INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



41 



he suspends his small gourds or baskets. He also 

 possesses a canoe equipped with paddles and poles. 

 These articles he has made himself or has acquired 

 through barter; they are his personal property. 

 His unmarried sons or sons-in-law are permitted 

 to use his bow and his canoe. At his death he 

 rests in his hammock and his personal belongings 

 are broken and left over his grave. His wife, 

 similarly, owns her own personal objects like 

 combs, the uluri, ornaments, dishes, hammock, 

 and tools. 



The house, large canoes, guns obtained in raids, 

 large pots, and important ceremonial objects, like 

 masks, skirts, and flutes, are property of the house 

 group. The house chief is the trustee of these ob- 

 jects, but they can be used by the members of the 

 house group with his consent. These are not 

 normally destroyed at the death of the house 

 chief but come under the trusteeship of the new 

 house chief. 



The ceremonial or jakui house, the sacred flutes 

 (jakui), and the sacred posts with the manioc 

 mama'e carved on them are the property of the 

 village. At present the jakui house in the 

 Camayura village of Tuatuari is not completed 

 and these ceremonial objects are kept in the house 

 of Turutsi. 



We might say, therefore, that there are three 

 kinds of property among the Camayura: (1) 

 village or tribal property consisting of the cere- 

 monial house and the important ceremonial 

 objects, (2) house group property consisting of 

 the house and the larger objects used by the 

 members in common, and (3) individual property 

 made and used by individuals. There is some 

 indication that songs and dances also are owned 

 and inherited, but no adequate information on 

 this subject could be obtained. 



TKADE 



Individual and tribal specialization among the 

 Indians of the Upper Xingu has led to extensive 

 trading and the incipient forms of markets. 

 Although information on this important aspect of 

 economic life is scanty, enough is known to outline 

 the principal methods of exchange and the forces 

 underlying it. Among the Camayura there are 

 men and women who are experts in the production 

 of certain articles, such as bows, arrows, ham- 



mocks, and ornaments. These articles are bar- 

 tered between the individual craftsmen. New 

 articles such as knives, axes, shirts, and trinkets 

 brought in by the Roncador-Xingu Expedition 

 and the members of the writer's group immediately 

 resulted in a wide circle of exchanges. A shirt 

 given to a man one day would be on someone else's 

 back the following day. Individuals within a 

 village are, therefore, constantly exchanging per- 

 sonal belongings with one another. This kind of 

 exchange the Camayura do not, however, call 

 trade (moitard). These individual exchanges are 

 more in the nature of gifts and take place between 

 fathers and sons, brothers, and most of all between 

 friends. Haggling over values does not take place; 

 a person gives the other party a gift and makes 

 round-about indications concerning the article he 

 would like in return. 



In trade (moitard) the individuals between 

 whom exchanges take place are not determined 

 before hand. Moitard can take place between the 

 people of one village or between the people of two 

 or more villages. Intravillage trade is usually 

 organized by a house group that has accumulated 

 a surplus of commodities, pots, bows, ornaments, 

 and even food. Some of these objects, such as 

 large pots, may belong to the house group as a 

 whole, others may consist of individually owned 

 objects. The night before the moitard takes place 

 the organizer will announce it in the plaza of the 

 village. In the morning the articles to be ex- 

 changed will be set out either in the house or 

 before it. The villagers then pass by, look over 

 the goods, and decide what they want. They 

 return to their houses and bring what they wish 

 to give in return, and trading begins. If a man 

 wants a pot, for instance, he will place his objects 

 near it. If the owner of the pot wants them he 

 will take them, after which the other party takes 

 the pot away. If several people want the pot 

 several piles of commodities will be placed before 

 it, the owner of the pot having his choice. If he 

 does not want the objects or there is not enough to- 

 satisfy him, he will eventually take his pot away 

 to be traded on some other occasion. Although 

 the organizer is the original offerer or seller, any- 

 one in the village can bring objects which he 

 wishes to exchange and place them in the seller's 

 line. This may go on for several days until 

 interest in trading ceases. Generally there is not 



