36 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL' ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



woman married to a Camay ura. Perhaps the 

 Camayura once made pottery like the other Tupi- 

 speaking tribes and perhaps still have this knowl- 

 edge, but all pottery in the Upper Xingu area now 

 appears to be of Waurd manufacture. As the 

 Waura village was not visited, no special informa- 

 tion was obtained about the manufacture of pot- 

 tery. 



The pottery observed among the Camayura can 

 be divided into two classes — the low flat-bottomed 

 pots with bell-shaped sides and rim and the small 

 zoomorphic pots used as dishes. No jugs, jars, or 

 pitchers were seen. When one observes the Cama- 

 yura using their large pots for the processing of 

 manioc, one cannot avoid the conclusion that the 

 size and form of the pots are functionally related 

 to the method of then use. 



For processing of manioc and piqui and boiling 

 the mixture of pulp and water, large shallow 

 cauldrons with flat bottoms are ideal. For 

 grating manioc, a wooden or bark vessel no doubt 

 could be used, and a bark vessel for this purpose 

 was observed among the Bacairi. But for boiling 

 the pulp a pottery vessel is needed. The Cam- 

 ayura use the same type of pot for all the various 

 stages in the processing of manioc, as has been 

 observed, usually reserving the largest for boiling 

 juice. 



These pots (niahe) range from 6 inches to 3 feet 

 in diameter, and from 4 inches to 1 foot in height, 

 the thickness ranging from % to 1 inch, the everted 

 rim being unusually heavy. The inside is black 

 and the outside colored red, probably with hema- 

 tite, sometimes decorated with vertical straight 

 lines or zig-zag or wavy horizontal lines in black. 

 The smaller pots are not usually decorated. The 

 smaller pots of this kind are used for boiling fish, 

 meat, or urucu seeds. The medium-size pots, 

 besides for other purposes, are used for carrying 

 water, a large gourd dipper being turned down in 

 the water to keep it from spilling out as the pot is 

 carried on the head of the bearer. The largest pots, 

 as has been explained, are used for processing 

 manioc and piqui. In using the pots over a fire, 

 three stones or three small cracked pots are used 

 as a rest. 



The zoomorphic pots (mawikaipi) are made in a 

 wide variety of sizes and forms, in red and black, 

 ranging from 2 to 8 inches in diameter. They may 

 be round, oval, or square and are generally quite 



shallow, the bottoms being flat or slightly rounded. 

 Protruding from the rims of these vessels are the 

 heads, tails, and feet representing birds, frogs, 

 turtles, and alligators. The larger sizes are used 

 for serving food and the smaller ones for mixing 

 urucu powder with piqui oil. The smallest vessels 

 appear to be used as toys by children. 



Another important form of pottery is the flat 

 plate (niahe) used for baking menyu. These disks 

 with slightly raised rims range from 10 to 18 

 inches in diameter, 12 inches being the commonest 

 size. These, too, are made by Waura women, but 

 the bottoms of worn-out old pots are often used 

 for this purpose. Like the large pots, they rest on 

 a tripod of three stones or small cracked pots. 



COMBS 



The Camayura make combs with bamboo 

 teeth, laced together with cotton twine. The 

 teeth, usually 40 in number, are 4 inches in length, 

 square at the upper end, tapering to flat sharpened 

 teeth of the same size and shape of an ordinary 

 large comb. As the teeth are thicker at the back, 

 the comb is also broader at the back than on the 

 edge. The teeth are woven together with fine 

 cotton twine, the weave sometimes forming a 

 solid band or, as is more common, forming separate 

 triangular patterns. To hold the teeth firmly in 

 line two strips of bamboo 4 inches long and one- 

 half inch in width are laced together across the top, 

 one on each side, and two more below the woven 

 band, leaving approximately three-fourths inch 

 of teeth projecting, the whole forming a firm dur- 

 able comb. Here again, the Waura women 

 appear to be the better workers, for their combs 

 are stronger and more effectively decorated. 



THE ULURl (TAMEAHOP) 



The ulurf, which mature women wear over the 

 pubis, is made from the inner layer of the bark of 

 a tree. While the thin parchmentlike bark is 

 still moist and pliable, a woman will cut out a 

 piece 2 inches square. At the bottom she will 

 leave a square appendage. This piece she will 

 squeeze together lengthwise and make a hole 

 through it to which she attaches the cord which 

 passes between her legs. She now folds the bark 

 to form a rough triangle 1% inches long and three- 

 fourths of an inch in width, leaving a length of 



