a Água e o homem na várzea do careiro

670 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST • VOL 102. NO. 3 • SEPTEMBER 2000

a right rather than a privilege, not only in underdeveloped na-tions but also in the United States, the only developed capitalistnation without a universal health care system. The denial ofhealth care to approximately 15-167<- of the American popula-tion constitutes a gross violation of human rights in the richestnation in the world, a point that Macklin unfortunately over-looks. •*•

A Agua e o Homem na Varzea do Careiro. Hilgard O'ReilySternberg. Belem, Brazil: Museu Paraense Emflio Goeldi,1998.248 pp.

HENRIQUE PEREIRAUniversidade do Amazonas

First published in 1956, Professor Steinberg's dissertation,presented to the Universidade do Brasil (Universidade Federaldo Rio de Janeiro, presently), has long been regarded as a classi-cal and pioneering piece of work on the study of the geographyof the Amazon floodplain. In this second and revised edition,sponsored by the Emflio Goeldi Museum, Hilgard Sternberg of-fers to a broader audience his meticulously documented study ofCareiro Island and its people as he met them in the early 1950s.The book's first edition was a challenge, an inspiration, and aprolific source of documented information for the studies thatfollowed it. Its second edition is obligatory reading for all thoseinterested in the scientific understanding of the Amazon region.

Divided in three chapters, the book integrates in a masterlyway the diverse historical, climatogical, geomorphological, hy-drological, archaeological, socioeconomic, and agronomicinvestigations, surveys, and experiments Sternberg conductedto describe and explain the dynamic patterns of both Careiro'snatural landscape and its human occupation, and their interrela-tionships. For him, "in such an inter-disciplinary approach iswhere the raison d'etre of geography resides" (p. 25). Chapter Iincludes valuable information about the varzea natural environ-ment and contains fine descriptions of small-scale alluvial proc-esses that shape the local landscapes of Amazon floodplain ter-races.

Steinberg's precise explanations, diagrams, and excellentphotographic documents about the genesis of diverse dynamicelements and features of varzea landscape, such as "terras no-vas" (p. 57), "restingas" (p. 62), "terra cafdas" (pp. 62-67), and"furos e igarapes" (p. 95), are definitive and have been cited inalmost all subsequent works about the varzea environment. Toestimate the minimum age of the Careiro's floodplain terraces,Steinberg was one of the first scientists to make use of carbon 14

to date pottery fragments. The book contains the location of twoarchaeological sites and pictures of ceramic material Steinbergcollected and dated (pp. 105-113). A considerable part of chap-ter I is dedicated to describing hydrological and sedimentaryprocesses that might explain past and future modifications of thecourse and dimensions of the Careiro channel ("parana doCareiro").

Chapter 2 provides a wealth of documented informationabout the origin of the present occupation of the island, whichstarted in the late 1800s with the massive migration of familiesof Ceara State to Amazonas State (pp. 128-145). Here, Stern-berg develops his arguments about the environmental and cul-tural factors that influenced the pattern of use of the soil he ob-served in 1950. Special attention is given to cattle-raisingpractices introduced by northeastern migrants. He also regis-tered the existence of agroforestry systems (Rubber + Cocoa +Banana) on the top of levees, and Jute on their lower portionsand closer to the shore. Manioc and corn are also cited as occur-ring, but no further attention is given to these components of theproduction system in the rest of the book. Worthy of mention isthe fact that, although fishing is one of the most traditional pro-curement activities for varzea populations even today and wasthe "first vocation of the island" (p. 46), Sternberg made no men-tion of fishing either as subsistence or as a commercial activityin Careiro's economy in the 1950s. In the third chapter, theauthor describes in detail the economic activity in Careiro thathe regarded as the most influential one. For Steinberg "the cattlerepresent the most important element, among those that consti-tute man's mark upon the landscape" (p. 171). Steinberg de-scribes the seasonal practices that Careiro fanners developed tooptimize the use of varzea resources. During low water season,trie bottoms of floodplain deposit lakes are incorporated in theagrarian landscape. The forest cover of these areas is slashed andburned and allowed to be naturally colonized by grass species,creating a grazing ground locally called "queimadas" (p. 180).Flood season is the critical season for animal husbandry in var-zea areas. During this period of the year, herds are kept in sus-pended corrals and manually fed with floating grasses harvestedfrom the river and its channels (pp. 181-203). The final part ofchapter 3 is dedicated to Careiro's dairy industry. Steinberg re-ports his observations on the difficulties the local governmentand entrepreneurs face to improve product quality and commer-cialization of milk and dairy products produced in Careiro. Thebook ends with Steinberg's impressions of the transformationsthat have occurred in the "human landscape" of Careiro as ob-served when he revisited the region in 1997: Careiro is no longeran exporter of milk and dairy products to Manaus and has under-gone processes of depopulation and "suburbanization."

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