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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



upper side is smooth and the lower rough. The 

 fleshy part of the frond is stripped off, leaving the 

 fibrouslike veins, which are placed over the thigh, 

 as the worker kneels, and smoothed with the hand, 

 after which they are twisted tightly into a slender 

 thread. When the latter is bent in the middle and 

 one end released, it automatically wraps itself 

 around the other half as it unwinds, thus making 

 a larger and stronger thread, ready for use. Even 

 a strand about the size of thread used in sewing 

 is difficult to break without a quick jerk in which 

 considerable force is exerted. "Try it," said a 

 villager, after preparing a few strands. "It is 

 harharously strong." It is used, as has been indi- 

 cated, for fish lines and, occasionally, to make a 

 tarrafa. 



The hulling and roasting of coffee beans are 

 referred to elsewhere."' Other local manufactur- 

 ing processes include the making of baskets, pot- 

 tery, sugar, bricks, charcoal, brooms, fireworks, 

 and the arapuca, the grinding and toasting of 

 farinha de milho, or coarse maize flour, the saw- 

 ing of lumber, and the distillation of pinga, as 

 well as a few other processes, all of which are con- 

 sidered below. 



HANDICRAFTS 



The spinning and weaving of home-made tex- 

 tiles, once important activities in the community, 

 are no longer to be seen. The products of national 

 and foreign power looms and spindles have re- 

 placed entirely the clothing produced by these 

 manual arts. Hat making is unknown. Mats are 

 woven from the cattail plant. The rope used to 

 supplement the extensively employed cipo, is fac- 

 tory-produced and imported into the community. 

 Leather work is confined to the repair of shoes 

 by a part-time cobbler who also is the village 

 horseshoer and one of its two barbers. A man 

 61 years old used to make violas, and on occasion 

 will proudly exhibit the last one he built many 

 years ago. A young farmer possesses, and still 

 uses occasionally for festas, a set of drums made 

 by his deceased father. Another man is adept at 

 repairing these instruments. The only wood- 

 working is done by two part-time carpenters, one 

 of whom on occasion, as has been indicated, makes 

 chairs, tables, doors, window frames and, more 



rarely, a water-wheel ; the other man makes chairs, 

 benches, tables, and coffins. A boat and oars oc- 

 casionally are made of serviceable, rough planks 

 by farmers living near the river. The only metal 

 working is that done by the villager who shoes 

 horses and by a part-time tinsmith, most of whose 

 work consists in soldering handles onto tin cups 

 or making basins or crude kerosene lamps by sol- 

 dering together pieces of tin cut from tin cans. 

 The only stone work is that of a villager who 

 knows how to break, chip, and lay stone to make 

 the narrow sidewalks and gutters in the village 



(pl. 13, /). 



Crude brooms for domestic use are made by 

 many housewives. From a plant {Baccharis) 

 commonly found in patches of timber and known 

 locally as vassoura {vassoureiro) , a number of 

 twigs are broken off and tied with cipo, old cord, 

 or a piece of wire, around a stick about 4 feet long. 

 This broom is commonly used to sweep the terreiro 

 and earthen floors. 



Tanning is limited to the hides of animals taken 

 in the huiat, especially the wild pig, capivara, and 

 deer, and of a few domestic animals like the goat 

 and an occasional sheep, and is almost entirely 

 for home use. One man occasionally prepares for 

 sale a pelego,^^^ made from a sheepskin. The local 

 tanning process is quite simple and consists in 

 stretching out the pelt and scattering over it 

 crushed alum and leaving it to diy for 5 or 6 days, 

 subsequent to which all remaining bits of flesh and 

 membrane are scraped away with a sharp rock. 



A few women and girls do embroidery work and 

 some know how to crochet. One woman occa- 

 sionally knits garments for her neighbors and 

 another has recently begun to knit sweaters and 

 baby socks for sale in Sao Paulo. Perhaps a third 

 of the women know how to sew. As has been 

 indicated, 8 of the mothers on the 17 farms visited 

 and at least 13 women in the village have sewing 

 machines, five of which are operated with pedals. 

 At least seven women sew for their neighbors, 

 making such articles as women's dresses, blouses, 

 skirts, slips, men's shirt and trousers, and, occa- 

 sionally, aprons and men's coats. One woman 

 weaves old rags into saddle blankets for home use 

 and, occasionally, also for sale to neighbors. 



"' See Agriculture, p. 63 ; and Pinga, Tobacco, and Cafe, p. 41. 



'"* Tlie pclcgo is used over the saddie to make it more comfort- 

 able for the rider. 



