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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



original position near the fire. Once the birds get 

 into the habit of being fed they insist upon this 

 service for the rest of their lives. Even a full- 

 grown bird will fly in front of one, chatter to 

 attract attention, and then flap its wings rapidly 

 and open its mouth. While one is eating, they 

 alight on one's shoulders, head, and on the edge of 

 one's plate. To a white man they soon become 

 pests. The parrots and weaver birds, particularly, 

 take delight in carrying off pencils and paper, and 

 even to taking cigarettes from the package in one's 

 shirt pocket. One day a weaver bird was seen 

 flying around the camp with an ampule of expen- 

 sive penicillin in his bill. On another day the 

 same weaver bird was observed systematically 

 thrusting his bill between the pages of the Yale 

 Outline of Cultural Materials just as if to see 

 whether there was anything of interest inside. 



Although the Indians are not particularly 

 interested in hunting by themselves they were 

 always willing to accompany the white men on 

 their trips to the woods to shoot deer and birds for 

 the table of the Expedition. On several nights a 

 jaguar (yawdt) was heard roaring nearby and a few 

 days later one was shot a few hundred yards from 

 the camp. Small deer are quite plentiful and are so 

 tame that they can be shot easily with the ill-kept 

 Winchester forty-fours in common use in the in- 

 terior of Brazil. While all game was cooked and 

 eaten by the Expedition, the paca was found to 

 be the most tender, jaguar and tapir being rather 

 tough. 



MANUFACTURE 



THE BOW AND ARROW 



A Camayura and his bow and arrows are in- 

 separable companions. With them he hunts, 

 fishes, and goes to war. At night they are near 

 his hammock, ever ready to be used in repelling 

 a surprise raid. In hand-to-hand combat the bow 

 is used as a thrusting weapon. An old Camayura 

 showed me a scar in his chest caused by the thrust 

 of a Shukaramai bow. Furthermore, the bow 

 is a mark of authority. When the chief gives his 

 instructions to the people he walks up and down 

 the village plaza with his bow in his hand. When 

 a man is being bled he leans on his bow while a 

 relative scarifies his body. The first toy a boy 

 of 5 or 6 receives is a small bow and arrow. With 



this he plays, receiving larger and larger bows as 

 his strength increases until he finally receives the 

 full-size 7-foot bow of the adult man. In puberty 

 seclusion one of the main tasks of a boy is to be- 

 come a skilled arrowmaker. 



The Camayura are recognized by their neigh- 

 bors as the expert bow makers of the Upper 

 Xingu area. The typical Camayura bow is 

 rectangular in cross section, from 6 to 7 feet in 

 length, and is made from the dark wood of the 

 pau d'arco (Tecoma violacea). In addition to this 

 type, the Camayura make a smaller oval-shaped 

 bow of a yellow-colored wood, also pau d'arco 

 (Tecoma conspicua). This latter is of inferior 

 quality and is made by the beginner or inexperi- 

 enced worker. Although the best bows are made 

 by the Camayura and acquired by the other 

 tribes through trade, there are only four expert 

 bow makers at present among the Camayura. 



The rectangular bow, the Camayura say, is a 

 gift of Mavutsine, the creator. After he had 

 created the people, Mavutsine made many inferior 

 bows from yellow wood, a few good bows from 

 dark wood, and two guns. These he laid on the 

 ground and asked the people to choose. The 

 hunting tribes, who are the enemies of the Cama- 

 yura, chose the inferior bow. The Camayura then 

 chose the good bows. Finally the caraiba, white 

 man, chose the guns. Mavutsine" was sad be- 

 cause the Camayura did not choose the guns. He 

 became angry and ordered the white men to leave. 

 He scattered them in all directions, for they were 

 numerous. The white men are stronger because 

 they chose the guns, but the Camayura are the 

 favorites of Mavutsine" because he told them to 

 remain at Morena. 



Although the origin myth describes the Cama- 

 yura as receiving the black, rectangular bow 

 directly from the creator, they add that this bow 

 is a Juruna type and that they originally made the 

 light-colored ellipitical bow which is in common 

 use in the Xingu area. As far as is known the 

 Camayura are the only ones who make the black 

 bow in the Upper Xingu, although it is found 

 among the other tribes, having been acquired 

 through barter. 



The wood for making the rectangular bow, 

 wirapdt, is known as wiraputq. For best results 

 the wood should be cut in November and Decem- 

 ber. It is worked green and is kept in water 



