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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



placed on a platform under which a fire is lighted. 

 In this manner large quantities of kinokdnyere can 

 be prepared in one day. 



When a woman gets ready to bake a manioc 

 cake she pushes the hot coals and burning wood 

 to one side and pats down the hot bed of the fire 

 with a flat piece of wood. She then breaks off 

 pieces from a dried manioc loaf and crumbles 

 them over the bed of the fire by rubbing them in 

 her hands. When she has crumbled up enough 

 dry manioc, she pats down the flour to form a 

 round, flat cake about 10 inches in diameter and 

 from 1 to 2 inches in thickness. She covers the 

 cake first with hot ashes and then hot coals. 

 After one-half hour she uncovers her oven to find 

 a brown cake covered with ashes and cinders. 

 This sour, dirty, gritty product in no way com- 

 pares with the fine-textured, sweet menyu of the 

 Camayura, the meal for which is prepared by 

 crushing the dry ball in a mortar, then sifted to 

 remove the rough fibers, after which the flour is 

 dampened and baked on a pottery baking plate. 

 Sometimes the whole manioc loaf is placed in the 

 fire, and as it bakes the Nambicuara begin to 

 break off pieces from the outside. For ceremonial 

 purposes they bake cakes about 2 feet in diameter. 



Toward the end of the rains in April and May 

 the Nambicuara return to their fields to enjoy 

 the fresh garden products. The harvest is inau- 

 gurated with a harvest ceremony (haikdnakidutsu) . 

 Fresh maize, peanuts, and sweetpotatoes are 

 roasted, manioc cakes are prepared, and, if possi- 

 ble, manioc juice is boiled to make chicha. These 

 garden products, along with meat, supply the 

 food for the feast, which lasts for several days. 

 The sacred flutes (wainrhu) are played in the 

 flute hut, the spirits of the ancestors are present, 

 and food and drink are offered to them. 



The subsistence activities of the Nambicuara 

 are, thus, closely associated with the annual cycle 

 of growth in which agriculture forms but a part. 

 The dependence of the Nambicuara upon the wild 

 products of the forest and plateau are much more 

 complex than has been indicated. They supplied 

 long lists of names of plants, insects, and animals 

 for which no Portuguese names could be found. 

 A full understanding of their economic dependence 

 upon the environment would come only by some- 

 one following a band of Nambicuara throughout 

 the year to observe the complete annual cycle of 



subsistence activities. For instance, they say that 

 they eat the blossoms of certain plants and a 

 great number of grubs, larvae, and insects. A 

 favorite dish is to crush in a mortar manioc cakes 

 with boiled beans, broiled meat, ants, palm nuts, 

 monkey and bird bones. 



As an example of the variety of uses to which 

 the Nambicuara can put a plant we can take the 

 buriti palm: (1) They eat the pulp surrounding 

 the scaly covered nut. (2) They use the fibers 

 from the new growth to make twine. (3) They 

 use the tough, flexible cortex of the frond stalk 

 for making baskets. (4) They fell the buriti so 

 that a certain variety of grub can collect and 

 multiply in the starchy pith in the heart of the 

 tree. The grubs or larvae they then eat uncooked. 

 (5) The dried frond stalks are tied into bundles 

 and used as floats for crossing rivers. In addition, 

 the buriti palm has male associations, for only 

 men can prepare its products. When a male child 

 dies a piece of buriti fiber is left over his grave. 



The Nambicuara make fire by the drill method. 

 They cut two round pieces of dry stick about 18 

 inches in length and three-quarters of an inch in 

 diameter from some bush that has a soft pithy 

 center. The lower stick is split and into the flat 

 side shallow notches are cut to hold the drill in 

 place. The drilling stick is then inserted into 

 the notch while the lower stick is held in place 

 by the toes of the man as he squats over it. He 

 then begins to twirl the stick between his palms, 

 pressing downward. As his hands reach the bot- 

 tom, he quickly brings them to the top and con- 

 tinues drilling until the pith in the lower stick 

 loosens into small smouldering balls. These he 

 places into a handful of dry buriti fiber and begins 

 to blow on them until the fiber ignites. About 2 

 minutes is all that is required to make a fire by 

 this method. 



MANUFACTURING 



The material equipment of the Eastern Nam- 

 bicuara is extremely simple. Many items, such 

 as the conical trap for catching fish, the floats for 

 crossing rivers, the loom for weaving arm bands, 

 and the mortar and pestle for crushing food prod- 

 ucts are made for the occasion and are discarded 

 when the task is completed or when the people 

 move. The small grater and the few gourd ves- 

 sels, small baskets, and twine, the woman carries 



