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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



largely responsible for the declining population. 

 Such tropical diseases as leprosy and yaws, 

 although common among the whites, are unknown 

 among the Indians. 



Ivnowledge of disease and medicine is not exten- 

 sive. TMiUe a theory of natural causation is 

 recognized with respect to such minor ailments as 

 wounds, burns, and stomach trouble, the majority 

 of maladies, as well as accidents, are thought to be 

 caused by evil sph'its called abacikwaia. These 

 spirits enter the mouth or nose when a person is 

 sleeping (especially when he is snoring) and settle 

 in the regions where the pain is felt. 



In a confused sense there is also a belief that 

 disease is caused by the absence of soul. A per- 

 son's soul may leave his body while he is dreaming, 

 and if it does much wandering during the night, 

 he is apt to be tu-ed and 01 the following day. 

 Infoi-mants frequently told me that they were ill 

 because their souls had been "hunting" or "walk- 

 ing" the night before. 



The violation of taboos, too, especially food 

 taboos, may be regarded as one of the principal 

 causes of disease. The conditions following a 

 breach of tribal custom are particularly favorable 

 for the entrance mto the body of the imiumerable 

 evil spirits which are ever present in nature. 



Sorcery and witchcraft seem to be almost neg- 

 ligible as causes of disease. I never heard of a 

 single instance in which individuals were accused 

 of employing such methods to injure fellow tribes- 

 men. I was told, however, that threats of sorcery 

 are not unknown as a means of keeping people in 

 line. If a man has an enemy who has been causing 

 him trouble, for instance, he may say to him, 

 "Watch out, or I will take you with mo when I 

 die." But such admonitions are rarely used, 

 however effective they may be as a means of 

 deten'ing people from harming others. 



As sickness not infrequently leads to abandon- 

 ment and death, the slightest provocation is cause 

 for alarm. When ailments appear, the Indians 

 take to theii- hammocks and rarely leave them 

 until all sj^mptoms of the disease disappear or 

 until death overcomes them. The conditions for 

 cure, however, are very adverse. The patient 

 lies in his hammock on the side of which a smoky 

 fire is kept luu-ning, thus shutting him out from 

 proper air. Moreover, the house is always dark, 

 and since it offers but the flimsiest protection from 

 the weather, the patient is constantly exposed to 



rain and cold. On the psychological side, con- 

 ditions are even worse. The patient is himself 

 filled with an intense anxiety that he is gouig to 

 die, and this attitude is reinforced by his relatives, 

 who do little or nothing to change it. 



The anxieties accompanying ilhiess are, of 

 com-se, very realistic among the Siriono, for they 

 have almost no methods of effecting a cure. 

 Shamans and medical practitioners are enthely 

 lacldng in this society, so that a patient must 

 depend largely on the fortunes of chance in order 

 to recover. Near relatives (always women), such 

 as a mother or a wife, may sometimes chant over 

 a person who is slightly ill, but if he takes a turn 

 for the worse, he may be neglected and thus grad- 

 ually die from lack of proper care. It the tribe 

 is on the march, he may even be abandoned with 

 no hope of recovery. Doubtless for this reason 

 such a great fear of sickness exists. 



One of the principal signs of illness, apart from 

 the pain that accompanies it, is the loss of appe- 

 tite. When people cannot eat, they are believed 

 to be very ill. If a person does not eat for several 

 days, it is regarded as a siu-e sign that he will die. 

 For this reason, patients never diet when they are 

 ill. The anxiety based probably on the drive of 

 hunger is sufficiently strong to enable people to 

 eat when food is definitely detrimental to them. 

 In several such instances which I observed, people 

 actually ate themselves to death. 



While I was at Casarabe, Teko became sick 

 with dysenterylilvc infection of the stomach. 

 His illness coincided with the season of maturity 

 of the wild fruit coquino, which is greatly relished 

 by the Sh-iono. In view of the natiu-e of his ill- 

 ness, I suggested to Teko that he refrain from 

 eatmg this fruit for several days because of the 

 acid which it contains, often higlily u'ritating to 

 the stomach when eaten in large quantities. But 

 my words had no effect. His relatives collected 

 huge quantities of cocjuino during the day and 

 brought Telvo large baskets of them every night 

 on their retm-n from the forest. In spite of teiTific 

 stomach pains and diarrhea, he managed to eat 

 as many as a hmidi-ed of these fruits (each one 

 about the size of a large plum) each night, thus 

 u-ritating his otherwise painful condition. After 

 several days of such a diet, he finally exph-ed one 

 morning, but not without having eaten a full 

 basket of these fruits the night before. Until his 

 death his prognosis had been good, according to 



