INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



19 



commodate the array of huge flat pots required for 

 the processing of manioc and the preparation of 

 manioc meal and flour. He will also notice that 

 it is menyu which the men eat before going to their 

 field work in the morning, which the fisherman, 

 hunter, or traveler takes on his journey, and 

 which the children eat during most of the day as 

 a sandwich made by folding a piece of menyu 

 around a slice of boiled or broiled fish. During the 

 ceremonial season in May great quantities of 

 manioc are prepared and served, not only as menyu 

 but in the form of gruel mixed with sweetpotatoes 

 and fish or boiled down to a thick gelatinous paste. 



The Camayura are never weary of talking about 

 their manioc fields and their stores of dried manioc 

 meal. Some families are specialists in growing 

 and preparing manioc products and these special- 

 ists will visit their friends in other tribes, assist- 

 ing them in growing or working manioc for which 

 they get a portion of the product. Some night 

 when the visitor sits with the old men around the 

 fire in the center of the village smoking long cigars 

 of native tobacco rolled in a leaf, someone will tell 

 him of how manioc came to the world and how 

 nearly the Camayura came to losing this gift of the 

 gods. 



Long ago, after Mavutsine, the creator, had made 

 the forefathers of the Camayura out of camiuva 

 wood, he observed that they were hungry because 

 they had no food. Mavutsine then picked up a 

 gourd and after pinning a feather on each side, 

 began blowing tobacco smoke over it. As he 

 blew, the gourd began to move and little by little 

 it grew until it turned into the gull, Pakoin. "Go 

 and make a field of manioc for the Camayura," 

 said Mavutsin6. Pakoin then made a long cord 

 of great strength to which he fitted sharp stones to 

 form an edge. This cord he threw around the 

 forest, and when he pulled the cord he cut down 

 all the trees. He set fire to the felled trees and for 

 many days one could not see the sun, for the smoke 

 was so thick. When the field was clean, Pakoin 

 went to the river and called "pirarara," the dog- 

 fish. When "pirarara" appeared Pakoin told him 

 to take his friends, the fish, and plant a field of 

 manioc for the Camayura. All night long the fish 

 worked. In the morning the field was planted. 

 Pakoin then told the Camayura to guard the field 

 against wild animals and to keep it weeded. 



The manioc began to grow, and it grew and grew 

 until it was very tall, and green, and beautiful. 

 The storyteller's face will light up at this point as 

 with word and gesture he tries to convey to the 

 listener the size and beauty of this first great field 

 in the mythical past of his people. His audience 

 will mutter their assent. But the next instant 

 their heads will bow down in shame and sadness 

 for the storyteller goes on to say that the Cama- 

 yura became careless in their pride, for they 

 neglected to guard the field. One night capimd, 

 the deer, came and destroyed the field. Next 

 morning there was nothing but trampled earth, 

 not a stalk or a root or a leaf remained. When 

 Pakoin and the fish saw what had happened they 

 were very angry with the Camayura and told them 

 to kill the deer. The Camayura killed the deer, 

 and they still hate and kill deer but they do not eat 

 its flesh. The Camayura were very sad and walked 

 over and over the field searching to see if anything 

 was left. Eventually an old Camayura found just 

 one little piece of stalk in a far corner of the field. 

 From this little piece the Camayura planted a crop 

 and it is from this field that all other fields have 

 originated. But they will hasten to say that no 

 field has ever grown so tall and beautiful as that 

 first great field planted by Pakoin and his fish 

 helpers. 



Next morning when the visitor again observes 

 the men at work in their fields, and watches the 

 women busying themselves around their pots, 

 graters, and sieves, and sees long rows of snow- 

 white balls of manioc drying or stacked in baskets 

 in the houses, he might well say to himself: truly 

 manioc is the staff of life of these people. 



The manioc which the Camayura use is the 

 bitter variety {Manihot utilissima) native to 

 tropical South America. No plantings of sweet 

 manioc were seen. The field is cleared with the 

 ax (y'i) , and the branches of the trees are cut up for 

 firewood and carried to the village or are left to 

 dry near the edge of the field. The large trunks 

 are then burned. No attempt is made to dig out 

 the half-burned stumps. When the fires have 

 died out, the field, ko, is ready for planting. Fields 

 vary in size according to the needs of a family. 

 The fields observed varied from }i to 1 acre in 

 extent, the shape being generally circular. 



Manioc is planted in hills or mounds (manitum) . 

 While one man is cutting last year's manioc stems 



