52 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 9 



THE CADUVEO 



(Pis. 12-24) 



THE MBAYA in the EIGHTEENTH 

 CENTURY 



The CikIuvco uppeur to l)e the only surviving 

 group of the once powerful Mljaya tribe which 

 played such an important role in the history of 

 the Chaco. The Mbaya, along with the Abipon, 

 Mocovi, Pilaga, Toba, Payagua, and many less- 

 known groups, belonged to the Guaicuruan linguis- 

 tic family which once occupied the drainage basin 

 of the Paraguay-Parana Rivers from the present 

 site of Santa Fe in Argentina to where Corumba 

 is now situated. Today, only a few Caduveo, 

 Pilaga, and Toba remain as representatives of this 

 linguistic family. In their ascendancy the Mbaya 

 were composed of a number of subtribes, each sub- 

 tribe in turn being subdivided into bands which 

 moved, hunted, and fought under the command 

 of their own chiefs. Although the term "Guai- 

 curu" is now used to designate a linguistic family, 

 the Guarani applied the term to the Mljaya. 



The most complete early account of the Mbaya 

 is by Jose Sanchez Labrador, a Spanish Jesuit 

 priest who founded the mission of Belen on the 

 Ipane River in 1760 and who lived among them 

 until the Jesuits were expelled from the Chaco in 

 1767. Additional information about the life of 

 the Mbaya during the ISth century is given by 

 Felix de Azara, the Spanish military commander 

 of the frontier areas in Paraguay in the years 

 1781-1801, and by Francisco Rodrigues do Prado, 

 the Portuguese commander of Fort Coimbra who 

 wrote about them in 1795. During the 19th cen- 

 tury numerous writers visited the Mbaj'a, among 

 them: Castelnau (1843-47), Page (1853-56), 

 Cominges (1879), Rhode (1883-84), Boggiani 

 (1892-97). The accounts of these writers are, 

 however, more in the nature of travel diaries than 

 ethnographic reports. 



In contrast to the Terena, the Caduveo today 

 say little about their past. This reticence may be 

 due to their suspicion of the motives of white visi- 

 tors or, more likely, due to their lack of knowledge. 

 Many of the Caduveo are the decendants of former 

 slaves captured from such tribes as the Guato, 

 Bororo, Chiquito, and Chamacoco. Among such 

 a heterogeneous population, the cultural tradition. 



no doubt, has also become a little mixed. It is for 

 this reason that we have to depend largely upon 

 the work of Sanchez Labrador for our information 

 of the past. Although lacking many of the de- 

 tails which we would like to know, we do, from 

 his account, get a general outline of the social or- 

 ganization, economic life, puberty rites, warfare, 

 and shamanism of the Mbaya of which the Caduveo 

 were a part. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 



From the account of Sanchez Labrador it ap- 

 pears that some of the Mbaya groups in the middle 

 of the 18th century were located on both sides of 

 the Paraguay River in the neighborhood of the 

 present site of Fuerte Olimpo in Paraguay : 



Today the Eyiguayegui are divided into two groups, 

 one on each side of the Paraguay River. They are mas- 

 ters over a great extent of land and inspire terror in all 

 other nations. Nowadays there are quite a few chief- 

 douis each having its independent chief. On the western 

 bank of the above-mentioned river are found the Cadi- 

 guegodi (Caduveo). This tribe is <livided into two large 

 groups of about the same size, the boundary being marked 

 by a slough running inland from the Paraguay River 

 which they call the Cadigugi in their language. The prin- 

 cipal chiefs of these groups are Napidigi and Apagamegi. 

 Their sons and some of their relatives are already shown 

 honors due to chiefs, being acknowledged by the people 

 as legitimate masters. [Sanchez Labrador, 1910-17, vol. 

 1, p. 2.j5. ] 



Discussing tribal territories, Sanchez Labrador 

 indicates that each chief dom has its own lands: 



For the sake of greater convenience and peace in their 

 lodgings, the Eyiguayegui have such a rigid regiilation 

 of land distribution that they may be considered a people 

 who have a political organization. Each chiefdom has 

 lands on the bank of the river on which the people live, 

 besides lauds on tlie other bank. No land can pass to 

 another without its owner's permission. Thus, as the 

 lands are vast, everybody has room without being hindered 

 in hunting and fishing. [Ibid., voL 1, p. 260.] 



Respecting the acquisition of these lands, he 



adds : 



It is certain that the lands once occupied by the Eyi- 

 guayegui were those next to the wild Guanil, which at 

 present are occupied by the Cadiguegodi (Caduveo). As 

 their numbers increased they had to seek new lands on 

 the eastern bank, where they had many disputes with the 

 Christian Indians who lived there in small groups. [Ibid., 

 vol. 1, p. 2GC.] 



