10 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[ Vol. 8, No. 1 



Where barbasco is not naturally abundant, the Jivaros also propagate and raise 

 this fabaceous plant. It is used as a fish poison. Pieces of the plant are beaten 

 over the edges of their dug-out canoes (for usual river transport, they prefer the 

 buoyant and easily constructed rafts). When sufficient material has been pre- 

 pared, it is then mixed with water in the bottom of the canoe (usually by treading) 

 and allowed to "steep" for a while. The canoe is then paddled to the upper part 

 of a pool and tipped over. They then right the canoe and paddle to the outlet and 

 select the fish they wish to keep as they come floating past. Obviously, fish of 

 all sizes and ages are killed. They are well aware that a too-frequent poisoning 

 of the fish seriously depletes the stock and so this is done only at relatively rare 

 intervals. I was fortunate to see the process. Much of their actual fishing is done 

 on the smaller streams where they have developed a most ingenious trap for use 

 among the rapids. This trap operates by gravity. It actually strains the larger fish 

 out of the stream, places them in the dry part of the trap, and so kills them with- 

 out the need of anyone being in attendance; the small ones and fry are automati- 

 cally dropped back into the stream to develop further. 



Other plants are grown. One of these, a vine I suspect of being Apocynaceous 

 although I did not find it in flower or fruit, is trained on special arbors only in 

 the gardens of the head-men; it is used in some manner in certain of their cere- 

 monies. Tobacco also was seen, but I could not make a guess as to its species 

 since, at that season, the plants were not yet in flower. In certain gardens one 

 also finds beautiful specimens of an arborescent Datura; these will be briefly 

 dealt with in a later passage. A regular sight was a small plantation of the native 

 perennial, arborescent cotton, raised by them since time immemorial for its long 

 fibers. The Jivaros are excellent weavers, and have evolved a curious but effec- 

 tive loom. The cloth they produce is sturdy and fashioned with subdued but pleas- 

 ing color patterns made from native dyes. And every garden has a stump covered 

 with a species of Manettia; the specimen I brought back was presented to me by 

 one of Patehi's wives in return for having treated a jungle sore on one of her 

 children. The plant bore masses of delicately tinted pink flowers. It is their rem- 

 edy for dental caries; rather, I should say their preventive. 



Many dentists think that it is a "sweetened" tooth rather than a dirty one 

 which is prone to decay. The constant chewing of the yuca root leaves particles 

 of its starch between the teeth, and these would be fermented to sugar by the 

 salivary enzymes and so lead to dental caries. When I returned to the States, 

 leaves of this specimen of Manettia were tested in the laboratories of the New 

 York Botanical Garden for their "antibiotic" or bacteriostatic activity. The dried 

 material was not found to be particularly active on the organisms tested. Dentists 

 are not completely agreed on the exact cause of tooth decay and it may be that 

 the leaves of this plant are effective in some manner not understood. All I know 

 is that after chewing a batch of nijamang the Jivaro women regularly go to the 

 garden, pluck a few leaves of this Manettia, and chew them. They also stoutly 

 maintain that it is the only thing that keeps their teeth from decaying. The Jivaro 

 matrons may become progressively more black-toothed as they grow old, but they 

 do not become snaggle-toothed hags in their late twenties, as do the women of 

 the upland, Andean tribes. 



Jivaro marriage customs .are interesting. The tarimiat, or first wife, usually is 

 bargained for between the parents when the future husband is in his 'teens. There- 

 upon he goes to live with his future in-laws. If, at the end of the first year of the 

 betrothal, the girl is not pregnant, the wedding is called off and he goes back 

 home. If, however, she is with child, the actual "wedding" ceremony is still some 

 time off, for he has not yet proved himself capable of taking his full place in the 



