THE FOREST INDIANS 45 



claims to the land. Here was endless conflict but only feeble 

 trade and only the most minute exchanges of cultural elements. 



Even had they been as brothers they would have had little in- 

 centive to borrow cultural elements from each other. The forest 

 dweller requires bow and arrow; the plateau dweller requires a 

 hoe. There are fish in the warm river shallows of the forested 

 zone; llamas, vicuna, vizcachas, etc., are a partial source of food 

 supply on the plateau. Coca and potatoes are the chief products 

 of the grassy mountain slopes ; yuca, corn, bananas, are the chief 

 vegetable foods grown on the tiny cultivated patches in the forest. 

 The plateau dweller builds a thick- walled hut; the valley dweller 

 a cane shack. So unlike are the two environments that it would 

 be strange if there had been a mixture of racial types and cul- 

 tures. The slight exchanges that were made seem little more than 

 accidental. Even today the Machigangas who live on the highest 

 slopes own a few pigs obtained from Quechuas, but they never 

 eat their flesh ; they keep them for pets merely. I saw not a single 

 woolen article among the Indians along the Urubamba whereas 

 Quechuas with woolen clothing were going back and forth regu- 

 larly. Their baubles were of foreign make; likewise their few 

 hoes, likewise their guns. 



They clear the forest about a wild-cotton tree and spin and 

 weave the cotton fiber into sacks, cords for climbing trees when 

 they wish to chase a monkey, ropes for hauling their canoes, shirts 

 for the married men and women, colored head-bands, and fish nets. 

 The slender strong bamboo is gathered for arrows. The chunta 

 palm, like bone for hardness, supplies them with bows and ar- 

 row heads. The brilliant red and yellow feathers of forest birds, 

 also monkey bones and teeth, are their natural ornaments. Their 

 life is absolutely distinct from that of their Quechua neighbors. 

 Little wonder that for centuries forest and plateau Indians have 

 been enemies and that their cultures are so distinct, for their 

 environment everywhere calls for unlike modes of existence and 

 distinct cultural development. 



