56 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 50 



being made for the funeral prelude. There was deep silence, and 

 the word bope was whispered low and mysteriously. Certain warn- 

 ing calls are given some hours in advance of the time for bringing 

 the roarers into use, and, hearing these warnings, the females enter 

 their huts, close the openings, and hide their heads. The roarers 

 are manipulated outside the village up and down through the bush. 

 We had difficulty in securing examples of these instruments. They 

 were brought to us at night securely wrapped and amid the greatest 

 secrecy, every precaution being taken to make sure that we would 

 keep them where there would be no possibility of a female seeing 

 them. We also had much difficulty in obtaining the base flute 

 which is played only over the bones of their dead. A captain said 

 to me, " That is a very bad instrument ; you must not take it. If 

 you do you will never return." 



The Bororo are expert swimmers and are fishermen of the highest 

 order. One mode of fishing is to swim out into the river, three or 

 four miles above the village, with a net called buke, like a great bag, 

 its mouth secured to two parallel rods nine to twelve feet long, bound 

 together at their ends. When one or more fish are seen, the mouth 

 of the sack is opened by springing the rods apart, and with wonder- 

 ful dexterity the fish are bagged and the mouth of the net quickly 

 closed by allowing the rods to spring together. The fisherman then 

 plays the game, especially if it be large ; gradually rolls the net over 

 the rods till the fish cannot move, brings it to the surface and kills it 

 with a club, which he trails by a cord from his neck. The fish is 

 now taken from the net, strung on a cord, and floated along with the 

 club. Sometimes two or more fish of twelve or fifteen pounds will be 

 taken at one catch, or maybe one weighing as much as the man him- 

 self will be bagged in this way. A Bororo will remain in the water 

 an hour or two continuously, and return ashore with six or eight 

 large fish. They have learned to turn their bodily strength to the 

 greatest account while in the water. 



Another method of fishing is with a bone harpoon, to which is 

 secured a long cord and a short detachable bamboo staff. With this 

 the fisherman enters the water, and, finding a large fish in the shadow 

 of a rock, following it with great expertness if it moves, he plunges 

 the harpoon into it even at a depth of fifteen or twenty feet, while 

 the staff detaches itself and remains in his hand with the end of the 

 cord secured to it. The fisherman now returns to shore and plays 

 the fish until he lands it. 



Another method, when fish are scarce, is for one gang of men to 

 enter the water with their sack nets, three or four miles above the 



