NOMADS OF THE LONG BOW HOLMBERG 



37 



NARCOTICS 



The only narcotic used by the Siriono is 

 tobacco (ero), which is smoked in clay pipes, whose 

 manufacture has already been discussed. Both 

 the men and the women smoke, although it is 

 always the latter who make the pipes (kedkwa) 

 and prepare the tobacco. Children do not smoke 

 until after they have reached the age of puberty. 



Just when the Siriono adopted tobacco is not 

 known, although it certainly does not seem to 

 have been aboriginal with them. As already 

 mentioned, one of my oldest informants said that 

 it was received from the whites while he was still 

 a child, which would date its adoption by this 

 particular group of Siriono at some time within 

 the last 60 or 70 years. (The literature tells us 

 nothing on this point.) Other informants at 

 Casarabe, however, told me that when there was 

 no tobacco available, other leaves were smoked, 

 but what these were I was never able to determine. 

 The forest Siriono with whom I lived at Tibaera 

 saved seed and planted tobacco regularly with 

 the rest of their crops, and they smoked no other 

 kind of leaf. Wild tobacco, moreover, does not 

 grow in the area. 



After the leaves of tobacco have become mature 

 they are picked by the women and are slowly 

 dried on a small mat, made from the heart leaves 

 of the motacu palm, which is placed on supports 

 over the fire. Once dried the leaves are powdered 

 in the hands and the tobacco is ready for smoking. 

 The supply of powdered tobacco is stored in a 

 small calabash, which is topped with a piece of 

 corncob. 



All smoking is done in the house. It is con- 

 sidered bad form to smoke while on the hunt, as 

 it is believed that animals will be driven away by 

 the smell. Most smoking thus takes place while 

 the Siriono are resting in the hammock or having 

 drinking feasts, and hunters almost always smoke 

 immediately after returning from the forest to 

 stave off hunger until they are given some food. 



The pipe is filled and lighted by placing a small 

 five coal on top of the tobacco. The pipe is 

 grasped by the stem (the bowl gets very hot) with 

 either the right or the left hand. When smoking, 

 the head is slightly tilted back, since the pipe 

 stem protrudes downward from the bowl. The 

 smoke is sucked into the mouth oidy (no inhala- 

 tion) and is blown out in short rapid puffs by 



79444(1 — 50 4 



withdrawing the pipe and extending the lips. 

 When there are several people around, the pipe 

 is passed from one to another. When the pipe 

 ceases to draw well, it is cleansed with a straw 

 from a heart leaf of a motacu palm. 



The Siriono do not seem to be much addicted 

 to the use of tobacco. However, its role in the 

 drinking feast is important in aiding the partici- 

 pants to arrive at a semidrugged or partially 

 intoxicated condition. During the drinking feasts 

 for women I often heard them singing impromptu 

 songs about pipes and tobacco which indicates 

 that this drug may have some further magical 

 significance that I was unable to ascertain. To- 

 bacco, however, is never used therapeutically. 



DRINKING 



Since the Siriono wear no clothes, and conse- 

 quently perspire little, they are able to withstand 

 long periods of time without water. Thirst, more- 

 over, is almost never a problem to them, because 

 wherever they wander they can find water holes 

 or streams from which to drink, and if one can- 

 not be found there are almost always lianas and 

 stems of plants from which a considerable water 

 supply can be obtained. Consequently the In- 

 dians rarely carry water with them when they are 

 on the march. 



At camp sites, water is brought to the house by 

 women or children in calabashes or in sections of 

 bamboo, which also serve as drinking vessels. If 

 a thirsty Indian comes upon a water hole while in 

 the forest, he plucks a leaf of patujii to drink 

 from. In doing this once in the company of 

 Kenda, one of my youthful informants from 

 Casarabe, I inadvertently dropped my leaf into 

 the water when I had finished drinking. He 

 snatched it up and threw it away in the forest, 

 saying that the leaf of the patujii contained an 

 evil spirit and that if one threw his leaf into the 

 water after drinking one would become sick. 

 Although the ideas about water and thirst have 

 not been crystallized to a point where I was able 

 to get much information about them, I did observe 

 that all Siriono followed this practice when drink- 

 ing from holes in the forest. 



Accompanying the frustrations of forest life are 

 occasional drinking bouts, which vary in frequency 

 with the quantity of wild bee honey available. 

 Since this product is most abundant in the dry 

 season — after the flowering of the plants and 



