GUAJIRA PENINSULA — ORIST 351 



learns and practices, in what is a period of intensive domestic train- 

 ing, the arts of cooking, making chicha, and weaving hammocks. 

 The first hammock she completes is her own, to be put by for use in 

 her future home. Kept out of the strong wind and the blistering 

 sun, her skin becomes pale, soft, and velvety, and when she comes 

 out of the hlanqueo she is ready for sale (somewhat as in our so- 

 ciety a girl is ready for the marriage market after her "coming 

 out" party). 



A man buys a bride for a specified number of sheep, goats, cattle, 

 and donkeys, or their cash equivalent. His friends help him in the 

 task of arriving at the bride price, one giving a sheep, another two 

 donkeys, another ten goats, and so on. In our society at the time 

 of marriage, wedding invitations are sent out, resulting in presents 

 from friends for the future household, whereas the prospective Guajiro 

 groom receives actual, timely assistance from his friends in something 

 that counts in acquiring a wife — livestock. If the bride is the eldest 

 daughter, her price goes to her father and it cannot be less than the 

 price he had to pay for her mother. The price of the other daughters 

 belongs to the mother or to a maternal uncle. The bride price varies 

 from a few goats to as high as 15,000 bolivars (about $5,000), de- 

 pending mainly upon the wealth and standing of the bride's family. 

 Polygamy is an established practice among the men, some of whom 

 are known to possess as many as 20 wives. Even to poor men plural 

 wives are an asset, for women not only perform the laborious house- 

 hold chores but work the fields as well. A few Guajiros are famous 

 for maintaining 10 or more wives in one household ; husbands in gen- 

 eral, however, take the precaution of keeping their wives in widely 

 separated establishments. 



The diet of the vast majority of the Guajiros is limited. Malnutri- 

 tion and actual hunger are not uncommon during dry seasons, when 

 the meal may consist of water sweetened with crude brown sugar, 

 and perhaps wild fruits in season. In periods of prolonged drought 

 many are the days when whole families must subsist on the fleshy 

 pulp of the organ cactus, which is cooked to make it edible — a filling, 

 however bitter and unpalatable, dish. When the rains come, food 

 crops such as corn, beans, pumpkins, and millets thrive; corn and 

 millets are used also in the making of the refreshing chicha, and it is 

 said that millets produce a drink even more pleasant than corn. 

 Bitter yuca (Manihot esculenta) is able to survive the drought in 

 certain plots of alluvial soil. The small fruits of the round-leaved 

 cactus, as has already been related, are used both for eating and for 

 making chicha. When the dates, or fruit, of the high organ cactus 

 are in season, they are eagerly sought for by all, and many go 

 equipped with a long stick with prongs on the end with which to 

 gather the fruits as they come upon them. (PI. 4, fig. 2.) Along the 



