tubular container made of deer or peccary bone containing a 
supply of pigments so as to alter these motifs in accordance with 
the kinds of fish he may find. In addition to these precautions to 
secure quantities of fish, the Desana shaman invokes the help of 
the Master of Fish. His invocation will ‘open a path’’, so that 
the poison will be effective. Women do not participate in the 
fishing but are obliged to bathe in the water where the toxic 
material is being thrown. If they have any share in the operation, 
it is only when many hands are needed to collect the catch. 
Why do the Kubeo, the Desana, and many other groups attach 
more than mundane importance and significance to the utiliza- 
tion of barbasco? Evidence of magic associations here — as in 
many other aspects of the food quest among primitive peoples — 
may be found in their myths and beliefs about food plants and 
animals. Barbasco itself is of supernatural origin, as recounted in 
myths (16) the consistency of which throws much light on the 
custom of utilizing fish poisons. For example, the death of fishes 
is frequently associated with the bathing of a human being in the 
water where they swim. The Desana bring about this association 
by having their women bathe in the water into which they throw 
poisonous plant material so that many fish will be stunned and 
die. The fish-dance of the Kubeo and its accompanying songs 
honoring the fish, their addressing the fish during the fishing 
operation, as well as Desana face-painting in pisciform patterns 
thought pleasing to the fish, are procedures designed to secure 
the prey’s favor and cooperation by magical means. 
Ritual purifications by rigorous diets or by abstention from 
sexual activity for a certain period, typified by the Desana (18) 
and the Makiritare (26), are examples of taboos, observance of 
which is believed to give man magical power to achieve a desired 
end. 
Fishes, like other animals, have a Master or Owner. They are 
the ‘‘people’’ of these guardian spirits who watch over and 
protect them. Long ago, it is recounted, men did not kill more 
animals than they needed for food, and therefore, these spirits 
helped them to fish and hunt. But when men began to kill large 
numbers of animals and to waste them, their Masters became 
ambivalent in their attitude. Therefore, their help must be cere- 
monially invoked by an individual whom they respect, the sha- 
man. Also, precautions must be taken not to incur their ill will or 
their anger. 
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