INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



107 



people went hunting and fishing. Only men did 

 the field work, clearing the field together, but 

 each family head planted his part of the field. If 

 the crops did not grow well the ghosts were asked 

 to cure the field. 



Bitter manioc was prepared for food in two 

 ways. First, unpeeled tubers were left to soak 

 in water for 2 days, then squeezed in a strip of 

 bast or a piece of cotton cloth. After the skins 

 and fibers were picked out the pulp was rolled 

 into balls and dried. The dry balls were later 

 ground in a mortar, and the meal was sifted in a 

 circular buriti fiber sieve and stored in baskets. 

 When a woman wished to bake she placed some 

 of the meal in a shallow pot, dampened it with 

 water, and placed it on the fire to produce juku- 

 poto, *'beizhu." By the second method they pro- 

 duced chicha (zumima). The tubers were peeled 

 and grated, and the pulp, mixed with water, was 

 boiled for several hours until it formed a thick 

 paste. This preparation was eaten when cooled. 

 Sweetpotatoes and maize were roasted; and fish 

 and meat were broiled over a babracot. 



HUNTING AND FISHING 



The siriva palm wood bow (boika) is used in 

 fishing and hunting, and formerly it was used in 

 war. Umotina bows ranged from 5 to 7 feet in 

 length, 2 inches in width, and an inch in thickness 

 in the middle. In cross section the bow is oval, 

 often somewhat more flat on the inner side. 

 Siriva wood is black with white streaks, but with 

 age and polishing the bow turns jet black. Slight 

 shoulders are notched at each end to hold the 

 bowstring (boiko) made from tucum fiber, the 

 extra length being wound above the handhold. 

 The 5-foot arrow (isho) is made by fixing a notched 

 canela or siriva foreshaft to a taquara shaft. 

 This point is used for fish and small game. Bam- 

 boo points are used for big game such as tapir, 

 jaguar, and peccary. All arrows excepting those 

 used in fishing are feathered with urubu or mutum 

 feathers. A feather about 8 inches long is split 

 and the halves are fastened to the arrow with 

 twine lashings about one-eighth inch apart, which 

 are then covered with pitch. 



Fish were shot from the banks and, in shallow 

 pools, were drugged with timb6. Women used a 

 cast net fastened to an oval hoop (bukye) for 

 catching small fish after they were drugged. 



Men hunted all the local game singly or in groups, 

 but in former times did not use dogs. 



Women make pots (porikupu) of various sizes, 

 all shaped like half of an egg shell. Both men 

 and women make baskets of two types. One, 

 shaped like the pots, called kothodokwa, is an 

 openwork burden basket about 24 inches high and 

 16 inches across at the top and is made from 

 aguasu palm leaves. The other, which is in fact 

 a bag, is made from the cortex of buriti palm 

 fronds. This bag (yethabotho) is used for storing 

 feathers, twine, and ornaments. Men weave the 

 sleeping mats from the same material used for 

 making the burden baskets. Women spin cotton, 

 using the spindle (hdlaka) spun on the ground. 

 Cotton materials are woven by women on an 

 upright loom (ipokdpa). 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 



In the past the chief (hutorikdna) was not only 

 an economic and ceremonial leader but a war 

 leader as well. Although the son of the chief had 

 a right to succeed his father, the actual decision 

 was made by all the men in council. The Umo- 

 tina say that they used to fight with a tribe called 

 Abuse that lived to the north of them and with 

 white men. When the chief decided on a raid he 

 blew his horn (ipona) made from the shell of an 

 armadillo. The men then made arrows and war 

 clubs, and just before attacking they painted 

 themselves black with genipapo and glued feathers 

 on their temples. The Umotina used a shield 

 made by stretching tapir skin on a square wooden 

 frame, and they poisoned their arrows. When 

 attacking they killed the men but sometimes 

 kept some of the younger women. They cut off 

 the heads of their enemies and used the teeth to 

 make necklaces. The heads of white men were 

 boiled and eaten. 



The kinship system of the Umotina is of the 

 Hawaiian type. In the grandparents generation 

 there are terms for grandfather {iyokomishina) 

 and grandmother (imakomishoto) which are ox- 

 tended to the siblings of the grandparents. In 

 the parental generation there are just two terms, 

 father (iyoko) the term being extended to cover 

 father's brothers and mother's brothers, and 

 the term mother (imdko) which is extended to 

 cover mother's sisters and father's sisters. In ego's 

 generation there are terms for brother (amdna) and 



