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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 9 



While in the Chaco the Terena also claim to 

 have cultivated bananas and sugarcane, perhaps 

 obtaining these plants from the Spaniards. The 

 Terena word for banana is panana, which seems 

 to indicate a rather recent date for this plant. The 

 Terena word for sugarcane, caidna, also points to 

 the recent adoption of this plant. 



Other crops cultivated were pumpkins, kame; 

 beans, kareoke; tobacco, chaki; and cotton, nevoi. 

 Tobacco leaves, when mature, were picked, rolled 

 so as to squeeze out the moisture, and dried. The 

 rolling was repeated several times. Tob-acco was 

 smoked in clay pipes. Cotton, of course, was spun 

 into yarn and used for weaving cloth. 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND BIRD.S 



The Terena had medium-sized short-haired dogs. 

 Parrots, macaws, and rheas were kept for their 

 feathers. Horses, kamo, and cattle, vaka, were ac- 

 quired in raids, the horses being used for warfare 

 and hunting. Cows appear not to have been milked 

 but, no doubt, augmented the meat supply. Cows 

 and oxen were used for riding, the animal being 

 guided by a bridle attached to a ring in the ani- 

 mal's nose. Saddles, nikokoroti^ for both horses 

 and cattle, were made from dried banana leaves by 

 tying two cylindrical bundles together so that the 

 bundles would rest, one on each side of the animal's 

 backbone, no stirrups being used. 



MANUFACTURES 



The Terena made baskets, fans, and hats from 

 thin strips of bamboo, "caranda," and from "piri." 

 The thin outer layer of the wild bamboo was cut 

 into narrow strips from which large and small 

 baskets were made by plaiting. Large baskets 

 were carried on the back with the aid of a tump- 

 line. From "piri" and "caranda"' fibers, hats and 

 fans were made, the fans being used for killing 

 mosquitoes and for maintaining small cooking 

 fires. 



The Terena also used netted bags of various sizes 

 for carrying and storing food and other objects. 

 The string used was made from the fibers of the 

 yuhi plant (probably a species of BromeVia). The 

 leaves of the yulu were first soaked in water to 

 soften the cells surrounding the fibers, the soft 

 substance being later scraped away with a wooden 

 knife. The fine fibers were then twisted into string, 

 the, on the thigh or spun on a wooden spindle. 



Palm fibers also were sometimes used. Whether 

 the Terena used the lacing or knotting method for 

 making netted bags in the past is not certain. They 

 now make them from yulu fiber string, using the 

 reef knot method of netting. Small bags were 

 called vei^i and large bags, nimake. 



After removing the seeds from cotton and pluck- 

 ing it out, the cotton fibers were spun into yarn 

 or string on a wooden spindle, hopdc. The spindle 

 was a thin stick of wood about 12 inches in length 

 with a pottery whorl about 2 inches in diameter 

 fixed near one end. After attaching the string 

 near to the whorl and setting it in motion, the 

 spindle was dropped and allowed to turn in the 

 air. 



Although the Terena no longer remember the 

 form of the loom used in the Chaco, it is highly 

 probable that it was much the same as the type 

 used today. The loom is made of two upright 

 sticks which hold a crossbar above, while another 

 crossbar is fastened below. The warp is wound 

 around these two bars, but at each turn the warp is 

 looped back over a string running horizontally 

 between the two bars. This makes cutting un- 

 necessary after the cloth is woven. The weft is 

 passed through the warp with a wooden shuttle. 

 Periodically the weaver battens down the weft 

 with a long thin wooden stick. The weaver begins 

 at the bottom and works upward. In the past, the 

 Terena used woven cotton cloth for making loin- 

 cloths, sleeveless shirts, mantles, and narrow belts. 



Out of clay the Terena made cooking pots, water 

 jugs, and fiat bowls for serving food. The clay 

 was dried, pulverized, and sifted through a net- 

 ted cotton cloth. Powdered potsherds and water 

 were then added, the mixture being well kneaded. 

 The potter now made a flat disk to serve as the 

 bottoni of the pot. On this disk she built her pot 

 by adding coil after coil, flattening each one be- 

 tween her fingers. After several coils were added 

 she smoothed the inner and outer walls with a 

 small shell, dipping it repeatedly into a pot of 

 water. When the pot was of desired thinness and 

 smoothricss it was left to dry, after which it was 

 fired. The pots were then decorated with black 

 color for which the resin of the "jatoba" tree was 

 used. The Terena claim they made some pots in 

 the forms of animals and birds. 



Fire, duiku, was made by rotating a pointed 

 stick between the palms of the hands, one end of 



