INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



27 



to be crushed, and the sap allowed to mix with 

 the water. To be most effective, timbo should be 

 applied in still water; from 3 to 12 hours is required 

 to kill the fish. The time, of course, varies with 

 the volume of timbo applied. Fish that are 

 temporarily stupefied will revive if allowed to 

 drift into pure water. 



The Camayura also use the fresh-water terrapin 

 and the diamondback marsh turtle for food. 

 Of the two the terrapin is by far the more impor- 

 tant. Young men catch terrapin by swimming. 

 They slowly swim near the terrapin while it is 

 on the surface, and as it dives the swimmer 

 follows it under water and captures it. The 

 terrapin can be prepared for food in two ways ; by 

 cutting out the fleshy parts and boiling them, or 

 by placing the terrapin, back downward, on live 

 coals and roasting it. During the months of 

 August and September, when the rivers are at 

 their lowest and the sand bars are exposed, the 

 terrapins crawl over the sand and deposit their 

 eggs in holes in the sand. A terrapin may lay as 

 many as 12 eggs in a nest, the eggs being pure 

 white in color, ovoid in shape, and about 1}{ inches 

 in length. The interior is almost entirely taken 

 up by a yellow yolk, which when boiled or roasted 

 is very tasty, although much coarser grained 

 than the yolk of a hen's egg. The eggs are 

 evidently rich in oil and protein, for the Indians 

 gain weight and strength at this time of the year. 



During the egg-laying months the Camayura 

 go out at dawn, and as they paddle near the sand 

 bars they see terrapin trails leading from the water 

 to the nest. They follow these trails, and a great 

 shout goes up when they uncover a nest of eggs 

 laid during the night. Sometimes they are 

 disappointed, for otters, foxes, gulls, and kites 

 also like terrapin eggs and may have preceded 

 them. At this time of the year small groups of 

 Camayura and Trumai spend several weeks away 

 from the village, living on terrapin eggs and 

 camping along the banks of the rivers. It is 

 during this period, too, that their enemies, the 

 Shukaramai and Juruna are also wandering, and 

 a careful watch has to be maintained by the 

 Camayura so that they will not be surprised and 

 massacred during the night. The diamondback 

 turtles are less numerous, but when one is found 

 it is taken to the village and kept tied to a house 

 post until the owner wishes to roast it. 



In order to give a more intimate picture of a 

 fishing expedition, I shall describe a fishing trip 

 in which I participated — chiefly with a movie 

 camera. 



Early one morning while it was still dark, 

 Tamapu, the chief, could be heard walking up 

 and down in the plaza in the village, giving 

 instructions to his people. Asking a member of 

 the Roncador-Xingii Expedition, whose hammock 

 was next to mine and who had some knowledge of 

 Tupi, what it was all about, he informed me that 

 Tamapu was telling the men to make preparations 

 for a fishing expedition. He detailed certain men 

 to go and prepare the dams, others to go and cut 

 timbo, and others to repair their weirs and hand 

 traps. About 8 o'clock in the morning the young 

 men went off to their tasks; all that day we were 

 able to watch the men repairing weirs and putting 

 points to their fishing arrows. Tamapu, himself, 

 made a new conical hand trap in order to show 

 the details of its manufacture. 



Late in the afternoon the men who had gone 

 out to cut timbo returned carrying neatly tied 

 bundles over their shoulders. Some of the young 

 men carried two bundles, one for their father or 

 brother, who had remained in the village to 

 repair weirs or had gone to prepare the dams. 

 The bundles were about 18 inches in diameter, 

 strongly tied with sipo vine, and were made up of 

 sticks about a yard in length ranging from ]A of an 

 inch to 2 inches in diameter. These sticks, of 

 course, were lengths cut from the long timb6 

 vines which hang from the trees in the forest. At 

 sunset the men who had built the dams returned 

 and everything was ready for the next day's fishing 

 trip. 



The next morning all the able-bodied men, 

 boys, and little girls set off to the stream where 

 the fishing was to take place, carrying manioc 

 cakes, burning brands with which to start fires, 

 tobacco, hand traps, and bows and arrows. When 

 we arrived at the stream an hour later, some of 

 the young men who had preceded us were just 

 completing the task of placing the weirs in the 

 dams. The area enclosed by the dams was a 

 wide part in a shallow stream about 150 yards in 

 length and 100 yards at its greatest width. As 

 there was a small island in the lower part, two 

 dams had to be built while a single short dam 

 enclosed the upper end. As this was the season 



