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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



Mavutsin6, the myth tells us, lived at Morena. 

 He was like a man but he had no father and no 

 mother. He walked around Morena and felt 

 lonely. One day he took a piece of wood and 

 carved it into the shape of a woman. Then he 

 made a cigar out of tobacco leaves and as he smoked, 

 he blew smoke over the wood and stroked it with 

 his hand. Little by little the carving began to live 

 and finally turned into a beautiful woman. 

 Mavutsine called her Noitu and took her as his 

 wife. He had sexual intercourse with her, and 

 she began to swell. She became bigger and bigger 

 until she gave birth to a child. This first child 

 was the sun, kuat. Then once more Mavutsine 

 had intercourse with N0it.1l and again she grew 

 bigger and bigger until she gave birth to another 

 child. This child was the moon, yai. 



After creating Noitu, the sun, and the moon, 

 Mavutsine made the Camayura out of camiuva 

 wood. First he made Karanavari, Kanarati, and 

 two women. Then he made Yanamd and Vani- 

 vani. He made them early in the morning and 

 the people were so cold and stiff they could 

 hardly walk. All that day Mavutsine sang and 

 shook his gourd rattle. Slowly he led the people 

 to a fire and as they warmed themselves the stiff- 

 ness left their joints. 



Then Mavutsine told the men to make four 

 villages: Karanavari made a village at Eonuro, 

 Kanarati at Urukulu, Yanamd at Morena, and 

 Vanivani at Vanivani. He told them to bathe in 

 the river at dawn and to whistle while they 

 bathed. He told them to have sexual intercourse 

 at night and to work during the day. 



After this Mavutsine made all the friendly 

 tribes of the Upper Xingu. The enemy tribes 

 were made by the moon. Mavutsine* also made 

 two sisters called Tanamakaru, who gave birth to 

 the Caraiba, white men. He told them all where 

 to settle. 



The Camayura consider themselves a distinct 

 people because Mavutsine* created them from 

 camiuva wood, and they also believe that the 

 territory around Morena is theirs by divine right. 

 The leaders of the Roncador-Xingu Expedition 

 say that the places mentioned in the origin myth 

 as being settled by the first Camayura show signs 

 of old settlements. One of these places was 

 visited and the numerous large piqui trees were 

 unmistakable evidence of previous habitation. 



Furthermore, the origin myth is no idle tale told 

 around the evening fire but is a living belief, for 

 every year during the kwarup ceremony the crea- 

 tion story is reenacted. 



The Camayura no longer five at Morena al- 

 though they lay claim to the piqui and mangaba 

 trees and the rights to fish and collect turtle eggs 

 in the area. The Trumai five in the area by the 

 consent of the Camayura, and others can use 

 these waters by permission. The Suya, Shuka- 

 ramai, and the Juruna sometimes invade this 

 territory, leading to open conflict. While the 

 Camayura care little about fishing in the main 

 streams by the friendly tribes, they maintain sole 

 rights to the small tributaries near their villages 

 of Tuatuari and Ipavti. 



At the head of the tribal organization is the 

 chief (morerekudt) . Although no specific myth or 

 tale was obtained about the origin of chieftainship, 

 the occurrence of the word for sun (kuat) in the 

 term for chief appears to indicate some relation- 

 ship to the sun. It was also observed that some 

 women who were members of the chiefly family 

 had three small parallel lines tattooed on their 

 wrist or on their shoulder. These lines, although 

 specifically named yu, were also called morerekudt 

 and the women claimed that it showed that they 

 were related to Noitu, the mother of the sun, the 

 first woman. There appears to be no doubt that 

 the chief and his male relatives belong to a group 

 that holds rights to chieftainship. 



The present chief, Tamapu, although having 

 chiefly rank, is not considered in the direct fine. 

 The former chief who was killed about 5 years ago 

 by the Shukaramai was considered of higher rank. 

 Some of this difference in status is due to the 

 status of mothers. Although Nilo is the eldest 

 son of Tamapu, the chief claimed that Nilo would 

 not succeed him because his mother was a Suya. 

 The two younger boys, whose mother was high 

 caste, are, he said, eligible to chieftainship. The 

 chief's present wife is not considered of chiefly 

 status so that her baby son likewise is of lower 

 status. When asked about his eldest daughter 

 married to an Iwalapeti, Tamapu explained that 

 although she was of high birth she did not wear 

 the marks of the chiefly class because she had 

 misbehaved morally, this being her second mar- 

 riage. This seems to indicate that chiefly rank 



