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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



being given a word defined by its use. The 'i'ip is 

 the arrow pointed with tapir bone and used for 

 hunting monkeys and the small animals. The 

 iripard is the whistling arrow which usually has 

 three short feathers bound at the ends to the 

 shaft. These feathers are not split, nor are they 

 sewn to the shaft. The iwapi is the fishing arrow 

 with bone points, but it has no feathering. The 

 mocoin-iwapi or double-pointed arrow is also used 

 for fishing. The arrows used by small boys are 

 slender, sharpened reeds with a feather or two 

 tied to one end. Larger boys use the whistling 

 arrow. Although arrow shafts made from bam- 

 boo were seen, they were considered inferior by 

 the Camayura. In shooting the arrow the Cama- 

 yura hold the bow in a vertical position. The 

 arrow is held against the bow with the index finger 

 of the left hand while the end is held to the bow- 

 string with tbe thumb and index finger of the 

 right hand. The string is pulled back with the 

 index, middle, and ring fingers. In shooting at 

 distant objects the aim is elevated above the 

 target. Up to 100 feet they shoot directly with 

 great accuracy. In the mornings it was a common 

 sight to see boys shooting small birds from the 

 tops of trees about 30 to 50 feet tall with whistling 

 arrows. One advantage of the whistling arrow is 

 that it can be heard, and this may explain why it 

 is used around the village by boys. Even if one 

 is struck with one of these arrows it is not likely 

 to cause a serious wound. 



Besides the origin myth of the bow, only one 

 other belief associated with the bow was heard. 

 A man with an infant child was not supposed to 

 make a bow, for if he worked at bow making it 

 would cause the infant to have diarrhea. 



THE CANOE 



The Camayura, like the other tribes of the 

 Upper Xingu area, use the jatoba bark canoe 

 (igat). It is an indispensable means of transpor- 

 tation, and is used for fishing, hunting, raiding, 

 and visiting. Every family has at least one 

 canoe. There are small fishing canoes used by 

 two or three men and larger canoes which cany 

 as many as eight people. In their travels from 

 one village to another, family groups often spend 

 weeks in their canoes, moving by day and camping 

 on the banks of the rivers at night. 



The Camayura claimed that they know how to 



make dugouts and say that they were taught their 

 manufacture and use by the Juruna. Although no 

 dugouts were seen, the Camayura stated that 

 they use them on the lakes because they are more 

 seaworthy than the shallow bark canoes. When 

 traveling, everyone bas his or her position in the 

 canoe. The head of the party sits in the stern, 

 the paddlers sit in the bow, while the women and 

 children are seated in the center. A hearth made 

 from sand is also located in the center, on which 

 the women are able to prepare food. Children, 

 as well as women, use a large calabash as a lava- 

 tory when on all-day journeys. 



When a man wants to make a canoe he selects 

 a large jatoba tree and asks a few expert wedge- 

 men to help him. February is the best time for 

 making bark canoes for during this month the 

 bark is easy to remove and is not apt to crack. 

 He then builds a scaffolding of poles lashed with 

 heavy vines around the tree so that he can work 

 up and down the trunk. First he cuts a semi- 

 circle with an ax above and below and then makes 

 two vertical cuts from top to bottom. Wooden 

 wedges are now inserted into the vertical cuts and 

 men on each side begin to hammer the wedges in 

 with wooden clubs in order to remove the bark 

 evenly from the trunk. Great care is taken in 

 wedging so that the bark will not crack. Once 

 the bark is removed from the trunk it is carefully 

 lowered to the ground. This completes the first 

 day's work. The tree is, of course, left standing 

 with one-half of the lower part of the trunk bare. 

 In time the cut heals over and the tree continues 

 to live and can be skinned again after several 

 years. There appear to be plenty of jatoba trees 

 in the forests, but if a man wishes to reserve a 

 particularly fine tree he needs only to build a 

 scaffolding around it and to inform the otber 

 men that he intends to make a canoe at such- 

 and-such a place. 



Next day the canoe builder returns to shape 

 the bark trough. The bow is tapered to a point 

 and the stern is thinned down ready for bending. 

 The bow is always the narrower end of the shell. 

 On the third day the man comes back with his 

 assistants to perform the bending. Two heavy 

 stakes are driven into the ground on both sides 

 of the stern. A fire is then made inside the stern 

 end of the trough on a layer of earth. After the 

 heat has made the bark flexible, two strong poles 



