INDIAN TRIBES OF BRAZIL. 385 



The first civilized men to visit them s;iy they were then girdling the 

 trees with stone axes by pounding off the bark. Afterwards these 

 were burned down by piling logs against them. They now have a few 

 steel axes which they have procured from the rubber gatherers. 



They raise corn and manihot, pineapples, bananas, and plantains, 

 the pupunva palm, tobacco, sugarcane, and a few other plants. Their 

 corn is quite distinct from that cultivated by the Tapuios, being much 

 taller and having a softer grain. They were found parching the ripe 

 corn for food. They cultivate both species of manihot, but the more 

 ordinary one seems to be the nonpoisonous, called maka-she'ra. This 

 is oooked like potatoes, and a tlour is also made from it, which is 

 baked int< cakes (beju). In pressing the juice from the manihot they 

 employ the "tipi-ti," a long tube of woven rattan, common among 

 the Tapuios for the same purpose. (Plate 7, fig. 1.) The onl} r use I 

 saw them make of the sugar cane was to chew it to get the sweet juice. 

 The fruits of the pupunva palm are eaten and the old wood is made 

 into bows. 



They are great hunters, the weapons being the blowgun and poisoned 

 arrows, and the bow and arrows. (Plate 6, figs. 3, 5, 6, 7, etc.) The 

 blowgun is a carefully made weapon of heavy wood, 10 or 12 feet long, 

 round and tapering, and covered with rattan. It is in every respect 

 like those of the tribes on the Peruvian Amazon. The arrows are 

 needle-1'ke splinters of palm wood. The quiver is of palm leaf carried 

 by a string around the neck. A small calabash with a hole in one 

 side is also hung from the neck. (See Plate 6, fig. 13.) In this is 

 carried the tree cotton for wrapping the end of the arrow to make it 

 fit the bore of the gun. The poison, unlike that of the upper Amazon, 

 is fluid, and is heated until it foams, when the points of the arrows are 

 dipped into it and passed through the fire to dry. The poison is said 

 to be made only by the chiefs, who keep the formula secret. They 

 also prepare a counter poison, which consists largely of salt, with 

 which they cure animals slightly wounded which they wish to tame. 

 The; carry with them on the hunt a broad band of bark which is drawn 

 about the body beneath the ribs; when they are going to shoot they 

 draw this tightly around them. (Plate 6, fig. 2.) The blowgun is 

 used for birds and monkeys and game in the trees. For game on the 

 ground they use the bow and arrows. The bow is short and stiff and 

 made of black palm wood, the arrows are long and heavy, the shafts 

 ot reed and the points of palm wood. They are said to sometimes 

 poison these. 



The Jamamadi use bark boats (fig. 1l ; ), made from a single piece' 

 (fig. 13), taken from a standing tree said to be the jutahy. The canoes 

 aieabout 10 feet long and 3 feet wide, fiat on the bottom, and the ends 

 are drawn up and tied, thus forming hollow beaks. They are lashed 

 and braced into shape and are then turned over the fire and heated 

 NAT mus 1901 25 



