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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



On Saturdays and Sundays, someone may drink 

 a little too much and I may have to let him cool 

 off over night in the village jail. That's about all." 

 The soldado is a soldier from the regular army, 

 stationed in the village under the orders of the 

 sub-delegado to assist in enforcing the law. Petty 

 infringements are handled entirely by these two 

 men, the sub-delegado ordering imprisonment in 

 the village jail, if he thinks wise, for as long as he 

 deems necessary. More serious offenses are re- 

 ferred to the municipio officials in Boa Vista, the 

 culprit in the meantime being lodged in the village 

 jail. 



Formerly, the principal function of the juiz de 

 paz, or "justice of the peace," was, it is said, to 

 decide disputes over land, especially boundary 

 disputes. He also presided at the civil marriage 

 ceremony, a function which appears today to be 

 the only f miction of the office, to which, however, 

 considerable prestige still attaches. The present 

 juiz de paz is a local farmer and his substitute is 

 one of the village storekeepers. 



The women, both on the farms and in the village, 

 look after the children, cook, wash clothes, dishes 

 and kitchen utensils, sweep, gather firewood, carry 

 in water and otherwise care for the house and 

 family. Most farm women and a few women in 

 the village work in the fields on occasion, especially 

 when the husband or father needs to complete a 

 certain task before the weather changes. An occa- 

 sional woman is especially fond of working in the 

 fields. "My mother liked much more to plant or 

 to hoe," said a young farm woman, "than to work 

 in the house. She'd put one of my older sisters 

 in charge of the younger children and she'd go 

 out and spend the entire day in the fields." "For 

 me," said another farm woman, "the work of a 

 woman in the fields is the same as the work of a 

 man." The proportion of the time so spent by 

 women throughout the community, however, is 

 not large. 



Most women also know how to mend, and a few 

 do other sewing. At least three women know liow 

 to make potteiy but at present only one woman 

 actually works at it and then only on infrequent 

 occasions.^^^ Two girls at present are working as 

 "servants," one for the wife of the administrator 

 of the fazenda that lies at the edge of the village. 



for which she receives food and some clothing for 

 herself and an invalid mother; the other, for a 

 school teacher, for wages. A third girl recently 

 helped for a few days at the home of a villager 

 whose wife was ill. 



The relation between "servant" and employer, 

 however, is markedly different from the usually 

 more impersonal servant-employer relation of the 

 large city ; it is the relation of the members of one 

 village family to the daughter of another village 

 family. "^^Iien at work, the girl receives instruc- 

 tions from her employer, but ordinarily in a less 

 direct manner than if she were working in the 

 city. The villager referred to above, for example, 

 whose vrife was recently ill, remarked of the girl 

 who was helping at his house, "I think she must 

 live to sleep. I am usually up early in the morning 

 and I light the fire to heat water to make cafe. An 

 hour later, the girl is still snoring. I go up near the 

 bed where my little boy is sleeping and I call out 

 to him, 'Pedro, it's time to get up ! You must get 

 your work done !' I always holler loud enough 

 for the girl to hear." 



The "servant" is otherwise treated with virtually 

 the same intimacy as if she were a member of the 

 family. "Wlien visitors call, she joins in talking to 

 them. At dances, she is a dama, or dancing part- 

 ner, just like any other girl, the men dancing 

 equally with her and with her employer. Between 

 dances, the "servant" seats herself among the other 

 girls and women and converses on equal terms 

 with them. A number of girls and women some- 

 times stroll arm in arm along a village street, 

 especially at festas, and on several occasions the 

 "servant" of the school teacher has been observed 

 walking thus with a group of girls and women, 

 including her employer. 



One farm woman, in addition to caring for her 

 husband and children, is the principal midwife 

 in the conununity."^ She has had considerable 

 experience, and her prestige as a midwife is high. 

 She takes great pride in her work. "I've never 

 had to call in a doctor to help me," she says. At 

 least four other women sometimes also act as mid- 

 wives and several others more occasionally, espe- 

 cially if the woman in childbirth is a member of 

 the family or a close friend. 



'^ See section on Pottery, p. 84. 



^^- See also LeadorsliLp, p. 207. 



