16 



iJSrSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



cult to predict rain now than formerly. They 

 say the weather is now mole ("weak"; that is, 

 inconstant). 



In general, however, the climatic conditions of 

 the area still readily support the adjustment which 

 the inhabitants have made to their habitat in 

 developing agriculture as the principal means of 

 subsistence. Rainfall is usually adequate during 

 the growing season, although occasionally crops 

 may be in need of moisture for a comparatively 

 brief period of drought. Hail and ground tem- 

 peratures below freezing are extremely rare, and 

 sleet and snow are miknown. The soil in gen- 

 eral is fertile. The princij^al disadvantage is that 

 planting must often be done on hillsides, the slopes 

 of which at times become quite steep. This con- 

 dition of the terrain obviously also favors erosion. 



WATER SUPPLY 



The community has an abundant supply of 

 water. Numerous brooks and rills, all of which 

 carry clean, clear spring water, find their way 

 down through the hills into a number of creeks 

 which flow to the nearby river. Farmhouses are 

 ordinarily located near one of these streams which, 

 have never been known, at least within the memory 

 of present residents, to go dry. In the immediate 

 vicinity of the village are five creeks : one which 

 flows along the edge of the village, another only 

 a quarter of a mile to the southwest, a third three- 

 fourths of a mile to the north, a fourth 2 miles 

 away to the east, and a fifth 2 miles to the west. 



An occasional well is dug to tap subsurface wa- 

 ter. At present, however, there is only one well 

 in the village. It is located at the rear of a 

 villager's house, about 30 feet from the kitchen 

 door and supplies his family and that of a neigh- 

 bor. It is 26 feet deep and took a month to dig. 

 The level of the water maintains itself at from 4 

 to 6 feet from the bottom of the excavation. The 

 well is about 414 feet in diameter at the top and 

 slightly less at the bottom, the slope being due to 

 the necessity of avoiding cave-ins in this soil. 

 Bricks have been placed around the wall of the 

 well at the bottom to keep the water from being 

 muddied when a bucket is dropped into it. At 

 the edge of the well, a brick wall about 20 inches 

 high has been constructed, over which a board has 

 been placed to keep dust and other impurities 

 from entering the well. 



A post has been set on each side of the opening 

 to support a camhiio, or horizontal bar with a 

 crank. A rope attached to the bar winds or un- 

 winds in keeping with the direction the bar is 

 turned. On the end of the rope is a bucket which 

 is lowered and raised through an opening about 

 20 inches square cut in the board covering the well. 

 A small iron weight in the form of an old horse- 

 shoe has been attached to one side of the bucket, 

 so as to make it turn over upon striking the surface 

 of the water, and fill. In the 33 years since it was 

 dug, this well has never gone dry.^^ 



In 1916, a few enterprising villagers built a 

 cement reservoir about 13 feet high and 10 feet 

 square on an elevation some two hundred yards to 

 the south of the village and diverted water from a 

 brook about a half mile away to flow into it. From 

 the reservoir, water was then piped into village 

 dwellings so that today, of a total of 73 houses in 

 the village, 41 are supplied with rumiing water. 

 A charge of from Cr. $5.80 to Or. $8.80 (about 32 to 

 48 cents) , depending on the size of the family, is 

 made for this service. Other families in the vil- 

 lage carry water from one of the two public faucets 

 located at either end of the village fraqa^ in tins 

 formerly used for gasoline. Farm families occa- 

 sionally use bamboo canes to' bring water into the 

 yard from nearby streams. 



THE MATA 



Although in recent years most of the remaining 

 mata, or virgin forest with its tangled mass of 

 underbrush and vines, has been cleared away, a few 

 patches and an occasional larger area still stand 

 uncut, especially along the river. These are a 

 source of firewood, lumber, taquara, and cipo, as 

 well as of game, wild fruits, and plants for medic- 

 inal or magical purposes. 



Cipo is the local term, of Guarani origin, for 

 vine. It is, however, more commonly used to refer 

 particularly to several similar species of vmes 

 found in abundance in the mata which are excel- 

 lent for binding. When green, they bend readily 

 without breaking and, after drying, remain for 

 years strong and firm. Eight species used by local 

 inhabitants are called Sao Jodo, mandinga, cruz, 

 d''alho, macivnd, iranco, de sapo, and nervo-de-hoi. 



^ The cost of digging was SOO reis per palmo (span) for the 

 first 10 palmos and 1 milrcis per palmo thereafter. 



