INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



45 



does not apply to captured women. The relative 

 status of the tribes and their marriage customs are 

 also important. Camayura men and women in- 

 sist upon living with their own tribe if they are 

 married to Waura or Trumai, for the Camayura 

 are accepted as having higher status. Camayura 

 men like to marry Waura women, for they are the 

 pot makers of the area and are also good weavers. 

 Although Suya women make good, hardworking 

 wives, they are considered of low status and their 

 children also carry this status. Nilo, for instance, 

 would never discuss or admit the fact that his 

 mother was a captured Suya woman. But we 

 were told he could never become a chief although 

 his father, Tamapu, is the present chief. When 

 daughters are married out the Camayura father 

 makes every effort to marry his daughter to an 

 important man, such as a good wrestler or into a 

 family where the men have a reputation for hard 

 work. 



EXTENDED FAMILY AND HOUSE GROUP 



Although marriages outside the tribe tempo- 

 rarily complicate the general pattern, in the fol- 

 lowing generation or two the kinship system 

 reasserts itself. In spite of the fact that there 

 appear to be no clans or moieties, the marriage 

 rules lead to a classification of kin into two groups. 

 One group consists of fatbers, brothers, and sis- 

 ters, and the other of mother's brothers, their 

 sisters and cross cousins. It is from this latter 

 group that mothers and wives come and to which 

 father's sisters and one's own sisters go. Termi- 

 nologically, therefore, there are just two extended 

 families related to one another through marriage. 



In actual practice, however, the members of 

 one's own extended family are separated into 

 house groups. The house of Tamapu, for in- 

 stance, was occupied by himself, his wife, four 

 sons, two daughters, his son-in-law, his father's 

 brother's son and his wife, and an old man whom 

 Tamapu called brother. The core of the house 

 group, therefore, consists of a group of brothers 

 whose wives are sisters. The children call the men 

 fathers and the women mothers. When the girls 

 grow up they eventually pass over in marriage to 

 the house or houses of their mother's brother and 

 are replaced by their mother's brother's daughters. 



Residence in a special house, however, is not 



obligatory. A man, his wife, and children may 

 move to another house occupied by his classifica- 

 tory brothers. When the house group grows too 

 large some of the men may decide to build a new 

 house. Often brothers from other house groups, 

 similarly interested, join them. The man who 

 organizes the house building then becomes the 

 chief of the new house and it is named after him. 

 When the house chief dies his son or younger 

 brother takes over and the house is named after 

 him. In other words, the house groups are local 

 representatives of two larger extended families. 



The house group is a unit of close cooperation. 

 The occupants cultivate a common manioc field 

 and share its products. The younger men go 

 fishing practically every day, sharing the use of 

 the canoes which generally belong to the older 

 men of the house. The women work together in 

 processing manioc and piqui, the large pots being 

 the common property of the house, having been 

 obtained through trade by the house chief. The 

 house group sometimes moves as a body in making 

 visits or in assisting their friends in other tribes to 

 plant or process manioc. 



The communal activities of the tribe in fishing 

 and gardening do not conflict with those of the 

 house groups. When the village works together 

 in planting, they work in one or another of the 

 fields belonging to a house group. When the 

 field of a certain house group is cleared or planted, 

 all the male members of that house group are 

 obliged to be present. The men of other house 

 groups ought to be present but if thej^ have other 

 duties they need not participate. A young 

 Camayura, Takunf, whom I used as an informant 

 for some time, explained one morning that he had 

 to leave next day for the village, for his house 

 group was going to work their field. But I 

 observed that he did not feel obliged to assist the 

 other house groups. Fishing with timb6, to be 

 successful, demands more extensive cooperation, 

 and all men in the village work together, sharing 

 the fish caught. 



There docs not appear to be a definite position 

 for the families within the house. Tamapu, on 

 our first visit, occupied one end of the house and 

 on the following visit had his hammock at the 

 other end. One rule, however, appears to be 

 followed — the son-in-law must sling his hammock 



