THE UMOTINA 



THE PEOPLE AND THEIR HABITAT 



The Umotina, who call themselves the Balorie, 

 are settled today in the Indian Post of Fraterni- 

 dade Indigena near Barra do Bugre on the Para- 

 guay River west of Cuiaba. Before coming to the 

 Post they occupied a village at Tira Santida just 

 below Tres Barras. The Umotina, who today 

 number about 65, are related linguistically to the 

 Bororo who live directly to the east of them. In 

 two respects, at least, they differ sharply from 

 their neighbors — they have a pure Hawaiian-type 

 kinship system and are pronouncedly dolichoce- 

 phalic. The local Brazilians call them the Bar- 

 bados, owing to their beardedness. 



In the old days the village (mukimo) was built 

 on the bank of a river and consisted of two rows of 

 houses separated by a narrow plaza. The house 

 (ishipd) was rectangular with a gabled roof coming 

 down to the ground, the whole being covered with 

 pacova palm fronds except the two ends which 

 were left open. This house type is the same as that 

 formerly found among the Guat6 who live to the 

 south of the Umotina. Each family had its own 

 house, the occupants sleeping on mats spread on 

 the ground. The husband kept a fire going all 

 night not only for warmth but also to drive away 

 the mosquitoes. 



In the past men wore no clothes but after 

 puberty used a penis sheath (bakyotokwa) made 

 from a buriti palm leaf. The foreskin was pulled 

 over the glans, and the leaf was wound around it 

 and fastened with twine, the purpose being to hide 

 the end of the penis from the women. Men 

 wore their hair long, tied in a knot at the 

 back of their heads, and allowed their beards to 

 grow; but eyebrows, eyelashes, and pubic hair 

 were plucked out. The lobes of the ears and the 

 lower lip were pierced. Women, on the other hand, 

 cut their hair short, and plucked out their eye- 

 brows and eyelashes but not their pubic hair. 

 Women wore a knee-length skirt (imetd) made 

 from woven cotton. Like the men, the women 

 had their ear lobes pierced. 

 106 



The principal ornaments used by men consisted 

 of beautifully made feather ear pendants (imituta) 

 about 6 inches long, jaguar-teeth necklaces (okopo), 

 necklaces made from human hair (pasovo), and cot- 

 ton arm bands worn above the biceps. A short 

 bamboo lip plug was worn in the lower lip. A 

 crude comb, putuka, was made by binding together 

 with human hair four siriva wood spikes about 5 

 inches in length. During dances the men fastened 

 rattles made from tapir and peccary hoofs to 

 their ankles. Women wore feather ear pendants 

 and "store "-bead necklaces. Some of these orna- 

 ments are still worn by the old men. 



ECONOMICS 



AGRICULTURE 



The traditional food crops of the Umotina 

 included such plants as bitter manioc (otuiyo), 

 sweet manioc (otuiyo biborono), maize (omatdka), 

 black and red beans (dumatdka) , sweetpotatoes 

 (balarkupo), and cara (tapatuku). In addition, 

 they cultivated gourds (podri), cotton (akydmani) , 

 and urucii (nodokahirika) . Tobacco was not 

 grown, as the Umotina did not smoke in the past. 

 The food supply was further augmented by the 

 collection of a wide variety of roots, nuts, and 

 fruits, including the piqui (heir), mangaba (ba- 

 torukwa), and the "marmelo" (quince, hashorukwa) . 

 Honey (psiru), was considered a delicacy and 

 collected particularly before ceremonies. 



Fields were cleared in the forest, but instead of 

 felling the large trees, the branches were trimmed 

 off in order to let in the sunlight. The under- 

 growth was beaten down with a wooden sword 

 club (dntho) made from the wood of the siriva 

 palm. In September the dry cut-over was burnt, 

 and with the use of only a digging stick (tdpu), the 

 planting began. Maize was planted first; three 

 or four seeds were put into a hole about 6 inches 

 deep in order to protect them from birds. Manioc 

 was planted by putting two pieces of stalk into a 

 hole prepared with a digging stick. The field was 

 weeded about a month later, after which the 



