INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



93 



in her burden basket, whereas the modern axes, 

 knives, and other tools, along with his ornaments, 

 the man carries in a similar basket, or he straps 

 this basket on the back of a boy while he walks 

 in front of the file carrying his bow and arrows or 

 gun ready to shoot whatever game is met along 

 the way. Whenever they kill some animal or 

 catch a few fish and feel hungry they stop and 

 prepare a meal. During the dry season they are 

 at home anywhere in their band territory, moving 

 only when hunger spurs them on. 



Today, of course, the Nambicuara have steel 

 axes and knives. The heavy equipment of the 

 Waklitisu band in 1949, consisted of three axes, 

 two shotguns, and some half dozen hoes which were 

 hidden near their permanent house. Each man 

 had a butcher knife, but all men did not have 

 bows and arrows. There did not appear to be 

 any desire on the part of each man to possess 

 these implements. So long as the band had a 

 few of these objects everyone seemed to be satis- 

 fied. Cascudo, a widower when he arrived in 

 Utiarity, did not possess a bow and arrow, nor a 

 gun, nor an ax. By working for the Protestant 

 missionaries he acquired an ax and when Marciano 

 died he inherited his bow and arrows. After a 

 few days, however, he had given the bow and 

 arrows to a Brazilian in exchange for a felt hat. 



Examining the hand tools which Julio used, the 

 following articles were found: A chisel (kwatiru) 

 made by inserting a piece of steel into a wooden 

 handle wound with twine; a small bamboo 

 knife (alkukwirikatu) ; a hardwood drill (hiskatu), 

 used with sand for perforating tucum nut shells in 

 making beads; a piece of sandstone (ddligisu), used 

 as a whetstone; a number of rough leaves of the 

 lixeiro tree (kle'enatu), used as sandpaper; and a 

 comb (ha'dlatu). Each of Julio's three wives had 

 a burden basket, a small square basket, and two or 

 three gourd vessels of various sizes. A single 

 wooden mortar and pestle did service for the 

 whole band. 



One of the most important implements of the 

 Nambicuara is the bow, hukisu, made from the 

 piuva (jacaranda-copaia) or the siriva palm (Sya- 

 grus speciosa) . By far the most common is the bow 

 made from piuva, ranging between 6 and 7 feet in 

 length, flat on the inside and convex on the outside. 

 One of the bows examined measured 2 meters and 

 14 cm. in length, 4 cm. in width, and 1.5 cm. in 



thickness in the middle. This bow is made from 

 the honey-colored heartwood of a small piuva tree. 

 After cutting a piece of the required length the bow 

 maker splits it by using two or three axes. He 

 then trims off the outer layer of wood with an ax, 

 shapes it with a knife, and polishes it with lixeiro 

 leaves. The inner side of the bow is flat or slightly 

 concave, depending upon how the wood splits. 

 Shoulders are made at each end to hold the bow- 

 string. The bow is made from green wood, no 

 attempt being made to season it. The siriva bow 

 is the same shape and is made in the same way but 

 the black wood surrounding the center is used. 

 The siriva bow is more common among the 

 Western Nambicuara. 



The bowstring (halunwinisu) is made from 

 tucum fiber and is about one-eighth of an inch in 

 thickness. The cord is much longer than required 

 and the extra length is wound around the bow for 

 about 6 inches just above the hand hold. The 

 cord is wound from left to right, the running end 

 being brought back over the previous turn to form 

 a cross on the inside of the bow. The string is 

 always smeared with urucu (duse). As the bow- 

 string wears out it is not removed but new lengths 

 of tucum fiber are woven into the extra length. 



The basis of the Eastern Nambicuara arrow is 

 the jointless shaft {alukwirikatu) , which appears to 

 be cane (Gadua sp.). Before being made into an 

 arrow the cane shaft is heated over a fire to 

 harden it. Into this cane shaft, which is roughly 

 three-eighths of an inch in diameter, a piuva 

 foreshaft (ihdikatsutu) is inserted for a distance of 

 4 or 5 inches, leaving about 20 inches protruding. 

 The joint is wound with sip6 vine for about 

 6 inches. To feather the arrow, a 10-inch macaw 

 feather (akinentsu) is split and the halves are laid 

 parallel to one another on opposite sides of the 

 butt end of the shaft. The feathers are lashed to 

 the shaft with cotton twine, the lashings being 

 about an inch apart. Although the feathers are 

 laid straight along the shaft, they assume a pro- 

 pellerlike pitch which gives the arrow its revolving 

 motion when in flight. The lashings are covered 

 with beeswax. The butt has a V-notch to hold 

 the bowstring, which is again tightly wound with 

 waxed cotton twine. By attaching various parts 

 to the end of the foreshaft, four different kinds of 

 arrows about 5 feet long are made. 



