48 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



Everything above 3 becomes either etubeiiia 

 (much) or edta (many). 



In counting, the fingers are sometimes employed 

 to illustrate the desired number by placing one, 

 two, or three of them on the nose. In indicating 

 any number above 3, in addition to saying "many," 

 the fingers on one or both hands may be held up, 

 or, if the number is very great, the toes may be 

 thrown in to boot. For instance, when a return- 

 ing hunter is asked some such question as "How 

 many turtles did you find?", if the answer is be- 

 low four he will hold up the appropriate number 

 of fingers to his nose and say the number; if it is 

 above three he may hold up a confused number of 

 fingers and just say "many"; if it is very great 

 he may demonstrate his toes as well. 



The inability to count beyond 3, however, does 

 not mean that an absence of one object from 

 among a large number will not be noted. A man 

 who has a hundred ears of corn hanging on a pole, 

 for instance, will note the lack of one ear imme- 

 diately. Thus the mathematics of the group, when 

 it comes to counting above 3, at least, seems to be 

 based on some kiod of Gestalt; whether something 

 has been added to or subtracted from the visible 

 total will be known because of a change in 

 configuration. 



Since trade and commerce are completely for- 

 eign to the Siriono, they employ no weights or 

 measures. The size of pots, the length of bows 

 and arrows, etc., are determined entirely by guess. 

 The length of a hammock, of course, is roughly 

 determined by the height of the person who wiU 

 use it, but no tools of any kind are employed in 

 measurement. The same may be said for measure- 

 ments of distance, which is merely expressed in 

 terms of far (iso) and near (aiiti) with the addition 

 of gestures. With respect to distance, the Indians 

 sometimes employ such vague references as one, 

 two, thi-ee, or many "sleeps," i. e., days away on 

 foot. 



No records of time are kept, and no type of 

 calendar exists. The year, with its division into 



months or "moons," is quite unknown. Events 

 are sometimes referred to phases of the moon, but 

 such references are extremely vague. The seasons, 

 of course, are clearly recognized from such phe- 

 nomena as the receding of waters, the flowering of 

 plants, the ripening of wild fruits, and the harvest 

 of reeds, but seasons are not named and are not 

 coordinated by the Siriono into any kind of 

 calendar year, although such a calendar might 

 easily be compiled. In referring to past events, 

 the Siriono most frequently say that they happened 

 kose mosc, which may mean any time before the 

 day before yesterday. Events are also sometimes 

 referred to as having taken place "when I was a 

 little girl" (yukwdki mose), "when I was sick" 

 (ierdsi mose), "when I killed a tapir" (sedkwantui 

 mdno mose), "when I was living at the old house" 

 {se cucua Una mose) , etc. 



Day is referred to as ndsi and night as itonddru. 

 Tomorrow is known as isamdmi and yesterday as 

 kudi. To express the day after tomorrow or any 

 day in the future the Siriono say isamdmi anoNge 

 ("brother of tomorrow"), and they similarly call 

 the day before yesterday kMi anoNge ("brother 

 of yesterday"). Today is always expressed by 

 ndmo ("now"). The time of day is indicated by 

 the position of the sun in the sky. When one asks 

 a Siriono "^Vhere is the sun?" {"ma tendd ^ 

 mdnde?"), one may get any of the following answers, 

 depending on the time of day or night : 



eresai i tendd hi ("the sun can be seen") — about 6 a. m. 

 t^nda cvi ("the sun is out") — about 8 a. m. 

 Undacuiichiikdti ("the sun is well up") — about 10 a. m. 

 Unda ndnde ileri ("the sun is overhead") — noon. 

 Unda 6so ("the sun is leaving") — about 4 p. m. 

 Unda osdti ("the sun is low") — about 5 p. m. 

 Unda oso tenu kdti ("the sun is well down") — about 



6 p. m. 



ibi ta Unda kdti ("the sun is under the earth") — about 



7 p. m. 



edesai Ito ("hard to see") — twilight. 

 Uo ndmo ("soon dark") — about 7 p. m. 

 itonddru ("darkness") — about 8 p. m. 

 itonddru tuti ("very dark") — about 10 p. m. 

 iiondi ("pitch dark") — about midnight. 



