INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



15 



grown children have their hammocks slung near 

 those of their parents. It is the task of the wives 

 to keep fires going all night both for heat and to 

 keep away the mosquitoes. These small fires are 

 built next to the woman's hammock so that she 

 can replenish the fire without getting out of her 

 hammock. As the burning wood crackles and the 

 people sleep naked, body burns are very common. 



Each family keeps its personal belongings near 

 its hammocks. Bows usually lean against the 

 wall near the head of a man's hammock. The 

 arrows are stuck into the thatching over the wall 

 plate with the feather end protruding ready to 

 be pulled out at a moment's warning. Gourds 

 containing piqui oil and baskets containing feather 

 work or twine are suspended from the wall plate 

 or rafters. The center of the house is a common 

 space to all the occupants. It is where women 

 jointly process manioc and the large pots used 

 for boiling the mash are placed, although in dry 

 weather manioc processing and cooking are also 

 carried on outside. In large houses a heavy beam 

 is lashed to the two uprights well above head height 

 and from this beam are suspended burden baskets 

 containing additional gourds and small pottery 

 vessels, dried seed corn, masks, feather head- 

 dresses, buriti fiber, dancing skirts, and other 

 ceremonial gear. Dried manioc tubers, dried fish, 

 and large gourds containing manioc meal are 

 stored against the walls in the central part of the 

 house in large burden baskets. 



House building is always an affair in which the 

 whole village participates. The task of collecting 

 the poles, sap6, and lashings falls to the future 

 owners, usually a group of brothers. When the 

 building materials are gathered at the village, all 

 the men participate in the actual construction. 

 While the building is going on, the women of the 

 house group prepare food for the builders and after 

 the house is completed a feast is given in which 

 everyone takes part. 



The house posts have a mama'e, guardian spirit, 

 called taraivi- He is guardian of the house group. 

 If many people die in the house taraw\ sends a 

 strong wind, called alsiki, which blows down the 

 house or gets tatahiaridp, the mama'e of fire, to 

 destroy the house. Sometimes tarawi makes his 

 anger known to a paye, shaman, who then in- 

 structs the people to burn then house and build 

 a new one. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 



On this, our first visit to Tuatuari, we had the 

 opportunity to make certain general observations 

 about the people which, amplified by future ob- 

 servations, will be summarized here. It must be 

 mentioned at the outset that a certain amount of 

 intermixture has taken place among the Upper 

 Xingu tribes for a long time. Among the 110 

 Camayura were 5 Suya women captured in raids, 

 2 or 3 Waura women and 1 Mehinacu woman, the 

 wife of Tamapu, obtained in marriage, 3 or 4 

 Waura men who had married Camayura women, 

 and 2 Juruna men. These individuals could be 

 distinguished from the Camayura proper. The 

 Suya women were shorter than the Camayura 

 women and had larger, more pendulous breasts. 

 The two Juruna, who were brothers, bad been 

 captured when boys from the Suva, who in turn 

 had taken them from the Juruna. Both were 

 short, powerfully built men with green eyes. 

 The number of individuals of mixed blood was 

 not ascertained. Nilo, for instance, was half 

 Suya. It was determined, however, that people 

 with Suya or Trumai blood did not have the social 

 status of individuals of pure Camayura descent 

 or those who had Waura fathers or mothers. 



As an expedition from the Museu Nacional in 

 Rio de Janeiro had taken physical measurements 

 of the Camayura in 1947, it was considered inad- 

 visable to repeat this work. Pending the publica- 

 tion of the measurements taken by the Museu 

 Nacional, there are available at present the measure- 

 ments taken by the Von den Steinen expedition in 

 1887. (See Appendix 3, table 1, p. 131.) 



Body hair on both men and women is scanty and 

 is carefully plucked out when it appears. Men 

 also pull out facial hair. Head hair is black, 

 thick, and straight, although a few individuals 

 show some waviness. Men cut their hair in a 

 circle over the ears, and the women cut theirs 

 across the forehead, leaving the rest to fall on 

 their shoulders. Married men are tonsured, 

 having a small round bare patch on the top of the 

 head. 



Both teeth and eyes deteriorate rapidly so that 

 middle-aged individuals seldom have their upper 

 incisors. Conjunctivitus and perhaps other eye 

 ailments aro common. Two men each had 

 cataracts over one eye. 



