30 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



pickings are slim. Generally, the young of animals 

 are killed immediately after the mother is killed. 

 I was told by informants at Casarabe that young 

 animals were sometimes raised to adulthood and 

 then killed for food, but while living with the less 

 acculturated groups I never saw a single instance 

 in which tliis occm-red. When we were settled 

 at Tibaera, for example, I myself tried to raise 

 several howler monkeys, a coati, a young tapir, 

 and a baby anteater — never, however, with any 

 success, because they were soon killed and eaten 

 by their Indian wards. These would then give 

 me some such excuse for their dying as having 

 been smothered by smoke in the night or having 

 escaped into the forest. In all instances, I was 



able to establish that they had been killed and 

 eaten while I was absent. 



WATER AND FUEL 



There are plenty of rivers, lakes, and streams 

 in the territory of the Siriono that contain a fresh 

 supply of water the year around. Even when one 

 is traveling through the bush during the height 

 of the dry season one can usually find a water 

 hole, a stream, or a brook from which to drink. 

 Camp sites are always located near these spots. 

 No wells are ever dug. 



There is likewise no shortage of firewood. The 

 forest is full of dead and rotten trees that make 

 excellent fuel. 



FOOD AND DRINK 



Two of the most frequent expressions that one 

 hears around a Siriono shelter are: "sedidkwa 

 Hti" ("My stomach is very empty") and "ma 

 rtde seri" ("Give me something"). To the latter 

 may be added an appeal for some delicacy, such 

 as a piece of tapir or peccary meat, a bit of wild 

 bee honey, or whatever else to eat someone may 

 have around. But since the attention of the 

 Siriono is most frequently and forcibly focused 

 on his stomach, requests for anything but food 

 are rare. Not infrequently the unlucky hunter, 

 whUe resting from an unsuccessful chase, is re- 

 proached by his wife for not having brought home 

 more game, and, invariably, as one leaves for the 

 hunt, the women and children call after him such 

 commands as "Bring me back the leg of a peccary" 

 or "Bring me back some tapir meat." 



DIET 



The environmental and cultural conditions 

 which exist among the Siriono are most favorable 

 for giving rise to a strong anxiety about questions 

 of food. It would seem, in fact, that of all the 

 basic drives demanding satisfaction for survival, 

 hunger is the one most frequently frustrated. 

 The supply of food is rarely abundant and always 

 insecure. Game is not plentiful; the techniques 

 of hunting, fishing, and agriculture are very 

 limited; patterns of food storage do not exist. 

 Consequently, eating habits depend largely upon 

 quantities of food available for consumption at 

 the moment. When food is plentiful people eat 

 to excess and do little else; when it is scarce they 



go hungry while looking for something more to 

 eat. Starvation, however, never occurs. There 

 are tunes when the Indians go for days on a diet 

 of motacii fruits and palm cabbage, but these 

 seem to be adequate for subsistence until game 

 can be hunted. I know of one instance in which 

 a party of Indians survived for 18 or 20 days on a 

 diet of nothing more than palm cabbage and a 

 few wild fruits collected from the forest. Since 

 they were on the march during this time, and 

 were thus using up a great deal of energy, they 

 exhibited definite signs of undernourishment after 

 their journey. 



While I was living at Tibaera, my attention 

 was called one afternoon to the arrival of seven 

 Indians (two men, two women, and three chil- 

 dren) who appeared to be especially thin and 

 emaciated. After giving them some food, I 

 inquired as to the reason for their semistarved 

 condition. One of the men told me that they 

 had run away from the Government School at 

 Casarabe, situated about a hundred miles east 

 thi'ough an uninliabited forest and plain that 

 contained no trails, and that they had been vnih- 

 out food for "many" daj's. This struck me as 

 strange, inasmuch as the men were carrying their 

 bows and arrows and the lands tlu'ough which 

 they had come were known to contain considerable 

 game, including wild cattle which occasionally 

 stray from the herds that wander on the plains of 

 Mojos. Their hunger, it turned out, resulted not 

 from the lack of game but from a lack of fire. 

 After leaving the school, they marched at a rapid 



