern 
into the country of the southern hunting tribes. There are a number 
of resemblances between the archeology of the Comechingon-Sanaviron 
region and that of the Pampa. The intervening lowlands of southern 
San Luis and eastern Cordoba appear as a cultural borderland and 
are treated as an archeological subarea. 

On the northeast, the Pampa culture merges into that of the Parana 
Delta and into the archeological area of the Parand River in eastern 
Santa Fé and Entre Rios. Influences of the Tropical Forest are dom- 
inant in the archeology of the Parana and of the Delta, but the region 
of the historic Querandi, lying in northern Buenos Aires Province 
and southern Santa Fé, while Guarani influenced, is essentially 
Pampean and forms another archeological subarea of the Greater 
Pampa. 

Along the western border of the Pampa, in the mountains of Men- 
doza and Neuquén, is another cultural borderland or third archeolo- 
gical subarea. In this case the bordering sedentary culture which 
influenced the old Pampean pattern was probably the Araucanian of 
Chile. 

The Pampa proper, the habitat of the historic Puelche, is the great, 
low-lying plains of the east and south, extending down to the Rio 
Negro, where, theoretically, occur the archeological remains of the old, 
unadulterated culture of the Southern Hunters. The Rio Negro is 
a convenient southern boundary for the Pampa, but the archeology of 
Patagonia, to the south, is closely related. 


SUBDIVISIONS OF THE GREATER PAMPA 


Pampa proper.—The archeology of the Pampa proper is well 
represented by the sites on the San Blas Peninsula‘ (Outes, 1907; 
Torres, 1922). 

Stonework.—The lithic component from sites in the semiarid, 
desolate San Blas country consists of: Plano-convex scrapers made 
from flint flakes (fig. 1, top and center rows) ; both the narrow blade 
and the ovate leaf-form knife; expanded-base, T-form, and slender 
spike-form drills; and projectile points, the number of types of which 


‘The Hucal site in La Pampa (Outes, 1904) is culturally very similar to the sites on the 
San Blas Peninsula. 


ae SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buty. 143 


intimate that the San Blas sites cover a considerable time range.® Un- 
stemmed points of medium and small size are triangular or ovate, 
equilateral or elongated, and have straight or concave bases (pl. 13, 
three top rows). Stemmed points are similar in shape and propor- 
tions (pl. 13, bottom row). There are also some very small stemmed 
and unstemmed points of the delicately chipped type, called bird points 
in North America (pl.13,¢op). A number of exceptionally large, long 
points are classed as spear points. Bone tools, probably employed as 
flint-chipping implements, were associated with the flint artifacts. 

Lip plugs and earplugs, made of local stone, and polished and en- 
graved stone plaques, are present in the San Blas region. The plaques 
bear decorative figures very similar to those on some of the pottery; 
rectilinear zones and chevron figures, either plain or filled with fine 
cross-hachure, are characteristic. ‘The engraved plaques occur south 
in Patagonia to the Rio Deseado (Serrano, 1940 a). Bolas stones, 
mortars (fig. 2, top), mullers (fig. 2, bottom), and pestles were found 
in considerable numbers on the San Blas Peninsula. 

Ceramics.—The pottery of San Blas (pl. 14) is fairly well fired 
and constructed, and is either tempered with crushed quartz or appears 
to be temperless. Forms are subspherical. Teat-shaped pot sup- 
ports, used in threes (?) or fours (?%), occur. Decoration is on the 
vessel exterior, arranged in a band just below the rim. The following 
variations are noted: Simple fine-line incisions; simple incisions com- 
bined with rows of small punctations; simple incisions with puncta- 
tions used as filler for various designs; deep groovelike incisions 
sometimes combined with deep punctations; and semilunar puncta- 
tions, made with an instrument or, possibly, the fingernail. Designs 
are either geometric or crudely drawn forms which cannot be inter- 
preted with certainty as naturalistic elements. 

L. M. Torres (1922) has postulated two ceramic periods of the San 
Blas Peninsula upon the basis of design evolution and relationships to 
other areas. He connects the fine-line incised designs with the ceramic 
and stone decorations of Patagonia, and believes them to represent 
the earlier period. He relates the grooved incising to the Buenos 
Aires coast and makes it a second period. The geographic connec- 
tions are indisputable, but the proposed sequence awaits stratigraphic 
demonstration. 

Burial—Simple interment was practiced in the Pampa. When 
burials were secondary, the skeletons must have been cleaned of flesh 


5 Bird, this volume, notes that projectile point types of his third and fourth southern 
Patagonian prehistoric periods are found in northern Patagonia. The unstemmed points 
of medium size of the Pampa proper are like those of Bird’s third period. The stemmed 
triangular points match with those of his fourth period, and the small, stemmed bird points 
resemble the Ona type. The small triangular stemless point with a concave base, common 
in the Pampa, is apparently not a part of the southern Patagonian series. 


PLATE 13.—Projectile points of the Pampa proper. Vicinity of SanjBlas,f{Buenos Aires. Two top rows: 
Small stemless and stemmed triangular form (commonin north Pampa). Third row: Large stemless form 
(similar to Bird’s, 1938, third Magellanic period). Bottom row: Medium-sized stemmed triangular form 
(similar to Bird’s, 1938, fourth Magellanic period). (4/5 natural size.) (After Holmes, 1912, pl. 13.) 


PLATE 14.—Sherds from San Blas Peninsula, Buenos Aires Province. a, Grooved-incised decoration; b, 
semilunar punctations; c, d, fine-line incisions with zoned punctations; e, /, fine-line incisions combined 
with cross-hachure and rows of punctations. (After Torres, 1922, figs. 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45.) 


— 


PLATE 15.—Querandi sherds. Punta Piedras, Buenos Aires Province. a, 6, c, d, Semilunar or elongated 
punctations within grooved-incised zones; e, punctations in incised zones; f, incisions. (After Vignati, 
1931 a, pls. 5, 6, 8.) 


‘ee ee ~e : Sie 
sae rer bs Swe + %& 


%, 


PLATE 16.— Querandt sherds. Punta Piedras. a, Decoration combination of serried punctations and 
“drag-and-jab”’ punctation-incision; }, ‘‘drag-and-jab’’; c, Semilunar punctations; d, incisions or connected 
Semilunar punctations. (After Vignati, 1931 a, pls. 5, 6, 8.) 


PLATE 17.—Querandi sherds. Punta Lara, Buenos Aires Province. a, b, c, ‘‘Tubulares’’; d, e, fine-line 
incision; f, g, grooved-incisions; h, fingernail imbricated sherd. (1/2 natural size.) (After Bruzzone, 1931 
pls. 3, 5.) 


PLATE 18.—Querandi bone artifacts. Arroyo Sarandi, Buenos Aires Province. a, Shaft straightener; b-d, 
socketed lance point (0 is 3 in., or 7.5 em.); e, antler punch or tapping tool (105¢ in., or 27 em.); f-j, bone 
awls of various shapes and sizes (h is 444 in. or 11.5em.). (After Lothrop, 1932, figs. 71, 72.) 


seen EERIE ER RS 


d e 


PLATE 19.—Pottery, Mendoza and Angol, Chile. a, b, d, e, Viluco style; c, Araucanian style. (a, b, d, e, 
after Métraux, 1929, pls. 5, 7; c, courtesy D. S. Bullock.) 


PLATE 20.—Polished stone artifacts. Top: Ax with engraved designs from Aguada del Chanar, Rio Negro. 
(Length 4 in. or 9.1 em.; width 245 in. or 6.1 cm.; thickness 44 in.,or8em.) (After Vignati, 1931 b, plate 
opposite page 174.) Bottom: Offertory basins from Mendoza. (Length 8}4in., or 22cm.; width 5 in, ,or 
12.3 em.; depth of basin 1 in., or 2.4em.) (After Rusconi, 1941 a, figs. 6, 7.) 


PLATE 21.—Stone artifacts from Neuquén. a, Bola (15 natural size); b, celt (45 natural size); c, sobador 
one size); d, hafted celt from Chos Malal salt mine (14 natural size). (After Aparicio, 1935, pls. 


g A i 


SS 


PLATE 22.—Sherds from Cérdoba._ a, |), ‘‘ Drag-and-jab;”’ c, d, f, zoned punctations; e, so-called net-marked; 
g, net-marked or cord-marked (?). From Los Porongos, Mar Chiquita area. (After Aparicio, 1942, 
pls. 1, 2, 3.) h, i, Incised sherds. From Villa Maria. (After Outes, 1911, figs. 102, 103.) 


VoL. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 33 


x \\\ Nt ‘\ Stl 
Oe 


\\ SA 

SN 2 t 

wea GU ca taagitnhy i: af 7 i 

ee any ii Hitt, ut it! \ i Ni Wie 
s cared oa ip 


\ “al a if tf Hpi Wi, 
Wu ic ‘i Pp 


‘\ 
Mii iN 


en FINN 
Hays Ae \\ AN \ 
Clad 


Wid] 
(ond 
i: 
Ni ale Peet 
i Meeill 

‘Nh 


lk 
NS: “vel fike wei 


Figure 2.—Ground-stone work from the Buenos Aires coast. Top: Mortars of sandstone 
from Blas and Viedma (% natural size.) Bottom: Mullers or manos of granite and 
sandstone from Viedma and San Blas (1% natural size). (After Holmes, 1912, fig. 35.) 


before inhumation. A few rather elaborately painted skulls, with 
red, black, yellow, and green on a single skull, have been recorded 
(Vignati, 1937 a). 

Querandi.—The archeology of the Querandi subarea is concerned 
with those sites south and west of the Parana and La Plata Rivers, 
in the historic habitat of the Querandi tribe. Arroyo Sarandi (Loth- 
rop, 19382 b), a delta site near Buenos Aires, and sites in the Lake 
Chascomus and Lake Lobos (Outes, 1897) region of northern Buenos 
Aires Province are representative. Additional sites containing very 
similar archeological finds are those of Rio de las Conchas (Oliveira 
Cézar, 1895), Punta Piedras (Vignati, 1931 a), Punta Lara (Bruz- 
zone, 1931), and Rio Matanzas (Basavilbaso, 1937 a). The southern 
limits of the Querandi archeological subarea are not clearly defined. 

Sites—The village sites attributed to the Querandi are shallow 
refuse mounds representing at least semipermanent living places. 
Arroyo Sarandi, located on the intermediate ground between the flood 
plain of the river and the higher ground of the Pampas, is a thin 
rubbish site, apparently several acres in extent. Outes (1897) 
describes some of the midden sites, or paraderos, in the Chascomus- 


583486—46——3 


34 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 1438 


Lobos region as 45 to 165 yards (40 to 150 m.) square, and others as 
much larger, although these latter may not be deposits of continuous 
refuse. Sherds, flint artifacts, and other objects are scattered over 
the surface of the sites and distributed through the midden. 

Ceramics.—Certain pottery is very similar to that found else- 
where in the Pampa, but some types are uniquely Querandi, so that 
the total pottery complex differs from that of the Pampa proper. 
The Querandt ware is generally the hardest and best made. The 
temper is sand, grit, or tiny smooth pebbles, although Punta Piedras 
(Vignati, 1931 a) is exceptional in that both ground-sherd and vegetal- 
fiber temper were reported. Thickness of vessel walls ranges from 
2 mm. to 2.5 cm. There are no composite or other unusual vessel 
forms. Hemispherical bowls and shallow bowls with plain and re- 
curved rims, and sometimes with small tubular spouts set just below 
the rim, are typical. 

Most Querandi pottery is plain or is decorated with punctations 
or incisions (fig. 3). Red and white pigments are used sparingly, 
sometimes being applied as a slip of the entire vessel, but more often 
as bands forming rim borders (fig. 4, bottom). Sometimes red zones 
or bands are enclosed with incised lines (fig. 4, top). Lothrop 
(1932 b) mentions Arroyo Sarandi as the southernmost occurrence of 
painted pottery on the Atlantic coast, but it has since been reported 
farther south but still within the La Plata district (Vignati, 1931 a). 

The Querandi painted decoration was undoubtedly an idea received 
from their Guarant neighbors. A horizontal stratification at Punta 
Lara suggests that Guarané influences were added to the Querandi 
complex, presumably at a later time. Bruzzone (1931) found grooved- 
incised and “drag-and-jab” incised pottery together on one area of the 
site; and found the same types associated with red-zoned and finger- 
nail-imbricated (pl. 17, 2) were segregated on a contiguous but sep- 
arate part of the site. 

The incised and punctate Querandi decoration is arranged in a 
band encircling the vessel exterior just below the rim. Incision is 
usually of the deep-grooved rather than the fine-line variety. Other 
techniques include deep rectangular or triangular punctations (pl. 
16, a), stippled line or “drag-and-jab” incision-punctation (pl. 16, 
a, 6; fig. 3), and semilunar punctations that do not appear to be 
fingernail impressions. These techniques are combined into the fol- 
lowing designs: Borders consisting of a series of parallel grooved, 
straight or wavy lines; similar borders done with “drag-and-jab” lines; 
rectilinear or undulating zones outlined with grooved lines and filled 
with semilunar punctations (pl. 15, a, 6, c, d); stepped, triangular, 
and connected diamond designs which may be filled with punctations 


35 


ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 


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(After Lothrop, 


All are examples of 


Querandé incised sherds from Arroyo Sarandi. 


b” or stippled 1 
1932, pl. 23.) 


FIGURE 3. 


or 10 cm.). 


in., 


(length of bottom sherd 4 i 


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ine incision 


ja 


36 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buin. 148 


a 


V2. 


i 


—— 


ind 


“4 


ape 


Ficure 4.—Painted sherds from Arroyo Sarandi. Jop: Sherds with incised zones filled 
with red. Bottom: Use of red bands, no incisions. (After Lothrop, 19382, figs. 56, 54.) 


(pl. 15, e) ; and stepped and other rectilinear designs executed by rows 
of deep punctations. Occasionally fine-line cross-hachure is noted on 
vessel interiors. Both the “drag-and-jab” technique and the designs 
composed only of rectilinear arrangements of rows of deep puncta- 
tions are Querandi features, or, at least, are more common in northern 
Buenos Aires around the Parana River than in the southern Pampa. 
(See Lothrop, 1932 b, pp. 155-56, for a discussion of decoration 
variations and their distributions. ) 

Ceramic objects other than pottery from Querandi sites include per- 
forated pottery disks, possibly spindle whorls (found south to Pata- 
gonia), and “tubulares,” or “pot-rests” (pl. 17, a, 6, ce; fig. 5, left) 
(from delta Querandi and Guarani sites). The latter are hollow, 
more or less tubular objects. Quite possibly they are also a diffused 


Vou. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 37 


Guarani trait. Lothrop (1932 b) lists a single pottery pipe from 
Arroyo Sarandi. 

Stonework.—Chipped-stone projectile points are mainly un- 
stemmed, small, and triangular. Plano-convex round and elliptical 
scrapers, including the duck-bill type, are common in the Lake Chas- 
comus region. Stone mortars and grinders are found in Querandi 
sites, and accord with the historical accounts of their use for grinding 
fish. Bolas, both spherical and oval, are common. 


FicurRE 5.—Querandi artifacts from Arroyo Sarandi. Left: ‘Tubular,’ or pot-rest 
(restored height 7 in., or 18 cm.). Right: Bone arrow point (length 2% in., or 6 cm.). 
(After Lothrop, 1932, figs. 62, 70.) 


Miscellaneous.—Socketed bone points with a long narrow tang and 
a single flat barbed and stemmed bone blade (fig. 5, right) were re- 
covered at Arroyo Sarandi. Querandti sites of the Delta abound in 
bone tools (pl. 18), including sharpened fish spines, pierced horn 
implements probably used to string fish, awls of all types, and bone 
pegs which appear to have been used on spear throwers. The scarcity 
of large, stemmed stone points in Querandi sites suggests that bone or 
wooden points must have often been used to tip the spears. Objects 
of personal adornment were made of shell or hammered metal. 


38 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buty. 143 


Burials —Burials occur in the shallow refuse at Arroyo Sarandi. 
They are about numerically divided, half secondary and half primary 
interments. Secondary burials sometimes comprise masses of bone 
with the remains of several individuals. The primary burials are 
extended. Burial offerings do not accompany the dead. Lothrop 
(1932 b) suggests that, as the secondary burial was the widespread 
aboriginal Pampean custom, primary burial may be a European in- 
novation. European objects found in the midden at Arroyo Sarandi 
clearly indicate that occupation of the site extended into the post- 
Contact period. 

Mendoza-Neuquén.—This archeological subarea diverges from the 
Pampa proper more than the Querandi, perhaps because the unique 
traits found in the mountains of Mendoza and Neuquén came relatively 
late from the Andean cultures, and therefore stand out in stark relief 
against the old Pampean culture pattern. G'warani traits, which are 
the exotic elements in Querandi, are, on the other hand, probably 
much older importations that were more thoroughly integrated into 
the local picture. 

A good many of the non-Pampean archeological elements of the re- 
gion occur at Viluco, a site in northern Mendoza. There is disagree- 
ment as to the origin and relationships of the Viluco culture. Boman 
(1920) sees Viluco as a 16th-century Puelche or Huarpe site. Métraux 
(1929 a), in a later analysis, argues that it is a post-Contact site of 
Araucanian origin. L. M. Torres (1923) concurs in Métraux’s view, 
while Canals Frau (this volume, p. 170) inclines to attribute the 
Viluco type archeological complex to the Huarpe. 

Boman concluded that Viluco was an agricultural community, which 
practiced irrigation to sustain crops in a rather inhospitable en- 
vironment. He opened a number of graves in a cemetery area at the 
site. These graves were 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 m.), or less, in depth 
and each contained a flexed burial or burials. The accompanying 
grave artifacts were of both aboriginal and European manufacture. 
The latter, which include iron lances, iron nails, glass beads, and 
Christian religious medals, place the burials and probably the entire 
site as post-Conquest. 

Some of the grave pottery is painted, and there are a number of 
unusual forms, especially a small, single-handled pitcher or jar and 
a single-handled kero or beaker (pl. 19, a, b, d, e). The painted 
pottery has a dull red or buff background with black, red, white, or 
red and black designs. The designs are geometric stepped figures, 
zigzags, nested triangles, bands or zones segmented into compart- 
ments, fields of checks, parallel straight or wavy lines, dots, and stars. 
Except for the painted ware, the majority of vessels, including the 
pitcher with single handle, and the sherds are a plain black. No 
simple incised or punctated pottery of a Pampean type was found 


Vow. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 39 


at Viluco, although a few basketry-impressed sherds, resembling those 
from Cérdoba, were obtained. 

There is agreement that the Viluco pottery is generically Andean, 
but its more exact relationships have not been determined. In the 
writer’s opinion, there is little specific similarity to the classic Andean 
Tiahuanaco-Epigonal and Nazca styles. The Diaguita style of North- 
west Argentina has only a slightly greater resemblance to Viluco. 
Comparisons to what is probably Araucanian pottery, across the 
Andes, are more rewarding (pl. 19, ¢). The single-handled pitcher 
or jar is a characteristic Araucanian form (Latcham, 1928), and 
Araucanian pottery utilizes dark-red designs on a neutral buff ground 
and has similar designs. 

Additional features in the Viluco graves which relate that site to 
Chilean Arvaucanian are pottery whistles (fig. 6), pyramidal dice, 


ecereeccoss: 


Peter cece mt cceese 
y 


Be re: 


\ 
i 


ANN 


‘ZZ 
Z 


2) aig 
Ha 
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FIcurRE 6.—Silbato, or whistle of pottery. Cemetery of Viluco, Mendoza. Rusted iron 
nail adhering to whistle (14 natural size). (After Boman, 1920, fig. 9.) 


40 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


and brass ear ornaments. Métraux (1929) considers the pictographs 
of the immediate region of Viluco to be Araucanian, although he re- 
gards the pictographs in extreme northern Mendoza as Diaguita. 

The projectile points found at Viluco (Torres, L. M., 1923; Boman, 
1920) are all of the small, unstemmed variety, very similar to those of 
the Pampa proper.® Other sites in Mendoza yield microlithic points, 
quite different from any in the Pampa region. Other Pampa traits at 
Viluco are spherical and pyriform bolas, a bone lip plug, and shell 
necklaces and perforated shell disks. These last are, interestingly, 
made of Pacific as well as Atlantic shells. Square-bodied copper 
punches and wooden beads found in some of the graves may or may 
not be of aboriginal origin. 

Whether or not Viluco was an Araucanian or Huarpe site is, of 
course, not conclusively proved by its archeology. A very strong case 
can be made to demonstrate that its material remains are closely 
related to Chilean Araucanian. It is, of course, possible that the Avau- 
canian features, including agriculture, were borrowed and rapidly 
assimilated by a simple, nonhorticultural people, such as the Huarpe. 
Such an assumption supposes a very quick and complete change in the 
underlying mode of life of a peripheral Pampa people. Archeological 
evidence indicates a relatively brief and late period to be involved. 
Presumably, Pampean peoples had been living in close proximity to 
Andean agriculturists for several hundred years previous to the Euro- 
pean Conquest without basically changing the Pampean mode of life. 
It seems doubtful that such a swift acculturation of non-European ele- 
ments took place after the Conquest. 

Although the Viluco site is representative of many of the distinctive 
features of the Mendoza-Neuquén subarea, other non-Pampean finds 
have been made in the mountain valleys of the two provinces. The 
subterranean granaries, lined with tied sticks and clay-capped, and the 
above-ground rock structures of the Uspallata Valley are clearly non- 
Pampean features (Rusconi, 1940 b).7. Basketry, to judge from bas- 
ketry-impressed sherds, must have been a prehistoric as well as an 
historic and modern native industry. There are deep, man-made 
holes in large stationary rocks, presumably mortars for grinding food 
(Rusconi, 1940 c). Stone lip plugs both of the flat Pampean variety 
and of an elongated spike form (Rusconi, 1940 d) obtain in Mendoza. 
More unusual artifacts are the Fuentes de Ofrendas, or offertory basins, 
made of steatite or pottery. These are somewhat like the snuff tablets 
from Northwest Argentina, although the former are ovoid rather 
than quadrangular. <A typical specimen shown by Rusconi (1941 a) 


® Larger stemmed points are found at other sites in Mendoza, as at Cochico (Outes, 
1906 a). 

™The pottery from these rock structures, or Tambillos, is, in the judgment of the writer, 
quite similar to the Viluco style. (See Rusconi, 1940 b.) 


Vou. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 4] 


is 8.7 inches (220 mm.) in length, 4.8 inches (123 mm.) in width, and 
1 inch (25 mm.) deep, and has a projection at one end which seems 
to be a crude animal efligy head (pl. 20, bottom). 'The sides and bot- 
tom bear designs resembling those on the stone plaques and axes of 
Neuquén, Rio Negro, and Patagonia. An interesting monitor-type 
pipe (Rusconi, 1941 b) from the Department of San Rafael is also 
made of steatite, in the form of an animal. The tobacco bowl is in 
the animal’s stomach and the self-stem is the tail. The pipe is be- 
lieved to have been a trade piece from the northwest. 

In Neuquén, to the south, the chipped-stone artifacts (fig. 7) are 
much lke those of Mendoza except that the large stemmed projectile 
points are found in addition to the small stemless points. Some of the 
latter are carefully and delicately chipped of obsidian. Ground-stone 
weapons and grinding tools are like those of the Pampa proper, but, 
in addition, there are curious maul-shaped objects called sobadors 
(Aparicio, 1935). These are approximately 6 inches (15 em.) long 
with a cylindrical body and a round, flattened head. Made of porous 
rock, they are said to have been used for the pounding and depilation 
of skins (pl. 21, ¢). 

Neuquén pottery is apparently simpler than that of Viluco. Sherds 
from the Lake Lacar site, while mostly plain except for a few incised 
fragments, differ from Pampa pottery in having handles. The plain 
red and plain pottery vessels uncovered near Covunco Centro are iden- 
tical in form to the little single-handled jars from Viluco. This 
Covunco Centro ware is said to be modern (or relatively late) 
Araucanian (Aparicio, 1935). 

Stone celts (pl. 21, b, d) and axes of distinctive forms have been 
found in Neuquén. The latter have an abrupt central constriction 
while others are more like an inverted “T” in outline. They are usually 
flat and thin in cross section, well polished, and may be engraved. 
They are sometimes called “pillan toki,” or votive axes (Ambrosetti, 
1902; Vignati, 1931b). They have been found in Mendoza, La Pampa, 
Rio Negro (pl. 20, top), and Patagonia. The engraved designs on 
some of the axes are similar to those on the engraved plaques of Rio 
Negro (fig. 8) and Patagonia. Some authorities consider the axes to 
be Araucanian. 

San Luis-Cérdoba lowlands.—There are fewer data available on 
this subarea than the others. It is possible that the lowland country 
between the mountains of Cérdoba and San Luis and the Paran4 
River was very sparsely occupied in prehistoric and early historic 
times. The little material from this country appears to be related 
to the Cérdoban highland and the Pampean and Querandi cultures. 

Pottery—Pottery from Villa Maria, in the lowlands of central Cér- 
doba, is described as mostly a plain ware with quartzite and mica 


42 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


WW 
\\’ 


Fieurr 7.—Chipped-stone artifacts from Neuquén. Top: Pointed scraper. Bottom: Plano- 
convex knife with fine retouch. (Both natural size.) (After Aparicio, 1935, figs. 3, 5.) 


Vor. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 43 


S 
© 


OSD 


FiGurRE 8.—Engraved stone plaque from Rio Negro. Obverse and reverse. (After Greslebin, 
1928 b, pl. 2.) 


temper, poorly fired but well smoothed (Outes, 1911). The decorated 
sherds are grooved-incised (pl. 22, h, 7). Pottery from the region of 
Mar Chiquita in the lowlands of northern Cordoba resembles the 
Parané littoral in its “drag-and-jab” technique of decoration (pl. 22, 
a, 6). Some sherds from Mar Chiquita are decorated with incised 
zones filled with punctations (pl. 22, ¢, d, f), a combination suggesting 
the south, although the small pottery sample makes this a very tentative 
judgment. More abundant at Mar Chiquita is a net-impressed pottery 
(pl. 22, e, g), which is probably Andean derived (Aparicio, 1942) .8 
One sherd with a handle was included in a recent collection. 
Burial—A single primary inhumation of a flexed, articulated, but 
decapitated, burial was excavated at a site near Mar Chiquita. The 
primary flexed inhumation is the Andean rather than the Pampean 
mode of disposal of the dead (Frenguelli and Aparicio, 1932). 
“Hornos.”—Various Argentine archeologists (Greslebin, 1928 a; 
Rusconi, 1940 c; Frenguelli, 1941) have commented upon the curious 
olla-shaped earth ovens or storage pits which are an outstanding fea- 
ture of the San Luis-Cérdoba region and are also found in Santa Fé 
and Mendoza. These “hornos,” or “botijas,” range in width from 114 
to 3 feet (0.5 to 1 m.), and in depth from 114 to 134 feet (40 to 60 cm.). 


8 Some of these sherds may possibly be cord-wrapped paddle stamped rather than net- 
impressed. 


44 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


When intact they are apparently globular, being narrower at the mouth 
than at the midpoint. The “hornos” lie entirely beneath the present 
ground level except for the rim of the mouth. This rim and the upper 
walls of the “horno” are of well-fired clay. The lower third of the 
walls and the base is unfired and usually filled with carbonized vegetal 
material (fig. 9). There are variations in form, although in some 
cases these appear to be the result of erosion. 


hogar 24 Z, 


Ficurr 9.—Cross section of two “hornos,” or “botijas.’ From Los Baldes, San Luis. 
1, Vegetal ash; 2, burned earth from direct action of fire; 3, heterogenous carbonized 
vegetal matter; 4, sandy soil. (After Greslebin, 1928 a, fig. 7.) 


Vou. 1] ARCHEOLOGY OF THE GREATER PAMPA—WILLEY 45 


The immediate surroundings and orientation of the “hornos” have 
been of little help in determining their function. Usually they are 
clustered, without any apparent purposeful arrangement or spacing. 
Whether they were situated inside dwellings, or even within camp 
areas, is not known. Sometimes, sherds and flint scrap found nearby 
indicate a village; at other times, the pits are remote from any evi- 
dence of human habitation. The “hornos” have been considered as 
ovens for firing pottery, ovens for cooking food, storage pits for pre- 
serving fires, repositories for cremated remains of the dead, and 
reservoirs.® The last two purposes seem ruled out by the nature of the 
“hornos” and by their contents or lack of contents. Unless new data 
of a revealing sort are added to present knowledge, speculation upon 
their function appears futile. 


CONCLUSIONS AND PROBLEMS 


The conclusions to a summary of Pampa archeology lead into ques- 
tions from almost every point of departure. We know that, stripped 
of Guarani or other presumably Tropical Forest traits and elements 
derived from the Highland cultures of the northwest or the Arauca- 
nian to the west, there is left a certain cultural residue in the Pampa. 
It has been referred to here as the “basic culture” of the Greater 
Pampa. Within this residue we observe that the trait of pottery 
making and decorating was most developed in the north near the La 
Plata and Parana Rivers, and that there was a diminution of the 
pottery trait to the south. This fact, combined with the absence of 
pottery from all prehistoric periods at the extreme south of the 
continent, is a reasonable argument for supposing that pottery mak- 
ing diffused from north to south. Does then, the fine-line incised 
pottery from the southern Pampa represent an earlier pottery period 
than the incised Querandi wares in northern Buenos Aires Province? 
If so, a similar style might be found stratigraphically beneath 
Querandi pottery in the north. 

In like manner, do the stemmed points and engraved stone plaques 
of the south belong to such a pre-Querandé horizon in the north? 
Or is the medium-sized, stemmed projectile point derived from the 
south? Bird’s data (1938) suggest the latter. We know almost 
nothing concerning the age of bolas in the Pampa except that they are 
prehistoric. In Patagonia they are considered a very late, post- 
Contact importation from the Pampa. Yet Bird (1938) has strati- 
graphic evidence at the Strait of Magellan to show that bolas have a 
respectable antiquity. Are they older there than in the Pampa? 
Were they developed in the far south? These are only a few of the 
questions that cannot be answered without further evidence. 


* It has also been suggested that they are natural formations. 


46 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BuLt. 143 


It appears that the immediate tasks in Pampa archeology are: 
first, to determine a sequence within the Pampa; second (or concur- 
rently), to establish a chronology for the richer archeological regions 
of the northwest and northeast; and third, to prove relationship 
or lack of relationship between these two sequences and to compare 
the results with the sequence at the Strait of Magellan. Did a cul- 
tural complex that is technologically equated with and typologically 
similar to that of the Pampa underlie such cultures as the Diaguita 
or Santiaguefa in the northwest and survive in the Pampa? Or, on 
the other hand, if Pampa cultures are not marginal survivals of an 
old culture layer, are they the product of a people who were forced 
out of the Andean or Tropical Forest orbit of living, and who adjusted 
to an inhospitable environment? The answers to these questions, 
more fundamental to New World prehistory than the Pampean- 
Patagonian relationships discussed above, await the interrelation of 
cultural stratigraphic sequences. Such stratigraphy need not neces- 
sarily involve a great time span or be cross-referenced to major 
geologic phenomena. In all likelihood it can best be calibrated by the 
small stylistic changes and frequency-count variations of the stratified 
materials within individual archeological sites. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


For bibliographic references, see page 26. 


THE CHONO 


By Joun M. Cooper 


NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 


The circa 300-mile strip of the southern Chilean archipelago, from 
about 43°30’ to 48° S. lat., which constituted the habitat of the 
Chono, is a region of hilly islands, deep fiords, and tortuous channels, 
in which travel was of necessity mostly by water (map 1, Vo. 10; 
map 2). The Chono were, like the Alacaluf and Yahgan, a distinctly 
canoe people. The climate is marked by a predominance of damp, 
cloudy days, by very high rainfall in all seasons, well over the 80-inch 
(200 cm.) per year mean, by strong to violent prevalent westerly winds, 
and by temperatures cool without being severe. The islands and 
mainland coast are mostly covered with dense, extremely wet, tem- 
perate rain forest. 


TERRITORY 


The northern limit of Chono territory—the dividing line between 
the southernmost Araucanians of southern Chiloé and the northern- 
most Chono of the Guaitecas Islands region—was Corcovado Gulf, 
as is clear from our 16th-, 17th-, and early 18th-century first-hand 
sources, Goicueta, Ferrufino, Venegas, Pietas, and Olivares. That the 
early Chono lived or wandered as far south as the Taitao Peninsula is 
reasonably clear from Garcia. They probably extended a little farther 
south, to the Gulf of Peas and the Guaianeco Islands, at least in the 
middle or later 18th century, but the point is open to some question, 
as the Chono ethnic identity with or relation to the “Hudlli,” “Cauca- 
hue,” and “Guaiguen” of this region just south of Taitao Peninsula 
is none too clear. (Cf. below, Names and Divisions and Language, 
and detailed review and discussion of evidence in Cooper, 1917, pp. 
32-41.) 

The Chono were in contact from very early times with the Arauca- 
nians of Chiloé. They raided the Chilotans to secure iron and other 
plunder; the Chilotans raided the Chono and took women and children 
as captives. The Chono of the Guaitecas Islands used to capture 
“Huillis” farther south, to keep them in a sort of drudgery servitude, 
and to sell them to the Chilotans. 

47 


48 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bun. 143 
NAMES AND DIVISIONS 


The name Chono (etymology unknown), probably the name which 
the people called themselves, was first recorded in Ferrufino’s letter 
of 1610. Other tribal denominations used by early Spanish writers 
for natives living in the region between Chiloé and the Guaianeco 
Islands are: Huilli (Huille; from Araucanian willi, “south”), Cauca- 
hue (Caucau; Araucanian kaukau, “gull”), and Guaiguen (Arauca- 
nian waiwen, “south” [wind]). Some at least of these “Huilli,” 
“Caucau,” and “Guaiguen” were probably Chono. In the said region 
there may possibly have been more distinct tribes than one, or two 
or more well-constituted subdivisions of one tribe, but we have no 
clear evidence thereof (Cooper, 1917, pp. 30-34). 


HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION 


Contact was first made by Whites with the Chono on the Ulloa ex- 
pedition in 1553. Our first description of them was given by Goicueta, 
the chronicler of the Cortés Hojea expedition of 1557-58. <A half- 
century later, some further data on Chono anthropology were gotten 
with the advent of the Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Estevan, Ferrufino, 
and Venegas, to Chiloé and the Guaitecas Islands in 1609-13—data 
recorded in the Cartas Anuas (1927), and cited or drawn upon in the 
writings of Fathers del Techo, Rosales, Olivares, and Lozano. 
Around the middle of the 18th century, some further light was shed 
on Chono anthropology by Byron, Campbell, Bulkeley and Cummins, 
and the anonymous author of the Affecting Narrative, who were mem- 
bers of the crew of the Wager, which was shipwrecked on the Guaitecas 
Islands in May 1741; and by Father Garcia in his account of his mis- 
sionary expedition of 1766-67 to the Guaianeco Islands. Since then 
additions to our knowledge of Chono culture have been negligible. 
Nearly all our exceedingly scant information, from the sources, on the 
history, territory, culture, and language of the Chono, has been sum- 
marized and discussed in Cooper (1917, passim.). 


LANGUAGE 


Not a single word of the Chonoan language has come down to us, 
except, perhaps, the word Chono itself, three names of unidentified 
birds (colman [=cormorant?, to judge from context], optem, piupi- 
gue: Garcia, J., 1889, pp. 5, 18,24), and a few tribal, personal, and geo- 
graphical names. The three words listed by Fitz-Roy (1839, Appen- 
dix, p. 142) as Chonoan were more likely Alacalufan. Ferrufino’s 
(1927, p. 111) and Estevan’s (Torres, D., 1927 b, p. 380) manuscripts 
in and on the Chonoan language have been lost, perhaps irretrevably. 
From our historical sources on the Chono, however, certain general 
conclusions regarding their language can be formulated. 


Vor. 1] THE CHONO—COOPER 49 


That the Chono spoke a tongue distinct from the Araucanian of 
southern Chile and of Chiloé is abundantly testified, and there is no 
ground for assuming that Chono may have been a highly divergent dia- 
lect or language of the Avraucanian family. That they spoke a Ze- 
huelchean-Onan (Chon) dialect is extremely unlikely. That their 
language was distinct from that of the Alacaluf or of the archipelagic 
canoe-using natives immediately south of them, beyond about 48° S. 
lat., is slightly more probable than not, but such difference, if it existed, 
may have been merely dialectic. In any case, we have no even near- 
solid scientific ground for classifying Chono as a distinct isolated lin- 
guistic family. (Cf. Cooper, 1917, pp. 34-41, for discussion of evi- 
dence.) 

POPULATION 


Our various first-hand accounts of Chono territory indicate that it 
was thinly populated, but exact data on the total population are not 
available. We have only a few figures, from missionary records, The 
Jesuit missionaries baptized 220 Chono of the Guaitecas Islands re- 
gion and estimated that there were not more than 50 other Chono at 
the time, 1612-13, in the region (Venegas, 1927, p. 382). A century 
later, in 1710, hard pressed by raids both of the Chilotans and of more 
southern Indians, 30 Chono families, and, shortly after, 200 families 
or more than 500 souls, were settled under the Jesuit missionaries on 
Huar and two other islands in the Gulf of Reloncavi. They or some 
of them were still there in 1786, but in 1795 Moraleda found no Indians 
on Huar. 

In 1745 some Guaineco Islands Indians were brought back and 
established on Chonchi Island under mission auspices. In 1765 the 
Island of Cailin, just off the southeastern coast of Chiloé, was set aside 
as a mission for the Chono, and thither came many Caucahue and 
later Calen. In 1779, 11 Guaineco were persuaded by Fathers Marin 
and Real to return with them to Chiloé. In 1780, 30 or 32 came to 
Lemui Island, off the central eastern Chiloé coast, but left about a 
year afterward. In 1780-81 the Chono established on Cailin moved 
to Chaulinec Island, east of Lemui. In 1788 Moraleda reported 21 
or 22 families of Chono on Apiao Island, east of Chaulinec. In 1790 
the surviving 22 Chono on Chaulinec returned to Cailin. 

After this date the Chono’s trail is lost almost completely until 1875, 
when Captain E. Simpson came across a sole family of “Chono” in 
Puquitin Channel between Ascension Island and the Guaitecas Islands. 
We have no later reports of surviving Chono. All later observers 
since 1875 have declared that the islands north of Taitao Peninsula 
were uninhabited except by a few Whites or Chilotan Indians. The 
Chono appear to have become completely extinct, unless they were 
from the beginning, as is not improbable, only a branch of the Adacaluf, 

583486—46——4 


50 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


and later merged with their Alacaluf fellows south of the Taitao 
Peninsula (Cooper, 1917, p. 46-47). 


CULTURE 


Our knowledge of Chono culture is exceedingly meager. No single 
survey covers even material culture in any detail, while social and 
religious culture is an almost complete blank. Our most important 
first-hand sources, such as they are, are Goicueta ([1557-58] 1879), 
Ferrufino (1927), Venegas (1927), Campbell (1747), Byron (1768), 
and Garcia, J. ([1766-67] 1889). The data given in Del Techo 
(1673), Rosales (1877-78), Olivares (1874), and Lozano (1754-55) 
are largely derived from Ferrufino and Venegas. In the following 
pages the data on the canoe-using Indians from J. Garcia and Byron 
are cited as Chonoan. Inasmuch, however, as their “Caucahue” and 
“Chono” respectively cannot be shown beyond all doubt to have been 
true Chono, the citations are made with some reserve. 

In most respects, Chono culture, so far as known, was identical with 
or similar to that of the Alacaluf. Certain elements of Araucanian 
culture had spread down the coast as far at least as the Guaitecas 
Islands. Such were: sporadic gardening and herding, the polished 
stone ax, and the plank boat. Such diffusion is readily understand- 
able in view of the known raiding and trading contacts of the Guaite- 
cas islanders with the Chilotans (Cooper, 1917, pp. 48-45). 

There is no evidence of Tehuelche influence upon Chono culture, 
although the Chono may possibly have been in sporadic contact with 
the Tehuelche along the mainland coast. The “gigantic” Caucahue 
described by some sources, as distinct perhaps from the smaller-stat- 
ured Caucahue described by others, who were observed at various times 
in or near Chono territory, may possibly have been of Tehuelche stock, 
but the point is very far from clear. 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Fish, shellfish, and seals constituted the basic diet. Birds, eggs, and 
stranded whales were also eaten. Water and seal oil were the custom- 
ary beverages. 

No systematic agriculture was carried on, but there is some evidence 
of sporadic cultivation, even in pre-Contact times, of the potato in the 
Guaitecas Islands region (Goicueta, 1879, p. 513), and, in the post- 
Contact period, of maize and barley. 

Before the coming of the Whites, the only domesticated animal was 
the dog. Some of the Chono north of Taitao Peninsula bred small, 
long-haired, shaggy-maned dogs, and from their hair made short man- 
tles. In later times, the Chono kept a few sheep and goats. 


VoL. 1] THE CHONO—COOPER 51 


Cormorants were taken at night with torches and clubs. In seal 
hunting a “lazo” (not a lasso) and a long heavy club were used by 
the Caucahue (Garcia, J., 1889, p. 6). “Canquen” (Chloéphaga, a 
goose), when molting and unable to fly, were rounded up and driven 
to land by throwing pebbles at them from canoes, and were then 
slaughtered with clubs (Garcia, J., 1889, p. 837). For other hunting 
weapons, see page 52. 

The women were accustomed to dive for shellfish. According to 
Goicueta (1879, p. 518), the Chono used a wooden fishhook, but there 
is some doubt about this. Fish nets were made of bark fiber; seal 
nets, of rawhide. The dogs were trained to help in the fishing. 

Hot stones were employed for boiling fish in bark buckets. Seal 
meat was sometimes eaten raw, a piece being put in the mouth and 
cut off close to the lips with a shell (Garcia, J., 1889, p. 23). 


HOUSES 


Huts were of sticks covered with boughs, bark, or skin. Those 
observed by Byron (1768, p. 123) were of beehive or domed construc- 
tion, the framework consisting of branches stuck in the ground in a 
circle and bent over at the top, where they were bound with a kind 
of woodbine, split by holding in the teeth. Those described by 
Venegas (1927, p. 381) were, inside, barely the length of a man’s 
body and so low that one had to kneel in order to keep from touching 
the top. In some cases, only the bark or skin cover was carried 
around in the canoe from camp to camp; in other cases, the pole 
framework as well. The hearth was in the center of the hut. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Clothing, including short mantles covering the shoulders only and 
longer ones reaching to a little below the waist, was of skin, woven 
dog’s hair, bark, and woven down or feathers. A pubic covering, 
made of large, hard leaves (kelp?) cast up by the sea, was also used 
(Ferrufino, 1927, p. 111). No head or hand covering or footwear 
is reported. 

Red, white, and black face and body painting was in use. The 
tonsure was sometimes worn. Scarification was practiced; but no 
tattooing is recorded, nor is any form of bodily mutilation, or of 
finger, ear, or nose ornament. Necklaces of shell and bone, and 
feather diadems were in vogue. Garcia, J. (1889, p. 28) observed one 
man around the north end of Fallos Channel with two bird wings 
on his head. 


TRANSPORTATION 


Travel was almost entirely by water. No rafts, balsas, skin boats, 
or dugouts are reported. As early as first European contact, in 


52 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


1553, the plank boat, similar to the one used by the Araucanians of 
Corcovado Gulf, was employed by the Chono between Corcovado 
Gulf and Cape Tres Montes. It was originally of three planks, 
caulked with bark, and made, without axes or adzes, with use of fire, 
flints, and shells. Usually it leaked a good deal and required much 
bailing. There was a portage route from the Chonos Archipelago 
across the Isthmus of Ofqui to the Gulf of Pefias; the plank boat was 
taken apart for portaging and put together again at the end of the 
portage. In later times, from about 1767, a sail was sometimes used. 

In the middle 16th century, south of the Gulf of Pefias, only bark 
canoes were used; these were made of thick slabs of bark, and were 
of crescent shape. In the course of time, the plank boat largely re- 
placed the bark canoe, gradually spreading down the coast from the 
Gulf of Penas and being first reported in the Strait of Magellan, near 
the western end, in 1765 (Cooper, 1917, pp. 195-204 passim.). 


MANUFACTURES 


Pottery was absent. The Chono “wove” mantles or blankets of 
dog’s hair, of bark fiber (presumably woven), and of bird down, but no 
details on technique are available. Nor have we any information on 
basket making, skin dressing, or stoneworking. Buckets were made 
of bark. The flint axes and adzes attributed to the Chono by Pietas 
(1846, p. 503) were not unlikely of Chilotan origin, as were the stone 
axes that have been occasionally found in Chono territory (Cooper, 
1917, pp. 44-45, 217). Some kind of stone and shell tool was used 
in making plank boats. 

Weapons.—The usual hunting weapons were the spear and club, 
the former with a head of bone, probably single-barbed. Byron states 
(1768, p. 129 ) that the natives, most likely Chono, but not certainly so, 
with whom he was in contact used “bows and arrows sometimes, but 
always the lance”; all other first-hand observers are silent, and no 
arrowheads appear to have been found archeologically in Chono ter- 
ritory. Neither slings nor spear throwers are reported. 

Fire.—Torches were made of bark. There is no information on 
fire-making methods. 


SOCIOPOLITICAL CULTURE 


On the nonmaterial aspects of Chono culture we have only the few 
scattered fragments of information that follow. 

Marriage.—Garcia, J. (1889, p. 42) reported his Chono as monoga- 
mous. The “Chono” cacique who guided Byron from Wager Island 
to Chiloé apparently had two wives, an older and a much younger 
one, perhaps a mother and her daughter by a previous marriage; it is 
very doubtful, however, whether he was a real Chono or was repre- 
sentative of Chono culture (Cooper, 1917, p. 76, 165-66). 


Vou. 1] THE CHONO—COOPER 53 


Political life—The Chono had some kind of headmen or chiefs, 
but what authority they had, if any, is uncertain. Delco, the “cacique 
principal” of the Guaitecas Islands, was at the same time an appointee 
of the Spanish authorities of Chiloé (Ferrufino, 1927, p. 110). 

The Chono raiding expeditions among their neighbors to the south 
and north have been previously noted (see Territory). Chono 
weapons were spears, clubs, and stones. There is no report of shields 
or armor, and cannibalism is not recorded. 

Economic life—The Chono were in trading relations with the 
Chilotans. Besides serving as middlemen in taking captives among 
their southern neighbors and selling them to the Chilotans as “slaves,” 
the Chono themselves kept some of these captives in a kind of drudgery 
slavery. 

Gathering fuel, diving for sea urchins, and searching among the 
rocks for shellfish were tasks of the women; cutting poles for the hut, 
sealing, and apparently cormorant hunting, tasks of the men. 


LIFE CYCLE 


In one case reported, a father cut his hair to celebrate the birth 
of a child. 

Burial in caves was common. One instance of platform burial is 
recorded. Burial in embryonic posture or with knees flexed to 
shoulders occurred. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


There is no mention of musical instruments in our sources. On 
dancing (cf. infra) and singing there is almost no detail. Garcia, J. 
(1889, p. 29) was welcomed by the men and women dancing and sing- 
ing most of the night; the singing reminded him of a lullaby crooned 
to put an infant to sleep. There was apparently no native Chono 
intoxicant. (Cf. Cooper, 1917, p. 44.) 


RELIGION 


We have only a few scattered data on certain rites and observances. 
Byron (1768, pp. 145-146) and Campbell (1747, pp. 61-62) give short 
descriptions of a rite, apparently religious, performed by men and 
women. Vocalizations began by deep groans and gradually rose to 
“a hideous kind of singing.” The participants, in frenzy, snatched 
firebrands from the fire, put them in their mouths, and ran about burn- 
ing everyone they came near; at other times they would cut one an- 
other with mussel shells until smeared with blood. And so the cere- 
mony went on until exhaustion ensued. When the men stopped, the 
women began. Byron’s Christian cacique kept aloof, and stated that 
“the devil” was the chief actor among the Chono on these occasions. 


54 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


A person could harm another if he possessed a bit of the latter’s 
hair. Garcia, J. (1889, p. 29) reported a case (probably but not cer- 
tainly Chono, as in much of the information from Garcia) of death 
from black magic wrought by obtaining hair from the top of the vic- 
tim’s head. Garcia was told that only hair from the top of the head 
would serve; that all the natives of the vicinity cut the hair from the 
crown of the head for fear of sorcery; that the possessor of such hair, if 
he wished to harm the person from whom it was stolen in sleep, would 
place it between two stones, dance around it all night invoking the 
“demon,” and from time to time pound, strike, and pierce it; that, if 
he wished to cause the victim’s death forthwith, he would take it to 
sea and tie it to some kelp, or would go to the mountains and throw it 
down trees. The purloined bit of hair was kept tied with whalebone. 

Garcia’s Caucahue (probably Chono) blacked their faces with char- 
coal on entering a lagoon in which icebergs were floating and on the 
banks of which snow lay, “to salute the snow, lest they die,” and on 
another occasion one of them painted his face to bring good weather. 
The Caucahue with Garcia were much incensed at a Spaniard who 
threw his poncho in the sea water to wash it; the Moon, they said, 
would be angry and send them bad weather (Garcia, J., 1889, p. 14). 

It was taboo to look at a flock of parrots passing overhead, lest bad 
weather follow; to throw kelp or shellfish on the fire, lest the sea 
become rough; to throw shells in the water, Byron being severely 
rebuked for throwing limpet shells from the canoe into the water. 

In curing her husband who was suffering from some malady of 
the back, a woman massaged his back and chest, spurted water on him 
from her mouth, cried, wept, and moaned, and applied her mouth to 
his back. Then another woman came and anointed him and smeared 
him with “colo” on the arms, chest, and back. He himself dived into 
the water many times daily. The rite was a magical one, Garcia was 
told (Garcia, J., 1889, p. 37). 

On mythology, lore and learning, and etiquette, no information is 
available. 


THE ALACALUF 
By Junius Birp 


HABITAT AND HISTORY 


The Alacaluf (Halakwulup, Alakaluf, Alacalouf, Alaculuf, Ala- 
culoof, Aluciluf, Alukoelif, Alooculoof, Alookooloop, Alukulup, 
Alokolup, Alikhoolip, Alikuluf, Alikaluf, Alikoolif,+) have, from 
early times, inhabited the archipelago along the Chilean coast from 
the Gulf of Pefias (lat. 47°30’ S.) to the islands west of Tierra del 
Fuego (map 1, Vo. 1B, see also map 2). 

Habitat.—This is a wild, rugged region, isolated by a natural barrier 
of mountain crests and massive ice fields along its eastern margin, 
and a difficult water passage at its northern limit. There is heavy 
rainfall—in places, more than 120 inches annually—distributed rather 
uniformly throughout the year and generally accompanied by strong 
westerly winds. Low dense clouds and an extremely small total of 
hours of sunshine are depressing. Temperatures are moderate, subzero 
(Fahrenheit) records being rare extremes in the far south. The mean 
annual temperature is close to the 43° F. reported for Fuegia (records 
taken in the Strait of Magellan and south) with remarkably slight 
daily or seasonal fluctuations. Snowfall at sea level is light and of 
short duration; the summer snow line lies between 1,500 and 2,000 feet 
(450 and 600 m.) elevation. 

Most of the region has a dense vegetation which, together with the 
physical structure, makes travel by land impossible or difficult (pls. 
23, 24). The Alacaluf are consequently an essentially canoe- or boat- 
using people. Accustomed to this environment, they have never shown 
any inclination to leave it. 

History.—Along the one route from Alacaluf territory to other 
coastal areas, namely, the Strait of Magellan, archeological and his- 
torical evidence does not reveal the presence of the Alacaluf in the 
grassland area beyond Elizabeth Island, abreast of the eastern limit of 
the forest growth. Archeological remains of the first inhabitants along 
southern Tierra del Fuego and the islands to the south are so closely 


1See Cooper, 1917, pp. 5-6. Alacaluf may have been derived from the Yahgan Innalum 
Aala Kaluf, “western men with mussel-shell knives.” 


55 


56 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buby. 143 


related to the Alacaluf culture that it seems safe to assume that the 
Alacaluf preceded the Yahgan in that district. When considering 
historical records, it is well to remember that there is reason to question 
the identity of some of the canoe-using natives encountered where the 
Yahgan and Alacaluf territories overlapped, as the Yahgan also 
ranged as far as Elizabeth Island in not very distant times (Bird, 
1938, p. 260). 

European contacts.—The records of various European contacts 
with this tribe have been admirably compiled and analyzed by Dr. 
John M. Cooper (1917). In the 16th century, major references show 
eight published records of contact with canoe-using Indians in the 
Strait and one in the channels to the north; in the 17th century, six in 
the Strait and one to the north; in the 18th century, eight in the Strait 
and two to the north; and in the 19th century, eight in the Strait and 
four to the north. Excepting the early voyages, these accounts prob- 
ably concern only a minor portion of the actual contacts between 
Whites and natives. As no comprehensive first-hand ethnographic 
study of the Alacaluf has ever been published, the importance of the 
accumulated data in historical sources is apparent. The information 
is, on the whole, extremely sketchy and of varying reliability, but it 
permits comparison of the Indians’ former and present status and a 
fairly accurate summary of the changes that occurred through the 
years. 

At the present, probably 160 to 200 Alacaluf survive. They are 
rather evenly divided into two scattered groups,” one occupying the 
inner channels between the Gulfs of Pehas and Trinidad; the other 
concentrated just north of the western entrance to the Strait of Magel- 
lan. The southern group has borne the brunt of White contact and 
suffered accordingly, both culturally and physically, while the north- 
erners continue to live much as their ancestors did many centuries ago. 
Early records reveal a friendliness which soon gave way to distrust of 
the “cristianos,” a feeling which endures today. 

The introduction of steam navigation marked the first real utiliza- 
tion of Alacaluf territory by Whites. Prior to the discovery of the 
passage south around Cape Horn, the Strait of Magellan held tempor- 
ary importance; a settlement for defensive purposes was established in 
1584. This failed, and, though many exploring expeditions and some 
sealing and hunting parties entered the region, no further settlement 
was made until 1848. Only when the use of steamers justified the 
establishment of a lighthouse service along the Strait did the southern 
group come into fairly regular contact with Whites, which was 


? Estimate based on personal observations checked with José Remulo, a Chilean mar- 
ried to an Alacaluf woman and actively engaged in trading with her people during the past 
18 years. Gusinde subdivides the southerners into two groups, but has not yet published 
his reasons for this distinction. 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 57 


strengthened with the building of a coaling station in Munoz Gamero 
Bay shortly after 1900. In 1888, the Salesians started a mission for 
the Alacaluf and Ona on Dawson Island, which was not very success- 
ful as it conflicted with their normal nomadic existence. Moreover, 
when brought together, the Indians were rapidly decimated by con- 
tagious diseases. 

Finally, a steamer route from the Strait northward through the 
channels to the Gulf of Peas gave the northern group their first 
regular contacts, but, until the lighthouse was established on San 
Pedro Island in 1932 and the Punta Arenas air-route station erected 
on Wellington Island in 1936, no Whites settled in that area. 

The annual visits of small parties of men from Chiloé Island to 
hunt coypus and otter afforded the northern group important contacts 
that are not mentioned in the literature. In 1934, 14 boatloads passed 
San Pedro; in 1935, eight. It is not known when this custom started ; 
probably it was during the present century. The Indians feel con- 
siderable animosity toward these people. 

Though the White contacts with the southern Alacaluf date back 
to the early voyages of exploration, the Indians were little influenced 
until the last half of the 19th century, and the northern group remained 
much more isolated because of the slight economic worth of the region. 
It is unsuited for agriculture or stock raising; it has no important 
mineral deposits; and the demand for timber has not yet warranted 
the exploitation of the forest resources. A new industry just be- 
ginning is the gathering of deep-water shellfish by men equipped with 
diving outfits. In the past, these divers operated in the Chono Archi- 
pelago, but with the depletion of reserves there, have started work 
south of the Gulf of Pefnas, one party being reported at English 
Narrows in 1942. 

Population.—The lack of Alacaluf population figures is under- 
standable. There are no important estimates prior to 1900; after this 
date, the more reliable estimates vary from about 200 to 400 (Cooper, 
1917, p. 47). At present, men familiar with these natives believe that 
they are not decreasing. Archeology shows that the greatest concen- 
tration of midden refuse in Alacaluf territory is along the inner 
channels between the Gulfs of Pefas and Trinidad. South of Trini- 
dad and along the Strait and down into Barbara Channel, camps are 
scattered and have only shallow middens. Nowhere, either north or 
south, is there any concentration of refuse comparable to that seen 
in the Yahgan territory. Even with complete data on the amount and 
distribution of the evidence of occupation, it would be presumptuous 
to give any figure for the former Alacaluf population as it might have 
been in Magellan’s time, but it is doubtful if they ever exceeded a few 
thousand. 


58 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 
SOURCES 


The following information on material culture is based on the 
writer’s observations of about 95 natives encountered during the 6 
months spent on archeological work in Alacaluf territory in 1935-36, 
supplemented by information from an Alacaluf living on Chiloé Island 
and a study of specimens in the museums in Oslo, Norway; Goéteborg 
and Stockholm, Sweden; and the American Museum of Natural His- 
tory, New York. Published sources and archeological data are cited 
when these show that cultural changes or modifications have occurred. 
Since Cooper (1917, p. 185) published his list of source material, the 
most important contribution is by Gusinde, who visited the southern 
group in 1923. Gusinde has published in final form only his data on 
physical anthropology (1939), but in several articles (1924, 1925 a, 
b, c; 1926 a; 1927; 1928 b; 1929) he gives a great deal of basic infor- 
mation on social and religious culture. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


The subsistence pattern.—The failure of modern agriculture to 
spread southward into the Chilean Archipelago, beyond the limits 
it reached in pre-Spanish days (i. e., the island of Chiloé, with 
sporadic efforts at cultivation in the Guaitecas), supports the con- 
tention that this limit is climatically determined. Thus, the com- 
plete lack of agriculture among the Alacaluf is no reflection on them. 
This forced dependence on natural products is perhaps in part 
responsible for the conservatism of the Alacaluf culture, for there 
is no marked difference in food habits and equipment between the 
past, as shown by midden contents, and the present. In addition 
to the native diet, the Indians now beg food scraps from passing 
vessels in the north, and they trade for flour in the south, but this 
yields only a minor portion of their food. Generally speaking, 
shellfish, sea lions, and marine birds are the staples, supplemented 
with porpoise, land game, fish, and a very small quantity of vegetable 
foods. No data are available on the proportions of meat to shellfish 
and fish, though it was observed that the possession of a good meat 
supply did not interrupt shellfish gathering. 

The whole Alacaluf pattern of life clearly follows the routine 
involved in the food quest, which significantly continues in its 
simplest, most elementary form. Small family units wander from 
place to place, never stopping long enough to exhaust completely 
the local shellfish supply. Established communities are unknown, 
and no clan system or chieftainship has evolved. Families come 
together only on rare occasions: for example, when they discover a 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 59 


whale that is dead or is in landlocked waters where it can be killed; 
when they hunt the sea lions that are whelping at rookeries on some 
of the off-lying islands; or when a vessel is wrecked, an event which 
is sure to draw together all persons in the immediate vicinity. 

There seems to be little fixed seasonal migration at present, and 
the range of any one family is purely its own concern. In one 
instance, a family was encountered after a year within 40 miles of 
where it was first seen. Evidence of extended migration is shown 
by the presence of a northern man living among the southerners near 
Mujioz Gamero Bay, and by the discovery in 1932 of an Alacaluf hut 
near Rio Douglas, west of Navarino Island, over 200 miles outside 
Alacaluf territory. Perhaps in former times, with a larger popula- 
tion, some seasonal movements were necessary, but this is no longer 
the case. Today, the scarcity of otter and coypus, and a seeming 
fondness for change of scene, provide motives for wandering farther 
afield than the food quest demands. 

The equipment necessary to maintain life in this region is held 
to a minimum. A boat or canoe is an absolute essential. The 
average family carries fire rather than matches or other means of 
making it, poles for dislodging shellfish from rocks, a sea urchin 
and mussel spear, shellfish baskets, a harpoon and line, a bark 
bucket or tin pail, skins for covering huts, an ax, and an iron knife. 
They make other items of equipment when occasion demands, but 
usually discard them after use rather than carry them. This ac- 
counts in part for the discrepancies in the records of implements 
and weapons used, which was well demonstrated in the case of José 
Remulo. (See footnote 2, p. 56.) When shown a seal net, he did not 
recognize it, and had never seen or heard of one, yet his wife, 
children, and Alacaluf son-in-law all knew the correct name for it. 
In view of this, the description ‘of the present status of their 
material culture is difficult. As a check, Lothrop’s (1928) illustra- 
tions of implements and weapons were shown to Indians, both north 
and south. Most of the items were readily identified and named, 
but this still leaves a problem of interpretation. Are certain recog- 
nized objects now obsolete, or is their absence merely owing to the 
trait of making equipment only as circumstances demand? 

Shellfish gathering.—Shellfish are collected from three zones: 
the area between high and low water mark, the sea bottom between 
low water mark and a depth of 15 feet, and deeper water beyond. 
All available species of sufficient size are utilized. Limpets, Fissu- 
rella, small blue mussels, and chitons are common along the rocky 
shore between high and low water. In the north, Concholepas and 
purple whelk are sometimes used, but beyond the Gulf of Trinidad 
they are too rare to be important. If weather permits, women go 


60 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


out daily at low tide to collect these species, dislodging them with 
only a wooden stick, and placing the shellfish in an open-mesh basket 
(pl. 28). As sandy beaches or mud flats are very rare in Alacaluf 
territory, such mollusks as clams are relatively unimportant. 

From the sea bottom below low water, the Alacaluf gather sea 
urchins (pl. 25), two species of large mussels (Alytilus ungulatus and 
M. magellanicus), and, more rarely, a giant barnacle. These are 
taken in depths of not over 12 to 14 feet (3.6 to 4.2 m.), with a shell- 
fish spear, used generally from a canoe by both men and women. In 
depths beyond reach of the spears, they are procured by swimmers, 
especially by women who are said to withstand the cold better. Hold- 
ing the handle of the loose-meshed basket in his teeth, the swimmer 
descends to the bottom to a maximum depth of perhaps 30 feet (9 m.), 
where he dislodges the shellfish with his hands. After a few dives in 
the cold water (annual range 40° to 50° F.), the chilled swimmer 
hurries home and practically sits on the fire. 

Hunting.—Sea lions are either harpooned or killed with improvised 
clubs at the places where they come ashore, or are taken with nets. 
Their rookeries are located in the less frequented districts, often in 
wave-cut caves. If the entrances are too low in the water for a man or 
canoe to enter, and if the approach is suitable, a net trap (fayet cha 
kal) will be set. This trap is made of sea lion skin thongs, and is 
roughly 50 inches (125 cm.) square, each mesh being 7 or 8 inches 
(18 or 20 cm.) square. It is loosely fastened with rush strands to a 
rough hoop of thin saplings. A harpoon line passed through the 
outer meshes is tied to form a running noose. Two poles hold the 
hoop and net under water in the entrance to the rookery. In at- 
tempting to get through the net, the sea lion breaks the rush fasten- 
ings so that the noose tightens about its body, generally back of the 
flippers, and it cannot escape. Campbell (1747, p. 57) states that in 
using net traps on land, one man holds the hoop while a companion 
frightens the sea lion into the net. 

When sea lions cannot be reached with a club, they are usually 
harpooned. The detachable point remains in the flesh, while the 
free end of the line is held by the hunter, or is snubbed around a 
canoe thwart. If not mortally wounded, the animal is gradually 
pulled in and beaten to death with a shellfish pole. The same harpoon 
is also used for porpoise, but, unless the hunter is provided with the 
special spear (pl. 30), there is danger of overturning the canoe. 

Otter and coypus are hunted almost entirely with dogs, which corner 
them in rock crevices, where they can be killed with poles. There is 
no record of taking otter with harpoons, and none of the skins seen had 
holes which might have been made by the harpoon points. 


Vo. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 61 


The huemul, a small deer found on Wellington and Riesco Islands 
and portions of the mainland, is hunted with difficulty, but its bones 
are fairly common in both modern and ancient midden refuse. Gen- 
erally, the saw-tooth spear is used, or lacking this, a harpoon with its 
point tied to the handle by a short thong instead of the usual harpoon 
line. 

In the south around Skyring and Otway Sounds and on Tierra del 
Fuego, where the grasslands border Alacaluf territory, the natives 
formerly killed guanaco, using perhaps spears, harpoons, and even 
bows and arrows, and bolas. 

Birds, especially cormorants, form an important part of the diet. 
All species have the habit of gathering together at night and roosting 
on the ledges of small rocky islets. In late afternoon, two or three 
men go to an island and construct a small low shelter of sealskins or 
branches. They blacken their faces and hands with charcoal, and hide 
beneath the shelter until late at night when the birds are settled. They 
then creep out and catch one bird after another, carefully holding its 
head under its wing, the normal sleeping position, until they kill it by 
crushing the skull with their teeth. With care, they can capture nearly 
all of the roosting birds. One informant said that he and two other 
men had filled a canoe at one rock. Naturally, this procedure cannot 
be repeated too often at the same place. 

A second method, used also by the Yahgan, involves several canoes. 
Two parties land on a rock from opposite sides. One lights torches of 
dry twigs, while the other rushes at the birds shouting and making 
all possible noise. The birds run toward the light, where many are 
clubbed to death. 

Birds nesting on accessible rocky ledges are caught with pole snares 
(pl. 80), preferably on moonlight nights, but the commotion limits the 
take to a few birds. 

The same kind of snare is used to capture steamer ducks (pato 
vapor). These large flightless birds have so much curiosity that they 
will frequently approach an anchored boat to investigate any noise, 
provided they do not see people moving about. A hunter conceals 
himself on a low bank overhanging the water, his snare projecting 
from the branches. A soft whistling sound, produced by vibrating 
the tongue, attracts the ducks within reach of the snare. 

Penguins are most commonly captured when nesting in underground 
burrows. They can be taken with bare hands, but sticks are safer. 

Other data on the capture of birds are found in earlier sources. 
King (1839, p. 370) describes the taking of blue petrels: “having caught 
a small bird, they tie a string to its leg and put it into a hole where 
blue petrels lay eggs. Several old birds instantly fasten upon the 


62 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


intruder and are drawn out with him by the string.” Fitz-Roy (1839, 
2: 199) reported a snare trap, apparently for swans, in Obstruction 
Sound: “a neatly constructed small wigwam about two feet high, at 
the entrance of which was a platted rush noose, intended as a snare.” 
Coffin (Hanaford, 1867, p. 157) reported the use of live birds as decoys. 

One informant disclaimed killing parrots and white-breasted oyster- 
catchers, stating that to kill parrots would bring bad weather. For 
the other, he could only explain that it was not customary. The red- 
billed oystercatcher is, however, killed and eaten. 

Apparently all varieties of bird eggs are eaten without restrictions. 

Fishing.—None of the Indians seen in 1937 had fish lines, nets, or 
spears, but all immediately recognized the picture of a fishing line 
with slip noose for bait, shown by Lothrop (1928, fig. 88). As several 
individuals had braided sinew lines, they probably still use this fishing 
method at times. Notched stone sinkers are rare in the middens, and 
no fishhooks were used in any period. The lack of a hook is no handi- 
cap, as the fish living in the kelp beds will seize bait tied to the end of 
the cord and hold on long enough to be lifted out of the water. Coffin 
(Hanaford, 1867, p. 157) reported the use of a long, rough pole with a 
twisted grass line baited with mussels or pieces of fish. With this, 
fish were jerked into the boat. 

Fish, generally robalo, sometimes enter coves where the water shoals 
gradually toward the head. Men, women, and children, accompanied 
by dogs, wade, swim, and beat the water with sticks, driving the fish 
into the shallows where they can be caught with the hands or with 
harpoons and spears. The dogs are said to dive and swim beneath the 
surface in pursuit of the fish. Stone fish weirs are found in the 
shallow coves in Yahgan territory, but few were seen in the western 
channels, perhaps because suitable places are rare. 

Fish nets are apparently no longer used, although reported twice 
in the past (Marcel, 1892, p. 491; Byron, 1810, p. 76). Byron states 
that the net was held by two Indians, while the dogs “taking a large 
compass, dive after the fish, and drive them into the net.” Net sinkers 
have been found only with the late archeological material on Elizabeth 
Island and vicinity. Presumably, nets were never very common. 

The Yahgan took sardines with a special dip net or basket on the 
rare occasions when sea lions drove them into shallow water. A pic- 
ture of this basket was recognized by some A/lacaluf of both the north- 
ern and southern groups. Altogether, the evidence on fishing, 
including the relative scarcity of fish bones in the middens, suggests 
that fish were an unimportant food. 

Plant foods.—All species of berries found throughout Alacaluf 
territory are eaten, but it was noted that when other foods were abun- 
dant, the available berry supply was only partially utilized. The 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 63 


Indians also eat fuchsia seed pods. Wild celery, which is generally 
available at all cld camp sites, is little used. The large-stemmed 
pangue (Gunnera chilensis) is available in limited quantities in the 
north. Though commonly eaten in Chiloé, the only record of its con- 
sumption among the Alacaluf is by Campbell (1747, p. 63), who states 
that they seem very fond of it. 

Food preparation and storage.—The Alacaluf live from day to 
day on available food. They store none because even carefully dried 
foodstuffs mildew in the great humidity. A surplus of seals or birds 
is kept unskinned in the huts until spoiled. 

There seem to be no fixed hours for eating. Generally, nothing is 
consumed until about 10 o’clock in the morning; whatever is on hand 
is eaten. When hungry during the day, each person, even very young 
children, roasts his own shellfish. In late afternoon or after dark, 
birds and meat are prepared without marked division of labor. All 
birds, even penguins, are plucked and cut up according to a fixed 
pattern: the outer wing joint is cut through and the flesh stripped 
in one piece from the other wing bones and from the breast. The 
legs are removed with all adjacent muscles. By this method, the 
pieces are quickly cooked on the coals, then tossed on the ground in 
front of the person for whom they are intended. Seal meat is laid on 
the coals in large chunks or roasted on the end of a stick; if no one is 
very hungry, it is thoroughly cooked. It is served in the same fashion 
as birds. Fish is roasted like meat. Sea urchins are the only species 
of shellfish commonly eaten raw. No utensils are used either to pre- 
pare or eat food; even White men’s utensils have not changed this 
custom. The only food taboo is relatively unimportant: if the first 
sea lion killed by a boy is small, the meat is not eaten by the people, 
but is given the dogs lest the boy have poor hunting luck, always killing 
small sea lions. 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 


There are no animals domesticated except the dog. These show 
little uniformity in marking or color, but are fairly uniform in size, 
standing about 18 inches (45 cm.) at the shoulder, and generally 
have coarse straight hair, long tails, and pointed ears (pl. 28). They 
are extremely hardy, and are practically self-sufficient, gathering 
much of their own food in the form of shellfish. From their masters, 
they receive but meager scraps of food and indifferent or cruel treat- 
ment. Children were observed twisting a dog’s legs just to hear him 
howl, yet the animals remain loyal and obedient. They are used in 
hunting otter, sea lions, and penguins when these are among rocks 
beyond the reach of clubs or spears. Under certain conditions, they 
are also used in gathering fish, a procedure described above, and in this 
demonstrate an unusual agility in the water. 


64 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


Cooper (1917, pp. 185, 186) suggests that the canoe Indians in pre- 
Magellan times may have lacked dogs; this is supported by the lack 
of dog bones in all middens examined to date in both Alacaluf and 
Yahgan territory. 

The only other trace of domestication is the practice of keeping live 
steamer ducks until they are needed for food. ‘Though these ducks 
can be tamed, they are tied to the hut, where they can be protected 
from the dogs. 


HOUSES 


About 50 Alacaluf huts (aht ti pai) were seen between the Gulf of 
Pefias and the Strait of Magellan. Hut sizes vary with the extent 
of level ground available and the number of occupants. Of 24 
measured, the smallest was 9 feet 2 inches by 6 feet 3 inches (3 m. by 
2m.) ; the largest was 14 feet by 9 feet 6 inches (4.4m. by 3m.). Con- 
sidering the difficulty of finding open level places among the forest 
trees, the proportion of length to breadth is surprisingly constant. 

These huts have sometimes been described as circular, but all seen 
were oval, with the long axis at right angles to the entrance. The 
average length was 12 feet 814 inches (4 m.); the width 7 feet 714 
inches (2.8 m.); the height 5 feet 1014 inches (1.8 m.). All were 
near protected landing places along the shore. 

The framework is made according to a definite system that varies 
slightly with the material available. In order of preference, ma- 
terials used are Fuchsia magellanica, the canela tree, and, at last 
choice, cypress (Libocedrus tetragona). Figure 10, a, shows the 
start of construction, the dotted line representing the intended out- 
line. Four poles are forced into the ground; the ends are then bent 
over and tied together to form two approximately parallel foundation 
arches 114 to 2 feet (45 to 61 cm.) apart. In one excellent example 
erected on open ground, the saplings were 1014 feet long (3 m.), the 
arches 20 inches (50 cm.) apart at the ground and 34 inches (85 cm.) 
at the top, the span 8 feet 9 inches (2.6 m.), and the height 6 feet 3 
inches (2 m.). 

Three to nine (average, six) other poles forced into the ground along 
the sides of the floor are bent over and tied to the foundation hoops 
with pieces of rush, or, occasionally, are hooked under the hoops 
(fig. 10, 6). These all run approximately parallel with the long 
axis of the house. Three to six lighter saplings are placed outside 
these. Pairs from opposite sides are bent across the frame to form 
transverse arches, which are tied at one or two places to the longi- 
tudinal poles. 

The framework, which is strong and solid (fig. 10, ¢; pl. 27, bottom), 
is covered with sea lion skins, one hut seen having 131% separate skins. 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 65 


Figure 10.—Alacaluf hut frame construction. Showing three progressive stages of building. 


583486—46—_5 


66 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. EB. Bun. 143 


Lacking sufficient skins, either bark, sacking, grass, or ferns may be 
substituted. Holes are stopped with fern fronds (pl. 24, right), 
grass, or short branches. Entrances high enough for a person to 
crawl through are usually left on both sides between the two founda- 
tion hoops. Branches or fronds of the large fern (Blechnum magel- 
lanicum), are placed across the opening and spring back into posi- 
tion after a person has passed through. They keep out the wind and 
rain quite effectively. For this purpose, the Alacaluf will carry a 
bundle of fronds when moving camp. 

The fire is built in an oval hearth 2 by 3 feet (60 cm. by 90 cm.) in 
the center of the hut. Sometimes the humus beneath burns away, 
leaving a pit a foot deep (30.5 cm.), but fire pits are not intentionally 
dug. The roof covering above the fireplace is left quite loose so as to 
be moved back if the flames are too high. 

The family sit and sleep on a thin covering of small beech or 
tepu branches. With a good fire, these huts are comfortable and 
quite dry. 

Among the southern Alacaluf, one may now see circular tipis 
of light poles covered with skins, and canvas or sacks. These are 
identical with the modern Yahgan summer tipi, which may be their 
source. In erecting houses, men generally cut the poles and women 
place them. 

A larger hut is sometimes made for initiation (?) ceremonies. 
Skottsberg (1918, pp. 598-599) encountered one in Puerto Bueno that 
“was 12 meters long, 4 meters broad, 314 meters high” and apparently 
similar to the elliptical house but had more foundation arches. 
Another seen at Cuarenta Dias Bay by Sefior Remulo was 50 to 60 feet 
(15-18 m.) long and had six entrances. ‘The use of these structures 
will be described later. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Formerly, small skin mantles or capes and triangular skin pubic 
covers were worn. Today, all adults have some White man’s cloth- 
ing—cast-off garments secured from passing steamers and naval 
vessels. Children are generally naked. The Alacaluf have not learned 
to care for clothing, making no effort to alter or repair it. 

Ornaments consist only of strings of crudely made tubular bird- 
bone beads, a few perforated snail shells, and sections of calcareous 
marine-worm tubes (pl. 31, e). Small flat bone pendants are occa- 
sionally made. 


TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 


All transportation is by water, land journeys being limited to short 
hunting trips. Today, all northern Alacaluf have dugout canoes, 


Vot. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 67 


about 12 to 16 feet (4-5 m.) long, while many of the southern group 
have chalupas acquired in trade from the Whites. Both canoes and 
chalupas are rowed by both sexes while a man or woman steers with 
a paddle. Some have a small rough mast and a crude sail of sacking 
or canvas. All dugouts had coamings of driftwood planks roughly 
nailed to the gunwales and cleats. As no attempt is made to caulk 
the seams, these serve more to keep objects in the canoe than to keep 
water out. If planks are not available, pieces of sea lion skin, stiff- 
ened by being held over the fire until semiscorched, may be substi- 
tuted. Canoes are provided with oars, steering paddles, and a skin 
bailing cup. 

Historical records show that originally all the Alacaluf, like the 
Yahgan, used bark canoes. A small example in the Salesian Museum 
in Punta Arenas collected about 1904 is identical with the Yahgan 
canoe. It is made of three strips of beech bark, sewed with baleen 
strips, and is 12 feet 1 inch (4m.) long with a maximum beam of 2 feet 
2 inches (67 cm.) and a depth inside the hull of 1 foot 8 inches (50 cm.). 
There are eight thwarts lashed on top of the gunwales, 10 to 15 inches 
(25-37 cm.) apart. Small narrow ribs split from a short-stemmed 
shrub are placed next to each other for the full length. 

In the latter half of the 18th century, plank boats patterned after 
the dalcas of Chiloé began to replace bark canoes. Knowledge of 
the latter survived as late as 1927, when one was in use near Mufioz 
Gamero Bay. 

During the 19th century, the plank boat was the most common type, 
finally disappearing from use about 1915 (pl. 30, top). Only two 
specimens, both collected by Skottsberg in Port Grappler, exist today. 
One is now in Stockholm, the other in Géteborg.2 Both are made of 
five planks, the middle one being roughly the same width throughout 
and bent upward at the bow and stern. Each plank is slightly hol- 
lowed inside; the bottom side has two straight parallel raised portions 
near the edges, projecting out far enough to protect the plank lashings 
when the boats are beached or portaged. The Chilotan dalca, judging 
from the only surviving fragment, has by contrast a flat elliptical 
bottom while the upper surface is much more curved in cross section. 
Moreover, the Chilotan specimen has drilled lashing holes whereas 
the Alacaluf example has rectangular holes cut with an iron chisel. 
This is significant, as there are no records of the Alacaluf using drills, 
and none occur in archeological material. 

The modern dugout canoe (pl. 29) appears to have spread to the 
Alacaluf from the Yahgan since the beginning of the present century. 


3 Measurements and detailed description of these are filed in the American Museum of 
Natural History. 


68 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


Both tribes, before using a canoe, heat it and increase the beam by 
forcing cross braces inside. The dugout was introduced to the Yahgan 
by one of their people who saw them being made in Rio de Janeiro 
(King, 1839, 2: 224), whence this practice may have come. 

One record reveals that when a canoe near San Pedro lighthouse 
was damaged beyond repair, two men with one ax completed a new one 
in a week, 

For communication, smoke signaling is commonly used. The smoke 
from leaves heaped on the fire in the hut will call back hunters or bring 
the nearest neighbors to the spot, but it is not known if any special 
signals are employed. 


MANUFACTURES 


Basketry and containers.—Both the northern and southern 
Alacaluf use many small, open-mesh, coiled baskets (pl. 31, 6) of rush 
made with a technique like that shown by Lothrop (1928, p. 189, fig. 
65). The rush and the baskets have the same name (chep-pash). A 
storage and berry-gathering basket (dtai yo), made from the same rush 
(pl. 31, a), has the tightly coiled technique shown by Lothrop (1928, 
p. 135, fig. 61). This type was also made by both the Ona and Yahgan. 
The former called it and the rush “tai,” which may indicate that the 
Alacaluf learned its manufacture from the Ona. In making the 
tightly coiled baskets, the Alacaluf use a small deer-bone awl, which 
they also employ to make holes in leather and bark (pl. 31, /). 

Cylindrical water buckets are made of bark and sewn with either 
baleen or sections of vine (pl. 31, ¢). Large tin cans now sometimes 
serve the same purpose. 

Skin working.—The Alacaluf do not tan. They lash seal and otter 
skins to rectangular frames made of four sticks to dry them, the 
smoke in the huts effecting some unintentional curing. Skins to be 
used on canoes are held over a fire until hard. 

Stones.—Except for sinkers, the Alacaluf no longer make anything 
of stone, though they use unworked pieces as whetstones. The knowl- 
edge of pressure flaking of stone arrow points came late, apparently 
being acquired in the south. 

Wood.—Woodworking is mediocre. The rough work is done with 
an ax, the fine cutting with an iron knife. Knives, made from iron 
barrel hoops, are sharpened across the end like a chisel, and not on 
the sides. This has a definite prototype in the old mussel-shell knife, 
formerly a very important implement. The best of numerous pub- 
lished references to the use of mussel shells for cutting is by Francis 
Fletcher in 1578 (1652, p. 38). The large choro mussel shell is rubbed 
against a whetstone, which grinds away the thin brittle edge, making 
an extremely effective knife which is hard enough to cut bone. It is 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 69 


also used as a chopping tool, the pointed, narrow portion near the 
hinge being broken away and the shell firmly lashed to a stone that 
is naturally oblong. Held in the hand, it is used like an adz, the stone 
providing the necessary weight. Paddles collected as late as 1907 
show shallow fluted markings running transversely across the blade, 
such as would have been made by this tool. Both northern and south- 
ern groups retain knowledge of the shell knife and chopper, and per- 
haps still use them on occasion. 

Weapons and hunting equipment.—The shellfish pole (ayorki), 
an important implement, is a roughly cut section of sapling about 4.5 
feet (1.3 m.) long and 2.5 inches (6 cm.) in diameter, generally 
slightly flattened along two sides of the lower end. 

The shellfish spear is made of a canelo sapling, with the bark left on. 
The lower end is split into quarters which are sharpened into prongs 
and wedged apart by two short sections of sticks; or else a section of 
harder, stronger wood, used to form the prongs, is lashed to a canelo 
handle 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 m.) long (pl. 25). 

The club used for killing seals and for fighting is not always car- 
ried, for the ayorki will serve as a substitute. Skottsberg collected a 
hardwood club 2 feet (61 cm.) long. 

The sea lion harpoon (salta) is still used. The shaft, 7 to 9 feet 
(2 to 2.7 m.) long, is cut from a young canelo tree, “harpoon wood.” 
The bark is removed but the shaft retains its natural taper. The 
thick butt end is split to form a socket for the head and is whipped 
with a few turns of leather thong or braided sinew to prevent further 
splitting. The modern head is of whalebone with two barbs and a 
flattened tapered basal end expanding on both sides of the shank 
(pl. 81, h). The older form, still used in 1908 (pl. 31, g), had a 
single barb and a base that expanded only on one side of the shank 
(Skottsberg, 1913, p. 604). The harpoon line, carefully cut from 
male sea lion skin, is tied tightly to the shank of the harpoon 
point just forward of the expanded base, and is looped or hitched to 
the shaft back of the center of balance. The lines are up to 60 feet 
(18 m.) long. 

The spear, although well known and still used, is seldom seen (pl. 
30, deft). Its shaft is like that of the harpoon, but the whalebone 
point (pl. 31, d) is not detachable. The longest point (3 ft. 734 
in., or 1 m.) is in the Salesian Museum, Punta Arenas, Chile; it has 
6 inches (15 cm.) of saw teeth beginning 21% feet (34 m.) back of the 
point. The usual length is about 18 inches (14 m.) but all have the 
saw-toothed barbs set well back from the tip. Yahgan fish spears 
differ from these in that the saw teeth begin at the tip. The Alacaluf 
form is good for killing porpoise, guanaco, and deer, and for fighting, 
but less useful for fish. It is presumably a late addition to Alacaluf 
culture, for the only specimen found in midden deposits came from 


70 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Boxe. 148 


Elizabeth Island (Bird, 1938); it differs from all other ethnological 
specimens in having offset barbs and side knobs on the butt. 

Bows and arrows are now obsolete, though remembered by both 
groups. Their greater frequency among the southern group and the 
increasing scarcity of evidence of pressure flaking of stone in middens 
toward the north indicate that bows and arrows came from the south 
at a late date. The form of the stone points, though not conclusive, 
suggests Yahgan influence. The damp climate must have made it 
difficult to keep bows and arrows in good condition and so it is not 
surprising that they never were very important. More significant, 
perhaps, is that knowledge of pressure flaking of stone came with 
this weapon. 

Slings were formerly common. Though remembered today, they 
appear not to be used. 

Bolas were sometimes used by the last generation of the southern 
group. Except for very rare surface finds, bolas weights do not occur 
archeologically in the western channels. On the other hand, the first 
canoe people, presumably AJlacaluf, took them into what was later 
Yahgan territory. A weapon definitely designed for use in open 
country was impractical in the channels. 

The bird snare is in common use today as in the past. It consists of 
a light pole 4 to 6 feet (1.2-1.8 m.) long with one or two stiff slip 
nooses split from a creeper (Campsidium chilense), or of baleen 
(pl. 80, bottom, right). 

Fire making.—Today nearly all Alacaluf use matches, though they 
are frequently without them. In the past, they are known to have 
made fire with a piece of pyrite and “flint.” As pyrite is very rare 
in the middens, it is very doubtful that all families had it. More 
probably, then, as today, they kept a fire burning continuously, even 
carrying it with them, and when this was extinguished by accident, 
borrowed new fire from neighbors. 

Both sexes gather fuel though only men were observed using axes. 
They seldom cut enough fuel to last all night, so that before dawn 
someone goes, with considerable grumbling, to get more. They prefer 
the wood of the tepu (Zepualia stipularis), a very excellent and readily 
combustible fuel, without which it would be difficult to start a fire in 
this excessively wet region. 


EXCHANGE AND DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS 


In the past there were few things, with the possible exception of 
pyrite, that any group could not secure for itself. Today, however, all 
are accustomed to barter and are beginning to show some firmness in 
demanding goods which are of practical use. As in the past, each 
family exists independently of others, making its own equipment. 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD “1 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


Property and inheritance.—Property rights are not strict. An 
individual owns the tools and equipment he makes, but shares them 
with other members of the family, On one occasion, a man traded his 
wife’s bark bucket for a shirt while the women were absent from camp. 
Later, his wife was furious because he refused to give the shirt to her; 
he had no right to make this trade. Canoes and skin hut covers are 
family property. There are no territorial rights; evidently, anyone 
is free to come and go where he wishes. Abandoned hut frames may 
be used by anyone needing them. Some evidence of property rights 
appears at the time of death. (See p. 77.) 

Social organization.—There are, apparently, no clans or chieftain- 
ships. The families that live and hunt together are generally blood 
relations. The advice of the oldest individual may be asked, but is 
not always followed. 


WARFARE 


Fitz-Roy (1839, 2: 194) quotes Low’s report that crude spears, 
arrows, and clubs painted red were stuck into the ground around a 
roughly carved figure of wood as a declaration of war or as a warn- 
ing of attack. The custom survives today. In the south, a man 
once stole another man’s wife. The husband tried to get her back 
by force, but was beaten off by his competitor. He returned in the 
night with his brother and placed one red wooden replica of the 
tant-tarrh (pl. 30) at either end of the hut and behind it. Thus, having 
given a warning that he would try to kill the man, the latter’s rela- 
tives could not hold him accountable. The two brothers subsequently 
ambushed the rival and killed him with a spear. The woman was 
blamed and beaten. In 1920, a similar warning was given a party 
of Chilotans by some of the northern Alacaluf (Oyarztn, 1922, 
p. 167). 

The Alacaluf have, on insufficient evidence, been accused of canni- 
balism. They deny the practice, and, with two exceptions, no human 
bones were found in the middens. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth.—During childbirth, men leave the hut and some woman 
helps the mother, though a man may assist his wife if they are alone. 
A separate hut is sometimes made for the mother. The husband 
stands guard. He has red paint on his face, and on his right 
shoulder a string of white feathers similar to that shown by Loth- 
rop (1928, pl. 15, B) about his head, and a white kelp goose skin 
tied across his breast. (This decoration and costume are also used 


72 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bun. 143 


by the guard at initiation rites.) Such a guard at a birth was 
reported in 1828 (King, 1839, p. 315), and the custom is still practiced. 
The umbilical cord is cut with a choro shell knife, which, together 
with the placenta, hair from the mother and father, parrot feathers, 
and a live coal, is wrapped in a piece of skin and buried by the 
father beneath the “woman’s hut.” This practice has no explanation 
except that it is customary. The newborn baby is washed with sea 
water. After the birth of a first child, the father and mother may 
take nothing but water for 2 days. They deny that this is done 
for subsequent children. One informant stated that the father 
puts some of his hair into a small package, which the child wears. 
Gusinde (1925 b, p. 142) reports that the father wraps a section of 
the umbilical cord in leather and wears it around his neck for a few 
months after birth to insure the child’s well-being. Some informants 
say the child is named by the father; others say the mother. De- 
formed babies are not killed but are allowed to take their chances. 
Children are permitted to nurse as long as they want to, so that a 
mother may occasionally be seen feeding an older child as well as a 
new baby. 

Childhood.—Infants and small children, though shown consider- 
able affection, are not well attended. If, when learning to crawl, they 
fall into the fireplace, adults show them no sympathy. All children 
bear small scars left by such burns. <A baby sleeps close to its mother 
or in her arms and has no special cradle or garments. When the baby 
soils itself, the mother scrapes it with a mussel shell. She replaces 
any soiled twigs covering the sleeping place. When able to walk, a 
child receives little parental attention and soon is able to care for 
itself. 

Children, barely able to walk, were seen seeking mussels on the 
rocks immediately in front of the hut. With one or two clutched in 
their hands, they crawl back into the hut to roast and eat them. By 
the age of four, children cook nearly all the shellfish they consume, 
and begin to handle the shellfish spears. They spend hours in a 
canoe tied to the shore, hooking up sea urchins and mussels (pl. 25). 

Children are allowed to do as they please, but are probably pun- 
ished if their behavior conflicts with their parents’ wishes. 

Girls’ puberty.—At her first menstruation, a girl remains in a spe- 
cial hut, neither eating nor drinking. These restrictions are said to 
apply only to the first period. 

Initiation ceremonies.—Several White men have seen Alacaluf 
assembled for what were obviously special occasions. Whether these 
can properly be called initiation ceremonies is questionable. It is 
certain only that they occur when there is an abundance of provisions 
on hand. If a whale is obtained, smoke signals call together every- 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 73 


body in the vicinity. A large house is made and the people stay to- 
gether as long as the whale meat lasts. 

A young Alacaluf who had lived just south of Puerto Bueno related 
that he had twice seen the big huts erected and had participated 
in the affair. On the first occasion, a dead whale had been found, 
and the shellfish poles were not painted in advance. ‘The second 
affair was planned beforehand by an older man and carried out in 
due course. Its duration, however, is uncertain; apparently it ter- 
minated when the food supply was exhausted. In preparation for a 
hunt at a sea lion rookery some distance away, they built a conical 
house in which to make clubs for killing the sea hons, and a new set 
of shellfish poles (ayorki) with which the women could procure food 
while the men were away. They painted the clubs white, with red 
spots on the heavier end, and the poles red on the handles, with red 
spots and bands on the lower portion. These were all set upright in 
the ground in a circle in the center of the hut. The night before the 
hunt, the men slept in this hut apart from the women, and sang. Be- 
fore leaving, they painted their faces, chests, and arms white, and a 
red stripe across the chest between the shoulders, so that the seals 
would not enter the water and escape. 

The hunters took one young boy with them, but no women. They 
found a cave full of sea lions, blocked the entrance, and harpooned 
and clubbed many animals. They cut out the bones but did not smoke 
or dry the meat. With canoes full of meat and green hides, they re- 
turned home, stopping when within calling distance of the camp, to 
shout a warning, “ahhhhh ha ha hoo,” whereupon the women went 
into the huts, covered the doorways with sealskins, and were not sup- 
posed to look out. When near the landing place, the young boy was 
thrown into the water and swam ashore. Avoiding the women’s huts, 
the men went to the conical house and were forbidden to look at 
or speak to the women. The boy, however, entered the women’s huts, 
described the trip to them, and remained there for the night, being 
forbidden to visit or speak with the men. It was jokingly explained 
that the boy was thrown into the water “so he would not look at the 
women.” Next morning, the ban was off. The women fetched the 
sealskins from the men’s hut to start preparing them. At night, the 
men and women slept together as usual in the regular huts. 

The women and girls spent the entire following day in canoes 
gathering shellfish, while the men and boys built the big house 
(yinchihaua). The house, like that described by Skottsberg, had 
four entrances and two fireplaces, but, unlike the Yahgan hut, the 
poles were unpainted. The men and boys moved into it that night, 
but the women and girls slept in the regular huts for all but one 
night of the gathering. The first night the men prepared the head 


74 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BuLy. 148 


bands, which had to be made in the absence of the women. One of 
the head men burned a piece of seal meat, an unexplained action. 
From then on, the time was spent mainly in singing, some “dancing,” 
considerable horseplay, and a little story telling, while the candidates 
received instruction in making weapons and in what they should and 
should not do. There seem to be few fixed rules for procedure except 
in the manner in which certain participants painted themselves. Boys 
present for the first time wore a plain leather head band (Lothrop, 
1928, fig. 90, A), but did not paint their faces. Those participating 
for the second time put horizontal red stripes across the upper lips, 
cheeks, and chins, with a red smear on their chests, and wore white 
kelp goose skin head bands. More experienced participants placed 
vertical red stripes on their faces with smudges of white and an 
inverted T on their foreheads, and white stripes on their cheeks. The 
women used no paint. 

In the morning, the men struck the first woman who looked into 
the big house. The women had to fetch drinking water, and the men 
seized the buckets of the first three (?) who passed them in the en- 
trances, and threw the water on them, after which the women and 
girls were allowed to enter freely. During the day, men and boys 
had the middle portion of the house, the women and girls the ends, 
the girls and boys sitting cross-legged along their respective sides. 
If they became tired and leaned over, the men struck them and made 
them sit up. A candidate who refused to obey was bound hand and 
foot. All cooking was done in the women’s house, though fires were 
kept burning in the big house. Like the Yahgan (p. 84), the Alacaluf 
drank through a bone tube, an unusual article, which is unknown 
archeologically, except in Yahgan territory. The women had to ask 
permission to leave the lodge to seek shellfish and to cook; the candi- 
dates asked to go out to relieve themselves, which they did only after 
dark. The men cut the firewood as usual. 

For amusement, a rounded piece of wood was hung from the roof, 
18 to 24 inches (45 to 61 cm.) above the floor. When the last lines 
of the Whale Song were sung, this was struck with a short stick and 
made to swing, while the initiates seated along the walls tried to dodge 
it without moving from their position. An ordinary swing made 
with two thongs and a cross bar was also suspended from the house 
frame. 

All candidates had to bathe in the sea in the evening, even if it 
were cold. After the first bath, their chests were painted red, but 
were not scratched as among the Yahgan (p. 99). During the first 
days, whenever women were absent, the boys made small symbolic 
harpoons with painted shafts, similar to those shown by Lothrop (1928, 
pl. 9), and stood them against the wall behind their places. The shell- 


Vow. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 75 


fish poles not in use stood against the walls at the ends of the lodge. If 
either fell over, it was a bad omen. 

At night, the older men danced, wearing the heron-plume head band 
(Lothrop, 1928, pl. 15, 4). Two or three performed at once, each 
more or less independent of the others. Boys with short white sticks 
were posted at the doorways to prevent the women, who were excluded 
from this performance, from seeing it. 

The candidates had to learn the Whale Song at night when alone 
with the men. Subsequently, the women were ordered to their huts, 
and a man, dressed and painted as when guarding a woman at child- 
birth, was stationed on the top of the big house. If anyone ap- 
proached, he shouted and beat the roof with a stick. Meanwhile, the 
men and boys inside put on their head bands and paint, according to 
rank and station, and began the first verse of the Whale Song: 


We sing up on the mountain, 

We put the chepana over our head and body, 

We enter the big house to paint the little poles, 

The buzzard is flying at the top of the sky. 

Today we will not go out, tomorrow we will not go out. 
This we command all. 


The men and boys now left the big house, leaving those who had 
painted their noses and cheeks inside, while certain initiates acted 
as guards to keep them from looking out. Two initiates with their 
hands tied behind their backs, one at each end of a harpoon line about 
25 feet (7.6 m.) long, were led out by older men. This line was then 
stretched taut at the height of their hands and the men and boys 
gathered in a group around each initiate. Three women were called 
by name from the women’s huts, where all the women and girls were 
at the time. Accompanied by a special jumping song, they jumped 
together three times over the line and back, afterward running to the 
big hut. In groups of three, the remainder of the women and girls 
were called to jump. Those failing to clear the line were struck by 
a man wearing the heron chepana. The men and boys returned to 
the big house immediately after the jumping. At the conclusion of 
the singing, an old man and a boy had a mock wrestling match outside 
the big house. 

There were various songs about different animals and birds, some 
sung with the women, others sung by men and boys alone at night. 

As among the Yahgan (p. 104), at one point during the ceremony a 
man called “aak ai” went off in the woods and disguised himself as a 
spirit, painting black stripes down his face and his body solid black. 
He was naked, except for a white band with a black spot in the center 
of it and a white kelp goose skin tied across his chest. He carried a 
special club tied to his waist and began shouting, 


hu-hu, harrh, hu-hu, haarh. 


76 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


while still out of sight in the forest. Hearing this, the people in the 
lodge beat the walls and shouted to drive him away. Women and girls 
seeing him cried, for he struck with his club those he could catch. 
After whooping and banging about for some time, he stopped his 
impersonation. 

Toward the end of the initiation, the women spent one day in the big 
house without eating or drinking, while the men and boys wearing their 
paint and head bands stayed in the women’s houses. Except for sing- 
ing, the women’s activities are not known. In the evening, the men and 
boys returned to the lodge, where the women remained that night with 
their heads lowered so as not to see what the men were doing, lest they 
be hit with a stick. This marked the end of the festival, and on the 
following day the group dispersed. There was no distribution of 
presents as at the close of the Yahgan initiation (p. 99). 

During this ceremony a large seal tooth and a small white stone 
were buried together to insure good weather. 

Additional data on ceremonies have been recorded by Gusinde ¢ from 
the southernmost Alacaluf at Mufioz Gamero. He uses “yin¢hihaua” 
to designate secret men’s rites performed in a conical hut by masked 
participants for the express purpose of frightening and subduing the 
women. Gusinde distinguishes this from a boys’ initiation ceremony, 
ka la kai, which is presumably the equivalent of the ceremony described 
above. It was held in the long oval hut. As this hut is called yinchi- 
haua throughout Alacaluf territory, it is curious that the term should 
apply here to distinct ghost rites. 

North of the Muiioz Gamero group, bark or skin masks are some- 
times used, but not in connection with the big oval house rites. Asa 
joke of no particular significance, a man may secretly mask and paint 
himself, hide in the woods, and try to frighten the women. 

The concentration among the southern Alacaluf of ghost rites, which 
are obviously closely related to the Ona kléketen (p. 104) and the 
Yahgan kina (p. 104), and the wider distribution of adolescent initia- 
tion ceremonies, similar to the Yahgan Giéxaus (p. 120), can be inter- 
preted to mean that the former diffused from the Ona whereas the 
Yahgan Géxaus and the Alacaluf yinchihaua (the initiation rites and 
festivities connected with the house of this name) are older elements 
among the canoe-using Indians. 

Marriage.—The Indians deny any restrictions prior to marriage. 
After marriage, husbands are likely to be jealous and may beat their 
wives for infidelity. Marriage involves no ceremony; a man and 
woman decide to live together, and the man moves in with the girl’s 
family. If they need more room after having children, they set up 
an independent household. There are no restrictions on sexual rela- 


‘Summarized or referred to in various articles: Gusinde, 1925 a, pp. 50-60; 1926 a, 
pp. 287-312 ; 1929 d, pp. 344-348. 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD vii 


tions, except for 15° days of continence after childbirth. A widower 
may marry his dead wife’s sister, but not his brother’s widow. Polyg- 
amy is now rare, but is not forbidden; a man may marry two sisters or 
else a woman and her daughter by a former husband. 

Death observances.—After a death, everyone at the encampment 
paints his face black. All the deceased’s property is burned except the 
canoe, canoe equipment, and skins for covering the hut. A southern 
Alacaluf stated that immediately after a death, the men beat the out- 
side of the hut with sticks, shouting “ey-yah-yu-ma.” At a child’s but 
not at an adult’s death, baskets are thrown into the fire. The deceased, 
with the knees and hands against the chest, is wrapped in sealskins 
in assmalla bundle as possible. Disposal depends on the situation. In 
the south, the body is interred if possible, but in much of the western 
channel area, any hole cut through the tangled roots fills immediately 
with water, so that caves or protected places along the base of cliffs 
are sought or the body is hidden in the forest. Some meat and shell- 
fish of all available kinds are placed beside the body and live coals are 
put in a miniature hut built nearby. If the grave is at the base of a 
cliff, the rock above or near the body is smeared with red paint. 

After disposing of the body, the Alacaluf make a chepana, a braid 
of three leather thongs, about 5 feet (114 m.) long, which holds 
feathers of the carnecero hawk in each turn of a thong. They fasten 
the chepana across the top of the hut frame at right angles to its long 
axis and leave all of the deceased’s possessions in the hut, taking only 
the canoe and the hut cover. 

The next party to visit this place on seeing the chepana knows that 
a death has occurred. They are supposed to burn or otherwise de- 
stroy the hut frame and the objects in it. The newcomers will not 
camp here, and before going on must place a redbird snare pole 
upright in the ground to warn others that a death recently occurred 
and that the camp is not to be used. It is probably only immediate 
relatives who avoid the site permanently. 

Archeological evidence lends some support to verbal accounts. No 
grave goods accompany bodies found in the position described; a few 
shells of several species, bird and fish bones lie near them, and in the 
south a red smear was seen on a nearby rock. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Art.—Crude lines sketched on bone pendants and paint applied to 
persons and objects during rites are the sole expressions of art. For- 
merly the Indians put some red paint on their weapons, but now 
rarely do so. 


5 This figure should not be taken too seriously. See: Measurement of time and counting. 


78 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


Games, amusement, and toys.—No games or children’s toys are 
reported, though swings of rawhide thongs with wooden cross bars 
are sometimes made. As far as observed, children content themselves 
with imitating their elders, occasionally making miniature huts, 
weapons, and baskets, and gathering a few shellfish and roasting them 
in the little huts. 

Music.—The Alacaluf have no musical instruments, and sing little 
or not at all except when the big house is erected. They like to listen 
to a phonograph, but of a wide variety of modern recordings they 
evinced real liking only for American Negro spirituals. Hearing 
these even for the first time, they hum and follow the tune quite well. 

Dances.—There are no good descriptions of dancing, which seems 
to be confined to the initiation (?) rites. 

Narcotics.—The Alacaluf had no native narcotics. They have ac- 
quired a fondness for tobacco, but cannot obtain it regularly. 

Drinks.—Leaves, twigs, and berries (?) of the wild currant (ibes 
magellanicum) placed in water and left for some days produce a drink 
called palpas, which is said to be intoxicating. This mixture, boiled, 
is called ow waf na. As boiling is foreign to their culture and is 
done in old tin cans, it is presumably a recent development. From 
the Whites the Alacaluf have acquired a fondness for alcoholic 
beverages, but none of the natives encountered in 1935-36 requested 
liquor. 


SHAMANISM AND CURING 


Data on medicine are meager. Canelo bark is said to be used as a 
laxative. From the leaves of Senecio candidans, poultices are made 
for rheumatism. Anyone may prepare these things, though a certain 
old man had unusual knowledge of this subject. Incantation, massage, 
and sucking are used in shamanistic curing (Gusinde, 1925 b, p. 145). 

There is some belief in witchcraft. Hair clippings are burned lest 
someone twist the hairs with sinew into thread and pound them be- 
tween stones, causing the person to whom the hair belonged to become 
thin, sicken, and die. Gusinde (1925 b, p. 142) also reports that hair 
scraps were buried or made into a wad and forced down a dog’s 
throat. 

There are no rules for camp sanitation. Excrement is found any- 
where in the vicinity of and even inside the hut. 


RELIGION 


Religious ideas are vague and conflicting and probably have been 
influenced by the White man. The confused data antedating Gusinde’s 
investigations, together with archeological evidence on treatment of 
the dead, clearly indicate some belief in spirits and in an existence 
after death. 


Vou. 1] THE ALACALUF—BIRD 79 


Gusinde (1925 b, pp. 187-140) is convinced of the native origin 
of a clear-cut concept of a single supreme creator-god, Xolas, who 
resides in a celestial region but is concerned with the daily acts of 
mankind. At Xolas’ instigation, a soul enters the body of each 
newborn baby and remains there until death, when it rejoins him. 

Living in an unpleasant climate, where storms and gales constantly 
interfere with the search for food, the Alacaluf have various super- 
stitions about the weather. 

Beliefs which, with some variations, are common to both groups 
are the following: 

Bad weather is caused by throwing sand or small pebbles at the 
hut or into the water; by a flock of parrots flying overhead, especially 
if one looks at them or kills one (the Indians do not like to touch a 
parrot) ; by throwing shellfish into the fire and leaving them there 
(this also causes rough water); and by throwing empty shells over- 
board. The shells of the shellfish eaten when traveling by canoe 
are carefully saved, and must be placed on land above high water 
mark. ‘This isan old belief, for Byron nearly lost his life by violating 
the custom (Byron, 1810, p. 92). 

Ashes thrown on the water bring fair weather. If bad weather 
overtakes a canoe party, several eggs thrown in the sea will make it 
smooth; lacking eggs, old baskets may be burned. One northern 
Alacaluf claims to have seen a small baby thrown overboard at a 
time of extreme danger. If a snowstorm blows from the north, 
burning a handful of any kind of feathers will turn the snow to rain 
and cause a south wind, which brings fair weather in this region. 

To assure good, calm weather, the southern Alacaluf bury a large 
sea lion tooth with a small white stone, then dig them up the follow- 
ing “year,” 1. e., sometime later, and throw them in the sea. The 
northern group wraps a seal tooth and stone in a teal duck skin, to- 
gether with a bit of the duck’s meat, and two feathers from the wing 
or tail, digging them up and burning them the next “year.” 

All Alacaluf are extremely vague about units of time. Beyond 
“vesterday” and “tomorrow,” and “winter” and “summer,” they 
make little distinction. Even those who know Spanish have diffi- 
culty in correctly using our units of time. Their inability to count 
is partly to blame; most persons can count to five, five being synony- 
mous with “many.” Some, however, do not know the word for four. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Bird, 1938; Borgatello, 1928 ; Bulkeley and Cummins, 1927; Byron, 1810; Camp- 
bell, 1747; Cooper, 1917; Fitz-Roy, 1889; Fletcher, 1652; Gusinde, 1924, 1925 a, 
1925 b, 1925 c, 1926 a, 1927, 1928 b, 1929, 1937, 1939; Hanaford, 1867; King, 1839; 
Koppers, 1925 a; Lothrop, 1928; Marcel, 1892 ; Oyarzfin, 1922; Skottsberg, 1913. 


PLATE 23.—Alacaluf territory. Top: East side of Wellington Island. Typical of Western Channels, 
Bottom; Carlos IIi Island and Strait of Magellan. (Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


q sniuny Asoqno,)) 
‘siny /njvovj)y Ul posn doy a5IVT “Yd “PURIST WOABUTTTO AA ‘OLY OLY ‘oUovS 4solOg /49/UAD “PURIS] OUBIIIg JO PUd YON </faT A410} 1140} JN[BOB] YW — "FZ ALVId 


PLATE 25.—Alacaluf children. Puerto Rio Frio, Wellington Island. Top: Gathering sea urchins. Bot- 
tom (left): Boy using sea urchin spear. Bottom (right): Removing sea urchin from spear. (Courtesy 
Junius Bird.) 


PLATE 26.—Alacaluf camps. Top: Hut, Escape Ape Bottom: English Narrows. (Courtesy Junius 
ird.) 


PLATE 27.—Alacaluf huts. Top: Puerto Rio Frio. Rear view of hut. Bottom: Hut frame. At entrance 
to Iceberg Sound. (Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


PLATE 28.—Alacaluf life. Top: Women going after shellfish. arrows. Bottom: Alacalu} dogs. 
Puerto Eden. (Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


PLATE 29.—Alacaluf canoes. 


Top: Puerto Bueno. Bottom: Dugout canoes with planked gunwales at 


English Narrows. 


(Courtesy Junius Bird.) 


o 


E 30.—Alacaluf plank boats and implements. Top: 

ank boats at Strait of Magellan. (Courtesy Charles 
Townsend and American Museum of Natural His- 
tory.) Bottom (left): Tant-tarrh spear. Probably from 
Alacaluf of Magellan Strait. Boftom (center): Steering 
paddle, used in plank boat. Bottom (right): Bird pole 
snare. From Ese Reach. Scale at right, 40 em. 
long. (Courtesy American Museum of Natural His- 
tory.) 


PLATE 31.—Alacaluf artifacts. a,b, Coiled baskets; c, bark bucket; d, saw-tooth point for Tanttarrh spear, 
probably from Southern Alacaluf; e, necklace of marine worm tubes, from Puerto Eden; f, bone awl, 19 
em. long, from Escape Reach; g, old type single-barb harpoon point, Wellington Island; h, 2 modern 
harpoon points from English Narrows. (Courtesy American Museum of Natural History ) 


(Courtesy Junius 


n. 


Alacaluf me 


{ Bottom: 


Top: Alacaluf women. 


PLATE 32.—Alacaluf Indian types. 


Bird.) 


THE YAHGAN 
By Joun M. Coorrr 


INTRODUCTION 


Natural environment.—The Yahgan habitat is archipelagic, the 
mountainous islands constituting the last outposts of the Andean 
chain before it dips beneath the sea at Cape Horn (map 1, No. 14; 
map 2). Atmospheric temperatures at sea level differ somewhat 
from locality to locality, with a summer mean around 50° F., a 
winter mean close to the freezing point, and a winter minimum 
around 10° F. Snowfalls not infrequently occur even in the summer 
months (pl. 35). Relatively very cold or very warm spells are 
usually of short duration. Sudden changes in temperature, in wind 
velocity, and in sunshine, cloudiness, and precipitation are character- 
istic. Violent squalls and strong gales are common. 

The islands up to about 1,500 feet altitude are heavily wooded, 
chiefly with beeches (Wothofagus betuloides and N. pumilio, ever- 
greens; WV. antarctica, deciduous), together with Winter’s bark 
(Drimys winter), “cypress” (Libocedrus tetragona), and lena dura 
(Maytenus magellanica). The forest floor is thickly covered with 
rotting and rotten fallen trunks, which with the thick spiny masses 
of barberry bushes (Berberis ilicifolia and B. buxifolia) and holly 
(Pernettya mucronata) make travel through the woods extremely 
slow and difficult. Foxes and rats, the land mammals that could 
have helped in the Yahgan dietary, were eschewed. Marine mam- 
mals, fish, and other sea food were abundant in most localities. As 
a result of the foregoing conditions, the Yahgan lived mostly on the 
water and along the shore line, penetrating inland very little. 

Territory.—In the last century and probably from much earlier 
times the Yahgan regularly occupied the southern coast of Tierra 
del Fuego Island from about the eastern end of Beagle Channel to 
Brecknock Peninsula, and the islands south of this line to Cape Horn. 
But they evidently wandered more widely; Yahgan house sites and 
implements have been found as far north as Elizabeth Island in the 
Strait of Magellan (Bird, 1938, p. 260). Between Good Success 
Bay and the eastern end of Beagle Channel, there was considerable 


81 
583486—46—_6 


82 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


contact, barter, and intermarriage with the Ona, between Brecknock 
Peninsula and the western end of Beagle Channel, with the Alacaluf. 

Names and divisions.—The Yahgan called themselves Ydmana, 
“human beings.” They were first called Yahgan by the Rev. Thomas 
Bridges, from Yahga, the native name for the Murray Narrows re- 
gion, a locality much frequented by some of them. Ydmana would 
be preferable for anthropological use, but Yahgan is so well estab- 
lished in the literature that we are retaining it in the Handbook. 
The Yahgan recognized five subdivisions, each with its own 
aboriginal name: a southern, an eastern, a central, a western, and a 
southwestern (Koppers, 1927, p. 468; 1928 a, pp. 158-159; Gusinde, 
1937, pp. 199-208; Lothrop, 1928, p. 120, map opp. p. 24). These 
subdivisions differed more dialectically than culturally. 

History of investigation.—The Yahgan were first visited and de- 
scribed by Jacques L’Hermite in 1624. The next important landmark 
was the Beagle expeditions under Admiral Robert Fitz-Roy in 1829- 
32. It is, however, to the Rev. Thomas Bridges that we are indebted 
for our first intimate insight into Yahgan culture and linguistics. 
The Italo-Argentinian expedition in 1882 and the French Cape Horn 
expedition in 1882-83 made important advances in Yahgan somatology 
but were largely indebted to Bridges for their cultural and linguis- 
tic data. The field studies of Fathers Martin Gusinde in 1919-23 and 
Wilhelm Koppers in 1922 served to complete the picture, particularly 
as regards social and magico-religious life. Samuel K. Lothrop’s field 
study of 1924-25 (1928, 1932 a) rounded out our knowledge of Yahgan 
technology. The only remaining gap is that of archeology, a gap 
in part filled by Vignati and by Lothrop, and more recently by Junius 
Bird in 1932-37. 

The more valuable first-hand sources on the Yahgan from 1624 to 
1917 are: Bove (1882, 1883: the two identical on culture) ; T. Bridges 
(1866, 1886, 1892, 1893) ; Dabbene (1911); Despard (1863); C. W. 
Furlong (1909, 1917 a) ; Hyades (1885) ; Hyades and Deniker (1891: 
of basic importance); Lovisato (1883, 1885); South American Mis- 
sionary Magazine (1854— ); Spegazzini (1882). The anthropolog- 
ical information given in these and the other sources up to 1917 is 
analyzed and made available in Cooper (1917). Since 1917, the most 
important contributions are: Lothrop (1928), for technology; Kop- 
pers (1924) and especially Gusinde (1937), for all phases of culture, 
particularly the social and religious ones; Von Hornbostel (1936), 
for music; T. Bridges (1933), for language and general culture; 
Vignati (1927) and Bird (1938), for archeology; Gusinde (1939), for 
physical anthropology. 

Gusinde’s exhaustive monograph, “Die Yamana” (1937), based 
mostly on his and Koppers’ field studies and in part on a thorough 
combing of the literature, gives nearly all that is known of Yahgan 


Vou. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 83 


culture. If this large and expensive monograph is not accessible, the 
following more important papers may be consulted : Gusinde (1921-22, 
1924, 1925 a, 1925 c, 1926 a, 1926 c, 1927, 1928 b, 1929) ; Koppers (1925 a, 
1925 b, 1926 a, 1926 b, 1927, 1928 a, 1928 b). 

For bibliographies of the Yahgan see: Cooper (1917), for sources, 
with comments on each, to 1917; Lothrop (1928), for sources from 
1917 to 1928; Gusinde (1937), for selected and added sources, and for 
evaluations (pp. 48-161) of the publications of the more important 
first-hand observers. 

Language.—The Yahgan language with its five mutually intelli- 
gible dialects constitutes a distinct linguistic family, with no known 
relationship to any other. The elder Bridges’ Ydmana-English dic- 
tionary, the one completed in 1879, contains about 23,000 words, a 
carefully restricted, not a padded, list, as he himself emphasized 
(1988, p. xvii). Yahgan, in contrast to Ona, is markedly euphonic. 
There were no words for numerals beyond three, and none for 
fractions. 

Population.—According to our first dependable estimates, the 
Yahgan population, in the third quarter of the 19th century, totaled 
between 2,500 and 3,000 souls. In 1881 asharp decline set in. By 1884 
numbers had dwindled to about 1,000; by 1886, to 400; by 1899, to 
200; by 1902, to 130; by 1918, to less than 100; by 1933 to 40. The 
immediate causes of the sudden drop in the eighties were the respira- 
tory diseases and a severe outbreak of measles in 1884, followed by epi- 
demics of typhoid, whooping-cough, and smallpox. Syphilis does 
not appear to have played an important role. Contributory, or rather 
basic predisposing, factors were, it seems, the then introduced Euro- 
pean ways of life, especially the clothing, but also the food, alcoholic 
beverages, and type of shelter and work. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Foods.—The Yahgan had no domesticated plants, and no domesti- 
cated animals except the dog. Whether the earlier pre-Columbian 
and post-Columbian Yahgan had dogs is uncertain. No bones of dogs 
have been found in early archeological sites in Yahgan or other 
Fuegian territory. The earlier explorers——L’Hermite, 1624; d’Arqui- 
stade, 1715—make no mention of the dog in their descriptions of 
Yahgan culture, as none is made of it among the Alacaluf by the 15 
accounts of them prior to Narbrough’s of 1670. The dog was first 
recorded among the Yahgan in 1823 by James Weddell; it is re- 
corded consistently thereafter by later observers (Cooper, 1917, pp. 
186-187). Dogs were not eaten. 


84 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


Lothrop (1928, p. 32) rated the relative importance in the Yahgan 
dietary of their foods as follows: (1) Easily of first importance, 
mussels; (2) next, seals, and fish of many kinds; (8) next, porpoises, 
gulls, and bird eggs; (4) then, whales, limpets, crabs, sea urchins, 
geese, penguins, cormorants; (5) last and least, otter (chiefly in the 
west), guanaco (only in the east), conchs, ducks, berries (especially 
wild black currants). The fungi eaten were those growing on trees; 
those growing on the ground were not eaten. Some wild celery and 
wild parsnips and two varieties of cress and young shoots of tussock 
grass were also eaten. Foxes were eaten only in famine as a last 
resort. Salt was not used. 

Hunting.—Seals were hunted with spear or harpoon from canoes 
or from land (pl. 36), or killed with clubs. Whales were occasionally 
hunted in the open sea with spear or harpoon; stranded or dead 
whales were eagerly exploited. Dogs helped in otter and fox hunting. 
Cormorants were taken at night by torchlight with clubs; also with 
a pronged wooden gorge hook. Birds were taken with pole snares 
(fig. 11, d) and with single or multiple tether snares of sinew or 
whalebone. No lifting pole snares, deadfalls, or pitfalls are reported. 

Fishing and sea-food gathering.— Mussels were gathered by hand; 
limpets, with a flat-ended stick; sea urchins, with a four-pronged 
wooden fork; crabs and other Crustacea, with a harpoon or a 
three-pronged stick. For taking sea food, the Yahgan also used a 
spear with two diverging shanks, or two to four spears lashed together. 
Women fished with a kelp-stem or braided whale-sinew line, that had 
a slipknot of whalebone or of quill at the end, instead of a hook, 
to hold the bait; slowly drawing the fish to the surface, they would 
grab it by hand. Fishhooks were probably lacking. Weirs of 
branches or stakes were used. True fish nets were absent. The near- 
est approach thereto was a small basket attached to the end of a 
pole and used as a sort of dip net for diminutive fish. 

Food storage.—Limited quantities of dried tree fungi were stored; 
so too was oil, especially whale and seal oil. 

Food preparation and eating.—Large mussel shells were used for 
melting fat and holding grease. Water was heated and grease melted 
by throwing hot stones into them, but there is no record of stone 
boiling proper. 

Shells of large mussels were sometimes used as plates; shells or 
bark buckets as cups; hollow bird bones or reeds as drinking tubes. 


CAMPS AND SHELTERS 


There were no permanent villages. Certain groups of natives re- 
lated apparently by blood and marriage frequented and occupied 
more or less fixed separate localities within the respective five sub- 


Vor. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 85 


\] 
S 


4 
y 
4 
ioe 


a G d 


Ficure 11.—Yahgan harpoon and pole snare. a, Harpoon assembled for casting; b, cross 
section of harpoon shaft; c, position when dragging through water (length of harpoon 
head 10 in., or 25.5 em.) ; d, two views of bird snare (diameter of loop 6% in., or 16.5 cm.). 
(After Lothrop, 1928, figs. 82, 87.) 


divisional areas. Apart from initiation and other social or religious 
functions, which brought larger numbers together temporarily in a 
common camp, each biological family or small group of two or three 
families tended to camp apart, more frequently in the same shelter. 
The two chief forms of family shelter were the beehive hut and 
the conical hut. The beehive or domed hut, the more common form, 
especially in the west, was circular or elliptical in ground plan, 
made of a framework of flexible sticks bent over dome-shape and 
fastened together, and covered with grass, ferns, branches, bark, 
skins, or anything at hand (pl. 33, 6). The conical hut, more fre- 


86 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun, 143 


quently used toward the east, was tipi-form, with a framework of 
stiff stout saplings or tree trunks. 

The ground in the interior of the hut was often, but not always, 
scooped out, to a depth of 2, 3, or more feet (0.6 to 1 m.) beneath the 
outside ground level, and was usually covered with a little grass or 
some branches. The fire was made in the center. The huts had one 
door, facing the sea; or else two doors, one facing the sea, the other 
being opposite. 

Archeological stratification in the Yahgan area of Navarino Island 
shows an earlier culture with shelters like those still used by the 
Alacaluf, oval in ground plan, having two entrances, and without 
scooped-out pits; and a later one with circular shelters having one 
entrance, and with pits 12 to 18 feet (4 to 6 m.) in diameter, scooped out 
in some cases to a depth of more than 3 feet (1 m.) (Bird, 1938, p. 261). 
The two historic types of Yahgan wigwam, oval and circular, unpitted 
and pitted, may thus represent two chronologically distinct cultures. 

Larger and more substantial huts were built for initiation rites 
(q. v., infra) ; sometimes very small ones, for the use of children. The 
Yahgan also at times used caves or made a very rude shelter of a few 
branches tied together or stuck in the ground. 

At the time of Lothrop’s visit in 1924-25, practically all the then 
surviving Yahgan were accustomed to pass the winter months at 
Puerto Mejillones and Porto Piedra, on Navarino Island, in huts 
poorly constructed of ill-fitting boards (Lothrop, 1928, p. 188). Loth- 
rop (1928, p. 131) considers the use of the wing of a large bird for 
sweeping out the shelter to have probably been the result of missionary 
influence. 

DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Clothing.—The chief garment, for men and women, was a small 
cape, of seal, sea-otter, or fox skin, sometimes of two or more skins 
sewn together—occasionally of bird skins—worn with the fur outside, 
covering the shoulder and breast or reaching to the waist, and held 
in place by a string across the chest. It was commonly shifted outdoors 
over the windward shoulder. Very frequently it was left off entirely. 
The women rarely if ever went without a small triangular pubic cover- 
ing of bird skin or hide, held in place by a string attached to each 
upper corner and encircling the waist (pl. 33, f). No head covering 
was worn. Usually the Yahgan went barefoot, but sometimes when 
traveling or hunting on land they wore rather crudely made moccasins 
(fig. 12), resembling closely the Ona ones in pattern, of sealskin, with 
the hair outside, and stuffed inside with grass (cf. Lothrop, 1928, p. 
124, photo). The eastern Yahgan, when hunting guanaco in winter, 
sometimes wore guanaco skin leggings, like the Ona, from whom they 


Vou. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 87 


Figure 12.—Yahgan moccasin. (After Lothrop, 1928, fig. 46.) 


probably borrowed them. The Yahgan occasionally used a rude 
fingerless working glove of hide. The clothing of the Yahgan seems 
to us utterly inadequate, given the climatic conditions—temperatures 
commonly around and well below freezing point in winter, high winds, 
frequent snow, hail, sleet, and cold rain—but in view of the seeming 
role played in their decline by introduced European clothing and their 
relative good health prior thereto, perhaps their clothing was 
reasonably well adapted to the environment. 

Hairdressing and depilation.—The hair was worn loose, not in 
braids, and was often banged. Sometimes a sort of tonsure was 
worn. A sharp-edged mussel shell was used to cut the hair. For 
combing the hair, more commonly the jawbone of a porpoise or otter, 
or a toothed comb made of whalebone, was used; sometimes, a brush 
comb made of a bundle of roots (Outes and Bruch, 1910, p. 188) or of 
quills (Gusinde, 1937, p. 423). Depilation, with two mussel shells 
as tweezers, of all face and body hair was practically universal, for 
both sexes. 

Scarification.—Scarification was practiced as a mourning observy- 
ance and tattooing as an initiation rite (Gusinde, 1937, p. 863), but 
neither for ordinary decorative purposes. There was no head de- 
formation, no ear, lip, or septum piercing, no body mutilation of any 
other kind. 

Painting.—Smearing the head and body with grease or oil was as 
much protective as decorative. Face and body painting was com- 
mon, sometimes with use of a small spatula. Only three colors— 
red, black, and white—were used. Red was derived from burnt earth, 
black from charcoal, and white from clay. Red symbolized peace: 


88 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


white, war and ritual; black, mourning. Designs were very simple, 
confined to lines, dots, and, less commonly, circles. 

Ornaments.—Personal adornments were: necklaces, of sections of 
bird leg bones strung on braided sinew, of strung punched shells 
(Photinula violacea), or of frapped hanks of braided sinew, often 
colored red; bone or shell pendants, sometimes attached to the neck- 
laces; and wristlets and anklets of sinew and hide. Feather diadems 
and bird-skin, feather, or down-ornamented fillets or forehead caps 
were also used. 


TRANSPORTATION 


Canoes.—Travel by the Yahgan was almost entirely by water. 
Their earlier sole form of watercraft was the built-up bark canoe, of 
a crescent or gondola shape that characterizes other craft well up the 
west coast of South America to Perti; the plank boat, the Araucanian 
dugout, the seal-hide float, and the double-ended reed balsa were 
absent (Lothrop, 1982 a, pp. 253-54). 

The Yahgan canoe (pls. 34, 35) was made of three strips of beech 
bark, one-half inch to more than an inch (1.2 to 2.5 cm.) thick, which 
ordinarily formed the bottom and two sides respectively. Average 
length was about 15 feet (5 m.), with a range from about 12 to 20 
feet (4 to 7 m.); gunwale to gunwale width in center, about 3 feet 
(1 m.) ; depth in center, about 2 feet (0.6 m.). The bark, taken only 
from the evergreen beech (Nothofagus betuloides), was stripped off 
in the spring, when the sap was running. In removing the bark from 
the tree, the natives used a bone chisel or mussel-shell knife to cut 
it and a bone barking tool to strip it, and in ascending the tree held 
themselves thereto with a strong rawhide thong. After smoothing 
the bark on both sides with a small chisel, they cut it into three cigar- 
shaped pieces. These pieces were then sewn together with whale- 
bone or with shreddings of warmed saplings, the seams being wadded 
with the stringy seams of wild celery grass or with moss mixed with 
mud. The gunwales were next lashed on. The ribs, of split Winter’s 
bark, were then fitted in and locked in place under the gunwales. 
The thwarts, usually five or six, of hardwood, were inserted and lashed 
to the gunwale. 

The fireplace was set amidships. The paddle was in one piece with 
a long lanceolate blade and short round-section handle without cross- 
piece or other grip. The Yahgan canoe leaked much; the cylindrical 
bailers (pl. 33, ¢) were usually of bark or sealskin. Sealskin thongs 
and braided grass ropes were used as mooring lines. ‘The construction 
and repair of the canoe were the man’s task; but its management, in- 
cluding paddling and mooring off shore in a kelp bed, were the woman’s. 
In a sense, she was mistress of the canoe, with its hearth and ever- 
lighted fire. In a favorable wind a crude sail, made of a sealskin or 


Vot. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 89 


of several skins sewn together, was sometimes set up—a practice 
whose origin, native or European, is uncertain. (Tor details on manu- 
facture and use of canoe, cf.: Lothrop, 1928, pp. 148-145; 1932 a, pp. 
251-253; Gusinde, 1937, pp. 488-457.) 

After about 1880 the Yahgan began to give up their traditional bark 
canoes, and to adopt the dugout. Still later, prior to Lothrop’s visit 
in 1924-25, the dugout had been entirely superseded by the dory, of 
European type and origin. 

The Yahgan never adopted the plank boat from their Alacaluf 
neighbors and never used rafts or skin-covered watercraft, so far as 
our records reveal. 


MANUFACTURES 


Pottery, weaving, and metallurgy were entirely absent; no traces of 
pottery have been discovered archeologically in Yahgan territory. 

String-making and sewing.—Plant fibers, plain, shredded, or 
braided, were used in basket making, canoe sewing, and for mooring 
lines, respectively; braided whale sinew, for necklaces, fishing lines, 
and tool and weapon lashings; braided guanaco sinew, for bowstrings; 
whalebone, in sewing canoes and for bird snares and fishline nooses; 
seal-hide thongs, for tool and weapon lashings, harpoon lines, basket 
handles, mooring lines, and bowstrings. Awls were made of bone and 
wood, unhafted. The drill was lacking. 

Basketry.—Four techniques in basket making were in use: (1) 
Simple half-hitch coiled, the commonest type (fig. 138, top); (2) 
twisted half-hitch coiled, rarer (fig. 13, center); (3) knotted half- 
hitch coiled, not common (fig. 18, bottom) ; (4) a sort of wrapped type. 
The first three were of excellent craftsmanship; the last, very crudely 
woven, and used only as a dip net for catching very small fish. The 
material for all four was a rush (Juncus magellanicus). The coiled 
baskets were more or less oblong-spheroid in shape, and had a carrying 
handle of thong or plaited rush (p!. 33, c). 

Skin dressing.—No process of dressing proper is reported. Seal- 
skins were stretched on the ground, covered with grass and moss, and 
left so for a while, to help dehair them. Drying frames were appar- 
ently used. ‘The scraper consisted of a mussel shell lashed to a cylin- 
drical stone haft. The Yahgan made thongs flexible by drawing them 
through their teeth or by chewing them. 

Stoneworking.—Little use of worked stone was made except for 
arrowheads and, rarely, scrapers. The workmanship was crude. 
Archeologically, there are some traces of stone pecking and polishing 
(Lothrop, 1928, p. 203; ef. Bird, 1938). 

Containers.—Cylindrical buckets (pl. 38, e), of Wothofagus 
betuloides bark, for carrying and holding drinking water and for 
bailing, were made by the woman, with the use of a barking tool dif- 


90 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


| 


5S td be 
eB 


= 


5 
y J 


FicurRE 13.—Details of Yahgan coiled basketry. Top: Simple half-hitch coiling (height 
1 in., or 2.5 cem.). Center: Twisted half-hitch coiling (height 1 in., or 2.5 em.). Bottom: 
Knotted half-hitch coiling (height 2 in., or 5em.). (After Lothrop, 1928, figs. 61, 63, 65.) 


Vot. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 91 


ferent from the man’s. Among other more used containers were: 
pouches of seal or penguin skin for holding small objects; bladders 
or windpipes of seals or porpoises for holding ocher and firestones; 
crops of geese and stomachs of seals for holding oil. (Cf. others in 
Lothrop, 1928, p. 133.) 

Tools.—These have mostly been dealt with incidentally in the pre- 
ceding sections. The hafted mussel-shell scraper, mentioned above 
under “Skin dressing,” was also the common knife. Stone-headed 
daggers or knives were used by the earlier Yahgan (Cooper, 1917, p. 
207). The stone celt or ax was lacking. Wedges were of bone; 
arrow polishers, of a bit of pumice. 

Weapons.—The characteristic weapons used by the Yahgan both 
in hunting and in fighting were the spear and harpoon (fig. 11, a-c), 
the club, and the sling. The bow and arrow, in contrast to Ona usage, 
occupied a very subordinate position. 

The spear shaft was quadrangular, hexagonal, octagonal, or dec- 
agonal in section, from 8 feet (2.5 m.) or less to 12 feet (4 m.) long; the 
shank, ordinarily of bone, with unilateral or bilateral single or serrate 
barbs and with notched tang, lashed to the split or slotted end of the 
shaft. The atlatl was absent. The harpoon, without toggle, was 
merely a spear with a detachable shank tied by a thong to the shaft. 
The club was a plain straight heavy stick. The cradle of the sling 
was of hide, the lines of braided whale gut. 

Yahgan bows, arrows, and quivers closely resembled those of the 
Ona—a curved self bow, ranging from about 3 to 4 feet long, with 
string of seal hide or of braided seal, whale, or guanaco sinew; the 
arrow, without foreshaft, and with triangular stemmed and barbed 
head of stone, bone, or, more recently, glass; the quiver, rectangular, 
of skin, or tubular, of bark. Arrow poisoning was absent. Both 
archeological and ethnological evidence suggests that the Yahgan 
most likely acquired the bow and arrow after their arrival in their 
historic habitat, from the Ona. (Cf. Bird, 1938, pp. 261-263; Cooper, 
1917, pp. 211-213.) 

Fire making and illumination.—The only method of fire making 
was by percussion with flint and pyrites, bird down or dried fungus 
serving as tinder. Fire was carried around in the canoe on a hearth 
of earth, shell, or stones. Two-pronged tongs were in use. Bark 
torches provided illumination. Fire was employed not only for cook- 
ing, heating, and lighting, but also for signaling, straightening arrow 
and spear shafts, bending canoe ribs, felling trees, preparing bark for 
canoes and material for baskets, and other purposes. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE 


Marriage and the family.—The sexes were kept separate after 
about the age of 7 and were warned by their elders against sexual liber- 


92 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BuLu. 143 


ties. Intercourse between the unmarried was disapproved, but 
breaches of the code were not infrequent. Marriage between blood 
relatives, however distant, was in theory taboo; in practice, the pro- 
hibition included half-siblings, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, first 
cousins, both parallel and cross, and seemingly extended somewhat 
beyond these limits. Since near relatives commonly lived near one 
another, marriages tended to be locally exogamous. Marriages with 
mates from far distant localities, especially outside one’s own of the 
five dialectic groups, were disliked and infrequent. Marriage with a 
mother and her daughter was disapproved, but not so strongly as mar- 
riage with near blood-kin. Sponsors were barred from marrying 
their respective candidates of the iéxaus? initiation rite. 

Choice of mate was ordinarily free on the part both of the boy and of 
the girl, and appears to have been based largely on mutual affection and 
regard. Gifts from the groom to the bride’s father were given and 
expected, as were also certain services before and after marriage. But 
a bride-price as stipulated by or haggled for by the father was absent. 
Bride capture or stealing, if it occurred, must have been very rare. 

Boys and girls did not marry until they had passed through the 
required ¢iéxaus initiation. Gusinde (1937, p. 633) estimates the 
more common chronological ages of first marriages as about 17 to 19 
years for boys, and 15 to 16 for girls. 

Monogamy was by far the most prevalent form of marriage. Poly- 
andry did not occur. Polygyny was permitted, but was uncommon. 
A few men had two wives, more commonly sisters; cases of three wives, 
if they occurred, must have been very rare. On the death of a man’s 
wife, he had a certain marriage claim to her unmarried sister. On the 
death of a woman’s husband, she frequently became, and under certain 
circumstances was expected or obliged to become, the wife of his oldest 
surviving brother, especially his unmarried brother, unless she married 
another man. This custom (the levirate) was, from the native point 
of view, primarily an obligation of the father’s brother to be responsi- 
ble for his nephews and nieces, a responsibility that lay on the uncle 
even though his brother’s widow married another man. A surviving 
married brother was not entirely free to marry the widow, as his own 
wife might object. 

The chief wedding rite consisted in painting the cheeks of the couple 
with three red parallel horizontal lines. These were worn and re- 
newed for a week, during which time there were feasting and dancing, 
and at the end of which the couple went off together in their own canoe. 
Customarily, they remained with the bride’s people for a few months, 


1é has the sound of English ch, § of English sh. 


Vou. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 93 


after which they would usually go for good to the groom’s kin. Thus, 
localized groups of kin tended to be paternal. 

After marriage the husband’s paternal uncle and the wife’s ma- 
ternal aunt took particular interest in them, superseding in large 
measure their respective parents. Children-in-law were expected to 
look after their parents-in-law in sickness or other needs. Children- 
in-law observed a number of avoidances regarding their parents-in- 
law: greeting their parents-in-law, speaking to them or breaking in 
on their conversation with remarks, looking at them, and sitting down 
beside them were all taboo. When in the same hut with their 
parents-in-law, they turned their sides or backs on them. A year or 
so after marriage, the restrictions between daughter-in-law and 
mother-in-law were partly, but never wholly, relaxed; those between 
son-in-law and father-in-law lasted through life. On visits of the 
father-in-law to his daughter, he and his son-in-law communicated 
wishes and news through the daughter and wife or by indirect 
discourse. 

The man was, in theory, considered the head of the family, with 
authority to rule. Actually, his authority was very far from abso- 
lute, and the woman was largely her own mistress, particularly in 
such provinces of her own as child rearing, food gathering, and 
canoe managing. Some men domineered over their wives, but not a 
few husbands were under the thumbs of their spouses. Some hus- 
bands were cruel, but if so they ran afoul of the wife’s kin. More 
generally, woman’s position both in the family and in the community 
seemed a respected one, not that of a drudge, slave, or inferior being, 
and she enjoyed a fairly high degree of freedom and independence. 

Adultery was disapproved by the Yahgan code, but apparently 
the code suffered appreciable infringement in practice. Adultery 
on the wife’s part was, if discovered, punished by the husband with 
sound beatings, very rarely with death. Public opinion disapproved 
of her behavior. Adultery on the husband’s part also gave rise to 
domestic battles in which the husband sometimes suffered severe 
treatment at his offended wife’s hands. Jealousy on the part of both 
husband and wife was common. Wife lending was absent. There 
was no professional prostitution; a woman, married or unmarried, 
of markedly loose character was looked down upon. 

Separation and divorce were fairly frequent, but were not lightly 
resorted to. The most common cause appears to have been cruel 
treatment of the wife by the husband, though there were other causes 
such as marked laziness, negligence, or crabbedness on the part of the 
wife. In case the wife became incapacitated through illness or age, 
the man could, and, it seems, more commonly did, take to himself a 


94 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Busy. 148 


second wife. Desertion was more frequent on the man’s part than on 
the woman’s. 

The aged were, according to all dependable evidence, usually re- 
spected, well treated, and well cared for. Neither abandonment or 
killing of the aged was ordinarily practiced but may have occurred 
in exceptional cases. 

Political life——Over and above the biological family there was no 
closely organized larger group or constituted authority. There were 
no sibs, secret or other societies, or social classes, and no chiefs or 
ruling group or caste of any kind. Each biological family was for 
most practical purposes a sovereign political unit. The sense of 
individual independence was deep. No man took or brooked orders 
or dictation from any other. However, aggressive individuals of 
personal force and strength, especially if they had powerful kin 
backing, at times dominated. Older men of recognized intelligence 
and integrity exercised considerable moral influence. 

The next group to the biological family was the kinship group, 
mostly a paternal one. The members gave mutual aid where called 
for, particularly in feuds and in blood-revenge activities. The kin- 
ship group, owing to common patrilocal residence, was partly, but 
not fully localized. 

The five regional divisions of the Yahgan, each with its distinctive 
dialect, had very slight political significance. Members of one di- 
vision were usually chary of trespassing, at least for long, upon the 
territory of any other division, unless there were a recognized good 
cause, such as grave shortage of food, partaking of a stranded whale, 
trading, gathering canoe bark or fire-making materials. 

Each of the five dialectic regions was broken up into local groups, 
each of which appears to have been composed, mostly at least, of 
members related by blood or marriage (Koppers, 1926 b, p.5). Each 
such local group had its own territory—that of Ushuaia, for instance, 
occupied 20 miles (32 km.) of coast line on Beagle Channel—and 
its own name derived from its locality. Like the dialectic groups, 
these local groups had no chiefs. The local group’s chief function 
was that of holding the Ciéxaus initiation rite. The leader chosen 
therefor had authority only so long as the rite lasted. As the 
ciéxaus rite was an educational device contributing greatly to social 
conformity and solidarity, the local group’s political function was 
chiefly an indirect pedagogical one. Loyalty to fellow members of 
a local group existed, but was not as strong as that to one’s own 
kinship group. 

There was no organized process of judicial procedure. In case 
of murder, the victim’s kin took blood revenge on the murderer 
or his kin, or settled with him or them by composition. At times 
such kinship feuds led to a sort of pitched battle, in which slings, 


Vou. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 95 


clubs, fists, and so forth were used freely, with no holds barred, but 
grave wounds or deaths were uncommon. Organized warfare did 
not exist, and the Yahgan had no defensive weapons. The weapons 
used in their feuds were primarily made for, and adapted to, hunting. 

Social relations within and between the dialectic and local groups 
appear to have been normally irenic, but violence and bloodshed 
were not infrequent. The friends of fighting parties usually inter- 
vened, both by persuasion and by force, to restore peace. A murder 
was strongly condemned, and the murderer often became an outcast. 
Bridges found 22 cases of homicide between 1871 and 1884—an 
annual rate per population something like 10 times as high as that 
of the United States. Mercy killings occurred for the purpose of 
putting an end to the sufferings lof the hopelessly ill. Human 
sacrifice was unknown; so too was premeditated suicide. 

The evidence that the Yahgan practiced no form of cannibalism— 
gastronomic, famine, ritual, or other—is convincing beyond all 
reasonable doubt. They would not even eat animals suspected of 
devouring human flesh. 


ECONOMIC LIFE 


Ownership.—The Yahgan resented and avenged exploitative tres- 
pass upon their tribal territory or attempted occupation of any part 
thereof by non-Yahgan, Indian or White. So, too, did members 
of any one of the five dialectic groups (Gusinde, 1937, pp. 964-965) 
or, according to Koppers (1928 b, p. 176), of any one of the numerous 
local groups, by nonmembers. Since these local groups seemingly 
were chiefly kinship groups (cf. supra, Political Life), the Yahgan 
land-tenure system resembled the family-hunting-ground system. 
There was no exclusive tenure by kinship circles as such, by biological 
families, or by individuals. 

Members of one dialectic or local group could, however, exploit the 
territory of other groups to secure food in grave shortage, to feast 
on a stranded whale, and to gather firestones and suitable canoe bark, 
which were found only in certain parts of the Yahgan territory. 
Ownership of personal property, such as weapons, clothing, adorn- 
ments, and baskets, was vested in the individual. Women and 
children, as well as men, had well-recognized rights to such things. 
The ownership of certain other things—food, hut, canoe—appears to 
have been vested in the biological family. 

Food was looked upon as the property and gift of the Supreme 
Being; wasting it was disrespectful to Him. 

Title to personal property was acquired through occupation, iabor, 
donation, and barter. Barter took two forms: plain, or exchange of 
goods for goods; and by exchange of presents. There was no cur- 


06 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buin. 143 


rency of any kind, and no weights or measures. Barter was carried 
on among the Yahgan themselves, with the Ona and Alacaluf, and 
with the Whites. Barter by exchange of presents was common; a 
gift was made, regardless often of the wishes of the recipient, who 
could not refuse it without affronting the giver, and who was defi- 
nitely expected to give something in return. 

Inheritance played a very minor role. Much or most of the de- 
ceased’s property was burnt with the body. The person’s dog fell 
to the oldest son or other near relative or acquaintance. Some of the 
more valuable or useful property might be bartered or given away to 
distant persons. Such burning, bartering, and giving away were in- 
tended to take from sight what would cause sorrow to the surviviors by 
reminding them of the beloved departed, and to signify the survivors’ 
desire not to profit by the death. 

Stealing was considered decidedly reprehensible; but thefts actually 
occurred, even among their own people, not as daily matters, so to 
speak, but it would seem, not very uncommonly. A habitual thief, 
who failed to reform, was in the end boycotted—a severe punishment 
under Yahgan living conditions. 

Generous sharing of food with kin and friends was the rule. Hospi- 
tality was extended as a matter of course. 

Labor.—Neither wage nor slave labor existed. There was a little, 
but not much, labor in common. Each family was a relatively inde- 
pendent economic unit. ‘The division of labor was almost exclusively 
a sexual one, with no organized or unorganized craftsmen making their 
living by specialized trades. 

The man’s task was to hunt marine mammals, otter, guanaco, and 
birds, to make his own weapons, to build and repair the canoe, to do 
the harder work in hut building. The woman’s task was to care for 
the younger children, to cook, tend the fire and look after the hut 
generally, to paddle and have general management of the canoe in 
which the family spent so much of its time, to do all the skinwork and 
leatherwork, such as preparing skins, sewing clothing, and making 
skin bags and pouches, to make baskets, and, last but not least, to collect 
mussels, much of the fish and other sea food, eggs, fungi, and berries. 
Since mussels were the chief food resource, the woman’s part as 
provider was an extremely important one. 

Probably her crucial role as food provider had a good deal to do with 
her relatively high status in Yahgan society. Certain tasks fell to man 
and woman jointly, such as building the hut, and hunting from the 
canoe, when the man did the killing while the woman maneuvered the 
eraft. All in all, if we take into account Yahgan living conditions, 
although the list of women’s tasks is longer than that of the men’s, 
actually the sexual division of labor appears to have been a fairly 
equitable one. 


VoL. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER Q7 


Nearly all work was done for hand-to-mouth existence. There was 
little concern for the future, and practically none for amassing wealth. 


ETIQUETTE 


Intimate friends, men or women, on meeting greeted each other with 
vigorous hugs and with wordless vocalizations of joy. When a guest 
entered a hut, he crouched by the fire without manifesting curiosity ; 
only after a while did he begin to talk and give the news, during which 
time he was not interrupted. Hospitality was generously given, 
especially to kin and friends. ‘The guest did not verbally express his 
thanks for the food received. If he were from a distant place, his host 
presented him with some gifts on his departure. <A person leaving the 
hut of a friend used the expression: “I will go.” 

On paying a visit it was proper, especially for women and children, 
to paint the face with a red or white streak or paint up otherwise. A 
graduate from the ¢iéxaus initiation rite on approaching his sponsor 
was expected to paint himself or herself; to go without such painting 
was disrespectful. It was bad form to show too much eagerness in 
eating; a gluttonous eater was looked downupon. Belching and expec- 
torating in the presence of others was not disapproved. Natural needs 
were attended to at a good distance from the hut. 

When several families came together to camp, the respective sexes 
kept more or less to themselves. A man would not enter a hut where 
a Woman was inside alone, and vice versa. 

It was very bad form to summon or address a person, even a child, 
by his or her own name. In conversation the names of others were 
not mentioned, roundabout descriptive phrases being used instead. 
The Yahgan had no expressions corresponding to our cursing or 
profanity. 

The foregoing were some of the more significant rules of Yahgan 
etiquette, details of which are given at length by Gusinde (1987, pp. 
1006-1018). 


WARFARE AND CANNIBALISM 


These have been dealt with supra under Social and Political Life. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth and infancy.—There was clear awareness of the de- 
pendence of conception on coitus. Desire for children was marked. 
In some cases abortion—by mechanical, not medicinal, means—was 
resorted to by unmarried mothers. A badly deformed or defective 
newborn infant was allowed to die through neglect. Delivery took 
place inside the hut, the father going outside and leaving the mother 
with women assistants. Very shortly after birth, the mother bathed 

583486—46——7 


98 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bux. 143 


herself and the infant in the sea, and the mother usually took sea 
baths for some days thereafter. For some time before and after a 
child’s birth the mother and father observed certain food and othér 
taboos. A form of couvade obtained, especially in the case of a first 
child, the father remaining quiet in the tent and abstaining from most 
work for some days while relatives and friends supplied the family 
with necessities. The placenta was burned; the navel cord, dried and 
kept. 

Marital relations were avoided for about 6 weeks or more after 
delivery. Weaning ordinarily took place after 10 to 15 months, but 
in some cases not until a good deal later. The child was commonly 
named after its birthplace. 

Education.—Corporal punishment was rare. Severer correction 
was ordinarily verbal, or else took the form of sending the child out 
of the hut for the day. A great deal of moralizing counsel was given 
the growing child by elders, counsel not always received with eager 
alertness by him, to judge from one of the instructions stressed in the 
initiation rite; viz, to listen attentively to what his elders told him 
even when the sermon was long drawn out. The sexes were kept 
separated after about the 7th year. 

Girls’ puberty observances.—At her first menses, the girl fasted, 
eating little or nothing, for 3 days. Both cheeks from the eyes 
down were painted with red radiating streaks. Older women gave 
her much moral counsel. On the 8th or 10th day she bathed and washed 
in the sea. At the end, a feast was given to all the members of the 
group. 

The ciéxaus initiation rite—This rite (Koppers, 1924, pp. 45-95; 
Gusinde, 1937, pp. 805-961), for both boys and girls together, and 
actively participated in by all their elders who had previously been 
initiated, was the most important native ceremony, the focal point, 
in a sense, of their religious life, a dynamic stay of social order and 
solidarity. It was likewise an intensive training course, constituting 
the climactic event in the native educational system. 

This initiation rite, the ¢ciéxaus, under the auspices, it seems, of 
the local group, rather than of the dialectic division or whole Yahgan 
tribe, was held not at stated seasons or intervals, but as need or oc- 
casion arose, yearly or more or less often than yearly. It could last 
from several days to several months. The candidates were boys 
and girls who had reached puberty. 

The chosen officers in charge of the rite were a leader, a mentor, 
and guards. A special large hut, of oval beehive or conical construc- 
tion, was used, with simple decorations in the way of red, white, and 
black painting on the framework inside and similarly painted oblong 
boards hung up. Each participant wore a special diademlike feather 


Vow. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 99 


head band and had a special painted staff. To each candidate were 
assigned sponsors, one or two men and a woman to the boy, one or 
two women and a man to the girl. 

The candidates were subjected to certain endurance restrictions: 
little sleep, food, and drink, hard work, a daily bath in cold sea water, 
cross-legged posture during much of the time. They had to drink 
through a hollow bird bone. The boys were given a sort of tempo- 
rary tattoo. Much vocational instruction was given, and particularly 
an elaborate moral instruction in the native code, with very concrete 
counsels on the obligations of altruistic behavior, respect for the aged, 
peaceableness, industry, not spreading scandals or carrying tales, and 
so forth. This moral instruction was given by the mentor, sponsors, 
and other elders, as the will of Watauinéwa, the Supreme Being, who 
saw everything and who would punish delinquents with shortened life 
and with the death of their children. Yetdita also, the chief evil 
spirit, would harm them if they did wrong. 

The ritual consisted otherwise mostly of dances and of songs 
peculiar to it. Toward the end, the sponsors gave each candidate a 
basket, a bird-bone drinking tube, and a scratching-stick. The rite 
ended with a mock battle between the men and women, and with a 
feast. 

Only those who had gone through the ¢ciéxaus rite were considered 
full-fledged members of the tribe, and were told the whole mytho- 
logical complex of the Yoalox brothers and their sister. And only 
twice-initiated boys could take part in the kina rite (cf. infra under 
Religion), whith was often held just after the ¢iéxaus. 

Death and burial——Mourning was expressed by fasting, body 
painting, gashing of the breast with sharp stones, and a special 
mourning dirge accompanied by a mourning speech. Angry com- 
plaints were directed to Watauinéwa for letting the person die. A 
general mourning rite in which the men and women painted them- 
selves, wept, hurled complaints at Watauinéwa, and engaged in a 
mock battle, the men with clubs and the women with paddles, was 
also held. 

The more common form of disposal of the body, up until recent 
times, was cremation—lest foxes, rats, or dogs should eat the body, 
so the natives said. The dead person’s personal property, or some of 
it, was burned with the body. In some cases, especially of children, 
the body was buried inakitchen-midden. The burial spot was avoided 
as a camping place, for several years where the deceased was an adult. 
The name of the dead was never spoken. 

Future life——The koshpik (késpix), or soul, flew east, but exactly 
whither was not known. Nor was it known what its fate was, happy 
or unhappy, nor whether such fate was at all dependent on moral 
behavior on earth. 


100 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bure. 143 
ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


A great deal of Yahgan recreation was incidental to the initia- 
tion and other rites and through the feasting and social activities 
that accompanied set events such as marriages, or chance meetings of 
families at camps, or larger gatherings of longer duration occasioned 
by treasure trove in the shape of stranded whale. In connection with 
some of even the more solemn rites there were intervals of free play 
releasing tensions developed during the more serious phases of the 
rites. 

Narcotics were totally lacking. No alcoholic or other intoxicating 
beverages were made or used by the Yahgan before their contact with 
the Whites. Nor was tobacco grown or in any form used. 

Art.—There was no form of sculpture or of carving in wood. The 
only designs, if they can be called such, were the lines, dots, and circles 
used in face and body painting and in the ornamentation of lodges 
and paraphernalia in connection with the major rites (fig. 14). There 
was a certain crude artistry in bodily decorations and in the personal 
adornments referred to elsewhere in the present paper. 

All in all, there are few if any peoples in the world that possessed 
a more rudimentary esthetic development than the Yahgan and their 
neighbors, the Alacaluf and Ona. 

Games and sports.—There was no gambling, no games with elabo- 
rate rules, no team games unless group wrestling could be called such, 
and no competitive games except wrestling. 

Boys practiced with the spear, bow and arrow, and sling, and at 
stone throwing, but this was as much vocational as recreative activity. 

There were certain quite simple children’s play activities, such as 
swinging, rolling down hillocks, endurance hopping on one foot, 
and group play such as tcenaldra, in which boys and girls crouched 
in a line one behind the other, sang together a melody in which the 
meaningless word “tcenalora” was repeated, and slowly danced rocking 
back and forth in imitation of a canoe making its way forward 
through the waves. Songs sung on one long meaningless word were 
common accompaniments of children’s group play. 

All the women could swim; the men could not. Recreative swim- 
ming was rarely indulged in. 

Adults’ games, in some of which the children could participate, 
were equally simple. Such were: blindman’s-buff, hopping and sing- 
ing at the same time, throwing small burning sticks in the air, standing 
in a circle through which “it” in the middle tried to break. The ball 
game was popular: A ball made of seal gut stuffed with feathers or 
grass was kept in the air by the players with strokes from the palm 
of the hand. Men and women might play the ball game together. 


eee, 


if 5 } u V 
Eee S/ack [pared White I Yellow 


FieurE 14.—Yahgan decorative patterns. From the painted frame of a ceremonial lodge. 
(Redrawn from Lothrop, 1928, pl. 9.) 


Wrestling was indulged in a good deal, mostly by the men, although 
the women would sometimes intervene in the group wrestling. In pair 
wrestling, a man challenged an opponent by putting a small ball at 
his feet. The onlookers formed a circle around the contestants and 
applauded vigorously. The aim was to put the opponent on his back. 


102 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


The loser would call upon a friend who would in turn challenge the 
victor who had no choice but to accept. Before the wrestling match 
began the wrestlers were magically massaged by the medicine man. 
Sometimes these single matches developed into a free-for-all wrestling 
match in which several or all of the men would join. Sometimes, too, 
these general wrestling bouts ended in a serious scufile. 

Music.—Proverbs were absent. So, too, was poetry; the nearest 
approach to it was the meaningless words or syllables having a certain 
rhythm which occur in songs. The songs themselves were extremely 
simple and monotonous with or without meaningless words. The 
Fahgan had many songs, sung for special occasions such as the ¢iéxaus 
and mourning rites; others intoned ad libitum. There were no lulla- 
bies. Yahgan songs show sundry very primitive features, according to 
von Hornbostel (1936). There were no musical instruments at all. 
Even the rattle, drum, and flute were absent. Staves with which to 
beat time were used in certain rites. 

Dances.—Apart from the dances carried out during the chiéxaus 
and kina rites, there were none of a symbolic, imitative, or dramatic 
type, and no war or hunting dances. The Yahgan danced alone, in 
circles or in Indian file. The women rarely danced, and the men 
and women never together. 


RELIGION 


Most of the religious life of the Yahgan centered around theism 
and shamanism. There was a distinct fear of the dead; there were 
also the mourning observances previously noted; the souls of dead 
shamans entered into the beliefs and practices of the medicine men. 
But no organized ancestral cult existed, and the dead were not prayed 
to. Animistic beings and observances appeared marginal to the 
theistic cult and focal in shamanism. There were a number of mis- 
cellaneous magico-religious conceptions and observations. Each 
Yahgan had a yefatel, as a sort of guardian spirit. Various omens 
were believed in: for instance, the call of the owl was supposed to 
portend a murder or at least a death. A number, too, of taboos were 
observed: for instance, when traveling by canoe people had to throw 
waste into the fire kept burning in the canoe, and not into the water, 
lest the children should cry. There does not appear to have been any 
form of divination. The kina rite, to be described, had religious 
features to it, but its purpose and function were primarily social. The 
great bulk, therefore, of Yahgan religion having been taken up with 
theism and shamanism, in summarizing Yahgan theistic and shaman- 
istic phenomena, we shall be summarizing Yahgan religion as such, 

Theism.—There was a very definite belief in a Supreme Being 
called Watauinéwa or Watauinéiwa, who was also called by other 


Vou. 1] THE YAHGAN——COOPER 103 


names meaning “The Powerful One,” “The Highest One,” and espe- 
cially by the name of “My Father.” He was not the maker or creator, 
but rather the master and ruler. He was the owner and giver of 
animals and plant food. It was he who gave life to human beings, 
and who took it away. He was fundamentally good and benevolent. 
He lived above in the heavens. He had no body nor had he wife 
or children. He was distinctly and eminently set off against and 
above all other spirits, good and bad, and in this sense stood as it 
were alone. He did not enter into the tribal folklore and mythology. 
He saw what human beings did, and upon those who broke the 
precepts of the Yahgan socio-moral code, which represented his will, 
he inflicted punishment in the way of early death, and often the 
death of their children. 

The central role of Watauinéwa in the initiation rites has previously 
been mentioned. Apart, however, from these rites, Watauinéwa was 
prayed to a great deal by the individual Yahgan. ‘These prayers were 
mostly petitions to him for food (as the owner of the food animals 
and plants), for cure and health, and for protection from the elements, 
as well as expressions of thankfulness. A good many of them were 
more or less traditionally crystallized formulae, of a few words each, 
but prayer was likewise expressed in free wording. A quite dis- 
tinctive feature of Yahgan communication with the Supreme Being 
was the frequency of complaint expressions and charges directed 
toward him on the occasion of sickness, bad weather, or other evil 
fortune, and particularly on the occasion of deaths. Gusinde and 
Koppers collected over 60 of these various kinds of prayer formulae. 
Some of them are in somewhat archaic language. 

In view of these archaisms in the complex, of the many distinctly 
native features (e. g., master, owner, not creator or maker), of the 
absence of all characteristically European or Christian conceptions, 
and of the express and emphatic statements by the natives whose 
memories or whose knowledge from their elders reached back to pre- 
missionary days, there can be no reasonable question but that Yahgan 
theism is aboriginal, and not the result of missionary influence. It 
seems equally clear that it was central in the religious outlook of the 
Yahgan and that it entered deeply and dynamically in their 
thoughts, emotional life, and personal behavior. 

Shamanism.—A_ person became a medicine man (yékamush) 
through an inner call manifested to him in dreams and visions. The 
héshteka-yékamush, dwarfish spirits, appeared to him; a female spirit, 
a Haucéllakipa, also played an important part in shamanism, as the 
shaman’s helper. Through the dreams and visions the future medicine 
man learned which of the small spirits was to be his yefaéel, or 
particular guardian spirit. From this spirit he also received a song. 


104. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


He was trained in his professional duties by an older shaman. 
There was also held a shamans’ institute and feast, which could last 
several months, to condition and school young candidates. During 
it, the candidates were secluded, and were required to fast, to sing 
much, to maintain a certain posture, to go with little sleep, and to 
drink water only through a hollow bird bone; and were taught heal- 
ing techniques, tricks of the trade, and so forth. Women were barred 
from this shamans’ school. Shamans were not banded into an or- 
ganized society. 

A full-fledged shaman, besides getting help from his special guard- 
jan spirit, was also in close touch with the spirit of a deceased shaman. 
The shaman’s relations were with the world of lesser spirits, not with 
the Supreme Being, Watauinéwa; and the latter did not figure in 
the shamans’ school. 

The shaman’s chief function was that of curing the sick, but he also 
influenced weather, helped in hunting, prognosticated, and so forth. 
The familiar procedures of massage, friction, and anointing, with the 
extraction of some object supposed to be the immediate cause of the 
disease, were used in curing. Such objects were often believed to have 
been sent by malevolent shamans from whose power the good shaman 
endeavored to deliver the victim. An evil shaman could steal and keep 
in his possession the soul of a victim, and the victim would die unless 
his soul were freed by another shaman. It was also the function of 
the shaman to assign to each infant as soon after birth as possible its 
own yefacel, a male one to the male infant and a female one to the 
female. It was the primary and most important duty of the yefaéel 
to protect its charge against sickness and bodily harm and against 
dangers of all kind. 

Kina rite——This Yahgan institution, with its numerous analogies 
to the yinchihaua of the Alacaluf (p. 76) and with the kloketen of the 
Ona (p. 120), could have been properly discussed under Social Culture 
because it had primarily a social function. But it is treated here be- 
cause it also had important religious or pseudo-religious features and 
was largely under the direction of the shamans. In fact only a shaman 
could be the leader of the kina rite. Back of the kina rite was a long 
myth of an earlier time when the women held mastery of the tribe and 
lorded it over the men. To maintain their supremacy the women used 
masks to impersonate spirits and to hoodwink the men. Finally, one 
man discovered the deception, told the other men, and overthrew the 
women, killing all females except one very young child. In the kina 
rite only men who had passed twice through the ¢iéxaus rite could 
take part. Women were kept away from the large conical tent. The 
men secretly painted themselves and wore conical or conoidal masks 
(pl. 383, d) of bark or sealskin to impersonate a very great number 


Vou. 1] THE YAHGAN—COOPER 105 


of spirits (pl. 33,a). So decked out, they sang and danced in the sight 
of the women and children and threatened the women with dire 
penalties if they did not remain submissive to the will of the men. 


MYTHOLOGY 


Full details on the cosmogony and mythology of the Yahgan have 
been presented by Gusinde (1937, pp. 1189-1277), with further in- 
formation on certain of the more important folklore beings (1987, 
pp. 1278-1294). Perhaps the most important single phase of the 
mythology is the Yoalox cycle. The elder of the two Yoalox brothers 
was stupid, the younger, clever. The younger is in a general sense the 
culture hero. He is not a trickster. The cosmogonic myths include 
a flood story. There are a great many explanatory tales of the cor- 
morant, the otter, the fox, and so forth. A number of other stories 
were told with the moral purpose of instructing and warning 
the young. Certain others concern the medicine man. The long story 
of the earlier matriarchate was briefly summarized supra under Kina 
rite with which it was associated, just as the Yoalox cycle was more or 
less associated with the ¢iéxaus. The chief folklore beings believed 
in, but to whom no cult was given, were the dreaded cannibal beings, 
the Laktiima water spirits, and the Hannush giants. 


LORE AND LEARNING 


In general, Yahgan technology, with the exception of the bark canoe 
and coiled basketry, gives little indication of inventive strivings. 
Thus they stand in sharp contrast with their Arctic counterparts, the 
Eskimo. A comparison for instance between the very simple Yah- 
gan harpoons and the very elaborate Eskimo ones shows the sharpest 
contrast. In this respect Yahgan culture resembles more closely the 
culture of the northern Athabaskan and northern Algonquians of sub- 
Arctic America. 

There were no weights and measures of any kind. There were no 
means of communication such as knotted cords, notched sticks, or, 
so far as our records go, of travelers’ signs, such as the inclined stick 
to show direction of journey. Smoke signals were made by putting 
branches of Nothofagus betuloides on the fire and, when the dense 
smoke had risen about 16 feet (5 m.) high, quickly extinguishing the 
fire, allowing a balloonlike cloud of smoke to ascend. One such smoke 
signal signified sickness or an accident; two, a grave emergency; 
three, a death; four, the discovery of a stranded whale. 

The day was divided into periods of about 4 hours each. The year 
was divided into four seasons corresponding roughly to our own, 
and also into eight divisions: “the time when the bark is loose,” “when 
the first bird eggs were found,” and so forth. 


106 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 1438 


There was almost nothing in the way of herbal curatives, unless 
the chewing of the leaves of Drimys winteri as a purgative and for 
cardiac and stomach pains could be considered such. Sap from the 
broken end of a beech branch was swallowed for certain ailments. 
Other simple remedial measures employed were drinking oil, rub- 
bing the body with it, massaging with Drimys winteri leaves, drink- 
ing sea water, covering with robes and sweating near the fire. Chalk 
dust was smeared on for skin eruptions. To cure headache, the nasal 
passages were scratched to bring about nosebleed. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


For bibliographic references, see pages 82-83. 


THE ONA 
By Joun M. Coorrr 


NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 


The large island of Tierra del Fuego, the habitat of the Ona, is 
roughly triangular in form, about 240 miles east to west on its south- 
ern coast, and about 170 miles north to south from apex to base. 
The northern and eastern sections of the island are low-lying rolling 
prairie country; the southern and western parts are mountainous. 
Climate approximates closely that of the country of the Yahgan 
(p. 81); so, too, does the flora of the forested section of the island. 
The open plains section to the north and east is covered with only 
grass and bushes. South of the Rio Grande and Rio del Fuego 
small clumps of trees appear and gradually increase in size, height, and 
area until they become solid forest. The land animals most exploited 
by the Ona are the guanaco (Lama glama guanicoe), the fox (Dusz- 
cyon culpaeus lycoides: Cabrera and Yepes, 1940, p. 127), and the 
tuco tuco or cururo (Ctenomys magellanicus fueginus). The puma 
and rhea of Patagonia are not found on Tierra del Fuego Island. The 
Ona were primarily hunters of land mammals, above all of the guanaco, 
and were distinctly a land people, whence their common name, “Foot 
Indians,” as distinguished from the “Canoe Indians,” viz, the Yahgan 
and Alacaluf. 

TERRITORY 


The Ona occupied the whole of the island of Tierra del Fuego 
(map 1, Vo. 1A; map 2), except the shores of Useless Bay and Ad- 
miralty Sound, which, intermittently at least, were frequented by the 
Alacaluf, and the strip of land between Beagle Channel and the 
mountain range paralleling it, which was inhabited by the Yahgan. 
The Ona were in contact with the Alacaluf in the western part of the 
island, probably crossing at times to Dawson Island. They were like- 
wise in contact with the Yahgan between Beagle Channel and Good 
Success Bay, trading and intermarrying to a certain extent with them. 
There is also some good evidence that, in spite of their reported lack of 
watercraft, the far northern Ona were in sporadic touch with the 
Tehuelche of the mainland. (Cf. Patagonian and Pampean Hunters, 
Tribes, p. 131.) 


107 


108 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buin. 143 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS 


The name Ona (O’ona, Aona, Aoniks, Oens) is the one by which 
they were known to the Yahgan, and probably means in Yahgan 
“north” (Cooper, 1917, p. 48). Although this is not the name by 
which the Ona call themselves, we use it in the present paper in view 
of its long acclimatization in anthropological literature. Further- 
more, there appears to be no Ona name for all divisions of the 
Ona (pl. 38, top, left). 

The Ona were divided into two main groups who called them- 
selves respectively Haush and Shelknam. The Haush (Haus and 
other variants), who also called themselves Manekenkn (Manckenkn 
and other variants), occupied the Peninsula Mitre at the extreme 
southeastern corner of Tierra del Fuego Island. They may earlier 
have occupied a larger territory and may represent an earlier migra- 
tion from the Patagonian mainland. They were distinct dialectically 
and to a certain degree culturally from the Shelknam. The Shelk- 
nam (Selk’nam and many variants) were divided into a northern and 
a southern group. The northern group occupied the treeless prairies 
north of the Rio del Fuego and Rio Grande; the southern group, the 
parkland and forest region south of this line. The two groups differed 
somewhat both dialectically and culturally and were not on the best 
of terms. 

Throughout the present paper we shall use the term Ona to include 
both the Haush and the Shelknam; the terms Haush, Shelknam, 
Northern Shelknam, and Southern Shelknam to denote these respective 
divisions and subdivisions. 


LANGUAGH 


A Shelknam could understand a Haush but only with a good deal 
of difficulty. The dialects of the Northern and Southern Shelknam 
differed very slightly. In contrast to Yahgan, Ona is characterized 
by explosives and gutturals. Ona is rather closely related to 
Tehuelche, with which it forms the 7'shon family. 


POPULATION 


Earlier estimates from the last quarter of the last century put the 
Ona population at about 2,000. From the eighties on, the scant 
records show a sharp decrease. Around 1910 there were about 300 
survivors; in 1919, 279; in the middle twenties, well under 100; at 
present, probably well under 50. In 1919-23 the only surviving 
Haush were two old women (Gusinde, 1939, p. 6); in 1926, Tonelli 
(1926, p. 8) knew of only one living Haush. 

The factors responsible for this decrease were many. Gold seekers 
and sheep ranchers invaded Ona territory around the early eighties 
of the last century. These movements led to a bitter campaign on 


Vor. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 109 


the part of the Whites to exterminate the Ona. Feuds among the 
Ona themselves took their toll of lives. Respiratory diseases and 
epidemics of smallpox and measles also played their part. European 
clothing, food, shelter, and work habits contributed, as among the 
Yahgan. 

HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION 


The Ona were first seen by Sarmiento in 1580; later, by the Nodals 
in 1619, by perhaps one of L’Hermite’s officers in 1624, by Labbe in 
1711, by members of the first and second Cook expeditions in 1769 
and 1774, and by several other voyagers in the early 19th century. 
These observers, however, left very meager records. The real study 
of the Ona dates from 1875, when they were first encountered by 
Thomas Bridges. Important progress was made in the fields of Ona 
culture and language only after the beginning of the present century, 
thanks above all to Lucas and William Bridges, sons of Thomas 
Bridges; to the Salesian fathers, especially Zenone and Borgatello; 
and to the field studies of Gusinde in 1919-23 and of Lothrop in 
1924-25. 

The more important first-hand sources on the Ona from 1580 to 
1917 are: Banks (1896); Barclay (1904); Beauvoir (1915) ; Bollet- 
tino Salesiano (1877— ); Cojazzi (1911); Dabbene (1911); Fur- 
long C. (1910, 1917 b); Gallardo (1910) ; Lehmann-Nitsche (1918). 
The data given by Barclay, Dabbene, and Gallardo were almost en- 
tirely, and those by Ftirlong largely, from the Bridges brothers. The 
anthropological information from the above and the other earlier 
sources were assembled in Cooper (1917). The most important sources 
since 1917 are: Borgatello (1924) and Tonelli (1926), for general cul- 
ture, from the Salesian contacts; Lothrop (1928), especially for tech- 
nology, from field studies; Gusinde (1931), for his exhaustive treat- 
ment of the whole range of Ona culture, and especially the social and 
religious phases thereof, from his own extensive and intensive field 
studies and from a thorough critical gleaning of the literature. 

Gusinde’s large monograph, “Die Selk’nam” (1931), contains prac- 
tically all that we know of Ona culture. Where this basic work is 
not accessible, the following more important papers may be consulted : 
Gusinde (1923-24, 1924, 1925 a, 1925 b, 1925 c, 1926 a, 1926 b, 1926 c, 
1927, 1928 a, 1928 b, 1929). 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


The Ona practiced domestication neither of plants nor of ani- 
mals. Dogs are reported among the Ona, probably Haush, of Good 
Success Bay as early as 1769, by members of the first Cook expedition. 


110 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


Lothrop’s rating (1928, p. 32) of the relative importance to the 
Ona of the foods they used is as follows: (1) Guanaco, by far the 
most important; (2) of much less importance, foxes, eels, geese (4 
kinds); (8) next, mussels and cormorants; (4) last and least, tuco 
tucos, seals (4 kinds), whales, limpets, crabs, ducks (5 kinds), fungi 
(several kinds), berries (3 kinds), grass seeds. According to Gusinde 
(1931, p. 125), the tuco tuco was more important than the guanaco 
for the Northern Shelknam; the guanaco more important for the 
Southern Shelknam. The Ona prepared a flour from the seeds of 
tay (Descurainea canescens) ; the seeds were ground with two un- 
worked stones as mortar and mano, and the flour was mixed with 
water or grease. Salt was not used. Dogs were never eaten, and 
the flesh of foxes was ordinarily avoided. 

Hunting.—The guanaco was hunted with the bow and arrow. The 
killer of a fox made an apologetic speech to the dead animal to pro- 
pitiate the whole fox world and to ensure good fortune in future fox 
hunting (Gusinde, 1931, p. 280). Dogs were very important in fox 
hunting as well as in guanaco hunting. Tuco tucos were dug up 
and killed with a pointed stake or short spear. Birds were taken 
with single- or multiple-noose snares, with the pole snare and by 
torchlight, as among the Yahgan. Apart from these snares no other 
forms of trap or pitfalls are reported. Seals were sometimes taken 
with seal-hide nets. 

Fishing.—Fish were speared in shallow water with a short bone- 
headed spear. They were also taken with nets made of sinew and 
in weirs made of branches or stakes. A fishhook of a dorsal fin 
tied to a bit of whalebone was earlier reported by Wilkes at Good 
Success Bay (1844, 1: 118). 

Food preparation and storage.—Dried meat and fungi were 
stored. 

Meat was cooked on a spit or over the coals. Heated stones were 
used for warming and roasting seeds of tay. The only foods eaten 
raw were guanaco fat, fungi, and wild fruit. 


SHELTERS 


The two chief forms of shelter were the windbreak and the conical 
hut, the former the more common one among the Northern Shelknam, 
the latter the ordinary one among the Southern Shelknam (Gusinde, 
1931, p. 126). The windbreak consisted of guanaco hides sewn to- 
gether and painted red and attached to a few poles stuck in the 
ground in a curve or semicircle and inclined toward the center 
(pl. 37, bottom) ; it thus formed a fencing without a roof, but in bad 
weather could be nearly closed over. Sometimes the skins were 


Vou. 1] THE ONA—COOPER T11 


merely pegged with thorns or lashed to standing trees. The conical 
tipi with a framework of stout sapling trunks, about 10 feet (3 m.) 
high, was covered with branches or other material. The material 
for such a framework was at hand in the parkland and forested 
habitat of the Southern Shelknam. In both types of shelter the 
floor was often scooped out and branches strewn on it. 

Considerably larger conical lodges covered with sods were set up 
for ceremonial purposes (cf. p. 120). 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Clothing.—The chief garment of both men and women was a long 
cape, reaching from over the shoulders to the feet or ankles (the 
woman’s cape a little shorter), about 5 feet (1.5 m.) square, the skin 
side coated with mixed red paint and grease or saliva, worn with 
the fur outside. Men simply held the garment together or let it fall; 
the woman’s garment was tied on with thongs at the breast. Among 
the Southern Shelknam the mantle was usually of guanaco skins; 
among the Northern Shelknam it was commonly of tuco tuco skins. 
Among both the fox-skin mantle was prized. Moccasins made from 
guanaco-foreleg skin were worn, fur outside, and stuffed inside with 
grass (fig. 15). Leggings of guanaco skin were used in heavy snow. 


Ficurm 15.—Pattern of Ona moccasin. (After Lothrop, 1928, fig. 8.) 


In travel over light deep new-fallen snow a small bundle of thick 
bushy twigs was tied to the moccasin to keep the wearer from sinking; 
the contrivance was called xé8e ke xdmni, “snow shoe” (Gusinde, 
1931, p. 215). 

Ona men wore a triangular peak or head band over the forehead, 
made of guanaco fur. Ona women wore under the cape two other 


112 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


garments: an undergarment of guanaco skin reaching from the arm- 
pit to the knee, with the fur inside, and tied at the waist with a 
thong; and a small triangular pubic covering like that of the Yahgan. 

Ornaments.—The hair was worn loose, not in braids, and was 
often banged. The top of the head was shaved in mourning. Combs 
were made of wood or whalebone or were merely the jawbone of a 
porpoise or otter. Depilation of facial and bodily hair with two 
mussel shells was practiced by both sexes. 

Scarification was resorted to as a mourning rite. Puncture 
tattooing on the arm or forearm with charcoal was common to both 
sexes. Head deformation, and ear, lip, and septum piercing were 
absent. 

Smearing the head and body with grease served protective as well 
as decorative purposes. Face and body painting was common; 
besides the three colors, red, black, and white, used by the Yahgan, 
the Ona used blue, green, yellow, and slate. Body painting was 
also used for camouflage coloration in the chase. 

The chief personal adornments were: necklaces of braided guanaco 
sinew, plain or strung with bone beads; anklets and wristlets of 
braided sinew and of plaited grass. Feather armlets were worn 
during foot races. Finger, ear, and nose adornments were absent. 


TRANSPORTATION 


There is good ground for holding that the Ona on rare occasions 
ventured out on the water, but there is no evidence whatsoever on the 
kind of watercraft they used or whether it was their own. In 
traveling afoot, the women used a tumpline of thongs, passing across 
the chest, for carrying household impedimenta, and often used a 
walking stick. 

MANUFACTURES 


Pottery and weaving were absent; and no sherds have been found 
in any of the few archeological investigations in Ona territory. 

String-making and sewing.—Sinew twisting and plaiting was 
common. For sewing skins or bark, an eyeless bone needle or awl 
was used. 

Basketry——The Southern Shelkham and probably the Haush 
made half-hitch coiled baskets with foundation quite similar to the 
commonest Yahgan type (p. 89). 

Skin dressing.—Skins were dried by stretching them taut with 
flexible cross sticks or by staking them to the ground. They were 
cleaned with a flesher in which the stone or glass blade was set at an 
angle to the handle (fig. 16, ¢). Some of the scrapers revealed archeo- 
logically may have been used without a handle. The skins were taken 


Vou. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 113 


Dp 


‘ 


AN 


MMMM uum EEE 2 


KUMI 


| b C 


Figure 16.—Ona implements. a, Ona knife with schematic cross section, length 8% in., 
or 22 em. (after Outes, 1906 b) ; b, Ona wood scraper, length 5% in., or 14 cm. (after 
Lothrop, 1928, fig. 25) ; c, flesher (after Lothrop, 1928, fig. 25). 


in both hands and rubbed together briskly. To preserve them, they 
were smeared with a mixture of grease and red earth. There was no 
smoking of skins. 
Stoneworking.—Stone chipping was by pressure, with use of a 
small leg bone of a guanaco sharpened to a dull point. 
Containers.—Instead of the cylindrical bark baskets of the Yahgan, 
the Ona used more or less rectangular envelopelike bags of guanaco 
or other skin, of different sizes, for holding or carrying water, food, 
small objects, and so forth. The man’s ditty-bag of foxskin worn at 
the waist also served incidentally at times as a pubic covering. Small 
bags made of bladders, intestines, and so forth, were used for holding 
oil and pigments. 
Weapons.—The bow and arrow were the Ona man’s chief and al- 
most his only weapon for hunting and fighting. They may be sum- 
marily described as follows (fig. 17). Bow: curved self-bow, length 


583486—46—_8 


114 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Burn. 143 


from about 3 to 5 feet (1.0 to 1.6 m.) ; section ovate rounded with apex 
toward cord; of Nothofagus antarctica, fluted; string of twisted 
guanaco sinew. Arrow: head, triangular, stemmed, and barbed, of 
stone, bone, or glass; fitted into socket in shaft and lashed with sinew; 
no foreshaft; feathering, two half-feathers lashed radially to shaft 
with spirally wound sinew or gut. Quiver: oblong, sewn skin. Ar- 
row shafts were smoothed with a grooved stone rubber and given final 
polish with leaves or wood and stone dust on a bit of foxskin. Arrow- 
heads were chipped by pressure with a blunt rounded bone tool. Bows 
were made by specialists, who received some remuneration; arrows, by 
nearly every man. Ona children played with small bows and arrows, 


Figure 17.—Ona bow and arrow. (Length of arrow 82 in., or 80 cm.; of bow, 63% in., or 
158 em.) (After Lothrop, 1928, pl. 5.) 


the latter often blunt-headed. The bow was held diagonally in shoot- 
ing, with primary release, or, if far shooting was desired, with sec- 
ondary or tertiary. No poison was used on arrow points. 

A short spear, about 5 feet (1.5 m.) with a unilaterally barbed 
bone shank, was used for hunting and fishing. Slings were sometimes 
used by the Southern Ona. Spherical stone artifacts that may have 
been bolas balls have been found in Ona territory, and the bolas has 
been ascribed to the Ona within the last 50 years by an occasional 
writer (Spears, 1895, p. 59; Beauvoir, 1915, pp. 203-204), but practi- 
cally all of our first-hand sources on Ona culture are silent regarding 
the bolas. Clubs were apparently used only rarely, in hunting. The 
atlatl was absent. 

Tools.—The stone celt or ax was apparently lacking; we have 
neither ethnological nor archeological evidence of its presence. 


Vou. 1} THE ONA—COOPER 115 


Lothrop, however, found on east-coast sites several] heavy oval imple- 
ments, which he thought may have been used as cleavers or handaxes by 
earlier Haush or other occupants. A wedge of bone or stone was used 
to split the wood for arrow shafts; a scraper for woodworking, 
especially in making bows and arrows (fig. 16, 6). The earlier stone 
or shell knife was later replaced by a terminally edged bit of iron lashed 
to a wooden haft (fig. 16, a). 

Fire making and illumination.—Fire was made solely by the flint 
and pyrites method, with dried fungus or bird down for tinder. Fire 
tongs were made of a split stick. Torches were made of bark or of 
bundles of dry grass stalks. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE 


Marriage and the family.—From early age the sexes were kept 
separated. Premarital sex relations were strongly disapproved, and, 
except between betrothed couples, were actually, from all reports, 
very uncommon. Marriage with a blood relative was strictly pro- 
hibited, but limits of relationship were not very specifically set down; 
marriages to girls from far distant localities were decidedly favored. 
Marriage with a mother and her daughter was disapproved, but not so 
severely as blood-kin unions. 

Both the boy and the girl were ordinarily free to marry the mate of 
their choice and affection. There was no bride-price or obligatory 
service to the bride’s parents. Raids and wars to capture women for 
wives were not a feature of Ona culture. Forcible abductions of 
women from their husbands, by men of influence and power, occurred 
occasionally, usually more or less by agreement and understanding 
with the woman herself, sometimes with the help of her relatives. 

Boys married only after passing through the kléketen initiation 
rite; girls, after first menses. According to Gusinde’s estimate (1931, 
p. 311), the majority of young men married before they were 20 years 
old; the girls, between 15and 19. There was no child betrothal proper. 

In the case of first marriages, there was a formal betrothal rite 
which made known to the tribesmen the couple’s intention to marry. 
The boy, after receiving assurance of the approval of the girl’s parents, 
presented her in the presence of others with a specially made small 
bow, while she, in token of definitive acceptance, gave him a specially 
made wristlet of six-strand plaited sinew. Both painted their faces 
with a special design. 

For all weddings, first or later, bride and groom painted their faces 
with lines of black dots diverging down vertically from the eyes over 
the cheeks. The wedding feast took place at the bride’s father’s hut. 
Couples commonly remained a while after marriage with the bride’s 
people, but then almost without exception went to live permanently 
with the groom’s people. 


116 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


As a rule, monogamy prevailed. A small minority of the men had 
two wives; a very rare one, three. In one historic case, Kausel, a famous 
shaman, had five or eight wives. Prestige and dominance drives en- 
tered into his polygyny, as they did sometimes in other cases. Public 
opinion disapproved even bigamy, except on grounds of need, such as 
the first wife’s incapacity due to age or illness. Taking more than 
two wives was in all cases disapproved. Usually only older men had 
more than one wife. Polygyny was often sororal. The levirate, 
quite similar in most respects to that of the Yahgan (p. 92), prevailed. 
In polygynous families, each wife usually had her own separate hut, 
and the first one was head wife. 

Practically identical in-law avoidances were observed among the 
Ona, as among the Yahgan (p. 93). 

In theory, the man was distinctly the head of the family and his 
wife as distinctly under his orders. In practice, she seems to have 
had a respected status both in the family and in the community and to 
have enjoyed not only affection but also a large measure of independ- 
ence. She was neither a slave nor a drudge. 

Breaches of marital fidelity occurred, but apparently not with 
marked frequency. The offended husband or his kin were more apt 
to wreak revenge on his wife’s paramour than on her (Gallardo, 
1910, p. 220). 

Divorce occurred but rarely, and even then almost exclusively 
where the couple’s children were grown up and married. In general, 
public opinion was against divorce. The more common ground was 
bad treatment of the wife by the husband; her relatives would try 
to patch up the matter and to get him to behave better; if he persisted, 
they would uphold her in her flight from him. 

Ona kinship terminology distinguishes paternal and maternal kin 
in the first generation both from the parents and from one another, 
and siblings from more remote kin (cf. Lowie, 1933). 

All dependable sources are agreed that the aged were respected 
and well treated. 

Political life—The biological family was the basic social unit. 
Each family was for most practical purposes an independent socio- 
political unit, although forming an integral part of the larger 
extended kinship groups, to be mentioned presently. The real 
authority within the whole Ona tribe rested with the father of the 
individual biological family. No man recognized authoritative 
headship of or accepted orders from any other. 

There were no chiefs, no ruling groups or castes of any kind. 
Likewise there were no social classes, no sibs, and, unless the body of 
men who had passed through the kloketen rite could be called such, 
no secret societies or other organized groups. 


Vou. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 117 


Next in size to the biological families were the extended families, 
39 of them in all, each independent and each with its own separate 
well-defined territory within the total Ona habitat. ‘These extended 
families were paternally constituted. Children belonged to the 
lineage of the father. A young man on marrying a wife from a 
kinship group other than his own brought her back to his own family 
territory and there remained. If he died, she more commonly went 
back to her own kin and territory. Practically all the residents, 
therefore, within any one of the 39 divisions were related by blood 
or marriage. 

Each of these localized families or kinship groups recognized the 
moral leadership of one of the elder men. He could hardly be called 
chief. He had no real authority. The office was in no sense heredi- 
tary. He would not have to be a shaman. He was well versed in 
tribal traditions and customary law, and spoke often of them. His 
influence was persuasive, not coercive. For acceptance of his counsels 
he counted on the general respect for elders and for established 
customs. The members of the localized extended families had mutual 
loyalty, and clung together particularly in revenge expeditions and 
feuds. 

As previously noted (supra, Introduction), the whole Ona group 
was divided into three broad sections: the Haush, on the one hand; 
and, on the other, the Northern and Southern Shelknam. Each of 
these three divisions recognized a certain internal solidarity and 
loyalty, and between the Northern and Southern Skelknam, at least, 
there was an undercurrent of bad feeling. But beyond this, the 
divisions had no political significance. 

Warfare and disputes.—There were no established public pro- 
cedures for determining criminal guilt and for inflicting punishment. 
The Ona were strongly given to revenge and were outspoken in their 
anger at a taint of honor or rights. There were no wars in which 
large numbers took part. Most group fighting was carried out by 
from 8 to 20 men on each side, each party commonly composed of 
relatives harking from a given extended family territory. The three 
chief causes of feuds and hostilities were murder, exploitative tres- 
pass on family territory, and suspicion of malicious witchcraft in 
cases of illness or death. 

In preparing for battle the men rubbed their bodies with red 
earth as camouflage and went into the fray singing their war song. 
There was no torture of captives, nor, for that matter, any purposive 
taking of captives, although an occasional woman of the losers fell 
into the hands of one of the victors. 

Where the cause or injury was of minor nature, especially in case 
of calumny and slander, conflicts were settled more by rough wres- 


118 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 1438 


tling matches or by a duel with bow and arrow. The women, too, 
sometimes engaged in tongue-lashing duels. 

In the peace-making rite described by Lucas Bridges (1988), each 
man of one party gave a chosen antagonist of the other five arrows 
with the heads removed and the shafts bound with sinew or hide 
around them to form a button the size of a cherry about one-half inch 
from the distal end in order to prevent it from penetrating too far, 
then came running and dodging toward him, while the latter shot 
the arrows at him, from a distance of about 70 to 90 yards (63 to 81 
m.) to less than 40 yards (36 m.). The roles were then reversed. 
After all men members of the two bands had gone through this modi- 
fied dueling once, the women of the two bands went fishing together, 
the young lads wrestled in friendly fashion, and amicable relations 
were resumed. 

Etiquette——Cleanliness was admired but not strictly practiced. 
Bathing in sea or stream was not in vogue. Morning ablutions 
were commonly reduced to washing the eyes with a little water or 
snow. A powdered earth or powdered dried tuco tuco liver was 
sometimes rubbed over the body as a cleanser. When visitors ap- 
proached, the mother usually hastened to give a quick washing and 
powdering to herself and her children and to tidy up the hut a little. 

Hospitality to a guest was given as a matter of course. A guest 
on entering kept silent, without looking around curiously, and only 
after a while began to tell his story. Eating gluttonously or hastily, 
especially when on a visit, was disapproved. 

Kissing, practiced only between certain close relatives and young 
married couples or lovers, was done, not lips to lips, but by pressing 
lips to the head, cheek, or arm of the other, with slight suction. 

It was bad form to mention the names of neighbors, and partic- 
ularly to mention the names of the deceased in the presence of their 
relatives. (For further details on etiquette, see Gusinde, 1931, pp. 
466-474.) 

ECONOMIC LIFE 


Ownership.—While the Ona claimed exclusive right to their whole 
habitat as against outsiders, the whole Ona country was divided into 
39 distinct territories, each of which was held exclusively by a dif- 
ferent paternal extended family. Such an extended family ranged in 
size from about 40 to 120 persons. The territory belonged to the 
family as such. Each man of the family had the right to hunt on it 
wherever he chose. None of this family land could be alienated. 
Exploitative trespass on it by nonmembers of the family was deeply 
resented and was looked upon as ground for bloodshed and even war. 
Hunters from other families and territories could be received as guests 
and could hunt with and at the will of the members of the particular 


Vou. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 119 


extended family. Such a guest, if short of food or of other raw 
material which he needed, would ask such permission and only in 
the rarest cases would be refused. A son inherited such rights of 
tenure and hunting from his father automatically without any partic- 
ular formality. Owing to such paternal succession and to patrilocal 
residence, the group exploiting any one of the 39 divisions was made 
up exclusively or dominantly of kin. The one major exception to such 
exclusive territorial rights of exploitation was the finding of a stranded 
whale; any members of the whole Ona tribe could come and partake 
of such, although certain prior rights accrued to the members of the 
territory on which the whale was found, Clothing, adornments, 
weapons, tools, baskets, playthings, and the like were owned as per- 
sonal property by women and children as well as by men. 

Property was acquired through occupation, labor, donation, and 
barter. Barter was carried on without any kind of currency; there 
was no barter by exchange of presents. Acquisition by inheritance 
was practically lacking; all an individual’s personal belongings were 
burnt at his death, except his dog, which was given to some relative 
or friend. 

Stealing from fellow Ona was severely reprobated, and was actually 
very rare. Theft of goods led to boycotting and loss of caste, while 
trespass on another family’s hunting territory led to fights and 
bloodshed. The stealing of sheep from White ranchers who had 
driven the Ona from their fatherland was regarded by the latter in 
another light. 

Labor.—There was no slavery or slave labor, and very little labor 
in common. Nor were there any craftsmen who made their whole 
living by specialized trades, although some expert bowyers received 
compensation for their products. 

Within the province of the man fell the following duties: Hunting, 
fishing with the large net, stripping flesh and blubber from stranded 
whales, skinning animals, making his own weapons and containers, 
and bringing in heavy logs for the fire. Among the woman’s chief 
duties were: Caring for the younger children, gathering shellfish, 
small fish, fungi, and plant food, fetching drinking water, tending the 
fire, cooking, looking after the hut in general, dressing skins, making 
baskets, sewing, and carrying the household impedimenta on the march. 

There was no incentive to accumulate wealth, and no prestige at- 
tached to possession of wealth. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth and infancy.—The Ona were quite aware of the rela- 
tion of coitus to conception; conception and foetal development were 
believed to demand repeated coitus. No contraceptives or abortives 


120 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 143 


were known or used, and there is no clear evidence of infanticide. De- 
livery was in a half-sitting position. After delivery there was no 
prescribed bath in the sea or stream for mother or child. The mother 
often washed her whole body with wet clay. After delivery she ab- 
stained for about a month from certain foods, while the father ate 
lightly ; but there was no couvade. The navel string, dried, was put 
in a small pouch; when the child was able to walk alone, the father 
caught a certain small bird, and the child tied the pouch around the 
bird’s neck; the father then put the bird in the hands of the child, 
who let the bird loose to fly away; every bird of this species would 
then protect the child (Gusinde, 1931, pp. 377-378). The newborn 
child was placed in a sort of baby sack made of a rolled bit of hide 
lined with furs; a special eyeshade for the child was used; about the 
end of the third month he was placed in a ladder-type cradle (pl. 38, 
bottom, left). Children seldom cried. They were nursed whenever 
they indicated desire to do so. There was no naming feast; names 
usually became attached to the child from some bodily characteristic. 

Education.—Elders frequently exhorted children to socially recog- 
nized standards of childhood behavior, going into minute details 
thereupon, and proposing motivations of self-regard, family and tri- 
bal pride, threats of shortened life, and sometimes the will of Temau- 
kel, the Supreme Being. The sexes were kept separate and watched 
vigilantly from very early years. 

Girls’ puberty.—At her first menses the girl for several days fasted 
rather rigorously, kept quietly in her father’s hut, painted her cheeks 
under the eyes with thin white vertically diverging lines, and was 
given much counsel on her duties as maid, wife, and mother. 

The kloketen initiation and men’s rite.—This rite, participated 
in exclusively by the men and adolescent boys, was the most impor- 
tant Ona social and religious function. Two basic concepts underlay 
it. First, it was a male device to keep the women in subjection by 
supernatural hocus-pocus, insofar corresponding to the Yahgan kina 
rite; second, it was a boys’ initiation ceremony and training course, 
and insofar correspond to the Yahgan éxaus (p. 98) rite. 

The myth back of the kléketen rite was an elaborate one, quite sim- 
ilar in all essentials to the one back of the Yahgan kina rite (q. v.), 
describing how the men turned the tables on the previously dominant 
women. A special large conical hut was erected at the farthest bor- 
der of an open space, across which at a distance of 180-200 paces were 
the camp tents. The women and uninitiated children were rigidly 
barred approach or access to the kl6keten hut. The father of the oldest 
of the candidates was by right the leader of the ceremony; these had 
to be of postpubertal age. The rite was given from time to time as 
occasion offered or demanded, and lasted sometimes as long as 4 to 10 
months, or even longer. 


Vor. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 121 


In accordance with the double objective of the rite as a whole, two 
parallel sets of activities characterized it. 

First, previously initiated and adult men impersonated various sup- 
posed spirits, painting their bodies in different ways and wearing 
conical or conoidal masks of bark or hide, and would issue from the 
large hut, dance, posture, and call in the sight of the women, and 
threaten them with punishment if they did not obey the men. The 
women are said to have believed implicitly in the reality of the sup- 
posed spirits; the men, of course, did not, and the boy candidates were 
soon told of the skulduggery involved, with the strict admonition under 
dire threats not to reveal the facts to the women or other noninitiates. 

Second, for the duration of the rite, the boy candidates stayed at 
night in the large hut, had to do with little sleep and little food, to 
talk little, to assume a cramped sitting posture, and to make long travels 
afoot. They were further given long and intensive instruction and 
training in their vocational as well as their social obligations and 
responsibilities (pl. 38, top, right). 

The rite concluded without a formal feast. The young candidates 
were simply ushered back to their mothers’ tents, camp was broken, 
and the families dispersed for their hunting. 

The shamans entered quite prominently into the rite in connection 
with the supposed spirits. Temdukel functioned therein only slightly, 
chiefly in connection with the inculcation of social duties. Only by 
going through the kléketen rite could a boy attain full-fledged member- 
ship in the tribe. 

Death observances.—Death was believed to be due either to natural 
causes such as old age, accident, murder, or war, or to machinations of 
ashaman. But in the last analysis it was always the Supreme Being, 
Temaukel, to whom death was attributed. 

Mourning was expressed by body painting with charcoal, wailing, 
scarifying, and tonsuring. There were quiet complaints against 
Temaukel for his part in the death of the deceased, but not the wild, 
demonstrative ones of the Yahgan. There was no clearly institution- 
alized general mourning rite. 

There was no cremation. The body was rolled and lashed in fur 
mantles, at full length, and was interred in supine posture. 

After a death, the camp site was for a long time avoided. The name 
of the deceased was not mentioned, at least for a couple of years. 
There was a marked fear of human bones. 

Future life—The soul (kéSpi) at death went to Temaukel at his 
abode beyond the stars. Nothing in detail was known of its condition 
or fate there, which was the same for all regardless of moral behavior 
here on earth. The kaSpi never returned, and there was no concept of 
metempsychosis. The shade of a dead person (“men”) might come 


22 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bury. 143 


back in dreams. (On souls of dead shamans, cf. infra under 
Shamanism.) 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Ona esthetic culture may be described better in negatives than in 
positives. As among the Yahgan, esthetic development was extremely 
rudimentary. 

Art.—No realistic carving, painting, or drawing was done. Design 
was confined to the simple geometric patterns of face and body 
painting. 

Games and sports.—Among grown-up men the most popular 
sports and games were: Wrestling, foot races, archery duels, and 
a contest in which each of two rows of men tried to push the other 
back. Less popular were the ball game, like that of the Yahgan, 
and the throwing of burning faggots at one another by two rows 
of men. 

The chief boys’ games and plays were: Practicing with bow and 
arrow and with sling; aiming to shoot an arrow through a grass 
ring as it was rolled along; shooting, with bow, sticks or old headless 
arrow shafts lighted at one end; swinging head down by bended 
knees. Popular games with girls were: Dolls, playing house, hide 
and seek, tickling one another, swinging, playing ball, forming a 
circle and running and springing at the same time. Young infants 
were given a sort of rattle made of five mussel shells, perforated and 
strung on a bit of sinew. 

Gambling was absent; so, too, were games with complicated rules. 

Young fellows showed their power to endure pain by placing a 
bit of glowing coal on their forearm until it burnt them rather 
severely. 

There were no alcoholic beverages and no tobacco or substitute 
therefor. Narcotics were totally lacking. Actually the Ona were 
one of the few primitive tribes who did not take kindly to the White 
man’s intoxicants. 

Music.—Songs, while rhythmic, were very simple and monotonous. 
For that matter, about the only songs sung were connected with 
shamanistic and kléketen rites and with war. The Ona were not 
accustomed to free recreative singing. Musical instruments were 
completely absent. 

Dancing.—Apart again from ritual dances, there was very little 
recreative dancing, and symbolic dances were entirely absent. 


RELIGION 


As with the Yahgan, the religious life of the Ona revolved pri- 
marily and almost exclusively around theism and shamanism. All 
in all, shamanism bulked larger and theism smaller in religious 


Vou. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 123 


consciousness and life among the Ona than they did among the 
Yahgan. About the only traces of Ona shamanistic cult were the rela- 
tionships of the souls of dead shamans to the living medicine men. 
Shamanism itself was predominantly built upon animistic concep- 
tions. Certain minor omens and taboos not directly associated with 
either theism or shamanism were prevalent; for instance, if guanaco 
meat was wantonly wasted, the guanaco would be angry and the 
guilty hunter would kill no guanaco for a long time. But such 
observances appear to have had minor importance in Ona religious 
life. The kléketen rite previously described had certain distant 
relationships with theism and closer ones with shamanism, but was 
in the main more a social than a religious ceremonial. 

Theism.—The Ona had a very clear belief in a Supreme Being 
whom they called Teméukel. They seldom mentioned his name; 
instead they would refer to him as “That One There Above” or “The 
One in Heaven.” He lived above the stars, far from the world and 
in most respects was rather indifferent to worldly affairs. He took no 
part in men’s doings except to punish the individual by inflicting 
death on the group by sending epidemics. It is doubtful if he was 
the creator of the original unformed universe; Kendés, the Ona’s first 
ancestor, was commissioned by Temdéukel to put the universe in shape. 
Temaukel had no body, no wife or children, was the most powerful 
being, and always existed. In a broad sense he was the author and 
overseer of the socio-moral order, the ultimate originator of customary 
law, and the final sanctioner thereof. 

Punishment was inflicted by Temaukel on the evil-doer only in this 
life, through early death. In general, while Temaukel thus had some 
dynamic relation to man and to the social order, in many respects he 
had the characteristics of an otiose High God. He seems to have 
entered much less intimately into the daily life of the Ona than did 
the Yahgan’s Supreme Being into theirs. 

There was no set ritual connected with Temaukel and no priest- 
hood. The Ona had a very deep sense of respect for him. They 
prayed to him, particularly in cases of very grave illness, but without 
the numerous formulae such as the Yahgan used. Altogether the Ona 
seem to have prayed to him much less than did the Yahgan to their 
Supreme Being, and prayers of thanks were either very rare or 
nonexistent. 

Two simple sacrifices were offered. When a man or woman wished 
to take something to eat late at night, he or she would first take a bit 
of meat and throw it out of the hut, as an offering to Temaéukel, saying: 
“This is for the One Above.” During a tempest or snowstorm, a 
woman would sometimes throw out a bit of glowing coal, as an offering 
to Temaukel to bring better weather. 


124 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


Shamanism.—Shamans (xon, yohon), mostly men, seem to have 
played an appreciably more important part in Ona religious and social 
life than in Yahgan, and to have been on the whole more feared. 

The call to the office came most generally in dreams, in which the 
spirit of a deceased medicine man appeared to a person, invited him 
to seek the vocation, and, finally, transferred to him his own special 
song and power. Training for the craft, commonly given privately 
by a shaman father to his son, lasted 2 or 3 years. There was no 
public group training institute like that of the Yahgan; the Ona 
peshére, shamans’ assembly, held for 5 days in a special large conical 
hut, was more a social gathering, which, however, had also the purpose 
of recruiting new candidates. There was no society or organization 
of medicine men; each worked quite independently, and very commonly 
in deadly rivalry with and antagonism to his fellow shamans. 

The shaman cured, influenced weather and hunting, helped his group 
in their warlike pursuits, and so forth. Curing procedures included 
extraction from the patient’s body of the small object, often an arrow- 
head, responsible for the illness. One of the most frequent, if not 
the most frequent, task of the medicine man was to wreak evil upon 
his own or his clients’ enemies. His part in the kloketen rite has been 
previously mentioned. 

In the exercise of his profession, he did not call upon Temaukel 
for aid. The real source of his power was the spirit of the deceased 
medicine man who worked in and through him. 


MYTHOLOGY 


The more important mythological and folklore cycles were those 
concerned with the adventures and deeds of: Kends, the first man, 
agent of Temaukel, who gave the Ona their land; K’aux, the mighty 
hunter who divided their land into the 39 hunting territories and 
assigned one to each family; Kwanyip, the hero who overcame the 
malevolent Chénuke and the giant cannibal, Chaskels; North and 
South and their struggles with each other for mastery; Sun and his 
wife, Moon (part of the story concerned with the legendary early ma- 
triarchate, mentioned previously) ; the mythical ancestors of the Ona; 
the primeval manlike beings who later turned into mountains, lakes, 
rivers, and the like. Explanatory folk tales were numerous. The 
Ona flood story does not seem to have been part of any of the above 
cycles. (Details in: Gusinde, 1931, pp. 568-696 ; Cojazzi, 1911, pp. 31- 
33, 88, 76-92, 101-102.) 

No cult of these mythological beings existed. Temdukel did not 
enter except very indirectly (in the case of Kenés) into myths or 
folklore. 


Vou. 1] THE ONA—COOPER 125 


The Ona had a very definite tradition that their ancestors came 
afoot to what is now the tribal land, from the north beyond the 
present Strait of Magellan, which was formed after their arrival as 
the result of a great cataclysm. 


LORE AND LEARNING 


Ona technology was, like that of the Yahgan, very simple. Some 
of the products, however, such as the bow and arrow, were of con- 
summate workmanship. 

Standard weights and measures were absent. So, too, were such 
means of communication as knotted cords, notched sticks, and travel- 
ers’ camp signs. Smoke signaling was common. 

Two chief seasons were recognized, winter and summer, with two 
minor transitional ones, spring and fall. Winter included six 
“moons”; summer was divided into egg-laying, hatching, guanaco 
pregnancy, young guanaco, and molting periods. 

Herbal curatives were lacking. Massage was a common procedure 
in minor indispositions. For lung ailments and coughs, a piece 
of guanaco bezoar (called in Ona “the guanaco’s fire-making ap- 
paratus”) was ground to powder, put in a mussel shell with water, 
heated over a fire, and drunk (Gusinde, 1931, pp. 712, 1120). Crude 
splints were used for broken arms and legs. 

The Ona, prior to European influence, had names only for numbers 
up to 6 and for 10 (Lothrop, 1928, p. 50, data from the Bridges 
brothers), or only for numbers up to 5 (Gusinde, 1931, p. 1107). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


For bibliographic references, see page 109. 


THE PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS 
By Joun M. Cooper 


NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 


The section of the Pampa which here interests us (map 1, Vos. 1D, 
1E, 1F; map 2) extends about 600 miles (960 km.) north to south 
from about a line between Cérdoba and the mouth of the La Plata to 
a line between the Rio Colorado and the Rio Negro (pl. 8, bottom, 
right, pl. 4, top, left), where Patagonia begius, and thence stretches 
about 1,000 miles (1,600 km.) from north to south to the Strait of 
Magellan and the isthmus connecting Brunswick Peninsula with the 
mainland. The Pampa is a low-lying plain, nowhere over 1,000 feet 
(305 m.) above sea level, except for the Sierra del Tandil and Sierra 
de la Ventana in southern Buenos Aires Province. Apart from the 
low coastal belt, Patagonia is mostly a broken tableland, one to five 
thousand feet above sea level (pls. 1 and 2). 

Average temperatures at Buenos Aires, near the northeastern limit 
of the Pampa, are 48.9° F’. in July, the coldest month, and 73.6° in Jan- 
uary, the warmest month; at Choele-Choel, near the border line be- 
tween the Pampa and Patagonia, 45.1° and 75.4°; at Santa Cruz, 
in far southern Patagonia, 35.2° and 58.6° (cf. New York City, 30.6° 
in January and 73.5° in July). The Pampa is marked by frequent 
steady-blowing high winds; Patagonia, by still more frequent blus- 
tery violent winds from the west and southwest. 

The eastern, or Humid Pampa, is, or was, treeless grassland (pl. 3, 
top, right, and bottom, left, pl. 4, top, right); the western or Dry 
Pampa (pl. 3, top, left), xerophytic scrub-tree and bush land; most 
of Patagonia has cover largely like that of the Dry Pampa, but con- 
siderable grassland especially in the western part. Along the pied- 
mont and eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera flanking the Pampa 
and Patagonia to the west, is a broken forest belt (pl. 4, bottom, left 
and right) constituting an extension of the Antarctic flora with its 
beeches and other characteristic trees and shrubs. (For fuller details 
on environment, cf.: Jones, 1930; James, 1942.) 

Of the land fauna, the most important from the native standpoint 
were the guanaco (Lama glama guanicoe: Cabrera and Yepes, 1940, 

127 


128 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


p. 257) and the rhea (Rhea americana in the north, R. darwinii in the 
south) (pl. 1). Guanaco more commonly go in small herds consist- 
ing of an adult male and 4 to 10 females; sometimes, in small herds of 
young males; less commonly, in larger herds up to about 100 head, or 
in ones or twos. Communal hunting was consequently more usual; 
hunting singly, less so. 


THE PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN TRIBES 


Notwithstanding the notorious complexities and obscurities of 
Patagonian and Pampean tribal nomenclature and distribution, cer- 
tain simple broad facts stand out quite clearly, as amply established 
by the evidence. Since the early 18th century, at least three distinct 
linguistic families have been determined for the area: Avaucanian, 
Puelchean, and Tehuelchean (Chon). The peoples speaking these 
languages have been quite consistently described as respectively short- 
statured, fairly tall, and very tall—characterizations borne out by 
more exact measurements, particularly of the first and third. The 
cultures, too, of the three peoples can, in spite of much mutual bor- 
rowing and much underlying similarity, be readily distinguished— 
the Araucanian versus the Tehuelche very clearly, the Puelche versus 
the Araucanian and Tehuelche less clearly. Taking this well-estab- 
lished broad triple division as a starting point, we can approach more 
closely the Patagonian-Pampean confusion with less fear of leaving it 
at the end more confounded that it was; at the worst we can fall back 
to our starting point. 

The Araucanians.—Slight infiltrations of Araucanian blood and 
culture across and down the Andes onto the eastern foothills and 
plains had taken place during the 17th century, and a little probably 
even in the 16th. But the major swarming of the Avaucanians cut 
over Neuquén and the Pampa got under real headway only in the 
early years of the 18th. The early pifon-eating “Puelche” or 
“Pehuenche” of the high cordilleran valleys, who are from time to time 
mentioned in the Chilean documents of the 16th and 17th centuries, 
may have been non-Araucanian in speech, but there is an even chance 
that they or a section of them were Araucanian-speaking. At any 
rate, from at least the time of Pietas (1846, p. 499), they were clearly 
Araucanian in speech, and from at least the beginning of the 19th 
century, they, or the peoples who then lived near where the early 
Pehuenche had lived, were thoroughly Araucanian in culture. (Cf. 
De la Cruz, 1835; Poeppig, 1835-36.) 

In view of the foregoing facts, the Argentine Araucanians and 
the early “Pehuenche-Puelche” of the cordilleran Araucaria forest 
will be described in volume 2 of the Handbook, under Araucanians, 
and will be given no further direct treatment in the present article. 


VoL. 1) PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 129 


The Tehuelche.—The name (etymology uncertain) was first used 
by the Jesuit missionaries of the middle 18th century, has many vari- 
ants, and has at times been applied to tribes (cf. infra under Puelche) 
other than the one known to modern anthropology as the Z’ehuelche. 


The chief variants of “Tehuelche” are: Tuelohe (Camafio, 1937, p. 114); 
Toelchi (Cardiel, 1980, p. 247); Yoelche (Cardiel, 1938, p. 141); Tewelche 
(Milanesio, 1898, p. 38) ; Thehwelche (Beauvoir, 1915 p. 188) ; Theguel-che (Berg, 
1875, p. 371); Zeguelche (Piedra, 1837, p. 77); Tehwelct (Borgatello, 1924, 
p. 12, Italian c) ; T’wehelche (Milanesio, 1898, p. 38); Toelcht (Cardiel, 1930, 
p. 252, Strobel, 1922, pp. 74-75); Tuelchu (Camamnio, 1987, p. 114); Thuelchu 
(Sanchez Labrador, 19386, p. 29; Dobrizhoffer, 1822, 1: 181) ; Tehuelhet (Falkner, 
1774, p. 102) ; Tehueleto (Villarino, 18387, p. 88) ; Chehuelchu, Cheuelchu (Muiiz, 
1917, pp. 208, 212); Tchéouelche (Guinnard, 1864, p. 68); Chequelcho (Lista, 
1879 a, p. 75; 1879 b, p. 73) ; J’ehwiliche (Hale, 1846, p. 651). 

The designation Patagoni, first given to the Tehuelche by Magellan in 1520 
(Pigafetta, 1906, 1:60), appears frequently in the later sources. 

The Yehuelche called themselves Choanik (Gardiner, 1852, p. 23); T’chonek 
(Musters, 1872, p. 194); Choonke (Lista, 1879 b, p. 73); JYonic or Tsonik 
(Claraz, 1896, pp. 524-525); Chonqui (Cordovez, 1905, p. 32—so called by 
Chileans). The name is derived from the Tehuelche word, tsonik (‘‘people,” 
Claraz, 1896, p. 525), tsonke (“people,” Ameghino, C., 1913, p. 260), choonke 
(‘“indio,” Lista, 1879 a, p. 81), chonk (“hombre,” Beauvoir, 1915, p. 184), 
dchontk (“hombre,” Lehmann-Nitsché, 1918, p. 260). Tsoneca (Schmid, 1912; 
Musters, 1871, p. 188) tsoneka (Moreno, 1879, p. 3876), tzoneka (Lista, 1879 b, 
p. 75), occur as the name for the Tehuelche language. 

The Tehuelche, especially the southern ones, also called themselves Ahoni- 
canka (Musters, 1872, p. 194); Ahonnekenke, Ahonekenke (Moreno, 1879, 
pp. 226, 376), Adniken, Adnik(e)nk(e)n (Spegazzini, 1884, p. 226), Adniikiin’k, 
Aoniko-tshonk (Lehmann-Nitsche, 1913, p. 219) ; Adnikenke (Beauvoir, 1915, p. 
183), Adeni Kiink or Kenk (Harrington, 1948, p. 3). Harwaneki, Hawaneki 
(Gardiner, 1852, pp. 22, 24), Haveniken (Virchow, 1879, p. 199), Hawaniker-T'sonik 
(Claraz, 1896, p. 525) appear to be variants of the preceding. D’Orbigny (1835 47, 
2:95) has Inaken for the southern Tehuelche (cf. Tehuelche nuken=“hombre,” 
Outes, 1913 a, pp. 488-489 ; nooken=“hombre,” Ameghino, C., 1913, p. 260). 

The southern Tehuelche called the northern Tehuelche Payni-ken (Gardiner, 
1852, p. 22) ; Paignk(e)nk(e)n (Spegazzini, 1884, p. 226), Pw idinkiin’k, Pd énko- 
tshonk (Lehmann-Nitsche, 1913, p. 219). 


To denote the whole tribe, including both its northern and its 
southern division, we are using in the present article the term 
Tehuelche, since this term or some variant thereof has been more 
commonly accepted for the last two centuries. 


Since the middle of the 18th century, two main divisions of the Tehuelche, 
each with its own dialect, have been recognized. To the Jesuit missionaries of 
the time these divisions were known as the 7'chuelche ‘de 4 cavallo,” or northern 
division, who had horses and who lived in the Rio Negro Colorado and Rio Negro 
country, and the J'ehuelche “de a pie,” or southern division, who lacked horses 
and who occupied the region south of the horse Tehuelche as far as the Strait 
of Magellan. These southerners were included by Falkner in his Yacana-cunnees 
(“foot people’: Falkner, 1774, p. 111; Lehmann-Nitsche, 1914, pp. 229-230; ef. 
Cooper, 1917, p. 86). 


583486—46—_9 


130 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


A similar division into northerners and southerners is recorded consistently 
in our 19th century sources (D’Drbigny, 1835-47, 2: 95; Cox, 1863, p. 165; Musters, 
1871, p. 70; Lista, 1879 a, p. 75, 1879 b, p. 74; Spegazzini, 1884, p. 226). According 
to Lehmann-Nitsche (1913, p. 219), the northern and southern Tehuelche were 
called by the southerners Pda’ dnkiin’k and Adéniikiin’k respectively. 

In the 18th century the two divisions spoke dialects differing so widely that 
members of one division could only with difficulty, if at all, understand those 
of the other (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 30; Hervas, 1800-05, 1: 184). According 
to our more recent sources from Cox on, dialectic differentiation, though ap- 
preciable, was less marked. There was also a third dialect, Ta@wiishn (Téuesh, 
Téhuesh, Téhueshen, Téuesson, Téhueshenk, The-ushene, De-ushene). This dia- 
lect, according to Outes, was spoken long ago, and in 1905 was still spoken by 
some of the oldest Tehuelche in addition to the usual Tehuwelche language (Leh- 
mann-Nitsche, 1918, p. 288; Outes, 1905, p. 249; cf. Hunziker and Schmid, in Outes, 
1928 a, pp. 278-274). In 1891 the Td@uiishn dialect was still spoken by older men, 
but was not understood by the younger Tehuelche-speaking generation (Bur- 
meister, C., 1891, p. 280). Tehuelche with its dialects constitutes, together with 
Ona and its own dialects, the independent Chon linguistic family. 

Since the middle of the 18th century, the northern boundary of the Tehuelche 
has pretty consistently been put at or around the Rio Negro (Sanchez Labrador, 
1936, p. 30; Cardiel, 1938, pp. 141-142; Hervas, 1800-05, 1:184; Viedma, 1837 b, 
p. 79; D’Orbigny, 1835-47, 2:95; 212, north to 40° S. lat.; Spegazzini, 1884, p. 
226; Outes, 1905, p. 241; Lehmann-Nitsche, 1913, p. 2830). To be more exact, the 
territory of the Tehuelche in historic times appears to have extended over the 
whole of Patagonia from the Rio Negro and its affluent, the Rio Limay, to the 
Strait of Magellan and the isthmus connecting Brunswick Peninsula with the 
continent. In the middle 18th century, the Tehuelche may have extended on the 
Atlantic side, at least as casual occupants, a little farther north than the Rio 
Negro, to the Rio Colorado, to judge from the reports of Cardiel (1930, p. 272) 
and Sfnchez Labrador (19386, p. 30). In the second half of the 19th century, 
Araucanian-speaking peoples extended down the Andean piedmont some dis- 
tance south of Lake Nahuel-Huapi and the Rio Limay. (Musters, 1871, map; 
1872, p. 195; cf. Cox, 1863, pp. 94, 164, and La Vaulx, 1901, map and passim.) 

The dividing line between the horse and foot Tehuelche on the Atlantic side in 
the middle 18th century was about 100 leagues south and west of the Rio Negro 
(Cardiel, 1922, p. 63). The dividing line between the great northern and south- 
ern hordes in the second half of the 19th century was the Rio Chubut according to 
Cox (1863, p. 165) and Lista (1879 a, p. 75; cf. Lehmann-Nitsche, 1913, p. 230), 
the Rio Santa Cruz according to Musters (1872, p. 194; cf. Spegazzini, 1884, p. 
226). 

Tehuelche population.—Population data on the Tehuelche are very unsatis- 
factory. As regards particular groups of the Tehuelche, Barne (18386, 5: 21) 
estimated at 1,400 the number of Indians at Port San Julian in 1753; Bourne 
(1853, p. 59), at about 1,000 the band with whom he traveled in 1849. As regards 
the whole Tehuelche tribe, the estimates in our records are the following: Viedma 
(1837 b, p. 79), 4,000 souls, in 1780-83 ; Mufiiz (1917, p. 213), less than 4,000 able to 
bear arms, in circa 1826; D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2: 97; 4: 192), 8,000 to 10,000 souls, 
in 1829; Fitz-Roy (1839, 2: 131), four groups of about 400 adults each, with a 
rather large proportion of children, and with women outnumbering men three to 
one, in 1883; Coan (1880, p. 171), about 1,000 souls, in 1833-84; Gardiner (1852, 
p. 22), 9,000 to 10,000 souls, in 1842; Cox (18638, p. 166), about 6,000 souls, in 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 131 


1862-63 ; Musters (1871, p. 184; 1872, p. 204), not over 1,500 souls, about 1,400, in 
1869-70; Berg (1875, p. 371), 200 [2,000—-?] souls, in 1874; Lista (1879 a, p. 75), 
about 500 warriors, 2,000 to 3,000 souls, in 1878-79; Roncagli (1884, p. 768), 300 
[warriors—?], in 1882; Spears (1895, p, 159), perhaps about 500 souls, in 1894, 
according to gaucho informants; Hatcher (1903, p. 262), doubtful if over 500 
left, in 1896-99; Borgatello (1924, p. 134), at most 1,300 to 1,500 souls. Of the 
foregoing writers, probably Viedma, Muniz, Fitz-Roy, Musters, and Borgatello 
were best situated to learn the facts. 

Detailed data on the Tehwelche are given by Reiher (1920, p. 115) as of 1913-14, 
for the Tehuelche then living on the reserve in Santa Cruz territory: 35 men, 40 
women, 17 boys, 15 girls—of whom 4 were non-Indians, and about 50 of the 
rest were full-blooded Tehuelche. The present writer has not found it possible 
to obtain statistics on the number of Tehuelche surviving today (1948). 

In 1829 the population had become reduced by one-half since the smallpox 
epidemic of 1809-12, according to D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2:97). Borgatello (1924, 
pp. 1388-186) attributed the modern decline in numbers to wars with the Whites, 
smallpox, and alcohol. Reiher (1920, p. 118) called attention to the widespread 
incidence of pulmonary diseases at the time (1913-14) among the reserve 
Tehuelche, and believed that change of diet, from meat and plant food, to meat, 
biscuit, and marmalade, had been largely responsible. 


Before passing on to consideration of the Puelche, four minor groups 
of Indians found in Patagonia or adjacent thereto call for brief at- 
tention: Ona and Alacaluf, Caucahue, Huilliche Serrano, and Poya. 

Ona and Alacaluf.—Fallner’s Yacana-cunnees were described by 
him as tall people living on both sides of the Strait of Magellan, those 
on the south side being obliged to cross the Strait in order to com- 
municate with the Yacana cacique, Tamu, Falkner’s friend (Falkner, 
1774, pp. 91-98, 111; discussion in Cooper, 1917, p. 86, cf. pp. 195-196). 
King (1839, 1: 104, 113) in 1827-28 saw a Fuegian [Ona?] Indian 
among the 7’ehuelche of Gregory Bay. Coan (1880, pp. 103, 127, 171), 
who spent about 214 months with the Z7’ehuelche in 1833-34, very 
definitely reported that one clan in southern Patagonia was largely 
made up of Indians from Tierra del Fuego and spoke a dialect 
different from that of the other Tehuwelche. Gardiner (1852, pp. 21- 
24) found a number of Fuegians, apparently Ona, mixed with or re- 
siding among the southern Zehuelche (cf. also Gardiner and Hunt, 
1852, pp. 31, 33, 35, 40). Spears (1895, p. 129) also stated that a con- 
siderable number of Ona had been found in Patagonia and were still 
there. Likewise, Spegazzini recorded (1884, pp. 233, 235, 237) the 
presence of Fuegians [Ona?] among the Tehuelche. It seems fairly 
clear, from these sources, particularly Falkner, Coan, Gardiner, and 
Spears, that an appreciable migration of Ona across the Strait of Ma- 
gellan into 7'ehuelche territory occurred in the last couple of centuries. 

Moreno (1879, p. 378) referred to the capture of Alacaluf women by 
the7'ehuelche; Dumont d’Urville earlier (1842, 1:51, 156, 265-266), of 
Alacaluf children. The Huaicuré mentioned by Cox (1863, p. 165) 


132 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 1438 


may also have been Alacaluf, the Guaicaro vocabulary gathered by 
Lista (1896, p. 41) from a Guatcaro medicine man living among the 
Tehuelche is Alacalufan. 

Caucahue.—In the early Chilean chronicles from 1641 on, the tri- 
bal denomination Caucahue (Caucau, and other variants) occurs spo- 
radically, as applied in the most confusing manner, sometimes to short 
or medium-statured Indians of the western coast archipelago, at other 
times to “gigantic” Indians of the mainland. (Cf. details in Cooper, 
1917, passim.) Our most detailed account of the latter tall type is 
that of Pietas (1846, pp. 503-504). He described the Caucahue, one of 
whom he had seen, as “gigantic” in stature, living south of the Chono, 
between the Cordillera and the Golfo de los Evangelistas, and speaking 
a language unknown to any one in Chiloé. It is quite possible that 
these tall “Caucahue” were Tehuelche, but by no means certain. They 
were very expert in the use of a heavy throwing club. (Cf. also Mor- 
rell, 1882, pp. 100-101, on “Caucau” met by him in the Guaianeco 
Islands in 1923.) 

Huilliche Serrano.—It is quite possible, too, that the Hwilliche 
Serrano of the Chilean chroniclers were Tehuelche, or perhaps Puelche, 
to judge from their tall stature as compared with that of the Arauca- 
nians and from their geographical location. (Cf. original data as- 
sembled from sources by Latcham, 1929-30, 64: 218-220.) But our in- 
formation upon the Huilliche Serrano, as upon the tall Caucahue, is too 
meager to justify any but the most tentative surmises as to their ethnic 
relationships. 

Poya.—As regards the Poya (Pouya, Pogya) we are a little better 
off. (Cf. original source data assembled in: Latcham, 1929-80, 64 : 220- 
299; more fully, Vignatz, 1939 a; Fonck in Menendez, 1900, passim, and 
esp. p. 319, on “Puelche”=probably Poya.) They should not be con- 
fused with the Araucanian-speaking Poyo or Payo. (Cf. Cardiel, 
1938, p. 141; E. Simpson, 1875, p. 104.) The Poya were described by 
three of our four chief sources as big bodied. They spoke a non- 
Araucanian tongue. They lived in the general region of Lake Nahuel- 
Huapi, to the south or southeast thereof. Cardiel (1938, p. 141) seems 
to class the Poya as a branch of the foot 7’ehuelche. The Poya made 
an intoxicating beverage from a wild fruit called by them muchi (Oli- 
vares, 1874, p. 511; Menendez, 1900, p. 412) ; muchi is the Tehwelche 
name of the fruit of the Dwvaua dependens, called huingan by the 
Araucanians, and eaten by the Tehuelche (Cox, 1863, p. 211). Vig- 
nati (1939 a, p. 237) has called attention to the custom of septum per- 
foration, certainly unusual in these parts, attributed independently 
to the Poya by Florez de Leén (1898, p. 256) and to the early Tehuelche 
by Fletcher (Drake expedition, 1578: see Fletcher, 1854, p. 50). The 


Vou, 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 133 


identification by Vignati (1989 a, p. 237) of the Poya supernatural 
being, Chechuelli (Chahuelli: Olivares, 1874, pp. 511, 514, 516, 519) 
with the Zehuelche being called Chelewle (Pigafetta, 1906, 1: 60, 78; 
Outes, 1928, b, p. 380) appears less convincing. 

All in all, there seems to be fairly good evidence, although far from 
decisive, that the Poya were Tehuelche. In view, however, of certain 
cultural peculiarities of the Poya, as well as of their still somewhat un- 
certain linguistic affiliation, we shall devote a special short section to 
them in our treatment of Patagonian-Pampean culture. 

The Puelche.—The name by which the Puelche call themselves is 
Genakin (Hunziker, 1928 b, p. 277, “Genacin,” c=k), from gena, 
“gente, pueblo, nacion” + — kin (?). Variants are: Gennacken 
(Moreno, 1879, p. 220), Gennaken, Genakenn, Gintina Kune, Giiniina 
Kine (Harrington, 1933-35, 1943). In the present article we are 
using for the Genakin the name Puelche, as the one best known and 
longest established in anthropological literature. 


The name Puelche (Puelcho, and other variants) is from Araucanian (‘‘east- 
ern people”). It was first used in our sources by the Chilean chroniclers to de- 
note various groups living in or near the higher cordillera or on the plains to the 
east—the people later known as Pehuenche (the pifion-eaters of the high cordil- 
leran valleys), or the plains people in general east of the Chilean Cordillera, or 
sections thereof. Later it was much used by Chilean Araucanians and Whites 
for the Araucanians who spread out over the Pampa. In these senses the name 
usually either excluded the people known to modern anthropology as the Puelche 
or else included other peoples as well. It was from the beginning a geographical 
rather than a strictly tribal name, and remained so down to recent times. Hence 
the unending confusion in its use. 

In the middle 18th century, Puelche began to be used by the Jesuit missionaries 
(cf. Lozano, 1924, p. 297; Sanchez Labrador, 1936, pp. 28-30) for one of the main 
ethnic groups of the Pampa, south and southwest of Buenos Aires, particularly 
those Indians living around the Sierra del Tandil and the Sierra de la Ventana, 
the Rio Colorado, and beyond to the Rio Negro and toward the Andean Cordillera. 

These same Puelche were also known to the Spanish of Buenos Aires as Ser- 
rano or Montaneses, on account of their mountain habitat and meeting place 
(Lozano, 1924, p. 297 ; Strobel, 1924, p. 442 ; Sanchez Labrador, 1936, pp. 29-31; Car- 
diel, 1922, p. 62, and 1930, pp. 245-247), Cerrano (Querini, 1922, p. 64), and like- 
wise were called Peguenche by Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 30—a possible mis- 
print or author’s slip). Camafio (1937, p. 114) used the name Puelche for the 
Araucanian-speaking peoples of the Pampa; Falkner (1774, pp. 99-100), in a 
much wider and geographic sense, for all the eastern Pampa and Patagonia tribes, 
regardless of language—the Taluhet, Diuihet, Chechehet, and Tehuelhet—from 
Cérdoba and Buenos Aires to the Strait of Magellan; Poeppig (1835-36, 1: 464), 
for the Patagon east of the Andes from 37° S. lat. to the Strait. 

Other names by which the non-Araucanian, non-Tehuelchean Indiaus of the 
Pampa have been known are Pampa and Tehuelche of the North. Pampa was 
so used by Donavidas (1903, p. 365), Lozano (1875-74, yp. 431), Camafio (1937, p. 
114), Cox (1868, p. 165), Musters (1871, pp. 70, 304), La Vaulx (1897-98, p. 84), 
and Milanesio (1898, p. 38)—by the last four at least, to denote the Puelche 


134 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


proper. Pampa was also used for the Indians adjoining the Huarpe and extend- 
ing to the Atlantic coast (Ovalle, 1888, 12: 177-179) ; for some of those in the 
vicinity of Buenos Aires (Vasquez de Espinosa, 1942, p. 693; Querini, 1922, p. 
64; Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 29) ; and in a broader sense, to include all Pampa- 
dwelling tribes, regardless of language, by Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 29) and 
Dobrizhoffer (1822, 1:130), both of whom consider the name a geographic one, 
not an ethnic one. The name Tehuelche of the North was used for Puelche by 
Cox (1863, p. 165). 

There are still other complications (cf., e. g., Lehmann-Nitsche, 1923 a, p. 26), 
but the foregoing are the main ones. Lehmann-Nitsche (1923 a) endeavored to 
interpret and identify the units in Falkner’s elaborate system of tribal sub- 
division and nomenclature, but most of the system defies exact analysis, even 
if Lehmann-Nitsche’s Het language be accepted as proven. Falkner was cer- 
tainly mistaken as regards some units of his system ; but separating all fact from 
all error in it is a well-nigh hopeless task, at least in the present state of our 
knowledge. The Falkner problem, like a good many others connected with 
Pampean linguistics, culture, and nomenclature, will be solved, if ever, only by 
intensive field work in the culture and linguistics of surviving Indians in southern 
Argentina, with perhaps a little help from still hidden and unpublished archival 
material. 

About the same may be said of the Het family which Lehmann-Nitsche (1923 a) 
believed he had isolated, as a fourth linguistic family spoken on the Pampa in the 
18th century, in addition to Araucanian, Tehuelchean (Chon), and Puelchean. 
With great skill and originality, he drew upon both the literature, especially 
Falkner, and upon his own linguistic field work, to support his thesis, and was 
able to present a very respectable amount of evidence for it. Falkner’s use of 
the nomenclatural ending het, as meaning “people,” is certainly suggestive of the 
existence in his time on the Pampa of a language that was neither Araucanian 
nor Tehuelchean nor Puelchean. Nor could Lehmann-Nitsche identify from field 
studies or the sources a certain number of words in Falkner as belonging to any 
one of these three tongues; and so concluded, if the present writer interprets 
his procedure correctly, that they belonged to the Het family. 

But on the other hand, it seems strange that if there had been such a fourth 
family language in use at the time, nothing explicit should have been written 
about it in the numerous extant letters and reports of the missionaries who had 
direct personal contact with the Indians of the area or who had been in close 
touch with others who had had such contact. Camafio, whom Ffirlong (1988 a, 
p. 87) calls “el mas notable lingiiista” among the Jesuits of the Rio de La Plata 
region, makes no reference to such a fourth family, nor does Sanchez Labrador; 
nor does Hervas, who drew upon the knowledge of Jesuit missionaries acquainted 
with the region and with its peoples. On the contrary, they imply that there were 
three and only three family languages spoken in the area of the Pampa south and 
southwest of Buenos Aires down through Patagonia to the Strait. Then, too, 
the data from Falkner, arresting though they may be, are nevertheless rather 
meager, where there is question of positing a whole new linguistic family. And 
Falkner’s work, in other respects, is open to much justified criticism on the score 
of looseness. 

Querini (1922, pp. 64-65) recorded that the Pampa of the missionary foundation 
of the Reduccién de la Concepci6én, established in 1740 near the mouth of the 
Rio Salado about 100 miles southeast of Buenos Aires, and the Serrano of the 
Reducci6n de Nuestra Sefiora del Pilar, established in 1747 farther south near the 
present Mar del Plata, had each their own language. This might suggest two 


VoL. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 135 


non-Araucanian, non-Tehuelchean languages spoken in the region south of 
Buenos Aires. But Strobel, who had some practical knowledge of the languages 
concerned (Ffarlong C., 1938 a, pp. 88, 96, 98), stated (1924 (1740), p. 443): “... 
the language of the Serranos .. . differs from that of the Pampas, as German 
does from Flemish.” Healso had remarked just previously that the Serrano “are 
kin of our Pampas Indians, since ties of blood bind them together.” Strobel’s 
testimony suggests the interesting possibility—it cannot be called more—that the 
Het tongue, if it existed at all as a separate linguistic entity, may have been one of 
the two related languages referred to by Querini and Strobel. 

All in all, as the evidence stands at present, it would seem wiser to reserve 
judgment on the question of the Het family. We can only express the hope that 
the urgently needed field studies may still be made to clear up this as well as 
other pending problems of Pampean and Patagonian anthropology. 

Field work cannot help, but possibly existing archival material might help, 
in clearing up another problem of the area, namely, the relation of the Puelche 
to the Querandt. We may best approach this problem by starting with the better 
known and working toward the less well known. 

Our first definitive linguistic identification of the Puwelche comes from the short 
vocabulary thereof gathered and published by D’Orbigny. At the time of his 
8-month stay in the lower Rio Negro region in 1829, the Puelche, according to 
him, had their habitat between the Rio Negro and the Rio Colorado, between 39° 
and 41° S.lat., where they had resided “for more than a hundred years previously,” 
but especially on the banks of the Rio Colorado (D’Orbigny, 1835-47, 4: 221). 
This would place them in the area as far back as the first half of the 18th century. 
According to the Jesuit missionaries (cf. supra), in the middle 18th century this 
area was inhabited chiefly by non-Araucanian non-T'ehuelchean “Serrano” or 
“Montaneses,” known also at the time as “Puelche.” The identity of both habitat 
and name establishes a fair probability, at least, that the mid-18th century “Ser- 
rano” were Puelche, that is, Genakin proper. 

Further, according to the previously cited explicit testimony of Strobel, who 
from his first-hand contact with the peoples concerned and from his knowledge of 
their languages was certainly in a good position to know what he was talking 
about, the “Serrano” tongue was of the same linguistic family as that of the 
“Pampa” of Buenos Aires, that is, of the Indians living north of the Serrano and 
nearer to Buenos Aires. These “Pampa” would therefore have been Puelche- 
speaking. 

Finally, there are some fairly good reasons for thinking that these “Pampa” 
of Buenos Aires and vicinity were no other than the Indians earlier known as 
Querandt. 

As far back as the middle 18th century the “Pampa” of the Buenos Aires region 
were explicitly identified by Lozano (1924, p. 296), with the Querandi: 

“The nation of the Pampas was called at the time of the Conquest Querandies, 
and dominated all the region that Buenos Aires now occupies, extending their 
power toward the south and the west.” 

(Cf. also: Lozano [ca. 1745] 1878-74, p. 431; Hervds, 1800-05, 1:131.) This 
explicit report is corroborated by the less explicit statement of his contempo- 
raries and confréres, Querini and Camafio. According to Querini (1922, p. 64), 
who with Strobel founded the Reduccién de la Concepcién among the “Pampa” 
in 1740, these Indians were “nomadic people who from the first entrance of the 
Spaniards upon the conquest of these provinces gave them [the Spaniards] much 
trouble.” According to Camafio (1987, p. 114): “The Pampas have always been 


136 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 148 


known in Buenos Aires, and in Cordoba; they traded with the Spaniards; they 
worked as hired laborers on the Spaniards’ country estates.” 

In how far may we accept these statements as they stand? On the one hand, 
Lozano was, many years later, taken sharply to task by Camafio (1987, p. 114) for 
certain grave misconceptions regarding the ethnic relations of some of the 
Indians around Buenos Aires. On the other hand, as regards the point under 
discussion, Camafio is in agreement, as far as he goes, with Lozano. Then, too, 
Lozano, as Official historian of the Jesuit missionary province of Paraguay, in- 
cluding the Pampa, had at his command a wealth of archival material. Further, 
Lozano, Querini, and Camafio were all in personal touch with their missionary 
confréres as well as with the colonists of the area. Lozano and Querini had 
come from Europe to Buenos Aires and Cérdoba as early as 1717. Lozano was 
at Cordoba from 1717 to 1728 or 1724, and at Santa Fé until the end of 1727. 
Querini was at Cérdoba for some years from 1717 on and was then transferred 
to Buenos Aires, where we find him in 1729 (Ffrlong C., 1930, pp. 8-24; 1938, pp. 
87-88). In the encomienda list of the jurisdiction of Santa Fé, drawn up at 
Buenos Aires in 1678 by Gayoso (1897, pp. 176, 178-179), a number of the Santa 
Fé encomienda Indians of the time were designated as Querandi. At least some 
of these Querandi must have survived some years, until toward the end of the 
century or beyond—within a couple of decades of the 1710’s and 1720’s. Lozano 
and Querini, therefore, were reporting, not a nebulous tradition harking from 
the remote past and about a distant people, but one concerning an Indian group 
in close contact with the colonists, as is clear from Camajfio’s statement, and well 
known to and personally remembered by colonists still living in Lozano’s and 
Querini’s day. 

Then, too, the territory earlier ascribed to the Querandi was about the same 
as that occupied in the middle 18th century by the “Pampa.” (Cf. for Querandt 
Rui Diaz de Guzman, 1835-87, pp. 10-11; reprint in full of source material in 
Lothrop, 1932, pp. 197, 201-204, 213; detailed discussion of habitat by Canals Frau, 
1941; for “Pampa,” sources cited infra.) The Querandi were described by the 
early writers as a numerous people; Schmidel (1567, 2 verso, cf. 3 recto) reported 
a population of about 3,000, not including women and children, in 1535 around 
what was later the site of Buenos Aires. There is evidence of wars and pes- 
tilences in the area, but of none so severe as to lead to total extinction; in fact, 
Querandi certainly survived until 1678, as previously noted, and no doubt 
until at least near the end of the 17th century. They were driven from the 
gates of Buenos Aires in 1580, but in the 17th and far into the late 18th century 
there was abundant food on the Pampa in the form of feral horses and cattle as 
well as of wild game. The culture attributed to the Querandi agrees in prac- 
tically all diagnostic respects with that of the later “Pampa” of Buenos Aires. 
The Querandi were described as taller than the Germans but not so tall as the 
Tehuelche, a description which, so far as it goes, tallies with that given in 1772 
by Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 31) of the “Pampa.” Archeologically, there is 
indication in the Querandi-Pampa region of only minor cultural differences. 
(Cf. Archeology of the Pampa, present volume.) And the disappearance of the 
name Querandi from contemporary literature, after the last part of the 17th 
century has no particular importance for our problem. The name was one 
derived from Guarani (Outes, 1897, p. 27), not one the Querandi called them- 
selves; while, according to Vasquez de Espinosa (1942, p. 693), writing in 1628 
or 1629, the bolas-using Indians some 16 leagues from Buenos Aires—from the 
location, more probably Querandi—were those early called Pampa. (Cf. also 
Canals Frau, 1940-42, pp. 37-88, on “que” in caciques’ names in Garay’s reparti- 
miento of 1582 as possibly equivalent to Puelche ‘“‘ken.’’) 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 137 


In the foregoing chain of evidence—Puelche=Serrano=Pampa= 
Querandi—the second link is the strongest, the first and third less 
strong. While a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the evi- 
dence does appear to give some fairly good ground for the identifica- 
tion of the Querandi as Puelche-speaking. But in any case, there is 
no positive scientific ground whatever, as our evidence stands at pres- 
ent, for assuming that Querandi was a distinct linguistic family. 

Puelche territory——What territory and population we attribute 
to the Puelche prior to D’Orbigny’s time, 1829, will depend largely 
upon the view we take of the Het and the Querandi-“Pampa-” 
“Serrano”-Puelche problems. 


To his Het-speaking Indians of the Pampa of the mid-18th century, Lahmann- 
Nitsche, relying mostly on Falkner, ascribed chiefly the belt inland from and 
flanking the Atlantic coast from near the Rio Negro to well north of the Rio 
Colorado (1923 a, pp. 49, GO, map opp. p. 18). 

In the early 17th century, the Querandi territory appears to have included 
roughly about what we know today as the Humid Pampa. (Cf. Rui Diaz de 
Guzman, 1885-37 ; Lothrop, 1932 b; and especially Canais Frau, 1941 b, previously 
cited.) The “Pampa” of Buenos Aires occupied the region south and west 
of the city and its adjacent hacienda belt in the 17th and mid-18th centuries (cf. 
sources cited supra). In the middle 18th century, the “Serrano” lived south 
and southwest of the “Pampa,’ around the Sierra del Tandil and Sierra de la 
Ventana, and extended down as far as the Rio Negro and as far west as the 
foothills of the Andes (Cardiel, 1922, p. 68; Sanchez Labrador, 1936, pp. 29-80; 
cf. Lozano, 1924, p. 296), with a chief center on the Rio Neuquén or Rio Limay 
west of their junction. (Cf. Cardiel’s 1747 map in Ftirlong-Outes, 1940; Falkner, 
1774, pp. 26, 80, and map.) 

Our earliest definitive location of the Puelche is that given by D’Orbigny (cf. 
supra) for the year 1829, between the Rio Negro and the Rio Colorado, especially 
the latter region. Cox (1863, p. 165) located one band of Puelche at the mouth 
of the Rio Negro; other Puelche, mixed with Argentine Araucanians, in the 
west from the Rio Limay to the Rio Chubut. Musters (1871, p. 70; 1872, p. 194) 
in 1869-70 found Puelche between the Rios Negro and Chubut, while several 
clans were living on the plains north of the Negro; from these centers they 
raided up as far as the province of Santa Fé as well as to Cérdoba and Mendoza. 
Moreno (1879, p. 445) found at the mouth of the Santa Cruz River a camp made 
up mostly of Puelche. 

Thus a southerly drift of the Puelche occurred after the titne of D'Orbigny, a 
continuation, if our provisional identification of the Puelche with the Querandi 
be correct, of an earlier southerly drift that probably began with the founding 
of Buenos Aires in 1580 and with the establishment of regular lines of land 
communication between Buenos Aires and Santa Fé, Cordoba, and Mendoza. 

Puelche population.—Population statistics for the early Pwelche are none too 
definite. The Querandi were consistently described as a numerous people—more 
than 3,000 adult males in 1585, if we can accept Schmidel’s statement. By the 
middle of the 18th century, we get much lower numbers. Cardiel’s Serrano, 
probably Puelche, numbered in all only 100 to 200 men able to bear arms (1922, 
p. 63), but it is not clear whether this number includes all the then existing 
Puelche. Lozano (1924, p. 296) calculated the number of “Picanche” in the 
provinces of Tucuman and Cuyo, some of whom were probably Puelche, at 70 
families in all. SdAnchez Labrador (1936, p. 48) stated that the “Pampa” of 


138 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


Buenos Aires Province numbered about 400 families of an average of 5 persons 
each, while in the Cordoba and Tucumén districts there were only 50 families; 
but perhaps not all of these were Puelche. 

D'Orbigny (1835-47, 2: 268, 4:12) estimated the population of the Puelche 
in 1829 at 500 or 600 souls. Musters (1872, p. 205) believed that the number 
of Puelche south of the Rio Negro numbered “perhaps under six hundred.” In 
1915-16, 10 to 12 Puelche still survived in the lower Rio Negro region (Lehmann- 
Nitsche, 1924 a, p. 8). A few “Pampa.” by which are apparently meant Puelche, 
were living around 1925, according to Fasulo (1925, pp. 111, 114, 141), in Neuquén 
and the western part of La Pampa Territory; and a few Puelche, at least 10, are 
still living in Chubut Territory (Harrington, 1948, p. 3). 

Recurrent epidemics of smallpox, in the early (Lozano, 1924, p. 296; Falkner, 
1774, pp. 98-103), middle (Querini and Strobel, 1924, p. 444), and late (D’Orbigny, 
1885-47, 4:221) 18th century, largely accounted for the great reduction in 
Puelche population during the period. Lozano (ibid.) also mentions the part 
played by murders committed during drunken brawls; various writers, wars 
with Whites and Indians; D’Orbigny (ibid.), daily attacks by the Argentine 
Araucanians. No doubt there were other causes, but we lack specific information 


thereupon. 
HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION 


The post-Magellanic history of the Patagonian and Pampean 
hunters may be divided into three main periods: an early one, 1520 to 
circa 1725, from first White contact to the Araucanian invasion and 
the acquisition of the horse; a later one, circa 1725 to 1883, the date of 
the closing of the military campaigns which finally broke the power of 
the Indians of the Pampa and drove many or most of the survivors 
south and southwest of the Rio Negro; the recent one, 1883 to date, the 
era of decline. In the present paper we shall for convenience refer 
to the natives of these periods as the “early” (Tehuelche, Puelche, and 
so forth), the “later,” and the “recent,” respectively. 

Early period, 1520-ca. 1725.—First European contact with these 
southern hunters was that of Magellan (narratives of Pigafetta, 
Maximilianus Transylvanus, Albo, Herrera) in 1520 with the 
Tehuelche at Port San Julian on the Atlantic coast of Patagonia. 
During the following 150 years, eight other expeditions encountered 
the Z'ehuelche: 1526, Loaisa (narratives of Urdaneta, Oviedo) ; 1535, 
Alcazaba (Mori, Vehedor); 1558, Ladrillero; 1578, Drake (Cliffe, 
Cooke, John Drake, Famous Voyage, Fletcher, Nuno da Silva, World 
Encompassed ) ; 1580, 1584, Sarmiento (Sarmiento, Hernandez) ; 1586, 
Candish (Pretty); 1599, Noort; 1670, Narbrough, and Wood. 
Earliest contact with the Querandi, farther north, who may have 
been the ancestors of our modern Puelche (cf. supra), was Sebastian 
Cabot’s (Ramirez, Cabot, Oviedo) in 1526. (See details, Lothrop, 
1932, pp. 201-202.) 

Meanwhile, the Spaniards in Chile were in sporadic touch from 
the 1540’s on with the Pampean and Patagonian hunters nearer the 
Andes, whom they called “Puelche,” “Poya,” and “Patagon.” Such 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 139 


contact was: Economic, through trade and encomienda labor 
(Rosales, 1877-78, 1:469); military, through expeditions to and 
raids by “Puelche”,; missionary, a little by Rosales (one or two visits 
between 1650 and 1653), more by Mascardi, 1670-73, and his suc- 
cessors, 1703-14, at Lake Nahuel-Huapt. (Cf. details and sources 
assembled by Fonck, 1900; Latcham, 1929-30; and Vignati, 1939 a.) 

All these relationships, however, have netted us very meager an- 
thropological information, and for the peoples of the heart of the 
Pampa region practically none. 

Later period, ca. 1725-1883.—The beginnings of this period in the 
first half of the 18th century were marked by three very significant 
events: the deployment of the Avaucanians out over the Pampa, the 
acquisition of the horse by the Patagonian and Pampean tribes, and 
the founding of the Jesuit missions among them. 

The deployment of the Avaucanians, begun before the close of the 
17th century, gathered great headway shortly after the opening of 
the 18th, and carried them almost to the gates of Buenos Aires. In 
the same period, owing apparently in large measure to Araucanian 
influence, the Patagonian and Pampean tribes, previously foot In- 
dians, took to horsemanship, and also began to be profoundly in- 
fluenced by general Araucanian culture. 

As for the Tehuelche, after 1670, when seen as foot Indians by Nar- 
brough and Wood at Port San Julian, there is a long gap of 71 years 
in our sources. When next seen, in December 1741, near the eastern 
end of the Strait of Magellan by Bulkeley and Cummins, they were 
riding horses. With the horse came many other new cultural traits 
(Cooper, 1925, pp. 408-409). The chief explorers (with dates of con- 
tact) to whom we owe first-hand data on the Z’ehuelche until the close 
of the period are: 

Eighteenth century: Morris, 1742-48; Cardiel and Quiroga, 1746 
(Lozano, in de Angelis, 1836-37, vol. 1); Barne, 1753; Byron, 1764; 
Wallis, Carteret, 1766; Duclos-Guyot, 1766 (in Pernety, 1769, vol. 2; 
660-662) ; Bougainville, 1766, 1767; Juan de la Piedra, 1779; Viedma, 
1780-83; Vargas Ponce, 1785; Tafor, Pineda, Pefia, 1789; Coleman, 
1793 (%). 

Nineteenth century: Mufiiz, ca. 1826; D’Orbigny, 1829; Fitz-Roy, 
1833; Coan, 1833; Wilkes, Hales, 1839; Gardiner, 1842; Bourne, 1849 ; 
Cox, 1862-63; Musters, 1869-70; Berg, 1874; Moreno, 1874, 1876-77 ; 
Beerbohm, 1877; Lista, 1878-80; Roncagli, 1882; Spegazzini, ca. 1884. 

The list is long, but the data are relatively scant. 

The missions of the Jesuits to the peoples of the Pampa south of 
Buenos Aires, 1740 to 1753, gave us a considerable volume of an- 
thropological information on the mixed Puelche and Araucanian- 
speaking peoples of the Pampa proper and, to a lesser extent, on the 
Patagonians. In the writings of Fathers Dobrizhoffer, Lozano, 


140 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bux. 143 


Cardiel, Quiroga, Strobel, Camafio, Rején, Garcia, Querini, and par- 
ticularly Falkner and Sanchez Labrador, we get for the first time an 
insight into the cultural and linguistic lay of the Pampean area and 
into its relations with the Patagonian and Araucanian. (Most of 
cultural data are given in Sénchez Labrador, 1936; Falkner, 1774; 
Pennant, 1788; and Firlong Cardiff, 1938 a). 

Some very valuable anthropological information also was contrib- 
uted by the 19th-century Protestant missionaries: Coan, 1833-34; 
Gardiner, 1842, 1845; Schmid and Hunziker, 1859-63. (For details, 
cf.: Gardiner, 1852; Marsh and Stirling, 1874; Coan, 1880; Outes, 
1926 b, 1928 c.) 

The period came to an end with the military campaigns under Gen- 
erals Julia Roca and Conrado Villegas in 1879-83, which completely 
defeated and disorganized the Indian confederates, cleared the Pampa 
region almost entirely of its Indian inhabitants, and drove most of the 
survivors beyond the Rio Negro and into Neuquén. 

Recent period, 1883 to date.—Settlers, following the frontier, 
have taken up most of the country from the northern limit of the 
Pampa to the Strait of Magellan. The surviving Indians are found 
scattered here and there in small groups, mostly south of the Rio 
Negro. The process of Europeanization has been in full swing; the 
native culture has largely been replaced. Relatively very little field 
work has been done among the survivors during the last 60 years. 
The Salesian missionaries, Fathers Milanesio (1898, 1917) and Bor- 
gatello (1924), have given us some new light direct from the toldos of 
the natives. A great deal of attention has been devoted by a corps of 
Argentine scholars—Canals Frau, Furlong C., Lehmann-Nitsche, 
Outes, Serrano, Vignati, and others—and by Fonck and Latcham 
of Chile, to critical surveys and interpretations of published and 
manuscript data, a work still in active progress. 

Selected annotated lists of the more important of our very numer- 
ous first-hand sources on the culture of the Tehuelche, Poya, and 
Puelche will be given infra under Culture at the beginning of the 
sections on the culture of the respective three tribes. 

There are few more urgent tasks facing anthropological science 
than thorough studies, as thorough as possible under the circumstances 
of native cultural disintegration, of the surviving Zehuelche and 
Puelche, studies made directly in the field, from information that 
may probably still be gotten from older members of the fast-dwin- 
dling remnants of these once numerous and powerful tribes. 


CULTURE 


Our cultural data are fullest and most clearly identified for the 
Tehuelche, whose culture will be treated first. Next will follow a 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 141 


short account of the Poya. Finally, we shall deal with the culture of 
the Puelche. 

In the case of the Puelche, were we to confine ourselves to those 
data which are unmistakably and beyond all possibility of doubt at- 
tributable to people speaking the Puelche language, we should have 
to rely almost exclusively on D’Orbigny’s extremely brief account. 
For reasons previously given, we seem to be on fairly safe ground in 
concluding that the Puelche of D’Orbigny’s day were the linguistic 
descendants of Sinchez Labrador’s “Puelche” (“Pampa,” “Serrano”) 
six or seven decades earlier. If not the linguistic descendants, they 
were almost certainly the cultural ones. We shall use, therefore, the 
data from Sanchez Labrador, where we can be sure he is speaking of 
cultural phenomena peculiar to his and our Puelche or shared by them 
with the contemporary Tehuelche and/or Argentine Araucanians. 

For those who hold with Lehmann-Nitsche to the former existence 
of a Het family on the Pampa, what we shall describe as Puelche cul- 
ture would connote, so far as the description rests on data from San- 
chez Labrador, Het culture or Het-Puelche culture. 

Less use can be made of Falkner than of Sanchez Labrador, as the 
former gives fewer details and discriminates less between Araucanian, 
Tehuelche, and Puelche cultural features. 


TEHUELCHE CULTURE 


On Tehuelche culture the very early sources prior to 1670 yield 
only the most meager information, and this almost exclusively regard- 
ing the more obvious elements of material culture. About the best 
of these early sources, such as they are, are Pigafetta (1906) and 
Fletcher (1854). 

The most important later sources are Viedma (1837 b) and Musters 
(1871, 1872). 

Next in importance to these last three publications may be listed: 
Borgatello (1924), Bourne (1853), Coan (1880), Moreno (1879), 
Muniz (1917), and D’Orbigny (1835-47). Some good material is also 
found scattered through the works of: Cox (1863), Falkner (1774), 
Fitz-Roy (1839, dependent largely on Falkner), Gardiner (1852), 
Lista (1879 a, 1879 b), Pennant (1788, data derived from Falkner in 
England), Reiher (1920), Roncagli (1884), Sanchez Labrador (1986), 
and Spegazzini (1884). On the linguistic relations of the Z'ehuelche, 
Lehmann-Nitsche (1918) is basic, while Cardiel (1938) and Camaiio 
(1937) were important pioneer contributors. 

Where it is possible or advisable to distinguish between the culture 
of the foot Tehuelche before 1670 and that of the horse-using T'ehuelche 
after 1741, in the following account of 7’ehuwelche culture the terms 
“early” and “later” will be used respectively. 


142 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Food.—The chief foods of the 7ehuelche were guanaco and ostrich 
meat, the latter being generally preferred as less lean. Armadillos, 
skunks, tuco tucos (Ctenomys sp.), and huemuls were also eaten (Ron- 
cagli, 1884, p. 771; Ibar Sierra, 1879, p. 54), but dogs were not (Fitz- 
Roy, 1839, 2:150). Grease, fat, and marrow were delicacies, as were 
also ostricheggs. The later Z’ehuelche, ordinarily at least, avoided fish 
(Coan, 1880, p. 60; D’Orbigny, 1835-47, 2: 100; 4:101; Bourne, 1853, 
p. 147; Musters, 1871, p. 201; Ibar Sierra, 1879, pp. 54-55; Borgatello, 
1924, p. 16), not, apparently, from magico-religious motives; but near 
the coast the early Z’ehwelche consumed fish and mollusks (Oviedo, 
1851-55, 2: 40, 48, 45), the later Zehuwelche some shellfish (Gervaise, in 
Dumont d’Urville, 1842, 1: 278). 

While meat was the basic diet, considerable quantities and varieties 
of plant food were eaten. By the early Tehuelche certain roots, “re- 
sembling parsnips,” were eaten raw or cooked, and made into flour 
(Pigafetta, 1906, 1: 50, 60, 78; Oviedo, 1851-55, 2: 40, 48, 45) ; by the 
later Tehuelche, roots, roasted and made into flour; “wild potatoes,” 
dug up from underground and eaten raw or cooked; seeds, “like mus- 
tard,” ground between two stones; “‘a kind of spinach” and a few other 
plants; “wild dandelions”; barberries, wild currants, strawberries, 
pifoes (Araucaria sp.), apples (Juan de la Piedra [1779], 1837, 5:77; 
Coan, 1880, p. 119; Dumont d’Urville, 1842; 1: 154-155, 279; Schmid, 
1912, p. 24, with native names of six or seven roots and plants eaten ; 
Musters, 1872, p. 199; Spegazzini, 1884, p. 238; Vignati, 1936, p. 598: 
cf. Spegazzini, 1884, p. 238 ; Outes, 1905, p. 253; and especially Vignati, 
1936, p. 598, and 1941, for botanical identifications). The later 7e- 
huelche chewed the gum which exuded from the incense bush (Musters, 
1872, p. 199; Schmid, 1912, p. 28; Spears, 1895, p. 159: cf. details of 
method of chewing in Hudson, 1926, pp. 125-126), as a pastime and 
dental cleanser. According to Vignati (1936, p. 602), some of them 
chewed the leaves of Chuquiraga avellanedae “como excitante 
nervioso.” 

The Zehuelche practiced no agriculture at all, and the early 
Tehuelche had no domesticated animals except the dog. They seem 
to have had at least two kinds of native dog, a larger long-haired one 
and a smaller one somewhat resembling the Scotch terrier (Cabrera, A., 
1934, pp. 88-91; Spegazzini, 1884, pp. 232-233; Allen, 1920, pp. 476- 
478) ; a third kind, resembling the greyhound, was probably a cross 
between the Spanish galgo and the first of the above two (Cabrera, 
A., 1934, pp. 88-91). The smaller dogs were used mostly as pets, the 
larger ones in hunting. 

Horses.—The horse was introduced after 1670, and before 1741, 
probably some time around 1725, from the Argentine Araucanians, 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 143 


or perhaps, as D’Orbigny appears to have believed (1835-47, 2: 100), 
from the Puelche. Its introduction was accompanied and followed 
by very great changes in general Z’ehuelche culture (Cooper, 1925, pp. 
408-409, details), including the addition of horse meat to the diet. 

Hunting.—The early 7ehuelche used tame young guanacos as 
decoys in hunting guanacos (Pigafetta, 1906, 1:52; Mori, [1535], 1889, 
p. 820), and rhea plumage as head and body camouflage to approach 
within killing distance of rheas. Fletcher (1854, pp. 41-42) re- 
ported the use of nets in rhea hunting. Later Tehuelche hunters com- 
monly scattered, circled, and closed in to hunt the guanaco and the 
rhea (pl. 40, top) ; in the drive, pumas were often caught in the circle 
and killed (pl. 40, bottom). The dogs were of great aid in hunting. 
Our sources mention no snares or deadfalls as used for any animals. 
(For details on hunting, cf. Schmid, 1860, pp. 363-364, 366, and Outes, 
1928 d.) 

Food preparation and storage.—Jerked guanaco meat, dried or 
smoked and pounded, was mixed with rhea or other grease to make 
pemmican, which was stored for use in winter or in stormy weather 
(Coan, 1880, p. 84). Fat, marrow, and internal organs of guanaco, 
such as livers, lungs, kidneys, and hearts, were commonly eaten raw; 
otherwise food was roasted or baked—later boiled in iron pots. Meat 
was often eaten only slightly roasted. Heated stones were put in split 
rhea, young guanaco, armadillo, and skunk carcasses, and the car- 
casses were then sewn up and placed on the fire to roast (Coan, 1880, 
p. 111; Moreno, 1879, p. 254). One end of the rhea egg was punc- 
tured, a little of the white taken out, and the egg set vertically on a 
slow fire to cook (Moreno, 1879, p. 359). Salt was mixed with blood, 
or used for seasoning meat. The blood of freshly killed guanaco was 
drunk raw (Coan, 1880, p. 119; Bourne, 1853, p. 71). A nonfermented 
drink was made of barberry juice. Maté, of later introduction, was 
very popular. 

As food receptacles and eating utensils were used: Valves of 
mollusks as drinking cups, and, in one early instance (Oviedo, 1851-55, 
2:41) “skin,” as among the Ona (p. 118) ; in later times, wooden plates 
and platters, bladders as water containers, wooden or horn spoons, and 
armadillo shells as broth platters. There were no stated mealtimes. 
The Tehuelche avoided gluttonous eating. 


CAMPS AND SHELTERS 


Permanent villages were lacking. Some use was made of caves 
as dwellings in parts of prehistoric Patagonia, perhaps by Tehuelche. 
A skin windbreak very like the modern Ona one (p. 110) was ap- 
parently used by some of the early 7’ehuelche (Oviedo, 1851-55, 2: 41, 
and lam. 1, fig. 1; cf. Ladrillero, 1880, p. 499, and Cooper, 1925, pp. 


144 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


414-418), but the skin tent with the two compartments as described by 
Maximilianus Transylvanus (1523, p. Av) suggests more the typical 
Tehuelche toldo of later times. This typical toldo (pl. 87, bottom; pl. 
38, bottom, right) was made of three or more rows of stakes, diminish- 
ing in height from front to rear, and covered with guanaco skins sewn 
together and smeared with a mixture of grease and red paint. The 
inmost section was divided by skin screens into compartments, each 
married couple having their own compartment. The open side, facing 
east (to leeward), was sometimes, in winter or in bad weather, nearly 
closed with other skins. The fire was made near the center of the open 
side, a little within. Skins laid on the ground were used to sleep upon; 
covers were also of skins The toldo, according to Spegazzini (1884, 
p-. 230) usually housed a man and his entire family, or an extended 
family consisting of grandparents, children, and grandchildren, with 
their wives and offspring; while sometimes each of a man’s wives and 
sons had a separate toldo. Apart from special gatherings, camps did 
not contain more than about 20 toldos; more commonly they con- 
tained fewer. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Clothing.—The early Zehwelche men wore a pubic covering, 
later superseded by the chirip4, and some at least tied up the penis by 
the prepuce to their belt. (Ladrillero, 1880, p. 498; cf. Pigafetta, 
1906, 1:60; Noort, 1905, p. 191.) The early skin moccasinlike foot- 
wear, with hay stuffing, gave place among the later Tehuwelche to the 
bota de potro (fig. 18, ¢) made from the dehaired skin of a horse’s 
hock or of the leg of a large puma (Lehmann-Nitsche, 1916 b, 1918, 
1935). In one post-Columbian burial in Chubut Territory were found 
two exceptional types of clothing, a piece of shell-disk spangled mantle 
and a sandal (Vignati, 1930, pp. 12-19, cf. citations, pp. 20-32, of 
sources on mantles and footwear). Guanaco-skin overshoes were 
sometimes worn (Musters, 1872, p. 196). Men’s other garments were 
(pl. 89, top): A mantle of sewn skins of young or unborn guanaco, 
or of skunk, fox, or wildcat (Viedma, 1837 b, p. 68; Muniz, 1917, p. 214; 
Musters, 1872, p. 196), reaching to or below the knee, secured by a belt, 
painted with polychrome geometric designs (fig. 19; cf. Lothrop, 
1929), ordinarily worn with the hair inside, but sometimes in hot 
weather with the hair outside (Coan, 1880, p. 75); a woven woolen 
fillet; sometimes a poncho. The women’s dress (pl. 39, to) consisted 
of: An apron pubic covering (cf. Vignati, 1931 e) ; an undergarment 
reaching from the armpits to the knees; a mantle like the men’s, but 
fastened at the breast or shoulder; the bota de potro, when on horse- 
back; sometimes a flattish straw hat. 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 145 


FigURE 18.—Tehuelche arms and instruments. a, Saddle and stirrup; b, bridle; ec, girth; 
d, spurs; e, boots with spurs; f, adz; g, scraper; h, musical bow; i, ostrich bolas; 
j, guanaco bolas; k, bola perdida; 1, pipe. (After Musters, 1871, opposite p. 166.) 


583486—46——_10 


146 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


Ornaments.—Adornment may be summed up as follows: Head de- 
formation, perhaps not intentional. Pegs of wood or bone, 3 to 4 
inches (7.5 to 10 cm.) long, in the perforated nasal septum and lower 
lip (single early report, Drake expedition, 1578, in Fletcher, 1854, p. 
50; cf. Poya culture, infra, and archeological data in Lehmann-Nitsche. 
1924). Hair: Early, men tied hair ends up with fillet, and wore 
tonsure; women, later, coiffure in two braids, also false hair (King, 
1839, 1:18; Beerbohm, 1879, pp. 90-91); brush comb (cf. illustr., 
Outes and Bruch, 1910, p. 122) ; facial and bodily depilation with shells. 
Tattooing by puncture method, on forearm (Musters, 1872, p. 197) ; 
formerly in other parts. Smearing body and face with grease; earlier, 
also with white earth (Ladrillero, 1880, p. 498). Painting: Body and 
face, various colors—white, black, red, yellow. Face painting with 
black on the march or on cold days to protect skin (Viedma, 1837 b, 
p. 81). Personal adornments (pl. 39, top): Men—earrings, objects 
of silver, brass—earlier, bone, stone, and shell necklaces, and feathers; 
women—brooches, including topu type, earrings (often of Araucanian 
quadrangular or circular plate type), bracelets, finger rings, neck- 
laces, etc., of hammered silver—earlier, necklaces like men’s. 


TRANSPORTATION 


The 7 ehuelche had no dugouts or canoes, so far as ever observed, al- 
though they may possibly have had means of ferrying across the 
Strait of Magellan to the Ona country (cf. supra Introduction). They 
did use, at least the later Zehuelche, a crude type of coracle or bull boat, 
made of hides for ferrying themselves or their impedimenta across 
rivers (Bourne, 1853, pp. 133-134; Moreno, 1879, pp. 256-257). 

With the horse (see supra) came saddles, stirrups, including the toe- 
stirrup (fig. 18, a-d; Viedma, 1837 b, p. 69; Coan, 1880, p. 68), wooden 
bits, and double-goad spurs (Musters, 1871, pp. 167-169, cuts). The 
women sometimes rode astride (Macdouall, 1833, p. 79), but usually 
seated high on the horse’s back, with their feet resting on itsneck. The 
Tehuelche, when hunting over rocky terrain, often put hide shoes on 
their horses as a hoof protection (Musters, 1871, p. 180). 

At the time of Viedma’s sojourn at Port San Julian in 1780-83, one 
band of Tehuelche south of the Rio Santa Cruz, who had lost nearly all 
their horses as the result of a raid by the Port San Julian band, were 
using dogs to carry their toldos (Viedma, 1837 b, p. 68)—the only re- 
corded instance of Zehuelche use of dogs as pack animals. 


MANUFACTURES 


Weaving.—No basketry is reported. Fillets were woven, but we 
have no details on the technique. The later 7ehwelche used an up- 
right loom for weaving guanaco-wool blankets (Coan, 1880, pp. 193- 
194). 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 147 


fmm uy EL 


ww 
Jel 
com 


% 
poneaeemerenes 
frp 


il 


man 


() {\ 
> PS Oo P< 


— 
PAZ Dp ere f G . 
r 4 at Ms 
; RR ons “e Bs : = ~ “al _ 
‘'s if %, (Paha at Wj see 
BYLYK RR KS a A ‘ 


an tenis 


mn ini 
Vi wii Bea ne my 
oo a 


a 
i 2 iu it a 
7. 7 4 a mit 


SSS 
ice: Soa ee Pi sii a 


HEP 


IM Red Ey rellow WY Green 


OM inti 


FIGURE 19. satiate from Tehuelche guanaco robe. a, three-border pattern; b, corner; 
ce, one-border pattern; d, centers; e, f, one-border patterns; g, h, corner patterns; 
i, j, three-border patterns. (After Lothrop, 1929, figs. 8 and 9.) 


148 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLL. 143 


Pottery.—The early 7’ehuelche used very simple and crude pottery 
(Pigafetta, 1906, 1:50), and pottery occurs archeologically far down 
the Atlantic coast and inland in 7ehuelche territory (present volume, 
p. 20; Lothrop, 1982 b, pp. 194-196) ; but again there is no informa- 
tion on process of manufacture. Fitz-Roy (1839, 2: 172) reported pot- 
tery absent from the Tehuelche of his day. 

Miscellaneous.—The Jehuelche did excellent lasso plaiting and 
saddlery work, and, after the early 19th century, very creditable silver- 
smithing (Muiiz, 1917, p. 214; Bourne, 1853, p. 97, cf. 96). 

Skin dressing.—In dressing skins, the women first pegged them 
down to sun-dry them, then scraped them with flint, agate, obsidian, 
or glass scrapers. The scrapers (fig. 18, 7) are hafted by lashing the 
blade to a bent split sapling (cf. illustr., Outes and Bruch, 1910, p. 121) 
or by setting it transversely in a block of wood. The skins were next 
smeared with grease and liver, were kneaded into a pulp, and were 
softened by hand until quite pliable. A soft-grained stone was also 
used for scouring. In sewing, an eyeless needle or awl, later made of 
an iron nail, and thread of guanaco or rhea sinew were used. (On 
Tehuelche skin dressing, cf.: Lothrop, 1929; Bourne, 1853, pp. 98-99 ; 
Guinnard, 1864, pp. 68-69; Roncagli, 1884, p. 778; Hatcher, 1903, p. 
269. Our most detailed account is Kermes, 1893, pp. 209-210, for 
“Pampa” Indians apparently of Rio Negro, probably including Z’eh- 
uelche, he records dehairing with ashes.) 

Skin bags were made for holding water (Coan, 1880, p. 53; Gardiner 
and Hunt, 1852, p. 89; Bourne, 1853, p. 82), paints, etc. Knives were 
earlier made of stone, and such were still used in the middle 18th cen- 
tury (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 75). A small hand-adz was used in 
woodworking (fig. 18, 7; cf. Musters, 1871, pp. 168, 170). 

Weapons.—The chief hunting and fighting weapon of the early 
Tehuelche was the bow and arrow, which finally went out of use in the 
first half of the 19th century (Morrell, 1832, p. 84; Fitz-Roy, 1839, 
2:149). The bows are described both as long and as short, with 
guanaco sinew string ; arrows, with cane shafts, heads of stone or bone, 
and three feathers (Oviedo, 1851-55, 2: 40), carried originally in the 
hair, fillet headdress, or belt instead of a quiver. D’Orbigny (1935-47, 
2:116-117) reported bows 3 feet (90 cm.) long, some use of skin 
quivers, and slings. The bolas, of the one-, two-, and three-balled 
types (fig. 18, 2, 7, 4), began to replace the bow and arrow at the time 
of the adoption of the horse. The lasso, too, was of later introduction. 

The lance, bola perdida, European weapons, and armor are discussed 
below, pp. 153-154. 

Fire making.—Ordinarily fire was made by the drill method. Fire 
making by percussion is recorded by two observers, Coan (1880, p. 50) 
with two pebbles and Spegazzini (1884, p. 232) with two flints—the 
former case possibly due to immigrant Ona influence (cf. supra). 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 149 


Fitz-Roy (1839, 2:172) reported that the Alacaluf traded pieces of 
iron pyrites, used for striking fire, to the 7’ehuelche. 


SOCIAL LIFE 


Marriage and the family.—Direct information is available only 
for the later Zehuelche,; our chief information on the domestic culture 
of the later Z’ehwelche comes from Sanchez Labrador, Viedma, Fitz- 
Roy, Musters, and Spegazzini. 

Premarital chastity was seemingly rather strictly observed by girls. 
They were free to choose their husbands. Fitz-Roy (1839, 2: 152) re- 
ported that sometimes girls were betrothed while very young [child 
betrothal?]. Boys married around the age of 20; girls from 15 to 18 or 
so. The groom gave presents to the bride’s father or parents; these 
presents were in some measure at least a bride-price; the father or 
parents of the bride also gave presents of equal value, which in case 
of later separation were the property of the bride (Musters, 1871, pp. 
177-178; 1872, p. 201). The girl was brought by her father or the 
groom to the latter’s toldo, where a wedding feast was given, including 
mares’ meat. It was unlucky for any of the offal or meat of the 
mares to be eaten by the dogs. The shaman sang and gave advice at 
weddings. Residence was generally patrilocal. According to Viedma 
(1887 b, p. 74), a “cacique” always married the daughter or sister of 
another cacique. 

Marriage was mostly monogamous. Some men, however, had two 
wives; rarely three in the later 19th century, but earlier some had 
“four, five, or even more” (Fitz-Roy, 1839, 2:152), and even five to 
eight (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 73). No polyandry is reported 
(however, see Poya, p. 160) ; nor is either the sororate or levirate. 

Wives were generally well-treated as well as loved. Wife beating 
was very rare. Adultery was not uncommon; in case of unfaithful- 
ness on the part of a wife, her paramour suffered the penalty, not she 
(Viedma, 1837 b, p. 74). Divorce was uncommon, being usually 
sought by the wife. A man was not allowed to look toward his father- 
in-law when in conversation with him (Musters, 1871, p. 184). The 
aged were respected and well cared for, 

Etiquette——Proper names were not mentioned (Bourne, 1853, p. 
150). Hospitality was the rule, to traveling strangers as well as to 
friends. Certain formalities were observed when two parties ap- 
proached and came together, including answers to the host’s questions 
before delivering a message (Musters, 1871, pp. 184-185). The rela- 
tive absence of formalities on entering a tent (Moreno, 1879, p. 226) 
contrasted with Araucanian estiquette in this regard. 

Cleanliness of body was considered desirable, and bathing in the 
river was common; there was also a certain ideal of toldo cleanliness; 


150 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


but in neither case did practice measure up to ideal, to judge from the 
abundance of body vermin and from descriptions of toldos. Body 
lice were commonly eaten. 


POLITICAL LIFE 


Our best source on political life is Viedma. Musters, D’Orbigny, 
and Borgatello rank next in order as sources. 

There were no sibs, no secret or other societies, and no ruling caste 
or marked social stratification. 

The band.—The basic 7’ehuelche economico-political unit was the 
band, each with its own headman. There was no peace-time para- 
mount chief of all the Zehwelche, or of either of the two great di- 
visions, northern and southern. According to Fitz-Roy (1839, 2: 181), 
the Z’ehuelche of his time were divided into four groups or bands of 
about 400 adults each, each band under its own headman. D’Orbigny, 
however, who made his observations in 1829 just 4 years prior to 
Fitz-Roy’s visit, states that the Tehuelche were divided into a great 
number of bands (1839, 2: 97-98)—a statement that is in closer agree- 
ment with most of our earlier and more recent sources. 

To judge from our scattered data, these bands were usually, though 
not always, small, In 1749 there came to Pilar mission three 7 ehuelche 
caciques with 80 toldos, each toldo sheltering 3 or 4 families, and the 
families averaging 5 persons each (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 119)— 
thus, about 400-530 souls on the average per cacique. One band met 
by the Malaspina expedition in 1789 had 60 members in all (Lehmann- 
Nitsche, 1914, p. 8), Other estimates are: At most 30 to 40 families 
per band (D’Orbigny, 1935-47, 2:97); 5 to 30 families (Spegazzini, 
1884, p. 229); never more than 20 toldos found in one camp (Bor- 
gatello, 1924, p. 20); and one large band, Mulato’s, with over 500 
persons (ibid., p. 134). 

Some insight into the composition and functions of the band may 
be derived from Fitz-Roy, D’Orbigny, and later writers. Each of 
Fitz-Roy’s four bands had its own cacique or headman, and each 
claimed “a separate though ill-defined territory” as its exclusive hunt- 
ing ground; at times all four bands would foregather in one place; en- 
croachment by members of one band on the hunting ground of another 
led to battles (Fitz-Roy, 1839, 2:131). Each tolderfa had its own ter- 
ritory, two or three of them on the banks of the Rio Negro (D’Orbigny, 
1835-47, 2:98). Bands were made up of related or friendly families 
(Spegazzini, 1884, pp. 228-229). Each small band was composed of 
relatives and friends; each claimed exclusive hunting rights on its 
own territory, trespass being cause for war, and the most frequent 
cause (Borgatello, 1924, pp. 19-20). 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 151 


Much clearer insight into the composition and functions of the 
band comes from Viedma. Each cacique or headman had “a deter- 
mined territory under his jurisdiction, no Indian of his group can 
enter the territory of another headman without seeking the permis- 
sion of the latter.” Trespass without such permission was one of 
the chief causes of war. An Indian of one band wishing to pass 
through or tarry in the territory of another band, had to make three 
smoke signals and await the answering signals before entering such 
territory. If consent was not given by the cacique, he was com- 
manded to depart forthwith. Trespass without such formality was 
interpreted as evidence of bad faith, and resort was had to arms 
(Viedma, 1837 b, p. 73). 

Some idea of the size of band territories is given by Viedma. On 
the Atlantic coast between Puerto de Santa Elena in 40° S. latitude 
and Cabo Virgenes at the eastern end of the Strait of Magellan near 
52° S. latitude, in all a distance as the crow flies of about 850 miles, 
there were in 1780-83, according to Viedma (1837 b, pp. 65-68), six 
bands with their respective headmen. ‘The territory of the northern- 
most of these extended from Puerto de Santa Elena to Puerto de San 
Gregorio in 45°4’ S. latitude, about 350 miles north to south; the other 
five averaged about 100 miles of coast each. How far these territories 
extended inland Viedma does not explicitly state, but presumably well 
back toward, or perhaps even to, the foothills of the Andes. 

The following passage, highly significant for the unique insight it 
gives into band composition and family land tenure, needs to be 
quoted in its entirety. 

The cacique is under obligation to protect and aid the Indians of his juris- 
diction and territory in their necessities. In this respect he is the more esteemed, 
has a greater following among them, and is preferred as a cacique, who is more 
ready to aid them, more liberal, and more intelligent in the chase. For if he 
lacks these qualifications, they go off and seek another cacique who does possess 
them, leaving him [their previous headman] alone with his relatives, and ex- 
posed to continual invasions from neighbors: although that family does not 
thereby lose its right to the [its] territory [italics ours], and in the course of 
time there will ordinarily be some other person who will reestablish the tolderia 
which his father, grandfather, or brother has lost through misfortune or mis- 
conduct. When the cacique grows old and for lack of vigor cannot fulfill the 
obligations of his office, he relinquishes the command to his successor. [Viedma, 
1837 b, p. 74.] 

A tolderia may be composed of four, five, or more families, each 
family consisting of a man, his wife and children, and his relatives; 
this man, who is head or chief of the family, is a sort of subaltern 
cacique, a subaltern of the cacique who has general charge of everyone 
and who has right of ownership of the territory (Viedma, 1837 b, 
p. 76). 


£52 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


The foregoing citations speak for themselves. Attention may 
merely be called in passing to three points, particularly in the pas- 
sages from Viedma—the fluidity of band membership, the kinship 
nucleus of the band, and the system of family hunting grounds very 
similar to that prevalent among the linguistically related Chon-speak- 
ing peoples, the Ona. (Cf. also on this third point, Krickeberg, 1934, 
pp. 331-332). 

The headman’s chief function in peacetime, in addition to the func- 
tions mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, was to harangue the 
band each morning and voice the day’s agenda as regarded hunting 
and traveling. (For a text example of such a hunting exhortation, 
see Hunziker, 1928a.) He had practically no authority to issue 
orders; nobody would have obeyed him. Nor did he act as authori- 
tative judge in disputes. The average 7'ehuelche’s attitude appears 
to have been that of Musters’ Indian, Cuastro, who with his dying 
breath shouted out: “I die as I have lived—no cacique orders me” 
(Musters, 1871, pp. 80-81, 184). The headmanship was usually, but 
not always, hereditary, from father to son. 

Disputes.—There was no set judicial procedure. Conflicts be- 
tween men of the band were commonly settled by fist fights, or else 
with the bolas, the disputants in the latter case being corseleted and 
helmeted; between women, by tongue lashings, hair pulling, and club- 
bing (Viedma, 1837 b, p. 81) ; Mufiiz, 1917, pp. 212-213) ; often before 
an interested gathering of their fellow tribesmen and tribeswomen, 
who abstained from interfering and greatly enjoyed the spectacle, 
so Viedma (1887 b, p. 81) informs us. 

Bloody feuds between bands, occasioned by trespass, horse or wom- 
an stealing, or other causes, were common. The 7ehuelche were far 
from being pacifists, but rather the contrary. The various bands 
would sometimes unite, in loose temporary or more lasting confedera- 
tions, against common enemies—the Argentine Araucanians, the 
Puelche, or the Whites. The leaders had considerable influence, de- 
pending, it would seem, a great deal upon their abilities and 
personalities. 


WARFARE 


The chief fighting weapons of the later Tehue/che (on the warlike 
pursuits, and for that matter on the whole political culture of the 
early Zehuelche, we have practically no information) were the long 
lance and the bolas, especially the bola perdida, to which were added, 
when obtainable, metal swords and knives of Spanish provenance, 
and guns and pistols. D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2:117) mentions a 
“dard” [javelin? for hunting?], and Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 45) 
states that when an enemy could not be reached with the lance as held 
it was sometimes thrown at him. Heavy coats of multiple hide and 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 153 


helmets of bullhide were worn in battle. Fitz-Roy (1839, 2: 147) re- 
ports use of a shield of hides sewn together. Fighting was unorgan- 
ized, of the individualistic pattern, with much use of surprise and 
ambush. 

Captives were taken, especially women and children. ‘There was 
no torture of prisoners. Cannibalism—avengeful, gastronomic, mag- 
ical, or other—was absent. 

Mercy killing occurred in the form of premature interment, in some 
cases where hope of recovery had been given up (Sanchez Labrador, 
1936, pp. 56-57). The useless were sometimes abandoned when the 
band had to be on the move (D’Orbigny, 1935-47, 2: 190). 


ECONOMIC CULTURE 


Ownership.—On land tenure, see supra under Political Life. 
Ownership of personal property by male and female children, from 
infancy, was distinctly recognized (Musters, 1871, p. 177). Currency 
was absent. Barter was common, with other Indian groups and with 
Whites. Barter by exchange of presents, or something very much 
like it, occurred (Musters, 1871, pp. 155-156, 242-243). The property 
of a person was usually buried with him or burned at his death, so 
there was not much, if any, acquisition of property by inheritance. 
The Z'ehuelche are reported to have been very honest among themselves. 
The killers of guanacos and ostriches had certain prior rights to speci- 
fied parts thereof, but game food was customarily shared generously 
with others. 

Labor.—A woman who made a skin mantle for a bachelor might 
expect some compensation (Musters, 1871, p. 171). Captives some- 
times were kept in sort of drudge slavery (Fitz-Roy, 1839, 2: 153; 
Spegazzini, 1884, p. 237). 

Men’s chief tasks were: Hunting, fighting, breaking and training 
horses, making saddles, harness, lassos, and pipe bowls, and doing 
most of the work of silversmithing. Women’s chief tasks were: Car- 
ing for the children and the toldo, fetching wood and water, cooking 
and preparing food, caring for the impedimenta on the move, dress- 
ing, sewing, and painting skins, making clothing, and weaving fillets. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth and infancy.—All statements on birth, infancy, and 
education here refer to the later Tehuelche. 

Shortly after birth the child was smeared with damp gypsum 
(Musters, 1871, p. 176). According to Moreno (1879, pp. 445-446), 
marital abstinence was practiced from conception until about a year 
after birth. Prichard (1902, p. 92) states that children’s heads were 


154 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


so bandaged as to produce [intentionally ?] flattening of the back of 
the skull. Two types of cradle were used: a flat cradle, apparently 
of ladder type (Vignati, 1938 a, pp. 73-74), to which the infant was 
tied, and which could be swung from the roof of the toldo by means 
of thongs attached to its four corners; a curved wicker cradle (fig. 20) 
placed, with the child in it, on the horse’s haunch behind the mother 
when she traveled horseback (cf. Vignati, 1938 a, for details). Parents 
were often known by the name of their child (Musters, 1871, p. 177). 


\ 
a 
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“hres 
Wr 
ae eS 


A 
ate 4 { 
ne \S pe 
yy 


A 
LY 


TH 
si 


NS 
Dy 
19/7) 
SRP) 
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ae 
AY 
Lif 


= 


K 
Nz 


Figure 20.—Tehuelche child’s cradle for use on horseback. (After de la Vaulx, 1901, 
p. 169.) 


At the birth of a child, wealthy parents summoned the medicine man, 
who painted himself white and bled himself in the temple, forearm, 
or leg with a bodkin; a special tent, the “pretty house,” was erected; 
mares were slaughtered and a feast held; toward evening, a fire was 
lighted in front of the pretty house, and to the accompaniment of 
drum and musical bow, the men, wearing ostrich plumes on their 
heads and a bell-studded strap from shoulder to thigh, danced four at 
a time (Musters, 1871, p. 176; 1872, pp. 199-200). A horse was killed 
at the eruption of a child’s first teeth (Viedma, 1837 b, p. 78). Ifa 
child hurt itself playing, a “pretty house” was erected, mares were 
slaughtered, and a feast dance were held (Musters, 1872, pp. 201-202). 


Vo. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 155 


Education.—Children were indulged and seldom corrected. 
Whether the 7'chuelche ever had the Elel bugaboo rite (cf. infra under 
Puelche, Education) is uncertain. Gusinde (1926 a, p. 810; 1931, p. 
1083) was told by the Zehuelche of the upper Rio Gallegos, to whom he 
paid a very brief visit in 1924, that they had a rite called, as among the 
Ona, kléketen; the rite was held in a tent covered with guanaco skin, 
and face covers of feathers were used instead of the Ona masks. Field 
work on the point here raised is imperative, to gather details, and to 
determine, if possible, whether this rite is an ancient 7’ehuelche one 
or one introduced more recently by immigrant Ona. (Cf. supra In- 
troduction, on Ona immigration into Patagonia.) 

Girls’ puberty rite—The 7ehuelche had a simple puberty rite for 
girls. This first menses rite, as described in detail by Musters from 
personal observation (1871, pp. 76-78), followed the general pattern 
of the birth rite as regards painting and bleeding by the medicine 
man, erection of the “pretty house,” slaughter of mares with feast, 
evening bonfire, dancing in fours by plumed and girdled men to in- 
strumental accompaniment (pl. 39, bottom). The main differences 
were: The girl was placed in seclusion in the “pretty house,” and the 
old women sang while the men danced. 

D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2:177-178) describes the Tehuelche first 
menses rite as consisting chiefly of greetings to the girl by all of the 
tribe, of the distribution of horse meat by her to them, and of ablutions 
by the girl in the nearest stream with only her mother and other female 
relatives and the female shaman present. Viedma (1837 b, p. 78) 
noted the slaughter of a horse at first menses; Pefia (1789, ed. Leh- 
mann-Nitsche, 1914, p. 11), the seating of the girl in a public place, a 
dance around her, and the sacrifice of a mare; Lista (1879 b, p. 83), 
a feast lasting several days, a dance around a bonfire, and libations; 
Cordovez (1905, p. 47), tent(s) painted red. 

Muniz (1917, p. 205) reported two small huts, with the girl seated 
in one, and a young man with the title of “king” armed with a whip 
and bolas, who castigated the men or women who executed poorly the 
dance around the fire between the two tents. Mufiz ascribed this 
rite to the Pampean Indians in general, not specifically to the 
Tehuelche. The role of the “king” in it suggests that it may have 
been exclusively Puelche, or else Tehuelche influenced by Puelche. 
(Cf. Elel first menses rite, pp. 165-166.) 

Marriage.—See page 149. 

Death observances.—The most common form of disposal of the 
dead in the Patagonian area was cairn burial on a hilltop, the body 
resting on the surface of the ground with knees to thorax; other 
forms were sand interment and cave and crevice disposal. Some 
belongings were buried with the dead. 


156 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buty. 143 


The more common later form of disposal was interment in a sitting 
posture, the body enveloped in a hide roll or mantle, the deceased’s 
belongings or most of them being burned. (Pefia, 1914, p. 11; Muniz, 
1917, p. 213; Gardiner, 1852, p. 23; Musters, 1871, p. 178; Roncagli, 
1884, p. 779; Spegazzini, 1884, p. 236; Borgatello, 1924, pp. 22-28.) 
The deceased person’s horses were killed, and the skin of one or more 
of them stuffed with straw and set up at the grave (Lozano [Cardiel 
and Quiroga, 1747] 1836-7, pp. 16-17, and later sources). Some placed 
food in the grave, others did not (Viedma, 1837 b, p. 78). Poles with 
banners were also put up at the grave. Kaulling of the dead person’s 
dogs and other animals was common. Viedma (1887 a, p. 47; 1887 b, 
p. 77) reports a case of turning over the corpse to the old women for 
secret burial. 

As mourning rites, the women wailed, scratched their faces and 
gashed their cheeks (Viedma, 1837 b, p. 77), and cut their hair or 
ends of it and threw them into the fire, while, according to Gardiner 
(1852, p. 23) the surviving male relatives cut gashes in the calves of 
their legs. The widow painted her face black. The name of the dead 
was not mentioned. According to Viedma (1837 b, pp. 77-78), in 
his day, mourning, in the case of a young person or of one in robust 
middle age, continued 15 days, with 1 day of mourning each succeed- 
ing moon and 3-day mourning at the first anniversary; but on the 
death of an aged person, only a broken-down horse was killed. 

Future life—Very meager data are found in our sources. Belief 
in a future life is clear; the rest obscure. According to Viedma (1837 
b, p. 78), when an aged person died his soul just passed on, while 
when a young and robust person died, he (his spirit) was retained 
below the earth until such time elapsed as would have brought him 
to old age had he lived, and then passed into the first child born. 
According to Coan (1880, p. 172) and Borgatello (1924, p. 22), the 
lot of the good and evil differed in the future life. 


WARFARE AND CANNIBALISM 


See pages 153-154. 
ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Art.—Geometric designs (fig. 19) of considerable complexity were 
painted in red, yellow, green, blue, white, and black on mantles. (Cf. 
Lothrop, 1929, for details and affiliations.) Crude zoomorphic and 
other pictographs (Tehuelche?, or proto-Tehuelche?) occur in 
Tehuelche territory. 

Games and gambling.—The later Tehuelche were very fond of 
horse-racing, a ball game (the Araucanian pillma), dice (Spanish), 
and card playing (Spanish); and Coan (1880, pp. 77, 153) reported 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 157 


hockey (no doubt, Araucanian). The Tehuelche did a great deal of 
recreational swimming and diving, at which they were very proficient. 
They, even the women, were greatly addicted to gambling at horse- 
racing, dice, and cards. 

Music and musical instruments.—Songs were without words. 
The early Zehuelche used a bark rattle hung to the girdle when danc- 
ing (Fletcher, 1854, p. 50); the later people used a rattle of dried 
bladder or hide, a skin-covered drum, the musical bow (fig. 18, 2), and 
(Musters, 1871, p. 77) a flute of guanaco thighbone (probably the 
long bone used with the musical bow). The bull-roarer and trumpet 
were absent. (For details on Zehuelche musical bow and songs, see 
Lehmann-Nitsche, 1908 a, and Fischer, 1908.) 

Tobacco and alcoholic beverages.—Gambling, smoking, and alco- 
holic beverages were absent from early Tehuelche culture, before the 
18th century, but later were passionately indulged in (fig. 18,7). A 
favorite procedure among smokers was to lie prone on the ground 
and to swallow the smoke in order to produce temporary intoxica- 
tion. (Carteret, 1770, p. 28; Coan, 1880, p. 216; details in Bourne, 
1858, pp. 94-95.) Many Zehuelche in Musters’ time did not smoke 
or drink at all (Musters, 1872, p. 199) ; some did not smoke in Prich- 
ard’s time (1902, p.101). Tobacco was commonly mixed with calafate 
(Berberis sp.) wood shavings for smoking (Prichard, 1902, p. 100). 

Recent Tehuelche held an eating and drinking feast, called malén, 
with dancing, during which they sang and struck their mouths 
rhythmically with the palms of their hands to break the song, and 
often with bloody fighting before the feast closed (Borgatello, 1924, 
pp. 20-22). 

BELIGION 


Our information on 7'ehuelche religion is extremely meager, super- 
ficial, and vague. Great confusion, not to say contradiction, reigns, 
as a result partly of cultural mixture in the Patagonian and espe- 
cially Pampean region, partly of failure on the part of some otherwise 
excellent first-hand observers to distinguish exactly between tribe and 
tribe. 

From out of the welter there seems to emerge pretty clearly the 
conclusion that the Zehwelche believed in a Supreme Being, looked 
upon as in general benevolent and good, but rather aloof and otiose. 
(See esp. Viedma, 1837 b, pp. 75, 79; Musters, 1871, p. 179; 1872, p. 
202; Borgatello, 1924, p. 22.) Whether he was the Maker or moral 
law-giver is not clear, nor have we evidence of any cult, at least in 
the way of public rites. The more commonly occurring names by 
which he was known, although some of these may not be Tehuelche, 
are: Guayava-cunnee (T7ehuelhet, Falkner, 1774, p. 114, “lord of the 
dead”) ; Soychu (Zaluhet and Diuihet, ibid.; Patagon, Dobrizhoffer, 


158 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy, 143 


1822, 2:90, who also gives soychuhet, for “men that dwell with God 
beyond the world”; Zehuelche, Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 65, and 
Hervas, 1800-1805, 1:1383) Setebos (Pigafetta, 1906, 1:56, 60, 78), 
Sesom or Sesé (Moreno, 1879, pp. 239, 387) ; Kek-a-once, Tchir (Gar- 
diner, 1852, pp. 23-24) ; Maiph (Beauvoir, 1915, pp. 180, 189, “espi- 
ritu bueno,” “sombra”) ; Maipé (Borgatello, 1924, p. 22). The reitera- 
tion of the idea that the dead go to the Supreme Being after death is 
suggestive of the similar Ona conception, as is also the relative aloof- 
ness of the 7'chuelche deity. 

Evil happenings were attributable to an evil spirit or evil spirits, 
known under the names of Cheleulle, Cheleule (Pigafetta, 1906, 1: 60, 
78), Atskannakanatz (Falkner, 1774, p. 116), Achekenat-kanet (D’Or- 
bigny, 1835-47, 4: 220, “good and evil”) ; Agschem (Moreno, 1879, pp. 
235, 416), Valichu or Gualichu (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 66; Mus- 
ters, 1871, p. 180; Borgatello, 1924, p. 22), Camalasque (Viedma, 
1837 b, pp. 75-76), Kérenk(e)n (Spegazzini, 1884, p. 237) Kerrkenge 
(Moreno, 1879, p. 387), Kakenga, Kubejeken (Outes, 1913 a, pp. 
486-487, “dios”) ; Jasemel (Pefia, 1914, p. 11, “un Dios”). Gualichu 
is a non-Zehuelchean and non-Araucanian word. A good deal of 
Tehuelche religion seems to have consisted in propitiating and hold- 
ing at bay these malevolent spirits, although some of them were ap- 
parently benevolent guardians of the Tehuelche. The best piece of 
rhea meat and the first bottles of liquor were offered to Walichu (Lista, 
1879 a, p. 77). 

Certain miscellaneous observances of a magico-religious nature 
have been recorded in fragmentary form. The new moon was given 
a salute with low muttered words (Musters, 1871, p. 179; 1872, p. 203). 
The cry of the nightjar over the camp or the toldo was an omen of 
sickness or death (Musters, 1871, p. 182; 1872, p. 203). It was taboo 
to injure nightjars (Musters, 1872, p. 203) and to take young half- 
fledged hawks from the nest (Coan, 1880, p. 113). Hair clippings 
could be used in black magic; when camp was broken, everything not 
taken away was burned lest some enemy should get hold of the article 
and do harm to the previous possessor of it (Moreno, 1879, p. 239). 
A lunar eclipse was attributed to Gualichu entering the moon and 
breaking it up; the people then would spit at the moon and throw 
stones at it to drive the evil spirit away (Borgatello, 1924, p. 22). 
On starting to smoke, the smoker would blow a puff toward each of 
the four cardinal points and mutter a prayer (Musters, 1871, p. 174; 
1872, p. 203). At marriage feasts, great care was taken lest the meat 
or offal of the animals slaughtered therefor was touched by the dogs, 
as this would have been unlucky; at the shaman’s child-curing rite, 
in which a white mare was killed and eaten, care was taken that no 
dogs should approach (Musters, 1872, pp. 201-202). On the occasion 


Vox. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 159 


of sickness, the evil spirit was driven away by firing off guns and 
revolvers, by throwing lighted brands into the air, and by beating 
the backs of toldos with lance shafts or bolas (Musters, 1872, p. 203; 
Lista, 1879 b, p. 76). 


SHAMANISM 


There were both male and female shamans. Transvestite shamans 
were reported absent in the middle 18th century (Safichez Labrador, 
1986, p. 52), but appear later, in the early 19th (Coan, 1880, p. 158; 
D’Orbigny, 1835-47, 4: 220). ‘The ordinary curing procedure included 
sounding of drum and calabash (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 127) or 
hide rattle (Coan, 1880, p. 153), and sucking out some small material 
object as the cause of the disease. The modern shamaness described 
by Borgatello (1924, p. 128) used a hand-drum in her curing rites. 
If the patient died, the shaman was very apt to be killed by the be- 
reaved relatives. 

The arrow-swallowing trick, observed by the Magellan expedition 
in 1520 at Port San Julian (Pigafetta, 1906, 1:58; Oviedo, 1851-55, 
2:10) and by the Sarmiento expedition in 1584 near Cape San 
Gregorio in the Strait of Magellan (Sarmiento, [1579], 1895 b, p. 820; 
cf. Hernandez, [1620], 1895, p. 358), but not reported by any later 
observers, may have been from a shamanistic repertoire, although 
Pigafetta considered it a remedy for pain in the stomach. The per- 
former, after removing the arrowhead, stuck the shaft down his 
throat to his stomach, and then withdrew it. 


MYTHOLOGY 


Our data on Tehuelche mythology and folklore are extremely 
meager. In the very brief cosmogonic note given us by Musters (1871, 
p. 179), the good spirit created the Indians and animals, and dispersed 
them from a place called “God’s-hill.” In Borgatello’s account (1924, 
pp. 129-130), Heller, son of the sun, who also was called by this name, 
was the one who created the 7’ehuelche and gave them their land of 
Patagonia, and it is to Heller that the Tehuelche go after death. In 
the short Heller cycle, as reported by Borgatello, occur the Achilles 
and the magic flight motifs. Lista (1879 b, pp. 75-76) reported a 
Tehuelche flood story. 


LORE AND LEARNING 


No weights or measures are reported. Smoke signaling was much 
used; Borgatello (1924, p. 19) lists four distinct conventional signals. 
According to Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 56), it seems that the Z'e- 
huelche and Puelche, in contrast to the Araucanians, did not use 
herbal curatives, but in the 19th century the Zehuelche made some 
use of them. (Fitz-Roy, 1839, 2:155; Musters, 1871, pp. 181, 183; 


160 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


Lista, 1879 b, p. 76; Roncagli, 1884, p. 776; Spegazzini, 1884, p. 237.) 
Bloodletting was commonly resorted to. The resin of Schinus Duwvaua 
dependens) was chewed for health purposes (Mufiiz, 1917, p. 214; cf. 
Pineda, 1914, p.9). Guanaco bezoars were utilized for medicinal pur- 
poses (Musters, 1871, p. 126; King, 1889, 1:117, for bowel com- 
plaints). Like the Puelche and the Araucanians, the Tehuelche had 
numbers for “100” and “1,000” taken from Quechua. 


POYA CULTURE 


Most of our extremely fragmentary data on Poya culture are de- 
rived from Diego Florez de Léon (1898), Geronimo Pietas (1846), 
Miguel de Olivares (1874), Gomez de Vidaurre (1889), and Menen- 
dez (in Fonck, 1900). The main passages from the first four are 
reproduced in full and their anthropological content critically dis- 
cussed and interpreted by Vignati (1939 a; cf. also Latchman, 1929-30, 
64: 220-222). 

Subsistence activities—Food consisted of animals, birds, and 
certain roots from which a flour was made; later, beef. The two 
earlier sources, Florez de Leon and Pietas, made no mention of agri- 
culture; Olivares (1874, p. 511) stated that the Poya had “a litle 
grain” [cultivated by them?]; Menendez (tm Fonck, 1900, p. 319), 
that the “Puelche” [probably Poya] of Lake Nahuel-huapi in 1792 
had some quinoa, wheat, and barley, that they did not cultivate the 
ground, but that they used to throw seeds on the ground along 
streams and what came up was gathered by the first who came along. 

Skin bags served as water containers. An alcoholic beverage was 
made of wild fruits. 

Hunting and fighting weapons were the bow and arrow and bolas. 
Dogs were used in hunting. Horses and cattle were early introduced. 

Shelters.—Tents were of skins. 

Clothing and ornaments.—Clothing was made of guanaco, fox, 
and ostrich skins, and included a large mantle and a smaller pubic 
covering. One Indian, from inland, met by Florez de Ledn, “had his 
nose pierced like the people of Pert” (1898, p. 256)—no doubt, with 
his septum pierced. 

Transportation.—Inflated guanaco skins were used in crossing 
rivers on horseback. 

Social and political life—Not only polygyny, but also polyandry 
was permitted (Olivares, 1874, p. 511; Vidaurre, 1889, p. 801) ; when 
one husband went away hunting, the other took his place. According 
to Olivares (1874, p. 512), sodomy was practiced; so, too, father- 
daughter incest (ibid.), though not approved by public opinion. 
Each band had its own headman, with persuasive rather than 
mandatory powers. 


etdad 
Ui bep a> 
reer ewgepeer sett 


‘7 
YS peed 


ae aa 


PLATE 33.—Yahgan life and manufactures. a, Masked Kina spirit (after Gusinde, 1925 a, fig. 4); ), domed 
hut (after Hyades and Deniker, 1891, pl. 20); c, coiled basket (courtesy Museo Etnografico, Buenos Aires); 
d, bark masks used in Kina rite, height of taller 27 in., or 68.5 cm. (after Lothrop, 1928, fig. 92); e, bark 
bucket, height 121+ in., or 31.7 em. (after Lothrop, 1928, fig. 55); f, pubic covering, width 9 in., or 23 cm, 
(after Lothrop, 1928, fig, 44). ; 


(eL BY ‘S261 ‘domyjoy Jaiyy) “[opoyy *eouws yreq URBYBA—"Fe ALVId 


PLATE 35.—Yahgan territory and canoes. 
Bird.) 


ri Top: Forest snow scene, Navarino Island. (Courtesy Junius 
Bottom: Mission Station, Rio Douglas, Navarino Island. (Courtesy Rollo H. Beck.) 


oo 


(After Hyades and Deniker, 1891, pl. 1.) 


sture. 


a 

Oo 

~ 
eb 


-Yahgan spear throwing. 


PLATE 36. 


PLATE 37.—Ona and Tehuelche shelters. Top: Model of Tehwelche toldo. Bottom: Model of Ona wind 
shelter. (Courtesy American Museum of Natural History.) 


PLATE 38.—Ona and Tehuelche culture. Top (left): Ona man. (After Outes and Bruch, 1910, fig. 132.) 
Top (right): Ona men, painted for Kewanix dance, an all-day recreative interlude during Kloketen rite. 
No masks are worn in this dance and women take part. (After Gusinde, 1925 a, fig. 2.) Bottom (left): 
Ona cradle, length 30 in., or 76.5 em. (After Lothrop, 1928, fig. 13.) Bottom (right): Tehwelche toldo, 
Province of Santa Cruz. (After Outes and Bruch, 1910, fig. 114.) 


PLATE 39.—Tehuelche costume and ceremony. Top: Clothing and adornment. (After d’Orbigny, 1847, 
costumes, No. 1.) Bottom: Girls’ puberty rite dance held by firelight. (After Musters, 1871, opposite 
page 175.) 


SW 


aS 


AS 


PLATE 40.—Tehuelche hunting. Top: Communal hunt, in valley of Rio Chico. (After Musters, 1871, 
opposite page 64.) Bottom: Guanaco hunt. ‘‘Waki killing a puma.’’ (After Musters, 1871, frontispiece. 


VoL. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 161 


Religion.—Of Poya religion we are merely told that there was a 
belief in a superior being called Chahuelli or Chechuelli (Olivares, 
1874, pp. 511, 514, 516, 519), who could do good or evil to people. 
Olivares compares him (and/or it) to the Avaucanian huecubu (1874, 
p. 511). 

Curing.—Bloodletting was medicinally practiced, 


PUELCHE CULTURE 


The bulk of our information on Puelche culture is derived from 
Sanchez Labrador (1986), Falkner (1774), and D’Orbigny (1835-47, 
4; 221-293, and esp. 2: 266-272). If and how far the description by 
Ovalle (1888, pp. 178-179) of “Pampa” culture refers to the Puelche 
is doubtful. Very frequently Sanchez Labrador and Falkner, espe- 
cially the latter, give rather detailed cultural data for tribes of the 
Pampa and vicinity in general, without specifying any particular 
tribe, Puelche or other. D’Orbigny clearly distinguishes between 
Puelche and others, but gives few details on Puelchean culture, dis- 
missing, for instance, practically the whole of material and social 
culture with the statement that Puelche culture was in these phases 
like Tehuelche and Argentine Araucanian. In the following ac- 
count we shall confine ourselves to those data that can clearly or 
with reasonable probability be assigned to the Puelche as such—not 
an easy task, since by D’Orbigny’s time and even Sanchez Labrador’s 
and Falkner’s time great acculturation with Avaucanian and 
Tehuelche culture had taken place. 

If Lehmann-Nitsche’s theory of a fourth Pampean language, the 
Het family, spoken, he believed, by Falkner’s Chechehet of the southern 
Buenos Aires Province region, and by some of the Diuchet, should turn 
out to be fully validated, then it would be imperative to draw a dis- 
tinction between the culture of the Het peoples and that of the Puelche. 
Lehmann-Nitsche, for example, considered that gualichu, the name 
for the evil spirit(s), was of Het provenance. At present, however, 
even though we accept the Het hypothesis, there is very little of Pam- 
pean culture that can be assigned specifically to the Chechehet or Het- 
speaking peoples. In the following summary of Puelche culture, only 
at a point here and there will the possibility be considered that a given 
cultural trait assigned to the Puelche may actually have been Het 
instead. This approach is not all that might be desired, but appears 
to be the most satisfactory one under present limitations of space and 
knowledge. 

Scattered through the early Chilean sources, such as Rosales and 
the Proceso Criminal de 1658, are certain sparse data on the culture 
of the nomadic hunting peoples living at the time in Pampean terri- 
tory, often called in these sources by the generic geographic name of 

583486—46——11 


162 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


“Puelche,” and sometimes hunting in territory that around the middle 
of the 18th century may have been true Puelche country. In general 
the relation of these “Puelche” of the early Chilean sources to our 
modern Puelche is difficult to determine; at best we get a reasonable 
surmise in some cases as to identity, more frequently not even that. 
It seems best, therefore, to omit most of these Chilean data. 

The culture of the Querandi, who may well have been Puelche, is 
treated elsewhere in this volume (pp. 180-183). 

All cultural attributions in the following account refer to the later 
Puelche, that is, from the middle 18th century on. Prior to that date 
Puelche culture is for all practical purposes a complete blank, or, even 
if we use the Chilean data, a nearly complete one. 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Food.—In the middle 18th century, the staple food of the Puelche 
was horse meat. When meat was abundant, only the ribs, loins, and 
shoulder would be eaten. Grease and fat were especially appreciated. 
Lice were eaten. Among the Puelche met by D’Orbigny (1835-47, 
4:101) fishing was not practiced. 

The Puelche had no agriculture, and originally no domestic animals, 
except the dog. They must have acquired the horse somewhere around 
the early 18th century; it is unlikely that they had it earlier. 

Hunting weapons.—Wild horses were hunted with bolas and lasso 
in Sanchez Labrador’s time (1936, p. 34). D’Orbigny’s Puelche also 
used the bow and arrow, and the lance—the latter in fighting, the 
former probably both for hunting and for fighting (1835-47, 2: 223; 
4:196). The Puelche known to Musters (1872, p. 205) were experts 
in the use of the sling. 


SHELTERS 


Huts were of horse skin on a wooden framework of thick poles, 
The ground plan was quadrangular. The roofing was of many skins 
sewn. together with horse sinew, and put up with the hair outside. 
There were two doors, to east and west, or to north and south respec- 
tively (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, pp. 37-88). Puelche huts were, 
according to D’Orbigny (1885-47, 2:269), just like those of the 
Tehuelche. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Clothing.—The common people, both men and women, wore 
square mantels of horse skin, scraped, softened, and painted, with the 
hair left on. Prominent individuals used mantles of guanaco, fox, 
or otter skin. The men wore as a pubic covering a triangular piece 
of horsehide about 8 inches (20 cm.) each side, attached to the waist 


Vor. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 163 


with thongs, a third thong passing between the legs and tied to the 
other two; the women, an apron hanging from the waist to the knees. 
In warm weather the mantle was left off (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, 
pp. 35-86). The Puelche of the Rio Negro in D’Orbigny’s time 
dressed like the Tehwelche (1935-47, 2: 269). 

Adornment.—Facial depilation and body painting in various colors 
were customary. No deformation or mutilation of any kind is re- 
corded, not even ear piercing; nor is tattooing. To what extent the 
various personal adornments of women and girls, as listed by Sanchez 
Labrador (1936, p. 36-37), were of Avaucanian or other introduc- 
tion, cannot be determined. ‘The feasting and weeping at hair cutting 
(ibid. pp. 76-77) may also be of non-Puelche origin. Rio Negro 
Puelche adornment as observed by D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2: 269) was 
like Tehuelche. 


TRANSPORTATION 


No type of watercraft is reported for the Puelche. On horseback, 
the women sat, not on a saddle, but on a high blanket-covered seat. 


MANUFACTURES 


No basketry is recorded, and no pottery making. In Sanchez Labra- 
dor’s day, the Puelche women did no weaving; woven ponchos and 
mantles were bought from the Argentine Araucanians by the Puelche 
to trade with the Spanish (1936, p. 40); but they were beginning to 
learn weaving in D’Orbigny’s time (1835-47, 2: 269; 4: 223). 

Flint knives and hafted flint scrapers were used. 

Weapons included bolas, lassos, bows and arrows, lances, and slings 
(p. 162) ; armor was also used (p. 164). 


SOCIAL LIFE 


The Puelche had no sibs, no secret or other societies, no marked 
social stratification, no ruling caste. The points mentioned infra 
under Marriage and Family, viz, preference for marrying children of 
headmen to children of headmen, and the holding of captive “slaves,” 
indicate rudimentary stratification. 

Marriage and family.—The bride-price, consisting of objects of 
considerable value, was given over to the bride’s people, and distributed 
among them according to degree of kinship. The bride was then 
brought to the groom’s tent. Monogamy was the general rule, except 
for headmen who would have two or three wives; one chief, the famous 
Cacique Bravo (Cangapol), had seven (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, 
pp. 71-73). Sometimes a man married his brother’s didow (Camaiio, 
1937, p. 115), but there does not seem to have been any mandatory 
levirate. Headmen liked to marry their daughters into the families 


164 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


of other headmen. Divorce was uncommon; its occurrence was mostly 
among newly-wed couples. According to D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2: 270), 
adultery was punishable with death, but could be compounded by pay- 
ments; there were many concubine slaves taken from enemies. (De- 
tails on marriage in Falkner (1774, pp. 124-127) refer no doubt in part 
to the Puelche, but here, as in most other sections of his treatment 
of culture, he does not distinguish sufficiently to permit confident use 
of his data as applicable to Puelche culture.) 

Etiquette.—Nothing is specifically known. The Indians of the 
Pampa like those of Patagonia used to bathe in the river or lake of 
mornings before sunrise (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 49). 


POLITICAL LIFE 


The band.—The Puelche appear to have been broken up into rela- 
tively small bands, each with its own headman. The five bands who 
in Cardiel’s time (1922, p. 63) made up the Puelche as known to him 
totaled in all only 100 to 120 warriors—probably about 100 to 120 
persons per band. The headmen had to be good orators and good 
warriors; they had no authority to command the members of their 
band. There was no paramount chieftain for peacetimes. 

Warfare and disputes.—Warfare was the common thing. The 
lance, sometimes thrown when the enemy was out of thrusting reach 
(Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 45; cf. Azara, 1809, 2 : 46), was the chosen 
weapon; the bolas were also important in warfare; few used the bow 
and arrow in the middle 18th century, as it was considered cowardly 
to do so (ibid., p. 46). Hide coats and helmets served as defense 
arms. Face and body were painted on war expeditions. 

Within the tribe conflicts were settled by private action, without 
intervention of the headman. 

Mercy killing by premature interment in cases of hopeless illness 
was practiced. Cannibalism is not reported. 

The peoples of the higher Andean Cordillera and the trans-Andine 
plains were persistently reported by the early Chilean writers to have 
used poisoned arrows (Gonzalez de Najera, 1889, pp. 6, 96; Rosales 
[1674], 1877-78, 1:239). But whether these reports are fully depend- 
able and whether they concern the ancestors of our Puelche are points 
that cannot be decided with confidence. (Cf. discussion by McClaf- 
ferty, 1932, pp. 41-42.) 


ECONOMIC CULTURE 


Practically nothing is known of economic culture. Active trade 
was carried on with other tribes and with the Spaniards. Food was 
generously shared, but the giver of one day would be the receiver 
of other days. The “concubine slaves” mentioned by D’Orbigny 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 165 


(1835-47, 2:270) may have represented drudges or adopted wives or a 
combination of both; he gives no details. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth and infancy.—After delivery, the mother bathed in a 
lake or stream. The medicine man was called in to massage and breathe 
on the newly born child in order to give it strength. The couvade 
obtained in very full but simple form: When the child was born, the 
father took to his bed—for how long, Sanchez Labrador does not say, 
nor does he give further details (1936, p. 73). D’Orbigny merely 
states (1835-47, 2:270) that birth observances were nearly the same 
as among the Argentine Avaucanians. 

Puberty rites——There is no mention of a boys’ initiation rite. 
Sanchez Labrador, however, gives (1936, pp. 67-71) rather minute 
details on the Elel first menses rite which, he states, was observed by 
the Puelche and Tehuelche, but not by the other Pampean (Avrauca- 
nian) peoples. The Araucanians of Chile, as distinct from those east 
of the Andes, had no girls’ puberty rite, so far as we know. The 
Tehuelche first menses rite, as described by Musters, D’Orbigny, and 
Peiia, has little in common with the rite which Sanchez Labrador de- 
scribes. There is, however, a definite though only fractional resem- 
blance between the Elel rite and the rite of the “Pampean Indians” 
[including the Z’ehuelche?] as Muihiz records it. (Cf. supra, p. 155.) 
There is thus ground for suspecting that the Elel rite in its specific 
characters is not an original 7’chuelche one, that the Mufiz instance 
may represent an intrusion into 7Z’ehuelche culture from a foreign 
center, and that the Elel rite is the native “Pampa” form, presumably 
the native Puelche one. 

At the first two menses of the daughter or other relative of a head- 
man, a large toldo covered with painted horsehides was erected, and 
decorated lances stuck upright around and within it. With a drum 
formed of a brass pot, the people were summoned. One of the older 
and most respected men made a speech, at the end of which he ap- 
pointed one of the most valiant Indians to play the part of Elel, the 
chief of the evil [ ?] spirits, as Sanchez Labrador calls this being. The 
Indian took flight but was pursued and retrieved. He was clothed 
in a special decorated mantle and a feather headdress, his face was 
painted in various colors, and he was assigned six young unmarried 
fellows as pages and guardians. Behind the large tent another was 
put up in which four old hags stayed day and night, keeping up a 
continuous wailing. Still another tent served as kitchen. 

Throughout the three weeks or month of the rite, the girl remained 
hidden in the large tent, only going out alone to seek roots and fruits 
(“frutillas” [strawberries?]) onthe Pampa. Both she and Elel fasted 


166 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bue. 143 


rigorously, although he was allowed to drink plenty of fermented 
chicha. Elel had authority to command any one to do his bidding. 
No one spoke to him directly, but only through his pages. Toward 
the end he got angry (or pretended to), and bade the people gash 
themselves, and he would beat them; those beaten considered it an 
honor. He would give orders to capture individuals and then demand 
a ransom. There were sports, and a dance by nude Indians deco- 
rated with feathers and two horns on their heads and with a tail 
behind. 

Finally Elel escaped, and ate his full, while the others had to fast 
8 days on only roots and fruits; if they did not, Elel would castigate 
them. So ended the Elel rite. (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, pp. 67-71.) 

This same being, Elel, entered also into the native educational 
system, apart from the first menses rite. Once or twice a year, the 
headman would order one of the young unmarried men to dress up 
as Elel with tiger skins and with painted face, and to go around to 
all tents and make as if to snatch away the young boys. These would 
flee to their mothers for protection. Parents did not punish their 
children, but if the latter were bad or would cry too much, they 
would be threatened with Elel, and the parents would tell them they 
would not defend them when he came for them (Sanchez Labrador, 
1936, p. 74). 

Death observances.—Our chief sources are Sanchez Labrador 
(1936, pp. 41, 50, 56-63), Falkner (1774, pp. 118-120), and D’Orbigny 
(1835-47, 2: 270; 4: 112, 223) ; and for comparison, Rosales (1877-78, 
2:98) on burial customs in the Cuyo province. D’Orbigny gives only 
the most meager details; Sanchez Labrador and Falkner give con- 
siderable information, but only in certain points specify what is 
peculiar to the Puelche. Furthermore, it looks as if even as early as 
the middle of the 18th century there had occurred a great deal of 
acculturation with Avaucanian burial customs. 

Disposal of the dead.—The favorite Puelche burial was probably 
that in caves in the hills, the body deeply flexed, knees to face, and 
enveloped in the mantle. The personal property, such as weapons 
and adornments, of the deceased person was buried with him; his 
horses and dogs were killed; his hut was burnt to the ground. If 
death occurred far from the mountains, the body might be disposed 
of on the plains. In some cases at least, it seems that if death occurred 
far off from the hills, the flesh was stripped from the bones and the 
bones transported thither later. Bone stripping also occurred among 
the Cuyo Province Indians of the 17th century, according to Rosales: 
On the first anniversary after death, the bones of the deceased were 
disinterred, and after the flesh was stripped off them, they were 
painted yellow and other colors, were carried around in saddle bags 


Vou. 1] PATAGONIAN AND PAMPEAN HUNTERS—COOPER 167 


on a horse from camp to camp, and were deposited in a special hut at 
each camp (Rosales, 1877-78, 2: 98; cf. Vignati, 1937 a, on polychrome 
painting of archeological crania in southwest Buenos Aires Province). 
Whether secondary burial was part of earlier uninfluenced Puelche 
culture, cannot well be determined. 

Pouring some of the first chicha of the year on the bones of the dead, 
a custom reported for the Puelche by Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 63), 
was perhaps of non-Puelche origin. The Puelche did not cremate. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


A kettledrum was used, and clothing was painted. We lack, how- 
ever, detailed data on esthetic culture that can be with confidence 
attributed to the Puelche. 

Sanchez Labrador (1936, pp. 39-48, 46-49) mentions the following 
items as characteristic of the Pampa Indians in general: Target 
shooting with toy bolas as boys’ play; dolls, jacks, and hop-scotch as 
girls’ play; a ball game resembling Araucanian pillma as men’s play ; 
a simple football game as women’s play; heavy gambling with dice 
and cards, introduced by Spanish captives, indulged in by men, and 
gambling with dice, at least, by women too; use of the native chicha 
from algarroba beans or from apples, and of spirituous liquors 
acquired from the Spanish, with a great deal of intoxication. Pre- 
sumably, the Puelche would be included in these generalizations. If 
so, non-Puelche influence is obvious in some of the items. Whether 
the early Puelche had a native intoxicant of their own is not clear. 


RELIGION 


Sanchez Labrador and Falkner have given us considerable informa- 
tion on religion and shamanism among the tribes of the Pampa, but 
very little of this information can with confidence be specifically 
attributed to the Puelche. 

According to D’Orbigny (1835-47, 2:270), the Puelche of his day 
believed in a beneficent being who gave them all they desired with- 
out their praying for it, and also in an evil spirit called Gualichu 
or Arraken who sent sickness and death. Hunziker (1928 b, p. 276) 
includes in his Puelche vocabulary Atgezual as meaning “el Gran 
Espiritu”; Hale (1846, pp. 654, 656), Anau-kanitan and Siés, “God,” 
and Anau-kasitan, “evil spirit”; Milanesio (1898, p. 22; 1917, opp. 
p. 6), Tukutzual, “God.” 

As for the Puelche of the middle 18th century, Sanchez Labrador 
states (1936, pp. 64, 66) that they had no belief in God, but that they 
did believe in an evil being or beings, Balichu, and in a prince of 
them called Elel, who caused all sickness, death, tempests, and so 
forth; Falkner (1774, p. 114) states in a general way that “these 


168 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


Indians [of the Pampa] believe in two superior beings, the one good, 
the other evil.” Soychu (see supra, p. 157) may have been a 
Puelche name for the deity or one of the deities (cf. Falkner, 1774, 
p. 114) ; Gualichu may also be a word of Puelche origin; Lehmann- 
Nitsche (1922, pp. 28, 83) considered that both words were from his 
Het tongue; but the point is quite uncertain. With the meager evi- 
dence we have, all that one can do is to present the foregoing facts 
and let the reader draw his own conclusions. 

At full moon, there was excessive rejoicing, and the moon was asked 
for strength (Sanchez Labrador, 1936, pp. 65-66). 


SHAMANISM 


Here, too, it is impossible to say in how far as a rule the generalized 
statements in Sdnchez Labrador and Falkner apply to the Puelche. 
Sainchez Labrador, however, does specifically (1936, p. 52) ascribe 
transvestite shamans to the Puelche—men who dressed like women, 
cooked and fetched water, and stayed with the women. Shamans were 
very much feared. They were called, according to D’Orbigny (1835- 
47, 2:270), calmelache (a name very similar to the name camalasque, 
which Viedma [erroneously?] attributes to the evil spirit of the 
Tehuelche,; see supra, p. 158). 


MYTHOLOGY 


Available data are excessively meager. Sun was the elder brother, 
Moon the younger brother; Moon was not so intelligent as Sun (Leh- 
mann-Nitsche, 1919 a). There was a tradition of a very high tide 
(Lehmann-Nitsche, 1919 b) and also of a flood. After the flood which 
covered all the earth except the Sierra de la Ventana, the peoples 
came out of caves in the mountains and the world was populated again 
(Sanchez Labrador, 1936, p. 66; cf. Vignati, 1988 b). 


LORE AND LEARNING 


Sanchez Labrador (1936, p. 56) rather clearly implies that the 
Puelche used no herbal curatives. One can count up to 100,000 in the 
Puelche language, but all numbers from 99 up, including, of course 
“100” and “1,000,” are from Quechua. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
For bibliographic references, see pages 138-139. 


THE HUARPE 


By Satvapor Canats Frau 


The Huarpe were the aborigines of Cuyo in the middle of the 16th 
century at the time of the Spanish Conquest (map 1, Vo. 2). Cuyo 
archeology and historical documents show that before the Conquest 
a large section of the country had been more or less influenced by 
Tiahuanaco, Chincha, and Inca cultures of the Andes. 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


During the historic period, the Huarpe occupied all the broad area between 
the Jachal-Zanjon River on the north and the Diamante River on the south 
(lat. 33° S., long. 68° W.). Their domain also included the mountains 
known as Sierra de San Luis in the east. 

The Huarpe territory (map 2) was bounded on the west by the Andes; on 
the north by the Diaguita; on the east by the Comechingon and Pampa; and on 
south, first by the Puelche of Cuyo, and during and after the 18th century, by 
the araucanized Pehuenche. 

The number of Huarpe cannot have been very great because of the barrenness 
of their land and the rudimentary nature of their agriculture. Consequently, 
certain estimates made by apologists of missionary achievements concerning the 
great density of their population must be relegated to the realm of fantasy. The 
original small number of the Huarpe was further decreased when many of them 
were sent during early times to Chile to meet the need for industrial labor, 
resulting in their early extinction, probably during the first part of the 18th 
century. After this period, only a few of very mixed strain existed in remote 
areas, such as on the Guanacache Lagoons, or in special settlements. 

The Huarpe language has two distinct known dialects. Father Luis de 
Valdivia, who published grammatical rules and vocabularies of both, calls that of 
the Huarpe of San Juan, Allentiac, and that of Mendoza, Millcayac. 

With these two dialects, Rivet established his Allentiac linguistic family, which 
has generally been accepted. But the fact is that the Puelche of Cuyo, the early 
neighbors of the Huarpe to the south, and the early Pehuenche of Neuquén must 
also have spoken dialects related to these. These two ethnic groups, likewise, 
resembled the Huarpe in physical characteristics. The same is true of the Come- 
chingon of the Cérdoba Mountains and of the eastern part of San Luis, who also 
had a similar culture. Thus it becomes necessary to group the Allentiac, the Mill- 
cayac, the Puelche of Cuyo, the Pehuenche, and the known Comechingon dialects 
with the Henia and the Camiare in a single linguistic family which might be 
called Huarpe-Comechingonan and which would cover the entire area from the 
Jachal-Zanj6n River to Lake Nahuel-Huapi, from the Cordillera to the C6rdoba 
Mountains, 


169 


170 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bun. 143 


Physical type.—The physical type of the Huarpe is known from early chron- 
iclers’ descriptions and from some archeological finds. Judging from these data, 
the Huarpe were rather tall, thin, dolichocephalic, and darker and more hairy 
than neighboring Indians. 

Father Reginaldo de Lizfrraga, who crossed the Cuyo region in his long 
overland trip from Pert to Chile in 1589, tells us that they were tall and thin, 
wherefore they appeared to him “badly proportioned” and “gaunt.” 

Thirty years later, about 1618, Father Ovalle, another chronicler who visited 
the same region, attributed to the Huarpe the same tall, thin stature, describing 
them as “tall as bean poles” and “very thin and austere.” Not even the women 
were an exception to this rule, for when the author was composing his work in 
Rome in 1646, he recalled never having seen women so tall and thin in any other 
tribe of Indians, Clearly, this Chilean author could not have seen many native 
tribes. 

Unfortunately, very few anthropological remains have been found in the 
region to date. The majority of finds belong to the precordilleran area of the 
northwest where, in ancient times, the Peruvian cultures prevailed; or to the 
southern region, which in the 18th and 19th centuries was inhabited by the Arau- 
cano ; in general, they are found outside the limits of the Huarpe. Furthermore, 
both the Peruvians and the Araucano are usually included in the same Andean 
racial type, which is short of stature and brachycephalic, that is, entirely differ- 
ent in appearance from the Huarpe. Nevertheless, certain finds verify the chron- 
iclers’ description of the Huarpe: Some skulls and long bones from San Juan 
studied by Ten Kate (1896), others described by Constanzé (1942), certain finds 
from Viluco in Mendoza, and others from isolated sites, part of which are 
unpublished. 

The relative scarcity of human remains belonging to the rather tall, thin type 
seen by the chroniclers can be explained by the fact that the extremely dry, flat 
Cuyo area permitted habitation only along rivers and lakes or where irrigation 
of the land was possible. In early times the European colonists occupied the 
same places and, through developing farm land, which is still used, destroyed 
many native burial grounds or covered them with crops. 

As archeological traces of Huarpe culture are also very scarce, doubtless for 
the reasons given above, we must utilize historical data, which cannot always 
be verified by archeology. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


The Huarpe economic system was based on cultivation wherever it 
was possible; in some areas irrigation was carried on with elementary 
technical means; in other areas the moisture of the ground was sufli- 
cient for crop germination and growth. The Huwarpe also fished in 
the rivers and ponds, hunted, and collected plant foods, especially 
algarroba. From the marsh lands, they, like other South American 
peoples, obtained the edible roots of cattail (totora) reeds. 

Certain early documents prove that these Indians used various irri- 
gation canals that still exist in the Mendoza area. The Spaniards 
evidently did no more than widen the aboriginal canals, make new 
ones, and improve and increase the system of drains. 

Corn is the only vegetable which we are certain the Huarpe culti- 
vated. According to an early document, the conquistador, Pedro del 


Vow. 1] THE HUARPE—CANALS FRAU VA 


Castillo, upon reaching the Cuyo region to found the first city, Men- 
doza, was greeted by chiefs who brought him, among other gifts, 
tender ears of corn which, naturally, they had raised. Historical 
documents frequently refer to the “cornfields” of the Indians. We 
also know of numerous bed-rock mortars, as well as many conanas, or 
portable mortars, with their corresponding pestles. 

For animal food, the Huarpe hunted rhea, guanaco, and deer, 
which abounded in Cuyo territory, and aquatic birds. Ancient 
chroniclers tell of curious methods of catching both animals and birds. 
For example, hunters followed guanaco on foot to tire them, or, with 
their heads covered with a gourd, waded into the water up to their 
necks, in order to catch the birds that swam among other dry gourds 
which had previously been thrown into the water. 


HOUSES 


The Huarpe dwelling was not uniform throughout the entire region 
but varied according to the locality. The Indians who lived on the 
shores of lakes built semisubterranean dwellings. In the mountainous 
region they built houses of pirca, that is, of stones laid together with- 
out mortar. On the plains they generally constructed dwellings made 
with a framework of sticks, and walls of cane or of bundles of reed 
grass, sometimes covered with a thin layer of mud. Dwellings of 
this type are still seen in the country and are known as “dwellings of 
quincha.” There are, however, no archeological or historical data 
which support the claim often made in modern accounts that the 
Huarpe used skin tents (toldos). Toldos were used by the people 
living on the Pampa or by other tribes farther south. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


We are familiar only with men’s clothing, which consisted of a long 
shirt, which was either sleeveless or had short sleeves. This garment, 
which the Spaniards called the camiseta, is common to the Andean 
peoples. Both sexes wore their hair long. 

Women painted certain parts of the face green and used necklaces 
of different materials. One necklace which was dug up in the Desa- 
guadero zone consists of many small, finely carved mollusk-shell 
disks. Feather ornaments were very common, especially for 
festivities. 


TRANSPORTATION 


Historical documents state that children slept in a sort of cradle, 
the exact shape of which is not known. On journeys, women carried 


these cradles on their backs by means of a broad strap passing over 
the forehead. 


172 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


A characteristic Huarpe culture element is the balsa raft made by 
tying together several bundles of totora reeds. These were used to 
travel the numerous rivers and lagoons. It is the same type as that 
of the Uro of the Titicaca region. Today it is still used on the 
Guanacache Lagoons (fig. 21). 


= j S = = 
Zee aaa nna senweereinannen 


=~ fe 


; SS — : 5 = arcana ee 
65 watac Saaeew ee 
SS a 


1} ) eet a 
Ww 
LS gaa i) YA WA 1 
Ticgure 21.—Totora balsa, Guanacache Lagoons. Top: Balsa, full length and cross section. 
Bottom: Detail of end of balsa. (After Métraux, 1929, p. 4 and fig. 5.) 


MANUFACTURES 


Archeological remains of Huarpe manufactures are, with the excep- 
tion of ceramics, very limited, but historical data supplement our 
information. 

The discovery of plain and unadorned spindle whorls of clay and 
stone, and various references to textiles, show that these natives knew 


Vou. 1] THE HUARPE—CANALS FRAU 173 


how to weave. This is corroborated by their use of the classic Andean 
shirt. But we have no specimens of their textiles and do not know 
their technique of weaving or whether it was done by the men or the 
women. 

Huarpe ceramics are in general of good quality and include not 
only everyday pottery, but vessels of superior type and decoration. 
The shapes are as a whole characteristic of the Andean area, al- 
though some appear to be peculiar to the Huarpe region. One form, 
for example, is a small, subglobular jar some 5 inches (13 cm.) high and 
equally wide, with a single handle attached to the rim. Usually deco- 
rated with black and red designs, both its form and ornamentation are 
subdued yet beautiful. Another ceramic type which appears to be 
characteristic of the Huarpe is a vessel in the shape of a broad drum, 
known as a “kettledrum” (timbal). It is about the same size as that 
of the small jars, but its largest diameter is at the mouth. Its decora- 
tion is different, but the colors are usually the same. The shape of this 
jar is generally considered to be a Tiahuanacan trait, and its presence 
in Cuyo suggests past influences from that ancient culture. 

Historical references show that the Huarpe were true masters of 
the art of basketry, producing even vases and tightly woven drinking 
cups. Even today, the few very mixed descendants of the ancient 
tribe, living secluded in the lagoon area of Guanacache, make beautiful 
baskets of the type known as workbaskets (fig. 22). These are still 
decorated, as in ancient times, with woolen tufts dyed different colors. 
On various potsherds found in different parts of the Hwarpe area are 
impressions of twined baskets, the technique which is used today in 
making workbaskets. 

The Huarpe weapons were the bow and arrow. We do not know 
the shape or other characteristics of the bow, but historical documents 
indicate that it was about 5 feet 4 inches (165 cm.) long and that the 
arrows were 2 feet 10 inches (85 cm.) long, which is longer than the 
Andean and Pampean bows and arrows. Numerous specimens of stone 
arrowheads, with or without stems, can be found in the region. 

Skin work and featherwork was carried on intensively by these 
Indians. 

Finally, we might mention the discovery of other cultural remains, 
such as stones perforated for slingshots, lip plugs (tembetas), etc., 
although we know nothing of their use by the Huarpe. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


We know very little of Huarpe social organization. The family 
was based on patrilineal rights and consisted of the husband and 
one or more wives acquired through purchase. Historical data show 
that Hwarpe practiced the levirate, that is, the custom whereby the 


174 


SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


> = Rpausnilar sap ot 
oe pu 
~ hh: = te 
n N 


Vou. 1] THE HUARPE—CANALS FRAU 175 


wives and children became the dependents of the deceased husband’s 
brother. 

A certain number of families formed a group under the control of 
a chieftain. It seems that each group possessed its own special farm 
lands, some of which were called the “cornfields” (maizales) after the 
vegetable raised on it. Other larger, unirrigated fields were called 
the algarrobales. Ancient documents have numerous references to 
the maizales and algarrobales of the Indians. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


The only musical instrument mentioned is the drum, but its shape 
is not known. 

Periodically the Huarpe celebrated drunken festivities, to which 
people of neighboring villages were invited. For 3 or 4 days and 
nights without sleeping, men danced and drank in a round hut built 
for the purpose. The women, being forbidden to see their husbands 
drinking, remained outside the hut. At these bacchanals there was 
usually a “devil” in the form of man or animal who appeared when 
an old man, surrounded by dancers, played the drum. The devil 
scratched the children’s heads until blood flowed. In an official docu- 
ment of 1600, the senior constable of Mendoza was ordered to stop 
these revelries because of the harm suffered by the Indians during 
them. 

RELIGION 


We know somewhat more of their spiritual culture. 

The Huarpe god was called Hunuc Huar (the root, huar, is the 
same in the tribal name). This god, who they imagined dwelt in the 
Cordillera, was feared and respected. During rituals, the Indians 
made him offerings of chicha, corn, and other things. 

In addition to Hunuc Huar, they also worshiped the sun, the 
moon, the morning star, and the hills. 

The dead were buried to the accompaniment of songs and dances. 
With the deceased they placed his personal belongings and food and 
drink for the long journey. 

Initiation rites were apparently limited to men. According to the 
account of a missionary who lived among the Huarpe and knew their 
language, a shaman scratched the scalp of the initiates, collected in 
his hand the blood from the wound and cast it to the wind. The 
initiates were then subjected to a prolonged fast. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Boman, 1920; Canals Frau, 1938, 1941 a, 1942 a, 1942 b, 1943, 1944; Constanzé, 
1942; Lizdrraga, 1916; Métraux, 1929; Ovalle, 1888; Rosales, 1877-78; Techo, 
1897 ; Ten Kate, 1896; Torres, L. M., 1923; Valdivia, 1607. 


og Td 
Piast thy faaliendbacles ercdevne el: 


eaeealte 


ine wa Wy 0 


ae Sent ss rool ty Raine 
eg Lgeobiold to 4 fase atthe DOOL to dima 
Seiwb ensibal ot yd bnottue sradl ati te named rat 


= 
sernteatiies asi Ht elas 
didt ef nin dopa) tent ene 
ad} ai itanl acti aasi gate 


entail nt hw a ae = ax , 
| Pgh Petals E LidoE 
ont ,nue ileal 9) ii 
Bib} Rlatog be 2h | 


bos ec dag 2 et 


add txt getty A! tinut 0) ll 
sind? ward, bap onren' eilt sath diag bawitdr 


ni batoslion: asdnidicti ql! ti -Glage mileed 8 ,ogecgial 
afl .fssiw offd wl a dei Lith tyeian a. a ds boed eld 
4 tig wed atow sosaisiiri 


PaEAOG) . PML BOL dt SMRT, 2 SkRE on, ret peg 
ini? ; arta maloietl, (ERE, otter, .eRth,, 
OOE etvibinY ;AQ00 at uF oovi'l ¢ 


INDIANS OF THE PARANA DELTA 
AND LA PLATA LITTORAL 


By S. K. Lornror 


INTRODUCTION 


The great tidal estuary known as the Rio de la Plata, more than 
150 miles wide at its mouth, is cut by lat. 35° S. and, therefore, 
lies approximately at the same latitude as the southern tip of Africa. 
Two vast river systems, the Uruguay and the Parana, pour their 
waters into the Rio de la Plata. 

The Parand River rises far to the north, at about lat. 16°30’ S., 
near the Federal district destined to contain the future capital of 
Brazil. Hundreds of miles above its mouth the Parana begins to 
deposit its burden of silt to form innumerable and ever-varying is- 
lands, while from the city of Santa Fé downstream the eastern bank 
is a wide alluvial plain, swampy in character, cut by a thousand 
arroyos and intersecting canals. Opposite Constitucién, about 124 
miles (200 km.) from the Rio de la Plata, the Parana River splits 
into two main branches, and from here to the river’s mouth extends 
the Delta. 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The Indians who once inhabited the Parana Delta (map 1, No. 3; 
map 2) and its adjacent shores and the banks of the Rio de la Plata 
fall into three categories: (1) On the islands at the mouth of the 
Parana lived Guarané Indians, relatively short in stature and thick- 
set, cannibals, agriculturists, fishermen, and hunters. (2) On each 
shore of the Rio de la Plata lived the Querandi and Charrua, pri- 
marily nomadic hunters and fishermen, ignorant of agriculture, tall, 
and warlike. (3) Upstream from the Guarani in the Delta country 
there dwelt a number of smaller tribes intermediate in culture: The 
Minuané (Giienoa), Yard, Bohané, Chand, Chana-Mbegua, Chana- 
Timbi, Mbegua, Timbi, Carcarana, Coronda, Quiloaza, and Colastiné. 
Physically and linguistically the relationship of this last group seems 

583486—46——12 177 


178 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bout. 143 


to have been with the Charrua and the Guaicur%é to the north; cul- 
turally, they show much the same basic pattern, but they had acquired 
certain Guarané traits, such as permanent villages and agriculture. 
The nomenclature, geographical distribution, and linguistic affilia- 
tion of all these groups are mixed and uncertain. 


SOURCES 


The Paran4 Delta and adjacent plains did not witness the rich 
conquests or great feats of arms such as took place in other parts of 
the New World. Hence the literature describing its discovery and 
the natives who dwelt there is scanty and lacking in detail. Three 
primary sources may be recognized. Firstly, there are the records of 
the explorers of the 16th century and the contemporary historians. 
Secondly, we have the 18th-century writings of the Jesuit missionaries, 
who both described the surviving Indians and compiled general 
histories. In addition, there are the earliest scientific travelers such 
as Azara (1809) and D’Orbigny (1835-47), who, with personal know]l- 
edge of the last remnants of the aborigines, published their observa- 
tions in the beginning of the 19th century. All subsequent studies 
must be based on these sources. 

No single volume contains complete material for interpreting native 
life in the Parand Delta. Collections of documents, however, have 
been published by de Angelis (1910), Lothrop (1982 b), Medina (1897, 
1908 a, 1908 b), Outes (1897, 1899, 1910, 1913 b, 1917 b), Ruiz Guifiazé 
(1915), and Torres (1903, 1911). 


CULTURAL SUMMARY 


Study of historical sources indicates that the Indians dwelling on 
the shores of the Rio de la Plata and the lower Paranda River con- 
sisted primarily of plainsmen related to the Guaicuri. Into their 
midst had come an invading band of Guarani, under whose influence 
the culture of some of their neighbors had been modified. The inter- 
play of cultural features is summarized in the accompanying table, 
which combines both historical and archeological data. It should be 
noted that the blank spaces indicate absence of information rather 
than absence of a cultural trait. 


Vou. 1JINDIANS OF PARANA DELTA AND LA PLATA LITTORAL—LOTHROP179 


TasLe 1.—Cultural traits of tribes inhabiting the Rio de la Plata Littoral and 
Paranda Delta! 


Tribes 
asi 
ED vs 
Cultural traits 5 4 

a1 ial & eu Faun! 2a ekneig| auld 

Sri ltp | heen oa N\ eas ihe ciety. edwin excels alt tey 

5 a = & aq aq a 2 iS 3 

Sal (S| Sales ) S) Ses 
ITO G Nese ese ee ne + ap Wleseae “iP oy | Se aeeea eee ate | eae 
BSC) 0) 1 ee ee ae 3 FE SF id (ae ey eee Reena “to ileaoaee 
INoseyp lig east s8) = ee. Sea aes PE Se Nl eee SSS stat} | ooo tes _ + =f hgh pease. 
Eipiplugs2ae4.. 2 ieee 2U ALIS ett hee ete ee fan eer ae a Ieee ae ar aR |isesece 
Watplugiess: s2ac= a2 coast cesses hell Ea eee siz se (eee ar AR 
Tattooing eee = eee ey) § Pate wy a eee + Se ee (6) | WS = ag | ee 
Mh atehed House we a a er lea a eae ea + 
Skin’ windbreak--=--- = -_"---—---- + ar ail | ete | been Vs ee | ol gaa [el | ie Pal eee aid 
Matiwind breaks# 2282 255 st) 2 ts + ape | eee Te Wises oe Se be emer ae ee ee 
(OPT OR cease ek t see Sortie Se rea O so seeele sae + aie ee, eee + -F + 
Spear thrower2:----------2-------> can eee al ate fee Ss eee EE eee eee Sp 
IBolastes aes seee ey . Fe Fees = se a5 Stil ae oes = eee A ee ee | IF 
BOW p< 22-22 522s a2 oo onan ake ar ae ar ab se ee eecee| eeeeee te ae 
minger mutilationes-- 2-22-25] ose + + -f- cli S| 2 ep heeladeagied | Heats ai | 6a Ser ape oe ae 
Headitrophy ss2=--p ee: = sae + + + S| SESE |e ee ee | ee ae | (eg 
Acriculture! 332 See: _ 45 Fee O O O OF) OMiiGs ss ale a a + 


1 +, present; O, absent. 
THE GUARANI 


The “Guarani de las islas” (Chandris, Chandules) inhabited the 
southern side of the Parana Delta from the islands of the Rio de la 
Plata to within a dozen leagues of the Rio Carcarafié (lat. 35° S., long. 
58° W.). Thus they constituted the southernmost enclave of a very 
large and widely distributed linguistic family. Although mentioned 
by all the early explorers, surprisingly little description of them is 
available, and they appear to have become extinct before the end of 
the 17th century. 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


The Guarani of the Parana Delta cultivated maize and calabashes, 
and hence they mark the southern limit of agriculture on the eastern 
side of the continent. In addition, they ate much fish, which they 
dried in the sun, and, when they could get it, they consumed human 
flesh. 

HOUSES AND VILLAGES 


Guarani houses were thatched. Their villages apparently were 
permanent, because in the repartimiento of Buenos Aires (1582) 
“houses of the Guaranis” near Corpus Christi are spoken of as a land- 
mark, 


180 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunt. 143 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Lozano (1873-74) describes them as “very elegant Indians, though 
ugly on account of the colors with which they make themselves look 
formidable, and they adorn their shameless nudity and heads only 
with beautiful feathers.” Ramirez (1897) speaks of plates and ear- 
plugs of gold and silver, and Caboto (1908) mentions “a headdress with 
certain plates of gold and copper, and some low grade silver,” but 
these metals must have been obtained by trade with other regions for 
none is to be had locally. 


TRANSPORTATION 


Their canoes are said to have been well made, and they propelled 
them with long paddles. 


WEAPONS 


Of their weapons, we have only the statement of Oviedo y Valdés 
(1851-55) that they used bows. 


SOCIAL CULTURE 


We know nothing about their social organization, except that the 
repartimiento of Buenos Aires lists 12 caciques, each perhaps being 
the head of a village. In general, they are spoken of as constantly at 
war with all their neighbors, brave in combat, but exceedingly 
treacherous. 

THE QUERANDI 


The Querandi Indians before the Conquest wandered over the Pam- 
pa between Cabo Blanco on the Atlantic coast and the mountains of 
Cérdoba (lat. 35° S., long. 60° W.). Just what happened to them 
after the Conquest is not entirely clear, so that it may be well to review 
briefly their history. 

HISTORY 


In 1586 they fought a drawn battle with the troops of Pedro de 
Mendoza, at which the historian Schmidel (1903) was present. In 
1580 they formed part of an alliance defeated by the second founders 
of Buenos Aires under Juan de Garay, but their name does not appear 
in the repartimiento signed by Garay 2 years later, although Diaz de 
Guzman (1914) states that they were then divided among the victors. 
In 1588, under the cacique Guren or Manua, they attacked and slew 
Garay as he slept while on his way up the Parana River to Asuncién. 
In consequence, several Querandi chiefs were brought to trial in 1585. 
Soon afterward, however, they combined with M/begua, Quiloaza, and 
Guarani in an attempt to win back the region from its conquerors. In 
1678 the name of this people appears again, and for the last time, in 


Vou. 1]INDIANS OF PARANA DELTA AND LA PLATA LITTORAL—LOTHROP 181 


the encomiendas of Indians distributed among the inhabitants of 
Santa Fé. 

Two explanations of what happened to the Querandi are current 
among Argentine scholars. By some it is believed that they became 
totally extinct; by others it is asserted that they survived under the 
name of Pampa Indians. For the latter hypothesis there is strong 
historical support. 

Accounts of the Querandé are more abundant than those describing 
their neighbors, except the Charrua. Moreover, these data have been 
brought together and analyzed in a scholarly study published in 1897 
by F. F. Outes. All the early sources depict the Querandi as a wild, 
fierce, warlike people—one of the many who once wandered without 
restraint on the open plains of the southern continent. Schmidel 
(1903) has compared them to the Gypsies, while Lozano (1873-74), 
seeing the Pampa Indians ahorse, has likened this tribe to the Tartars. 

The cultural affiliation of the Querandi has been the subject of con- 
troversy. It has been claimed that they were affiliated with the 
Araucanians, the Guarani, or the Guaicuri. Comparative tables of 
historical data assembled and published by Outes (1917 b), however, 
indicate that the Querandi, like the Charrua on the eastern shores of 
the Rio de la Plata, shared a basic culture with the Guatcuri. At the 
same time, it seems that the Querandi were afliliated also with the 
tribes to the south and to the west, but the primitive state of these 
tribes, before modifications due to the acquisition of the horse took 
place, is practically unknown to us today. 


PHYSICAL TYPE 


In regard to the physique of the Querandi, Oviedo y Valdés (1851- 
55) on the authority of Alonzo de Santa Cruz (1908), states that they 
were not so tall as the Patagonians (Tehuelche), but were taller than 
the Germans, and that they were a robust people, brown in color. 
Other authorities, in similar tenor, might be cited. In general, it 
seems that the migratory tribes of the plains, from the Chaco to the 
Strait of Magellan, increased in height as one went southward, and 
probably the Querandi fitted into this comprehensive development in 
stature. 

LANGUAGE 


Today we know not a single word of the Querandi language, al- 
though there is a tendency among modern scholars to believe that they 
spoke a dialect of Guatcurt, an opinion based on geographical pro- 
pinquity and cultural similarity. The name Querandi is of Guarandt 
origin and is derived from quira (grease) and ndi, a possessive suffix. 
Hence it indicates “the people who have grease.” 


182 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


The Querandi depended on game, fish, and various roots, but had no 
agriculture. Guanaco, rhea, and deer caught mainly with bolas 
furnished their principal meat supply. Both Ramirez (1897) and 
Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55) state that the Querandi were such swift 
runners that they could catch a deer. They caught fish in the rivers 
by means of nets. Owing to the lack of water on the plains, they drank 
the blood of the game that they secured and ate the roots of thistles 
to quench their thirst. Kroebel (1914) relates that when General 
San Martin feasted the Pampa Indians they drank blood of mares 
mixed with gin. In preparing fish, they extracted the grease, dried 
the flesh, and then ground it into a powder which could be kept for 
some time. The discovery of mortars among archeological remains 
and the mention of this piscine “flour” has led some writers erroneously 
to believe that the Querandi were agriculturists. 


HOUSES 


In ancient times the Querandi used a windbreak rather than a true 
house. Oviedo y Valdéz (1851-55) writes: “Their houses are a para- 
pet, like half huts of the skins of deer and animals which they kill, 
much painted and dressed for protection against wind and rain.” 
Lozano (1873-74) writes that they also had houses made of reed mats. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Querandi clothing consisted of a small apron of cotton or skin and 
a fur robe. As the Querandi had no agriculture and could not have 
grown the necessary cotton, they must have obtained it by trade from 
the north. It is stated that they wore headdresses of gold or silver 
obtained by trade. 


WEAPONS 


The Querandi used bows and arrows, darts, slings, and bolas. We 
have no description of their bows, but assume they were short like 
those of the surrounding tribes. When they attacked the first settle- 
ment at Buenos Aires, they employed cane arrows with fire on their 
points and also arrows made from a very inflammable wood, with 
which they burned the houses and ships of the Spaniards. Their darts 
are described as half-pikes with stone heads; judged from archeo- 
logical evidence, they employed spear throwers. They are said to 
have been exceedingly expert with the bolas and to have caused heavy 
losses to the Spanish cavalry. In fact, this weapon was the best 


defense that any of the American Indians had against European 
horsemen. 


Vou.1] INDIANS OF PARANA DELTA AND LA PLATA LITTORAL-LOTHROP 183 


WARFARE 


They made war after holding a council where each chief gave his 
opinion and a commander-in-chief was chosen. As a first measure, 
they hid their women and children. In attacking they took advan- 
tage of the terrain, and charged the Spaniards as the latter were in- 
volved in the difficulties of crossing a deep stream. Their assault 
was delivered in fixed formation, but this apparently was not main- 
tained in battle and, as among so many Indian tribes, if their com- 
mander was slain they withdrew to appoint another. Their captives 
were treated with kindness. According to Del Techo (1678), the 
Querandé cut off the heads of the slain and kept them as trophies. 


SOCIAL CULTURE 


Querandi social organization apparently was loosely drawn, for 
it is repeatedly stated by early chroniclers that they had no fixed 
abodes or laws. Probably they were divided into small hunting 
groups based on kinship, each with its own petty chief. 

They celebrate the birth of their children [writes Del Techo (1673)] with 
abundance of tears, saying when they are born they begin to die. At the 
funerals of their kindred, instead of tears they shed abundance of blood. 

In sickness, according to Lozano (1873-74), they summoned a 
shaman who, if death took place, received the blame, and might 
therefore be killed in retaliation. 

Their burial customs are described by Del Techo (1678) : 

They carefully keep the bones of their relations; nor is there any affront they 
revenge with so much war and slaughter, as for upbraiding of them that the 
bones of their ancestor have been lost for want of looking after. They honor 
their dead caciques by killing their slaves, believing them to be sent after their 
masters to serve them, 

Lozano (1873-74) states that the Querandi cut off a finger joint as 
a sign of mourning. This custom existed among other tribes of the 
vicinity but is not assigned to the Querandi by contemporary writers. 

Our knowledge of Querandi religion is confined to the supercilious 
remark of Lozano (1873-74) that they were “finisimos ateistas (finest 
atheists) .” 


THE MINUANE OR GUENOA 


HISTORY 


Neither the name Minuané nor Giienoa appears in the earliest liter- 
ature, and there is no mention of them until the publication of mis- 
sionary works. Most writers have assumed that the names refer to 
separate tribes, but we treat them as a single group, because of a very 
definite statement by Lozano (1873-74) that the two were one. Azara 


184 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BLL. 143 


(1809), who has given us the most detailed account, states that their 
original home was on the plains of Entre Rios to the north and north- 
west of the Parana Delta (lat. 33° S., long. 59° W.), and that in 1730 
they crossed to Uruguay, where they allied themselves with their 
Charrua kinsmen in various wars against the colonists of Montevideo. 


CULTURE 


The Minuané, like the Charrua, were nomadic huntsmen of the 
plains. In general, the culture of the two tribes was identical, though 
to us it seems possible that this similarity became more pronounced 
after the Minuané had moved to Uruguay. Azara’s (1809) long list 
of features in which the Minuané resemble the Charrua includes an 
absence of agriculture, rank, musical instruments, games, and dances; 
and a similarity of garments, household effects, weapons, and methods 
of making war, dividing booty, and settling quarrels. In some re- 
spects, however, the two tribes differed. 

On the death of a man, his wife and daughters cut off a finger joint. 
They also cut off part of their hair and allowed the remainder to cover 
their faces; they covered their breasts with a piece of cloth or skin and 
remained in their huts for several days. The men went through a 
ritual resembling that of the Charrua, but lasting only half as long. 
They pierced themselves, however, not with wooden rods, but with 
large fish spines, inserted at intervals of about an inch (2.54 cm.) in 
the back and front of their legs, and in their arms up to the elbow, 
but not up to the shoulder. 


THE YARO 
HISTORY 


This tribe is not mentioned in the earliest literature. According 
to Azara (1809), they lived on the east side of the Rio de la Plata be- 
tween the Rio Negro and the Rio San Salvador (lat. 35° S., long. 57° 
W.). Hervés (1800-05) groups their language with Charrua, but 
Azara (1809) claims that it was distinct. They were finally exter- 
minated by the Charrua, to whom they were closely related in culture. 

Sepp (1732) writes that physically Yard men were “much of the 
same size as Europeans, but not quite so tall.” Their faces were round 
and flat, and of an olive color; their legs were thick and large-jointed. 


CULTURE 


The Yaro practiced no agriculture, but subsisted on rhea and other 
birds, venison, and fish; during the Colonial epoch they lived chiefly 
on wild cattle. 

Their houses are described as roofless straw huts evidently cor- 
responding to the roofless squares of mats used by the Charrua, 


Vou. 1]INDIANS OF PARANA DELTA AND LA PLATA LITTORAL—LOTHROP185 


Abipon, Frentones, and others. Household furniture included ves- 
sels hollowed out of wood, spits, and skins for a couch. Sepp (1782) 
writes that one of their chiefs slept in a hammock. This statement is 
of interest because it marks the southern limit of the hammock. 

Both sexes wore a short skin apron and at times fur robes. Women 
wore their hair loose over the forehead, with braided tresses falling 
down the back, while the men apparently allowed their hair to hang 
free over their shoulders. For adornment, they inserted labrets of 
fishbone or feathers in their lips. Ornaments of fishbone, shell, or 
feathers hung from their ears, and they wore necklaces wrought of the 
same material. 

Yaré weapons included the bow and arrow and bolas. Men are 
described as carrying arrows in their hand, from which we conclude 
that, like the Tehuelche, they used no quivers. With the bolas they 
were so expert that they could hit a bird on the wing. 

The imperfection of our knowledge of Yaré social organization is 
illustrated by Del Techo’s (1673) naive statement that they had no 
“government.” Sepp (1732), however, describes a chieftain, evi- 
dently of some authority, who, like his wife, was distinguished by 
his dress. Men were forced to undergo a rigorous initiation cere- 
mony, during which they cut themselves severely. 

The Yaro practiced finger mutilation at the death of a relative, as 
did their neighbors; some persons had nothing left but the palms of 
their hands. According to Sepp (1732), this was a custom of the men, 
an entire finger being taken off at a time. Del Techo (1673) does 
not specify the sex, but asserts that only a joint was removed at each 


death. 
THE BOHANE 


Azara (1809) locates this small tribe just north of the Yar across 
the Rio Negro (lat. 34° S., long. 57° W.), and states that they also 
were exterminated by the Charrua. Hervas (1800-05) places their 
tongue in the Charrua group. Nothing is known about Bohané 
culture. 

THE CHANA 


HISTORY 


In the 16th century there appear to have been two groups of Chand 
Indians, living respectively in the vicinity of Sancti Spirtitu and on 
the islands opposite the mouth of the Rfo Negro (lat. 34° S., long. 
58° W.); these maintained their separate identities during the Colo- 
nial epoch. The tongue of the Chand is described by Oviedo y 
Valdés (1851-55) as guttural, a statement born out by Larrafaga, 
who compiled a vocabulary and grammar published by Lafone Que 
vedo (1922) and Torres (1911). 


186 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BuLy. 143 


CULTURE 


The Chand, like the neighboring Charrua, Yard, Bohané, and 
Mocoreté, had no agriculture, but are said to have eaten algarroba 
beans, which grew wild in their vicinity. Their chief sustenance 
came from hunting and fishing. Their weapons are reputed to have 
been the bow and arrow and the spear and spear thrower. In the 
18th century they still made excellent pottery and used canoes. 

Azara (1809) writes that, like the Guarani, they disinterred the 
bodies of their dead after the soft parts had perished in order to 
paint the bones with ocher and grease, and bury them anew with their 
accouterments. The children, he adds, were buried in great pottery 
urns, filled with ocher and earth, and covered with broad plates. 


THE CHANA-MBEGUA 


This tribe is mentioned by Pero Lépes de Souza (1861) and by 
Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55). The latter places them on the northern 
side of the Delta (lat. 35° S., long. 59° W.) opposite the Chand- 
Timbu, who, he says, spoke the same tongue. Lopez (1861) en- 
countered them at the mouth of the Parana River, but exactly where 
we do not know. 

The woman and three men he saw were clad in skins. The woman 
wore her hair in a braid, and had lines painted or tattooed beneath 
her eyes. They all had caps made from the heads of jaguars, com- 
plete even to the teeth. They used small canoes, in contrast to the 
Charrua and Timbu, who had large ones. 


THE CHANA-TIMBU 


Of the Chand-Timbi we know practically nothing. Ramirez 
(1897) lists them among the “other nations” living near Sancti Spiritu 
at the mouth of the Rio Carcarafié (lat. 35° S., long. 60° W.) and 
Garcia de Moguer (1908) states that they lived on the other part of 
the river from the “Caracaraes.” These writers, however, both dis- 
tinguish them from the “Timbus” or “Atambies,” which gives us reason 
to think that, if not a distinct tribe, they were at least a subtribe of the 
Timbi or Chand. In addition, Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55) writes that 
they occupied the south side of the Delta opposite the Chand-Mbegua 
and that both spoke the same tongue. 

Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55) also says that the Chand Timbi were of 
greater stature than any other tribe of the Parana Delta, and that they 
normally went naked, although they had some skins of deer and otter. 
Their diet, in addition to the flesh of these animals, consisted of 
fish and maize. They also grew “calabashes,” which perhaps means 
squashes, 


Vou. 1]INDIANS OF PARANA DELTA AND LA PLATA LITTORAL-LOTHROP 187 


THE MBEGUA 


The Mbegua (Beguae, Ameguae) hover in the dawn of history; we 
know very little about them. Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55) states that 
“upstream from these [Guarant] is another people called Beguaes, 
who live on the south side of the same river [lat. 35° S., long. 60° W.] ; 
they are few in number, and when the river rises they move to the 
south shore .. .” 

Culturally, the M@begua seem to have resembled their neighbors, the 
Querandi, but they had acquired the art of agriculture, for Oviedo 
y Valdés (1851-55) says that “they maintain themselves by fishing and 
they sow something.” From Herrera (1601-15), we learn of 
“A meguaes Indians, who live by fishing, and who gave [the Spaniards] 
provisions consisting of a great quantity of fish and supplied them with 
canoes.” Ramirez (1897) denies that they practiced agriculture, but 
suggests that they wore nose, ear, and lip plugs like the Timbu. 
Lozano (1873-74) writes that the Mbegua sold their Spanish captives 


to the Chand. 
THE TIMBU 


HISTORY 


The Timbi (Atambi) Indians formerly dwelt on the islands of the 
Parana River opposite and upstream from the mouth of the Rio Car- 
carana, and probably also on the eastern shore of the Parana River, 
where to this day exist small streams known as Timbo Colorado and 
Timbo Blanco (lat. 33° S., long. 60° W.). They numbered, according 
to Diaz de Guzman (1914), about 8,000, but Schmidel (1903) believes 
there were approximately 15,000. No trace of their language is 
known, but it is generally assumed, on the basis of cultural evidence, 
that they belonged to the southern Guaycurt stock. 


PHYSICAL APPEARANCE 


The Timbu (fig. 23) seem to have been the tallest of all the tribes 
living near the lower Parana River and Rio de la Plata. Schmidel 
(1903) writes that the men were tall and erect, but that the women 
were disfigured by scratched and bloody faces. 


CULTURE 


Subsistence.—Schmidel (1903), who lived among the Timbdia for 
some time, explicitly states that “these people have nothing else to eat, 
and have all their lives through lived on nothing else but fish and 
meat.” Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55), going into greater detail, writes: 


They sustain themselves by fishing, of which they have great abundance; and 
they extract from the fish a large amount of fine grease, of which the Christians 


188 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BuLL. 143 


TIEMBVS. 


Speranza 
A ty 


+ Prrane Plaius ies 


ee 


ek SEE be ie weiaen 
Sse ea Parana sue Roo Li. EUS 
> ° ~ % ie 7 e*: Be ae be = “: 
tte z a . ~ ° 


» 
+ —, 


= sh 


FIGURE 23.—Early drawings of the Timbé. Top: Timbé Indians. Bottom: Attack on 
Corpus Christi by the Timbé. (After Schmidel.) 


make much use both for burning in candles and for dressing deer skins... . 
They have many deer, and rheas, and sheep like the large ones of Peru, jaguars, 
otter, and other animals which appear like rabbits, and others of other kinds. 

On the other hand, Ramirez (1897), an authority of importance, 
declares that “they sow maize and calabash and beans, and all the 
other nations do not sow and their food is meat and fish.” Garcia de 


Vou. 1]INDIANS OF PARANA DELTA AND LA PLATA LITTORAL-LOTHROP 189 


Moguer (1908) also claims that the “A tambzes” ate maize, while Diaz 
de Guzman (1914) lists the food which the chieftain Mangoré carried 
to Nufio de Lara at Sancti Spiritu as “fish, meat, honey, butter 
(grease), and maize.” 

Among the customs attributed to the Zimbz is eating earth fried in 
fish grease, which is said to have been a favorite food. This diet has 
not been noted among any of the neighboring tribes, but has a wide, 
though sporadic, distribution throughout the New World. 

Houses.—7%imbii houses, according to Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55), 
were covered with rushes and were subdivided into apartments. 

Dress.—Concerning the dress of the 7'%mbu, Schmidel (1903) 
states that, like the Corondda, they wore a small cotton cloth from the 
navel to the knee, while Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55) says that they wore 
garments and footgear of deerskin. 

Ornaments.—Both men and women had holes bored in their noses 
and ears for the insertion of small stones, white, blue, or green in color, 
while the men also pierced the lower lip for a labret. Lozano (1873- 
74) writes that both men and women painted their bodies with clay, but 
that this adornment was permitted only to those who had partaken of 
human flesh. 

Canoes.—Schmidel (1903) writes that the 7imbu possessed more 
than 400 canoes, each with a crew of 16 men. 

Such a skiff [he says] is made out of a single tree, eighty feet [24.4 m.] long 
and three [1 m.] wide, and must be rowed as the fisherman’s boats in Germany, 
only that the oars are not bound with iron. 

Marquez Miranda (1930) has published plans and description of a 
very different type of 7imbz boat, short and broad, partly decked over 
forward. 

Warfare and weapons.—How a 7imbdu% warrior appeared is pic- 
tured by Barco Centenera (1912) and by Lozano (1873-74). The 
latter describes an Indian near Santa Fé who wore “for a helmet the 
hide of an elk; for shield a great shell of a certain fish [turtle?], his 
quiver and bow on his shoulder, and in his hands a staff proportionate 
to the incongruous height of his body.” More specifically, Ovideo y 
Valdés (1851-55) states that their weapons included the spear thrower 
and dart, as well as the bow and arrow. 

Cannibalism.—The charge of cannibalism against the 7%mbi rests 
primarily on Oviedo y Valdés (1851-55) and has been repeated by 
subsequent writers. Lozano (1873-74), probably on the authority of 
an ambiguous passage in Del Techo (1673), extends it to the neighbor- 
ing Quiloaza and Colastiné, and states that no one could paint the body 
until he or she had eaten human flesh. Several writers, basing their 
argument in large part on the claim that the 77mbuz were cannibals, 
have believed the 72mbz to have been of Guarani extraction. We be- 


190 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buy. 143 


lieve that the weight of evidence points otherwise, and that the T7mba 
should be grouped physically, culturally, and probably linguistically 
with the Chind-Timbi, Chand, and Charrua. At the same time, the 
Timbt having acquired agriculture, probably from Guarani influence, 
had come to occupy permanent houses and village sites. 

Death observances.—Cutting off the joint of a finger on the death 
of a relative was customary among 7imbi% women; after the fingertips 
had gone, they cut off the outer joints of the toes. Ramirez (1897) 
declares that there were women without a single outer phalanx on hand 
or foot, and that they said they did this on account of the great grief 
they experienced upon someone’s death. Lozano (1873-74) further 
states that this tribe adorned graves with rhea plumes and planted 
upon the spot an umbi tree (Phytolacca dioica) to which the relatives 
returned to bewail the deceased. 


THE CARCARANA 


This tribe, of whose name many variants can be found, presumably 
lived on the banks of the Rio Carcarafid (lat. 32-33° S., long. 60-61° 
W.). According to Del Techo (1678), they numbered about 8,000. 
All the early writers link them with the Zimbu, who dwelt in the Delta 
country across the Paranda River, and it is evident that these two tribes 
were not only on friendly terms but were practically identical in 
culture. 

THE CORONDA, QUILOAZA, AND COLASTINE 


These three tribes lived on the Parana River islands above the 
Timbi. The fullest account is by Schmidel (1903), who describes 
them as resembling the Zimbué in culture, physique, and language. 
Lozano (1873-74) does not depict them individually, but by listing 
them with the 7%mbz implies that no important differences existed. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Acusacion del Fiscal, 1908; Angelis, 1910; Azara, 1809; Barco Centenera, 1912; 
Behme, 1732; Bruch, 1910; Caboto, 1908; Cattaneo, 1759; Diaz de Guzman, 1914; 
Encomiendas, 1897; Garcia de Moguer, 1908; Herrera, 1601-15; Hervas, 1800-05 ; 
Informacién Hecha, 1908; Informacién Levantada, 1908; Kroebel, 1914; Lafone 
Quevedo, 1897 a, 1899; Lépes de Souza, 1861; Lothrop, 1932 b; Lozano, 1873-74 ; 
Marquez Miranda, 1930; Medina, 1897, 1908 a, 1908 b; Muratori, 1759; D’Orbigny, 
1835-47 ; Outes, 1897, 1899, 1910, 1913 b, 1917 b; Ovalle, 1888; Oviedo y Valdés, 
1851-55; Pernetty, 1770; Pritchard, 1843; Ramirez, 1897; Ruiz Guifiazu, 1915; 
Santa Cruz, 1908; Schmidel, 1903; Schuller, 1906, 1917, 1919-20; Sepp, 1732; 
Serrano, 1930; Techo, 1673; Torres, L. M., 19038, 1911. 


THE CHARRUA 


By Antonio SERRANO 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


If the present territory of the Republic of Uruguay extended north 
to the Ibicuy and Camaquan Rivers in Brazil and west to the Guale- 
guay River and the southeastern corner of the Province of Corrientes 
south of Yapeyti in Argentine territory, we should have the approxi- 
mate geographical area occupied by the Charrua (lat. 34° S., long. 
55° W.) (map 1, Vo. 4; map 2). According to accounts of 16th-cen- 
tury travelers, the Atlantic coast to the east more or less at lat. 34° 
S. was occupied by the Arechane, a non-Charrua people. Speculation 
based on a comparison of the archeology of the region with historical 
information suggests that perhaps the Arechane were Guayana whose 
speech was influenced by Guarani. 


Archeology.—The archeology of this large territory is comparatively well 
known. Except for sporadic elements corresponding to the lithie culture of 
southern Brazil and attributable to the ancient Guayand and several scattered 
elements of Guarani origin, all the archeological material belongs to a culture 
related to that of Patagonia. This culture, which the Charrua developed, is 
characterized by a worked-stone industry similar to that of Patagonia, by the 
presence of many round and star-shaped stone balls for bolas, and by polished 
or engraved pottery made in globular shapes and without handles. The sculp- 
tured stones, of which only two examples from the middle Uruguay River are 
known, probably belong to this culture (pl. 42, d, g). 

To the south along the Rio de la Plata near Montevideo are distinctive ele- 
ments characteristic of the area occupied by the Chand-Timbu. Among these is 
the “thick pottery” which coincides distributionally with the territory of these 
Indians, i. e., the banks of the Parana River. 

Tribal divisions.—The name Charrua, according to usage of the first travelers 
of the 16th century, designated only the nuclei which lived along the littoral 
but traveled into the interior. Eventually it became a generic term for all the 
groups which were culturally and linguistically related to them. These groups, 
known more or less exactly through Jesuit mission records of the 17th century, 
are the Yard, Giienoa, Bohané, Minuané, and Charrua. Their 17th-century dis- 
tribution is indicated in map 2. 

The Giienoa were known to some early Spanish authors as Minuané and are 
called the latter name today in the Brazilian literature. According to Abbot 
Hervas and others, the true generic name of the Indians with whom we are 
eoncerned should be Giienoa, not Charrua, as the latter is merely the designa- 
tion of one of the five principal divisions. (See also pp. 183-184.) 


191 


192 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


Each of these divisions was made up of subtribes, some names of which have 
been recorded. The Cloya were a small subtribe of the Giienoa during the 17th 
century. The Guayantiran, Balomar, and Negueguian were groups of Charrua 
in Entre Rios during the 18th century. Colonization of Entre Rios and mis- 
sionary efforts to convert the eastern groups disrupted the geographical dis- 
tribution of the different tribes. The Minuané went to Uruguay in 17380 and 
made a defensive and offensive alliance with the Charrua, who thereafter went 
to the Parana River, attacking and robbing the stock farms established by the 
Spaniards. The Yard, who occupied the eastern side of the Uruguay River, 
south of the Rio Negro, deployed toward the western side of the Province of 
Entre Rios. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 


The Charrua were very tall. D’Orbigny, who saw them in 1829 
in the vicinity of Montevideo, gave an average stature of 5.4 feet 
(1.66 m.) for women and 5.5 feet (1.68 m.) for men. They had wide 
faces, prominent cheek bones, copper skin, straight, coarse hair, and 
a sad, taciturn expression that escaped no one who observed them 


(pl. 41). 
LANGUAGE 


Present knowledge of the Charrua language is limited to 70 words 
and the numerical system. The latter is based on four, the first 
numbers being: One, yu or yut; two, sam; three, deti or detit; four, 
betum. Five is “four and one,” betum yu, and so on to eight, which 
is “two times four,” betum arta sam. Nine is baquin; ten, guaroj. 

The Charrua language appears to be a dialect of Chand and is ap- 
parently related to the Caingang of Rio Grande do Sul. Previously, 
it was considered to be an isolated language. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Charrua economy was based on hunting, on gathering wild fruits 
and roots, and, in less degree, on fishing. The introduction of the 
horse facilitated economic life. After the Conquest, the Charrua lived 
chiefly on the wild cattle which overran the Banda Oriental. The 
Charrua traded hides of horses and wild cattle to the Spaniards for 
yerba maté, tobacco, and liquor. 


HOUSES 


Charrua houses were constructed of four poles set in the ground 
and covered with straw mats which served as roof and walls. During 
the summer, the Indians reduced this habitation to a single mat set 
up as a wind screen. When horses had become abundant on the un- 
dulating Uruguayan plains, the Charrua ceased to use grass mats 


(JOATY JOIV) “ZEST ‘ensueyD Jo dnoiy— 1} TLVId 
c 


one 
sera, 
* at he oe 
7 


r g 


PLATE 42.—Charrua pottery and stonework. a, ), Pottery vessels from Colén, Rio Uruguay country, 
Argentina; d, g, carved stone plaques, Rio Uruguay country, Argentina, length of d 84s in., or 22 em.; ¢, 
lenticular stone, Monte Caseros, Argentina, 44 natural size; e, skull cracker, Uruguay, 14 natural size; 
f, bola, Entre Rios, Argentina, natural size. (All objects after or by courtesy of Antonio Serrano.) 


PLATE 43.—Projectile points from the middle Rio Uruguay. (After Serrano.) 


;. 


Nid 


. 


. eh, 
"ert OF 
y ” 


“F 


PLATE 44.—Chipped-stone artifacts, Charrua territory. a, Lance point, Monte Caseros, Argentina, length 
5in., or 18 cm.; 5, c, scrapers (?), Rio Uruguay country, respective lengths, 3 in., or 7,5cem., 3)gin., or 9 em 
(After Serrano.) : 


Vou. 1] THE CHARRUA—SERRANO 193 


and constructed their nomad dwellings (toldos) of horse skins sewed 
together and supported on fixed stakes. 
Father Sepp (1940) mentions the use of netted hammocks by Yard 
chiefs. 
DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


The Charrua tattooed the face with blue lines, the number and 
location of which varied according to the tribe. Some groups also 
tattooed the body. They painted themselves according to circum- 
stances; for war, for example, they painted their jaws white. They 
perforated their ear lobes for pendants of mollusk shell, bone, and 
even colored feathers, as among the Yard, Pero Lopes de Sousa, in the 
16th century, wrote that they bored holes in their nostrils, and inserted 
shining pieces of copper. They also wore long, thin lip plugs (tem- 
betas). Necklaces and bracelets made of small, circular mollusk-shell 
beads and of feathers completed their adornment. 

Clothing consisted of a simple deer hide fastened to the belt like 
an apron and, during winter, the classic fur robe of the type worn 
in Patagonia and the Chaco (pl. 41). It was made of the skins of 
small mammals cured with ashes and grease, sewn together, and 
painted with panels and geometric drawings. Azara states that in 
his day Charrua men usually went naked, but put on a skin shirt and 
poncho in cold weather, while women habitually wore a poncho or 
sleeveless cotton shirt. 

Both men and women wore their hair long, and combed it with 
their fingers to remove the vermin. Women did not confine their 
hair, but men made a knot at the back of their necks and inserted 
white feathers. 


TRANSPORTATION 


As the Charrua seem to have lived on fish more at the time of the 
Conquest than in later centuries, when the horse facilitated hunting 
huge herds of wild cattle, canoes formerly played an important part 
in their primitive mode of life. Pero Lopes de Sousa (1927) writes 
of the Indians seen near Montevideo in 1531: 

Their canoes were 10 to 12 fathoms in length and half a fathom in width; 
the wood was cedar, very beautifully worked; they rowed them with very long 
paddles decorated by crests and tassels of feathers on the handles; and 40 
standing men rowed each canoe. 

D’Orbigny, however, writing in the 18th century, declares that 
the Charrua had no fishing, navigation, agriculture, or weaving. 
Atrophy of the native culture evidently had taken place between the 
16th and 18th centuries. 


583486—46——_18 


194 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 148 


MANUFACTURES 


Pottery.—Pottery, mentioned by only one early author, is known 
through archeological finds in sites with a typical Charrua culture. 
The documentary reference to ceramics is in Vilardebé (G6mez Haedo, 
1937) who says, “their utensils are vases of black clay which they dry 
in the sun until they are hard. In these vases they cook rhea flesh.” 
Archeological materials show that the pottery in sites of the typical 
culture are characteristically subglobular and never have handles 
(pl. 42, a, b). The vessels are generally polished or decorated with 
incised lines or zigzags. In the basin of the lower Rio Negro and 
Uruguay River, there is a type of ceramics with more complete decora- 
tion, which occasionally has handles; it is similar to that of the Parana 
Delta and the Parané Basin, which seems to correspond to Chand 
rather than to Charrua ware. 

Weapons.—The characteristic weapons were bows and arrows, 
quivers, bolas, slings, and spears. The Charrua were good bowmen, 
and the hunting range of their arrows was up to 100 yards (92 m.). 
Their arrows and spears were tipped with tanged stone heads (pls. 
43, 44), but some spears had fire-hardened tips. Their bolas (pl. 42, f) 
originally consisted of a single stone attached to a cord adorned at 
the end by a tuft of rhea feathers. After the Conquest, the two- and 
three-ball types came into use. With the advent of horse transporta- 
tion, the Charrua, like other Indians of the southern plains and of 
Chile, fought with great lances 12 feet (4 m.) long. 

For the sling, the Charrua used sharp pebbles which they threw with 
great skill. The so-called “sling stones”—carefully shaped lenticular 
stones (pl. 42, ¢)—appear really to be a special type of bolas stone. 

Along the Uruguay River, in places where stones abound, the author 
has found true workshops where the Charrua made their stone arms 
and utensils. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


Each tribe was independent of the others, but for warfare several 
tribes united under a chief chosen from among the bravest or most 
powerful men. 

Each family consisted of 8 or 10 persons occupying a single toldo. 
The bands consisted of 8 to 12 families under a chief whose authority 
was not great. The heads of families, however, formed a sort of 
council which ran the encampment and posted sentries, but obedience 
to their decision was purely voluntary. Quarrels were settled by fist 
fights. 

WARFARE 


The Charrua, like most Indians of the southern plains, were fierce 
and indomitable warriors. Methods of warfare were simple. After 


Vou. 1] THE CHARRUA—SERRANO 195 


hiding their women and children in some wocded place, the warriors 
sent scouts ahead and advanced cautiously to surprise the enemy. 
With wild shouts, they mercilessly attacked. They spared the women 
and children, but afterward incorporated prisoners into the tribe and 
treated them with kindness. They are said to have skinned the heads 
of fallen foes and kept the skulls as perpetual trophies, making cere- 
monial drinking cups of them. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Puberty.—A girl’s puberty was celebrated with special ceremonies 
of unknown purposes. Azara (1809) describes three vertical blue lines 
tattooed on girls’ faces at their first menstruation. 

Marriage took place at the age of puberty. A woman ordinarily 
married the first man who asked her. Polygyny, though permitted, 
was restricted by the fact that a childless woman often abandoned a 
polygynous man to marry someone else. Adultery, if discovered, led 
to fist fights, but was not otherwise penalized. 

Death observances.—A corpse, according to Azara (1809), was 
carried to a cemetery amid much wailing, and interred with weapons 
and utensils while a friend or relative slaughtered a horse on the grave. 
Pero Lopes de Sousa (1927) described a 16th-century cemetery which 
had a circle of upright stakes encompassing some 30 burials, and much 
abandoned property, such as nets, skin cloaks, and spears. Lozano 
(1874, 1:408) writes, however, that “they carry the bones of their 
deceased relatives wherever they wander, love making very light for 
them this stinking cargo.” These seemingly contradictory statements 
probably indicate that each group had its own cemetery, and if death 
took place at a distance, they carried the body to their own place of 
burial. 

After the burial of a relative, both sexes observed a long and painful 
period of mourning. Azara (1809) wrote that the women cut off a 
finger joint, and lacerated their arms, breast, and sides with the knife 
or lance of the deceased. They then retired to their huts, and remained 
two moons with little food. This authority states that because a de- 
ceased man’s wives and sisters underwent this trial, there were no 
adult women who did not lack finger joints and were not covered with 
scars. Ldépes (1927), however, attributes this custom to the men, and 
adds that he saw many old men who had sacrificed all their fingers 
and had only the thumbs remaining. 

Charrua men, in later times, did not mourn the death of a wife 
or child, but all adult males underwent a painful ritual on the death 
of a father. They remained naked in their huts for 2 days, eating 
only tinamou flesh and eggs, after which a friend or relative ap- 
peared at nightfall with a quantity of short rods, which he thrust 


196 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLy. 143 


through the flesh of the mourner from wrist to shoulder. Thus ar- 
rayed the mourner went naked into the woods, fearless of wild beasts, 
from which he now believed himself to be immune. With an iron- 
shod stick, he dug a deep hole, in which he passed the entire night 
covered to his chest with earth. At dawn, he went to a small hut, 
especially reserved for mourners, where he presumably removed the 
rods from his flesh. For 2 days he lay without water or food. For 
the next 10 or 12 days children brought him small quantities of 
partridge meat and eggs. During this time he could speak with no 
one. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Charrua artistic motivations were expressed in the geometric draw- 
ings on the backs of fur robes, in some geometric pictographs, and 
in pottery designs. 

Among games presumed to be of native origin was that of throwing 
the bolas around a stake driven in the ground. After contact with 
the Spaniards, they played cards. 


RELIGION 


We know little of Charrua religious ideas. These tribes believed 
in an evil spirit, which they invoked but did not make the object of 
cult worship. They had shamans who invoked the spirit and who 
were thought to have power to control the forces of nature. 

A recently discovered manuscript (Gomez Haedo, 1937) states that 
young men went into the wilderness to fast until a spirit, who was 
to become their guardian angel, appeared to them. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Azara, 1809; Bohm, 1940; Canals Frau, 1940 a; Cardiel, 1866; Devincenzi, 
1927; Figueira, 1892; Garcia, D., 1902; Gomez Haedo, 19387; Hervas, 1800-05; La- 
rranga Damaso, 1924, a, b; Larrauri, 1918-19; Lopes de Sousa, 1927; Lothrop, 
1942 b; Lozano, 1874; Madero, 1902; Outes, 1913 b; D’Orbigny, 1835-47 ; Relacion 
del viaje de los P. P. Sepp y Bohm (1692), 1940; Rivet, 1930; Schmidel, 1903; 
Schmidt, W. J., 1926; Sepp, 1940; Serrano, 1952, 1938 a, 1942; Vilardeb6, 1937; 
Xarque, 1687. 


Parr 2. InprmAns or THE GRAN CHACO 


ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO 
By Aurrep Mrérraux 


GEOGRAPHY 


The name Chaco, which seems to be derived from a Quechua word 
meaning “hunting ground,” is applied to the vast plain which les in 
the center of the South American Continent between the fringe of 
the Matto Grosso Plateau and the Argentine Pampa. 

Geographically, the Chaco is a depressed area, bordered on the 
west by the first ranges of the sub-Andean mountains, and on the north 
by the low hills and summits detached from the central Brazilian 
massif and from the Sierras de San José and San Carlos, south of 
Chiquitos. On the east the Chaco is bounded by the Paraguay and 
Parana Rivers and by the widely scattered rocky hills which rise along 
the Paraguay River. To the south it ends at the foot of the Sierras de 
Cordoba and Guayasin. Between these mountains and the Parana 
River there is a wide gap where the Chaco merges without marked 
transition into the Pampa. 

The present-day boundaries of the Chaco as a culture area do not 
coincide with those of the Chaco as a geographical entity (map 1, 
No. 5; maps 4,5). The sub-Andean range of hills (Western Cordil- 
lera) lying north and south of the Pilcomayo River falls within the 
habitat of the Chiériguano and Chané, two tribes that culturally and 
linguistically have little or nothing in common with the Chaco peo- 
ples. Until a few years ago (1935-87?) many Chané had their vil- 
lages on the lower Parapiti River, but they now have been settled by 
the Paraguayan Army near Lépez de Filippis in the very heart of 
the Chaco. For purely cultural reasons, the Parapiti River and the 
marshes of Izozog mark the northwestern limits of the Chaco. On 
the east, however, there was a close correspondence between natural 
and cultural boundaries until the end of the 17th century, when the 
Mbayd invasions into the regions east of the Paraguay River annexed 
to the Chaco culture area the Guarané lands situated between the Apa 
and the Miranda Rivers. 


197 


198 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 148 


Physical features.—The Chaco plain slopes gently toward the 
east and more sharply toward the southeast. In the extreme north 
there rises a quartz plateau, 1,800 feet (550 m.) above sea level, with 
isolated summits (Cerro San Miguel and Cerro Chico). This whole 
region is still little known and shelters a few Zamuco tribes (Moro, 
Guaranoca, T'strakua) who have never had any contacts with White 
people. In the south there is an area of great depression with large 
salt marshes. 

The soil of the Chaco, like that of the Pampa, is a clayish loess. 
Not a stone can be found over most of its extension. In many parts 
of the Chaco, especially in dried lagoons and marshes, the ground is 
covered with a thin crust of salt. 

Water system.—Of the many rivers which originate in the Andes 
and flow into the Chaco, only the Pilcomayo River, the Bermejo 
River, and Rio Salado reach the Paraguay or the Parana Rivers; 
the others are lost in the sands, though some in earlier times dug 
beds hundreds of miles long, which in the rainy season are full of 
marshes, pools, and lagoons. 

The most important river in the Chaco is the Pilcomayo. Along its 
upper course it is paralleled by dry river beds and canadas which it 
supplies with water during the annual floods. At about its middle 
course the Pilcomayo no longer flows between cliffs, but disappears 
into the Estero Patifio, a huge marshy tract, lying between the Dorado 
and the Porteno Rivers. When it reappears at the other end of the 
Kstero Patino it is divided into two branches, the Brazo Norte and the 
Brazo Sur. Farther on, these two main arms join again and flow into 
the Paraguay River, near Lambaré. The lower course of the Pilco- 
mayo River is also a region of swamps, lagoons, and cafiadas. 

The greatest floods of the Pilcomayo River occur during the summer 
months, February to April, but most of the water is absorbed by the 
marshes of the Estero Patifio. 

Like the Pilcomayo River, the Bermejo River loses its valley on 
entering the Chaco plain, where it follows a most capricious course. 
In 1868, its waters took a northerly direction and now flow through the 
Teuco River. Between the old dry bed and the new one there are 
innumerable lagoons, cafiadas, and madrejones. The two branches 
meet again around lat. 25°45’ S., where the river assumes once 
more the name of Bermejo River. The Bermejo is a typical Chaco 
river, continually changing its course, traveling from one stream bed 
to another, cutting its meanders, and forming new branches which are 
later destroyed (pl. 45). 

The third important river of the Chaco is the Rio Salado, which 
on its upper course is known as the Pasaje or Juramento River. As 
a result of the river’s past deviations, the whole southern Chaco is 
furrowed by a system of dry beds and cafiadas. 


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Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 199 


The Parapiti is the only river in the Chaco that belongs to the 
Amazon water system. It disappears into the marshes of the Izozog 
and emerges again on the other side under the name of Tunas River. 

In the northeastern part of the Chaco, the only water course worth 
mentioning is the Otuquis River, which is dry during a large part 
of the year. 

On the whole, the Chaco is a dry country (pl. 46) which would be 
hardly suitable for human settlement were it not that lagoons, water 
holes, cafladas, and madrejones are abundantly scattered throughout 
the area. These water holes may dry up suddenly, and the Indians 
who depended on them are then forced to migrate to more favorable 
surroundings. Scarcity of water rather than the hostility of the 
Indians has hampered for centuries the exploration of the Chaco. 

The Chaco climate varies somewhat from east to west. Rainfall 
is heavier in the east (50 inches (1.3 m.) a year), starts earlier (Octo- 
ber), and ends only in May. In the center and west, the dry season 
lasts about 6 months, and the precipitation is less abundant, especially 
in the central portion of the Chaco (25 inches (63 cm.) a year). In 
winter, from June to August, when the cold south wind blows, the 
temperature at night may fall several degrees below the freezing 
point. The highest temperatures in South America (46° C.) have 
been recorded in the Chaco, near Villamontes and the Rio Salado. 

The flora and fauna of the Chaco are discussed under Subsistence 
Activities, 


POST-CONTACT HISTORY 


Exploration and conquest.—The dry forests and swamps of the 
Chaco, inhabited by wild and warlike Indians, had little to entice 
the Spanish conquistadors. This region, which even today is in some 
parts terra incognita, was, however, one of the first areas in the in- 
terior of South America to be explored by the Whites. The Chaco 
in itself was unimportant; its historical role was due to the fact that 
it was the gateway to the fabulous lands of the west from which the 
Guarani received the silver and gold objects seen by the Spaniards 
from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata to Paraguay. For almost half 
a century the history of the Rio de la Plata consisted of a series of 
attempts to master the Chaco in order to reach the land of the “metal 
and of the white king.” When, in 1548, the conquistadors under Do- 
mingo Martinez de Irala finally realized their dream, it was too late. 
The rich mountain lands of the west had fallen into the hands of 
Pizarro and his companions. However, the first man to cross the 
Chaco and set foot in the empire of the Jnca was a Portuguese sailor, 
Alejo Garcia, a shipwrecked member of the Solis armada. Sometime 
between 1521 and 1526 he joined a party of Guarani who, like many 
other Guarani groups, were moving westward to loot the border tribes 


200 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buy. 143 


of the Jnca Empire. Alejo Garcia crossed the northern Chaco (along 
lat. 19° or 20° §.) and reached the country of the Chané and of the 
Caracara (Charcas). Although he was murdered on the way back, 
the news of his exploit and of the wealthy country he had discovered 
had reached the Portuguese on the Atlantic coast. Rumors about the 
Peruvian gold carried by the Guarani or the Chané provoked a gold 
rush that started with Sebastian Cabot, 1526, and ended with Do- 
mingo Martinez de Irala and Nufrio de Chavez. 

The history of the Chaco in the 16th century cannot be separated 
from that of the conquest of the Rio dela Plata. Asuncién was founded 
in 1536 only as a convenient base for the exploration of the Chaco, The 
main events which marked that period were: The tragic expedition of 
Juan de Ayolas, 1537-39, who crossed the Chaco to the land of the 
Chané, but on his return was massacred near La Candelaria by the 
Payagua Indians; the 26-day expedition of Domingo Martinez de 
Irala from San Sebastian, 8 leagues (24 miles) south of La Candelaria 
westward, 1540; the expedition of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca against 
the Mbayd Guaicurt in 1542 ; the reconnoitering expedition of Domingo 
Martinez de Irala in 1542 to Puerto de los Reyes (lat. 17°48’ S., today 
Laguna Jaiba) ; the expedition of Alvar Nuiiez Cabeza de Vaca, 1543- 
44, to the upper Paraguay River, and his vain attempts to cross the 
northern Chaco; the raid of Nufrio de Chavez into the territory of the 
Mbaya, 1545, and his journey up the Pilcomayo River, 1546; the march 
of Domingo Martinez de Irala, 1548-49, from Cerro San Fernando 
(Pao de Azucar, i. e., lat. 20° S.) across the territories of the Vaperi, 
Mbayd, and Chané to the land of the Z’amacosi on the Rio Grande 
(Guapay River) ; and the “mala entrada” of 15538, a futile journey of 
150 leagues (450 miles) from the Cerro San Fernando across the 
northern Chaco and the southern fringe of Chiquitos. After the found- 
ing of the first city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1561, near San José de 
Chiquitos, communication was opened between the Paraguay River 
and the Andes, and between the La Plata Basin and the Amazonian 
water system. Deceived in their hopes of conquering Peri, the con- 
quistadors of the Rio de la Plata then turned their attention toward 
discovering the mythical land of the “Gran Mojos” and of the “Paititi.” 
The Chaco was no longer the wall that concealed El Dorado and there- 
fore lost its interest. 

The success of the expeditions that crossed the northern Chaco, to- 
day a region hardly explored, was due mainly to the Guarani guides 
and auxiliary troops. Numerous expeditions to the Andes had rendered 
the Guarani familiar with the country, and they evinced great willing- 
ness to fight against the tribes that they found on their way. The 
Spaniards met stragglers of the Guarani migration scattered between 
the Paraguay River and the first spurs of the Andes. Some villages 


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Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 201 


of these Guarant, such as those near Puerto de los Reyes (Laguna 
Jaiba), survived until the end of the 17th century. 

By the end of the 16th century, Spanish settlements surrounded the 
Chaco area, and the Spaniards recognized that it would be advan- 
tageous, for economic and political reasons, to pacify the Indians and 
to establish a shorter route between Paraguay and Peri. Nevertheless, 
fear of this “green hell” and of its inhabitants prevented an extensive 
conquest. White penetration was accomplished slowly by the estab- 
lishment of precarious military posts and a few towns, whose settlers 
either exterminated the Indians or reduced them to serfdom. 

The eastern frontier of the Chaco remained almost unchanged for 
about three centuries. On the west, the Whites expanded more rapidly, 
but it is a mistake to regard the early cities of Santiago del Estero and 
of Esteco as advanced posts into the Chaco, They were located in the 
Chaco as a geographic entity, but their native population consisted of 
Indians, such as the Zonocoté, who were sedentary farmers and who 
culturally were related to or influenced by their neighbors of the Sierra, 
the Diaguita. On the other hand, Concepcién, founded in 1585 on the 
Bermejo River in the very heart of the Chaco among the warlike 
Frentones or Guaicurté tribes, was for 50 years a military base and 
missionary center. But its destruction in 1632 eliminated for more 
than a century and a half the hope of establishing direct communica- 
tion between Corrientes and Tucuman. Guadalcdzar, founded in 1628 
as a stepping stone for further advances into the Chaco, was likewise 
short-lived. 

The subjugation of the Chaco was retarded also by those Indian 
tribes which, once in possession of the horse, took the offensive and 
held back the Spaniards. In the south the Adbzpén and Mocovi 
descended from the Bermejo River into the Pampa, and in the north 
the Mbayd wrested the fertile Province of Itati east of the Paraguay 
River from the Guarané and the Spaniards. 

Missionization.—The spiritual conquest of the natives of the Chaco, 
undertaken simultaneously with military penetration, was largely the 
work of Jesuits. The Jesuits assumed their arduous task not only 
out of religious zeal, but, in some instances, to demonstrate to the 
civil authorities their usefulness in pacifying tribes that Spanish 
arms had been unable to subjugate. The Christianization of the 
Chaco Indians goes back to the second half of the 16th century, 
when the cities of Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, and Esteco were 
founded. Fathers Francisco Solano, Alonso de Barzana, Francisco 
de Angulo, Hernando de Monroy, and Juan de Viana baptized count- 
less Indians in the southern Chaco and even preached to the Abipdn 
and Mocovi of the Bermejo Basin. One hundred years later the 
Jesuits gathered the most dreaded Indians into missions and tem- 


202 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 148 


porarily checked their forays against the Whites. Shortly before 
their expulsion from Paraguay in 1767, the Jesuits had undertaken 
with some success the conversion of the M/bayd, the most dangerous of 
all Chaco tribes. The Jesuits of the Province of Chiquitos had 
gained a strong foothold in the northern Chaco and gathered a great 
many Zamucoan tribes and bands into missions. They had taken 
charge also of the Zule and Vzlela, who were pressed between the 
Spaniards and their neighbors, the Z’oba and Abipon. 

The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 delayed the pacification of the 
Chaco. The M/baydé resumed their warlike activities, and the Zamuco 
were lost again in the great deserts between the Paraguay and Para- 
piti Rivers. The Franciscans settled in 1780 along the Bermejo 
River and replaced the Jesuits in the 7oba and Mataco missions, but 
seemed to lack the energy and intelligent zeal which had distinguished 
their forerunners. 

The Jesuits undoubtedly had some influence on the acculturation 
of the Chaco Indians, but it is not always easy to distinguish their 
contributions to the native cultures from those brought about by con- 
tact with colonists and military posts. The Jesuits encouraged agri- 
culture and stock raising in order to make the Indians more seden- 
tary. They acquainted them with new foods and many European arts 
and crafts. Thus, the Jesuits taught weaving to the Mocovi women, 
who in a few years produced a surplus of blankets which they could 
sell to the Whites (Baucke, 1870, pp. 446-50). It was probably in the 
missions that the Indians acquired the habit of drinking maté, a bever- 
age of which they became extremely fond, but which they could 
secure only by trading with the Whites. Mbayd decorative art, still 
flourishing, has a faint rococo flavor that may be ascribed to their 
prolonged contact with the Jesuit missions and with the Spanish and 
Portuguese colonists. The missions unwittingly contributed to the 
rapid decrease of native tribes, for the large concentration of Indians 
in a single spot was often followed by terrible epidemics of smallpox. 
After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the Abipén and Mocovi ceased to 
play any historic role and soon disappeared. The unity and spirit 
of these two tribes had been broken. 

Introduction of the horse.—The adoption of the horse by several 
tribes, especially those of the Guaicuré group, was the most important 
consequence of the contact of the Chaco Indians with the Spaniards, 
and completely revolutionized their economic, social, and political 
life. The horse had a special appeal for the warlike Guaicuri, who 
practiced little or no farming and who lived close to the ranches of 
the Pampa, where innumerable horses were to be found. The Abipdn 
seem to have been the first Chaco Indians to turn equestrian. At the 
beginning of the 17th century, they stole their mounts from Calchaqui 
Indians established in the Chaco, who had rebelled against the Span- 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 203 


iards and settled north of Santa Fé. By 1651 other tribes of the 
Bermejo River also had obtained horses. About the same time the 
Mbayé horsemen began to make their forays into Paraguay. 

Once mounted, the mobility and audacity of the Indians made them 
the scourge of the Spaniards, whom they could now fight on more 
nearly equal terms and strike far away from home without fear of 
retaliation. Abipdén, Mocovi, Toba, and Mbayd horsemen looted 
Spanish farms and ranches, and even became a direct threat to Santa 
Fé, Corrientes, Asuncién, Santiago del Estero, Tucuman, and Cérdoba. 
They cut communications between Buenos Aires and Pert and greatly 
hampered colonization and trade in regions far beyond the Chaco 
frontier. 

The tribes of the western and extreme northern parts of the Chaco, 
though acquainted with the horse, did not become nomadic herders 
and even today retain the seasonal economic rhythm of the pre- 
Colonial era. Lack of suitable pastures was probably an important 
obstacle to the widespread use of the horse, but other factors also may 
have hindered its adoption. For instance, the more sedentary Mataco 
farmers were less prone to use horses than the 7’oba and Mocovi, who 
always had led a roaming life. The tribes of the middle Pilcomayo 
River, who subsisted on fishing and were not in direct contact with the 
Whites, received their first horses in recent times. Of the non-Gwai- 
curuan tribes, only the Atalala, Paisan, some Maca, and Mascot bands 
became true horsemen during the 18th century. Nevertheless, horses 
were fairly numerous in the Mataco and Vilela villages of the middle 
Bermejo River. The Paisan traded theirs from the Mocovi of Santa 
Fé for spears (Muriel, 1918, p. 111). 

Some of the outstanding changes brought about in native culture 
were the complete abandonment of agriculture by some equestrian 
groups and, among the M/bayd and to some extent among the Abipén, 
the formation of a large servile class composed of captives taken during 
the raids. The suzerainty of the Mbayé over the Guand farmers, al- 
ready established before the coming of the Spaniards, was strength- 
ened after they adopted the horse. The pure-blooded Mbayd, ruling 
over their Guand serfs and relieved from most drudgery by their slaves, 
constituted an aristocracy of horsemen and herders over sedentary 
agriculturists. ; 

The 17th century to the present day.—During the 17th century, 
the Spaniards in Paraguay sent several expeditions against the Paya- 
gua and the Mbaya to chastise them for their raids against the colo- 
nists. On the other side of the Chaco, the Governor of Tucuman, 
Angel de Peredo, organized a great drive, 1673, against the Indians 
of the upper Bermejo and Pilcomayo Rivers. Three columns 
entered the Chaco but retreated after taking a few prisoners and 
killing some Indians. Of far greater importance to the history of 


204 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buu, 143 


the Chaco was the campaign of another governor of Tucuman, 
Esteban Urizar y Arespacochaga, 1710, which resulted in the sub- 
jugation of many tribes, mainly Zule-Vilela of the Bermejo Basin, 
and led to the pacification of other groups. In 1759 the governor of 
Tucuman, Joaquin Espinosa y Davalos, advanced into the Chaco in 
order to meet another expedition sent from Corrientes; he followed 
the course of the Bermejo River but did not reach its mouth. In 1764 
Miguel Arrascaeta reached Lacangayé but was forced by the Indians 
to retreat. The Matorras expedition in 1774 along the Bermejo 
River ended somewhat below Lacangayé. D. Francisco Gabino Arias 
founded in 1780 the mission of Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores de La- 
cangayé for the Mocovi and that of San Bernardo for the Z’oba. The 
following year Arias, together with Father Francisco Morillo, des- 
cended the Bermejo River from Lacangayé to the Parana River, thus 
completing the exploration of its course. 

The history of the central Chaco during the 19th century is marked 
by the slow but systematic advance of the Argentine Army and 
colcnists from the central Chaco toward the Pilcomayo River. North 
of the Pilcomayo, White penetration was slower and never extended 
far beyond the banks of the Paraguay River in the east nor beyond 
the foothills of the Andes and the chain of the Franciscan missions 
in the west. 

In Argentina and Bolivia the colonization of the Chaco was based 
on cattle raising. The character of this economy led to many con- 
flicts with the Indians who stole cattle or resented the encroachments 
on their fields. In the Paraguayan Chaco, the penetration of the 
Whites was motivated by the exploitation of the quebracho forests 
for tanin. The industrialists made great efforts to secure the cooper- 
ation of the Indians as lumberjacks. No major conflicts have marked 
the establishment of the obrajes (lumber camps), which, however, 
brought abrupt cultural disintegration of the Indians, who live at 
Puerto Pinasco, Puerto Casado, Puerto Sastre, and elsewhere. 

In the 20th century, Bolivia’s hope of finding an outlet to the 
sea across the Chaco plains resulted in the establishment of a line 
of small forts that was continually pushed eastward. The Para- 
guayans simultaneously advanced westward to guarantee their rights 
in the contested area. During the 1932-35 war, the presence of two 
contending armies in the Chaco brought great loss of life and prop- 
erty to the Indians. 

Protestant missions of the South American Evangelical Society 
have extended their protection since 1887 to the Lengua, and in more 
recent years to several Mataco and Toda groups. In a short time 
they have obtained remarkable results and have helped the Indians 
in their harsh struggle for survival. Several thousand Ashluslay 
Indians are under the care of or in touch with the German mis- 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 205 


sionaries of the Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (San José 
de Esteros, Laguna Escalante, Misién Huachalla, and Lopez de Filip- 
pis). Italian Salesians also have been active in the Paraguayan 
Chaco since 1920. Many Joba of the lower Pilcomayo are concen- 
trated in the Franciscan mission of San Francisco Solano at 
Taccagale. 

A great many Indians of the Argentine Chaco have found 
refuge in “colonias” established by the Comisién Honoraria de Reduc- 
ciones de Indios. The most important of these “colonias” or “reduc- 
ciones” are: Napalpf, near Quetilipi in the Gobernacién del Chaco, 
which has more than 2,500 Indians, including Mocovi and a few 
Vilela; and the “colonia” Bartolomé de las Casas, near Commandante 
Fontana, in Formosa, which was formed with 1,500 Zoba and Pilaga. 
In 1935, two new “colonias,” Francisco Javier Muniz and Florentino 
Ameghino, were created in the Territory of Formosa for the Pilagd. 

In winter most of the Indians of the Argentine Chaco seek work 
on the sugarcane plantations of Jujuy and Salta. These varied con- 
tacts with “civilization” are destroying the aboriginal cultures, and 
the native population is decreasing rapidly. 

The Mennonite colonies of the Paraguayan Chaco have always 
maintained friendly relations with the Indians, mainly with the 
Ashluslay. 

SOURCES 


Chaco Indians—the Mepene (Abipon?) and the Agaz (Payagua)— 
are first mentioned in Luis Ramfrez’s (Medina, 1908 a, 1: 453) account 
of Sebastian Cabot’s expedition up the Parana River in 1527. But 
our most ancient authorities on the ethnography of Chaco natives are 
the German adventurer, Ulrich Schmidel (1903), who served as a 
mercenary under Pedro de Mendoza, Irala, and other conquistadors, 
and Pedro Hernandez (1852), the secretary of the Adelantado, Alvar 
Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca. Schmidel lists, in a complicated German spell- 
ing, the names of a great many Indian tribes, some of which survived 
until the 18th century and even to the present. He also makes brief 
remarks about their appearance, their diet, and their ways of fighting. 
To Pedro Fernindez we owe a short but fairly accurate description 
of the ancient Guaicuri (Mbayd) and almost the only existing data 
on the cultures of the upper Paraguay River, which disappeared soon 
after the Conquest. 

Most of the official documents concerning the discovery of the Para- 
guay Basin contain references to Chaco tribes but tell us little if any- 
thing about their culture. The “Historia Argentina de las Provincias 
del Rio de la Plata,” by Rui Diaz de Guzman (1914), and the epic poem 
“La Argentina,” by Barco Centenera (1836), add practically nothing 


°206 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


to our knowledge of the early ethnography of the region. The “Re- 
laciones geograficas de Indias” (1881-97), published by Marcos 
Jiménez de la Espada, have often been utilized to determine the posi- 
tion of the tribes of the western and central Chaco at the time of the 
discovery of the ancient Province of Tucuman. 

The “Cartas anuas de la Provincia del Paraguay,” written by Jesuit 
missionaries and recently reprinted in Buenos Aires (1927-29), are 
a mine of information on the history, ethnic geography, and, in some 
measure, on the customs of the Chaco Indians. They cover the period 
from 1609 to 1637 and have been utilized by Nicolas del Techo in his 
“Historia Provinciae Paraquariae” (1673), which still is the funda- 
mental source on Chaco ethnography in the 17th century. Other 
Jesuit authors, such as Lozano and Charlevoix, also have based their 
documentation on the field reports of the Jesuit missionaries. 

The 18th century is the golden age of ethnological literature on the 
Chaco. During the first 50 years, the Jesuits took a firm hold in the 
Chaco and became familiar with its tribes. The triumphs and, sub- 
sequently, the expulsion of the Order from Paraguay provoked a gen- 
eral interest in everything pertaining to the region. To satisfy the 
public’s curiosity, the Jesuits drew on their vast experience and pub- 
lished a great many works full of new and interesting details on the 
Indians. One of the masterpieces of the Jesuit period is Pedro 
Lozano’s monumental “Descripci6n chorografica del Gran Chaco Gua- 
lamba,” published at Cérdoba, Spain, in 1736 and reprinted in Tucu- 
man in 1941. Lozano’s “Historia de la conquista del Paraguay, Rio de 
la Plata y Tucuman” (1873-74) and Francois Xavier Charlevoix’s 
“Histoire du Paraguay” (1757) are essential sources on the history of 
the Chaco. Father Muriel (1918) covers the events from 1747 to 1767. 

One of the most famous monographs ever written on any South 
American tribe is Martin Dobrizhoffer’s “Historia de Abiponibus, 
equestri, bellicosaque Paraquariae natione,” Vienna, 1784, which was 
translated intoGermanand English. In this book the author describes 
the life and customs of the Abipon, a Guaicuruan tribe, among whom 
he lived from 1750 to 1762. Less known but almost as rich in detail are 
the memoirs of another German Jesuit, Florian Baucke (Paucke), but 
up to the present they have appeared only in abridged form (Kobler, 
“Pater Florian Baucke, Ein Jesuit in Paraguay” [1748-1766], Regens- 
burg, 1870). A Spanish version of the whole manuscript has been 
prepared in Argentina (Florian Paucke, “Hacia alli y para aca,” 
Tucuman, 1942-43). The value of Baucke’s description is enhanced by 
his own drawings, which represent scenes of Mocovi life (Baucke, 
1935). 

“E] Paraguay Catolico,” by the Jesuit Father José Sanchez Labra- 
dor, which was published only in 1910, must be placed on the same 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 207 


scientific level as Dobrizhoffer’s masterpiece. The chapters dedicated 
to the Mbayd, among whom the author lived from 1760 to 1767, con- 
stitute one of the best and most truthful accounts of any South 
American tribe. 

Good but far too brief monographs, also written by Jesuit mis- 
sionaries, on southern Chaco groups complete the general picture of 
that region in the 18th century. To this latter group of documents 
belongs Father Joaquin Camaiio y Bazan’s description (1931) of the 
Lule-Vilela and other groups of the Pilcomayo and Bermejo Rivers. 
Some of these notes were published in recent years by Father G. Far- 
long (1988 b and c, 1939, 1941). The Jesuit Father José Jolis (“Saggio 
sulla storia naturale della Provincia del Gran Chaco,” Faenza, 1789), 
composed a learned treatise on the geography and natural history of 
the Chaco which abounds in important details about the Indians. His 
map of the Chaco indicating the locations of native tribes is justly 
famous. 

José Guevara’s “Historia del Paraguay” (1908-10) has saved for 
posterity a few Mocovi myths. Hervas’ classification of Chaco lan- 
guages (1800-1805) is based on Jesuit documents. Many of the data 
presented by Félix de Azara (1809 and 1904) come from the same 
source, but this famous naturalist and geographer, who was always hos- 
tile to the Indians, is not a reliable authority, though he still enjoys 
considerable prestige among scholars. The diary of Juan Francisco 
Aguirre, another Spanish officer who visited Paraguay at the begin- 
ning of the 19th century, supplements Azara’s information, but his 
main contribution to the ethnography of the Chaco consists of word 
lists which have thrown some light on the linguistic classification and 
nomenclature of that area, and of an excellent description of the 
Payagud. Rodrigues do Prado (1839) and Ricardo Franco de 
Almeida Serra (1845), both Portuguese officers on Chaco outposts, 
have left us valuable reports on the A/bayd at the beginning of the 
19th century. Several chapters of the posthumous book by the Swiss 
naturalist, J. R. Rengger (1835), deal with the Chaco Indians, 
especially the Payagué, whom the author knew at first hand. 

Several memoirs of Spanish officers who at the end of the 18th 
century explored the lower course of the Bermejo River allow us to 
locate accurately the Mataco, Toba, and Vilela settlements of that 
region, but provide us with scant information on their ethnography. 
Most of these documents have been published by de Angelis in his well- 
known collection. 

During most of the 19th century, the ethnography of the Chaco 
suffered an eclipse, and students must content themselves with scat- 
tered references and short descriptions in travelers’ diaries. Even 
the famous Alcide d’Orbigny (1835-47) and Castelnau (1850-59) 


208 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


offer little new on the region. The long report on the Franciscan 
missions in Bolivia written by José Cardus (1886) is especially impor- 
tant for the brief data it contains on the little-known tribes of the 
northern Chaco, 

New impetus was given to field research in the Chaco by the Italian 
painter and explorer, Guido Boggiani, who rediscovered the Chama- 
coco and studied the modern Mbayd (Caduveo) during the last decade 
of the 19th century. His vocabularies, monographs, and especially 
his “Guaicurt” (1898-99) and his “Compendio de etnografia para- 
guaya” (1900 b) contributed much to the clarification of Chaco eth- 
nography. The various “essays” of another Italian traveler of the 
same period, Giovanni Pelleschi (1881), are full of worth-while obser- 
vations on the Mataco. Excellent material on several tribes has been 
collected by Domenico del Campana (1902 a and b, 1903, 1913), who 
lived for many years in the Chaco. An article by Seymour Hawtrey 
(1901) on the Zengua is a much quoted source on these Indians. 

By far the best monograph on a single Chaco tribe is Barbrooke 
Grubb’s “An Unknown People in an Unknown Land” (1913). This 
work, though superficial in many respects, is particularly useful for 
the light it throws on Indian psychology. Strangely enough, there 
is no modern detailed study of the total culture of a single Chaco 
tribe. On the other hand, several good sources may be consulted on 
the various aspects of culture, though some of them were intended to 
be a complete survey of a tribe’s ethnography. 

Our best contemporary authorities on techniques, material appa- 
ratus, and economy are Nordenskiéld (1912, 1919), Palavecino 
(1933 a), Rosen (1924), and Max Schmidt (1903, 1937 a and b); on 
religion and mythology, Baldus (1931 a), Campana (1903, 1913), 
Lehmann-Nitsche (1923 b and c, 1924-25 a, b, c, d, and e), Karsten 
(1913, 1923, 1932), Métraux (1935, 1937, 1939, 1941), and Palavecino 
(1940). Data on social organization are difficult to obtain in modern 
literature and do not compare with those which can be gleaned from 
Dobrizhoffer or Sanchez Labrador. On this particular subject, Baldus 
(1931 a, 1937 a, 1989), Hay (1928), and Métraux (1937) may be 
consulted. 

Brinton (1898), Lafone-Quevedo (1893, 1894, 1895 a and b, 1896 a, 
b, and c, 1897 b, 1899) and Koch-Griinberg (1902 a, 1903 a) have laid 
the basis of the present linguistic grouping of Chaco tribes. The 
missionary R. Hunt (1913, 1915, 1987, 1940), has composed the 
most satisfactory grammers and vocabularies of modern Chaco 
languages. Large collections of 7oba and Pilagd texts were made by 
Jules Henry and A. Métraux, but have not been published yet. Meas- 
urements of Chaco Indians have been taken by Lehmann-Nitsche 
(1904, 1908 b). Kersten (1905) is the author of a well-documented 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 209 


history of the Chaco tribes during the 17th and 18th centuries. Father 
G. Farlong (1938 b and c, 1939, 1941) has undertaken the task of 
reconstructing the life of the ancient Jesuit missions in the Argentine 
Chaco. Enrique de Gandia (1929) has written a general history of 
the discovery and conquest of the Chaco by the Spaniards. To Jules 
Henry (1940) we owe two psychological essays on the Péilaga. 


ARCHEOLOGY OF THE CHACO 


Archeologically, the Chaco is still a terra incognita. Several im- 
portant finds have been made in regions which, though loosely con- 
sidered parts of the Chaco geographical area, cannot be included 
within it from a cultural or an historical point of view. 

Emile and Duncan Wagner have attached the label “Civilization 
of the Chaco santiaguefio” to the painted pottery and other remains 
which they have collected in the Province of Santiago (Argentina). 
Judged from its ceramics, the “culture of Santiago del Estero” is but 
an offshoot of the Diaguita civilization and has little or nothing in 
common with that of the seminomadic Chaco tribes. 

There is no resemblance between modern Chaco ware and the pottery 
discovered by Nordenskidld (1902-03) and Boman (1908, 2: 833-54) 
in the valley of the San Francisco and in the Sierra Santa Barbara 
on the threshold of the Chaco. On the other hand, the ceramics of 
eastern Jujuy show many analogies with urns and vases unearthed 
farther to the west in the plains of Tucuman and Salta, where once 
flourished a culture best represented by the finds of La Candelaria 
in the Province of Salta. (On this culture, see Handbook, vol. 2, pp. 
661-672.) The carriers of the La Candelaria civilization were un- 
doubtedly the Zonocoté, who have been identified, without reason, with 
the Chaco Zule. The ceramics from former Tonocoté territory are 
distinct from that of the Diaguita area but typologically belong to the 
Andean sphere. 

Boman’s hypothesis (1908, 1:255-79) that the funeral urns for 
adults found at El Carmen, Province of Salta, were evidence of an 
early Guarané invasion into the northwest of the Argentine has long 
been discarded. The interment of adults in urns is also a characteris- 
tic feature of the La Candelaria culture. 

Only insignificant archeological material has come from the Chaco 
proper. Grubb (1918, p. 73) alludes to potsherds “bearing scorings, 
as if made by the pressure of the thumb,” which could be found now 
and then in the territory of the Zengua. A large jar, 4 feet (1.25 m.) 
high, was unearthed at the Zengua mission of Makthlawaiya (Pride, 
1926). Both the sherds and the jar appear to be of Guarané origin— 
a confirmation of early statements about sporadic Guarani infiltra- 
tions into the Chaco. 

583486—46——14 


210 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


Marquez Miranda (1942) has described in great detail some pot- 
sherds from Las Lomitas (Territory of Formosa, Argentina) which, 
though discovered deep in the earth, do not differ from modern Chaco 
pottery. Even fingernail impressions, which occur on one fragment, 
cannot be considered a feature unknown to modern Mataco who live in 
the same region. 

Boggiani (1900 b, p. 90) mentions important shell mounds at 
Puerto 14 de Mayo and at several other points along the upper Para- 
guay River. These mounds contained potsherds with a decoration 
similar to that of modern A/bayd-Caduveo. Vellard (1934, p. 45) re- 
ports that funeral urns have been found in great quantity in a ceme- 
tery near Puerto Guarani. 


CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE CHACO AREA 


Culturally as well as ecologically, the Chaco is a transitional zone 
between the tropical plains of the Amazon Basin and the barren pam- 
pas of the Argentine. Along its western border it was widely open to 
influences from the Andean world, and in the east it abutted on a sub- 
tropical region inhabited by Gwarani tribes, both numerous and 
warlike. 

Cultural streams from all these quarters converged in the Chaco 
and mingled to produce a new type of civilization. The influences of 
the Andean people, which are the most important and easily discernible, 
will be discussed first. 

The 16th-century conquistadors looted silver ornaments from the 
Guaicuru, and their frequent allusions to gold, silver, and copper 
objects in Paraguay leave no doubt as to the existence of aboriginal 
trade routes across the Chaco forests. Moreover, several passages in 
old documents refer to active commercial relations between the Indians 
of the mountains and their neighbors of the plains. The Indians of 
the Calchaqui Valley organized peaceful expeditions to the Chaco to 
get wood for their bow staves. Chaco Indians in turn came to the border 
villages of the Jnca Empire to barter deer and wildcat skins and rhea 
and egret feathers. It also is likely that Chaco bands worked for the 
Tonocoté and Ocloya farmers just as they now come to the sugar fac- 
tories of Salta and Jujuy. Even today the 7apieté hire themselves to 
the Chiriguano in return for supplies of maize. 

These frequent contacts contributed to the diffusion of the following 
Andean culture traits listed by Nordenskiéld : Spades, knuckle dusters, 
clubs with outstanding heads, slings, wooden knives, toothed wooden 
scrapers, feather fire fans, wooden bowls, wooden spoons, ponchos, 
shirts, woven girdles, sandals, netted hoods, spangles of shell beads, 
woven brow bands, wooden combs, earthen vessels carried by a string, 
games of chance, the tsuka game, drums with skin heads, kelim tech- 


Vow. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX PAu 


nique with open slits, tie-dyeing, long wooden whistles, eyed needles, 
handles on earthen vessels, lids on calabashes, pyrograving, sewing of 
cracked calabashes, and knitting technique. 

The Andean origin of several of Nordenskiéld’s traits is very doubt- 
ful. For instance, nothing indicates that the so-called knuckle dusters 
of the Calchaqui region were used like the leather rings of belligerent 
Chaco housewives. Chaco clubs cannot be compared to the composite 
clubs of the Znca. The Chaco caraguata shirt is typologically and 
technically different from the Andean camiseta. Calabashes with lids 
or with sewed cracks are so widespread in South America that they 
cannot be assigned to Peruvian influence. It seems only natural that 
a people without basketry should fan their fires with feathers. The 
poncho is probably post-Columbian in Pert, and in the Chaco is men- 
tioned for the first time in the 18th century as a garment borrowed 
from the Creoles. Wooden whistles both of the long and the round 
types may have originated in the Andes but have never been found 
there. 

By limiting himself to such atomistic trait lists, Nordenskidld 
neglected to stress more decisive proofs of Peruvian influence. That 
knowledge of agriculture probably came from the Andean region can 
be inferred from the fact that men rather than women till the soil and 
that they use the shovel rather than the digging stick. The patterns 
on Chaco textiles are clearly related to those of the Andes, The deco- 
ration on Mbayd-Caduveo pottery presents obvious analogies with 
Peruvian motifs, even perhaps with the early art of Chavin. Chaco 
mythology has several themes in common with Quechua and Aymara 
folklore. The theory which assigns disease to soul-loss is perhaps 
characteristic of western South America, and it never has succeeded 
in eliminating the more ancient Chaco belief that the magic intrusion 
of foreign substances in the body causes sickness. 

The role of the Arawakan Chané (Guand) in spreading Andean cul- 
ture must have been considerable. In the west they formed a buffer be- 
tween the Chaco tribes and the people of the foothills of the Andes. 
All the objects which originated in the Andes and which were adopted 
by Chaco Indians occur also among the Chané. Even the Chiriguano, 
who replaced them in the 16th century, exercised no little influence 
on their immediate neighbors, the Z7’apieté, Choroti, and Toba. 

Along their northern and eastern borders the Chaco tribes were 
in direct contact with representatives of the two main tropical linguis- 
tic groups, the Arawak and the Guarani. The Guand (or Chané), 
who occupied the Chaco from lat. 22° §., belonged to the same 
group as the western Chané, but their culture had been less modified 


1The soul-loss theory seems more widely spread in tropical South America than our 
sources indicate. 


212 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


by influences from the Andean area. Techniques which can be spe- 
cifically assigned to Arawak or Guarané influences are surprisingly 
few. They include: The loom, the hammock (here used as a cradle), 
some types of nets, the feather ornaments of the Mbayd and Chama- 
coco, the use of uructi, basketry among the Mbayd, the baby sling, 
and the shuttlecock of maize leaves. The cultivation of sweet manioc 
may also be the result of contact with the Guarani or the Arawak. 
Chaco arrows are typologically identical to those used throughout 
tropical America, but the feathering—a subvariety of the cemented 
type—is distinctive for the area. Chaco carrying nets are made of 
the same material and with the same techniques as those of the Boto- 
cudo, Puri-Coroado, and Camacan, but the net industry in the latter 
tribes is one of the features which sets them apart within the tropical 
forest culture area. 

The religious beliefs and shamanistic practices of the Chaco Indians 
do not differ markedly from those of the Amazonian basin. The ini- 
tiation rites of the Chamacoco must be linked with those of the Ona 
and of the Yahgan, but have a great many features in common with 
the ceremonies of several tropical tribes, in particular those of their 
Guané neighbors. It will probably remain undetermined whether 
the ceremonial terrorization of women by mummers is a late acquisi- 
tion from some tropical tribes (i. e., Arawak) or the survival of an- 
cient rites once known to the Chaco and Fuegian tribes. Gusinde 
favors the former hypothesis. 

The impact of White civilization during the past 300 years has also 
modified Chaco culture in many respects. The deep changes brought 
about by the horse have been mentioned. Most of the tribes have 
received sheep, goats, cattle, and dogs. Wealth in sheep favored the 
development of weaving, which became one of the main industries. 
Woolen garments replaced the former skin clothing. The Chaco In- 
dians have received the following traits from the Whites: Tinder 
boxes for flint and steel, clarinets of cow horn, knitting with needles, 
certain folk-tale motifs, decorative patterns (on Caduveo pottery). 
They also have adopted new plants, such as cafia de Castilla (Arundo 
donax), watermelons, sugarcane, and others. Nordenskidld (1919, p. 
232) makes an interesting observation about White influence: 

The positive influence of White culture is, generally speaking, greater in those 
parts where the Indians live far away from the Whites, than in those where 
they live in direct dependence under the White man. Thus the Ashluslay, who 
have preserved their independence, carry on ranching on a large scale, while 
some Mataco tribes, almost entirely dependent, have no cattle at all. Up to 
quite recent times, the Ashluslay were in the happy position of being able to 
derive advantages from the Whites without falling into irretrievable poverty. 

The Chaco Indians share several culture traits with the tribes of 
Patagonia. According to Nordenskidéld, these are: Skin mats, bow- 
strings of leather, bows without notches at the ends, cloaks of several 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 213 


skins sewn together, skin skirts, leather girdles, hairbrushes, bags 
made of ostrich (rhea) necks, bags made of the whole skin of a small 
animal, hockey, and twisting of skin thongs. We may add: moccasins, 
decorative pattern on skin cloaks, harpoons with barbed heads (Afo- 
cov), and bolas (Mocovi, Abipon, Lengua). 

However, it is rather by their general type of life that the Chaco 
Indians resemble the southern tribes, and the analogies with them 
grow as one goes from the northern Chaco to the south. It is, for 
instance, difficult to distinguish the Mocovi from the Charrua. 

In some remote past before they came in touch with the people of 
the Andes or with the Arawak and Guarani tribes to the north and 
east, the Chaco Indians were nomadic collectors, fishermen, and hunt- 
ers. They dressed in painted skin cloaks and lived in flimsy com- 
munal houses. They had neither basketry nor weaving, but excelled 
in making netted bags. They were grouped in small bands formed 
by a few extended families; their religious practices consisted mainly 
of magic rites which aimed at expelling or controlling evil spirits. 
Their shamans derived their power from familiar spirits after a vol- 
untary quest. They celebrated puberty rites for girls and in some, 
if not all the tribes, initiation ceremonies for boys. 

Several of the parallels between the cultures of the North and South 
American Indians tend to cluster in the Chaco. According to Norden- 
skidld (1931, pp. 77-94), these are: Pit dwellings (?), houses with 
porches (?), skin cloaks, skin skirts, fringed skin belts, leggings, 
moccasins, embroidery on skins, arrows fastened with fish glue 
(Vilela), arrow quivers (Abipén, Mocovi), hair brushes, scalping, 
smoke signaling, dancing with deer-hoof rattles, hockey game, ring- 
and-pin game, and monitor pipes. Thus of 35 parallels enumerated by 
Nordenskiéld, 17 occur in the Chaco. It must be stressed that most 
of these traits are very minor ones, and there is no need to attribute 
their existence to survivals. The Chaco use of skins for clothing has 
naturally brought about secondary features which are also found 
among North American tribes who wore skin garments. The small 
porch which the Indians sometimes build against the wind cannot be 
construed as a parallel to the entrances of the Eskimo snow huts. The 
arrow quiver of the Mocovi and Abipon is probably a local develop- 
ment, because if it were ancient it would have been more widespread 
throughout the Chaco. The same is true of the fish-glued arrows of 
the Vilela. The Pilagd and Toba moccasins are not true footgear, but 
are only an improvised protection for the feet when the Indians cross 
a thorny terrain or wade in the marshes. Not unlikely, they are a 
recent crude imitation of European shoes. 

Analogies between Chaco mythology and North American folklore 
are, however, more striking than the few similarities in material 
culture. It is probable that, together with the Fuegian and Pata- 


214 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


gonian tribes, the Chaco Indians represent an ancient population who, 
until recently, have preserved several features of a very archaic 
culture, which in remote ages might have been common to primitive 
tribes of both North and South America. 


LINGUISTIC AND TRIBAL DIVISIONS 


THE GUAICURUAN LINGUISTIO FAMILY 


The Guaicuruan was the most extensive linguistic family in the 
Chaco. Its dialects were spoken from Santa Fé in the Argentine to 
Corumba in Brazil, and from the Parana and Paraguay Rivers to the 
Andes. Before the Conquest, the bulk of the warlike tribes belonging 
to this family were concentrated between the Pilcomayo and Bermejo 
Rivers and along the Paraguay River beyond lat. 20° S. The Guav- 
curd expansion throughout the Chaco and into Paraguay took place 
during the 17th and 18th centuries and resulted partly from their 
acquisition of the horse. 

The affinities between the various dialects of this family are very 
close, and were noticed by the Jesuits. In modern times Lafone- 
Quevedo (1893, 1896 c, 1896 d), Adam (1899), and Koch-Griinberg 
(1903 b) established their relationship on a scientific basis. The 
tribes whose inclusion in the family is beyond doubt are the Abipon, 
Mocovi, Toba, Pilagé, Payagua, and Mbayd. The affiliation of the 
Guachi is doubtful. The only existing Guachi vocabulary was col- 
lected by Castelnau in 1850 and shows unmistakable relations with 
Mbayd, but it also has many differences which suggest that the Guachi, 
who are said to have spoken a language of their own, had recently 
adopted the tongue of the M/bayd, with whom they maintained friendly 
contacts and with whom they finally merged. 

The relationship of the Aguzlot and Cocolot languages to the Guai- 
curuan family is postulated on historical, not linguistic, evidence. 

The only modern representatives of the Guaicuruan family are the 
Toba, Pilaga, a few Caduveo, and perhaps some Mocovt. 

The name Guaicuré seems to have been applied by the Guarané to 
the warlike and half nomadic Indians on the western side of the 
Paraguay River, most of whom in the 16th and 17th centuries be- 
longed to the Mbayd tribe. Guaicurt and Mbayd may, therefore, be 
considered as synonyms, even though the former name may have 
been given to some Indians of the M/ascotan or Matacoan families, e. g., 
the Lengua, Maca, and others. (See Boggiani, 1898-99.) There is 
no evidence to substantiate Azara’s contention that there existed a 
separate Guaicurué tribe which became extinct at the end of the 18th 
century. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 215 


According to Spanish sources (Lozano, 1941, p. 62), the Indians 
known as Guaicuri were divided into three subgroups: 


(1) The Codollate (Codalodi, Taquiyiqui), who were gathered into the short- 
lived mission of Santos Reyes Magos and later were destroyed by the eastern 
Mbayd, who absorbed their remnants (see Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 262) ; 
(2) the Guaicurutt (Napipinyiqui, Napiyegi), an unidentified western Mbayd 
group who were also absorbed by the eastern Mbayd; and (3) the Guaicuri-guazu 
(Lyiguayegui), who were the Mbayd proper, because Eyiguayegui (“the inhabi- 
tants of the palm groves’) was the generic name for all Mbayd subtribes and 
bands both east and west of the Paraguay River. 


The Frentones of the lower and middle Bermejo River, so named 
because of their shaved foreheads, can easily be identified with the 
historical Zoba and Abipén.2 The Jesuit missionaries Barzana and 
Afiasco, made the first, but unsuccessful, attempt to convert them in 
1591. The term /rentones disappeared from the literature after the 
destruction of Concepcién del Bermejo by these Indians in 1632. 

Mbaya (Guaicuri, Tajuanich, Guaiquilet, Indios Cavalheiros) — 
The southernmost bands of the A/bayd were undoubtedly the Guazcur, 
who lived across the Paraguay River from Asuncién and who were 
defeated by Alvar Nujiez Cabeza de Vaca in 1542. The Guaicuru 
(Codollate) of the mission of Santos Reyes Magos were one of their 
bands. In the 16th century, the M/bayd extended along the western 
side of the Paraguay River from the mouth of the Pilcomayo River 
far beyond lat. 20° S. 


History of the Mbayd.—On his journey across the Chaco, Domingo de Irala 
found the Mbayd 70 miles west of Cerro San Fernando (Pao de Azucar), beyond 
another tribe called Naperti (Guand?). The Mbayd at first received the Span- 
iards in a friendly way, but soon turned against them. The Spaniards took 
revenge by slaughtering another Mbayd group which was completely innocent 
of the attack. 

The hostilities between the Jfbayd and the Spaniards of Paraguay started in 
16538. About 1661, the Mbayd crossed the Paraguay River, attacked the Province 
of Itati and destroyed the mission of Santa Maria de Fé (lat. 20°5’ S.) After 
laying waste Xerez, most of the Mbayd returned to the Chaco, but some bands 
remained in the conquered region. In the following decades, the areas between 
the Jejuy River in the south and the Tacuary River and the Xarayes marshes 
in the north fell into their hands. From there, they constantly raided the 
towns and missions of Paraguay and, on several occasions, threatened Asunci6n. 
It was not until about 1744 that Rafael de la Moneda, Governor of Paraguay, 
was able to organize effective resistance against these Indians. However, in 1751 
the Mbayd destroyed the town of Curuquati, killing a large part of its popula- 
tion. The eastern and southern Mbayd made peace with the Spaniards in 1756 
and renewed their treaty in 1774. Western Mbayd pushed also toward the 
north and assaulted the Christianized Chiquito. They continued their raids 
long after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. 


2 Even in recent years, the Pilagd, like their Guaicuruan ancestors, depilated the fore- 
head. 


216 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


In the beginning of the 18th century, some Mbayd bands allied themselves 
with the Payagud. Changing from horsemen into boatmen and river pirates, 
they ambushed miners and colonists as they sailed from Sao Paulo to Matto 
Grosso on the Tacuary, Paraguay, and Cuyabda Rivers. On several occasions 
they attacked large expeditions and slaughtered several hundred persons. (For 
a detailed account of these assaults, see Rodrigues do Prado, 1839, pp. 41-44.) 

The punitive expedition of Rodrigues de Carvalho in 1734 did not prevent 
the Mbayd from making the territory along the Cuyaba River dangerous for 
many more years. Their striking power declined after 1768, when their alliance 
with the Payagud was broken, but they continued to raid the Portuguese; some 
of their war parties went as far as lat. 16°3’ S. on the Paraguay River and 
others reached the Iguatemi, a tributary of the Paran&é River. In 1775, the 
Mbayad destroyed a few farms near Villa Maria (lat. 16°3’ S.). 

Military posts were established both by Spaniards and by Portuguese at Fuerte 
Olimpo or Bourbon (1772), at San Carlos on the Apa River, at Nova Coimbra, and 
at Albuquerque. These kept the Mbayd at bay, though in 1778 the Mbayd slaugh- 
tered part of the garrison of Nova Coimbra. In less than a century they are said 
to have killed about 4,000 Portuguese. 

Toward the end of the 18th century, several Mbayd groups, hard-pressed by the 
Spaniards, settled near Albuquerque in Portuguese territory. Those of the Mon- 
dego River put themselves under Portuguese protection at Miranda. In 1791 the 
Mbayd made formal peace with the Portuguese and thenceforth ceased their 
attacks, even helping them in their fights against the Spaniards. 

At the beginning of the 19th century, many Mbayd moved to the region south 
of the heights of Albuquerque (Coimbra) because its prairies remained dry 
during the rainy season. There they found pastures for their horses, abundant 
game which was driven in by the flood, and, in the swamps, innumerable fish and 
caimans. They moved their camps according to the annual rise and recession 
of the flood. 

For many years the Mbayd used the rivalry between the Portuguese and Span- 
iards to obtain favors from both. The Portuguese, and later the Brazilians, 
recognizing the value of their allegiance, won them over by generous gifts of 
weapons, tools, and food, and later established regular commercial relations with 
them. The Mbayd traded skins and pottery for manufactured goods, and their 
chiefs received honorary commissions in the Brazilian Army. At the beginning 
of the 19th century the Mbayd renewed their hostilities against the Para- 
guayans.* During the dictatorship of Francia (181440), they attacked the De- 
partment and city of San Salvador and even threatened Concepci6n. The dic- 
tator, Lopez, built a chain of forts along the Apa River to bar their inroads, The 
Mbayd-Caduveo fought with the Brazilians in the Paraguayan war and raided the 
region of the Apa River, destroying the town of San Salvador. 


3 According to Rengger (1835, pp. 335-340), the Mbayd lived for a long time between the 
Aquidaban-mi and the Apa Rivers, maintaining good relations with the Paraguayans. But 
as a result of an outrage which they suffered at the hands of an officer of Fuerte Olimpo, 
they resumed their war against the Paraguayans and forced them to evacuate all the 
region north of the Aquidabin-mi River. They again made peace, and some groups settled 
with their Guand vassals on the Cangata River and near Villa-Real. Shortly afterward, 
hostilities broke out once more and the new Mbayé settlements were destroyed. Francia 
then established outposts on the Aquidabin-mi River, but in 1818 the Mbayd forced the 
Paraguayans to evacuate Tevego, 40 leagues from Concepcién. After this victory they 
suffered only reverses at the hands of the Paraguayans, who were now familiar with their 
tactics, and put strong garrisons in the forts of San Carlos and Olimpo and stopped their 
inroads. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX P17. 


Until recently, the Mbayd occasionally raided other Indian tribes to capture 
slaves. Some of their war parties went as far as the upper Parana River region, 
where they kidnapped Caingudé and Caingang; other expeditions were directed 
against the Chamacoco in the Chaco. Today their last remnants in the region 
of the Nabileque River are being rapidly assimilated into the Neo-Brazilian 
population. 

Christianization of the Mbayd.—In 1609 Fathers Vicente Grifi and Roque Gon- 
zilez de Santa Cruz settled among a Mbayd band that lived opposite Asuncion, 
on the Guazutinga River, and were instrumental in creating friendly relations 
between the Indians and the Spaniards. The mission of Santos Reyes Magos, 
dedicated in 1615, throve under Fathers Pedro Romero and Antonio Moranta, 
but several smallpox epidemics caused its rapid decline until, in 1626, it 
disappeared. 

The Jesuits, who had never given up the hope of Christianizing the Mbayd, 
endeavored in 1760 to convert those who had invaded Paraguay. In the same 
year Father José Sanchez Labrador founded the mission of Nuestra Sefiora de 
Belen, at the mouth of the Ypané River. Science is indebted to him for a very 
detailed account of his work among the Mbayd, with a full description of their 
culture. The mission was abandoned soon after the expulsion of the Jesuits. 

Population of the Mbayd.—The Mbayd bands against which Alvar Nuiiez 
Cabeza de Vaca fought were said to consist of 4,000 warriors. Schmidel put the 
Mbayd army at 20,000! He said that in one village the Spaniards slaughtered 
3,000 Mbayd. These figures are, of course, grossly exaggerated. A Jesuit docu- 
ment of 1612 puts the Guaicuruz who lived opposite Asuncion at 1,200 (Gandia, 
1929, p. 146). Sanchez Labrador (1910-17, 2:31), who had first-hand knowledge 
of all the Mbayd bands, estimated their total number at 7,000 to 8,000. Azara 
(1904, p. 8376) sets the number of “pure” J/bayd at about 2,000. In 1803, 2,000 
Indians in the region of Coimbra and Miranda were reckoned as “Guaicuru,” but 
600 of them were Guand and 400 were Chamacoco slaves. In the middle of the 
19th century there were 3,600 Indians near Albuquerque in three villages, of which 
only one was inhabited by Mbayd (the Guatiadeo band). There were probably 
500 other Mbayd near Miranda. 


Subdivisions of the Mbayd.—The Mbayda were split into subtribes, 
which in turn were subdivided into bands, each with its own chief. 
These subgroups shifted during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their 
names generally were derived from some salient feature of their habi- 
tat, e. g., the Mbayd who settled in a region where the rhea abounded 
were named the People of the Rhea Country (Apacachodegodeg?), the 
Guetiadegodi were the People of the Mountains, and the Lichagotegodi 
were the People of the Red Earth. 


In the middle of the 18th century, the Mbayd bands extended in the basin of 
the Paraguay River from the Jejuy River (lat. 24° S.) to lat. 20° S. on the east 
side, and from lat. 21° S. to lat. 18° S. on the west side. The Mbaydé subtribes 
still inhabiting the Chaco around 1767 were the Cadiguegodi and the Guetiadegodi. 

The Cadiguegodi (Catiguebo, Catibebo, Cadiguelguo) are represented by the 
Cadwveo of the Nabileque River, the only Mbayd group still in existence. In the 
middle of the 18th century, the Cadiguegodt were split into two large bands, hav- 
ing one name but two chiefs. About 1800 two Caduveo bands, with a total of 800 
to 1,000 men, still lived in the Chaco near Fuerte Olimpo (lat. 21°5’ 8.). Two 
other bands had migrated to the east side of the Paraguay River, one (500 people) 


218 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buny. 143 


living between the Apa and Ypané Rivers, and the other (300 people) near the 
range of the Nogona and Nebatena hills (lat. 21° S.). A few years later, the two 
Caduveo bands of Fuerte Olimpo, which numbered 300 and 380 respectively, set- 
tled near Coimbra in the Matto Grosso. 

During the 19th century, the Caduveo ranged between the Rio Branco and the 
Miranda River, but the local ranchers seized part of their territory and made 
several attempts to exterminate them. At the beginning of the 20th century, the 
Caduveo were granted full possession of an area bounded on the north by the 
Nabileque River, on the west by the Paraguay River, on the south by the Aquidau- 
ana River, and on the east by the Serra Bodoquena and by the Niutaque River, 
a tributary of the Nabileque River. In 1937 the last Caduveo, totaling about 150, 
were divided among three settlements, the most important of which is Nalique. 
They are gradually being assimilated into the Brazilian rural population. 

In the 18th century, the Guwetiadegodit (Gueteadeguo, Guatiadeo, Uatadeo, 
Ouaitiadeho, Ua-teo-te-uo, Oleo), or “Bush Dwellers,” were the northernmost 
Mbayéd subgroup in the Chaco. Their territory was somewhat to the east of the 
Chiquito mission of Sagrado Corazon, on the Mandiy River. They often molested 
the Chiquito converts, who defeated them in 1763 and took a great many prisoners 
to the missions. In 1766 a Guetiadegodé band seceded to form an independent 
band under their former chief’s brother. Aguirre (1911, p. 312) places them in 
1793 at lat. 20°30’ S., east of the Paraguay River. They numbered about 500, 
and were then living on the banks of the Paraguay River, having abandoned 
their equestrian existence to become boatmen and fishermen. In the middle of 
the 19th century, their remaining groups had settled as farmers near Albuquerque. 

The Apacachodegodegt (Apacachodeguo, Apacatchudeho, Pacajudeus, Apaca- 
tsche-e-tuo) roamed from the Jejuy River to the Apa River, but generally camped 
either near the Aquidabin-mi River or the Apa River. Until 1760 they fre- 
quently returned to their former habitat in the Chaco. These Indians were also 
called Mbayd-mirim (Small Mbaydé) to distinguish them from the Mbayd-guazu 
(Large Mbayd) of the Chaco, and Belenistas because the mission of Nuestra 
Sefiora de Belen was founded among them. In 1793 they numbered about 600, 
and consisted of 7 small bands under a supreme chief. Today they have entirely 
disappeared. 

The Lichagotegodi (Ichagoteguo, Xaguetéo, Chagoteo), or “People of the Red 
Earth,” were concentrated in the region of the lower Apa River (lat. 22° or 21°30’ 
S.) somewhat west of the Apacachodegodegt and south of the Pio de Azucar. 
When they were missionized between 1769 and 1774, they numbered about 400. 

The Lyibogodegi (Echigueguo, Tchiguebo, Edjého, Ejueo, Enacagd), or the 
“Hidden Ones,” had one of their main camps near the Rio Branco, northeast of 
Pao de Azucar. This group, the largest Mbayd subtribe, consisted of three bands. 
In the middle of the 19th century, they were established near Albuquerque. 

The Gotocogegodegi (Guocotegodi, Ocotegueguo, Cotogudeo, Cotogeho, Cutugueo, 
Venteguebo), or “Those of the Arrows Region,” were a small group east of the 
Eyibogodegi in the hills at the headwaters of the Rio Branco. In 1793, they 
totalled about 200. 

The Beutuebo (between lat. 21° and 20°40’ S.) mentioned by Azara (1809, 2: 104) 
are the same as the Beauquiechos of Castelnau (1850-59, 2: 479) who had lived 
near the Paraguayan border and later migrated to Miranda. 


Abipon (Mepene, E'cusgina, Callagaic, Quiabanaité, Frentones).— 
Azara (1809, 2:164) and Kersten (1905, p. 32) identify the Mepene 
(Mapenuss, Mapeni, Mepone), a tribe of river pirates described by 
Schmidel (1903, p. 164), with the historical Adipdén, whose name 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 219 


appears in the literature at the beginning of the 17th century. The 
Mepene lived somewhat to the south of the mouth of the Bermejo 
River in a region which, in the 17th and 18th centuries, was occupied 
by the Abipén. At that time the Abipdn were not concerned with navi- 
gation, and nothing but a vague analogy in their respective names 
indicates a possible relationship between these two tribes. However, 
the name of one of the three Abipén subgroups, the Yaaukaniga 
(Water People), suggests that they may once have been canoe Indians 
and therefore identical with the lepene. The Yaaukaniga were not 
originally an Adipén subtribe and even spoke a different language. It 
was only in the 17th century, after they had been defeated by the 
Spaniards, that the Yaaukanigaé attached themselves to the Abipén 
and adopted their language. 

The name Callagaic or Callagd, given to the Abipon by the Toba 
and Mocovi, had no connection with the name Gulgaissen, which desig- 
nated a tribe more to the south. 


History of the Abipén.—The original habitat of the Abipén was along the 
northern banks of the lower Bermejo River. Their expansion toward the south 
began in the 17th century after they had acquired the horse either from Spanish 
ranchers or from the Calchaqui. The Abipén first attacked the Matard, whom 
they obliged to migrate from the Bermejo River toward the Province of Santiago 
del Estero. According to Lozano (1941, p. 97), they helped the Calchaqut * when 
the latter, who had been deported or had migrated from the Calchaqui Valley 
(Salta), arose to regain their liberty. In the beginning of the 18th century, the 
Abipon fought against the same Calchaqui, who had settled north of Santa Fé, 
until the smallpox epidemic of 1718 almost wiped them out. Then the Abipén, no 
longer hampered by their rivals, turned against the Spanish settlements of 
Santa Fé. 

In the first half of the 18th century, the Abipdn, together with Mocovt and 
Toba, ranged over a vast area bounded on the north by the middle and lower 
course of the Bermejo River, on the east by the Parana River, on the south 
by the Spanish settlements of Santa Fé and on the west by those of Césdoba 
and Santiago del Estero. Here the Abipén were continually moving from place 
to place. Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2:4) writes, “The Abipones imitate skillful chess- 
players. After committing slaughter in the southern colonies of the Spaniards, 
they retire far northwards, afflict the city of Asuncién with murders and rapine, 
and then hurry back to the south. If they have committed hostilities against 
the towns of the Guaranies, or the city of Corrientes, they betake themselves 
to the west. But if the territories of Santiago or Cérdoba have been the objects 
of their fury, they cunningly conceal themselves in the marshes, islands, and 
reedy places of the river Parana.” In 1751, a party of Abipdn entered the city 
of Santa Fé, killing and looting. 


4In 1665 Alonso de Mercado y Villacorta deported the Indians of the Calchaqui Valley 
to Buenos Aires. Lozano (1941, p. 96) states that these Calchaqui were different from 
those who lived on “ecomiendas” in the region of the Bermejo River. According to Del 
Techo and Lozano, Calchaquié had migrated into the Chaco to escape the oppression of the 
Spaniards. These refugees may have been those who rose against the Spaniards and 
formed an independent tribe north of Santa Fé about 1640. Two groups of Calchaqui 
near Santa I'é were the Tocaque and the Colastiné. 


220 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


The first missionaries to visit the Abipén were the Jesuit Fathers Juan Fonte 
and Francisco de Angulo, who in 1591 baptized the children in the bands living 
near Concepcién on the Bermejo River. In 1593 Fathers Alonso de Barzana and 
Pedro de Afiasco were sent to convert the Matard and the Guaicuruan tribes of 
the same region. Their missionary work lasted only 2 years and produced few 
results. However, Birzana found time to write a grammar and a vocabulary 
of the Abipén language. In 1641 Fathers Juan Pastor and Gaspar Arqueyra 
made a brief sojourn amnog the Abipén of the Bermejo River. 

The example of the Mocovi who had accepted Jesuit missionaries facilitated 
the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Spaniards and some of the Abipdén 
bands. In 1748 the Jesuits founded the Abipén mission of San Jerdénimo, which 
today is the prosperous city of Reconquista. The mission of Concepcién was 
established in 1749 on the Inespin River and was later transferred to the junc- 
tion of the Rio Dulce with the Rio Salado. San Fernando was built in 1750 on 
the Rio Negro at the place of the present city of Resistencia. Timbd, or Rosario, 
on the Paraguay River (lat. 26°32’ S., long. 58°17’ W.), was inaugurated in 1763. 
The missionized Abipén were constantly harassed by the Toba and Mocovit. 

The history of the Abipén after the expulsion of the Jesuits is somewhat con- 
fused. For many years they waged war against the Toba and Mocovi, who de- 
stroyed the missions of San Fernando and Timb6. In 1770 the Abipén of San 
Jer6nimo and some other bands migrated to the eastern side of the Parana 
River, at Las Garzas and Goya, to escape the inroads of the Toba and Mocovt. 
Some of the Abipén who had settled on the left bank of the Parana River joined 
bands of marauders who were raiding the farms around Corrientes, Goya, and 
Vajada. Abipdén warriors served under the famous leader, Artigas. 

Little is known about the fate of the Abipén bands who even before the expul- 
sion of the Jesuits had returned to the bush. Some of them tried to settle on 
their former territory on the Bermejo River, which had been occupied by the 
Toba and Mocovi. Rengger (1835, p. 848) speaks of constant skirmishes in 
which the Abipén, Mocovi, and Toba fought Paraguayan outposts. But, in spite 
of the continuous warfare along the frontier, the Abipdén used to visit Asuncién 
to dispose of the cattle stolen in the south. The advance of the military posts 
in the Chaco during the 19th century restricted their hunting grounds and made 
life more difficult for them, forcing numerous bands into submission. Many 
Abipon were slaughtered and others were absorbed into the Creole population. 
In 1858 there were still some Abipén in a reduction called Sauce, between Santa 
Fé and Cérdoba (Lafone-Quevedo, 1896 d, p. 59). It is not altogether impossible 
that some more or less pureblooded Abipén may still be found in the Chaco 
santafecino. 

Population of the Abipé6n.—About 1750 the Abipdén tribe consisted of three 
large subgroups: The Nakaigetergehé (Forest People), the Riikahé (People of 
the Open Country), and the Yaaukaniga (Water People). According to Dobriz- 
hoffer (1784, 2:106), the whole tribe numbered about 5,000. The population 
decreased rapidly after contact with the Spaniards. In 1767 there were 2,000 
Abipén distributed in the four Jesuit missions, 


Mocovi (Mocobi, Mosobiae, Mogosnae, Amékebit, Frentones).— 
The original home of the Afocové was probably the plains between the 
upper Bermejo River and the Rio Salado, near the 7’oba, their close 
relatives and frequent allies. 


In the 17th century they are frequently listed among the “wild Indians” who 
roamed along the borders of the Province of Tucuméin. At the beginning of the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 971 


17th century, when the Abipén acquired horses, the Mocovi showed signs of un- 
rest. They participated in the destruction of Concepcién on the Bermejo River 
(1632), and their raids threatened the settlers of Esteco (1662), Tucuman, Salta 
(1709), Santiago del Estero, and Cérdoba. Parties of Mocovi or Abipon forced 
the inhabitants of the first Santa Fé to move their city in 1662 to its present 
location. The Mocovi were probably responsible for the flights of the Lule and 
of the Mfalbald toward the Spanish frontier. 

Pushed westward by the Esteban Urizar expedition (1710), the Mocovi raided 
toward the east and the south. They repeatedly attacked Santa Fé or its 
surroundings. Although the governor of Santa Fé, Francisco Javier de Echagiie 
y Andia, made peace with them in 1748, these marauding bands continued their 
depredations. In the same year, a Jesuit, Francisco Burgés, gathered a few 
Mocovi in a mission dedicated to San Francisco Xavier. He was succeeded by 
Father Florian Baucke, who wrote a detailed account of his experiences among 
the Mocovi. The establishment prospered and its population was increased by 
several bands under their respective chiefs. The Jesuits provided the Indians 
with cattle and made great efforts to turn them into sedentary agriculturists. 
Another Mocovi mission, San Pedro, was founded in 1765 on the Ispin-chico River, 
a tributary of the Saladillo River. Several Mocovi bands were gathered by the 
Franciscans in the mission of Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores y Santiago de La- 
cangayé on the Bermejo River (1780). 

In the middle of the 18th century, the total number of Mocovt was estimated 
to be two to three thousand. A popular chief was able to assemble a band 
numbering as many as 600 people. After the Jesuit expulsion in 1767, the two 
missions declined rapidly, but in 1785 San Xavier still had 1,049 Indians and 
San Pedro 6388. 

During the last part of the 18th century, the Mocovi of the missions were 
often at war with the Abipén of San Jeroénimo, and these tribes attacked each 
other’s villages. The White settlers were not spared, and the Province of Santa 
Fé was again exposed to the depredations of the Indian horsemen. The latter, 
however, were not as dangerous as they had been earlier in the century, when 
they seriously threatened communications between Buenos Aires and Pert. 

A few hundred Mocovi still exist in the southern Chaco, near the Bermejo 
River. Most of them have sought refuge in the “Colonia” Napalpi, near Quitilipi. 


Toba (Tocoytus, Natekebit, Natdkebit, Nactocovit, Ntocouit, 
Ntokowit, Yncanabacte, Toco’it, Takshik, Frentones)—The Toba 
lived principally in the region between the lower Pilcomayo and Ber- 
mejo Rivers, but until the end of the 19th century some bands roamed 
south of the Bermejo River as far as the Provinces of Santa Fé and 
Santiago del Estero. The Rio Salado has consequently often been 
regarded as their southern limit. They were in possession of most 
of the lower Bermejo River from the ancient mission of San Bernardo 
to its mouth; but other Z'oba bands lived on the upper course of 
this river, in the region of Centa (now Oran) and along the San 
Francisco River. At the end of the 18th century some 7’oba bands 
moved north of the Pilcomayo River and settled near the headwaters 
of the Yabebirf River. Some penetrated the northern Chaco as far 
as the mission of San Ignacio de Zamucos (1741), which they attacked. 
The 7oba in Paraguayan territory north of the Pileomayo are often 


Zee SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buu. 143 


called Toba-miri (Small Toba) by the Paraguayans, while those of 
the Argentine (the Zakshik) are known as the Toba-guazu (Big 
Toba). 

The lower course of the Pileomayo River from Salto Palmar to the 
Paraguay River is, or was, Joba territory. Small Z’oba groups are 
scattered from the lower Pilcomayo River to the Bermejo River. On 
the latter their western limit passes near the junction of the Teuco 
River with the ancient course of the Bermejo River. There are also 
Toba settlements south of the Bermejo near General Pinedo, but their 
exact limit cannot be ascertained since they are rapidly disappearing 
or are being assimilated into the Mestizo population of the Chaco. A 
large number of Toba are concentrated in the mission of San Francisco 
Solano (Taccagalé), near the mouth of the Pilcomayo River, and in 
the mission of Laishi (Formosa). The Joba of the Territory of For- 
mosa call themselves Véocouit or Nactocovit, but they are known as 
Takshik by the southern Joba. 

On the middle Pilcomayo River, north of the Estero Patifio, there 
is a group of Z’oba now concentrated in the evangelical mission of 
Sombrero Negro. These Indians claim the name of 7oba and regard 
themselves as different from the Pilagd, who live downstream in the 
region of the Estero Patifio, though actually both groups are closely 
related by blood ties and are hardly distinguishable. There are, how- 
ever, slight dialectical differences between their languages (the up- 
stream 7'oba use the A where the downstream Indians use s). 

During the last century there were still important groups of 7oba on 
the upper Pilcomayo River from Cavayurepoti (about lat. 22° S.) to 
the Chiriguano mission of Machareti. Until 1932 a quarter of the mis- 
sion was reserved for the Zoba who were adopting the Chiriguano 
language and culture. 

Nowadays some 7’oba work as peons in the lumber camps of Puerto 
Pinasco and Puerto Casado. 

History of the Toba.—The first attempts to convert the Toba were made in 
1591 by Fathers Barzana and Afiasco, who traveled to them from Concepci6n. 
Father Barzana’s Toba vocabulary and grammar still is a useful document. 

The Toba of the lower Pilcomayo and Bermejo Rivers received the horse during 
the 17th century and, like the Abipédn and Mocovi, became a vagabond tribe of 
mounted warriors. The Toba south of the Bermejo River directed most of their 
raids against the Tucumfn frontier. Some Joba bands of the Pilcomayo region 
struck as far north as the Zamuco mission of San Ignacio. 

The short-lived mission of San Xavier, founded in 1673, near Esteco, contained 
mostly Toba. In 1756, 212 Toba (Dapicosique or Tapicosique) were gathered in 


the Jesuit mission of San Ignacio on the Ledesma River (originally on the Sora 
River) ;° the settlement was abandoned in 1818. 


®In 1767 the mission of San Ignacio had a population of about 600 Indians, most of 
them Toba. 


Vow. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 223 


In 1762 the Jesuits founded another 7oba mission, San Juan Nepomuceno, but 
a feud with the Indians of Valbuena soon led to its destruction. In 1780 the 
Franciscans, aided by Spanish military forces under Francisco Gavino Arias, 
established the mission of San Bernardo el Vértiz* on the middle Bermejo River 
with 500 Toba. The Toba of the upper and lower Pilcomayo River were Christian- 
ized by the Franciscans during the second half of the 19th century. In 1884-85 
the Toba were partly pushed back to the Bermejo River by the expedition of 
General Victorica. 

In 1916 and again in 1924, the Argentine Army had to put down an armed 
rebellion of the Joba, who had been driven to desperation by the encroachments 
of settlers on their last territories. 

The Toba are still regarded by their Mestizo neighbors as a proud people who 
refuse to yield to servitude and are always ready to avenge an insult. The ex- 
ploration of the Pilcomayo River was hampered by their resistance. In 1882 
they killed the French explorer Crevaux, and in 1889, the Argentine geographer 
Ibarreta. 

Population of the Toba.—In the 18th century, the Jesuits reckoned the total 
number of the Toba at 20,000 to 30,000. Those living on the Bermejo River were 
estimated at 4,000 to 5,000. 

Cocolot.—The Cocolot were probably not a tribe but a group of 
Toba bands called by a name which was also applied to the Mbayd and 
to the Lengua (Maca). 

Aguilot (Abaguilot)—The Aguilot were a Guaicuruan tribe— 
perhaps a subtribe of the Z’0ba—who lived on both sides of the middle 
Bermejo River. According to Lozano (1941, p. 326), when they heard 
of the Urizar expedition in 1709, they abandoned their territory to 
join the Afocovi north of Santa Fé. Together these tribes repeatedly 
attacked the Spanish settlements. According to Azara (1809, 2: 162), 
they migrated toward the Pilcomayo River about 1790, where they 
joined forces with the Pilagd, by whom they were absorbed during 
the 19th century. In the middle of the 18th century, they numbered 
about 1,000; 50 years later they could muster only 100 warriors (i. e., 
about 500 people). 

Pilaga (Pitilagd, Yapitalagd, Zapitalaga, Pitelahd, Pitaleaes, Ai, 
Guacurure.)—The Pilagé are the only remaining tribe of the Argen- 
tine Chaco that has retained a predominantly aboriginal culture. 

At the end of the 18th century, Azara (1809, 2:160) located them 
near the Pilcomayo River, in a region of lagoons which is probably 
the Estero Patifio, their present habitat. On the basis of flimsy his- 
torical and cartographic evidence, Kersten (1905, p. 40) assumes that 
they had migrated sometime during the second half of the 18th cen- 
tury from the middle Bermejo River to the Pilcomayo River. It is 
more likely that the Pzlagd were listed among the tribes of the eastern 
bank of the Bermejo River merely because their territory extended 
toward that river, as it still did not long ago. 


6 The mission of San Bernerdo was abandoned in 1793. 


DIA SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. EB. Bunn. 143 


In 1932 the Pélagdé bands ranged across the marshy region of the 
Estero Patifio from Salto Palmar (Fortin Leyes) in the east to 
Buena Vista (Media Luna or Fortin Chavez) in the west. To the 
north their territory was bounded by the Pilcomayo River, and its 
southern limit corresponded more or less with the railway line from 
Formosa to Embarcacion. Their main bands were concentrated under 
Cacique Garcete near Salto Palmar, and under Lagadik, near Fortin 
Descanso. Several other bands had taken refuge among the Zoba of 
the Protestant mission of Sombrero Negro, on the Pilcomayo River. 
In 1936, harassed by the Mestizo settlers and the gendarmery, most 
of the Pilagd placed themselves under the protection of the South 
American Missionary Society and formed an independent village at 
Laguna de los Pajaros, about 20 miles east of Sombrero Negro. Un- 
fortunately, the mission was abandoned in 1940, and the Pélagd re- 
turned to the vicinity of Fortin Descanso, where doubtless they will 
soon die out. Some of them agreed to live in the new colonias, Javier 
Mufiz and Florentino Ameghino, founded by the Argentine Govern- 
ment. 

Population of the Pilagad.—Azara (1809, 2 : 161) put the adult male 
Pilagad population at 200, a figure far too low, for in 1930 the tribe 
numbered more than 2,000 people. After 1932, a smallpox epidemic 
and repeated punitive expeditions decimated the Pilagd. 'Tubercu- 
losis and venereal diseases are also contributing to the decline of this 
once powerful and energetic tribe. 

Payagua (Agaz, Cadigue, Sarigué, Siacuds).—Since the begin- 
ning of the conquest of Paraguay, the Payagud are described as bold 
river pirates who, in their long and swift dugout canoes, sailed the 
Paraguay River from the Xarayes marshes to the Parana River. They 
even descended the Parana River to the vicinity of Santa Fé and 
ascended it to Salto Chico. 

The Payagua were divided into two main groups. The northern 
group, the Cadigué or Sarigué (who had three camps in the region 
of Itapucu), lived at about lat. 21°5’ S. The southern group, the 
Magach, Tacumbu, or Siacuas (Sigaecoas), were at lat. 25°17’ S. 
In 16th-century Spanish accounts, the southern Payagud are desig- 
nated as Agaz (Agaces) and the northern as Payagud. 

History of the Payagud.—The Payagud have a long record of hostility against 
the Spaniards and Portuguese. In 1527 they attacked Cabot’s ship. In 1539, 
they massacred Juan de Ayolas and his party near the Cerro San Fernando 
(lat. 20° S.). During the 17th and 18th centuries, they infested the Paraguay 
River, boarding merchant launches and raiding villages. They were a particular 
threat to the Portuguese of Matto Grosso traveling from S40 Paulo to Cuyaba. 
After their alliance with the Mbayd, the Payagudé became even more dangerous. 


They occupied the islands of the Paraguay River and even had a fortified village 
opposite the mouth of the Jejuy River. 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 225 


Twice (1703 and 1715) the Jesuits made unsuccessful attempts to convert 
the Payagud. These Indians kidnapped Father Barthelemey de Blende and 
finally killed him. In 1717 they murdered two other Jesuit missionaries (Let- 
tres édifiantes et curieuses, 1819, 5: 112, ff.). 

In 1740 the southern Payagud agreed to settle in Asuncién.” The northern 
groups joined them in 1790, and they resided for almost a century in a special 
section of the city. They retained their ancient customs for a long time, but 
lived on good terms with their Spanish neighbors, to whom they sold pots, 
clothes, fish, and fodder for animals. 

In 1800 their number was recorded as about 1,000; in 1820, 200; today they are 


completely extinct. 

Guachi (Guachie, Guachicas, Guajie, Guacharapos, Guarapayo, 
Guasarapo, Guajarapo, Guajnie, Guaichaje, Bascherepo, Guaxa- 
rapo).—This tribe of river pirates, traders, and fishermen is men- 
tioned several times in the chronicles and documents concerning the 
discovery of the upper Paraguay River. In the 18th century, they 
lived on the northern side of the Mondego (Miranda) River and in 
the “cafiadas” formed by the heights of the Serrania de Amambay, 
and, like the Guana (see below), were vassals of the Mbayd. They 
were divided into a few “capitanias” (probably bands) and, though 
canoe Indians, had permanent villages and fields where they grew 
maize, sweet potatoes, gourds, and tobacco. They wove beautiful 
striped blankets which were much in demand among the ALbayd. 
About 1800 their able-bodied warriors numbered only 60 (Azara, 
1809, 2:80). According to Castelnau (1850-59, 2: 468), in the middle 
of the past century they were almost extinct. Their name appears for 
the last time in 1860 in an official document which refers to their 
presence near Miranda. The linguistic relationship of the Guaché is 
discussed on p. 214. 

Mahoma.—Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century documents and 
chronicles mention a tribe called Mahoma (Hohoma) who lived on 
the lower Bermejo River, around the Laguna de las Perlas (identified 
with Laguna Blanca by Dominguez, 1925, p. 185). These Indians, 
harassed by their neighbors, settled in the village of San Ignacio- 
guazu. Originally, the Mahoma, whose linguistic affinities are un- 
known, numbered 800 families. Around 1752 only 15 or 16 remained, 
and today they are completely extinct. Judged from their location, 
they might have been related to the Z’oba or the Mocovi. 


THE MASCOIAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


The Mascoian or Machicuyan group, formerly known as Enimagd, 
is composed of the following tribes which speak scarcely differentiated 


7Even after they had been settled in Asuncién, the Payagué remained somewhat 


nomadic. They frequently left Asunci6én to live at Neembucu, Tapu4, or near Villa de 
San Pedro on the Jejuy River, or at Villa-Real. (See Rengger, 1835, p. 137.) 


583486—46——15 


226 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn, 143 


dialects: Mascoi, Kaskihaé (Guana), Sapuki, Sanapand, Angaité, and 
Lengua. 

Mascoi.—The Mascoi (Machicuy, Cabanatith, Tujetge) seem to 
have been a tribe of the Pilcomayo region that migrated northward 
after the Guaicuri-Mbayd had vacated the region opposite Asuncion 
to establish themselves in Paraguay. About 1800 the Mascot were 
concentrated on the Araguay-guaztii River, but some of their bands 
ranged in the interior as far as the region of Chiquitos. They were 
divided into 19 bands, all listed by Azara (1809, 2 :155). They could 
muster from 800 to 1,200 warriors, some on foot, the others on horse- 
back. The modern Lengua are undoubtedly the descendants of the 
18th-century Mascoi. 

Kaskiha.—The Kaskiha (formerly known as Guand, but not to be 
confused with the Arawakan-speaking Guand) now live near Puerto 
Sastre, on Riacho Yacaré and by Cerrito, but their aboriginal habitat 
was farther west in the interior of the Chaco, 80 leagues northwest of 
Puerto Casado. About 1880 they were a fairly large tribe, but they 
have dwindled to about 1,000 today. 

Sapuki and Sanapana.—The Sapuki (Sapuqui) live somewhat in- 
land from the Paraguay River, south of the Kaskihd; the Sanapana 
(Kyisapang) are located south of Puerto Sastre on the Rio Salado 
and on the Galvan River. In recent years, according to Belaieff 
(1941), they were found from Laguna Castilla to the vicinity of 
Puerto Casado.® 

Angaité.—_Immediately to the south of the last-mentioned tribes 
are the Angaité, whose habitat at the end of the 19th century ex- 
tended from San Salvador to Puerto Casado. Today they have 16 
‘tolderias” (camps) near Puerto Pinasco and a few more scattered in 
the same area (e. g., Station Km. 80). 

Lengua.—The Lengua (not to be confused with the Lengua-E'ni- 
maga or Maca) range along the western bank of the Paraguay River 
from Puerto Pinasco to the Montelindo River and westward to Palo 
Blanco and Campo de Esperanza in the Mennonite country, viz., from 
lat. 22°30’ to 24° S. and inland about 150 miles (240 km.) from the 
Paraguay River. They are split into 10 main bands.? Part of the 
Lengua have lived since 1887 under British missionaries in various 
stations, the most important of which is Makthlawaiya. The descrip- 
tion of the Lengua by Grubb (1913), one of their missionaries, is an 


® Hassler (1894, p. 351) has a brief reference to a group which he calls Cusimanopana, 
and says they are closely related to the Guané and Sanapand. ‘These Indians, whose 
name does not appear in any other source, lived between the latter tribes along the 
western side of the Paraguay River. 

® According to Belaieff (1941, p. 23), a Lengua subtribe which lives on the Mosquito 
River from its headwaters to a point 12 miles (20 km.) from Puerto Casado, is called 
Toba by the Paraguayans and Kilyetwaiwo by their Indian neighbors. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX DBA 


outstanding source on modern Chaco ethnography. Today the en- 
tire Lengua population is estimated at 2,300. 

Unidentified tribes of the Mascoi region.—Several documents of 
the 16th century (Comentarios de Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca, 
1852, pp. 565-566) refer to Indian tribes living in the Chaco near the 
ancient Guaicurt. These were the Guatata, on the lower Pilcomayo 
River, and their neighbors, the Mohaague, Empiri, and Yaperu 
(Apiri), whose exact habitat cannot be determined except that they 
lived on the western side of the Paraguay River, not far from Asun- 
cién. The Yaperi were probably the same as the Vaperv, who dwelt 
west of Cerro San Fernando (lat. 20° S.), 40 leagues inland. It is pos- 
sible that these various names apply to bands of the Mascotan family 
(Moreno, 1921) or to ancient Guana (Arawakan) subgroups. 


THE LULE-VILELAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


Scant information is available on the Zule-Vilela-speaking Indians. 
Their subtribes or bands ranged between the Bermejo River and the 
Rio Salado during the 17th and 18th centuries, but most of them 
vanished during the next hundred years. 

Father Antonio Machoni published in 1732 an “Arte y vocabulario 
de la lengua Lule y Tonocoté,” based on the Lule dialect spoken in the 
mission of San Esteban de Miraflores. The title implies that the Zule 
of Miraflores were linguistically related to the Zonocoté, who, accord- 
ing to several 16th-century documents, inhabited the plains of Tucu- 
man, Esteco, and Santiago del Estero. 

According to Father Machoni, the Zule or Tonocoté language was 
spoken by five tribes: the Lule, /sistiné, Touquistiné, Oristiné, and the 
Tonocoté proper. All of these except the Z’onocoté formerly lived in 
the region of Esteco and along the Rio Salado. These tribes were the 
Lule whom Father Barzana Christianized at the end of the 16th cen- 
tury and who, at the beginning of the 17th century, fled beyond the 
Rio Salado into the Chaco to escape the Spanish “encomiendas.” In 
1710 they surrendered to Esteban de Urizar and agreed to settle in 
Jesuit missions. Machoni also states that about 60,000 7onocoté were 
first concentrated in the region of Concepcidén on the Bermejo River, 
but later migrated north to the lower Pilcomayo and Yabebir{ Rivers 
when Spanish oppression became intolerable. 

It is obvious that Machoni has confused the Tonocoté-speaking 
Matara (p. 232) of Concepcién with the Z'onocoté proper who, it is 
well known, were the inhabitants of the plains of Tucum4n and San- 
tiago del Estero. 

The migration of the Zule from Esteco to the Chaco is substantiated 
by a document of 1690 published by P. Cabrera, (1911, pp. 44-45). 


228 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bune. 143 


The linguistic identification of the Zule of Miraflores with the an- 
cient Z'onocoté was challenged by Hervas (1800-1805, 1: 173-76), La- 
fone-Quevedo (1894), and others. But, as the Zonocoté grammar writ- 
ten by Father Barzana around 1586 has been lost and was unknown to 
Machoni, there is no way of confirming or disproving the latter’s con- 
tention on linguistic grounds. It seems probable, however, that the 
Toconoté and Lule,’ who are often differentiated in ancient documents, 
belonged to two different families. (See Barcena, 1885, p. liv.) From 
the cultural viewpoint, it seems that the sedentary Z'onocoté or Juri, 
as they are sometimes called, had little in common with the Lule, who 
were a typical Chaco tribe. The archeological material found in the 
territory formerly occupied by the Z7’onocoté does not bear the slightest 
resemblance to the pottery or other artifacts used by the Chaco Indians. 
Therefore, the Zonocoté were either the carriers of the La Candelaria 
culture or perhaps—as Canals Frau suggested (1940 b)—the builders 
of the so-called “Civilization of the Chaco santiagueno.” ‘These people 
are described in Volume 2. 

The northern and eastern part of the Z’onocoté territory seems to 
have been overrun during the 16th century by bands of wild Indians, 
probably the Zu/e, whose decendants were Christianized by Machoni 
in his mission of Miraflores. 

In the beginning of the 17th century, a tradition arose among the 
Spanish settlers of a vast migration of 7’onocoté into the interior of the 
Chaco. Thus, in 1630 Father Gaspar Osorio speaks of the 7’ onocoté 
as a powerful tribe of the interior of the Chaco; the same legend is 
echoed by Lozano. The presence of Matard on the Bermejo River 
seems good evidence of such a migration. Not unlikely, the A/atara 
entered the Chaco after the Conquest, and their migration formed 
the basis for the rumor about the 7onocoté tribe lost in the wilderness. 
The Afatard were isolated in a region otherwise occupied entirely by 
Guaicuruan tribes whose culture was far lower than their own. 

The Lule.—The loose usage of the term Zu/e in documents dealing 
with the Conquest and Christianization of the plains of Tucum4n and 
Salta has caused great confusion in the tribal nomenclature of the 
Argentine Chaco. 

According to Del Techo (1678, bk. 1, ch. 89; bk. 2, ch. 20) there 
were two kinds of Zu/e: the sedentary Zule, who lived in a “moun- 
tainous” region, and the nomadic Lule, who, “like Arabs,” roamed 
the plains of Tucuman and Salta, harassing the peaceful Z’onocoté 
farmers. The mountain Zule are said to have understood three 
languages: Quechua, Tonocoté, and Cacan, but are listed sepa- 
rately from the Diaguita. Boman (1908, 1:57) considers them a 
Diaguita tribe, but more recent authors do not admit a difference be- 


Father José Tiruel writing In 1602 about Barzana says that he learned “la lengua 
Tonomoté y Lule” (quoted by G. Furlong (1941, p. 10)). 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 229 


tween the two kinds of Zule and identify both of them with the Lule 
of the mission of Miraflores. (See Canals Frau, 1940 b, pp. 230-232.) 
The Lule were probably a Chaco tribe that invaded the plains along 
the foothills of the Andes and partially destroyed the builders of the 
La Candelaria culture. In the 16th century, the limits of the Lule 
seems to have been: To the north, the Valley of Jujuy; to the west, 
the chain of the pre-Cordillera; to the south, the basin of the Sali 
River; and to the east, long. 63° W. 

The Zule Christianized by Father Antonio Machoni were often 
called Big Lule to distinguish them from the Small Lule, a generic 
term for the [sistiné, Toquistiné, and Oristiné, with whom the Big 
Lule were at odds. In 1710 the Zule, probably frightened by the 
expedition of Esteban de Urizar and by the constant raids of the 7’oba 
and Mocovi, agreed to settle near the Fort of Valbuena. They were 
placed under the care of Father Machoni, who founded there the first 
mission of San Esteban, which in 1714 was transferred to the Rio 
Salado (Pasaje or Juramento River), and was henceforward known 
as San Esteban de Miraflores. A raiding party of Chaco Indians de- 
stroyed the mission in 1728, and the Jesuits moved closer to the 
Spanish frontier but, still exposed to the attacks of the Chaco tribes, 
they finally brought the Zule to Tucuman (1737). When the danger 
had subsided, they restored San Esteban de Miraflores on the Rio 
Salado and settled there with the Big Lule and some 30 Omoampa 
families. 

The Jsistiné and Toquistiné, who formerly lived to the northeast of 
Valbuena, were gathered in 1753 in the mission of San Juan Bautista 
de Valbuena, also on the Rio Salado. 

When the Jesuits were expelled from America, Miraflores had 800 
Indian neophytes and Valbuena about 850; the total number of the 
Lule was about 1,600 in the 18th century. 

The Oristiné were “lost” in the Chaco, and their name never ap- 
pears in later Jesuit relations. 

References on the Lule-—Boman, 1908, 1: 43-58; Cabrera, 1911; Camafio y 
Bazan, 1931, pp. 321, 333-336; Canals Frau, 1940 b, pp. 230-232; Charlevoix, 1757, 
4: 250-255, 262-274, 306-314; G. Furlong, 1941; Hervas, 1800-1805, 1: 171-172; 
Lafone-Quevedo, 1894, 1895 a; Luzano, 1941, pp. 89-103; Serrano, 1940 e. 

Vilela—The Vzlela branch included the following subgroups 
(parcialidades) : Velela proper, Chunupi, Sinipé, Pasain (Pazain), 
Atalala, Omoampa (Umuampa), Yoconoampa (Yucunampa), Vacaa 
(Those of the Excrements), Ypa (Hipo, “Those Who Live in a 
Hole”), Ocolé (The Foxes), Yecoanita (The Archers), Yooc, (Yoo), 
Guamaica, and the Taquete. 

That several Vilelan parcialidades were, like the Mataco and Pilaga 
bands, named after animals, character traits, or objects, suggests that 
they were mere bands either of the Vilela proper or of the Chunupi. 


230 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bune. 143 


In the 17th century, the Vilelan bands were scattered on both sides 
of the Bermejo River, from Esquina Grande to San Bernardo, About 
1630 the Jesuits already knew of their existence through the Mataco 
and Z'oba, but did not visit them. The territory of the Vlela was 
reached in 1671 by a Spanish expedition under Juan de Amusategui. 

The Vilela proper were found by the Spaniards on the middle Ber- 
mejo River near Lacangayé in 1710. 


They did not offer any resistance, but were disinclined to leave their country 
te accept Spanish rule. It was only in 1735 that the Vilela, who had been un- 
justly attacked by a Spanish military expedition, asked to be placed in a mission. 
The 1,600 Vilela who left the Chaco were entrusted to secular priests who estab- 
lished the larger part of them at San José on the Rio Salado near Matara, and 
a few families at Chipeona, in the region of Cérdoba. The mission, entirely 
neglected by the curates, declined rapidly, and would have disappeared if the 
Jesuits had not taken charge of the Vilela, and in 1761 transferred them to the 
new mission of San José, at Petacas on the Rio Salado (Pasaje River), lat. 
27° S. At that time the Vilela numbered only 416. In 1762, 300 Vilela, who had 
remained in the bush along the southern side of the Bermejo River, joined their 
relatives of Petacas. In 1767 there was near Lacangayé a group of about 100 
Vilela who had formed part of the ephemeral mission of Nuestra Sefiora de la 
Paz (Valtoleme). Those in the mission of Petacas totaled 756. 

In 1780 the Vilela of Petacas returned to the Chaco wilderness; for a century 
nothing is known about their fate. At the end of the 19th century, Pelleschi met 
the few surviving Vilela living with Mataco Indians, at Fort Gorriti, near Riva- 
davia, and obtained from them a short vocabulary which was published by 
Lafone-Quevedo (1895 a) with grammatical notes. At the beginning of the cen- 
tury, there were a few Vilela in the reservation of Quetilipi. 


Pasain, Omoampa, Yoconoampa, Atalala, Ypa—These bands, all 
closely related, ranged near the marshes of the Rio del Valle, a tribu- 
tary of the Bermejo River, and east of the Rio Salado (Pasaje River). 


In 1763 Fathers Roque Gorostiza and José Jolis, while traveling along the 
right side of the Bermejo River, encountered four bands of Vilela, Pasain, Vacaa, 
and Atalald, who were being pursued by a party of Toba and Mocovt. Under the 
circumstances the missionaries had no difficulty in collecting them in the mission 
of Macapillo (Nuestra Sefiora del Pilar). From an initial 150, the number of 
Indians in the mission increased to 600; but in 1767 only 200 remained as per- 
manent neophytes (Muriel, 1918, p. 111; G. FGrlong, 1939, pp. 128-129). 

The several attempts by Father Andreu to Christianize the Omoampa were 
unsuccessful until 1751, when some Omoampa bands, who had seceded from the 
rest of the tribe and joined the Jsistiné, decided to settle with the Lule in the 
mission of Miraflores. In 1763, 230 Omoampa of Miraflores were moved to the 
mission of Ortega (Nuestra Senora del Buen Consejo) to help in the conversion 
of the Chunupi, their close relatives. 

In 1767 the Indians, mainly Pasain and Omoampa, in these two missions totaled 
about 400. One hundred Vacaa and Atalaléd were quartered at Macapillo. Both 
missions contained also a few Yeconoampa, Ypa, and Chunupi families. 

After the expulsion of the Jesuits, many Pasain returned to their native haunts, 
where some of their families had remained independent. The tribe disappeared 
during the 19th century. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 231 


Chunupi (Chunipi, Chanupt). —The Chunupi, whom Lozano (1941, 
p. 91) describes as peaceful foot Indians, were discovered on both sides 
of the middle Bermejo River during the campaign of Esteban de 
Urizar in 1710. 


They agreed then to settle in missions, but never kept their promise. In 1759 
they were found again by Father Richer, who served as chaplain of a Spanish 
expedition that killed a great many of them. 

In 1762 Father Roque de Gorostiza, guided by Omoampa Indians, visited with 
Father Jolis the Chunupi villages on the left side of the Bermejo River, near La 
Encrucijada (40 leagues below the junction of the Bermejo and San Francisco 
Rivers). He succeeded in persuading 150 or 200 of these Indians to form a 
mission which was established on the Rio Salado, first under the name of Nuestra 
Sefiora de la Paz (Valtoleme), and then transferred below the bend of the Rio 
Salado (Pasaje River) at Ortega, where it was called Nuestra Sefiora del Buen 
Consejo. Three years later the Chunupi, who had quarreled with the Christian- 
ized Omoampa in the same mission, asked to be moved to the mission of Macapillo 
with the Pasain. After a fight with the latter, they returned to their former 
homes on the Bermejo River. 

At the end of the 18th century, Spanish expeditions found the Chunupi on 
the right banks of the lower Bermejo from Esquina Grande to the mission of 
San Bernardo, where they lived with the Malbaldé and Sinipé under a single 
chief. 

In 1826 the explorer Pablo Soria found some Chunupi on the middle Bermejo 
below Esquina Grande. He states that they, like the Mataco, went to work for 
the Whites in the sugar plantations of Salta and Jujuy (Arenales, 1833, p. 253). 

In the second half of the last century, the Chunupt were reported on the 
Paranda River opposite Corrientes. With the help of the Toba, they occasionally 
attacked trading boats. By 1876 they had been reduced to 252, and toward 
the end of the century the survivors eked out a precarious living selling curios 
and produce of the bush in Corrientes. Today they seem to be entirely extinct 
or to have been absorbed by the Mestizo population of the Chaco. 

According to Father Gorostiza (G. Farlong, 1939, p. 118), the Yooc (Yoo 
Guamalica) and Ocolé were two bands of the Chunupt tribe. Both lived on the 
left side of the Bermejo, the former some “20 leagues” below the Chunupt, the 
latter across the Laguna Colma (Camafio y Bazan, 1931, p. 330). In 1767 the 
Yooc numbered 200, the Ocolé between 40 and 50. 

The Yecoanita (Yecomita), probably a Chunupi band, lived between the 
Chunupt and the Yooc. They were no more than 30 in 1767. 


Sinipé (Sinipi, Signipé, Sivinipi) —The name of these Indians is 
always listed with that of the Chunupi. They lived on the right side 
of the Bermejo River, somewhat to the north of Lacangayé. 


References on the Vilela.—Ambrosetti, 1894 a; Arias, 1837; Cornejo, 1836; 
Fontana, 1881; Firlong C., 1939; 1941, p. 144; Lafone-Quevedo, 1895 a; Lozano, 
1941, passim ; Muriel, 1918, pp. 102-110. 


TRIBES OF THE BERMEJO BASIN OF UNCERTAIN LINGUISTIC AFFILIATION 


Malbala.—The Malbald, whose tongue is said to have differed from 
Vilela, Lule, Mataco, and Toba (Camafi y Bazan, 1931, p. 336), formed 
a linguistic enclave within a region otherwise inhabited entirely by 


232 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


Lule-Vilelan groups. Driven by the Mocovi from their original home, 
farther to the west along the Valbuena River, the M/albalad migrated 
to the middle Bermejo River close to the Chunupi, with whom they 
maintained cordial relations (Lozano, 1941, pp. 88, 366). 


Although regarded by the Spaniards as very warlike, the Malbald offered no 
resistance to the Urizar expedition in 1710, and readily agreed to settle under 
Spanish control on the Valbuena River. The 400 families that left their 
homes for this purpose were deported to Buenos Aires, but most of them suc- 
ceeded in escaping to the Chaco after killing their guards. Only a few families 
reached Buenos Aires, where they were allotted to an encomendero (Lozano, 
1941, p. 381). 

In 1750, 31 Malbald families were placed under missionary care near Fort San 
Fernando on the Rio del Valle, but soon fled into the bush, where they were 
attacked by the Spaniards. In 1757 many Malbald were wantonly slaughtered by 
the garrison of San Fernando. 

According to Camano y Bazan (1931, p. 386), about 20 Malbald families survived 
in 1757, scattered among the Chunupi, Mocovi, and Mataco. Some Malbald 
resided in the mission of Macapillo, where their presence is still mentioned several 
years after the expulsion of the Jesuits. At the end of the 18th century, the 
Spanish explorers of the Bermejo River speak of independent Malbald, somewhat 
to the north of the mission of San Bernardo (lat. 25° S.), who had united with 
Chunupt and Sinipé to form a single nation of about 400 persons. Their name fails 
to appear in later 19th-century sources. 

Matara (Amulala)—The Matard, whose original habitat was the 
lower Bermejo River, were probably related to the extinct Tonocoté, 
for Father Alonso Barzana preached to them in the Tonocoté language, 
and the Jesuit relations repeatedly state that they spoke that language. 

Don Alonso de Vera, founder of Concepcién on the Bermejo River, settled 
7,000 Matard in a new city called La Rioja. After the destruction of Concepci6n, 
the Matard were slowly driven to the south by their neighbors, the Abipén. 
Fathers Juan Pastor and Gaspar Cequeyra visited them in 1641 and were greatly 
shocked to find them almost pagan, though under the supervision of a curate. 
At that time, they lived 100 leagues away from Santiago del Estero. Like Father 
Barzana, Father Pastor spoke with them in Tonocoteé. 

There were still 700 or 800 Matard in 1767, all serfs of the Urejola family of 
Santiago del Estero, and living in a town called Mataraé on the Rio Salado (lat. 
28°6’ S.). They had forgotten their original language and spoke Quechua. 

References.—Charlevoix, 1757, 2: 411-413; Del Techo, 1897; 1: 187-193, 5: 151- 
152; Jolis, 1789, pp. 491-492 ; Serrano, 1938 a. 


THE MATACOAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


The Afataco-Macdn linguistic family extended in a solid block across 
the Chaco from the Andes almost to the Paraguay River, along the 
Pilcomayo River to its lower reaches, and along the Bermejo River to 
approximately long. 61° W. 

The main tribes of this family are: The M/ataco proper, the Choroti 
(Yofuaha), the Ashluslay (Chulupi, not to be confused with the 
Vilela-speaking Chunupi), and the Macd, 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 233 


Mataco.—The habitat of the Mataco proper (Mataguayo) has re- 
mained almost unchanged since the 18th century, when it was first pos- 
sible to bound it with some accuracy. In 1767 the westernmost Mataco 
villages were scattered along the upper Bermejo, San Francisco, and 
Burruay Rivers. Some Mataco families had settled at Caiza, and in 
the missions of Rosario de las Salinas, Nuestra Sefiora de las Angustias 
de Centa, and San Ignacio de Ledesma. From Salinas to the Pilco- 
mayo River the boundary skirted the first spurs of the Andes; there 
were, as today, Mataco villages along the Itiyuro River near the Chané. 
The Pilcomayo J/ataco extended to the country of the Z'oba, in the 
region of Estero Patifio. On the Bermejo River, where a great many 
bands were concentrated, their territory began above the junction of the 
San Francisco and Bermejo Rivers and ended at Esquina Grande, 
on the right side of the Bermejo River, but on the left bank Mataco 
villages were scattered all the way down to the Z7'0ba mission of San 
Bernardo (lat. 25°30’ 8.) The J/ataco occupied the angle formed by 
the south side of the Bermejo River and the Rio del Valle. In 1881 
their territory is defined by Fontana as follows: 

From the Campos of Agusirenda or Angostura del Itiyuro, 120 leagues down the 
Bermejo River, and from Oran or Laguna Verde to the Pilcomayo. Their main 
villages were located along the Bermejo, Teuco, Yegua, and Quemada Rivers. 

A list of Mataco bands is given by Lozano (1941, p. 81), but their 
names do not suggest those of modern bands, which are called after 
animals, objects, or character traits. Lozano’s subgroups (parciali- 
dades) were probably named for influential chiefs. 

In the 19th century, the northwestern M/ataco, who dwelt along the 
foothills of the Andes between the Cordillera de Pirapo, the Pilco- 
mayo, the Piquirenda, and Itiyuro Rivers, were generally called 
Nocten (Octenai.) The term Vejos (Wejwos, probably the same as 
Hueshuos), which has replaced the now obsolete Mataguayo, is a 
derogatory nickname applied to the Mataco of the region of Oran and 
Embarcacion. The Mataco, who have scores of villages on the right 
bank of the Pileomayo from lat. 23° S. down to Puerto Irigoyen 
(Fortin Linares), are called Guisnay (G@iiisnai). The river Mataco 
refer to inland groups as the “Forest Dwellers” (in Spanish 
“Montaraces”). 


? 


History of the Mataco.—The Mataco were discovered in 1628 by the expedi- 
tion of Ledesma, which led to the founding of Guadalcdzar. They were visited 
the same year by Father Gaspar Osorio, who estimated their number to be 
about 30,000. In 1635, Jesuit missionaries remained for a while in a Mataco 
village near the Bermejo River hoping to induce the Indians to form a mission, 


it According to Camatio y Bazan (1931, p. 338), at La Encrucijada below the junction 
of the Bermejo River with the Jujuy River. 


“The region between La Encrucijada and San Bernardo was a no-man’s land. 


234 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


but the Mataco evidenced little disposition to become Christian and even plotted 
the death of the fathers, who returned to Jujuy. 

In the second half of the 17th century, the Mataco, formerly reputed to be 
a peaceful tribe, became restless and advanced toward the Spanish frontier. 
Probably they were pressed from behind by other Mataco tribes (Guisnay or 
Choroti) who, in turn, had been driven toward the west by some Guaicurz tribe. 
A Spanish expedition in 1671, under Amusategui, subdued the most menacing 
Mataco bands. A period of peace followed these conflicts, and, during the first 
half of the 18th century, many Mataco went to work, as they do nowadays, for 
the Whites of Salta and Jujuy as lumberjacks or on the sugar plantations. 

In 1756 the mission of San Ignacio was founded on the Ledesma River for 
the Toba and Mataco. The Franciscans who soon succeeded the Jesuits were 
unable to prevent conflict between the two tribes, and in 1779 formed a new 
mission, Nuestra Sefiora de las Angustias de Centa, exclusively for the Mataco. 
But this mission declined rapidly after the foundation of Oran, in 1794, whose 
inhabitants had sworn to exterminate the Indians. In order to save the 
neophytes, the Franciscans transferred part of them to the short-lived missions 
of Zaldua (1800) and Rio Seco (1802 to 1806) on the Bermejo River. In 1810 
there were only 221 Vejos left in the mission of Centa. At the time of the 
expedition of D. Francisco Gavino Arias to the Chaco (1781), about 1,000 Mataco 
of the Bermejo River were Christians, many of whom were settled in San 
Bernardo with the Toba. 

During the 19th century, the Mataco of the Bermejo area fell under the 
domination of colonists, whose harsh treatment caused some of them to attack 
Colonia Rivadavia in 1863. This rebellion was used to justify a massacre of the 
Mataco which left only 3,000 in this region in 1872. 

Today the Mataco are still numerous in the region of Embarcacién, plede 
the Pilcomayo River from the Itiyuro River to Puerto Irigoyen and around the 
railway station of Las Lomitas. Many bands are concentrated in the Protestant 
missions of El] Algarrobal, El Yuto, San Patricio, and San Andrés. Some occupy 
a reservation of their own along the Pilcomayo River and other bands are in 
government colonies. 

Many Mataco make a living as lumberjacks and all of them migrate annually 
to the sugar plantations of Jujuy and Salta. They are rapidly merging with 
the Mestizo population of the Chaco, and their acculturation is greatly facili- 
tated by their eagerness to become assimilated. Their number at the end 
of the 19th century was estimated at about 20,000. 


Agoya, Tayni, and Teuta.—According to Father Gaspar Osorio 
(Lozano, 1941, p. 172), the Agoyd, Taynt (Taynoa, Taunt), Teuta, and 
Mataco, whom he visited in 1628 in the region of the upper Bermejo, 
spoke related dialects. On the basis of this statement, Camafio y 
Bazan (1931, p. 333) classifies them in the Matacoan family in spite of 
Lozano’s (1941, p. 81) statement to the contrary. According to 
Father Osorio, the Agoyd numbered 1,500; the Teuwta, 4,500; and the 
Tayni, 20,000. Lozano (1941, pp. 80-81) lists 183 Zaynz and 47 Teuta 
“pueblos.” It is unlikely that such numerous tribes vanished suddenly 
in the 18th and 19th centuries to be replaced by Mataco,; it must be 
assumed, therefore, that they were Mataco subgroups who later were 
known under other names or simply as Mataco. 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 235 


Ojota and Tafio.—The Ojotdé and Taio were two closely related 
tribes who, in the 17th century, lived near the town of Guadalcazar, 
near the junction of the Centa and Bermejo Rivers. Most of our 
information on them is contained in Lozano (1941), who distinguishes 
them both from the Z'ayni and the Mataco, who occupied the same area. 
Their language was different from J'oba (Lozano, 1941, p. 239). Her- 
vis (1800-1805, 1: 164) includes the Ojotd among the Mataco sub- 
groups, but is less certain about the 7’ano. 

When Father Diego Ruiz visited the Ojoté and Ta/o in 1682, they were being 
raided by the Chiriguano, who kidnapped their women and children. They were 
also in great fear of the Toba and Mocovi. Insecurity made them eager to put 
themselves under Spanish protection in the mission in the valley of Centa, near 
Fort San Rafael. The following year a party of Toba and Mocovt attacked the 
mission, killing Fathers Antonio Salinas and Pedro Ortiz. The terrified Ojotd 
and Jano deserted the mission to defend their territory. In 1710 the Jujuy 
detachment of the Urizar expedition forced the Ojotd to settle near Fort 
Ledesma, from whence they were deported to Buenos Aires (Lozano, 1941, p. 352). 

Palomo.—The Palomo, often mentioned by Lozano (1941, pp. 88, 
177, etc.), were, according to Camaiio y Bazan (1931, p. 333), a Mataco 
subgroup. Their exact location is uncertain but seems to have been 
somewhere on the right side of the middle Bermejo River, among or 
near Vilelan bands. 

Hueshuos and Pesatupe.—The Hueshuos are obviously the modern 
Vejos. The affiliation of the Pesatupe to the Matacoan family is stated 
by Camajiio y Bazan (1931, p. 333). 

Choroti (Z'soloti, Soloti, Zolota, Yofuaha, Manuk, Maniuk) .— 
Their name under the form Choroti and Zolota appears for the first 
time in Lozano (1941, pp. 59, 81), who also lists 18 of their bands. 

In 1915 half of the Choroti, whose total population was 2,500, lived 
on the Pilcomayo River near Fortin Guachalla. The remainder 
ranged along the Pilcomayo River up to Villamontes, between latitude 
21°30’ and 22°30’ S., and a few families roamed inland 10 or 15 
leagues from the river. In 1928 Choroti camps were reported near La 
Esmeralda, Guachalla, and Galpon. 

Ashluslay (Chunupi, Chulupt, Choropi, Sowa, Sowuash, Suhin, 
Sotiagai, Sotegaraik, Etehua, Tapieté).—The Ashluslay are known 
to the White settlers of the Chaco either as Chulupi (sometimes 
Chunupi) or as Tapieté, but to avoid confusing them with the Chunupi 
of the Bermejo River, who belong to the Zule-Vilelan linguistic family, 
or with the Tapieté, who are a different tribe (see below), it is more 
advisable to designate them as Ashluslay, a name first popularized by 
Nordenskidld (1912, p. 28; Rydén, 1935, p. 27). 

The Ashluslay inhabit the plains north of the Pilcomayo River from 
Fortin Guachalla to the region of Esteros and the upper Rio Confuso. 


236 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bene. 143 


Some groups reached the Rio Verde, but the bulk of the tribe was 
concentrated in the region of Fortin Mufioz. 

The Ashluslay are first mentioned in the report of the Daniel Campos expedition 
from Bolivia to Paraguay, 1833. In 1908 and 1909, respectively, they were visited 
by two anthropologists, Hermann and Nordenskidld. Subsequently, they have 
received only scant attention from anthropologists and travelers, though they 
have maintained their native culture almost intact until recent times. Early in 
this century, Ashluslay bands began to migrate every winter to the sugarcane 
plantations of the Argentine. Thus they obtained horses, cattle, and many other 
European goods. During the Bolivian-Paraguayan war, many of them, driven 
from their homes, were forced to take refuge in Argentina, where they were well 
received by their former enemies, the Toba and Pilagd, but were often in conflict 
with the Argentine Army. In these years the tribe, whose number was estimated 
by Nordenskiédld at 10,000 in 1909, has dwindled to only 3,000. A great many 
Ashluslay have settled in the missions of the Oblates of Mary, at San José de 
Esteros, San Leonardo (formerly Laguna Escalante), Imaculada Concepcién 
(Guachalla), and Santa Teresita (Lopez de Filipis). Father W. Verwoort esti- 
mates the total number of Ashluslay in 1944 at about 15,000. 

Lengua-Enimaga and the so-called Cochaboth family.—Until 
recent years there has been a great deal of uncertainty about the lin- 
euistic classification of the tribes living north of the lower Pilcomayo 
River. The term “Lengua” (meaning tongue), applied by the Span- 
iards to the Indians who wore flat labrets and thus looked as if they 
had two tongues, was mainly responsible for the confusion. 

Using the information obtained by Father Francisco Amancio Gon- 
zalez, Azara (1809, 2: 148-154) and Aguirre (1911, pp. 292-296) speak 
of a Lengua tribe living north of the lower Pilcomayo River in the 
region formerly occupied by the ancient Guaicuru. He describes it as 
a once powerful nation which, at the end of the 18th century, verged 
on extinction. According to Amancio Gonzalez, the male population 
was reduced to 120 men who resided in a missionary station or had 
taken refuge among their former enemies, the Pélagd. Azara, how- 
ever, states that in 1794 only 22 Lengua remained. 

The Lengua were called Cochaboth by the Enimagd, who used the 
same name for themselves; the 7'oba called them Cocoloth; and the 
Mascoi, Quiese-manapen (Quiesmagpipo). They called themselves 
Ouajadge (Jugad fechy). A Lengua vocabulary collected by Father 
Amancio Gonzalez and preserved by Aguirre (1911, pp. 328-335) fails 
to show any linguistic affinity between the Lengua-Cochaboth and the 
modern Lengua, who speak a Mascoian dialect. On the other hand, 
the relationship between Aguirre’s Lengua, Guentusé, and E'nimagd is 
obvious, and had already been stressed by Amancio Gonzalez and 
Azara. Until recent years, the Lengua-Cochaboth, the Guentusé, and 
the Enimagd were merged into a single isolated linguistic family 
called either Enimagd or Cochaboth (Rivet, 1924; W. Schmidt, 1926). 


Vou, 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX Zor 


Hunt (1915) was the first to notice that modern Maca (Towothli) 
is closely related to ancient Hnimagd, Lengua, and Guentusé, which 
are known through a short vocabulary collected by Father Francisco 
Amancio Gonzalez and incorporated in Aguirre’s diary, and through 
a few words published by Demersay (1860, p. 445). Some years later 
Max Schmidt (1936 b, 1937 b), unaware of Hunt’s discovery, also 
compared Aguirre’s word list with a more recent Maca vocabulary 
and established their close relationship. There is no doubt, therefore, 
that the modern Macé are the same as the ancient Hnimaga (Imacd, 
LIni-maca, Imaga) or Lengua-Cochaboth. 

The A/acé language as known through Belaieff’s vocabularies and 
texts (1931, 1934, 1940) presents close affinities both with Ashluslay 
and Mfataco (Métraux, 1942). Asa matter of fact, the Jesuits in the 
18th century already classified the Maca (EHnimagd) among the 
Mataco bands of the middle Pilcomayo River. (See Camano y 
Bazan, 1981, p. 332.) Brinton also placed them in the Mataco family. 

Maca (Lnimagd, Eni-maca, Ini-macad, Toothle, Towothli, Hta- 
boslé, Cochaboth). —The original home of these Indians was south 
of the Pilcomayo River, somewhat southeast of the Guismay and other 
Mataco groups. Driven from this territory by the Zoba and Pilaga 
they settled in the upper Rio Verde region on a river called Etacamet- 
guischi near lat. 24°24’ S.—probably the Rio Negro or the Aguaray- 
guazu River. They were reputed to be fierce warriers who once kept 
the Guaicurté in subjection. According to Azara and Aguirre, at the 
end of the 18th century the Maca were considerably reduced in num- 
ber as a result of constant warfare and epidemics, and therefore 
merged for a while with Aguirre’s Zengua. Father Amancio Gon- 
zalez, who is supposed to have had a first-hand knowledge of these 
Indians, states that they were then divided in two camps which 
together contained only 100 able-bodied men; Azara says 150. These 
figures are probably wrong, as the modern Maca total about 5,000 
persons. The present-day Macd are perhaps descendants of the com- 
bined L’nimaga, Guentusé, and Lengua, who may have joined forces 
during the 19th century. 

During the first half of the 18th century, the Mbayd had frequent encounters 
with the Lengua-Enimagdé along their southern border. The Enimagd also sent 
raiding parties east of the Paraguay River. Unless these Lengua-Enimaga 
were Mascoian bands, these conflicts would indicate that originally the Enimaga 
extended farther to the north than they did at the end of the 18th century. 

Modern Macdé bands are found between the upper Rio Confuso and the Rio 
Negro. They are still numerous according to Belaieff. Until recently they had 
preserved their ancient ways of living, but under the impact of the Chaco war 
and of the occupation of their territory, their original culture is disintegrating 


very rapidly. Until 1982 they were at odds with the western Pilagd of the 
region of Salto Palmar. 


238 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


Guentusé (Quentusé) —These Indians, neighbors of and an offshoot 
from the Macé (Enimagd), migrated with the latter from the Pil- 
comayo area to north of the Rio Confuso. About 1794 they were 
divided into two bands and could muster about 300 warriors. Their 
name disappears during the 19th century, and it is probable that they 
merged with their Macd relatives. 


THE TUPI-GUARANIAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


Tapieté (Tapii, Yanaygua, Yana, Nanaigua).—The Tapieté in- 
habited the desert tracks stretching from the upper Pilcomayo River 
to the lower Parapiti River, east of the foothills of the Andes. They 
had several camps on the northern side of the Pilcomayo River, be- 
tween Taringui and Palo Marcado and between Galpon and Villa- 
montes. In 1935, after the Chaco war, two Tapieté groups settled 
near Fort Oruro. The exact location of the bands of the Izozog 
region cannot be ascertained. 

The Zapieté, a typical Chaco tribe, have a culture very similar to 
that of the Mataco and Choroti, but, curiously they speak the 
Guarani dialect of their Chiriguano neighbors. It is undoubtedly 
as a result of long contact with the Chiriguano that they adopted the 
language of the latter and discarded their own aboriginal tongue, 
though it is rumored that they still use it among themselves. Even 
in recent years, Tapieté bands were in the habit of settling for some 
time near a Chiriguano village to exchange their services for maize or 
other goods. 

Lozano (1941, p. 81) refers to a Mataco subtribe, the Mataco Cor- 
onados (Tonsured Matacos) who, in addition to their own language, 
spoke Guarani. These Indians were probably the ancestors of the 
modern Japieté. 


THE ARAWAKAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


The northeastern and northwestern fringe of the Chaco was in- 
habited in pre-Columbian times by a large tribe of sedentary farmers 
who spoke an Arawakan dialect. They called themselves Chand, but 
the Spaniards transcribed the name either as Chand or Chané. Un- 
doubtedly related to the Paresst and Mojo, they were the southern- 
most representatives of the great and widespread Arawakan lin- 
guistic family, whose center of diffusion probable lies north of the 
Amazon. 

In Paraguay the name Guand was substituted for Chand, and the 
latter became restricted to the subtribe which lived opposite the 
mouth of the Apa River, and is better known as Layand, a name given 
them by the Mbayd. (See Sinchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 255-256.) 
To distinguish these two Chané branches, whose history and culture de- 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 239 


veloped along different lines, the name Chané will be used for the 
western subtribes along the Andes, and Guand for the eastern sub- 
tribes of the Paraguay Basin. 


Long before the discovery of the Chaco by the Spaniards, the peaceful Guand 
farmers had been subdued by the roving Mbaydé and reduced to a condition 
of vassalage comparable, according to Schmidel (1903, p. 252), to that of 
German serfs. Each Guand village was subordinate to a Mbayd band, which 
levied part of its harvest and exacted other services. In return, the vassals 
were protected by their suzerains against the attacks of other tribes. Thus 
the Mbaydé and Guand developed a close association or symbiosis, which ended 
only during the last century when both tribes began to disintegrate under White 
impact. The cultures of the Mbayd and Guand, which at first were markedly 
different, had become identical. From the serfs the Mbayd learned to weave 
cotton,” to make a certain type of pottery, and later to give more attention to 
agriculture. Under Mbayd influence, the Guand modified their social structure, 
adopted the horse, became more warlike, and, like their masters, acquired 
slaves. Both tribes, however, long retained certain basic tendencies of their 
former culture. The Guand farmers always produced larger and better crops 
than those of the Mbayd, and they wove textiles of such good quality that they 
found a market for them in Neo-Brazilian cities. In general, they were more 
industrious and showed themselves more capable of assimilating White culture 
than the Mbayd. The Guand migrated to the eastern side of the Paraguay 
River during the last half of the 18th century, probably about 1787, when the 
Mbayd seem to have abandoned the Chaco. 

Azara’s statement (1809, 2:86) that many Guand followed their masters 
into the Province of Itati after 1673 appears unlikely, since Sanchez Labrador 
writes that in his time (1760-1767) all the Guand, with the exception of some 
serfs, still lived in the Chaco. 

In 1767 the subtribes of the Guand occupied an area extending from lat. 
21° S. to lat. 19° S. They were settled in seven villages, probably of con- 
siderable size judging from that of the Layand, which contained 800 families 
but was said to have been smaller than the villages of the Hchoaladi. 


The Guana settlements were as follows: (1) The Zayanda (Chana, 
Guand) were opposite the mouth of the Apa (Corrientes) River, 
either on the Yacaré River or the Galvan River; (2) the Viguecactemic 
(Neguecaga temigii, Neguecatemigi) were a branch of the Layand, 
who had founded a separate village west of the Pao de Azucar, more or 
less in lat. 21°44’ S.; (3) the Tereno (Terenod, Etelena) had two 
villages west of the Zayand in lat. 29° S.; (4) the Echoaladi (Choa- 
rana, Chararana), many of whom lived as serfs among the Fyibo- 
godegi, were the largest subtribe and had two villages located north- 
east of the Zereno in lat. 21°30’ S.; and (5) the Kinikinao 
(L.quiniquinao, Quainaconas) had their village somewhere between 
lat. 19° S. and lat. 20° S. 


Thirty years later, according to Azara (1809, 2:87) and Aguirre (1911, pp. 
305-09), the situation of the Guand had undergone great changes: (1) The 


144“Tas Guanas son las principales hilanderas y tegedoras de sus bellas mantas’’ 
(Aguirre, 1911, p. 314), 


240 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 148 


Layané were settled at Lima, north of the Jejuy River, on the Aguaray-guazui 
River; population, 1,800:% (2) the Niguecactemic (Neguecogatemigi, Nigui- 
cactemia, Negiiicactemi) still had their villages west of the Paraguay River 
(lat. 21°32’ S.); population, about 300: (3) some of the Tereno (Ethelena, 
Etelenoe) lived by the Kinikinao in the Chaco; others had moved east of the 
Paraguay River near a mountain chain called Echatiya (lat. 21° S.); popula- 
tion, 3,000: (4) the Hchoaladi (Hechoaladi, Charabana, Echenoana) resided 
in the region of Caazapa, east of the Paraguay River, south of Villarrica (lat. 
26°11’ S.); population, 1,800: (5) the Kinikinao (Quiniquinao, Equiniquinao, 
Equiliquinao) were split into two subgroups; one still lived in the Chaco at 
lat. 21°56’ S., and the other on the east side of the Paraguay River closely 
essociated with the Mbayd. 

In 1803 there were 600 Guandé in the mountainous region around Albuquerque. 
Though they lived separated from the Mbayd, the two tribes remained 
interdependent. 

The Guand were a numerous tribe, though they probably never totaled 
18,000 or 30,000, as some 18th-century authors claim. In 1793 Aguirre (1911, 
p. 826) estimated that the whole tribe numbered 8,200; Azara gives the same 
figure. 

In the middle of the 19th century, no Guand tribe seems to have remained 
in the Chaco. All of them were concentrated in the region of Miranda and 
had broken their ties with the Mbayd. 

About the middle of the last century the largest Guand group was the Tereno 
of Miranda, whose population was estimated then at 3,000 to 4,000 (another 
source says 2,600 to 2,800). They lived in 4 to 6 villages. Bach, who visited 
them in the district of Miranda in 1896, puts their number—probably with some 
exaggeration—at 12,000 to 14,000. The same author lists the names of 7 of 
their villages, the population of which ranged from 257 to 379. In 1935 there 
remained 11 Tereno villages near Miranda. 

About 1850 the Kinikinao, totaling 700 to 1,000, had 2 villages between Miranda 
and Albuquerque. At the end of the 19th century there were still about 100 
Kinikinao scattered in the region of Albuquerque, west of the Paraguay River. 

During the 19th century, the Hchoaladi (Chualas) were concentrated around 
Albuquerque, though a few could be found near Miranda. A village near Albu- 
querque visited by Castelnau (1850-59, 2: 396) consisted of 65 houses. An official 
document of 1848 sets their total number at 200, plus a small group that had 
settled near Cuyaba. 

One hundred years ago the Layand, numbering about 300, lived in 8 or 4 villages 
near Miranda.* 

The first missionary to enter the land of the Guand was Pedro Romero, who 
was killed there. Father Sanchez Labrador visited the tribe in 1761 and, in 
1766, Father Manuel Duran founded the Layand mission of San Juan Nepomuceno, 
on the western side of the Paraguay River, opposite the mouth of the Apa 
(Corrientes) River. After the expulsion of the Jesuits the following year, the 
Franciscans transferred the mission across the river, but did not succeed in keep- 


14In 1788, 500 Guané settled at Tacuati, on the Ypané River, under a priest, but were 
soon attacked and decimated by the Creoles. Another Guand group that lived near Fuerte 
Olimpo migrated to the vicinity of Concepcién, on the Laguna de Aquidabanigy, where 
Rengger (1835, p. 335) visited them in 1821. Later, these Indians, who had placed 
themselves under Paraguayan protection, were exterminated by the Mestizos. 

18 Aguirre (1911, p. 309) gives the following figures for only the male population at the 
end of the 18th century: Tereno, 1,000; Layand, 500; Echoaladi, 1,000; Kinikinao, 600; 
Neguecogatemi, 200. These figures were communicated to Aguirre by a Franciscan 
missionary. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 241 


ing the Indians—mostly Layand—in it more than 2 years. In 1791 a new mission 
was established on the Tacuati River, on the middle course of the Ypané River, 
but it never prospered. 

Protestant missionaries of the Inland South America Missionary Union have 
been active among the Tereno since 1918. From the accounts of one of its mis- 
sionaries, Mr. Hay, it appears that the Indians, though thoroughly adjusted to 
the Neo-Brazilian environment, have remained surprisingly faithful to many 
Arawak and Mbayé traditions and customs. 


THE ZAMUCOAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


At the beginning of the 18th century, the plains south of the Province 
of Chiquitos were occupied by Indians who spoke dialects of the family 
called Zamucoan after one of its subgroups. Hervads (1800-1805, 1: 
162-164) classifies the Zamucoan dialects as follows: 

(1) Zamuco proper spoken by the Zamuco and the Zatieno (Satieno, 
Tbiraya). 

(2) Caipotorade spoken by the Catpotorade, Tunacho (Tunaco), 
Imono, and Timinaba (undoubtedly the modern Z’wmereha). 

(3) Morotoco (the modern Moro) spoken by the Morotoco (Coro- 
ino), Tomoeno, Cucurare (Cucurate, Cucutade, Cuculado), Panana, 
Carera, and Ororebate. 

(4) Ugarafio. Some Jesuits placed Ugarafo in the same sub- 
groups as Zamuco proper. 

To these dialects we must add the Vapi (?), Chamacoco, Tsirakua, 
Guaranoca, and probably Poturero. 

History of the Zamucoan tribes.—Several authors have identified 
the Samocosi or Tamacosi, whose name appears in the accounts of the 
discovery of the CAéguito, with the Zamuco or Chamacoco, but the 
16th-century Zamacosi lived on the Rio Grande (Guapay) not far 
from the modern city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and neither their 
location nor the few data on their culture suggest any connection 
with the ancient Zamuco. 


The Indians of the Zamucoan family entered history in 1711 when the 
Morotoco were discovered by Father Juan Bautista de Zea and were placed in 
the mission of San José. In 1717 they were moved to the newly founded mis- 
sion of San Juan Bautista. Father Zea next visited the Cucurare but, except 
for a few families, they refused to follow the example of the Morotoco. In 1716 
he sent a party of Chiquito neophytes to “tame” the Carerd, a Zamucoan tribe 
closely related but hostile to the Morotoco. The Carerd, who offered armed 
resistance to the intruding Chiquito, were obliged to flee after suffering heavy 
losses. They were never again found nor was their name mentioned in later 
Jesuit documents. In 1717 Father Zea at last reached the Zamuco proper, who 
received him in a friendly manner and agreed to form a mission. But in 1719 
when Father Miguel de Yegros tried to open the mission in the land of the 
Cucurare, the Zamuco frustrated his plan by migrating from the site he had 
chosen and by murdering Br. Alberto Moreno, who had followed them. For 5 
more years the Jesuits made fruitless efforts to start a mission among them. 


583486—46——16 


242 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. But. 148 


Finally, in 1723, a Zamuco band, fleeing from the Ugarafo, came with a Cucu- 
rare group to seek refuge in the mission of San Juan. Later in the same year, 
Father Augustin Castaflares brought them back to their own country, where he 
founded the mission of San Ignacio, probably at lat. 20°55’ S. and long. 59°42’ 
W. In 1726 the Zamuco and Cucurare, who formed this mission, were trans- 
ferred to San José with the hope that, surrounded by Christianized Chiquito, 
they would forget their mutual enmities. When peace was reestablished, the 
Zamuco and Cucurare were allowed to return to their mission and were placed 
under the care of Father Castafiares. In 17388 members of five tribes were con- 
centrated in San Ignacio—the Zamuco proper, the Cucurare, the Tapii*® (Tapio), 
the Zatieno (Satieno), and the Ugarafjio—all of whom spoke closely related 
dialects (Chomé, 1819, p. 349). In this mission Father Ignace Chomé wrote 
a glossary and a grammar of the Zamuco language." The Jesuits desired at 
that time to make San Ignacio an outpost for the exploration and spiritual 
conquest of the unknown regions of the Chaco—a hope which never materialized. 

About 1750 renewed intertribal feuds caused the neophytes to desert the mis- 
sion of San Ignacio and return to San Juan. In 1751 a new mission of San 
Ignacio was built north of San Miguel for the Ugarafio and some converts from 
San Juan Bautista. 

At the end of the Jesuit period there were Morotoco, Cucurare, and Tomoeno 
Indians in the mission of San Juan Bautista. In 1831 the bulk of the popula- 
tion was formed by Morotoco and Chiquito though some other tribes were still 
represented by a few individuals. 

The mission of Santiago, established in 1754, contained, among other In- 
dians (Hervas mentions the Ugarano and Tunacho), 300 Caipoterade*® whom 
Father Gaspar Troncoso rounded up in 1762 with the aid of a party of Christian- 
ized Indians. At the time of D’Orbigny’s visit in 1831 the population of San- 
tiago consisted only of Guarafoca, Tapii, and some Chiquito. 

The Tunaca (Tunaco, Tunacho) lived to the southeast of the mission of 
Santiago. In 1757 Father Narciso Patzi established contact with them and 
tried by distributing presents to induce them to form a mission, but the Tunaca 
remained hostile and even attacked the missionary’s party. Only in 1759 did 
Father Patzi succeed in collecting about 200 Tunaca, for whom Father Antonio 
Guasp founded the mission of Corazén de Jess. In 1767 the Tunaca shared 
this mission with Zatieno, Zamuco proper, Poturero, Otuqué, and some Chi- 
quito, all of whom, with the exception of the Zatiewio and Tunaca, still retained 
their tribal consciousness when D’Orbigny visited them in 1832. 

The Jmono were never converted by the Jesuits. In 1763 this peaceful tribe of 
about 300 people was destroyed by the Mbayd, who killed the adults and retained 
the children as slaves (Muriel, 1918, p. 225). 

By settling the Zamuco in the Province of Chiquitos, the Jesuits not only aimed 
to remove then from the inroads of the Mbayd but to hasten their assimilation by 
the Chiquito, who formed the predominant population of that region. The mis- 
sionaries strove to spread the Chiquito language among the Zamuco in the mis- 
sions, but evidently they were only partially successful for Zamuco was still 


16 Hervas (1800-1805, 1: 160) classifies the 7apii among the Chiquitoan-speaking Indians. 
The Tapit whom D’Orbigny (1835-47, 4: 2738) found in the mission of Santiago had for- 
gotten their original language, and he is inclined to regard them as an Otuquéan tribe. 

17 Chomé’s manuscript grammar of the Zamuco language was discovered by K. Von den 
Steinen, and is now in Dr. Paul Rivet’s possession. 

18 Muriel (1918, p. 206) remarks that the Caipoterade bands split into their component 
families during the dry season, but that they gathered again when the algarroba pods 
were ripe or when the rivers were full of fish, 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 243 


spoken there in the first half of the 19th century. Today the descendants of the 
missionized Zamuco cannot be distinguished from the acculturated Chiquito. 

When the paternalistic Jesuit regime was replaced by the rule of corrupt 
governors and curates who mistreated and looted the Indians, the once flourishing 
missions fell into a complete decadence from which they have never recovered. 

In spite of their persistent and the systematic efforts, the Jesuits lacked time 
to subjugate all the Zamucoan tribes. Even when the bulk of the nation had been 
settled in the missions, some bands retained their independence. Among these, 
were the Moro, who undoubtedly are the remnants of the ancient Morotoco, and 
the Guaranoca. The Jesuits now and then allude to the Timiniha (Timiniba, 
Timinaba), a Zamucoan tribe, which they were unable to bring under their rule. 
This name probably was applied to the whole Chamacoco tribe rather than to 
the Tumerehé subtribe (see p. 244). Texts concerning the history of the Zamu- 
coan tribes have been collected by Baldus (1931 a, pp. 154-202; 1932, pp. 361- 
416). 

In 1723 Fernandez (1895, 2: 244) estimated the number of the Zamuco proper 
at 1,200, and thought the Ugarato about as numerous. In 1831 D’Orbigny 
(1835-47, 4: 254) put the Zamuco population in the missions of Chiquitos at 
1,250 and the number of the wild Zamuco near the Salinas de Santiago and on the 
Otuquis River at about 1,000. 


Guarafioca.—The original habitat of the Guarafioca lay in the 
southern foothills of the Santiago Range. In the first half of the 18th 
century, the Jesuits made great efforts to settle them in their missions 
but the warlike disposition and errant life of these Indians prevented 
the conversion of the whole tribe. Those who accepted the Jesuit rule 
constituted, together with the Zapii and some Chiquito, the native 
population of the mission of Santiago de Chiquitos. 


The Guaranoca who remained pagan became bitter enemies of the Whites. For 
many years their continuous attacks hampered the exploitation of the large salt 
deposits south of Santiago. In recent years these Indians have constantly raided 
ranches and farms near San José, Santiago, Santo Corazén, and San Rafael. 
According to a native informant, they are now split into several groups: one 
lives 12 or 15 leagues from Santiago; another, the so-called Salineros, near the 
Salinas de Santiago and San José; another, the Miguelenos, near the headwaters 
of the San Miguel River; a fourth group in the Monte Grande; and a band which 
roams near the Paraguay River. 

All these groups speak closely related dialects, maintain mutually friendly re- 
lations, and barter salt for other goods, chiefly pottery. One small band near 
the Tubaca and Aguas Calientes Rivers is, however, hostile to the other Guara- 
fioca. The Guaranoca who formerly lived in the Pampa de San Miguel have 
migrated to the campos of Santo Corazén, near San Rafael. D’Orbigny gives a 
good description of the Guaravoca dances in the mission of Santiago. Sonfe 
ethnographic data on these Indians were published recently by Father Oefner 
(1942), who obtained his information from a few neophytes of the modern mis- 
sion of Santiago de Chiquitos. The Guarajoca culture seems to resemble very 
closely that of the 7’sirakua and Moro, who possibly are Gwaranoca bands or 
subgroups. According to Loukotka, however, the few known Guaranoca words 
show closer analogies with ancient Zamuco than do the T'sirakua and Chamacoco 
word lists. Until more and better linguistic material is available, the question 
must remain undecided. 


244 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


Moro.—The modern Moro, who may be related to the Morotoco of 
the Jesuit mission of San Juan Bautista, are still unknown but for 
vague references and a few artifacts collected in their abandoned 
camps. They roam in the unexplored plain of the northern Chaco, 
south of Chiquitos and north of the inland railway from Puerto 
Sastre. They fight occasional skirmishes with the Twmerehda, and are 
hostile to other Indians and Whites. Possibly they are to be identi- 
fied with the Guarafoca of the Salinas de Santiago and San José. 

Chamacoco.—When the M/bayd and the Guana left the Chaco to 
settle in Matto Grosso, the territory which they abandoned was oc- 
cupied by the Chamacoco, who are mentioned for the first time when 
they appeared near Fuerte Olimpo in 1802. During the 19th cen- 
tury, the Chamacoco were constantly raided by the Mbayd, who en- 
slaved them or forced them to sell their children. In 1803, the 
Mbayda of the region of Coimbra had 400 Chamacoco slaves. 

Modern Chamacoco are divided into three subtribes: Hério, Lbi- 
doso, and Tumerehad. The Horio (Fri¢’s [shira) lived in the region 
of Bahia Nega and Puerto Mihanovitch on the Paraguay River. 
In 1928 they numbered 120 to 180 people. 

The Ldidoso resided in the vicinity of Puerto Voluntad, and were 
reckoned at 175 in 1928. 

Although the Hbidoso and Hério separated only recently, both sub- 
tribes are now hostile to each other. The Paraguayans often call 
them Chamacocos mansos (Tame Chamacoco) because they were the 
first of the tribe who, in 1885, entered into friendly relationship with 
the Whites. 

The Twmereha (Timinaba; Timiniha on Jolis’ map) form the 
southern group of the Chamacoco, who separated from the two other 
subtribes 50 years ago, as the result, it is said, of a feud over a 
violated taboo. Their habitat is north of the railway which runs 
from Puerto Sastre westward into the Chaco. Because they keep 
aloof from the Whites, they are often called Chamacocos bravos (Wild 
Chamacoco) though they are really more peaceful than their northern 
neighbors. Continuous warfare existed for a long time between the 
Tumereha and the other Chamacoco groups. In 1928 the Zwm- 
erehaé are said to have totaled about 1,500 (301 families). 

Tsirakua (Siracua, Empelota).—The Tsirakua, a mysterious tribe 
that ranges north and east of the Izozog marshes, may be iden- 
tical with the Moro or a closely related tribe. The only information 
regarding them was obtained through the Z'apieté, who waged a bitter 
war against them and now and then captured a few. A short list of 
words taken from a 7'sirakua woman by Nordenskiéld (1912, p. 324) 
shows close relationship with the Zamuco. The Tsirakua, like the 
Moro, may be Guarafioca bands. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 245 


Poturero (Potorera).—The Poturero (Azara’s Ninaguila or Nina- 
quiguila) were a fairly numerous tribe that lived in the forests of 
the northern Chaco between lats. 18° and 19° S. They were peaceful 
farmers whose small villages were scattered south of the mission of 
Santiago, on the southern side of the San Raphael and Aguas Cal- 
ientes Rivers. Some Poturero groups were settled in the mission of 
Santo Corazén and perhaps in San Juan Bautista. 

Cardis (1886, p. 278) refers to them as a tribe still existing in 
the second half of the 19th century. He states that they had escaped 
from the above-mentioned missions and lived along the Tucabaca 
River, between Santiago and Corumba. 


UNIDENTIFIED INDIAN TRIBES ON THE UPPER PARAGUAY 


The Indians inhabiting the district around Puerto de los Reyes, 
lat. 17°58’ S., in the middle of the 16th century, were the Sacoci, 
Socorino (Surucust), Xaquete or Xaquese, and the Chané. ( 

The Chané were apparently newcomers in the region. They told 
the Spaniards that they had followed the Alejo Garcia expedition 
on its way back from the border of the 7»ca Empire, and then had 
settled in two villages near the Sacoci. 

All these tribes were agriculturists, but unlike most tropical In- 
dians, the men planted and sowed whereas the women helped only 
with the harvesting. Their main vegetable foods were manioc of 
several varieties, maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and mbocaja palm 
fruits. They raised ducks and hens which they shut at night in 
tightly closed chicken houses for protection against vampire bats. 

Men and women usually went naked, but had cotton cloaks, which 
were stored in large jars sealed with clay to protect them from 
crickets. Men wore large wooden disks in the earlobes—hence the 
name Orejones (Big Ears) often given to this tribe—and women 
wore “a grey stone of crystal, thick and long as a finger” in the lower 
lip. They are said to have worshiped wooden idols. 

The Artan (Artanes) lived a day upstream from Puerto de los 
Reyes. They were agriculturists, but sowed little because most of 
their land was periodically inundated or covered with arid sand. 
They went naked. Men inserted into their lower lip the round husk 
cf a fruit (?) and women tattooed their faces with the tip of a stingray 
tail. 

The Yacaré also inhabited the Paraguay River banks, 36 leagues 
upstream from Puerto de los Reyes. They were fishermen and 
hunters. 

The Perovosan (Perobozanes) are placed by our sources north of 
the Artan, south of the XYaraye. 


246 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


The few ethnographical details on the Xaraye (Xarayes) preclude 
their inclusion within the Chaco culture area. They will be described 
with the Chiqguitoan tribes in Volume 3. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Collecting wild foods.—The thorny and forbidding Chaco bush 
(pls. 45, 46) has greater wealth in trees and other plants with subsis- 
tence value to man than the tropical forest. Pod-bearing algarroba 
(Prosopis alba and P. nigra) and tuscas (Acacia moniliformis), fruit 
trees like the chafiar (Gourliea decorticans) and the mistol (Zizyphus 
mistol), which are all common representatives of the Chaco xerophytic 
flora, supply the natives with abundant food in season. Innumerable 
palm trees, covering extensive areas in the marshy tracts along the 
rivers, are of equal economic value. The forests once yielded con- 
siderable game, and the rivers still hold countless fish. 

The seasonal yield of certain plant species produces a varied diet, 
and the irregular distribution of certain plants and of several animal 
species induces a limited nomadism, which, however, does not involve 
the migration of large bands, but rather the dispersal of small family 
groups, which scatter in order to procure their livelihood. The social 
and ceremonial life is deeply affected by the momentary abundance 
of a particular food. For example, during the fishing season, when 
there is always a large concentration of people along the rivers, 
boundary conflicts are frequent. The algarroba harvest, on the other 
hand, is a period of continual rejoicing and visiting. In winter, the 
social density is at its lowest level, and every family trudges across the 
bush in search of a precarious subsistence. 

A diet calendar can be established for the Pilcomayo Indians on the 
basis of seasonal variations in foods. Since the beginning of this cen- 
tury, however, the annual cycle has been altered by a new and impor- 
tant factor in the native economy: during the lean winter months, 
which formerly were a time of scarcity and even of famine, the younger 
people migrate to the sugarcane fields of Jujuy and Salta, where they 
work as peons. 

From November to January and sometimes until February, the 
Pilcomayo Indians feast on algarroba, which is consumed mainly in 
the form of beer, and on the nourishing fruits of the chafiar and 
mistol. 

At the end of summer, the beans of the poroto del monte (Capparis 
retusa), tasi (Aforrenia odorata), and Barbary figs (tunas) are fore- 
most in their bill of fare. Farming tribes harvest their crops during 
the same period, and add maize, pumpkins, and watermelons to their 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 247 


diet of wild plants. Toward the end of the rainy season, women 
are kept busy spreading fruits and pods on skins and mats to dry for the 
winter months ahead. 

April, May, and the first half of June, when shoals of fish ascend 
the Pilecomayo, are months of plenty. The daily catch is sometimes 
so big that the surplus can be smoked and stored for many days or 
traded to inland tribes for maize and other crops. The Indians 
regard the fishing season as one of fatness and health. It is unques- 
tionable that they are then best nourished. In June and July, though 
the rivers are low, a few fish can still be had and tusca pods and a few 
tasi are still harvested. 

During August *° and September, the leanest months of the year, 
the Indians eat tusca and their stores of sachalimona or naranja del 
monte (Capparis speciosa) and sachasandia fruits (Capparis salici- 
folia). They beat the bush to gather various wild Cucurbitaceae, 
tubers, and some species of Bromelia with fleshy rhizomes. The most 
palatable food of this season is a creeper, tripa de zorro (probably 
Phaseolus caracalla), which, properly cured, tastes like chestnuts.”° 
Game, though in recent times an almost negligible source of food, 
formerly supplemented the vegetable diet. 

A similar economic schedule may be postulated for the northern 
Chaco tribes, about whom there is less information. 

Like other Chaco tribes, the A/bayd of the northern Chaco and of 
southern Matto Grosso collected algarroba pods, but their staples 
among wild plants were the terminal shoot (palmito), the fruits and 
the pith of several palm species, mainly the mbocaya palm (Acrocomia 
sp.) and the yatai-guazi (Cocos paraguayensis). Large Mbayd 
households would settle in a grove of mbocaya palms and exploit it for 
a month or more until they had exhausted it, then return to the main 
camp with provisions of flour and roasted shoots (palmitos). Sanchez 
Labrador (1910-17, 1: 162) tells us that the Mbaya families, assembled 
at the mission of Belen on the Ypané River, destroyed all the palm 
trees within 6 miles of the mission in 8 or 4 weeks. 


19 During my visit to the Mataco of the Bermejo River in 1939, in August they still ate 
anco (Cucurbita moschata) and some algarroba pods. 

20> The Mataco collect wild roots and tubers during the lean winter months. Among the 
roots are those of the olax (Cissus palmata), which grow in marshy grounds and have to 
be boiled in three different waters; of the newik creeper, which look like manioc but are 
unsavory; and those of the na’pét cactus, which are boiled in ashes. Tubers include 
katsi’w6k (Hchinodorus grandiflorus), an aquatic plant which needs only slight boiling; 
si’nyax, which are very bitter and therefore are roasted, dried, and then boiled for a 
whole day; moLmoLt (Solanum meloncillo) ; atsixw6, which are first roasted and then 
boiled; and nekwitaix (Merremia aegyptica). 

The Mataco also eat iste-Loi berries (Physalis viscosa), and the fruits of san’y4 (Araujia 
plumosa) ; katsunLi (Philibertia gracilis) ; kitsawk (Cissus sicyoides), which are boiled 
and roasted; tsotna-katos (‘‘deer-teats’”), which are baked in ashes; and axwatax-Loi, 
which resemble the tasi fruits and the fruits of the newGk creeper. 


248 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buby. 143 


The economic value of palm trees for the M/bayd can be well illus- 
trated by the various advantages which these Indians derived from 
the mbocayd palm (Acrocomia sp., probably totaz) : the fruits, seeds, 
shoots, and pith were eaten; the sap was made into an alcoholic bever- 
age; grubs, which grew in the decayed trunks, were greatly relished 
as a food; and ropes and halters were made from the leaves and needles 
from the thorns. The terminal shoot (palmito) of the caranday palm 
is also an important food for the Pilcomayo tribes. Modern Indians 
in that region, however, do not seem to consume the starch of the 
palm to the same extent that their ancestors did. The Aocové broiled 
the palmito and pounded it into a flour, which they ate as a mush. 
They were also fond of the fruit kernels, which they consumed raw 
or roasted (Kobler, 1870, p. 235). 

The main vegetable foods of the Chamacoco are algarroba pods, 
shoots of the caranday palm (Copernicia cerifera), the pith of the 
carandaipé palm, the bases of the caraguata leaves, the tubers of an 
aquatic plant, and a wild “manioc” (Baldus, 1931 b, p. 26). The 
Guaranoca collect paquio, chuchio, pifas silvestres, pitajaya, algar- 
roba pods, and the fruits of the totai palm (Oefner, 1942, p. 103). 

Rice (Oryza perennis), which grows wild in the marshy tracts of 
the upper Paraguay River, was consumed on a large scale by the river 
Indians, the Payagué and Guachi, and even by the Mbayd, who ob- 
tained it from these tribes by barter. The Payagudé and Guachi 
harvested the rice by shaking the grains into their canoes, in a way 
similar to that of the Menoméini of Wisconsin in harvesting wild rice. 
They ate it without removing the hull (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
12185). 

When hard-pressed by hunger, the Mocovi ate the boiled roots of 
the umbi tree (Kobler, 1870, p. 223). 

Throughout the Chaco, wild fruits and tubers are collected by 
women who search the bush, equipped with a digging stick, a wooden 
hook fastened to a long pole to pull down high branches, and large 
caraguata bags to carry home the harvest. 

The digging stick is made of hard wood (often of palo mataco, 
Achatocarpus praecow) and as a rule, has a spatulated or beveled 
distalend. The digging stick of the Zoba and Mataco is about 6 feet 
(1.8 m.) long and of considerable weight. The same tribes also 
use shorter, thinner sticks with a spatulated head, which can be 
carried easily when they wander in the forest and which serve to 
open palm trunks and uproot caraguataé plants. The Abipdén and 
Mocovi digging stick was about 4 feet (1.3 m.) long, broad at each end 
but slender in the middle (Dobrizhoffer, 1784, 2: 122). Chamacoco 
women have digging sticks shaped like paddles or clubs with sharp 
edges, a form appropriate for extracting the caranday terminal shoots 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 249 


(palmitos). To uproot caraguata leaves, Chaco women used forked 
sticks. 

Before eating the tunas (Barbary figs), which are covered with 
infinitesimal thorns, the women shake the fruit together in elongated 
nets (pl. 60, 0) to rub off the dangerous fuzz. 

Chaco Indians are eager honey-gatherers. Bees and honey-pro- 
ducing wasps are numerous in the Chaco. The Mataco know of 16 
different kinds of honey. Some species of bees or wasps make spher- 
ical hives hanging from trees; others live in trees or in underground 
holes. When wandering in the bush, the men attentively follow the 
flight of each bee, hoping to discover its nest. The Abipdn explained 
their habit of plucking their eyelashes as a measure to improve their 
sight when looking for bees. To reach honey in tree cavities, the 
Indians enlarge the hole with their axes, a lengthly operation when 
they had only stone axes. Unless the cavity is large enough to receive 
a vessel, the Indians dip a coarse fabric of caraguata, fibers into the 
liquid honey and wring it in a skin bag. The Chaco Indians despoil 
a hive entirely and, unlike some Brazilian tribes, leave no combs for 
the bees’ return. The larvae in the combs are eaten with the honey 
or, preferably, are roasted. Honey is always stored in a small bag 
made of the entire skin of a small rodent with the hair inside. The 
Guandé are said to stupefy the bees with the smoke of a Datura plant, 
which they blow into the cavity before removing the combs. 

The clouds of locusts that cross the Chaco sometimes are an impor- 
tant food resource. The Mocovi drove the insects toward a large 
straw fire which scorched them, or collected them by the hundreds 
and roasted them over a fire. Roasted or dried locusts are often 
pounded in a mortar and boiled in water or fried in fish oil (Mocov%, 
Lengua, and others). The Mocovi stored locusts which they could 
not eat on the spot; they also made a mush of locust eggs. 

Water supply.—Water is scarce throughout large regions of the 
Chaco. In the dry season its lack may become one of the most serious 
problems of survival. The ancient Zule and Vilela who lived south 
of the Bermejo River, bored deep pits in which they stored jars full 
of water for the dry season, or dug large cisterns.27 The modern 
Lengua have wells 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6.1 m.) deep and 21% feet 
(0.75 m.) in diameter. These are so made that a man can go down 
by footholds on either side. 


71 Camano y Bazan (1931, p. 331) says: “Suplfan la falta de rios y manantiales perenes 
con el agua llovedisa que se recoge en ciertos bajios de tierra, los cuales cavaban y 
profundaban mas, para que el agua recogida en las lluvias durase por mas tiempo. Mas 
como aun esta diligencia no bastaba para que tuviesen agua por todo el aflo, por ser grandes 
los ardores del sol, y muy seca y sedienta la tierra, guardaban en hoyos profundos multitud 
de tinajas grandes llenas de agua para el verano. Guardaban tambien sandias. Serviales 
asimismo de bebidas el jugo de unas raices grandes manera de botijas, que llama uagali, 
tanto mas jugosas 0 aguosas que las sandias.”’ 


250 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


When in extreme need, the Chaco Indians drink the water that 
collects in the hollow axils of caraguata leaves or dig up the bulky 
tuber of the cipoy (Jacaratia hassleriana; in Mataco, iletsax). 

Farming.—Agriculture is known to nearly all Chaco tribes. The 
few exceptions are explained by an unfavorable environment rather 
than by cultural reasons, though in some cases the adoption of the 
horse brought the temporary abandonment of farming. 

The ancient Zamuco were farmers and so are their descendants, 
the Moro and Guaranoca, who cultivate maize, beans, gourds, manioc, 
and cotton (?).22. On the other hand, the closely related Chamacoco 
are almost exclusively collectors and hunters, though even they are 
not entirely ignorant of the principles of agriculture, for they plant 
and carefully tend the gourds necessary for making rattles (Baldus, 
1931 a, p. 82). Here the absence of systematic agriculture must be 
attributed to the nature of the land, for the Twmerehd, a subgroup 
of the same tribe who occupy a more favorable environment, raise a 
few crops and cultivate an imported reed, the cana de Castilla 
(Arundo donax), for arrow shafts. The Payagud, who formerly 
lived on the water, became agriculturists many years after they had 
settled in Asuncién. The first attempt at agriculture was the sowing 
of a few beans in 1824, 

After the Abipén, Mocovi, and Mbayd received the horse they 
found themselves in a better position to live from hand to mouth and 
gave up whatever little farming they might have practiced in the 
past. However, the Abipon and Mocovi obtained crop foods through 
loot and the A/bayd through tribute from their farming vassals, the 
Arawakan-speaking Guand. At the end of the 18th century, what- 
ever agriculture was practiced by the A/bayd was in the hands of the 
Guana slaves who lived among them. In the following century, the 
Mbaya themselves became true farmers, when the Whites forced them 
to lead a more sedentary life. It is quite likely that agriculture 
played the same part in the pre-European economy of these tribes 
that it did among other Chaco Indians who did not adopt the horse. 

The best farmers of the Chaco were the Arawakan-speaking Guand 
of the north, who depended mainly on the yield of their large planta- 
tions. Every year after they had tilled their fields and planted 
their crops, the Guand moved to the banks of the Paraguay River 
to hunt and fish until harvest time. The Zengua, who can find only 
small and scattered patches suitable for cultivation, raise few crops, 
but their neighbors, the Ashluslay (Chulup?) are better off, thanks 
to a more favorable habitat. To the Pilagd, whose lands are flooded 
every year, agriculture is more a sport than a profitable pursuit. 
They merely grow a few pumpkins, and some maize and tobacco. 


2 The ancient Zamuco also planted peanuts, 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 251 


Compared to the bush Mataco (Matacos montaraces) and the Toba, 
the river Afataco may be considered proficient gardeners. 

The ancient Gauchi of the Miranda River planted their crops on the 
flooded terrains along the river. As soon as the river receded, they set 
fire to the grass and started to till the soil to grow maize, gourds, 
tobacco, and sweet potatoes. (See Aguirre, 1911, p. 322.) 

Dryness of the soil, lack of chemicals, and excessive floods are not 
the only factors handicapping farming in large parts of the Chaco; 
crops are also threatened by blights, locusts, tordo birds, parakeets, 
peccaries, and by cattle and other domesticated animals. The build- 
ing of a thorn hedge around his field is the heaviest task which befalls 
the Mataco farmer. These fences, heaped up with great effort, do not 
last long and must be replenished twice a year. When thorn trees or 
brush can no longer be obtained within convenient distance, the In- 
dians prefer to abandon the old clearing and to open a new one in some 
other site. In the Spanish jargon of the Chaco, “field” is synonymous 
with “enclosure” (cerco). 

Some fields of the M/ataco in the upper Pilcomayo River region 
measure about 10 acres (4 hectares) ; this is also the size of the average 
Kaskiha field. On the other hand, the Pilagad have patches covering 
only a few square yards (meters). Sanapand plantations rarely exceed 
5 or 8 acres (2 or 3 hectares). They are generally located within a 
thick forest and are reached by a winding path. The owner first 
destroys the low brush and then fells all trees except those which are 
too tall to shade the crops. Even after they have moved to a new site, 
the Lengua, and probably most of the Chaco Indians, return from time 
to time to their old gardens to carry off the produce. 

Most Chaco Indians are careless about the condition of their fields 
and plant the different crops haphazardly in scattered patches. 
Among the Haskihd, however, old people are said to weed the gardens. 

The main crops raised in the Chaco are: Maize, sweet manioc, beans 
(Phaseolus sp.), pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima), anco (Cucurbita 
moschata), watermelons, gourds (Angaité, Sanapand), sweet potatoes, 
tobacco, cotton, sorghum, and sugarcane. There are local variations, 
especially in the northern Chaco where the Indians are in contact with 
tropical agriculturists. The modern Guand cultivate, in addition to 
the plants listed above, bitter manioc, cara, several of the Cucurbi- 
taceae, rice, papayas, a species of Cassia, an aroid, the tubers of which 
are boiled in several waters, and uruct. Pumpkins are the preferred 
crop of the Mataco, and maize of the Ashluslay; sweet potatoes are the 
staple of the Kaskiha. The Lengua raise pumpkins, sweet potatoes, 
sweet manioc, tobacco, and a little maize. 

Clearing the brush, fence construction, and occasional weeding are 
everywhere men’s activities. There is some doubt as to which sex tills 
and sows. Mataco and Pilagé men till the fields and plant the crops; 


252 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


women harvest. According to Nordenskiéld (1912, p. 94), among the 
Choroti and Ashluslay both men and women cooperate in all agricul- 
tural work. The care of the plantation is in the men’s hands among the 
Lengua, Kaskiha, and Guand. 

The main agricultural implement is either a digging stick (fig. 37, ¢) 
or a wooden paddle-shaped spade (Mataco, Choroti, Ashluslay, 
Guarafioca) carved from a single piece of wood and, occasionally, 
provided with a crotch at the proximal end (fig. 35,a). The shovel of 
the Guand, like that of the Chiriguano and of the Andean Indians of 
southern Bolivia and Atacama, consisted of a wooden blade (also a 
scapula) lashed to a handle 5 feet (1.5 m.) long. When shoveling, a 
Guana sat on the ground and turned up the soil within reach, then 
moved to another spot 7? (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 2: 292). 

The Mataco maintain guards in their fields to scare off the swarms 
of parrots and other birds which plunder the ripe crops, or lay snares 
to catch them. 

When a crop has been destroyed by blight, the Lengua consult a 
shaman who himself brings, or who sends by someone else, charms to 
drive away the evil and to restore fertility to the soil. Unfruitful 
plants are spat upon to make them bear again (Grubb, 1904, p. 81). 

Fishing.—During 2 or 3 months each year, fishing is the principal 
economic activity and fish the staple food of those tribes that have 
access to large rivers, such as the Pilcomayo and the Bermejo. Even 
the equestrian Mbayd spent several weeks along the Paraguay River 
living exclusively on fish. For this period, they built flimsy shelters 
along the water so situated that, in case of danger, fire or smoke sig- 
nals could be seen by everyone. 

Even inland bush groups try to settle on the river banks during the 
fishing season notwithstanding the peril of poaching on the territory 
of other tribes. To avoid open warfare, agreements are sometimes 
reached between the river and bush people. Thus, the Ashluslay, when 
at peace with the Péilagd, lend them their fishweirs. Many inland 
tribes trade maize or other foods for dried or smoked fish. 

Collective fishing is common among the Pdlagd, Ashluslay, and 
Mataco of the Pilcomayo River, but on the Bermejo River it is more 
often an individual activity. There is scant discipline in these com- 
raunal drives, and everyone stops fishing at his own will. 

In the swampy regions near the mouth of the Pileomayo River, fish 
are often so thick in the stagnant pools that they can be dipped out 
by hand. The Zengua catch fish in the same manner in small streams 


2H) modo que tienen en labrar la tierra es singular. Con las palas arriba dichas 
mueven la tierra y desherban, no al modo que lo hacen los Espanioles, sino sentados. 
Enhastan las palas en unos cabos largos de vara y media: siéntase el Chana, y trabaja 
cuanto alcanza la pala; asi, mudando sitios, limpia y compone el terreno de su sementera”’ 
(Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 291-292). 


vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 253 


which they dam when the annual flood recedes. Both the Ashluslay 
and the Lengua fish in low waters with conical wicker baskets, about 
2 feet (0.6 m.) high and open at the base and apex. They drop them 
over the fish, which they seize with their hands through the hole at the 
top. The same Indians set wickerwork fish traps in larger streams. 

There is no record of native hooks other than those of the Zengua and 
Kaskiha (Hassler, 1894, p. 333), which are said to have been made of 
bone or wood. The Lengua angle with very short lines from their 
canoes or as they stand in the water. The Mataco, it is said, employ 
large wooden hooks for catching caimans. Angling with iron hooks 
is especially rewarding when the rivers are high and fish come to the 
banks to eat ant larvae and other insects which fall into the water near 
the crumbling banks. The Indians, however, often lose their catch 
to the palometa fish, which tears it or cuts the line. 

Net fishing, by far the most profitable method, is practiced during 
the dry season when rivers can be forded and dams built, and when 
shoals of fish migrate upstream. 

Nets are of two types: (1) Those with a frame of two long poles 
which open and close like scissors; and (2) those mounted on two bent 
flexible rods attached to each other at both ends (pl. 48). 

When word comes that fish are ascending the river, the Indians 
start to construct a fence of branches in the water parallel or diagonal 
to the shore.** At night a group of fishermen, holding nets of the 
first type, bar the downstream end of the channel between the fence 
and the shore (fig. 24). One or two men zigzag from the other end 
of the channel striking the water with a long pole, which makes an 
explosive noise and drives the fish toward the men with the nets, who 
scoop them out of the water, wrap them in their nets to immobilize 
them, and stun them with short round clubs. The fishermen thread 
each fish through the gills with a wooden needle and hang it on a cord 
wrapped around their waist. 

When this method is used in the daytime, the water beaters drive 
the fish by diving in the water with a net of the second type in which 
they scoop up any fish that pass by. 

In the low waters of the Pilcomayo and Bermejo Rivers, the Indians 
build a zigzag weir with narrow openings; in front of each opening, 
a platform is raised, from which they catch in large scissor nets fish 
descending the stream (fig. 25). On cold nights fishermen warm 
themselves by fires that burn on a layer of earth on the platforms. 
Identical platforms are placed at river bends where the eddies push 
the fish against the shore. 

The Pilcomayo River bed is full of depressions and holes, which are 
well known to the Indians and in which fish can always be caught, 


24 One which I saw was about 100 yards (91 m.) long. 


254 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


(After Rosen, 1924, fig. 113. Sketched from photo by EB. Nordenskiéld.) 


Vow. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 255 


te 
ay 
RSS 


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ar Re 


1 
4 


A Waety { 
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VA 


we = 4) 
ys ’ Hag 


A man fishes with a dip net from a platform built in front 


ui \ 
y 
TTA RD tes a fake gis 
ee) | Neary, | aes eee VOY Cy dey ALLS 8 | ECE ea, Me 20 
' ASABE SALA |: : ead el as ol 
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PAQAQUHI 


iy 


(After Rosen, 1924, fig. 114. Sketched from photo by EH. Nordenskidld.) 


Built across the Pilcomayo River with openings at intervals. 
of an opening. 


meal 


reas 


Fieure 25.—Choroté fish fence. 


STAT LM gt 


256 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


especially in cold weather when they are numb. An Indian holding 
the second type of dip net dives, opens his net under water, and returns 
to the surface with his catch. He then hurries to warm himself by a 
fire. In low water, a fisherman, using the same net, holds the lower 
stick of the frame close to the bottom, draws the net slowly along, and 
closes it on his prey. A group of fishermen may also corner fish along 
the river bank and scoop up scores in their nets and throw them on 
the shore.?® 

The Lengua catch eels and lungfish (Lepidosiren), which abound 
in their region, with slender spears. They also take them by hand, 
and wear a band of small bones across the palm of the hand to get a 
better hold (Grubb, 1913, p. 82). The Mataco, Toba (pl. 48), and 
Pilagd, especially in cold weather, spear fish with long bamboo rods 
tipped with wire. The J/ataco of the Bermejo River fish with a crude 
harpoon consisting of a 15-foot (4.5-m.) pole of light wood to which 
a small foreshaft is attached at the distal end; the detachable head is 
the sharpened tip of a cow horn with a lateral flange and a hole for 
the string on the edge (fig. 36, 4). The long recovery cord is not 
tied to the shaft, but is held by the fisherman. Similar harpoons, 
known to the /ocovi, have been described by Baucke (1870, p. 265; see 
also Baucke, 1935, pl. 16). Heads of this type have been found in the 
Paran4 Delta, where such harpoons were employed as a thrusting 
javelin. 

During the flood season, the Indians shoot fish with bows and arrows, 
the Afataco using harpoon arrows. Pélaga fishermen sometimes shoot 
from a flimsy platform in the trees overhanging the water, where a 
crude fence open at both ends brings the fish within shooting range. 

No Chaco tribe stupefies fish with poison. The Mataco and Choroti 
lure fish by throwing the leaves of a creeper or of the bobo tree or 
branches of chafiar into the water, and then shoot the fish when they 
nibble the bait. 

When they wade in shallow, calm waters, usually teeming with 
ferocious palometa fish which may tear off large pieces of their flesh, 
fishermen often wear protective “stockings” knitted of caraguata 
fibers or, in modern times, canvas gaiters. 

Hunting.—Hunting was an important economic pursuit for all 
Chaco tribes, especially for those who, like the Bush Mataco, had no 
access to the river. Scarcity of game is one cause for the decline of the 
Pilagé and a factor which compels them to serve the Whites. Pos- 
session of the horse facilitated the capture of game and thus increased 


25 Dobrizhoffer (1784, 1: 376) describes a fishing method which has not been observed 
among modern Chaco Indians: “For fishing they [Vilela and Payagud] use a very small 
net, two ends of which they fasten before them, as you would an apron, at the same time 
holding the two others with their hands. Thus accoutred they jump from the shore into the 
water, and if they spy any fish at the bottom, swim after it, catch it in the net, which they 
place under its body, and carry it to shore.” 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 257 


the economic value of hunting in several tribes. Except during the 
busy fishing season, one or the other person in an extended family is 
always engaged in hunting. Whenever a group travels to a new terri- 
tory, the men scatter in search of game, while women slowly move 
along under their heavy burdens. 

Collective hunting was more common among horsemen than among 
foot Indians. Parties of 20 or 30 Mbayd or Mocovi horsemen encir- 
cled a wide area and gradually closed in, driving the game to the center, 
where they killed the animals by hurling their clubs or by knocking 
them down at close range. 

Burning grasslands or the bush is a common hunting method 
throughout the Chaco. Even if the fire does not raise large game, it 
always puts to flight hundreds of small rodents at which the hunters 
hurl short clubs with bulging heads. The charred carcasses of animals 
overtaken by the fire are gathered up and eaten on the spot. Later 
the Indians return to the fired area to stalk the countless deer lured by 
the salty ashes or the thick and tender new grass. 

The winter hunting drives of the Bermejo River Indians also re- 
quire the collaboration of many people. Two parties of about 100 men 
set fire to the bush along parallel lines; the animals caught between 
two walls of fire seek to escape at the ends, where they are met by the 
hunters, who kill them with spears, clubs, or arrows. 

The Mbaya surrounded the open space between two thickets with a 
flimsy fence. When a herd entered the few openings in the enclosure, 
the Indians closed the gates with strings and killed the terrified 
animals. The Mocovi captured rheas in the same way, but used a 
fresh skin full of flies as a bait. 

From every point of view the most desirable game are rheas, deer, 
and peccaries. In order to get within range of the rheas, hunters 
cover their heads and shoulders with bundles of grass or palm leaves 
and slowly approach the unsuspecting birds until within arrow or 
bola range. The Pilcomayo River Indians disguise themselves with 
rhea feathers and, stretching one arm over their head, mimic the 
movements of their prey so skillfully that the birds remain indif- 
ferent to their presence until they are shot. When the Lengua 
hunters discover a flock of rheas in scrub country, they block up 
the open spaces between the various copses with brushwood, and 
other Indians lying in wait at given points drive the birds toward 
the fence, which, however flimsy, prevents their flight (Grubb, 1913, 
p. 85). 

The Mbayd shot white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) with 
arrows or clubbed them at close range, despite the danger of attacking 
these animals when roused. Peccaries were also driven into a river, 
where they were slaughtered, or into a deep ditch covered with twigs, 
where they fell on top of one another. 

583486—46—17 


258 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


The Chaco Indians assume that red head bands or red ponchos so 
fascinate deer that they are unable to run away, thus allowing the 
hunter to walk within shooting range. They also know how to 
decoy animals by imitating their calls. Some hunters build blinds 
near watering places from which they shoot game. 

The equestrian Indians did most of their hunting on horseback. 
Naked Mbaydé hunters riding bareback on specially trained horses, 
pursued deer until they were abreast of them and could either knock 
them down with clubs or transfix them with spears. The use of 
bows and arrows was restricted to hunting in thickets where horses 
could not move freely. 

Jaguars are surrounded by hunters armed with spears and are 
killed when they attempt to break through the circle of assailants. 
The Mbayd caught jaguars in a ring of fire and slew the animals 
with clubs and spears. They also caught them in a trap which con- 
sisted of a spring-pole noose trap. The Mocovi and Mataco combined 
this type of trap with a pitfall. For various traps, see figures 26, 
27, and 28. 


Ficur® 26.—Mataco traps. a, Bird trap; b, spring-pole trap; c, trigger releasing trap. 


The marshes and lagoons of the Chaco teem with water birds 
which are easy to kill when they are surprised at night roosting on 
trees or sleeping in the pools. Hunters hurl a rain of sticks at them 
or confuse them with torches and kill them at their leisure. 

Concealed by clumps of weeds or by calabashes, the Indians swim 
toward ducks and drown them by pulling them under water by the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 259 


legs. Calabashes are thrown into the water previously, so that the 
birds become familiar with their appearance and do not suspect 


the ruse, 


Figure 27.—Mataco traps. a, Fox trap with sliding door. The interior mechanism is 
shown at right; b, fox trap with interior mechanism shown at left. The V-shaped 
aperture is arranged inside the doorway. By entering door to get the bait, the animal 
releases the spring pole and is strangled. 


Other animals of lesser economic value hunted by Chaco Indians 
are anteaters, foxes, otter, caimans, armadillos, carpinchos, iguanas, 
and, occasionally, tapirs. Caimans are speared along the shore or are 


260 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


killed with a harpoon tipped with a wooden or bone head (A/bayd and 
Mocovi). Otter are stalked with dogs and beaten to death with sticks. 

Hunters wear hunting charms sewn into belts or in small pouches. 
The magic bundle for catching rheas is made of this bird’s neck and 
contains grass, leaves, and other foods eaten by it. The Pilaga 
paint themselves black when hunting rheas, believing that the birds 
will not recognize them. The Indians rub their bodies with special 
plants to insure good luck. In order to establish a bond between 
themselves and the rheas which will facilitate their hunting luck, 
some Lengua bury a wooden egg in the ground and sit on it for a 
short while (Alarcén y Cafiedo, 1924, p. 50). The Lengua also use 


Waaapaaechesetcc ee abas 


LEA OL 


FicurRE 28.—Mataco jaguar trap. Schematic representation of pitfall and spring pole. 
Animal falling into pit releases spring pole and rings bell on tree. 


wax images as hunting charms, and on the night before a hunting 
party, they chant to the rhythm of their rattles to lure the prey to 
special areas. The ancient Mocovi smeared their dogs’ snouts and 
their horses with jaguar blood to make them scent the animal from 
afar. 

Mataco and Lengua hunters always pluck the head feathers of birds 
they have shot and scatter them along the path to confuse and deceive 
the birds’ spirits. 

Distribution of game.—When several Mbayd hunted together, the 
man who dealt the animal the death blow had the first right to the 
carcass and directed its division among the hunters (Sanchez Labra- 
dor, 1910-17, 1: 202). The Afocovi, on the contrary, gave the game to 
the man who hit it first, even though someone else actually killed the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 261 


animal (Furlong C., 1938 c, p. 106). The leader of a M/bayd hunting 
party received the heart of the slain animal. 

Food taboos.—Unless influenced by some magic belief, Chaco In- 
dians show little discrimination in the choice of their food. Those 
who live in harsh surroundings, like the bush Mataco, are least par- 
ticular; without reluctance they eat anteaters, wildcats, otter, foxes, 
armadillos, land turtles, water serpents, frogs, snails, lizards, and rhea 
(fandu) eggs in any condition. 

Most Chaco Indians strongly believe that the properties of an animal 
are easily transmissible to those who eat its flesh. To absorb the 
jaguar’s fierceness, the Abipdn ate even the smallest morsel of its meat 
or drank its fat. But, fearing to acquire “sloth, langor and cowardice,” 
they despised hens, sheep, and turtles. Some food taboos depend on a 
person’s age; old people who are no longer active have no dread of 
certain foods. Thus Mataco greyheads may eat armadillos, but 
young people avoid them lest they become lazy because this animal 
turns sluggish when the air is chilly. Skunk and fox flesh hkewise are 
tasted only by the aged. Deer marrow was greatly relished by elderly 
Mocovi males, but was strictly forbidden to young warriors for reasons 
stated ina myth. The Mataco never eat peccary lest they get tooth- 
aches and their teeth chatter as do those of this animal when it is 
roused. The liver of any game animal causes the teeth to decay. The 
Toba fear that the meat of the collared peccary and the domesticated 
pig will give them ulcers on the nose. The M/ataco shun deer meat for 
unexplained reasons. 

Though rhea eggs, fresh or half hatched, are a favorite food, chicken 
eggs are never eaten. Milk, easily obtained from cows, sheep, and 
goats, is shunned because it is thought to transmit undesirable traits 
of these animals. 

Food preparation.—Meat is roasted on a spit or is boiled. The 
Mataco, Choroti, Ashluslay, and probably many other tribes sometimes 
bake a large piece of game in an earth oven—a round pit, wider at 
the bottom than at the top—in which wood is burned. Some of the 
ashes are removed and the unskinned game is placed in the pit and 
covered with straw and soil. The Ashluslay and 7’sirakua earth oven 
is provided with a lateral funnel. 

No part of roast game is wasted. The intestines are simply 
squeezed and their half-digested contents often consumed as “vege- 
tables.” The Indians roast small camp rats, of which they are very 
fond, without even opening the carcasses. 

A Kaskihdé specialty is a sort of pie or sausage made of chopped 
rhea (fiandu) liver, blood, and grease stuffed in this bird’s oesophagus 
and baked under the ashes. Any grease that remains is mixed with 
rhea eggs and salt and put into a bladder to be cooked in the same 


262 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


fashion. The Mbayd seem to have learned from the Spaniards how 
to prepare jerked meat. 

Fish are inserted between the two halves of a split stick, which is 
stuck by the fire. Sometimes Z'0ba coat fish with clay and bake them 
under ashes. 

Broiled fish keep for a long time and are stored on the roofs of the 
huts. The entrails and the fat liver of fish or game are fried and the 
melted grease eaten as gravy with several vegetables or with the meat 
itself, 

Most of the wild tubers collected by the Mataco are either boiled 
for a whole day or are roasted and then cooked in water. One of the 
most palatable foods of the bush is a creeper (Mataco: xwiyelax), 
which is first roasted and then boiled. The leaves of the edible 
Bromelias “ are baked in ashes. The seeds of the same Bromelias are 
roasted, crushed, and boiled. Tasi fruits are roasted in ashes and 
eaten with fish grease. 

Algarroba and tusca pods and mistol fruits are crushed in a mortar 
(pl. 49) and eaten mixed with water. Everybody sits around the 
vessel containing the mush, seizes a handful of it and sucks out the 
flesh, then puts the inedible seeds or skins back in the pot until nothing 
substantial is left. The Ashluslay, Lengua, Mbayd, and probably 
other Chaco Indians make cakes out of algarroba flour kneaded with 
water and baked. Chafar fruits are boiled, smashed in a mortar, 
and then kneaded into balls. The terminal shoots of palms are eaten 
raw, roasted, or boiled. To obtain the starchy pith of palm trees, 
the Mbayd extracted the long fibers imbedded in starch from the 
lower part of the trunk. They either pounded them in a mortar 
and sucked them or else dried them on a platform in the sun or over 
the fire, pounded them, sifted them through a net, and then made 
them into loaves or cakes. 

Palm fruits were eaten raw in natural form or were first crushed in 
a mortar; they were often boiled to make a thick mush. The fruits 
(cocos) of the namogologi palms (mbocayé, Acrocomia totai) were 
eaten raw or were first roasted in the ashes; the kernels were broken 
to extract the seeds, and those with flesh still adhering were boiled into 
a thick syrup. Modern 7Zoba@ pound the pith of the caranday palms 
(Copernicia cerifera) in a mortar and then boil it into a mush. The 
Lengua grate palm pith to make it into a flour for cakes. 

Young tender maize is generally roasted in ashes or boiled in water. 
The grains of mature maize are boiled. The Mataco, like the Chiri- 
guano, roast the maize grains, pound them, and make a mush with 
the flour. 


26 One species is used only for rope making. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 263 


The seeds of the naranja del monte require lengthy treatment to 
soften them and remove their bitterness. They are pounded in a 
mortar to break the hull, which is then peeled by hand. Then they 
are piled in a bag and immersed in water for a whole night, after 
which they are cooked in several waters and sometimes mashed again 
in a mortar. 

The fruits of the sachasandia must be boiled five times in different 
waters to get rid of their poisonous element. 

At the end of summer, the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River Indians 
consume large quantities of pods which appear and taste like string 
beans and are therefore called “porotos del monte” (Capparis retusa). 
They must be boiled in five different waters to remove the bitter 
taste. 

Food storage.—In summer the Indians gather great quantities of 
algarroba or chafiar which last several months after the harvest, but 
seldom tide them over the actual period of scarcity in winter. The 
main food reserves consist of porotos del monte, dried naranja del 
monte (Capparis speciosa), the poisonous fruits of the sachasandia 
(Capparis salicifolia), and smoked or dried pumpkins. To preserve 
them, the porotos del monte and the naranja del monte are often 
baked in an earth oven before exposure to the sun. The seeds of the 
naranja del monte are boiled and sun dried until they are as hard 
as stone and will keep for more than a year. At harvest time, the 
Mataco, like the ancient Mbayd, make winter provisions of pumpkins. 
The pumpkins are cut into halves, which are sun dried or smoked on a 
wooden platform. The seeds are roasted. The ancient M/baya boiled 
pumpkin seeds, pounded them in a mortar, and then boiled them again 
until they turned into a thick mush. Preserved foods are heaped 
in some corner of the hut or in special granaries. 

Storehouses, quite common among the Mataco but rare in the eastern 
Chaco, are built like the Chiriguano pile granaries, but are far smaller 
(pl.51). The roof, built above a low platform, is flat and the walls are 
imperfectly closed with branches. These storehouses contain the 
fruits pooled by the women of the household and become their com- 
mon property. Ifsomebody in the family asks for a gift of algarroba, 
the headwoman of the household makes the distribution. 

Some Chaco Indians—especially the Mbayd—feast on the fat beetle 
larvae that thrive in plam trees. These are fried in their own grease. 

Condiments.—Chaco Indians season their food with the ashes of 
various plants, e. g., vidriera (Mocovi, Abipén), saladillo (Ashlus- 
lay), and oe bush (Z'0ba). Tribes living near the Andes obtain rock 
salt from the Chiriguano or Quechua of the region of Tarija, where 
large salt deposits have been the object of a continuous trade since 
pre-Hispanic times, 


264 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buty. 143 


The 7'oba season their food with small oval fruits which taste like 
pepper and are called aja del monte. 

Cooking utensils——The Chaco tribes who raise manioc, such as 
the Ashluslay, Choroti, and certain Mataco groups, grate it on rasps 
made of a piece of wood with imbedded wooden splinters. This 
instrument is probably rare since its existence is reported only by 
Nordenskidld. 

To open and scale fish, the Indians formerly used a square, sharp- 
edged piece of hard wood, which today is often replaced by a wooden 
imitation of a steel knife. 

Calabashes and shells serve respectively as plates and spoons, but 
true wooden spoons (fig. 32, b) were carved by the Indians near the 
Cordillera who were subjected to Andean influence. In many tribes 
(Toba, Ashluslay, etc.), horn spoons have become quite popular since 
the introduction of cattle. The Pilagé also make long oval clay dip- 
pers which have replaced shells. The Mocovi had rawhide spoons 
which they shaped by molding the wet skin in a hole in the ground. 

Mortars are dug out of palm or espinillo (Acacza sp.) tree stumps 
and are always sufficiently small to be carried easily during the fre- 
quent group migrations (fig. 35, b, c). The handles of the digging 
sticks are used as pestles. When traveling, the Mocovi and the Ash- 
luslay may improvise mortars by digging pits in the ground and 
lining them with skins or with hard clay. 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 


Dogs.—Modern Chaco Indians are surrounded by packs of fam- 
ished dogs, which are a constant threat to food and to any object 
within their reach. The attitude toward dogs is peculiar. The In- 
dians starve and maltreat them (pl. 74), but they would be grievously 
offended if anyone were to kill them. The ravenous animals devour 
everything they can gnaw, from algarroba pods to skins and human 
excrement. They bark at the slightest noise and thus are useful as 
watchdogs, though they respond alike to the approach of animals and 
men. The Pilaga and Mataco train their dogs to hunt peccaries, 
rabbits, or iguanas, and to force armadillos out of their burrows. The 
Mataco are proud of the dogs that “feed themselves,” that is, those 
capable of catching rabbits on their own. 

The ancient Abipén and Mbayd were more kindly disposed toward 
their dogs than the Pilecomayo River Indians. Women would suckle 
puppies, and would always make sure that no dogs were left when 
they moved camp. They rewarded hunting dogs with the entrails 
of game. 

Zoologically, Chaco dogs are mongrels of varied European strains, 
but if Krieg (1939) is correct, some may have aboriginal Indian 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 265 


canine ancestors. There is some historical evidence that the Chaco 
Indians did not have domesticated dogs before their contacts with the 
Whites. The Machicuy (a Mascot tribe) received their first dogs 
at the end of the 18th century, and the Mbayd must have acquired 
them only a little sooner. 

Livestock.—Most of the Chaco tribes early began to herd sheep, 
probably at the end of the 17th century, and owned large flocks. 
Next to horses, they most frequently stole sheep from the Whites. 
In an Ashluslay village of about 400 inhabitants, Nordenskidld 
(1912, p. 55) counted 500 sheep and goats. 

Weaving, probably of little importance in the pre-Hispanic era, 
developed considerably after the introduction of sheep. Mutton and 
the flesh of other domesticated animals were shunned by the 
Ashluslay. 

The Abipon and Mocovi stole thousands of cattle in raids on the 
Spanish ranches, but never became herdsmen like the Goajiro. Most 
of the cattle were slaughtered to provide for immediate needs and 
the stock replenished by further raids. Not long ago the Mbaya 
hunted the wild cattle roaming in their territory exactly as they did 
deer. Nordenskiéld’s Ashluslay village had also about 200 cows and 
the same number of horses. 

Goats are fairly common in native villages of the Pilcomayo River 
region. They are also kept for their flesh. Indians, as a rule, have 
always expressed the greatest disgust for milk. 

Donkeys are in great demand among the western tribes, who never 
have had many horses. They carry the stores of algarroba and the 
furniture during camp migrations, thus relieving the women from 
their heaviest duty. 

Chickens spread through the Chaco with great rapidity, but never 
played an important part in Indian economy. 

In addition to the large number of domesticated animals, the In- 
dians like to keep pets. Abipén women are said to have nursed baby 
otter. 

The Guand, Mbayd, and Mocovi, like many Amazonian tribes, 
plucked the feathers of tame green parrots and rubbed the bare spots 
with uruci or with other pigments. The new feathers grew in yellow, 
the favorite color for feather ornaments (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
1: 215-216). 

Horses.—The Abipon and Mbayd must have had enormous herds 
of horses, if Dobrizhoffer does not exaggerate when he reports that 
from some raids a warrior would come back with at least 400 horses 
and that 100,000 horses were captured by the Abipdén within about 
50 years. The 380 Caduveo who in 1802 settled at Albuquerque had 
1,200; the Abaya of the region of Coimbra had from 6,000 to 8,000 


266 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


horses. The possession of so many horses forced these Indians to 
look for suitable pastures and modified their whole economy. 

The Mbayd took good care of their horses. They bled them when 
sick, picked out their worms, and when a foal was born during a 
journey, carried it on another horse (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
2.:298). 

In both training and trapping, the Indians tended to follow Span- 
ish styles. When, for instance, they noticed the Spanish gaited 
horses, they did their best to train their own horses in the same way. 
Indian horses were remarkably well adapted to Chaco life. They 
ran across the bush, dodging palms and thorny trees without guidance 
by the rider. They were also so well trained for hunting that they 
responded immediately to the slightest touch when game was seen or 
heard. Some Abipén horses were taught to wait for their masters 
without stirring, and the Mbayd horses were so tame that their riders 
could mount by stepping up on the horses’ knees. 

The Mbaya broke in their horses by riding them in a marsh until 
they were exhausted; consequently their horses could cross swamps 
with great ease. 

When the Indians first adopted the horse, they had too few contacts 
with the Spaniards to be able to acquire their elaborate trappings. 
The bit was often a rope or a piece of leather tied around the horse’s 
lower jaw. Saddles were quite rare and were seldom used by men. 
Even in 1762, A/bayaé men rode bareback, although women used sad- 
dles. Gradually, however, the Indians became more interested in the 
complicated bits and saddles which were the pride of the Creole horse- 
men. The 18th-century Abépén and Mocovi made wooden or horn imi- 
tations of the iron curb bits of the Spaniards. In the same period, the 
Mbayé guided their horses either with a simple wooden bit or with a 
strap tied around the horse’s lower jaw, to which a head stall of leather 
or of woman’s hair was attached. The forehead band was trimmed 
with metal plates, beads, and bells. The J/ocovi bridles and halters 
were often braided with leather strips mixed with feather quills which 
stood out as an ornament. 

The Abipon saddle is described by Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2:120) asa 
“raw bull hide stuffed with reed bundles.” These two bundles (bastos), 
which rest on both sides of the horse’s spine and prevent saddle sores, 
were also part of the Mbayd, Mocovi, and Pilagaé saddles. Over the 
bundles, the Mbaya placed several rush mats covered by a large deer- 
skin or by blankets embroidered with beads. Jaguar skins were re- 
garded by the Abipon as the most elegant saddle covers. 

The Mocovi and Pilagé horsemen were the only Chaco Indians who 
used rudimentary stirrups and spurs. Their stirrups were either a 
wooden ring large enough for the insertion of one toe or a simple stick 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 267 


or disk on which the rider could place two toes. The spurs, of which 
they never used more than one, were a simple forked branch attached 
to the heel with the projecting stem somewhat sharpened (fig. 32, 7). 

Abipon men mounted their horses from the right, leaning on their 
long spears; women got up from the left without any help. 

Mocovi women saddled and pastured their husbands’ horses. The 
Mocovi attached stuffed rheas (fiandus) on the back of their horses to 
frighten the flies away. 

The A/bayd caught their horses with a loop attached at the end of a 
long pole or with bolas, methods learned from the mission Guarani 
(Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 245). 


HOUSES AND VILLAGES 


The Indians of the Pilcomayo and Bermejo Rivers live in crude and 
primitive houses which contrast sharply with their achievements in 
other arts and crafts. House construction is the women’s task. With 
digging sticks they make an oval or sometimes a circular set of holes 
into which they plant small tree trunks or stout limbs, with the thick 
ends down, and the lateral branches uncut to add to the solidity of the 
structure. The slender tips, bent inward, interlace to form a vaulted 
frame on which are thrown loose palm leaves or grass or both. Such 
roofs afford some protection against the sun but not against the rain, 
which drenches those who do not take shelter under skins or reed mats. 
These dwellings are never high enough for one to stand upright. They 
are entered through one or more low openings, on one side of which a 
rudimentary screen projects slightly so as to form in certain cases a 
short porch or vestibule of branches or leaves. 

As arule, groups of related families reside in long communal houses 
which are merely a series of individual huts linked together end to 
end, without internal partitions. Each comparment has a separate 
exit. 

The Pilagé and Ashluslay house (pl. 50) often has an ellipsoidal 
ground plan with one slightly concave side. Long houses sometimes 
face each other across a wide street or plaza. Under Mestizo in- 
fluence, the Pilagd (pl. 51), Zoba, Maca, and Ashluslay build long 
communal houses which, from the outside, look like their primitive 
huts, but actually have a rigid framework with a ridge pole and 
rafters hidden under a thick layer of leaves or grass. Houses with 
the modernized structure are, however, higher than the ancient ones 
and often one long side remains open. The Z’o0ba near the Paraguay 
River construct similar houses with flat roofs and walls of rush mats. 
The Mestizo hut, with its flat roof resting on forked tree trunks and 
its grass or reed walls, has been imitated wherever the Indians are 
in close contact with civilization. Temporary huts are cruder than 


268 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 148 


the more permanent dwellings; their framework is reduced to a few 
sticks and the grass covering is scant and runs only halfway down. 

The Chamacoco, Lengua, Mbayd, Abipon, Toba, Pilagd, and 
Payaguaé* camp under bulrush mats laid on a flimsy framework of 
sticks, or stretch on the low branches of some tree (Chamacoco, 
Caipotorade). Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2:127) describes these “tents” 
as follows: To two poles in the ground, they tie a mat folded two or 
three times to make a wind and rain shield. A ditch dug beside the 
tent drains off rain water. Some temporary Lengua or Ashluslay 
villages are composed of one or more long lines of such mat-houses. 
The Mocovi and Payaguaé build identical wind screens often of skins 
instead of bulrushes. The Pilagd use mat wind screens or sunshades 
in their more permanent villages. When moving, the Indians roll 
up the mats, wrapping within them most of their belongings, and 
women carry them on their backs or load them on horses or donkeys. 

When camping in the open, the Mataco heap branches and grass 
against a row of sticks planted in the ground. The Chamacoco settled 
near trading stations sleep in corrals of several semicircular lean-tos 
joined together. 

Circular camps seem to have been distinctive of the ancient 
Zamucoans. One of their nomadic tribes, the now extinct Catpoterade, 
are said always to have arranged their flimsy mat cabins around a 
circular plaza (Muriel, 1918, p. 208). 

The largest and strongest houses in the Chaco are those of the 
northern tribes: Sanapand, Kashihd, Guand, and Mbayd-Guaicuri. 
They are simple gable roofs supported by three parallel rows of 
vertical posts. One wing of the roof slopes almost to the ground, 
forming the back of the house, and the other projects beyond the 
wall plate to form a continuous porch along the open front. The 
narrow ends either remain open or are shut with mats or slanting 
poles.** The ancient Mbayd covered their hut frames with bulrush 
mats which were tied together, and sometimes added a few supple- 
mentary rows of low vertical posts so as to extend the matting closer 
to the ground. According tothe weather, they lowered or raised these 
mats and they always had a few in storage to close the gaps through 
which rain might penetrate. The wet rushes expanded making the 
mats waterproof. When moving to new pastures, the Mbayd carried 
the strong bamboo house rafters and the mat walls. Kaskzhé huts 


The Payagué had high huts for summer, low ones for winter. “En cuanto la 
construcci6n siempre es igual y se reduce a plantar cinco palitos de horqueta que forman 
Por sus traviesas la figura de tejado. Se atraviesan algunas cafias y lo cubren con sus 
esteras. Queda sin mas muebles ni trabajo hecha la casa y para quitar la fuerza del 
viento que pasarfa por el toldo le cierran por la parte de varlovento con las mismas esteras 
a pique” (Aguirre, 1911, p. 332). 

For a description of the Kaskihé hut, see Cominges, 1892, p. 176. For the Mbayé 
hut, see Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 268-274. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 269 


formerly were thatched with reeds; today they are roofed with split 
caranday (Copernicia cerifera) trunks. 

Mbaydé houses were set end to end in a horseshoe or semicircular 
plan around a plaza which was kept scrupulously clean, and from 
which horses were excluded (pl. 52). The chief’s house was always 
in the middle of the row; among modern J/bayd-Caduveo, it is larger 
and better built than the others. The space between the front and 
the central posts of each house was left free and formed a kind of 
passage around the village. The divisions between the individual 
huts were marked by forked poles from which hung various objects 
(pl. 52). 

In the 18th century, the long Guand huts, like Paresst communal 
houses, had an arched roof descending to the ground and rounded 
extremities. The framework consisted of flexible poles, which were 
bent and tied in the middle. These huts were from 50 to 65 feet 
(16 to 20 m.) long, 26 feet (8 m.) wide, and 16 to 20 feet (5 to 6 m.) 
high. They were artfully covered with a straw thatching in which 
were smoke holes. The doors, 1 at each end and 8 along one of the 
long sides, were closed with mats. Each hut housed an extended family 
sometimes consisting of 12 biological families. The houses were 
grouped around a large rectangular plaza. 

The Guaraioca of the northern Chaco live in conical huts about 
7 feet (2 m.) high and 9 to 12 feet (2.5 to 3.5 m.) in diameter. The 
frame of sticks supported by a central post, is covered with leaves, 
mud, and twigs (Oefner, 1942, p. 103). 

The temporary huts of the Sanapand, Angaité, Sapuki and Kaskiha 
are flimsy structures identical to the beehive houses of the Pilcomayo 
region. When camping in the bush, the Guarafoca enclosed their 
shelters with a circle of thorny branches. 

When selecting a village site, the Indians take into consideration, 
first, security, and, second, proximity to water, food supply, and 
pastures for horses and cattle. For safety, they prefer the edge of 
the bush into which they can run if they are surprised by an attack. 
The Kaskiha are the only Indians who place their villages on hill- 
tops. Location is frequently changed seasonally or following a death. 
In the northern Chaco where water is scarce, villages are more 
permanent and houses are often better built. 

The size of the settlements varies considerably; some have about 
50 inhabitants, others, especially the Ashluslay, 1,000. 

As a rule, the Indians stay and even sleep out of doors unless 
excessive heat or rain forces them to crawl into their huts. The 
Mataco, Choroti, Ashluslay, and Maca erect simple square sheds in 
front of their huts under which they cook or now and then take a 
nap. The Pilagd and Ashluslay are apparently the only Chaco 


270 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


Indians who have a club house, that is, a shelter where men meet 
and sometimes spend the night. Some Pilagd and Ashluslay villages 
have a crude palisade before the houses, which serves as the backwall 
of a series of open sheds under which to sit and chat or work. 


FURNITURE 


Most Chaco huts contain no furniture other than rough skins with 
the hairy side underneath or rush mats, which are their beds and 
seats. The Mataco, Toba, and Lengua, who have been under 
Mestizo influence, sleep on crude bedsteads. When the Guana lived 
in the Chaco they slept on mats though they were already good 
weavers and certainly had not forgotten the use of the hammock. In 
the middle of the 19th century, hammocks figured among the best 
articles which they made to trade with the Neo-Brazilians. Ham- 
mocks were also used by the mission Zamuco. Among the Pilcomayo 
and Bermejo River tribes, fiber hammocks, though commonly used, 
serve only as cradles for babies. The Mocovi cradle was a skin 
attached to two posts. 

The Mbayd, Kaskihd, and Guana after their migration to Matto 
Grosso built low, sloping platforms, made of split palms, along the 
back of the dwelling (pl. 52). They covered these with mats, which, 
rolled up during the day, served as seats. The Chamacoco protected 
themselves from the moist soil with a rough palm-trunk floor. 

In every Chaco hut there hangs from the interlaced twigs of the 
roof, skin bags, carrying nets containing ornaments, seeds, spun and 
unspun wool, drugs, and all sorts of possessions. The bows and 
arrows are thrust into the thatching. On the floor, pots and cala- 
bashes add to the confusion and untidiness of these hovels. 

The Chamacoco and Morotoco defend themselves against the swarms 
of mosquitoes which plague them with a mosquito swatter consisting 
of a piece of twined fiber cloth attached like a flag to a short handle. 
The Guaté use similar mosquito flaps. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


The aboriginal Chaco dress, like that of ancient Patagonia and the 
Pampa, seems to have been a simple skin cloak worn by both men and 
women in cold weather. In pre-Conquest times, as today, cotton 
blankets were probably in use among some of the northern tribes. 
Very likely the Indians along the foothills of the Andes had some 
llama wool garments.?® As soon as the Chaco Indians obtained flocks 
of sheep, the skin cloak gave way to a woolen blanket, which by the 


22Some 17th-century documents mention cloaks (mantas) of caraguat4 fibers among 
the Indians of the region of Tucuman and Salta. (See Tommasini, 1937, p. 79.) 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX yal 


18th century was common among the Abépén and in recent days has 
become the distinctive garment of the Pilcomayo tribes. Creole styles 
have also influenced the Indian dress. The poncho (pls. 53; 59, top), 
for instance, has found wide acceptance in many tribes since the 18th 
century. Among the 7oda and their neighbors, some men on solemn 
occasions donned sleeveless coats, woven on the native loom but copied 
from European patterns. The men’s skirt of the Pilcomayo River 
natives probably was not used before cotton cloth was readily acces- 
sible; it is reported only in recent times. 

Chaco women usually preserved the native costume more faithfully 
than men, and dressed in skins long after men had discarded them for 
woven fabrics. 

Complete nakedness is reported only for Chamacoco and Guaranoca 
men, though even these put on sleeveless caraguataé shirts on cold winter 
days; women always wear a perineal band. 7’strakua and Guaranoca 
women wear a small apron ora skirt of caraguata or doraha fibers and, 
occasionally, throw a cape of the same material over their shoulders. 
The caraguata apron was probably more common in the past than it is 
today, as it is often reported in the 18th century for the Lule-Vilela 
women. The feather skirts or aprons allegedly worn by men in the 
latter tribes were probably ceremonial garments, not daily attire. 

The Pilcomayo River Indians discard all clothes, except a breech- 
clout or a wide fringed girdle, whenever their activities require 
freedom of the limbs. 

Skin robes.—Robes were originally made of several skins of otter 
(coypu, Myocastor coypus), deer, or fox, sewn together and worn 
with the hairy side against the body. The outer surface was 
decorated with crude black and red geometrical patterns *° (pls. 56; 59, 
bottom). Both sexes wrapped the folded mantle around the waist and 
fastened it either by a belt or by tucking one end under the other. In 
bad weather they threw the upper part of the robe over their shoulders 
or even over their heads, and held it in front with the hand or fastened 
it with a thorn over one shoulder.* Skin robes have now disappeared 
altogether and have been replaced by blankets of wool (Zoba, Plaga, 
Mataco, Choroti, Maca, Lengua, etc.) or cotton (Payagua, Kaskiha, 
and other M/ascoz tribes). 

Skirts.—Knee-length skirts are worn by women in all the Pilco- 
mayo and Bermejo River tribes. Before cotton goods were avail- 
able these were made of either deer (pl. 59, bottom) or goat skins 


30 A Mataco robe acquired by Nordenskiéld at the beginning of the century is made of 
15 skins, each decorated with its own individual pattern painted in two distinct manners. 
The thin-line designs are based on a series of squares, lozenges, and zigzags “obviously 
suggestive of old time decorations of the Charrua and Tehuelche”’ (Lothrop, 1929). 

31 Mocovt cloaks had skin straps at two corners to tie them over the left shoulder. To 
these straps they fastened a small tobacco box, made of the tip of a cow horn, or tubes 
containing needles for scarification (Baucke, 1870, p. 251). 


272 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


from which the hair had been scratched or, very rarely, of wool. Skirts 
were held up around the waist by a caraguataé rope or, among the 
Mataco, by a wide leather belt. 

Skirts were used by women long before European contact. Cotton 
skirts are already mentioned by Schmidel in the 16th century (1903, 
p. 193) as the only garment of the Comagua women of the lower Ber- 
mejo River, and the Frentén women of Concepcidn are described in 
1609 as wearing skin skirts. Guarafoca females in the northern Chaco 
wear a caraguata cloth around the waist. 

Men’s skirts among the Pilcomayo River tribes generally reach the 
ankles and lap over in front. The skirts of J/bayd men bore designs 
and snail-shell disk spangles. 

Mbayé and Guané women wore a square cloth which passed be- 
tween the legs and was fastened around the waist.*? Outdoors they 
wrapped themselves from head to foot in a large cotton blanket or 
tied a shorter one over their breasts when at work. Such blankets, 
which were fastened around the waist with a belt, were often beauti- 
fully striped or studded with rows of shell disks (Prado, 1889, p. 30). 

Shirts, jackets, and tunics.—Sleeveless shirts, netted in the same 
crochetlike technique as bags, are used primarily as armor and as cere- 
monial garments (fig. 29), but also may afford protection against ex- 
cessive cold (Mataco, Toba, Pilaga, Ashluslay, and others). 

Jaguar-skin jackets, with or without sleeves, were among the most 
prized possessions of Toba, Mocovi, Abipon, and Mbayd men. They 
were worn mainly at war or on solemn occasions. In modern times 
some 7'oba and Pilagd men strut in jackets that are of European cut, 
but are tailored of otter, jaguar, and even of stork skins. 

As a symbol of their profession, A/bayd shamans donned narrow 
tunics (camisetas) which hung to their feet.* 

Tipoys.—Among the Choroti and 7’oba, who live under the direct 
influence of the Chiriguano, some women dress in a tipoy, i. e., a 
cylindrical tunic held up over the shoulders with pins. 

Belts.—Native taste for color and elegant design is best expressed 
in woolen belts. Throughout the Chaco, belts of wool, and some- 
times of cotton, are usually woven in a compound technique, i. e., the 
geometrical figures appear on both sides in reverse colors. 


32 SAnchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 280: “Es mantita como de vara en cuadro. Cinenea 
con dos puntas a la cintura y las otras dos puntas se levantan, quedando formados unos 
calzones.” 

33 SA{nchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 283: ‘“‘Redficese a una como bata 6 vestido talar, que 
descansando sobre los hombros, les llega hasta los tobillos. Su forma conviene con la de 
las camisetas 6 poncho, de los cuales se diferencia en ser la mitad mas angosta y en estar 
por los dos lados cosida, menos por donde sacan los brazos 6 como agujeros de mangas. 
Por la parte de arriba dejan abertura para sacar la cabeza; por el de abajo esta abierto 
del todo para poder caminar, aunque el corte es tan estrecho que les impide dar pasos largos. 
Vense asi obligados 4 medirlos con gravedad, segun pide su profesién embustera. El 
color de las lanas de que son ordinariamente, no es del todo blanco, ni negro, sino vario; 
en el telar sacan listas de pardo y colorado que declina en morado.” 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 273 


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Ficurn 29.—Chorott mail shirt. Top: Knitted of a flip string. Worn principally as 
a protection against arrows. Bottom: Enlarged detail of mail shirt (natural size). 
(After Rosen, 1924, figs. 36, 37.) 


583486—46——_18 


274 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Burn. 148 


The geometric motives which enliven the Pilagd, Macd, and Ashlus- 
lay belts follow elaborate patterns (fig. 88), each peculiar to a tribe or 
even a band. Some Pilagé and Mataco belts with bright contrasting 
colors are finger-woven. Bead embroidery is characteristic of Wbayd- 
Caduveo and Chamacoco belts. The ancient Mbayé woolen belts were 
not only covered with embroidered blue beads, but were also studded 
with large brass plates; some elegant persons attached large bells to 
their belts (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1:281). Woolen belts are 
rarely worn by women, who generally are content with a leather belt 
(Mataco) or a simple cord. 

Pilcomayo River Indians, who are otherwise unclothed, may now 
and then be seen wearing broad fringed skin girdles, which are said 
formerly to have been used only during war or at dances. These are 
frequently studded with large real or imitation Spanish coins. 

Footgear.—The Chaco sandals bear a strong resemblance to those 
of the Andean region. The sole is held to the foot by a leather 
strap which encloses the heel and by a thong which runs around the 
instep and passes between two toes (pl. 58, ¢c). The 7strakua and 
Morotoco alone in South America wear rectangular wooden sandals. 
In general, however, the Indians only put on their sandals when they 
have to step on hot soil or cross a thorny tract. In similar circum- 
stances the Z'oba, Lengua, and Maca may cover their feet with crude 
moccasins made of a piece of skin tied in front and laced along the 
instep (pl. 58,6). To penetrate a thicket, some Indians wear leggings 
of raw cow or deer hide. 

Protection against the sun.—When traveling on horseback, upper 
class Mocovi, Abipén, and Mbaydé women protected their complexion 
from the sun with a bunch of rhea feathers, which they somehow 
balanced on their shoulders. 

Old A/bayd men wore basketry or feather visors to shade their eyes 
from the sun.™ 

Bags.—A little bag, slung across the shoulder, to carry pipes, 
scarification needles, and string is part of the traditional outfit of most 
Chaco Indians. These bags are generally made of caraguaté fibers 
in a netted or looped technique; woolen bags are knitted, though the 
best specimens are finger-woven. 

Men’s ornaments far exceed women’s in variety and number. 
Women often wear only a simple necklace or some unpretentious 
bracelets. 

Feather ornaments.—The Chamacoco are the only Chaco Indians 
whose featherwork compares with that of the Amazonian tribes. 
The scarcity of birds with bright plumage, however, reduces feathers 


%4 Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 284, ‘Otros lievan esta visera de pluma o de dos alas 
Pequefias de algun pajaro.” 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 275 


(mostly rhea and heron) to a secondary role in the ornamentation of 
the Pilcomayo natives (fig. 32, c). 

Feathers used in adornments are often dyed red or pink or are 
artistically cut with notches and stepped edges. The ancient Guand, 
Mbayd, and Mocovi were familiar with tapirage (see p. 265). Cha- 
macoco tied or glued small feathers to larger ones. 

Beadwork.—Beads of shell and, in post-Columbian times, of glass 
are strung into necklaces or are sewn as spangles on textiles and even 
on solid objects—for example, on rattles. Here again, Andean in- 
fluences may be surmised. The Pélagd, Ashluslay, Lengua, and prob- 
ably others make elaborate beadwork bands by threading glass beads 
on a simple loom, an art which the Indians learned from the mis- 
sionaries, who introduced beads into the Chaco. These bands are 
made, according to size, into necklaces, pendants, bracelets, rings, and 
small pouches (pl. 57, a, ¢) to hang from the neck as ornaments. 
Beads of different colors are combined into simple geometrical pat- 
terns, such as lozenges and triangles. 

Head bands, hair fillets, and bags as a rule are embellished with 
tassels. 

Headdress.—Often the headdress consists of a simple rhea or 
egret feather or a tuft of feathers mounted on a stick, which is fixed 
in the queue or passed through a fillet over the forehead. The Pilco- 
mayo River Indians occasionally wear diadems made of a row of 
feathers fastened to a string or a narrow fillet. 

The classic Chamacoco headdress is a wide band of bright feathers 
combined into a mosaic of colors. Though the feathers seem to be 
fastened to a tight net, actually they are tied to several individual 
strings woven into a single fabric by transverse strings. Some of 
these frontlets are wide enough to be called “feather bonnets.” 

The distinctive headdress of men in the southern tribes (Mataco, 
Toba, Pilaga, Maca, Lengua, Ashluslay) is a red woolen band bedecked 
with shell disks or glass beads arranged into simple geometrical figures 
(triangles, lozenges) and fringed with natural (spoonbill or flamingo) 
or dyed scarlet feathers sewn along the upper edge (pl. 57,7). These 
frontlets are generally made of belts fitted to the head with the fringed 
ends falling down the back. The Mataco use frontlets of jaguar skin 
(pl. 57, h). 

Warriors, hockey players, and dancers cover their heads with a 
red hair net (fig. 30; pl. 57, f), knitted in a macramélike technique 
and studded with shell disks. Such caps are sometimes made en- 
tirely of beads strung on a netlike foundation. 

The ancient Joba, Abipén, and Mbayd covered their heads with 
bird skins to which they fastened open wings, like a Valkyrie helmet. 
They often attached a toucan beak to their woolen head bands. 


276 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


Figure 30.—Lengua and Chorott headgear. Left: Lengua Indian with head ornament 
and feather tuft. A whistle hangs from his neck. (After Hawtrey, 1901, fig. 2.) 
Right: Choroti hair net with red chin strap of woolen yarn, and snail-shell spangles 
(about % natural size). (After Rosen, 1924, fig. 46.) 


Many Indians push under their frontlets a brush of false hair or of 
black feathers trimmed like hair, which stands erect or droops over 
the forehead (figs. 30; 32, d). This is an imitation of the natural 
tuft of hair which is drawn from the top of the head and tied into a 
small brush. Before a battle, the Joba and other Pilcomayo River 
Indians fix in their head band a thread cross to which they ascribe 
some magic influence. 

Toba children weave simple crowns of palm leaves though their 
tribe is ignorant of basketry (pl. 57, 7). Mataco and Toba youths 
make themselves diadems with the painted backbones of fish. 

The large-brimmed straw hats of the Jfbayd-Caduveo are copied 
from European models. 

Ear ornaments.—The large wooden plugs or disks which both 
sexes insert into the distended ear lobes are among the most typical 
Chaco ornaments. The ear lobes, which may almost reach the shoul- 
ders, are progressively distended from childhood on by first inserting 
straws or thin pegs and later larger plugs. These earplugs, some 3 
inches (7.5 cm.) in diameter, are painted, fire engraved, mounted with 
brass plates, or studded with shell disks. Lengua shamans glue mir- 
rors to the front surface of their plugs in order to see the reflection of 
the spirits. The ancient Abipon wore in their ear lobes small pieces 


VoL. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 277 


of cow’s horn, wood, or bone, a woolen thread of various colors, or a 
little knot of horn. 

Formerly, Vilela, Abipén, Mocovi, Toba, and Mascot women forced 
into the ear lobe a narrow, tightly spiraled strip of palm leaf, which 
gradually distended it to large proportions. Even recently some old 
Choroté and Toba could be seen with their ear lobes reduced to a thin 
ring of flesh, but nowadays the fashion has been altogether abandoned. 

The Chamacoco do not practice this deformation and only pass 
through the lobes feathered sticks or cords with feather tassels, tri- 
angular shells, or deer hoofs hanging from the ends. Indians who 
have been exposed to European contact wear silver (Mbayd) or glass 
bead (Zoba, Pilagd, and others) pendants. The silver pendants of 
the ancient A/bayd were cut in the shape of crescents or animals. 
Sometimes they inserted in the ear lobe a tin tube or a reed full of 
uruct and decorated at the front end with a brass disk (Sanchez Lab- 
rador, 1910-17, 1:281). Mbaydé men attached a chain of palm-nut 
rings from ear to ear across the back of the neck. This rare ornament 
was also worn by the Huarz. 

Nose ornaments.—The J/ocovi were the only Chaco Indians to 
thrust a stick through the perforated septum of the nose. 

Lip ornaments.—The ancient Lengua (Tongue), ancestors of mod- 
ern MMacd, received their name because of a semicircular wooden 
ornament worn in a long cut in their lower lip which resembled a sec- 
ond tongue sticking out of the chin (Azara, 1809, 2:150). <A similar 
wooden lip plug was used by the early A/fascoi, but neither their de- 
scendants, the modern Lengua, nor the Macd remember wearing a 
labret. Chamacoco men formerly passed a T-shaped reed 3 inches 
(7.5 cm.) long through their lower lip. 

Wooden lip plugs enclosed in a silver plate and labrets of silver or 
brass were distinctive men’s ornaments among the Gwaicuruan tribes 
(Guachi, Payagua, Abipén, Mocovi, Mbayd,* and also the Guana). 
Wooden Payagud labrets were as much as a palm long. Abzpdn 
boys had their lips perforated at the age of 7; Payagud boys when 
they were about 4 years old. The operation was performed with a 
sharp reed or, in post-Columbian times, with a red-hot iron (Abipon). 

The Mocovi passed feathers into a series of holes punctured across 
their cheeks from nose to ears so that “they looked as if wings were 
growing on their faces” (Baucke, 1870, p. 246). Often they wore 
in their lower lip a rhea feather instead of a wooden plug (pl. 55). 

Necklaces.—Chaco Indians set great value on necklaces of small 
round disks made of snail shells (Afegalobulimus oblongus.) (pl. 53). 
As the shaping and perforation of the disks entails time and patience, 


% The MbayG also wore labrets of wood, bone, or fish bone (SAnchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
ANS2S1)) 


278 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


the longer necklaces—some measure from 40 to 65 feet (12 to 20 m.) 
and even more—rank as highly prized possessions. Some articles 
are valued in terms of necklaces of a certain length, which in such 
cases play the part of money. Unfortunately, information on this 
subject is scant. 

To display wealth, men sling across their chest several bunches of 
snail-shell necklaces tied together with red woolen strings with 
tassels at the extremities. 

A necklace popular among the Choroti, Ashluslay, Toba, Pilagd, 
Lengua, Angaité, and others consists of a row of rectangular pieces 
of mussel shell with both lateral edges slightly concave and the sur- 
faves, which are very much like mother-of-pearl, decorated with a 
series of half-drilled holes. 

The broad, showy beadwork collars are fashionable only in tribes 
that, through contact with missionaries, are abundantly supplied 
with European beads. Many Mataco and Pilagd tie round their 
necks a leather collar or a woolen band studded with shell disks. 
Both Mbayd and Mocovi made the tin and silver plates acquired from 
the Spaniards into tubes and pendants. The silver crescents and 
other jingles which the I/bayd-Caduveo women wear around the neck 
are shaped after ancient wooden prototypes used in pre-Columbian 
days. 

Although they were occasionally worn by the Mbayd, today only 
the Chamacoco wear feather collars, which they make of heron 
feathers. 

Simple necklaces of seeds, animal teeth, or pieces of straw are 
rarely worn today, but still can be seen now and then. 

Pendants.—Pilagd, Ashluslay, and Macd men often suspend from 
their neck a pair of beadwork pendants with a simple geometric 
design and a row of tassels along the lower edge. Mataco women 
wear cruder netlike pendants in beadwork. Mbayd noblewomen had 
tufts of yellow feathers falling over their breasts and backs from 
a necklace. 

Armlets and bracelets.—As a rule, no ornaments except an occa- 
sional strip of palm leaves are worn around the upper arm. The 
Mbayd, however, tied around their arms a feather band or a row of 
metal plates. The Mbayd bracelets were made of beads, of small 
metal plates, or of leather studded with beads and with fringes 
trimmed with beads and small metal tubes (Sanchez Labrador, 1910- 
17, 1:282). Modern bracelets are generally either strips of skin 
studded with brass plates or narrow bands of bird skin. Most women 
in the Pilcomayo River area tie around their wrists a deerskin strap 
with the hoofs of the animal left as an ornament. Such bracelets 
are said to possess magic virtues and now and then are converted 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 279 


into knuckle dusters when their owner challenges some rival (fig. 
32, 7). 

Ost ornaments.—The feather belts of the Chamacoco and also 
perhaps of the Mbayd consisted of rows of feathers (from a kind of 
stork) mounted on a string or of feather tassels hanging from a cord. 
In the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River areas shamans and dancers 
(Mataco, Ashluslay, and Macd) participating in magic ceremonies 
don a sort of skirt made of rhea feathers. 

Leg ornaments.—Broad feather bands, attached under the knees, 
were among the most conspicuous Mbayd ornaments. Men of the 
southern Chaco tie around their ankles a couple of rhea feathers 
twisted around a caraguata string. This ornament is regarded as a 
powerful protection against serpents, which, fascinated by the fea- 
thers, strike at them rather than at the wearer’s foot. 

Rings.—It has become fashionable among the acculturated Indians 
to wear rings made of segments of the tail skin of lizards or iguanas. 

Hair styles.—The custom, common to both sexes in many southern 
Guaicuruan groups (Payagud, Mocovi, Abipén), of removing their 
hair so as to leave a bald furrow running back from the forehead 
(pl. 56) was responsible for the name Frentones (Those with a Big 
Forehead) by which the Spaniards first designated them. A symbolic 
value was attached to this hairless patch, and even newborn Abpén 
babies had their forehead shaved by a shaman.* 

Among the northern Guaicuri, hair style indicated an individual’s 
social status. Uninitiated boys wore two concentric crowns of hair 
and a central tuft; warriors, a crescentic crest extending from ear to 
ear, or a crown of hair around their shaved head. After puberty, 
Mbayé women shaved their heads, leaving a crescentic band of evenly 
cropped hair on top, which was smeared with uructi. Guand women, 
imitating the Wdbayd, cropped the hair on the forehead from ear to 
ear, but wore it long and gathered into a queue at the nape of the 
neck. Guand men shaved half of the head, or sometimes left only a 
tuft of hair. 

A monastic tonsure was typical of the pagan Abipdén men, but once 
in the missions, they let their hair grow and twisted it into a queue. 
A group of Mataco was called Coronado because of their tonsure, a 
fashion which they may have borrowed from the Chiriguano. 

Among the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River Indians, men trim their 
hair across the forehead, leaving a lock over the ears, but allow it 
to fall down behind, where they tie it with a tasseled string or wrap 
it with a fillet into a rigid queue (Chamacoco). They also gather 


36 The Payagué shaved with a shell a band of hair “de entrada a entrada que en los 
grandes es ancha como de 4 dedos” (Aguirre, 1911, p. 362), and in Rengger’s time wore 
three braids, often tied over the head in a big topknot. 


280 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bui. 143 


the hair on the forehead into a tuft which emerges from under the 
frontlet. All women cut their hair over the neck and wear bangs. 

In many tribes (Choroti, Ashluslay, Mataco, Toba, Mocovi, Abi- 
pon) the hair was groomed with a brush of peccary bristles or ant- 
eater hair or simply of roots and twigs. Nowadays combs, either 
carved like those of the Chiriguano out of a single piece of wood 
(Mataco, Chorott) or composed of bamboo splinters held together 
with threads (Mataco, Choroti, Ashluslay, Pilaga), are more widely 
used than is the hair brush, which may be regarded as a survival 
(fig. 32, e). Like Colonial Spanish ladies, 19th-century J/bayd 
women stuck in their hair large, beautifully wrought combs of horn 
with conventionalized horses cut along the upper edge. 

Depilation.—Throughout the Chaco, both sexes feel distaste for 
facial hair. The Abipon, like many other Indians, believed “that the 
sight of the eye is deadened and shaded by the adjacent hair,” and 
often attributed their failure to find honey to the growth of their 
eyebrows or eyelashes. The task of removing the body hair fills the 
Indians’ leisure hours. The Ab¢pon rubbed their face with hot ashes, 
after which an old woman depilated them with a pair of flexible 
horn tweezers. Formerly, most Chaco Indians plucked their body 
hair by means of two bamboo pieces or two shells. Today all of 
them use small tweezers made of old tin cans. 

Tooth deformation.—In the district of Miranda, the Zereno and 
Guand, who have been subjected to Negro influences, file their incisor 
teeth to give them a sawlike appearance. 

Tattooing.—Tattooing is common to all Chaco tribes except the 
Chamacoco. Asa rule, women are more profusely tattooed than men 
(Pilagad, Abipon, Mocovi, Payagua, Ashluslay, Vilela), and noble- 
women among the ancient Adbzpon could easily be recognized by the 
number and variety of the patterns tattooed on their faces, breasts, and 
arms. An Abipén woman with only three or four black lines on her 
face was either a captive or of low birth. On the other hand, noble 
Mbayd women had squares and triangles tattooed on their arms from 
the shoulders to the wrists, but only exceptionally wore facial tattoo, 
for this indicated low rank. Plebeian women generally had a series 
of perpendicular lines tattooed on the forehead (Sanchez Labrador, 
1910-17, 1: 285). 

Among other Chaco tribes, a child, especially a girl, was first tattooed 
when 6 or 7—among the Mbayd between 14 and 17—but new motifs 
were added in the course of years. The complex patterns on Pilagd, 
Mocovi, Abipon, and Payagua women were completed long after pu- 
berty when they were about to marry (fig. 81). The artist, generally 
an old woman, first traced the outlines of the design with charcoal and 
then punctured the skin with a small bundle of cactus thorns dipped 


Vot. 1] 


ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 


» (Xs 


(x; 
oA 
J 


281 


282 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bury. 143 


in a mixture of soot and saliva (pls. 55, 68). The A/bayd used a fish 
bone and genipa juice or the ashes of the palm cabuigo. If an Abipon 
girl betrayed her pain by a gesture or a groan, she was taunted for her 
cowardice. After the operation, she had to remain shut in her father’s 
hut for several days and, like Mocovi girls in similar circumstances, 
was permitted to eat neither meat nor fish, 

Red and black motifs generally alternate. Though each tribe has 
its particular style, an individual has relative liberty in the choice 
and disposition of the traditional patterns. The simple M/ataco de- 
signs, such as circles and parallel lines, contrast sharply with the in- 
tricate geometric figures which cover the whole face of a Pelaga woman. 
(See fig. 31.) The Guateuruan tribes have given to the art a far 
greater importance than any other group in that area and even in the 
whole of South America. A fully tattooed Abipén or Pilagé woman 
of the older generation had her whole face covered with geometric 
designs combined with extraordinary skill and a fine sense of 
proportion. 

Body painting.—Painting has some ritual implications in most 
Chaco tribes (pl. 54). Warriors and hockey players are always dec- 
orated from head to toes with stripes and patches of black and red. 
Women who are menstruating or who have had sexual intercourse 
smear their cheeks with uructi. But the Indians also paint themselves 
for more trivial occasions, such as an ordinary dance or in daily life, 
when they seek to improve their appearance. 

Uructi (Bixa orellana), the favorite pigment, grows only in the 
northern parts of the Chaco and is bartered to the southern tribes 
as natural seeds or in the form of cakes. These are prepared by first 
diluting the pigment with water and then boiling the liquid until 
only the thick dregs remain, to which honey is added (Abaya, 
Chamacoco). 

Black is made in the south with powdered charcoal and in the north 
(Guand, Mbayd, Chamacoco) with genipa juice. As the latter is col- 
orless when fresh, the Cadwveo mix it with soot so as to follow the 
patterns as they trace them on the skin. Chaco Indians also use soot 
or mineral colors (hematite). 

The Choroti, Ashluslay, Mataco, and probably other tribes stamp 
simple decorations on the skin with flat pieces of carved wood or with 
bamboo splinters notched along the edges. The M/bayd-Cadwveo out- 
lined their involved designs with a bamboo stencil and filled the inter- 
vening spaces by means of a pad of cotton dipped in the dye. Star and 
sun motives in white were scattered on the black and red background by 
blowing palm flour through stencils cut in a piece of leather. 

The intricate combination of motifs which characterized Mbayda 
body painting was perhaps the highest expression of that art in South 


Vow. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 283 


Papin selh a 
Bupuira WoO 
ognnNne: 


ee 


ANY 
J.Anglimn eS 


Ficurr 32.—Chaco manufactures. a, Mataco spindle shaft with whorl; b, Mataco wooden 
spoon; c, Chamacoco feather headdress; d, Ashluslay feather tuft; e, Pilagd stick comb ; 
f, Pilagdé bracelet used by women in boxing; g, Toba spur. (Métraux collection, American 
Museum of Natural History.) 


284 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


America (pl. 68, top, center). Though related to the design style on 
their pottery, the body patterns were treated more freely. The deco- 
rative elements—triangles, steps, volutes, undulated lines, triangles, 
frets—were grouped capriciously. A peculiarity of the A/baya style 
was the asymmetry of the motifs painted on opposite sides of the face. 
The motifs stood out in black against a red background. The white 
stars mentioned above were restricted to men. Women formerly 
painted only their faces and arms whereas men covered their bodies 
with designs or smeared them with wide red or black stripes that were 
either straight or undulated. Guand slaves were not permitted to use 
uructi or white flour, and could only decorate themselves with charcoal 
powder; on certain occasions, however, their masters allowed them to 
display sophisticated patterns. It was unbecoming for old women to 
paint themselves, but they took care that others did not neglect their 
appearance. The Chamacoco still try to imitate the complicated pat- 
terns of the Cadwveo. 

The body paintings of the Pileomayo and Bermejo River tribes con- 
sist mainly of dots, patches, and stripes around the mouth or the nose. 


TRANSPORTATION 


Among the foot Indians, transportation of household goods is the 
task of women, who carry heavy loads in huge netted bags (pl. 60, a) 
suspended by a tumpline (pl. 51). The Z’oba and Pilagé carry their 
household furniture wrapped in their large rush mats. Modern In- 
dians of the Pileomayo and Bermejo River region all have adopted the 
donkey as a pack animal. 

Abipén women placed all their possessions, children, and pets in 
large peccary-skin bags suspended from the backs of the horses which 
they rode. Mats and tent poles were also placed on top of these bags. 

Boats.—As Chaco rivers are not easily navigable, only the tribes 
living on or near the Paraguay River use canoes (Lengua, Sanapand, 
Mbayd-Cadwveo). Until the beginning of the last century, the Paya- 
gud, who were among the most famous river pirates of the continent, 
made the shores and islands of this river their home and spent most of 
their life on the water. Their dugout canoes were 10 to 20 feet (3 to 
6 m.) long, 114 to 3 feet (0.45 to 0.9 m.) wide, and had a sharp bow 
and stern. Some large war canoes accommodated up to 40 men (Do- 
brizhoffer, 1784, 1:132). A crew of 6 or 8 standing at the stern could 
attain a speed of 7 knots. The paddles were 9 feet (2.7 m.) long and 
very pointed. In the 18th century, some Mbaya groups allied to the 
Payagudé gave up the horse to become river nomads. 

The Mepene—perhaps an Abipén subtribe—seen by Schmidel in the 
16th century (1903, pp. 167-168) were also canoe Indians. In one 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 285 


battle the Spaniards destroyed 250 of their boats, some of which could 
carry 20 people. 

The conquistadors (Hernéndez, 1852, 1:577), praised highly the 
boatmanship of the Guaché (Guawxarapo), whose small craft, built to 
accommodate no more than two or three men, could outdistance any 
Spanish sailing vessel. 

Some inland tribes, such as the Pélagé and Toba, occasionally take 
short trips across flooded areas in their large beer troughs. 

When the Mocovi, Abipdén, and Mbayé had to cross a river they 
made bullboats (pelotas) of square deer or cow hides, with up-curved 
edges, in which old people, infants, and their belongings could be 
ferried over. A swimmer towed the bullboat with a leather thong, 
which he held in his mouth; when the current was strong, he would 
grasp the tail of his horse with one hand and drag his boat with the 
other. These Indians also built rush-mat rafts.” 


MANUFACTURES 


Basketry.—Only the Arawakan tribes and the Mbayd, who were 
influenced by them, had developed basketry. The latter made a few 
twilled baskets and large-brimmed hats to sell to their Mestizo neigh- 
bors. Among the Pilcomayo River tribes Toba boys plait crude 
frontlets of palm leaves. Coiled baskets have been collected among 
the Mataco, who, however, may have acquired them from their Mestizo 
neighbors. 

Mat Making.—To make roof and wall mats for their huts, the 
Mbayé fastened together long, dried bulrushes with six or eight 
twined strings, the ends of which were braided together along the 
edges of the mat to reinforce them. (See Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
1:269.) The P2lagé and Toba make similar mats. The bulrushes, 
which have been pared to an equal length, are laid across two hori- 
zontal strings stretched between low posts and then are twined at the 
edges with cords. Aguirre (1911, p. 352) observes that Payagua 
mats were not woven but “sewed.” 

Netting and needle-looping.—Carrying nets and bags of all sizes 
are both indispensable to and typical of the half-nomadic collectors 
of the Chaco (pl. 57, d; pl. 60, a, d, e). As these objects deteriorate 
rapidly, women are constantly occupied with making thread, netting, 
or needle-looping. The development of techniques of string work 
was favored by the abundance of the Bromelia which provide ex- 
celllent raw material. The caraguata (Bromelia sp.) are uprooted 


87 Oviedo y Valdés (1851-1855, 1: 193), who never was in the Rio de la Plata region, 
mentions what seems to be the double paddle among the Agaz (Payagudé). Nordenskiéld 
has made much of this statement although it obviously must be erroneous since no author 
who describes the Payagué makes any reference to this type of paddle. 


286 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buty. 143 


with a forked stick and the leaves sawed off with a toothed piece of 
wood. The fibers are separated from the fleshy substance by either 
of two methods. In the first, the fibrous strips are detached with 
the fingernail, then soaked in water for a day or two (some kinds 
must then be pounded), and finally, held against the foot and 
scratched with a shell or a wooden knife. In the second method, 
fresh caraguatdé leaves are pulled back and forth through a loop 
attached to a vertical stick, until the fibers are freed. 

To make a strand, a woman takes a few fibers from a dry bundle 
and with the flat of her hand rolls them on her thigh, which is 
smeared with ashes. She always makes two strands simultaneously 
and twists them together into a string. Several such strings may 
later be rolled together into a stronger cord. 

Some bags are, like fishing nets, made with reef knots or, more 
exceptionally, with sheet knots. For the great majority of bags and 
string work, the fabric consists of interlaced loops. The various 
stitches are illustrated in figure 33. The first row of loops passes 
around a horizontal string stretched between two vertical sticks. 
The woman who sits in front of this rudimentary loom builds up the 
following rows of loops by hand, or, when the stitch is elaborate, 
with an eyed needle (pls. 61, bottom; 63). The simplest fabrics 
have one or two open half hitches in the same loop; the most com- 
plicated have the appearance of close crochet. Bags of wool more 
commonly than those of string are made in the technique of inter- 
laced loops, with the only difference that the fabric is tighter. 

In netting, mesh sticks are used only for fish nets; carrying nets 
are built up around a loop attached to a stick and the size of the 
meshes is estimated by eye. 

The Pilcomayo River tribes often knit small woolen bags with two 
or even four needles. Where they cannot get metal needles, they use 
long cactus thorns. The knitting stitches are distinctly European 
and not Peruvian. 

Most of the bags and carrying nets of the Chaco Indians are 
enlivened with geometrical patterns produced by alternating yarns 
of different colors. The best bags and pouches of the Pilagad and 
Ashluslay are threaded with beads. 

Weaving.—FEarly descriptions of the Chaco tribes contain refer- 
ences to women’s clothes and to blankets made of caraguata fibers.** 
Garments of this material no longer are made in most of the Chaco, 
but the Chamacoco and Moro are said to use skirts and cloaks of 
fibers. From the little available evidence, it seems that these gar- 


The Guaicuré ‘“Traen muchas mantas de lino que hacen de unos cardos, las cuales 
hacen muy pintadas” (Hernfndez, 1852, p. 566). 


287 


ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 


1] 


ra “i 
$ S 


netting (d—h, redrawn from Nordenskidld, 1919, fig. 60.) 


288 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


ments are twined in a technique identical to that of the mosquito 
flaps used by the same Indians. 

The art of weaving was probably introduced into the Chaco from 
the Tropical Forest area by Indians who cultivated cotton and had 
the vertical loom. The Arawakan Guand, who were famed as 
skillful weavers and who still provide their Neo-Brazilian neighbors 
with textiles, appear to have been the most likely agents for the pre- 
Columbian diffusion of weaving. Later, Peruvian influences were 
felt throughout the Chaco, as evidenced by the distribution of various 
techniques which have survived up to the present and are identical 
with those employed in the Coastal cultures of ancient Pert (e. g., 
kelim technique, compound cloth, tie dyeing). 

Before European contact, cotton was the only material used by 
the Chaco Indians for weaving, though they may have received small 
amounts of wool from the Andean Indians. In the past the Pilco- 
mayo and Bermejo River tribes spun a variety of cotton (Gossypium 
peruvianum) , which today still grows wild, and was reputedly better 
than the cotton raised nowadays. Sanchez Labrador (1910-17, 1: 184) 
states that the Mbayd had a native cotton, somewhat different 
from the European variety. In the north and wherever White 
influence has come late, the Indians continue to spin cotton. The 
Kaskihé card cotton with small bows, a device of limited distribution 
in South America. The Pilcomayo River and Bermejo River tribes 
who have large flocks of sheep have almost entirely given up the 
cultivation of cotton, but some Mazaco still use it for their fabrics. 
The Indians shear sheep with ordinary knives and leave the wool on 
platforms or bushes to be cleansed by rain and bleached by the sun. 
The women tease it with their fingers before spinning. The spindles 
have a shank with a knob at the proximal end to which the thread 
is attached by a half hitch. The whorl is a pottery or wooden disk, 
or a small calabash or fruit (fig. 32,a@). The spindle is set in motion 
and dropped to turn by itself either in the air (pl. 62) or in a small 
plate.*® The yarn is spun right and twisted left. 

The loom is made of two vertical forked branches with one cross 
pole resting on the fork above and another tied near the ground. The 
warp threads are passed around these two bars, but at each turn are 
looped back over a cord which is strung horizontally between the 
two bars. When the fabric is finished, the cord is pulled out and 
the piece of cloth opens without cutting. 

The designs are obtained by alternating the colors of the warp 
threads. The weaver’s only tools are a wooden sword—which among 
the Mbayd-Caduveo is carved into the form of a horse—and a bone 


® Azara’s (1809, 2:125) description of the Payagué spinning suggests that the women 
rolled their long spindles on their thighs. 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 289 


or wooden dagger. When the fabric is wide, the weft threads have 
to be battened down with a sword in small sections clear to the end. 
The shuttle is a piece of bamboo; but often the ball of thread is used 
instead. With this simple loom the Indians produce blankets, 
ponchos, and belts decorated with geometric colored patterns (fig. 38). 
Belts and ponchos of the Pilagad and Ashluslay are compound cloth 
with a pattern in warp float over three wefts under one. 

This loom is also used for finger-weaving. By this method the 
Mataco and Toba make belts and bags which (pls. 60, ¢,; 61, top) 
have more elaborate designs than most ordinary fabrics. 

Tapestry in the kelim technique, so typical of ancient Peruvian 
textiles, is used in a few instances to make small bands worn as 
necklaces. 

The Pilcomayo River Indians plait narrow fillets by crossing eight 
yarns. 

Dyes.—Black and white are generally natural-color wools; red is 
obtained from the cochineal that develops on cacti *° (Abaya, Mocovi, 
Lengua) or from a crocuslike flower; brown from the bark of the tusca 
tree (Acacia moniliformis) or from guayacin (Caesalpinia melano- 
carpa) seeds;* yellow from the flowers of Huglypha rojasiana.” 
Tie-dyeing—a method of Andean origin—is also known to the Pilco- 
mayo River Indians but is rarely used. 

Pottery.—All Chaco Indians, even those who are essentially 
nomadic, have pottery. There is great homogeneity in the shape and 
quality of the ceramics throughout the area, though a more refined 
pottery style is to be found in the northern marginal area among the 
Arawakan-speaking tribes and their close neighbors, the Mbayad. The 
Mbaya-Caduveo originally had simple and crude vessels, like those 
of the modern 7'oba, but nowadays make not only the best ceramics 
in the Chaco, but some of the finest in South America. The change in 
style and technique was brought about by the Guand women whom 


40 They gathered the larvae in a vessel and pounded them. 

41 The seeds are crushed and boiled. The threads are immersed in the decoction. 

420n the dyes of the Mbayd, SAnchez Labrador (1910-17, 1:169) gives the following 
information: “Dan un tinte negro muy bueno con una tierra azulada que llaman limcu- 
tege, a la cual mezclan las astillas de un palo que se llama cumatago, y que Se cria por 
muchas partes, especialmente hacia las orillas del rio Paraguay, en un lugar que en su 
idioma dicen, por unos arboles, odeadigo. Tambien tienen amarillo con el cocimiento de 
las astillas de los palos dichos, especialmente del que por excelencia nombran logoguigago, 
el que hace amarillo. Acanelado tifien con la corteza de otro arbol: y encarnado con 
astillas de un frbol, y tambien con algunas raices. No tienen mfis maniobra que en la 
infusién de las astillas o rafces poner lo que han de tefir. Entre otras cosas suelen 
hacer esta. Despues de haber dado cocimiento en la dicha infusi6n a la lana o hilo de 
algodén, le sacan y sobre una estera ponen una capa de ceniza, hecha de un arbol muy 
fuerte, y con cuya corteza tiiien tambien colorado. Sobre esta ceniza extienden la madeja 
recien sacada del cocimiento; y despues la cubren bien con bastante ceniza de la misma 
tapandolo todo con la estera. La madeja, al sacarla de la infusi6n, apenas de sefias del 
color; mas, dejada una noche del modo dicho entre la ceniza, se pone de un encarnado 
bellisimo.” 


583486—46——19 


290 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunt. 143 


these Indians kept as wives or serfs. Asa result of their close contact 
with other Mbayd bands, the Kaskiha make vessels which, in spite of 
a certain crudeness, resemble those of the Caduveo and other Arawak- 
Mbaya groups. The influence of the Chiriguano and of Andean In- 
dians is clearly noticeable in the shape of the ware of the Mataco and 
of some other Pilcomayo River tribes. 

Pottery technique.—The technique of potters is identical all over the 
Chaco. The clay is gathered in marshy spots, pounded in a mortar, 
sifted through a string bag, and tempered with pulverized potsherds. 
The Mataco mix clay and temper in equal proportions. They sprinkle 
water on the tempered clay and knead it, removing all pebbles and 
bard particles. The potter first shapes a lump of prepared clay into 
a disk with a narrow rim, which she places on a plank, a leaf, a skin, 
a net bag, or even on the sole of her foot (J/bayd). On this foundation 
she builds up the vessel by adding clay coils. These coils, which have 
the thickness of a finger, are rolled between the palms of the hands 
(pl. 64). When the coil is applied, the potter flattens it between her 
thumb and the other fingers. After four or five coils have been super- 
imposed, the new surface is scraped vertically with the back of a shell 
(pl. 64). She next scrapes the interior of the vessel far more carefully 
than the outer side, constantly dipping her fingers or her instrument 
in water. The pot is smoothed with the back of the fingers passed 
lightly over the wet surface. When the pot is somewhat dry the 
outside is again scraped and smoothed with the back of the shell or 
with the fingers and nails. Some tribes use a wooden or maize cob 
scraper instead of shells. 

The finished pot is first dried in the shade and then fired for no 
more than half an hour in the open under a conical pile of bark or 
dry wood. 

Pottery decoration—In the areas of the Pilcomayo, Bermejo, and 
lower Paraguay Rivers ceramic decoration is very rudimentary. The 
potter removes the vessel from the fire and while it is still hot traces 
a few simple geometric motifs on its surface with a piece of palo 
santo (Guaiacum officinale), which exudes a thick rosin, or with a 
lump of rosin. The designs consist of crude dots, circles, or lines. 
The mouth of a water jug sometimes bears a series of small impressions 
made with the thumbnail. A few cooking pots are ornamented with 
rows of small clay pellets put on the surface when the clay is wet 
(Mataco, Choroti). The Mataco, immediate neighbors of the Chiri- 
guano, more often decorate their pottery with fingernail impressions 
or with crude pastillé ornaments than do the other tribes of their 
area. 

The Mbayd-Caduveo, Guand, Kaskihé, and the ancient inhabitants 
of the Parana Delta are the only South American Indians who deco- 
rated their pottery by pressing cords into the wet clay. They painted 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 291 


the spaces between the motifs with red and black. Red was ob- 
tained by applying an iron oxide (hematite) to the clay before 
firing and, as among the other Chaco tribes, black by smearing the 
rosin of palo santo on the hot surfaces. The cord marks were filled 
with white earth when the vessel was cold. Vessels employed as con- 
tainers for precious objects were decorated with pieces of cloth and 
shell disks sewed on the walls of the vase through a set of holes made 
during construction of the vessel. 

The M/bayd-Caduveo and Guand ceramic decoration was quite elabo- 
rate (fig. 34). Besides Greek frets and other simple geometric pat- 
terns, it consisted of various combinations of curves, volutes, and 
designs that suggest conventionalized foliage. Primarily this decora- 
tion is based on ancient Andean motifs, but it also betrays European 
influences. Payagué pottery was also painted with designs which seem 
to be akin to these Mbayd pots. 


Figure 34.—MUbayd-Caduveo painted pottery plates. (Redrawn from 
Boggiani, 1895, figs. 16, 25.) 


On some Mataco pots the flattened clay coils form an intricate deco- 
ration on the exterior. 

Pottery forms.—Chaco pottery in general lacks variety of form. In 
most tribes ceramics fall into three categories: (1) plain cooking 
pots; (2) water jugs with a long neck, and usually two vertical handles 
(pl. 51); and (3) bowls. The artistic vessels of the Mbayd, Kaskiha, 
and Guana are large basins with more or less vertical walls and rounded 
bases. 

The water jugs, which are probably a local adaptation of the Jnca 
aryballus, are carried on the back with a tumpline which passes 
through the handles and is prevented from slipping by a depression 
or groove around the body of the pot at the level of the handles. Jugs 
without grooves and handles are carried in a net. 

Skin preparation.—The Chaco Indians employ skin to a far greater 
extent than do most South American tribes. Tanning, however, has 


292 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


remained unknown to them, in spite of the fact that the Chaco forests 
are exploited today mainly for the trees which are rich in tannic acid. 
A lengthy mechanical softening process is used only for skins intended 
for cloaks and skirts, an arduous task performed by women. The 
skins are first stretched on a frame or nailed with wooden pegs on the 
ground and cleansed of all flesh particles. ‘Then the hair is scraped off 
with a pointed stick and the softening is achieved by folding the skin 
diagonally about every half inch. The creases are accentuated by 
pressing the smooth lip of a large snail shell along them (Lengua). 
The skin is then twisted and “its surfaces rubbed together after an 
application of wood ashes and water” (Grubb, 1913, p. 69). The 
ancient Mbaydé rubbed skins with stones until they became soft. 
Among the Choroti and Mataco, skins are smeared with grease and 
softened by rubbing them across a split piece of wood. 

To sew pieces of skin together to form cloaks, Abipén women passed 
caraguata threads through holes made with a thorn along the edges. 

For bags and pouches in which belongings are carried or stored, 
unworked skins of peccaries or deer, with the hair on, are commonly 
used. But the best bags have the hair scraped off, the edges sewn, 
and sometimes have their surfaces embellished with woolen em- 
broideries, a type of ornamentation which in South America is re- 
stricted to the Chaco. 

To prepare a certain kind of large bag, the Indians make a single 
incision around the neck of a rhea and its lower limbs, then carefully 
skin it. The skin is then flayed and the two lower openings tied 
up (pl. 58, a). They make tobacco pouches in the same manner of 
the neck skin of rheas or other birds, with embroidered edges and 
tassels (pl. 60, f). Small pouches also are made with the entire 
skin of lizards or iguanas. 

Metallurgy.—Metallurgy was practiced in the Chaco only by the 
Mbaya. They soon learned from the Spaniards how to make orna- 
ments adapted to their taste of silver and brass bartered for horses. 
They never acquired the processes of smelting or welding, but became 
expert in hammering and folding. They put the metal in the fire, 
took it out with wooden tongs, and then beat it into plates on a 
stone anvil with another stone. The plates were polished on a stone, 
burnished with a powder of sand and ashes, cut into squares or 
crescents with a knife or scissors, and sewed to belts or other gar- 
ments. They were also folded into tubes for pendants or beads. 
Likewise, the Mocovi turned the silver or copper which they obtained 
from the Spaniards into jingles and pendants. 

The Mbayda worked pieces of iron into hooks or spearheads. Mod- 
ern Mbayd-Caduveo have smithies with bellows and iron anvils. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 293 


Trade metal was known in the Chaco long before the Discovery. 
Irala, crossing the Chaco in 1548, found that the A/dayda had silver 
frontlets and silver plates 314 inches (8.75 cm.) long and 1% inch 
(1.25 cm.) wide, which these Indians wore on their foreheads 
(Schmidel, 1903, p. 249). Similar objects and even the copper tools 
which were so common among the G'uarant must have passed from 
Pert across the Chaco before reaching Paraguay. 

Gourds.—The Chaco Indians cultivate gourds of all sizes and 
convert them into water bottles, bowls, dippers, spoons, and con- 
tainers for storing miscellaneous small articles. Seeds, flour, and 
food are also kept in these containers. Gourds which are used as 
boxes are generally provided with a star-shaped lid cut from the 
same fruit and attached by a loop which closes it when pulled up. 

Gourds are frequently decorated with crude and irregular burned 
ornaments. The designs incised on boxes, bottles, or beer bowls are 
more artistic. They are geometric—triangles, crisscrosses, stripes, 
etc.—or realistic. The latter kind represent “spirits,” animals, and 
even geographical features treated symbolically. Some specimens 
have both engraved and pyrographed motifs. Small boxes are often 
dotted with beads affixed with wax. 

Tools.—Most of the natives of the sandy Chaco plains had to import 
the stones for their axes from their neighbors. The stone blade was 
inserted into the bulging head of the wooden handle, a shafting 
which was retained after they received iron blades. Chamacoco 
stone axes are unique in South America: an amygdaloid or tri- 
angular blade with a somewhat bulging or T-shaped butt is lashed 
with string to the small end of a flat wooden club that is 5 feet 
(1.5 m.) long. On some the binding is smeared with wax and 
feather tassels are attached. The use of these axes is somewhat 
problematical, as the hafting is unsuited for cutting hard wood (fig. 
37, 6). The handle is obviously a digging stick or a club. 

Before the Jesuits supplied them with steel axes, the Mocovi split 
tree trunks with flint wedges in order to obtain sticks suitable for 
making spears or bows. Giglioli (1859, p. 276) reproduces a stone 
chisel attributed to the Chamacoco. The stone, similar to a small 
ax, is encased between two pieces of a white wood, bound together 
with a caraguata cord. 

Until recently, piranha (Serrasalmo sp.) teeth were used every- 
where as knives and carving tools. Rodent teeth, bamboo splinters, 
and shells served the same purpose. The Mbayd and Mocovi scraped 
and polished wood with the sharp edge of broken shells. 

Woodworking.—See Farming and Food Preparation (pp. 261- 
263), and figures 35, 37, 42. 


294. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. But. 143 


Weapons: Bows.—Chaco bows are carved of the hard resilient 
wood of palo mataco (Achatocarpus praecoz), lotek (Prosopis abbre- 
viata), quebracho (Schinopsis lorentzii), or urundel (Astronium jug- 
landifolium). The part of the tree where the lighter outer wood 


i =" 


iD oe 


| ea 


Ficurs 35.—Pilagé and Chorott utensils and dress. a, Choroti spade (redrawn from 
Nordenskiéld, 1919, fig. 1); b, Choroti pestle (redrawn from Rosen, 1924, fig. 122) ; 
c, Pilagd wooden mortar (Métraux collection, American Museum of Natural History) ; 
d, Choroti hide belt (redrawn from Nordenskiéld, 1919, fig. 31). 


meets the core is generally selected because of its greater strength 
and flexibility. The bow cross section varies somewhat but, as a rule, 
the belly is flat and the outer side somewhat round or convex. A 
rectangular cross section is common among the southern and central 
tribes; among the northern tribes it is more oval, and among the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 295 


Chamacoco almost round. Both ends of the stave are sharpened 
sufficiently to prevent the string from slipping, but lack a clear-cut 
shoulder. Except for slightly curved extremities, the stave is nearly 
straight. Chamacoco bows are longest and measure about 6 feet 
(1.8 m.). 

In the Bermejo and Pilcomayo River regions (Choroti, Mataco, 
Toba, Lengua, Ashluslay), bow strings of caraguata fiber or of 
twined skin or tendons occur in the same tribe. The ancient Abipon 
made their bow strings of fox entrails or of “very strong threads 
supplied by a species of palm” (Dobrizhoffer, 1784, 2:398). The 
bow string is always long enough to be partly wrapped around the 
bow (fig. 37, e, f). Cracked bows (Choroti, Mataco) are reinforced 
with short sheaths or casings of raw leather. 

In general, Chaco bows do not compare in finish to those of the 
Tropical Forest area. 

Arrows.—Arrow points are of the same types as those of the 
Tropical Forest area: (1) Points for fishing and hunting arrows 
consist of a long sharpened wooden rod (palo mataco, quebracho, 
palo santo), occasionally with small barbs carved along one or both 
edges. Some Adipén arrows had a quadruple row of barbs. 
Formerly, a bone splinter sharpened at both ends, or the leg bone or 
claw of the Canis azarae was fastened to the wooden rod and caused a 
dangerous infection when it broke off in the wound (Abipén, Mocov?). 
(See Dobrizhoffer, 1784, 2: 400, and Kobler, 1870, p. 258.) (2) War 
and large game arrows were tipped with sharp lanceolate bamboo 
splinters, which today have been entirely replaced by iron blades. 
Like their bamboo prototypes, these iron heads are fitted into a 
socketed foreshaft. (3) Bird arrows were tipped with a blunt conical 
wooden head. The Abipdén used a wax head. For shooting birds, the 
Mbaya fixed a piece of gourd to the tip of on ordinary arrow. (4) 
Harpoon arrows, i. e., arrows with removable heads, were used by the 
Payagua for shooting capybara (Azara, 1904, p. 365). 

The Abipon and many other Chaco tribes set fire to enemy huts 
by shooting arrows tipped with burning cotton or tow. 

In historic times, arrow shafts have been made of a species of reed 
that was imported from Europe (cafia de Castilla, Arundo donaz) 
and now grows wild along the rivers, but is also cultivated by the 
Indians. In pre-Columbian days, and occasionally even now, the 
Indians used suncho stems. The Chamacoco have no other material 
for their arrow shafts. The butt of a reed shaft is notched, but 
never reinforced with a plug. A wrapping of caraguata fibers at both 
ends prevents the reed from splitting. The pared and halved quill is 
laid flush against the shaft and bound with thin threads which are 


296 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Burn. 143 


cemented in place with wax. The Abipdn used feathers from crows, 
the Mocovi from birds of prey. The Mocovi decorated their arrow 
shafts with red rings (fig. 36, a-q). 

When shooting, the Indians hold the arrow between the thumb and 
the index finger, and pull the string with the middle and fourth 
fingers (Payaguda, Lengua, Pilagad, Ashluslay, Macé). The wrist 


md 


——_———— 


yy. Analim 


g / 


FIGURE 36.—Chaco weapons. a—e, Wooden arrow points; f, iron arrow point; g, arrow 
butt with feathering; h, cow-horn harpoon head; i, wooden war club (h, Mataco; all 
others Pilagd.) (Métraux collection, American Museum of Natural History.) 


is protected by a leather or wooden guard (Abipén, Mocovi), by a 
wrapping of caraguatd strings (Z'oba, Mataco, Guaranoca), or by 
braids of human hair (M/dayd). 

Quivers.—Quivers, known only to the Abzpén and Mocovi, were 
made of “rushes, and adorned with woolen threads of various colors” 
(Dobrizhoffer, 1784, 2:398; Baucke, 1935, pl. 16). As a rule, the 
Chaco Indians carry their arrows in their hands or pass them through 
their belts, 


VoL. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 297 


Spears.—Spears are used both as thrusting and as throwing wea- 
pons by the Chaco Indians to hunt peccaries and jaguars or to fight 
their enemies at close range. Lances became the main weapon of 
the equestrian Indians who handled them with as much skill as did 
the Spanish cavalry. The lance shaft was split with wedges from a 
tree trunk, generally palo mataco, and then shaped by charring and 
scraping with a shell. It was straightened by rolling between two 
logs (Mocovi, Abipon). 

Spears either were pointed at one or both ends or had a separate 
head of bone or deer horn socketed into the shaft. In the 18th cen- 
tury, spear points were generally of iron, which the Indians took 
pride in polishing with tallow. The original spear of the Joba, 
Angaité, and Pilaga had a lanceolate head carved from the same piece 
as the staff. A spear butt was generally pointed so that it could be 
stuck in the ground in front of the hut. The spears of the foot 
Indians measured from 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m.) ; those of the eques- 
trian Indians from 12 to 18 feet (3.6 to 5.4 m.). 

Javelins and harpoons.—The Mocovi and perhaps the Payagud 
killed capybara and caimans with javelins provided with a separate 
wooden head barbed on one side like the Yahgan harpoons of Tierra 
del Fuego (Baucke, 1870, p. 264; 1935). 

The Mocovi war javelin was identical to the modern Mataco fish- 
ing harpoon (fig. 37, a). It consisted of a shaft of light wood, a 
hardwood foreshaft, and a separable point made of a hollow piece 
of bone or the tip of a deer horn connected to the shaft by a long cord. 
“If an Indian,” says Baucke (1870, p. 265), “is hit by this weapon, the 
head remains in the wound and, as he cannot extract it, he is sure to 
perish.” 

The Mocovi held their lances at the middle of the shaft with the 
right hand under the left one; the Abipén grasped their lances with 
both hands near the proximal end. 

Clubs.—The battle club of the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River 
tribes is a heavy cudgel of palo mataco with a bulging conical head 
or a wooden disk carved at the distal end. The Indians pass it 
through their belts or carry it suspended from the wrist by a loop 
(fig. 36, 7). 

The flat digging stick of the Chamacoco, with its sharp edges wid- 
ening progressively toward the rounded distal end, may be used as 
a club when necessary. 

The Chamacoco, Tsirakua, and probably many other Chaco tribes 
use throwing sticks to hunt rodents and other small animals. These 
sticks are short clubs with bulging heads (pl. 65, right). 

Bolas—The Abipén and Mocovi hunted with bolas which, like 
those of modern gauchos, consisted of three stones folded in rawhide 


298 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


Ficgurn 87.—Chaco weapons and implements. a, Mocovi war harpoon (redrawn from 
Baucke) ; b, Chamacoco hafted stone ax (redrawn from Boggiani, 1895, fig. 14) ; 
c, Chamacoco digging stick (redrawn from Boggiani, 1895, fig. 61A) ; d, Ashluslay sling 
(redrawn from Nordenskiéld, 1919, fig. 7); e, f, ends of Choroti bow (redrawn from 
Rosen, 1924). 


and connected to one another by twisted thongs. Bolas are used 
today by the Ashluslay and Lengua for hunting rheas. The lack of 
stones and the dense bush make this weapon impracticable elsewhere 
in the Chaco and explains its limited distribution. In most Pilco- 
mayo River tribes children play a game with bolas made of sticks 
instead of stones. (See Games, p. 338.) 

Slings——The Chaco sling, made with a single cord looped and 
knotted so as to hold the missile (fig. 37, @), must be classified as 
a toy, because the lack of stone made a lump of hard earth the only 
missile. Children sometimes use it to drive birds away from ripe 
crops (Mataco, Abipon, Toba.) 

Pellet bow—tThe pellet bow has two strings, which are held apart 
by a stick. A clay pellet is placed in a sling or pouch suspended 
between the two strings. This weapon is used almost exclusively 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 299 


by young boys to shoot at birds or small animals (Afataco, Pilagd, 
Toba, Abipén, Mocovi, Mbaya.) 

Knuckle dusters—Women use tapir-hide rings or deerskin brace- 
lets as “knuckle dusters” in fights with other women (fig. 32, f). 
Payagué men fixed claws and points to their wrists when boxing with a 
fellow tribesman. 

Armor.—As a protection against arrows, most Chaco Indians wore 
strong, tightly woven caraguaté shirts (fig. 29) or hide armor. The 
ancient Abipén, wrote Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2: 410), “covered the greater 
part of their bodies with a sort of defense made of undressed tapir 
hide, a tiger’s skin being sewed either inside or outside.” This gar- 
ment had an opening in the middle for the head, and “extended on 
each side as far as the elbows and the middle.” Arrows could not 
penetrate it. Jackets of jaguar skin were commonly worn both as 
ornaments and for protection by Mocovt, Toba, Mbayd, and Pilaga 
warriors, and by the I/bayd also, because “they imparted the jaguar 
fierceness to their owners.” They were probably copied from the buff 
coats used by the Spaniards. 

The Choroti, Mataco, Ashluslay, and Toba protected their stomachs 
with broad rawhide belts. 

Fire making.—The Chaco tribes aboriginally produced fire by the 
drill, but the flint and steel subsequently spread to almost all of them. 
The Choroti and Mataco made both the drill and hearth of the soft 
light wood of a creeper (Asclepiadaceae), the branches of the Cap- 
paris tweediana, or tuscae (Ephedra triandra) wood. The hearth 
was short and provided with one or more shallow holes with a lateral 
groove. Among the Choroti, Mataco, and Ashluslay, and perhaps 
other tribes, the drill was also fairly short and had to be fitted into 
an arrow shaft before use. 

To make fire, the Indians place the hearth on some object, a knife 
or even a cloth, to avoid direct contact with the soil, and hold it with 
the foot. They put a pinch of tinder under the lateral groove and 
twirl the drill between the hands. Fire can be made in less than a 
minute. If the wood is wet, two men work on the same drill. Indians 
keep tinder in a small box made of the tip of a deer antler, a cow 
horn, or the tail of an armadillo. To activate a fire, fans made of the 
whole wing feathers of large birds are used everywhere. Logs are 
always arranged in the fire like the spokes of a wheel and are pushed 
gradually toward the center as they burn. 


ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS 


Property.—Each band regards a certain tract of land as its own 
and resents trespass by members of other groups. The Angaité on 
the banks of the Paraguay River exacted a tribute from those who 


300 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


collected algarroba pods on their territory. Disputes over fishing 
rights are frequent among the tribes of the Pilcomayo River. 

Ancient and modern travelers alike praise the generosity of the 
Chaco Indians toward the members of their own group, i. e., the 
household. Available food is equally distributed among all, and 
nobody is allowed to starve. Children are trained to share delicacies 
with playmates, and garments and ornaments are freely lent, passing 
from hand to hand. 

The game brought home by a hunter or the food gathered in the 
bush is shared by all the members of an extended family who form a 
single household. Sanchez Labrador (1910-17, 2:5) observed that 
Mobayé hunters turned their catch over to their own household and that 
nothing was handed to the other houses. Nevertheless, strict rules 
determined the apportionment of the game killed by a group of 
hunters. A Mocovi who hit the animal first was assumed to have 
killed it, regardless of who delivered the mortal blow. Among the 
Mbaya, on the contrary, the one who had struck the last blow was the 
rightful owner of the carcass. The man entitled to the game divided 
the meat among his companions, reserving for himself a choice morsel 
and the skin. The leader of a hunting party always received the heart. 

Indians take for granted that clothes and tools are one’s personal 
property, though others may borrow them freely for a short time. A 
chief is morally obliged to give away any ornament or piece of cloth- 
ing which arouses the cupidity of one of his men. Horses, cattle, 
and sheep are owned by individuals who either earmark or brand them. 
The Mbayd used elaborate ownership marks in the style of their pot- 
tery designs, which they painted or incised on all their possessions. 
Wives often ornament their bodies with their husband’s property 
marks. As a property mark, Ashluslay women weave a special 
pattern in the corner of their blankets. 

Fields belong to those who cultivate them, but crops are shared 
among the household members even if they have not participated in 
the cultivation. 

Stealing from group members rarely occurs. The A/ocovi, like the 
modern Aataco or Toba, left all their possessions in their huts when 
going on a journey, and they assured the missionary that they never 
missed anything when they returned home. Nothing shocked the 
Mocovi more than the thievish proclivities of the Creoles. 

When a Mbayé missed an object stolen by someone in the camp, he 
would promise a reward for its return. The thief generally gave the 
object back and received the gift; in fact, everyone who had helped to 
restore the stolen possession expected some compensation. 

Among the Chamacoco, property is inherited by the sister-in-law of 
the deceased ; among the Kashikd, by his son, wife, or sister (Baldus, 
1931 a, p. 74). 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 301 


Justice.—Information on judiciary institutions is lacking. Any- 
one who, by his conduct, imperils the security of the band or who has 
committed a murder may be put to death or expelled from the village, 
after the case has been examined by a council of the chiefs and family 
heads. 

Trade.—Trade has always been active between the Chaco tribes 
and their Andean, Guarani, and Arawak neighbors, and also between 
the various groups within the area itself. In a document of 1593 there 
is specific reference to commerce between the Indians of the mountains 
and those of the Bermejo River; the latter brought deerskins, rhea 
and egret feathers, and wildcat skins. 

After Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca (see Hernindez, 1852, p. 566) 
had reestablished peace between the Mbaydé (Guaicuri) and the 
Guarani, the former frequently visited Asuncion to trade barbecued 
game and fish, skins, fat, and caraguata textiles for maize, manioc, 
peanuts, bows, and arrows. The Guachi and Payagud provided other 
Indians of the upper Paraguay River with canoes for which they 
received bows, arrows, and other goods. 

In the Colonial Period, the Paisan of the middle Bermejo River 
obtained horses from the Abipon and Mocovi of Santa Fé, whom they 
repaid with spears. The frontier Indians who acquired iron tools from 
the Spaniards bartered them with the people of the interior. 

Forty years ago the 7'apieté received their long shell necklaces from 
the Ashluslay, who seem to have obtained them from the Lengua. 
Lengua merchants visited the Choroti to exchange shell disks for blan- 
kets or domesticated animals. Small loaves of uructi pigment from the 
northern Chaco pass from tribe to tribe as far south as the Bermejo 
River Basin. The Choroti pay as much as a large woolen blanket for 
a single cake of uruct. 

The Chiriguano and Toba visit each other to trade maize for dried 
or smoked fish. The dfataco and Choroti provide the Itiyuro River 
Chané with fish in return for maize. The Guachi of the Miranda River 
brought the Mbayd blankets, feathers, reeds for arrow shafts, and 
various foods, and received knives, scissors, beads, needles, and silver 
plates. Notwithstanding their commercial relations, the Guachi 
never allowed the Mdayd to enter their villages (Sanchez Labrador, 
1910-17, 1:68). 

Tapieté and Mataco bands sometimes settle in Chiriguano villages 
to work several months for their hosts, who pay them with maize. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


The adoption of the horse by the tribes living along the right bank 
of the Paraguay and Parand Rivers broke the uniformity of culture 


302 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


which seems to have prevailed throughout the Chaco at the time of the 
Conquest. 

The Chaco tribes which became equestrian rapidly developed along 
new lines and within a century formed a strongly stratified society 
differing sharply from that of the western and northwestern tribes, 
who carried on the democratic system formerly characteristic of all 
Chaco groups. 

The Arawakan tribes of the northeastern Chaco, though strongly 
influenced by their equestrian suzerains, seem to have preserved some 
features of their earlier social organization. The different social 
structures of these various tribes obliges us to deal separately with the 
social and political organization of the foot Indians (Mataco, Choroti, 
Ashluslay, Maca, Lengua, Toba, Lule-Vilela), of the equestrian tribes 
and canoe tribes (Abipdén, Mocovi, Mbayd, Payagud), and of the 
Arawakan farmers of the north (Guand, Tereno, Layana, Kinikinao). 

The foot Indians.—The basic social unit of these tribes is the 
composite band which consists of a few extended families and num- 
bers from 50 to 200 individuals. These bands are localized, own 
their hunting and fishing territories, have a distinctive name, and 
are under the authority of a chief. The various families aggregated 
in a band are often related by marriage or by blood ties. Identity of 
name is not a bar to marriage within the same band. Endogamous 
unions in a Mataco band tend to exceed in number the exogamous 
ones. On the other hand, Pilaga are reluctant to marry in their own 
band (Henry, J., and Henry, Z., 1944). 

Mataco, Toba, and Chamacoco bands are named after animals( e. g., 
jaguars, peccaries, rabbits, sheep, donkeys, horses, dogs, armadillos, 
fishes, ants, and locusts), plants (e. g., quebracho, palo santo, creep- 
ers), manufactured articles (e. g., red clothes), natural objects (e. g., 
stones), parts of the body or physical characteristics (e. g., joints of 
the body, forehead, hairy people, those-who-move-their-buttocks) , 
temperament or disposition (e. g., evildoers, people-who-throw-things- 
at-themselves), and other things. These Indians do not hold the 
eponym to be sacred. The existing food taboos have nothing to do 
with band affiliation; hence there is no evidence of totemism. Mem- 
bers of an extended family or sometimes of a whole band live in a 
single hut. 

Residence after marriage is commonly matrilocal, though the couple 
later may move to the man’s band. Desccent is established through 
the father, but if the father’s band is small or obscure, the children 
tend to identify themselves with the maternal group (Jfataco). 

Theoretically the household consists of related persons but actually 
many of its members have no blood ties (Pélaga). 

During the algarroba season, when large quantities of beer are 
brewed every day or when an important decision concerning the 


Vor. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 303 


tribe is made, several bands will meet in the territory of some in- 
fluential chief, where all together they will build a large camp. Each 
band, however, maintains its individuality. Bands which constitute 
subtribes now and then coalesce into a single big camp. 

Political organization —Among the tribes of the Bermejo and Pil- 
comayo River area a chief is an influential man, generally the head of 
an extended family, who rises to a dominant position as the result 
of his wisdom, skill, and courage. Many chiefs owe their authority 
to their reputation asshamans. A chief is expected to provide for the 
welfare of his people, to represent his group in dealings with other 
tribes or with Whites, and to see that no harm befalls his community. 
A chief is morally obliged to share all his acquisitions with the mem- 
bers of his band. As he cannot refuse to give up any object coveted 
by a follower, he is often a shabby-looking person. 

No chief would dare to impose a decision at variance with the 
desires of his followers. He generally finds out the wishes of the 
majority by listening to conversations and then carries the matter 
through as if it were his own idea. A chief normally takes the initia- 
tive in hunting and fishing expeditions, and he suggests that the camp 
be moved when game or food plants in the vicinity are becoming 
scarce. He has also some vague judiciary powers; for instance, he 
may force a thief to restore stolen goods. When the council of mature 
men meets, one of the chief’s functions is to address the crowd. For- 
merly, he delivered a speech to his band every morning and evening, 
even though no one seemed to pay the slightest attention to him. 
Likewise, before a drinking party he always exhorts the men to enjoy 
themselves in peace and harmony. If a chief is stingy or unable to 
protect his band from disaster, the families who were his followers 
rapidly desert him to join the band of a more satisfactory leader. 

Over the band chiefs there is often a greater chief who is recognized 
as such by all the bands of a certain district. His village is generally 
a gathering place for several bands. The paramount chief of a sub- 
tribe enjoys great prestige, but his power depends entirely on his 
personality. White people have somewhat increased his authority 
by dealing with him as the tribal representative and by giving him 
military titles. Unfortunately, White people sometimes promote an 
unscrupulous interpreter to the rank of chief, thus destroying the 
cohesion of the group and hastening its disintegration. 

Chiefly status is rarely hereditary. After the death of a chief, any 
man who, in the group’s opinion, has the required qualities for the 
position may take his place. 

Before the breakdown of Joba culture, the position of the chief 
differed somewhat from that in neighboring groups. Although in 
peacetime Zoba chiefs had little to do and, theoretically, could not 
impose their will on ordinary warriors without being challenged by 


304 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bun. 143 


them in the tumult of a drinking bout, their deeds on the battlefield 
gave them more authority than had their colleagues in other tribes. 
The Zoba were essentially warlike and their chiefs, who led their 
constant forays against their neighbors, had to display great courage 
and skill. Under favorable circumstances, these features, indeed, 
might have led to the formation of a stratified social structure similar 
to that of the other equestrian tribes. 

Chieftainship was not entirely hereditary among the Toba, but 
tended strongly to be so, as a chief was succeeded by his son or another 
close relative unless he was unworthy of the office. 

Descendants of a famous chief boasted of their connection and 
enjoyed a certain esteem which may be regarded as a step toward the 
formation of a nobility. The band chiefs were, at least in principle, 
subordinate to a subtribe or district chief, who often was a man of 
great influence and of forceful personality. 

The status of the Abipon chief was very much like that of a Toba 
leader. Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2: 113) defines his functions in the fol- 
lowing terms: 

He provides for the security of his people, he increases the store of weapons, 
sends watchers and scouts to procure supplies from neighbors and to gain alli- 
ances. He rides in front of his troups. 

Forty years ago, three out of the five Chamacoco chiefs were heredi- 
tary rulers and the other two had acquired their rank through merit. 
The supreme chief at that time was a regent for a minor heir. A para- 
mount chief lived successively with each band. Whenever an impor- 
tant decision was to be made, the chiefs discussed it with the assembly 
of old people. There was little difference between chiefs and 
commoners. 

The equestrian tribes.—Little information is available on the 
social structure of the Mocovi. Father Canelas (Furlong C., 1938 c, 
p. 86) speaks in general terms of “noblemen” and “plebeians” who kept 
apart. Members of the first class intermarried to maintain purity of 
blood, but commoners could take wives from other bands or from 
among captives. Nobility was also bestowed on famous warriors. 
Special grammatical forms were used to address a nobleman. 

In contrast to the democratic organization of the Pilcomayo River 
tribes, Mbayd society was rigorously stratified. The adoption of the 
horse gave this tribe a decided advantage over its neighbors, which 
contributed to the formation of a system of classes and even of castes. 
Unable to absorb its countless prisoners, as most Chaco Indians do, each 
group maintained its individuality and hegemony by stressing blood 
purity and the privileges of the conquerors. The subjugated tribes 
were reduced to the condition of serfs and slaves, and the heads of the 
extended Mbayd families constituted a new aristocracy. However, 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 305 


their new social structure did not affect their original division into 
subtribes and bands. 

Nobles and chiefs —Two different types of noblemen (niniotagui) 
existed among the Mbayd. Those who inherited their status and those 
on whom the title was bestowed. The noblemen of the second category 
were individuals born at the same time as a chief’s son, who received a 
title as a special favor. The lowest ranking nobility, they were called 
“ninioni-iguagua” (those who are like chiefs) and had neither fol- 
lowers nor houses of their own. They did not transmit their rank to 
their children and had to obey like any commoner. 

The blood nobility was itself divided into two classes. The higher 
group comprised the senior members of an aristocratic lineage, and 
consisted of the chiefs of large bands and of subtribes. The second 
class of noblemen included all lesser chiefs and “all the [great chiefs’ ] 
descendants and relatives of both sexes, in whatever line or degree.” 

Mbayé chiefs were inordinately vain about their pedigrees and 
affected the greatest pride and insolence. The birth of a chief’s son 
was an occasion for solemn feasts and for games which lasted several 
days. The education of a chief’s male children was entrusted to dis- 
tinguished persons, who were assigned a special hut. Every impor- 
tant event in the life of a chiefly heir, such as his weaning or his par- 
ticipation in children’s games, was celebrated publicly with general 
rejoicing. 

Nevertheless, the exalted position of the chiefs did not give them 
absolute power. Their decisions had to be approved by the council 
of the lesser chiefs, old men, and distinguished warriors. Great chiefs, 
however, could take the initiative in enterprises involving the subtribe 
or the band, such as migrations or war. (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
2: 19-23.) 

When a chief decided to move the camp, he summoned a council of 
the men of his own band and arranged the details of the journey with 
them. Then he dispatched heralds to the lesser chiefs, who had re- 
mained in their huts, to explain the decisions made by the great chief. 
The lesser chiefs expressed their agreement by a stereotyped formula 
in which they lauded the wisdom of their leader, and said, “We shall 
march where he wants us to go.” The ceremony was repeated every 
morning of the journey. When a war expedition was contemplated, 
however, the lesser chiefs met with the great chief. 

An heir to the chiefly dignity who was deemed unfit for his position 
was removed by the council, which then selected another chief. In 
order to keep up at least an appearance of legitimacy, the new leader 
was officially regarded as the mouthpiece of the deposed chief. 

Warriors.—The second social class, far more numerous than that of 
the noblemen, consisted of warriors. “The status of warrior,” writes 
Moure (1862, p. 41), “was transmissible, as was that of captain, which 

583486—46——20 


306 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buy. 143 


entailed important privileges.” Unfortunately, our sources are silent 
about the prerogatives and position of warriors relative to the members 
of the aristocracy. 

Serfs—The subjugation of Guand farmers by Mbayd bands is 
pre-Columbian. In 1552 Ulrich Schmidel observed that the relation- 
ship of the Guand to the Mbayd was like that of German peasants to 
their feudal lords. This peculiar symbiosis between the Guand 
farmers and the nomadic or half-nomadic Mbayd may not have been 
accomplished entirely by force. Sanchez Labrador states that some 
Guana had become serfs as the result of a marriage policy syste- 
matically followed by A/bayd chiefs. By marrying a Guand chief- 
tainess, a Mbayd “captain” became the suzerain of his wife’s subjects. 
In 1766 the chief of the Z'yibogodegi subtribe had taken as his second 
wife the chieftainess of the Guand subtribe of the E'choaladi, whom 
the Mbayd already considered to be their serfs. This and similar 
cases may have suggested to Sanchez Labrador his historical explana- 
tion of the political and social subordination of the Guand. This 
author also brings out the interesting fact that the Guand considered 
themselves subordinate only to Mbayd chiefs, whom they called “our 
lords,” but not to the rank and file of the tribe, whom they adressed 
as “our brothers.” Unions between Mbayd chiefs and Guand women 
may have strengthened the bonds between the two tribes, but cannot 
entirely account for A/bayd ascendency and Gwuand subserviency. 
Actually, the Guand, instead of pledging obedience to the Mbayd as 
their rightful lords, were restive and weary of the latter’s off-hand 
manners and of their heavy demands. During the 19th century, the 
Guand, encouraged by Brazilian support, finally put an end to this 
ancient bondage. Though the marriage policy might have been im- 
portant, it seems more probable, as Almeida da Serra hinted in the 
18th century, that the A/bayd established their suzerainty over the 
Guana by harassing them for years, laying waste their fields, and 
ambushing them outside their villages. The hard-pressed Guana 
farmers bought peace by paying tributes of food, cloth, and other 
commodities, and by serving the Mbayd whenever they were needed. 
After the Mbayd regarded the Guand as their subjects, they protected 
them against the inroads of the other warlike tribes, such as the 
Zamuco, Lengua, and Maced. 

Every year at harvest time a Mbaydé band would spend a few days 
in the village of its Guand subjects. Each chief stayed with his own 
vassals, and the presence of any chief who was not a lawful suzerain 
of that particular Guand village was not tolerated. Even a chief’s 
wife who had hereditary rights over another Guand group left her 
husband and visited her own vassals. The Guand entertained their 
suzerain and his retinue. They brought the expected tribute of 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 307 


blankets and of uructii (Bixa orellana) to the chief alone, for they 
felt no obligation toward other members of their master’s band. The 
presents of the Guand were not precisely a tribute, for the Mbaya 
gave them in return iron objects and glass beads which they had 
looted or traded from the Spaniards. The “noblesse oblige” prin- 
ciple also influenced the attitude of the lords, for though the Guana 
stole whatever they needed from their masters, such thefts were in 
part sanctioned by custom and only elicited from the Mbayd con- 
temptuous remarks, such as, “These Guwand are indeed thieves.” The 
Mobayé chiefs distributed the presents of the Guand among their 
retinue and kept only a few things for themselves. 

The Guandé who served in A/bayd villages, and who at times out- 
numbered their masters, were not obliged to remain among them but 
could leave of their own accord. Apparently, they offered their 
services in return for some reward, the nature of which is not stated. 
It is specifically reported, however, that Guand boys found life among 
the Mbayd pleasant; the main attractions were horseback rides and 
easy intrigues with Mbayd girls. The Guand men who settled among 
the Mbaya tilled the soil, and the women wove cotton garments or 
made pottery for their masters. The Mbayd were kind and con- 
descending to the Guand, but many small details revealed the social 
differences. No Guand servant could wear showy feather ornaments 
or paint himself with uruci without special permission from his 
master. When sitting around the fire, the Guand were not handed 
the pipe that passed from mouth to mouth. Even their chiefs 
suffered humiliations if they made the slightest attempt to put them- 
selves on equal footing with their suzerains. A Mbayd chief who 
had been invited by a Portuguese to dine with some Guand chiefs 
forced them to leave the table and to sit on the floor. 

Slaves.—When referring to the servile population in Mbayd camps, 
our sources do not always draw a clear-cut distinction between the 
Guana serfs and the war captives, though their respective status was 
obviously different. The slaves, properly speaking, were only the 
war captives and their descendants. Among these were representa- 
tives of the following tribes: Guachi, Guatd, Guarani, Caingang, 
Bororo, Cayapo, Chiquito, Chamacoco, and even a few Paraguayan 
Mestizos. In 1802 the Chamacoco, hoping to avert further Mbayda 
raids, sold them 600 slaves, among whom were not only Z’wmereha 
captives, but also many of their own children. 

The possession of many slaves or servants was a symbol of prestige 
and rank. Nothing flattered the vanity of a Mbayd chief more than 
to be followed or served at table by a large retinue of slaves. Mbayd 
women were equally eager to appear in public surrounded by female 


308 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


servants. “Ladies” felt mortified when they lacked slaves to carry 
their possessions, 

Slaves were, as a rule, kindly treated and were considered as rightful 
members of their master’s family. They ate with him, took part in 
games as free men, and were even permitted to attend war councils. 
At home, however, they were relegated to the quarters farthest away 
from those of the household’s head. 

The main duties of the slaves were to fetch fuel, cook, tend horses, 
build huts, till the soil, and, sometimes, to hunt and fish. 

Though a definite emphasis was placed on blood purity, marriages 
between women captives and free men or between free women and 
slaves were not uncommon. Many well-known Mbayd chiefs had 
Guané or Chamacoco mothers. The status of the slaves did not 
improve by such unions, but children born of these marriages were 
free men, though their partly servile origin was a blot to which 
malevolent persons might refer. A few slaves, through personal 
merit or after the death of their master, could become free men. 

In aboriginal times slaves could not be sold, but this rule was 
changed under the influence of the Spaniards and Portuguese. A 
man’s slaves passed after his death to his son or to some other heir. 

The most severe punishment that a Mbayd could inflict on an 
unruly slave was to threaten to take back the horses and other things 
he had given him and refuse to employ him any longer. The slave 
was thus shamed into good behavior. 

By forcing the Chamacoco to supply them with slaves, the Mbayd 
unwittingly contributed to the formation of an incipient slave class 
among these Indians. Some captives were retained by the Chamacoco 
and, although well treated and allowed to marry free people, they 
were nevertheless compelled to perform menial tasks and could not 
own property. Slaves addressed their masters as “father.” 

The Payagua, a canoe tribe.—The information given by Aguirre 
(1911, p. 376) on the social hierarchy among the Payagud is some- 
what obscure. He writes: 


The chiefs of the Sarigue subtribe were called coati, of whom there were 
two categories, the big ones and the small ones. They recognized and obeyed 
the main cacique and brought him food. The latter carried a stick, dressed in 
the best skin cloaks, and lived in a separate hut. As to the other chiefs, at 
least those whom the Payagua call captains, they were not distinct from the 
rest of the people because they had to work for a living and were obliged to 
fish and to cut grass for fodder. 

The Payaguad had a high regard for chiefly dignity and obeyed 
their lesser chiefs more readily than did other Indians. Blood 
purity was an important factor in determining an individual’s status, 
though a title of nobility could be bestowed on young commoners at 
the ceremony in which the chief’s son had his lip perforated to 
receive a labret. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 309 


The military societies—Each Abipdn band had a group of men, 
called hécheri or nelefeycaté, who enjoyed special prestige and in- 
fluence. Dobrizhoffer refers to them as “noblemen,” but actually they 
were members of a military order or society of those who had gained 
fame by their war deeds. 

Admission to the order was preceded by a test of fortitude and 
by various ceremonies. The candidate, with a black bead placed on 
his tongue, had to sit still for 8 days without speaking, eating, or 
drinking. After the ordeal, women surrounded him and mourned his 
ancestors. Then, mounted on a horse, he called on an old medicine 
woman whose hut he approached from the four directions of the 
compass successively, pausing each time to listen to homilies she 
delivered for his benefit. His head was then shaved, and the old 
woman celebrated his exploits and his forefathers’ military fame. 
He was given a new name, characterized by the ending “in,” which 
was reserved to the members of the order. The name was immedi- 
ately promulgated and “festively pronounced by a band of women 
striking their lips with their hands.” A drinking bout closed the 
ceremony. The hécheri differentiated themselves from other people 
not by special ornaments, but by certain mannerisms of speech or the 
profuse use of redundant syllables which gave to their language a 
“noble” turn. Those who addressed them had to add the suffix “in” 
to words. Moreover, the members of the society had some words 
peculiar to themselves. Some hécheri, however, scornful of the privi- 
lege, were content with normal speech. There were also warriors 
of renown who for one reason or another obstinately refused to join 
the military society. Some women were admitted into the order by 
virtue of the “merits of their parents, husbands, or brothers.” The 
new name which they assumed ended with the “en” suffix. 

A military order composed of outstanding warriors seems to have 
existed among the pre-equestrian Mbayd, when they were known as 
Guaicuri. Young warriors who had distinguished themselves in 
battle were urged to go through an initiation ceremony which placed 
them on an equal level with elder warriors. They appeared in public 
with paint and elaborate feather ornaments, and with their hair 
shaved except for a band from one ear to the other. They played the 
drum and chanted for a whole day and were repeatedly jabbed by 
adult warriors, who smeared their heads with the oozing blood. 

Warrior societies, which probably existed in pre-Conquest times, 
must have contributed to the formation of a military nobility. Even 
among the Abzpdén, who retained much of the old democratic spirit 
of the band, ceremonial recognition was accorded not only the candi- 
date, but also his forefathers. The Mocovi noblemen were merely 
members of military societies. 


310 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 148 


The Arawakan tribes.—The TJereno are divided into two en- 
dogamous moieties, one called the good one and the other the bad 
one. Each is said to be related to one of the mythical twins. The 
moieties are not segregated and the division becomes apparent only 
during the yearly war dance, known as the “dance-of-the-ostrich- 
feather-dress.” 

The Zereno, who like all the Guand subtribes reshaped their society 
on the M/bayd pattern, even in recent years recognized three distinct 
soccial ranks: the chief’s class (nati), the warriors (shunachati), and 
the camp followers (machatichane). The last were at the service of the 
warriors but could be raised to the warrior’s rank after killing many 
enemies. Intermarriage between these classes was not allowed and 
was even punishable. 

The Guand were ruled by hereditary chiefs who enjoyed considera- 
tion and influence in the assemblies, but their power depended on “their 
personal renown, force of character, and ability as leaders” (Hay, 
1928, p. 107). Chiefs controlled local affairs and enforced the laws, 
but they could not take any initiative without the approval of the 
council of warriors. 

Among the Zereno, authority was divided between the heads of the 
extended families, the village chiefs, and the paramount chief of the 
tribe—an office probably forced on them by the Brazilians. 

A Tereno chief’s oldest son succeeded to his title unless one of his 
father’s brother’s sons was older. Next in line came the chief’s oldest 
grandson or his brother’s grandson; then followed the oldest son of the 
chief’s sister, the husband of the chief’s oldest daughter, the oldest son 
of the chief’s oldest daughter, the husband of the oldest daughter of the 
chief’s brother’s grandson, the chief’s oldest sister’s husband, and the 
husband of the chief’s sister’s oldest daughter. Hay (1928, p. 107), con- 
firming a statement made by Sanchez Labrador and Rengger,* says 
that even nowadays women may succeed to a chief’s title. 

This rule of succession explains why Mbaydé chiefs who marry 
Guana chieftainesses were regarded by the latters’ subjects as their 
lawful leaders. 

All the boys born within a few months of the chief’s son were re- 
garded at his particular followers. When the heir apparent became 
15, his father invited all the chiefs of the region to a big feast. Wear- 
ing all their ornaments, painted all over, and singing, they circled the 
young man. The ceremony was followed by 2- to 4-day banquets. 

Kinship terms.—Extensive lists of kinship terms have been re- 
corded only among the Mataco, the Tereno, and the Pilagd. These 


48 Rengger (1835, p. 335) writes, “Chiefly dignity is hereditary and when the male line 
is extinct it passes to the widow or the daughter of the deceased chief. If she marries, 
her husband becomes chief. She may divorce him and her third husband assumes then the 
rank of chief. Chiefs do not wear any insignia and do not receive any tribute. They are 
always at the head of the group in peace or in war time.” 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 311 


three tribes distinguish grandparents according to sex, and extend 
these terms to include all the grandparents’ siblings and spouses. 
They have special terms for uncle and aunt, but do not distinguish be- 
tween the siblings of either parent. In Ego’s generation, younger sib- 
lings are distinguished from older ones and the same terms are applied 
to parallel- and cross-cousins. The M/ataco and Tereno call their sib- 
lings’ children “nephew” and “niece.” The children of sons, daugh- 
ters, nephews, and nieces are all designated as “grandchildren.” 

The Mataco classify the father-in-law and mother-in-law with the 
grandparents, and the children-in-law are equated to the grandchil- 
dren. All other affinal relatives may be addressed by terms meaning 
“male-” or “female-relative-in-law.” If, however, there is a close tie 
between affinal relatives of different generations, they address each 
other as “grandparent” or “grandchild.” There is a special Mataco 
term for the spouse of the brother- or sister-in-law. 


ETIQUETTE 


In many Chaco tribes (Lengua-Maca,** Kaskiha, Choroti, Vilela, 
Chamacoco) a person who returns from a long absence is greeted with 
tears and funeral laments if someone has died in the group while he 
wasaway. Such manifestations of grief serve to notify the traveler of 
the sad event. The members of a Mbayd band who had been absent 
from the village when a death had occurred cried and moaned as soon 
as they returned home. 

The visit of a M/bayd chief to some colleague was marked by elab- 
orate formalities. Before entering the village, the visitor sent four 
messengers who sat down on either side of the prospective host; after 
a moment of silence, they rose and delivered a speech announcing the 
arrival of the chief’s “brother.” The chief then begged them to sit 
down, thanked them, and served them food. Afterward he dispatched 
emissaries to greet the distinguished guest and to guide him to the 
temporary tent erected for his lodging, where he was given food 
and was formally visited by his host. A musician, covered with 
feather ornaments and profusely painted, sang in honor of the visitor 
to the accompaniment of a gourd rattle and a drum. The climax 
of the reception was a party at which everyone drank mead to his 
heart’s content. 

When a Mbayd band went to call formally on another band, the 
visitors stopped the day before a short distance from the host’s village, 
where they painted themselves and donned their best ornaments. The 


4 Azara (1809, 2:151) says: “Ils [the Lengua] emploient entr’eux une singuliére 
formule de politesse, lorsqu’ils revoient quelqu’un aprés quelque tems d’absence. Voici & 
quoi elle se réduit: les deux indiens versent quelques larmes avant que de se dire un seul 
mot; en agir autrement serait un outrage, ou du moins une preuve que la visite n’est pas 
agréable.” 


312 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buu. 143 


next morning, several mounted scouts approached the village and 
fought a mock skirmish. The others came on foot and were en- 
gaged in a general boxing tournament by their hosts. After ex- 
changing a few blows, the visitors stormed the village and pillaged 
whatever their hosts had been unable to hide the day before. After 
this simulated warfare, they all sat down to eat and drink together. 

In most Guaicuruan-speaking tribes, when some member of the 
hand or a visitor was about to set out on a journey, an old woman would 
dance a few steps and chant a magic formula to bless him (Mbayd, 
Pilagd, Abipon). A returning traveler or a guest was often received 
in the same manner. Among the Kaskihd, the old women who per- 
formed the rite unburdened their visitor and carried his weapons 
or his load to their huts, while chanting plaintively. 

The Mocovi greeting was, “Here I am,” to which the host answered, 
“You are here.” The same formula, with a slight grammatical change. 
was used both by noble people and by those who addressed them. 
No Mocovi would enter a house or dismount from his horse without 
an invitation. When asked why he had come, the conventional reply 
was, “Just for nothing.” Like modern Yoda, they took leave by sim- 
ply saying, “I am leaving,” to which those present replied, “Go.” 
To omit this courtesy was interpreted as evidence of anger. 

During a meeting, all participants had to declare in turn that 
it had lasted long enough before adjourning. Good breeding de- 
manded that a man who met another on the road inquired where 
he was going. 

When the Ashluslay, Pilagd, or Choroti arrive at a village as visitors, 
they spend the first night singing to the rhythm of their rattles a chant 
by which they express their friendly intentions. 


WARFARE 


All Chaco Indians were extremely warlike; many still are. The 
most bellicose were the members of the Guaicuruan family, who were 
greatly feared not only by their neighbors but also by the Spaniards. 
The Abzpon and the Mbaya were among the few Indian tribes of South 
America that challenged Spanish domination and repeatedly defeated 
the Whites. Dobrizhoffer (1784) says of the Abipén, “Their whole 
soul was bent upon arms.” ‘There is little doubt that the introduc- 
tion of the horse, which placed the Indian warrior on equal footing 
with the Spaniard and added to his mobility, accentuated the war- 
like disposition of the Guaicurié and increased the militaristic trend 
of their culture. Chance alone does not account for the fact that 
all the horsemen of the Chaco were Guaicuruan-speaking Indians; 
They wanted the horse because it meant more to them than to their 
less aggressive neighbors. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 313 


The main motives which prompted Chaco Indians to make war 
were: Revenge for the death of some member of the group caused 
by overt violence or witchcraft; trespassing on hunting or fishing 
grounds; loot, especially herds of sheep and other animals; and the 
desire to capture women and children (Mbayd, Mocovi). 

Many tribes in the Chaco were and still are traditional enemies; 
thus, from time immemorial, the 7'’oba and the Pilagd have waged 
a bitter war against their neighbors across the Pilcomayo River, the 
Ashluslay and the Macd. The Mataco and Toba have ceased killing 
each other only in recent times. The Zengua continually skirmish 
with the tribes along their western borders. Alliances between tribes 
occurred very seldom, but on several occasions the Abzpén banded with 
the Toba and Mocovi to raid the Spanish frontier. 

In former days, the decision to begin a campaign against an enemy 
band or tribe was made by a chief. As a rule, he invited his fellow 
leaders to a drinking bout to discuss the matter with them and gain 
their approval and cooperation. At such a meeting the leader of the 
expedition was chosen. Among the 7'oba, if the band chief were too 
old, some younger and more enterprising warrior, generally one of his 
close relatives, was selected. The power of a war leader was in sharp 
contrast to the lax and indefinite authority which a chief enjoyed 
in peacetime; nevertheless, an Abzpdn war chief could not prevent the 
desertion of families that were unwilling to fight. The decision to 
wage war was an occasion for merrymaking, drinking, dancing, and 
celebrating the anticipated victory. A Zengua band preparing for 
war summoned the other bands by sending messengers with red arrows, 
who told them the place of rendezvous. 

The duties of an Abipén war leader were to gain allies, to take all 
measures for the safety of noncombatants, to see that the war party 
had the necessary horses and weapons, and to organize the informa- 
tion service by sending scouts and spies ahead of the troup. The 
chief rode in front of his men and was the first to charge the enemy. 
The Mbaya war chiefs, on the other hand, brought up the rear. 

The Pilagd, before marching against the enemy, drank beer and 
performed the dance of courage to make them valiant. The women 
had to observe several taboos lest they harm their men during their 
absence. For instance, they might not twist cordage on their thighs, 
as this would prevent the warriors from running fast enough. Men- 
struating women might not sit on the ground. Sexual intercourse 
before a war expedition was regarded as extremely dangerous. The 
warriors themselves could not eat the head, the legs, or the grease of 
any game. The Abzpén regarded the period of the waning moon as 
the most propitious time to set out to war. 

No special order was kept during the march. The Indians scat- 
tered every day in order to hunt, but at night they met at a designated 


314 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


place. Camps were selected so that the natural protection of a river, 
lake, or wood prevented surprise attacks. When resting in the eve- 
ning, the shamans, who accompanied the Pilaga, fell into a trance, 
and their familiar spirits helped them ascertain the whereabouts of 
the enemy. During the night, the Abipén scouted the nearby plains, 
sometimes blowing horns and trumpets, to make sure that there was 
no danger nearby. 

Before attacking, the chiefs waited for the reports of scouts sent 
to observe the movements of their opponents. The men crawled close 
to the enemy camps and remained in touch with one another by imitat- 
ing animal and bird calls. They also conveyed messages by breaking 
branches in a special way or by tying knots in the high grass. To 
avoid leaving footprints, they tied pieces of skin to the soles of their 
feet (Abipén). The Lengua posted messengers at set intervals so 
that the scouts could always communicate with the main troops. 

Just before engaging the enemy, if circumstances permitted, the 
Abipén, Toba, and probably all other Chaco Indians brewed mead and 
celebrated a drinking bout during which they threatened their enemies 
and celebrated their own past deeds with rhetorical outbursts. Be- 
fore the battle, all Chaco Indians except the Mbayd painted them- 
selves with red and black dyes. The Mbayd used black but never red 
dye which, for an obvious association, they believed would bring bad 
luck. Warriors also donned their best ornaments. Head bands dec- 
orated with horns or toucan beaks or hairnets of red wool were gen- 
erally worn on the battlefield by the Abipén, Mocovi, and Mbaya. 

Indian tactics always aimed at avoiding casualties. Even the belli- 
cose Abipén or Mbayd would flee if they suffered a few losses; battles 
were, therefore, rarely bloody, unless a surprise attack succeeded. A 
war party usually sought to storm the unsuspecting enemy camp be- 
fore dawn when everybody was still asleep. After shooting a few 
volleys and setting fire to the huts with incendiary arrows, the attack- 
ers, armed with clubs, would rush into the village to massacre every- 
body except young women and children. The surprised victims would 
try to resist long enough to allow the women and children to run away 
into the bush, where they scattered to avoid mass capture. The attack 
was also preceded by a terrific shouting and the playing of trumpets 
or clarinets. Like some North American Indians, the Zoba, when 
charging their enemies, shouted while striking their mouths with their 
hands. The J/bayd formed a crescent with flute players in the center. 
The Mocovi generally placed themselves in two lines around their chief, 
according to the closeness of their relationship to him. The Adbzpon 
put archers in the middle and spearmen on the wings. They rarely 
fought on horseback, but left their mounts at some distance to the 
rear guarded by a special troop of younger men; but sometimes they 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX ol5 


attacked on horseback, and charged in several parties to harass the 
enemy on all sides. They had marvelous control over their horses: 
they could hang from their mounts or, to avoid missiles, conceal 
themselves entirely under their horses’ bellies. The Mocovi cavalry 
was followed by infantrymen, and, while the main body fought, small 
groups raided the horses and cattle. 

When fighting on foot, the Indians dodged about constantly to avoid 
enemy arrows, and continually howled to sustain their courage and 
frighten the opponents. 

A common ruse which the Abipon used against the Spaniards was 
to disband as if to run away and then rush back as soon as the latter 
had broken their ranks to pursue them. 

A victorious Abipén party informed its village through a messenger, 
who first enumerated the casualties suffered by the enemies and the 
booty taken. ‘This news was hailed by a crowd of women and old men 
who struck their lips with the right hand. No herald ever mentioned 
a, deceased warrior by name but referred to him as the relative of so 
and so. The warriors returned home individually, without ostenta- 
tion. Ifa young Mbayd had killed an enemy, his mother made gifts 
to his companions and organized a drinking bout. 

There is no mention of disputes over the booty. Each man brought 
home his captives, herds, or other loot. A Pélagd chief gave all his 
spoils to his followers and only retained one captive (Arnott, 1934 a). 
It is stated that M/bayd slaves who fought by the side of their masters 
were allowed to keep the prisoners they had taken. 

Trophies.—For trophies, the Indians took either heads (ancient 
Guaicurt) or scalps (Mataco, Choroti, Ashluslay, Chunupi, Isistiné, 
Lule, Abipon, Mocovi, Toba, Pilagé, Mbayd). Abipén and Mataco 
scalped so as to include the skin of the nose and ears. The Ashluslay 
dried scalps over smoke and mounted on a wooden hoop. 

The Abipon, like so many South American tribes, used the bones of 
their dead enemies to make pipes or whistles and their skulls for cups. 

Victory feasts.—A victorious 7’oba or Pilagd war party was re- 
ceived by women who danced holding tufts of red feathers. Warriors 
handed their scalps to the women, particularly to those who had lost 
a husband in the war. The women danced and played with these 
trophies, derisively treating them as husbands or lovers and impro- 
vising comic dialogue between the scalps and themselves. The war- 
riors, who wore masks made of bags stretched over a wooden frame 
and decorated with feathers and who painted red and black stripes 
across their bodies and attached bells to their ankles, danced to drums 
around a pole on the top of which the scalps hung (pl. 74, top). Dur- 
ing the dance, which consisted mainly of running wildly about, they 
punctured themselves with bone awls trimmed with feathers and sang 


316 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


their personal songs or those inherited from their fathers. They 
shouted to the scalps, “May he die,” an apostrophe directed either at 
the soul of the enemy or at his kin. A man who had killed an enemy 
was entitled to wear the red feathers of certain birds and to carry a 
ceremonial cord covered with beads. (See Arnott, 1934 ay Métraux, 
1937, pp. 396-398; Rydén, 1935.) 

Mocovi warriors brought home the skulls or the scalps of their slain 
foes, and were received by old women who danced, beat drums, and 
shouted, striking their mouths with their hands. The trophies were 
suspended from posts around which old women danced every day for 
a month. A warrior attached a new feather to his spear every time 
he killed a man. 

The Zule also celebrated their triumphs by giving the scalps to old 
women, who danced with them (Firlong C., 1941, p. 84). 

The AM/baydé women carried the scalps, bones, and weapons of the 
enemy on their husbands’ spears, to celebrate the prowess of their 
men. The victory feast terminated in boxing matches. 

The Adbzpén solemnly celebrated the anniversaries of great victories. 
The heads of the extended families were invited by criers or heralds, 
generally old medicine men of low birth, who, carrying a stick with a 
little bell, visited each house. The women received them, striking 
their lips and shouting. The herald handed them the stick, delivered 
his message, and, taking back the stick, went on. For the occasion, 
the host built a large hall to shelter his guests. The scalps taken dur- 
ing the battle were displayed on a reed platform nearby and were hung 
on spears fixed in the middle of the plaza where the people sat. The 
Indians drank profusely and at night listened to “bards” who, chant- 
ing in pairs, related their heroic deeds and derided their enemies. The 
subjects of these epics, according to Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2:478) were 
“warlike expeditions, slaughters, and spoils of the enemy, the taking of 
towns, the plundering of wagons and estates, the burning and depopu- 
lation of colonies of the Spaniards.” 

Peace making.—A Lengua band that wanted peace sent emissaries 
carrying bundles of arrows and bows tied together. They were re- 
ceived by a deputation from the enemy village. Peace could not be 
sealed before both enemy groups had paid the wergild for all the dead 
of the respective families. Members of neutral bands were used as 
go-betweens. 

Treatment of prisoners.—Men were rarely spared by the Mbayd 
unless they could be sold as slaves to the Spaniards. Women, espe- 
cially if young, and children were captured and incorporated into the 
victor’s tribe. The Mbayd, Mocovi, Abipén, and Chamacoco are the 
only Chaco Indians who treated the women or children captives as 
slaves rather than as rightful members of the group. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX B17 


The “Comentarios de Alvar Nuiiez Cabeza de Vaca” state (Hernan- 
dez, 1852, p. 564) that among the M/bayd a woman could intervene to 
save a prisoner’s life and even gain his freedom. A captive might be 
adopted into the tribe if he wished. 

The Abipén pretended to despise their war captives and theoretically 
refused to intermarry with them even though they were Spaniards. 
The honor of a kidnapped White woman was said to have been safe, 
not because they respected her, but, on the contrary, because they did 
not wish to lose caste by taking her as a wife or concubine. War 
prisoners enjoyed great freedom, and many took such a liking to the 
roaming life of their captors that they refused to be ransomed. Some 
Abipén masters were so fond of their slaves that they preferred to 
starve rather than deprive their captives of food. The captives per- 
formed menial tasks, which, however, were always requested in a gen- 
tle manner, and they rarely or never received corporal punishment. 
(For the treatment of war captives among the Mbayd, see Social 
Organization, p. 307.) 

The Payagué either killed their prisoners or sent them back to their 
families for a ransom of food. 

Signals.—Chaco Indians on the warpath or on hunting trips have 
various methods of communication. They warn of an impending 
danger with columns of smoke. Bunches of grass knotted in a certain 
way and placed on a forked limb show stragglers the direction taken 
by their companions. The position and the nature of an object left 
as a signal convey various kinds of information. The inclination of 
a stick tells the distance from one point to another, probably showing, 
as a sundial, the time needed for covering it. Objects hanging from 
a branch announce to late-comers that the band has left for a feast. 
An arrow means war or trouble (Toba, Payagua, Lengua). 


LIFE CYCLE 


Pregnancy.—Several Chaco tribes believe that children are formed 
by the sperm which sprouts in the womb like seed in the earth, and 
that the presence of the fetus blocks the flow of menstrual blood. The 
Mataco attribute sterility to an obstruction in the uterus, which is 
caused by sorcery and is difficult to cure. Zoba and Mataco believe 
that intercourse must be repeated to cause pregnancy; men wishing to 
produce abundant sperm, drink broths made of various birds. 

When a woman knows that she is pregnant, she and her husband 
abstain from foods and activities which may endanger the delivery, 
or harm the child’s appearance or character. These taboos are en- 
forced until the child is regarded as sufficiently developed. Birds are 
especially excluded from the diet; so are many animals and certain 
parts of animals. For instance, the Joba and Pilagé may not eat the 


318 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


legs and brains of game lest the baby be born bowlegged or with an 
open skull. To eat the heads of certain animals would threaten the 
child’s life. The husband of an expectant mother has to cease certain 
kinds of work: He may not use cutting instruments, for if he were 
to fell a tree, the baby would be born with a cleft lip; he may not wear 
boots lest the child’s legs be crooked. If he keeps his hat on, the child’s 
skull will be flat. Just before confinement, the husband unties his belt 
and loosens his garments to facilitate delivery. He removes his neck- 
lace lest the navel cord strangle the baby. A prospective Pilaga father 
is convinced that to clean his pipe with a straw would cause the fetus 
to choke. Before childbirth, Pilagd women rub stingray fat on their 
stomachs to facilitate delivery, because this fish carries its “babies in 
a pocket outside its body” (Palavecino, 1933 a, p. 539). 

Childbirth.—Detailed information on childbirth is available only 
for the Mataco. A Mataco woman in labor is generally surrounded by 
female relatives or friends who are ready to assist her. She sits on 
the thighs of some older woman who squats on the ground and, to ease 
the pain, clings to a post in front of her. She is usually delivered in 
this position. If labor is unusually long—a circumstance attributed 
to sorcery or to the husband’s negligence—some self-styled midwife 
presses the lower part of her abdomen. Until the placenta is expelled, 
they are loath to cut the cord. 

An Ashluslay woman gives birth in a squatting position, assisted by 
her mother, who cuts the navel cord. Childbirth takes place under a 
shelter built ad hoc. 

According to Hassler (1894, p. 354), a Haskihad woman was delivered 
in a special cabin built in the bush, where she was helped by another 
woman. The navel cord, cut with a bone knife, was sent to the father, 
who placed it on the roof of the hut if the child were a boy, or buried 
it if it were a girl. The mother remained home for about 40 days 
living exclusively on vegetables. The father refrained from eating 
meat for about 8 days after his child’s birth, and was particularly 
careful not to get his feet wet. 

The Choroti, Toba, and Ashluslay, though well acquainted with 
meta] tools, use only the ancient bamboo or shell knife to cut the cord. 
The Choroti and the Toba are said to keep it until the navel wound is 
perfectly healed. 

Chamacoco women give birth in the bush, generally unassisted. 
They cut the navel cord with their nails and spit in the baby’s eyes 
lest he be blind, a rite performed again later by a shaman. For a 
month, the mother eats nothing cold and lives on bird flesh, palm 
shoots, and boiled pigeon. She drinks only boiled water. The parents 
refrain from sexual intercourse for about 2 years (Baldus, 1931 a, 


p. 45). 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 319 


An Abipon father of a newborn child fasted and lay in bed covered 
with mats and skins. For some time he refrained from snuffing to- 
bacco, eating capybara flesh, riding horseback to the point of perspir- 
ing, tasting honey taken from the earth in a place that had been 
stepped on, and swimming across rivers. Z'ereno fathers observed a 
5-day couvade and abstained from several foods. 

As a rule, there is no elaborate childbirth ceremony except for a 
chief’s son, and its importance is proportionate to the chief’s pres- 
tige. For an ordinary birth, a Zobda chants and rattles his gourd, but 
at the birth of a chief's son, the whole community dances and makes 
merry for several days while shamans recite charms to the rhythm of 
the gourd rattles. The ancient A/baya celebrated the birth of a male 
heir to a great chief by dancing, playing games, and parading for 8 
days. The most spectacular show was a parade of old women im- 
personating Mocovi warriors. The masqueraders visited the baby, 
wearing horsehair wigs symbolizing scalps and holding ceremonial 
arrows and miniature bows and spears. They vied for the honor of 
giving the breast to the baby, and presented him a decorated mat. 
The chief’s baby spent a night with another baby who was to become 
his brother-in-arms. Both were then taken to the chief’s hut under 
a canopy, and were followed by a long procession. On the eighth day 
the baby’s hair was cut, and his ears and lip perforated. 

The Abipon also rejoiced for 8 days in similar circumstances. As 
soon as the baby was born, women beat the roof and walls of his hut 
with palm boughs to signify that “the child was to become famous in 
war and the scourge of his enemies.” Another performance was that of 
the girls who, led by a strong woman wearing a rhea feather apron 
and holding a whip, beat all the men. The same strong woman chal- 
lenged all the stout women to wrestle. The following 4 days were 
devoted to games, drinking bouts, and singing accompanied by drums. 
On the 3rd day boys and girls formed a circle and danced, whirling 
around under the direction of an old precentress who shook a gourd 
rattle. 

Women carry their babies in a sling, straddling the left hip (pl. 67). 
Payaguda mothers are said to have facilitated nursing by compressing 
their breasts with a leather strap passing across the chest. 

Abortion and infanticide.——The rapid decline of so many Chaco 
tribes has often been explained by the deeply rooted practice of in- 
fanticide so general throughout the Chaco. The vehement accusa- 
tions of infanticide made by the early missionaries have, in fact, been 
borne out by modern evidence. When an unmarried Mataco, Choroté, 
or Joba girl is pregnant, she commits abortion or kills her baby with- 
out the slightest hesitation. The M/bayd women did the same in order 
to postpone becoming mothers as long as possible. I< is reported that 


320 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


even married Mataco women provoke a miscarriage at their first 
pregnancy to facilitate the delivery of the next child. Many legends 
circulating in the Chaco extol marvelous drugs used by the native 
women to cause abortion. Actually, the method is purely mechanical: 
in the third or fourth month of pregnancy a friend presses the wom- 
an’s abdomen with her thumbs or fists or beats it until the fetus is 
dead. 

A deserted woman always kills her newborn offspring. The 
Lengua invariably dispose of the first child, if it is a girl. Chaco 
women get rid of any abnormal baby, for instance, one with black 
skin. 

Twins are usually killed, for their birth is regarded as a bad omen. 
The ancient Lule, who believed that a man could only father one child 
at a time, attributed twins to the mother’s adultery and killed one baby 
(Lozano, 1941, p.416). Twins born in a Mbayd community were taken 
to the shaman, who shut himself in a mat lodge, chanted, and shook his 
rattle while uttering gloomy prophecies, and then buried the babies 
alive or exposed them in the bush. Certain tribes rationalize such 
infanticide by saying that no woman can nurse two children. A bad 
dream prior to childbirth may also spell its death. 

The preferred sex varies from tribe to tribe. The Zengua and 
Guana kept only a few girls; the Adipdn, on the contrary, preferred 
female children, recognizing that later they would bring a good bride 
price. If the mother died during childbirth, her child was buried 
alive with her. 

Many theories attempt to explain the widespread practice of infant- 
icide in the Chaco. One holds that the seminomadism of these Indians 
makes many children an excessive burden for the woman, who has to 
carry and care for them. Moreover, in several tribes where a nursing 
woman abstains from sexual intercourse with her husband, and chil- 
den are suckled 3 and even 4 years, she often prefers to kill her child 
rather than to be deserted (Abipén). The Jesuit Baucke (1870, p. 
247), states that the Mocovi killed their newborn babies when there 
was the slightest suspicion of illegitimacy, when they had too many 
children, when they were on a journey, or when there was scarcity 
of food. 

Naming.—Children are named after birds, animals, places, or some 
peculiar physical or character trait. Often a name may be suggested 
to a parent by some incident from real lifeoradream. MJ/ataco fathers 
not only name their children, when they are 2 or 3 years old, after some 
object or animal of which they have dreamed, but they even call them 
after disconnected words or sentences uttered by some character in a 
dream. Among the Joba, a child’s relatives gather around it after 
the navel cord has dropped off. An old man recites a list of names 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX Bai | 


until the shaman finds the appropriate one, usually that of some an- 
cestor who is supposed to be reincarnated in the infant. 

The Mataco are always very reluctant to reveal their names, and 
when urged to do so, they ask some other person to pronounce it for 
them. These Indians will often contend that a person is nameless. 
To address an Abipén by his name was a grievous insult which he was 
morally obligated to avenge. Z’wmerehd men have several names: one 
given to them by the shaman and the others by their relatives. A 
woman’s true name is never divulged even to her husband; the names 
to which she answers are known as “dog names.” 

There are only two brief references to teknonymy in the Chaco. 
Mocovi and Lengua parents were called “mother and father of so and 
so.” 

Education.—All observers have been impressed by the Chaco 
Indians’ fondness for their children (pl. 67) and their failure to use 
corporal punishment or even harsh words in dealing with them. The 
Mbayé satisfied every whim of their children, and even willingly sold 
their horses or moved their camps if the children so desired. Abipdn 
warriors interpreted a child’s aggressive behavior, even when directed 
against the parents, as a sign of courage. 

Children are trained for their future occupations first through games 
and play. Little girls accompany their mothers to the bush carrying 
diminutive nets or go to the river with toy water jars. Small boys are 
given bows and arrows and are encouraged to shoot at targets or at 
smal] animals. Boys of more or less the same age play in groups. 
They show little or no brutality or violence, and they rarely bully 
small children. The Indian children are normally remarkably gay 
and lively, and willingly perform any task demanded of them. From 
early childhood they are trained to share their food. Boys of 12 or 
13 regard themselves as grown up; they participate in dances and take 
some interest in girls. 

Boys’ initiation rites.—Initiation rites are described only for the 
following tribes: Mbayd, Payagud, Vilela, and Chamacoco. Grubb 
(1913, p. 177) alludes to a special dance to commemorate a boy’s 
coming of age, but gives no detail. 

A Mbayd boy of about 13 attained warrior’s status through a 
ceremony. Having painted himself red and white and wearing all 
his feather, bead, and metal ornaments, he chanted for a whole night 
and day, beating a drum. At sunset a shaman pricked the boy’s 
penis and jabbed his body with a jaguar-bone awl, causing blood to 
flow abundantly. The boy was expected to remain impassive. His 
blood was then smeared all over his body. Afterward the novice 


“ Palavecino (1933 a, p. 560) states that the Pilagé assume a new name—always that 
of an animal or plant—when they are sick. 


583486—46——21 


322 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


invited the band to drink, and threw beads, knives, and blankets 
to the crowd. 

There is some evidence in the literature that certain Guaicuru 
groups imposed this ordeal on young children, who likewise had to 
show their courage by not flinching. The lower lip was perforated 
by a famous warrior during early childhood. At puberty they jabbed 
the boy’s genitals and pulled out one of the two remaining crowns 
of hair on his tonsured head. The adolescent was now regarded 
as an adult and was allowed to wear bracelets and a belt of animal 
or human hair. 

The Payagua perforated a boy’s lower lip at the age of 4. For a 
chief’s son, this was the occasion for a solemn feast. For several 
days the members of the group drank, chanted, and shook their 
rattles. Finally, a shaman holding the boy was paraded about on 
a profusely decorated litter. The crowd threw them many presents, 
such as necklaces, food, and cotton, and men sprinkled them with 
blood extracted from their genitals. Small boys of the same age 
were designated as soldiers of the future chief (Aguirre, 1911, p. 
363) .8 

Paisan boys who had reached puberty underwent a mysterious 
ceremony celebrated around a sacred tree. The initiates, with crop- 
ped hair, returned to the village holding flowers or boughs. Thence- 
forth, they were regarded as fullfledged men. 

Chamacoce initiation rites strangely resemble those of the Yaghan 
(p. 98). 

Two men ask the boy’s mother to give him to them. If she re- 
fuses, spirit-impersonators come to claim the youth. The boys are 
taken to a secluded place in the bush, where they live for a month 
with old men who teach them tribal lore and moral code. Finally, 
they are told that the “Spirits” who appear at the Anapdéso feast 


44 Acuirre (1911, p. 363) states: “Vi una de estas celebrando 4 un nifio como de 3 afios, 
hijo de Samaniego Guachia, era indio principal Sarigue . . . Pusieron 400 varas de toldo, 
40 palmas pequefias y hasta ellas hicieron una calle de ramas plantadas. Al pié de 
aquellas, sobre cuatro palos largos en el medio unas tablas, y sobre estas por medio de 
unas estacas y esteras formaron un hueco, como de una pequena carreta y aun asi nos 
la Ilaman, la cual emplumaron y adornaron. MHabiendo procedido algunos dias y noches 
de borracheras, de canto con sus tamboretes sin faltar las heridas de la espina de raya, 
el del paseo y Gltimo de la celebraci6én que se embijan a lo riguroso (en lo que he observado 
superan a las demas naciones) carga el padrino que siempre es uno de los pays al chico 
ambos extremosamente embijados y entran en la carreta. TOmala al hombro la indiana 
y por la calle van al toldo en cuyo frente da tres paseos cortos 4 la derecha y 4 la izquierda 
y vuelve despues al lugar de las palmas donde la deshacen al despojo. 

“Durante el paseo es el alboroto: unos echan hacia la carreta, abalorios, chipas, frutas, 
Ovillos de hilo, ete. que son para quién los coje; otros cantan y hacen gestos, principalmente 
las indias y tambien hay quienes la aspercean con su sangre, la més sagrada la del miembro 
mezclada con agua. Este es el obsequio del distinguido nifio que como esperan ha de 
capitanear; entonces le nombran para soldados algunos coetanos que no gozan del 
ilustre rito de las andas, entre ellos negesi. Es puramente militar con cuyo objeto se 
hacen visibles los deseos del dia en los moquetes y luchas que resultan como en otras 
cucaias, en el canto, etc.” 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 323 


(p. 358) are merely masked men, and that if anyone reveals this 
secret to the women, he will be beaten to death (Métraux, 1943). 

When Guané children were 8 years old they were sent to the forest 
for a whole day of fasting and silence, and came back at night. Old 
women pinched and pierced their arms with sharp bones, a torture 
which the children had to endure without complaint. 

Girls’ puberty rites—Among the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River 
tribes, a girl’s puberty is celebrated with dances and chants which 
evidently are intended to protect her against supernatural dangers. 
The manner in which spirits threaten her is ritually dramatized by 
the Lengua. Women strike the ground with long staves, at the top 
of which are attached bunches of deer hoofs, and beat the time of 
their chant while walking around a choir leader. This precentress 
goes “through many strange contortions of the body, at times pre- 
tending to tear out her own hair.” The men also form circles, each 
chanting to the rhythm of a gourd rattle. Lines of boys dressed in 
rhea plumes and wearing masks representing evil spirits, weave in 
and out among the crowd, jingling bunches of hoofs, and from time 
to time uttering prolonged shrill cries. Whenever they come near 
the girl, the women drive them off (Grubb, 1913, p. 178). 

Among the Choroti, Mataco, and Ashluslay, some women—among 
the Choroti the mother and a few companions—walk in a circle every 
night outside of the menstruating girl’s hut, stamping their staffs 
while shamans shake their rattles and beat drums. The performance 
of this rite lasts fora month. (See Karsten, 1932, pp. 83-84.) Dur- 
ing this period, the girl keeps her head and even her body covered 
with a piece of cloth and must remain secluded in her hut. Her 
diet is restricted, and she is warned against bathing or even fetching 
water. Menstruating women always observe a meat taboo and stay 
away from streams or water holes (Mataco, Mbayd, Pilagd, Toba, 
Maca). 

The puberty ritual was not always elaborate. The girl, covered 
with a blanket, was relegated to a corner of the hut while men paid 
by her parents took turns chanting for several days to the accompani- 
ment of a drum and of rattles. 

The Mbayd and Toba celebrated the first menstruation of a girl, 
especially of a chief’s daughter, with special dances, much chanting, 
and shaking of rattles. In the 18th century, a Joba chief gave his 
daughter a big feast that culminated in a ceremony in which the girl, 
who was covered with a cloth and surrounded by the warriors, tasted 
meat for the first time. Henceforth regarded as a “lady,” she was 
emancipated from her father’s authority. To add to his daughter’s 
prestige, a chief might present her with a scalp soon after the feast 
(Muriel, 1918, p. 82). 


324 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


A matured Mocovi girl could be recognized by a crownlike tonsure 
around her head, vertical furrows 2 inches (5 cm.) wide cut in her 
thick hair, and her completed tatooing (Baucke, 1870, p. 314). 

A Tereno girl menstruating for the first time was painted and 
placed in a hammock, where she maintained a strict fast while her 
relatives danced and chanted around her (Bach, 1916, p. 89). 

As the behavior of a girl during the critical period of puberty 
was thought to affect her character for the rest of her life, Mataco 
girls were urged to work hard in order to become diligent women. 

Sexual life before marriage.—The attitude of the Chaco Indians 
toward sexual life of unmarried girls seems to have varied in the 
different tribes. In the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River tribes, young 
pubescent girls enjoyed complete sexual freedom. They were provoc- 
ative, fickle, and brazen, and took the initiative in short-lived, 
amorous adventures. At night when the boys danced on the village 
plaza, the girls chose their lovers for the night by grabbing their 
belts or putting their hands on their shoulders and dancing behind 
them. Some girls had huts in the bush to which they took their 
lovers. On the other hand, Dobrizhoffer greatly praised the strict 
chastity of the Abipén girls, who remained virgins until they married. 

Homosexuality.—Berdaches were very common among the Mbayd. 
They dressed and spoke like women, pretended to menstruate, and 
engaged in feminine activities. They were regarded as the prostitutes 
of the village. 

Marriage.—There is little information on preferential marriage. 
Pilagé bands seem to be more strictly exogamous than those of the 
Mataco. 

The age at which men and women form permanent unions seems to 
vary according to the culture; the Pilcomayo River Indians marry 
a few years after puberty, but the bellicose equestrian Indians 
(Abipon, Mbayd) take wives only when they are around 30. It was 
Chamacoco custom for a very young man to marry an old woman, 
and for an adolescent girl to become the spouse of an old man. The 
young man could desert his old wife as soon as he tired of her, but a 
girl had to wait for the death of her old husband. 

A formal proposal among the Pilcomayo River tribes is often made 
directly by the girl, who tries to marry a lover of whom she is fond, 
but young men negotiate through a go-between. The Lengua emis- 
sary visits the girl’s parents for several days, smoking tobacco. A 
Mataco seeks to win the approval of a girl’s family through presents 
of money or cattle. A Zobda suitor often brings game or fish to his 
sweetheart’s hut to prove his hunting skill. In general, the consent 
of the girl’s mother is more important than that of her father, because 
when she opposes the marriage, the case is deemed hopeless. In 
ancient Abipén society, marriage was often arranged between the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 325 


girl’s parents and the bridegroom, often against the girl’s wishes. 
The prospective husband had to pay his parents-in-law horses, neck- 
laces, woolen garments, and spears with iron points. 

Child betrothal—Mocovi parents often selected brides for their sons 
when the boy and girl were both quite small. A great deal of famili- 
arity existed between betrothed children. The prospective bride- 
groom now and then presented his future parents-in-law with horses, 
skins, honey, and game. 

Guané parents also betrothed their infant children; both mothers 
took leading parts in the negotiations. The prospective husband was 
regarded as an actual son-in-law and took good care of his future 
parent-in-law. This custom later fell into disuse. 

Mataco parents often arrange a match when their children are very 
young. Later if the couple divorces, they give as an excuse: “We did 
not want the marriage, our parents arranged it for us.” 

Marriage ceremonial—RMarriage in the Pilcomayo River region is 
contracted with a minimum of ritual. At most there is some drinking, 
and young men may dance in a circle around the new couple. These 
dances are probably of the same character as those executed by 
Chorott boys to coax the girls to select one of them as a husband. 

The Lengua celebrate marriage by a long feast, which ends when 
the bridegroom ceremonially kidnaps the bride. At a given time, he 
runs off with his bride and hides a short distance from the village. 
After a mock pursuit, the couple returns. They pretend to be ex- 
hausted and are surrounded by women who pour water over them to 
cool them. 

The Adipon are the only Chaco tribe who developed a complex 
marriage ritual. The bride was taken to the bridegroom’s hut by 
eight other girls under a sort of canopy of blankets. She was first 
greeted by her spouse, and then was brought back to her parents. 
Later she carried to her husband’s hut all her belongings, in a sym- 
bolic gesture, since residence was matrilocal until a child was born. 
A boy seated on top of the hut beat a drum while the guests drank 
to their hearts’ content. 

A Mocovi desiring to marry a girl obtained her parents’ consent 
and agreed on the bride price—a few jaguar skins, necklaces, one or 
two horses, and a cow. The marriage ceremony included a symbolic 
kidnapping of the girl and a sham battle with her kin. The parents 
then brought the girl to the bridegroom’s hut notwithstanding her 
feigned or real resistance and her tears. They gave her away, 
saying, “You may have her.” Once in her husband’s house propriety 
required that she cover her head with a net and sulk in a corner. 
Women immediately came to express their sympathy and console her. 
Her husband did not talk to her, but her relatives-in-law pressed 
kind attentions upon her and urged her to eat, an invitation which 


326 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 143 


she usually refused. Later her husband ordered her to stop crying 
and to bring him some object. Compliance was interpreted as a 
growing willingness to accept her condition, and her husband invited 
her to eat. Gradually she began to answer questions and her real 
or affected chagrin disappeared. The girl’s parents would sometimes 
take her back to their hut for 2 or 3 months at a time. 

The Zereno also had a definite set of marriage customs. A group 
of girls, painted and adorned with feathers and singing, carried the 
bows and arrows of the bridegroom from his house to the bride’s. In 
the evening, dancing and singing young men accompanied the bride- 
groom to the girl’s hut, where, giving him her right hand, she sealed 
the marriage. 

In other cases, both families organized parties. After celebrating 
at home, the bridegroom and his relatives proceeded to the bride’s 
hut, where the couple sat in a hammock manufactured by the girl 
for the occasion and drank together while women chanted songs. 

Types of marriages —Monogamy prevails in practically all Chaco 
tribes, but cases of polygyny are not rare. Plural wives live in the 
same hut only if the man feels assured that they will not quarrel. They 
usually belong to different bands (Abipon, Toba), and the husband 
visits each in turn. The first wife, especially when she is no longer 
young, often welcomes a companion to relieve her of part of her work. 

Polygyny is more common among chiefs than among ordinary 
members of the band. Aaikolik, a Zoba chief, had 10 wives, each 
in a different village, but in other instances a chief kept 2 or 3 wives 
in his own huts. 

There are specific references to sororal polygyny among the Mataco 
(Pelleschi, 1881, p. 85), the Mocovié (Furlong C., 1988 ¢, p. 98), and the 
Tereno (Bach, 1916, p. 89). 

Postmarital residence —In most Chaco tribes (Mbayd, Toba, Mataco, 
Choroti, Kaskihé, Guand, Chamacoco), residence is matrilocal. The 
young couple live with the girl’s parents permanently (Chamacoco) 
or until they have a child; then they may return to live in the man’s 
village (Pilagd). Daughters are an asset, for their husbands must 
contribute to their parents’ welfare. Sometimes a husband is so 
exploited that he abandons his wife (J/ataco). Matrilocal residence 
enables the parents-in-law to interfere if their daughter is mistreated. 
When a JZ/ocovi married within his band, the bride lived in his hut, 
but when he took a wife from another band, he settled with his par- 
ents-in-law, a situation that, according to Baucke (1870, p. 316), 
caused many family quarrels. Among the Mataco, an older woman 
marrying a young man generally follows him to his house. 

A groom avoided his parents-in-law only among the Mbayd, who 
also stressed matrilocal residence. In this tribe, a husband left all 


Vow. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 327 


his property and his slaves behind, but in his new home he was 
supported by his parents-in-law. Only Guand women went directly 
to live in their husbands’ villages. Among the Paisan and Atalala, 
residence was decided in advance by the families. At marriage, the 
girl received a few presents and some horses from her father 
(Camafio y Bazan, 1931, p. 340). Kaskiha and Chamacoco chiefs 
or chiefs’ sons did not change residence after marriage. 

Marriage ties are always strengthened by the birth of a child, 
even if the child later dies. Nevertheless, divorces are frequent and 
easy, and may occur for the most trivial reasons; a simple quarrel 
may end in a permanent separation. A man is prone to desert his old 
wife for a younger bride, and a young woman may leave her husband 
for alover. Laziness or bad temper is often given as the justification 
of divorce. After separation, small children usually go with the 
mother; older children may stay with the father. Public opinion 
restricts matrimonial instability. Though divorces were easy, the 
Mbayd would say of a man who repudiated his wife too often, “He is 
a fool, he left his wife again.” A man divorced several times some- 
times took back his first wife. Mbayd noblewomen are said to have 
had paramours who even slept with them without causing the hus- 
bands any concern. <A deserted Abépén woman accepted her fate with- 
out complaint and no one would intervene in her behalf. At the next 
drinking bout, however, her relatives might attempt to avenge the 
affront. Mataco challenge men who have taken their wives or force 
seducers to give them some compensation. A woman is seldom pun- 
ished for her unfaithfulness. 

Constant separations seem to have been an accepted Chamacoco 
pattern. A man sometimes married 20 or 30 times, and did not re- 
main faithful to his wife until he approached old age. A woman 
who had lived with a man even for a short time would refer to him 
as “my husband” and cry for him at his death. The last wife felt 
proud of the homage of her former rivals. Chamacoco girls com- 
peted fiercely for men’s attentions and love, and no married woman 
dared relax her vigilance for an instant if she hoped to keep her 
husband. These conflicts often ended in open fights which the man 
witnessed with perfect unconcern. As long as a union lasted, the 
partners showed each other a great deal of tenderness (Baldus, 1931 a, 
ps6). 

The status of women in most Chaco tribes is high, and they seldom 
are abused or beaten by their husbands. Women are by no means sub- 
servient, and are treated as if on an equal footing. In Chamacoco 
and Guand society they have a privileged position and make their 
authority felt. 

Mbayd noblewomen seldom left their houses without a chaperon, 
but, in the presence of their husbands, certain women could use bawdy 


328 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Burn. 143 


language and sometimes take even greater liberties (Sanchez Labra- 
dor, 1910-17, 2:27). These are probably instances of joking rela- 
tionships. 

Death observances.—Most Chaco Indians so greatly fear the spirits 
of the dead that they scarcely wait until a person has actually passed 
away before beginning the funeral rites. 

Preliminary rites—As soon as the A/bayd suspected that someone 
was doomed, they hastily began the funeral preparations. Relatives 
painted a dying man, put his labret in his lip, and dressed him in all 
his ornaments; they trimmed a woman’s hair and painted her face 
with designs. Meanwhile, a shaman strode up and down, occasion- 
ally pausing to squeeze the patient’s stomach with great energy. 
Sometimes he walked around the village carrying a tuft of feathers 
in a last attempt to force the soul to return to the body. 

When an Abipon was dying, the occupants of his hut immediately 
left, and old women, either his relatives or famed doctors, gathered 
around him to perform a magic dance accompanied by gourd rattles 
and “loud vociferations.” An old woman or the leading female 
shaman struck a huge drum near the dying man’s head. Water was 
sprinkled on his head. Meanwhile “married women and widows” in 
mourning-attire wailed and beat drums in the streets. 

Often the Mocovi hastened a relative’s death if, in their opinion, 
he was doomed or suffered. Women kept watch over a dying man 
and burst into laments when he expired. His wife, seizing his head 
and often striking him with her fists, said, by way of indirect praise, 
“You unfaithful and cruel man! Why have you left me? You were 
a skillful hunter and a gallant warrior. You have killed so many 
Spaniards! Where shall I again find your like? Don’t you feel 
sorry for your children? Who is going to bring them food? From 
now on they will be obliged to wander around.” For 8 or 4 nights all 
the women wailed in the funerary hut. During the day, the widow 
remained in her hut with her hair shaven and her head covered with 
a net. 

The Lengua-Cochaboth, Lule, and Lengua were kind to the sick, but 
abandoned the hopelessly ill as if they had already passed away. The 
Lengua are loath to bury a person after sunset. Consequently, 
“whether he is dead or not, if there is no possible hope of his living 
through the night, his funeral begins in order that it may be completed 
before darkness sets in” (Grubb, 1918, p. 162). Asked by the mission- 
ary why they rushed to bury a man still alive, the M/albala answered, 
“It does not matter, he will die on his way to the grave.” When a 
Choroti dies, shamans chant all night and women wail. Payagud 
women alternately cried and danced around the funerary hut for 
3 days, but men feigned indifference. The Mbayd women stood by the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 329 


dead, wailing and singing his praises. Most Chaco Indians buried 
their relatives immediately after and sometimes before death. 

If there were a suspicion of witchcraft, the Abipdn removed and 
boiled the deceased’s heart and tongue, and threw them to the dogs 
in order to harm the unknown sorcerer. The A/ocovi covered the 
corpse of a victim of witchcraft with straw and burned it. Then the 
consulting shaman shot two arrows at the dead man’s throat and 
one at his heart while uttering an incantation. Thus the guilty but 
unidentified sorcerer could not escape his fate (Baucke, 1870, p. 355). 

The Lengua mutilate the corpse, before or after placing it in the 
grave. A wound is made where the evil spirit is supposed to have 
entered the body. They put a dog’s bone, a heated stone, an arma- 
dillo’s claw, and red ants in the gash. The stone is supposed to go 
to the Milky Way and later to fall as a shooting star on the sorcerer. 
The armadillo claw burrows underground and contributes to the 
destruction of the evildoer. These Indians also stop the mouth and 
the nostrils of the corpse with wax or clay. 

When the Ashluslay suspect witchcraft as a cause of death, they 
perform a similar rite to incite the victim to kill his murderer. They 
cut flesh from the corpse’s thigh and feed it to a dog, which they kill 
at once. They rub the deceased’s face with magic herbs, pierce his 
chest with burning arrows, and drive a glowing stone into it. They 
throw heated arrows into the air, and shout. Finally they whip the 
corpse with thorny branches and lay it in a grave with the dead 
dog and a bird nest. Before covering the grave with branches, they 
break a pot full of clay on the deceased’s back, and everyone clamours 
loudly (Vervoort, 1932, pp. 282-283). 

Disposal of the dead—Most Chaco Indians bury the corpse before 
rigor mortis sets in, in a flexed or squatting position in a shallow grave. 
The Lengua, it is said, broke the dead man’s neck by bending the head 
down on the chest. 

The Lengua strapped the body to a pole and carried it to a shallow 
grave at the edge of a wood, where they always turned it toward the 
west. They trampled the grave and covered it with thorny plants. 
The Chorott erected a flimsy structure over the grave, and placed 
a calabash filled with water nearby. 

Formerly, the A/ataco placed the corpse on a platform in a tree 
(pl. 70) until the flesh rotted away, then they collected the bones and 
buried them in a communal cemetery. Sometimes they put the body 
in a grave which they left open until the bones were clean, then shifted 
the skeleton into a lateral niche, closed it, and filled the grave with 
earth. In some cases the corpse was buried at once in the lateral niche. 
A calabash full of water was deposited near the corpse. 


330 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


Cremation is reported in the area; the Zoba practiced it as a pre- 
caution when there was a suspicion of sorcery. 

The Chamacoco extend the body and bury it face upward. Close 
relatives dance around the grave, shaking their rattles and jingles, 
then cover it with tree trunks and branches on which they leave the 
deceased’s belongings. 

The 7'0ba and Pilagd inter their dead in a grave which they fill with 
soil, successive layers of grass and cover with palm trunks (pl. 69, 
center). Those who dig the grave retain some of the goods of the dead. 

The Payagud buried the dead on a small island. The corpse was 
interred extended or squatting with the head often covered by a 
vessel (Rengger, 1835, pp. 140-141). They heaped bell-shaped vases 
on a bulrush mat placed over the grave. Some of these vessels were 
pierced with holes “as outlets for the souls.” A roof of mats sheltered 
the grave. Like other Guaicewruan-speaking Indians, the Payaguda 
“collected the bones of their dead and placed them in cemeteries” 
(Aguirre, 1911, p. 358). 

The Mbaya wrapped the corpse in a blanket and carried it on horse- 
back to a mortuary hut, built like an ordinary dwelling, in which each 
extended family owned a piece of ground marked off by posts. Women 
were interred with their bests jewels, and men with their silver orna- 
ments and their weapons decorated with feathers and flowers. The 
sepulcher was covered by a mat on which were laid a few ornamental 
vases, often trimmed with beadwork. Carved posts from the de- 
ceased’s hut were planted by his grave (Frié, 1906 b). 

A person who died far from his village was buried in a temporary 
grave until his relatives could transport his bones to the communal 
cemetery. Modern M/bayd-Caduveo inter the dead in their own dwell- 
ings, but after 10 or 12 days unearth the remains, clean the bones, and 
transfer them to the family plot in the band’s funeral house. 

Among the Mocovi, the corpse, wrapped in a skin or a net, was 
buried in a shallow grave 114 feet (0.45 m.) deep. The pit was cov- 
ered with logs and branches on which earth was scattered. Nearby 
were placed a plate with food and a water jar. In the case of a child, 
one hand remained uncovered to receive the food which its parents 
brought. 

The Abipén temporarily interred the dead in shallow pits covered 
with thorny boughs, and left a pot, garments, and a spear on the grave. 
The grave was dug by the women who also carried the corpse. Like 
the Mocovi, they subsequently brought the bones to regular ceme- 
teries located in the woods and distinguished by blazed trees. When 
« man perished far from home, his bones were transported back to 
his family burying ground. The bones of a chief were transferred 
with much pomp. Wrapped in a skin, they were carried under a 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX So 


canopy by six horsemen preceded by shamans mounted on splendidly 
trapped horses and by a troop of fully armed warriors. The bodies of 
warriors fallen in battle were also brought home with great ceremony 
and, arranged in a hut as if still alive, they were honored with funeral 
rites lasting 9 days. 

Destruction of the property of the dead—The Mbayd, Abipon, 
Tereno, Lengua, Choroti, Mataco, Toba, Lule, Vilela, and probably 
all other Chaco tribes, set fire to the house and sometimes to the whole 
village where someone had died, and hurriedly abandoned the ghost- 
threatened place. The Mbayd, who had just completed a new house 
built under the supervision of Sanchez Labrador (1910-17, 2:48), 
destroyed it soon afterward when one of them died there. 

It was customary to destroy a dead man’s property. The Mbayd, 
for instance, broke all his vessels and burned his mats and other prop- 
erty. The Mbayd, Abipdén, and Vilela also slew the deceased’s horse 
and left it by his grave. It is reported, though not confirmed, that 
the Mbayd killed the dead person’s favorite slave. 

Protection from the ghost—Lengua mourners, fearful of the ghost, 
often sought the hospitality of some other band. These Indians 
believed that the chilly spirit of the departed man would return to 
his deserted camp looking for a fire. Lest the disappointed spirit 
cast cold ashes into the air and so bring bad luck upon the living, the 
ashes were always collected and buried before the village was aban- 
doned. After burying a person, the Zengua drank hot water, washed 
themselves, and purified the air with a firebrand of palo santo, 
which they carried around the village. 

Mourning rites—The Abipén funeral laments seem to have been 
most spectacular. For 9 days all women, except the unmarried 
girls, gathered on the plaza with disheveled hair and, forming a long 
line, “leap like frogs and toss about their arms.” They wailed to 
the sound of rattles and drums, trilling, quavering, and groaning 
at all pitches, and uttering shrill hisses. They chanted about the 
dead and clamored for vengeance. They were rewarded with a few 
gifts. At night a group of women met in a house where they shook 
rattles and, directed by a female shaman who alternately struck two 
large drums, sang funeral songs. There was hardly a moment when 
the village was not filled by these vociferous expressions of grief. 
On the 9th day the laments gave way to a festive chant. 

At any time if women happened to remember a dead relative, they 
might suddenly drop their chores to wail. Abipén women turned 
their faces toward the deceased’s grave and chanted and shook a 
rattle. Often they were joined by other women. 

Among the Abipdn, the closest female relatives of a dead man 
shaved their heads, and widowers cropped their hair with many 
ceremonies and wore a woolen cap (hair net) until it grew out again. 


332 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buty. 143 


Abipén and Mocovi widows covered their heads with a net bag, like 
a hood, which they removed only when they remarried. 

Mbayd mourners, male and female, cut their hair and observed a 
mourning period, the length of which depended on the status of the 
deceased. During this time, they lived on a vegetable diet, and laid 
aside all their ornaments and paints. If possible, they remained at 
home to wail freely or engage in quiet activities. At last, urged by 
their chief to forget the dead man and to decorate themselves as be- 
fore, they resumed normal life. 

The ritual wailing for the M@baydé dead was heard before dawn. 
Bereaved women sat on the ground and, facing the east and holding 
both arms stretched over their heads, swayed back and forth, crying 
and proclaiming the achievements of the deceased or, in the case of a 
child, his most insignificant actions (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 
1:27). 

Among the 7'ereno, the widow and mother of the deceased mourned 
fora month. They cut their hair short, lacerated their breasts with 
sharp pieces of wood, and rubbed earth over their bodies. They sat 
naked in a corner of the hut, never raising their eyes from the ground, 
refusing to speak, and wailing at sunrise, midday, sunset, and 
midnight. 

After the death of a Guand chief, four women with disheveled hair 
walked around the village plaza wailing and chanting while a fifth 
stood among the others beating a small drum. At night a musician 
drew lugubrious sounds from a pipe or a trumpet (Sanchez Labrador, 
1910-17, 2: 292). 

Among the Lengua, the near relatives of the dead lived in isolation 
for a month, after which they purified themselves with hot water, 
and sang and danced around a fire. Boys dressed to represent dragon- 
flies introduced a comic element into the feast by their antics and 
mimicry of these insects. 

Mataco, Pilagd, and Vilela widows remain closeted in a dark 
corner of the hut or in a special compartment (pl. 69, top, bottom) 
for a varying period—A/ataco from 6 to 12 months; Pilagd 3 or 4 
months; and Vélela only 8 days. Widows shave their heads and 
cover them with a cloth. J/s¢stiné mourners might not scratch their 
heads with their fingers. Among the Mataco, the closest female 
relatives of the dead abstained from various foods so long as water 
remained in the jar left by the corpse. Mourners often smear their 
faces with black paint. The Chamacoco obtain the same effect by 
not washing their faces for a period, the length of which depends on 
their relationship to the deceased. The Zengua trace black streaks 
under the eyes to represent tears. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 333 


Taboo on names and words.—The Toba, Abipén, Mbayd, Tereno, 
Chamacoco, and Mataco strictly taboo the name of a deceased person. 
To pronounce it was regarded by the Ad¢poén as a willful insult which 
could lead to violence or even bloodshed. If the name of the dead 
person were a common word or phonetically resembled one, the term 
was dropped and an old woman invented a synonym. Dobrizhoffer 
(1783-84, 2:301) remarks that in the village where he lived the word 
for jaguar changed three times in 7 years. 

The near relatives of the deceased or, if he were a chief, the members 
of the extended family, took a new name (Vilela, Abipon, Mocovi, 
Mbayd, Lengua, Maca, Tereno), hoping to deceive the ghost, who 
might have been tempted to return and to drag his fellow tribesmen 
with him to the afterworld (Azara, 1809, 2:153): Among modern 
Tereno, only children of the deceased change their names. 

Commemorative rites—The Abipon and Mbayd held commemora- 
tive ceremonies over the graves of their dead. The J/bayd renewed the 
mats which sheltered the sepulchers. When honoring the memory of 
the dead, the Abipén reenacted part of the funeral rites. Z'ereno 
women went to the cemeteries to sweep the tombs and to converse with 
their dead; as evidence of grief, they lamented and threw themselves 
on the graves. 

Among the Mataré of the lower Bermejo River, relatives celebrated 
a special feast on the first anniversary of a death. Each guest brought 
a dead rhea or, if other persons in the village honored their own dead 
at this time, they brought several. Young girls carried the rheas in 
a procession and presented them to the hosts. The favor had to be 
reciprocated in similar circumstances; remissness could cause a war; 
indeed, the debt contracted by a host was so sacred that if he died 
before repaying it, his heir had to fulfill the duty. The rites per- 
formed for the souls lasted 3 days, and were punctuated by outbursts 
of laments and tears. The ceremony ended with dancing and 
drinking. 

Life after death.—Little is known about Chaco ideas concerning 
the afterlife of the soul. There is a general belief that ghosts linger 
around a camp and are dangerous, or at least unpleasant to meet. 
There are also vague beliefs regarding a Land of the Spirits. Some 
Lengua place it in the west and describe it as a true city in which the 
souls are grouped according to family or band relationships and con- 
tinue their mundane occupations. The Mataco and some Lengua 
locate their afterworld beneath the earth, where the dead continue to 
live exactly as they did when alive. The Toba afterworld is a special 
heaven where the sun always shines and men and women make merry. 


334 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 1438 


The Mbaydé told Sanchez Labrador (1910-17, 2:54) that the souls of 
the dead remained near their funerary abode and spent their time 
dancing and enjoying themselves without ever feeling tired. Some 
Mataco philosophers believe in metempsychosis: souls become suc- 
cessively ghosts, birds, spiders, and bats before they vanish forever.” 

Notions of reward and punishment after death are foreign to Chaco 
Indians. The Lengua, however, did not like to leave this world with- 
out atoning for wrongs done to a fellow member of the band, lest the 
quarrel be continued in the hereafter. 

The Abipdn believed that certain ducks which uttered a shrill hiss 
were ghosts. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Art.—See Clothing, Tattooing, Painting, Pottery, Weaving, and 
figure 38. 

Games and sports.—The favorite game of the Chaco Indians is a 
kind of hockey in which the men of one band are teamed against those 
of another (pl. 72). The play is decidedly aggressive, and the game 
is regarded by the Indians themselves as a substitute for open warfare. 

The hockey stick is curved at the end, and the ball is of wood or, 
among the A/bayd-Caduveo, of plaited rope. The field is either a 
clearing in the bush some 100 yards (92 m.) long or a sandy beach 
near ariver. The two goals are marked by heaps of branches. Rules 
are simple: The ball, which is hit from any direction, must touch the 
adversary’s goal. The two teams agree beforehand upon the winning 
score. If they decide, for instance, to play for four points, a team 
must make a total of four scores to win. Each time the opponents 
score a goal, it is deleted from the score of the leading team. Interest 
in the game is stimulated by high gambling stakes, laid by the leaders 
and members of each team. 

The game, lacking a referee, is at times rough, and several players 
are always injured. As a protection against the blows, the Mataco 
wear shin guards made of rows of sticks tied together with twine. 

Both Adipén and Mocovi played a game like the North American 
snow-shake, which is described by Dobrizhoffer (1784, 2:58): The 
instrument is a round piece of wood about 3 palms (80 inches) long, 
thick at the extremities and slender in the middle. It is thrown 
forcibly at the mark “in such a manner that it strikes the ground 
every nowandthen,andrebounds . . . Fifty and often a hundred 


“ According to a missionary (see Campana, 1913, p. 324), only the souls of those who 
are stabbed in a drinking bout in the afterworld are changed into a mosquito or a fly. 
When the fly dies it becomes an ant, which turns into a grass that finally dries up and 
reverts to earth. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 335 


BLE ESCA ND SR AERP ets a TW ERIE PS OE 


5 ASSVIASE ROSE BAS PML 0a PN IO SLI FERN Sf EE Se Se ORL Se 


PAIS TLL 


ASN) 


SES COSY SSE ALES hh CGE IAIN IO SEER) SOLD ot BP RET 


Figure 38.—Motifs on Pilagdé belts and woolen bags. (Métraux collection, American 
Museum of Natural History.) 


336 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buu. 143 


men stand in a row and throw this club by turns, and he who flings it 
the farthest and the straightest obains the prize or receives praises.” 
(For the Mocovi, see Baucke, 1870, pp. 479-480.) 

On the occasion of the visit of some other band, the Mbayd and 
Mocovi organized boxing matches. Among the Mbayd the competi- 
tors, most of them young men, marched toward the plaza in a line 
accompanied by an older coach, and sat facing their opponents. Older 
men, armed with spears, formed a wide circle around them. Then 
one of the young men, entirely naked, with jingles or peccary hoofs 
hanging from his wrists, walked around the ring. A member of the 
other group, responding to the challenge, rose and also walked around 
the plaza. The adversaries advanced toward each other, retreated 
and dodged “like fighting cocks”; finally, they exchanged violent 
blows until one of the two coaches came to separate them. Then new 
fighters took their place. When all of them had met their adver- 
saries, they left the plaza in the same order as before. 

In the boxing tournaments of the Mocovi, youths of different bands 
fought each other on moonlight nights. Children were trained in 
boxing from an early age, and were matched against the boys of other 
households in their own band. 

Battles royal in which groups of women or men boxed with their 
own sex, were one of the main entertainments at the feasts celebrated 
by the Payagua, Mocovi, Mbayd, and Guana. Only Payagua men and 
women joined in the same battle. 

The Mbayd considered racing a test of virility. A formal race 
between young men was announced a day in advance by a young boy 
who beat a drum and chanted, shaking a gourd rattle. The competi- 
tors, painted and decorated with feathers, paraded around the village 
before the contest. To dispel fatigue after the race, they jabbed 
themselves with awls of jaguar bones. The vigor of their jabs added 
greatly to their prestige. 

The Mbayd, like the Araucanians, adopted several Spanish sports 
along with the horse. For instance, a galloping horseman would try 
to thrust a sword through a ring hanging from a rope (peg-pulling). 
During feasts /baydé warriors demonstrated how they attacked their 
enemies on horseback and how they chopped off their heads. At their 
meetings, the Mocovi organized horse races on which they laid heavy 
wagers. 

Young people all over the Chaco are fond of a simple game in which 
a shuttlecock is kept in the air as long as possible by hand. The shut- 
tlecock is made of maize leaves with a feather stuck in the middle. 
The winner is he who does not allow the shuttlecock to die (1. e., to 
fall) (Mbayd). 

The Mbayé had a kind of ring-and-pin game which is described by 
Sanchez Labrador (1910-17, 2:11) as a set of 56 or 60 rings connected 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX oar 


by a string. These were thrown into the air and had to be caught on 
a stick. The players sat in a circle and each in turn tried his luck 
once. The same game is played by the Chamacoco. (See Baldus, 
1931 a, p. 111.) 

Mbayé girls and women played a game in which one of them, holding 
a pair of horns, pretended to be a deer and defended herself against 
harassing “hunters.” 

A popular A/bayé amusement at feasts was to toss a child in a 
blanket. 

Gambling. —All Pilcomayo River Indians are rabid gamblers. Their 
favorite game is called tsuka or tsukok (from the Quechua chunka, 
“10”), which may be played by 2, 4, or 8 persons. A series of 21 holes 
called “houses” is made in the ground, the 11th hole being a “river” 
or “lake” and separating the field of the players. Small sticks, called 
“sheep,” are placed in the holes as counters. Planoconvex or concavo- 
convex sticks with burned ornaments on the convex side are used as 
dice (fig. 89). A player taking 2 dice in each hand, throws them 


i 
] : b 


Ficurp 39.—Tsuka game, Chorott. a, Dice; b, arrangement of holes for game. (Redrawn 
from Rosen, 1924, figs. 172, 173.) 


together, striking his left shoulder with his right hand or uttering a 
gutteral cry. If 4, 2, or no sticks fall with the convex side up, the 
scores are respectively 4, 2, or 1, but if an odd number has the convex 
side up, the player does not score and the opponent receives his turn. 
Each player moves an arrow forward according to his score, and, when 
he enters his adversary’s field, captures the sheep in every hole he 
reaches. ‘There is a penalty for falling in the “river.” The game is 
won when someone captures all the sheep and the opponent’s arrow. 
Quechua numerals are used to reckon the score, a convention which 
indicates beyond doubt the Andean origin of the game. 

Children’s games.—Children play a great many games, such as the 
following: 

A “deer” killed by a “jaguar” is defended by “dogs” against the 
preying “vultures” (Z'oba). 

A “jaguar” fights against pursuing “dogs” (Z’oba). 


583486—46——22 


338 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. BULL. 143 


Imitating the noise of peccaries by striking together two pieces of 
wood, boys run after “dogs” or “hunters” (Z’oba). 

Children form a long line holding each other around the waist. 
The leader carries a firebrand and tries to burn the last in line, while 
the line twists and turns in an attempt to save the threatened boy 
(Toba). A Mbayd-Caduveo variation of this game has been de- 
scribed, wherein the attacker has a straw club and is resisted by the 
leader of the line. 

Children stand with widespread legs while one of them, pursued 
by a “hunter,” tries to escape by crawling between his comrades’ legs 
(Caduveo). 

Children either hop or jump with their feet drawn together, turning 
in a circle or spiral until the line is broken. 

Mataco girls in a line revolve in a spiral until they form a compact 
group. They represent a growing tree. A boy cuts down the “tree” 
by striking the girls on their legs. The group oscillates and then falls 
down. 

A boy stands in the center of a circle of boys who lie on the ground 
and with their feet push him to and fro without allowing him to fall. 
The game symbolizes the “wasps” (Mataco). 

Children in two lines form a tunnel through which a “skunk” 
passes at full speed. Everybody falls down asphyxiated, but the 
“skunk” reanimates his victims by blowing on their faces (Jataco). 

A line of boys is attacked by a “serpent” that tries to bite off the 
last one. He renews his attacks until a single boy remains, who 
must kill the “serpent” (Lengua). The same game is played by the 
Mataco, who call it “purchase of a girl.” 

A “monkey,” pursued by a “jaguar,” climbs for refuge on the backs 
of his comrades, the “trees,” who stoop in a long line. The “jaguar” 
may only pounce if he is exactly under the “monkey,” and he may 
not jump over the line (Lengua). 

To the tune of a song, little squatting girls jump up and down as 
long as they can without toppling over (Zoba, Pilagd, Mataco). 
(Pl. 71, bottom, right.) 

Boys form a line. One throws a stick and the others try to strike 
it with their sticks as it reaches the ground (Chorotz). 

A boy throws his wooden “bolas” as far as he can; other children 
throw their own “bolas” at his so as to entangle it. The one who 
succeeds, keeps the “bolas” of his adversary (Choroti, Mataco, Toba). 

Toys.—In a list of children’s toys, miniature weapons and imple- 
ments come first. A favorite plaything is a “gun” consisting of a 
bamboo tube with a longitudinal slit into which a flexible bamboo 
strip is introduced as a spring to shoot pellets. Children also have 
many noise-producing objects, such as buzzers and bull-roarers. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 339 


Mataco, Ashluslay, and Tereno children are fond of stilt walking. 
They also roll hoops made of grass. All Chaco children are expert 
in making complicated string figures (cat’s cradles). (PI. 71.) 

Everywhere dolls are made of the knuckle bones of animals to 
which two shell disks are glued to represent the eyes (fig. 40, ¢). 
Women also model dolls of unbaked clay, which represent people or, 
less frequently, animals. These are highly conventionalized; for 
instance, a “woman” js a conical clump of clay with two breasts and 
with the hair and the facial tattooing painstakingly indicated by 
engraved lines (fig. 40, a, b). 

The Caduveo have wooden dolls which they identify with the 
Christian saints, but which seem not to pertain to a cult (pl. 65). 
Even though adult women have been observed speaking to these 
images, Boggiani (1895) and Frié (1913) regard them as mere toys. 

Singing.—Chants give all magical rites their efficacy and the sing- 
ing of a monotonous and endless melody is deemed sufficient to curb 
supernatural forces. Shamans are men who possess chants with 
mystic powers. Songs also accompany most recreational dances. 
Choirs are very much in evidence at drinking bouts and annual festiv- 
ities. Little girls have a small repertoire of songs associated with 
their games. 

Grubb (1904, pp. 95-96) says of Lengua singing: 

The men’s voices are loud, rough, slightly tremulous, and not at all flexible. 
Baritone is the most usual male voice, the compass being “B” in the second 
space below the stave to “D” in the fourth line. The voices of the women are 
high-pitched. 

Mataco and Pilagd songs are a succession of monotonous, deep 
chest tones followed by a series of pitch and volume changes. Abzpon 
singers varied the tones according to the subject of the song. Ex- 
pert singers “by a quicker motion of the throat, suspended the song 
for a while, now protracted it and now interrupted it with groans or 
laughter or imitations of a bellowing bull or of the tremulous voice 
of a kid.” 

If Dobrizhoffer is correct (1784, 2: 428-482), the Ab¢pdn declaimed 
epic “songs” during victory feasts, in which they enumerated in “a 
regulated number of verses” and with incredible detail, all their past 
military deeds. “By appropriate words and modulations of the 
voice” they expressed indignation, fear, threats, or joy. The Mbayd 
men would sing the praises of the chiefs. When a chief visited some 
colleague, courtesy required that a singer improvise a song in his 
honor extolling his courage, his skill as a ruler, and also the love 
his subjects bore him and the fear he inspired in his enemies. 


([B. A. BD. Buy. 143 


SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


340 


ra, 
=. 


SAN 


NR 
ans 


hh 


CA LY 


iB 


d 


Ficurn 40 


lagé clay dolls 


i 


lagad doll of cow 


a, b, Mataco and P 


—Chaco toys and musical instruments. 


Museum of Natural History); c, Pi 


Chorotét reed flute (redrawn from Rosen, 1924, fig. 163) ; e, 


(Métraux collection, American 


knuckle 


Mataco whistle 


d, 


cross section 


4; 
American Museum of Natural History); g, 


American Museum of Natural History) 


of Mataco duct flute (Métraux collection, 


of bird bone (Métraux collection, 


Pilagda notched flute (Métraux collection, American Museum of Natural History). 


Vow. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 341 


Of the “epic songs” of the /bayd-Caduveo, Manizer (1934, p. 307) 
writes: 


They are in a dactylic form; the monotonous melody changes into a high- 
pitched and long drawn note. 


The shamanistic chant of these Indians 


begins in a low tone which grows into pathos and vociferations. Then follow 
rhythmic sentences in which animal spirits are enumerated. They are continued 
by a high and prolonged falsetto which decreases harmoniously on a low tone 
which is prolonged until the chant dies off, but starts again on a high-pitched note. 
[Manizer, 1934, p. 308.] 

Baldus (1981 a, p. 108) states that Chamacoco songs are melodies 
without words and often imitate the cries of animals or the sound of 
a storm. ‘They are based on a 8-beat rhythm. When several per- 
sons sing simultaneously, each sings individually, unconcerned by 
what the others do. In addition, the Chamacoco have soloists who 
perform before audiences. Women neither sing nor chant, and the 
only music produced by them is a funeral lament with some rhythmic 
qualities. 

The songs of the Pileomayo River tribes have a series of meaningless 
syllables or only a few sentences, which are repeated to satiety. 
Cardiel (1915, p. 50) tells us that the Zule and /ststiné sang for a 
whole night a song consisting only of two words, “Peitolo yavali” 
(run into the valley). He quotes two Paisan songs with the follow- 
ing words, “The fox is coming,” and “The shaman arrives, he is 
welcome.” In solo songs to drive away bad spirits, the themes are 
somewhat longer than those of the feast songs and may change as 
many as four times (Lengua). (See Grubb, 1904, p. 97.) 

During Lengua feasts, choirs relieve one another, so that the music 
never ceases.*® Some Pilagé songs sung by women at parties are 
decidedly obscene. As songs pass from tribe to tribe, the Chaco reper- 
toire is very uniform within large areas. 

The importance of singing and chanting in Chaco societies is shown 
by some practices of the Mataco, Pilagd, and Chamacoco. To become 
a good singer, a Mataco or Pilagé man must dream of some singing 
bird—actually a spirit in the guise of a bird—and then eat the meat 
of birds reputed to be good singers. Many young men go to the bush 
in search of revelations of songs. A Pilagd may bequeath his song to 
his son, who sings it on special occasions, such as a scalp dance. Sing- 
ing for days on end without stopping is for Chamacoco youths a test 
of manhood. The singer holds a gourd rattle and dances continuously 


4# “The theme of every chant is short, and even the most joyous is in a minor key. 
The theme is repeated indefinitely ; if it be a quick measure, it is kept up till the singers lose 
their breath; if it be slow, till they are tired, when, if the occasion be a feast, which may 
continue sometimes for days together, they are relieved by another choir of singers, so 
that the music may not cease’ (Grubb, 1904, p. 96). 


342 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B, Bunn, 148 


until a flow of blood from a broken vein demonstrates that he has 
reached the limit of his strength. Fearing the hardship of the ordeal, 
some young men secretly pierce their gums to simulate a hemorrhage. 

Musical instruments.—The only musical instruments native to the 
Chaco seem to have been a few idiophones (rattles and jingles) and 
the musical bow. The origin of the Chaco drums, flutes, and whistles 
must be sought in the Andean area. 

Fattles—Hoof rattles are fixed to the end of long poles which the 
women (Mataco, Choroti, Ashluslay, Toba, Pilagd, Lengua) strike 
on the ground when dancing around a menstruating girl. When per- 
forming a cure, Mataco shamans wear jingles of deer hoofs or of 
snail shells around their waists or their ankles. Everywhere mothers 
amuse their babies with bunches of deer hoofs. Jingle rattles of fruit 
shells are found among the Sanapand and Chamacoco, but are lack- 
ing in the southern tribes. From the Negroes of Matto Grosso, the 
Mbayd-Caduveo have acquired the timbrel rattle: metallic disks strung 
on a wire stretched between the limbs of a forked stick. 

The gourd rattle is the accessory, par excellence, of the shaman, 
but its use is not his exclusive privilege. Every adult male among the 
Toba has a rattle which he shakes when he chants. Chamacoco women 
are forbidden to handle the sacred rattles. Most Chaco rattles are 
hollow gourds from which the seeds have been removed through a 
hole, which is then stopped with wax. The stem of the fruit forms 
the handle, and sometimes it is perforated and closed with a wooden 
peg to which a red wool loop is attached. The sides of rattles are 
often pierced with long cactus thorns (now nails or wires), which 
add a faint metallic quality to the sound—an improvement restricted 
in South America to the Chaco area. The /bayd-Cadweo and 
Chamacoco rattle has the handle lashed to the gourd. Some Chama- 
coco rattles are made of two turtle shells fastened together with a 
string (Boggiani, 1894, fig. 833). Rattles, as a rule, are undecorated 
except for rudimentary incised or burned lines and some glued-on 
beads. The ancient Aaskchd painted theirs with red, black, and yel- 
low streaks and trimmed them with seeds, feather tassels, and animal 
teeth (Cominges, 1892, p. 193). 

Drums.—The Chaco drum is merely a cooking pot or sometimes 
a wooden mortar half filled with water and covered with a rawhide 
head. The drummer sits with his drum between his legs or, if he 
prefers to stand, lashes it between two upright digging sticks. He 
always uses a single stick (pl. 71). Some musicians accompany 
their beating with rhythmic body movements which make the jingles 
of their belts tinkle. Among the (/bayd, drummers held the stick 
in one hand and shook a gourd rattle with the other; they alternately 
struck the middle and the edge of the drum. Various traditional 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 343 


beats were distinguished by special names, such as the “beat of the 
wild vulture,” or the “beat of the jaguar.” 

Bull-roarers—The Mbayd-Caduveo have bull-roarers decorated 
with their characteristically involved designs. They are said to whirl 
them during funeral ceremonies, but, like the M/ataco, they give them 
to the children as playthings. Children in most Chaco tribes make 
for their own amusement buzz-disks with pieces of calabash or 
potsherds. 

Clarinets——The clarinet, probably a post-Columbian instrument, 
was already popular in the Chaco in the 18th century. The Abipon 
were roused to battle by the sound of clarinets, and their war parties 
were said to have had more trumpeters than soldiers. The mouth- 
piece consists of a reed with a tongue cut in it, which nowadays is 
fitted into a sawed cow horn. Formerly, an armadillo tail (Abipén) 
or a gourd served as the bell. Baucke (1870, p. 221) refers to trum- 
pets of light wood used by the Mocovi. When they performed a 
cure, Payagud shamans blew into a calabash 2 feet (0.6 m.) long 
and open at both ends, which served as a rudimentary trumpet to 
modify the tone of the voice. 

Flat whistles —Characteristic of Chaco culture are the flat wooden 
or resonator whistles which men suspend as ornaments from their 
necks (figs. 40,41). These have the blowhole on the lower edge and 
two stops on the sides. One surface is invariably engraved with a star- 
like design within a circle and with a cogwheel motif around the edge. 
The Chamacoco, Moro, and Mbayd-Caduveo whistles are of the same 
type but larger and shaped differently. They are either rectangular 
or square with the upper and lower edges slightly concave. Many fea- 
tures of these resonator whistles seem to have had an Andean origin, 
though wooden whistles of this shape have never been found in Peri. 

Serere whistles —The serere whistle of the Chiriguano, a long dia- 
mond-shaped piece of wood perforated lengthwise, has been crudely 
copied by the Mataco and Toba who live in close contact with these 
Indians. The whistle is held vertically against the mouth so that the 
player may blow across the larger hole while closing the other with one 
finger. 

Animal skull whistles—Mataco and Choroti make crude whistles 
of rodent skulls with all the orifices except the foramen magnum 
stopped with wax. 

End flutes —End flutes are comparatively rare in the Chaco. They 
are made of bamboo and provided with three rectangular stops, drilled 
on a planed surface, and a thumb hole. All the septa of the reed are 
removed. 


« “Aplica después la borda del agujero mayor entre la nariz y el labio superior de modo 
que la boca queda expedita en medio del agujero y habla fuerte como cantando, de forma 
que las voces suenan de un modo extraiio y vivo” (Azara, 1904, p. 356). 


344 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


Figure 41.—Pilagdéd flat wooden whistle. (Métraux collection, American Museum of 
Natural History.) 


Notched flutes—Most Chaco flutes have notched blowholes and 
therefore may be called either notched flutes or, like their Andean pro- 
totypes, quenas (fig. 40,d,g). Izikowitz (1935, p. 314) distinguishes 
two types of quéna in the Chaco: that which is identical with end flutes 
with a notch added; and that which has “no planing or carving but has 
a stop for the little finger which may be placed either to the left or the 
right, evidently depending on which hand the musician holds nearest 
the distalend. It has six stops, the top one being placed at the middle 
of the flute.” 

Duct flute——In their magical performances, Mataco and Choroti 
shamans use duct flutes (bird-bone whistles) without stops (Izikowitz’ 
Mataco whistles (fig. 40, e, f.)). These instruments are so constructed 
that the air current blown at one end is directed by a deflector, in this 
case a wax plug, against the sharp edge of the sound orifice, which 
is located near one of the ends or toward the middle of the flute. Bone 
duct flutes are also known to the Ashluslay, Lengua, and Chamacoco, 
but there is no reference to their ceremonial usage in these tribes. 
The flutes of rhea bone of the ancient Mbayd probably belonged to the 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 345 


same category of instruments. Flutes of this type are occasionally 
made of bamboo or wood (Mataco, Toba). The Chamacoco hang a 
bunch of these flutes from their necks. 

Plug flutes —Both Tereno and Mbayd-Cadwveo have reed flutes with 
a wax plug, four or five stops, a thumb hole, and an obliquely cut proxi- 
malend. Such instruments, typical of tropical South America, prob- 
ably came to the northern Chaco with the new Arawakan invaders 
(Izikowitz, 1935, p. 354). 

Panpipes—The Zamuco in the Chiquito missions played the pan- 
pipes, which they certainly borrowed from the Chiquito. 

Stringed instruments.—The musical bow is a favorite instrument of 
young men (Mataco, Toba, Lengua, Guand), who spend many leisure 
hours playing it (pl. 71). It consists of two interlocked bows strung 
with horsehair. One bow is held against the teeth and the other used 
like a fiddle bow. The faint sound is audible only to the player. 
The Mbayd-Caduveo make guitars and violins, the parts of which they 
paste together with a glue extracted from an orchid bulb. 

Dancing.—A characteristic aspect of Chaco culture is the impor- 
tance attached to dancing. During seasons of abundant food and 
favorable weather, young people dance every night from sunset to 
dawn. Such dances are mainly recreational. On particular occa- 
sions, dances have ceremonial value; these are described in the section 
dealing with religion. 


The principal diversion of young men of the Pilcomayo and Bermejo River 
villages is a dance in which the participants, dressed in their best attire, form 
a circle, each embracing his neighbor’s waist. One dancer starts a low chant 
and everybody stamps the ground rhythmically with the right foot. After a few 
notes, the other dancers begin to sing. The rhythm grows livelier until the 
stamping turns into a rapid walk. Soon the girls, at first passive on-lookers, 
participate. Each places herself behind some favorite dancer and, seizing his 
belt or putting her hands on his shoulders, dances with him. Several girls may 
attach themselves to a popular man. 

In another type of dance, men and women hold one another’s shoulders or 
waists and form a long line. As the dancers move forward and backward, 
the dance leader standing out in front points at a dancer at each end of the 
line, who steps out and forms a new line behind him. This is repeated 
endlessly. 

In the Toba nomi dance, men form a semicircle with their arms on each 
other’s waists. They run alternately to the right and left while moving forward 
across the dancing place, where the chain of performers is broken. Then in 
the same way they move back. The dancers themselves loudly chant the 
measure of their steps. 

The Mataco perform a unique variant of this dance: Once the semicircle has 
started moving forward, it breaks up suddenly into several groups of dancers, 
who first stamp in the same spot, then start to run, and form a spiral which 
grows tighter and tighter. When all movement, except stamping, is impossible, 
the spiral begins to unwind, at first very slowly, then more quickly. 


346 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunt. 143 


In a purely recreational dance of the Mataco, the dancers form a line and 
slowly start to move forward; at the same time the man in the center of the 
line whirls around, pivoting the line so that those at the ends of the line run 
faster than the others. 

In the Lengua kyaiya dance, a man in the cirele of dancers keeps pointing 
to the four cardinal points. Held in the spring, it is a rejoicing in anticipation 
of the new food supplies; in the summer, it is a thanksgiving for the algarroba 
bean harvest; in the autunin, it celebrates the harvest of the main garden 
crops (Grubb, 1918, p. 178). 

The Caduveo have a dance, based on a pattern of four steps, in which young 
men and girls, each holding his neighbor’s waist or hand, form separate lines 
and move forward and backward to the music of flutes and drums. Now and 
then the men break their line to revolve around the girls, or pairs execute a 
series of turns. The pattern of steps is always the same: two slow steps and a 
rapid, jerky one forward, and then a return to the initial position. The body is 
bent forward slightly, but is thrown backward on the third beat. The dance is 
apparently recreational in nature, but a ceremonial origin may be inferred from 
the presence of masked figures, some probably impersonating ghosts and others 
playing the part of clowns. 

At formal receptions, Mbayd-Caduvéo women honor their guests with songs 
and dances consisting of a succession of short steps while the body sways and 
the hands move. 

Some Tereno dances are really parades before the chiefs, whom men and 
women salute while marching by. The homage is repeated several times with 
variations. 

Certain women’s dances of the Guaranoca, a Zamuco subtribe, dramatize such 
economic activities as sowing or collecting pavi fruits or such commonplace 
incidents as the chase of an ant which has bitten a person (D’Orbigny, 1835-47, 
2: 637-638). 

Among dance accessories were the tufts of red feathers which Pilagd and 
Mbayd dancers brandished. 


Tobacco.—Chaco Indians smoke far more than any other South 
American natives. They are ready to trade their most prized posses- 
sions for strong, black tobacco, lack of which is deemed a painful 
privation. Even with little agriculture, Indians such as the Pélaga 
grow tobacco. The Mbaydé horsemen, who were passionate smokers, 
were supplied tobacco by their Guand serfs, who raised several vari- 
eties of it. 

Tobacco leaves are inserted in a split stick, dried over a fire, and 
crushed into a coarse powder. The ancient A/bayd, like modern 
Lengua,© pounded the leaves in a mortar and kneaded the mass into 
small cakes that were exposed to the sun or to fire. When the tobacco 
had turned black, it was minced, crushed, and left for a time in the 
sun (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 1: 184). These Indians stored their 
tobacco in artistically engraved gourds; modern natives carry it in 
embroidered skin pouches. 


5 Grubb (1918, p. 73) adds the following details about the Lengua: “The pulp is then 
made into small round cakes, moistened with saliva and pressed between the hands. They 
are not allowed to bake in the sun until quite hard. A hole is made in the centre of each 
cake, and several are strung together for convenience.” 


VoL. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 347 


Pipes.—The Choroti used crude pipes made of a bamboo section, 
but these are exceedingly rare. As a rule, Chaco pipes are carved of 
wood—among the M/baydé and other northern groups, of palisander 
wood, which exhales a pleasant odor when hot. Clay pipes, both 
tubular and curved, occur in various tribes (Mataco, Pilaga, Lengua), 
but they are quite uncommon today (fig. 42, ¢). They may have 
been more popular before steel tools simplified the carver’s task. 
In fact, the Lengua word for “pipe” means also “clay.” 

Several types of pipes may be used by a single group. Thus, the 
Pilcomayo River Indians have tubular (fig. 42, e), elbow, monitor, 
and composite pipes (i. e., with a stem fitted into a bowl). The 
composite pipe seems to predominate among the Mbayd-Caduwvéo and 
other northern tribes. 

Tubular pipes are drilled at one end for a bowl from which a 
perforation runs to the mouth end and are often decorated with a 
flange at both ends. Some specimens are constricted in the middle; 
those of the Mataco, Toba, and Ashluslay flare characteristically into 
a flat, wide mouthpiece (fig. 42, 7.) 

Some pipes have the bowl set somewhat back from the distal end 
and resemble the monitor pipes of North America, 

Elbow (fig. 42, d) and composite pipes may be imitations of the 
European form; the bowl of the composite type is often the tra- 
ditional tubular pipe fitted with a stem. 

Pipes are often decorated with raised flanges or with incised or 
fire-engraved designs, but their main esthetic value is their elegant 
shape and their polish (fig. 42, a, 6, f-h). 

The bowls of the Mbaydé-Caduveo pipes carved as human figures 
and the Ashluslay pipes shaped like animals may be regarded as the 
best wood carvings in the Chaco. The ancient Mocovi had also 
zoomorphic pipes (Kobler, 1870, p. 221). The long tubular pipes of 
Payagué shamans were covered with engraved biblical scenes, mainly 
of Paradise and the story of Adam and Eve. (See Steinen, 1901 a; 
Koch-Grinberg, 1903 b; Outes, 1915.) 

The Pilcomayo River Indians plug their pipes with a fiber or moss 
filter. A few specimens have the mouthpiece covered with a small 
perforated calabash disk. 

The Indians inhale and blow the smoke out through their noses. 
After a few puffs, they pass the pipe around to their companions. 

Chewing.—Among the southern Guaicuri: (Abipon, Mocovi), both 
sexes were fond of chewing tobacco. Among the northern tribes 
(Mbaya, Payagua), only the women chewed; they are said to have 
kept their quid constantly between their lips and gums. Chopped 
tobacco leaves for chewing were impregnated with saliva and mixed 
with bone ashes (Mbayd, Mocovi) or with salt (Abipén, Mocovi). 


348 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Burn, 143 


J. Anglin 


Figure 42.—Chaco tobacco pipes. a, b, d, f, g, Pilagd wooden pipes; c, Mataco clay pipe; 
e, h, Mataco fire-engraved wooden pipes. (All 94 natural size.) (Métraux collection, 
American Museum of Natural History.) 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 349 


The Mocovi carried their tobacco in a cow horn attached to their 
cloak. 

As a substitute for tobacco, the Joba and Chunupit chewed or 
smoked a root called koro-pa. 

Coca chewing.—Many Chaco Indians who work in the sugar fac- 
tories have acquired the habit of chewing coca from the Quechua, a 
habit which has spread in recent years almost to the Paraguay River. 

Drinking bouts.—Any social event is a pretext for a drinking bout. 
Among the Abzpon, the occasions for a spree were a victory, an 
impending war, funeral rites, the birth of a chief’s son, the shaving 
of widowers or widows, the changing of a name, the proclamation 
of a new captain, the arrival of a distinguished guest, a wedding, 
and, most commonly, a council of war. These are still the occasions 
on which other Chaco tribes get drunk. The biggest sprees among 
the Pilcomayo River Indians, however, take place from November 
to February when algarroba is ripe. 

The Mbayd rationalized their orgies by saying that when drunk 
they dreamed of beautiful things. The Abipén contended that “they 
were never more wise in council or braver in fight than when they 
were intoxicated.” The Afascoi ascribed to fermented drinks the 
power to give men supernatural clear-sightedness. The Chamacoco 
show great respect for a drunken man, believing him to be possessed 
by a spirit. 

The native beer is brewed of algarroba pods, or, when these are not 
available, of tusca or chafiar fruits. The Mataco and Choroti are 
said to prepare a beverage of melon or watermelon. 

All Chaco Indians are extremely fond of mead, but, though honey 
is perennially available, it is rarely collected in sufficient quantity to 
satisfy a large group of guests. 

The algarroba pods are pounded in a mortar and mixed with hot 
water in a hollowed bottle tree or an improvised container made of a 
squared cow or goat skin with the edges raised off the ground (Abipén, 
Mocovi, Choroti). Sometimes, to accelerate fermentation, a small 
quantity of pounded algarroba which has been chewed by old women 
is added. Tusca beer is prepared of the crushed fruits sprinkled with 
water. Chafiar fruits are boiled, and the juice is left to ferment. 
Mead is prepared of honey and water mixed in a large, narrow-necked 
calabash, and heated in the sun or by a fire. 

The Mbayda drank the slightly fermented sap of the mbocayé palm 
(Acrocomia sp.). Sometimes they allowed the mush made of the 
fruits of this palm to ferment, but this beverage was hardly alcoholic. 

Men sing, shake deer-hoof or gourd rattles, and drum all night 
around the beer trough to hasten the fermentation magically and make 


350 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. FE. BuLL. 143 


the beverage really strong. These rites are deemed as important to 
the preparation of the beer as the mechanical activities. 

No young women are allowed to participate in a drinking bout, but 
old women attend to look after the men and sometimes to dance or 
chant. 

In all tribes certain rules of etiquette are scrupulously observed. 
The participants paint and decorate themselves profusely. The most 
distinguished guests are always served first. The M/bayd sat in a circle 
and were served by a hostess. Women rushed toward those who 
vomited to hand them a vessel. A drummer, generally a young man in 
his best attire, chanted the virtues of the guests, while other men 
blew clarinets (see p. 343), or sounded whistles to encourage the guests 
to drink. When the drinks were exhausted at one house, musicians 
urged the crowd to move to the house of another nobleman where 
beer or mead had also been prepared. Probably to avoid any quarrel, 
it was regarded as unwise to refuse anything asked by a drunken man. 

The Ashluslay wave their hands at those who drink, and anyone 
leaving the party has to make a friendly gesture with the hand. A 
well-bred Pilagd only drinks half of the calabash handed to him and 
passes the rest to his neighbor. 

The carousal lasts as long as the beer—sometimes for several days. 
The intoxicated Ashluslay or Pilagdé sing, whistle, and deliver long 
speeches boasting of their courage and achievements. Very fre- 
quently those who nurture a secret grudge take advantage of the 
general excitement to give vent to their repressed resentment. In- 
sults and threats are exchanged and fights start which, however, 
rarely end in casualties, thanks to the vigilance of the women, who see 
to it that no weapons fall into the men’s hands and promptly intervene 
to prevent a verbal quarrel from degenerating into a dangerous brawl. 
When a man becomes obnoxious, his relatives take him to their hut, 
where he sleeps it off. The M/bayd and other tribes cure their hang- 
overs by chewing the bark of certain trees. Sorcerers are likely to 
take advantage of a drinking party to “poison” their enemies. 


RELIGION 


Supernatural beings.—Missionaries have always failed to find the 
concept of a Supreme Being in the religion of the Chaco Indians. 
Peritnalik, Asin, and the bird Carancho (Polyborus plancus) are 
mythic culture heroes, but certainly not deities. The Beetle (escara- 
bajo), who, according to the Lengua, made the Universe and peopled 
it with spirits and men, remains aloof from his creation and is never 
invoked. The only mythological character who approximates a 
supreme god is Eschetewuarha of the Chamacoco. She is the mother 
of countless spirits (guara); she dominates everything, and makes 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 351 


sure that the Sun does not burn the earth and that mankind obtains 
water. She expects men to sing every night for her and punishes 
them if they are remiss in this duty. 

Some Chaco tribes personify celestial bodies or natural phenomena, 
and consider them to be helpful or dangerous, but there is no evidence 
that regular cults are rendered to them. The Abipdn and Mocovi 
referred to the Pleiades as if this star cluster were a living being, and 
called it “Our Grandfather.” They attributed the stars’ annual dis- 
appearance to illness, and rejoiced when they returned. They even 
congratulated them as if they were actually men, but the feast which 
followed their rise above the horizon cannot be construed as a formal 
astral cult. Prado (1839, p. 35) says expressly that the Mbaya cele- 
brated the appearance of the Pleiades not because they held them to be 
a deity, but only because they announced the season of the mbocaya 
nuts. The Payagud *! and Tereno regarded the return of the Pleiades 
as a signal for the performance of magic rites and for various fes- 
tivities. 

When the new moon shone in the sky, the Mbayd, the Toba, and 
Mocovi showed signs of great contentment, which has been errone- 
ously interpreted as expressions of a lunar cult. The Mocovi, how- 
ever, asked the new Moon for physical strength, and young men pulled 
their noses to improve their shape. The Mbdayd also saluted the Morn- 
ing Star, saying, “Here comes our master,” an expression void of any 
deep significance. The Mataco shamans speak of the Sun as a wise 
man whom they like to consult in spite of the many dangers of doing 
so. The Zumerehd believe that the Sun is a powerful demon who 
sends diseases and who selects those whom he wishes to become 
shamans. 

The Mataco attribute menstruation to the young girl’s mysterious 
intercourse with the Moon. Lengua girls asked Lightning for a hus- 
band. In Pélagd myths, Rainbow kidnaps children and kills people 
by moving his tongue all around his head. Lightning is a little hairy 
woman or man who needs smoke to return to the sky (Zoba, Pilagd). 
The Abipén and the Lengua looked at the whirlwinds as the manifesta- 
tions of a spirit. The former threw ashes, the latter sticks, to drive 
them away. The Mataco also personify the Big Fire that burns at 
the end of the world. 

Epidemics are generally thought to be caused by demons. The small- 
pox demon lives in the mountains and has a face covered with small 
pits (Mataco). The Lengua greatly fear the White demon of the 
swamps or lagoons, who supposedly sails over the waters. The for- 


51 “Ta supersticién con las Pleyadas no es mas que ser época de una festividad bacanal 
en los primeros dias de su aparici6n vesyertina y nos consta sucede lo propio entre los 
Bayas y otros indios’”’ (Aguirre, 1911, p. 357). 


352 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. EB. Bunt. 143 


ests and rivers are haunted by special demons (the Water-dwellers of 
the Pilagd) ; their meetings with human beings are related in many 
tales. The forest demons (Guarda) of the 7’wmerehaé have some fea- 
tures of dogs, which they derive from their father, a mythical dog who 
mated with a woman. 

Some animals have a Master, a spirit who prevents their wholesale 
destruction by hunters. For example, the Master-of-the-fish is an- 
gered, according to the Pilagd, when fish are caught and then left to rot. 

In addition to these demons, the Indian’s world is crowded with un- 
personified spirits which are either goblins or ghosts. It has been 
said that any object or animal which inspires fear or awe in a Chaco 
Indian is the receptacle of an evil spirit. Such a view is based on 
arbitrary interpretation rather than on actual statements by the na- 
tives. In Zoba, payak means a spirit, but the word is applied as an 
adjective to all kinds of phenomena and animals which appear strange, 
mysterious, supernatural or uncanny, and does not necessarily imply 
that the payak object or being is actually possessed by a spirit. Thus, 
whirlwinds, black beetles, and the objects that a shaman extracts from 
the body of a patient are all payak. 

The Mataco distinguish between the husek, which is the soul of a 
person, and the ahat, or ghost. The souls of the dead are greatly 
feared, but no more than spirits, such as the Inhabitants of the Earth 
and the welan who reside in trees, especially the large bottle trees. 
Among the Mataco-Nocten of Bolivia, aitax seems to have had the 
same meaning as payak in Z’oba, if Karsten’s definition (1982, p. 119) 
is correct. 

Chaco Indians do not actually live in the constant fear of spirits that 
some authors have ascribed to them. They admit that spirits and 
ghosts are especially obnoxious at night, and are ready to interpret 
any queer noise as evidence of the presence of a spirit; but during 
the day they show little concern, unless something strongly suggests 
supernatural interference. Above all, spirits bring illness. Any com- 
munity in which a death has occurred is exposed to attack by the ghost 
of the deceased. A hunter must take precautions to prevent revenge 
by the slain animal’s spirit. For this reason, a man who has killed 
a bird, plucks its neck feathers and scatters them on the road, hoping 
that while the bird’s spirit is collecting the feathers, he can reach 
home safely. 

The Lengua believe in a spirit, called Hakumyi, who now and 
then helps men in their gardening. They also speak of another spirit 
that is harmless but has thievish proclivities. 

A spirit is deemed good only when it is at the service of a shaman 
or of a man who has had a vision. Only a person who has established 
personal contact with a spirit may rely upon its help. A sick 7oba 
may say to his familiar or guardian spirit, “Let no more evil befall 


‘ ee 
z ee 


a "hte law Ee eS 


PLATE 45.—Chaco landscape. Bermejo River, near Algarrobal. Salta, Argentina. (Courtesy Mann.) 


PLATE 46.—Chaco landscapes. Top (left): Xerophytic forest (monte ralo) near San Patricio, Salta, Argen- 
tina. Top (right): Mutaco children bathing. Bottom (left); Xerophytic forest. Bottem (right): Mataco 
granary, San Patricio. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


PLATE 47.—Chaco Indians, 19th century. Top (left): Mbayad man. Top (right): Tereno man. Bottom. 
Mbaya camp, Albuquerque, Matto Grosso, Brazil. (After Castelnau, 1852, pls. 37, 38, 53.) 


‘uuByy AsowInoD) “BuljUesIy ‘esoulIOy ‘oABUIODTIG OY ‘“Ieods YIM uRUT DgOL “/yby “jou dip YIM uBUT DOD ‘aT “Senbiuyse) surysy Oovyy— gp ALVId 


spod oy} SUIyIOS DOD “YOR (CuuByy Ksovuno,) ) 
LW vbdpig ‘jay “eVqosesye Sulsedoid U9UIOM ODVYD— Hh ALV Id 


(Courtesy Max Schmidt.) 


Ashluslay huts. 


ses. 


Chaco hou 


LATE 50 


P 


aaeee 
gm ? a Betyg: sie 
+, ae 


PLATE 51.—Chaco houses, granaries, and water carrying. Top: Pilagda village. (Courtesy Mann.)  Bet- 
tom (left): Pilaga girl carrying water jar by tumpline, Bottom (right): Mataco or Pilaga granary. (Cour- 
tesy Alfred Métrauy,) 


: kt: fat ce he 


PLATE 52.—Chaco houses. Top: Interior of Mbayd hut with sleeping platforms. Village of Nalike. 
Bottom: Palm-thatched Mbayd communal houses, Nalike. (Courtesy Claude Lévi-Strauss.) 


PLATE 53.—Chaco costumes. Top (left): Ashlustay man with shell necklaces. Top (right): Ashluslay man 
wearing a poncho. Bottom (left): Ashluslay woman with wrap-around skirt. Bottom (center): Pilaga 
man with shell necklaces. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) Bottom (right): Pilaga child wearing necklace 
of glass beads and netted shirt. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


{ 7) ee oosanpRen—' fo ALVId 
‘06 FL EF SSU G6ST ‘Iaelss0g Joyyy) “sunured Apo pur [wey pey— rs r 


3 MAIO, > Wt, 


a wry, 
Cd 


SE 


Ubon deig gf 1455 rie Lnerg! Gy lerfeme ‘ey amre Uverge amtynn Cleqcpanid oe 
ast ‘ i i 


lor + sem veut Svseden So Bp 


< 
pnt Far] t) ards 


“a 

pRrrenete 

4 > + 
A - 


es hat ” 


PLATE 55.—Chaco face and body ornaments. Top: Mocovi chin ornament (tobacco horn below). Bottom: 
Mocovi tattooed designs and woman tattooing a man. (After Baucke, 1935, figs. 10, 11.) 


PLATE 56.—Chaco costumes. Top: Mecovi hunter with Guaicurti-type tonsure. Bottom: Guaicurt 
warriors with tattoo and wearing painted skin robes. Note tattooing. (After Baucke, 1935, figs. 13, 14.) 


PLATE 57.—Chaco head ornaments and bags. a, c, Pilaga beaded bag; 6, Pilaga netted bag; d, Chulwpi or 
Ashluslay iguana-skin pouch; e, f, Pilagd hair nets decorated with shell disks; g, Pilaga frontlet with 
flamingo feathers; h, \Mataco jaguar-skin frontlet; i, Pilaga child’s frontlet of plaited palm leaves. (Cour- 
tesy American Museum of Natural History.) 


——— a 7 


(AIOISIA [BANVVN JO WuNosnyY uBolloury AsoyInoD)) ‘“spepurs ‘9 ‘sutsvoooul ‘g ‘svq ULYyS-BayY ‘D “#eq ULYS puL 1v9aZ}O00] BARIIG—'8G ALVId 


< ati yo x : ; Ny . > Se, 7 ‘ 
ve Me: . ee ; ero ite 3 
Seo saa : C Z 
PLATE 59.—Chaco costumes. Top: Ashlus/ay poncho. Bottom: Pilaga painted deer-hide skirt. (Courtesy 
American Museum of Natural History.) 


PLATE 60.—Chaco bags. a, Mataco looped carrying bag; b, Pilagé netted bag for removing fuzz from cactus 
fruit; c, Pilagd finger-woven woolen pouch; d, Pilagé looped bag; e, Pilagé macramélike bag decorated 
with glass beads; f, Pilagd bird-skin bag. (Courtesy American Museum of Natural History.) 


i 
| 


——— 


PE 
\ 


»* 


PLATE 61.—Chaco textile manufacture. Top: Toba small loom for finger weaving. ottom: Mataco 
knitting a bag. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux,) 


a * 


Fi 
A} 
‘ 
~ 


PLATE 62.—Toba spinning wool. (Courtesy Mann.) 


PLATE 63.—Toba woman making carrying net. (Courtesy Mann.) 


PLATE 64.—Chaco pottery manufacture. Top: Toba making rim strip. (Courtesy Mann.) Bottom 
(left): Pilaga woman forming coil. Bottom (right): Mataco woman scraping inside of pot. (Courtesy 
Alfred Métraux.) 


PLATE 65.—Chaco wood carving. Chamacoco wooden figurines and throwing club (at right). (Courtesy 
Museo Etnografico, Buenos Aires.) 


PLATE 66,—Chaco children. Top: Pilaga delousing child. Bottom (eft): Pilaga grandmother and child. 
Bottom (right): Mataco girl. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


0 UL p[lqo pue doy.oU DOD;tgq 27Yb1y 
JO BUIAIIBO IOYJOUL OIDJDPY “jay “UsIp[iys oovyD 


Cuueypy Asaqino)) 9 ALVId 


US-lAg'T opne[y Asoynoy) ‘“suured [BloRy DAngpy 2(4azuaa) Moog (CXNeIYIN pedjpy Aseqyno,)) “[4Is B dUT00}}B) ULULOM DOD /(1fa]) WO}og (UUBIN Aso4In0.) ) 
“LOYIOW DODIief 2;yOlY CSSNBIYS-lAgT opne[y Asoo) “surjpured pervs pany :(4ajua0) doy (CxNeIVIV pospy Asowno0D) “oq vbnjigq *(/f9)) doy “SedAy uBIpuy O9ByYD—'g9 ALVId 


Aa) TE 


PLATE 69.—Chaco death customs. Top: Pilaga 
seclusion hut for widow. Center: Pilaga log 
covered grave. Bottom: Mataco widow’s se- 
clusion hut, with annex. (Courtesy Alfred 
Métraux.) 


> 
ia) 
a 


Mataco tree burial. 


PLATE 70. 


PLATE 71.—Chaco recreation. Top (left): Caduveo woman making a ‘“‘cat’s cradle.’’ (Courtesy Claude 
Lévi-Straus:.) Top (right): Pilaga boy playing musical bow. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) Bottom 
(left): Ashluslay drummer. Bottom (right): Pilagd girls dancing. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


PLATE 72.—Chaco religion and games. Top: Mataco ritual to expel evil. Center: Pilaga chief shaking 
shaman’s rattle and chanting. Bottom: Mataco hockey game. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


| 
ad 
2 


» Lévi-Strauss.) 


(Courtesy Claude 
(Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


an’s outfit. 


Top: Caduveo sham 
an blowing on sick person. 


am 


Pilaga sh 


LATE 73.—Chaco shamanism. 
Bottom: 


> 


I 


PLATE 74.—Chaco Indian types. Top. Toba scalp dance, with scalp on top of post. Bottom: Mataco dog 
suffering from starvation. (Courtesy Alfred Métraux.) 


PLATE 75.—Chaco Indian types. Top (left): Toba man, Top (right): Pilaga r Bottom (left); Pilaga 
man. Bottom (right); Pilaga woman, (Courtesy Mann.) 


Ri = mc ste aif 


PLATE 76.—Chaco Indian types. Top (letf): Toba chief. Top (right): Mataco man, tattooed chin. Bottom 
(left); Mataco man. Bottom (right): Maca girl, painted face. (Courtesy Mann.) 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 353 


me, I have already suffered much” (Karsten, 1932, p. 172), but there 
is no record that other tribes prayed to spirits. On the other hand, 
magic treatment of diseases among the Z’oba and the Mataco always 
includes a mock offering to the spirit or demon which has caused the 
illness. All kinds of valuable objects are piled up and presented to 
it with the undertsanding that it will be content with the immaterial 
essence of them. 

Ritual.—The magic ritual of the Chaco Indians follows, as a rule, 
very simple patterns. Most of their ceremonies have a coercive char- 
acter and are aimed either at curbing some malignant power or at 
directly influencing nature or men. Such great power is attributed 
to chanting and to the sound of the gourd rattle which accompanies 
it that most of the Chaco magic rites consist of the monotonous repeti- 
tion of a melodious theme with meaningless words or syllables. Only 
rarely, the conjuration includes a short sentence, generally a request 
that the evil go away. The chanter usually starts with a low murmur 
which rises gradually and then falls into a deep tone. A Pilcomayo 
River Indian will chant and shake his rattle (pl. 72, center) on many 
occasions: To keep evil spirits at a distance, when he wakes up after 
a bad dream, when some danger threatens at night, to gain the favor 
of a girl, to bring good luck to women who collect fruits, to insure 
a big catch of fish or game, and to help the fermentation of algarroba 
beer. When a group of Pe/agad men are about to leave for a journey, 
old women hop around them raising both arms and singing a sort 
of blessing. Among the ancient Abipén, one of the main duties of 
female shamans was to dance and sing in any sacred circumstance. 

Beating a drum, although less used, has the same ritual power as 
the tinkling of a gourd rattle. The Mataco drum to hasten the ma- 
turity of algarroba pods and to help girls in the critical period of their 
first menstruation. Spirits are easily frightened off by the jingle of 
the deer hoofs or bells, which the shamans and their assistants attach 
to their ankles and belts when they cure a sick person by expelling the 
supernatural intruder. Unusual magical power is attributed to rattles 
made of a special kind of gourd and filled with sacred beetles. Round 
wooden whistles and bone whistles in the form of flutes also have magi- 
cal uses. Zoba shamans are said to whirl a sort of bull-roarer in order 
to bring rain (Rydén, 1938). 

Many Chaco dances have a definite ceremonial value. Thus, at the 
end of the dry season 7’o0ba women, directed by a shaman, dance and 
fling themselves to the ground as if seized by a sudden illness. Sha- 
mans pretend to cure them, while other dancers turn around them, 
stamping the ground, yelling, and shaking their rattles. This dance 
is to assure the health of the women during the summer. The jaguar 
dance of the 7’0ba is supposed to protect women from jaguar attacks. 

583486—46——23 


354 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. But. 143 


Boys and girls dance in a circle, each boy lashing the loins of the girl 
in front of him with a cloth. The girls fall to the ground, when a 
shaman, acting the part of a jaguar, sucks and blows on them (Kar- 
sten, 1932, p. 150). When girls come of age (Mataco, Ashluslay, 
Lengua), the women and boys ritually dance to dramatize the attacks 
of the spirits and their final defeat. 

By chanting and dancing to the point of exhaustion, the Joba try 
to hasten the maturity of chanar fruit. The Choroti dance around a 
fish in the hope that the ceremony will make fish come in great quan- 
tities to a certain place. 

Dancing figures in the treatment of disease: While the Mataco or 
Toba shaman blows and murmurs incantations over a patient, assist- 
ants wearing belts with bells attached and deer-hoof anklets, perform 
a sort of rhythmical, half-jumping walk. Dancing, according to the 
Mataco, frightens the disease demon away or makes him tired, as he 
feels compelled to join in the dance. 

When rain falls without thunder—a sign that the spirits are kindly 
disposed—the Chamacoco dress in their best ornaments, with Jingles 
attached to hands and feet, and indulge in demonstrations of wild joy. 
They throw themselves to the ground and play tricks on one another. 

Collective rites—When a community is threatened, everyone may 
join in a ceremony to ward off the impending evil. When a Mataco 
band dreads an epidemic, it symbolically fights the spirits or disease 
demons. Both sexes wearing red head bands with feathers, necklaces, 
and red waistcoats line up behind a row of arrows stuck into the 
ground (pl. 72, top). They begin the counter-offensive with magical 
songs accompanied by gourd rattles. At intervals the shamans take 
a snuff of hatax (cebil, Piptadenia macrocarpa) powder to achieve a 
mild state of trance, when their liberated souls go to the sky in the 
form of birds to challenge the hostile spirits. ‘Then everyone threat- 
ens the invisible enemies with rattles and bunches of feathers, marches 
against them, and steps on them as if to crush them. The ceremony is 
concluded with a general disinfection: The performers blow on each 
other, tinkle their rattles all over their neighbors’ bodies, and dust 
them with feather bundles. The souls of the dead shamans may be 
invited to participate in the ceremony, and some cebil powder is 
dropped on the ground for them. 

When a strong south wind blows, the Zengua shake their blankets 
in hope of throwing the sickness out into the wind, a rite which was 
also practiced by the M/bayd and by the Patagonian tribes. 

Ceremonial objects, charms, and amulets.—The Zengua regard 
red head bands with feather fringes as a protection against evil spirits, 
especially water demons. When a J/ataco deals with the super- 
natural world, he also puts on a red head band, and possibly a red 
knitted wool shirt. Thread crosses inserted in head bands deter in- 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 3955 


visible enemies. Everyone who takes part in a rite or who must face 
danger paints his face with black or red designs to insure his safety. 
All Chaco Indians use hunting charms. The 7oda wear around their 
waists an elongated bag made of a rhea’s neck containing diverse 
plants and animal exuviae, which they expect to bring abundant game. 
The Lengua use wax images to bring good hunting luck. The Mataco 
and the other Pilcomayo River Indians usually wear around their 
necks one or more pouches containing medicinal plants. Mocovi men 
attached deer hoofs around their wrists and ankles in order to become 
faster runners (Baucke, 1870, p. 120). 

Boys and girls employ charms and talismans to assure the success 
of their love affairs. (See Arnott, 1935, pp. 294-296.) 

In most Chaco tribes, if a man engaged in heavy work feels tired, 
he draws blood from his limbs by pricking the skin with an awl made 
of rhea or jaguar bone. The Guaieuruan-speaking Indians give much 
importance to these scarifications and encourage even smal] children 
to jab themselves. During drinking bouts, the Abipén pricked their 
breasts, arms, and tongues with a bundle of thorns, or with the sharp 
bones of a caiman’s back, with much loss of blood. On similar occa- 
sions, Payagud men had shamans pierce their skin with wooden skew- 
ers or stringray darts. Some, like the Abipdén, wounded their penises 
and allowed the blood to drip into a hole in the ground. Famous 
warriors voluntarily had their tongues perforated with a wooden awl 
(Aguirre, 1911, p. 367). 

The Adbipon and the Mocovi credited caiman’s teeth with great 
virtue to heal serpent’s bites when applied againsts the wound or worn 
around the neck. 

Omens and dreams.—Chaco Indians pay close attention to some 
natural phenomena which they interpret as presages or omens. The 
Mocovi attributed ominous significance to the cry of a bird, which was 
supposed to say, “Flee away lest you be swallowed by the earth,” and 
to the heron’s call. The Z'obda do not like certain black birds to sit 
on their huts. When a flock of these birds fly by their village, they 
make noises to chase them away. 

When a war party comes upon a wildcat or a jaguar scratching the 
earth, the warriors prefer to return home. If they witness a fight 
between two yulo birds, they observe carefully the direction in which 
the defeated bird flies, and believe they are sure to win if it goes toward 
the enemy. 

A comet is regarded as the harbinger of an epidemic; a meteor fore- 
tells the death of a witch doctor. (See Grubb, 1914, p. 124.) 

Dreams play a very important part in the life of an Indian, and to some extent 
govern many of his actions. 

This statement by the missionary Grubb (1918, p. 127), has been con- 
firmed by observations made in several Chaco tribes (7oba, Mataco, 


356 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


Ashluslay, and others). The Zengua explain that during sleep the 
soul leaves the body and has many adventures which often are con- 
strued as real. Dreams are regarded by the Indian “as warnings and 
guides to his conduct” (Grubb, 1913, p. 127). The actions of a person 
seen in a dream are often regarded as the expression of his actual in- 
tentions, and the dreamer subsequently acts accordingly. 

Religious feasts—The tribes of the Bermejo River—Paisan, 
Atalala, and probably Mataco—celebrated ceremonies which brought 
them, symbolically, in direct contact with the supernatural. Such 
feasts contained a dramatic element which seems absent from the re- 
ligious life of modern Indians in the same region, and may either have 
vanished or escaped the attention of modern observers. There is, in a 
text by the Jesuit Camafio y Bazin (1931), a detailed account of one 
of these “mysteries.” 

The Vilela planted in the ground 10 or 12 poles decorated with 
painted designs. The assembled shamans designated a young man 
to impersonate a god called Gos (in Vélela, “spirit”), and appointed 
« girl to be the god’s wife and a group of boys to be his servants. 
Near the poles, two huts were erected in which the spirit and his suite 
were lodged before and during the ceremonies. On the appointed day, 
the youth of the village, covered with feathers and smeared with paint, 
came to the sacred spot carrying jars of beer. They danced and 
addressed prayers to the spirit begging for rain and imploring his 
protection against epidemics, after which Gos, with his wife and ser- 
vants, emerged from a grove where they had hidden the day before. 
The boy impersonating the god wore a huge tapering headdress of 
straw, provided with “horns,” and concealed his whole body under 
skins and bundles of straw. His wife was naked but for a net apron, 
and his followers wore only feather belts. They all concealed their 
faces behind small painted sticks. 'The divine couple and their escorts 
danced around the poles, shouting, grimacing, and striking the poles 
with painted sticks. After a while, they retired to their hut. At 
noon and in the evening of the following days, they repeated their 
performance. 

The same ritual pattern was followed on other more festive occa- 
sions. Young people with feather headdresses, bracelets, belts, and 
anklets danced around a quebracho blanco or a guayacan tree, whistling 
and shouting. A naked girl accompanied the dancers. During other 
ceremonies young people of both sexes ran around the village carrying 
sticks trimmed with feathers. 

Father Remedi, who was well acquainted with the Mataco of the 
Bermejo River, was told that they celebrated a feast during which the 


527~n another version of the same feast given by Father Alonso Sanchez, it is said that 
on the last day of the feast, just before dawn, the dancers broke the beer jars (G. Farlong. 
1939, p. 57). 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX aL) 


“devil” came from the bush where he had been in hiding and danced 
with the people, amusing them with his leaps and antics. Suddenly 
everyone stood silent while the god-impersonator made prophecies 
about the next harvest, the abundance of game, and impending dis- 
eases, and answered the individuals who consulted him about their 
own future (Lafone-Quevedo, 1896 a, 17: 348) .° 

The appearance of the Pleiades above the horizon in April or May, 
which marked the new year, occasioned much rejoicing among the 
tribes of the Guaicuruan stock and the Guand under their direct influ- 
ence. The Adcpén congratulated the star cluster as if it were a man. 
They drank mead, and a female shaman danced to trumpets, while the 
spectators shouted, each striking his mouth with his hands. During 
the ceremony, the female shaman made the warriors swift by touching 
their thighs with her rattle. This feast quite often coincided with the 
formal initiation of male and female shamans. 

The feast of the Pleiades, one of the major religious events of the 
year, was in every Mbaya village the occasion for stripping the huts 
of their mat coverings, which they struck with cudgels to drive away 
any evil influence which lurked there. This general disinfection, 
strongly reminiscent of the expulsion of the Gualichu among the Avau- 
canians and Patagonians, was to ward off epidemics and disasters dur- 
ing the coming year (Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 2:13). 

The ceremonial life of the Zereno and probably of all the Guana 
also was particularly intense when the new year began. It is difficult 
to ascertain whether these Indians adopted the A/baya rites and added 
a few traditional elements of their own, or whether ceremonies already 
present in their own earlier culture corresponded to the Pleiades feast 
of the Mbayd. 

During the 3 months preceding the rising of the Pleiades, all the 
Tereno shamans of a village chanted and shook their rattles in front 
of their huts every night. A shaman, whom his colleagues designated 
master of ceremonies, instructed the villagers to prepare for the com- 
ing feast. One of the first rites of the festival was a simulated attack 
against the chief’s hut by an old shaman who, armed with a horn, and 
with his face veiled by a net, impersonated a spirit. The chief placated 
the spirit by presenting him and his colleagues with a bull. Then an 
old man with a spear turned to the four corners of the earth, and 
announced, “I am the Grandfather of the chiefs of the East; .. . of 
the West; ... of the North; and .. . of the South.” He also enu- 


53 According to a letter by Collins M. Smith, a Protestant missionary among the Mataco, 
a similar ceremony was celebrated in 1941. “It would appear that one or two witch 
doctors cooperated, one of them impersonating some well known witch doctor of bygone 
days, known by reputation only, even to the oldest of the present generation. All kinds 
of gifts were brought to them, and after the usual chanting, palavering, etc. he appeared 
from the depths of the leading witch doctor’s hut, having come up out of the ground, and 
spoke to the assembly.” 


358 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLt. 143 


merated the important men who lived in each direction. He then 
lifted his eyes toward the Pleiades and asked of them rain for the fields, 
and protection against war, diseases, serpent bites, and other evils. He 
prayed for an hour and concluded with a cry, whereupon the whole 
band jumped, shouted, and made every possible noise, even with fire- 
arms. Amidst this tumult, the old man returned to his hut (Rhode, 
1885, p. 409). These performances were followed by sportive amuse- 
ments, especially boxing. 

The climax of the celebration was the Dance of the Rhea Feather 
Dress. The members of the Bad Moiety, who had made a nuisance of 
themselves by breaking pots and destroying everything in sight, were 
finally challenged by those of the Good Moiety, who appeared in war 
array, each man grasping a painted stick. Then, for a whole day, 
each moiety danced in a line facing the other and alternately dealt 
and parried blows at their opponents with their sticks. 

The religion of the southern Avawakan tribes living north of the 
Chaco (Mojo, Paresst, Pawmari) was characterized by ceremonies in 
which masked men impersonating spirits terrified the women and 
levied from them tributes of food or drinks. Certain aspects of Tereno 
feasts were survivals of such ancient ceremonies, though they may 
have degenerated into mere amusements with little ritual significance. 
Hidden in some secret spot, the men painted themselves to conceal 
their identity and pretended to attack the village. The women, in- 
stead of running away, defended themselves in a mock battle. A man, 
painted in black and red, with feathers on his head and covered with 
twigs, entered the village plaza, where he amused the audience by his 
antics. The men also built a temporary house on the plaza which was 
taboo to women. There they disguised themselves with rhea feathers 
and with facial paintings; then for several successive days they danced 
for hours around the men’s house (Rhode, 1885, p. 409). 

The ancient A/baya had a similar feast, but the masked person was 
a sturdy girl who smeared her face with charcoal and covered herself 
with branches. A group of naked boys surrounded her and, despite 
the opposition of the village girls, attempted to strip her of her foliage 
outfit. When finally they caught her, they took her to a river to wash 
her face. Such games were played in honor of the chiefs, who after- 
ward appeared masked with boughs. 

The Aniposé feast of the Chamacoco—The Anapéso feast is cele- 
brated at the end of the initiation in which the young men are taught 
the lore of the band and told that the spirits which they have previ- 
ously greatly feared are only masked men. 

As soon as the date of the feast is fixed, the men open a circular 
clearing in the forest, some 60 feet (18 m.) in diameter, which is ap- 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 359 


proached by a narrow, winding path. Opposite the path, an avenue, 
9 to 11 feet (2.5 to 3.5 m.) wide, runs a short distance into the bush. 
A tall tree surrounded by underbrush stands in the center of the plaza. 
For 5 or 6 days the feast is heralded by the shrill and distant voice of a 
spirit which is heard in the village at dusk. The first night only a 
shaman answers the call; on the following night more and more people 
sing and rattle their gourds to invoke the mysterious visitor. On the 
7th or 8th day, the men go to the dance ground and post a sentry on the 
path. The women go some distance from the village and sit under the 
guard of young uninitiated boys, who prevent their walking into the 
forest. Every woman knows that too much curiosity may be fatal. 

On the dance ground men stand by large fires, where they sing and 
shake their rattles. The fastest runner circles the central tree, fol- 
lowed by two men blowing whistles said to be made of a woman’s 
bones. <A line of young and old men follow them. Whenever an 
exhausted runner stops to rest, he is derided by the spectators. The 
whistlers are relieved without a single interruption in the alternate 
rhythm of the whistling. Suddenly the call of a spirit sounds at a 
distance. Everybody squats around the fires, except the first three 
runners and a shaman, who starts a chant. The spirit’s second call is 
received with shouts, and a man holding a firebrand turns rapidly 
around the tree in the opposite direction to the three runners. 

This wild running around the tree alternates with the spirit’s calls 
during this and 3 or 4 successive nights. On the 4th or 5th night, 
everyone paints himself red with white stripes across the chest. Old 
men eat the best morsels of an armadillo and pass the remainder to the 
younger people. During a general silence, the voice of the spirit is 
heard and greeted with shouts of joy. The chief converses with the 
spirit, who is then recognized as the messenger of the Great Anapéso, 
and conveys through him a formal invitation for all the Anapdés6 to 
dance at the village. The spirit retires, his voice gradually dying 
away. The men dance and shout in joy, while runners continue to 
circle the tree. 

On the following day, the Anapés6 formally appear on the village 
plaza. Their impersonators have tightly netted bags pulled over their 
heads and hammocks wrapped around their bodies; they are profusely 
decorated with feathers, and the bare parts of the body are painted 
red, black, and white. Suddenly shouting, running, and jumping like 
madmen, the Anapésé rush upon the encampment, where they begin 
the dance, always keeping up their shouting. The women hide be- 
hind a wall of mats, mosquito nets, and rags, where they remain 
silent with their backs toward the dancing place. Knowing that the 
sight would bring death, none dares to look. Some even press their 


360 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. But. 143 


faces against the ground. It is believed that if the women were ever 
to discover that the spirits are really human beings, the whole tribe 
would perish. (See Métraux, 1943.) 

In some bands, the Anapésé feast has lost much of its sacred 
character. Among the Jwmerehd, a Chamacoco subtribe, it is merely 
a dance of the clowns, who sing and go through antics. On the last 
day, they remove their masks openly and paint their faces red. 


SHAMANISM 


Every Chaco band has many individuals who are capable of treating 
a sick person or chanting to avert some impending disaster. It is, 
therefore, sometimes difficult to distinguish between a person with a 
smattering of magical arts and a professional shaman. 

Initiation and training—Among the Zengua, the profession of 
shaman often runs in a family, but, here as elesewhere, it is not strictly 
hereditary. 

In theory, all the power and knowledge of the Wataco shamans come 
from spirits. A spirit abducts the soul of the would-be shaman, 
teaches him the spirit language, and treats him as he will later treat 
his own patients. Among the 7’oba, a novice, in order to become a 
fullfledged shaman, must receive a revelation in which he sees a spirit 
who teaches him a new chant. But, in both cases, the candidates also 
observe the manipulations of professionals and learn from them the 
methods and secrets of their calling. 

Before practicing his art, a medicine man must live in solitude, 
wandering aimlessly in the bush or sitting in a tree; during the period 
of retirement, he observes a rigorous fast, eating only such foods as 
raw dog meat (Z’oba, Mataco) or toads and snakes (Lengua). The 
diet of the Lengua novice includes little birds plucked alive which 
transmit to him their power of singing. During his apprenticeship, 
the candidate repeats his medicine chant continuously as though im- 
pelled by a superior force. Afterward an old shaman shoots a small 
stick at him which penetrates his body without, however, causing any 
injury (Z’oba). This stick is probably the same one which the shaman 
is supposed to shoot into his enemies’ bodies. When a (/bayd appren- 
tice shaman, male or female, had acquired proficiency in chanting, all 
the shamans of the community gathered in his hut for 2 days to chant 
special songs while brandishing tufts of rhea feathers. The teachers 
drank at the expense of the disciple, who spent a whole night chanting 
and rattling his gourd to show his skill. 

The Kasktha novice shamans have to fast for about 3 months before 
practicing. Throughout this period, they endure periods of several 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 361 


days of complete abstinence from food and water, followed by brief 
intervals during which they may drink water and eat sweet potatoes. 

The training of the Zereno shaman starts in childhood. During 
the last year of training, he must abstain from fresh meat, fat, salt, 
manioc, and fruit. On a certain day the instructor produces from 
his mouth a frog, a small snake, or a tarantula, and gives it to his 
pupil to eat. Finally, the novice must chant at night until a spirit 
reveals itself to him. 

In most Chaco tribes, old women often have medical knowledge 
and are called to treat a sick person. They also know charms and 
dances which prove helpful in many circumstances. But true shamans 
are usually men, except among the Abzpdn and Tereno, where some 
female “jugglers” seem to have had great influence and were constantly 
active. Among the Mbaya some young girls practiced medicine 
(Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, 2:32). 

Techniques of the shaman.—A shaman has at his service a familiar 
spirit who performs all the difficult tasks on his behalf and informs 
him of secrets or future events. Lule and Mataco shamans snuff a 
powder made of the seeds of the cebil (Piptadenia macrocarpa) to put 
themselves in a state of mild trance or excitement, when they send 
their souls in the form of yulo birds to the other world. Their meta- 
morphosis is facilitated by blowing a whistle made from the leg bone 
of a yulo. The shaman’s soul goes to the land of the spirits or visits 
the Sun, who is a medicine man of great wisdom. If it meets a rival, 
a battle ensues in which the life of one of the contenders is at stake. 

Lengua shamans hypnotize themselves by “sitting in a strained 
position for hours, fixing their gaze upon some distant object” (Grubb, 
1913, p. 146). In this condition, they are supposed to throw their 
souls out. 

Spirits appeared to the 7’ereno shaman in the guise of hawks (Her- 
petotheres sp.), which they conjure up by chanting and rattling their 
rattles for a whole night, often with the assistance of their relatives. 
Familiar spirits sometimes took the appearance of jaguars (Mbayda). 

The curing function of the shaman.—In native eyes the main 
function of shamans is to cure sick people. There are two theories 


54 Additional details on the Kaskihd shaman’s initiation rites are given by Hassler 
(1894, pp. 356-67), who unfortunately is not reliable. The profession is hereditary in 
the male line. To consecrate his son, a shaman builds a special cabin, in each corner of 
which he places a small pot containing herbs soaked in water. The decoction varies with 
the points of the horizon. During 5 days, the hut is taboo to all except the father. Then 
the son is taken inside amidst the howls of women. He finds a ceremonial vessel made 
according to strict rules. The father pours out the contents of the pots, beginning with 
the one in the east corner. The novice drinks the fermented and ill-smelling beverage, 
and his father breaks the ceremonial vessel on his head. The candidate then retires for 
several days in the new hut and observes a strict fast. The power of the shaman resides 
partly in his saliva impregnated with the magic force of the beverage he has absorbed as 
a novice. Those who specialize in curing serpent bites suck a serpent and eat raw slices 
of its flesh. 


362 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


about the nature of diseases: they may be caused by the intrusion of 
some object or animal into a person, or by the loss of the soul. Spirits 
acting either of their own accord or through the will of some witch are 
held responsible for the presence of pathogenic substances in the 
patient’s body. Some Indians even believe that the pathogenic objects 
or animals are transformed spirits. For instance, when a person is 
bitten by a snake, the spirit of the snake enters the body, but it is con- 
ceived to turn then into an actual serpent (Pilagd). The Lengua, 
Tereno, and Mataco ascribe their ailments to the presence in the body 
of spirits in the form of snakes, rats, goats, kittens, or beetles. ‘The 
Lengua fear a beetle flying by because it is regarded as the material- 
ization of the evil which the shaman extracts from his patients’ bodies. 

The view that diseases are caused by the kidnapping of the soul by 
some demon or spirit occurs simultaneously with the intrusion theory 
among the Z'oba, Lengua, Mbayd, Tereno, and probably other Chaco 
tribes. 

Some diseases and accidents are attributed to the violation of a taboo 
by the victim or his relatives. The Mocovi traced any infant’s ailment 
to an imprudence of the father, who might, for instance, have eaten 
tabooed food. 

If disease is caused by an intrusion, the shaman, in order to remove 
the pathogenic substance, proceeds in the following way: He blows 
(pl. 73) and spits on the patient and chants monotonously in rising 
and falling tones. The chant has no words, although the shaman may 
order the evil to go away. The blowing is followed by violent suction 
which often draws blood. Some 7oda shamans scratch the ailing re- 
gion with a knife or with a small board engraved with designs pur- 
ported to represent a person (Ducci, 1904, p. 173). The shaman, 
contracting the muscles of his face, acts as if he will vomit, and spits 
out mucus, which he may claim to be fragments of the object or animal 
that he has removed from the patient. Often he exhibits a beetle, a 
piece of wood, or a pebble, which he pretends to have extracted. Among 
the Lengua, the shaman announces in a special chant that the intruding 
spirit has been cast out and that it is, therefore, safe for the absent soul 
to return (Grubb, 1918, p. 184). 

If the disease is the consequence of soul loss, the shaman sends his 
familiar spirit or his own soul to discover its whereabouts and to 
rescue it. 

The Mbaydé shaman cured sick people in a round enclosure made of 
mats, which nobody could enter lest he lose his sight or his life. He 
chanted, shaking his rattle, then became silent, when his soul went to 


5 Payagud shamans, naked except for a rope around the neck, began their treatment by 
smoking tobacco in a long pipe, then proceeded to frighten off the disease by a variety of 
sounds from a trumpet made of two halved calabashes sewn together. The cure subse- 
quently followed the usual pattern. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 363 


the cemetery to bring his patient’s soul back. Sometimes he might 
declare that his own soul was wandering through the bush in search 
of the vagabond soul. After the quest, he always sucked the patient’s 
body and spat out objects, which he buried in a hole. When extracting 
foreign bodies, shamans pressed heavily on the patient’s stomach with 
their fists. During the whole treatment the patient was not allowed 
to open his eyes. 

If, during the search for the wandering soul, the Mbayd shaman 
saw it mounted on a horse, he knew the case to be hopeless and aban- 
doned the patient to his fate. Nevertheless, he generally asked the 
relatives to pay him, though, infuriated by his failure, they might 
pelt him with firebrands instead. When resentment against an un- 
successful shaman was great, he often joined some other band lest he 
be murdered by his patients’ kinfolk. 

The Zumereha blame illness on the sun. Their shamans treat a 
sick person by spitting in their hands and rubbing the ailing parts 
of the patient’s body. The cure is accompanied by chants and dances, 
in imitation of the voice and behavior of animals which are regarded as 
demons (Baldus, 1931 a, p. 89). 

Other functions of the shamans.—An important duty of shamans 
is to protect their band by chanting and shaking their rattles at night 
when there is a danger from the supernatural world. 

When the Abzpon sensed impending danger, they consulted their 
female shamans, who gathered in a hut and spent the night beating 
two large drums and muttering incantations, accompanied by a con- 
tinual motion of the feet and arms. The next day, the singers re- 
ceived presents, and were anxiously asked what the spirit had said 
(Dobrizhoffer, 1784, 2:83). When a storm arose, Mbayd shamans 
chanted, shook their rattles, and blew at the clouds to disperse them. 
Lengua shamans provoked rain by tossing the blood of a certain kind 
of duck upward. Mbayd, Lule, and Mataco shamans dispatched their 
souls to the sky to bring back rain. 

Shamans also can learn about the future by traveling at night to 
the land of the spirits. d/ataco medicine men send their souls to the 
Sun for the same purpose, but the journey is perilous, as the Sun, 
a great Cannibal, does not wish to be bothered by visitors. He 
places in the shamans’ way various traps which they must avoid before 
they can come near him. Yet, if they succeed, the Sun is ready to 
answer all their queries. 

Formerly, when a Mbayd, Abipén, Toba, or Mataco shaman wished 
to consult a spirit—among the A dzpén, the soul of a relative—he crept 
under a blanket, shook his rattle, and muttered incantations. After 
a while he trembled and felt a shock, which was unmistakable evidence 
that a spirit had arrived. Theshaman then conversed with the spirit, 
who answered in a characteristically shrill voice. 


364 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buin. 143 


Mbayd shamans not only could forsee future events, but by their 
magic they could prevent their realization. Thus, they could forestall 
diseases, wars, and famines that might have destroyed their people. 
Shamans among the Guaicuruan-speaking tribes accompanied military 
expeditions and by their charms brought victory to their party. They 
were credited with power to kill their enemies merely by blowing at 
them. When a M/bayd band traveled, the shamans chanted every night 
to insure the success of the journey. 

Influence and prestige of shamans.—The influence of the shamans 
on their community is often considerable, and now and then they 
become the actual leaders of the band. On the other hand, chiefs are 
often shamans. Some shamans perform miracles to increase their 
prestige. Lengua medicine men claimed to be able to eat a very 
poisonous root without feeling any ill effect. By simple tricks, they 
made the Indians believe that they could spit seeds which promptly 
developed into full-grown ripe pumpkins. 

Tereno shamans knew many sleight-of-hand tricks: They extracted 
feathers from their nose; swallowed arrows; and pretended to remove 
a limb, arm or leg, which they later replaced. They also were serpent 
charmers. Mataco shamans walk on hot ashes without suffering harm. 

The Abipon, fearing vengeance, accounted it a crime to contradict 
their shamans’ words or to oppose their desires or commands. 
Throughout the Chaco, shamans derive substantial benefits from their 
profession. After an expedition, the Adbipén awarded the shaman 
who had accompanied them the best part of the spoils. Dobrizhoffer 
(1874, 2:87) remarks that medicine men “had plenty of excellent 
horses, and domestic furniture superior to that of the rest.” Toba 
shamans insist that their clients pay them speedily on the ground that 
if they are remiss, the offended spirit will punish both the doctor and 
his patient. 

Witchcraft.—There is in the Chaco great fear of sorcery, which is 
held responsible for most evils. The Abépon told Dobrizhoffer that if 
it were not for sorcerers, people would probably live forever. Even 
such accidents as snake bites and violent death at the hands of enemies 
are often regarded as the work of some ill-disposed shaman. 

Sorcery follows the common pattern of imitative and contagious 
magic: the sorcerer secures some exuviae of the person he wishes to 
harm and subjects them to manipulations symbolic of the fate he 
wishes to bring upon his victim. Even Christianized JJ/ataco are re- 
luctant to give up specimens of their hair lest they be bewitched. Few 
Indians, even those familiar with civilization, will allow a stranger 
to take their pictures, since they believe these may become the instru- 
ment of their ruin. 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 365 


Sorcerers may cause disease or death by shooting their enemies 
with invisible sticks or thorns, which they keep inside their own 
bodies (Ashluslay, Toba). A charm or spell suffices to direct the 
missile against the victim. 

The shamans are said to have the power of changing themselves into 
jaguars in order to attack and devour people. Only a few years ago, 
a Pilagé Indian in Sombrero Negro made several attempts to turn him- 
self into a jaguar, hoping to avenge his grievance against one of the 
local chiefs. He painted his body with black stripes, and pranced 
around his hut roaring and shouting, “I am a jaguar.” He pounced 
upon his enemy like a jaguar, and some people even maintained that 
his nails had turned into claws. 

Similar scenes were witnessed by Dobrizhoffer (1784, 1: 87) : 

When these bugbears think anyone inimical or injurious to them, they will 
threaten to change themselves into a tiger and tear every one of their fellow men 
to pieces. No sooner do they begin to imitate the roaring of a tiger, than all the 
neighbors fly away in every direction. From a distance, however, they hear the 
feigned sound. “Alas! his whole body is beginning to be covered with tiger spots !” 
cry they. “Look, his nails are growing,” the fearstruck women exclaim, although 
they cannot see the rogue, who is concealed within his tent; but that distracted 
fear presents things to their eyes which have no real existence. 


MYTHOLOGY 


Extensive collections of Chaco folklore exist only for the 7’oba and 
the Mataco (Nordenskiéld, 1912; Karsten, 1932; Métraux, 1935, 1939, 
1941; Palavecino, 1940). For the other tribes (Lengua, Chamacoco) 
our information is based on scattered and often fragmentary material. 
(Grubb, 1914; Baldus, 1931 a; Alarcon y Cafiedo, 1926.) 

Cosmogony.—Many stars and contellations are identified with per- 
sons, animals, or objects which figure in the mythology. Thus the 
Southern Cross and Coalsack nearby represent a fabulous rhea pur- 
sued by two young men, « and 8 Centauri, and by their dogs, a and 
B Crucis (Mataco, Toba, Mocovi). The Milky Way is a road followed 
by mythical people (Z’oba), or the ashes of a celestial tree which was 
burned down (Mocovi). The Mataco and the Toba see a big yulo bird 
(Zantalus cristatus) in a constellation formed by the Pleiades, the 
Hyades, and the Belt of Orion. To the Zoba, the “Tres Marias” («, ¢, 
and ¢ Orionis) are three old women who live in a large house with a 
garden (Betelguese, Bellatrix, and « Orionis). ¢ 1 and ¢ 2 Scorpii 
are two “grandchildren” (Afataco). The Hyades are visualized as 
a chufia bird (Chunga burmeisteri). The Toba say the Magellanic 
Clouds are algarroba flour pounded by a Star Woman (Venus) in her 
celestial mortar (Magellanic Clouds) (Z’oba). (For the star mythol- 


866 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buun. 148 


ogy of the Chaco Indians, see Lehmann-Nitsche, 1923 b, c; 1924-25 a, 
b, d, es 1927.) 

Sun and Moon.—To most Chaco tribes, Sun is a woman and Moon 
aman. Among the Mataco and Chamacoco, the sun and moon appear 
in tales of the type of the Twin stories, so common in South America. 
Sun is a clever person who succeeds in all his undertakings while 
Moon, always anxious to imitate him, fails and is finally killed. Sun 
calls on Mosquito, who has a beautiful field, and receives manioc and 
other foods from his friend. Moon wants to do likewise but does not 
notice Mosquito, whom he almost tramples to death. Mosquito bites 
Moon, who dies, but Sun resurrects him (Chamacoco). 

Sun fishes for piranha, using his son as a bait. Moon wants to do 
the same, but the piranha eats his child (Chamacoco). 

Sun catches ducks by changing himself into a duck. Moon uses the 
the same stratagem, but is detected and scratched by the infuriated 
birds, hence the spots on the Moon (Mataco). 

Eclipses.—As a rule, eclipses are interpreted as attacks on the Moon 
or the Sun by a celestial jaguar (Toba, Abipén, Mocovi, Mataco, 
Vilela). The ancient Lule believed that the phenomenon was caused 
by a large bird which hid the Sun with his wings. 

Meteoric phenomena.—Like many North American tribes, the 
Choroti, Lengua, and Ashluslay hold that thunder is produced by 
mythical birds. According to the Ashluslay, thunder is their cry and 
lightning the fire which they drop over the earth. 

In Toba lore, the thunderbolt is an old hairy woman who falls during 
a storm and can return to the sky only in the smoke of a fire kindled 
by a friendly passerby. 

The Mataco, Toba, and Chamacoco speak of Rain as a person (a 
spirit) who rides across the sky. The Chamacoco see clouds as large 
birds full of water, but also believe that rainfall depends on the good- 
will of spirits who guard a big celestial jar full of water. The Ash- 
luslay say that rain is produced by the Thunderbirds, who in their 
anger open a celestial container full of water; and that the rainbow 
is a huge serpent. 

The Universe-—Many Chaco Indians describe the universe as 
formed of many superimposed layers. The Afataco divide it into three 
strata: the sky, the earth, and the underworld. The Chamacoco dis- 
tinguish seven skies or layers, five above our earth and two below, each 
of which corresponds to a different color. 

The Mocovi, Toba, Mataco, and Chamacoco have a myth about a 
gigantic tree which once connected the sky and the earth and by which 
the men of this earth climbed to hunt in the world above. Finally, a 
vengeful woman—in some versions a man—burned the tree. The 
people who remained in the sky were changed into the Pleiades 
(Mataco). 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 367 


At the end of the earth there is an unextinguishable fire (M/bayd, 
Mataco), which the Mataco associate with the fire spirits. These spirits 
once set fire to the world to take revenge on the hornero bird (Fur- 
narius rufus), who could not conceal his merriment when he saw fire 
issuing from their buttocks during a dance. 

Creation myth.—The Zengua attribute the creation of the Universe 
to an enormous beetle. First he caused evil spirits to come out from 
under the earth and then produced a man and a woman from the 
“rains of soil he had thrown away.” The first couple was glued 
together until Beetle separated them. 

The ancient Mbayd had three different versions of the origin of man- 
kind: (1) Men lived underground; a dog scented their presence and 
dug them out. This motif is still remembered by modern Caduveo. 
(2) The first men were hatched by a large bird which nested in a big 
hole on top of a mountain. (3) Mankind originated in a large pit, 
located in the north. 

The Tereno tell of two mythical brothers who were catching birds 
in a trap. Following the bloody tracks of some which escaped, they 
arrived at a hole leading far down into the earth. Then out of this 
hole the Zeveno came, blinded by the sunlight and shivering with cold 
(Hay, 1928, p. 124). 

In a myth common to both the 7oba and Mataco, women are said 
to have come from the sky. They climbed down by a rope in order 
tu steal the food of men, who then were animals. A bird cut the 
rope and the women were obliged to remain here. Men could not 
have access to them until Carancho, the culture hero, broke their 
vaginal teeth. 

The first Chamacoco were imprisoned in a quebracho tree so huge 
that they could play a ball game in it. A man cleaved the trunk, 
thus allowing mankind to emerge. 

Cataclysms.—According to Chaco mythology, four different 
cataclysms destroyed the world: (1) A flood was caused by a men- 
struating girl who went for water and thus offended a water python 
(Rainbow) (Toba, Mataco, Lengua). (2) A big fire started by the 
fall of Sun consumed the world. (8) A wave of cold killed all the 
people. (4) Absolute darkness sat upon the earth for a whole year. 
As a result of each catastrophe some people were transformed into 
birds and animals (7oba, Mocovi, Mataco, Chorott). 

Origin of fire —Rabbit is represented either as the jealous guardian 
of fire who was robbed by Hummingbird (70ba), or as the hero who 
stole it from jaguar, its former owner (A/ataco). Rabbit is also 
the inventor of the fire drill, but it is Carancho who taught men how 
to use it (Kaskiha). 

According to the Ashluslay, fire was formerly the property of the 
Thunder Birds, who had been hatched from hummingbird eggs. 


368 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


Men discovered the properties of fire when they tasted a snail the 
birds roasted. The Thunder Birds resented men’s discovery so much 
that they have since been their worst enemies. They terrify them 
with their cries (thunder), produce sparks with their wings (light- 
ning), and throw thunderbolts at men and tall trees. Fire was a 
gift from Carancho to the Chamacoco. The culture hero received it 
from Owl. 

The culture hero.—The culture hero is an outstanding figure in 
Toba folklore, in which he is identified with Carancho, a hawk (cara- 
cara) (Polyborus plancus), common in the Chaco. He is, above 
all, the exterminator of cruel and evil people; for instance, he kills 
the man with the sharpened leg, the man-eating bird, and the monster 
who catches people in a trap. His actual contributions to culture are 
few, though he showed men how to make and use the fire drill, how 
to treat the sick, and how to hunt game. In many a story, Carancho 
appears together with Fox, the Trickster; the pattern of their com- 
mon adventures corresponds to that of the cycles of the Mythical 
Twins, found in much other South American folklore. Carancho 
plays the wise and clever brother, Fox the stupid and mischievous 
one. Carancho was also a culture hero to the Mbayd and the Kaskiha. 

Other mythical characters helped mankind in their struggle for 
life: Thus, in Z’oba folklore, Kosodot, the little man, taught men how 
to hunt, and his wife, Kopilitara, showed women how to make pots; 
Spider was the first weaver. 

The transformers.—In many South American mythologies, one 
of the culture hero’s main functions is to transform animals and men 
into new shapes. In 7'oba folklore, Carancho sometimes assumes that 
role, but the Transformer, par excellence, is Nedamik, an aquatic bird. 

Wondermakers.—The wondermakers are legendary characters en- 
dowed with great magic power. They usually appear as children or 
abused persons who later prove their mettle and punish their offenders. 
The Asin of the Zoba is a bald, big-bellied individual who turns out 
toe be a great warrior and a man capable of producing food from under 
his skin robe. The Child-born-in-a-pot, thanks to his miraculous 
arrow, becomes a famous hunter and fisherman (7'oba, Mataco). 

Trickster.—The trickster is a favorite character of Toba and 
Mataco folklore. Among the former, he is personified by Fox; among 
the latter by a man, Tawk*wax. In both tribes he is a most colorful 
creature, greedy, lewd, boastful, and easily fooled. Out of bad temper 
or to satisfy his vanity, he throws himself into countless adventures. 
Invariably he is made into a public laughing stock or dies an unpleas- 
ant death. The trickster is responsible for several unhappy features 
of our world; for instance, he made the snake venomous, he immo- 
bilized fruit trees which formerly responded to the call of men, he 


Vou. 1] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CHACO—METRAUX 369 


created the stingray, and he caused a flood by shooting the fish in 
the big yuchan tree (Chorisia insignis). 

Spirits.—Spirits and ghosts sometimes appear as the protagonists 
in Chaco folklore, but, judging from our available material, they seem 
to figure less prominently in the oral literature of the area than they 
do in other regions of South America; for instance, in the Amazon 
Basin. Spirits are represented as people who live like men, though 
they are distinct from them in many respects. They are eager to marry 
or kidnap the men and women of this world. According to Lengua 
folklore, the golden age ended when a girl responded to the call of a 
tree spirit (Alarcén y Cafiedo, 1924, p. 76). A Mataco was kidnapped 
by the Inhabitants-of-the-earth, and married one of them. From his 
wife he received an eyelash which enabled him to see in the dark. 

Animal stories.—Animal stories are very popular, but in most 
cases are interwoven with the adventures of the culture hero or of the 
trickster. 

The themes of Chaco folklore.——Many folkloric themes which 
occur in the Chaco have a wide distribution in South America. For 
instance, there is the story of the girl who is made pregnant by magical 
means and of her baby who picks out his disguised father from a crowd 
by handing him a bow. The theme of the Tree of Life, which is so 
common in the Guianas and which also occurs among the Arawakan 
Chané, may have inspired the story of the huge yuchan tree (Chorista 
insignis) full of fish. The people of old might shoot the fish which 
swam in the tree, provided they did not harm the big ones. The trick- 
ster, ignoring their warnings, struck a big dorado fish with his arrow, 
and caused it to break the tree with its tail. The world was flooded, 
but Trickster stopped the water by sticking his spear into the ground. 
He then led the water to the sea (Mataco, Ashluslay). 

The story of the man who marries a star and then dies in the sky is 
extremely popular in the Chaco. Like many other themes, it offers 
an interesting parallel with North American mythology. Likewise 
the tale of the woman who mates with a dog (Choroti, Mataco, Chama- 
coco) suggests a well-known Arctic myth. 

The coexistence within a tribe of different stories based on a single 
fundamental theme, such as the theft of fire, indicates that folklore 
motifs, like so many material traits, reached the Chaco from various 
culture areas. Yet Chaco myths, as a whole, have little in common 
with those of the Amazon Basin, and seem not to have been much 
influenced by Chiriguano folklore. 

Although the Andean folklore is still imperfectly known, it is not 
unlikely that it has many themes which also occur in the Chaco. The 
importance of Fox among the Quechua and Aymara also points to the 
Andes as the possible source of many Chaco folkloric motifs. 

583486—46——24 


370 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. But, 148 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Adam, 1899; Aguirre, 1911; Alarc6én y Cafiedo, 1924; Almeida, 1845, 1850; 
Ambrosetti, 1894 a; Amerlan, 1882; Ardoz, 1884; Arenales, 1833; Arias, 1837; 
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Baldus, 1927, 1931 a, 1931 b, 1932, 1987 a, 1937 b, 1989; Barcena, 1885, 1893; 
Barco Centenera, 1936; Bairzana, see Bircena; Baucke, 1870, 1908, 1935, 1942-48 ; 
Belaieff, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1941; Boggiani, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898-99, 
1900 a, 1900 b, 1929; Boman, 1908; Brinton, 1898; Cabrera, P., 1911; Camafio y 
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del Paraguay, 1927-29; Castelnau, 1850-59; Charlevoix, 1757; Chomé, 1819; 
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1911-12; Elliot, 1870; Feick, 1917; Ferndndez, 1895; Fontana, 1881; Fri¢, 1906 a, 
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Hawtrey, 1901; Hay, 1928; Haze, 1819; Henry, J., 1940; Henry, J., and Henry, Z., 
1940, 1944; Hernfindez, 1852; Herrmann, 1908; Hervas, 1800-1805; Host, 1874; 
Hunt, 1913, 1915, 1937, 1940; Huonder, 1902; Hutchinson, 1865; Izikowitz, 1935; 
Jolis, 1789; Kamprad, 1935; Karsten, 1913, 1923, 1932; Kersten, 1905; Kobler, see 
Baucke, 1870 ; Koch-Griinberg, 1900, 1902 a, 1902 b, 1903 a, 1903 b; Krieg, 1934, 1939 ; 
Kysela, 1981; Lafone-Quevedo, 1893 (see Barcena and Tavolini), 1894, 1895 a, 
1895 b, 1896 a, 1896 b, 1896 c, 1896 d, 1897 b, 1899, 1911; Lehmann-Nitsche, 1904, 
1908 b, 1910-11, 1923 b, 19238 c, 1924-25 a, 1924-25 b, 1924-25 c, 1924-25 d, 1924-25 e, 
1927, 1986; Lettres édiflantes et curieuses, 1819, see Haze; Lévi-Strauss, 1942; 
Lizfirraga, 1909 ; Lothrop, 1929; Loukotka, 1929, 1930, 1931 a, 1931 b, 1933 ; Lozano, 
1873-74, 1941 ; Macheni de Cerdefia, 1782; Manizer, 1934 ; Marquez Miranda, 1942; 
Martin de Moussy, 1860-64; Massei, see Lafone-Quevedo, 1895 b; Matorras, 1837; 
Medina, 1908 a; Métraux, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 ; Millan, 1932; Moreno, 
1921, 1929; Morillo, 1837; Moure, 1862; Muriel, 1918; Nino, 1912, 1913; Norden- 
ski6ld, 1902-03, 1908, 1910 a, 1910 b, 1910 ec, 1910 d, 1912, 1919, 1925, 1931; 
Nusser-Asport, 1897 ; Oefner, 1942 ; Olmos, 1929; D’Orbigny, 1835-47 ; Outes, 1915; 
Oviedo y Valdés, 1851-55; Palavecino, 1928 a, 1928 b, 1930, 1931, 1933 a, 1933 b, 
1935 a, 1935 b, 1936, 1939, 1940; Pape, 1935; Pardal, 1937; Parodi, 1935; Pastells, 
1912; Paucke, see Baucke; Pelleschi, 1881, 1886, 1896; Pires de Campos, 1862; 
Pittini, see Alarcén y Cafiedo, 1924; Prado, 1889; Pride, 1926; Radin, 1906; 
Relaciones geogrificas de Indias, 1881-97; Remedi, 1896, 1904; Rengger, 1835; 
Rhode, 1885; Rivasseau, 1941; Rivet, 1924; Rosen, 1904, 1924; Rydén, 1933, 1935; 
Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17 ; Schmidel, 1808, 1988; Schmidt, M., 1903, 1918, 1986 a, 
1936 b, 1937 a, 1937 b, 1937 c, 1938; Schmidt, W., 1926; Serrano, 1938 a, 1940 e; 
Steinen, 1894, 1985, 1901 a; Taunay, 1913; Tavolini, 1893; Techo, 1678, 1897; 
Tolten, 1934; Tommasini, 1987; Vellard, 1934; Vervoort, 1932; Wavrin, 1926. 


THE PRESENT-DAY INDIANS OF THE GRAN CHACO 
By Juan BELAIEFF 


INTRODUCTION 


The modern history of the eastern Chaco begins in 1907, when most 
of the country was sold as private property. The tanning industry 
soon appeared in Galileo, Pinasco, Casado, Sastre, Talavera, and 
Guarany, and the margin of the Paraguay Chaco was opened to herds- 
men and their cattle (map 1, Vo. 5; map 5). 

Previously, the missionaries had penetrated the untrodden parts of 
the Chaco. An English mission was established at Caraya Vuelta 
near Confuso. Just before the Chaco war, Catholic missions, author- 
ized by the Bolivian Government, appeared in Esteros and Escalante, 
and a Salesian mission on the banks of Napegue I. 

There were three mission centers: The first had about 300 Paistapto- 
Lengua and some Sanapand; the second, some Ashluslay (Chulupi) 
of the Pilcomayo River; the third, part of the Angazté tribe. A few 
hundred of these Indians now work in the fields and some of the first 
group own cattle. A strict regime is observed at the missions, and 
no alcoholic drinks are allowed the Indians. High moral standards 
are required. 

The missions helped improve relations between the estancieros, or 
ranchers, and their Indian workers. This mutual understanding was 
furthered by the spread of the Zengua speech. 

Subsequent to the Chaco war, most cattlemen in the south used the 
natives as cowboys. Similarly, several estancias of the central area 
have Lengua, Mascot, and Ashluslay (Chulupi) laborers. The 
Guarani language was generally adopted in the north among the wood 
cutters. The Chamacoco and, in the south, some Afascoi chiefs know 
Spanish well enough to use it when dealing with their employers. 
During the latter part of the Chaco war, contact with the soldiers 
furthered the spread of the Guarani language, which the Indians 
learned so well that they express themselves with modulations of voice 
identical to those of their teachers, and they even use the same slang. 

Many of the Chaco tribes now verge on extinction, while others 
retain their aboriginal number and culture in considerable force. The 


371 


sie SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE, Bunt. 143 


following tabulation presents the author’s estimate of the surviving 
tribes: 
Tribes of the North 


Raputs (Fsosenos) AO) villages 22 cS tee See ae oS ee 5, 000 
Tapieté: 15" croupst.) 2240 ey ah Ee eee eee 2, 000 
VONOIGUUS (as) SEER A OER tet ible Waele «nie OE Sa Ee 1, 000 
Olander Nees NAR ee Le See eek EME ee See ees 600 
Guang: Sreroups ss 222.0. lee Aa ee a Se 8 Fk 1, 200 
Tribes of the Monte 
TANS CFG bash is a ee IR. eee alae 5 Mii hg ee 9 de ee a 2, 000 
Moro (Takraat, Mura), Laant (Kozazo, Kurzu), Horio (Kareluta), 
OUST, ELON TUG se ore MOORES 4 0 ot aa ER Re eS eaeees  eee 5, 000 
Ohamacoco, Horio, Hbidoso.and TOmarha cee 2 ee eee 700 


Tribes of the Plains of the Pilcomayo and Confuso Rivers 


IMGECOCO So A a i ed ot lg Tn a Ee 20, 000 
CRoro tis sae 25 oo Se EE OEE RE ie Ree SO eC eee 3, 000 
Alshluisiay (ORulipt) 4 Subtribes a ee ee 2 eee ee 6, 000 
LCG see SALEIAE Ne SERA ae OIE A AN oh URS? ETD ae een ee 1, 000 
Rove: 'G'subtribes "= Wah WEI Bee lI (OEE See ee ee 5, 000 
PilagG?\2 Subtribesus.: {bes 8 onsen Gong Hal) eo Biel creer Papel 3, 500 
IMO SCOUS’ =) Bae 5 os ae ei oe dt A og 2 a ee, 1, 000 
UTM ATROGS CUES Oech ayes) Qo ee A 1, 000 
ienguasyt 1 (‘subtribes. 22552 ee" SRee Se ee 2 ed ee 5, 000 
ANC CITE SHA SUDtTIDES wae oe eet eee eae A EO Pe ee eee eee eee 2, 800 
Sanapané \(Lanap sig) siz eee, Pee A AE es Ee BL 1, 000 
Coulag ds 2 is 1 8 ech WO Dae epi, Lomi ls aoe’ iniiies phd peer 2, 000 

otal 2e Sah ee 3 ibgeaad aoe 7 le et seth po ok: Binns 68, 000 


In the deepest parts of the jungle on the upper Parana River some 
hundreds of entirely savage Guayaki of Guarani speech still roam. 

Small scattered bands of Mbayd and Chirapad may still be found in 
the eastern part of Paraguay, sheltered by woods and rocks and living 
in towns of 100-120 natives each. There are also many small villages 
eccupied by a few families. About 300 Mbayd inhabit several small 
settlements near San Juan Nepomuceno, their ancient reduccién. All 
these tribes consider the Cacique Mayoro (the native pronunciation of 
“mayor,” great), who resides in the mountains of Charar4a, as their 
head chief. 

Bound to their permanent homes and scattered among the White 
population, they have a hard struggle for life. They remain in the 
most untrodden parts of the thicket, where they have small but well- 
arranged plantations, cottages, and orange groves. Increasing wants, 
hunger, disease, and insecurity force them to labor for the Whites. 

A Tapui or Guandé irresistibly loves his modest palm-tree ranch, his 
well-kept and artificially irrigated acre, and his cows and sheep, but 
he is ready to change his religion, his language, and even his name. 


Vou.1] PRESENT-DAY INDIANS OF GRAN CHACO—BELAIEFF 373 


The Maca or Ashluslay (Chulupi) has a boundless nostalgia for the 
open field, for the limitless waste. For him, the wood is but a refuge, 
whereas a forest Indian, such as a Chamacoco or Moro, seeks shelter 
and food in the forest, leaving it only briefly and unwillingly. 


CULTURE 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Hunting and fishing.—The Chaco Indians hunt deer, peccaries, 
tapir, and some rheas. When game is scarce, they hold communal 
rabbit drives with fire. They hunt jaguars, pumas, otter, and coypus 
(nutria) for the commercial value of their skins and exploit egrets 
and mirasol for their feathers. They keep these birds in preserves, 
sparing the females and killing only males. 

The boys catch fish in baskets set in the center of weirs and dams or 
shoot them with bows and arrows. 

Collecting wild foods.—The women haul water, cut caranday cab- 
bage with hardwood knives, and gather waterlily tubers in the swamps, 
wild pineapples, and cactus (Opuntia) fruits. In November and 
December, large groups of people seek wild fruits and algarroba, and 
prepare stores of sweet meal. 

Farming.—Among some tribes, small farm plots are cleared in the 
wet, grassy bottom land of an extinct lake or of a valley. The Indians 
plant melons, watermelons, gourds, and beans. A newly opened 
clearing in the wood is sown with yuca and three species of maize— 
native, white, and yellow—which give three crops evenly spaced during 
the year. The Indians also plant a small but savory native potato, 
and a few tribes even grow tobacco. Gardens are guarded by old 
people who stay in a lonely hut. 

Herds.—The Chaco tribes of the Pilcomayo and Parapiti Rivers 
have herds of sheep, goats, and cows. They also have horses brought 
from Argentina. They use sheep’s wool to weave the magnificent 
cloaks and belts which are still the pride of an Ashluslay (Chulupt), 
Macd, Mascoi, or Lengua woman. Although the natives are ceasing 
to use them, these textiles have come into demand in the markets of 
Buenos Aires and Asuncién. 

Recent changes.— With the advance of civilization, which brought 
the tanning industry to Guarany, Sastre, Casado, Pinasco, and Galileo, 
with the penetration of missions and army garrisons, and with the 
arrival of hostile troops at the outbreak of the Chaco war and a large 
number of cowherders after the war, Chaco life was considerably 
changed. 

The whole population of the Izozog River was shifted several times. 
They lost all their cattle, mules, and horses and consequently suffered 


374 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Butt. 143 


extreme hunger. The Ashluslay (Chulupi), who happened to live in 
the midst of the area of the hostilities, suffered more gravely. The 
Choroti, numbering 2,500 souls, emigrated to Argentina until the end 
of the struggle. Some Lengua, whose villages were repeatedly visited 
by troops, also suffered. Many of the Lengua near Puerto Casado, 
Nanawa, and elsewhere contracted smallpox, and tribes near the fron- 
tier acquired venereal diseases. 

The floods of previous years and the extraordinary dryness of 1941 
caused “mal de cadera,” which first destroyed the horses and then 
reduced the sheep. Today the Indians find it difficult to restore 
their earlier economy. 

At the same time, deer became extinct in the south, where, during 
the worst part of the drought, a settler would shoot as many as 500 
at a single watering-place. They now appear only singly or in pairs 
where formerly there were hundreds, The peccary is also being de- 
stroyed by hunters, and no kind of valuable game lives within 30 
leagues of the confluence of the Paraguay and Pilcomayo Rivers. 

In view of these circumstances, the leaders of every tribe tried 
desperately to save their kinsmen by inducing them to take up 
farming. Among these forward-looking men were chiefs Tofai and 
Mojo of the Ashluslay (Chulupt), Iskaiu of the Maced, Ayala and 
Lopez of the Zengua, and Santiago and Lambaré of the Mascoi. 
Nowadays various tribes cultivate enough food to provide supplies 
for a year. New farm methods are being adopted, and seeds and 
tools are required. But security of property must guarantee their 
progress. Many of the northern tribes—the Chamacoco of Bahia 
Negra, Voluntad, and Sastre, the Angaité, the Toba, the Sanapand, 
and the Lengua in Casado and Pinasco—make a living through hard 
work in the quebrachales, where the Angazté are unrivaled as wood 
cutters or as ordinary workmen. From time to time, these tribes 
temporarily solve their problem by exploitation of wild sources 
of food. 

Today the majority of the Indians are fully aware of the necessity 
of readjusting their lives. Some of the Lengua, Angaité, and Ash- 
luslay (Chulupt) are already accustomed to farming, which they 
learned long ago in the missions. Several tribes of the northwest 
attended an excellent farm school at Station K, 40 of Casado. Three 
hundred A/acd have worked in the Botanical Garden and in the neigh- 
boring schools. Every Indian cowboy knows perfectly the methods 
used on the ranches and tries out on a small scale every new develop- 
ment in planting and working. The tribes are eager to participate in 
the progress of the country. 

Food preparation.—Indian cuisine is very similar to that called 
cocina criolla. When game is abundant, meat is put on inclined 


Vout.1] PRESENT-DAY INDIANS OF GRAN CHACO—BELAIEFF 375 


stakes around several fires. Roots, beans, and sometimes maize grains 
are toasted in the ashes. Palm cabbage is consumed raw or boiled, 
or else is prepared in a huge earth oven, where it is placed on live 
coals, protected with palm branches, and covered with earth to roast 
overnight. Large turtles and armadillos are cooked in the earth 
oven or are placed on the fire and roasted in their own shells. 

When a kettle or a native pot is available, the Indians prefer to 
boil a bird or fish whole without even skinning it; they also boil 
large pieces of meat to make a thick broth. After expectionally good 
hunting or fishing, they smoke the game on special racks. 

The hunting tribes, such as the Chamacoco, are rather exigent, 
but the poorer Zengua from Pinasco and Casado, who are armed only 
with bows and arrows, eat snakes and big lizards as well as caiman’s 
tails. The last, which is the choicest morsel to the Indians of the 
monte, is scornfully rejected by the Pilcomayo River tribes. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Garments.—The loincloth, skillfully woven of caraguata leaves 
or made of a softened deerskin, still constitutes the sole attire of the 
Indians of central Chaco, as well as of the Guayaki of the upper 
Parané River. Later on, they made it of wool. Among many tribes, 
however, when contact with traveling merchants brought manfactured 
cloth, the loincloth was replaced by a tunic which fell to the knees, 
or by an ornamented, woolen cloak which reached to the heels. 

The women among the southern tribes—M acd, Ashluslay (Chulupz), 
Mascoi, Lengua, and Pilagd—are more conservative and still wear a 
carefully softened deer or rhea skin, which hangs from the waist 
to the knees and is held by a woolen belt. A few years ago this 
was also worn by the Toba, Choroti, and Mataco. 

Maca and Ashluslay (Chulupt) men use large blankets, which are 
dyed red, indigo, black, and sometimes yellow or green with natural 
colors or with aniline dyes. In winter, women wrap themselves in 
sheepskins. Both sexes wear deerskin moccasins. 

The tribes of the monte manufacture artistic ornaments of the 
feathers of tropical birds arranged in distinctive color combinations 
and patterns. 

Painting.—The Payagud are said to have facial marks. All the 
tribes of the river plains still tattoo and paint themselves, though the 
Toba and Lengua are giving up the custom. After marriage, a Maca 
or Ashluslay (Chulupi) woman covers her cheeks with blue lines 
and rhombs. The acd place similar tattoo on the chin and nose at 
puberty. Some blue lines may also adorn the upper part of the arm. 

There are several styles of face painting. The Maca and Ashluslay 


376 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buut. 143 


(Chulupi) use red geometrical designs. A Chamacoco girl paints her 
face red in the same manner, as evidence of puberty. Sometimes red 
paint is applied spontaneously to indicate joy and black to show sor- 
row. The tribes of the monte use curling lines and large spots, in 
a distinctive style. 

Ornaments.—A lip plug (tembeta) is still in use among the 
Tapicté, who also wear long strings of small white shells. Among 
the Macé and Ashluslay (Chulupi) small beads are worn by men as 
necklaces and by women in strings running across the body under 
their naked breasts. Both sexes wear white rhea-feather leg bands. 

The Indians of the river plains wear big earrings made from the 
cross sections of a willow stem. These are tinted purple on the inside 
and adorned with a metal plate and sometimes with feathers. The 
oblong or round whistles of palo santo are decorated in the same way. 
Other ornaments include rhea plumes and red, white, and blue 
beadwork, varied according to the age, sex, and taste of the wearer. 

The Indians of the monte adorn themselves with teeth, claws, and 
seeds. Men cover the head with a woven feather head band or with 
the skin or tail of an animal. They also adorn the ears with feathers. 

Hairdress.—The primitive tribes of the northern Chaco and the 
Macé and Mascot let the hair grow long, but the last two cut it just 
above the forehead. 

The Chamacoco have forelocks somewhat longer than their civilized 
neighbors. 

MANUFACTURES 


The beadwork of the tribes of the monte is masterful, and reproduces 
the designs used on cloaks, nets, hammocks, bags, and articles of 
caraguata fiber. The Guand and others of the same family are famous 
for their woolen hammocks and nets. 


TRADE 


In addition to working for wages in the tanning, wood cutting, and 
cattle industries, the Indians bring to the market such articles and 
products as the following: Skins of jaguars (with head and paws), 
pumas, otter, coypus, peccaries, capivaras, and deer; feathers of rheas 
and formerly of egrets, mirasols, and blue herons; articles made of 
feathers (plumeros, duvets) ; woven blankets and belts of every value 
and shape; sacks, bags, nets, and hammocks; baskets; bows, arrows, 
and other objects specially ornamented for sale; and kapok. 

Objects they obtain in trade include: Yerba maté (about 3 kg. per 
person per year), tobacco, salt, matches, soap, gunpowder, 16-gage 
shotgun shells, double-barrel guns, axes, hatchets, hunting knives, 
machetes, spades, shovels, and, recently, saws and plows. 


Vou.1] PRESENT-DAY INDIANS OF GRAN CHACO—BELAIEFF 377 


The Chaco Indians carry on their commerce through missionaries, 
traders, and settlers. They also bring their articles to Asunci6n, where 
they receive three times the usual price, e. g., 1,500 instead of 300 to 
500 pesos for an onza skin. 

The standard wage of a peon on the estancias of the Chaco is 300 
pesos? a month and two handfuls of yerba and 14 kg. of locro (maize 
corn) a day. In the eastern Chaco, wages are a little higher. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


Most Chaco tribes have a class consisting of prominent men, chiefs, 
and most of their descendants, whose outward appearance is not 
distinctive, but who prevail by their high qualities and gentle demeanor 
and even by their speech. When this ancient nobility is exterminated 
or lost, the people decline; but where it preserves its influence, the 
whole tribe is outstanding among its neighbors. 

Chiefs and subchiefs generally come from this class, although any- 
body may attract some followers. He whose tact and wisdom wins 
him most men and influence is recognized as the head chief of the 
whole tribe. 

The policy of the Indian leader is to represent the average view of 
the tribesmen. He is never aggressive in offering his own opinion, 
but reflects the conviction of the whole group, which, in turn, attributes 
it to the will of the chief. 

A chief’s office is not hereditary. But in a majority of cases the 
new candidate is appointed and approved long before he is solemnly 
elected and proclaimed. 

Some men are both civil and war chiefs. Most leaders come to power 
at some decisive moment and subsequently continue to enjoy prestige ; 
consequently, there may be two chiefs in the same tribe. Chiefs now 
bear modern titles, such as Francisco Capitan Mayor, Sargento 
Tuicha, or Capitan Lari. 

ETIQUETTE 


A visiting stranger is given a place under the shade of some huge 
tree near the village. Several chiefs slowly approach to greet him in 
the Indian manner. The visitor says, “I have come,” and they an- 
swer, “Well, you have come!” Everybody presents him food, and the 
chief sends women to fetch wood for a fire. Members of the host 
village sit before the visitor until nightfall, when he departs saying, 
“Tam going.” He is answered, “It is well; you go!” 

Words of cheer and warmth always greet an old acquaintance, 
especially a friend who had been thought gone forever. He is re- 


1300 pesos is about $1.00 in U. S. currency. 


378 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bit. 143 


ceived without formality; as soon as an outcry announces his arrival, 
everyone runs to meet him. The guest dismounts, his horse and gear 
are cared for, and the eldest chief and his wife, holding him by the 
arms, lead him in triumph to their house. Here, they start a joyous 
tumult that does not cease until nightfall. 


WARFARE 


In preparation for war, a Chaco Indian ties up his forelock and 
adorns it with beads and feathers. He pierces his tongue with a bone 
as a token of silence, and smears his forehead with the blood from his 
mouth. He paints his face black. A fast and a prohibition on smok- 
ing is imposed. Ghosts and spirits are invoked to take part in the 
fight, and old women perform magic for the men gone on the warpath. 

The tribes of the monte go to war entirely naked, but each warrior 
carefully paints his body and wears a headgear, adorned with objects 
to represent his guardian spirit. The head chiefs wear their feathers 
and breast plates of palisander. The chief instructs his men how to 
maneuver and how to protect themselves by dodging about during 
the battle. 

War is declared by setting war stakes near the enemy village. These 
stakes, which are made of palm leaves or grass, symbolize the forelock 
lifted up in defiance. The tribal counsel is convoked by the chief to 
discuss the situation. The war leader arises and says, “I am going. 
I will right our wrongs. I will bring you booty, prisoners, and enemy 
trophy heads.” He departs without turning his head and other war- 
riors immediately leave one by one, saying, “I am going too! I will 
slay the foes. I will bring fresh scalps.” They join the leader, who 
halts not far from the village. They leave the children and old 
people at home. 

A returning war party is announced by cries repeated by every 
mouth. When the warriors appear, the ecstatic women take from 
their hands the stakes to which the scalps are attached and put them 
in a central place with expostulations of joy and triumph. They sing, 
drum, and feast in an orgy which lasts until night. 


LIFE CYCLE 


ChildbirthA pregnant Indian woman scrupulously observes all 
the customary prohibitions. She does not smoke, because it will hurt 
her baby, and avoids contact with her husband. The latter eats only 
vegetables and flesh boiled without fat. She generally delivers her 
baby without much pain and an hour later is walking about with her 
child nursing it. Other women bring her food. She eats no potage 
for a month, lest she die. 


Vou.1] PRESENT-DAY INDIANS OF GRAN CHACO—BELAIEFF 379 


Girls’ puberty.—After her first menstruation, a Chaco Indian girl 
receives special care from the whole tribe. The women dance around 
her all night, accompanied by rattles of deer hoofs fixed on sticks. 
Just before dawn, the men join the festivities, which last until the 
provisions and honey beverage are consumed. The young girl is sub- 
jected to certain treatment, and eats only vegetables. 

Boys’ initiation—The Indians of the monte occasionally summon 
all the boys of the tribe and entrust them with tribal secrets, which 
they keep even from their own mothers. They teach the neophytes to 
endure pain and hunger, and instruct them in archery and other mili- 
tary exercises. The rite lasts about a month, ending with a mystery 
of Andbason in which several masked, painted, and adorned person- 
ages appear at a sacred ground. No woman dares see the spirit im- 
personators under pain of death. 

The Indians of the river plains pierce their loins and arms with 
sharp deer horns to make themselves swift and with jaguar bones to 
make themselves strong. With their own blood, they then paint 
straight lines and triangles on their forearms and loins. They also 
puncture themselves with algarroba spines and with fish bones to bring 
fishing luck. They endure these mutilations with the indifference to 
pain that every good warrior is supposed to have. Even fathers per- 
form these operations on their children. 

Death observances.—The body of 1 deceased person is promptly 
buried in a grave hidden in the thicket. Broken bows and arrows and 
slain dogs and horses are placed on the burial. The widow becomes 
the object of general attention. She mourns and wails with other 
women in the lodge, so that every newcomer can hear her. Mourners 
blacken their faces. The lodge is later burnt, and the group moves 
to another place. The name of the deceased may never again be 
spoken. 


RELIGION AND FOLKLORB 


A number of religious beliefs survive in the Chaco. Some tribes 
mentioned a horned water monster; according to the Mascoi, a big 
horned armadillo lives under the ground, and the Chamacoco state that 
it caused the Flood. The Pilcomayo River tribes describe a large 
caiman, big as a kapok trunk, and a sparkling star snake which passes 
through the rapids of the river at night. The 7’oba and Mataco be- 
lieve in an endless serpent resembling a huge rope, the sight of which 
causes disease and death, and a big anaconda of the swamps, which has 
a horned tail used for carrying its human or animal victims. 

Spirits mentioned by the river plains tribes are: A big rhea, 
which protects its species; the condor, a character of many a fabulous 
tale; spirits of the woods, some an inch high and others as tall as the 


380 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. EB. Bunt. 143 


largest tree; and the whirlwind spirit, which dances amidst clouds of 
dust. The Macd tell of a female being in the monte and of spirits 
which dance in the grass at night and are very dangerous. 

Several kinds of birds, it is believed, reveal the presence of pec- 
caries. To some of the river plains tribes, certain birds say, “Danger ! 
White people are near.” Another bird sings, “The brethren are com- 
ing!” And the big owl says, “Beware! I am bringing spirits to 
harm you.” 

Some persons are supposed to have second sight. The renowned 
Tofai, head chief of the Ashluslay (Chulupi), saw the ghost of Fran- 
cisco Capitan, who fell in combat with the Bolivians in 1928, as a bril- 
liant meteor passing westward in the skies at the moment of his death. 


Part 3. THe INDIANS OF EASTERN BRAZIL 


EASTERN BRAZIL: AN INTRODUCTION 
By Rosert H. Lowi 


INTRODUCTION 


The area covered under this head is not coextensive with the whole 
of the geographical territory so designated, from which the forest 
regions are deliberately excluded. This automatically eliminates the 
Tupt-Guarani family, which has been sharply contrasted with neigh- 
boring groups by most investigators. In accepting this distinction as 
culturally warranted, it is merely necessary to remember that in the 
light of present knowledge we cannot dichotomize all the peoples of 
eastern Brazil into silvan 7upi-Guarani and “Ge” or “Tapuya” of the 
steppes. To what extent the “Zapuya” of earlier writers coincide 
with the Ge, it is impossible to decide for lack of adequate linguistic 
data. That we have to reckon with a series of groups unrelated to 
either of the two major families mentioned is certain. Without any 
claim to exhausting the total number of linguistically separate units 
within the area, the following groups are here considered as “Eastern 
Brazilian” in the sense defined: Ge (Northwestern and Central Ge, 
Southern Ge, Jeicd), Camacan, Guayaki, Bororo, Guato, Botocudo, 
Mashacali, Pancarari, Pimenteira, Cariri, Patashé, Malali, Guaitaca, 
Fulnio, Puri-Coroado, and “Tapuya.” + 

To segregate all these from the Zupi-Guarané is not to deny that 
they share traits with Zupé tribes; nor is it suggested that the peoples 
in question are culturally uniform. In point of level, the agricultural 
Camacan manifestly tower above the Patashé hunters. Nevertheless, 
they have enough in common to warrant treatment in the same major 
category (map 7). 

Archeological results tend to complicate our picture of eastern 
Brazilian history. It is true that in some parts of the area, notably 
that of the upper Paraguay Basin, archeological and ethnographic 


1The Carajd, a Tropical Forest tribe of the middle Araguaya River, though described in 
Volume 3 of the Handbook, is mentioned in this Introduction for comparative purposes 
because it is an enclave within the culture area of eastern Brazil.—EHDITOR. 


381 


382 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn, 148 


findings neatly dovetail, e. g., the crude ceramics and the stone hammers 
of the mounds there closely resemble those of the modern Guaté. But 
elsewhere sharp contrasts divide earlier and recent residents: The 
Apinayé make no earthenware, yet sherds crop up in their historic 
habitat; and in the Arraias District of the Araguaya River country 
fragments of pottery have turned up that cannot be connected with 
Tupi ceramics. The plausible inference is that part of eastern Brazil 
was once occupied by groups culturally distinct from both the 7'upi 
and the nonceramic Ge. 


CULTURE 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


A pure hunting-gathering stage can be ascribed to only a few 
peoples in the area, such as the Aweikoma, Botocudo, Patasho, and 
Bororo; and even some of these have been credited with some agri- 
culture. Several tribes (Apinayé, Camacan) were effective farmers. 
What remains true is that as a rule agriculture is less intensive than in 
the Tropical Forests; that manioc and maize, when raised, tend to be 
less important than sweet potatoes and yams; that correlatively other 
food-getting activities loom larger. An ethnographic curiosity is the 
raising by several Ge tribes of a species of Cissus, unknown to either 
Whites or Zupt. A crude dibble was the only implement; inadequate 
for steppe country, it restricted farming operations to the gallery 
forests. 

A seasonal cycle is established in several cases. The 7%mbira roamed 
about, collecting wild vegetable fare and hunting during the dry 
season, at the close of which they returned to their villages to plant 
sweet potatoes, peanuts, and small-kerneled maize, which were har- 
vested in May and June, when the tribe resumed its wanderings. 

Collecting wild foods.—Gathering is very important for the sim- 
pler tribes. For the Botocudo the dry season was one of plenty in 
Saint-Hilaire’s day, because they then had plenty of sapucaia fruits. 
Even incipient farmers, like the Northern Ge, relied largely on the 
babassti and other wild-palm fruits and fought for the possession of 
stands of these trees. Honey, characteristically stored in skin bags, 
must also be reckoned under the head of gathered food material. Vari- 
ous tribes did not disdain even toads and lizards (Botocudo), and 
Saint-Hilaire found the A/alalé cooking worms that live in a bamboo, 
both for the flavor and the marvelous visions they produced. 

Hunting.—Hunting also varies in importance, completely over- 
shadowing fishing among the Timbira. Asa rule, the animals pursued 
include much of the fauna, but occasionally one meets whimsical 
taboos: the Bororo refrain from shooting deer. In addition to the 


AC 


olid underli 
er the tribal 


; : : : 7 i 9 —— 
ate an ae ease laa as sa Arcana. ———— SC cS ee er cantata cg ip saiied So 

; ca ea 2 a ; 
ca Tee ee as : paca. winch me wea hapap traces mae 

7 a ; ae a : i 

© onal * é 
mee yt dl ‘ ; += ; = 

od 2." 5s 1% 


* Teery 


7 vag. 


Saag 


MAP 7.-The tribes of eastern Broxil 
otherwise, date of location is given under 


Nimyendoji.) 


SNACRIABA 


ee 


ramore 


SS 


eras aur 


aS 


Solid underlining, modern tribes, broken underlining, extine? porhont J ete, 
4. (Compiled by $07 


the tribol nome. Tribes not underlined ore esting 


GYD) 


WH Oo 


ey 


3 


Se a ee oe) 


Vou. 1] EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 383 


individual chase, some tribes (7émbira) practiced communal hunting 
with grass fires. 

In pre-Columbian hunting, dogs were probably unknown; the Cain- 
gang still lacked the species as late as 1912. 

Fishing.—The importance of fishing varied, largely with geo- 
graphical conditions. The Aweikoma are reported not to have taken 
fish at all, and for the 7¢mbdira fishing is of minor importance. The 
general method of taking fish is by shooting them with bow and 
arrow; hooks were originally unknown; drugging occurs, but seems 
to be less important than in the Amazon-Orinoco area, 

Food preparation.—Cooking methods depend partly on the pres- 
ence of earthenware, which facilitates boiling, though pottery does not 
always imply this process, the A/ashacali preferring to broil meat on a 
spit and to steam vegetable fare by covering the mouth of the pot with 
leaves and placing a clay bowl on top of them. The Northwestern Ge 
and their kin mainly bake food in earth ovens, including meat, which 
typically figures in the form of pies; as a minor technique, they prac- 
ticed stone-boiling in preparing the bacaba fruit. A bamboo section 
may serve for cooking as well as for holding water (Botocudo). 

Bitter manioc, where used, is freed of its poison in simpler fashion 
than by the forest peoples. It should be recalled that eastern Brazilians 
lean more heavily on the sweet potato (Worthern Ge, Mashacalt). 


HOUSES AND VILLAGES 


Settlement largely hinges on geographical conditions; the proximity 
of water and of gallery forests is vital to the Northern Ge. Seasonal 
shifts may be due either to the threat of inundation (Carajd) or to 
the general economic organization; Ribeiro pictures the Z'’%mbzra as 
roving hunters and gatherers during the dry season and as repairing 
to their villages in the rainy season to plant their plots. 

The arrangement of houses varied considerably. A circular or 
horseshoe periphery is typical of the Bororo and the Northwestern 
and the Central Ge, with the central area reserved for councils, cere- 
monial activities, or sometimes, the bachelors’ hall or men’s club. An 
abandoned Patashéo site revealed 15 huts round an open space in the 
woods, with one tree left intact in the clearing. Some tribes (e. g., 
the Malalz) lacked any definite arrangement. 

As to the house itself, the notorious rapidity with which natives 
have imitated the Neo-Brazilian rancho casts suspicion on the 
aboriginal character of rectangular huts. However, the primitive 
Guaté dwelling has an oblong plan, consisting of a gable roof set 
on the ground, an effect similar to that of the somewhat arched 
Carajé house. Palm-thatched forms, more or less round, are usually 


384 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


widespread. The modern Zimbira still use beehive-shaped and 
conical types in ceremonial or in temporary camps; their Shavante 
equivalents—round huts built of palm leaves—have been expressly 
described as waterproof and as inhabited during the rainy season 
by the same author, Pohl, who notes the relevant inadequacy of the 
hemispherical, palm-thatched Porecamecra dwelling. The Cariri are 
said to have built clay huts; and in a Shavante settlement Pohl saw 
30 thatch-roofed clay dwellings in a row. 

One of the outstanding negative traits of the area is the lack of 
true hammocks for sleeping, which seems restricted to the Cariré 
and a few other groups. The Carajé analogue is similar in make, 
but serves only as a cape in the daytime or as a mattress on the 
ground; the A/ashacali merely sit on hammocks in the daytime; and 
other occurrences are reasonably explained as recent loans. The 
typical eastern Brazilian contrivance for sleeping is a platform bed. 
Where that is lacking, we are likely to find the natives sleeping 
merely on mats (Guato) or on bast (Botocudo). 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Most of the tribes originally went virtually or wholly naked. The 
penis sheath was widespread (Bororo, Cayapo, Camacan, Tapuya), 
as was the tying of a thread round the prepuce (Tapuya, Patasho) ; 
and some groups tucked the glans under a belt so as to hold the penis 
vertically against the abdomen (Botocudo, Mashacalt). 

The profusion of ornament strongly contrasts with the tendency 
to go nude. Conspicuous over a large part of the area are earplugs, 
sometimes of huge size, and labrets for the lower lip. These, like 
certain other articles, sometimes serve as emblems of status. Tribal 
differences appear, the Porecamecra Timbira perforating only the 
ears, not the lips; the Mashacali neither or reserving the practice for 
males. Tattoo is limited. 

Genipa and uruct are general, and for ceremonials the down of birds 
is often glued on the performer’s body. 

Many tribes practice a distinctive haircut. Thus, the Hastern Tim- 
bira leave a definite furrow in the back of the head. 

The simple Macuni comb—a thin rod pointed at one end with a 
narrow spatula at the other—contrasts with the Carajd equivalent, 
which consists of a series of sharp converging wooden splinters held 
together by two pairs of parallel cross-sticks and an interwoven orna- 
mental basketry fabric of cotton with an occasional addition of feath- 
ered tassels suspended from the upper edges. Live embers (Cayapé) 
took the place of scissors in cutting hair. 


VoL. 1} EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 385 
TRANSPORTATION 


By and large, the eastern Brazilians differ from the 7upé and the 
forest Indians in being without canoes. Although this is not uni- 
versally so, it was originally true of most of the Ge, the Botocudo, and 
the Bororo. In probable imitation of the canoe-using Carajd, the 
Apinayé also traveled about in boats while residing on the Tocantins 
River. The Suyd, however, have only bark boats, and the Shavante 
cross streams on rafts of buriti leaf stalks. 

The Eastern Timbira impressed Pohl (1832-87) with their skill in 
swimming and treading water. Early explorers record the same 
observation among the Zarairiu. 

Simple footbridges of a pair of lianas, the upper forming the hand- 
rail, are reported for the Botocudo. 

Burdens are commonly borne on the back by means of a forehead 
band, but in this respect there may be sex differences. A Mashacali 
man, e. g., slings small bags from his shoulders and carries a larger 
one on the back by a shoulder strap, whereas his wife supports a 
corresponding load by a tumpline. 

Infants generally straddle the mother’s hip. A Botocudo child 
rests on the mother’s back in a bast sling supported by a tumpline 
and puts his hands round the woman’s neck. Among the Mashacalé he 
straddles the left hip, sitting in a sling that passes over the mother’s 
right shoulder; or he may sit on her back with the sling crossing her 
forehead. 

MANUFACTURES 


Textiles.—True loomwork is very rare and of a simple order when it 
occurs (Camacan, Guato). The Guato frame consists of two posts with 
the warp wound between them; the threads are dyed in the decoctions of 
the bark or wood of certain species of trees; the techniques are varieties 
of twining; and the finished articles include cloth, mosquito netting, 
mats, and fly whisks. 

The threads may be cotton (Guaté, Bororo, Timbira) or human hair 
(Bororo), buriti palm, or other plant fibers (Guatd, Timbira). The 
Caingang and Botocudo, as well as probably the Mashacali, grew no 
cotton. In the absence of this material and of spindles the thread was 
twisted on the thigh, a process also followed for plant fibers by tribes 
using a spindle for cotton. 

Basketry and netting.—Basketry, though widespread, is not uni- 
versal in the area, for the Mashacali were originally unfamiliar with 
the craft, relevant specimens from them being of recent origin. On 
the other hand, the industry flourishes among the Guatd, whose acuri 


583486—46——25 


386 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buty. 143 


palms furnish excellent material for checkerwork and twilling. The 
Northern Ge have not only twilling, but also coiling, a technique 
unknown to the Z'upi. 

Basketry is not a distinctively feminine craft in South America. 
Possibly restricted to women by the Bororo, it devolves mostly on 
the Zimbira men. 

In compensation for the absence of plaiting, the Mashacali are 
skillful at the netting technique. Their women scrape off the bark 
of a Cecropia species, twist the fiber on their thighs, and use this 
thread for the manufacture of netted bags, in which most of their 
belongings are stored. 

Featherwork.— With other South Americans, the eastern Brazilians 
share extensive decorative use of plumage. Though Martius (1867) 
denies the art to the Gwaitacd, even one of the Saint-Hilaire’s (1830- 
51) Botocudo wore a diadem of radiating yellow feathers attached 
with the aid of wax. Creditable featherwork appears among the 
Timbira and Central Ge. 

Stonework.—Stonework was rapidly eliminated by the introduc- 
tion of iron tools and in part is unnecessary, the place of scrapers 
and knives being taken by shells, bamboo splinters, and rodent or 
piranha teeth. However, stone axes figure in the old Carajé petro- 
glyphs and have been observed by many travelers in the area. They 
were not only used for adzing, chopping, and warfare, but also as 
chief’s badges (Macamecra). An anchor-shaped type merits at- 
tention. 

Pottery.—Pottery was indeed lacking among most of the Ge and 
the Patashé, but by no means universally, plain ware even turning 
up among the Bororo, Further, sherds found by Kissenberth (1911) 
in the Araguaya River region and reported by Nimuendajii from 
Apinayé territory establish the pristine spread of pottery over tracts 
where it no longer occurred in the historic period. Finally, this 
ancient eastern Brazilian type closely corresponds to ware recently 
observed in the Sao Francisco River country. Fragments of large 
spherical vessels found by Nimuendajti near the Camacan habitat 
were without base or separately wrought rim. The lower half, or 
more, had been molded from a lump of clay and was plain; the rest 
had been built up of clay coils superimposed on one another so as to 
suggest fish scales or roof tiles. There was neither painted nor plastic 
decoration, and, except for a single comb-shaped stub below the rim 
of one pot, there was no indication of a handle. This residual lug 
specifically suggests the ceramics of Indians on the lower Sao Fran- 
cisco River; and altogether the technique coincides with that observed 
by Carlos Estevao (1938) and Nimuendaji in the State of Pernam- 
buco. Moreover, in 1938 Nimuendajtii saw a surviving Camurit 
(Cariri family) still making pottery that corresponded in shape and 


Vou. 1] EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 387 


technique to ware he had noted among the Shucuri of Cimbres, 
Pernambuco. - 

This investigator also describes Mashacalit pottery. The bowls and 
cooking vessels are unpainted. The potter kneads her unmixed clay 
with a pestle, molds the walls from a lump between the fingers of 
both hands, forming only the upper margin from coils, which are 
laid on so as merely to suggest a distinct rim. She smooths the walls 
with a snail shell, the rim with some moist deerskin. Two little 
notched projections diametrically opposite to each other indicate 
vestigial lugs. The cooking pots are ellipsoid and without a true 
base. They are covered with open dishes, which also serve as food 
bowls. There are also elliptical drinking bowls. 

Guaté pottery is coiled, smoothed with a shell, and baked for 10 
minutes in an open fire. The usually rounded ware had pointed 
bottoms. Decoration was restricted to rudimentary fingernail prints 
and small lugs. 

Eastern Brazilian pottery thus distinctly differs from either Tupi 
or Arawak ware. 

Weapons.—The most usual weapon is the bow, which often is of 
extraordinary length—in individual specimens well over 8 feet (2.4 
m.). The Mashacali type, however, is small and further differs in 
having a characteristic groove. Arrows, too, are frequently very long, 
and their structure varies for special purposes even in one tribe. A 
lancet-shaped bamboo point for big game, blunt heads for birds, 
barbed wooden points for jaguars, and hunting arrows with bone heads 
are among the types found. Arrows are usually two-feathered; the 
eastern Brazilian method of bridge and tangential feathering is au- 
thenticated for the Tapuya, Canella, Shavante, Cayapo, Caingang, 
and Botocudo. Poisoned arrows occur (Carajd, various “Tapuya’). 

Some of the Zapuya of the early 17th century—in contrast to the 
Cariri—were described as without bows, relying instead on a grooved 
atlatl. But shortly thereafter the bow and arrow were found among 
them also. 

The spear or lance is also an important weapon; the head is usually 
of bone or serrated wood. 

Fire making.—The fire drill is universal. Sometimes it consists of 
a simple shaft (Botocudo, Cayapé), sometimes the actual drill is in- 
serted into the shaft of an arrow, superseding its head (Botocudo, 
Mashacali). Yans for the fire are either of feathers or basketwork. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


Government.—In general there is extreme separatism, as attested 
by the endless historic feuds of different Botocudo hordes. Saint- 
Hilaire (1830) found that each of these bands claimed a definite ter- 


3888 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. BuLu. 143 


ritory, which was guarded by sentries at the border. The animosity 
between distinct groups of Vorthern Cayapé persists to the present day. 
Occasionally solidarity is found over a somewhat greater range of indi- 
viduals: the Gwato once held semiannual tribal assemblies, though 
otherwise each subtribe had its own council; and among the Sherente 
a conclave of the chiefs of all the villages fills a vacancy in any one 
settlement and deposes a miscreant colleague. 

The chief is generally without coercive power, yet may exert great 
authority, as among the Botocudo, where supernatural power is a pre- 
requisite to office. The functions include peacemaking, the preserva- 
tion of order, the welcoming of guests, and the maintenance of ancient 
ceremonial and social usage. In some tribes (Timbira, Sherente), the 
chief took the initiative against sorcerers. A 17th-century headman of 
the Zapuya would order a crier to announce the plans for the day— 
whither the people should travel, where they were to pitch, and when 
they were to break camp (Barlaeus, 1659, p. 695). The Bororo 
simultaneously have two chiefs; the Canella even more. 

In his official capacity the chief is generally aided by a council of 
elders that at the same time checks any tendency to overassertiveness. 
Among the Canella the collective senate of chiefs and elders controls 
communal life and is entitled to special respect and gifts, such as are 
likewise credited to the Tapuya “king.” The Cayapo and Botocudo 
chiefs summon the elders for a council with trumpets made of armadillo 
skin, for which the Ge substitute gourd trumpets. 

Succession may or may not follow the rule of descent; it is nepotic 
among the matrilineal Bororo, but a vacancy is filled by the chiefs and 
councilors among the equally matrilineal 7imbira. The patrilineal 
Sherente and Caingang have at least a tendency to filial succession, but 
this is also favored by the Guaté, who have no demonstrable clan 
system. 

Prestige.—Definite castes are absent, but clans or moieties in some 
tribes (Bororo, Caingang, Sherente) may enjoy differential status. 
With the Canella certain social and ceremonial positions are honorific. 
Individual gifts are also recognized; the Guaté and Bororo esteemed 
jaguar-killers, and honor was shown by the 7'apuya to good wrestlers, 
fighters, and hunters. 

Moieties and clans.—The Canella, Apinayé, Bororo, and at least 
some of the Vorthern Cayapo have matrilineal, the Sherente and Cain- 
gang patrilineal moieties; except among the Apinayé, these units are 
exogamous. In addition, the Bororo have a secondary dichotomy lead- 
ing to an “Upper” and a “Lower” half of the village, and the Canella 
have three moiety groupings that are not connected with marriage. 
One of these Canella dichotomies splits the entire universe into two 
categories, a notion that is shared by the Caingang, with reference to 


Vor. 1] EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 389 


their exogamous moieties. Spatial allocation of the moieties to oppo- 
site cardinal directions appears, the Canella and Cayapo assigning 
their moieties to the east and west, the Apinayé, Bororo, and Sherente 
to the north and south, respectively. Among the Apinayé and Sherente 
the moieties are further linked with the sun and moon, respectively. 

The 7%mbdira moieties are undivided; those of the Sherente and Bo- 
roro have clans, each localized in a definite part of the circumference 
assigned to the moiety as a whole. The Bororo clans commonly bear 
animal and plant names, but their claim to full-fledged totemism is 
disputed. 

Marriage.—True purchase is probably absent. But in matrilocal 
tribes the wife’s family profits from her husband’s labors, and else- 
where gifts are in vogue, as in the offering of game and honey to a 
father-in-law by Tapuya bridegrooms in the 17th century. 

The 7imbira and Bororo are matrilocal, the Sherente patrilocal, and 
the Cayapé pass from incipient patrilocal to matrilocal residence. 
Among the Guaté a married son sets up an establishment of his own. 
The Caingang had no fixed rule of residence. Houses and fields always 
belong to the Zimbira and Cayapo wife and to the Sherente husband. 
A Canella or Cayapé husband continues to maintain close relations with 
his maternal home; similarly, a Carajd eats with his married sister’s, 
rather than with his wife’s, household and receives his share of game 
in the sister’s house. 

Strict monogamy is reported for the Timbira, Pau d’Arco, Cayapd, 
Shavante, and Caingang. It is prevalent among the Caraydé and Boto- 
cudo, but distinguished men could have more than one wife. The 17th- 
century Z’apuya, like the recent Guat, were polygynous; the Sherente, 
Botocudo, and Mashacalt permit sororal polygyny; and a case of non- 
sororal polygyny is on record for the Botocudo. The levirate occurs 
(Sherente, Botocudo, Mashacali), but both it and the sororate are 
unknown to the Canella and Pau d’Arco, whereas the Apinayé and 
Sherente permit the sororate. Sororal bigamy and stepdaughter 
marriage flourish among the Borvoro. 

Cousin marriage is explicitly denied for the Botocudo. The Masha- 
cali consider cross-cousin marriage orthodox, whereas the Sherente 
restrict it to the paternal aunt’s daughter, but favor unions with more 
remote matrilineal kinswomen, such as the maternal uncle’s daughter’s 
daughter. 

Among the Timbira and Sherente there appears a class of “wantons” 
who are in no sense outcasts, but freely enter sex relations without the 
formality of marriage. 

Kinship and kinship terminology.—The avunculate is prominent 
among the matrilineal Zimbira, but also among the Sherente. The 
paternal aunt is very close to a Canella girl. Adult brothers and 


390 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunt. 143 


sisters avoid each other among the Sherente and Apinayé. The Tim- 
bira permit familiarity between a man and his wife’s sister, but not 
with his brother’s wife. 

The parent-in-law avoidance is unknown to the Botocudo, but oc- 
curs at least initially among the Sherente and Apinayé. 

Artificial ceremonial relationships develop among the Apinayé and 
Cayapo; and unrelated Canella establish relations of respect and l- 
cense, respectively, either through acquisition of certain names or by 
special acts. 

Kinship nomenclatures are too little known for a broad compara- 
tive statement. A few details, however, are noteworthy. The Bororo 
stress relative seniority within one generation; the Canella have classi- 
ficatory extensions with some Crow features; the Botocudo have tek- 
nonymy and some tendency toward a generation system; and the 
Guato separate maternal from paternal aunts. 

Associational units.—The Sherente segregate youths in a special 
hut after their reception of a girdle emblematic of their status; in their 
centrally situated bachelors’ hall the inmates are grouped by moiety 
and associational ties and are subdivided into six age grades. Chas- 
tity is imperative, on pain of expulsion, and only members of the 
highest grade are allowed to seek a wife. Canella and Apinayé youths 
also sleep in the center of the settlement, but in the open air. In both 
tribes a boy has to pass through elaborate initiation rituals prior to 
marriage. 

The Bororo and Northern Cayapoé have a men’s club rather than a 
bachelors’ hall. The Gérotire and Pau d’Arco Cayapé divided all 
males into age grades which also represent ceremonial units; there is a 
lesser number of female grades. For either sex, advancement hinges 
on parenthood rather than on matrimony. A virtual men’s tribal 
society with esoteric masquerading splits Caraja society into a male 
and a female half, and a corresponding cult with bull-roarers charac- 
terizes the Mashacalé. On the other hand, the four Sherente men’s 
societies remain on the profane level; here there is an unimportant 
women’s organization. 

By way of contrast, the Z%imbira display rather free association of 
both sexes in ceremonial and social activities; the festive societies of 
the Canella, e. g., have girl auxiliaries. Entrance into these associa- 
tions automatically follows the acquisition of certain names, except 
that Clowns become such solely because of native gifts for farce. 

Etiquette—Apart from the stringent rules connected with the 
proper performance of ritual, several categories of fact merit special 
attention under this head. 

The weeping salutation has been noted for the Botocudo, Timbira, 
Tapuya, and Guato. 


Vow. 1] EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 391 


In some tribes eating is subject to a definite etiquette: a Carajd 
eats by himself and turns away from his companions lest he excite 
their ridicule. 

Notwithstanding the usually clear-cut division of labor and of 
ceremonial functions, the sexes are rigidly separated only where there 
is a definite men’s club (Bororo) or tribal society (Mashacalt). Else- 
where, as among the 7%mbira, young women and men are found 
regularly joining in the daily dances, and the men’s organizations have 
female associates. 

WARFARE 


The weapons partly coincide with those used in the chase, but 
naturally there are modifications and additions. The Caingang use 
a javelin, the Awezkoma a thrusting-spear over and above the bows 
and arrows common to both. In contrast to other Ge, the Acrod are 
said to have used poisoned arrows, which are also recorded for the 
Botocudo and various Tapuya, incendiary arrows are known from 
the Shavante and Timbira. The Botocudo have no special warclubs, 
such as are known from any of the Ge. Stone anchor-axes with short 
hafts slung over the shoulder are typical of various Ge, their possible 
congeners, the 17th-century Otshucayana, and the enigmatic T're- 
membé. Small specimens serve in ceremonials and as chief’s emblems. 

Many of the eastern Brazilian groups were conspicuously martial, 
holding their own tenaciously against the White intruders. The 
motive for warfare was mainly the desire for revenge. Adult male 
enemies were usually slain rather than captured by the Sherente and 
Cayapo. As for tactics, the Sherente would begin a skirmish by dis- 
charging their arrows, following this up by a charge with clubs and 
lances. Cayapd women are reported to have accompanied their hus- 
bands, supplying them with arrows according to requirements. 
Special military contrivances of the Botocudo included caltrops 
(Knoche, 1918, fig. 2). 

The Cayapé slayer of an enemy was obliged to go into a fortnight’s 
retreat. The Apinayé, Canella, Northern Cayapo, Akwé, and Cain- 
gang killer all deposited a club by the side of a slain foeman. 

Cannibalism has often been imputed to eastern Brazilians, but with 
much exaggeration. It certainly did not approach the systematic 
anthropophagy of the Tupi. The Timbira and Akwé did not eat 
human flesh at all; the Botocudo probably indulged in the practice only 
occasionally and sparingly. The endocannibalism of 17th-century 
Tapuya as displayed in their mortuary rites obviously falls under a 
different category. 

LIFE CYCLE 


In part, this topic has been foreshadowed. A composite picture 
for the area would recognize prenatal and postnatal taboos observed 


392 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bu. 143 


by parents in the child’s interest; rites for the perforation of 
ear lobes and the lower lip; name-giving rites, distinctive games for 
boys and girls; menstrual rules; the acquisition of distinct emblems of 
adult status; marriage; parenthood; and death. Only a few summary 
remarks are possible here. 

The couvade is prominent, extending for the Canella to all men who 
have had congress with the child’s mother during her pregnancy. 
Personal names are extremely important: the Bororo, though pos- 
sessing a profusion of changeable nicknames, keep their primary names 
for good and regard them as secret. The Z%mbira and Sherente 
solemnly bestow new names, which may qualify for certain ceremonial 
obligations. Sometimes basic social units own and confer personal 
names (Sherente). 

Menstruation in some tribes involves taboos, including the use of a 
scratching stick instead of the fingers, but this rule extends to other 
critical situations, such as mourning or retiring after the killing of an 
enemy (Canella). 

Interment is the general mode of disposing of a corpse. The Boto- 
cudo hastily leave the burial and the locality. The Mashacali place the 
body in the grave in a squatting position and break the dead person’s 
weapons or pottery. Some peoples take care to prevent direct contact 
of the body with the earth (Timbira, Cayapo, Sherente). Elaborate 
mortuary festivals distinguish the Bororo and Caingang. 

Secondary burial is lacking among the Botocudo and the Mashacali, 
but prevails among the Timbira, Sherente, and Bororo, The Tapuya 
of the 17th century had their priests dissect a corpse, which was then 
cooked and consumed. The bones, however, were carefully preserved 
for a subsequent solemnity, when they were pulverized, mixed with 
water, and drunk, 


ESTHETIO AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Games.—Sport plays a large part among the eastern Brazilians; 
it is apparently indulged in for sheer enjoyment since there is no evi- 
dence of gambling. Relay races with heavy logs are typical of the 
Timbira, Sherente, and Camacan; they are also credited to the Fulnio, 
the 17th-century Otshucayana, and the natives of ancient Itatin, i. e., 
either Southern Cayapé or Guarani. This form of exercise was un- 
known to the Caingang; the Northern Cayapo seem to have manipu- 
lated heavy logs at dances. There is no evidence that log races are a 
test of fitness for matrimony—a popular fallacy refuted by the per- 
sonnel of the competitors in the best-known tribes. 

Wrestling appears as the favorite sport of the 7apuya, stilt-walking 
is especially characteristic of the Apinayé, hockey and tug of war 
figure among the Northern Cayapo, and the unique occurrence of a 


Vou. 1] EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 393 
roe . 


hoop-and-pole game among the Sherente is noteworthy. The Apinayé 
and Sherente play ceremonial games with rubber balls, and shuttle- 
cocks made of maize husks are struck with the palm of the hand by 
the Mashacalt. 

Cat’s cradle figures are known from the Mashacali. 

Children’s toys include buzzes and tops. 

Music.—Drums do not occur, but there are trumpets, rattles, and 
whistles. At dances, Mashacalt men strike the ground with bamboo 
tubes 40 inches (101.6 cm.) long, instruments differing from the tribal 
water containers only in being ornamented with animal forms in poker- 
work and in being provided with a hook-shaped grip. The non- 
shamanistic use of gourd rattles by the Timbira, Sherente, and North- 
ern Cayapo is noteworthy ; the Caingang singers shake them during the 
mortuary solemnities. Bull-roarers were sacred among the Bororo, 
but not among the recent Canella. 

Dances.—These are so important for the Canella that a village 
site is chosen with regard to its suitability for dancing, the young men 
and women performing three times daily during the dry season. Both 
sexes also participate in the Parrot ceremony of the Mashacali, wit- 
nessed by Nimuendaji: A dozen men formed two lines in front of 
the men’s house and sang many songs, rocking their bodies from one 
foot to the other; they were soon faced by seven women, who placed 
their arms on one another’s shoulders, bent forward, sang, and hopped 
sidewise round the men. The case is noteworthy because these people 
bar women from cult activities. 

Stimulants.—Tobacco was probably not originally raised by the 
majority of eastern Brazilians. The Botocudo learned smoking from 
Whites and, though avid of the weed, had not yet come to plant it in 
Manizer’s (1919) day. The Zimbira do not raise it, even though the 
Apinayé are passionately addicted to smoking funnels of spirally 
rolled palm leaflets. The Shavante of Pohl’s day did not use tobacco 
at all. 

Spirituous liquors have a limited distribution, being unknown to 
many Ge tribes. But the Camacan women ferment manioc juice for a 
spree while their husbands hunt the requisite game; and the Guaté 
befuddle themselves with wine from the sap of the acuri palm. 

Ceremonial.—Much of eastern Brazilian ceremonial must be viewed 
as esthetic and recreational rather than religious. This applies pre- 
ponderantly to the festivals of the 7imbira, including their wholly 
profane mummers’ performances. The Great Anteater masquerades of 
the Apinayé, Sherente, and Northern Cayapé, in which a pair of the 
species is represented by the actors, are also devoid of sanctity. The 
elaborate initiation and other major ceremonies of the Canella involve 
only a few religious and magical elements, the stress being on the per- 


394 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunt. 143 


formance as such—the organization and decoration of the actors, dra- 
matic conflicts between rival societies, farcical antics of clowns, and 
competitive sports. (For religious ceremonial, see p. 396.) 


SUPERNATURALISM 


Magic, animism, shamanism, and celestial cults are probably found 
throughout, but with great variation in emphasis. 

Magic.—Sympathetic magic occurs, as when a Canella invests 
uructii with marvelous potency for assuring luck or renders a youth 
tough by bringing him into contact with the tree symbolic of resistance. 
Throwing a disguise into a creek allegedly lengthens the former 
Sherente wearer’s life. On the other hand, contagious magic of the 
classical type, e. g., by destroying clipped hair, is certainly absent 
among the ZYimbira and Northern Cayapoé and undemonstrated 
elsewhere. 

The dietary and other restrictions incident to birth, menstruation, 
and other critical periods have been referred to (p. 392). Bird omens 
were stressed by the Z’apuya. 

Animism.—Under this head may be distinguished worship of the 
dead and of spirits who have never led a human existence. 

The Caingang, whose ceremonial centers in mortuary rites, are said 
to lack any vital beliefs in other spirits. The Bororo have both sys- 
tems of beliefs, with distinct intermediaries for the two categories of 
supernatural beings. The Canella directly appeal to deceased kinsmen 
in times of stress, but the Vorthern Cayapo have no such practice, and 
most of the Apinayé avoid it. The Botocudo, though recognizing sev- 
eral types of soul, worship none of them and have no particular fear 
of the spooks supposed to arise from a corpse’s skeleton, whom a 
doughty male will thrash if they give annoyance. Here animism takes 
the form of reverence for a never human, though anthropomorphic, 
race of sky-dwellers, the marét, who are invisible to the majority of 
mortals, but reveal themselves to a favored few, who become wonder- 
workers and curers. On special occasions a shaman chants by a sacred 
efigy-pillar, thereby invoking the spirits, who descend the post and, 
invisible to all but the medicine man, watch the proceedings. A gen- 
erally benevolent chief of these beings is supplicated for aid on behalf 
of their protégés by his subjects. He grows angry over abuse of the 
Botocudo and causes rain and storms. The origin of certain songs, as 
well as the use of earplugs and labrets, is credited to him. 

Among the Mashacali there is not only communion with the dead in 
dreams, but there exists also a men’s tribal society whose members 
impersonate the deceased in disguises and simulate spirit voices by 
whistling and swinging bull-roarers. All boys are admitted and 
pledged to secrecy on pain of chastisement. The masquerading per- 


Vou. 1] . EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 395 


formance alternates seasonally with ceremonials round a decorated 
sacred pillar in the center of the village by which the spirits supposedly 
descend to watch the human dancers. 

The Camacan also believe in the descent of the souls of the dead 
to attend a carousal ceremony, unseen except by the elders. Women 
and young children are not permitted to view them. Evidently the 
Camacan and Mashacali beliefs are closely related, and, notwithstand- 
ing the distinctive character of the Botocudo spirits, the cult of all 
three tribes has genetically related elements. Less significant is the 
association of spirits with whistling by the Mashacali, the Camacan, 
and the Fulnio. 

As for the fate of the soul after death, the Zapuya drew the familiar 
distinction between those who had and those who had not died a natu- 
ral death; apparently, it was the former that were favored by being 
ferried to a land of honey and good fish. According to the Botocudo, 
a person’s main soul dies before his body, the subsidiary souls go to the 
sky never to return. The Bororo believe that the spirits of the dead 
join the twin culture heroes. 

Disease and Shamanism.—F astern Brazilians have a number of 
profane therapeutic devices, such as scarification to prevent fatigue 
(Tapuya) ; massaging, flogging, and sweating the patient with the aid 
of hot rocks (Botocudo) ; and bleeding with a blocked arrow shot at 
the forehead (Cayapé, Botocudo). However, the cause of illness be- 
ing commonly ascribed to sorcery (Zapuya), or other weird agencies, 
disease is usually treated by supernatural means, which usually in- 
volves recourse to medicine men. 

However, the role of the shaman varied greatly. He is said to be 
nonexistent among the Caingang; and among the Canella, where any 
layman can go into seclusion and directly appeal to his deceased kin 
for aid in illness, the medicine man’s position is naturally reduced. 
On the other hand, the two classes of Bororo shaman obviously loom 
large in tribal society. This is true of the Sherente, whose doctors 
derive their gifts from astral patrons, and of the Northern Cayapo, 
who distinguished ordinary practitioners from great curers commun- 
ing with jaguars and able to revive the dead. The wonder-workers 
of the Botocudo as protégés of the marét also come under this head, 
especially when they unite political with supernatural power. Tapuya 
“priests” consulted the spirits in the woods when asked for advice on 
public affairs and returned with an impersonator of some supernatural 
being, who delivered a prophecy. 

The intrusion of a pathogenic agent is possibly the most common 
source of illness, appearing among the Northern Cayapé and Apinayé 
in the special form of the intrusive soul of an animal or plant. Both 
of these tribes, as well as Sherente, recognize soul-loss as a cause of 


396 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL, 143 


disease; and there is a widespread fear of sorcerers, who are merci- 
lessly killed by the Cariri, Timbira, Sherente, and Cayapé. 

The methods of treatment include smoking and suction. <A 17th- 
century Z’apuya “king” would blow smoke on sick boys and was him- 
self cured by doctors who extracted an awl, a rock, and a root from the 
afflicted parts (Barlaeus, 1659). The smoking of tobacco blown on 
the patient, chants, and the strewing of ashes round the bed to expel 
the “demon” are recorded for the same period among the Cariri. Cer- 
tain Sherente doctors treat patients at a distance of 6 feet (1.8 m.) by 
means of a magical wand. 

Possession is demonstrated for Bororo shamans; elsewhere the no- 
tion seems to be absent or rudimentary, as when souls of the dead are 
supposed to take temporary lodgement in the novices at initiation 
(Canella). 

In this area the gourd rattle may figure in ceremonials, but is typi- 
cally not associated with the shaman. 

Ecstatic visions were induced among the Camurt Cariri by drink- 
ing “yurema,” which evoked glorious sights of the spirit land, of the 
clashing rocks that destroyed souls traveling thither, and of the Thun- 
derbird producing his peals and shooting lightning from his crest. 

Possibly the Malali custom of eating certain bamboo worms and 
thereby producing marvelous dreams with beautiful visual and ex- 
quisite gustatory sensations is psychologically related. 

Celestial cults and major Gods.—For several tribes, Sun and 
Moon are not only mythological characters, but true deities, the 
Sun usually claiming precedence. Both sometimes appear directly to 
Apinayé votaries, and are addressed for rain and good crops by the 
Canella, who expect no theophany. To the Sherente, Sun and Moon 
do not appear either, but they send their distinctive astral deputies 
according to the solar or lunar affiliation of the visionary’s moiety. 
The Zapuya worshiped the “Northern constellation,” celebrating it 
with chants and “leaping,” and at a special festival with athletic con- 
tests and dancing. According to their mythology, life had been easy 
for the Indians until Fox caused them to fall into this deity’s bad 
graces, whence their subsequent need to worry about food. 

The Cariri are supposed to have had a trio of gods, the “Father” 
being also represented as having two sons who quarreled (Bernardo de 
Nantes, 1896). According to another source, God (Touppart) sent a 
friend to the Indians who was called their Grandfather; after a while 
Grandfather retired to the sky and sent them Badze (Tobacco) to be 
worshiped through offerings. 

Ceremonial.—The preponderantly profane nature of much of 
eastern Brazilian ceremonial has been pointed out (p. 394); on the 
other hand, certain phases of religious ritual have been necessarily 


Vou. 1] , EASTERN BRAZIL—LOWIE 397 


discussed under other headings. The elementary rites of prayer, 
offerings, dramatization, and self-mortification are probably general. 
Certain cryptic forms figure in early sources, such as “confession in the 
woods” by the Cariri. There is likewise the clubbing of a kneeling 
person by the Cayapé chief till the blood flows from his forehead and 
is wiped off by attending women—a rite that reappears in the obsequies 
on behalf of a distinguished man, whose corpse is smeared with the 
blood. The Zapuya “king” owned a sacred flask or case, containing 
several holy rocks and fruits. This could not be touched without his 
consent, but was consulted before serious undertakings after tobacco 
smoke was blown upon it (Barlaeus, 1659). Among these people 
priestly consecration was also deemed necessary to prosper the fields. 
The Zimbira favored a retreat with ceremonial taboos in periods of 
crisis, such as birth or mourning. Arrows are shot at the sky during 
an eclipse by several tribes (Cayapo, Bororo). 

Major festivals are usually highly composite. Mortuary rituals 
are elaborate among the Bororo and Caingang, whereas the boys’ 
initiation is stressed by the Apinayé, Canella, Awetkoma, and in the 
special form connected with an animistic cult and a tribal society by 
the Mashacalt. Name giving is a common occasion for solemnities, 
but often without manifest religious connotation. Performances are 
sometimes definitely linked with social units (Timbira, Caingang). 


MYTHOLOGY 


A Sun and Moon cycle, with Moon as the less intelligent member of 
the pair who is teased by his companion, spoils things by foolish 
chatter, gets killed as a result of his stupidity, and has to be revived by 
Sun, is important in 7%mbira, Sherente, and Camacan mythology and 
at least adumbrated among the Mashacali. Both are generally male, 
but frequently comrades rather than brothers. The Bororo, however, 
though also telling tales about Sun and Moon, have for their principal 
mythical heroes genuine twin brothers unconnected with the heavens, 
but appearing as hosts of the dead, as inventors, transformers, and 
slayers of monsters. 

Significantly distributed in eastern Brazil are a number of motifs of 
which the following may be mentioned: A deluge; a world-fire; 
matriage to a star-woman (Cayapéo, Timbira, Sherente) ; the deserted 
boy acquiring fire for Indians from a friendly jaguar (same tribes) ; 
the destruction of a man-eating falcon by two brothers (Z%¢mbira, 
Cayapo); and Sharpened-Leg (Timbira, Cayapo). 'The primeval 
hoarding of all water by Hummingbird and its liberation for general 
use is shared by the Caingang and Botocudo. The were-jaguar motif, 
popular among the Camacan, Mashacali, and Cayapo, is lacking among 
the Botocudo, Timbira, and Sherente. 


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ie _ 


LAGOA SANTA MAN 


By Anzpat Martros 


The fossil man of Lagoa Santa discovered by Peter Wilhelm Lund 
in Sumidouro Cave (map 1, Vo. 6) in the Highland of Minas Gerais, 
Brazil, is well known. (Hansen, 1888; Hrdlicka, 1912; Liitken, 1883; 
Quatrefages, 1879; Rivet, 1908; Ten Kate, 1885.) Research in recent 
years has thrown new light on the problem of Lagoa Santa man, 
which now rests on two important questions: the contemporaneity of 
the human remains with extinct species of mammals, and the relation- 
ship of his abundant stone artifacts with other archeological horizons. 

Confins finds.—In a cave, Lapa de Confins, remains of the Lagoa 
Santa type were found associated with extinct mammals. This cave, 
repeatedly flooded in the past, though in recent times dry and with the 
entrance blocked, contained mammalian and human remains in a stra- 
tum 614 feet (2 m.) deep and immediately under a layer of stalagmite 
or calcareous material. Dr. W. Tansley, of the University of Chicago 
and McGill University, examined the cave and agreed with our con- 
clusions. The fossil mammals included only extinct species charac- 
teristic of the Pleistocene period: Arctotherium brasiliensis, Palaeo- 
lama weddelii (Nama), Zydrochoerus giganteus, Hip pidium neogaeum, 
Machaerodus neogaeus, Pecari, Tayassu, Tapirus,and Mastodon. The 
human skeleton had evidently been left on the surface after death, as 
it was broken and bore marks of rodent teeth, but was later buried in 
the alluvium brought by inundating waters. Subsequently, the cave 
was left high and dry. The cranium is dolichocephalic, hypsicephalic, 
and somewhat pyramidal, prognathous, especially in the subnasal 
region, and mesorrhin, with megaseme orbits, and a shallow, elliptical 
palatine vault. The norma lateralis is striking for its submaxiliary 
prognathism. The hypsicephaly and pyramidal form of the skull, 
especially the former, are regarded as typical of the Lagoa Santa skull. 
(Hansen, 1888; Rivet, 1908; and others.) 

The association of mammals ordinarily regarded as Pleistocene with 
the Confins skeleton do not imply great antiquity of the remains, but 
recency of the mammals. There has been a similar caution about the 
probable age of the human fossils of Lagoa Santa. (Rivet, 1908; Han- 
sen, 1888; Hrdlicka, 1912.) 

Campo Alegre finds.—In a rock shelter at Campo Alegre, we found 
the fragments of fossilized human bones of eight individuals in thin 
layers of ash and calcareous material slightly below the surface. 

399 


400 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. BULL. 143 


Deeper, we uncovered crude fragments of arrow points and, finally, a 
flexed human skeleton of the Lagoa Santa type with the knees against 
the chin and the arms bent. Near the skeleton were various imple- 
ments, in which natural rock forms had been utilized. This is the 
first discovery of artifacts with the Lagoa Santa physical type. . These 
included grinders, axes of irregular shape, and stones with small pits, 
all probably used to crush palm nuts. The similarity of these arti- 
facts to those of the shell mounds, or sambaquis, of the coast seem to 
indicate a relationship between the coastal and cave cultures. 

In other caves we found the fossilized remains of three individuals 
of the Lagoa Santa type with some of the bones calcined. In cer- 
tain caves, especially Sumidouro Cave, the fossilized remains, some 
showing the effects of fire, were deep at the entrance of the cave, sug- 
gesting a long occupation of the sites. 

Lapa Vermelha finds.—In this cave we found fragments of various 
skeletons of the Lagoa Santa type. Nearby were sites of a recent 
native culture with abundant pottery, stone axes, and petroglyphs on 
the calcareous rocks. The Lagoa Santa people made neither pottery 
nor petroglyphs. 

Santa Quiteria finds.—In the Municipio of Santa Quiteria in the 
State of Minas Gerais we found three important archeological sites 
extending Lagoa Santa man beyond his previous known habitat in 
Brazil—an area defined by the valley of Rio das Velhas. 

Vargem do Bento da Costa finds.—At Vargem do Bento da Costa, 
in a black, ashy soil, we found part of a human maxillary with typical 
Lagoa Santa dentition. This site lacked the crude, unornamented 
pottery which occurs in more recent sites of the region. 

Other finds.—Dr. Bastos de Avila discovered fossilized remains of 
Lagoa Santa man at Lapa de Carrancas, near the city of Pedro Leo- 
poldo. Dr. A. Cathoud (1937) published a study of a Lagoa Santa 
type skull, which was probably a woman, judging by the delicate out- 
lines, little-developed mastoids, and other features. 

It has become evident that there were two or three types of Lagoa 
Santa man. Eickstedt, following Lund, postulated two ancient types: 
one of the mountain caves, one of the sea coast. We consider the type 
found in association with extinct mammals at Confins to be older than 
that at Lagoa Santa. Precise cross-dating of artifacts associated with 
Lagoa Santa remains with those in the sambaquis is impossible, as the 
latter have been almost entirely destroyed without scientific study. A 
fortunate exception is the sambaquis of Torres, Rio Grande do Sul, 
which were carefully studied by Serrano (1938, 1938 a). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Cathoud, 1937; Hansen, 1888; Hrdlitka, 1912; Liitken, 1883; Mattos, 1937; 
Quatrefages, 1879; Rivet, 1908; Serrano, 1938, 1988 a; Ten Kate, 1885; Walter, 
1937. 


THE SAMBAQUIS OF THE BRAZILIAN COAST 
By ANTONIO SERRANO 


INTRODUCTION 


The sambaquis are heaps of mollusk shells which occur in the shape 
of cordons or mounds along a large section of the Brazilian coast. 
On the shores of some large rivers, such as the Amazon, these deposits 
are formed entirely by fresh-water species of mollusks. 

In both cases these shell deposits often conceal archeological remains 
and burials of peoples who, in ages past, dwelt along the coast of 
Brazil. 

The word “sambaqui” is of Twpi-Guarané origin and means “hill 
of shells” (from també, “shell,” and qui, “hill,” in a figurative sense). 
Its literal equivalents would be conchero in Spanish and shell-heaps 
in English. 

A sambaquf is not always a kitchen midden (kjékkenméddinger) ; 
a large majority of the sambaquis are nothing more than natural 
deposits of mollusks which the receding ocean left on the shore. 


ORIGIN OF THE SAMBAQUIS 


The study of the sambaquis has created two currents of conflicting 
opinions. One upholds the artificial origin of the sambaquis, stating 
that they were formed by the accumulation of the shells of mollusks 
eaten by the people living along the coasts. The other frankly admits 
that the sambaqufs are littoral deposits that were first shaped by 
natural elements and later inhabited by native tribes. But between 
these extreme theories is one that admits a mixed origin of the sam- 
baquis, maintaining that the inhabitants of the region kept piling 
the shells of mollusks which they used for food on top of natural 
mounds of shells, and thus increased their size. This is sometimes, 
but not always, true. In the upper part of some sambaquis, which 
are clearly of natural origin, I have observed shells and bones of fish 
and mammals that are typical “kitchen waste.” But, on the whole, 
the artificial contribution has hardly affected the general size of the 
sambaqui. On the Island of Casquerinho, Ihering (1903) observed 
small hills of oyster shells which represented one family’s consumption 


583486—46-——_26 401 


402 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


of shellfish over a period of 20 years. These hills measured 15 to 18 
feet (5 to 6 m.) in diameter and 16 to 20 inches (40 to 50 cm.) in 
height. 


SS 

Ss 

= 

= vv o 

SW. Sy SN © SE. 

= So S BS 

s st s S 
so a Q % 
~ ) & 
us eS S S S iS S 
= Sy a S 9 Ne 2s 
Ss ~ Qe s 
Ss z 


(] 
Hl 


Figure 43.—Schematic profile of Torres site, showing location of camp site. 
(Redrawn from Serrano, 1938.) 


The extent of human contributions to these deposits can be judged 
by the Torres site (figs. 48, 44), which I studied in 1937 (Serrano, 
1937). This site consists of a low hill rising near the sea. Old in- 
habitants state that the hill was covered some 60 years ago with thick 
woods and was surrounded by level pasture lands. Today, the entire 
area is waste land, covered with sand dunes. 


ene CLM LUILD —— 
7 UT ig 


(AU apeleeaeestaeeeeta ree 


Ficure 44.—Schematic cross section of camp site at Torres. Stratum 1, nucleus of sand 
(ancient dune) ; Stratum 2, mixed zone between 1 and $8, about 0.50 em. (19 in.) thick ; 
Stratum 8, sandy decomposed vegetal material, rich in artifacts, varies from 0.10 to 
1.20 m. (4 in. to 3 ft. 11 in.) in thickness; Stratum 4, recent dunes; Stratum a, hearths. 
(Redrawn from Serrano, 1938.) 


The hill is approximately 160 feet (50 m.) in diameter at the base 
and reaches a height of 230 to 260 feet (70 to 80 m.) above sea level. 
Embedded in the third stratum are small lenses of kitchen middens, 
2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm.) thick, and, by all indications, not exceed- 
ing 3 to 41% feet (1 to 114 m.) in diameter. 

Through historical references, we know that the tribes which 
inhabited or frequented the coast of Brazil ate great quantities of 
mollusks, the shells of which accumulated and, in some places, became 
true kitchen middens. As knolls shaped by the ebb and flow of the 
ocean tides in ages past afforded the highest places along the coast, 


the native peoples chose these as camp sites and there deposited their 
refuse. 


Vou. 1? SAMBAQUIS OF BRAZILIAN COAST—SERRANO 403 


The fact that the shells of most of the sambaquis are unopened 
refutes the theory of the artificial origin of these deposits. The mol- 
lusks are generally tightly closed, or, if open, there are indications 
that the meat was removed long ago by the action of wind or water. 

We recognize, therefore, that, in general, the sambaquis are littoral 
cordons or concentrations of shells, broken and reshaped by natural 
forces; they were later covered with vegetation and occupied by native 
tribes, who used them as dwelling places and burial grounds. 


MORPHOLOGY 


As regards their shape, the sambaquis may be classified into three 
groups: (1) More or less conical mounds; (2) elongated or oval 
mounds; and (8) low, broad conchiferous layers. 

In structure, they are either stratified or homogeneous. The species 
of shells forming the first group are segregated in definite layers, which 
argues in favor of their natural origin, as it is inconceivable that the 
same people could subsist for too long a period exclusively on oysters, 
then on Mytilus, then again on oysters. Furthermore, this specific 
alternation of layers is characteristic of the coastal deposits formed 
by the tides. 

A typical stratified sambaqui is that of Guarahy Mirim (fig. 45), 
which was studied by Clerot in 1928. This sambaqui is located on the 
left bank of the Guarahy River (in the Federal District) in an 


Ly MME Aare a 


Ficurn 45.—Cross section of stratified sambaqui of Guarahy Mirim. 1, Rain-washed 
shells; 2, white sand mixed with ferns; 3, shells and sand; 4, sand mixed with bluish 
mud and ferns; 5, sand; 6, modern refuse. (Redrawn from Serrano, 1938.) 


enormous mangrove swamp. It is 160 feet (48 m.) long, 60 feet (18 
m.) wide, and 6 feet (2 m.) high. It has, according to Clerot, “five 
superimposed, clearly stratified layers with indisputable evidence of 
natural formation” (1928, p. 462). The first layer (1), 4 inches (10 
cm.) thick, was formed by an accumulation of rain-washed shells. 
The second (2), 23 inches (60 cm.) thick, is of white sand mixed with 
ferns. The third (3), 10 inches (25 cm.) thick, a mixture of shells 
and sand, rests upon a fourth (4), 14 inches (45 cm.) thick, formed 
of sand mixed with bluish mud in which occur ferns. Beneath the 
fourth layer is a layer of sand 23 inches (60 cm.) thick (4), without 
mollusks. 


404 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


The solid, or homogeneous, sambaquis are those without stratifica- 
tion, which some authors consider as proof of their artificial origin. 
Nevertheless, I must point out that the solid sambaquis generally con- 
sist of species which preferably live in regions around estuaries, a 
circumstance which is decidedly favorable to their formation by 
natural agencies. 


ANTIQUITY OF THE SAMBAQUIS 


Elsewhere I have said that “the origin and antiquity of the sam- 
baquis is purely a geological problem, and it is a waste of time to 
maintain that native artifacts found in them are of the same age, 
merely because of having been discovered there” (Serrano 1938 b, 
p. 50). 

Littoral cordons, which in the great majority of cases resulted from 
the ebb and flow of tides in the Pleistocene Period, were broken, re- 
shaped, and later covered with thick vegetation. Throngs of native 
tribes on approaching the sea in an age very close to our own found 
those places very desirable and settled on them. In 1895, Ihering, 
noting the presence of Azara prisca in some of the sambaquis, pointed 
out the convenience of dividing them into two series: the more ancient 
sambaquis with this species, which are the farthest from the sea; and 
the more modern without it. This fact was verified years later by 
Krone (1914) through his studies of the sambaquis of Iguapé (State 
of Sao Paulo). 

It is interesting to note that both types of sambaquis have different 
cultural phases. Artifacts in the most ancient sambaquis, which are 
farthest from the sea, correspond to the primitive culture of Lagoa 
Santa, while the most modern are analogous to the classic archeological 
culture of the coastal region, with its carefully polished stone articles, 
to which I have given the name of “lithic culture of southern Brazil.” 


CULTURES AND RACE 


The prevailing idea in the study of the sambaquis has been that of 
a cultural unity—a single sambaqui culture—that is distinctive and 
characteristic of these deposits. It is no longer possible to main- 
tain this. The cultures which flourished along the coast on the sam- 
baquis are mere littoral occurrences of other cultures of wide geo- 
graphical distribution. The culture of the sambaquis of the southern 
States, for example, extends many thousands of kilometers toward the 
west in the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catalina and bears 
no relation to that of the sambaquis with Azara prisca, or to that of 
the Amazonian sambaquis. 

These cultural manifestations may be grouped into four phases: 
the southern; the middle; that of the sambaquis with Azara prisca; 
and the Amazonian (map 6). 


Vou. 1] SAMBAQUIS OF BRAZILIAN COAST—SERRANO 405 


ip 


ay LM, 


re ny yas. ME! 


ye CULTURE PHASES 


Southern 


Middle 


Amazonian 


Map 6.—Distribution of the four sambaqui culture phases. 


The southern phase (the meridional) includes the sambaquis of 
Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana, and the southern part 
of Sao Paulo. It is characterized by the concave zoéliths (pl. 79, a) 
and well-shaped polished axes of well-defined types. In the southern 
region may be found circular sling shots and stones for bolas (pl. 80). 


406 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buut. 148 


f : ; a) e 
eres ey « tN 4 ‘ tay 


Ra Cupra 


Ficure 46.—Ground-stone artifacts from the sambaquis. a, b, d, Hachas tabulares, Torres 
site, Rio Grande do Sul, presumably meridional phase; ¢, e, f, mortars, Torres site, Rio 
Grande do Sul, presumably meridional phase (% natural size) ; g, arrow point, meridional 
phase (14 natural size). (After Serrano, 1938, pls. 5, 6.) 


Vou. 1] SAMBAQUIS OF BRAZILIAN COAST—SERRANO 407 


There are also pieces of pottery, with thumb impressions, which show 
unquestioned Gwaranét influence and which demonstrate that the 
Gwayand, inhabitants of these sambaquis, were acculturated by the 
invading Guarani. 

The archaic culture phase of the ancient sambaquis of Sao Paulo— 
those containing Azara prisca—belong to the culture of Lagoa Santa 
man. Stone artifacts are represented especially by axes, which are 
more or less triangular in form, or are oval and crudely fashioned 
by heavy blows (pl. 78, d, ¢) ; sometimes these are slightly polished 
(pl. 78, a, 6, ¢). Chipped-stone knives and scrapers (pl. 78, f, g, 4) 
and hammer stones complete the list of stone implements of this 
phase. There is no pottery. 

The middle (media) phase corresponds to the sambaquis of the 
States of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo. Stone articles consist of 
fine polished axes of diorite (pl. 79, c, h), which are similar to some 
types of the second cultural stage of the valley of the Rio das Velhas 
(Serrano, 1940 f). Of pottery there are only undecorated fragments. 

In the Amazonian phase, the cultures are not homogeneous and are 
related to typical Amazonian cultures. Those of the sambaquis of 
southern Brazil correspond to the ancient Zapuya, tribes which oc- 
cupied the coast before the invasion of the Guarani. 'The migration 
of the Guaranit toward the Atlantic Ocean is relatively modern, al- 
though pre-European. On invading the coast, the Guarani drove out 
the Zapuya and took their dwelling places or conquered them and 
influenced their way of life. This is why typical Guarani cultural 
elements and skeletal remains appear in the sambaquis. 

The paleo-American is the racial element that produced the culture 
of the southern sambaquis; this element is now divided by Imbelloni 
into raza laquida and raza fueguida. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Backheuser, 1918, 1919; Bischoff, 1928; Calixto, 1904; Clerot, 1928; Ferreira 
Penna, 1876; Frées de Abreu, 1928; Hartt, 1885; Ihering, 1903; Imbelloni, 1937 ; 
Krone, 1914 (2nd ed.); Lacerda, 1885; Lofgren, 1893; Serrano, 1937, 1938 b, 
1940 f, 1940 g; Siemiradzki, 1898; Simoens da Silva, 1932 (1934) ; Wiener, 1876. 


re ‘id 


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Bact 3] asaotw } (hEOT) col vila ay ar ng ile : Ber 1 


PLATE 77.—Structure of Sambaqgui. Top: View of typical sambaquis during excavation. Boltom: Cross 
section of sambaquis at Tito, Sao Paulo. (After Krone, 1914.) 


f 


PLATE 78.—Sambaqui artifacts, archaic phase. a, ), c, Ground-stone celts, lg natural size; d, e, chipped- 
stone axes or celts, 1g natural size; /, g, h, chipped-stone artifacts, 34 natural size. (After Serrano, 1938 b, 
pls. 19, 20.) 


PLATE 79.—Sambaqui artifacts, meridional and media phases. a, Stone fish with concavity, presumably 
meridional phase (after Netto, 1885, pl. 6, No. 21); 6, d-g, pitted stones, 14 natural size, presumably 
meridional phase, from Torres site, Rio Grande do Sul (after Serrano, 1938, pl. 5, No. 1); c, h, ground- 
stone ceits, media phase, natural size (after Serrano, 1938 b, pl. 20, No. 3) 


PLATE 80.—Sambaqui artifacts, meridional phase. From the Torres site, Rio Grande do Sul. Top rows: 
“Pusos’’ with and without grooves, meridional phase. Center rows: Skull crackers. Bottom rows: Grooved 
bolas stones, presumably meridional phase. (After Serrano, 1938 b, pl. 21, No. 1; pl. 19, No. 1; and pl. 4 
No. 1.) 


THE GUATO 
By Aurrep METRAUXx 


The Guaté inhabit the marshy and flooded plains of the upper Par- 
aguay River Basin (lat. 19° S., long. 58° W.) (map 1, Wo. 7). 


ARCHEOLOGY 


On the plains there are low mounds covered with groves of acuri 
palm (Attalea sp.), a plant of great economic importance to the 
Guaté. Two mounds near the Caracara River, investigated by Max 
Schmidt (1914), proved to be artificial ellipsoidal platforms—one 
measuring 540 feet (140 m.) by 245 feet (76 m.) ; the other, 170 feet 
(52 m.) by 150 feet (45 m.)—that had been built about 2 feet (0.6 m.) 
above the original ground level to provide places where the acuri palm 
could grow safely above the reach of floods. Pits, from which earth 
for the construction had been taken, remain near each mound. The 
accumulated earth contained animal bones, snail shells, stone frag- 
ments, and potsherds. The exceedingly crude pottery is very sim- 
ilar to that of the modern Guatd. It is ornamented only with 
scratched lines and a few incised grooves around a somewhat thick- 
ened rim. Not a single stone ax was found. A grave contained a 
skeleton in a reclining position with its head toward the west and’ 
two plain stone hammers similar to those which the modern G'uato use 
to crack acuri (Attalea sp.) palm nuts. These parallels between the 
early builders of the mounds and the present Guaté suggest a funda- 
mental cultural identity. 


HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION 


The few references to the Guaté which appear in the literature have been 
quoted and commented on by Max Schmidt (1942). The Guaté are mentioned 
twice in the Comentarios of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca (Hernandez, 1852, pp. 
583, 589) as a tribe of the upper Paraguay River, and their name is associated 
with that of the Guaxarapo (Guachi), with whom they have been often con- 
fused by early authors. It is perhaps for this reason that they are said to have 
joined the Guazarapo in a cannibalistic feast on the corpses of Spanish soldiers 
of the Francisco de Ribera expedition. Hernandez (1852, p. 577) probably had 
the Guaté in mind when he spoke of the Indians of the upper Paraguay River 
who, during the flood season, lived entirely in their canoes, where they kept a 
fire on a laver of soil. 

409 


410 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 148 


Azara (1809, 2:81) was the first observer in more recent times to give con- 
crete information about these Indians. He describes them as a tribe of only 
30 families who wandered continually in dugout canoes in a lagoon, west of the 
Paraguay River, under lat. 19°12’ S. (probably Laguna Caceres). In 1846, 
Castlenau (1850-59, 2: 3738-374; 3:13-14) found them on Lake Gaiba and along 
the Pando River, the canal which unites it with Lake Uberaba. An official docu- 
ment of 1848 puts the number of the Guwaté at 500 and gives as their habitat the 
course of the Paraguay River from the mouth of the Paraguay Mirim to Des- 
calvado, and the course of Sao Lourengo River down to its junction with the 
Cuyaba River and the lakes of that region. During the second half of the 19th 
century the Guaté were deciminated by smallpox epidemics, and on several oc- 
casions during the Paraguayan war, they were molested both by the Para- 
guayans and by the Brazilians. 

In the present century they have been visited three times by Max Schmidt, 
whose three monographs describe their material apparatus but contain scant 
data on their social and economic life. In 1901 Max Schmidt (1905, p. 175) 
counted 46 Guaté living in isolated families on Lake Gaiba and Lake Uberaba 
and on the Pando River. A few Guat6é also lived at Figueira on the Paraguay 
River, on the lower Sf4o Lourenco River, and along its tributary, the Caracara 
River. In 1928 Schmidt met about the same number of Guwat6é scattered from 
Descalvado to Lake Gaiba. Although their total population perhaps exceeds 
the number seen by Schmidt, there is no doubt that the @uaté verge on ex- 
tinction. Physically and morally, they seem to have been adversely affected by 
intimate contacts with Neo-Brazilians. 

Physical appearance.—The contrast between the Guatd’s developed chest and 
muscular arms and his stunted and bowed legs and flat feet has always impressed 
travelers (pl. 82). These features are attributable to the amphibious existence 
of the Guaté, who lived mostly in canoes and took only short, infrequent walks 
on shore. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Collecting and farming.—The Guaté could easily subsist on the 
many food resources provided by their environment. Only a few 
of the plants which they used have been listed in our sources. The 
acuri (Attalea sp.), the fruits of the yatub4é (Max Schmidt: sibota) 
tree, and the seeds of an aquatic plant (forno d’agua) were important 
in their diet. In the flood season, they harvested in their canoes great 
quantities of wild rice (Oryza sativa or perennis), which temporarily 
became a staple. They also collected the wild bananas which grew 
near ancient habitation sites. 

Modern Guaté practice some agriculture, but, according to Max 
Schmidt (1942, p. 68), it is almost limited to the cultivation of bananas 
and acuri palms on “aterrados,” or artificial mounds. An official 
report of 1848 (see Schmidt, 1942, p. 72) states that “sometimes the 
Guatoé raise maize, manioc and fruits, more as delicacies than to secure 
their subsistence.” Koslowsky (1895 a, p. 250) also alludes to maize 


Vou. 1] | (HE GUATO—METRAUX 411 


fields, and says that during his stay among these Indians he lived on 
maize and bananas. They probably also grow some cotton since this 
was used in their industries. 

Max Schmidt (1942, p. 67) noticed that the Guaté planted a few 
crops along the riverbanks on tracts periodically covered by floods. 
The same type of agriculture is reported for the ancient Guach. 

Hunting and fishing.—The favorite game animals of the Guato 
were caimans (whose tails were relished), turtles, lizards, boas 
(sucuri, Zunectes murinus), deer, monkeys, and birds. The only hunt- 
ing practices which are known are those used against jaguars. It was 
not uncommon for a Guaté to attack a jaguar single-handed. By 
beating the ground with his spear and making roaring noises, he in- 
duced it to leap and then impaled it on his weapon. Another and 
safer method consisted in luring the animal into the water by 
imitating its call with a cow horn and killing it with a spear from a 
canoe. 

Fish were caught with hooks or shot with ordinary barbed arrows 
or with harpoon arrows. The thrashing fish were clubbed to death 
before the arrow broke. 

Food preparation.—Men did most of the cooking. Meat and fish 
were usually boiled—meat often together with mashed green bananas. 
Caiman tails as well as fresh maize and bananas were roasted in 
hot ashes. Salt and pepper (a wild Capsicum) were the main con- 
diments. 

Acuri nuts were broken with a stone hammer on a flat rock; as a 
result, both instruments were pitted with characteristic small cavities 
after long use. The utensils required for food preparation were pots, 
wooden mortars, wooden bowls for washing fish, gourds, flat sticks 
with carved edges for stirring the soup, and shell or wooden dippers. 

Men and women ate apart. 

Domesticated animals.—The Guaté had hens and also had dogs 
trained for hunting. They kept wild birds as pets. 


HOUSES 


Each family spent several months in a permanent dwelling on the 
bank of some river. Modern houses are in the Mestizo style with a 
gable roof on trunk walls. The primitive hut—which the Guato still 
built 40 years ago as a temporary shelter when camping—was a flimsy, 
primitive, thatched, gable roof resting on the ground (fig. 47). Camp 
sites were the common property of all the family groups. 

Goods were stored out of reach of sudden floods on a platform in- 
doors or in trees outside. Beds consisted of a mat plaited of acuri 


412 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buby. 148 


leaves, or of a rough cloth of intertwined tucum fibers, or of a jaguar 
or deer skin. Seats varied from crude lumps of wood to carved four- 
footed stools. 

To avoid mosquitoes, an unbearable menace after sunset, the Guato 
slept in large, tent-shaped mosquito nets, made of intertwined tucum 
(Astrocaryum sp.) fibers, which they stretched between two trees or 
two paddles stuck in the ground. During the day they drove off the 
mosquitoes with a sort of swatter or flap consisting of a piece of tucum 
fiber or cotton cloth attached to a short stick (pl. 81, top). In the 
rainy season they never moved without their mosquito flap. 


Figurn 47.—G@uaté house construction. Caracara River, Matto Grosso. (After Max 
Schmidt, 1914, fig. 32.) 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Both sexes wore a piece of cloth around the waist but later abandoned 
it in favor of European garments. Formerly, some Guato had long 
hair with a single wrapped braid behind; today hair is cut short. The 
Guaté are among the few South American Indians with full beards 
and mustaches. 

Ornaments were few: a wooden labret in the lower lip, a small tuft 
of feathers in the ear lobes, and necklaces of seeds (Lagrimas da Nossa 
Senhora) and animal teeth (especialy caiman teeth and claws). 


TRANSPORTATION 


Most of life was spent in dugout canoes; these had a tapering bow 
and a somewhat widened and massive stern, often with a low, raised 
edge, where the woman sat to steer. Paddles were well made, lanceo- 
late, 714 feet (2.2 m.) long, and characteristically lacked any crutch 
or grip. In shallow marshes, canoes were punted with poles, often 
with a wooden fork attached to the distal end to give a better hold on 
the aquatic plants. 


Vou. 1] _ THE GUATO—METRAUX 413 
MANUFACTURES 


Basketry.—The technique was affected by the predominant use 
of the acuri palm. Unlike the fan palm, which permits a greater 
range of combinations, the fronds of the acuri, having pinnate leaves, 
can be woven only to produce patterns of oblique and perpendicular 
stripes. Guaté baskets, mats, and fire fans (pl. 81, bottom) were made 
of whole fronds, with the midrib included in the finished specimens. 
The weave was a simple checker or twill, and the edges were braided. 

Spinning and weaving.—Ropes, strings, and threads were made of 
tucum-palm fibers or cotton. Women carded cotton with a small bow, 
almost certainly of European origin; it was used in South America 
only by the Churapa, Chacobo, Guarayu, Itenes, Guand, and Guat. 
Cotton threads were spun clockwise with a drop spindle—a stick nicked 
at the proximal end and fitted with a whorl of wood or turtle shell. 
Tucum fibers were spun counter-clockwise by rolling them with the 
hand onthe thigh. Three-ply string was twisted by rolling the strands 
on the thigh. 


Ficurp 48.—G@uat6 twining techniques. Detail of mosquito fan. (After Max Schmidt, 1905, 
figs. 128, 129.) 


Textiles were transitional between basketry and true weaving, all 
being variations of the twined weave (fig. 48). For mosquito nets, 
certain mats, and some swatters, the warps were crudely twisted 
bundles of tucum fiber which were twined together at wide intervals. 
Other mosquito flaps and wrist guards for shooting bows had a quad- 
ruple weft twined over a warp—often double—so tightly as to appear 


414 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 143 


woven. Looms consisted of two posts between which the warp was 
wound. Only a simple wooden dagger was used in weaving. Threads 
were dyed orange, brown, violet, black, yellow, and numerous other 
shades in decoctions of the bark or wood of several trees. On tightly 
woven cloth, only the weft showed and carried the design. Different 
colors were used to produce wide alternating vertical or horizontal 
bands. These occurred especially on mosquito swatters and on arm 
bands. 

Pottery—Women made a few cooking vessels, water jars, and 
bowls. The ware was coiled, smoothed with a shell, and baked for 
about 10 minutes in an open fire. Vessels were usually rounded and 
had pointed bottoms. Water jars had short necks. The finish was 
crude and the decoration was limited to rudimentary fingernail im- 
pressions and small lugs. 

Weapons.—The most important weapon was a spear (fig. 49, bottom, 
eft), the shaft of which was inserted into the hollow end of a 
sharpened bone point, usually a femur. Bows were from 6 to 7 feet 
(1.8 to 2.1 m.) long and had two characteristic features: a more or 
Jess circular cross section and a lack of terminal notches for the bow- 
string. The bowstring was affixed at each end of the bow to a ring 
plaited over a wrapping of cipo (creeper) strips, covering the whole 
stave (fig. 49, bottom, right). Formerly, the bowstring was of monkey 
sinew; recently, always of tucum fiber. Arrows were made of cam- 
bayuva reed or uba reed, with a wooden foreshaft. Uba reed, being 
brittle, had an artificial notch made by inserting three small wooden 
splinters in the butt (fig. 49, top). Arrows had six types of heads: 
(1) A cylindrical stick tipped with sharp bone, for ordinary purposes; 
(2) lanceolate bamboo for large game; (3) a knobbed head for shooting 
birds and knocking yatuba fruits from trees; (4) barbed points, or (5) 
removable (harpoon) heads for shooting fish; (6) plain sharpened 
wood for target practice. The wooden harpoon head had barbs carved 
along one edge and was tipped with a bone point (fig. 50, a). It was 
fitted loosely into a funnel made by wrapping a cipo strip around the 
end of the foreshaft and was connected to the shaft with a string (fig. 
50, c). Schmidt (1908, p. 188) describes a bird arrow made of a 
cambayuva stem, with the bulge near the root serving asthe head. All 
Guatoé arrows, including those for fish, had two feathers with their 
barbs trimmed on one side and attached tangentially at each end. 
When shooting, the arrow butt was seized between the index and the 
middle finger and the string was pulled by these and the ring finger. 

Pellet bows, projecting clay missiles, were popular as children’s 
toys (fig. 50,d@). The stave was flat, except for the rounded grip, and 
was notched at each end for the string. 


Vou. 1] - THE GUATO—METRAUX 415 


t 
i 
{ 
f 
j 
I 
} 
; 


FIcurRE 49.—@uat6é arrows, bows, and spears. Top: Details of arrow-shaft butt wrapped 
with cotton string and attachment of feathers. Small sticks are inserted to form notch 
(% natural size). Bottom (left): Complete lance (149 natural size) ; lance with iron 
point, and lance with jaguar-bone point (3 natural size). Botton (right): Detail of 
bow string attachment (14 natural size). (After Max Schmidt, 1905, figs. 52 to 55; 41, 
42; and 44, 45.) 


416 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


Figure 50.—G@uat6 harpoon and pellet bow. a, Harpoon shaft with barbed bone point (% 
natural size) ; b, detail of harpoon feathering (144 natural size) ; c, complete assembled 
harpoon (42 natural size) ; d, pellet bow (16 natural size). After Max Schmidt, 1905, 
figs. 71, 72.) 


Wrist guards were cotton strips, 2 feet (0.6 m.) long, wrapped 
around the wrist. 

Fire-making.—Fire was made with a drill, often inserted into an 
arrow shaft to increase its length. The hearth had notches beside the 
holes. 

Adhesives.—Wax and yatoba resin were used as adhesives. 


Vou. 1] _ THE GUATO—METRAUX 417 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


All Guaté were split into small, biological families which generally 
lived alone and camped apart even when near other families. A boy 
left his father’s camp immediately after puberty to establish his own 
family. 

The three Guaté local groups or subtribes, each with a headman, 
inhabited: (1) The upper Paraguay River Basin; (2) the region of 
Lake Gaiba and Lake Uberaba and the hills of Caracara; (3) the 
lower Sao Lourenco River. On certain occasions, the headmen would 
summon all the men of the subtribes to a general council. Castelnau 
(1850-51, 3:18) states that all Guaté would foregather twice a year at 
some conspicuous geographical spot, such as Dourado Mountain or 
the entrance of Lake Uberaba. Chieftainship was inherited patri- 
lineally. A chief whom Koslowsky (1895 a, p. 242) visited was sur- 
rounded by his grown sons and their wives (extended family). 

Tribal members who had been absent for a long time were welcomed 
with wails and tears. 

Although today, the Guaté are as a rule monogamous, formerly, 
when the tribe was more numerous, they were polygynous. According 
to Castelnau (1850-51, 3:113), a man might have from 4 to 12 wives, 
despite their mutual jealousy. If a woman were barren or died, her 
husband might marry her sister. Koslowsky (1895, p. 283) describes a 
Guaté who successively married all his first wife’s sisters and finally 
obtained the number of children he desired. 

Kinship terms distinguish the father’s from the mother’s siblings. 
Terms for uncles are shortened forms of the mother and father terms: 
F’, bapa; FBr, pa; M, meme; MBr, me. 

Each family is an economic, self-supporting unit. Though they 
like to visit one another, they seldom trade goods on such occasions. 
Etiquette requires that visitors announce their arrival by blowing a 
cow horn. 

Men do most of the work, providing and cooking food, making 
baskets, and paddling canoes. 

A man’s prestige depended, among other things, on the number of 
jaguars he had killed. It is even said that a young man could marry 
only after he had slain a jaguar. Piles of jaguar skulls were exhibited 
near the huts. 

The dead were buried with funeral laments. A woman clipped her 
hair short when she had lost her husband but only cut half its length 
to mourn a dead child (Koslowsky, 1895 a, p. 248). 


1The official document quoted by Max Schmidt (1942, p. 72) says, ‘‘as they are polyga- 
mous it is not rare to see a Guaté traveling with 5 or 6 canoes filled with his wives and 
children. However, they have generally only two wives and some of them are content 
with one.” 


583486—46——27 


418 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buby. 148 
WARFARE 


Except for many years’ warfare against the Caingang, the Guaté 
were peaceful and did not trespass on the territory of their neighbors. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Musical instruments.—The Guaté formerly used bamboo or bone 
flutes with three stops. In modern times, they played only guitars 
copied from European models, accompanying them with the musical 
rasp or notched stick. 

Dances.—The two favorite dances were the kururu and the siriri, 
both introduced by Brazilian Mestizos. The kururu was simply a walk 
to the rhythm of a song improvised on any occasion, and generally in 
honor of the host. In the siriri, the participants, jumping and bounc- 
ing, broke a line formed by other dancers. 

Beverages.—Each family owned a grove of acuri palms from which 
they obtained wine in the dry season. They climbed the trees on a 
notched ladder, bent down the fronds and pierced the bases with a 
shell to collect the sap—a procedure which usually killed the tree. 
After standing overnight, the slightly fermented sap was sipped 
through a reed. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Azara, 1809; Beaurepaire-Rohan, 1869; Castelnau, 1850-59; Hernandez, 1852; 


Koslowsky, 1895 a; Monoyer, 1905; Schmidt, M., 1905, 1914, 1942; Simoens da 
Silva, 19380; Wavrin, 1926. 


PLATE 81.—Guat6é implements. Top: Mosquito fan of cotton, 14 natural size. Bottom: Twilled fire fan 
14 natural size. (After Max Schmidt, 1905, figs. 133, 106.) 


(1z ‘9% “6% “S8Y “FIBI “YPIUIYOS XB] Joyy) ‘AOA BrvsRaR, 


) wos sodA) uRIpUy OpeNy— ‘ZX ALVId 


i‘ 


THE BORORO 
By Roserrt H. Lowm 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The Bororo linguistic family comprises two major branches, the 
Bororo proper and the Otuké (Créqui-Montfort and Rivet, 1913). 
Culturally, the Otuké must be considered with the tribes of the Prov- 
ince of Chiquitos (Handbook, volume 3). Ethnographically, the 
Bororo, at least of the Hastern subdivision, are far better known. 


I. Bororo: (1) Hastern Bororo; (2) Bororo da Campanha; (3) Bororo do 
Cabacal; (4) Umotina (Barbados), formerly between the upper Paraguay and 
Sepotuba Rivers, peaceable since 1913; remnants survive in Barra dos Bugres; 
(5) Bororo of the upper Rio Cuyabé; and (6) Bororo in the Minas triangle (aldeas 
of Sant’ Anna, Pizarrio, Lanhoso, and da Pedra, founded in 1741 with Bororo 
from the Rio dos Porrudos as a protection against the Southern Cayapé. In 1811 
part of the aldea das Pedras was transplanted to Bananal, an Araguaya River 
island. The fifth and sixth groups are now extinct. 

II. Otuké: (1) Otuké proper, about lat. 17°-18° S., long. 59°-60° W.; (2) 
Covareka, about lat. 17° S., northwest of the preceding; and (3) Curuwminaka, 
just southwest of the Guaporé headwaters, lat. 16° S. 

The Bororo subfamily centers in Matto Grosso, but extends slightly across the 
Bolivian border and into western Goyaz. Excluding the virtually extinct groups 
noted, we may recognize a Western and an Eastern subdivision. The former 
includes the Bororo da Campanha (Campina), i. e., the plains dwellers southwest 
of the lower Rio Jaurt, an affluent of the Paraguay River; and the Bororo 
Cabacaes (do Cabagcal), north of the JaurGi River on both banks of the Rio 
Cabacal. The Hastern Bororo, or “Orarimugudoge,” to whom the blanket term 
“Coroados” has sometimes been applied, extends from lat. 15° to 18° S. and 
from long. 52° to 56° W. The three subtribes live about (1) the upper and 
middle Sao Lourenco River; (2) the Rio das Gargas, a tributary of the Araguaya 
River; and (3) the Rio Vermelho, affluent of the upper Sio Lourenco; here are 
the villages of Kejara, Pobori, and Jarudori. 

In 1888, Von den Steinen (1894) visited a Sio Lourenco group which had been 
settled at Thereza Christina, near the Prata-Sao Lourenco confluence, southeast 
of Cuyabé. He set the population at 350 and heard that it had originally been 
1,000. Another group was then settled at Izabel, at the Pequiry-Sio0 Lourenco 
confluence. In 1901, W. A. Cook (1907) visited eight villages in this region. 

The Rio das Gareas district has been missionized by Salesians since 1902, 
Colbacchini describing the natives in a major treatise (1925). In 1934, Baldus 
(1986) visited Sangradouro, Meruri, and Tori-paru, villages in this area, and 
estimated that less than 1,000 Bororo lived east of the Paraguay River. In 
Tori-paru he found a little over 100 residents, 35 men occupying the men’s house. 

Lévi-Strauss (1936) investigated the village of Kejara of the Vermelho division 
and estimated its population at 140. This is probably Fri¢’s Kejari (1905), since 
moved to a different spot. 

In 1894, J. Koslowsky (1895 b) saw some Western Bororo in Descavaldos and 
across the Bolivian border. 

In 1931, Petrullo (1932) took photographs of the Bororo da Campanha and 
on the S&o0 Lourenco River. His excavation of sites at Descavaldos revealed 
pottery and a method of interment different from those of the Bororo and 
presumably pre-Bororo, 

419 


420 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 
CULTURE 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Whether the tribe farmed prior to white influence is not clear. 
Von den Steinen (1894) insists that they did not; cultivation, he 
emphasizes, occurred only along the headwaters of the Sio Lourenco 
River, and even there was confined to tobacco, cotton, and gourds 
used as containers, i. e., to species not serving for food. In a western 
aldea the growing of manioc and maize noted by Koslowsky (1895 b) 
seems to have been incipient, since he considered the amount insuffici- 
ent for a fortnight’s sustenance. Colbacchini (1925) denies agricul- 
ture but records a myth explaining the origin of maize; and of 
Baldus’ (1936) informants some strongly affirmed and others dis- 
puted the cultivation of maize (milho) in earlier times. On the 
Vermelho River, manioc and maize are planted nowadays, in addition 
to rice, which is, of course, very recent. 

At all events, it seems safe to conclude that the Bororo were pre- 
dominantly hunters, gatherers, and fishermen. Typically, a husband 
would go hunting game in the woods while his wife collected seeds, 
climbed palms for nuts, and dug up roots with a stick. Women also 
helped returning hunters by carrying their kill home. Game animals 
included peccaries (the favorite food), tapirs, jaguars, rabbits, and 
various birds. Communal hunting expeditions, possibly extending 
over several weeks, were inspired by medicine men, who indicated 
the sites for major enterprises. Dogs were originally quite unknown. 

Fish are caught in nets or weirs, shot with arrows (pl. 86, bot- 
tom), or drugged. Some are killed with short clubs suspended on 
the back from a neck-cord. Barbed harpoons are hurled at large 
fish and caimans. 

Food preparation.—Salt was originally unknown. 

All game animals are roasted in their skins; only the intestines are 
boiled. Meat, bones, and nuts are sometimes pounded in a mortar 
only 16 inches (40 cm.) in height; it has the shape of a decapitated 
egg, and is planted in the ground. The nuts, either thus pounded 
or roasted, are mixed with water and stirred into a gruel, which is 
served to guests. 

HOUSES AND VILLAGES 


In the dry season the astern Bororo settlements are near the river 
banks, whence they are shifted to higher ground when the rains set in. 
Even in temporary encampments the center is occupied by a large 
rectangular house—the men’s club, workshop, and ceremonial hall, 
which likewise serves as the bachelor’s dormitory. The family 
houses, on the other hand, are arranged along the circumference of 
the circle of which this men’s house is the center. Only the Cabagaes 


Vou. 1] THE BORORO—LOWIE 421 


lack this characteristic structure, and even they have as its functional 
equivalent an enclosed space taboo to women and children. 

Among the Hastern Bororo the northern and southern halves of 
the village circle are associated each with one of the moieties and 
their constituent clans. At Kejara a second principle of dual division 
appears: besides the axis that separates the northern from the 
southern moiety there is another perpendicular to the Vermelho 
River, creating an Upstream and a Downstream half. Here tradi- 
tion alleges the pristine existence of several concentric house circles, 
with residences of the same clan behind one another. 

The family house type, though always palm-thatched, differs ac- 
cording to the time of year. During the dry season it is of conical 
shape and erected with a central pole or tree against which other 
poles lean. In the frame put up for the rainy season, a crossbeam 
supporting other poles rests on two forked sticks (pls. 88, bottom; 
84) ; generally this hut rises directly from the ground, but occasionally 
it is put on piles. The erection of the residence is a man’s duty. 

The women within a house belong to the same clan, each family 
having its own fire, so that every newly married girl acquires a 
separate fireplace. The furniture includes mats to sit and sleep on, 
for even outdoors these Indians avoid resting on the bare ground, 
over which they spread palm leaves or the branches of a tree. How- 
ever, there are also platform beds rising about 12 to 16 inches (380 to 
40 cm.) above the ground and covered with a layer of palm-leaf 
stems. Mats or skins serve as blankets. Hammocks are unknown. 

A hut contains pots, spits for roasting, rocks for breaking hard 
seeds, spindles, and bivalve shells used as spoons and scissors. A 
mother will put her baby in the central concavity of a mat suspended 
by four cords from opposite sides, a fifth enabling the woman to 
rock her infant while she is attending to her chores. In some huts 
a stage 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches (0.8 to 1 m.) in height serves 
for roasting fish. 

How far the Western Bororo mode of settlement conformed to the 
pattern described is not clear. Koslowsky (1895 b) merely speaks 
of a Bolivian aldea of some 20 huts with palm-thatched walls and 
roofs and a mat for the entrance. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Children go naked. When initiated, a youth acquires a penis 
sheath, being thus qualified to witness the masquerades customary at 
funerals. On festive occasions, a decorative pennant is attached to 
the sheath. Men generally wear a girdle with shell disks, also a 
necklace of cotton thread, a bone pin in the lower lip, and ear orna- 
ments. The hair is cut horizontally in front (pls. 90, bottom, 91) ; 
combs are made of bamboo rods held together by cotton plaitwork 
with designs. Body hair is plucked from the beard, the eyebrows, 
the pubic region, and the armpits. Women wear a gray perineal band, 


422 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunt, 148 


or a black equivalent during menstruation; it is attached either to a 
girdle or to a tight-fitting bark corset. 

Except for the exclusively masculine feather head ornaments, 
labrets, and nose ornaments (pls. 90, top; 94), the sexes use the 
same type of decoration. It is customary for men to manufacture 
necklaces and ear ornaments as a wedding gift for their brides. 

Uruct provides red body paint and wards off insects, but on the Sao 
Lourengo River, it is used in moderation. The Bororo spread viscous 
rosin over their bodies, to which they then stick bird feathers, thus 
sometimes covering all of their arms. This is largely a curative 
measure against sores rather than a purely decorative device. 

The men employ head ornaments to a considerable extent (pls. 92, 
left; 93). There are semicircular fans of arara feathers worn above 
the forehead; small fans of flexible feathers tied to the forehead so 
as partly to obscure the vision; and still other arrangements. 

Koslowsky (1895 b) ascribes to all his Western Bororo the practice 
of wearing amulets composed of the tooth of a wild canid or a feline 
species. 

TRANSPORTATION 


Canoes were quite unknown in the west and in the Sao Lourenco 
River region, though on the Vermelho River they occur in recent times. 
Both sexes are adept at swimming. Men swam across rivers, holding 
aloft their bows, to which the arrows were tied horizontally, and 
simultaneously carried their game on their chests, fastened below their 
arms. Women swam with their burden-baskets full of nuts and roots, 
tying these receptacles in fours to wooden sticks and guiding them 
by ropes. On land they carried the baskets on their backs by a bast 
sling that merged into a tumpline in front. 


MANUFACTURES 


The men work mainly in their club house. 

Spinning and plaiting.—In the family home, men merely pluck 
from the women’s heads the hair subsequently to be made into cordage, 
and plait cotton bands for feminine arm, wrist, and ankle decorations. 
They spin both cotton and human hair on a shaft with a shell or clay 
disk 114 to 2 inches (3.8 to 5 cm.) in diameter for a whorl. Holding 
the flock of cotton or several hairs with the left hand attached to the 
uppermost quarter of the spindle, i. e., the part above the whorl, they 
roll the longer section of the shaft on the right thigh. The thread thus 
formed above the whorl is ultimately wrapped around the long section 
of the shaft. Palm fiber is twisted on the thigh by hand. Often the 
big toe helps in making thread. Hair threads are plaited into cords 
worn round the hair of the head or body, but also into wrist-guards. 
True weaving does not occur (fig. 51, a, d). 


Vou. 1] THE BORORO—LOWIE 423 


Ficuke 51.—Bororo textiles and pottery. a, b, Bags with weave and designs the same as 
mats; c, d, water jars (17 to 141 natural size) ; e, ladle (% natural size) ; f, plate (% 
natural size); g, bowl (146 to 147 natural size); h, cup (14 natural size). (After 
Colbacchini, 1925.) 


424. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunt. 143 


Feathers.—The Bororo practiced tapirage; they plucked out part 
of the arara plumage, rubbed into the bare spots the sap of some species 
of tree, and thus produced yellow feathers. 

Basketry and pottery.—The women make baskets and plain pots. 
The water vessels, which sometimes have a neck, are characterized by 


is Anglin 


Ficurn 52.—Bororo manufactures. a, Gouge made of hafted rodent tooth; b, d, pottery 
vessels; c, bull-roarer. (Redrawn from Von den Steinen, 1894.) 


Vou. 1] : THE BORORO—LOWIE 425 


a narrow opening and either a pointed or a spherical bottom. Cook- 
ing pots are hemispherical. The wide and shallow dishes now seen, as 
well as cups with handles, are all innovations due to White influence 
(figs. 51, c-h, 52, 6, d). 

Weapons.—Bows and arrows, the principal weapons, vary consid- 
erably according to use and represent the acme of Bororo craftsman- 
ship. The bow, averaging 6 feet 3 inches (1.9 m.) in length, may 
exceed 6 feet 6 inches (2 m.), is pointed at the ends, and decorated with 
feathers; the string is of palm fiber. Arrows, which were from 5 to 6 
feet (1.5 to 1.8 m.) in length, have a cane or palm-wood shaft; the 
heads are of bamboo or bone, and sometimes bear barbs (fig. 53, a—e). 


Retails MANE AAA Siti Poe et et — 


gd é h 


Figure 53.—Bororo arrow points. a, Sharpened rod foreshafts; b, rod foreshafts with 
bone barb attached; c, foreshafts with socketed bone point; d, foreshafts with lateral 
carved barbs; e, carved wooden points; f, foreshafts with knobbed tips for birds; g, war 
arrows with bamboo heads; h, large bamboo blades (1% natural size). (After Colbacchini, 
1925.) 


Common hunting arrows have a wooden foreshaft set in a cane shaft, 
the head (of tapir or monkey bone) being attached to the foreshaft. 
Arrows used for hunting jaguars have a shaft of seriba-palm wood 
which rests in a groove of the flat, 2-foot (0.6 m.) long bamboo point 


426 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buty. 143 


(fig. 53, g, 2), being loosely attached with rosin and cord. Bird arrows 
have a blunt tip (fig. 58, 7). The groove is chiseled with capybara 
teeth, which are up to 3 inches (7.6 cm.) long. For releasing the arrow, 
the archer draws the string with his right middle and ring fingers 
while the index finger and thumb firmly hold the notch (pl. 86, top). 
The lower part of ceremonial arrows is decorated with feather pat- 
terns emblematic of clans (fig. 54) ; the Porcupine clansfolk, e. g., use 
a specific arrangement of blue and yellow. All arrows have two 
spirally twisted feathers, their tops and butt ends being tied on. 
Wrist-guards are manufactured out of human hair. 


i KHes 


Mute 


F 
IZ, 
ul 
= 
= 
= 
= 
= 
2 
|! 


Figure 54.—Feathering of Bororo arrows. Arched (eastern Brazilian) feathering type. 
Shafts are decorated with feather tufts. (14 natural size.) (After Colbacchini.) 


Miscellaneous.—Fire was formerly drilled with a composite shaft 
of wild Canella and wild cinnamon (Pseudocaryophyllus sericeus) 
wood. Bamboo splinters served to cut meat held in the mouth; the 
scraper consisted of a capybara tooth mounted on a stick (fig. 52, @) ; 
and the Bulimus conch was used fora plane. Colbacchini (1925) notes 
that knives and planes are moved toward the body. Von den Steinen 
(1894) refers to grooved stone axes as things of the past, but they are 
pictured without comment by Colbacchini (1925). 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


The Zastern Bororo are divided into exogamous, matrilineal moie- 
ties, respectively linked with the north and the south side of the 
village. At Kejara these major divisions bear the untranslated names 
“Chera” and “Tugare,” whose phonetic equivalents Colbacchini (1925) 
renders as “Weak” and “Strong.” The moieties have reciprocal 


Vou. 1] f THE BORORO—LOWIE 497; 


duties; e. g., after a death a member of the moiety complementary to 
the deceased person’s moiety must kill an animal in the ensuing hunt, 
and after a dance the performers are washed by men of the opposite 
moiety. At Kejara only the Chera had the right to make bull-roarers. 

Colbacchini (1925) ascribes seven clans to each moiety ; Lévi-Strauss 
(1936) found six in the Chera, four in the Tugare. Both authors 
connect the clans with animal and plant species, and at times the link- 
age is multiple; e. g., a single Kejara clan is associated with the 
armadillo, the red macaw, and the dourado. It is not clear to what 
extent such plurality implies distinct subdivisions or whether a homo- 
geneous clan unit is related to the several species in question. 

The association does not necessarily involve a totemic name. This, 
e. g., is lacking in the baaddegaba clan despite its connection with the 
jaguar, a fish, and a bird. Since in all cases the linked species are 
freely killed and eaten, Lévi-Strauss (1936) regards the term “totem- 
ism” as inapplicable. According to him, a clan ancestor would receive 
a revelation from a spirit, whose embodiment in such and such a ma- 
terial guise would create the existing bond with a species and might 
inaugurate a corresponding appellation for the descendents. 

As explained under Houses and Villages (p. 420), a secondary 
dichotomy characterizes the Vermelho River people; an axis perpendi- 
cular to the course of the river creates an Upstream and a Downstream 
half. This division leaves some of the clans intact, but splits up 
others into an Upstream and a Downstream section. 

The clans have specific prerogatives, whence spring notable differ- 
ences in wealth. Ceremonial bows, arrows, lip pins, and the pen- 
nants on penis sheaths bear designs distinctive of particular clans. 
Again, clans own personal names, dances (pl. 88), and songs. Certain 
clans contracted preferential marriages with others, apparently on 
the basis of personal names. 

In the Rio das Garcas district each village has two chiefs represent- 
ing the mythical twins, Bakororo and Itubori, of whom the former 
takes precedence. Both are of the Weak moiety, but belong to distinct 
clans or subclans associated with the jaguar. Tradition has it that 
anciently both were of the Strong moiety. In accordance with the 
matrilineal system, succession is nepotic. 

The chiefs are very influential, but lack coercive authority. They 
announce in the evening what is to be done on the following day, give 
marching orders, determine the location of clan huts in the settlement, 
lead in war, receive messengers, conduct various rites, and generally 
maintain old usage. But the individual tribesmen retain complete 
personal freedom, checked only by the vivid fear of disapproval. 
Even murder, instead of being punished, merely evokes a feud. 

In the Vermelho district the several villages are under one para- 
mount chief who enjoys greater power, but this may be due to Neo- 


428 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn, 143 


Brazilian influence. He owns ceremonial regalia and is privileged to 
suffocate undesirable newborn infants. 

Individual differences in wealth occur mainly with reference to 
highly prized feminine ornaments, which are inherited matrilineally. 
It is noteworthy that a Kejara adept at manufacturing grindstones 
for the community was thereby freed from the necessity of engaging 
in direct activities for subsistence. 

Arrows were the major standard of value. They were presented 
to a jaguar-killer or to the kinsmen of one’s mistresses and bartered 
against cotton or tobacco. 

Etiquette.—No man roasted his own kill, but was expected to pass 
it on to another. Corresponding procedures obtained for valuable 
furs and teeth. The skin and teeth of a jaguar went to the nearest 
relatives of the most recently deceased member of the tribe, the slayer 
receiving as his reward a decorative bow and arara feathers. 

Some regulations naturally fall under the category of taboos and 
ritual prescriptions. Before a hunt a Western Bororo was continent 
for 4 days, and painted his face with uruci. Women were not allowed 
to touch arrowheads. In the distribution of important game and fish 
it was essential for the bari to consecrate the animals, whereupon he 
might appropriate the choicest pieces. 

Sneezing is connected with distant members of one’s family. 


WARFARE 


War arrows were of seriba-palm wood and had a bamboo tip which 
broke in the victim’s body (fig. 538, 7). A club sword, a little over 3 
feet (1 m.) in length, of heavy aroeira wood and lanceolate form, was 
suspended by a cord from the left shoulder. The spines of meru and 
tamu fish, attached to bracelets or to the fingers, made effective 
knuckle-dusters. 

The Cayapoé were the chief enemies of the Eastern Bororo, and 
Guana and Guaycuri of the Western Bororo. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth.—At a Sao Lourengo child’s birth the parents fast for 2 
days, taking only a little warm water on the third, lest father and child 
fallill. Inthe Rio das Garcas group abstention from food, drink, and 
smoking lasts from 3 to 5 or even 10 days, the object of the taboo being 
to make the infant able to bear hunger. The mother does not touch 
meat for several months. Parents here must not put their hands on 
their hair during this period—an indirect suggestion of a scratching 
stick—lest their hair turn white. 


Vou. 1] ; THE BORORO—LOWIE 429 


Puberty.—At puberty a boy is initiated through the receipt of a 
penis sheath, which frees him from his mother’s custody, entitling him 
to see the bull-roarer (figs. 52, c; 55) and to attend rites from which 


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Figure 55.—Bull-roarers with various clan designs. (Approximately % natural size.) 
(After Colbacchini, 1925.) 


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women are excluded. One chief begins trying on the sheath for the 
novice, and a sponsor from the moiety complementary to the boy’s 
completes the act. His mother and kin wail at the initiation. He is 
not permitted to sleep that night, because to do so would be injurious 
to him. 


430 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


Marriage.—There is much premarital license for girls, who are 
abducted into the men’s club. Apart from moiety exogamy and 
preferential clan unions, the kinship nomenclature suggests marriage 
with the father’s eldest sister’s daughter and with the father’s younger 
sister. The actual occurrence of such arrangements, however, is as 
yet undemonstrated. On the other hand, sororal bigamy and the 
simultaneous marriage with a woman and her daughter by a previous 
husband are observed facts. Residence is matrilocal. 

Death observances.—A dying person (das Garcas group) is 
smeared with uructi amid feminine lamentations. The corpse is cov- 
ered and must no longer be seen by the women and children. Kainsfolk 
gash themselves, so as to make the blood trickle on the bier. Indoors 
a long chant begins to the accompaniment of gourd rattles. The dead 
person is wrapped and tied in a mat with all his possessions, including 
his broken bow and arrows. At sunset the body is taken to the men’s 
club, where the chiefs chant and shake their rattles all night. After a 
brief rest in the morning, the song is resumed and continues until 
sunset. Near the club the young men prepare a shallow provisional 
grave. The mourners again wail, gash themselves, tear out or cut 
their hair, and spatter blood on the burial. Until the close of the 
mourning period, male relations avoid uructi and kinswomen put on a 
special girdle. 

Mortuary rites are combined with other ceremonies. On the eve 
of the burial the people organize a hunt in honor of the dead, the 
game being brought to the bereaved and communally eaten. A 
mourner gives to the valiant hunter of the opposite moiety the hairs he 
has plucked from his head and a gourd trumpet. Both the hair and the 
gourd represent the deceased person’s soul (aroe). For a fortnight 
chanting continues in the mourners’ hut, then the flesh is removed 
from the corpse. Young men now impersonate the mythical hero 
Mariddo (pl. 87), who danced for hours with a heavy bundle on his 
head, their vain efforts to emulate this feat arousing general hilarity 
as the parcel falls to the ground. At this juncture bull-roarers are 
wielded, representing a large mythical beast. The hunter reappears in 
a disguise as the dead man’s representative and the mourners lead him 
from the club. Women and children would die at sight of either him 
or the bull-roarer. On the other hand, this is precisely the time for 
initiating boys deemed old enough. Accordingly, several nude youths 
plastered with mud represent the mythical animal and, after caressing 
the hunter, frighten the novices with yells and pelt them with mud 
before allowing them to see the bull-roarers. Thus the funeral rites 
involve a boys’ initiation. 

After a night’s chanting, the corpse is unwrapped, the bones spread 
out, washed in a stream, and then carried to the club, where the souls 


Vo. 1] : THE BORORO—LOWIE 431 


of the dead are invited to a general repast. Women bring food to the 
door, but never enter it. The bones are painted with urucia, then the 
man’s clan colors are put on in feathers; a mat screens the decorators 
from the women brought to join in the songs. The skull is decorated 
with feathers and shown to the mourners, then all the bones are put 
into the basket. Once more the kin gash themselves, finally a woman 
takes the basket on her back, and hangs it from a stick planted near 
the hut of the deceased. The next morning the hunter, impersonating 
the dead man, and the mourners bury the basket in a stream at a depth 
of several meters, with a stick projecting above the water. 

On the Sao Lourenco River the corpse is interred in the woods 2 
or 3 days after death, and the ultimate fleshing and disposal of the 
bones occurs a fortnight later. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Art.—The Bororo draw hunting scenes in the sand, e. g., an Indian 
shooting a tapir. They also will dig up sand so as to mark a beast’s 
contours, then fill in the pit with grayish-white ashes, denoting the 
eyes and a jaguar’s spots with dark sand. Bull-roarers are typically 
blackened at the ends, the intervening space receiving a coat of uruct 
as background for black designs; Von den Steinen (1894) notes as two 
main motifs women’s bark girdles or bands, and semicircles enclos- 
ing dots to represent the skulls prepared for burial. His semicircles 
are arranged in two symmetrical pairs, but with a single semicircle 
above them, whereas Lévi-Strauss’ (1936) illustrations show merely 
two vertical series of dot-enclosing semicircles, which differ from 
Von den Steinen’s (1894) sample in being halved by a horizontal 
stroke. Colored designs figure prominently on decorative arrows, 
the precise arrangement of the colors and the length of the painted 
bands being more significant as clan emblems than, say, the use of 
blue and yellow by itself. The red and black designs serving as clan 
badges on the pennants of penis sheaths likewise require notice under 
this head. These decorations are not always wholly geometrical, for 
the pennant of a Tapir clan sheath displays the realistic shape of a 
puma. On the skin worn in the Western Bororo Jaguar dance, wit- 
nessed by Koslowsky (1895 b), a series of filled-in hourglass figures, 
each pair enclosing a blank lozenge, constitute the chief design. 

Games.—Archery and wrestling are athletic sports. The latter, 
which may beguile the time during a spinning-bee in the men’s house, 
has a definite technique with tripping of the opponent and thrusts at 
the hollow of his knee. A toy consists of a ball of maize husks deco- 
rated with arara feathers. 

Musical instruments.—These included deer-hoof and gourd 
rattles; whistles to signal in hunting; complex trumpets with bamboo 


432 HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A.B. Buu. 143 


resonators, as well as “polyglobular” trumpets consisting of three or 
four gourds joined with wax; stopless flutes; and the bull-roarer. 
Drums that now occur are suspect of White derivation. 

Dances.—Among the dances may be mentioned that preceding 
battle, in which the performers bend their knees in position and peri- 
odically shout as a chief shakes the gourd rattle. In the Western 
Bororo Jaguar dance, the hunter of a slain jaguar plays the part of 
the beast, being supposedly possessed by its soul; he wears the skin 
described above (pl. 89), also necklaces of jaguar claws and teeth, and 
executes furious leaps while the attending women wail. The object 
of the performance is to appease the spirit of the animal. 

Beverages.—Besides their nut gruel, the Bororo drink palm wine: 
the acuri tree is tapped for its sap, which is allowed to drop into pots 
or mortars and is quaffed from bamboo vessels. This beverage is drunk 
by incipient medicine men. 


RELIGION AND SHAMANISM 


Supernaturalism rests on two systems of belief with distinct and 
rival functionaries. 

(1) There are evil spirits who are the souls of dead baere (plural of 
bari; see below) or never were anthropomorphic; they normally dwell 
in the sky, but are able to visit the earth, where they are known as bope, 
maeréboe, or waikuru. They cause falling stars and illness, can predict 
future events, but above all claim the prerogative as to various kinds of 
food, which unauthorized mortals consume under pain of sickness 
and death. The bope possesses a bari and eats the dishes in question 
with the bari’s mouth. These spirits also appear in dreams and reveal 
the future, but they take no interest in the social life of the Indians 
and do not in any significant way figure in any myth. 

A bari becomes such through visitations of a bope. He must scrupu- 
lously observe the rules laid down to him on pain of loss of power and 
catching an incurable disease. However, the bope may render him 
invulnerable and give him the power to hunt game in the guise of a 
jaguar. The bari may inflict disease and death, but also cures and 
confers other benefits on the tribe. A client will offer him a cigar, 
whereupon the shaman calls on the bope, a number of whom led by a 
spokesman then possess him. In doctoring, the bari smokes the 
cigar, then the spokesman of the spirits asks why they have been called. 
One present explains, then the doctor sucks the afflicted parts, ex- 
pectorating the putative cause, e. g., a beetle, which he scans, an- 
nouncing his prognosis. Certain feminine diseases, however, he must 
not attempt treating lest he impair his supernatural powers. Most 
important of the bari’s functions is the “consecration” of the food 
reserved to the bope—a procedure that ensures to himself the choicest 
morsels. 


PLATE 83.—Bororo country and house. Top: Air view of the Chapadao, north of Cuyaba. bottom: 
Bororo palm-thatched hut. (Courtesy University Museum, Philadelphia.) 


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PLATE 8!.—Bororo houses. Top: Sao Lourengo Bororo house. Bottom: Bororo da Campanha village. 
(Courtesy University Museum, Philadelphia.) 


| PLATE 85.—Bororo village of Kejara. Top: Men’s club in foreground. Bottom: Women in native dress. 
(Courtesy Claude Lévi-Strauss.) 


Sk 


PLATE 86.—Bororo archery. Top: Arrowrelease. At village of Kejar (Courtesy Claude Lévi-Strauss.) 
Bottom: Sdio Lourengo, Bororo shooting fish. (Courtesy University Museum, Philadelphia.) 


’ 


Bottom: Presentation 


PLATE 87.—Bororo festival at village of Kejara. Top: Dance of the ‘‘Mariddo.’ 
of the ‘‘Mariddo.’ (Courtesy Claude Lévi-Strauss.) 


PE iin PE 


PLATE 88.—Bororo funeral ceremony. Dance of the Ewaguddu clan, some dancers in leaf costume, others 
decorated with down. (Courtesy Claude Lévi-Strauss.) 


Philadelphia.) 


(Courtesy University Museum, 


Front and rear views. 


At da Campanha. 


Bororo jaguar impersonator. 


PLATE 89. 


ies 


PLATE 90.—Bororo Indian types. Top: Man in festival dress, with feathers through nasal septum and 
ears and beads through lower lip. Village of Kejara. (Courtesy Claude Lévi-Strauss.) Bottom; Sao 
Lourenco men. (Courtesy University Museum, Philadelphia.) 


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ourtesy University Museum, Philadelphia.) 


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Sao Lourenco. 


3.—Bororo man. 


PLATE 9 


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PLATE 94.—Portrait of young Bororoman. Sao Lourengo. (Courtesy David M. Newell.) 


Vou. 1] THE BORORO—LOWIE 433 


(2) Radically distinct is the cult of the dead (aroe). Every aroe 
is tangibly represented in two ways: by its impersonator at the funeral 
ceremony, and by a flageolet with a gourd bearing the distinctive clan 
designs and preserved by the dead person’s clansmen in memory of 
him. The aroe come to the village to eat, drink, or dance; foretell the 
future; cause illness; and otherwise intimately affect the daily life of 
the Indians. The aroe commune with the Indians through a medium, 
the aroettawarari, whom they possess or enlighten in dreams and who 
may summon them by a special ceremony. 

The aroettawarari naturally may not perform the rite of offering 
food sacred to the bope, but his other duties are largely similar. On 
behalf of clients he may call the aroe who possess him, led by their 
spokesman. Treatment of the sick here, too, requires smoking, blow- 
ing, suction, and expectoration; and the doctor utters his prognosis. 
However, in these cases disease seems to be ascribed to the stench 
emitted by certain aroe. The call comes to the aroettawarari in a 
manner similar to that followed in the bari’s initiation ; only the beings 
that bless him are of a distinct category. Often in the shape of a tapir 
he allows himself to be pursued by the hunters and even to be killed. 
Then he resumes his normal form and eats of the slain tapir. An- 
ciently, no woman could be a bari; the office of aroettawarari, however, 
was open to both sexes. 

Notwithstanding the theoretical antithesis and actual animosity of 
the two types of practitioners, it happens that the same person holds 
both offices. Tonelli (1927) surmises that this may have originated in 
villages without a bari, hence deprived of the chance of eating some 
vital foods unless the power of consecrating them were transferred 
to the rival office. That the close parallels noted between the two 
types of medicine men go back to a single origin cannot be doubted. 


MYTHOLOGY 


The twin heroes, Bakororo and Itubori, figure as exemplars and 
transformers; Bakororo plays the major part and is associated with 
a musical instrument used ceremonially. The myth resembles a com- 
mon Brazilian tale: A jaguar who has conquered an Indian in wrestling 
permits him to depart in return for the loser’s daughter, whom the 
victor marries. He warns her against his grandmother, a caterpillar, 
who makes the wife fall dead from laughter. Returning, he performs 
a Caesarean operation to extract the twins, who burn the old hag in 
order to avenge their mother. On learning that a falcon has eaten 
their mother, they kill it. Then Bakororo orders the species to abstain 
henceforth from human flesh, ordaining what shall be its food; and 
he similarly fixes the proper sustenance for hitherto man-eating 
storks, parrots, fish, and snakes. The souls of the dead go either to 
Bakororo in the extreme west, or to Itubori in the extreme east. 


583486—46——28 


434 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


Sun (Meri) and Moon (Ari) are another pair of brothers, but fig- 
ure largely as tricksters. Thus they put out the Indians’ fire, which, 
however, is salvaged by a toad. The Indians pursue the mischief- 
makers, who climb trees, and kill Moon, who has sought refuge in 
a low tree and is eaten by acanid. Sun kills the canid and resuscitates 
Moon from fragments of his bones. This revival motif recurs in 
different contexts. In one game Moon kills Sun, but cannot restore 
him. However, Sun rises by his own power and turns into a red arara. 
Moon vainly looks for him and nearly starves, when Sun transforms 
himself into a fish, letting Moon harpoon him. Finally, Sun and 
Moon neglect the Buriti clansmen’s warning, and break their hosts’ 
bottles. They are pursued, caught, and blown skyward by their cap- 
tors, who bid them remain above. 

Other myths describe a flood caused by an angry spirit and the 
jaguar’s swallowing of a monkey, who cuts his way out. In one tale 
boys climb to the sky on a rope, which they cut in order to prevent 
their mothers from following. As a penalty the boys must remain 
in the sky, their eyes becoming the stars. 

The ascent to the sky by a rope or creeper is widespread in South 
America, being found, e. g., among the Cariban Taulipang. In the 
Twin story, the pacification of the jaguar by the offer of a woman, 
her death through an older kinsman of the husband, the post-mortem 
extraction of the heroes, and their revenging the woman’s death 
recall Guarani motifs, as well as the Bacairi tale of Keri and Kame. 
On the other hand, these Bacatri names and their linkage with Sun 
and Moon, respectively, rather suggest the second Bororo myth of a 
pair of brothers. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Baldus, 1936; Caldas, 1899, 1903; Chamberlain, 1910, 1912; Colbacchini, 1925 ; 
Cook, 1907 ; Créqui-Montfort and Rivet, 1912, 1913; Frié and Radin, 1906; Koslow- 
sky, 1895 b; Lévi-Strauss, 1936; Magalhies, 1918; Missao Salesiana, 1908 ; 
Petrullo, 1932; Steinen, 1894; Tonelli, 1927, 1928 a, 1928 b, 1928 c; Waehneldt, 1864. 


THE GUAYAKI 
By Aurrep Mrtraux AND Herpert Batpus 


HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION 


The elusive Guayakt who roam the forest of eastern Paraguay rep- 
resent one of the least-known tribes of South America (map 1, Wo. 9). 
The Caingud and the Guarani, who for centuries have waged a war 
of extermination against them, consider them as hardly human and 
have spread fabulous stories about them. Some of these tales are 
strangely reminiscent of Charlevoix’s (1757, 2: 286-288) description 
of the Caygua (Caingué). (See The Caingang, p. 445.) 


The Guayakt are mentioned for the first time by Pedro Lozano (1873-74, 
1: 415-421), who gives a short but accurate description of their culture. In the 
18th century, the Jesuits of the Mission of Jesus sent out small parties of Guarani 
Indians to capture Guayaki in order to bring them up as neophytes in their 
“reductions,” and by the middle of the century there were 30 Guayakt in the 
Mission of Jesus, but the efforts made to settle whole bands remained unsuccessful. 
Father José Insaurralde was the first to notice the close relationship between the 
Guayakt language and classic Guarani, a relationship amply proved by modern 
vocabularies and texts. Several manuscripts on the Guayakt language, once part 
of the archives of the Mission of Jesus, seem to have been lost (Hervais, 
1800-1805 : 194-196). 

Sad experience has made the Guayaki exceedingly shy of civilization. They 
come near Paraguayan settlements only to steal iron tools or, prompted by 
hunger in winter, to kill a cow or a horse. Such acts provoke bloody reprisals. 
As yet no one has observed the Guayaki in their original habitat, so that most 
of our knowledge of their culture rests on objects found in abandoned camp 
sites and on the memories of Guayaki children made prisoners during punitive 
expeditions. Many valuable data have come from a German settler, F. C. 
Mayntzhusen, who managed to keep a few Guayaki on his plantation. Vellard, 
who spent several months in vain attempts to get in touch with the Guayaki 
but who was obliged to abandon his project after a skirmish with one of their 
bands, wrote a book (1939) about them based on information he gathered from 
captives and from the literature. A recent publication by M. Bertoni (1941) 
contains new and interesting details obtained from a young Guayaki adopted by 
the author. 

Northern and southern groups speak the same dialect but differ in minor 
aspects of material culture. Although the former keep equally aloof from 
civilization, their material culture has been slightly affected by indirect contact 
with the Whites. They have discarded stone axes for steel hatchets and use 
iron pots and tin cans instead of wax-smeared baskets. 


435 


436 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


The Guayakt live in the dense forests of eastern Paraguay where hills and 
mountains separate the tributaries of the Paraguay River from those of the 
Parand River (lat. 26° S., long. 55° W.). Formerly, they were distributed from 
the Monday River in the north to the outskirts of the forest in the south and 
west, and to the Parana River in the east. The constant encroachments of 
lumber camps and maté farms have forced them to retreat to the less accessible 
mountains and hills of the Caaguazii ranges. The largest Guayaki group roams 
the region of Tayao, between the Paraguayan villages of Ajos, Carayaé, San 
Joaquin, and CaaguazG. <A smaller group lives near the Parana River, between 
two of its tributaries, the Monday and Nacunday Rivers. The southernmost 
Guayaki inhabit the region of San Juan Nepomuceno, and wander in the for- 
ested plains between the Tembey and Teyucuaré Rivers (near Encarnacién). 

On the basis of hearsay or unreliable ethnological evidence, some authors 
maintain that there are two different kinds of Guayaki in the Paraguayan for- 
est, but this has never been confirmed. Mayntzhusen (1924-26, p. 316) reck- 
oned the total number of the Guayaki to be 800 or 1,000 in 1910. In 1920 only 
500 were left after a severe influenza epidemic. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Farming.—Modern Guayaki depend entirely on collecting, hunt- 
ing, and fishing; according to our best authorities, they are ignorant 
of any form of agriculture. Their economy, however, may have been 
different in the past when they enjoyed greater security, for Lozano 
(1873-74, 1: 415) states that the Guayaki “sow maize, but their crops 
are small because they eat the green ears before they are ripe.” The 
Sirioné, who in many respects resemble the Guayaki, also were 
regarded as nonagricultural people until in recent years it was dis- 
covered that they did some farming. 

Collecting wild foods.—The fruit and heart of the pindo palm 
(Cocos romanzofiana) along with honey and larvae constitute their 
basic diet. When the Guayaki find a pindo grove they camp by it 
until they have exploited all the trees. They eat the terminal shoots 
(palm cabbage) raw or roasted, and extract a coarse flour from the old 
trunks by smashing the fibrous wood with the back of a stone ax. The 
pounded mass is sifted through a crude square sieve, a mat made of 
bamboo splinters or Carex stalks. The flour, which has only slight 
nutritive value, is kneaded into balls; these are consumed raw or dried 
by the fire. The orange trees introduced by the Jesuits have multi- 
plied into large groves which furnish abundant fruit. 

The Guayaki seek honey so eagerly that it has been regarded as 
basic to their economy. Their trails are always marked by signs of 
this search, and several of their few implements are employed for 
gathering honey. To reach the honeycombs on tree tops, they use 
ropes 30 feet (10 m.) long made of vegetable fibers mixed with human 
and animal hair. They climb trees with great agility and have 


Vou. 1] THE GUAYAKI—METRAUX AND BALDUS 437 


invented many devices to approach the bee nests. For instance, they 
bend two young trees into an arch and suspend a seat from them at 
the level of the beehive. To remove the honey from the hollow 
trees, they use stone axes, which they carry hanging from their wrists 
when climbing. With these axes they can fell hardwood trees 2 feet 
(60 cm.) in diameter. 

The Guayaki relish the long, fat grubs of passalid beetles, which 
grow in decayed pindo palms. To increase the supply, they fell and 
notch the trees with their axes, and the eggs, which the beetles lay in 
the holes, soon hatch in numbers sufficient for a substantial meal. 

Their digging sticks are 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm.) long with a flat 
oval end and are used mainly to open the pindo trees and to dig out 
tubers. Occasionally, they may serve as weapons or as gouges to 
extract larvae from the decayed trunks. 

The hot months from September to February are the best for gath- 
ering food. During this season several edible fruits in addition to 
oranges ripen in the forest, the honey increases, the larvae reach their 
largest size, the birds lay eggs, and the fish go up the Parana River 
to the small streams to spawn. The “lean months” from March to 
August are the principal ones for hunting. 

If they are in a waterless region, the Guayaki dig wells from 15 to 
20 feet (4.5 to 6 m.) deep. They also drink the water which collects 
in bamboo and other plants. 

Hunting.—The chief hunting weapons are the bow and arrow. 
When shooting, some Guayaki rest the lower end of the bow on the 
ground, hold the staff with the left hand, and pull the string with the 
right hand. They are able to hit a mark at a distance of 300 feet 
(91 m.). A cord of human hair is wrapped around the left wrist as 
a guard. Small animals are clubbed to death. Tapirs are caught in 
pitfalls dug on their runs. The sides of the pit are lined with mud 
which, when dried hard, prevents the animal from climbing to the 
surface. The hunters, who observe several food taboos, hide near 
their traps to be on the spot as soon as the animal has fallen. 
Mayntzhusen regards the complicated jaguar traps “as their highest 
technical achievement.” 

Fishing.—The Guayaki shoot large fish with the bow and arrow 
and catch small ones by hand. They also catch them in conical 
baskets which they place alongadam. According to Lozano (1873-74, 
1: 417), they build stone dams across rivers, poison the water with a 
creeper crushed between two stones, and collect the drugged fish in 
sieves. To drug fish, they also use several kinds of leaves, among others 
those of one of the Lauraceae. 

When they find a stream full of small fish, they make a barrier of 
takuapi (Merostachys clausenii) extending to the bottom of the river 


438 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULy. 143 


and long enough to encircle the fish. The barrier is pushed toward 
the margin of the river or toward another barrier where the fish are 
cornered. 

Domesticated animals and pets.—The Guayaki keep all kinds 
of pets, which they fondly carry when traveling. At night these 
animals are tied to trees or confined in small cages. Few South 
American Indians eat their pets, but the Guayaki seem to consider 
the coati, of which they always have a greater number, as food re- 
serves for the lean winter months. This was noted by Lozano 
(1873-74, 1:415): “They have the foresight to domesticate a few 
wild pigs and to raise some animals called coati which they kill for 
food.” Hunting coati is one of their favorite sports. Men and women 
join in drives to tree a coati, which they shoot with arrows or seize when 
it tries to escape. They wrap their arms with cord as a protection 
against bites. 

CAMPS AND HOUSES 


The Guayaki never camp near streams because of the mosquitoes 
and because they fear that the murmur of the water would prevent 
their hearing the approach of an enemy. Instead, they seek a heavily 
forested area where they can make a fence by cutting and breaking the 
branches and bushes. Within this enclosure each family establishes 
itself by its own fire. If there is danger of jaguars or of White people, 
the approach to the camp is cleared of vegetation to avoid surprise 
attacks. When rain threatens, they crawl under rude shelters con- 
structed of palm leaves thrown over a rectangular or triangular 
wooden frame attached with creepers to small trees or to forked 
sticks stuck into the ground. The waterproof thatch forms a roof 
and a wall on three sides. According to Lozano (1873-74, 1:417), 
the Guayaki sheltered themselves behind mats used as windbreaks. 
Sometimes they built crude huts with walls of bamboo. The men 
usually lie on straw mats about 414 feet (137 cm.) long and slightly 
narrower. The women lean against their husbands or their basketry 
knapsacks. Children sleep around the fire, sometimes on small mats. 
When the weather is cold, they often lie in a shallow pit dug in the 
ground. 

Unless it rains, the Guayaki seldom stay more than one night at a 
camp, and they never go back to an old camping ground which they 
consider “ine,” that is, “stinking.” In order to perform the necessities 
of nature, they retire out of sight and hearing of the others. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Both sexes go about nude, though old women may protect themselves 
from the cold by covering their backs with a square piece of cloth, 
and men sometimes suspend a bird skin from their shoulders. 


Vou. 1] THE GUAYAKI—METRAUX AND BALDUS 439 


Men wear a tonsure cut with a bamboo blade; the crown of hair 
narrows over the forehead and the ears and widens at the back. 
Women let their hair hang loose on their backs or fasten it around 
their heads with a bark strip. Lozano (1873-74, 1:416) tells us that 
women shaved their heads after marriage. He also says that many 
Guayakt women cut their hair when it reached a certain length and 
used it, together with monkey hair and palm fiber, to make ropes. On 
festive occasions and during their fights, men wear high conical 
helmets of the skin of newborn tapirs and jaguars, surmounted by 
tufts of hair or coati tails (pl. 96). They also glue bird down to their 
faces and bodies. 

As ornaments, men (according to Mayntzhusen, only women) wear 
a frontlet or a necklace of animal teeth, mainly monkey and tapir, 
and monkey leg and arm bones and armadillo tails. According to 
Lozano (1873-74, 1:417), women’s necklaces were composed of fruit 
shells (aguai fruit). 

From the time of puberty, the men wear a bone or wooden labret 
in their perforated lower lip. The stone labret mentioned by Lozano 
has never been reported in our time. The perpendicular lines 
scratched across the chest and stomach of girls who have come of 
age remain as indelible tattoo marks though no pigment is rubbed 
into the wounds. Girls’ legs also show some scars which are made 
during early childhood. Both sexes paint horizontal stripes across 
the face, the upper arms, and the chest with a mixture of rosin and 
charcoal—some sources say of wax. Warriors are entirely blackened. 


TRANSPORTATION 


When the Guayaki travel through the bush, the men go in front 
carrying only their bows and arrows and sometimes a child on their 
shoulders if the terrain is difficult. Children capable of walking 
follow while the women form the rear guard, carrying the family 
possessions in huge basketry knapsacks held by a broad tumpline 
passing over the forehead. On top of the knapsack they place the 
babies and the pets. Infants are transported in a special sling, 
woven of fibers, or in a large pliable knapsack. 


MANUFACTURES 


Basketry.—Guayaki industry isrudimentary. These Indians make 
ovoid baskets which are waterproofed with a thick coating 
of wax mixed with charcoal (pl. 95, 7, m). They also plait 
crude palm leaf (pindo palm) knapsacks in which to carry food and 
their few possessions (pl. 95, f-/), flexible basket pouches in which 
to store feathers and other small objects, sleeping mats, fire fans 
(pl. 95, e), and sieves. 


440 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Butt. 143 


Weaving.—The Guayaki weave very crude fabrics with the fibers 
of a wild nettle (Urera baccifera). The cloth is intermediate 
between basketry and a textile, as the weft and warp may be simply 
crossed by hand, or they may be knotted together, or coiled spirally. 
The loom consists of two parallel lines of small sticks stuck in the 
ground. 

Some fabrics have simple ornamental bands produced by alternat- 
ing dark and light stripes. Baby slings and cloaks worn by old 
women are made by this simple technique. 

Rope making.—Rope is made of human or monkey (Cebus) hair, 
sometimes mixed with plant fibers (pindo, nettle, bamboo, etc.) 
(pl. 95, 7). 

Pottery.—The exceedingly primitive pottery of the Guayaki is 
limited to a single type of vessel, characterized by a broad belly, a 
wide opening, and slightly conical base (pl. 95, n). Most of the 
pots are small; the largest specimens are not more than 7 or 8 inches 
(15 or 20 cm.) high. The clay is tempered with charcoal. During 
the firing, nobody must look at the pot lest it crack. 

Small pots are used either for drinking or as containers for pig- 
ments; the larger ones are used for cooking. 

Weapons.—The southern Guayaki make their bow staves from 
the wood of the Cocos romanzoffiana; the northern bands, in addition, 
use the hard mbocay4 palm wood (Acrocomia totat). The bows are 
comparatively long, 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 m.), have an oval cross 
section, taper at both ends, and lack terminal notches for the strings. 
The bow string is generally made of samuhu (Cezba pubzflora) fibers 
or of caraguata or guembé fibers. 

War or large-game arrows are tipped with bamboo blades; today 
some iron points are used. Other hunting arrows have long 
sharpened wooden heads, which vary widely—some are barbed on 
one side, some on both, some have a triangular cross section without 
barbs, and others have several ornamental carvings (pl. 95, p). Bird 
arrows end in a wooden knob. Arrow shafts are made of bamboo 
(pl. 95, 0). The feathering is of the arched or bridged type (“tan- 
gential”), identical to that of the Caingud. Strips of guembé bark 
are wrapped around the shaft where the head is inserted. 

A combat weapon, described as a spear, is a pole from 6 to 8 feet 
(2 to 2.5 m.) long with both ends pointed or with one end slightly 
enlarged. Mayntzhusen described it as a club used especially for 
intertribal duels. The men swing the club downward, holding it 
with both hands. Perhaps it serves both as a lance and as a club. 

Implements.—A xes (pl. 95, 7) have an almond-shaped stone blade 
(diabasic pebble) inserted into the bulging end of a wooden shaft. 


Vou. 1] THE GUAYAKI—METRAUX AND BALDUS 441 


The cutting edge of the blade is shaped by grinding. One of the main 
Guayaki tools is a chisel made by hafting a rodent incisor (aguti or 
capivara) in a bone handle. Like all South American Indians, the 
Guayaki cut by drawing the blade toward the body. Chisels are car- 
ried strung on a cord, like bunches of keys. Certain kinds of wood- 
work, for example the socket for an ax, are done with a chisel of tapir 
bone. Planes are made of broken or perforated snail shells (Buli- 
mus). Sharp bamboo (Chusquea ramossissima) blades serve as 
knives. 

Fire making.—An arrow shaft tipped with a short stick and 
twirled between the hands constitutes the fire drill. The hearth 
stick has a pit and lateral groove. Vellard (1939) was told that the 
Guayaki produce fire by striking pieces of fine-grained quartzite to- 
gether so that the spark falls into tinder made of the samuhu (Cezba 
pubifiora) down. This method, known only in Tierra del Fuego, 
is so unexpected in Paraguay that the statement must be accepted with 
reservation. The Guayaki use pieces of takuapi wood as torches. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


The Guayaki roam through the forest in small hordes comprising, 
as a rule, about 20 individuals. Bands are independent units which 
rarely come together, although they may range near one another and 
even gather in orange groves or other places where food is plentiful. 

Lozano (1873-74, 1:417) says that the only chiefs were men with 
several daughters whose husbands lived in the band of their father- 
in-law. Recent investigations confirm Lozano’s statement, but other 
factors, such as hunting ability or physical strength, also are said to 
determine chieftainship. The band leader serves as guide and ad- 
viser. According to Mayntzhusen, leaders challenge one another to 
duels fought with cudgels. The band of a defeated chief disperses 
or follows the victor. Certain chiefs are reported to be inveterate 
cannibals, who prey on the members of their own (!), as well as of 
neighboring, bands. Most sources agree that the G'uayaki are can- 
nibals, but the evidence is not always convincing. ‘The endocannibal- 
ism described by Mayntzhusen is open to strong doubt and requires 
careful checking. Lozano and modern authors report that woman 
stealing is a common practice and causes numerous feuds between 
bands. 

Property.—When the members of a band cut down a palm tree, 
it is regarded as their exclusive property; such trees are referred to 
as “those cut down by the head of such and such band.” Band mem- 
bers do not eat the larvae in palm trees belonging to another group 
or touch the tapir fallen in their neighbor’s pitfall. 


442 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bu. 143 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth.—To give birth, a woman, accompanied by a male and 
a female assistant, withdraws from her husband’s fire. The man 
supports her and later severs the navel cord and massages the 
woman’s genitals. Afterward, he pours cold water over the newborn 
child to establish a lifelong relationship that, in the case of a female 
child, precludes his marrying her. The female assistant (upiaré) 
then massages the child and begins to deform its head by pressing it 
between her hands to make it round. This operation is repeated 
by the mother during the next 3 days. The afterbirth is buried. 
The father, meanwhile, keeps to the woods. Both mother and father 
are forbidden to eat meat and honey, lest the child vomit and per- 
haps die. After 3 days both parents ceremonially bathe to ward off 
the jaguar demon; they are then considered safe and may resume 
normal life. The child is given the name of any food animal—not 
only vertebrates, but even the larvae of wasps, bees, and beetles— 
except those forbidden to women, such as ducks. The mother chooses 
the name of an animal eaten during late pregnancy, from which pre- 
sumably the child’s body was formed. The root of the words for 
name and for body is the same. 

Puberty.—During their first menses, girls refrain from eating 
various kinds of animal meat. Afterward they are washed cere- 
monially, and perpendicular incisions are cut across their breasts 
and abdomen. 

Boys have the lower lip perforated when they reach puberty. The 
operation is performed with a sharp tapir bone. Charcoal is rubbed 
into the wound, and a leaf is applied to prevent suppuration. At first, 
the young initiate wears a short piece of bamboo to keep the hole open; 
later he substitutes a real labret. 

Marriage.—There is little information on marriage customs. <Ac- 
cording to Mayntzhusen alone, young girls marry elderly men and 
young boys mature women. Residence is strictly matrilocal. Polyg- 
amy is rare, and is the privilege only of chiefs and good providers. 
Yet matrimonial ties are brittle, and many women either desert their 
husbands or have secret adventures. The wronged husband contents 
himself with thrashing his unfaithful consort. M. Bertoni (1941, p. 
39) was told by his informant that a husband who did not bring food 
to his wife was finally killed by other men of the group. 

Death observances.—Old people and the sick who cannot follow 
the band are killed. The Guayaki bury their dead in a sitting posi- 
tion. The arms are tied against the chest, the feet are fastened to- 
gether with a rope, and the back rests against stakes. A fire is kept 
burning on the grave for several days after a son or a younger brother 


Vou. 1] THE GUAYAKI—METRAUX AND BALDUS 443 


has trampled it. A miniature hut is also built over the grave. Those 
who have died a violent death are cremated. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Art.—The northern Guayaki carve their arrowheads and decorate 
their calabashes with fire-engraved dots and dashes. The southern 
Guayaki paint horizontal stripes on their arrows, clubs, and chisels 
with a mixture of rosin and pulverized charcoal. 

Games.—Children play with wax tops. Small children run around 
a little tree grasping it with their hands or swing hanging from a 
liana. Both adults and children are fond of making string figures 
(cat’s cradles). 

Musical instruments.—The northern Guayaki have bamboo flutes 
with three stops and calabash whistles with two stops. The calabash 
whistles of the southern groups have an opening across which they 
blow. The Guayaki also have cylindrical whistles made of wax or of a 
piece of bamboo (takuapi, Merostachys clausenii) smeared with wax 
and decorated with an animal claw. They use these instruments to 
signal their companions in the forest or to ask for help when they 
have killed large game. 

Like the Caingud, the Guayaki beat the rhythm of their dances 
with stamping tubes made of sections of bamboo. 

Boys and girls use their nails to pluck fibers tied to a pole to make 
them vibrate. Boys burn holes in the shafts of their arrows to make 
them whistle when in flight. 

Women sing songs on festive occasions, for instance, when a large 
animal has been killed or when some member of the group has been 
buried. Men utter a peculiar chant before going to sleep. They also 
chant when they have killed a coati. 


RELIGION 


Guayaki religion is almost entirely unknown. It is said that they 
try to prevent the wind from blowing or the rain from falling by 
shouting, as if these phenomena were living beings. They also swear 
at the rainbow, which they picture as a large and dangerous serpent. 
The Guayaki fear a bird, which they believe can strike them like 
lightning. They also dread a nocturnal bird (owl?), which they 
frighten away by shaking bunches of snail shells. 

It is reported that they believe in forest spirits or goblins (M. 
Bertoni, 1941, pp. 22-23). A murderer, fearing the ghost of his 
victim, who may return in the shape of a bat, sleeps amongst a group 
of friends with his club beside him. This statement contradicts 
Mayntzhusen’s impression that the Guayaki have little fear of ghosts. 


444 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 143 


MYTHOLOGY 


The Guayaki explain lunar eclipses as the attack of jaguars against 
the moon. Sometimes the moon dies or is badly mangled. In order 
to succor the moon and frighten the celestial monsters, the Guayaki 
set fire to dry bamboos, which explode with a big noise, or strike trees 
with their axes. Falling stars are pieces of the moon. The Pleiades 
also are hostile to the moon, which is in danger every time it passes 
near that star cluster. 

Long ago, when there was a big flood, men climbed on pindo palms 
and lived on the fruits, but they threw the stones of the fruit into 
the water, thus causing it to rise until most of them were drowned. 

Once the moon fell into a pit but was rescued by a man (Bertoni, 
1941, pp. 23-24, 36). 


MEDICINE 


A favorite cure consists in the application of heated leaves to the 
patient’s body. Hot water poured on a layer of leaves also is used. 
Poultices are made of pulverized leaves or of pieces of bark. When 
a child feels pain in his stomach, two men take hold of him and stretch 
his limbs. Various medicinal plants known to the Guayaki have been 
listed by M. Bertoni (1941, pp. 51-54). Many of these are also used 
by the Guarani. 

There is no mention of shamans or of specialized curers. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Baldus, 1936, 1937 c, 1948; Bertoni, Guillermo Tell, 1924, 1939; Bertoni, Moisés 
S., 1920, 1929, 1941; Charlevoix, 1757; Ehrenreich, 1898; Guiffrida-Ruggeri, 
1906 ; Hervas, 1800-1805 ; Kunike, 1911; La Hitte, 1897; Lehmann-Nitsche, 1899 a, 
1899 b, 1908 ¢; Lozano, 1873-74; Machon, 1929; Mayntzhusen, 1911 a, 1911 b, 1917, 
1919-20, 1924-26 ; Métraux, 1928; Panconcelli-Calzia, 1921; Schlaginhaufen, 1914; 
Steinen, 1895, 1901 b ; Ten Kate, 1897; Vellard, 1989; Virchow, 1908 ; Vogt, 1902-03, 
1911. 

See also The Caingang, p. 475. 


PLATE 95.—Guayaki arms and utensils. a, ), Bow staffs, c, d, arrows; e, fire fan; fh, twilled baskets; 2, 
stone ax; j, hair rope; k, tumpline; /, m, baskets smeared with wax; n, pottery vessel; 0, arrow shaft; p, 
arrow point. (After La Hitte and Ten Kate, 1897.) 


‘ 

“a 

“% pee 
‘* 


a, * Obnt 
af *M. aS ae 
he sae et sak “4 


we! 


PLATE 96.—Guayaki warrior. (After La Hitte and Ten Kate, 1897, pl. 1.) 


THE CAINGANG 
By Aurrep Mérravux 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The name Caingang (map 1, No. 10) was introduced in 1882 by 
Telemaco Morocines Borba to designate the non-Guarani Indians of 
the States of Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande 
do Sul, who previously were known as Guayand, Coroado, Bugre, 
Shokleng, Tupi, Botocudo, etc., but who are all linguistically and cul- 
turally related to one another and form the southern branch of the 
Ge family (long. 50° W. between lat. 20° to 30° S.). 

Guayana.—These Indians appear for the first time in the literature 
under the name of Guayand (Goyand, Goaianaz, Guaynd, Wayannaz, 
etc.). Staden (1925, part 2, chap. 3) mentions them in the Capitania 
of Sao Vicente. Early documents assign to them the plains of Pira- 
tininga and the region where Sao Paulo was founded. According to 
Soares de Souza (1851, pp. 99-100) they were the masters of the entire 
coast of the present State of Sio Paulo, from Angra dos Reis to Can- 
anéia. Actually, they shared the seashore with the Guarani-speaking 
Tupinikin. The Portuguese chronicler describes them as noncanni- 
balistic people with softer dispositions than the Z’upinamba, living in 
the open country, and shunning the forest where they were worsted by 
their Zupinamba neighbors. Tebyreca, who played such an important 
part in the early history of Sio Paulo, was a Guayand chief. 'The set- 
tlement of Pinheiros, near old Sao Paulo, was formed by Indians 
of that tribe. Since the toponymy of this region is Guarani, some 
authors consider the Guayané a Tupi-Guarani tribe. Though it is 
possible that the Guayandé of Piratininga spoke Tupi, there is little 
doubt that the majority of Guayand belonged to a different family and 
were the ancestors of the modern Caingang. In the last century the 
name Guayand was still applied in the State of Sao Paulo to a group 
of 200 Caingang who were settled in 1843 near Itapeva (Saint-Hilaire, 
1830-51, 2: 439-461; Machado de Oliveira, 1846, pp. 248-254). 

The chronicler Rui Diaz de Guzman (1914, p. 14) speaks of Guayanda, 
Pattes (Basas?), Chouas, and Chouacas, who spoke related languages 
and had their habitat on the Piquiry River and on the Rio Negro. 


1Xarque (1900, 4: 284) states that the “Guafiana” were situated on the Piquiry River, 
near the missions of San Pedro, Sao Paulo, and Concepci6én. 


445 


446 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 148 


Lozano (1878-74, 1:422) calls Guafiana, Guayand, or Gualacho the 
non-Guarani “who lived on the Iguassi River and extended to the 
Atlantic.” His description of the culture of the Guayand of the 
Iguasst River leaves little doubt that these Guayand were the modern 
Caingang, the more so that the only word of their language which he 
mentions is a Caingang word (soul, “acupli”; modern, “vaicupli”). 

Azara (1904, pp. 404-407) divides the Guayand into two unrelated 
groups. The first ranged west of the Uruguay River from the region 
of La Guayra to an undetermined boundary in the north. These 
Guayand, who did not speak Guarani, practiced bloodletting, used long 
bows, and raised some crops, were certainly identical to the Caingang 
who now occupy the same territory and who share the very culture 
traits enumerated by Azara. 

The other Guayand Indians described by Azara spoke Guarani and 
lived on the right side of the Parand River from the Caraguarapé 
River to the Monday River and on the left side from Corpus to the 
Iguassti River. The descendants of these Guarani-speaking Guayand 
resided, at the beginning of this century, near Villa Azara, on a stream 
called Pird-pyté. They disclaimed any connection with the Cain- 
gang, though Ramon Lista (1883) seems to have included them among 
the latter. (On the Guarani-speaking Guayand, see Vogt, 1904, pp. 
216-218.) 

North of these Guarani-speaking Guayand, on both sides of the 
Parand River, lived a Caingang subtribe called Jngain (Tam) or 
Ivotirocay, after the stream (a western tributary of the Parana River) 
on which they had their headquarters. Their bands were scattered 
from the stream of Ivotirocay to the vicinity of La Guayra falls. 
Their name, 7'ain, suggests close affinities or identity with the Taven, 
who lived in the same region between the Parana, the Piquiry, and the 
Itatti Rivers. These Jngain or Taven are the Indians whom Lista 
(1883) and Martinez (1904) describe as Guayand. (On the Guayana 
question, see Ihering, 1904 a, pp. 283-44; Sampaio, 1897; Martinez, 
1904; Vogt, 1904, pp. 352-376. ) 

At the beginning of the century, Caingang groups could be found in 
the vast territory of the State of Parana between the Iguassti and the 
Paranapanema Rivers, but in recent times they had no settlements 
near either river, but were fairly numerous along the Tibagy and 
Piquiry Rivers. The Caingang who lived between the Rio das Cinzas 
and the Tibagy River called themselves Vyacfatettei; they were sepa- 
rated by the Tibagy River from closely related Indians, who were 
their bitter enemies. 

The names Votéro, Kamé, and Cayurukré, given to Caingang groups 
of Guarapuava and Palmas, are simply appelations of moiety or class 
subdivisions and not, as it has been long believed, of independent bands 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 447 


or subtribes. The Dorin, who lived on the river of the same name, 
and the 7aven (see above), whose habitat was bounded by the Parana, 
the Piquiry, and the Itatt Rivers, were true Caingang subgroups differ- 
ent from the subtribe of the Guarapuava region. 

The first settlers of the Campos of Guarapuava found these plains 
in 1810 entirely occupied by Caingang. ‘These Indians were placed in 
aldeas under the care of Father das Chagas Lima, who wrote the first 
eye-witness account of them. In order to prevent constant clashes 
between the Caingang and the first colonists, the Brazilian Govern- 
ment made various attempts to settle them in aldeamentos. In 
1855-56, the settlements of Sao Pedro de Alcantara, San Jeronymo, 
and Jatahy were founded for them on the Tibagy River. However, 
many Caingang groups remained independent in the forests between 
the Piquiry, upper Ivahy, and the Iguassi Rivers. 

A census of the Caingang of the Guarapuava region taken in 1827 
by Father das Chagas Lima (1842, p. 62) gave: Kamé, 152; Votoro, 
120; Dorin, 400; Shocren, 60; and Zaven, 240. In 1905, Koenigswald 
(1908 a, p. 47) estimated the Caingang of the State of Parana at about 
2,000. 

Coroado.—From the 18th century to the present day, the Caingang 
of Sao Paulo, Parana, and Rio Grande do Sul have frequently been 
designated as Coronado or Coroado (The Crowned Ones) because of 
their typical Franciscan-like tonsure, a hairdress which they have 
abandoned only in recent years. This unfortunate term is responsible 
for the confusion between the Caingang-Coroado and the Puri- 
Coroado, who seem linguistically unrelated. 

Coronado, Gualacho, and Caagua.—Lozano (18738, 1:69) applies 
the name “Coronados” to the Indians of the open plains or Campos de 
los Camperos, del Guarayru, del Cayyu, de los Cabelludos, and de los 
Coronados between the Huibay (Ivahi) and Iguassti Rivers. These 
Coronado, who were certainly Caingang, were the same as the Gualacho 
(Gualachi), Chiqui,? and Cabelludo, who lived in the same region. 
As a matter of fact, Lozano himself considers these names to be syno- 
nyms of Guwanand (i. e., Guayand). In the Cartas Anuas of 1628 
(Cartas Anuas, 1927-29, 20:344), the Gualacho who did not speak 
Guarané lived 4 days’ travel from the mission of San Pablo, that is to 
say, in the basin of the Tibagy River in the very heart of the Caingang 
region. Likewise, the Caagua (Caaigua, “Forest Dwellers”) of the 
Jesuits who roved between the Parané and Uruguay Rivers, near 
Acaray in the region of La Guaira, were undoubtedly representatives 
of the Caingang subfamily. Jesuit maps indicate other Caagua in the 


? According to Xarque (1900, 2:62), the Chiqui lived between the Iguasst and Itaté 
(Ieatu) Rivers. 


448 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


region of Tapé (State of Rio Grande do Sul), an area where Caingang 
groups lived until the 19th century. 

Tupi.—The Indians whom Azara (1809, 2: 70-75) calls Tupy, and 
who formed an enclave within the Guarani region, were also the an- 
cestors of the modern Caingang of the upper Uruguay River. Their 
territory corresponded to the forested land east of the Uruguay 
River between the Jesuit missions of San Xavier and San Angel and 
between San Xavier and lat. 27°23’ S. Jesuit sources assign to them 
the region extending between the headwaters of the Piratini (near 
San Miguel) and the Iguassti and Jacuhy (Igay) Rivers. There is 
not a detail in the short description of their culture given by Azara 
which does not fit modern Caingang: agriculture, tonsure, fiber cloth, 
shell necklaces, bow, etc. Moreover, modern Guarani still apply the 
name 7'upi to the Caingang of San Pedro in the Argentine Territory 
of Misiones (Ambrosetti, 1895, p. 305). 

Botocudo.—The Aweikoma-Caingang groups of the State of Santa 
Catarina, have adopted the use of the labret and are, therefore, often 
called Botocudo, a name which erroneously suggests a connection with 
the northern Botocudo of the State of Espirito Santo. 

Bugre.—The name Bugre applied by the colonists to the Caingang 
had a pejorative meaning. It is a Portuguese word of the same root 
as the French “bougre.” The Guarani also called the Caingang 
Caauba, and Caahans (Serrano, 1939, p. 25). 


PRESENT SITUATION OF THE CAINGANG GROUPS 


Caingang of the State of Sao Paulo.—At the beginning of the 
present century there were five groups of wild Caingang, known as 
Coroado, between the Peixe, and the Aguapehy (Feio) Rivers. Form- 
erly there were also Caingang groups on the lower Tieté River. They 
resisted the advance of the Whites and continually assaulted the work- 
ers building the railroad from Sio Paulo to Corumba. In 1910, thanks 
to the efforts of General Rondon and of the Servico de Protecc&o aos 
Indios, peace was established and many Caingang settled around the 
two government posts created for them near the Aguapehy (Feio) 
River. Horta Barboza (1918, p. 24), who was one of the inspectors 
of the Indian Service, estimated the number of Caingang in that 
region at 500. The Caingang of Sio Paulo are also known as 
Nyacfateltei (Nyakfa-d-ag-téie, “Those with the long frontal hair”). 

Caingang of the State of Parana.—The Caingang who are now 
established around Palmas in the State of Parana come from the 
region between the Iguassti and Uruguay Rivers. In 1933, they lived 
in two villages near Palmas: Toldo las Lontras, on the river of the 


2?Serrano (1941) extends the southern limit of the Oaagua to the Santa Lucia River in 
Corrientes. 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 449 


same name, and Toldo de Chapecé, in the region of Xanxeré. Accord- 
ing to Baldus (1935), the population of the first village was 108, that 
of the second was somewhat higher but no exact figure is given. In 
earlier sources, the Caingang of the region of Palmas are often desig- 
nated as Kamé after one of their moiety subdivisions. 

Caingang of Santa Catarina (Shokleng, Socré, Botocudo, Awei- 
koma).—The nomadic or half-nomadic Caingang who ranged in the 
State of Santa Catarina from the Timbo River to the forests of the 
Serra do Mar and from the Rio Negro to the Uruguay River are better 
known as Bugre, a derogatory term given to them by their enemies 
the White settlers, or as Shokleng, or Botocudo of Santa Catarina 
because of their wooden labrets. Nimuendajti calls them Aweikoma, 
a word of their language meaning Indians. Though they differ cul- 
turally from the Parana Caingang (Baldus, 1937 c), there is little 
doubt that they belong to the same linguistic family, even if their 
dialect is not easily understood by the Caingang of Palmas. 

During the whole 19th century, the Awetkoma-Caigang of Santa 
Catarina have stubbornly opposed the encroachments of the Brazilian 
and German settlers. They were constantly pursued by professional 
Indian hunters, the famous “bugreiros,” until the Servico de Proteccao 
aos Indios intervened on behalf of the remnants of the tribe. Most of 
them were settled in the Reservation Duque de Caixas (Municipality of 
Dalbergia), near the junction of the Plate River with the Rio Itajahi 
do Norte. In 1930, the reservation consisted of 106 persons. Another 
small group of Caingang was reported in 1935 at Sao Jao, south of 
Porto da Uniao. 

Caingang of Rio Grande do Sul.—The Caingang who ranged north 
of the Uruguay River from the mouth of the Pepiri-guassti River to 
that of the Rio das Canoas and those who lived between the Rio das 
Canoas and the Rio Pelotas were distinct from the Aweikoma, though 
the demarcation between Caingang-Coroado and “Botocudo” cannot 
be exactly ascertained. The Caingang of the northern bank of the 
Uruguay River were the same as, or closely related to, the groups who 
had their villages between the Serra Geral, the upper Uruguay River, 
and the Sete Missées. 

In 1850 Jesuit missionaries founded three settlements for the 
Caingang of the upper Uruguay: Nonohay, Campo do Meio, and 
Guarita. The Indians of Nonohay numbered about 400; those of 
Campo do Meio, 90. The Jesuit missions were short-lived; Nonohay, 
however, was restored in 1872 with 300 Caingang, who at the end of 
the century were almost entirely absorbed into the local rural popu- 
lation. According to Von Ihering (1895, p. 40), six “aldeamentos” of 
Caingang existed in 1864 in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, with a 
total population of about 2,000. In 1880, their number was already 
greatly reduced. In the same period “wild” Caingang were reported 

583486—46——29 


450 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Butt. 143 


between the Taquari and Cahy Rivers. Today their settlements lie 
between Inhacora (Nucoré) (long. 54°15’ W.) and Lagoa Vermelha 
(long. 51°30’ W.). 

The Caingang of Misiones, Argentina.—At the end of the 19th 
century about 60 Caingang lived in the Argentine Territory of Misio- 
nes on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Central, 3 miles (5 km.) from the 
town of San Pedro, near the Yaboti River. According to Ambrosetti 
(1895, p. 307), these Indians, who were known in the region as Tupi, 
had come from Palmas or Rio Grande by crossing the upper Uruguay 
River. A few years later (1902), some of them returned to Brazil. 

Literature on the Caingang.—Few data on the Caingang can be 
gleaned from the Colonial literature. Though the Caingang are often 
mentioned in the Jesuit texts on the Paraguayan missions, Lozano 
(1878-74, 1:418-427) and Azara (1904, pp. 402-407) are the only 
authors who give short, but fairly accurate, descriptions of these 
Indians. The accounts of Father Luiz de Cemitille and of Telemaco 
Morocines Borba were for many years our best sources. Later, L. B. 
Horta Barboza (1918) published very exact observations on their cus- 
toms, which were supplemented by Manizer (1930). Ambrosetti 
(1895) has written an interesting article on the Caingang of San 
Pedro, in Misiones. The social organization and funerary rites 
of the Caingang were the subject of a special monograph by Baldus 
(1937 c). Henry (1941) studied the decadent remnants of the 
Aweikoma group and described their culture in psychological terms. 
Their language is known mainly through an excellent dictionary by 
Father Mansueto Barcatta de Valfloriana (1918, 1920) and a linguistic 
analysis by Jules Henry (1935). Ploetz and Métraux (1930) have 
attempted to bring together most of the data about the Caingang con- 
tained in the literature up to 1928. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Farming.—The only Caingang who subsisted entirely by hunting 
and collecting were those of the State of Santa Catarina, the so-called 
Botocudo or Aweikoma. These Indians, however, remembered a time 
when they, like all other Caingang groups, practiced agriculture. 

The ancient Guayand, ancestors of the modern Caingang, are de- 
scribed as relatively sedentary agriculturists, though our sources 
stress the importance of hunting in their economy. This was also 
true for the Caingang at the end of the 19th century. All their groups 
raised maize (red, white, and violet varieties), pumpkins, and beans 
(a white variety), but perhaps depended less than their Guarani 
neighbors on these crops. Like many Indians who had become ac- 
quainted with farming in recent times through the intermediary of 


Vor. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 451 


some other tribe, the ancient Caingang were improvident and con- 
sumed their crops as they matured, storing none for the lean months 
ahead. On the other hand, Horta Barboza (1913, p. 34) states that 
maize was as important to them as “wheat for the Europeans.” The 
Caingang of the region of San Pedro (Misiones), observed by 
Ambrosetti (1895, p. 337), opened their clearings in tracts covered 
with bamboo or sparse bush. ‘They broke the small trees with cudgels 
or by hand. When the dead trees were dry, they burned them and 
waited until the beginning of the rainy season for sowing. Women 
planted crops with digging sticks; they also harvested the crops and 
carried them home. Men do all the farming in the reservation of 
Palmas. 

In modern groups the tiller of a field is recognized as its exclusive 
owner; if he dies before harvest, the seedlings are destroyed. 

Collecting.—When the Caingang were still living in their aborig- 
inal condition, pine nuts of Avraucaria angustifolia, a tree which 
has a distribution coinciding more or less with that of the tribe, 
was fundamental to the native diet. From April to June the Indians 
gathered in the forests to climb the trees and knock down the ripened 
fruits, which the women helped to pick up. The climbing technique— 
also used in getting honey or in robbing birds’ nests—was to pass one 
noose around the feet, another around the tree and the climber’s back, 
and alternately move the two bands up the trunk. The Awekoma- 
Caingang used only a noose of bamboo strips. 

The Caingang also collected wild tubers (Dioscorea sp.) and a 
great many wild fruits, such as jaboticaba (M/yrciaria sp.), pitanga 
(Myrtaceae sp.), artici (Annona montana), pineapples, papaya 
(Carica papaya), caraguata (Bromelia sp.), etc. The starchy pith 
of the pindo palm (Cocos romanzoffiana) was formerly an important 
food item, but today has been supplanted by manioc flour. 

Honey and the larvae of bees and especially the larvae of the tamba 
beetle, which abound in decayed palm and bamboo trunks, are prized 
delicacies. It is also reported in some sources that the ancient 
Caingang did not despise snakes or lizards. 

Hunting.—The Caingang spend a large portion of their time hunt- 
ing alone or in small parties. The dog, treated by some groups as an 
indispensable auxiliary, is a recent acquisition. Some Caingang 
groups lacked it as late as 1912. To develop the smelling powers of 
their dogs, the Indians expose them to the smoke of the burnt skin 
of the game which they are to stalk. They never give them the bones 
of game animals to gnaw, taking great precaution lest the game be 
offended. 

An entire band participates in a peccary hunt. Old and young, 
preceded by dogs, endeavor to drive the animals toward hunters, 
who shoot them with arrows. The Aweikoma-Caingang follow droves 


452 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buny. 143 


of wild pigs for several days, killing all those which come within their 
reach. 

The Aweikoma-Caingang concentrate on hunting tapirs, which seem 
to be abundant in their territory. They track them with dogs or 
follow the deep “runs” opened by the tapirs in the bush and pursue 
their prey until it is forced into a stream, where they can kill it with 
ease. Similarly, they drive deer into streams, where they shoot or 
club them. 

To capture birds, hunters conceal themselves in a shelter built on a 
tree where the birds roost, and snare them with a noose at the end 
of a long pole. To catch parrots, they use a tame parrot as a decoy; 
for pigeons, they put corn out as bait (Horta Barboza, 1913, p. 31). 

The spring-pole traps were constructed like those of the Caingud or 
of the Chaco Indians. They consisted of a flexible sapling and a noose 
placed near a bait (Horta Barboza, 1913, p. 30). 

Hunting ritual.—As a rule a hunter never ate the meat of the game 
he had slain but gave it to some companion. He could not eat the 
flesh of a tapir he had killed before he had performed a rite in which 
he consumed premasticated tapir flesh and the charcoal of the burned 
tapir’s windpipe wrapped in grass (Henry, 1941, p. 86). When the 
Aweikoma-Caingang killed a tapir they stewed “tapir grass” on it and 
placated its soul with friendly words lest it prevent other tapirs from 
being caught. Monkeys were also asked to come and share the food 
of the hunter. Catngang of Sao Paulo considered the jaguar and deer 
meat taboo (Horta Barboza, 1913, p. 32); others refrain on some oc- 
casions from eating paca, capybara, and armadillo fiesh. 

Fishing.—The Caingang, although fond of fish, are very poor fish- 
ermen. They shoot fish with bows and arrows, impale them with two- 
pronged spears, or catch them by hand in the falls when shoals of fish 
ascend the river to spawn. They also capture them by hand in small 
lagoons formed by floods, which they drain (Horta Barboza, 1918, pp. 
32-83). The Caingang of Misiones blocked small streams with V- 
shaped stone dams. Against the openings they built a platform on 
which they placed a large mat folded and tied up at one end like a huge 
bag. 

Seasonal rhythm.—After planting their fields, the Caingang of 
Misiones went fishing along the small tributaries of the Parana River. 
Later they moved to the Sierra Central to collect pine nuts, and after- 
ward returned to their fields for the harvest. During their wanderings 
they hunted and gathered fruits and larvae in the forest. 

Food preparation.—The women do most of the cooking, though 
men generally prepare the game they kill. The Caingang generally 
roast the unskinned animal in ashes, on a spit, or on a rectangular 
babracot. The earth oven serves for baking large slices of meat, 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 453 


for example, tapir. A large pit is dug in the ground and lined with 
stones. A fire is built within the hole until the stones are glowing. 
The ashes and embers are then removed, the stones are covered with 
leaves, and the meat, carefully wrapped, is placed inside and buried 
under a thick layer of soil. Twelve hours later the meat is taken out, 
perfectly cooked. Fish are broiled on a babracot, then stored on an 
indoor platform. 

Women pound maize with heavy wooden pestles in cylindrical 
wooden mortars, which are sometimes large enough to accommodate 
three workers at a time and too heavy to be moved (fig. 58,d). They 
also have smaller mortars with which they use stone pestles. Maize 
flour is prepared as mush or is kneaded into dough and baked in ashes. 
Maize kernels are often soaked in water to the point of rotting, mashed, 
kneaded into loaves with saliva added, and roasted in ashes. 

The pith of pindo palms is crushed in a mortar, sifted, and roasted 
in a pan, just as with manioc flour. 

Soup is made from husked, chewed, soaked, and pounded pine nuts. 
They are also roasted in the shell on the embers; pine-nut dough may 
also be kneaded into small loaves and baked in the ashes. Pifons are 
preserved in tightly closed baskets soaked in water for a month and a 
half. In the past salt was unknown; tart malagiieta berries (Caps?- 
cum frutescens) were used instead. 

To stir the fire or lift food to and from it, the Caingang use a curved 
withe (Manizer, 1930, pp. 772, 774; Henry, 1941, pl. 2, 7). 


HOUSES 


Lozano (1878, 1:424) describes the Caingang or Guayand hut as 
follows: 


They stick in the ground a long forked pole against which they lean cross- 
wise four other poles. In this way they make four divisions covered with palm 
leaves. In each division lives a family with the children. Each compartment 
communicates with the other by small doors. In each community there are five 
or six such huts placed at convenient distance from each other so that everyone 
can hunt and fish. 


This type of house has entirely disappeared among modern Cain- 
gang, but a few years ago the Aweikoma remembered it as the house of 
the open savannas and were able to reconstruct one (Henry, 1941, 
p. 166). 

The more recent Caingang dwelling was a lean-to (fig. 56), which 
often was made into a gable-roofed hut when two structures of this type 
were joined. The Awetkoma-Caingang live either in an arched lean-to 
which is open on three sides or in a hut composed of two such units, the 
arches being made to descend to the ground at both ends (Henry, 1941, 


[B. A. E. BULL. 143 


SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


454 


pp. 164-166). Such dwellings are thatched with palm fronds or com- 
parable materials (fig. 57). Most Caingang groups live in houses iden- 


*19}[948 PUIM SunburMp9 ATIIWMIIgd—'9G auno17 


(‘892 ‘d ‘OS6T ‘19ezJUBy__ WOT UMBIPIZ) 


a 


in flimsy shelters or rest in a sort of nest which they build in the top of 


tical to those of the Caingud. When on a journey the Caingang sleep 
a tree (Horta Barboza, 1913, p. 35). 


The an- 


t Guayand slept, according to Portuguese chroniclers, on branches 


Hammocks of cotton are a recent Caingang acquisition. 


c1len 


455 


Léa 


THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 


VoL. 1] 


(‘8 ‘3G ‘4 S06T ‘PIvASZ;U00y UIOIy UAvIpPEY) 


‘sasnoy bupsupp ulepoW—')¢ auno1yT 


456 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


or skins. Their descendants, the Caingang, rest on large strips of 
bark or thick layers of palm fronds, but many groups have adopted 
platform beds. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Clothing.—The wild Caingang go naked except for a belt—gen- 
erally a skein of brilliant brown threads of the bark of the young 
Philodendron root or of palm twisted into a cord—and a square cloak 
(kurt) reserved for cold weather (fig. 58, a, 6). This garment is 
passed under the right arm and fastened on the left shoulder so as to 
leave both arms free. Women wear a short skirt made of caraguata 
fibers, secured around the waist by a wide belt of bark dyed a brilliant 
black. Both sexes wrap strips or strings of peccary hair or of bark 
around their ankles. Some Caingang tie up the foreskin of the penis 
and tuck it under their belts. On solemn occasions, Caingang women 
who were in contact with the Guarani missions wore a narrow sleeveless 
shirt (tipoy) made of caraguata fibers. Koenigswald (1908 b, p. 31) 
reproduces a feather apron which he describes as a women’s garment. 
Caingang women are also said to have used a bark band passed between 
the legs and fastened to the belt. 

Ornaments.—Some Awetkoma-Caingang of the State of Santa 
Catarina and of Rio Grande do Sul wear long rosin labrets like those 
of their Guarani neighbors. Others have wooden lip sticks (generally 
made of pine knot) 2 inches (34 em.) long “in the shape of a nail.” 
This usage is responsible for the name Botocudo given to the Caingang 
in these States. 

Feather ornaments were common among the Caingang, but except 
for the small “visors” of short toucan feathers worn around the fore- 
head, they are rarely described in our sources. Debret (1941, pls, 11 
and 12) has endeavored to represent a “Coroado” (Caingang) chief 
displaying al] his ornaments. The chief wears a fan-shaped feather 
headdress attached to his nape. Long feather tassels are tied to his 
upper arm and under his knees. The Catngang of the State of Parana 
don, on festive occasions, a feather cape, that covers them from head 
to foot (Koenigswald, 1908 b, p. 27). If this ornament actually was 
used by these Indians, it may well represent a survival of the feather 
cloaks of the ancient Guarani. 

During dances, men and women often strew down over their heads. 
Necklaces of seeds, animal teeth, bird bones, claws, and hoofs were 
generally slung around the shoulders; those composed entirely of 
monkey teeth were especially valued. The Caingang of Guarapuava 
and of Misiones had necklaces of small shell disks (Orthalicus phogera). 
Some Caingang wore necklaces which weighed nearly 6 pounds! 

Until recently, the Caingang wore a circular tonsure on top of the 
head; the fashion disappeared among adults after their contact with 


Vor. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 457 


the Whites, but was retained for small children. In recent times the 
Santa Catarina Awetkoma-Caingang of both sexes shaved the hair over 
the forehead and on top of the head (Paula Souza, 1924, p. 122). 

The Caingang abhor body hair and always remove it. Combs con- 
sist of small wooden splinters passed through a slit in a piece of reed. 

The Caingang seem to have used charcoal more than uruct for body 
painting. Among the Aweikoma-Caingang certain body paints belong 
to exogamic groups of people. The main motifs are dots, vertical 
lines, circles, and horizontal bars with vertical lines. The Caingang 
observed by Manizer (1930, p. 771) painted themselves only for funeral 
ceremonies. They regarded the black stripes on their chest as a pro- 
tection against the ghosts. The pigment was charcoal mixed with 
honey and water or with the sticky sap of a creeper. 


TRANSPORTATION 


River navigation never was so important to the Caingang as to their 
Tupi-Guarant neighbors. To cross a river, the Awetkoma-Caingang 
fell a tree on each side of the river and connect the intervening space 
with a tree trunk braced with poles fixed in the river bed. 

Caingang women carry babies on their backs, often in a net, by means 
of bark tumplines. Among the Awetkoma-Caingang these straps are 
4 inches (10 cm.) wide, woven of embira fibers. Knapsacks are sus- 
pended by a tumpline. 


MANUFACTURES 


Netting.— According to Koenigswald (1908 b, p. 49), the Parana 
Caingang made net bags of caraguata fibers. 

Basketry.—Caingang carrying baskets have a hexagonal weave, 
and, like those of the 7wpi, are elongated and rectangular knapsacks 
open on top and on the outer side, so that only the bottom and sides 
support the burden. Basketry containers woven from thin strips of 
split bamboo, frequently have stepped designs produced by alternating 
black and natural color strands (fig. 58, ¢). Some baskets, like those 
of the Guayand, are made in two parts that telescope into each other. 

The Aweikoma have three main types of baskets: large baskets for 
transportation of goods; small, impervious water or honey containers 
of Taquara mansa strips coated with wax; and small receptacles, 
similarly waterproofed, used as cups and dishes. 

Spinning.—Caingang textiles are made with the fibers of the ortiga 
brava, probably a Bromelia. Women seize the leaves with leather- 
covered hands, cut them at the base, and remove all the thorns, then 
macerate the leaves in water, dry, and, finally, crush them. The fibers 
are then rolled into threads with the palm of the hand against the 


458 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buny. 1438 


thigh. The threads, wound in a ball, are soaked in water mixed with 
ashes, then boiled, and again carefully washed; sometimes they are 
left in running water, so that they become white and flexible. Occa- 
sionally, part of the thread is dyed with catigua bark. 


Ki} i 


F 


Hy 
L i 
nH) 


d e f 


Figure 58.—Caingang manufactures. a, b, Kurus or nettle-fiber cloaks (redrawn from 
Koenigswald, 1908 b, figs. 15-16) ; c, twilled basket (redrawn from Koenigswald, 1908 b, 
fig. 20) ; d, wooden mortar in which three pestles are used at the same time (redrawn 
from Manizer, 1930) ; e, f, pottery jars (redrawn from Manizer, 1930). 


Weaving.—F abrics are woven by hand, sometimes on a simple loom, 
and always display a stepped, dark design which crosses the surface 
diagonally (fig. 58, a, 5). 

Ceramics.—For pottery, the Caingang of Misiones use a blackish 
earth from nearby cliffs. For tempering material, they bake lumps of 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 459 


clay, then crush and sift them. The composition of the clay used by 
other groups is unknown. ‘The potter first models the base of the pot 
by hand, then builds up the walls by adding successive coils, smoothing 
the sides with her fingers or with pieces of wood or shell, a corn cob, 
a stone, or a metal spoon. To keep the clay soft, she sprinkles it with 
water or saliva. The following day the pot is again smoothed, then 
left to dry in the shade and later in the sun. When thoroughly dry, 
the pot is covered with branches and fired in the open until red. Later, 
water mixed with ground maize is sprinkled on the pot “in order that 
it may be unbreakable.” Cracks are filled with wax while the pot is 
still hot. The firmg, however, is always imperfect; sherds of the 
heaviest Caingang pots reveal a thick layer of unfired clay in the mid- 
dle. The presence of a foreigner during firing endangers the process, 
and may cause the pot to crack beyond repair. 

The Caingang of Misiones make their pots characteristically black 
by exposing them to smoke in a basket before they are fired. 

Caingang ware has a conical base so that it can be set into the sand 
(fig. 58, e, f). The Caingang-Coroado make large beer jars, strik- 
ingly like Guarant jugs and funeral urns, with a conical body sur- 
mounted by a narrow edge. Besides large pots, the Caingang also 
manufacture flat roasting pans and conical drinking cups with thin 
walls. 

Fire.—The Caingang fire drill consists of a stick of hard wood in- 
serted into an arrow shaft and twirled between the palms of the hand. 
The hearth is a piece of soft wood. Dry palm shoots serve as tinder. 
According to a single authority, the Caingang also produce fire by 
sawing one piece of wood with another, a procedure observed by 
Rengger among the Caingud, but otherwise not reported for South 
America. The fire is activated with a fan. To avoid having to 
make fire, the natives carry a glowing brand in a pot or in a section 
of bamboo coated with clay. 

Weapons: Bows and arrows.——Bows are made of pao d’arco 
(Tabebuia impetiginosa) or of black ipé (Tabebuia chrysantha). Be- 
fore the Caingang acquired iron, they wrought the bow stave into shape 
by rubbing it with sandstone and flint flakes, and smoothed it with the 
rough leaves of umbauba (Cecropia sp.). Finally, the stave was 
warmed against a fire and smeared with grease. At each end a plaited 
bulge or, rarely, two right-angled notches prevented the caraguata or 
embira string from slipping. The stave was wrapped with strips of 
cipo embé (Philodendron imbe) (fig. 59,9), which at both ends formed 
a bulge to prevent the string from slipping. Some Caingang bows 
were 9 feet long, but they generally averaged from 7 to 8 feet. 

The arrow shaft, according to the locality, is made of taquara da 
frecha (Gynerium sagittatum), or of palo alecrim, a white wood that 


[B. A. B. Buu. 143 


SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS 


460 


BOS Nee 
Ny 


"1S OM. 


10 


c, arrow with single-barb 
h, arrow with barbed wooden 


a, b, Bird arrows 


FIGURE 59.—Caingang weapons and artifacts. 


> 9, bow; 
k, wooden club 


f, trumpet 


. 
’ 


fire tongs; e, flute 


bone point; d, 


l, wooden club covered with 


; J, bolas ; : 


point; i, arrow with iron point 


(Redrawn from Koenigswald 


1908 a, figs. a—-K; 


’ 


basketry; m, spear with iron point. 


1908 b, figs. 4-20.) 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 461 


turns very light when dry. To straighten a reed, they lash it against 
a horizontal piece of wood, fastening a weight at one end. Arrow- 
heads are wide taquara splinters, barbed rods (fig. 59, h), wooden 
rods tipped with a sharp point of monkey or deer bones (fig. 59, c), 
and massive, blunt wooden knobs used for birds (fig. 59, a,b). Some 
bird arrows are also tipped with four slightly diverging sticks or 
thorns. In recent years, the hunting and war arrows of the Santa 
Catarina Awezkoma-Caingang have been tipped with duck-bill iron 
heads (fig. 59, 2). Feathering is of the arched type (eastern Bra- 
zilian). Hunters always carry a ready supply of bone heads, shafts, 
and feathers to replace lost arrows. 

Spears are common among the Caingang, who tipped them with 
iron blades obtained from the Whites (fig. 59, m). The Aweikoma 
were extremely skillful in handling these weapons, which they deco- 
rated with fire-engraved designs and with basketry coverings. 

The clubs of the Parané Caingang are short cylindrical cudgels 
covered with basketry (fig. 59, 7); those of the so-called Botocudo are 
more or less tapering, with the cross section often prismatic, thus 
presenting sharp cutting edges (fig. 59, #). They are decorated with 
fire engravings and with a basketry sheath. The cudgels of the Sao 
Paulo Caingang have a bulging head and are from 5 to 6 feet long. 

Countless stone rings have been found on archeological sites of the 
State of Rio Grande do Sul. In the 17th century, some tribes of the 
upper Paraguay River used clubs with stone heads (itaiza), but there 
is no evidence that these Indians were Caingang, it is more likely that 
they were Guarani. 

To frustrate attack or pursuit by an enemy, the Caingang strewed 
the paths leading to their camps with caltrops made of sharp bone 
splinters bound in a bundle with cotton thread and wax. They also 
dug pitfalls in the bottom of which they placed sharp spears. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 


Moicties—The Caingang of Palmas have two exogamous, patri- 
lineal moieties, each split into two groups. Baldus (1935, pp. 44-47) 
does not give the names of the moieties, merely stating that they were 
called by the word for both “friend” and “two,” and that fellow mem- 
bers considered one another cousins. On the other hand, he lists 
the four subgroups according to their prestige as follows: Votoro, 
Kadnyerii (Kafieri), Aniky, and Kamé. The reason for this pref- 
erential ranking could not be ascertained. Every individual is born 
into a moiety, but is assigned to one of the subgroups at a mortuary 
feast by a man or a woman of his own moiety. 

Among the Caingang of Palmas, the father decided, when he 
painted a son or a daughter for the first time, to which of the two 


462 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn, 143 


groups of his moiety he would forever belong (Baldus, 1937 c). The 
alleged purpose of this assignment was to equalize the groups numer- 
ically, so that they could be paired for dancing; but, as each group 
danced separately, the explanation is probably a rationalization. In 
fact, the two divisions are not even approximately equal. Members 
of each group could be recognized by their facial painting. The Kad- 
nyert display round patterns, the Kamé stripes. (See Horta Barboza, 
1913, p. 39.) 

Nimuendajt’s (1914, pp. 373-875) earlier report concerning the 
Caingang between the Tieté and Ijuhi Rivers, speaks of two moieties 
associated with the ancestral twins Kafierti and Kamé. The former was 
of fiery and resolute, but volatile, temperament, and of light, slim build. 
Kamé, on the other hand, was mentally and physically slow, but 
persistent. Each moity included three (formerly four) classes: Pat, 
Votéro, Pénye. 

All natural phenomena are divided between these two moieties; the 
sun is Kamé, the moon, Kafierti. In general, slender and spotted ob- 
jects belong to the Kajiert, clumsy and striped ones to the Kamé. 
Their use in ritual is confined to the appropriate group. 

The Aweikoma-Caingang lack moieties, but have five groups with 
distinctive sets of personal names and body-paint designs. Though re- 
cent genealogical inquiry failed to establish either strict inheritance 
of group membership or exogamy, the natives insisted that individ- 
uals bearing the same designs should not marry, so that a former 
patrilineal clan system is indicated (Henry, 1941, pp. 59, 88, 175 f.). 

Marriage groups.—Concerning marriage rules between sub- 
groups, Horta Barboza (1913, p. 26) gives the following information: 

Marriages obey complicated rules depending on the groups [moieties] and sub- 
groups into which the Kaingang families are divided. The most important of 
these groups are the Camens and Canherucrens; marriages can take place only 
between the men of one group and the women of the other. However, it must not 
be thought that it is licit for a Camen to marry any Canherucren for, in order 
to make things more complicated, there is a division into subgroups, fairly 
numerous. Individuals of a certain Kamé subgroup can only marry a woman 
of a certain Canherucren [Kadnyert] subgroup, save for a few exceptions which 
confuse a question which otherwise should be so simple. 

Kinship terms.—The relationship system is based on relative age. 
A man calls his father, his grandfather, and the men of their gener- 
ations by the same term, and his mother and grandmother by another 
term. He uses a single name for all male and female blood relatives, 
excepting real parents and grandparents and grandparents’ siblings 
and own children. One word (child) serves for all people much 
younger than ego and for the children of all people with whom he has 
sexual relations. There is a word for husband and another for wife. 
A single word applies to all relatives-in-law (Henry, 1941, pp. 177- 
178). 


Vor. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 463 


POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


Chiefs wield little authority. They work in their fields and hunt 
like the rank and file of the group. Their position is conspicuous only 
when the community organizes a big feast, which is always given in 
the chief’s name. Chiefs also are the leaders of any collective under- 
taking. They maintain their hold on their people by distributing 
gifts and looking after their well-being (Koenigswald, 1908 b, p. 47). 
A chief who is overbearing or miserly is abandoned by his followers. 
The son of a chief succeeds to his father if he is acceptable to the 
group (Horta Barboza, 1913, p. 25). 


LIFE CYCLE 


Birth and childhood.—Formerly, a pregnant Caingang woman did 
not consort with her husband, and both observed food taboos. 
Women gave birth in the forest, sheltered from the supposedly malefi- 
cent moonbeans.* A few days after delivery the mother and child were 
fumigated, a rite accompanied by a drinking bout. 

Nowadays, a Caingang woman bears her child wherever she hap- 
pens to be, knowing how to take care of herself even if she is alone. 
Usually, she is delivered squatting while a midwife embraces her 
from behind, raising her now and then until travail is over. The 
navel cord is cut with a fingernail and tied with a caraguata string. 

Among the Aweikoma, the placenta and umbelical cord, wrapped 
in medicinal herbs, are placed in a basket and sunk in the stream. 
The mother winds a long cord around the ankles of the baby and 
removes it 15 days later during a feast given by the father to a group 
of relatives. The umbilical cord is disposed of by the mother’s 
brother or his wife or by the mother’s sister, who later become cere- 
monial parents. 

In other Caingang groups, the mother pulls open the infant’s eye- 
lids immediately after birth “in order that he might see,” breathes 
into his eyes and ears, and presses his temples and head from front 
to back. The father does not pay much attention to the baby until 
it is old enough to speak: Then he gives it 5 to 10 names. In the 
south, the names were bestowed without any rite after the above-men- 
tioned ceremony. 

The Caingang show the greatest tenderness to their children, seldom 
punishing them or using harsh words. 

According to Horta Barboza (1913, p. 27), when a boy reaches the 
age of 7, his mother rubs his body with the leaves of a certain tree 
and pours water over his head to make him courageous and diligent. 


4It is reported that they gave birth unassisted in a special cabin (Serrano, 1939, p. 26). 


464 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. EB. Buby. 143 


The child then receives a new name. Later, he may adopt names 
that refer to notable incidents of his life. 

In the Santa Catarina group, the perforation of the boys’ lower lip 
at the age of 2 or 8 is marked by great celebrations. Women, holding 
gourd rattles, dance with warriors, who beat the ground with their 
spears. The children are intoxicated with beer, and shaken until 
half unconscious, when their ceremonial fathers pierce their lips 
with a sharp stick (Henry, 1941, pp. 195-197). 

Marriage.—<According to Baldus’ census (1987 c, p. 48), men are 
generally older than their wives, in some cases as much as 15 to 20 
years; among 37 percent of the couples there was a difference of 10 
years. 

A man marries when 18 to 20 years of age. If his bride is not yet 
of age, he stays with her parents, waiting for the first signs of pu- 
berty. In case of child betrothal, the lad’s parents have to provide 
for the girl’s subsistence. 

Polygyny is mentioned by all the early sources, but details vary. 
Some authors declare that it was an old man’s privilege, others that 
it was restricted to the chiefs, good hunters, or famous warriors. 
There are also indications of sororal polyyyny and of marriage simul- 
taneously to a woman and her daughter (Teschauer, 1929, p. 350). 
In Tupi-Guarani fashion, a girl often married her mother’s brother. 

The Caingang of Palmas are, and claim always to have been 
monogamous. 

Manizer (1930) states that though a man may not marry his 
cousin—he does not specify which—he usually takes her as a concubine 
until her own marriage. If pregnancy occurs meanwhile, the girl, 
as a rule, commits abortion. It often happened that a man grew 
fonder of his cousin than of his legal wife, and that he sometimes 
resolutely opposed her marriage. The continuation of such relation- 
ship was bitterly resented by the legitimate wife. 

For the Aweikoma, Henry infers that 60 percent of all marriages are 
monogamous, a fair proportion of the remainder being polyandrous. 

A marriage ceremony witnessed by Manizer (1930, p. 776) took place 
during a drinking bout. Some old men seized the bridegroom and bride 
and pushed them toward each other in spite of the woman’s resistance. 
Then they dragged them into the bridegroom’s hut and left them there 
under a blanket. The following day the woman ran away, but was 
brought back by force. 

Matrilocal residence, formerly the Caingang rule, is still frequent, 
though many couples set up their own households. Baldus (1987 c, 
p. 48) heard “that only lazy men lived in their father-in-law’s house 
and that, should the father-in-law die, the husband would have to 
‘govern’ his mother-in-law.” 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 465 


Funerary rites.—Death may result from the abduction of the soul 
by some spirit or by the ghost of a relative. 

The ghost-soul loves and pities the living whom it has deserted, but the latter 
fear and abhor the ghost-soul. [Henry, 1941, p. 67.] 

Not long ago the Awetkoma-Caingang cremated the dead and later 
collected and buried the bones, along with part of the deceased’s prop- 
erty. After a cremation, they extinguished their fires and drilled fire 
anew. The soul of the deceased loomed as a peril especially to the 
surviving spouse, who went into retreat, abstained from eating meat, 
and underwent lustration. To terminate mourning, the mourner’s 
hair and fingernails were clipped, pounded up, and thrown into the 
water. Then followed a beer festival, accompanied by dances and 
songs, during which the widow drank beer from a bamboo tube. 
Keening was not confined to the period of death, but occurred through- 
out the following year whenever relatives recalled their bereavement. 

The Caingang now inter their dead with knees drawn up. Chants are 
sung around the body during and after its transportation to the grave. 
One cemetery had two central tumuli, 10 to 20 feet by 18 to 25 feet 
(3 to 6 m. by 5.5 to 7.5 m.) surrounded by vertically walled ditches. 
The same tumuli have been reported for the 18th-century Guayand, an- 
cestors of the Caingang © (fig. 60). The corpse, with funeral deposit, 
is put in a deep chamber, roofed with palm fronds and earth. The vil- 
lagers at once desert the settlement and hastily construct new dwellings 
in the woods. For 3 days they eat only palm shoots (palmitos) and 
maize boiled by throwing heated potsherds in the water. They destroy 
part of the deceased’s property and impose a strict taboo on his name. 

The grave is periodically visited to renew the mound and to hold a 
memorial service with lamentations, dancing, chanting, and drinking. 
For several years, at dawn and dusk the relatives of a dead person utter 
funeral laments. 

In days of old if a person died far away from his village, his com- 
panions interred his body on the spot but kept his head in a pot. On 
returning home they celebrated a funeral ceremony and buried the head 
in the communal cemetery (Horta Barboza, 1913, pp. 29-30). 

Life after death.—Before the burial, the shaman, as he rattles his 
gourd by the corpse, warns the soul about the lurking dangers in the 
other world. He tells it that it will arrive at two paths, one leading 
to the cobweb of a gigantic spider and the other to a trap which will 


5 See Lozano (1873-74, 1: 423): “forman un género de cementerio, que conservan muy 
limpio; y en 61 abren sus sepulturas, y en enterrando 4 alguno, ponen sobre cada una un 
mont6n de tierra en figura piramidal, en cuyo remate sientan un medio calabazo, y al pié 
conservan de continuo un fuego lento que van a cebar todos los dias con lefia muy tenue, 
sus mas cercanos parientes. El calabazo, dicen, es para que no falte al difunto con que 
beber, si le afligiere la sed; y el fuego para que ahuyente las moscas.” On the funerary 
mounds, see also Serrano (1939, pp. 15-16). 


583486—46 30 


466 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buu. 143 


aC 


Ficurn 60.—Caingang burial mound. Top: View of mound shortly after completion. 
Center: Cross section of mound showing location of burial chambers. Bottom: Cross 
section of burial chamber in mound with body and accompanying grave artifacts. 
(Redrawn from Manizer, 1930, p. 767.) 


Vow. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 467 


precipitate it into a boiling pot. He also describes the slippery path 
from which it may fall into a swamp, where a huge crab awaits it 
(Nimuendaja, 1914, p. 372). 

But at last the soul arrives at an underworld in the west, where it is 
day during our night, and where the forests teem with tapirs, deer, and 
other game. The souls of the aged become young again and live for 
the span of a human life. After a second death, the soul turns into a 
small insect, generally a mosquito or an ant, whose death ends every- 
thing; for this reason the Caingang never kill these insects (Baldus, 
1937 c, p. 49). 


WARFARE 


A man who has been offended by some member of the community 
stands in front of his hut and in a loud voice enumerates all his griev- 
ances, sometimes bursting into a chant. He ends with threats against 
his enemy who, in the meantime, behaves in the same manner on the 
other side of thecamp. After reciprocal abuses that often last a whole 
night, the challenger, followed by a group of supporters, advances 
toward the offender, who is immediately assisted by his own partisans. 
Both factions, armed with wooden clubs, fight a pitched battle, but are 
careful not to kill anybody. The sham battles of the Caingang have 
been described by many observers and may well be formalized brawls 
which have been interpreted as sportive games. 

Feuds between Caingang groups may develop into regular warfare. 
When one group engages another, the members of the Kadnyert moity 
subdivision always form the first line. The Kamé constitute the second 
line and enter the fight as a reserve to take the place of the exhausted 
Kadnyerii. Battles between related groups are always preceded by ex- 
changes of insults and by other demonstrations of anger. Although 
no weapons but cudgels are used, blows are so lustily administered that 
many are seriously wounded or killed. 

Wars against foreign tribes or the Whites were less strictly pat- 
ternized. The Caingang, like all Indians, relied mainly on surprise 
attacks carried on at dawn. After a general discharge of arrows, the 
warriors, armed with their clubs, rushed against the enemy (Horta 
Barboza, 1918, p. 42). 

Women and children were generally spared and were adopted by 
the victorious group. They cut off the heads of slain enemies but 
did not keep them as trophies. 


ETIQUETTE 


When a Caingang visits another village, he hides in the vicinity until 
able to announce his presence to some relative. The host receives him 
with his face covered with a cloth and does not look at his guest until 


468 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Burn, 143 


food is served. If the visitor mentions the death of some relative, the 
women start to wail (Ambrosetti, 1895, p. 321). 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Musical instruments.—Most information on Caingang musical 
instruments comes from Manizer (1934). The trumpets (fig. 59, f) 
have a bell made of a thick section of bamboo and the blow hole on the 
side, a rare feature in South America. The bell of some trumpets is 
made of the involucres of the coqueiro or gerivA palm (Cocos botryo- 
phora) (Teschauer, 1929, p. 348; Debret, 1940, pl. 11). 

The clarinets are of the idioglotal type, that is, the tongue is split 
from the reed mouthpiece. The bell is either a gourd or a cowhorn. 
The Caingang also have an instrument which Izikowitz (1935, p. 254) 
calls “slit-valve.” According to Manizer (1934, p. 312), it consists 
of a reed tube, closed at one end and crushed at the middle so that it 
bursts into longitudinal slits. 

In playing this instrument, an air current blown through the open end passes 
out through the slits thereby causing these to vibrate and produce a tone. 

Similar instruments were used by the Bororo and the Paressi- 
Cabishi. 

The Caingang are among the few South American Indians who play 
the nose flute. This flute, about 3 feet (1 m.) long, has two stops at 
the distal end and one at the proximal end; the blow hole is in the 
septum of the reed, which has been left in place (fig. 59, e). Another 
flute, reproduced by Izikowitz (1935, p. 299, figs. a, g) has the same 
number of stops but is blown sidewise (transverse flute). It is pos- 
sible that the latter type is also blown with the nose. The specimen 
is decorated with a basketry cover. 

The Caingang also play the notched flute (quena) with four stops. 
They do not seem to have known the panpipes, though Izikowitz (1935, 
p. 408) attributes it to them on very flimsy evidence. This instrument 
does not occur in the whole area, and its presence among the Caingang 
would constitute an inexplicable anomaly. 

The rhythms of dances and songs are beaten with the gourd rattle 
and the stamping tube. The handle of the rattle is often trimmed 
with bark strips and feather tufts; the gourd itself is covered with 
engraved designs. 

Songs.—The words of songs, generally improvised, refer to events 
taking place around the singers or allude to past wars, hunting, and 
other economic activities. Sometimes a singer enumerates his griev- 
ances against a fellow tribesman, an action regarded as a challenge. 
The chants of the Aweikoma-Caingang are a succession of meaningless 
syllables often sung on one note. These Indians seldom sing in 
unison. 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 469 


Dances.—The members of a Caingang subgroup dance together. 
The dancers, about 3 feet (1 m.) apart, form two concentric circles 
around a line of fires, the men inside and the women outside. A 
singer in the center first shakes his rattle and, placing each foot alter- 
nately before and behind, dances sideways. At this signal, the other 
performers shake their rattles, and both circles begin to turn in one 
direction, following the rhythm of the song and rattle. Men without 
rattles strike the ground with stamping tubes. Behind them, women 
lift their forearms and move their empty hands slightly to each side 
in a kind of “blessing” gesture. When the leader is back to the start- 
ing point, he stops, and the others wait quietly until he is rested or is 
replaced by another leader. 

Toys and games.—Caingang children are very skillful at filliping 
sticks, maize kernels, and small arrows resting on the bent arm. 
Maize shuttlecocks are batted with the palm of the hand. Children 
spin tops made of a clay whorl or a lump of wax on a stick. 

The favorite Caingang adult sport is a mock battle between mem- 
bers of two communities, who hurl small clubs or, at night, firebrands 
at each other. Although these weapons may wound or even kill, 
casualties are not resented and do not call for blood revenge. This 
sport is played on open ground where heaps of clubs have previously 
been deposited. Women, protecting themselves with bark shields, 
run among the players to pick up and hand the clubs to their men. 
The Aweikoma throw stones wrapped in small fiber bags, which are 
parried with short clubs. The Caingang are also fond of wrestling. 

Narcotics.—A great many stone pipes have been found in the 
Caingang area—a puzzling fact since smoking has not been observed 
among these Indians. 

Drinking and intoxicants.—The Catngang prepare intoxicants 
from maize, sweet potatoes, pine nuts, honey, and the fruit of several 
species of palm, especially buriti (Mauritia vinifera) and jussara 
(Euterpe sp.). Maize is slightly roasted over ashes, ground, and 
boiled in large pots for about a night. The next day part of the 
mass is chewed, then boiled again with the remainder. Shortly before 
the feast, the liquid is transferred to a huge trough made of a tree 
trunk and half buried in the ground. The liquor is heated by a fire 
built around the trough or by red-hot stones or potsherds which are 
thrown into it. During 2 or 3 days of fermentation, men dance 
around the beer, singing, shaking their rattles, and beating the ground 
with the stamping tubes.* The beer is often mixed with honey. 

The Aweikoma-Camgang start to prepare their mead a month before 
its consumption. A mixture of honey and water, to which they add 


_* Koenigswald (1908 b, p. 45) distinguishes three kinds of beer: Goya-ff, made of nat- 
urally fermented maize meal; quequi (Kiki), prepared with maize and honey; and goya- 
kupri, made of chewed maize. 


470 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BuLy. 143 


the juice of a fern to “make the beer red,” is fermented in wooden 
troughs from 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m.) long made of tree stumps 
hollowed out by burning and chopping, then closed at both ends with 
wax. To accelerate fermentation, the beverage is heated every 3d 
day with red-hot stones and then covered with pieces of bark. 


COMMUNICATION 


The Caingang leave messages in symbolic code for those who will 
follow the same path. A stick with honey indicates where a bees 
nest has been found; dolls and sticks represent a feast to which some 
group is being invited; an inclined stick shows the time of day at 
which some event took place; feathers scattered on the ground tell of 
a successful hunting party, etc. (Manizer, 1930, p. 790). Lozano 
(1873, 1: 425) stated that to declare war, the Guayand (i. e., the Cain- 
gang) stuck an arrow into a tree near a path followed by their enemies. 
A circle of maize cobs on the ground or hanging from a tree was an 
invitation to a drinking bout. 


RELIGION 


Religious beliefs.—The Aweikoma conceive the world to be 
strongly animistic, peopled with ghosts (kupléng) and spirits (nggi- 
yuidn) of all sorts who dwell in trees, rocks, mountains, stars, winds, 
and in large and small animals. To meet a spirit is, as a rule, an 
ominous event. But spirits may be friendly and appear to a man 
to offer their aid. Those who are assisted in hunting by a guardian 
spirit share with it the game which they have killed. A man may 
even adopt a spirit child and place it in his wife’s womb. 

Aweikoma-Caingang share the widespread belief that all animals 
have “masters,” that is to say, spirits that control and protect them. 
Such spirits are willing to give up some of their kin to satisfy men’s 
needs, but are angered if people destroy them wantonly or if hunters 
refuse an animal “offered” to them. 

Shamanism.—The Caingang shaman consults spirits at night, puff- 
ing his pipe until he is surrounded by a cloud of smoke. The spirits 
talk to him in long whistles and tell him where to find a favorable 
hunting ground or abundant honey. They may also reveal the out- 
come of an undertaking involving the band. 

Shamans are also doctors, but this role is less conspicuous among 
the Caingang than elsewhere and is even absent among the Caingang 
of Palmas and of Sao Paulo. Among the decadent Awetkoma-Cain- 
gang, observed by Henry (1941, p. 76), shamans only treated members 
of their immediate family and did not receive a fee for their cures. 
The shaman knows many magic remedies, generally herbs, the virtues 


Vou. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 471 


of which have been revealed to him by some spirit. A certain grass, 
said to be the favorite food of tapirs, is endowed with great medicinal 
virtues. It is used not only to cure but also to prevent sickness 
(Henry, 1941, p. 83). Massages play a great part in therapeutics. 
Sometimes these are so violent that the practitioner steps on the 
patient’s stomach. The skin is frequently rubbed with pulverized 
barks or plants before the treatment. Burning herbs are used thera- 
peutically, particularly for wounds. A patient bitten by a snake is 
laid upon a slanting platform over a fire and given warm water to 
drink to make him vomit. Manizer (1980, p. 784) was impressed by 
the number of people whose heads, arms, or legs were swathed in 
Philodendron for therapeutic purposes. To lessen fatigue on a long 
walk, the Indians bandage their legs up to the hip with tight braids. 
(On Caingang medicine, see Paula Souza, 1918, pp. 750-753.) 

Bloodletting, which is practiced with a flint flake or a piece of glass, 
is € common cure for many ailments. Like many Indians, the Cain- 
gang treat fever with cold baths. Breathing on the affected spot is a 
common means of assisting a suffering person. Wounds are 
sprinkled with pulverized jaborandy powder. 

When illness is caused by the loss of the soul, the patient may re- 
cover if appropriate words are spoken to induce the soul to return. 
It is often promised food. If the shaman’s diagnosis reveals that 
the disease has been brought about by invisible missiles shot by a 
spirit, the cure consists of extracting them with the mouth. This 
procedure, however, was observed only among the Aweikoma-Cain- 
gang of Santa Catarina. 

Magic practices.—To drive clouds away, old women blow against 
the right hand and then wave it toward the clouds, spreading the 
fingers as if to disseminate their breath. When the Aweikoma-Cain- 
gang desire rain, they put their mouths to the water and blow. They 
take some in their hands and cry, as they throw it upward, “Look 
here? Do like this.” (Henry, 1941, p. 94.) Ashes thrown into a 
river are expected to stop its rise. 

Divining.—According to Lozano (1873, 1:427), Guayand shamans 
drank maté in order to consult spirits. Answering questions put to 
them by their clients, the shamans always said, “The grass [maté] 
told me this or that.” Among modern Aweikoma, a man may be 
requested to drink maté and to belch while he is asked questions. A 
strong belch is interpreted as “No” and a weak one as “Yes” (Henry, 
1941, p. 88). 

In order to know which animals will be killed and where they will 
be found, the Awezkoma-Caingang set fire to a heap of pine-wood char- 
coal. The size of the spark corresponds to an animal species and 
the place where it twinkles indicates where the game will be slain. 


472 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


The Caingang of Sao Paulo believe that old women have the power 
of foretelling the future in dreams which they induce by taking the 
pulverized leaves of an unknown plant. 

Cult of the dead.—This cult is “the foundation and strongest ex- 
pression of the spiritual culture of the Kaingang” (Baldus, 1935, 
p. 52), as the whole community takes part in the ceremonies, and 
children are at this time assigned by their fathers or others to moiety 
subgroups. 

The aim of veingréinya, the main ritual, is to break the bonds unit- 
ing the living with the ghosts, who are driven to their last abode, 
where they remain harmless. It takes place when the maize is green 
and pine nuts are ripe, that is, sometime between the middle of April 
and June. It is organized by mourners for a parent, a sister, or a 
son, but never for a wife or a daughter; according to Manizer, the 
initiative is taken by a distant relative. 

The green bough placed above the tomb announces the coming per- 
formance; the news of which is carried to nearby settlements by 
messengers appointed by the “master of the dance.” One of the 
heralds blows a horn; another informs the gathered listeners of the 
date. 

In the meantime, the organizer piles up wood and gathers honey 
and maize, kept in pots in a special place, for liquor. For 3 days be- 
fore the festival, men dance around these containers, crying and sing- 
ing funeral songs. The fermented beverages, poured into large 
troughs dug out of bottle-tree trunks, are heated by throwing red-hot 
potsherds into them. During the night before the feast, the organizer 
and his assistant go to the cemetery to cover the grave with earth. 

In the morning, the trough is dragged to the plaza and food heaped 
around it. Men sing and beat the ground with a stamping tube. 

On the day before veingréinya, the visitors, blowing horns and 
bamboo flutes, arrive and are met by their hosts and treated to beer. 
The following afternoon, the members of the moiety subgroups, 
adorned with their distinctive facial paintings, are led separately 
to the cemetery by relatives of the deceased. At the head of each 
moiety are a singer and three dancers, as well as the close relatives. 
On the way, the singer with his subgroups stops by every tree at 
which the corpse bearers have rested en route and sings a song of 
meaningless syllables, shaking his rattle and kicking his feet back 
and forth. After this musical interlude, they resume marching, but 
the other moiety has to go through the same ceremony. When the first 
moiety reaches the cemetery, the same dance is performed over the 
grave, the singer standing over the head of the deceased. The re- 
mainder of the crowd remains outside the cemetery. Then the other 
moiety dances over the grave. When the ghost is thought to have 
been expelled, everyone shouts for joy and runs in all directions. 


Vow. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 473 


The moieties join, and the mixed sounds of “flutes and laughter and 
cries were heard all over the place.” The singers and dancers receive 
liquor until completely drunk. Later the moieties dance in a double 
circle around bonfires lit on the plaza; finally, everyone drinks to his 
heart’s content. 

A few variant details are given by Manizer (1930, p. 787). The 
relatives of the dead, who remained in their huts with the head covered 
with blankets, are forced to drink beer until they lose consciousness. 
Those who have gone to the cemetery paint black strokes over their 
bodies. Soon after, many pairs of participants, standing face to face, 
ery out in turn, “xogn, xogn,” while the spectators sing lugubrious 
melodies. Then everyone dances counter-clockwise around the fire, 
keeping time with his bamboo tube. 


MYTHOLOGY 


The mythology of the Caingang is known mainly through a few 
myths collected by Borba (1904) and summarized here: 

Origin of agriculture.—The Indians suffered scarcity of food. A 
chief told them to cultivate a piece of land by fastening a creeper 
around his neck and trailing him on the ground. They did so, and 
3 months later his penis produced maize, his testicles beans, and his 
head gourds. 

Origin of fire.—Tejet6 transformed himself into a white urraca 
(bird) and let himself be carried by a brook flowing by the house of 
the Master-of-fire, whose daughter picked up the bird and dried him 
by the fire. Tejet6 stole an ember and was pursued, but hid in the 
crevice of a cliff. To strike him, the Master-of-fire thrust the end of 
his bow into the crevice. Tejeté made his nose bleed and smeared the 
bow with the blood. The Master-of-fire, convinced that he had killed 
the thief, wentaway. Tejeté kindled the dry branch of a palm. Since 
then men have had fire. 

The deluge.—There was in olden times a great deluge. From the 
waters there emerged only the summit of the mountain Crinjijinbé, 
toward which the Kayurukré and the Kamé swam, with firebrands 
in their mouths. The Kayurukré and the Kamé were drowned, and 
their souls went to live in the center of the mountain. The Cammgang 
and some Curuton or Aré arrived at the summit of Crinjijinbé. They 
remained there several days crouched in the branches of a tree or 
reposing on the ground. 

The saracuras (a kind of bird) came with baskets full of dirt and 
began to fill the sea. They were aided in their work by the ducks. 

The Caingang who were on the ground could leave, but those who 
had climbed into the trees were turned into monkeys, and the Curuton 
were changed into owls. 


474 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


The Caingang established themselves in the vicinity of the Serra 
of Crinjijinbé. The Kayurukré and the Kamé left the mountain, the 
former by a smooth and level path, and the latter by a rugged trail, 
whence the small feet of the Kayurukré and large ones of the Kamé. 
Where the Kayurukré had been, a river gushed through the pass, but 
the place from which the Kamé emerged remained just as it was. That 
is why they continue to go to ask water of the Kayurukré. 

The Caingang ordered the Curuton to seek the baskets they had left 
at the foot of the mountain; the latter did not want to go back. Ever 
since then, they have lived separated from the Caingang, who con- 
sidered them fugitive slaves. 

The creations of Kamé and Kayurukré.—Two brothers, Kamé 
and Kayurukré, after having left the mountain, created jaguars from 
ashes and coals; then the antas or tapirs from ashes only. The tapir, 
who had a small ear, heard that he was ordered to eat herbs and 
branches, when the Creators had told him to subsist on meat. 

Kayurukré also made the great anteater, which he did not have time 
to finish, whence his toothless jaw and his tongue, which is only a little 
stick that Kayurukré in his haste put in his mouth. 

Kayurukré made the useful animals, among them the bee; Kamé, the 
harmful creatures (pumas, serpents, wasps, etc.). 

The brothers resolved to kill the jaguars. They made them get ona 
tree trunk thrown into a stream. Kamé was to push the trunk and 
make it drift away. Some jaguars clung to the bank and Kamé, 
frightened by their roaring, did not dare to push them into the water. 
It is on account of his faintheartedness that jaguars still exist. 

The people of Kayurukré and those of Kamé intermarried. As the 
men were more numerous than the women, they allied themselves also 
with the Caingang. From that time on Kayurukré, Kamé, and Cazn- 
gang considered themselves kinsmen and friends. 

In olden times, the Caingang did not chant or dance. One day 
Kayurukré, going to hunt, saw some branches dancing at the foot of 
a tree. One branch was crowned with a gourd, which tinkled and 
marked the rhythm of a melody chanted by an invisible being. 

Kayrukré’s companions took the branches (stamping tubes), while 
he took the gourd (rattle). They danced with these instruments. 

A few days later, Kayurukré met the great anteater, who stood erect 
on his paws and began to chant. His song was identical with the 
one that Kayurukré had heard the day he saw the sticks dancing. 
Thus he learned that the mysterious chanter was the great anteater. 
The anteater demanded of him his sticks and then danced. He pre- 
dicted that his wife would bear him a boy. 

The Awetkoma-Caingang of Santa Catarina tell only confused 
origin myths, but have stories of animals, among them how Humming- 


Vor. 1] THE CAINGANG—METRAUX 475 


bird hoarded water. Traditions of internecine feuds, however, loom 
most prominently in their lore (Henry, 1941, pp. 124-152; 1935, pp. 
Lie £., 201). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Adam, 1902; Ambrosetti, 1894 b, 1895; Azara, 1809, 1904; Baldus, 1935, 1937 ¢; 
Barcatta de Valfloriana, 1918, 1920; Borba, 1882, 1904, 1908; Cartas Anuas, 1927— 
29; Chagas Lima, 1842; Debret, 1940; Diaz de Guzman, 1914; Ewerton Quadros, 
1892; Freitas, 1910; Gensch, 1908; Henry, 1935, 1936, 1941; Hensel, 1869; Horta 
Barboza, 1913; Ihering, 1895, 1904 a, 1904 b, 1907 a, 1907 b; Izikowitz, 1935; 
Koenigswald, 1908 a, 1908 b; Leao, 1913; Lista, 1883; Lozano, 1873-74; Machado 
de Oliveira, 1846; Manizer, 1930, 19384; Martinez, 1904; Martius, 1867; Meyer, 
1896 ; NimuendajG, 1914; Paula, 1924; Paula Souza, 1918; Ploetz and Métraux, 
1930, Saint-Hilaire, 1880-51; Sampaio, 1897; Santin, 1906; Serrano, 1986, 1989, 
1941; Siemiradzki, 1898 b; Soares de Souza, 1851; Staden, 1925; Taunay, 1913, 
1918; Teschauer, 1914, 1918, 1929; Vogt, 1904; Xarque, 1900. 


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THE NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE 
By Rosrert H. Lowrie 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS 


Within the Ge family may be recognized five major branches—the 
Northwestern, the Central, the Southern, the Jeicé, and the Camacan 
(Kamakan)—linguistic and geographical classification happening to 
coincide. Of these, the Northwestern and Central branches are too 
closely allied in culture to warrant separate treatment. 

Northwestern Ge.—This branch embraces four subbranches, the 
Timbira, Northern Cayapo, Southern Cayapo, and Suyd (map 1, 
No, 12; map 7). 

The 7imbdira habitat, from latitude 3° to 9° S. and from longitude 
42° to 49° W., falls preponderantly into the steppe zone, though a few 
tribes—notably the Western Gavides—are forest dwellers. The T%m- 
bira comprise a western and an eastern section, the former represented 
only by the A pinayé, traditionally descendants of an Eastern Timbira 
tribe (the Crvicati), who occupied the triangle between the Tocantins 
and lower Araguaia Rivers to about latitude 6° 30’ S., sometimes trans- 
gressing the boundary in a northwesterly direction. In some respects 
they approximate the Northern Cayapo. The Eastern Timbira live 
east of the Tocantins River and when first mentioned (1728) even 
ranged in some measure east of the Parnahyba River. Besides extinct 
groups, they include 15 tribelets, some dialectically differentiated and 
often warring against one another. Of these the Neo-Brazilians—not 
the natives—unite the Kéncateye, Apdnyecra, and Ramcocamecra as 
“Canella,” a name often conveniently applied to the last-mentioned 
and best known of Z?%mbira groups. Their ancient habitat lay be- 
tween the Itapecurti and the Corda Rivers as far north as lat. 5°50’ S. 
Their economy prevented fixity of settlement within this area; prior 
to 1934 they had occupied for some time the village of Ponto, 49 miles 
(78 km.) south of Barra do Corda. 

The Northern and the Southern Cayapé (Kayapo) are distinct, 
though related, peoples, each split into an indefinite number of hordes. 

The Northern Cayapé (lat. 10° S., long. 52° W.) formerly designated 
in Matto Grosso as Corod and in Paréd as Caraja, figured west of the 
Araguaia River as Cradahé, a name bestowed by the true Carajé. 

477 


478 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bux. 143 


Since the 17th century, the several hordes have been found from the 
lower Xingti River southward to the vicinity of Cuyaba, reaching 
affluents of the Tapajéz River on the west and the Araguaia River on 
the east. These local groups were by no means under a single 
head ; indeed, the animosity between the Gérotire and the Pau d’Arco 
hordes persists. 

The Southern Cayapo (lat. 20° S., long. 50° W.), now extinct, are 
also known since the 17th century in several districts jointly repre- 
senting an immense area: in southern Goyaz, along the upper Araguaia 
and Paranahyba tributaries; in southeastern Matto Grosso; in north- 
western Sao Paulo; and in western Minas Gerais, between the Para- 
nahyba River and the Rio Grande. 

The Suyd (lat. 18° S., long. 52° W.) live below the confluence of the 
headwaters of the Xing River. They are described elsewhere (Hand- 
book, vol. 3). 

Central Ge.—Two sections are recognized—the Akwé and the 
Acrod. The Akwé embrace the Shacriabd, the Shavante (lat. 11° S., 
long. 49° W.), and the Sherente (lat. 11° S., long. 48° W.). Of these, 
the extinct Shakriaba once inhabited the southern part of the Tocan- 
tins-Sio Francisco watershed (map 7). 

The term Shavante has been applied in several senses, e. g., to the 
Shavante-Oti (lat. 23° S., long. 51° W.), a group of isolated speech in 
Sao Paulo and to the also probably isolated Shavante-Opayé (lat. 21° 
S., long. 54° W.) in southern Matto Grosso. In other words, these two 
and the Shavante-Akwé are in no way related. 

There has been further confusion because the Shavante-Akwé have 
been also called Criva (or Curixd), Puwiti, and Tapacud, so that these 
synonyms appear as names of separate tribes. On the other hand, 
several unrelated tribes have been confounded with the Shavante 
proper, e. g., the Canoeiro (Tupi), the Nyurukwayé (probably T%m- 
bira) between the Apinayé and the Shavante-Akwé, and Castelnau’s 
enigmatic Orajoumopre. 

The history of the Shavante and the related Sherente is closely 
interwoven. Earlier writers were not clear as to a distinction be- 
tween them; before 1812 no one assigned distinct territories to each, 
and in 1824 Cunha Mattos still credited them with the same habitat, 
though with separate villages. In 1814, Castelnau regarded the To- 
cantins River as dividing the Shavante to the west from the Sherente 
to the east. After 1859 the two are always sharply distinguished, for 
about then the Shavante definitely went west across the Araguaia 
River, while the Sherente remained, in presumably their ancient 
habitat, on both sides of the Tocantins River, between lat. 8° and 
10° S. Notwithstanding their political differentiation, the Sherente 
and Shavante are essentially one in speech and custom. 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 479 


The Acrod, differing considerably from the Akwé in language, em- 
braced the Acrodé proper and the Guegué, who shared the same dia- 
lect. The Northern Acrod (lat. 12° S., long. 47° W.) and Guegué 
(lat. 10° S., long. 46° W.) dwelt in the 18th century west of the Sao 
Francisco River, were settled in Piaui, and became extinct by 1850. 
The Southern Acrod (lat. 16° S., long. 47° W.) were settled in Goyaz, 
where a few individuals seem to survive near Duro. 


ARCHEOLOGY 


In Apinayé territory, quantities of pottery sherds, some with plas- 
tic decoration, indicate prior occupation by an alien people. Within 
the Northern Cayapo area there are likewise remnants of earthen- 
ware representing sundry local types. Their incised and _ plastic 
ornamentation raises them above the ceramics of the Cariban Arara 
and the Zupz sprinkled over the Northern Cayapo habitat, but does 
not approach the level of finds made at the mouth of the Xingii River. 
Occasionally, there are traces of secondary urn burial. The sherds are 
not restricted to the major rivers, but occur likewise far up minor 
tributaries. Similar finds were made by Kissenberth (1912 a) on the 
Arraias River, an affluent of the Araguaia River. In short, a large 
area was at one period held by potters, i. e., by non-Ge. 

Nimuendaju conjectures that in the area of the historic Cayapd, 
who presumably spread from the southern steppes, the pottery-mak- 
ing peoples occupied the forest region in solid masses, but later suc- 
cumbed to the Cayapo. The several 7’wpi tribes, such as the Yuruna 
and Shipaya, entered the territory by canoe, and, thanks to their skill 
as boatmen and the Cayapo lack of canoes, were able to maintain 
themselves into the historical period. 


HISTORY OF THE GE 


The history of the Akwé has already been sketched. The Zimbra, 
first mentioned in 1728 as extending east of the Parnahyba River, are 
recorded as hostile natives of Piaui as late as 1769. Four streams of 
colonists from Sao Luiz de Maranhao, Para, Goyaz, and Bahia 
brought these Indians into contact with Whites, who by 1810 formed 
a solid zone across southern Maranhio. That was the period of 
armed expeditions, often slave-raids, against the Z%mbzra, on the pre- 
tense that as “Botocudos” the Government had excluded them from 
the prohibition of slavery. The Indians often defended themselves 
successfully, but, by the middle of the century, disease, White treach- 
ery, and wars had begun to sap their resistance. 

The hostilities, however, were by no means exclusively with Whites, 
for these tribes constantly warred against one another, the Crahé 
soon making common cause with the settlers against their fellow 


A480 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. EB. Bun. 143 


Timbira. More intelligible is the Ramedcamecra aid to government 
troops suppressing a revolt of the alien Guajajara (1901). However, 
the Ramcécamecra, at one time bitter enemies of the Chacamecra, 
incorporated the handful of survivors from that tribe, though pre- 
serving a sense of their distinctness. On the other hand, in about 
1850 the Western Gavides, the only Timbira now living unconfined, 
withdrew from their eastern kinsmen, the Pucdbye, of the Grajahi 
steppes, into the inaccessible forests. 

Population.—Only a few figures are available to indicate the popu- 
lation of the several tribes now and in their heyday. In recent years 
the Ramcdcamecra have numbered about 300; the Apinayé, 160; one 
Gorotire Cayapo (Northern) band was estimated at 400, another at 
800. These figures should be compared with Mattos’ estimate of the 
Apinayé in 1824; viz, 4,200 in four settlements ranging from 500 to 
1,400 each. Correspondingly, the total population of Sherente in that 
year was set at 4,000; that of the Shavante toward the end of the 
18th century at 3,500; and a census of the Sherente at Piabanha in 
1851 still yielded 2,139. 


SOURCES 


The oldest chronicler of the Timbira, Ribeiro, served among them 
from 1800 to 1823 (Ribeiro, 1841, 1870). In 1818 and 1819 Martius 
and Spix traveled widely in the area, the former being responsible 
for the establishment of a Ge linguistic family (Martius, 1867; Spix 
and Martius, 1823-31). Pohl’s researches, taking in also the Southern 
Cayapo, date back to the same year (Pohl, 1832-37). Other distin- 
guished travelers to Ge tribes include Saint-Hilaire in 1847-48 (Saint 
Hilaire, 1830-51) ; Castelnau in 1844 (Castelnau, 1850-51) ; Coudreau 
in 1896 (Coudreau, 1897 a, b) ; Von den Steinen (1894); and Krause 
(1911). More recent are Snethlage’s (Snethlage, 1931) and Nimuen- 
daju’s investigations, the latter forming the basis of the present study 


(Nimuendajti, 1939, 1942, and mss.). His data on the Northern 
Cayapo, especially on the Gérotire subtribe, are much scantier. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Farming.—Contrary to widespread notions, the majority of the Ge 
have been farmers, especially the Apinayé, with evidence for exten- 
sive manioc plantations going back to 1793. However, all the better- 
known groups described in this article raise bitter and sweet manioc, 
maize, sweet potatoes, and yams. It is entirely improbable that this 
is due to Zwpt example. In the first place; Ge emphasis is on sweet 
potatoes and yams, which virtually furnish their daily bread. Second, 
the grated manioc tubers were not originally prepared with the bas- 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 481 


ketry press, but by twisting in a band of buriti bast—a technique 
common to the Northern Cayapo, Timbira, and Sherente. Only 
recently the Hastern Timbira have adopted the basketry press from 
Neo-Brazilians; another recent loan from this source, now dominant, 
isrice. Ethnographically, the most interesting plant raised by our Ge 
is a species of Cissus, a creeper whose starchy tendrils are baked by 
the Timbira, the Sherente, and the Northern Cayapo. Quite un- 
known to Neo-Brazilians and 7'upi, the plant represents a clearly 
autochthonous domestication. The Northwestern Ge probably knew 
cotton before the advent of civilization, for they have a common word 
for it and use it extensively in native industries and ceremonial. 

The gallery forests have been essential to 7imbira agriculture 
since they offer the only soil in the area cultivable with hardwood 
dibbles. Accordingly, clearings are made in the tall timber along 
the watercourses, and when the distance to forested land becomes 
prohibitive, the village moves toa new spot. Thus the Rameécamecra 
migrate about every 10 years from one of two streams to the other, 
allowing for reafforestation. 

Among the 7imbira both sexes plant; the women do nearly all the 
weeding and all the harvesting. The division of labor among the 
Sherente was affected by their scheme of men’s associations. (See 
below.) 

Collecting wild foods.—Notwithstanding husbandry, wild species 
continued to loom large in aboriginal days. Here once more the gal- 
lery forests were of extraordinary importance for they harbored the 
babassi (Orbignia sp.) and the buriti (Mauritia vinifera), sought 
alike for food and for textile materials. Anciently, wars were waged 
over the possession of babasstii stands. Many other wild species were 
exploited; and Apinayé women going toward the steppe still take a 
bowl along for collecting whatever they may find. The men, at least 
among the 7%mbira, seem to have gathered nothing but wild honey. 

Hunting.—Except for the occasional digging up of armadillos 
from their burrows by women, the chase was a masculine occupation 
and an important one. The men hunted practically all mammals and 
birds except vultures. 

Bows, principally of pao d’arco (7'abebuia impetiginosa) wood, are 
the chief implements; those of the Western Gavides attain a length of 8 
feet 5 inches (2.5 m.), as compared with the Canella maximum of 6 feet 
(1.8m.). A round cross section occurs among the Craho, but generally 
the 7imbira flatten the string side, and the Northern Cayapo section 
is almost rectangular. The Canella string is of tucuma fiber. Hunt- 
ing arrows are of cane (Guadua sp. ), but the Western Gavides sub- 
stitute Gyneriwm saccharoides as better fitted for their giant bows. 
The typical Zimbira arrow lacks a special head, the end of the case 
shaft being beveled into a point, but other forms occur, including 

583486-—46—31 


482 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bunn. 143 


bamboo knives for arrowheads, presumably more for warfare. There 
are two feathers; 7%mbzra use tangential bridge feathering; only the 
Chacamecra had in addition borrowed the sewed feathering tech- 
nique of the Gamella of Codé. The Northern Cayapo shafts are all 
of taquara cane, whose root end forms the knob of bird arrows. Sep- 
arate heads may be of dark wood, bamboo, or bone. A bamboo head, 
either flat or strongly convex, is tied to a wooden foreshaft stuck into 
the cane shaft. Bone heads are either set on a wooden foreshaft or 
laterally fastened to it with string and rosin so-as to have the rear tip 
project as a barb, A ray sting also forms a barb (Krause, 1911, 
pp. 891-393). 

Traps were rare. The communal drive with grass firing was very 
popular. Deer were commonly shot from a fixed station in a tree. 
Anteaters are still clubbed, as are armadillos, which often have to 
be dug from their burrows. Disguises of palm grass were donned 
for stalking rheas. 

Before their discovery, all the Ge probably lacked dogs; even now 
the Timbira very rarely use them for the chase. From Whites they 
have adopted a few pigs and fowls, and various animals, especially 
tamed peccaries, are kept as pets. 

Fishing.—Hooks of indigenous make were apparently lacking 
throughout our area, The Sherente treated the trapping and drug- 
ging of fish as a family affair; men shot fish with bow and arrow. 
For the Northern Cayapé, fishing was important; for the 7¢mbira, 
insignificant. There is no evidence of anchored 7'%mbira nets, but 
scoop nets were used after drugging. Besides a species borrowed 
from Neo-Brazilians, the Timbira use the timbé creeper to narcotize 
the fish. 

Cooking.—The preparation of food sharply distinguished the 
Northern and Central Ge from the Tupi. Lacking pottery, the 
Ge, including the Southern Cayapo, steamed or baked food in earth 
ovens (Nimuendajti, 1939, p. 34; Saint Hilaire, 1830-51, 2:116) be- 
tween the heated ground and the hot rocks or clay lumps. However, 
there was also broiling on a spit and roasting on a grate. Even stone 
boiling in a pit filled with water was known, specifically for bacaba 
fruits. 

Beverages.—These Ge had no intoxicants, water being their only 
drink. Their public feasts are thus merely banquets, not carousals. 
The Northern Cayapo store water in large gourds. 


HOUSES AND VILLAGES 


These Ge place their houses along the circumference of a circle 
(Timbira, Northern Cayapo) or enlarged semicircle (Sherente), the 
arrangement being correlated with social structure. Thus the Pau 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 483 


d@’Arco Cayopoé and the Ramcécamecra moieties occupy, respectively, 
the eastern and western half of the circle. The Ramcdcamecra cen- 
tral plaza, the site of the council and of dancing, is connected with 
each of the peripheral houses by a radial path; however, an open space 
in front of these dwellings yields a wide boulevard or ring street. 
The Sherente moieties are associated with north and south, and the 
originally semicircular plan has assumed horseshoe shape by the addi- 
tion to each moiety of an alien group. Here, moreover, there is a 
central bachelor’s hut; and the several associations have each its dis- 
tinctive meeting place within the circumference (fig. 61). The 


kKmyY 


uv 


3.5m *= 


FicurE 61.—Diagram of Sherente bachelors’ hut. The positions of the four societies are 
divided by moiety: shiptat6 and sdakra. (After Nimuendaji, 1942, fig. 2.) 


Northern Cayapo have a sizable bachelor’s and men’s hall in the cen- 
ter, which in any case is the young men’s dormitory (Krause, 1911, 
p. 874); some Pau d’Arco settlements have two men’s houses. The 
Canella age classes have their special sites round the small circle 
reserved for the council at the center. 

A settlement must be near gallery forests for farming; another 
consideration is the availability of water, which varies considerably. 
The Cricaté of the Pindaré River headwaters rely on water holes 
dug at the bottom of a dried-up creek whereas the Apinayé get their 
supply from permanent brooks. 

The 7imbira erect thatched, rectangular, hip-roofed houses (pl. 97) 
shared with Tupi neighbors and, despite native denial, suggesting a 
Neo-Brazilian model. The unquestionably aboriginal conical form 
appearing in some ceremonies and the beehive hut, about 6 feet (1.8 
m.) high and covered with. palm fronds, that serves as a temporary 
shelter on trips away from home, would be inadequate both during 
the rainy season and for the numerous social gatherings served by 
contemporary dwellings. The ancient type of Timbira house thus 
remains an enigma. The Northern Cayapé visited by Krause spoke 
of more substantial structures for rainy season use. What he actually 


484 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn. 143 


saw during the dry season were elongated huts along the village cir- 
cumference, with the outer side longer than the inner and entrances 
at the two narrow sides. The framework consisted of two series of 
forked posts set in a curved line, the outer somewhat longer than the 
inner, with transverse sticks connecting the forks. Over this struc- 
ture, saplings set in the ground outside both lines of posts were arched 
and lashed together with bast over the taller series of posts. Palm 
fronds leaned against this skeleton provided the covering, but open- 
ings were left between two successive bunches of this foliage, probably 
to mark off the several otherwise unpartitioned family compartments 
(Krause, 1911, p. 372 f.). 

Although the extended family is nowhere of great importance, the 
several matrilineally related families do occupy a common house 
among the Apinayé and Canella, and this is conceivably the situation 
described for the Northern Cayapoé. On the other hand, the Sherente 
have single families under one roof. 

Furniture.—The 7imbira do not manufacture cotton hammocks, 
though in temporary camps they will interlace buriti leaflets into a 
hammock. Sherente hunters likewise suspend a temporary contrap- 
tion of this type. Of the 7imbdzra only the Cre’pumeateye regularly 
sleep in hammocks (of Guajajara origin), the true bed of the area being 
a platform of closely laid buriti leafstalks on four forked posts with 
two cross beams. It is about 20 inches (50 cm.) above the floor, but 
young girls construct theirs below the roof at an elevation of 614 feet 
(2 m.), partitioning it off with mats, and climbing up on a notched 
log. The width varies from 20 inches (50 cm.) for a single person to 
20 feet (6 m.) for a whole family. Boys and youths generally sleep 
outdoors in the plaza unless driven to a platform bed by the rain. For 
blankets there are buriti mats, but at night fires are kept up to warm 
the bare feet. The Southern Cayapé are also credited with platform 
beds (Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51, 2: 104) ; the Gdrotire are said to sleep on 
foliage, fronds, or bast. 

These beds also serve as benches and tables, much of the domestic 
life being spent there. 

For storage there are no scaffolds, objects being simply thrust into 
the roof or wall thatch, suspended in bags or baskets, or put under the 
beds. The earth oven is invariably several yards behind the dwelling, 
except that for ceremonials it may be in front, on the inner margin of 
the boulevard. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


The complete nakedness of both sexes contrasts with the profuse 
bodily decoration. The Northern Cayapé are broadly representative 
of the area. The men wear penis sheaths, which do not conceal the 
prepuce, and labrets (pl. 98, top, right) in the lower lip; the earplugs 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 485 


(pl. 99, top, left), corded sashes, and fringed skirts of these people 
are also badges of status. There is great variation of form. The 
labrets may be of wood or crystal; peglike, T-shaped, cylindrical, or 
discoidal; and sometimes they terminate in an elongated process 
sharply set off from the labret proper. Only children wear ear orna- 
ments in this tribe. Typical is a 2- to 3-inch length of cane for the 
perforated lobe, with a cord dangling from one end, a cord wrapping 
round the rod, and a disk of mother-of-pearl at the other end, from 
which there often rises a feather or elaborate combination of feathers. 
Little girls wear a red or black sash (fig. 62) of cotton string, little 
boys a skirt of bast or cotton fiber. Diadems of feathers, variously 
attached, and other feather head ornaments are worn sporadically. 
Feathers, sometimes mounted on a stick, are also worn at the nape of 
the neck, suspended from a neck cord. Other decorations in the back 
of the neck include miniature mats and cotton tassels. True neck- 
laces are rarer, but of various types, such as series of shell disks and 
rows of little sticks plaited together into a firm ribbon. Armlets, more 
common on the forearm than round the biceps, consist of a coil of bast, 
wrapped with red cotton cordage or covered with decorative twilling 
in red and black bast (Krause, 1911, pp. 98, 376 f.) 

Not all these details are shared by other groups; e. g., of the Timbdira 
only the A pinayé wore labrets—like the Cayapo—in the lower lip. On 
the other hand, a number of distinctive traits appear. A hair furrow 
and perforated ear lobes are national badges of the Timbira, the eastern 
tribes piercing only the lobes of boys, who must undergo the operation 
before initiation. 

The Eastern Timbira of all ages and either sex have their hair cut 
so as to leave a furrow round the head, except for an occipital gap Jack- 
ing among the Apinayé. The coarse, stiff Indian hair, unless oiled, 
yields the caplike effect pictured for 17th-century Otshucayana (Tarai- 
riu). In the back, the hair is allowed to grow long. Only women are 
hair cutters in Timbira tribes. The Canella have double combs made 
of little rods. The sparse beard is rarely plucked out nor as a rule is 
axillary or pubic hair removed. But eyebrows are considered ab- 
horrent, and eyelashes, too, are pulled out. 

The perforation of the lobe is an elaborate rite, which culminates 
in the insertion of plugs varying in diameter from about one-half inch 
(1.25 cm.) among the Pérecamecra to as much as 4 inches (10.16 cm.) 
among the Crahé and Canella, who prize immense disks. When the 
desired extension has been achieved, the ornament is worn only at 
festivities, so that normally the lobe forms a loop, usually slung round 
the upper edge of the helix. 

Tattooing, so far as practiced, is borrowed from the Neo-Brazilians. 

Of pigments for body paint, red uructi and bluish-black genipa are 
shared with other Brazilians (fig. 63). The former, omnipresent 


486 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bub. 143 


among the Canella, is a prophylactic as well as an ornament; for 
coarser effects it is put on with the fingers, for the finer lines on the 
face with little rods. Genipa, though rare, is obligatory at some 
ceremonies. From the latex of a low steppe tree (Sapiwm sp.) a 
black rubber pigment is obtained, which may be applied mixed with 
pulverized charcoal, yielding a stain that lasts a week. A yellow 
pigment from the root of the uruct and white clay rarely serves for 
bodily embellishment, but frequently appears on objects. Some of 
the paints are applied with wooden forks and stamps. 

Feathered decoration is prominent at ceremonies, falcon down being 
glued on certain participants with rosin. The Apinayé equivalent is to 
stick on the body vertical stripes of paty wool, i. e., the scrapings from 
leafstalks of the paty palm (Cocos sp.). Arara feathers are highly 
prized ; an occipital ornament for Sherente women consists of nine such 
feathers inserted each into a bamboo tube, the containers being spread 
out like a fan. 

TRANSPORTATION 


Almost straight roads lead out from a Canella village toward the 
four quarters of the globe, the longest recorded being 1014 miles 
(17 km.) in length. They are cleared of growth about once every 5 
years to the width of 23 feet (7 m.). Primarily racetracks, they 
ordinarily serve as highways. In addition, there are many trails 
through the steppe and gallery forest, leading to plantations and 
hunters’ camp sites. The paths to the clearings are kept fairly wide 
and tidy so as to pave the way for women encumbered with full 
baskets. 

The Northern Cayapo ford brooks and bridge deep dry beds with 
logs. The 7%mbira similarly cross swamps on extended tree trunks, 
and creeks on thick logs resting on props driven into the water and 
sometimes supplied with a railing. 

Boats.—The Ge are notoriously deficient in watercraft. However, 
the Swydé shared the bark boats of upper Xing River neighbors, and 
the Apinayé when first discovered navigated the Araguaia River in 
home-made dug-outs, presumably having acquired the art from the 
Carajd. Ousted from the large rivers by colonization, they have not 
a single canoe left (Nimuendaji, 1939, p. 4 f.). 

Carrying devices.—The Northern Cayapé women transport their 
crops in narrow baskets only about 10 inches (25 cm.) in height sus- 
pended by a tumpline such as occurs commonly in the area. Other 
containers for carriage are round baskets, likewise furnished with a 
forehead band and plaited shoulder bags. Equivalents occur in other 
tribes (pl. 103, bottom, right). 

The Apinayé carry children in a distinctive way: the infant sits on 
a buriti-bast girdle, wide enough to accommodate him beside the moth- 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 487 


er’s body, his legs dangling in front of it. On the other hand, the 
Sherente or Eastern Timbira child is supported by shoulder bands and 
straddles the mother’s hip (pl. 104, right). Some of the Tzmbira in- 
terlace palm leaves into slings, others make cotton ones. 

Crops are gathered in large carrying baskets, wild fruits in gourd 
bowls which, when empty, serve as women’s caps. Game of the size 
of an agouti is transported in a palm-leaf basket plaited ad hoc, while 
larger beasts are dragged to the village boundary, whence the hunter’s 
wife carried them home. The Hastern Timbira and the Sherente ar- 
range large fish on special cords with a wooden pin at one end and a 
cross stick at the other, but the device is unknown to the Apinayé. 


MANUFACTURES 


The absence of pottery and loom weaving is typical of Cayapd, Tim- 
bira, and Sherente. 

Basketry weaving.—Canella mats serving as bed sheets are either 
of babasst or anaja grass; those used as blankets are of buriti bast. 
The technique is two-step twilling. Some Indians weave into the 
fabrics horizontal or vertical stripes or squares and paint them with 
yellow dots, strokes, and zigzags. The girl’s girdle is composed of 
some 30 tucuma threads barely one twenty-fifth of an inch (1 mm.) in 
thickness, all carefully twisted on the thigh and wrapped together. 
Mats and most of the baskets are manufactured by men. Besides 
twilled cases for feminine oddments, coiled baskets are noteworthy 
because the technique seems lacking among the 7'wpi. Elliptical bas- 
kets of buriti fiber are credited to the Southern Cayapo (Saint-Hilaire, 
1830-51, 2:115). 

The Apinayé men likewise manufacture all but baskets for provi- 
sional service, also all musical instruments; the women, like their 
Sherente sisters, make gourd bottles and bowls (pl. 98, bottom, left), 
and spin all the cotton thread. 

It does not hold among these people that each sex makes the articles 
it uses: The Sherente men plait baby slings and some of the basketry, 
though the oval basketry bowls (pl. 100) are always women’s work; 
further, the men make the dance rattle commonly wielded by women 
and all feminine ornaments. 

Northern Cayapo basketry is also a masculine craft. Twilling is 
prominent, appearing in sleeping mats, arm bands, club wrappers, 
and carrying baskets. Notwithstanding the absence of looms, cotton is 
grown and spun into thread with spindles having either clay or stone 
whorls. For the Southern Cayap6é Saint-Hilaire denies the cultiva- 
tion and spinning of cotton. 

Miscellaneous.—Stone techniques have been long superseded by 
introduced metal tools, A generation ago, the Northern Cayapé used 


488 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


stone ax blades only for cracking nuts, and lithic processes were ap- 
plied only to make crystal labrets by percussion (Krause, 1911, p 395). 
Shell was used only for decoration. Woodwork included weapons, 
ear ornaments, mortars and pestles, as well as little troughs hollowed 
from the section of a tree trunk. Gourds—the larger used for water 
storage, the smaller as feather cases—were incised with designs. 

Feathers are attached by diverse methods. They may be singly 
fastened to a cord in juxtaposition to one another or tied together in a 
cluster that is then tied to the cord. Again, the end of the quill is bent 
over the cord and tied to the quill singly; or, one continuous cord 
passes from quill to quill, tying each of them. Feathers may also be 
simply inserted into cane tubes or after previous attachment to a little 
stick. Red and yellow are favorite combinations in the use of feathers. 

Fire making.—Before the adoption of Neo-Brazilian strike-a- 
lights, the Ge drilled fire, the Canella with a shaft of uruci wood 20 
inches long (50 cm.) and a hearth of the same material and of about 
equal length. The pit of the hearth often has a lateral groove. On 
trips to plantations or for catching fish at night, the Indians carry 
firebrands. The fire is fanned with a quadrangular or hexagonal little 
mat of palm grass; the Vorthern Cayapo use two palm leaves on top 
of each other, the joined ribs providing a grip. Women normally 
fetch firewood, though a man will carry a heavy dry log. 

Adhesives.—A rosin is smeared on the hands and mixed with 
chewed babassti seeds, forming a glue, to which down or paty wool 
may be stuck. Wax serves to seal the corded bags and gourds con- 
taining the next year’s seed corn. 

Rubber.—The A pinayé ingeniously manufacture rubber balls for a 
ceremonial game at the boys’ initiation. The trunks of mangabeira 
trees (Hancornia speciosa) are tapped with stone knives, and the latex 
exuding is collected in gourd bowls. It is then smeared in stripes 
down the novices’ bodies and limbs, which receive a second and third 
coat. In the meantime the novices shape balls about 114 inches (4 
cm.) in diameter from the hard clay of termite nests. The rubber 
bands are then simply rolled from the youngsters’ bodies onto the clay. 
When the ball is sufficiently thick, the core is smashed, the fragments 
being removed by a little slit cut into the rubber rind. The opening is 
closed by supplementary rubber strips, the end result being a very 
elastic hollow ball (Nimuendajij, 1939, pp. 61 ff., illus. 11, 12). A 
similar technique is used by the Sherente. 


POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


The Timbira and the Northern Cayapo are markedly separatistic. 
Autonomous Apinayé villages continue to display mutual repugnance, 
and even within the Gérotire subtribe of the Northern Cayapé the 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 489 


several bands remain apart. Only the Sherente display a keener sense 
of unity: Their land is tribally, not communally owned, and villages 
cooperate in several ways. A council of the chiefs of all villages chose 
and deposed the chief of a particular settlement and appointed leaders 
in war. Again, all the Sherente took part in the major religious festi- 
val. Yet even they never had one paramount chief; and though there 
was no intratribal warfare, prolonged feuds were waged with the 
closely related Shavante. 

Particularism was tempered among the Timbira, insofar as they 
willingly absorbed the remnants of once independent related tribes and 
recognized the intertribal institution of honorary chiefs, each ap- 
pointed by an alien group to act in defense of its interests among 
his own people (Nimuendaji, 1938, p. 69; 1939, p. 19). 

Chiefs are not negligible, but their authority is limited by a council 
and generally noncoercive. The recent Canella have three chiefs in 
one village, collaborating with a council of elders in preserving cus- 
tomary law. They lack emblems of dignity, work like commoners, and 
share food offerings to the council on equal terms with its other 
members. 

While the Canella chieftaincy is unconnected with the dual or- 
ganization, an Apinayé chief must belong to the Sapucaia chestnut 
moiety, which is derived from the Sun. He, too, enjoys no great 
prerogatives and was formerly aided by a council of elders. His most 
serious duty is to inaugurate steps against sorcerers, whose execution, 
however, has to be ratified by the people. Distinctive of the Apinayé 
is the office of a “counselor” and master of ceremonies, secretly chosen 
by the chief and elders; he constantly exhorts the tribesmen to main- 
tain ancient usage. In a distribution of victuals, his share at least 
equals the chief’s . The Pau d’Arco have a corresponding, but less im- 
portant herald. Their council is mainly concerned with ceremonial 
matters; two chiefs are usually found in each village. 

The Sherente chief, too, is limited by a council primarily expected 
to preserve the old festivals. They appoint the directors of ceremonial 
and the leaders of the men’s societies. Here the chief receives a tasseled 
bow and other badges of office. He is a moderator in internal and 
external disputes, harangues the people on behalf cf old custom and 
harmony, proceeds against sorcerers or other public enemies, and en- 
tertains distinguished visitors. Barring obvious incapacity of all 
proper successors, the office descends in the male line. The manifold 
activities of the men’s associations in this tribe made their virtually 
lifelong leaders proportionately important. Further, two pékwa 
chosen from the associations act as peacemakers and are entitled to a 
special funeral feast. 


490 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bux. 143 


The Canella have a curious honorary class called “hamrén,” which 
includes the village chiefs; age-class leaders; the girls associated in 
pairs with the boys’ initiation ritual; the above-mentioned consular 
courtesy chiefs; and the precentresses (but not precentors) in the daily 
dances. All these persons enjoy a certain esteem and are entitled to a 
special mode of burial and preparation therefor. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 


Dual divisions and clans.—The three best-known tribes all have a 
dual organization, but with notable differences. The Pau d’Arco Ca- 
yapo, Canella, and Apinayé are matrilineal; the Sherente, patrilineal. 
The Pau d’Arco, Canella, and Sherente moieties are exogamous; their 
Apinayé counterparts do not regulate marriage. All three groups 
definitely localize their divisions in the settlement, but the Canella and 
Pau d@’Arco place theirs east and west, respectively, the other tribes 
north and south. Only the Sherente subdivide the moieties into clans 
(not totemic)—four on each side, including one clan of alien deriva- 
tion; further, symmetrically placed clans, narkwa, in complementary 
moieties owe each other certain services. 

There are likewise differences in the associated symbolical and 
mythological ideas. The Paw d’Arco denote the eastern and western 
moieties as “upper” and “lower,” respectively. The Apinayé call their 
moieties after two species of chestnut, sometimes contrasting them as 
Lower and Upper, but they derive them from Moon and Sun and 
associate them, respectively, with black and red paint. The Sherente 
share the celestial connections and the precedence of the Sun moiety, 
though without limiting the chieftaincy to it. But the association is 
far more vital to the Sherente, where the solar and lunar gods, through 
intermediaries, reveal themselves only to members of their respective 
halves of the tribe. 

Among the Canella, such of these notions as exist have been trans- 
ferred to a seasonal scheme of dual division, distinct from the moieties 
that regulate marriage. This scheme bisects the universe into two 
contrasted series of phenomena, with the sun, red, east, etc. in one, and 
the moon, black, west, etc. in the other. The moieties of this type 
embrace both sexes, but hold significance essentially for the rainy sea- 
son only. Further, affiliation with the Rainy Season moieties does 
not follow an automatic, uniform principle of descent, but differs 
according to sex, and may differ individually because of chance and 
a principle of reciprocity. Males obtain a set of personal names and 
through them membership in Rainy Season moiety A from a matrili- 
neal kinsman; females a set and membership from a patrilineal 
kinswoman. But if the name donor should die before formally pass- 
ing on his names, the new name-giver might own a different set, hence 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 491 


possibly one of the complementary seasonal moiety, which would in- 
evitably shift the child’s affiliation accordingly. Finally, reciprocity 
enters because a woman permits her son to receive her brother’s names 
only if he has a daughter to whom she could transfer her names; other- 
wise she casts about for a more remote matrilineal kinsman he does 
have a daughter. The seasonal moieties are thus characterized by: 
(a) Their nonexogamous character; (b) linkage with a dichotomy 
of the universe; (c) different principles of affiliation for males and 
females; (d) the possibility of a shift in membership; and (e) a prin- 
ciple of reciprocity determining names and membership. 

The Canella have two additional schemes of dichotomy, both re- 
stricted to males. First, by another set of personal names they deter- 
mine the membership of six male groups with distinctive stations in 
the plaza; and three of these, the Giant Snakes, Bats, and Carrion 
Vultures, are opposed as an Eastern half to the Western half compris- 
ing the Armadillos, Dwarf Parrots, and Aliens. Because of their 
localization, these units are conveniently labeled “Plaza groups and 
moieties.” Finally, the four athletically active age classes are simi- 
larly grouped into an Eastern and a Western moiety. 

Since two of the four dual schemes exclude women and the seasonal 
moieties do not consistently follow the matrilineal rule of descent, 
they obviously are not coterminous with the exogamous moiety 
system. The latter is probably basic, but as the Canella developed a 
passion for dual divisions they shifted all but the marriage-regulating 
functions to the new types of moiety. 

These Ge connect athletic games with a dual grouping. The 
Apinayé recruit the opposing teams for log races from the males of 
complementary moities. Among the Canella the Eastern age classes 
and plaza groups similarly compete with the Western during the dry 
season, the Rainy Season moieties being pitted against each other 
during the races of the period indicated. The Sherente assign boys 
about 8 years old for life to one of two tribal teams not coterminous 
with the moieties; married women belong to their husbands’ team; 
girls are appointed to either at will. 

The moiety system often effects ceremonial, many functions being 
duplicated, so as to have each half of the tribe represented. This 
applies, e. g., to 17 distinct Sherente offices. 

The Sherente clans have each its recognized relative place in the 
peripheral arc of the village. They are not important either eco- 
nomically or religiously; even blood feuds were waged rather by the 
moieties, and reciprocal duties of “narkw4” clans as to burial of 
corpses are tied up with the dual organization. The most essential 
task of clans is to prepare festive decoration, a function reflected in 
almost all their names. One of the adopted clans does, however, exer- 
cise the exclusive right of playing with rubber balls. 


492 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buin, 148 


Marriage.—While the Canella and Sherente moieties are exoga- 
mous, the Apinayé regulated marriage by four kiyé, membership in 
which was inherited by sons from fathers, and by daughters from 
mothers. The names of these units are largely inexplicable and, so far 
as translatable, not totemic. Members of one kiyé may marry only 
into one of the other three groups. That is, an A man marries a B 
woman; a B man a C woman; a C man a D woman; a D man an A 
woman. “A” is accordingly composed of sons of A men and B 
women, but of daughters of A women and D men (Nimuendajti, 1939, 
p. 30). 

The 7imbira and Northern Cayapo are absolutely monogamous, the 
Sherente predominantly so, but permit sororal polygyny, though it is 
rare. Pohl found the Southern Cayapé polygynists. The levirate is 
institutional only among the Sherente, the sororate permitted by the 
Apinayé. Cousin marriage is unknown to the Timbira; the Sherente 
allow it only with the father’s sister’s daughter, but men favor mar- 
riage with maternal blood kin beyond the prohibited second degree. 
Timbira residence is matrilocal, and this also holds essentially for the 
Paud’Arco. The Sherente groom at first lives with his bride’s family, 
but after possibly a year the couple permanently settle with or beside 
the husband’s parents. A Canella is always welcome in his matri- 
lineal home, spends much of his time in it, and always goes back there 
if seriously ill or when divorced. 

The matrilineal, matrilocal 7?mbira present suggestive contrasts to 
the patrilineal, patrilocal Sherente. Among the former, the women 
own houses and fields; among the latter, both belong to the men. 
Among all three tribes the maternal uncle plays an important part, 
probably most of all among the Canella, where he may forbid a niece’s 
marriage. However, neither here nor among the Apinayé is there any 
coercion into wedlock, while the Sherente elders arrange the marriages 
of both young men and women. There is no 7imbira matriarchate 
nor any systematic bullying of the women by the Sherente men, but 
the status of women seems definitely higher among the 7imbira. The 
division of labor, however, was uniformly fair; and Sherente wives 
share privileges that go with their husbands’ honorific offices. 

The Sherente stressed premarital chastity, expelling from the bache- 
lors’ hut any youth who succumbed to temptation, and girls were care- 
fully watched by mothers and aunts. A deflowered maiden at once 
lost the ornamental necklace that served as the badge of virginity. 
The Canella, Apinayé, Northern Cayapo, and Sherente all distin- 
guished a class of “wantons,” i. e., young women who engage in sex 
relations without formal marriage and henceforth freely consort with 
men. Thus, a hunting party of Sherente would always take along two 
girls of this status as cooks.and mistresses, one from each moiety to 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 4938 


satisfy the men’s wants without infringement of exogamy. The 
wantons are not outcasts, though less esteemed than chaste women. 

No Zimbira youth was formerly allowed to marry before com- 
pleting the cycle in initiation ceremonies, the A pinayé youths, with few 
exceptions, getting married on the same day, though this was not com- 
pulsory. Among the Sherente a lad might marry only after entrance 
into the sixth and highest grade of the bachelors’ hut. 

Kinship usages.—The avunculate is conspicuous, even among the 
patrilineal Sherente, where the mother’s brother completely eclipses 
the paternal uncle. On the other hand, a close bond unites a Canella 
girl with her father’s sister, who sometimes raises her niece. Among 
the Apinayé it is the maternal grandmother who specially concerns 
herself with young children. The intimate relationship assumed be- 
tween parents and children appears in the couvade. (See Life Cycle.) 
The Apinayé restrict social relations with siblings of opposite sex after 
about the tenth year; they should not talk or walk alone together, nor 
should a male pass below a sister or niece seated on a tree or roof. As 
to affinities, the Z7%mbira allow considerable public freedom between 
a man and his wife’s sister—not his brother’s wife; the Canella dis- 
play this feature more prominently than the Apinayé, but even they 
never carry pleasantries to the point of obscenity. During the initial 
period of wedlock all three tribes prescribe avoidance between parents- 
in-law and children-in-law, especially those of opposite sex. 

Names.—Personal names are of great importance and interwoven 
with the social structure so as to be suitably considered here. Not- 
withstanding the matrilineal descent common to both 7imbira peoples, 
the transfer of names differs. It is the Apinayé moieties that own 
name sets, and, consistently therewith, senior matrilineal kinsfolk of 
either sex convey their own names to their nephews and nieces by a 
formal ceremony. The Canella plan, however, rests on reciprocity 
(p. 490) ; and the same scheme holds for the Pau d’Arco. Quite dif- 
ferent again is the Sherente scheme, by which masculine names reg- 
ularly skip a generation, being transferred from the boy’s patrilineal 
kin of the second ascending generation, whereas girls get their names 
from the men’s societies. 

The very acquisition of the name involves ceremony, but particular 
names may lead to special consequences. The Apinayé and Pau 
d’Arco distinguish between “little” and “great” names, the bearer of 
the latter having to undergo distinctive ceremonials or enjoying some 
prerogative. Often the performance in question requires the simul- 
taneous functioning of both moieties, in which case names are con- 
veyed in pairs. As stated, distinct types of Canella names imply 
membership in the seasonal moieties and the plaza groups. Names of 


494 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn, 143 


the latter category further involve affiliation with two festive organi- 
zations that appear in major festivals. 

Age classes.—The Apinayé scheme of age groups is the simplest. 
Ignoring females, it divides males into boys prior to initiation, a 
wholly unorganized group; the warriors, about 15 to 25 years old, i. e., 
youths from the beginning of the second stage of initiation until the 
close of the next junior group’s initiation; the mature men, formed 
automatically by the completed initiation of the next younger class; 
and the elders, who are no longer able to be active racers. Of these, 
only the warriors constitute a sharply defined unit. 

The Pau d’Arco and Gérotire Cayapé have series of age classes for 
both sexes, the youths’ grade being most conspicuous. The Gérotire 
recognize boys from about 5 years on, youths from 15 to 25, men 
between 25 to 40, and elders; the Pauw d’Arco interpolate two transi- 
tional grades between boys and youths, and distinguish men according 
to their status as husbands of women pregnant for the first time, of 
those nursing their first child, as heads of families, and as elders. 

Boys sleep in the men’s house directly after initiation; and as soon 
as one of the Pau d’Arco lads has had sex relations, his entire class 
receives new penis sheaths and are thence called by the third class 
name. The corresponding promotion of their immediate juniors 
makes them advance to the youths’ status. 

The feminine grades of this subtribe include, respectively: Chil- 
dren; girls before puberty; young women before their first delivery ; 
those between their first and second child; mothers of several children; 
and those who no longer menstruate. 

This occurrence of feminine age classes among the Worthern 
Cayapo is without Timbira or Sherente parallel. 

The Sherente segregate youths in a central bachelors’ hut. There 
they remain from the time they attain shipsa status—symbolized by a 
thicker girdle (pl. 101, center), a necklace with falcon feather, and 
a sheath (pl. 101, top) for the occipital hair—until marriage. The 
emblems, however, are not obtained through formal initiation except 
in one of the four associations (see p. 496) to which boys are assigned 
when about 8 years old; members of the others get the insignia when- 
ever their paternal uncles consider them old enough. Prior to this 
stage the boys, possibly from 5 or 6 years of age, are organized and 
tutored by older functionaries for later associational activities. 

With the bachelors’ hut the four societies have separate segments, 
and within each segment members of the Sun moiety occupy the north 
side, those of the Moon moiety the south. Furthermore, the boys are 
divided into six grades, the three lower having green instead of 
white hair sheaths, while in both trios status is further defined by 
the length of the wings projecting from the sheath. 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 495 


Most elaborate are the Canella arrangements. There is no bache- 
lors’ hut, though except in stormy weather the young men and boys 
sleep in the corresponding central part of the village. Here, too, the 
little boys are organized to mimic their seniors. The age classes 
proper are tied up with initiation, which involves two stages, each 
traversed twice in identical form. Since 2 or 3 years intervene be- 
tween performances, the total span of initiation is about a decade. 
That is, the novice at 5 to 10 years of age goes through ceremony 1, a 
few years later through ceremony 2, both involving a several months’ 
seclusion; and after similar intervals he again goes through 1 and 2. 

In the plaza the four sportively active age classes have each its 
definite place. The little boys organized as mere mimics acquire 
official status by securing one of these sites—invariably a northern 
one and the one not assumed by their immediate seniors. This admis- 
sion causes a shift all along the line. The class hitherto on the site 
in question passes on to the one directly south, ousting its occupants, 
the oldest of the four groups, who thus retire from the “sports 
league” to become elders in an inner circle of the plaza, but preserv- 
ing their class identity in the council. 

The four active classes are primarily concerned with racing and 
ceremonial, but also engage in economic tasks at the council’s behest 
and anciently formed units for war raids and hunting trips. They 
are linked into an East and a West pair, which are the opposing 
teams in log races of the ceremonial season. For each pair the 
council chooses a virginal girl associate, whose maternal home pro- 
vides a meeting place for the complementary couple. The girls chosen 
have mothers owning diametrically opposite houses. The two leaders 
of each class are carefully selected by the council and represent the 
Eastern and Western plaza groups, respectively. ‘These leaders ac- 
tually control the membership, which assembles only at their com- 
mand and is officially dealt with through them only. 

Formalized friendship.—Two contrasted types of personal rela- 
tionship among the Canella roughly suggest the joking and the re- 
spect relationships of North America. 

The former is cemented when an age class passes through its final 
initiatory phase: The two persons in question jointly dive in a pre- 
scribed manner, swimming together below the surface as long as they 
can. They thus become each other’s kwu’né, a bond possible also 
between the boys and their girl associates. This relationship, theo- 
retically lifelong, is in practice important only before middle age. 
Two kwu’né are boon companions, constantly aid each other, formerly 
joined in war raids, and may reprove or mock each other with impu- 
nity. With their wives’ consent, they may temporarily exchange 
spouses, 


496 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


The respect relationship (male: hapin; females: pintshwéi) may 
be established in similar circumstances by a slightly different method 
of diving. However, there are two other ways, which create a more 
serious bond. A person becomes an unborn child’s hapin (pintshwéi) 
by tying some ornament round the pregnant mother’s neck; or auto- 
matically, by acquiring names that involve this tie with several per- 
sons bearing certain other names, among whom, however, one indi- 
vidual stands out as the friend par excellence. 

The obligations thus created involve mutual respect and solidarity. 
Disputes are barred, as is erotic talk; in conversation the interlocu- 
tors must not directly look at each other; nor is either supposed to 
beg of the other. Ceremonial obligations are numerous: a man’s 
corpse is painted by his pintshwéi, a woman’s by her hapin; a “friend” 
of either sex glues falcon down on the partner’s body or daubs him 
with paint as the occasion arises, and so forth. 

The Apinayé appoint a male and a female “kramged” for every 
child about 5 years old, the man being of the child’s father’s kiyé, 
the woman of his mother’s. This is a respect relationship involving 
mutual obligations as to burial. An equivalent custom is noted for 
the Pau @ Arco. 

Associations.—<As explained, the Plaza group names of the C'rmella 
likewise involve membership in festive organizations. A man may 
belong to 2 of the 6 societies, but some of these are mutually exclusive. 
He may be a Duck and an Agouti; or a Falcon and a Jaguar; or a 
Jaguar and a Mummer. Clowns become such only on the basis of 
a talent for buffoonery. Each of the organizations has about 30 mem- 
bers; most of them—like the age classes—have 2 girl auxiliaries. 
Fourteen comparable societies, with membership dependent on the 
matrilineally transferred personal names, exist among the Pau @’Arco. 
These groups have wholly or preponderantly ceremonial, not eco- 
nomic or religious, functions. 

On the other hand, the four men’s associations of the Sherente are 
the most vital of their social units. Every male when about 8 years 
old is assigned to one of them—generally not his father’s—and nor- 
mally remains there for life. The council tries to maintain approximate 
numerical equality among the societies. Outstanding are the eco- 
nomic functions. Hunting was essentially a collective enterprise 
by each society, which divides the game bag among the members. 
The clearings were made not individually, but by the association 
for each member. Stands of buriti and babasst belong to particular 
associations, which resented trespass by the rest. For sport, each 
association was bisected according to the two tribal teams to which 
the members had been arbitrarily allotted in boyhood. In the log 
races it was exceptional for one society to run against the other; 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 497 


competition was rather between the fragments of the two tribal 
teams represented in the organization. In warfare, each association 
formed a tactical unit, a particular one being the vanguard, another 
one bringing up the rear. Further, the societies take turns in per- 
forming a secular masquerade; give names to the girls of the tribe; 
and organize the feast in honor of eminent deceased members. 

Each society has two leaders, one from each moiety, who function 
for the greater part of their lifetime; also two servants who attend 
to all official requirements and may nickname and ridicule the 
members. 

According to the origin myth, Sun, Moon, and a supernatural 
deer established the associations as an age-graded series, whereas 
no differences in age are actually found. However, the traditionally 
younger societies are addressed as “sons” by their traditional seniors. 
Moreover, an initiation ceremony is held by only one of the four 
groups, the youngest according to myth. This becomes intelligible 
as a survival of a pristine age scheme conforming to tradition, for 
evidently only the youngest of a quartette of societies would require 
a tribal initiation. Further, the number of the societies and their 
localization in the plaza correspond to the four age classes of the 
Canella, suggesting a remote historical connection. 

The Sherente have also a single society for women, who regularly 
bring their infants to the place of assembly, so that there is no formal 
admission. The organization follows the masculine pattern with its 
dual leaders and attendants. It has no economic or religious sig- 
nificance, but does celebrate a festival in the bestowal of a particular 
name on two little boys. During the performance, the men make 
a sham attempt to intimidate the women by luridly dramatizing the 
killing of a woman. 

Etiquette.—Customary law definitely fixes the behavior for all nor- 
mal social occasions. The Canella always approach councilors rever- 
entially, and both visiting strangers and tribesmen released from seclu- 
sion must formally present themselves to these dignitaries. Kain- 
ship usages have been discussed under the appropriate head, as has 
the conduct imposed by the respect and joking relationships. 

Special mention must be made, however, of the weeping salutation 
common to the Sherente, Timbira, and Northern Cayapo (Krause, 
1911, p. 402; Nimuendaji, 1939 ; 1942, p.112 f.). Among the Apinayé a 
homecoming tribesman who has been away for some months seats 
himself on a platform bed in his maternal home, all his older kins- 
women sit beside him, put one hand on his shoulder or lean against 
him, and burst into vehement tears. The entire ceremony lasts a 
little over half an hour. The motives are grief over the Indians who 
have died during the traveler’s absence and commiseration of him for 


583486—46 


32 


498 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buu. 148 


having had to be away from home. In this tribe men, girls, and young 
women do not join in this strange welcome nor do the traveler’s wife 
and children. 


WARFARE 


Except for the Apinayé, the Timbira, and Central Ge were warlike, 
fighting even against closely related groups. The principal weapons 
were bows, arrows, round and flat clubs (pl. 98, top, right), and lances. 
Of these, the bow and arrow have been described under Hunting. The 
distinctive weapon of the Sherente was a 4-foot (1.2-m.) club with 
thickened and somewhat curved butt; the Canella similarly relied 
largely on a two-edged sword club equally fit for thrusting and strik- 
ing. Sherente lances were over 6 feet 7 inches (2 m.) long, of Brazil 
wood, and knobbed at the butt; the head, about 9 inches (22 cm.) in 
length, consisted of a sharpened rhea femur. Characteristic only of 
the Ge and a few tribes of dubious affinity is the short-handled stone 
anchor ax for crushing a foeman’s skull (pl. 99, bottom). It seems 
to have been specially developed by the Apinayé where miniature 
ceremonial forms also occur. This ax was carried on the shoulder 
by a sling. (Nimuendaji, 1939, p. 126; Rydén, 1937.) Incendiary 
arrows were known in the area. 

The Timbira made only surprise attacks against Neo-Brazilians, 
but were not afraid of pitched battles when able to fight on equal 
terms. The warriors included the fully initiated young men for about 
a 10-year period, from the close of their own initiation until that of 
the next group. Among the Apinayé they united as a body only to 
repel an assault on the village, otherwise there were expeditions by 
minor parties. The Canella raids were sometimes organized by in- 
dividuals, especially by a maternal uncle and his nephew to revenge 
a death, but more commonly by the council, which would appoint an 
experienced captain to advise and command the age-class leaders 
immediately in control of their companies. These people took 
neither prisoners nor trophies, but killed all enemies they could; 
this applies also to the Sherente and the Pau d’Arco, except that they 
occasionally made children captives, the latter also women. Cannibal- 
ism has been imputed to these tribes, but contrary to all trustworthy 
evidence. The club used by the killer was left by the enemy’s corpse 
(Pau @’ Arco). 

The slayer of an enemy had to go into retreat—for 10 days among 
the Apinayé, for a fortnight among the Pau @ Arco, for a month 
among the Canella and Sherente. The Canella killer neither washed 
nor laughed, was restricted in diet, and sat on a special bed. At the 
close of the period his mother or sister prepared manioc paste while 
his uncle went hunting to provide the meat for huge pies. Then the 
warrior took a bath, had falcon down glued on him, and loudly an- 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 499 


nounced his deed in the plaza. On the following day, he formally 
presented himself to the councilors, who then claimed the pies. The 
Apinayé imposed silence on the killer, had him slash his chest, and 
made him put on special decoration at the close of his fast. A 
Sherente brave gashed his chest for each of his victims, rubbing in 
the ashes from the root of an herb reputed to safeguard against arrow- 
shots. He was allowed to wash only his face and hands and had to 
remain continent during his retreat. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth.—As soon as a Canella woman is aware of pregnancy, 
restrictions, such as dietary taboos, set in for both parents. For de- 
livery, their platform bed is partitioned off. The husband may stay 
there, but without looking at his wife, who is assisted by an elderly 
kinswoman. Usually he walks around the hut to expedite delivery, 
after which both parents remain in their cell until the navel string 
drops, a less rigorous seclusion for over a month involving typical 
features of ceremonial retreat—the use of a scratching-stick; absten- 
tion from paint, decoration, and hair-cutting; and the exclusion of 
flesh diet. The father must not work hard or otherwise exert himself. 
All these regulations envisage the infant’s safety, hence extend to any 
men with whom the mother has had recent extramarital relations, so 
that as many as four men may simultaneously undergo the couvade in 
copaternal solicitude. 

The dietary taboos, partitioning of parents, and prohibition as to 
paternal labor are shared by the Apinayé and the Sherente, the 
scratcher by the Apinayé. The former also take cognizance of a 
wanton’s lovers, but merely have them drink a bitter decoction. 

Marriage.—See Social Organization, pages 492-493. 

Puberty.—The Sherente, as noted, have no initiation except in one 
association. The Apinayé and Canella initiation is a prerequisite to 
marriage, but the Canella performances begin long before puberty and 
both ceremonials are best considered with other festivals. 

The Timbira and Paw d’Arco oddly believe that menstruation is 
impossible for a virgin, but among the Apinayé most girls actually 
married before puberty. In these tribes the first menses involve dietary 
taboos for husband and wife, the latter being further prohibited from 
scratching herself except with a special rod and from stepping on the 
bare floor. At the close of the period the girl’s father and brother go 
hunting and provide meat for an old woman, who, after examining 
the girl, prognosticates as to the time of her first parturition. The 
couple go bathing, dring of an infusion, and throw the bowl into a 
brook to insure fine long hair for their first offspring. Subsequently, 
both spouses are painted, and the girl is smeared with a mixture to 


500 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


promote longevity. In subsequent periods women abstain from deco- 
ration, dancing, scratching with fingernails, and sex relations. 

Apart from the initial participation of the husband, the Canella 
have an identical procedure for the first and later periods. The woman 
may bathe, but must not decorate herself or dance, or have sex relations. 
She stays indoors, never looks at the farms lest she injure the crops, and 
drinks from a special bottle, though she may cook for others. A scratch- 
ing stick is prescribed. 

The Sherente do not celebrate the first period, but the adolescent 
must not eat certain fish or wet the crown of her head. All menstruat- 
ing women are impure, contact with them spoiling a man’s hunting 
luck. They must neither cook for others nor plant nor scratch them- 
selves except with a forked little stick. 

Death observances.—A Camella, when seriously sick, always tries 
to get removed to his maternal home so as to die there. For an ordinary 
dying person only the next of kin gather round, a brief lament by a 
kinswoman announcing the demise, whereupon both paternal and 
maternal relatives assemble. The general lament only begins about 
an hour after death with the preparation of the corpse, by “friends” of 
the respect relationship, who cut the hair, pluck out the eyebrows, and 
paint the body with uruci, unless the deceased was a hamrén, for 
whom falcon down would be glued on. Related women wail, belabor 
themselves, and may attempt suicide, sometimes by taking a header 
against the hard ground. In the plaza the chief calls for a volunteer 
gravedigger. The grave is about 6 feet (2 m.) deep and was formerly 
round, the corpse being in sitting posture and facing east; but today 
the shape is rectangular and the body is extended supine. When sec- 
ondary burial was still in vogue, the interment was behind the mater- 
nal home, except that a hamrém was buried in front of it. The mats on 
which the corpse lies are folded over it, tied firmly, and the bundle car- 
ried to its grave, now 1 to 114 miles (1.5 to 2 km.) from the village. 
The opening is covered with wooden cross pieces, topped with mats, 
and finally with earth. The next of kin, as among the A pinayé, never 
accompany the corpse to its grave. Except for a few feminine posses- 
sions in the case of women, there is no evidence of funeral deposits, 
which seem to be slightly more marked in the two other tribes. 

For a distinguished man the Southern Cayapé performed a curious 
rite, the chief striking a kneeling man’s forehead so that the blood 
flowed, which was then smeared on the corpse (Pohl, 1832-37). 

Secondary burial was shared by Timbira and Sherente. The Canella 
kept it up at least for hamrén until about 1915, the Apinayé till 1925. 
The former scraped the bones clean, both reddened them with uruct, 
put them into a bag, and buried them in a shallow pit. 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 501 


In several tribes the persons in charge of the burial are of special 
status: The Canedla volunteers must be of the exogamous moiety com- 
plementary to the deceased ; the Apinayé functionaries are his “kram” 
(Nimuendaji, 1939, pp. 31, 153); those of the Sherente are of the 
narkwaé clan. In all three cases the earth should not come into direct 
contact with the corpse; the Sherente go so far as to shield it by a roof 
of poles and mats on forked posts. Mourners never cut their hair in 
any of these groups. 

Distinctive of the Sherente is a feast of the dead in honor of dis- 
tinguished people, a ceremony next in importance to their Great Fast. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Art.—The esthetic sense of these Indians is in part satisfied by their 
elaborate ceremonials, but other manifestations do occur. Though 
Krause saw no plastic products among the Northern Cayapo, the 
Canella mold wax into fairly accurate effigies of rheas, armadillos, 
tortoises, etc. Basketry, specifically twilling, yields the expectable 
patterns, zigzag and diamonds. (Krause, 1911, pls. 64, 67, 68; 
pp. 384, 389; Nimuendaji, 1939, p. 125.) Incised gourds figured by 
Krause show concentric circles and diamonds in nests or in series bi- 
sected by a narrow strip. Pokerwork appears in the zigzags on a 
ceremonial Sherente staff. Ornamental features may be noted in the 
crescent-shaped or winged tops of Canella club handles and especially 
in the delicately carved grips of initiates’ scratching sticks. Open- 
work also presents some pleasing effects in the crosses of ear disks and 
the symmetrically disposed crescents, oblongs, triangles, and U-designs 
of ceremonial clubs, 

Painting is of great importance. Not only is red uruct applied to 
the body and virtually to all articles of use, but special devices—two- to 
five-tined forks and multiform stamps—serve to impress designs 
for ceremonial embellishment among the Canella. Stars, hourglass 
designs, triangles, and series of dots are among the patterns found, 
which are illustrated by the distinctive decoration of the Plaza groups 
(fig. 62). The mats of mummers’ outfits are painted with the finger- 
tips to represent eyes by concentric circles or spurred wheels; and they 
also bear other ornament, such as monkey figures. The Canelia 
further paint geometrical designs in red and black rosin on some 
of their coiled baskets. Interesting color contrasts also appear in 
one type of Sherente race log. That used by one team shows a red 
background set off by a vertical black stripe in the center and black 
zigzags symmetrically placed in upright position at the left and right 
margins, while the space between each zigzag and the center is re- 


lieved by a vertical line of white dots, In the other team’s log, a 


502 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bury. 143 


Ficurp 62:—Oanella decorations on forehead bands and sashes. (Redrawn from original 
sketch by C. Nimuendaja.) 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 503 


ulin 
Paty 


=~ > 


ON 


f 


a b Cc 


FicurE 63.—Sherente body-paint decoration for the various ships4 age classes. a, The 
siteromkwa in the panisewarié class; b, the siteromkwa in the panisekrd@ class; c, the 
htimha in the sinaikra class. After Nimuendaji, 1942, fig. 3.) 


central row of white dots and series of small black isosceles triangles 
contrast with the red background (fig. 64). 

Games.—Gambling is unknown. All other sports of the North- 
western and Central Ge are eclipsed by their constantly recurring relay 
races with heavy logs. These are not, as sometimes alleged, trials of 
a suitor’s fitness for marriage, but purely sportive competitions en- 
gaged in for their own sake without thought of any reward except 
prestige. The competitors’ ages vary from 15 to 55 years, thus includ- 
ing many men already married. As noted, the Canella have special 
race tracks of great extent. Typically, the logs are made of the section 
of a buriti trung 3 feet (1 m.) or more in length and 16 to 20 inches (40 
to 50 em.) thick, the weight being possibly 200 pounds (100 kg.) 5 at 
the ends a shallow depression provides a grip. But there are many 
variations; one Sherente type, e. g., has to be carried by two men at a 
time, and the Canella have a miniature symbolic form. the normal 
procedure is to start from the place of manufacture and to pass the log 
on to a fellow member of one’s team, who in turn is relieved as he 
grows tired until the last runners reach the plaza. However, the 


504 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


Canella also run around the boulevard, and Timbira men commonly 
race home from some joint enterprise carrying logs. Such occasional 
competitions create little stir, but the performances at major festi- 
vals rouse the populations to a pitch of excitement. 


& 
G 
Q} 
@) 
oy 


i" 


NN 
lal 
RET RUE 


A | 


TAAL 
fefhes ethic 


Ficure 64.—Sherente racing logs. Aldea Porteira. (Redrawn from original 
sketch by C. Nimuendaji.) 


The competitors are differently recruited in the several tribes. The 
Sherente arbitrarily assign every boy to either of two tribal teams for 
lifelong membership and on that basis organize the races almost en- 
tirely within any one association; the Apinayé pit men of opposite 
moieties against each other; the Canella compete by seasonal moieties 
during the rainy season, generally by age-class pairs during the cere- 


VoL. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 505 


monial part of the year, but also in various other ways, certain so- 
cieties being pitted against each other at particular festivals. In for- 
mer times outsiders would occasionally challenge the Ramcocamekra, 
but such contests might end in fearful brawls. Sometimes even 
Canella girls and women race with logs of lighter make. 

For the Southern and Northern Cayapoé clear-cut evidence for a 
competitive sport of this type is lacking, but some equivalent procedure 
with a log either in dancing or in transportation by successive groups 
of men is indicated (Pohl, 1832-87; Kissenberth, 1911). 

The Canelia also have a simpler relay race with a wand instead of a 
log, as well as ordinary races, which are much rarer among the Sherente 
and Apinayé. 

Wrestling occurs, but not as a prominent sport. Mock fights are 
indulged in by several groups, and a tug-of-war characterizes the 
Pau @’Arco. Unique in South America is the Sherente ring and pole 
game, in which one player with a 12-inch (380-cm.) stick catches a hoop 
about 12 inches (30 cm.) in diameter thrown by his opponent. Target 
practice is not reported, but the Canella shoot arrows for distance 
either along a smooth plot of ground or by making the missiles re- 
bound from a specially erected obstruction, say, a little mound. Stilt 
walking is a boys’ pastime among the Canella, but exclusively a men’s 
sport among the Apinayé, whose stilts are nearly 10 feet (3 m.) high, 
the steps being about 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 11 inches (1.7 m. to 1.8 m.) 
above the ground; the performer mounts them after climbing a tree 
and rests on the roofs of the houses. Hunters returning to the village 
sometimes surprise their tribesmen by a grotesque procession of tower- 
ing figures, to whom the women hastily bring offerings of cooked 
tubers impaled on poles. 

A rubber-ball game is the property of one Sherente clan, whose mem- 
bers propel the ball to one another with the palms of their hands. 
Other tribesmen may play only with balls of maize husks. The nearest 
Apinayé counterpart is a kind of shuttlecock, the rubber balls being 
batted with paddles or a special battledore. Also, while the Sherente 
play at any time, the Apinayé game is restricted to the second phase 
of initiation, though played by mature men, not by the novices. 

Aponayé and Sherente boys have tops and humming tops, buzzers, 
(fig. 65, @) bull-roarers, wax figures, and grass toys. Girls seem to 
lack true dolls, the Apinayé substituting elongated gourds, their 
Canella sisters contraptions of buriti leafstalks. 

Cat’s cradle is not highly developed. A single figure is known from 
the Sherente. Among the Canella young girls and men have about 
10 figures, but very few individuals can make them. 

Musical instruments.—The lack of drums is noteworthy. There 
are jingles of Lagenaria tips as substitutes for tapir hoofs; of shells; 
and of fruit shells. The Apinayé have toré clarinets, nose flutes, stop- 


506 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


f 
= ey 


= Hy) anes 


a 


Ficure 65.—Ge musical instruments. a, Canella buzzer disk; b, Canella trumpet with 
bell of cowhorn; c, Canella end-blown bamboo trumpet (length 17 in., or 42.5 em.) ; 
d, blowhole in septum of c; e, end-blown trumpet; f, cross section of e. (After 
Izikowitz, 1935, figs. 94, 114, 95.) 


Vow. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 507 


less flutes with ducts (also Cayapé), and reed panpipes. They and 
the Canella share a unique form of resonator whistle composed of a 
reed attached to a nut or gourd. 

Both Zimbira divisions use simple end-blown bamboo trumpets 
(fig. 65, c-f), and complex side-blown trumpets are typical of the 
Northern Ge. The Timbira further use transverse, stopless flutes of 
gourd (fig. 66), wood, or horn, and small gourd whistles with from 
two to four stops. In modern times the WVorthern Ge have supplanted 
gourd with cowhorn resonators in their trumpets. 


/ ANS 
NAN 
abl € 
ANS 
{7 VR " 
AN 7 
AL ) E 
R 
i 
A ¥ 
sk 


vA i 
I, 
renee leg 


FIGURE 66.—Timbira type flute made of gourd from the Apinayé. The manner of playing tne 
flute shown at right (%4 natural size). After Izikowitz, 1935, fig. 143.) 


In this area the gourd rattle (fig. 67) is emphatically not associated 
with shamanistic cures. For example, it is the precentor’s instrument 
at the daily Canella dances. It is made from the rind of Crescentia 
cujete, painted red, and mounted on a wooden handle, whose tip pro- 
jects far beyond and enables the rattler to stick his instrument into 
the ground. Ina hole in the grip is inserted a tasseled wrist cord. 

One of the Sherente associations uses a peculiar double whistle 
made of two bamboo tubes tied together with twilled covering in 
two colors and with an arara feather pendant (pl. 99, top, left). 
With this instrument the leaders signal to their followers in battle. 


508 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Burn, 143 


ae 
Sa oe 
ie en wm 
— 
a 


ee 


I 


=< Z 4 
Opp tes . 
na epi 
~ 
yy 
LE 


Ficure 67.—Apinayé gourd rattles. (After Izikowitz, 1935, fig. 41.) 


Another peculiar instrument of these people is a gourd trumpet 
blown to frighten the women. 

Dances.—During the dry season the Canella have daily triple per- 
formances in the plaza, apart from any ceremonies. The first dance 
begins at about 3 or 4 a. m., terminating about 5:30 a. m.; the sec- 
ond, a little before sunset, is briefer and has a smaller attendance; 
the third begins at 7 p. m., takes at least 2 hours, often much longer, 
and always lures the largest audience. The participants include the 
older uninitiated boys and the two junior age classes, also girls from 
about 7 years up and young women at least until their first pregnancy. 
A precentor wearing a forehead band, neck band, and sash wields a 
rattle and leads in the singing, assisted by a precentress, who must 
take up the tune during any intermissions made by her colleague, 
since the chant must under no condition stop. This female dignitary 
requires a loud voice, a good memory for songs, and a gay disposi- 


VoL. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 509 


tion. She takes her position in the center of the women dancers’ line, 
and acts as their leader Only the women and the precentor chant; 
the male dancers merely join in a periodic choral shout. The women 
and girls form one horizontal row, never leaving their stations but 
bending their knees in rhythm and bringing their bent arms back 
and forth so that their two hands almost touch during the forward 
movement. The precentor dances close to this line, sings and shakes 
his rattle at particular girls in turn, stamps his feet, stoops, leaps 
up with outstretched legs, making superhuman efforts to inspire the 
performer to whom he addresses himself. When there are 50 or 
more women in line, a second precentor is obliged to aid. The young 
men, generally armed with some weapon or staff, start their dancing 
only at the second or third song. One or two blow a trumpet; all 
stretch their legs apart, rock their knees, and in a body dance toward 
the girls so long as the precentor dances before them. But when 
he turns from them to make a semicircle, the youths also turn away, 
leaping back some 100 feet (30 m.). At the morning dances they 
utter a prolonged choral shout at the beginning of every stanza. 

At least during a major festival, the Gérotire have been observed 
in a similar triple performance. 

In general outline the procedure is probably common to all the 
Timbira. However, the Canella often supplement the routine with 
some extras, such as a knee dance executed by the precentor and each 
girl in turn. Some dances have a partially magical aim, viz, to pro- 
mote the growth of the crops or the effectiveness of the hunting. 

Stimulants.—In contrast to the Amazon-Orinoco tribes, the Ge 
lacked intoxicants. 

Tobacco, though probably known before contact with Whites, is 
not grown even today and plays a negligible part in ritual. However, 
some tribes are passionate smokers, using for the purpose funnels 
of spirally rolled palm leaflets. 


SUPERNATURALISM 


Notwithstanding significant resemblances, there is very wide di- 
vergence as to supernaturalism. Solar-lunar beliefs, animism, and 
magic are common to our three tribes, but with radically different em- 
phasis. Notably, the Canedla are so absorbed in ceremonial for its own 
sake and in the organization of log races that religion in its sub- 
jective aspects, including shamanism, recedes into the background. 

Major deities—The Sun and Moon myth is essentially similar 
throughout the area. Both characters are male, unrelated companions, 
with Sun definitely superior and at times maliciously teasing his dull- 
witted comrade. They create mankind by jumping into a creek 


510 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 


(Canella) or by throwing into a creek gourds which turn into human 
beings (Apinayé); the Sherente have no anthropogenic tradition, 
though they call Sun “Our Creator.” The Apinayé further derive 
their moiety scheme from Sun. 

The Canella never seek a personal revelation from their celestial 
gods, but publicly invoke them for rain, for the protection of game 
animals, the promotion of crops, and the prospering of wild fruits. 
However, these deities do not figure at all in certain ceremonies on be- 
half of maize and sweet potatoes. Very infrequently there are private 
prayers of unfixed text to Sun and Moon, mainly on behalf of a child’s 
health. Eclipses arouse great concern, but only lunar ones evoke a 
definite procedure; viz, the shaking of rattles, the exposure of two 
little girls on a mat, and the discharge of burning arrows toward the 


Moon. 
Like the Hastern Timbira, the Apinayé supplicate Sun on behalf 


of their crops and also to cure illness. At the beginning of the harvest, 
a 4-day ceremony is held, in which dancers put on Sun’s distinctive red 
paint. In contrast to the Canella, the Apinayé may get direct revela- 
tions from the Sun in dreams or in visions when out hunting by them- 
selves. The Moon also receives prayers to prosper the crops. During 
a lunar eclipse, an Indian lifts a girl toward the Moon, offers her 
for his wife, and begs him not to die; special chants are sung and 
burning arrows are shot at him. This last procedure has also been 
reported from the Northern Capayé, who suppose that they thereby 
prevent the Moon from tumbling down and destroying mankind (Kis- 
senberth, 1912, p. 55). The Apinayé likewise celebrate every new 
moon with dances and special songs supposedly derived from the 
Moon. Doctors have no special connection with the major deities. 

Different again is the Sherente attitude. Sun and Moon are potent 
deities, but never appear to visionaries, who get instructions from 
astral gods either delegated by the two great deities or acting on their 
own responsibility. Such revelations cannot be induced by any ritual 
preparation. Sun’s intermediaries are Venus, Jupiter, and some other 
stars; Moon’s most important deputy is Mars, whose protégés wield 
bull-roarers during their probation. Visions of solar associates come 
to men of the Sun moiety, and vice versa. Sun is sometimes tempted 
to destroy the world because of man’s wickedness, but sends his emis- 
saries with instructions on how to ward off with songs and magical 
paraphernalia a solar eclipse and the “cold night” in its wake that 
would extinguish life. 

The Great Fast, the major festival of the Sherente, is closely con- 
nected with the foregoing notions. Curiously enough, it is conceived 
as a measure against prolonged drought, for this danger virtually never 
threatens, suggesting a prior habitat nearer the Sdo Francisco River, 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 511 


whence tradition derives these people. Only adult males, undergo the 
ceremony, being divided into two main groups with a handful of 
elders as a third. The main groups alternate in fasting and in pro- 
viding for the needs of the assembly, and are finally relieved by the 
old men, who fast for 5 days. The fast limits the penitents to two 
daily rations of water and manioc cakes, so that at the end of the 
3 weeks’ period they have lost considerable weight. They sit with 
their faces turned east, never wash, and sing continuously from morn- 
ing until well into the night, reducing sleep to a minimum. Toward 
the close of the period the fasters are all supposed to have a vision of 
wasps armed with arrows, whereupon they are specially painted and 
parade, returning to their festive site for further visions of wasps, 
whose arrows supposedly drop and are collected by the master of cere- 
monies. The following day superficial ablutions are in order and the 
celebrants are sent to their homes, but return to the festival ground, 
where they hold decorated staffs and once more catch arrows dropped 
by wasp visitants, which are stuck into bast rings put round a specially 
erected post. The penitents march to a wooded spot some distance 
from the village, camping so that members of narkwa clans are neigh- 
bors. Two days later there is a hunt, followed by the preparation of 
meat pies; these are divided among the fasters, who return to their 
homes. 

When all three groups in turn have undergone their fast, a race is 
organized with special logs set up with a 30-foot (9 m.) pole between 
them, which everyone is eager to embrace. A member of the kuzé 
clan climbs to the top with a wad of bast and prays to Sun for fire. 
A spark falling from heaven ignites the bast, which is dropped so that 
fires from it may be kindled round about. Others now climb up and 
have visions of deceased relatives, who answer their questions, telling 
them how long they will live. Each climber takes some small object 
with him, and announces, “I [i. e., my soul] will turn into a feather 
[or leaf, etc.].” The article is then dropped and gathered in a gourd 
bow] by one of the officials of the festival. 

A Venus, a Jupiter, and a Mars seer now approach, offering water 
to the people; the water of the two former is clear, that of the latter 
is roiled and refused as presumably likely to induce death. The last 
to ascend the pole is one of the masters of the ceremony, who stretches 
out his hand eastward, and receives Sun’s message through a star in 
Orion. This he proclaims the next day to the assembled throng; the 
Sun, he reports, is pleased with the festival and will grant rain, but 
wants them to avoid Christian dress and to maintain their tonsure 
lest the tribe perish. Finally, the celebrants once more unite in the 
woods, by moieties, and the collector of the transformed souls, now 


512 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buty. 143 


in the gourd bowl, takes out each in turn, and replaces it via the crown 
of its owner’s head. Then all disperse. 

Animism.—The Apinayé have a common term for the soul, ghost, 
shadow, image, and bull-roarer. Men, animals, and plants all pos- 
sess souls, but those not human soon dissolve into nothing after death. 
Soul-loss by kidnaping or straying is one recognized cause of dis- 
ease. The spirits of deceased relatives gather round a dying person 
to hasten his death and accompany his soul, which, however, continues 
to dwell on earth. Souls of executed sorcerers cause nightmares, but 
as a rule, unless offended, the spirits are well disposed toward their 
survivors. They are usually invisible, but not incorporeal or im- 
mortal : they eat like men, use will-o’-the-wisps as campfires, and after 
a while die, being transformed into animals, stumps of trees, or ter- 
mite hills. In general they have superior knowledge of magic and 
medicine, which they reveal to a few favored men, though most 
A pinayé are either unable to establish rapport or afraid to court it. 

The Sherente share the ideas of soul-loss and of spirit relatives 
surrounding the dying in order to conduct his soul to their village, 
which here too is situated on the earth, not in an underworld or the 
sky. The path thither is beset with dangers, e. g., a monster attacks 
the soul, and a bridge is so feeble that an unwary traveler will tumble 
into the water. 

The Canella seem to lack belief in the temporary departure of the 
soul from the body and do not interpret sickness in this way. But 
communion with the spirits is the most conspicuous part of their 
religion, the souls of the dead protecting their living kin so far as 
possible, and warning them in dreams or visions. The swarm of spirits 
around a dying kinsman, the flimsy bridge on the route to the here- 
after, the will-o’-the-wisps as spiritual campfires, recur in Canella 
belief. 

Possession seems to be unknown to all three tribes, except at one 
phase of the Canel/a initiation. 

Shamanism and sorcery.—The Canella derive curative and magi- 
cal lore from the souls of the dead, but most sick individuals first 
try out traditional remedies and in grave illness almost always di- 
rectly appeal to their ancestors, hence the professional medicine man 
is comparatively unimportant. The patient who treats himself must, 
however, go into seclusion and observe its customary rules as to diet, 
silence, and the use of a scratching stick. The medicine man applies 
both profane remedies and special procedures, e. g., extraction by suck- 
ing out the pathogenic agent. He is paid only if successful and re- 
ceives no fee for collective treatment against epidemics, in which 
he smokes tobacco from a funnel and switches the villagers, who suc- 


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a 


pct 
tees Ke 


PLATE 99.—Ge artifacts. Top (left): Sherente akemba warriors’ double whistle. Top (right): Apinayé 
earplug. Bottom: Apinayé large anchor ax. (Courtesy Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belém.) 


PLATE 100.—Sherente artifacts. Top: Bast sandals. Bottom: Twilled basketry bowl, 18 in. or 45cm. diam. 
(After Nimuendaj4, 1942, pl. 1, a.) 


PLATE 101.—Sherente artifacts. Top: Hair sheath, sinaikra age-grade. Insignia of bachelor’s status. 
(After Nimuendajui, 1942, pl. 2, a.) Center: Shipsa girdle. (After Nimuendajt, 1942, pl. 2, 6.) Bottom: 
Large Sherente comb. Used by men’s association attendants at feast of the dead. (Courtesy Museu 
Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belém.) 


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Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 513 


cessively crawl between his legs. Specialists communing with snakes 
are able to cure snake bites, but may also send poisonous snakes against 
personal enemies, and hence can bully tribesmen into submission to 
their wishes. 

The Northern Cayapo and Timbira never regard the rattle as a 
shaman’s badge. 

Sorcerers are dreaded by all the tribes and put to death, at the 
chief’s initiative among Apinayé and Sherente. The Canella believe 
that some spirits give to their protegé a rosinlike disease stuff, which 
he furtively blows at his victim or inters by his door, causing an 
obscure sickness and death. 

Since most Apznayé avoid direct contact with the souls of the dead, 
their shamans enjoy greater significance. Some have the power to 
visit the shades instead of waiting for a revelation. Such a one 
smokes tobacco until he collapses in a trance, his soul going off for 
instructions. An assistant blows smoke on his hands, places them 
on the medicine man, and thus revives him. This practice, quite 
foreign to the Hastern Timbira and the Sherente, suggests Tupi in- 
fluence. The Pau d’Arco shamans are wonderworkers who commune 
with snakes, jaguars, and other beings and exert great influence; they 
do not derive their powers from the souls of the dead. 

Apinayé pathology, apart from epidemics due to White contacts, 
recognizes soul-loss, soul-intrusion, and sorcery. Soul-loss especially 
afflicts young children; sometimes it is the shadows of fruits that 
capture the soul. Complementary is the idea that the souls of cer- 
tain plants and animals may cause disturbances by entering their 
consumer’s body. The shadow of a fleet beast quickens the pulse, a 
turtle’s impedes it, ete. The doctor then resorts to a double pro- 
cedure: He kneads the body until he can suck out the disease from 
a particular spot; then makes his patient drink the infusion of a 
specific and rubs the dregs on his body, for corresponding to every 
edible beast or plant there is some plant antidote marked as such by 
an external criterion. Thus, deer medicine is derived from a species 
whose podlike fruits suggest antlers. Similar notions as to soul-loss 
and intrusive causes of disease occur among the Northern Cayapé. 
Finally, the Apinayé sorcerer blows disease from the palm of his 
hand or puts it on his trail. Such witchcraft does not presuppose a 
shamanistic revelation, but it takes a professional to counteract it 
by suction, the extract being then exhibited to spectators. 

Unlike the Timbira, the Sherente have shamans blessed not by 
spirits of the dead, but by stars. The pupils of Mars suck out the 
disease in the form of maize kernels or bits of wood, whereas Jupiter 
or Venus visionaries own a magic wand with which to take out the 

583486—46——__33 


514 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bui. 143 


trouble-makers at the distance of 6 feet (1.8 m.). Those who have 
Mars as their tutelary treat snake bites. 

The were-beast motif seems to be restricted to the Northern Cayapo. 

Magic.—Magic in a broad sense is common property. To stave off 
rain any Apinayé layman may wave a shrub with special virtues; and 
any Sherente may burn cottonseeds. On all sorts of occasions the 
Canella touch a species of tree that symbolizes toughness in order to 
acquire this quality. Contagious magic of the classical form, how- 
ever, is lacking. When an Apinayé throws clipped hair into a creek, 
it is to promote the growth of hair, never for witchcraft. Similarly, 
the Sherente throw ceremonial articles into the water in order to pro- 
long the former wearer’s life. 

Ceremonial.—Ge ceremonialism is only in part religious, hardly 
at all so among the Canella, where this aspect of life is most highly 
elaborated. Characteristically, in the three representative tribes 
masquerading has no sacred connotation. On the other hand, cere- 
monial is persistently linked with social structure, as when the defi- 
nitely religious Great Fast, of the Sherente, aligns celebrants by 
moieties and stresses the narkwé bond. Again, the second major 
festival of this people, the feast of the dead, is held only for certain 
dignitaries and their wives, the performance being incumbent on 
the honored person’s survivors in his association; further, guests from 
other villages camp according to the usual arrangement by moieties 
and clans in a tribal settlement. In the Great Anteater masquerade 
(pl. 102), organized in turn by the four men’s associations, the cos- 
tume makers are chosen two from each moiety; the members of the 
association take up positions by moieties; and the actors belong to 
a particular society. As to the frequent name-giving festivities, the 
names of males belong to the Sherente moieties, and the two criers 
functioning there represent these units, which form the basis of the 
celebrants’ alignment. 

The Pau d’Arco attach no special importance to initiation, which 
is a simple annual ritual for only a few boys at a time, their seclusion 
coinciding with a maize harvest festival. These Cayapé share the 
Anteater performance of the Apinayé and Sherente and, further, have 
borrowed the bd masquerades of the Carajd. They also, like the 
Sherente and Mashacali, impersonate the spirits of the deceased. 

Canella ceremonialism is too complex for a brief outline. Every 
year there is held either one of the two initiation ceremonies or, ac- 
cording to the council’s discretion, one of several other major festivals. 
Both phases of initiation involve a 3-month segregation terminating 
in a 3-day and a fortnight’s celebration, respectively. However, the 
seclusion differs in severity, a novice of the first phase publicly ap- 
pearing for a plaza dance every afternoon, whereas one of the second 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 515 


degree remains shut up in a cell of his matrilineal home. Only the 
first stage has a religious flavor: The boys gain contact with the 
spirits of the dead, who are lured to the site by the chanting; they 
enter the boys’ bodies, whence they are ultimately driven by ablution 
and flagellation. The second initiation ceremony is to promote the 
youths’ vitality as a preparation for marriage, and in the terminal 
rite each future mother-in-law leads her daughter’s prospective hus- 
band by a cord. 

The major festivals are highly composite. Dances and songs mingle 
with log races, the farcical antics of the Clown society, the dramatiza- 
tion of a game drive, and the attempts of the Jaguar society to catch 
the Agouti membership. But the lesser performances, such as those 
held to open and close the ceremonial season, are equally characteristic. 
In all these solemnities the religious factor is rarely present; magic 
figures more frequently, and the initiation festival harbors social mo- 
tives, but, preponderantly, 7%mbira ceremonialism is an end itself— 
the proper performance of traditional procedures in correct decora- 
tive outfits catering to the actors’ and the spectators’ entertainment. 


MYTHOLOGY AND LITERATURE 


A number of mythical conceptions may be noted apart from tales. 
Though without a true cosmogony, the Sherente have some relevant 
ideas. Earth, sky, the underworld, Sun, and Moon are eternal, the 
two celestial deities being sometimes separated from their substrata. 
Carrion vultures peep through openings in the sky down upon the 
earth. On opposite sides of one hole live Sun and Moon, the former 
flanked by the Belt of Orion on one side and both Jupiter and Venus 
on the other. These Indians greatly dread a cataclysm: They sup- 
posed that Halley’s comet in 1910 would usher in a world fire (a be- 
lief shared by the Canel/a) ; took an overflowing of the Tocantins River 
in 1926 for a repetition of the mythical deluge; and interpreted solar 
eclipses as the beginning of “the cold night” during which a can- 
nibalistic demon will destroy humanity, a consummation it has hither- 
to eluded. These catastrophes are conceived as Sun’s punishment for 
the Indians’ wickedness. 

The Canella also believe in celestial carrion vultures. They hold 
that the ends of the rainbow rest in the open mouths of two anacondas. 
The Milky Way is interpreted as a rhea by both 7'%imbira subdivisions. 

Thunder, the rainbow, and meteors loom prominently in Pau d@’Arco 
lore. 

Among the tales the Sun-Moon myth stands out for its complexity, 
in connection with religion, its intrinsic interest, its distribution over 
a large part of the entire region—certainly among both Timbira and 
Akwé, though it is not demonstrated to date for the Northern Cayapo. 


516 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 148 


It differs sharply from the twin hero stories of South America, for 
the Ge heroes are not twins, nor even brothers, but unrelated com- 
panions. Thus the distinctive episodes of the Tupinamba, Apapo- 
cuva, Carib cycles—dual paternity, Caesarean operation, testing of 
the boys by their father—automatically drop out. What remains is 
the unequivocal superiority of one hero over the other, whose stupid- 
ity or stubbornness precipitates difficulties, even a general conflag- 
ration, and makes him the target of his mate’s teasing. This contrast 
is, however, less marked among the Sherente. Despite his inferiority, 
Moon is not negligible as a transformer. While Sun creates furry 
game from slices of flesh, Moon similarly produces game birds (Can- 
ella) ; Sun creates good-looking people, Moon ugly ones. In a measure 
he is even able to thwart his cleverer comrade’s plans. Annoyed by 
one of Sun’s tricks, he makes the buriti palm shoot up so that man can 
no longer reach fruits from the ground, and his meddlesomeness stops 
axes from chopping down trees without human labor. However, there 
is nothing like the dualism of the Yahgan, neither of the Ge characters 
being concerned with the effect of his actions on future human hap- 
piness and immortality. 

An important story shared by the 7imbira, Sherente, and Northern 
Cayapo is that explaining the acquisition of fire from a benevolent 
jaguar, who has rescued the boy hero from a tree where he has been 
deserted by his cruel brother-in-law. Another tale reported from the 
Northern Cayapo, Canella, Apinayé, and Sherente relates how a man 
looking up at the sky wishes to marry a particular star, who comes 
down to him in female form. Among widespread motifs are: Sharp- 
ened-leg, the man who whittles his leg to attack a fellow-traveler 
(A pinayé, Canella, Northern Cayapo, Warrau); the dwarf parrots 
that assume the shape of women (Apinayé, Caraja, Rio Yamunda) ; 
the Amazons who kill male children (Aspinayé, Carajd, Taulipang, 
Tupinamba) ; the rolling skull (Apinayé, Bolivian highlands, Argen- 
tina, Araucanians, Chaco, etc.). 

A striking feature of ceremonial myths is the artificial secondary 
association of tales with the ceremonies they purport to explain. 


LORE AND LEARNING 


Little is to be recorded under this head. The numerical system of 
our Ge was formerly extremely limited, and astronomical knowledge 
was in its infancy. The Canella knew only a few constellations, no- 
tably the Seven Stars, whose appearance above the western horizon 
signalized the approach of the rainy season and the need for making 
clearings. Time is reckoned by lunar phases, which remain unac- 
counted for, and by the seasons, dry and rainy, the former coinciding 
more or less with the ceremonial period. The Canella do not know 


Vou. 1] NORTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL GE—LOWIE 517 


the number of full moons in the year; there is no attempt to determine 
the solstice or to use it in time reckoning. 

The apparently nonshamanistic use of drawing blood from the 
forehead with a blocked little arrow occurred among the Southern 
Cayapo (Pohl, 1832-37, 1: 406). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Castelnau, 1850-59 ; Coudreau, 1897 a, 1897 b; Kissenberth, 1911, 1912; Krause, 
1911; Lowie, 1937; Martius, 1867; Nimuendaju, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, and mss.; 
Pohl, 1832-87 ; Pompeu Sobrinho, 1930, 1935 a; Ribeiro, 1841, 1870; Rydén, 1937; 
Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51; Snethlage, 1931; Spix and Martius, 1823-31; Steiner, 
1894. 


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cite af Sun's trivliyy he maken the turiet paleo whiner igh aa! 
Hodonger renal fewite trove the greouneds tind hie dedldile 
ante from chopping dy wi treen without hata dainty 
in nothing ik thud iulitan of tho Yanda; ialthonwt the Gv vivaraatiogt 
aterm whit the elteot wt hiwaeiiand ou Tyduiay mew ape 
riniiht sini fineerortality, 

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Cayape ta tims oxpliming te aoypinition ot dro) ientig banewolgat | 
pogrrtin, Wilktr trai gered thre hery hero Bron or Grea whore he ies 
doperted by big orned invihur-in-lnw. Avether ial reportedoieamy 
Nort hore Cugepd, Canela, Apia? aca Sheventa ‘elpine. hoa 
looking uprat the sky wiahes to marcy a péetituler etamaehe 
déwn, tu Bim it Georadle forma 4) miohy widewp ron motte weet 
chodhdeg, the ua. Who whittle bin lee to alfack: «6 ‘iva eee 
(Apna, Canelle, Barthaen” Oayaprd, Warrauly tha cd 
tlind again the uhapd of wane LApinaye, Canela, Tios Yanan 
the Amasote who kill pisla clulilom, (Aevinayd, Canaid, Tanne 
Pughnam aba) s thy rolluag exyti (y A pay ad, Bolivian etna) 
tiid, Aogunmians, Checd, a0), 


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iti ies To fated The Coretig knew only -«, few eonstellailina nig” 

‘, s Minweg a yhou bp Pn ranon above Uh wrelern hawivieny, 

ronda tie pe wie Of (tie Palny! ety fi sd the rend farses 

losdixign - "Tink ty cocker bes ‘yi phyeee, ehich) Wee ties 

rin! ot, nof te the aeneowy, chevy well gainy, the Footer 
m with thé cqcenciial patior, ‘The Candle de nat knew 


THE SOUTHERN CAYAPO 


By Rosrrr H. Lowir 


HISTORY 


Southern Cayapo (Kayapo).—A Ge tribe related to, but distinct 
from the Northern Cayapé. The term “Cayapo,” which remains un- 
translated, was first applied to the Southern Cayapo in the second half 
of the 17th century. Its bearer (map 1, Vo. 11; map 7) was occupying 
the area embracing in Goyaz all right affluents of the Paranahyba River 
and the upper drainage area of the Araguaya River; in southeastern 
Matto Grosso, all right affluents of the Parana River as far as the 
Nhanduhy-Pardo River and the upper drainage area of the Taquary 
River and the Piquiry-Correntes River; in northwestern Sio Paulo 
and western Minas Gerais, the territory between the Paranahyba 
River and the Rio Grande (lat. 18° S., long. 50° W.). After end- 
less fighting, the Cayapé made peace in Goyaz in 1780, and, in 1910 
about 30 to 40 survivors were living below the Salto Vermelho (lat. 
19°50’ S., long., 50°30’ W.) on both banks of the Rio Grande. Today 
their tribal existence has ceased. 


CULTURE 


Pohl (1832-37, 1: 399-406) and Saint-Hilaire (1830-51, 2: 94-119) 
both of whom visited the tribe at the aldea Sio José de Mossamedes, 
report several characteristic traits. The habitations, originally ar- 
ranged in a circle, had a frame covered with palm leaves and grass 
thatching. The inmates slept on platform beds, had stone fireplaces, 
and cooked in earth ovens. In fire making, the hearth, which had 
a lateral groove, was held with the foot; both parts of the ap- 
paratus were of urucii. Live embers were used to singe off the hair. 
Black and blue varieties of maize were preferred. Cotton was neither 
cultivated nor spun. Textiles included mats and elliptical baskets of 
buriti fiber. Bows, arrows, and clubs are mentioned as weapons. The 
Cayapo were especially troublesome to colonists in about 1750, and the 
Bororo were enlisted against them. Ina fight, the women stood behind 
the men to hand them arrows. Uruct and genipa were the typical body 
paints. Polygyny was permitted. 

519 


520 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn, 143 


Mourners gashed their chests with arrows or struck their heads. At 
the death of a prominent man they wailed and eulogized the deceased ; 
the chief would club a kneeling Indian on the forehead, and the re- 
sulting blood was smeared on the corpse. Interment was in sitting 
position, and food as well as the dead man’s weapons were deposited 
with the corpse. 

Saint-Hilaire (1880-51, 2:105) records a Vulture and a Jaguar 
dance; Pohl (1832-37, 1: 401) a dance in which a performer executes 
the incredible feat of leaping about with a log weighing a hundred- 
weight (45.36 kg.) and throwing it to other dancers. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Pohl, 1882-37; Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51. 


THE GUAITACA 


By Aurrep Metravux 


The Guaitaca (Goaptaca, Gyataca, Goyaka, Goytakaz, Waitacazes, 
Oueitaca), who are so often mentioned in the early literature, dis- 
appeared before a single word of their language had been recorded, so 
that it is impossible to classify them. Without any valid reason they 
have been identified with the modern Puri and Coroado. They prob- 
ably formed part of the numerous “7’apuya” tribes whose presence on 
the coast long antedated the 7’wpi-Guarané invasions. 


History and tribal divisions.—In the 16th century, they were scattered along 
the coast from the Sao Matheus River (Cricaré River) to Cape Sao Thome 
(lat. 20° S., long. 40° W.) (pl. 107). Léry (1880, 1: 78-80 and 2: 180) places 
them along the seashore between the Parahyba River and Macahé, where they 
were in direct contact with the Tupinamba (Tamoyo) of Rio de Janeiro. 
Though their northern border cannot be ascertained exactly, all our sources 
agree that they were the undisputed masters of the fertile Campos dos Goaitacazes 
that extend from the vicinity of Lagoa Feia to the mouth of the Parahyba 
River (map 1, No. 14; map 7). 

The Guaitacd were divided into three subgroups. The Guaitacd-mopi and 
the Guaitacd-yakorito lived in the Campos dos Goaitacazes. The Guaitacd- 
guasu, who were hostile to the others, roamed inland. Thevet mentions a fourth 
group, the Guaitacd-miri. 

In the 15th or 16th century, the Guaitacd conquered and occupied the territory 
of the Papana, a Tapuya tribe. In 1553, the Portuguese settled in the country of 
the Guaitacd but, after a 5-year war, were driven out. Later the Guaitacd 
raided several times the Captaincy of Espirito Santo and, in one of their 
numerous battles against Portuguese troops, killed Fernaio de Sa, the son of the 
Governor General of Brazil. They not only fought the White invaders but 
also the Tupinamba, who had allied themselves to the Portuguese to exterminate 
their traditional enemies. In 1630, the Portuguese again undertook, and this 
time achieved the conquest of the Guaitacd. The Indians who escaped slaughter 
were gathered into aldeas where they were Christianized. In the first half of 
the 19th century, a few Indians remained near Campos and Cabo Frio. They 
were regarded as the descendants of the ancient Guaitacd. Wied-Neuwied 
(1820-21, 1:37) saw in the village of Sao Lourenzo, near Rio de Janeiro, the 
remainder of the Guaitacd who had been settled in the Jesuit missions as well 
as others in the village of Sio Pedro dos Indios. Today the Guaitacd have been 
entirely absorbed by the Neo-Brazilian population. 


1 The scattered data on the Gwaitacdéd have been assembled and summarized by 
Métraux (1929 c). 


521 


522 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buby. 143 
CULTURE 


Ethnographic data in the early literature are few. The Guaitaca 
were mainly collectors and hunters, but also practiced some agricul- 
ture. Their crops were maize and some tubers; like several “Tapuya” 
tribes, they did not cultivate manioc. When hunting, they tracked 
down game until it was exhausted and fell an easy prey. Sharks 
were attacked close to the shore by groups of Indians armed with 
short spears. ‘Their arrows were tipped with shark teeth. 

According to Vasconcellos (1865, bk. 4, ch. 11, p. 142), the 
small, low Guaitacd houses were built “on a pile” (i. e., on piles?). 
This statement has been interpreted by some historians as a reference 
to tree dwellings, but in either case it must be accepted with reserve. 
They lacked hammocks and slept on the ground. 

The Guaitacad wore their hair long, though some men shaved their 
foreheads. Body hair was removed. 

All our sources stress the warlike character of these Indians. The 
Guaitacé also are said to have been cannibals, but the evidence is not 
altogether conclusive. The “Zapuya” as a rule, were not cannibals, 
though they might have adopted the practice, which was popular with 
their 7'’wpé neighbors. 

Despite their ordinarily hostile relationship, they carried on a kind 
of “silent trade” with their 7upé neighbors. Keeping at a distance 
from their trade partners, each group displayed the commodities 
which they wished to exchange. Generally European articles were 
offered by the Z’upinamba and feathers and green stones for labrets 
by the Guaitacad. When the exchange had been agreed upon, each 
party hastily deposited the goods at a certain place and departed. 
Hostilities were then resumed (Léry, 1880, 1: 78-80); 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Léry, 1880; Métraux, 1929 ce; Vasconcellos, 1865; Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21. 


THE PUR{-COROADO LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


By Aurrep MErravux 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The Coroado, Puri, and Coropé were closely related linguistically 
and culturally (map 1, Mo. 73). One hundred years ago the Coroado 
still remembered a time when they formed a single tribe with the 
Puri, who later, as the result of a feud between two families, became 
their enemies. 


Coroado.—At the beginning of the 19th century, the Coroado occupied the 
plain bounded in the east by the Serra de Sao Geraldo (Sao Jozé) and in the 
west by the Serra da Onza, both ramifications of the Serra do Mar (lat. 21° §., 
long. 42° W.). They lived mainly along the Xipoté Novo River (Rio dos Co- 
roados), but were also reported on the Rio da Pomba and on the Parahyba River 
(map 7). According to Eschwege (1818, 1 :125), the Coroado were originally 
divided into three main subgroups: the Maritong, the Cobanipaque, and a third, 
the name of which had been forgotten. Two small bands that lived on the Rio 
Preto were called the Tamprun and the Sasaricon (Sazaricon) (Saint Hilaire, 
1880-51, 1:125). The Portuguese named them the Coroado (the Crowned Ones), 
as they are known in the literature, because of their circular tonsure. This 
tribe, the true Coroado, should not be confused with the Caingang, who are some- 
times known by the same name. 

During the 17th century, the Coroado were raided by the Paulists and, as a 
result, they remained bitter enemies of the Whites until 1763, when they were 
induced to make peace. In 1767 they were placed under the authority of special 
government agents. Harshly treated by the colonists who exploited them, they 
were already in full decadence by 1818. There were many Coroado in the Ca- 
puchin mission of Sao Fidelis, founded in 1776 on the right side of the Parahyba 
River. 

In 1813, the Coroado were scattered in 150 settlements, each consisting of one 
or two families. The total population was about 1,900 (Eschwege, 1800, 1: 120). 
Saint-Hilaire (1880-51, 1: 43) said that five or six hundred lived on the Rio Bonito, 
near Ub4a. 

In recent years some Coroado still remained in the Aldea da Pedra on the upper 
Parahyba River under the care of Italian Capuchins. 

Puri.—The former habitat of the Puri extended from the Parahyba River to 
the Serra de Mantiqueira and the upper reaches of the Rio Doce (map 7). The 
Purt were divided into the following subtribes: Sabonan, Uambori, and Xamia- 
una. The name Puri was a derogatory designation bestowed on them by the 
Coroado. 

In the 18th century, several hundred Purt were lured to Villa Rica, where they 
were sold as slaves. About 500 in the region of Piranga and Santa Rita placed 


523 


524 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


themselves under the protection of the Portuguese and were settled near Rio 
Pardo by Captain Marliére, who is responsible for most of the information avail- 
able on them. In 1800, a group of 87 Puri were placed in the Mission of Sio Joao 
de Queluz, where many others joined them." In 1815 Wied-Neuwied saw a group 
of Puri near Sio Fidelis. Spix and Martius encountered another group near Sao 


Joao Baptista. 

The tribe originally totaled about 4,000, but, after their contact with the Whites, 
dwindled rapidly. In 1885 there were still some Puri groups on the tributaries of 
the Manhuassu River. Their locations, given by Ehrenreich (1886), were as 
follows: Quartel do Principe (a border town between Minas Gerais and Espfrito 
Santo) ; Santa Lucia, near Carangola; Cachoeirinha, near Alegre; and Joannes 
on the Rio Doce, between Santa Maria de Belen and Cuieté. One hundred and 
twenty-two Puri were also established in the Aldeamento de Muriahé. Today 
some Puri remnants may exist in the region of the lower Parahyba River. 

Coropo.—The Corop6 lived mainly on the Rio da Pomba and on the southern 
side of the upper Parahyba River. Eschwege (1818, 1:76) states that in 1813 
all of them were acculturated and spoke Portuguese; they resided in 29 villages 
and numbered 291 (97 men, 96 women, 58 boys, and 40 girls). 

Their language is related to Coroado, but not so closely as Puri, which is a 


dialect of Coroado. 
CULTURE 


SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Originally the Puri were typical forest nomads, who subsisted by 
hunting and collecting fruits and roots, especially the fruits of the 
sapucaia tree (Lecythis pisonis), palm shoots, caratinga (Convolvulus 
sp.), cava, and many other tubers. During the dry season, the Co- 
roado gathered larvae of bixo da taquara, which they kept in bamboo 
receptacles, using the fat mainly for preparing corn cakes. Like most 
forest nomads, they were constantly on the lookout for honey. 

The Coroado established in aldeas learned to grow crops and, at the 
beginning of the 19th century, cultivated maize, gourds, bananas, 
cari (Dioscorea sp.), and beans. They were poor farmers, however, 
and continued to subsist, in large measure, on the produce of the 
bush. The Puri, who lacked agriculture, looted the fields of the 
colonists and of the civilized Indians, mainly for sugarcane, of which 
they were inordinately fond. Such inroads caused continuous war- 
fare between the nomadic Indians and the sedentary population of 
the region. 

The Puri and Coroado are said to have been skillful stalkers and 
expert trackers. They lured birds by perfectly imitated calls. Noth- 
ing is known of their other hunting methods except that they caught 
animals in pitfalls and traps. Birds were captured by means of a 
noose fixed to the end of a long pole. 

1 According to Ayres de Cazal (1845, 2: 26), at the beginning of the 19th century some 


Christianized Puri lived in the village of Valenca, between the Parahyba River and the 
Rio Preto. With them lived Arary, Pitta, and Xumetto Indians. 


Vou. 1] PURI-COROADO—METRAUX 525 


Fishing, which is barely mentioned in our sources and must have 
been of secondary importance, was practiced with bows and arrows 
and with long, multipointed spears. Hooks were introduced by the 
Portuguese. 

The Puré baked their food in earth ovens or boiled it in sections 
of green bamboo (taquara-acu). They also roasted meat on spits. 
The Coroado, who raised some crops, had more elaborate cooking 
techniques and utensils, such as basketry sifters and various earthen- 
ware vessels. They prepared mush with maize pounded in cylin- 
drical wooden mortars, boiled game, roasted it on a spit, or smoked 
it on a babracot. They seasoned food with malagiieta (Capsicum 
frutescens) fruits but used no salt. 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 


At the beginning of the 19th century, both the Coroado and the 
Puri had dogs and fowl which they had recently acquired from the 
Whites. They valued their dogs highly and took good care of them, 
but had not yet learned to train them for hunting. 


HOUSES 


The nomadic Puri built crude shelters by resting a few palm fronds 
against a transverse stick tied to two trees and covering them with 
additional leaves (pl. 110, bottom). The hut of the more sedentary 
Coroado, though of better construction, was obviously derived from 
the primitive Pu7% lean-to. It had the form of a thatched gabled roof 
resting directly on the ground (pl. 110, top). Larger huts with wattle- 
and-daub walls were imitations of the Mestizo house.’ 

The main piece of Coroado furniture was the cotton hammock. 
Some Puri used hammocks (pl. 105, a) of embauba (Cecropia sp.) 
fibers, but most of them slept in the ashes of their camp fires. The 
Coroado hut contained a platform for storing food and small articles, 
a wooden mortar, gourds, and various pieces of pottery. At night the 
Purt and Coroado kept a fire burning near their hammocks against 
the cold of the night and to ward off mosquitoes. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


The aboriginal Puri, Coroado, and Coropo went naked; but the men, 
when first described, had already adopted European clothes, while 
Coroado women wore home-made skirts. 


2The statement by Ayres de Cazal (1845), 2:50) that from 50 to 100 people lived in a 
Single house is certainly an exaggeration. 


526 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. D. BULL, 143 


Feather headdresses and feather bracelets were worn by both Puri 
and Coroado men. Both Puri and Coroado hung around their necks 
or slung across their chests necklaces composed of animal teeth and of 
various seeds (Canna glauca, Abrus precatorius, Ormosia coccinea, 
ete.) Young women of both tribes wrapped bark strips around their 
wrists and around their legs, under the knees and around the ankles. 
These bindings, which served to make the joints slender, were removed 
after marriage. 

The Coroado tonsure, which resembled that of a Franciscan monk, 
accounts for their name. Some Puri shaved the entire head. 

All body hair was removed. Both Puri and Coroado painted dots 
and linear motifs in red (uruct or red clay) and black (genipa) on 
their persons. Puri children were often decorated with black spots 
all over the body. 

Among the Coroado, both sexes were tattooed by a method not re- 
ported elsewhere in South America except for the 7ehuelche: The 
skin was pinched between the fingers, and with a needle and a thread 
wet with pigment it was stitched through in circular designs or in 
crude representations of animals and birds (Eschwege, 1818, 1: 137). 


TRANSPORTATION 


No craft of any kind seems to have been used by these tribes, a lack 
that may be ascribed to the absence of large rivers in their mountain- 
ous and forested country. 

Women carried their goods in large baskets. Children were sus- 
pended on the hip with a bark sling or carried on their mother’s back, 
supported by a tumpline or hanging in a net. 


MANUFACTURES 


Basketry.—Coroado basketry did not differ from that of the more 
advanced Z’upé tribes, judging from specimens figured by Eschwege 
(1818, 1: pl. 2, figs. s, g; Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21, pl. 12, fig. 7). They 
made rectangular fans to activate the fire, long carrying baskets with 
open tops, and other containers of various sizes. 

Weaving.—The Coroado made cotton hammocks and clothes. Ac- 
cording to Saint-Hilaire (1830-51, 2:46) they wove embauba fibers. 

Netting.—Carrying nets are mentioned. 

Pottery.—The Coroado were fair potters and made large bulging 
jars with pointed bottoms and short necks (fig. 68, a). Purt pots 
were more primitive. They were globular and of a shape suggesting 
that of the sapucaia (Lecythis ollaria) fruit. 

Tools.—Stone axes (fig. 68, ¢) were still used at the beginning of 
the last century. The stone ax blade was lashed between two sticks. 


Vou. 1] PURI-COROADO—METRAUX 527 


Ficure 68.—Coroado manufactures. a, Pottery jar; b, side-blown trumpet made of cow 
horn; c, hafted ax. (Redrawn from Eschwege, 1818, opposite p. 242.) 


Weapons.—Bow staves were carved of ayri or brejauba (Astro- 
caryum ayri) wood. They had a circular cross section and were about 
614 feet (2 m.) long. The string was of caraguaté or of tucum 
(Astrocaryum sp.) fibers. 

Arrow shafts were made of taquara da frecha (Saccharum sagit- 
tarum) with feathering of the arched (tangential) type. Arrow- 
heads were taquara blades, barbed wooden rods, and bulging knobs. 

Lances are mentioned, but there is no reference to clubs. 

Children used pellet bows (pl. 105, 6) as playthings and to develop 
their marksmanship. 

Fire making.—Fire was produced by a drill which was generally 
inserted into an arrow shaft. Hearth and drill were made of a dry 
creeper. 

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


The Coroado tribe was split into small groups or bands, each of 
which comprised one or two extended families totaling some 40 peo- 
ple. Each group lived apart, uniting with others only for defense 
against enemies or to wage war. Such a group was under the authority 
of a chief, generally the oldest man of the community. 

Within the group there existed a great amount of cooperation. 
They cultivated their fields in common, hunted together, and enjoyed 
“commonly the produce of their work” (Eschwege, 1818, 1: 126-127). 
Young people submitted willingly to the authority of older persons 
and of valiant hunters and warriors. Leaders were distinguished by 
beautiful feather diadems. 


COURTESY RITES 


When two parties of Puri met, one would make a speech and then 
both would burst into laments for the dead. 


528 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. BULL. 143 
WARFARE AND CANNIBALISM 


Both the Puri and Coroado have been accused of cannibalism, with- 
out convincing evidence. It is said that when celebrating a victory 
feast, the Coroado dipped the arm of a slain enemy in chicha and 
licked it. They kept the skulls of their victims as trophies and made 
flutes out of their bones. 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth.—The Coroado woman when pregnant observed chas- 
tity. She and her husband refrained from eating the flesh of certain 
animals and lived chiefly on fish and fruits. Delivery took place in 
the forest in a spot protected from moonlight, which was considered 
harmful to a newborn baby. Soon after the birth, the mother washed 
herself and resumed her normal activities. A few days later, both 
she and the baby were fumigated with tobacco smoke by a shaman, an 
occasion which was celebrated by hearty drinking. Children were 
nursed until they were 4 to 5 years old. 

Marriage.—Men married at the age of 18, girls when they were 
about 12. The marriage ceremony is said to have consisted of the 
presentation of game and fruit to the bride’s parents. Acceptance of 
the gift sealed the marriage. The new couple settled with the family 
of either spouse. Monogamy seems to have prevailed, though chiefs 
or good hunters had two or more wives. Marital ties were brittle 
and easily dissolved. Women were often blamed for the separation 
because of their misconduct. 

Death observances.—The Coroado placed their dead in large 
jars, if these were available, after they had broken the limbs of the 
corpse, lest the ghost return to haunt the living. A person was buried 
in his hut, his possessions were deposited over the grave, and the house 
was burned or abandoned. If the deceased had been a chief, the whole 
settlement was deserted. Relatives cut their hair, and the women 
painted their bodies black. They uttered funeral laments at dawn, 
in the evening, and every time they happened to pass by a grave. The 
Puri pronounced funeral speeches in honor of their dead (pl. 108). 
The soul of the departed went to a pleasant wood full of sapucaia trees 
and game, where it was happy in the company of all the deceased. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Musical instruments.—A cow-horn trumpet with a lateral mouth- 
piece was one of the main musical instruments. With it the Puri 
sounded alarms and gathered men for attacks or for drinking bouts. 
In the Museum of Vienna there is a composite trumpet attributed to 
the Coroado, The bell consists of a spiral twisted skin, most likely 


Vou. 1] PURI-COROADO—METRAUX 529 


that of an armadillo (Izikowitz, 1935, p. 234). The blowhole is on 
the side. Eschwege (1818, 1: 127) mentions also trumpets made of the 
long bones and even of the skulls of enemies. 

Dances and songs.—There are several good descriptions of Coroado 
and Purt dances (pl. 108). (Spix and Martius, 1823-28, 1: 373; Esch- 
wege, 1818, 1: 142; Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51,1:39.) These tribes danced 
in two straight lines, the men in front with bows and arrows, the women 
behind. 

In the first three steps they [the Puri] put the left foot forward and bent the 
left side; at the first and third step they stamped with the left foot, and at the 
second with the right; in the following three steps they advanced the right foot 
at the first and last, bending on the right side. In this manner they advanced a 
little alternately in short steps. As soon as the song was concluded, they ran 
back in disorder as if in flight; first the women with their daughters, and then 
the men with their sons. After this they placed themselves in the same order as 
before and the scene was repeated. [Spix and Martius, 1823-31, 1: 378.] 

A dance to celebrate the killing of a jaguar rested on the same prin- 
ciple, but the dancers stooped, holding their hands on their waists and 
jumping with more vivacity. 

Songs referred to beer or praised the looks of a person in the audience 
(Eschwege, 1818, 1: 142). 

Drinking bouts.—The Coroado acquired the habit of drinking 
maize beer after they had become agriculturists under White coercion. 
They raised maize more for beer than for food. Fermentation was 
accelerated by the addition of saliva. Before starting a drinking bout, 
a chief would chant, dance around the beer jar, and taste the greasy 
surface (pl. 109). 

Narcotics.—The Coroado smoked tobacco in clay pipes or in 
bamboo tubes. 


SHAMANISM AND RELIGION 


Ghosts, which often appeared in the guise of lizards, caimans, 
jaguars, deer, or deer-footed men, were the souls of wicked persons or 
of people who had not been buried according to prescribed rites. 

Shamans.—Shamans consulted the souls of the dead about the 
outcome of important events, such as a war party or an expedition to 
collect ipecacuanha. They also summoned spirits to inquire where 
abundant game could be found or to ascertain whether they were 
threatened by a war party. When the Coroado feared an attack by 
their traditional enemy, the Pur?, their shamans conjured up the soul 
of a dead Purvi and asked him the whereabouts of his fellow tribesmen. 
If the answers were alarming, the shamans advised the people to take 
defensive measures and to build a fence around the camp. 

The Coroado shaman conjured spirits at night while blowing clouds 
of smoke from his pipe. Spectators could hear the steps of the ap- 

583486—46——34 


530 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


proaching spirits and their whistled answers to the questions of the 
shaman. The spirits departed crying “like macuco birds.” 

The Coroado lived in great fear of sorcerers. If witchcraft were 
suspected to be the cause of a death, some flesh or skin was cut from the 
victim’s head and countermagic was practiced on it. 

Medicine.—Sick people were treated by shamans, who sucked them, 
fumigated them with tobacco smoke, and rubbed them with saliva or 
with certain herbs. The Puri exposed sick people to a steam bath— 
the patient crouched on all fours over a large glowing hot stone, which 
women sprinkled with water from their mouths. 

The Coroado practiced bloodletting with a small bow and an arrow 
headed with a piece of crystal. This operation was also performed at 
intervals on healthy persons, especially women. The Coroado incised 
the skin around a sore spot with a sharp stone or a piece of bamboo. 
Some men, to improve their marksmanship, cut themselves slightly 
across the upper arm (Eschwege, 1818, 1: 187). 

Shamans used various herbs in their massages and put different 
leaves and grasses on wounds and infections. Most of their drugs 
were for external use, and it has been observed that, like the Chaco 
Indians, the Coroado showed a strong reluctance to taking internal 
medicines. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Ayres de Cazal, 1845; Burmeister, C., 1853; Debret, 1940; Ehrenreich, 1886; 
Eschwege, 1818; Izikowitz, 1935 ; Loukotka, 1937 ; Noronha Torrezio, 1889; Ploetz 
and Métraux, 1930; Rugendas, 1835; Saint-Hilaire, 1880-51; Spix and Martius, 
1823-31; Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21, 1822. 


THE BOTOCUDO 


By Atrrep Mérravux 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The Botocudo (Aimboré, Amburé, Aimoré, Guerens, E'n-hérakmung, 
Engerékmung) were also called Borwn, the tribal designation for 
Indians (map 1, Vo. 15; map 7). According to Pero de Magalhaes 
(1922, pp. 189-141) the Azmoré were, in the 16th century, found along 
the coast from the Capitania dos Ilhéos to Porto Seguro. They had 
probably migrated from the interior of the “sertao” (lat 18° S., long. 
42° W.) to pillage and kill in the coastal region. Cardim (1939, 
p. 174), who also places them along an 80-league strip of land near 
the coast, reports their raids in the region of Porto Seguro, Ihéos, 
and Camamu. 


About 1560 the Botocudo, who were harassing the Tupinaqui and the Portu- 
guese, were driven into the “sertio” by the governor of Bahia, Men de Sa. 
In the second half of the 17th century, perhaps in alliance with other tribes, 
they laid waste the towns of Porto Seguro, Santo Amaro, and Santa Cruz. 
For more than a hundred years they harassed the Mestizo and Portuguese set- 
tlements of the coast and remained the undisputed masters of the Serra dos 
Aimorés. Their raids led to bloody reprisals, and until the second half of the 
19th century the colonists hunted them down. In the beginning of the 19th 
century there were already many families or bands settled near ranches, where 
they served as day laborers, or established in ‘“‘aldeas” (eight in 1817). These 
tame Botocudo were quick to adopt agriculture and became the auxiliaries of 
the Whites against their “wild” fellow tribesmen. (See Tschudi, 1866, 
2: 257-265. ) 

At the beginning of the 19th century their boundaries were the Rio Pardo 
and Rio Doce (lat. 15° to 19° S.), and they wandered from one river to the 
other along the State of Minas Gerais. The extreme point reached on the 
Rio Doce was San José da Barra Longa; on the Rio Grande de Belmonte, Minas 
Novas. Some Botocudo groups lived north of the Rio Pardo, but the bulk of 
the tribe inhabited the forests of the Rio Doce and of the Rio Grande de Belmonte. 

On occasion they descended the Sio Mateus River as far as the coast. In 
1862 Tschudi (1866, 2: 264-267) found the Botocudo divided into the following 
groups: (1) The Naknenuk, on the upper Mucuri and Todos os Santos Rivers, 
who were split into small bands or extended families, each bearing the name 
of their leader: (2) the Aranau, on the same river, south of the Serra Mapmap 
Crak: (3) the Bakué, in the region between the Rio do Pampan and Santa Clara; 
and (4) the Urufu, west of the last almost to the seashore. Small family groups 


531 


532 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


were scattered near the headwaters of the Rio Pardo; in the southern valley 
of the Mucuri River, on Riberfio de Saudade, lived the Poschischa; east of 
Riberaio das Lages lived the Mekmek, Shiporok, and Potik; and in the region of 
the headwaters of the Sao Mateus River lived the Porokun, Batata, ete. The 
Shiporok, who were the Botocudo visited by Maximilian Wied-Neuwied, lived 
on the Uruct River, a large southern tributary of the Mucuri River. 

The bands enumerated by Ehrenreich (1887, pp. 8-11) are: (1) The Nak- 
nenuk between the Mucuri, Rio Doce, Sassuhy Rivers, and the Serra dos Aimorés; 
(2) Nak-erehé, on the upper and middle Guandu River; (3) Htwet, on the 
Pocran River, a tributary of the Manhuassu River; (4) Takruk-krak, between 
the Serra dos Aimorés and the Sassuhy Grande River; (5) Nep-nep, east of the 
Serra dos Aimorés to the region of the Sio Mateus River; (6) Nak-poruk, on the 
left side of the Rio Doce between Figueira and the Guandu River; (7) Arauan, 
on the Arauan River, a tributary of the Urupuca River; (8) Bakiies, north of 
the Mucuri River to the southern tributaries of the Jequitinhonha River; (9) 
Pampan, on the Pampan River, tributary of the Mucuri River; and (10) Nock-nocg. 

At the time of Ehrenreich’s visit, the Botocudo numbered about 5,000; 886 
were settled in an ‘‘aldeamento” at N. S. dos Anjos de Itambacury and 241 in 
another “colony” at Immaculada Conceicio do Rio Doce. The Botocudo visited 
in our day are those of the Rio Doce divided into: (1) The Minhagiruns of the 
Pancas River, a tributary of the Rio Doce near Colatina; (2) Botocudo of 
Nativadade de Manhacu, near the Barra of the Manhacu River on the border line 
of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo; and (3) Botocudo of Lapa, about 37 or 43 
miles (60 or 70 km.) upstream from Manhacu. The natives of the two latter 
settlements called themselves Gutu-krak. 

In 1939, Nimuendajii encountered 10 survivors near Itambacury, 25 miles 
(40 km.) southwest of Tedfilo Otoni, and 68 at Guido Marliére on the Rio Doce. 
They represented a number of once independent bands, such as the Chonvign, 
Nakpié, and Nakrehé.t 

In 1862, Tschudi (1866, 2 : 267) reckoned those of the Mucuri Basin at from 
2,800 to 3,000. The Botocudo, long considered typical Ge, are today recognized as 
an independent family. 

The term ‘‘Botocudo”’ has also been applied to two other groups related neither 
to the above groups nor to each other, viz., the “Botocudo of Santa Catarina,’ who 
are related to the Caingang, (p. 448), and hence are Southern Ge; and the 
“Botocudo” of Parana, between the Ivai and the Piquiry Rivers, who speak a 
Guarani dialect and correspond to Von Ihering’s ‘Noto-Botocudos,’ Telemaco 
Borba’s “Aré,” and V. Frié’s “Setd.” 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Farming.—Under Brazilian influence, the Botocudo, who had 
hitherto stolen cultivated plants from Whites at the risk of their lives, 
became farmers during the last century. Already in Wied-Neuwied’s 
day, they had begun to practice some agriculture; and 30 years ago the 
Borun made clearings to raise manioc, sweet potatoes, and bananas, 
living there until the end of the harvest. As is often the case when 


1In 1926, the east Nak-nenuk lived at the station of Pancas (Frées de Abreu, 1929, p. 3). 


Vor. 1] THE BOTOCUDO—METRAUX 533 


agriculture is acquired from Europeans, the men tilled the soil and 
planted, but women harvested. 

Collecting.—The economy rested essentially on hunting by men 
and collecting by women. In the woods were found the pods of the 
inga (Inga sp.) and of the feijaéo do monte and the fruits of the 
maracujé (Passiflora sp.), the araticu (Annona montana), the 
guayaba (Psidium guajava), the jabuticaba (Mouririra pusa), and the 
imbi. (Spondias tuberosa). The dry season, when the sapucaia 
(Lecythis pisonis) and the cocos imburu (Cocos sp.) ripened, was the 
happiest time of the year. At that time, the Indians scattered through 
the woods and hills to harvest these fruits. After breaking the hard 
nuts of the cocos with a heavy stone, they extracted the white kernel 
with a bone chisel. They were fond of the terminal shoots of the 
issara and other palms. They dug out the roots of the creepers called 
cara do matto, and roasted creepers full of a tasty pith. 

In September they ate the fruit of the arborescent nettle (cansagao) ; 
in October, the genipa fruit; and later, the bush pineapples. 

The Botocudo regarded as a great delicacy the larvae of Macro- 
dontia? cervicornis, which they pulled out of bottle trees (Chorisia 
ventricosa) With a pointed stick. They also consumed other insect 
larvae, including those of the Rhynchophorus* palmarum. ‘They had 
a real passion for honey, and upon finding a tree with a beehive, they 
would fell it, enlarge the hole, and remove the combs and pupae. If 
they could not get the honey at the bottom of the cavity, they soaked 
it up with a brush, made of shredded fibers, and squeezed it out into 
water. 

Hunting.—Though game was not overabundant, the Botocudo were 
particularly skillful in following tracks and in finding their way in the 
thickest jungle. They lured game by perfectly imitating their cries 
and built small hunting blinds from which to shoot. They soon 
learned to hunt with dogs stolen or bought from the Whites. 

Fishing.— Until the Botocudo acquired European hooks they caught 
fish only by shooting them with special bows of coco de palmito and 
featherless arrows, but before discharging these they threw a crushed 
root into the water, probably as a bait.* 

Cooking.—Large animals were singed over the fire and then roasted 
for a short time on a stick, for the Botocudo liked meat half raw. Sur- 
plus meat was hung from the huts and exposed to smoke. Most foods 
were roasted or baked under the ashes, but some were boiled in large 
sections of green bamboos. They did not use any condiment. 


2 Formerly Prionus. 
3 Formerly Curculio. 


4Ehrenreich (1887, p. 29) states that they drugged fish with the timb6 creeper 
(Paullinia sp). 


534 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 148 
HOUSES AND VILLAGES 


There were two types of huts: those for long use were constructed 
by driving stakes in a circle and covering them with leaves, grass, or 
branches; temporary shelters were made by sticking large palm fronds 
in the ground, their slender ends forming an arched or domed roof. 
Several families shared these dwellings. Curiously enough, in more 
recent times the Botocudo had only primitive wind screens made by 
leaning a few branches or leaves against a horizontal pole tied to two 
trees or a crude frame, additional branches and leaves being placed in 
front or on the side in rough weather. One or more families camped 
under the protection of such a screen, each with a separate fire. The 
largest villages consisted of about eight shelters. 

The Botocudo slept on the ground on a skin, on some boughs, or on 
a layer of fibers of the pao d’estopa. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Both sexes went naked (pl. 106). Men encased their penises in a 
sheath (pl. 105, ¢) of leaves or bound their foreskins with cotton 
thread. They also held their penises raised against the abdomen 
with a belt. Later they adopted the loincloth or an apron of fibers. 

The Botocudo owe their name to the large cylindrical wooden plugs 
worn by men and women alike in the ear lobes and lower lips. These 
cylinders, of light wood (Chorisia ventricosa), were 3 to 4 inches (7.6 
to 10 cm.) in diameter and 1 inch (2.5 cm.) thick. The ears were per- 
forated at the age of 7 or 8, the lips a few years later. 

Men’s feather ornaments (pl. 105, %) consisted of tail feathers fixed 
to their heads with wax or a string of feathers attached by a cord 
around the arms, thighs, and legs. No feathers were worn by women. 

Necklaces (pl. 105, 2), bracelets, and anklets were made of seeds, 
animal teeth, or peccary hoofs. 

The Botocudo plucked all hair from the body and even from the eye- 
brows and eye lids. Both sexes shaved their hair in a band above the 
ears so that the mass of hair formed a sort of skullcap. This style has 
now disappeared. 

Tattooing was unknown. For a feast or the warpath the Botocudo 
painted their faces red with uruct and their bodies black with genipa, 
leaving only the lower limbs unpainted. On some occasions they 
blackened only one side of the body. The circles traced on their 
bodies were called “jaguar spots”; crescents, “fish scales”; and streaks, 
“bird steps.” 

They also smeared their entire bodies with uruci oil as a protection 
against mosquitoes. 


Vou. 1] THE BOTOCUDO—METRAUX 535 
TRANSPORTATION 


Though the lack of canoes has been interpreted as a sign of primi- 
tiveness, it must be remembered that navigable streams are few in the 
Botocudo region. After European contact, the Botocudo soon 
learned to make dugouts and were even praised as good boatmen. 
Formerly, they crossed a river by balancing themselves on a creeper, 
sometimes using another creeper as a railing. 

Goods were transported in large nets suspended on the back by a a 
tumpline. Children were carried on the back in a large bark sling. 


MANUFACTURES 


Basketry.—Nets made basketry superfluous. Headdresses of palm 
leaves are the only kind of basketwork ever mentioned. 

String and cord making.—F or cordage the inner bast of the bottle- 
tree (Chorisia ventricosa) bark was thoroughly chewed by the women. 
The masticated fibers were dried in the sun and then immersed for 24 
hours in the juice of the leaves of tinta capichaba to dye them violet, 
or in the juice of genipa fruit to turn them blackish. When put in 
contact with crushed bark of the uruci tree they took on a yellow 
tinge. The women twisted these fibers into two-ply strings on their 
thighs with the flat of the hand. ‘They also drew fibers from pieces of 
tucum (Astrocaryum sp.) bark or caraguaté leaves which had been 
left to rot in water. 

A net maker started with two loops fixed to her toes and from them 
built up other rows of simple loops (“point de tulle simple”). The 
finished bags (pl. 105, 7), resembling the Chaco carrying nets, were 
similarly decorated with stripes of different colors. 

Pottery. been denied by several 
travelers, but it seems certain that, at least in recent times, the Boto- 
cudo made small globular pots of a grayish clay. 

Tools.—Stone ax blades (pl. 105, 7) were lashed between two sticks 
and coated with wax. Bamboo splinters were used as knives (pl. 
105, f). 

Weapons.—The Portuguese, describing the 16th-century Aimoré, 
stress the unusual length of their bows; modern specimens measured 
only 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to2.1m.). They were made of the blackish trunks 
of palm wood, generally Astrocaryum ayri, split into four sections and 
scraped until the shaft was rounded and tapered at both ends. The 
embira or caraguata strings were made taut or lax by twisting. Some 
bows were decorated with yellow or black wrappings of guembé strips. 
Often bows were trimmed with rings or bunches of feathers. | 


536 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


Two kinds of reeds, cannachubas and uba (Gynerium parvi- 
florum), were used for the arrow shafts. The arrowheads were of the 
traditional three types: (1) Lanceolate bamboo blades; (2) cylin- 
drical rods of airi or pdo d’arco wood with lateral barbs; and (3) bird 
arrows tipped with wooden knobs. Two feathers with the barbs 
notched on one side were set tangentially against the shaft and fast- 
ened at both ends (eastern Brazilian or arched feathering). Fishing 
arrows had neither barbed heads nor feathering. The archer seized 
the butt of the arrow between the thumb and the second finger and 
pulled the cord with the other fingers. The range was about 100 feet. 
A guard protected the archer’s wrist against the impact of the bow- 
string. The pellet bow is still used by present-day Botocudo to shoot 
small birds. 

The heavy clubs ascribed to the ancient Aimoré have never been ob- 
served by modern travelers. Like many Indians of the forest, the 
Botocudo protect their retreat by setting sharp bamboo splinters on 
the paths which they follow. 

Fire making.—The Botocudo produced fire by the drill method. 
The drill was either a stick 8 to 9 feet long (about 2.8 m.) or a short 
stick of Ficus or Cecropia wood inserted in an arrow shaft. When 
drilling fire, the Botoeudo knelt and held the hearth under the left 
foot. Fire was produced in 30 to 40 seconds. Small torches were 
made of beeswax. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 


There were bands of about 50 to 200 individuals grouped into 
extended families. The head of a band was its strong man, strength 
being defined in terms of “supernatural power,” a prerequisite of the 
chieftaincy (Nimuendajti, mss.). His main function was to pre- 
vent internal quarrels, distribute game among the several families, 
and lead war parties. Generally undistinguishable from his fol- 
lowers by any particular mark, he was painted somewhat differently 
in war, and may have worn a special basketry headdress. In camp the 
family groups observed a set order, the oldest man always staying 
at the end of a line of huts. 

There were constant conflicts between bands, typically settled by 
duels between pairs of opponents who alternately struck each other 
with long sticks (pl. 109). Women took part in the fights, wrestling 
and boxing women of the opposite group. Revenge and sexual 
jealousy were the chief motives for feuds; there is no evidence of 
fights because of suspected sorcery. 

Manizer’s and Nimuendaji’s imperfect data on kinship terms sug- 
gest a generation system without distinction of maternal and pa- 
ternal uncles and aunts. 


Vou. 1] THE BOTOCUDO—METRAUX 537 
CANNIBALISM 


The Botocudo have repeatedly been branded as ferocious canni- 
bals, but the evidence is dubious, generally derived from hearsay 
stories. 

LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth. Women gave birth in the bush unaided and returned 
to the camp after a bath. 

Obstreperous children were seldom beaten; instead, their mothers 
threatened them with ghosts, jaguars, and White people. 

Marriage.—Girls married at puberty, but during youth the con- 
jugal ties seem to have been very weak. Often a man would rear 
an orphan or a captive girl until she was old enough to be taken 
as a wife. Groups seem to have been exogamous. For a mar- 
riage within the band, the parents had to give their consent and 
expected some small gifts. Polygyny was the privilege of energetic, 
skillful hunters who could support several wives, and was especially 
common among chiefs. Some Botocudo had up to 12 mates, but one 
or two was the usual number. Spouses were jealous and thrashed 
each other if they discovered their mate “in flagranti.” 

Nimuendajti recorded five cases of sororal polygyny, one of non- 
sororal polygyny, and two of the levirate. The latter was certainly 
not compulsory. 

There is no indication of a parent-in-law taboo. 

Funerary rites—On this point our sources disagree. Wied- 
Neuwied’s Botocudo (1820-21, 2:56) tied the hands of the deceased 
and buried him in an extended position. After the grave had been 
filled, it was covered with sticks and a fire was built on both sides to 
keep the bad spirits at bay. For a prominent person, a small cabin 
was erected above the sepulcher. On the other hand, Saint-Hilaire 
(1830-51, 2:161) reports interment in a flexed position in a shallow 
hole, over which a square and flimsy shed was built. The surround- 
ings were cleared and feathers and animal hair attached to the shed. 
Again, according to Manizer (1919, p. 264), the Botocudo abandoned 
the corpse in the dwelling or left it in the forest with a few 
belongings. 

MEDICINE 


According to Ehrenreich (1887, p. 35), the Botocudo knew many 
medicinal plants. They used ipecacuanha, several purges, such as 
andaussu (Joannesia princeps), and diaphoretics, such as the jabo- 
randi. Wounds were covered with crushed plants or smeared with 
the stringent juice of the cotton tree, rich in tannin, Chest diseases 


538 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


were treated with infusions of a creeper or by smoking or snufling 
powder made from the same plant. Skin diseases, e. g., smallpox, 
were treated by rubbing the body with a plant, the jaborandi do 
matto. For itching, the skin was scratched with thorns. Feverish 
persons sat by a fire or took baths in the river. Sick people were also 
exposed to the steam produced by pouring water on glowing stones. 

The Botocudo, like the Puri-Coroado, practiced bloodletting with 
a small bow and arrow or simply with a bamboo splinter. They gen- 
erally cut a vein on the temples. 

Medicine men are not reported among the Botocudo, except as 
mentioned under Religion. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Musical instruments.—The nose flute is the most characteristic 
music instrument of the Botocuda. The blowhole is perforated 
through a septum at the proximal end of the reed, which has two stops, 
one for the forefinger and the other for the little finger. The Indians 
also produced shrill sounds by blowing into a funnel made of a twisted 
blade of grass with a transverse blade of grass across the small aper- 
ture. They signaled with whistles made of the giant armadillo’s 
tail. Dancers marked time by stamping tubes of bamboo sections. 

Songs.—Botocudo men manifested extreme emotion by breaking 
into short songs in the course of ordinary speech. Some songs con- 
tinued a spoken lament; others expressed joy in varying pitches. 
Wied-Neuwied describes male singers as putting the left hand over 
the head or a finger into the ear. Dance songs were improvisations 
on some event of the day but with traditional refrains repeated by 
everyone. 

Dances.—Men and women formed a circle, each resting his arms on 
his neighbors’ shoulders, then, stamping the ground with a foot, 
turned in a circle singing under a precentress who sat in a hut. In 
some dances the individual at each end of a half circle hopped on 
one foot, pressing the other against his neighbor’s waist. Certain 
ceremonial dances dramatized hunting, others represented the road 
to the sky by a line of individuals. 


RELIGION 


Souls and ghosts.—Every adult has a series of souls (nakandyting), 
some people as many as six. Of these, however, only one resides 
within the body, the rest remaining nearby. A child gets his first soul 
when about 4 years old, gradually acquiring others. In sleep the 
primary soul may leave the body and have experiences of its own—the 
sleeper’s dreams; its loss causes illness. Before a person dies this soul 


Vou. 1] THE BOTOCUDO—METRAUX 539 


dies within him; the others accompany the corpse to the grave and 
soar above it, weeping unseen. These souls no longer eat and would 
perish unless pitying sky spirits, the marét, carried them off to their 
land, whence the souls never return and henceforth lose all significance 
for mortals. Unlike the Camacan and Mashacali, the Botocudo do 
not believe in the transformation of souls into man-eating jaguars. 

From the bones of the corpse rise ghosts (nandyong or nanitiong), 
which reside in an underworld where the sun shines during the ter- 
restrial night. Although the marét chase returning spooks away on 
sight, a nandyong occasionally appears to human beings, whose safety 
hes in bodily thrashing the apparition. Women are thus the prin- 
cipal sufferers from ghosts’ attacks. 

Sky spirits.—In the sky dwells a race of spirits known to ordinary 
mortals as tok6n, but to their protégés (yikégn) as marét. With these 
favored few the spirits communicate, and to them they grant ex- 
traordinary powers. The marét are of both sexes and all ages, live in 
abundance without having to work, suffer neither sickness nor death, 
and through their favorites bestow boons on mankind. 

The yikégn, essentially shamans, supplicate the marét for remedies 
against sickness and may even acquire the power of reviving the dead. 
When people lack anything they appeal to the yikégn, who sing to 
the marét and get all manner of victuals or other objects for the 
petitioners. The shamans further can turn themselves and others into 
animal shapes. 

All chiefs are yikégn, but not all yikégn are chiefs. Characteris- 
tically, a man acquires power in the woods by meeting a group of 
marét who begin playing shuttlecock using him as the ball, and end 
by conferring supernatural powers on him. 

Within the village a post about 10 feet (3 m.) high is sacred to 
the marét. It is of Myroxylon balsamum wood; its upper third is 
carved into a human image with the face turned east, the body being 
formed of the red heartwood, the head and the limb stumps of the 
white sapwood. When a shaman sang to the spirits, all the villagers 
would paint themselves with red paint and assemble in a circle round 
him, but the 6 to 12 marét who came would not be visible except to 
the yikégn. His chants could induce them to descend by the pillar, 
stand near it, and watch lest harm come to the village; after the cere- 
mony, the marét would return to the sky. 

The spirits are ruled by the oldest of all, whom Manizer calls Maret- 
khmakniam and Nimuendaji terms Yekan kren-yirugn, “Father 
White-Head.” He, too, lives in the sky, but somewhat apart from 
other marét, and never comes down to the earth. Manizer’s inform- 
ants described him as a giant with white hair on his head and red hair 
on his face, and as killing women with his huge penis. He sends rain 


540 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bunn. 143 


and storms, kills enemies with invisible arrows, and causes the phases 
of the moon by covering it with a blanket. He instituted the use of 
labrets and earplugs, and certain songs belong to him. Nimuendajti 
was unable to corroborate most of these details. 


MYTHOLOGY 


Botocudo mythology is imperfectly known, but some details are 
suggestive. It was believed that the moon might fall on the earth 
and kill everyone. The rainbow is the shadow of the sun. Eclipses 
are due to quarrels between Sun and Moon, who turn black with rage 
and shame at each others’ vituperation. The sky was once close to 
the earth, but later separated. A great snake is lord of the water, 
signals to the rain, and makes it fall; the rainbow is called “the urine 
of the great snake.” Hummingbird at one time hoarded all the water 
in the world, but was trailed by one of his fellow beings while bath- 
ing, and this creature splashed the water in all directions, thus creat- 
ing the rivers and brooks. Similarly, Carrion Vulture alone originally 
possessed fire; Mutum played dead and was about to be roasted by 
Vulture, but seized a firebrand and, when pursued, passed it on to 
Heron, who hurled the fire in all directions. Unlike the Camacan 
and Mashacali, the Botocudo do not stand in superstitious awe of the 
jaguar, relevant tales being merely hunting stories. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Cardim, 1939; Ehrenreich, 1887; Frées de Abreu, 1929; Hartt, 1870; Ihering, 
1911; Keane, 1884; Knoche, 1913; Lacerda and Peixoto, 1876; Magalhaes de 
Gandavo, 1922; Manizer, 1919, 1934; Ploetz and Métraux, 1930; Rudolph, 1909; 
Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51; Simoens da Silva, 1924; Spix and Martius, 1823-31; 
Tschudi, 1866; Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21, 1822. 


THE MASHACALI, PATASHO, AND MALALI LINGUISTIC 
FAMILIES 


By Atrrep Mérravx anp Curt NiImMvENDAJU 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The Mashacalt linguistic family includes the following tribes : Mash- 
acali, Macuni, Cumanashé (Cumanacho), Caposhé, Paname (Pan- 
yame), and Monoshé (Monowxd). It was formerly considered 
part of the Ge family, but liguistic studies have proved the relation- 
ship illusory (map 1, Vo. 16; map 7). 


Nimuendajti found his own Mashacali and Patashoé clearly related, whereas 
Wied-Neuwied’s Patashé and Saint-Hilaire’s Mashacali word lists raise grave 
doubts of a relationship. Nimuendajui explains the difference between his and 
Wied-Neuwied’s vocabulary as possibly due to local specialization—the groups 
visited being respectively 186 miles (300 km.) apart—and also to intermarriages 
with Patasho. 

The Macuni (Moaquanhi, Macuani, Makunt), who originally lived with the 
Monosh6 in the mountains near the borders of the States of Minas Gerais, Porto 
Seguro, and Bahia, were driven from their home country by the Botocudo and took 
refuge at Alto dos Bois, in the district of Minas Novas (State of Minas Gerais). 

The Mashacali (Mashakali, Mashacart, Maxacali, Machaculi) came originally 
from the eastern borders of the State of Minas Gerais (lat. 16° S., long. 40° W.), 
but were pushed by the Botocudo toward the coast. They first occupied the 
upper course of the Mucuri River, and later settled near Caravellas. In 1801 
they returned to the Jequitinhonha River near Tocoy6s; finally, they were estab- 
lished on the Jequitinhonha River near Sao Miguel. Wied-Neuwied saw a few 
above Villa Prado on the Rio Prado (Tucurusst River). In 19389, 120 Mashacali 
were living in two neighboring settlements in the region of the headwaters of the 
Itanhaem River, State of Minas Gerais, near the Bahia border. 

The former habitat of the Caposh6, Paname, and Monoshé was between the 
Jequitinhonha, Aracuahi, and Mucuri Rivers. According to Ehrenreich (1896, 
p. 116), they were subgroups of the Patashd, but Martius’ word lists for those 
tribes disprove this relationship. Loukotka (1931 c) and Nimuendaju regard 
them as tribes belonging to the Mashacali linguistic family. The Cumanashé, 
also a Mashacali tribe, lived south of the Jequitinhonha River. 


According to Loukotka (1932 cy p. 22), the Patashé (Patacho, 
Patax6) formed by themselves an isolated linguistic family. They 
were found on the headwaters of the Porto Seguro and the Jucuruct 
Rivers, and between the Rio Prado and Rio das Contas. Some groups 
of this tribe lived in the vicinity of Alcobaca, Prado, Comechatyba, and 
Trancozo. In 1938,16 Patashé still remained in the Paraguagt Reser- 


541 


542 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Buun. 143 


vation, between the Cachoeira and Prado Rivers, southeast of the 
State of Bahia. 

Loukotka, 1931 ¢, p. 24) classifies the Malali in the Mashacali lin- 
guistic family, but Nimuendajt considers their language as forming 
an isolated linguistic family. Formerly their territory was much 
larger than that in which they were found in the last century. Har- 
assed by the Botocudo, they placed themselves under the protection 
of the Portuguese, who settled them in a little village, Porto de Santa 
Cruz, on the Sussuhy River, a northern tributary of the Rio Doce, and 
in the village of San Antonio, near Passanha. Previously, they lived 
between the Aracuahi and Mucuri Rivers. In 1787 the Malakt num- 
bered about 500; in 1862 there were only 30 left. 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


Farming.—A1]I these tribes except the Patashé seem to have practiced 
agriculture before they established permanent contact with the Whites. 
When they were described for the first time in the beginning of the 
19th century, they all raised maize, beans, sweet potatoes, and manioc. 
Not all the Mashacali groups, however, planted manioc; those who 
lived near Sao Miguel grew mainly sweet potatoes and paid little at- 
tention to their fields. Even in recent years the Mashacali planted 
mostly maize and sweet potatoes, but, significantly, neither manioc nor 
tobacco nor cotton. On the other hand, manioc and cotton are listed 
by Wied-Neuwied (1820-21, 1:376) among the plants cultivated by 
the Mashacali of the Rio Prado. 

Among the M/acuni, men sowed the maize, while women planted the 
sweet potatoes, which they dug out with a digging stick. Like many 
incipient farmers, the Macuwni rarely waited for the maize to ripen 
before harvesting it. 

Fishing.—The acculturated Mashacali of Sio Miguel caught fish 
in rectangular enclosures with sliding doors into which the fish were 
lured by wasp larvae or other bait. As a rule, fishing played a small 
part in the economy of all these tribes. Hunting and collecting, how- 
ever, were important. 

Food preparation.—The Patashé smoked the game on a rectangular 
babracot. The Macuni boiled meat with manioc flour. 


HOUSES 


The original hut of the Patashé, Mashacali, and Macumé consisted 
of a dome-shaped framework made of branches stuck in the ground and 


1The Malalt planted jacatupe (Papilionaceae), the starchy tubers of which were eaten 
roasted or boiled (Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51, 1: 423). 


Vou. 1] MASHACALI, ETC.—METRAUX AND NIMUENDAJU 543 


bent inward. It was thatched with palm fronds (Wied-Neuwied, 
1820-21, p. 286). The Monoshé may have had large communal 
houses, covered with palm leaves and pieces of bark (Saint-Hilaire, 
1930-51). 

The Macuni, Monoshé, Paiame, and Mashacali slept on bedsteads— 
probably a late acquisition from Brazilian Mestizos. The Mashacali, 
however, knew how to make hammocks. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Among the Mashacali, Patashé, and Malali, and probably among 
all the other groups, both sexes went naked. The men tied the fore- 
skin of the penis with a creeper. The Mashacali, Patasho, and Ma- 
cunt wore thin sticks or reeds in the perforated lower lip and in their 
ear lobes, but these ornaments were discarded soon after their con- 
tact with the Neo-Brazilians. The Macunit wore arm bands made of 
the tubular cocoons of a larva (Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51, 2:62). The lit- 
erature on these Indians makes no reference to other ornaments. 

Most of these Indians cropped their hair above the eyebrows and 
along the nape of the neck. Some Mashacali and Patasho shaved 
their head, leaving only one tuft of hair in front and another behind. 
The Macwnt combed their long hair with a stick sharpened at one 
end and somewhat flattened at the other (Saint-Hilaire, 1930-51, 
2:55). 


MANUFACTURES 


Strings and nets.—The M/acwné made strings and threads of fibers 
obtained by scratching the inner bark of the embauba tree (Cecropia 
sp.) with a shell. They twisted the fibers on the thigh and with the 
threads made carrying nets. The M/ashacali and Patashoé stored most 
of their property in netted bags, probably of the same type as those 
used by the Botocudo and other tribes of the area.2 The Mashacali 
women seen by Saint-Hilaire (1830-51, 1:212) spun cotton to make 
hammocks and bags. 

Pottery.—The Mashacali and Macunt women made plain small 
globular pots using a black clay. 

Weapons.—The ancient A/ashacalt bow (pl. 105, c), like that of the 
Camacan, was characterized by a longitudinal groove along the outer 
side in which the archer placed a spare arrow when shooting. Both 
ends of the bow were notched to hold the string. Patashdé bows, made 
of ayri (Astrocaryum ayri) or pao d’arco (T'abebuia impetigianosa), 
were very long, some measuring more than 8 feet 9 inches (2.55 m.). 


2 “Quand les femmes [Macunt] veulent faire le filet, elles attachment leur ouvrage sur leur 
cuisse par le moyen d’un cordon et la ficelle qu’elles emploient, mise en écheveau leur tient 
lieu de navette” (Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51, 2:53). 


544 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buby. 1438 


The arrows (pl. 105, d@) of these various tribes were of the usual east- 
ern Brazilian type (“arched feathering”), except that on Mashacali 
arrows, the feathering was at some distance from the butt. 


SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 


During Nimuendaji’s brief visit to the Mashacali in 1938-39 he 
found no indications of moieties. At that time most families had in- 
dividual huts, and residence was predominantly patrilocal. Parallel 
cousins are classed as siblings and may not marry; whereas cross- 
cousin marriages are allowed and possibly preferred. There was evi- 
dence of the levirate, as well as of sororal polygyny—the only form 
of plural marriage. 

The Malalt had a council composed of the most prominent warriors, 
who met in a special house to discuss any collective undertaking 
(Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51, 1: 480). 


LIFE CYCLE 


Childbirth.—J/acunt women bore children in the forest attended by 
old women. They are said to have wound around the waist a creeper 
which they tied to two tree branches in the hope of facilitating de- 
livery. Mothers suspended the navel cord around the neck of the 
baby until it was entirely dry. 

Puberty.—Some distance from each Mashacali settlement there is 
a men’s house; it is strictly tabooed to women and is open to unini- 
tiated boys only before nightfall. Here centers the spirit cult. Souls 
of the dead, who reside in the sky, appear to male sleepers in their 
dreams. Boys undergo a lengthy graduated initiation. Every night 
during this period boys receive singing lessons in the men’s house. 
Piercing sounds on a whistle summon the dead. Sometimes the in- 
mates disguise their voices to make the uninitiated believe in the pres- 
ence of spirits. 

The Macuni celebrated the coming of age of girls with dances. The 
marriage ceremony consisted only in the formal acceptance by the 
bride’s father of some game presented by the bridegroom. 

Death observances.—The A/acuni buried children in the huts, 
adults in the bush. They made a fire on the grave, on which they also 
deposited food. Sometimes they erected a post on the grave or built 
a miniature hut. 

The Mashacali interred corpses in a squatting position. There is 
no evidence of secondary burial. Dead people sometimes were believed 
to turn into jaguars. 


Vor. 1] MASHACALI, ETC.—METRAUX AND NIMUENDAJU 545 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Musical instruments.—The only musical instruments known to 
have been used by the Indians of this group are gourd rattles, bamboo 
stamping tubes, and whistles. 

Macunit songs recounted long enumerations of game animals or 
trifling incidents of daily life. 

Amusements.—WV/ashacalt amusements included a game with shut- 
tlecocks of maize-husk balls. Some boys made cat’s cradles, which 
were produced with the help of the teeth. 

Intoxicants.—The J/alali provoked an ecstatic sleep with pleasant 
visions by swallowing dry bixo da taquara (Cossus or Hepiale). The 
fat of this grub, which bores into the bamboo, is a substantial food and 
a delicacy, but the digestive tract has the singular property of induc- 
ing a trance, and the head is a deadly poison. Powdered bixo da 
taquara was put on wounds (Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51, 1: 482-483). 


RELIGION 


The only data on religion for the tribes of this stock are those ob- 
tained by Nimuendaji in 1938-39 among the last surviving Mashacali. 

Two types of sacred objects—masquerade costumes and _ bull- 
roarers—were linked with the initiation rites. The disguise consisted 
of a coarse bast fringe suspended from a rope on the wearer’s head, 
the fringe completely hiding the masquerader, who carried a 6-foot 
switch. All the costumes were stored in the men’s house and were taboo 
to the uninitiated, who were told that the dead appear in this apparel. 

The use of these disguises is restricted to a special season, during 
which bull-roarers—dubbed “men,” “women,” and “boys,” according 
to their size—are wielded by those privileged to do so. The sound is 
interpreted to outsiders as emanating from the spirits, and newly 
initiated boys are forbidden on pain of corporal punishment to divulge 
the secret. 

Long after the close of the mummers’ season, a sacred post * about 
18 feet (5.5 m.) high is erected in front of the men’s house in the 
dance plaza, which is not taboo to women. Men dance around it while 
the souls of the dead supposedly descend from the sky via the post. 

Though there are some suggestions of a Sun and Moon myth, a 
solar or lunar cult is not evident. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Douville, 1929-30; Ehrenreich, 1891 ; Loukotka, 1931 c; Martius, 1867 ; Métraux, 
1929-30; Ploetz and Métraux, 1930; Pohl, 1832-37; Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51; Spix 
and Martius, 1823-31; Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21. 


’This post is described by Pohl (1832-37, 2:447). It was decorated with figures 
painted with red earth. 


583486—46——35 


TTT ar 
cre ri 
<_-faee ti 


0 ota t os is tive foal 
Dine Simian i's » a vis i peas sly ie Z 


ceniesns. Ae ‘Suiwad ne al 


OED li goes 
bidliy book! Lavaitotagum 0 ak odared vis sata 
on Dini Yd atetogqonyaalenadh wild, pork dons haw 
abi oxishbare lyr oflw tology (Daab munky hogy! vd 

oh cacate ,hGe0K4 I pytere nee ahnnow no cot 


apt gaa 2088, sume 
ry Ho perareats i 
FE, AA, iif sheen 4 ite . : 
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b) Ne ogeii" f by ; 
=n is s recite 4, ol) unibiel x San a mgt is 
” aastog 880 nal Ap Mdige ascitis! | Nie iy 

atk sete aha Pest aod Bey yi alt i ac io) 
aire owe atone oA ) ‘ mf pr Bi apelin, ‘Mie. Bapinit af one | | 
a ibagoan,” tou" bes.” Sen | hod tnd ip ie 

reo 4 ab Pie ee Ae ot! ng, han Sta >) ea : 
Dawn Lure. AUR ail moze pra Te Tou ab BI 


4 
gen ae farang ee ce os | 
iM oa ms May Hi eh % Sha wa ah MA ey ce 

pent 
(ipl 


ASAF 


i alot 


pret amie uA hy wen 


Grae: 
VAM ERS AEN sho pocictyepaenas 
zoutihd : Ta al ve ‘5 teat calod Pht Se a sin Se 


ylge < T-(e27 “eedtahtt ‘trina StH. oe ost beet Rus vd ves aver 
| : OSE bolwued-balyy 7 26-Ar —a 


ivan dw hatetineb auw 3f (7 h-C82I) IdeT od bediscanh of pean 5 
; Aetan SF a 


THE CAMACAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY 


By Atrrep Métraux AnD Curt NIMUENDAIU 


The Camacan, Cutasho (Cutaxd), Catathoy, Masacara, and Menidn 
spoke related dialects which belong to an isolated linguistic family. 
Formerly, they were included in the Ge family, but Loukotka (1932) 
and Nimuendajti consider them to be a new and independent family. 
Since the Camacan is the best-known tribe of the subgroup, statements 
not otherwise qualified apply to it (map 1, Vo. 17; map 7). 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


Camacan (Camaca, Mongoy6, Monshoko, Ezeshio).—The Camacan 
proper remained for many years hostile to the Portuguese and fought 
tenaciously against them until 1806. At the beginning of the last 
century, they lived in six or seven villages somewhat to the north of 
the Rio Pardo (Patipe River) (lat. 15° S., long. 41° W.) (Ayres de 
Cazal, 1845, 2:90). 


In 1817 the Camacan who were settled at Jiboya, near Arrayal da Conquista in 
the State of Bahia, were visited by Maximilian Wied-Neuwied (1820-21, 2: 
211-214). His short description of their culture is still one of our best sources 
on these Indians. At that time the Camacan lived in small “‘aldeas” under the 
rule of “directors” appointed by the government. They were mistreated and 
exploited by the colonists and their native culture was breaking down. Accord- 
ing to Wied-Neuwied, their former territory was bounded on the west by longi- 
tude 40° W., on the north by the Rio das Contas, and on the northeast by the 
Gaviio River, on the southwest by the towns of Ciboia and F. B. da Vareda, 
and on the south by the Rio Pardo; that is to say, it covered the whole basin 
of the Rio dos Ilheos up to its headwaters and up to the mountains of Itaraca. 
None of their groups reached the sea. 

In 1819 Spix and Martius (1823-31, 2: pp. 690-699) spent a few days with a 
group of Camacan settled at Villa de S. Pedro de Alcantara, under the care of 
a Capuchin missionary. They were told the Camacan had six villages in the 
forests along the Gravaté River in the District of Minas Novas, but that the 
bulk of the tribe inhabited the region between the Rio da Cachoeira and the 
Grugunhy River, a tributary of the Rio das Contas. They heard of the group 
established near Arrayal da Conquista in the Serra do Mundo Novo, and of 
another near Ferradas. 

The French traveler Douville saw these Indians in 1833-34 on the Itahipe 
River and on Rio dos Ilheos. 


547 


548 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bux. 143 


In 19388 Nimuendaj found 11 Camacan on a reservation shared with remnants 
of other tribes. The area allotted to to the several groups was at about long- 
itude 40° W., between the Rio da Cachoeira and the Rio Pardo. 

Catathoy, Cutasho, Masacara, and Menian.—The Catathoy lived on the north- 
western borders of the State of Porto Seguro; the Cutash6 on the northern slopes 
of the Aimorés range, south of the Rio dos Ilheos and north of Rio Pardo. The 
Masacaré dwelt near the Sao Francisco River, at Joazeiro. The Menitn (Menien, 
Menieng) were a group of Camacan Indians who formerly lived on the upper Rio 
Grande de Belmonte. They were driven out of their territory by the Paulistas and 
sought refuge in the town of Villa de Belmonte, where they soon merged with the 
local population. In 1817, although they hardly remembered their native language, 
they still retained considerable skill in making mats, baskets, and nets. (See 
Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21, 1: 317-318.) 


CULTURE 
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES 


The Camacan usually opened clearings on hilltops, where they cul- 
tivated sweet potatoes, beans, sweet manioc, gourds, watermelons, 
yams, maize, cotton, cashews, papayas, bananas, oranges, and pine- 
apples. They supplemented their diet by hunting, fishing, gathering 
considerable honey, and collecting wild fruits. A community in want 
would visit another village, where they helped exhaust the resources 
of the inhabitants. Crops belonged to the planters, but bananas, 
after a single harvest by the owner, could be plucked by anyone. 

The dog was the only domesticated animal. 


HOUSES 


There were large communal houses accommodating as many as 20 
families, each having its own sleeping platform, covered with fibers. 


DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 


Originally, the men wore only a penis sheath of leaves. After 
European contact, women, formerly completely naked, adopted first 
a bark belt, later a string with fringes in front and behind (pl. 112, a), 
and, finally, a woven loincloth. Men wore necklaces of monkey 
teeth and tapir hoofs. The only described specimens of feather orna- 
ments were showy: a feather headdress built on a net with a crown 
of long tail feathers on the top. Men passed feathers through the 
perforated lobes of their ears. 

The Camacan tied a cotton string under the knees and around the 
ankles of babies in order to give an elegant shape to their legs. 

They carefully depilated the face and body. Chiefs wore a tonsure; 
most other men had their hair clipped around the neck or let it fall 
over the shoulders. 


Vou. 1] CAMACAN—METRAUX AND NIMUENDAJU 549 


They painted themselves with uructi, genipa, and catua, a pigment 
extracted from the wood of Broussonetia tinctoria and combined with 
castor oil or grease. Men’s favorite patterns were vertical and hori- 
zontal stripes on the body; women preferred half circles around their 
eyes and on their breasts. Both sexes also smeared themselves with 
uructi leaving only the head, hands, and feet unpainted. A favorite 
Cutashé motif was a circle with diverging rays like a “sun.” 


MANUFACTURES 


Basketry.—There is no mention of basketry among the Camacan. 

Weaving.—Women were expert at spinning 4-ply cotton strings, 
which they laced (meshed without knots) or netted (meshed with 
knots) into beautiful nets with alternating yellow or red stripes. 
The loom for the nets is described as an arched branch stuck into the 
ground and crossed by a horizontal stick corresponding to the lower 
edge of the fabric. 

The Camacan wove on a vertical loom (pl. 112,6). The patterns on 
their cloth were obtained by dyeing the threads with genipa, uruct, 
and with a yellow wood (Chlorophora tinctoria). 

Pottery.—Within the tribal territory, Nimuendajii found sherds 
of some 20 large spherical vessels without either a standing base or a 
special rim. At least the lower half had been built up of a lump of 
clay, the top being coiled, with rows of fingernail impressions. Paint- 
ing and plastic decoration were lacking. The specimens depart from 
Arawak and Tupi norms, but approximate in technique samples from 
Pernambuco tribes. 

Weapons.—The bow, made of paraiina wood, like that of the 
Patashé, was characterized by a longitudinal groove along the outer 
side; it measured from 7 to 8 feet (2.1 to 2.4 m.), but was shorter than 
that of the Patasho (pl. 112, c). 

Arrowheads fell into three usual classes, being tipped with a bamboo 
knife, a sharpened brauna rod, or—for hunting birds—with a bulbous 
root. Feathering of the arched (eastern Brasilian) type, was placed 
at some distance from the butt. War arrows are said to have been 
poisoned with the sap of a creeper (Spix and Martius, 1823-81, 2: 694). 


LIFE CYCLE 


Birth and childhood.—At her first childbirth, a woman was helped 
by an old woman, who placed her in a hole in the ground. After the 
delivery, the husband kept to his bed and refrained from eating tapir, 
peccary, and monkey flesh, subsisting on bush yam and birds, while 
his wife carried on her usual work. Children were nursed until the 
age of 3 or 4. 


550 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buy. 143 


Parents never ordered their offspring about, but consulted their 
wishes. As soon as possible children made themselves independent of 
their families, planting crops and cooking for themselves at an early 
age. After killing game, they shared it with their parents as well as 
with the other members of the community. 

Marriage.—Polygyny was tolerated by the Camacan, but to avoid 
jealousy among the bachelors, men generally had only one wife. 
However, couples separated very easily. 

A young man wishing to marry had to ask the permission of the 
head of his group, who, on consenting, would “buy” the girl if she 
belonged to another community. A chief had to take as his wife an- 
other chief’s daughter. The marriage ceremony was celebrated by a 
banquet and a drinking bout, during which the guests made presents 
to the newly wedded pair. 

In case of divorce the man had to provide food for his children 
even when his former wife remarried. 

Death observances.—A. dead man, duly painted and with all his 
feather ornaments on, was put, in a flexed position, in a grave 4 to 5 
feet (1.2 to 1.5 m.) deep. His weapons and a jar full of beer were 
placed with him. When the grave was filled with earth, a fire was 
built on top of it, and the site then was covered with palm leaves and 
branches. A pot, the size of which indicated the age and sex of the 
deceased, was also placed on the grave. The relatives came now and 
then to leave an offering of meat. They interpreted the disappear- 
ance of the meat as a sign that the offering had been well received 
by the dead and henceforth tabooed the animal whose meat had been 
accepted by the soul (Spix and Martius, 1823-31, 2:695). The sep- 
ulcher was later opened, and the bones were taken home and spread 
on a platform, painted, and placed in a funeral urn, which was buried 
in a Shallow pit. The transfer of bones was celebrated by a great 
festival. 

The bodies of sorcerers were burned. 

Funeral laments were uttered three time a day. A widower could 
remarry soon after the funeral, but a widow had to wait for a longer 
period. The dead were worshiped at the beginning of the rainy 
season during a feast in their honor. According to a second-hand 
account of Nimuendajii’s Camacan informant, the souls of the dead, 
visible only to old men, would enter the house to dance and join in a 
carousal at night. 

A dead man who had a grudge against the living, would return 
in the guise of a jaguar to take revenge. At a mother’s request, the 
souls of good people were reincarnated in newly born babies. Other- 
wise they went to a big hut in the sky, where they were assured of an 


Vou. 1] CAMACAN—-METRAUX AND NIMUENDAJU 551 


abundant supply of food. The evil ones also flew to the sky, where 
their main pleasure was to cause storms. 

The Cutashé buried the dead, together with their property, in their 
dwellings. The relatives celebrated a funeral meal and set fire to the 
house. Thesouls were supposed to go into the earth. 


ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES 


Musical instruments.—Dancers shook strings of deer, peccary, and 
tapir hoofs on a cord. They also marked the rhythm of their dances 
with a gourd rattle. They played the musical bow and scraped a 
grooved piece of gourd with a stick. 

Dances.—Men danced in circles to the accompaniment of songs and 
gourd rattles. They were followed by pairs of women who held 
each other by the waist (pl. 111). 

Alcoholic beverages and intoxicants.—A drink was brewed of 
maize or of sweet potatoes, or, occasionally, of papayas or honey. 
The maize or sweet potatoes were partly chewed and then sprinkled 
with hot water. The mass then was poured into a large trough 
dug into the bulky trunk of the bottle-tree (barrigudo), which was 
half buried in the ground so that the liquid could be warmed with- 
out burning the bark. 

Drinking bouts and log racing.—Drinking sprees were sometimes 
combined with communal hunts to provide an ample supply of meat. 
On such occasions there might also be log races,’ run by two teams, 
wadyé and wan, distinguished by their decorative paint. As a child 
grew up, its mother would assign it to one or the other team, every 
Camacan individual thus acquiring membership. These “moieties” 
were not exogamous since Nimuendajt’s female informant’s parents 
were both wadyé; and membership was not fixed by heredity since 
she and her brother were both wand. 


MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE 


One of the principal myths revolves about Sun and Moon, the latter 
figuring as the foolish, mischief-making brother, whom Sun several 
times restores to life. In one episode Sun assumes the shape of a 
capybara, thus getting the villagers to shoot at him, whereby he 


1“Often on these solemn occasions, when the night has been spent dancing, another game 
takes place. In order to display their strength young people run to the forest, cut a large 
cylindrical limb of a barrigudo (Bombaz sp.) tree which is very heavy when full of sap. 
They plant a stick in each end in order to carry it more easily. The strongest of the 
group takes this piece of wood, places it on his shoulder and with this load races home. 
The others follow him and try to take the log away from him. The struggle lasts until 
they arrive at the place where the girls are gathered to compliment them. Sometimes 
the log is so heavy that one of the champions gets ill.” (Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21, 2: 221.) 


552 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Buby. 143 


replenishes his depleted stock of arrows. Cataclysmological ideas 
include a deluge, a conflagration, and a jaguar’s attack on the moon 
during a lunar eclipse. The Star Wife story culminates in the hus- 
band’s being carried back to earth by vultures. A remarkable parallel 
to the North American Bloodclot myth is the story of the overpower- 
ing of a wrestling ogre by a hero who throws his opponent on the 
blade prepared for unsuspecting wayfarers; the conqueror destroys 
other fiends but anticlimactically dies at the hands of a brother of 
one of his adversaries. The folklore abounds in other fantastic ele- 
ments, such as tribes of strong dwarfs, and lice-eaters. Animal char- 
acters are frequent, among them are the jaguar, the tapir, and various 
birds. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Ayres de Cazal, 1845; Debret, 1940; Douville, 1980; Ignace, 1912; Loukotka, 


1932 ; Métraux, 1930; Ploetz and Métraux, 1930; Saint-Hilaire, 1830-51; Schuller, 
1930; Spix and Martius, 1823-31; Wied-Neuwied, 1820-21, 1822. 


THE “TAPUYA” 


By Rosert H. Lowm 


Tapuya (Tapuyo, Tapuia, Tapija, Tapwiia, Tapoyer) (map 1, No. 
18; map 7) isa Tupi term requiring close scrutiny. The earlier writers 
on eastern Brazil frequently applied it to any Indians obviously un- 
related to the 7'up2. Soares de Souza (1851) even extends it to people 
between the Rio Grande do Sul and the Rio de la Plata, who were 
probably southern 7'upi and certainly not identical with the tribes the 
same author describes as natives of Bahia (Schuller, 1912). Accord- 
ing to Magalhies de Gandavo (1922), the Zapuwya on the Maranhao 
River claimed affinity with the A¢moré,; and Saint-Hilaire (1830-51, 
1: 149) heard the Botocudo referred to as “7’apuyo.” 

In his basic classification, Martius (1867, 1: 283, 345, 778) interprets 
the word to mean either “enemies” or “Westerners.” He wavers in his 
identification, virtually identifying the “Z’apuya” with the Ge family, 
then treating them as at least mainly Ge, and again regarding them as 
distinct, but mixed with Ge. Our earliest authority, Fernio Cardim 
(1989), writing in 1584, gives a roster of 76 “Z’apuia” tribes, but in- 
dicates great diversity of speech and custom among them. In 1587 
Soares de Souza (1851) distinguishes among non-7'upi the Ubirajara 
in the sertao of Bahia beyond the Sao Francisco River; the Tapuia 
of the Maracd tribe (whom Pompeu Sobrinho, 1939, considers Carirz) ; 
and other Zapuia hostile to the Maracd. WVasconcellos (1865) recog- 
nizes nearly a hundred diverse 7apuya tongues; and though this need 
not be taken literally and, in any case, would not necessarily imply 
many unrelated families, the reader of the early writers gets a cumula- 
tive inpression of differentiation within northeastern Brazil, the area 
in which the overwhelming majority of Z’apwya are localized. The 
older sources commonly include Carirt under the head of Tapuya. 
Apart from the Ge, there are demonstrably six unrelated linguistic 
families within the area; viz, the Fulnio (Pompeu Sobrinho, 1935 b), 
Shucuri, Pancararu, Indians of Serra Negra, Pernambuco, Nati, 
Shocd, andTushd. It thus seems hopeless to assign a definite linguistic 
meaning to the term “7Zapuya.” 

It certainly can lead to nothing but confusion if ethnographic and 
linguistic considerations are mixed. Thus, the Z’remembé (Tere- 


553 


554 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. Bunn, 148 


membé), who lived in the country of the Acarahti River, extending 
as far as the Serra Grande, were excellent runners and swimmers, 
made anchor-axes, and deposited them on the corpse of a slain enemy. 


in 
woe 
itu 
ty 
te 


=e rie es 


Ficure 69.—Tapuya man and spear thrower. (Redrawn from Bahnson, 1889, pl. 13.) 


These features ally them with various Ge tribes, but until the 
Tremembé speech is proved akin to Ge, such homologues prove nothing 
but cultural connection. 

But, ethnographically, there is hardly more warrant for consider- 
ing all Japuya in one category. Of Cardim’s (1939) tribes, the 


Vou. 1] THE “TAPUYA”—LOWIE 555 


Napara, were farmers, the Guamwure lacked any form of agriculture, 
the Camucuyara were cannibals, the Curupehe merely took heads for 
trophies, the Guayatin “dwell in houses,” and the Curuphe “have no 
houses and are like gypsies.” Specifically, there is no warrant for 
lumping the 7apuya together as representatives of a particularly rude 
stage, as has been customary. Pompeu Sobrinho (1939) has rightly 
pointed out that, archeologically, their habitat in northeastern Brazil 
is characterized by abundant pottery and polished stone implements 
and that a good many of them were incipient farmers. Indeed, when 
such authors as Soares de Souza (1851) declare that a tribe like the 
Maracé fails to cultivate the soil, the statement is at once qualified : they 
neither plant manioc nor eat vegetables except those their women 
plant. Still more definitely it is stated that a hostile fellow-7'apuya 
group plants no manioc nor tills the soil except to raise maize and 
other “legumes.” 

Nao costuma este gentio plantar mandioca, nem fazer lavouras senio de milho 
e outros legumes; porque nao tem ferramentas com que rocar o mato e cavar a 
terra, e por falta d’ella quebram o mato pequeno as maos, e 4S arvores grandes 
poem fogo ao pé d’onde esté lavrando até que as derruba, e cavam a terra com 
pdios agudos, para plantarem suas sementeiras, e o mais do tempo se mantém 
com frutas silvestres e com cacga, a que sio muito afeigoados. [Soares de Souza, 
1851, p. 352.] . 

That these maize-growing 7'apuya were relatively advanced appears 
from the further statement that they lived in well-walled, strongly 
stockaded settlements and, like the Zupinamba, slept in hammocks. 
Their procuring salt by burning saltpeter and extracting the ashes may 
be taken as further evidence of sophistication. In any case, Soares de 
Souza (1851) is keenly aware of the differences among the 7apuya in 
setting off those nearer the Sao Francisco River as more rustic (agres- 
tes) and using caves (furnas) for houses. 

A plausible interpretation of early wholesale denials of Tapuya 
agriculture is that the writers were merely contrasting the compara- 
tively intensive farming of the 7upé, centering in manioc, with the 
cruder cultivation of other peoples who grew no manioc, but did plant 
other species, though remaining largely dependent on wild vegetable 
fare and on the chase. Only in some such way can we reconcile the 
evidence in Barlaeus, who in one passage describes his 7 apwya as rov- 
ers subsisting on wild fruits, game, fish, and honey, and subsequently 
states that nothing is sown without priestly consecration, and that a 
prophet will predict a good maize crop (Barlaeus, 1659, pp. 697, 706 ff.) 

That the “7apuya” of northeastern Brazil, at all events were far 
more stable than might be assumed from certain accounts seems further 
indicated by the abundant remains of pottery all over their territory 
(Pompeu Sobrinho, 1939, p. 233). Finally, the supposed lack of ham- 
mocks among the Zapuya, which was still assumed as general by 


556 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bun. 143 


Ehrenreich (1894, pp. 81-90) and others, is not borne out by early 
sources, as Schuller (1912, 21: 78-98) correctly indicates. Soares de 
Souza (1851, p. 352) and Herckman (im Wiitjen, 1921, pp. 254-260; in 
Pompeu Sobrinho, 1934, p. 22) are quite definite on this point. 

The inevitable conclusion is that “Tapuya” is a blanket term like 
“Digger Indian” or “Siwash” in North America. No good purpose is 
served by considering them as a linguistic or ethnic unit. Ethno- 
graphically, there were undoubtedly “Z’apuya” tribes with striking 
parallels to Ge traits, such as the sportive manipulation of heavy logs 
and the caplike haircut. But the Ge themselves are now known to be 
anything but uniform; and of the specific features found among the 
Tarairiu, the best known 7'apwya group, some point in quite different 
directions. Thus, the endocannibalistic disposal of corpses reminds us 
of the extinct 7apajo, and the ritual with the chief’s rock-container 
has a decidedly Z'upinamba flavor. Analysis thus shows features of 
wide tropical distribution; some apparently restricted to the Tarairiu; 
still others suggest influences of diverse origin. There is no “Zapuya” 
culture: except in quoting old writers on otherwise undefined groups 
so designated, the term should be eliminated from scientific usage. 
(See The Tarairiu, p. 563.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Bahnson, 1889; Barlaeus, 1659; Cardim, 1939; Ehrenreich, 1894; Herckman (in 
Wiitjen, 1921) ; Magalhies de Gandavo, 1922; Martius, 1867; Pompeu Sobrinho, 
1934, 1935 b, 1939; Saint-Hilaire, 1930-51; Schuller, 1912, Soares de Souza, 1851; 
Studart, 1926 a, 1926 b; Vasconcelles, 1865 (orig. ed., 1663) ; Watjen, 1921; Yves 
d‘Evreux, 1864. 


THE CARIRI 


By Rosert H. Lowi 


TRIBAL DIVISIONS AND HISTORY 


The Cariri form a distinct linguistic family comprising the 
Deubukua, Kipea, Pedra Branca, and Sapuya dialects, the last being 
considered the most aberrant. At the time of the Portuguese occupa- 
tion they resided in the interior of Brazil, and their documented 
habitats were as follows (lat. 8° S., long. 40° W.) : 


(1) Serra dos Carirys Velhos (Kipea Cariri), 17th century. 

(2) Pilar (where Kipea were gathered and their descendants remained until 
the beginning of the 19th century). 

(3) Missio Velha, Missio Nova, Barbalha, Crato, and Milagres (Cariri Novos), 
1670. The Crato Cariri were removed to the capital, Fortaleza, in 1780; 
in Milagres remnants persisted as late as 1876. 

(4) Sources of the Itahim River. These Cariri (Quiriri) were warred against 
prior to 1701 and are not mentioned subsequently. 

(5) Islands of the Sfio Francisco River (Dewzukua Cariri). Pambu Island, 
1702; Oacarapa Island, 1702; Cavallo, Iraquaé, and Inhamum Islands, 1746. 

(6) Curral dos Bois, 1759. 

(7) Collegio (mixed with Wakéna and Carapoté), until the beginning of the 
19th century. 

(8) Massacara (jointly with Catrimbi), 1759. 

(9) Saeco dos Morcegos, 1759. 

(10) Canna Braba, 1759. 

(11) JurG, 1759. 

(12) Natuba, 1759. 

(13) Aldea do Rio Real, 1759. 

(14) Aramary, 1759. 

(15) Pedra Branca (Camuru Cariri), 1740-1865; remnants at Paraguacu 
Reservation. 

(16) Caranguejo (Sapuya Cariri), 1740 until after 1818. 


Of these groups, the Camurt% and Sapuya were the only ones west 
of Bahia. They were not transplanted there from the north, but 
prior to their being placed in settlements by the Whites, occupied 
the mountains of the same region. The range of the family is indi- 
cated by the fact that these southernmost members had for their 
enemies the Botocudo-speaking Guerens of the 17th century, and in 
the 18th century the linguistically undefined Payayd, whereas con- 
geners lived north of the Parahyba River. 

557 


558 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Buun. 143 


Reduced in numbers through Portuguese and Dutch contacts, 
Cariri Indians were settled by the Jesuits in aldeas west of Bahia. 
The Camuru and the Sapuya were visited in 1818 by Martius (1867, 
1: 347 ff.), who still found about 600 survivors. By 1891 the Cariri 
were said to have become extinct. This statement now requires slight 
modification. The Camurri, ousted from their aldea in about 1865, 
were killed off or scattered, but remnants reunited at Santa Roza on 
an affluent of the Rio da Contas. There they joined some 7'upinaki 
from near Porto Seguro and a few 7upinamba from Batateira, near 
Areas. Once more driven out by Neo-Brazilian pressure, the mixed 
group gathered at the headwaters of the Gongogy River, near Sao 
Bento, whence they ultimately sought refuge on the Paraguacu Reser- 
vation, founded in 1927 between the Caxoeira and Pardo Rivers. 
Among the 128 natives of various extraction there in 1988 Nimuendaji 
(mss.) found a handful of Camuru from whom a few isolated data 
could be secured. One old Camurv%i woman was still making pottery 
for her own use. 


CULTURE 


The Carivi were on a higher level of culture than most eastern 
Brazilians. They grew manioc, maize, beans, and cotton; slept in 
hammocks; made pottery molded at the base and coiled above, corre- 
sponding to the Shwcurt ware of Cimbres, Pernambuco; and are even 
credited with having a simple loom. The houses were of the wattle- 
and-daub type, with roofing of palm fronds or other foliage. These 
Indians were not cannibals. Their weapons included bows, arrows, 
and spears, but not war clubs. In the last quarter of the 17th cen- 
tury they went nude and made only occasional use of labrets and 
earplugs; genipa and urucu served for decoration. 

According to Martin de Nantes (1706), the women generally hen- 
pecked their husbands. Plurality of wives was permitted and di- 
vorce was easy. The chief exercised real authority only in warfare, 
but might derive power from the number of kinsmen supporting him. 
Except in cases of extreme old age, death was imputed to sorcery and 
the relatives would kill the evildoer. The chief of Itapoa was killed 
and burned for sorcery by his own people. Importance was attached 
to bird omens. Apparently there were puberty rites for both sexes. 
Girls had their arms scarified in order to become good spinners, and 
boys correspondingly underwent mortification of the flesh in a 10-day 
festival. In order to make them good hunters and fishermen, their 
elders would burn fish and animal bones, drinking the ashes with the 
sap of some bitter herbs, scarifying the novices with teeth, and rub- 
bing ashes into the skin. The lads were obliged to rise very early to 
hunt and had to present their gamebag to the older people, getting 


Vow. 1] THE CARIRI—LOWIE 559 


for their fare only a thin broth of maize or cassava. In consequence 
they grew very thin by the end of the period, which was further 
characterized by nocturnal singing and dancing. 

After delivery a woman ate no meat, fish, eggs, or meat broth, being 
restricted to a vegetable fare until teething set in, lest the child die 
or lack teeth. Doctors treated their patients with tobacco smoke and 
chants. 

In 1938 Nimuendajii (mss.) gleaned a few facts about the ancient 
Yurema cult. An old master of ceremonies, wielding a dance rattle 
decorated with a feather mosaic, would serve a bowlful of the infusion 
made from yurema roots to all celebrants, who would then see glorious 
visions of the spirit land, with flowers and birds. They might catch 
a glimpse of the clashing rocks that destroy souls of the dead journey- 
ing to their goal, or see the Thunderbird shooting lightning from a 
huge tuft on his head and producing claps of thunder by running 
about. 

Mythology.—The two myths recorded by Martin de Nantes (1706) 
are significant. In one of them Touppart, “God” (cf. Tupi Tupan), 
sends an old friend to the earth to live with the Indians, who address 
him as “Grandfather.” One day they go to hunt, leaving their chil- 
dren with Grandfather, who transforms his wards into peccaries. 
After sending the parents on another hunt, he takes the transformed 
children to the sky up a tree, which he orders the ants to cut down. 
The Cariri vainly try to set the tree up again so they can climb 
down. Finally, they make a rope of their girdles, but it proves too 
short; they fall down to the ground and injure their bones. Never- 
theless, they beg Grandfather to come back to earth, but instead he 
sends them Badze (tobacco), to which they thenceforth make offerings. 

According to the other tale, the Cariri had but a single woman 
among them and begged Grandfather for more. He sent them hunt- 
ing, made the woman delouse him, and caused her to die. He then 
cut her up into bits corresponding to the number of men. When they 
came back, he ordered them each to wrap his piece up in cotton and 
suspend it in his hut. He sent them hunting once more and, when 
they returned, the fragments had turned into women, who were 
already preparing food for the men.* 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Adam, 1897; Bernard de Nantes, 1896 (facsimile of Lisbon ed., 1709) ; Goeje, 
1934; Martin de Nantes, 1706; Martius, 1867; Nimuendajt, mss.; Pompeu 
Sobrinho, 1928. 


1The same explanation of the origin of women was recorded by Nimuendajii among 
the Sherente. 


=. 


THE PANCARARU 
By Rosert H. Lowi 


The Pancarari, (Pankari, Pancari) is an eastern Brazilian tribe 
sometimes classed as of the Cariri family, but at the present stage of 
knowledge it should be regarded as isolated. They have been found in 
recent years near the Paulo Afonso Falls on the north bank of the Sao 
Francisco River, at Brejo dos Padres, lat. 9°4’ S., long. 38°19’ W. 
Their culture, though imperfectly known, has maintained many in- 
teresting features, Carlos Estevao (1938) having witnessed the 
Yurema rite during the late 1930’s. 

According to Estevao, the intoxicant prepared from the yurema 
roots is tasted first by the chief. Only priests, warriors, and old 
women singers may attend; they kneel with bowed heads, then re- 
ceive their portions, which induce fine dreams. The ceremony was 
formerly performed also by the Cariri, Guegué, Acrod, and Pimen- 
tetra—especially before going to war (Pereira de Alencastre, 1857, p. 
31). Carlos Estevao witnessed it in recent years among the isolated 
Tushaé somewhat above the Pancarurt, at Rodellas, on the south bank 
of the Sao Francisco River. 

Estevio records a series of dances named for animals and plants 
(fish, bee, great anteater, parrot, and Spondias tuberosa). When the 
fruit of the Spondias tuberosa (imbi) appears, it is hung up between 
two forked sticks, to be shot at by archers; the victor gets as a prize 
a big liana, which is used in a tug of war. Further, there is a formal 
initiation into an esoteric society: the novices, about 12 years old, 
have to bring water, fire, and tobacco, and are pledged to secrecy on 
pain of being made to sleep on a bed of nettles. 

Estevio photographed masqueraders carrying gourd rattles, staffs, 
and reed pipes. Their costume consists of a fiber headpiece and skirt, 
strips of cloth in the back, and feather ornamentation. 

In one ritual there is mutual flagellation of men and women. 

Noteworthy is the predominance of the coiling technique in basketry. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Alencastra, 1857 ; Hstevio, 1938. 


561 
583486—46——36 


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rere te ahh ee Dele | 
| coat: 

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: 

jd el 

arwol . reasofl rif 4 af 


odixt aailixev mrodans ae al (ipa Anokeo). demash edT, 
Lo eyes tognory odd Ja tod ,ylinmat irom odd to ap hseenlo necnitonde | 
ti bavot sood ovad yodT .botalosi ea bebreyon ad biuoda stoyhelword - 
o&G add To diad ton oft no allel oanotA oluaT odd seen ethay teen 
-W ‘ar*e8 nao! A ‘8°O 4k eetbed 2ob ofer& de jrovitl opainan 
“i ystems hegieinievat ead .aword ylioabrequi daseotld 
orl} omeaaatte gnived (8801) ove aolyeO soutead gabled 
A O8L otal edi patsob psi es 
arene, oat? oan hotaqeta tnscixoiat of) .civeiel of 
blo bab rotamer teeing ynO Avido oft ud tet betesd si odaie 
-01 sor). ebesd bowod dtiw lec yd? : bootie Yai sepia comow 
enw yoomrgyiem oft xminoth orf soubat doidw amotio aledt sviso 
~oeonk |, brs ,Rotsh. aapaw) een) odd yd oale becrioteg eterna 
q YO6E ,ertenonslé oh rriztol) aw of using stoted qilatosqea—neet 
hotaloni add pringin etno'y Jaonet ni at beseaniiw ollvetall sofia .(16 
Aned dimoa.ord 20 eallabost te Arwen oft evods dodwonne Sila 
ovis oveionerl of odd to 
etnaly base alamion rot Bement seodtab to sorted » airsones over | 
of? nad WY. .{aaoredist anion? bad. toviag edesdiis doer sed fei) 
itastded qu’ paid ef dt wtaeqqa (idmi) oxotsdwh sorbnogh of to it 
esitg a es aisg tatoiy ed) ;erodrin 7d Ja dors od of edoita Dedaot ows 
[nentot s at otedt soli caw Yo gud 2 nt hear el doidw aneil onde 
‘blo araey Sf inoda woorvon oli :ydsinoe oitsiozs na lth molaitial 
ao yoe'toes 0) hegbelg ets baa ,oovsdo? baa sift ,9lew guitd of evad 
elton to hed « mo qaola o} abant yaied to atag 
atsts zsiier bitog gaitries ewberypeam hedgemoiodg obyiiaw 
tile bas sooiqhaerl ted 2 to weianoo orunteos tio TD asqiy boat bia 
roitsinsonncn tliast bax load sdt ai dol to eqiats 
Jtomow bas nam to acitallogal fnuduon at oscld Landi oo al, 
witodeed so ouptidoat anilion alt bo eynentatoberg oid ai Yilrowstolh + 


YHRITAHOPOMALe 
B8Or oAveiall ; THat atienenolsé 


ay 
88 —-—-}b-—. GHRERG 


THE TARAIRIU 


By Rosert H. Lowrie 


The Zarairiu (Tarairyou, Tarayruck, Tararyou, Tarairyouw, Ot- 
shucayana), were a “Z’apuya” people in northeastern Brazil. (See 
The “Zapuya,” p. 558.) Linguistically, Ehrenreich (1894) suggested 
affinity with the Ge and, specifically, with the Patashé or Koropo, who 
are no longer reckoned as Ge. In any case, the evidence is too meager 
to carry conviction. Pending the discovery of new data, the Zarairiu 
may thus be conservatively treated as a distinct linguistic family, as 
proposed by Pompeu Sobrinho (1939, pp. 221-235). 


HISTORY 


The Zaratriu were sublitoral, living not so far inland as the Carir, 
but back of the coast occupied by Europeans, possibly between Natal 
and Ceara, centering in what is now Rio Grande do Norte (lat. 6° S., 
long. 36° W.). In the wars between the Dutch and the Portuguese 
they generally aided the former. Our best primary sources are Jacob 
Rabbi (see Piso and Marcggravi, 1648), Elias Herckman (1639), and 
Roulox Baro (1651), as well as the paintings by artists in the retinue 
of Prince Moritz of Nassau-Siegen, governor of the Dutch possessions 
from 1636 until 1644. Nieuhof (1732), Barlaeus (1659), and De Laet 
(1644) are secondary sources. Tribal, subtribal, or horde names 
abound (Pompeu Sobrinho, 1939). Of the relevant groups the Jan- 
doin, i. e., the horde or subtribe under the chief of that name (Janduy, 
Jandovi, Jandubi, Johann de Wy, Jan de Wy, Jan Duwy) was the 
best known. They are located by Portuguese chroniclers on the Asst, 
Mossor6é, Apody, and Jaguaribe Rivers. Their population was set 
at 1,600, usually divided into two bands, presumably for economic 
reasons (Laet, 1644). According to Studart (1926 b), they were al- 
most annihilated by the Portuguese in 1666. The last reference to 
the Jandoin is dated 1699, the year of a Paulista attack; and they 
probably became quite extinct in the war of extermination of 1721. 
The Payakui (Pajoke), originally on the Apody and Choré Rivers, 
were, ethnographically, close to the Jandoin, and sometimes joined 
them against the Portuguese. Their descendants lived in Jesuit mis- 


563 


564 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. B. Bune. 143 


sions in Monte Mor o Novo, Ceara, until after 1762, and in Pérto 
Alegre, Rio Grande do Norte, until 1817. 


CULTURE 


Notwithstanding statements in the secondary sources that the 
Tarairiu were pure nomads subsisting on wild fruits, game, fish, and 
honey, the same authors speak of sowing, the consecration of fields, 
and prophecies as to the maize crop. Farming is in no way refuted 
by seasonal migrations, from November to January, to the seashore 
in search of favorite nuts not found in the interior. As a matter of 
fact, primary sources explicitly establish agriculture. In March and 
April, we learn from Rabbi (Piso and Marcggravi, 1648, p. 281 ff.), 
when the waters of their river had subsided, the people returned to 
their settlements, where they planted maize, beans, gourds, and other 
species (“. . . serunt autem imprimis grandius milium seu Maizium, 
phaseolos varios et cucurbitas lagenaeformes, aliasque”). A portion 
of the crop was segregated for the next sowing, the rest being con- 
sumed (“. . . tantum seponunt quantum ad proximam sementum suf- 
ficere putant, reliquum abliguriunt”). Roulox Baro (1651) refers to 
the planting of tobacco and maize. 

A root, “arrohu,” was made into bread: After crushing it with a 
stick, a native would catch the squeezed-out juice, crush the mass again 
until soft, then make it into round pellets, which were baked. The 
women chewed a certain root in preparing a spirituous beverage. 

The weapons included atlatls, spears, and wooden clubs. Special 
interest attaches to the atlatl, described by Herckman and drawn by 
Kckhout as a grooved wooden board; a museum specimen in Copen- 
hagen demonstrates this. Herckman expressly mentions bows and 
spear throwers in the same breath, but the former appear neither in 
Rabbi’s nor Baro’s reports nor in the illustrations drawn by Eckhout 
and Wagener. 

Both sexes went virtually naked, the men tying the prepuce with 
a string, the women wearing a perineal covering of foliage supported 
by a girdle. One of Eckhout’s paintings shows a man wearing san- 
dals, and Rabbi speaks of youths tying their calves for festive athletic 
games with a pliant withy and donning footgear of the same mate- 
rial (“. . . quidem primo uras vinciunt lento quodam vimine, é quo et 
calceos confectos induunt”). Further, Eckhout pictures male dancers 
with the caplike haircut of modern Zimbira. The ear lobes of boys 
about 7 years old were pierced for the insertion of plugs, and about 
the same time green, black, red, or white stone pencils were put into 
perforations of the lower lip. Long fingernails, as well as a crownlike 
haircut, were a badge of distinction, but it was the “king’s” preroga- 


Vou. 1] THE TARAIRIU—LOWIE 565 


tive to keep them long on his thumbs. Depilation of body hair was 
general. 

Notwithstanding the alleged nomadism of the 7arairtu—Herckman 
declares that they would not stay over 72 hours in one spot—and the 
flimsiness of their leafy shelter, they are credited with sleeping in 
hammocks. 

Both sexes are said to have been expert swimmers. The men were 
good runners and practiced wrestling, especially to show off before 
women. <A reference to a pair of girls by Rabbi suggests that the 
Canella maidens associated with the age classes (p. 496). In the eve- 
ning young men and women would dance together. 

Polygyny was permitted. According to the accepted Dutch legend, 
Janduy had 60 children by 50 wives—though at times he had been 
content with 14. Only for a first wife was there a special 4- or 5-day 
celebration in the chief’s presence, the bride and groom being painted 
with uructi and genipa and decorated with feathers. The suitor had 
to prove his worth by warlike deeds or, according to Herckman, by 
the carrying of heavy logs, but Rabbi and Baro describe the Jog per- 
formance as an athletic game of 77mbira type. The suitor also gave 
his prospective father-in-law some game and honey. According to 
Barlaeus’ (1659) obviously bowdlerized account, a nubile girl was 
painted red by her mother and presented to the “king,” who would 
blow tobacco smoke on her, put a wreath on her head, and throw a 
dart at it; if he hit the girl, he licked off the blood in order to prolong 
his life. From Rabbi, copied by Nieuhof (1744, p. 135), it appears 
that this applied to an uncourted girl: The chief, playing a doctor’s 
part, bade the maiden sit beside him, warmed his hands by the fire- 
place and stroked his body with them, then blew tobacco smoke on 
himself and the girl, deflowered her, and licked up whatever blood 
came forth. A husband refrained from intercourse during pregnancy 
and also, unless monogamous, during lactation. A woman went into 
the woods for her delivery, severing the navel cord herself and first 
cooking, then eating the navel cord and the afterbirth. Twice daily 
she would bathe with her infant. Adultery was rare; a husband 
might expel a faithless wife and even kill her if caught in the act. 

The chief lacked coercive power and was more highly esteemed in 
war than in peace. However, he enjoyed various prerogatives besides 
those already cited, receiving a tribute of fruit and meat. His sham- 
anistic and priestly functions included the doctoring of little boys 
by blowing smoke on them, and the custody of a sacred vessel enclosing 
rocks and fruits that no one might touch without his permission. At 
his accession the “priests and prophets” anointed him with balsam 
and crowned him with feathers. His secular duties consisted in an- 


566 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


nouncing through a crier the day’s undertakings, settling where the 
camp was to be pitched, and when it was to be broken. 

When visiting friends, the Zarairiw saluted one another with 
weeping. 

The shamans were consulted on public affairs and would invoke 
spirits in the woods, returning with the impersonator of a superna- 
tural being, who would foretell the future; but in case of a disagreeable 
prophecy both the shaman and the mummer were liable to rough 
treatment. However, a priest’s dreams were esteemed and revealed 
to the chief. In major prophecies, e. g., as to war, the shamans con- 
sulted the chief’s vessel, first blowing tobacco smoke on it. In 1641, 
when the floods had destroyed the fields, the holy rocks were uncovered 
and six prophets interpreted the future, promising plenty of maize, 
honey, etc. No sowing was done before the performance of sacred 
rites: the priests purified the soil, and then incensed the seeds with 
tobacco smoke in order to enhance their fertility. The Morning Star 
was worshiped with chants and leaps in the morning and at a major 
tribal festival uniting the bands in the summer. This involved racing 
contests and dances. 

A corpse was dissected by the priests and roasted by the old women, 
who bewailed their loss, and then consumed the flesh, gnawing the 
bones. The body of an eminent man was devoured by those of his 
own status. The bones were preserved for a subsequent festival, at 
which time they were pulverized, the powder mixed with water, 
and then swallowed. The hair was consumed in a similar manner. 

Doctoring involved both the blowing of smoke and suction of the 
affected part. In treating Janduy on one occasion, the medicine men 
sucked, bellowed like cattle, and extracted an awl, a root, and a rock 
as the cause of his illness, 

There was a belief in the division of souls according to the manner 
of death, those dying from natural causes being apparently favored. 
The souls were supposed to go west, assembling before a stagnant 
body of water, where a spirit comes in a boat to question them as to 
the way they died, whereupon he ferries them over to a place of good 
fish and honey. 

Among various observances and beliefs may be mentioned the faith 
in omens from bird calls, laceration of the body to forestall fatigue 
on a journey, and the offering made to big rocks lest they bite the 
Indians (symplegades motif?). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Barlaeus, 1659; Cardim, 1939; Ehrenreich, 1894; Herckman, 1639 (in Pompeu 
Sobrinho, 1934; in Wiitjen, 1921) ; Laet, 1625, 1644, 1916-25; Nieuhof, 1682, 1732; 
Piso and Marcggravi, 1648; Pompeu Sobrinho, 1934, 1939; Rabbi, see Piso and 
Marcggravi, 1648; Roulox Baro, 1651; Schuller, 1912; Soares de Souza, 1851; 
Studart, 1926 a, 1926 b; Watjen, 1921; Vasconcellos, 1865 (orig. ed., 1663). 


THE JEICO 
By Rosert H. Lowe 


Jeico(s) (Jaico, Jahycos, Jaicés, Jaicujui, Geico) is a practically 
unknown, extinct Ge tribe, first encountered between the Canindé 
and Gurgueia Rivers and along the watershed separating these from 
the Sao Francisco River (lat. 8° S., long. 44° W.) United in the 
aldea of N. S. das Mercés, they rapidly died out, being degenerate 
and racially mixed in 1855. Martius met only a few vagabonds of 
this group, who said they had come from the settlement of Cajueiro, 
Piauhy. He published a brief vocabulary (Martius, 1867, 1: 256, 279, 
779; 2: 142). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Alencastre, 1857; Cardim, 1939; Martius, 1867. 
567 


566 EEE | MOTTA ENDL NS tt ok ane, Gad 


newnelog throuigh « critesthin inadbeindumpeir en at dots aabidae th 
camp was to be pitehed, and whan itwaa te be broken, ay 


When visiting froma, the Pareiris enloted on with 


weeping, 
The shamons wore Gort, ah i atkairs and wonld snevolbs 
wplrits in the woods, relent on imperwonator of » opera 
tural being, who would 1 extetttherfotares but we daee of & dimagreenbls 
prophacy beth the ott ego ET weer ware Hiahle tw 
tratinont.. Hower, & praet's dtvame wore esteemed andl reveniel 
to. the etied, In one § coy prophvne, © @. an lo wer, the sherane eae 
Siestn las eiovi “(st Aibib© jin joa) O(n 
bi io Weyltasgnd ya 
Pa Dain FO OF eb yaatone © 
Bawaba Rothe To bdih yiblque eddetowl web Ja Mokeereble 
poe wel HELO Jit awe LACE ai Bikini lgttelses iam 
HORS hseastasierotls met euro bull oly bine cle aquongaidt 
OTe 9ORs | haesy jails Ab) ope behddary ‘wetudr botsiidiep oft 
contests gO cance ASbT 8: ‘ 
A eorpee quan ditwweted tb yeaAaonaid roneted by thé ob) ome; 


woe leweaed. theatre ines, and then! consumed the. teh, onawing Ge 
DOT hs. Tho body of no MARE, .patiale ,GOQr a1 byes} Te 


own ene. Shee bones were eetvecrend for a subedauent featival, @t 
whith Latta thoy FOTH HPalverizia iw powder Jka with water, 
and thon ayaliowss. The hair eon eomeunad in «) seblge mained 
Dactoring pwiived’ bath ther bai) ae 0 alin ind murtvwr of the 
atlantod park. Sm trea imp Gaetdy? ai Guu cocesipt, hie hunlienh wel 
iolpod, Delluwal dike cattle aad oxi reacted an awh a root, ang & rock 

fe (b¢ cause of bin toed, 
Paore-wue a dalle? ia the division of youle adm ie to the 
of death, thowe dying from netural cause bob waren y iavored, 
Tie souls wore Up pomeC to-go weet, AaktinNDiine Oefony @ hams 
DOL? O21 SRUAT,. WRN Gprtat coorion 4% tet ieee that: 4a te 
no War they ditd. wheerespin be farrie then. ove tae piace of gota 


‘i AUAETATY 
none varie ia Olawers mk and) boliet ay ho wml aie! (he fnitiy 
dis from. bind valle, locos ( the beady to foneeuall Gallean 
Ry), 2nd, The otleroag eoede. to higr coeka teat ter Ribas 
SVR DARN: tt ff 

hh 

% Wil Lit Liv, Laie lvcotiies, oe (io Dene 
me, § Gi leia, Desh) F Lund, MM, IDI! Bieshok, 140%, Fas 
i i das ME hi Hiri Pee | (tnthd, gee Pied ‘aiid 


1 Sbulieg, LH12) Aare fe Bonen. 1257) 
Vit Ll) sconeelhbm, LARS (urie, ef, 108) 


THE GUCK 
By Rosert H. Lowr 


The Guck (Coco) is a fancifully constructed linguistic family, pro- 
posed by Martius (1867, 1: 346-361, 570, 780) on the basis of the term 
used for uncle, which he supposed to have once signified “human be- 
ing.” The family was made to include the Cariri, Carib, Caraja, 
Mojo, Passé, and various others. Martius assumed the interior of 
Guiana to be the homeland of this family. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Martius, 1867. 
569 


THE FULNIO 


By Atrrep Mrerraux 


The Fulnio (Carnijo) are first mentioned under the name Carnijé6 
in a document of 1758, when they lived in two villages under the 
Catholic priests (lat. 9° S., long. 37° W.). Little was known about 
them, however, until 1929 when a journalist, Mario Melo (1929), wrote 
a short first-hand description of the modern Fudnio of the district of 
Aguas Bellas (State of Pernambuco), near the Serra do Comonaty. 
Pompeu Sobrinho (1935 b) analyzed the few existing documents on 
their language—the Jaté—and concluded that Fulnio is an isolated 
tongue with no relationship to Cariri, with which it has been errone- 
ously identified. 

The modern Fulnio, mixed with Negroes and Mestizos, number 
about 700 persons (130 families). 

The acculturated Fulnio preserve very little of their past culture. 
They live on the products of their fields and on the sale of a few bas- 
ketry objects and cords of carua fibers. Children hunt birds with 
pellet bows and make simple traps. 

During August, the Fulnio move their village to a circular clearing 
(ouricouri) where, under a sacred joazeiro tree (Zizyphus joazeiro), 
which women may not approach, the men meet to elect their chief. 
Perfect peace must prevail during the feast. 

Puberty rites are celebrated in the clearing. That these cere- 
monies were complex is suggested by the names of special officers who 
presided over the different stages of the feast. One of the main fes- 
tival events was the tolé dance, which modern Fwlnio still perform 
in feather diadems and rhea-feather bracelets and belts. The chief 
performers are two men who dance, each with an arm over his part- 
ner’s shoulder. They turn and jump to the time of a large and a 
small stamping tube, which they beat against the ground. Mean- 
while, the spectators sing while two men shake their rattles. The 
dancers stop in front of two girls who follow, dancing around them. 
The various steps are named after animals (step of the urubd, step 
of the pigeon, step of the fish). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Branner, 1887; Melo, 1929; Pompeu Sobrinho, 1935 b. 
571 


O41 GAT 


nue M asaarh vif 


dtuewD omed od} yobay beaoitaen sex exe (Oybew')) olelwA odT 

ait tebaw exgelliv owd si bovil yarli — #80I to Jusouneb « at 
jwode awornd sew slit .«.W °TS wool .2 °@ tel) atesing oilodiadD 
siotw (886!) oloM oral datiamruol » noiw O20! law -ivewod mel) 


to Jornzify ad} to oil msbour od? to aoliqitossh huedJteti Jrode a - 


Wane ob aned afi is9 ,(ooudmanwT to 9038) eallell eamga 
fo ainsitoob yuitaize wot od) bexylana (d 2801) odniado® osaqmoT 
baisloai ma ai cial’ jadi bebualomos baa—Aty\ olt—ogangasl aed 
-sitoTis eed aad }i doidw Min jus’) 0} qileaoitalet on ditw srgnol 
-heflijnebi yleso 

tadmua ositesM has aotge dtiw hexint ,cinlw\ ombonr odT 
.{2ailiownt O85) anorweq OOT ivoda 

*istiuo danq 19:83 Yo olttil yoy sriseony ooo Hatanadloges aT 
‘tad wot # to olza adi no baa zbleit tied! to atouborg ed) no evil yodT 
diiw aid tacd emihlid)> wd ewieas to abtoo baa atsofe pital 
2qei) olqmia odacnt baa ewod jslleg 

galinels talusiie 2 of egalliy tisdi avoat ony od) JesguA yaned 
,(otisanot sudqyeiS) oot? oxteseo[ beisea 2 tsbhay giedw (Muostamo) 
sido tied’ Josie oF Joon ooct adt .dosorqqs Joa vem neoow dotiw 
tanot oft yaivuh lisverq Jami aoneq detiel 

9199 seeds jadT gotiests odd ot bolenioles ain mity ytiedot 
odw atsoillo [nisatye to een acl) yd feteoguue ei zolqates Siew asimont 
~est mise oil? to enQ. dansk edt to vegeta Jomohib edd wvo bsbinetq 
1olveg [lite siniw ctabor dotilw oaeh Slo) od) eaw einove loved 
Yeido sd? .alisd bee etolsosnd sedieot-ned? bow aambsth wdieok mm 
Msg eid wvo prim an ditw doe .aoaah od oom owl ete eiemrigiieg 
& bos ¢gial a to smi eli of qe, boa om) yodT 4ebloode gues 
col Beenie. oid Jonivgs Jeed bare oidw »dos yoiqatade ane 
wtD jiet sient sleds nasa owls olidw yaie eiwinloaqe sil) slic 
ae) bavots yoatoakh ,wollot edw aisky ow? to jnost ai qote s1aomab 
béuig edd louteda) elamins Tolle bemoan aie eqaia avortay odT 
{lah adi Io gate movgiq ond Yo 


StF 


~~ 


YHYARDOLIgIa 


4 Gar odalidoe oequaed Gone olol4 ; ar saan 


THE TEREMEMBE 
By Atrrep Métravux 


HISTORY 


The Teremembé (7'remembé, Tremembaiz, Taramembés, T eremem- 
bis) have been erroneously classified in the Z’upi-Guarani linguistic 
family by Martius (1867, p. 197). Their language is unknown, but 
certainly differed from Z7upt. Judging from the few data on their 
culture, they seemed to have belonged to the primitive tribes which 
occupied the Brazilian coast before the 7upi migrations. (Lat. 4° S., 
long. 40° W.) 

In the 17th century, the Zeremembé lived on the seashore from the 
mouth of the Gurupy River or of the Tury River in the east to the 
mouth of the Paranahyba River. Claude d’Abbeville (1614, fol. 189) 
gives the Jaguaribe or Mossoré River as their western limit. In the 
State of Ceara they seemed to have lived mainly along the Acarai 
River and in the Serra Grande. They were bitter enemies of the 
Tupinamba, whom they attacked whenever they could ambush them. 
In 1674, because Zeremembé had killed shipwrecked Portuguese 
sailors, the colonists led a bloody punitive expedition against them 
(Betendorf, 1910, pp. 316-822). At the end of the 17th century the 
remnants of the tribe were settled by the Jesuits in missions. At the 
beginning of the 19th century the Zeremembé were almost extinct. A 
few of them, mixed with the local population, lived in Nossa Senhora 
de Conceicao d’Almofalla and in Villa de Sobral. 


CULTURE 


The ZYeremembé were nomad hunters and fishermen. They 
wandered in small groups along the coast carrying their bows and 
arrows, axes, gourds, and pots. They had spears tipped with shark 
teeth. 

Like the Canella, they used crescentic stone axes, the famous 
“anchor axes” which have been found archeologically along the 
Brazilian coast. They employed these as battle-axes, but whenever 
they had killed an enemy with one they left it on the corpse. Yves 
d’Evreux (1864, pp. 141-142) gives some interesting data on the cere- 


573 


574 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. BULL. 143 


monial manufacture of these axes. At the first appearance of the 
crescent moon, the 7'eremembé spent a whole night shaping these axes, 
not stopping until they were perfect, because they believed that if they 
carried them to war, they could never be defeated. While men made 
these axes, the women and girls stayed outside the huts singing and 
dancing, their faces turned toward the crescent moon. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Betendorf, 1910; Claude d’Abbeville, 1614; Martius, 1867; Pinto, 1935; Studart, 
1931; Yves a@’Evreux, 1864. 


Mth Pee ary» 
7? {y johedede), Moa, BPP DL bay 
7 3 "hy, ie I , en A 
; Woy > 3 
a2 i we “Oa: wr Sa, a = 
kED asypee” ‘ae = 
Figg am : 
s% eet then . \ \ 
z > % Fa ol / 
t= jeg aw 
n ue oe AAS 
peta by gt Ar tf er: G8 
“ha ees. te, x 
Seca ee A 


/ 


PLATE 105.—Arms, ornaments, and utensils of the Botocudo, Puri, and Mashacali. a, Puri hammock; 5, 
Puri pellet bow; c, Mashacali bow; d, Mashacali arrow; ¢, Botocudo penis sheath; f, Botocudo knife; g, 
Botocudo stone ax; h, Botocudo necklace of fruit shells; i, Botocudo trumpet; j, Botocudo bone awl; k, Boto- 


cudo forehead dress / , Botocudo carrying bag. (After Wied-Neuwied ,1822, Nos. 13 14.) 


as, 1835, pl. 1.) 


¢ 


Rugend 


A fter 


(2 


ee 


106.—Botocudo fam 


UATE 


PI 


PLATE 107.—Eastern Brazil landscapes. Top: Guaitaca country. The coastal piedmont plain or terrace 
and edge of plateau, 20°27’ S.-40°29’ W. Bottom: Mountain agriculture on the eastern slopes of the Bra- 
zilian plateau, at about 20°34’ S.-40°36’ W. (After Rich, 1942, figs. 69, 72.) 


unt ttre 


,.) 


6, ¢ 


Ss. 


pl 


ore) 


1 


AS, 


end: 


Rug 


(After 


1a 


—Puri dance and bur 


PLATE 108.- 


55) 
99 
22, 


, 182% 
, 18 


artius 


M 


Neuwied 


€ 


, and 
Tied- 


pix 
yo 


fter S 
(Afte 


ral. 


festiv 
Mont 


o 
2 


kin 


rin 


= 
oS 
q 
las} 
u 
rh 
Oo 
lanl 
= 


‘oroado d 


c 


‘Op: 
cudo. 


life, 7 
B 


of the 


idual combats 


oroado and Botocudo 


9.—C 
Indiv 
) 


TE 10 


Bottom: 
pl. 11. 


PLA 


ists 


ee 


PLATE 110.—Coroado and Puri shelters. Top: Coroado village. (After Eschwege, 1818.) Bottom: Pur 
camp. (After Wied-Neuwied, 1822, No. 3.) 


(0% "ON ‘2281 ‘POLMNON-parA Joyy) *eouep uvseuED—T1{] ALVId 


ear 


PLATE 112.—Patash6 and Camacan weapons and artifacts. Top: Patasho. Rio del_ Prado. Bottom: 
Camacan. a, Woman’s apron; b, woolen bag; c, arrows and bow. (After Wied-Neuwied, 1822, Nos. 7, 21.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY TO VOLUME 1 


ABBREVIATIONS 
Acta Acad. Aboensis____---___--_--__ Acta Academiae Aboensis. Abo, Finland. 
IACTAIPAINGDS (55 oe ea Acta Americana. Revista de la Sociedad 


(Sociedade) Interamericana de Antro- 
pologia y geografia. Review of the 
Inter-American Society of Anthropology 
and Geography. 


Actes SOCe Cin Chili=s===s—- a= Actes de la Société Scientifique du Chili. 
Santiago de Chile. 

Amer Anthro pee se American Anthropologist. 

Amer. Journ. Orthopsychiatry__----- American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 


Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Anthrop. Pap... American Museum of Natural History, 
Anthropological Papers, New York, N. Y. 


An Bille 25 ees eS Se Anales de la Biblioteca Nacional. Buenos 
Aires, Argentina. 

Ane Cient earaguayOst==—— =) =-oaser= Anales Cientificos Paraguayos. Asuncion, 
Paraguay. 

An=Hidr Mar) Chiles 2222 = - ss Anuario Hidrografico de la Marina de 
Chile. Santiago de Chile. 

An; Inst; Htnogr. Amer, =~ =__—--_._-- Anales del Instituto de Etnografia Ameri- 


cana de la Universidad Nacional de 
Cuyo. Mendoza, Argentina. 

An. Mus. Arg. Ciene. Nat. _-__-------- Anales del Museo Argentino de Ciencias 
Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia,” 
Buenos Aires, Argentina. 


An. Mus. Hist. Nat. Montevideo______ Anales del Museo de Historia Natural de 
Montevideo, Uruguay. 
Ans Musi la) Bla tas a ee Anales del Museo de La Plata, Argentina. 


An. Mus, Nac. Hist. Nat. Buenos Aires. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia 
Natural de Buenos Aires, Argentina, 


An. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires__--__---_ Anales del Museo Nacional de Buenos 
Aires, Argentina. 

An. Mus. Nac. Montevideo___-------__ Anales del Museo Nacional de Montevideo, 
Secci6n Histérico-Filoséfica. Montevideo, 
Uruguay. 

Ann. New York Acad. Sci. ----------- Annals of the New York Academy of 
Science. New York, N. Y. 

An. Soc. Cient. Argentina_____-------_ Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argen- 
tina. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Ag Univ. Chile==— 2 =. 2. =2) ss Anales de la Universidad de Chile. Santi- 
ago de Chile. 

Anthrop. Ser. Catholic Univ. -------- Anthropological Series, Catholic Univer- 
sity of America, Washington, D. C. 

Angthronoss—.--* 48-2 +} 6 ee Anthropos. Ephemeris  Internationalis 


Ethnologica et Linguistica... 
575 


576 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. BuLL. 143 


Archiv. sAntrop ONO lagen ene Archivio per l’Antropologia e la Etnologia. 
Florence, Italy. 

Archiv. Mus. Nac. Rio de Janeiro____ Archivos do Museu Nacional. Rio de 
Janeiro, Brazil. 

Atti Soe} ROM AntrOp yes Atti della Societa Romana di Anthropolo- 
gia, Roma. 

Baessler-archiy =-.-—----_-_-_="_-___ = Baessler-archiv, Berlin, Germany. 

Ber. d. Kaiserl. Leopold. Deutsch. Berichte der Kaiserlichen Leopoldinischen 

Akad. d. Naturf. zu Halle. deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher 

zu Halle, Leipzig. 

Bibl. Cent. Univ. Nac. La Plata___--~- Biblioteca Centenaria de Ja Universidad 
Nacional de La Plata, Argentina. 

Bibl. ines Ameria. 2. ee eee Bibliothéque Linguistique Américaine. 
Paris, France. 

Bibl wing. Mus) Waelaiy =e Biblioteca Linguistica, Museo de La Plata, 
Argentina. 

Bibl. Pedagybrasiligee Biblioteca Pedagogica Brasileira. Sio 
Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Bol. Acad. Nac. Cienc. Cérdoba___--- Boletin de la Academia Nacional de Cien- 


cias en Cérdoba, Argentina. 
Bol. Com. Geogr. e Geol. do Estado de Boletin Comissio Geographica e Geologica 


Sao Paulo. do Estado de Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo. 
Bol. Filol. Montevideo_.____-_-------- Boletin de Filologia. Montevideo, Uru- 
guay. 
Bol. Inst. Geogr. Argentino_=--_-_-_- Boletin del Instituto Geogrdfico Argen- 
tino. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
Bolveinsta investor euist.we ea Boletin del Instituto de Investigaciones 


Histéricas de la Facultad de Filosofia y 
Letras. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 


Bola Cont eee Boletin Paleontolégico de Buenos Aires, 
Argentina. 

Bol. Soe. Geogr. Italiana___-----_---- Bollettino della Societaé Geografica Italiana. 
Rome, Italy. 


Bull. et Mém. Soc. d’Anthrop. Paris__ Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société 
d’ Anthropologie de Paris, France. 


Bull Mus Comp? Zool. = Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Bull Soce:sAnthropy Paris==—— 2 —— Bulletin de la Société d’Anthropologie de 
Paris, France. 

BullisSoce).Géol. Hrancetss===--—""- == Bulletin de la Société Géologique de 
France. Paris, France. 

Bull. Soe. Neuchateloise Géogr. ~---- Bulletin de la Société Neuchateloise de 
Géographie. Neuchatel, Switzerland. 

Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. ---___---_-- Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 
1D} e(O} 

Gol. Hist Chiles sas _. Coleccién de Historiadores de Chile. San- 


tiago, Chile. 
Com. Mus. Nac. Hist. Nat. Buenos Comunicaciones del Museo Nacional de 


Aires. Historia Natural de Buenos Aires, Ar- 
gentina. 
Comp.-Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris_------ Compte-rendu d l’Académie des Sciences 


de Paris. 


Vou. 1] BIBLIOGRAPHY aia 


Coner™ints-Amer 2 Ue Le Lt 2 ceo Congreso Internacional de Americanistas ; 
International Congress of Americanists ; 
ete. 

Contr. Mus. Amer, Ind., Heye Founda- Contributions of the Museum of the Ameri- 

tion. can Indian, Heye Foundation. New 
York. 

Bstudios® #204 sO see Oe eee Estudios. Buenos Aires. 

Ethnol@S tad aee a eee) Ethnological Studies, Etnologiska Studier. 
Géteborg, Sweden. 

Ethnol. Stud., Soc. Scient. Fennica____ Ethnological Studies, Societas Scient. Fen- 


nica, Helsingfors. 
“Gaea,”’ An. Soe. Arg. Estud. Geogr. _. Anales de la Sociedad Argentina de 
Estudios Geograficos. 


Geogr= Ann. BO Oe ee OE ae 202) Geografiska Annaler, Stockholm. 
Globus 28) 2 Eee i) Globus. Braunschweig, Germany. 
Goéteborgs Kongl. Vet. Vitt. Hand]. __. Géteborgs Kongliga Vetenskapsch Vit- 


terhets-samhalles Handlingar. Gdte- 
borg, Sweden. 


Hakluyt. == 22~ Bee en ss Hakluyt Society. London. 

Harper's Magis 20) ter ts) _ soul Harper’s Magazine; Harper’s Monthly 
Magazine. New York, N. Y. 

Inst. Hist. Geogr. Uruguay___--_--~~_.. Instituto de Historia e Geografia. Monte- 
video, Uruguay. 

InteArchiv. thnogr: == ee ee Internationales Archiv fiir Ethnographie. 
Leiden, Holland. 

Int} Journ: Amer, Ling) 22252 +2 site International Journal of American 
Linguistics. 

Journ. Amer. Folk-lore_-_-_-__-_---__ Journal of American Folk-lore. New 
York, N. Y. 

Journ. Roy. Anthrop. Inst. -_----____ Journal of the Royal Anthropological 


Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 
London, England. 


Journ: Soc: Amér; Paris---2 22s Journal de la Société des Américanistes de 
Paris, France. 

Kungl. Sven. Vet.-Acad. Handl. _____- Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps-academiens 
Handlingar. Stockholm. 

Migrit ss es, is Be 223 ole Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of 
Great Britain and Ireland. London. 

Mem. Int. Congr. Anthrop. —-_--_----__ Memoirs of the International Congress of 
Anthropology. Chicago, Illinois. 

Mitt. Anthrop. Gesell. Wien. ___--____ Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesell- 


schaft in Wien, Austria. 
Notas Mus. Ethnogr. Univ. Buenos Notas del Museo Etnogrfafico de la Facultad 


Aires. de Filosofia y Letras de la Universidad 

de Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Notas Mus) a! Platalo- eee eres Notas Museo de La Plata, Argentina. 

Notas Prelim. Mus. La Plata_________ Notas Preliminares del Museo de La 
Plata, Argentina. 

PhysigesiA niall at 9b.osan lt fob oty Physis. Revista de la Sociedad Argentina 
de Ciencias Naturales. 

Petermanns Mitt.2 25) 2) 2ereoee 825 Petermanns Mitteilungen. Gotha. J, 
Perthes. 


583486—46——37 


578 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. E. Bun. 143 


Phil’ Transs2u4. 2h lanolsersatel nea Philosophical Transactions. Royal Society 
of London. Wngland. 

Primitives Mans=]=e === Primitive Man. Catholic University of 
America. Washington, D. C. 

Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci. _-_--_-_- Proceeding of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. 

Proc. 8th Amer. Sci. Congr. ----_---_-- Proceedings of the Highth American Sci- 


entific Congress. Washington, D. C. 
Publ. Inst. Arqueol. Ling. y Folklore_ Publ. Instituto de Arqueologia, Linguistica 
y Folklore Dr. Pablo Cabrera, Cérdoba. 
Publ. Mus. Antrop. Etnogr. _-----~-- Publicaciones del Museo Antropolégico y 
Etnografico de la Facultad de Filosofia 
y Letras. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
Publ. Mus. Etnol. Antrop. Chile______ Publ. del Museo de Etnologia y Antropo- 
logia de Chile. Santiago de Chile. 
Publ. Mus. Etnogr. Univ. Buenos Publicaciones del Museo Htnografico, Uni- 


Aires. versidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Publ. Univ. Nac. Tucumaén=----2_ == Publicaciones de la Universidad Nacional 
de Tucuman, Argentina. 

Rel) GeogrsIndiass_—-S4ie28238 0 Ssse Relaciones Geograficas de Indias. 

Rel. Soe; Arg. Antrop? 2¢24)- 22te202 Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de 
Antropologia. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Rev. Arq. Mun. Sao Paulo-_----__---_ Revista do Arquivo Municipal de Sido 
Paulo, Brazil. 

Rey. Brasil; Musica== = s33222) ee Revista Brasileira de Musica. Rio de 
Janeiro. 

Rey. Chil. Hist. Geogr. —~~~-2e22--=~2 Revista Chilena de Historia y Geografia. 
Santiago de Chile. 

Rey. Chil, Hist) Naty ==22-2 eee Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. 

RevinGeogr:pAmer.ja0-40 — 2 est Revista Geogréfica Americana. Buenos 
Aires, Argentina. 

Rey: Inst; Ceara==-. 2 6 .i oe Revista do Instituto do Ceara. Fortaleza, 


Ceara, Brazil. 
Rev. Inst. Antrop. Univ. Nac. Tucu- Revista del Instituto de Antropologfa de 


man. la Universidad Nacional de Tucumin, 
Argentina. 
Rev. Inst. Etnol. Univ. Nac. Tucu- Revista del Instituto de Etnologia de la 
man. Universidad Nacional de Tucumén, 
Argentina. 
Rev. Inst. Hist. Geogr. Brazil________ Revista do Instituto Histérico e Geo- 
gradphico do Brazil... Rio de Janeiro, 
Brazil. 
Rey. Inst. Hist. Geogr. Sio Paulo__.__ Revista. do Instituto -Histérico e Geo- 
graiphico de Sao Paulo, Brazil. 
Rev. Inst) Paracuayos. 22 Revista del Instituto Paraguayo. Asun- 
ci6n, Paraguay. ; ; 
Rey. Jardin) Zools.2-- 22s Revista del Jardin Zoolégico. Buenos 
Aires, Argentina. 
Rey.,.Mus, lbasPlata_-- = = Revista del Museo de La Plata, Argentina. 
Rey:. Mus. “Paulista:...222+- 25. . -9 Revista do Museu Paulista, Brazil. 


Rev. Sec. Soc. Geogr. Lisboa, Brazil__, Revista Mensual de Seccio da Sociedade 
de Geographia de Lisboa, Brazil. Rio 
de Janeiro, Brazil. 


Vou. 1] BIBLIOGRAPHY 579 


Rev. Serv. Pat. Hist. Art. Nac. __.___ Revista do Servico do Patriomonio His- 
torico e Artistico Nacional. Rio de Ja- 
neiro, Brazil. 


Rey. Soc. Am. Arq. Montevideo______ Revista de la Sociedad de los Amigos de 
la Arqueologia de Montevideo, Uruguay. 

Rev. Soc. Cient. Paraguay _-___--__ Revista de la Sociedad Cientifica del Para- 
guay. Asunci6n, Paraguay. 

Rey. Soc. Geogr. Rio de Janeiro_____ Revista da Sociedad Geographica do Rio 
de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Rev. Trim. Hist. Geogr. Brasil_______. Revista Trimensal de Histé6ria e Geo- 


graphia or Journal do Instituto Hist6- 
rico e Geographico Brasileiro. Rio de 
Janeiro, Brazil. 


RevaLriminstiCearis=s=s— 25s -=_ Revista Trimensal do Instituto do Ceara. 
Fortaleza, Ceardé, Brazil. 

Rev. Univ. Nac. Cérdoba_-_----<_-__- Revista de la Universidad Nacional de 
Cordoba, Argentina. 

Rey. Univ. Buenos Aires_-----------_ Revista de la Universidad de Buenos 
Aires, Argentina. 

Sem. Int. Ethnol. Religieuse___-_-___ Semaine International d’Ethnologie Re- 
ligieuse, Paris. 

Sitz. Kaiser]. Acad. Wiss. ----------- Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Aka- 
demie der Wissenschaften. Vienna. 

Sociol cleus ete erred ee ere oe Sociologia; Revista Didatica e Cientf- 
fica, Sio Paulo. 

Soe. Ling. Paris, Coll. Ling. ~-----~-~ Société de Linguistique de Paris, Collec- 
tions Linguistiques. Paris. 

Smithsonian Misc. Coll, _---------___ Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 
D. C. 

Trans. Ethnol. Soc. London_---_--___ Transactions of the Ethnological Society 


of London, England. 
Verhandl. d. Gesell. f. Erdkunde zu Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft fiir 
Berlin. Erdkunde zu Berlin. 
Verhandl. Schweiz. Naturf. Gesell. _. Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Na- 
turforschenden Gesellschaft. Zurich. 
Vierteljahrschr. Naturf. Gesell. Zu- Vierteljahrschrift der Naturforschenden 


rich. Gesellschaft Zurich, Switzerland. 
Dome ye Se eee ae a a Ymer. Stockholm, Sweden. 
Zelte Wthnolyletwesoee! see See 2 Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie. Berlin, Ger- 
many. 
Zeit. d. Deutsch. Wiss. Ver. z. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Wissenschaft- 
Kult.- u. Landeskunde Argent. lichen Vereins zur Kultur- und Landes- 
-kunde Argentiniens. Buenos. Aires, 
Argentina. 
Zeit. f. Hingeborenensprachen____-~__ Zeitschrift fiir Eingeborenen-sprachen. 
Berlin. 


ACUSACION DEL FISCAL. . . « 
1908. Acusaci6n del Fiscal de Su Majestad contra Sebastiin Cabato .. . 
sobre varios excesos sue cometié . : .4 de Febrero: de 1532... 
In Medina, 1908 a, vol. 2, pp. 179-217. 


580 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B. A. BE. BuLL, 143 


ADAM, LUCIEN. 
1897. Matériaux pour servir 4 ]’établissement d’une grammaire comparée des 
dialectes de la famille Kariri. Bibl. Ling. Amer., vol. 20. 
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