THE TERENA AND THE CADUVEO OF SOUTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



15 



ioc is still the staple food crop, with maize and 

 beans coming second. Rice is highly prized, but it 

 is expensive to buy and does not grow well in this 

 area. Manioc and raw sugar are the principal 

 cash crops. A few head of cattle are kept, and 

 some of the Terena drink milk. Hogs and chick- 

 ens add to the flesh diet of the people. Fishing 

 and hunting supply only a negligible amount of 

 food. 



This, in brief, is the outline of the economic 

 history of the Terena in the last hundred years. 

 The shifting agriculturists, hunters, and raiders 

 of the Chaco became settled subsistence farmers 

 upon moving into Brazil. With the coming of 

 the railroad and the influx of settlers tliere has 

 been a gradual increase in the deiDendence on the 

 money economy of the Brazilians. A more exact 

 picture of Terena economy and the relative im- 

 portance of subsistence farming and dependence 

 on commercial transactions can be obtained if we 

 examine the economic life of a typical village. 



SOURCES OF INCOME IN A TYPICAL VILLAGE 



The Indian Post of Taunay - today has a popu- 

 lation of 995. As this Post contains approxi- 

 mately .one-third of the Terena jiopulation it will 

 serve as a reasonably satisfactory sample of Terena 

 economic life. Statistics show that families at 

 this Post average 5 persons, which would give 

 the Post about 200 families. Families, as a rule, 

 have houses and lots either inside or outside the 

 village, but all families do not cultivate farm lots 

 outside the village. Spurces-of-income study 

 made at this Post in January 19-i7 revealed the fol- 

 lowing facts: 



(1) About 100 men were away from the village 

 working on ranches, on the railroad as section 

 hands, or at various jobs in Taunay, Miranda, 

 Aquidauana, and Campo Grande. The manager 

 of the Post stated that 50 to 150 people are out 

 of the Post at all times engaged in wage work. 

 Men who work on the cattle ranches remain away 

 from 2 weeks to 2 months, depending on the time 

 of the year. Men who work for the railroad us- 

 ually remain away for a year, often longer. If 

 the man is married he often takes his family 

 with him, living in quarters provided by the rail- 



' The village is called "Bananal" by the Terena. 



road company. If these workers are near, they 

 visit the Post on week ends and holidays. Usually 

 all these workers come back to the village when 

 they become ill or too old to work. One com- 

 plaint the Protestant missionaries make is that a 

 man will leave the village for G months, become 

 ill, and then return to the village to be treated. 

 The missionaries claim that the Indians do not 

 take care of themselves when away from the Post, 

 that they spend their money on cane rum instead 

 of buying warm clothing and sufficient food. The 

 general pattern consists in a young man spending 

 several years away fi-om the village, then return- 

 ing, marrying, and settling in the village. After 

 settling down he goes out to seek employment only 

 occasionally. Since 1942, wages have risen stead- 

 ily in Brazil owing to inflation, so it is difficult 

 to determine a standard wage at present. Before 

 the war, wages paid for farm and ranch hands 

 ranged from 5 to 10 cruzeiros a day (U. S. $0.25 

 to $0.50). Today, wages range from 15 to 30 

 cruzeiros a day (U. S. $0.75 to $1.50), but this 

 money buj'S no more than before the war. From 

 what has been said it can be seen that wages form 

 an important source of Terena income. 



(2) The manager of the Post always employs 

 a number of Terena to work in the fields belonging 

 to the Post, to take care of the Post livestock, and 

 to build and repair the buildings belonging to the 

 Post proiDer. The number of these workers varies ; 

 in January 1947 six men were thus employed. 

 They received 14 cruzeiros a day. The employ- 

 ment of Indians by the Post has other purposes 

 besides the maintenance of the Post. An effort is 

 made to provide work for needy families even 

 when the Post does not actually require their serv- 

 ices. Another reason for employing Indians is 

 to train them in building and in such crafts as 

 carpentry, masonry, and blacksmithing. The wel- 

 fare function of this kind of wage work is revealed 

 by the fact that when a man with a large family 

 is a drunkard the Post manager does not pay him 

 in money but arranges credit for him at a store 

 in Taunay or provides him with foodstufi's from 

 supplies belonging to the Post. 



(3) Three men were found to be making their 

 living by carting, that is, transporting goods be- 



