62 



INSTITUTE or SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



narily confined to the extended family because 

 the supply is seldom abundant, there is usually 

 someone within the family who feels that he is 

 not getting his share. Especially do the men 

 accuse the women of hoardmg meat, of eating it 

 when the men are not around, or of consuming 

 more than their share. Enfa said to me one night, 

 "When someone comes near the house, women 

 hide the meat; they cover it with leaves. When 

 you ask them where the meat is they tell you 

 there is none. They eat in the night and steal 

 off in the forest to eat." 



The reluctance to share meat is clearly re- 

 flected in the behavior of returning hunters. 

 The bigger the catch the more sullen the hunter. 

 The hunter adopts this pose so as not to be ap- 

 proached for game. On returning from the hunt 

 a man sometimes does not even carry his game 

 into the house but leaves it beside the trail near 

 the house and comes in empty-handed, aggressive, 

 and angry. Upon entermg the house he throws 

 himself into the hammock. This is the signal for 

 his wife or whoever else is around to bring him a 

 pipeful of tobacco, which he smokes without 

 saying a word. If he has brought the game into 

 the house, his wife sets about to prepare it; if it 

 is still out in the forest, she goes out to retrieve it. 

 The hunter maintains his unapproachable manner 

 imtil after the game has been cooked and eaten. 



Quarrels over sex can hardly be divorced from 

 those over food. In this respect men seldom 

 express aggression against other men who have 

 seduced their wives but center it on their adul- 

 terous wives. Women, on the other hand, 

 express little aggression against their adulterous 

 husbands but channel it against the women who 

 have caused their husbands to err. Women are 

 thus believed to be the cause of most sexual 

 disputes. Women may chide their husbands for 

 being unfaithful, but the fact that the men always 

 respond with more violent accusations that the 

 women are unfaithful usually settles the dispute 

 before it culmmates in a violent end. 



Drinking feasts are occasions on which much 

 latent antagonism and aggression are expressed 

 between men. At these feasts men openly air 

 their complaints, whether these have to do with 

 food, with sex, or with any other subject of con- 

 tention. The disputes are settled by wrestling 

 matches, and are usually forgotten after the period 

 of drunkenness is over. It is interesting to note 



that aggression at drinking feasts is limited to 

 wrestling matches; any other type of fighting is 

 frowned upon and is usually stopped by non- 

 participant men and women. On one occasion 

 Eantandu, when drunk, struck an opponent with 

 his fists. Everyone began to clamor that he was 

 fighting unfairly, "like a white man." He stopped 

 immediately. 



Except at drinking feasts antagonisms seldom 

 lead to violence, and even at these the partici- 

 pants are usually so drunk that they are imable to 

 harm one another. On other occasions strong 

 words are used between disputants, but fighting 

 with weapons and clubs is rare. This is especially 

 true of the men, who seldom express direct aggres- 

 sion against each other, although among women 

 quarrels frequently culminate in battles with 

 digging sticks. 



Men often dissipate their anger toward other 

 men by hunting. One day Eantdndu was angry 

 with Mbiku who had hunted coati and given him 

 none. Flushed with anger, Eantdndu picked up 

 his bow and arrows and departed for the hmit. 

 Wlien he returned about 5 hours later with a couple 

 of small monkeys, his wrath had subsided con- 

 siderably. He told me that when men are angiy 

 they go hunting. If they shoot any game their 

 anger disappears; even if they do not kill anything 

 they return home too tired to be angry. 



If enmity between families becomes intense, one 

 of them may migrate to the forest for a whde until 

 hostile feelings subside; if it becomes unbearable, 

 one of them may split off from the band and join 

 another band, or several extended families may 

 break off from the band and start a new band of 

 their o^vn. Seldom are differences so deep and 

 lastuig, however, that this latter method of adjust- 

 ment need be resorted to. 



WARFARE 



Contrary to popular misconception the Siriono 

 are not a warlike people. In this respect such 

 \vriters as Nordenskiold (1911, vol. 57, pp. 16-17) 

 have created a distorted picture of them. War- 

 fare between bands simply does not e.xist, and 

 where the Siriono have come in contact with other 

 peoples, Indian or white, it is thej' who have been 

 raided and rarely they who have done the raiding. 

 In fact, the entire history of the Siriono, from what 

 little we laiow about it, seems to reflect a strategy 

 of retreat rather than one of attack. Whenever 



