INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



29 



which are about 1 yard in width may attain 20 

 feet or more in length. The fish were left on the 

 platforms for 4 or 5 days. However, the people 

 began to eat them during the first day. During 

 the rainy season the fish are sometimes cured in 

 the houses and are wrapped in leaves and stored 

 in large wickerwork baskets. But during the dry 

 season the fish remain on the platforms until 

 eaten. As there were only two small dogs in the 

 village, the problem of protecting the fish was not 



serious. 



HUNTING 



Hunting plays a very minor role in the economy 

 of the Camayura. Such large game animals as 

 the deer, tapir, and peccary are not hunted for 

 food. They may be killed if they disturb the 

 manioc and sweetpotato fields, but even then 

 their flesh is not eaten. The jaguar and ocelot are 

 hunted for their skins, bones, teeth, and claws. 

 About the only animals that are hunted for their 

 flesh are the monkeys and the paca, and only the 

 old men are permitted to eat their flesh. During 

 the 3 months I was among the Camayura I heard 

 of no hunting trips nor did I see the people eating 

 flesh food. However, a certain number of monkeys 

 and ocelots must be hunted, as their bones are used 

 for making arrowheads. Jaguar hunters are spe- 

 cialists. They use arrows that are tipped with 

 large bamboo points and paint themselves black 

 as if going on a war party. 



Birds, on the other hand, are of greater eco- 

 nomic importance. The Camayura occasionally 

 hunt the various varieties of mutum, jacobi, and 

 the makiiku and pikau. There appear to be 

 several kinds of forest fowl which the Brazilians 

 call mutum (Cracidae family). There is a large 

 black variety about the size of a turkey, the male 

 of which has red wattles and a red bony crest. A 

 smaller and more common variety has white 

 wattles and a crest of feathers. The black jacobi, 

 about the size of a hen, is quite plentiful in the 

 forests. The flesh of these mutum is dark but 

 tasty. They feed on the berries of certain tall 

 forest trees and are difficult to shoot because of 

 their shyness and the range at which they have to 

 be shot. Perhaps the best game bird is the ma- 

 kiiku — a gray, white-fleshed partridge about the 

 size of a small hen. The pikau is a brown bird 

 and looks like a large pigeon. Besides these larger 



birds there are numerous varieties of quail. As 

 mutum hunting requires great skill with the bow, 

 only a few men specialize in it. The Trumai, 

 who eat mutum, are said to be the best bird hunt- 

 ers in the area. Birds are hunted early in the 

 morning and at sunset and the hunters are just as 

 anxious to get the feathers as the flesh. Although 

 there are ducks in the rivers and lakes, they are 

 not hunted for food by the Camayura. The 

 feathers of tbe hawks, the vultures, and the eagles 

 are especially prized for feathering arrows. The 

 feathers of the blue, red, and yellow macaws, the 

 toucan, the parrot, the recongo, and various- 

 colored weaver birds are used for making feather 

 ornaments. Smaller birds which can be ap- 

 proached are shot with the blunted whistling 

 arrows. Whether the Camayura use traps to 

 capture birds was not ascertained. 



In addition to hunting birds for their feathers, 

 the Camayura keep great numbers of live birds in 

 the village for this purpose. Among the most 

 common are parrots, macaws, and weaver birds. 

 When a man wishes a few feathers he pulls them 

 from the bird's wings, tail, or tail coverts. Besides 

 these feather-producing birds, the Camayura keep 

 parakeets and other small birds as pets. All these 

 birds are caught young. Boys, particularly, watch 

 for nests and when the birds are a few days old 

 they bring them to the village. Sometimes as 

 many as 70 parakeets are to be seen in a house. 

 The young featherless parrots and parakeets are 

 transported in special baskets woven from green 

 grass and are kept in these baskets near the fire 

 at night. During the day they are kept in shallow 

 pits in the floor of the house to prevent them from 

 running away. 



The Camayura are very kind to their birds. 

 Knowing what food they require they spend much 

 time collecting the grubs and fruits which the 

 birds need. In the mornings it was an amusing 

 sight to watch the girls and boys feeding the 

 young parrots and parakeets. They would chew 

 boiled sweetpotato or menyu and feed the young 

 birds directly from their mouths. When the birds 

 become a little larger they eat off the ground and 

 sit around the fire in the morning just like the 

 people. One cold morning I moved a number of 

 young parrots away from the fire fearing they would 

 burn themselves. But the parrots remonstrated 

 with loud chatters and soon lined up in their 



