190 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 52 



vicinity are under the head tribe. For example, the Aguaranas, 

 who, because of their superior culture rule over several smaller 

 tribes, and each of these subtribes has its head man, or Curaca, but 

 owe no allegiance whatever to each other ; in fact, they often war 

 with each other without interference from the head tribe. They 

 rarely unite to fight a common enemy, which fact has been largely 

 responsible for their condition today, as they have not been strong 

 enough in their scattered condition to repel the invasion of the 

 rubber-gatherers. 



Languages 



For the most part these tribes speak independent languages, 

 with many dialects. Some of the tribes count as high as five, a very 

 few even to ten, but the most of them use only the fingers in ex- 

 pressing numbers greater than one. 



Houses 



Excessive rains have made living under some sort of shelter 

 compulsory, and as a result, even during their wanderings in the 

 forests, rude shacks of poles covered with a thatching of palm 

 leaves are hastily constructed, though their permanent abodes are 

 often very cleverly and strongly built of the same materials. 



Food 



The Indians of Peru subsist almost entirely on the yucca, bananas, 

 corn, fish, and the flesh of birds and game from the forests. Stones 

 and hardwoods are used for grinding and crushing, and earthen- 

 ware pots, etc., are used for boiling, roasting, and frying. In only 

 a few localities is salt to be found, and even then it is generally used 

 in a mixture with hot wild peppers. Some of the tribes that live on 

 the Amazon and Ucayali eat earth from certain deposits (known by 

 the Inca word kulpa) which contains a proportion of salt. Wild 

 animals also seek these deposits. This scarcity of salt and the nat- 

 ural craving of the system for this mineral have been the means of 

 making the eating of this earth a vice similar to the cocaine or 

 opium habit. When taken in such quantities the stomach of the 

 individual becomes much distended and death eventually results 

 from it. 



The rather insignificant looking yucca, a shrub which grows ordi- 

 narily to a height of from four to six feet, is probably the most prac- 

 tical and useful of all the vegetal products of this region. The root 

 of this plant, which resembles somewhat our sweet potato, is really 

 the "staff of life" for the average Indian household. Baked, it 



