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



55 



boyhood behind paiuts himself with colors and also with 

 white, puts on all his feathers, pearls, and metal decora- 

 tions, gets his trumpet and plays and sings all the night 

 and next day until sunset. Before the planet disappears, 

 a niffienigi or inhuman medicine man takes a sharp jaguar 

 bone and armed thus, jabs the boy in various parts of the 

 body without hiding those parts which modesty demands 

 to be hidden. The boy bleeds and looks very earnestly 

 at his blood. The nigienigi smears his body with it and 

 thus reddened he is placed in the class of men. The whole 

 ceremony ends with drinking at the expense of the initiated 

 one. [Ibid., vol. 2, pp. S-9.] 



In his view there was no marriage ceremony : 



They marry making no ceremony. Perhaps due to the 

 facility with which they can separate from their wives 

 they do not hold any ceremony when they take a wife. 

 If two persons want to marry there is no other ritual 

 tliau asking her parents for her hand, and the parents 

 and the woman agree, he marries her and takes her to his 

 shed. [Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 25-26.] 



Referring to the status of married women, he 

 adds the following : 



Among the Guaycurfl there exists no statute or custom 

 which obliges the people to marry within their own 

 nation. One meets many married to captives, either Span- 

 ish women or Niyolola . . . What astonishes us in such 

 a barbarous republic is that if a GuaycurO captain marries 

 a slave, captive or servant, the unfortunate woman's 

 status does not change for she continues to be a servant. 

 [Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 2S-29.] 



Sanchez Labrador also mentions the well known 

 Mbaya custom of infanticide : 



Guaycurfl cruelty is exiiibited in abortion and infanti- 

 cide. . . . Spinsters practice this cruelty in a hidden 

 manner, as if they were committing a sin. As soon as 

 they feel the burden of their imprudence they seek to 

 provoke an abortion by whatever means their inhumanity 

 dictates. . . . The married people do not beat about the 

 bush, but openly try to kill their children in their entrails, 

 or they redouble their cruelty by killing the little creatures 

 at birth. [Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 20-30.] 



He states that twins are killed at birth and that 

 families have usually no more than one child. 

 Even today the Caduveo remember this and say 

 that they had to capture children from other tribes 

 in order to keep up their numbers : 



Due to these cruelties there are not many children in 

 GuaycurQ settlements. Among all I knew but four couples, 

 who, being exceptions, had two children. All the rest 

 had either one or none. [Ibid., vol. 2, p. 31.] 



Referring to burial customs, Sanchez Labrador 

 mentions the slaying of horses over a dead man's 

 grave : 



When they have finished their primary duty of shedding 

 tears, they shroud the corpse. This they do by tying him 

 up in a sitting or squatting position wrapped in a mantle. 

 They dress him up as well as possible, providing the medi- 

 cine man leaves them anything, if not they search for 

 something else for this purpose. Then they load the 

 corpse on a horse which served him in his life time. They 

 take him to an area removed which is called napiog, a 

 burial place. This spot is not much different from the 

 sheds of the living in mats, shape or division, so that 

 each captaincy and even each family knows where its 

 dead are to be buried. With the dead man they bury his 

 weapons, and both men and women take their silver ob- 

 jects and trinkets which they used as ornaments to their 

 graves with them. The graves are not deep and once 

 the corpse is lowered into the grave, they cover it with 

 very little earth without pressing it down, over which 

 they place a small mat and some well made pots, and 

 those who are able, adorned with beads. Near the graves 

 they place small carved wooden figures which they kept 

 in their sheds wlien alive. If the dead owned horses, 

 they kill a few (not mares) to enable him in the new world 

 to ride away to better plains and hunting grounds. [Ibid., 

 vol, 2, pp. 46-47.] 



SHAMANISM 



Sanchez Labrador gives a somewhat fuller ac- 

 count of Mbaya shamanism. He describes the par- 

 aphernalia used, discusses the techniques employed 

 and the beliefs which the shamans hold. The main 

 function of the shaman is to cure sickness by call- 

 ing the soul back to the body or by sucking out 

 evil objects from the body of the sick i:)erson. Sha- 

 mans also used spirits to control the weather and 

 to assist in hunting and warfare or in practicing 

 witchcraft : 



A crescent-shaped gourd rattle called lodani and a tuft 

 of rhea feathers called otigadi are the typical symbols of 

 these notable deceivers. . . . 



There is no encampment without a nigienigi in each 

 cai>taincy, and sometimes even two or more. They have 

 an important task and that is why their profession is so 

 widespread. They receive a few little things, which are 

 given to them or they collect in payment for their gestures 

 and efforts in bringing about a cure. There are also medi- 

 cine women, these are not old but young women who try 

 to make a living and a name in this way. 



. . . They do not lack disciples. When a master is satis- 

 fied with his pupil's abilities they all gather in his shed, 

 bringing with them their tufts of feathers and their 

 rattles which are their symbols of office. When they see 

 the novice, everyone lifts his otigadi and makes a noise 

 with his lodani, intoning an introductory chant which is 

 customarily sung at this stage. The novice is very atten- 

 tive and in each lesson he learns how to live freely and 

 to cheat authoritatively. When this event, which is the 

 eve of the ceremony, is over the graduates retire to rest 

 from their efforts. . . . Next day they gather at the same 



