INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



89 



with them and informs the flanking hunters with 

 bird calls. When completely surrounded the 

 flanking parties drive the pigs back against the 

 central group where the best archers are stationed. 

 As the pigs charge back, they are shot at close 

 range. Usually an arrow will stop a peccary so 

 that it can be killed later with a club. If the 

 hunters are well organized very few peccaries 

 escape. 



The hunters then open up all the pigs and take 

 out the viscera. The entrails are emptied and 

 along with the heart, liver, etc., are thrown on 

 hot coals to broil and are eaten on the spot. 

 When opening an animal the hunter grasps a 

 handful of skin over the belly and cuts it off with 

 a bamboo knife leaving a round hole through 

 which the viscera are drawn out. After everyone 

 has eaten, the carcasses are carried back to camp 

 where the meat is cut up and shared among the 

 families, the man with a large family getting more 

 than one with a small family even though the 

 man had not shot anything. All meat that cannot 

 be eaten in a day or two is cut up and dried. 



The Nambicuara now have a few dogs which 

 they use when hunting jaguars. The dogs drive 

 the jaguar into a tree where it can be shot with a 

 gun or with arrows. Sometimes a wounded 

 jaguar will attack the hunters, and injuries occur. 

 Marciano's 6-year old son had his head and face 

 clawed by a wounded jaguar which his father was 

 not able to kill with the first shot of his shotgun. 



Armadillos are dug out of holes. The soil is 

 first loosened with a stick and then dug with a 

 gourd, the diggers sometimes having to go as 

 deep as 8 feet. When they get near the armadillo 

 they put a long stick under it and force it up 

 against the top of the hole in order to prevent it 

 from digging further. When near enough a man 

 reaches into the hole with his hand and pulls out 

 the armadillo. If the hunters are very hungry 

 they will roast the armadillo on the spot, taking 

 left-over pieces of roasted meat home to their 

 families. 



Although sharing is the custom, and it is amus- 

 ing to observe several men sitting around a 6-inch 

 lizard to eat it, single hunters sometimes succeed 

 in avoiding their obligations. One day as I 

 walked along with Cascudo, followed by several 

 Nambicuara some distance behind, he killed a 

 snake and threw it into the bushes and signaled 



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to me not to say anything. Later that day he 

 returned to the spot, built a fire, roasted the snake, 

 and ate it by himself. 



Caymans are hunted by first finding their 

 hide-outs under logs or overhanging banks. 

 When one is found under an overhanging bank 

 the hunters peel a number of slender poles and 

 begin to thrust them down through the bank 

 to force the cayman out. Men are stationed 

 above and below the spot, and as the cayman 

 comes out he is shot. When he hides under logs 

 the hunters feel for him with their feet. The 

 hunters are so nimble that few of them get bitten. 

 The large rodent, paca, is also hunted in this way, 

 for it hides in holes under overhanging banks. 



The large water snake, anaconda, is hunted in 

 pools where it lies in wait for game. When the 

 hunters have trailed an anaconda to a water hole 

 they keep shooting arrows into the water until 

 they strike it. The first strike then indicates 

 where the snake is, and they continue shooting 

 until the snake weakens and can be pulled out. 

 Sometimes the snake grabs a hunter by the arm, 

 but the others are there to assist if anyone gets 

 into difficulties. 



Small anteaters are dug out of holes but the 

 larger kind which does not go into holes is hunted 

 by two men armed with clubs. The men chase it, 

 one on each side, and as the anteater turns on one 

 he strikes it on the nose with his club and then 

 jumps into a tree. The other hunter then strikes 

 it. This continues until the anteater dies. 



Monkeys are chased from tree to tree until they 

 tire and come down to hide in a hole in the ground. 

 Dogs can then overtake the monkey or he can 

 be shot or dug out of the hole. Deer usually do 

 not fall when shot, but the hunter chases the 

 wounded deer until he can shoot more arrows into 

 it, especially into the legs. 



Although the Western Nambicuara are said to 

 use arrows poisoned with curare, the Walditisu 

 say they do not use curare but that they know 

 how to prepare it and that they formerly used it 

 in raids. As arrows do not penetrate bone, the 

 hunter tries to shoot at an angle so that the 

 arrow will enter the chest cavity, or he will aim 

 between the neck and the shoulder bone. 



The Nambicuara hunt and eat all birds except 

 the urubii. Large rheas are not hunted because 

 it is difficult to approach them on the open sa- 



