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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



pieces of charcoal, beeswax, or tobacco. The 

 shaman, paye, is able to perform either of these 

 acts. The Camayura appear not to have the belief 

 in soul loss as a cause of illness. 



In the rite of sorcery, as in curing, tobacco plays 

 a central role. Tobacco, petim, is believed to have 

 a powerful mama'e of the same name, which can 

 draw out or can inject pieces of itself, i. e., tobacco, 

 into a human body. In addition to this inherent 

 capacity, tobacco has the power to call the spirits, 

 which then carry out the orders of the shaman. 



The spirits which assist the shamans are known 

 by the general name, mama'e, and, according to 

 the Camayura, are dwarflike, with white hair and 

 black beards. These spirits differ from the mama'e 

 of the rituals, who, as we saw, are not anthro- 

 pomorphic in appearance, although tobacco can be 

 used to bring one into contact with them as well. 

 These anthropomorphic spirits do not appear to be 

 ghosts of the dead, for the Camayura say emphat- 

 ically that they do not see the ghosts of dead people. 



A man becomes a paye, shaman, during a serious 

 illness. All men sooner or later become shamans 

 although only a few become expert healers. 

 When a young man becomes seriously ill, his 

 father or some other old man initiates him. They 

 smoke together until both fall into a trance. 

 The father then draws out the object that caused 

 the illness, and it is from the nature of the object 

 that the father determines the mama'e of his son. 

 When the young man gets in touch with his 

 mama'e, he sees it and hears a chant that is the 

 special property of that mama'e. By middle age 

 most men have several mama'e. It must be 

 mentioned here that the same process is involved 

 in getting in touch with the mama'e of plants and 

 of the sacred objects such as the jakui and the bull- 

 roarer. A man has the right to impersonate a 

 mama'e in any of the rituals only after he has 

 made contact with it through a smoking ceremony. 



Tamapu, the chief, claims that he has only one 

 mama'e called marakapu, Juruna has three whom 

 he called kurutai (the small sacred flute), mari- 

 kuwd, and yaripud. Although women and children 

 have mama'e they do not see them. A sure way 

 of finding out whether a man has been initiated is 

 to offer him a cigarette. If he refuses to smoke it, 

 it signifies that he is not initiated. One day when 

 a middle-aged woman took one of my cigarettes 

 I asked her if she were a paye and she nodded her 



head. On investigating the matter I found that 

 she was a Waura woman. The Camayura claim 

 that their own women never become shamans, 

 although very old women sometimes see their 

 mama'e. They also state that a young man, 

 during the burial of a shaman, sometimes sees the 

 dead shaman's mama'e and hears its song. This 

 mama'e then becomes his guardian and assistant. 

 Such men are highly regarded by the Camayura. 

 Simple cures appear to be performed solely 

 with the aid of tobacco and its mama'e and are 

 almost a daily occurrence in the village. One 

 could always tell when a shaman was curing, for 

 he made a characteristic grunting sound which 

 could be heard at a considerable distance. I 

 shall quote from my notebook a description of 

 one of the first cures which I observed: 



The one-eyed shaman was curing a small boy who was 

 said to be suffering from pains in the head. The mother 

 was seated in her hammock, holding the boy in her lap. 

 The shaman squatted near the fire smoking his long cigar 

 and inhaling deeply. Then he approached the hammock, 

 blew tobacco smoke on the boy's forehead, wiped it 

 several times with his hand and began sucking. He would 

 draw in his breath with a loud wheezing sound and then 

 exhale with a deep groan. After repeating this for about 

 six times he went over to one of the house posts and 

 squatted before it with his back turned to the people. 

 He blew downward through his cupped hand making a 

 noise like a horse neighing. As he exhaled he let saliva 

 run out of his mouth and through his hand. After awhile 

 the neighing sounds came faster and faster until a lot of 

 saliva came out of his mouth. The shaman then wiped 

 his hand on the house post and went back to the fire and 

 after smoking for awhile repeated the performance. He 

 did this four times. 



In more serious cases of illness, in which sorcery 

 is always suspected, a much more complex curing 

 ceremony is required. Several shamans act to- 

 gether under the guidance of the one who has been 

 asked to effect the cure. First they must avoid 

 sexual intercourse for several days. Those who 

 have had contact with a woman the night before 

 take an emetic to purify themselves. Each 

 shaman then puts on his necklace, takuped, which 

 is made from the wood of the plant whose roots 

 provide the emetic. They then go into the woods 

 at night, smoke, sing, and shake the sacred rattle, 

 yokakd. They then begin to run around in the 

 woods calling to one another. Eventually, one of 

 the shamans captures a mama'e, wraps it in leaves, 

 and they all return to the village to cure the sick 





