INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



91 



but the method of felling is the same. All clearing 

 has to be completed by the end of June to permit 

 the felled trees to dry. 



In late August, when the cicada begins to sing 

 and the first thunder is heard, the Nambicuara 

 return to undertake their planting activities. 

 At a given signal, men with lighted bunches of dry 

 grass set fire to dry trees and bushes all around the 

 edges of the field. The rest of the people are 

 concentrated at the river's edge at the bottom of 

 the slope, and as animals, such as rats, lizards, 

 and snakes, flee toward the water they kill them. 

 After the fires have died down the people go 

 through the field collecting grubs, insects, and 

 whatever else that is edible. 



Among the stumps and unburnt logs the 

 Nambicuara hoe up hills about 3 feet in diameter 

 into which they stick 6 or 7 pieces of last season's 

 manioc stems, each about 10 inches long. These 

 hills are made about 5 or 6 feet apart. Formerly 

 they used a digging stick (kadikddsu) but today 

 the metal hoe (isakulusu) is used. Bitter manioc 

 (walidnsu) is their most important crop. 



After the rains have begun and the manioc is 

 several inches high, they begin to plant maize 

 (kaydtsu) of which the Nambicuara have several 

 varieties. Maize is planted between the manioc 

 hills by making a hole in the ground with a digging 

 stick into which 2 seeds are dropped. As the 

 holes are about 6 inches deep, the seeds are not 

 covered. Whether this is to protect the seeds 

 from birds is not clear. 



When the maize has grown tall enough to 

 provide shade they plant beans (kwq'su), sweet- 

 potatoes (wisu), and tobacco (etsu). The bean 

 which the Nambicuara grow looks like a large 

 red kidney bean and has a tough skin. Beans are 

 planted one seed to a shallow hole and covered. 

 Sweetpotatoes are planted by placing cuttings 

 in shallow trenches near logs and stumps. When 

 planting tobacco a man places a handful of seeds 

 on a leaf, climbs onto a high stump, and blows the 

 fine seeds so that they scatter over the field. 

 They weed the field only once when the maize is 

 about a foot or two in height. Cotton is planted 

 in the field but urucii bushes and gourds are 

 planted near the houses. After the planting is 

 finished and the field is growing well the people 

 leave on their continuous rounds of hunting, 

 fishing, and collecting. 



The Nambicuara method of processing manioc 

 in comparison with that of the Camayura is 

 simple and crude. The following describes the 

 method used today: Marciano's wife dug up a 

 burden basket full of manioc from a field belonging 

 to the Protestant Mission. She sat under a tree 

 and peeled the tubers with an old butcher knife 

 (formerly a piece of bamboo was used). She 

 washed the peeled tubers and placed them in a 

 calabash. She then took a grater made from a 

 piece of kerosene box about 2 feet long and 6 

 inches wide to which an 18-inch strip of perforated 

 tin was nailed. She placed one end of the grater 

 in a larger copper basin (belonging to the mission) 

 while the other end rested on the edge, and while 

 steadying the grater with one hand she grated 

 the tuber with the other. The tubers did not 

 stand in water nor were they dipped in water 

 during the process of grating. 



After the tubers were grated she dipped out a 

 calabash full of mash and began pressing it with 

 her hands and pouring the juice into another cala- 

 bash. After she had drained off as much juice as 

 possible she picked up a handful of mash (wienere) 

 and rolled it and squeezed it until no more juice 

 could be expelled. This ball she placed in another 

 calabash and continued making balls until the 

 calabash was full. She then patted down the balls 

 to form a round loaf about 10 inches in diameter 

 and 4 inches thick, which she set out on the bare 

 ground to dry in the sun. After several days in 

 the sun these loaves get hard and dry and form 

 the storable product (kinokdnyere) from which the 

 edible cake hi'inire (also called walidnsu) is baked. 

 The juice (eyduse) which was left in the calabash 

 she poured into a slight depression in the ground, 

 and after the liquid had drained off she collected 

 the thin film of starch flour (akainisu) along with 

 some sand, rolled it into a ball, and placed it in 

 hot ashes to bake. The lack of potten^ vessels 

 prevents the Nambicuara from saving and boiling 

 the juice. They know, however, that the juice is 

 valuable, and when they have cooking vessels they 

 boil it to form a thick porridge. 



When the Nambicuara wish to prepare a greater 

 quantity of pulp they use a piece of bast for a 

 press. This is a piece of embira bark about 3 feet 

 long and 8 inches wide called sdrv. A woman rolls 

 a ball of pulp in the strip of bark and twists the 

 bark until the pulp is dry. The balls are then 



