onization zone. Other than the few Yu- 

 racare famihes who had always hved in 

 the area, the banks of the Chimore River 

 were undisturbed. The Yuqui hunted this 

 area without fear of competition or of en- 

 counters with Bolivian settlers — occa- 

 sions still fraught with uncertainty. 



Now, as I traveled upriver with my 

 fieldwork supplies, the area looked like a 

 suburb of the pioneer settlements in the 

 Chapare: house after house lined the 

 southern bank. Most of the settlers were 

 growing coca for the drug trade. With the 

 booming international market in cocaine, 

 lands that normally would have been ig- 

 nored as settlement areas were now being 

 cleared for this lucrative crop. As a result, 

 in just five years the Yuqui camped on the 

 river found themselves hemmed in on 

 three sides by colonists. This not only af- 

 fected their access to the forest but also 

 had an impact on fish and game supplies. 



Colonists were now competing for these 

 resources, particularly since current pat- 

 terns of coca production do not encourage 

 subsistence farming. Typically, land is 

 cleared and burned, and coca bushes are 

 set out. Once the plants are estabUshed, the 

 grower remains in the region only long 

 enough to pick, dry, and pack the leaves 

 for sale, returning to the highlands be- 

 tween harvests. A coca farmer does not 

 take the time or make an effort to grow 

 food crops or keep domestic animals, both 

 requiring a great deal more attention than 

 the hardy coca bushes, which continue to 

 produce even in the midst of weeds. Hunt- 

 ing and fishing thus provide a convenient 

 substitute for conventional provisions. 



The game species most affected by the 

 presence of colonists was the white-lipped 

 peccary, which runs in large herds and is a 

 significant and preferred source of meat 

 for the Yuqui. Unfortunately, peccaries are 

 also the preferred food of the colonists, be- 

 cause the animal is large and the meat has 

 a mild flavor similar to that of many do- 

 mestic animals. The Yuqui claimed that 

 they had not seen a peccary herd pass 

 through their hunting territory for three 

 years, attributing this to overhunting by 

 colonists and the disturbance to the habitat 

 created by increased settlement. 



Of greater consequence to Yuqui sub- 

 sistence was the recent depletion of fish in 

 the Chimore River. While interviewing 

 missionaries, Yuqui, and settlers who 

 lived along the river, I learned that colo- 

 nists, unwilhng to invest the money and 

 time needed to catch fish with nets and 

 other fishing gear, were illegally using dy- 

 namite to kiU fish. Many of the coca farm- 



ers colonizing the area were ex-miners 

 (ironically, laid off from their jobs to trim 

 the national debt and free funds to fight the 

 drug war). Most of these ex-miners were 

 experts at using explosives, which they ca- 

 sually tossed into the river to supply a few 

 days' meals. 



The practice devastated spawning 

 areas. Adding to the problem, the remain- 

 ing fish were being taken by commercial 

 fishers, who stretched nets across the en- 

 tire width of the river. These entrepre- 

 neurs, whose motorized launches were 

 outfitted with large ice chests, had fished 

 out the Chimore to supply the markets of 

 the cities of La Paz, Cochabamba, and 

 Santa Cruz. Primarily as a result of the de- 

 cline in their fishing productivity, the 

 Yuqui were consuming on average 

 slightly under an ounce and a half of ani- 

 mal protein a day, far below recommended 

 nutritional requirements. 



Hunting success also could not keep 

 pace with population growth, despite 

 modifications in hunting strategies. In the 

 past, there were certain animals the Yuqui 

 seldom killed because they considered the 

 meat inferior. In particular, coatis and 

 kinkajous, both members of the raccoon 

 family, were said to "taste bad and make 

 you sick." In 1983, only four coatis and 

 one kinkajou were captured in an eight- 

 week period. In 1988, this number had in- 

 creased to forty-three coatis and fifteen 

 kinkajous for a similar period. The Yuqui 

 were now actively hunting these animals 

 for food but complaining all the while that 

 if hunting weren't so bad, they would have 

 tastier animals to choose from. The older 

 people talked constantly about the lack of 

 white-lipped peccaries, wistfully remem- 

 bering the days when these and other pre- 

 ferred game animals such as capybara ac- 

 counted for most of the meat in camp. 



The Yuqui were also venturing farther 

 away from the mission and for longer peri- 

 ods of time, although this meant giving up 

 the security and comfort of mission life 

 (the Yuqui had come to depend on the 

 store and clinic, as well as the presence of 

 missionaries, who acted as a buffer against 

 the real and perceived threats of the out- 

 side world). They often hunted on the 

 other side of the river, where settlement 

 was still sparse and game animals rela- 

 tively plentiful. Having to cross the Chi- 

 more brought with it the risk of drowning, 

 for although the Yuqui were now making 

 and using dugout canoes, few could swim, 

 except for those raised in the Chimore set- 

 tlement. In recent years, two Yuqui men 

 have been lost in canoe accidents. 



Loida (with whom I had shared many 

 successful foraging trips in the past), 

 Leonardo, and two other families left the 

 mission for ten days, camping about six 

 miles away on the other side of the riven 

 There they killed and ate howler monkeys, 

 fish, and other animals that were plentiful 

 in this remote area. Loida delighted in 

 telling me about all the food they con- 

 sumed during the trip. But she also com- 

 plained that she had to spend nights away 

 from her house (she had not done so for 

 more than three years), and that she suf- 

 fered greatly from the mosquitoes, rain, 

 chilly mornings, and the threat of preda- 

 tors lurking in the forest. 



Living at the mission station on the Chi- 

 more has undermined the Yuqui's ability 

 to survive under precontact conditions. 

 Although they are not yet full participants 

 in the new world around them, they are de- 

 pendent upon it for many of their needs. 

 At the same time, they continue to look to 

 the forest to supply much of their food. As 

 more of this wilderness becomes the prop- 

 erty of others, the Yuqui will confront 

 even greater stresses on their traditional 

 foraging patterns. At present, the mission 

 supplements their diet with surplus food 

 provided by the U.S. government, but this 

 does not offer a long-term solution. 



The Yuqui will probably be forced to 

 become better farmers, an activity they 

 dislike and avoid when possible. Farming 

 also takes away time the Yuqui would 

 rather spend searching for game. For the 

 present, they prefer growing plantains, a 

 perennial crop that is ideally suited to their 

 often haphazard attempts at cultivation. 

 Other, more demanding crops, such as rice 

 and com, have frequently failed, either 

 from a lack of agricultural expertise or 

 from neglect. By their own definition, the 

 Yuqui are not farmers but "people of the 

 forest." 



Alejandro and his family stopped by 

 my house to say goodbye when I had to 

 leave. I noticed that they were heavily 

 laden with household items for an ex- 

 tended trip. "Where are you off to?" I 

 asked the family. Resting his shotgun eas- 

 ily on his shoulder, Alejandro answered, 

 "Across the river to the place where the 

 howler monkeys are eating wild papaya. 

 There is no longer any meat here, and I am 

 a hunter." 



Allyn Maclean Stearman is a professor of 

 anthropology at the University of Central 

 Florida and Senior Fellow in the Tropical 

 Conseiyation and Development Program 

 at the University of Florida. 



10 Natural History 1/94 



