32 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



house, a father, mother, and six children, aged 6 

 months to 12 years, all sleep in the same room. 

 A village family of a father, mother, and four 

 children (aged 10, 7, 4, and 1 year, respectively) 

 sleep in the same room. The 10-year-old son of 

 one of the village officials sleeps in a small bed 

 in the same room with his parents. These ar- 

 rangements are rather general in tlae community. 

 "With a few exceptions, children and parents in the 

 village and on the farms ordinarily sleep in the 

 clothes or undergarments which they have used 

 during the day. 



Piercing the ears of girls for the wearing of 

 earrings is a universal custom. Usually it is done 

 while the child is quite small. Sometimes the 

 child is taken to a pharmacist in Boa Vista. JNlost 

 commonly, however, the piercing is done in the 

 home, either by the mother or an older sister or a 

 neighbor woman who has had considerable ex- 

 perience. Thread is covered with wax and passed 

 through the lobe with a needle and left for several 

 days. Each morning, it is pulled back and forth 

 a few times. 



Considerable social pressure is put upon families 

 to have the ears of the girls pierced. "My hus- 

 band," remai'ked a farm woman, "always says, 

 'Why hurt the girls that way? Wait until they 

 grow up. If they want to have their ears pierced 

 then, it's all right.' But everyone else keeps tell- 

 ing me, 'Your girls look like boys. Aren't you 

 going to have their ears pierced pretty soon?' " 



In quite recent years, a girl or a younger woman 

 in the village or on the farm will occasionally ar- 

 range a "permanent wave" in Boa Vista. . Hair 

 dyeing is rai'e. The use of rouge and lipstick are 

 also rare, although the use of the latter is increas- 

 ing, especially among the younger women. "If you 

 wear it during the week," said a girl in the village, 

 "people will talk. I put it on only when there is 

 a festa or when I go to Boa Vista." In recent 

 years, an occasional young woman in the village 

 or on the farms has also begun to paint her finger 

 nails. 



TECHNIQUES OF SUBSISTENCE 



To enable them to survive in the struggle for 

 existence, and to satisfy other needs, certain tech- 

 niques either have been developed by the inhabi- 

 tants themselves or have been applied from the 

 cultures which they originally brought with them. 



The simplest technique has been merely to collect 

 the natural resources supplied by the habitat. Of 

 more complex character, however, have been other 

 means of helping to supply the basic needs of 

 food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and protection: the 

 development of agricultural activities, the raising 

 of domestic animals, the use of ordinarily simple 

 tools, means of transport and distribution, and the 

 application of certain rudimentary manufacturing 

 processes. In supplying these wants, use has also 

 been made of a simple division of labor, a medium 

 of exchange, and a system of property holding. 



EXTRACTIVE ACTIVITIES 



Especially since the settlement in the area of 

 Europeans and their descendants, the economy has 

 been predominantly agricultural. At the same 

 time, the inhabitants have long taken advantage 

 of certain natural resources furnished freely by 

 the habitat. Even today, there still exists food 

 resources available for the taking, as well as filant 

 and mineral resources. 



FOOD COLLECTING 



Fish, animals, and game birds, as has been indi- 

 cated, are available in the habitat, as well as cer- 

 tain wild fruits and such local food delicacies as 

 the igd. 



HUNTING, FISHING, ANB TRAPPING 



No one in the conmiunity makes his living hunt- 

 ing, fishing, or trapping. Nor does anyone spend 

 any appieciable part of a week or month so em- 

 ployed. At the same time, considerable hunting, 

 fishing, and trapping are done in the community. 

 Although these activities probably possess some 

 of the characteristics of sport, they still maintain 

 to a considerable degree their original function 

 of furnishing food for the local inhabitants. 



As indicated in the section on Wildlife, p. 17, 

 several animals and game birds are still to be 

 found in the local timber or brush. Among the 

 animals, the paca, capivara, coafi, wild pig, and 

 deer especially are hunted, their meat being highly 

 prized as a welcome addition to the local diet. Of 

 the fat of the capivara, local inhabitants say, "it 

 purifies the blood and strengthens the body." •*" 



^ It can be purchased in the pharmacies of the cities under its 

 trade name. 



