86 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



beginning with the longer pieces, in such a way 

 that there eventually emerges a small pyramid 

 whose sides are tightly held in place by the torcion 

 exerted by the cipo. If the cipo is not tight by the 

 time the last piece of taquara is inserted, it is 

 twisted until the pyramid becomes a fiiTn, solid 

 structure. 



A cleared spot called the ceva, is then prepared 

 in a promising place in a patch of timber, and food, 

 such as rice, maize meal, or qtiireraj^^^ is period- 

 ically placed upon it to attract game. When the 

 latter has become accustomed to finding food in 

 this spot, the arapuca is taken and left a few days 

 for the game to become familiar with it, after 

 which it is set. One end is raised off the ground 

 several inches and held in uneasy suspension on 

 the top of a short stick which is tied to one or two 

 other sticks planted upright in the ground. A twig 

 is then inserted on the inside, close to tlie ground, 

 and at right angles to these uprights. It is held 

 in place by the slight pressure of the arapuca on 

 the first stick mentioned. The slightest jar will 

 cause this twig to fall. Two additional sticks are 

 then laid at riglit angles to the uprights, one end 

 of each resting on the twig and the other end inside 

 the trap, so that any disturbance of these ends 

 made by a bird or animal stepping on or brushing 

 against them, will dislodge the twig from its lightly 

 held position and drop the trap. 



GRINDING MAIZE 



The crushing of maize in the pilao or the mon- 

 jolo, as has been indicated, is largely a matter of 

 the past, although both means are still used on 

 occasion for small amounts. Most of this work is 

 now done by two mills, located on adjoining farms, 

 which use water power and combine ancient tech- 

 niques with modern machinery. One of these 

 mills has been in operation 8 years in the same 

 location and the other 9 years, 2 of them in the 

 present location. Most farmers in the community 

 now take their maize to these mills to be ground. 



At one of the mills, water is diverted from a 

 nearby creek by way of a narrow canal and made 

 to fall upon a wooden water wheel about 7 feet 

 in diameter and 30 inches wide, set in a depres- 

 sion below the level of the canal. The axle at- 

 tached to this wooden wheel is of iron and is 



"•See Grinding Maize, below. 



supported on bricks. One end of the axle passes 

 througli a wall into a shelter where it is attached 

 to an iron wheel that drives a belt. The latter 

 in turn drives another and central axle which is 

 attached by other belts to each of three different 

 mechanisms for crushing and grinding maize. 



The first of these mechanisms is composed of 

 two flat stones (mos), each bout 28 inches in diam- 

 eter and a little over 4 inches thick, laid horizon- 

 tally one on top of the other. The upper stone is 

 set to rotate while the lower remains fixed. Above 

 and a little to one side is a wooden funnel about 

 2 feet square at the opening and tapering to 6 

 inches square at the base to which is attached 

 a wooden trough about 12 inches long and 6 inches 

 wide. A short board swinging loosely on a nail 

 driven into the funnel rests lightly on top of the 

 upjDcr stone as it lotates and thus transmits to the 

 funiiel some of the vibration of the mechanism. 

 When maize is dumped into the funnel, the vibra- 

 tion transmitted by way of the board shakes the 

 maize into and through the trough so that it falls, 

 little by little, into a hole cut in the center of the 

 upper stone and thence into the narrow space be- 

 tween the two 7n6s where it is ground to a coarse 

 meal {fuhd) . It then falls through a rectangular 

 wooden trough into a large box below. 



The second mechanism, the caiigiqueh'o, is em- 

 ployed in the preparation of farinha de milho, or 

 maize flour somewhat coarser than that used in the 

 United States. After being washed in a cement 

 tank outside the shelter, the maize is placed in a 

 wooden funnel similar to that used with the ??ids, 

 whence it is shaken little by little down into a 

 machine (of national manufacture) whose internal 

 parts rip off the hull and tear out the germ. The 

 broken parts then fall onto a continuously agitated 

 sieve through which the finer particles drop onto 

 a second sieve, while the larger particles, or that 

 portion of the kernel minus the hull and the germ, 

 is shaken out to one side into a wooden trough 

 whence it falls into a second box. These larger 

 particles are called cangica. Through the second 

 and finer sieve, the hulls {farelo) drop into a 

 wooden box while the quirera, or the germ and 

 what clings to it, is shaken off to one side into a 

 wooden trough and thence into a third receptacle. 



The farelo and quirera are used as feed for do- 

 mestic animals and fowls and have a ready sale. 

 The cangica is turned into farinha de milho. It 



