1444 



HORMONAL REGULATION OF BEHAVIOR 



and will undergo extreme hunger rather than 

 eat raw food. Each man hunts for his own 

 family and his extended family, within a 

 pattern of continued importunity from 

 others which leads to many types of avoid- 

 ance of food-giving, leaving game in the 

 bush, hiding food, eating surreptitiously at 

 night. 



The rhythm of life is determined by the 

 seasons. During the very wet season the 

 group remains stationary and eats little 

 meat, depending for food on the ripening of 

 small garden plots. When wild honey is 

 available it is used for making a mead which 

 is the basis of the 10 or 12 drinking parties 

 a year that provide the only amusement and 

 usually end in a brawl. Life is so organized 

 that men hunt only when they have no 

 meat; as soon as they find meat, they sub- 

 stitute rest in camp for the arduous 15- to 

 20-mile trek through the insect-ridden, 

 thorn-infested jungle. Although the people 

 wear no clothes, cotton is grown for thread 

 and string, and feathers and animal teeth 

 are used extensively as ornaments. The only 

 weapon is a bow and arrow, the bow being 

 the longest in the world, and the principal 

 tool is a sharpened digging stick. Crude 

 pots are made, one usually sufficing for each 

 family. There is continual in-group quarrel- 

 ing and aggression, but no warfare among 

 the bands, who respect one another's terri- 

 tory and occasionally intermarry, a practice 

 which is discouraged by uxorilocal resi- 

 dence, because a man who marries into an- 

 other band goes away to live and hunt for 

 his parents-in-law. The religious system 

 consists of an unsystematic set of food ta- 

 boos (most of which are violated whenever 

 conditions become too rigorous), the sepa- 

 ration of age from youth, automatic super- 

 natural penalties for breaking the incest 

 prohibition, which includes all the women in 

 the band except the group of potential 

 spouses, vague fears of the spirits of people 

 who have been evil and difficult during their 

 lives, and a vague hope that the spirits of 

 the good relatives, of whom their preserved 

 skulls are representative, may be somewhat 

 helpful. Political organization is limited to 

 the institution of a single hereditary leader, 

 who should excel the others, who has the 

 right to the center of the house, and who 



may, if he personally commands respect, be 

 accorded a few other privileges. Property is 

 limited to those things which an individual 

 has made or collected. There is little in- 

 heritance, because intimate belongings are 

 destroyed at death. 



Hunting is the central economic theme. 

 The camp is moved in relation to hunting 

 grounds; gardens are planted to sustain 

 hunting parties; prestige is based on hunt- 

 ing ability ; a good hunter may have several 

 wives ; meat is valued above any other food ; 

 and a man who is angry works off' his anger 

 by going hunting. The Siriono have a de- 

 tailed knowledge of the wild life of the 

 forest, including a specialized skill in imi- 

 tating bird and animal cries, the cry of the 

 young for its mother or a creature for its 

 mate, to bring the quarry within arrow shot. 

 On the hunt they communicate with each 

 other by a sort of codified whistling. 



Essentially a forest people, they eke out 

 a living which never fails entirely because 

 of some poorly nutritious foods which are 

 ubiquitous, but they lead a poor, hard- 

 working, miserable life and they are fre- 

 quently hungry and never sure of the next 

 week's meals. The rain pours through their 

 wretched shelters, thorns scratch and tear 

 at their naked bodies, little children have to 

 walk long distances, and the sick and dying 

 must be abandoned, their bones left for the 

 vultures to pick. Small children very early 

 undergo the cares and pains of life, and 

 even before puberty both boys and girls as- 

 sume the full burdens of adulthood. 



In contrast to their low level of tech- 

 nology and poor provision for food and 

 shelter, sex expression is well provided for. 

 As a man has access both before and after 

 marriage to all of his potential wives, among 

 whom are included his wives' sisters and his 

 brothers' wives, there is little difficulty in 

 finding a sex partner, even though there 

 may occasionally be no appropriate woman 

 for a wife. Children are betrothed early and 

 sex relations begin before marriage. Girls 

 are eligible for sex relations as soon as a 

 special ceremony (which may occur before 

 the actual occurrence of menarche) has 

 been performed. Marriage, the decision of 

 the betrothed pair to set up housekeeping, 

 is marked by no ceremonial whatsoever ex- 



