CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



33 



Among the game birds, the meat of the nhambu- 

 guassu, nhainbu-chororo, uru, and the various 

 members of the dove family, in particular the 

 jiirit'i and the rolinha, is considered "of delicate 

 flavor and quite delicious." The meat of the jacu 

 is dark and somewhat tough and usually is pre- 

 pared by stewing instead of frying. Also occa- 

 sionally taken for food, as has been indicated, are 

 the frango d^agua. pichorore, sahid-poca, saracura, 

 codorna^ and partridge. 



The rifle and shotgun are employed in hunting. 

 In most instances, the latter is a muzzle-loading 

 gun, of either one or two barrels, called the pica- 

 pau. A small amount of powder is poured into 

 the barrel, a bit of paper or cloth wadding is in- 

 serted and tamped down firmly with a wooden 

 or metal ramrod. A quantity of shot is then 

 poured in, a second wadding rammed home, and a 

 cap to ignite the powder is set where the trigger 

 strikes. Occasionally to be seen also is the reiuna, 

 a muzzle-loading gun used in the Paraguayan War 

 ( 1865-1870) . Boys occasionally bring down birds 

 with sling shots made by fastening two bands of 

 rubber to a forked stick. A few men make pios, 

 or bird whistles, of native woods, with which they 

 imitate the cry of different game birds as an aid 

 in hunting. The arapuca, used for trapping game 

 birds and small animals, is described elsewhere.*" 



Hunting is a favorite activity of many men and 

 boys in the village and on the farms. "I hunt a 

 gi'eat deal,'' said a fai-mer. "I like to be in the 

 woods. With a good facdo, ^' I can go any place." 

 Since the supply of game animals and birds is 

 diminishing, hunting is allowed by law only 5 

 months of the year, from April through August. 



A not inconsiderable part of the conversation of 

 the men of the community, when they get together, 

 is given over to recounting tales of hunting ex- 

 ploits, similar to the following: 



We went hunting one day along the river. There were 

 five of us — Z6, Little Boots, Quiiu, Juca, and me. We rode 

 out to the ranchirilio,^' unsaddled our horses and left them 

 there. Then we walked on a ways. When we got to a 

 place called Jaguarl, we turned the dogs loose. They took 

 off up the hill baying and yelping. Quini's spotted dog, 

 Danuvio, soon ran into a paca but lost it in the brush. My 

 black dog, Barao, came charging up the hill and ran right 

 into the paca. Then everybody began to sliout and yell. 

 "Sick 'em, Bisuga," Z4 shouted to his dog. "Go getum !" 



" See The Arapuca. p. 85. 



"* .See Tools and Other Equipment, pp. 51. 53. 



"^ A rude shelter built in the timber along the river. 



The paca, with the dogs right on top of him, came charging 

 down toward Juca. He kicked at it viciously as it went 

 past him and plunged down into the river. Juca ran to 

 the bank and saw it swimming out a little ways with its 

 head above the water. He shot at it. Quim then shouted, 

 "What kind of lead did you use, light or heavy?" 



"Light." 



"She's in the salt, then." 



As he yelled this, Quim put out in a small boat and, 

 coming up to the paca, grabbed her with his fishgig. She 

 was badly wounded. We then went on up the river. Juca's 

 dog. Cacique, soon ran into a capirara which was swimming 

 among the guap6 plants. I shot it, and we took it along. 



On the way back, we stopped for lunch. Suddenly, 

 Quim spied a small deer swimming down the river to- 

 ward an opening on the bank. Malhado, that spotted 

 dog of mine, also saw it and tore out after it just as 

 it Icit the bank and soon caught up with it. Quim shot 

 it and we took it along. 



AVe got one more capivara. It was Little Boots who 

 shot that one. He was on the other side of the river. 

 He shouted that he had shot the animal through the 

 head but when we came up and looked at it, the wound 

 was in tlie rump. We kidded him something awful. 



So we came home with two capivaras, a paca and a 

 deer. Not a bad hunt ! We also caught a lot of fish 

 later that day. 



As also indicated in the section on Wildlife, 

 p. 17, several kinds of fish are caught in the vicin- 

 ity. The nearby river furnishes a ready supply 

 and fish also are to be found in more limited num- 

 bers in the creeks in the area. Occasionally, sev- 

 eral men in the village will sjiend 1 or 2 days to- 

 gether at the river fishing, and men and boys also 

 fish in smaller groups or alone. The means em- 

 ployed include the hook and line, the trotline, 

 the fish trap (covo), and the tarrafa, the relative 

 frequency in wliich they are used being in that 

 order. The hook and line are employed for all 

 fish except the ca^scudo, and especially for acard, 

 bdgre, traira, lamban and pirapitlnga. Hooks 

 are of metal and factory-made. Lines ordinarily 

 are also purchased. Occasionally, however, a line 

 is still spun locally from tuciim fiber which is espe- 

 cially strong and water-resistant. Fishing poles 

 are of bamboo, or taquara, cut in the local timber. 

 The trotline is a heavy cord, stretched across the 

 river, with hooks suspended every few inches. It 

 is used principally for hdgre. The fisga, or local 

 fishgig, instead of being employed in fishing, is 

 used to spear paca when one of these animals has 

 been wounded and is trying to escape by swim- 

 ming in the river. It has a steel blade about 8 

 inches long with a sharp barb (fig. 3). 



