NOMADS OF THE LONG BOW — HOLMBERG 



TECHNOLOGY 



11 



Technologically speaking, the Siriono can be 

 classified with the most culturally backward 

 peoples of the world. They subsist with a bare 

 minimum of material apparatus. Being semi- 

 nomadic, they do not burden themselves with 

 material objects that might hamper mobility. 

 In fact, apart from the hammocks they sleep in 

 and the weapons and tools they hunt and gather 

 with, they rarely carry anything with them. 

 What few other material objects they make and 

 use are generally hastily fashioned at the site of 

 occupancy. A brief account of the principal 

 technological processes and manufactiured articles, 

 with their uses, follows. 



FIRE 



Fire making is a lost art among the Siriono. 

 I was told by my older informants that fire 

 (tdta) used to be made by twirhng a stick between 

 the hands, but not once did I see it generated in 

 this fashion. Fire is carried from camp to camp 

 in a brand consisting of a spadix of a pahn. This 

 spongelike wood holds fire for long periods of time. 

 When the band is travehng, at least one woman 

 from every extended family carries iire along. I 

 have even seen women swimming rivers with a 

 firebrand, holding it above the water in one hand 

 while paddling with the other. 



In the hut every family has its own fire on the 

 ground by the side of the hammock. Dried leaves 

 of motacu pahn are used to bring a fire to a blaze. 

 Any dried or rotten wood serves as firewood 

 (ndea). The logs are placed on the groimd Hke 

 the spokes of a wheel, the fire being made in the 

 part corresponding to the hub. As the ends of 

 the logs burn down they are pushed inward. 

 Cooking pots are placed directly on the logs. 

 No hearths are used. 



GLUE MANUFACTURE 



The only native "chemical" industry is the 

 making of glue from beeswax (iriti). This prod- 

 uct is used extensively in arrow making. The 

 crude beeswax collected from the hive is put in 

 a pot, mixed with water, and brought to a boil. 

 While it is cooking, the dirt and other impurities 

 are removed. The wax is then cooled and co- 

 agulated into balls about the size of a baseball. 



When desired for use, the wax is heated and 

 smeared over the parts to be glued. It is gen- 

 erally but not always the men who prepare and 

 refine beeswax. 



TEXTILE INDUSTRIES 



String and rope are twined by the women from 

 the inner bark of the ambaibo tree. The tree is 

 usually cut down by the men, who remove the 

 outer bark in strips, pull the inner bark from them, 

 and carry this back to camp. It is then thoroughly 

 chewed by the women and placed on a stick over 

 the fire to dry. The resulting shreds are twined 

 into bowstrings, hammock strings, hammock 

 ropes, and baby slings. 



One of the most time-consuming activities of the 

 women is the spinnLug of cotton thread {ninju). 

 The spindle is made by the men from chonta palm. 

 It is planed into shape with a mussel shell. It is 

 more or less circular in cross section and about a 

 half inch in diameter at the middle; it is pointed 

 at both ends and is about 3 feet long. The whorl 

 consists of a disk of wood or baked clay which is 

 put on the spindle from the bottom end. 



The women prepare the cotton for spinning. 

 The balls of cotton are first collected from the 

 plant and then pulled apart and flattened mto 

 paper-thill sheets about 6 inches square from 

 which the impurities are picked out. The cotton is 

 then ready for spinning. Durmg this process the 

 woman is seated, usually in the hammock. The 

 squares of unspun cotton rest on one thigh (a 

 distaff is not employed) and the spindle on the 

 other, with the whorl end resting on the ground at 

 an angle of about 60°. The woman pulls a thread- 

 hke line of cotton from one of her squares, attaches 

 it to the spindle, and spins it into thread by roUing 

 the spindle on the thigh from the hip to the knee. 

 As the thi-ead accumulates, it is roUed around the 

 bottom of the spindle. Cotton thread is employed 

 extensively in arrow making, for %vrist guards, in 

 twining baby slings, and in decorating the body on 

 festive occasions. It is generally coated with 

 uruku, a red paint made from the seeds of Bixa 

 orellana. 



The hammock (kiza) is the principal article of 

 furniture in every Siriono hut. Hammocks are 

 made by the women from string twined from bark 

 fibers of the ambaibo tree and are very durable. 



