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mSTITTJTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



other animals are relatively plentiful are the 

 taboos strictly observed. 



Apart from the above-mentioned food taboos 

 there are few others. Since these latter will be 

 discussed on the occasions when they prevail they 

 will not be mentioned here. 



PRESERVATION AND STORAGE OF FOOD 



The preservation of food is almost unknown. 

 In this tropical climate fresh meat must be cooked 

 within 8 hours after it is killed in order to prevent 

 spoilage. The Siriono, moreover, have no salt with 

 which to preserve meat, nor have they developed 

 any techniques of drying and smoking meat to ren- 

 der it edible for more than 2 or 3 days. Consider- 

 ing the rude methods by which game is bagged, of 

 course, the catch is rarely so large that it cannot be 

 easily consumed within a day or two. If, however, 

 the amount of game is greater than can be immedi- 

 ately eaten, the excess meat is left lying on a low 

 platform under which a fire is kept smouldering 

 to preserve it. It thus remains edible for about 3 

 days. But since no hunting takes place when one 

 has meat on hand, the immediate surplus is never 

 replenished. Hence even under the best of con- 

 ditions the Indians can never be sure of possessing 

 a meat supply for more than the 3 days that it can 

 be preserved by their crude methods. 



Foresight in another respect does exist. On 

 hunting and gathering trips the Siriono like espe- 

 cially to encounter tortoises, because these can be 

 collected and preserved alive over considerable 

 periods of time. Tortoises are relatively abundant 

 in the environment, and a lucky hunter may some- 

 times return with as many as 8 or 10 of them, each 

 of which may weigh from 8 to 10 pounds. They 

 can be tied up with liana and kept alive for about 

 a week, thus insuring a man and his family a meat 

 supply for as long a time. In instances of this 

 kind, one or two tortoises are usually butchered 

 each day. In the meantime the hunter spends his 

 time eating and loafing and does not go out on the 

 hunt again until the supply is exhausted. I have 

 seen hunters who, under these conditions, rarely 

 moved from their hammocks for an entire week. 



Maize is the only agricultural product that is 

 ever stored in any quantity. Immediately after 

 each harvest the various families tie their surplus 

 ears of maize (in the husk) on to poles in the 

 shelter. At this time a few of the larger ears are 



selected and put away in a basket for seed; the 

 rest are gradually eaten until the supply is ex- 

 hausted. Since crops are never very large, the 

 surplus quantity of maize rarely lasts for more than 

 a month after harvest. Thus, although two crops 

 may be planted by a family diu-ing the year, 

 maize is actually eaten in abundance for only 

 about 2 months, that is, for about a month follow- 

 ing each harvest. 



Manioc and camotes also are not stored, nor is 

 the former made into flour. Both manioc and 

 camotes are dug from the ground and eaten as 

 they mature. When manioc is extracted, a few 

 of the tubers may be planted at the same time so 

 as to have some plants constantly maturing, but 

 under aboriginal conditions the supply of both 

 manioc and camotes, like that of maize, is never 

 very abundant, and when the crop is mature it is 

 quickly exhausted. It is a rare family that has 

 manioc to eat the year around (I never knew of 

 one) , or camotes to eat for more than a month or 

 two after the harvest. 



Wild fruits and other edible forest products are 

 likewise never preserved or stored. Once the 

 season of wild foods has passed they are not 

 eaten again until the next season comes around. 



With respect to the food supply in general it 

 can be said that, except for certain agricultural 

 products like manioc, maize, and camotes, re- 

 serves for more than 2 or 3 days are never built up. 

 Fortunately the environment offers a constant 

 source of some foods, like palm cabbage, so that 

 even though hunger is often intense starvation is 

 never imminent. 



PREPARATION OF FOOD 



Little care is taken in dressing game, which is 

 done either by men or women. Animals with 

 hair, such as monkeys and peccaries, are first 

 singed whole in the fire, and the burned hair is 

 then scraped off with the fingernails or with a 

 small section of a midrib of a motacii pahn leaf. 

 The animal is then gutted with a sharp piece of 

 bamboo after which the whole carcass is sometimes 

 (but by no means always) perfunctorily washed 

 before it is cooked. Bu-ds are hastily plucked 

 and then singed in the fire and gutted. If an 

 animal is small it is usually cooked whole, but if 

 it is too large for a pot (or too large to roast 

 rapidly) it is quartered or cut up into smaller 



