organização social e crenças dos botocudos (nimuendaju)

8/15/2019 Organização Social e Crenças Dos Botocudos (Nimuendaju)

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Social Organization and Beliefs of the Botocudo of Eastern Brazil

Curt Nimuendajú

Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 2, No. 1. (Spring, 1946), pp. 93-115.

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S O C I AL O R G A N I Z A T I O N A N D B E L IE FS

OF

THE

B O T O C U D O O F E A S T E R N B RA ZIL '

CURT

NIMUEND JU

I N T R O D U C T I O N

T

HE

T E R M "B O T O C U D O " has been applied to three wholly dist inct

people:

( I ) T h e Borun,* to use their native designation fo r themselves, officially

designated by the Servilo de Protecc50 aos Indios

(S.

P.

I.)

as Aimork. Th ese,

the peop!e visited by Prince Maximilian of Wied and by Manizer, form the

subject

of

the present notes. Th ey formerly lived from the Rio Pardo south-

ward beyond the Rio Doce, in the Brazilian states of Bahia, Minas Geraes, and

Esp iritu San to. For the time being

I

consider their language isolated.

(2) T h e Botocudo of S anta Catharina and the adjoining part of P aran i.

These are Jules Henry's "Kaingang"; I consider them related to the Kaingang

proper, but not identical with them in either speech or culture. T h er e are two

subdivisions of them. T h e larger one, visited by He nr y in 1932-1934, lives in

Sa nta Catharina a t the post D uq ue de Caxias of the

S. P.

I.; the other, located

at the pos t Si o Joio of the S. P.

I.

somewhat south of Porto Uniio in Parani,

embraced, according to

H.

Baldus, about twelve individuals five years ago, but

has become extinct since. Ling uistically, these people (whom

I

have

never visited) fa!l into the catego ry of South ern G6, which also comprises the

Kaingang, Guayani, and Ingain.

3) T h e Botocudo between the middle Rio Ivahjr and the Rio Piquiry, in the

state of Para ni. Th ese are called K~ ir u- ti j y the Kaingang, Ivapark by the

1 Ty pin g for this paper was done by personnel of W or ks Projects Adm inistration Official

P rojec t N o . 665-08-3 -30 , U n i t A -15 . T h e transla tion f rom the G erman m anusc r ip t i s due to

Robert

H.

Lowie, who has also incorporated a few statements from his correspondence with

the author an d a few references to o ther authors .

T h e auth or, contrary to his physician's advice, undertook another expedition to the T uk un a

of the upper A ma zon , amon g whom he died in December, 1945-R.

H. L.

O rth og rap hic note: T h e acute accent over a vowel indicates stress; the tilde over a vowel

indicates nazalization; a short right-turned hook below a vowel designates it as postpalatal.

Because of lim itation of type available, in scm e cases accent an d tilde follow the vowel. For

the same reason

0

is substituted for 5 (as in Germnn

o h n e .

is equivalent to English

sh

to Spanish ch-Editor.


3/24

94

SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL

O

ANTHROPOLOGY

Guarani . Th ey coincide with Th . Borba 's Arb,

H.

von Ihering's Noto-Botocudos,

a n d

V.

Fr it 's $e&. Th cse people are nomadic, unwarlike, an d extremely shy.

T h e y have never been scientifically investigated. I n

1912

I saw two captives

from th is t r ibe among the K ak ga ng of the Rio Ivahy . Th ei r l anguage roved

to be Guarani .

Sam ples from the speech of three unrelated Botocudo grotips

Gua rani Botocud o Boroctido Botoc udo Kaingang

( Ivahy)

(R io Doce) (Sra . Cath . ) ( Sz o Paulo)

sun

kwarahi

pi i tep6

la rs

moon dr,;a+si p i i m + i k koii.0

i

fire

water

tat6

tata

1


4/24

9

OCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE BOTOCUDO

explaining certa in matrimonial rules. I n con trast to Manizer s s ta tement , she

considered al l cousin marriages taboo and denied that cases of polygyny were

corre la ted wi th the levira te or sororate. Sh e could not gra sp the idea of

parent-in-law avoidance.

IG

I

Area in

eastern Brazil

occupied

by

the

Botocudo


5/24

96

SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL

OF

ANTHROPOLOGY

Tu rn in g from the North ern Botocudo to those of the Rio Doce, I found two

posts of the S

P

I :

Guido Marlikre, directly on the left bank, near the railroad

station Crenaque, in the state of Minas Geraes; and Pancas, km north of

Collatina, on the same railway line,

in

the state of Espiritu Santo. In Guid o

Marlikre there are 5 Botocudo of the Nakrehi tribe, whose original habitat was

in the Rio ManhuagG region, south of th e Rio Doce. Except for their speech,

however, they have preserved nothing of their ancient culture. A t the post there

are also six other Botocudo, th e survivors of tribes tha t formerly lived on the

no rth side of the river, viz. three Conviign (Krenhk's t ribe), two NaktGfi, and

one Nakpie (figut-k rak).

T h e Conviign are the children of the deceased

chief M ui' (Manizer's Moun i) 2 who still wore earplugs, went naked, had two

wives, and had relations with markt spirits at the time of the Russian ethno-

grapher's visit. H i s daughter and the older son were useless as inform ants, being

ashamed of their ~eople'spast, which they were unwilling to discuss.

But the

younger son obviously had the religious temperament and gave sundry bits of

information, though with a certain shyness. Most valuable as an informant,

however, was H q n i t , the last of the Nakp ie. Un fortu nate ly his Portuguese was

such that I was obliged to import Jorge, one of those highly civilized NakrehC,

as an interpreter after others had utterly failed in tha t capacity. Hqn rit quickly

grasped the nature of my interests and began recounting stories of spirits,

spooks, etc. H is narratives were limited to rather brief episodes but

in

their

aggregate (some thirty) these convey some notion of ancient Botocudo religion.

This radically diverges from that of Indians

I

had previously visited, for

I could find no trace of a cult of the dead or of demons, nor of astral myths

or were-animals. The y believe in an anthropomorphic celestial race, the markt,

who are well-disposed towards humanity (see below, p. 10 1) .

Hqnht's statements will be presented in the form he gave them.

I

confined

myself to questioning him a little after he had completed his remarks, inquiring

fo r familiar motifs, but rarely with any success. Strangely enough, while the

Botocudo regard the Su n as a male, the Moon is con;idered a bisexual bring.

I also secured a shor t genealogy extending over four generatiom. Compris-

ing

persons also utilized by Manizer for illustrating sociological conditions

(M ui , Berkii, Inia t Ny a, and Kepri2k Ka prB k), it partly confirms, par tly

amplifies and revises his statements.

At Pancas there were thirteen Botocudo, only one

cf

them belonging

to

the

Minyiii-yiriign originally living here, the rest Nakrehk.

2

H H . Manizer,

Les Boto cudo s d aprhs les obserrations recueiliies penddnt un s l o z r r

c h q

eux en

I9 5

Acchivos do Museu Nacional de Rio

de

Jcneico, vol.

22,

1919).


6/24

97

O CIA L O RG A N IZ A T IO N O F T H E BO T O CU D O

TRIBESA N D G O V E RN ME N T

T h e B oto cu do lack a generic d esig natio n f or them selves, since BorGn

(Bory'gn) in their languagedenotesany Ind ian , irrespectiveof tribal af?iliation.

O n theother hand, they dist inguish the several Botocudo tribes, some of which

comprisedseveralbands, eachund er a specialchief.

T h e country seems to have been regarded as

tribal

terri tory, within which

the consti tuent bands were permi tt ed to roam a t will. In any case the t ribal

designations arem ostly topographic:

Nak-pie land of l abor

N a k - tu n land of the ant-hill

Nak-rehk beautiful land

R g u t -k ra k tortoise rock

M inyi-yirGgn white water

InApri l 1939thesurvivingBotocudorepresented the following groups:

(a ) Near I tambacury

N a knya nhk , A ra ni ', Poy i z i

(b)

AtGuidoMarli ire , on theRioDoce

NaktGii , Nak pie,

C

onvrign,Minyi-yirugn

Nakrehk

Origina l ly theN akny anhk had the upper Rio Mucury for their habita t; the

Arani ' lived on the Rio Sua luhy; the Poyii.5 ( Jiporoc) on both banks of the

middle Mucury , f rom S io Matheus to the Jey i t in hon ha ; the NaktGn, Nakpie

and ConvGgn (Crenac) nor thof the Rio Doce , in Minas ; the Minyi-yirugn in

theRioPancasarea, in EspirituS anto; an d theNakrehk sonthof theRioD oce

in the Rio M a n h u a p reg ion.

M y informants mentioned two semi-legendary tribes. T h e anthropophagous

Tombrkk in the inter ior of the woods nor th of theRio Doce were said to lack

huts,residingbetweentheroot-buttresses of thegamelleiratrees;Raulin odeclared

that the tribe consistedsolelyof men. Secondly,there werethe Poyek regn,also

called Nem-r6n because of the ir long bows. These are peaceable hunters , but

prone to abduct children. According to Raulino they are usually invis ible , but


7/24

98 SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY

once his fa ther had seen them roving past him in the iorest. T he y called him

over and presented him with one of the two deer they had ki l led.

Am on g the Botocudo " the s trongest" h as a lways been leader, as the India ns

say even today.

Morvever,

"strength" does not inlply physical s t rength

(ny ipmro) , bu t supe rna tu ra l pow er (y ike g n) .

All the chiefs whose names

I

obtained were yikegn, as I determined from explicit stat,

ments.

T w o facts suggest that the former chiefs were in higher measure responsible

fo r the band th ey le d th an the chiefs of other tr ibes. I n the firs t place, a whole

series of Botocudo chiefs ' names has come down to us, while the li terature records

not a single name of the chiefs of adjoining tribes.

Further, several Botocudo

tribes and bands were ps n? an en tIy named aft er their lenders . Sec, -,ndiv, the

disproport ionately large number of chiefs who fell as vietiins

s

blood-vengeance

in the feuds of yore is a s t r iking fact ; i t is as though they alone were reclroned

responsible. H q n i t gave me a l is t of eleven leaders of the Na kp ie and Con vl jgn

tribes. Of these eight-Bitii.n, K etk , Nu -tni'z', T eEGk, BerCil, T om hk , Lim ,

Krenbi-were mu rder ed; KrenAk, Mui ' , an d Y uk li i i t died from sickness.

O ne of the m ost

characteristic

features of socia l li fe amo ng th e Botocud o was

the constancy of their blood feuds, n ot only between distinct tribes, bu t even

between bands of the same tribe. Sex ual jealousy, highly developed am on g all

the Botocudo, was doubtless a cause of this phenomenon, but neizher the only

nor the principal one. For the most pa rt the acts of revenge formed a n endless

chain , an d neither of the p a r t i ~ s oncernecl cou d reca l the orig in of the feu d.

S t range ly enough, I learnt of no case in which a person had been killed for

suspected malic ious sorcery, nor does this motif occur in any of the ta les r e c c r d ~ i

by me. T h e fol lowing accounts were secured.

H0.a with four companions went to Kurik, a fellow-Nakpie; all he wanted

was to ask him for bananas and go back home.

But Kurik and three of his corn-

rades were lying in aillbush along the road. H e killed H o -a and I ~ is ather an d

drove the others to seek safety in flight.

For a while the survivors concealed their

hatred. Th en , one day ten of th em paid Ku rik a n amicable visit.

Each took up a

position beside one of Kurik's men, and on a

rearranged

signal they killed him and

all his followers except one, who made his escape.

T he Co nvfig n mu rdered 0 - r a f i because they envied him his two wives, in

whose company he was visiting them. How ever, the widows did no t remain there,

but returned to their family.

The Nakpie and Convhgn were living together.

Nakpie married a Convhgn

woman.

W h e n the tribes separated, this N ak pi e rem ained with his wife's tribe,

which killed

him

Vihen the Nakpie again met the Convhgn, they feigned friendli-


8/24


9/24

100 SO U T H WE ST E RN JO U RN A L OF ANTHROPOLOGY

t ively. En cela cornme da ns l 'appellation particuli2re d u neveu, i l semble qu e ce

soi t une coutume des Boruns, a insi que des Chane^s Kaingangs Guaranys que

d'appe ler les tantes: mires ,--les oncles: pi.res,-et les neveux: enfan ts. T h e re

are sa id to be diverse words for gran dm othe r and grandson. Very interest ing

is the s ta tement tha t the pa rents - in- law a re ca lled the grandfa the r (or the g a n d -

mother) of my son, in other words were designated teknonymously.

Incomplete as the l is t given by Nimuendaju doubtless is , his and Manizer 's

statements indicate at least a tendency toward a generation system-R.

H

L.]

Whe n YumkrCn wa n te d t o ma r ry Hqn6 t , she f i r s t spoke t o he r f a the r , he r

mother being dead. H e sa id , Dau ghte r , you a re phi lander ing wi th th i s l ad . D o

you wa n t t 3 ma r ry h im?

The re upon she we nt t o H g n i t a nd t o ld h im she

wished to marry h im. T h en he a r ranged mat te rs wi th he r fa the r .4

T h e genealogical table recorded gives evidence of five cases of soro ral

polygyny, one of non-sororal polygyny, and two instances of the levirate, as

follows:

The chief, TeElik, was simultaneously married to the sisters Ambyik and

flgenlik; his brother, chief Krenik, with the sisters Nyimd6k, MEyCb, and l;lgokn.

Chief BerkIi, husband of the sisters Yamyi and rSgutk, married a third sister,

M u ri g n , after FJgutC's death. Chief M ui ' was at the same time married to the

sisters T u d n and N ya ; their sister, U i h i k , married another Indian . Ovriii , not a

chief, married the sisters Pang$n and Kareefi..

Chief Yakibm was simultaneously married to Keprfik and GuBg, two unrelated

women.

Polygyny, though not restr ic ted to chiefs , was thus most frequent among

them, but n ot a l l of them had m ore than one wife.

The levira te is i l lustra ted by the following cases.

When Yakibm died, his unmarried younger brother, chief TomhC, took to wife

one of the widows, Keprlik, who brought into the family two of her dead husband's

children, U e6 n and T am . By TomhC she had two more children, U i n a nd TekrCk.

I

was told tha t Tom hk would have married his brother's widow even if he had

4 Manizer mentions g ihs to the girl s parents an d the chief.

H e also cites the case of

Ta m, who had killed a capybara, which he offered to a man in exchange for his sister. How-

ever, she stayed with T am only a single night. H e represents it as a normal thing for men

and women to change spouses. As a special case he cites that of Mui- and his brother Iniat,

who changed wives because one of them desired to be a co-wife with her younger sister (op. cit.

p.

26 f .


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1 1O C I A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N

OF

T H E B O T O C U D O

already had a wife. T h e second widow, G us g, as well as her children, Y ap i- i and

Kanzin, joined her fath er P a r i k an d on his advice did no t remarry. f Mu ir's

wives only Nya survived him; she married his junior half-brother, the unmarried

chief Kren bi. By M ui ' she had a daughter, Sebastiana, and by Kr en bi a son,

J050.

T h e levirate is not compulsory:

Yakibm's second widow remained unmarried, while Oarili's widows both married

men in no way related to the deceased, even though he had a younger brother, H q n i t .

M y NakrehC interpreter, Jorge, told me th at in his wife's presence he was

permitted to play with her unmarried younger sister as much as he wanted to;

it only ma de his wife laugh, while she would resent such familiarity with an othe r

girl

T h e Botocudo d o not seem to have any not ion of ~ar ent - in- l aw voidance.

M A R P T A N D MAGIC

I n the sky there dw ells a numero us race of spirits invisible t o comm on mortals,

who call them tok6n. T h e spirits themselves gra n t others the power to see them

an d comm unicate with them ; a nd by these favored persons they a re called marCt.

T h e markt a re c redi ted by H q n i t wi th ordinary Indian s ize and shape; but

according to Raulino they are shorter by a head. Th er e are males an d females,

adu l ts an d chi ldren. Th ey l ive in weal th an d abund ance in the sky, owning

everyth ing of whatever ki nd is possessed by th e Portuguese, i. e. N eo -

Brazilians, without having to work fo r it . Th ey suffer neither sickness nor death.

T h e markt a re kind and he lpful toward mankind, never growing angry. A t

one time

in

the pas t the Indians did not have to work a t a l l ; mardt gave them

everything they needed. All one had to d o was to turn to one of their chosen

favorites who had relations with them, then they would send the desired boon

throug h him. I n hunt ing there was no need to ma ke great efforts: th e m ar i t

were asked through the intermediary for game an d would send i t. T h a t is why

the ancient Indians practised no hun t ing magic. Similarly, i t was left to the

markt to sta rt a cul t ivated plot ; a t most the Indian s would make a clearing and

move away, finding the mature crop on their return.

Th ese conceptions are i l lustrated by a num ber of episodes.

Manizer

o p c it .,

p.

261)

gives a different account of th e second widow's fate: Kwak,

qui devint femme de Krenak (p ire du dbfunt) apr is une longue rbsistance. El le a llbguait

M oun i et Kristino, qui la voulaient persuader, qu'elle ne pouvait devenir sa fem me ap ri s

voir

i t 6

s

bru.


11/24

102 SOUTHWESTERN JOURN L OF NTHROPOLOGY

A man who had great supernatural power made a clearing and burnt the ground.

Then he called his wife and left with her for another district.

"Why, aren't you

going to plan t on your clearing?" his wife asked. "No," answered he, I do n ot need

to plant anything " S o they moved on. Aftcr a few months the man sent a kinsman

from his band to inspect the plot. "W ha t are you sending him to the plot for,"

the wife objected, "when you haven't planted a thing?" W h e n the messecger got

to the clearing, he found it full of the most varied fruits, all of them grorving on

single stem. H e broug ht back five corncobs. W h e n the woinan saw them, she wa;

amazed, but her husband said, "Do you see, wife, did I not tell you?" T h e rnarCt

had planted on his clearing.

Yakibm had great supernatural power .

Once he and his people were in the

woods, suffering from hunger. Th ey begged him to ask the mar& for iood. So

Y ak ib m sang to the ma:&, then went by himself in to the forest, an d bro ugh t all

ma nne r of victuals. Bu t his people did no t consider the food palatable, and when

t e markt through Ya kib m asked whether the Indians wanted more, they declined.

A woinan and her six year old boy went into the woods.

They 1:aci nothing to

eat and wanted to gather f ruits . T h e woman gathered ca ragua ti f rui ts 2nd piled

them u p so as to be able to talce them ho me. T h en she went to an other sp ot, where

there were (c an ca ~ io ) f ruits . Th en the boy suddenly sa id, "Lcok,

Moth er " I n the midst of the forest there was a heap of fine gourds.

Near and fa r

there were no cultivated plots, nothing but woods. I wonder who has brought these

hither?" the woman said.

"I'll

take some of them h o n e at once "

Fil ing

her carrying-net, she brought her findings home to camp, where she reported how

she ha d obta ined them . "It was th e mar&" said the people, "let us fetch some,

too " All of the m fetched gourds and consumed them. A t first they were a bit

afraid the food would disagree with them, but nothing happened.

Entifi's son, RignbrGmk, said, "Father, I should like to smoke?

You have rela-

tions with the mar& ; beg them f or tobacco for me." A t night E nt ifi sat down

and sang. H e begged the markt for tobacco, and they

to bring him some

the following mornin g. A t daybreak they sent him fo r trial first a

new,

red tobacco

pipe fu ll of tobacco. Rignbr6.k lit it and fo un d the tobacco excellent.

Tlle people

now wanted to see a leaf o i this species. So E n ti ii brough t on e from th e martit,

as large as a banana leaf. W h e n all had m arveled at it, he returned it co the markt.

I n the en tire district there was no tobacco.

A woman said, "I want to go into the forest alone and get honey even if I have

no iron ax." Sh e found a bees' nest half way up in a tree and start ed to chop

a t the cavity with a stone ax. T h e n behind her she heard a voice say, "T ak e this

Note that according to Maximilian, the Botocudo learnt to smoke from the

whites

Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied,

Reise

nach

Brasilien in den Jahreit

8

bis

1817 vols.,

Frankfort am Main,

1821; vol. 2,

p.

3 4 . Manizer found them avid of tobacco, but adds

that they do not plant

i t

(op .

c i t .

p .

260) .


12/24

1 3

OCIAL ORGANIZATION OF

THE

BOTOCUDO

iron ax "

She cried out in alarm and turned about in her fright: i t was a mardt

holding out an iron ax toward her.

Full of terror she ran away to tell about the

incident at home. W h en the people heard it, they said she had been a fool to run

away. T he y returned to the spot, bu t the mard t was no longer to be seen.

T h e Botocudo render the ir word y ikegn in to Por tugu ese as for te , "s trong."

A s sta ted above, a l l Botocud o headm en were yik egn ; bu t n ot a l l yikeSn were

headmen. H q n i t to ld me how the subsequent chief B iyie n became yikegn:

B iy i-n took his weapons and went alone to hun t in the forest.

At that t ime he

still lacked supern atural power. I n the woods he met a large number of mardt. T h ey

seized him, threw him u p into the air, caught him again, and thus p ayed at sh uttle-

cock with him. A t last one of them said that this was eno ug h; they had merely

acted in this way in order to give him power. Eiyian went home in a daze and lay

down. T he n he began to sing. Af ter tha t he went into the woods and the mardt

brought him a number of very large pineapples, which he distributed among his

people.

Su bse q~ ien tly he mardt even took him with them into their big house in the

sky one day.

I n addi t ion to the abi li ty of com mun ing with the mardt, yike.gn persons

have

the power suddenly to t rans form themselves an d others . T h is is i l lustra ted by

th e fo lowing tales.

A man went into the woods to hunt.

H e killed a howling mo nkey, but it

remained hanging high up in the branches of the tree.

H e came home and told

his son tha t he had left the monkey in the tree. T he n his son begged to be allowed

to accompany him into the woods in order to fetch the kill. W he n the boy saw

the mollkey in the branches of the tree, he urged his father to climb up and throw

the beast down, but the man objected th at the trun k was too thick for climbing. Bu t

the son kept on begging until his father finally climbed up. O n top he cut up the

howler into little morsels and threw them down singly. T h e son called up to him

to throw down the entire animal, but his father would not listen. Suddenly th e

trunk of the tree began

to

swell and its branches to tremble.

Then the man turned

into a crested eagle, his arrows grew into talons, and he flew off whistling

His son

gathered together the morsels of flesh and went home with them.

A

boy said to his father, "Go h unting and kill a monkey for me "7 H is fa the r

was no t inclined to hunt, b ut the boy would not let him in peace. T he n the m an

lost patience and said he would mak e a monkey for him. "T ha t I'd like to see," said

the boy. So the m an struck the ground before him with his hand a nd beckoned,

7

It is worth recalling

that

according to hlzxirnilian (op. cit . vcl 2, p 29 monkeys are

the favorite game of this people


13/24

104 SOUTHWESTERN

J O U R N A L O F A N T H R O P O L O G Y

and forthwith a monkey appeared.

The man killed and roasted it and gave it to

the boy to eat. H e bade him carefully collect the bones.

H e himself did no t eat

of the beast.

"How are you able to make monkeys?" the son asked.

"You'll see

presently," said the father, "stand over there beside

the

bones " W he n the son had

done this, the man again struck the g o u n d with his han d an d beckoned. T he n all

the bones entered the boy's body an d he turned into a monkey. A t once he climbed

a tree, and in vain his mother called to him to come down. H e fled into the woods.

Then the man transformed the mother into a small mammal (dyehkm?; said to

resemble an opossum)

t

first only the Lizard couple were on earth. Th eir children had no mou ths,

but ate aborally. Lizard wished to alter this. H e went into the woods. Four days

later he returned with a lot of jaht, (according to Raulino, m utu m ) eggs. H e laid

them down on the ground in a row and assembled all the children round them in

a circle.

H e ordered them to shou t only when the eggs would burst open. Actually,

when this happened, they all shouted, for they had suddenly acquired mouths. T h en

Lizard told his children, I have transformed you; now you must transform us." H e

and his wife lay down, faces downward, and allowed themselves to be painted by

their children. Th ereb y they turn ed into lizards.

Those who are yikegn may supplicate the markt for remedies against s ick-

ness and may even acquire the power of resuscita ting the dead. Am hic~nio 'a n d

his wi fe had m any chi ldren , amo ng them a d a u g h t ~ r , hom they loved above al l

others. Sh e died. As she was lying dead in the hut , her fa ther had people cal l

Tomhk, who was very yikegn, and begged him to revive the girl .

T o m h k

demanded some tobacco, which he held under the corpse's nose.

He

sa ng , a nd

aft er awhile, the girl arose , was a l ive and well. Sh e told her fa the r to pay T om hk

well , fo r she had really been dead. Amhionio ' paid T om hk a large roll of

tobacco.

T h e way in which the markt concern themselves on behalf of the soul aft er

an individual 's death wili be described below.

To da y there i s no t a s ingle yikegn left .

T h e te rm yolikybn is applied to a pos t three mete rs in he ight and of the

thickness of a man's thigh . T h e wood is pa u balsamo, ' which ha s a red heart-

wood an d white sapwood. A t the top the post terminates in a human image

about one meter in height , which is carved in such fashion that the smooth,

cylindrical body is formed of the red heartwood, while the head, as well as the

arm an d leg stumps , a re of the whi te sapwood. T h e face , uni formly turne d

eastward, is painted with red lines in uruch.

8 Professor A. R. Davis informs me that thi s is

M y r o x y l o n t o l u i f e r u m H. B K.

mem

ber

of

the

Leguminos+R.

H.

L.


14/24


15/24

C

SOUTHWESTERN

JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY

t is Y ek& kren-yirhgn tha t a t bottom co ntrols all remedies against sickcess.

f someone is ill, the people call a yik& man , who sings in the aft ern oon (the

proper t ime fo r intercourse w ith the mar& ), a nd the spiri ts l is ten. Th ey g o to

their chief, Yek$n kren-y ir6gn a nd beg him fo r medicines t o give to t leir

protCgC, who then applies them to the patient.

I f anyone has committed murder, Ye k4 n kren-yirhgn takes away his soul and

keeps it captive in the sky. T h e culprit 's body lives on below, bu t grows sick

an d feeble. T h u s declared Mui', who had seen imprisoned sou ls in the sky.

Despite all my inquiries m y three informants were unable to teil me any-

thing f urt her ab out this chief of the inarCt. T h e y disclaimed any knowledge of

the characteristics ascribed by Manizer to Markt-khmakniarn, who corresponds

to Y e k a n kren-y irhgn; or of his wile, rl:e Russian echnogrzpher's "Marit-jikkji.""

SOULS AND GHOSTS

Souls. Every adult has a series of souls (nakandyu,G), scme pcople liavine

a s ma ny as five or six. How ever, on ly one of them resides in the body, the

rest

remaining nearby. If a person starts on a journey, several n ak an d yk i precede,

others follow him.

A

child gets his first nakandyliii a t the ag e of a pproximately

fou r, only acquirin g the rest. Anto m-b ri, is :he one th at brings the

soul, inserts it into the body, and advises it

ha w

to behave. Co nc er ni ; l~A n t o n -

br6 could learn only th at he lived in the vicinity of the cou ntr y mown

a

N a k- ir im ; he is certain y no t to be identified ivith Ye k a n kren.yir6gn.

In

sleep the nakandy hii leaves the body and thcn has experiences (drea ms ) by itself.

T h e loss of th e nakan dyhii causes sickness.

H$nit went into the woods to hunt.

H e met two sa u i monkeys (m br~ ki 'k )

which he killed and carried home.

arrivirig he fell down unconscious. T hen a

number of female saui monkeys came in the guise of pretty girls and wanted to take

him

away, bu t he offered resistance. T hen he heard the shrieking whistle of the

mar i t

in

his ears and forthwith the female monkeys

let

him go. However, he fell

sick, for they had abducted his nakandy lis. Th ey came back in huma n f orm an d

teased H ~ n i t . A t last three m ar it appeared at the door of the house. Th ey drove

the monkeys away and took H a n i t to their land in the sky, where they returned

his

nakandylifi. Th ey also gave him

a

drink and he was completely restored to

health.

9 Manizer

op.

c i i . ,

pp.

267-270 describes the spirit chid as a palm above the ordinary

man s height, and having an immense member fatal to women.

His head is all white, his face

covered with red hair as far as the eyes. H e sends rain and storms, but is kind to the Indians

and angry when they are maltreated.

t

was he that instituted the use of labrets and ear-pdugs,

and certain songs are his.


16/24

1 7


THE

BOTOCUDO

A

girl named PBngkn was very fond of agouti flesh.

Once she ate of

an

agouti that was really a transformed m anyakeyi'. T h e manyakeyi' are people who

live in the south,

in

houses like those of the Portuguese.

P ~ n ~ k n ' sody remained

where it was, but the manyakeyi' took her nak andy 6fi along and locked it up.

T he n her body began to grow sick. W h en her m other Ya m ni ik noticed this, she

had people call KadnyCk who was yikegn: he was to see what could be done.

KadnyCk went to the manyakeyi ' and saw P~ngBn'scaptured soul. H e called i t

away on the pretense of wishing to show it some thing an d abdu cted it in an a uto (sic).

Ta ki ng it home, he allowed it to enter Pqn& n's body, an d she recovered.

Bef ore the body's d ea th the nakandyG fi dies within it . LVhen M u i' was

sudering from his las t i l lness , he said that he had seen his nakandyhfi die and

the markt bury i t ; and that now he knew def in i te ly that he was about to d ie .

A

short t ime af ter this his m re di tion was verified.

T h e o ther nakand yhi i o f a dead person accompany the corpse to the grave

and soar above i t weeping an d invisible. T h e y no longer eat anything and

would u l t imate ly d ie i f the mardt d id not t ake p i ty on them and carry them to

the land Nak-T r im, W hi te Coun t ry , in the sky . Th enc e they nevermore re turn ,

an d no living person can ever get there. T he y have no s ignificance whatever

fo r th e l iving.

A

resurrect ion not due to a yikegn was described as follows:

ma n with his wife an d three children was living ap art from other people. H e

fell dange rously ill an d died several days later. H is wife mourned h im, one of his

sons buried him, an d then they all moved away.10 O ne day one of the sons returne d

to his father's grave and saw a raving wild pig there. I i e wanted to kill it, but

it began to speak like a hum an being. "Don 't kill me, I am your father "

There-

with he assumed human shape. I have come back," said the resuscitated man,

"the wild pigs have broug ht me back from the underworld." T h en the son wanted

to see the wild pigs. H is fa th er called, and one beast appeare d, which he had his

son kill. T h e n he asked where his family was now living, and they went hom e with

the game. H e let his family eat of the pig but would not take any himself.

H e

advised his son not to kill a snake

if

he should meet one while traveling.

Ghosts From the bones of the corpse the nandy6i i (ghost, spook) forms,

i. e. the nandybf i y uk q- kr in ~ ' f rom the f resh bones as soon as the flesh ha s

putrefied, whi le f ro m the old bones there develops the nim hiq -ni i , recognizable

by i ts long hair , which progresses by lerigthy jumps. O th er for ms of nandy& ,

1

Maximilian o p ,

cit.

vol.

2,

p. 56) speaks of the q i c k burial of a dead person in or

near the hut, which is then abandoned.


17/24

1 8

SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY

according to Raul ino , a re the nandy &-r6 n ( long nan dj~ 6f i ) nd the nandybl i -h im

(b la c k na ndy% ) .

T h e nandyb li reside in kiy im pa ri 'd n, which l ies un der the earth where the

su n shines while i t is night above ground . T h e re the nan dy& spend their exist-

ence more or less l ike l iving h um an beings. T h e markt d o not a l low them to

return permanently to the earth and chase them away as soon as they appear.

Nevertheless i t happens occasional ly that the nandy6Ii appear to the l iving.

Un les s the person who sees the ap pari t ion courageously ki l ls or a t least vigorously

thrash es it , his de ath mi gh t result. W o m en a re fo r th at reason especia ly

imperiled by such apparitions . Ho wev er, in the first cf the following tales even

a woman has such an encounter without suflering evi l consequences.

A

slain

spook instantly vanishes.

A woman said to her husband once: "Stay here, they are calling me into the

forest " W h en she followed the call, she foun d the nandy6fi in the woods. Th ey

~ a i n t e d he woman with black pigment. W h en she got back, she told her husband,

" T h '

IS

the dress the nandy& have given me."

She was able to don and doff

the paint as though it were a dress.

A

group of Indians once encountered hunters of a hostile tribe in the woods.

The y

foug ht and killed one of them. Some time after this a man fro m the same

band went hunting. H e told his wife he would stay away three or four d ays; in

the meantime she was to sleep with her mother. T h e man again met th e same

enemies, who killed him. A fte r the lapse of fou r days the wom an decided to sleep

in her own hu t and to await her husband there. I n the darkness of the night his

nandy6ti came to her in the h ut. H e lay down, saying, "Louse me "

Sh e stirred

the fire and laid the ghost's head on her lap.

Then she saw that it was teeming

with maggo ts and realized th at it was her husband's ghost th at h ad com e.

At once

she fell dead, and the nandy6fi vanished.

T h er e was a widow whose husba nd had been killed. Sh e left her children hom e

an d wen t into the woods to gather caratinga roots. Sh e pu t the collected roots down

in a heap and took her carrying-net farther up the mountain in order to gather still

more there. W h e n she came back with her load she heard voices at the spot where

she had left the first caratingas. Th ere were two nand y% .

They had kindled a

fire an d were about to roast the roots. W h e n the widow got there they seized

her and thrashed her. Sh e dragged herself home, told her children what had hap -

pened and died shortly after.

m n went to a rock to gather caraguati fruits, which were growing on the

heights. H e leaned his bow an d arrows against the cliff an d climbed up .

Whe n he

had g athered enough carag uath, he descended with his load. T h en he saw below

him a female nandy6fi handling his weapons, fitting one arrow after another to the


18/24

1 9


TH

BOTOCUDO

string an d trying to shoot a t the man, but in vain. T he n the ma n grew angry.

"W ha t are you fooling with my weapons for?" he shouted at her. H e cut off

a

stick an d flogged her with it till she remained lying on the groun d. T h e n he took

his belongings and went home.

There was a man named Entif i .

H e said to his wife: "Let us go into the

woods to look for honey "

Sh e answered, "Go alone " H e took his ax an d went.

H e looked a long while till he fo un d a bees' nest at the foot of a tree an d began

chopping it open.

T h e n he heard a call. Th ink ing it was his wife, he replied.

H e pushed the bees swarming around him away from his ears and listened. T he n

he saw tha t a nan dy % came toward him. E nt ii i grew vexed.

"What is he looking

for at this very mom ent?" H e chopped off a stick and thrashed the ghost.

"So

you won't annoy me again when am looking for honey," he said. T h en he went

home an d told the people he had thrashed a nandy6fi. T h en he began to sing

like a-how ling monkey. T h e people wondered grea tly, but he said, "T he mardt

so ordered me." T h e n he went into the forest to the markt and brought food from

there, an d all ate.

T h e same E nt if i went out with many others to hun t in the forest. Th ey camped

for the nigh t an d slept in a long line on the grou nd, each one wii+ his feet tow ard

the fire.

E n ti ii was lying in their midst. H e woke up while Jle others were asleep.

T he n he heard some one coming. H e called out, but n o one answered.

It was a

nandy6fi who went to the fire, took up a brand, and went back to the woods. Entifi

said nothin g, bu t decided to kill the nan dy % if he came again the following nig ht.

H e made a club for himself, put it by his resting-place, and lay awake. W h en

the others had fallen asleep, the nandy % came again to fetch fire. W h en he

stooped over to pick up a brand, Entifi struck him down with his club and killed

him. W h e n the fire of the nandy6fi goes ou t in the underworld, they fetch a brand

from a fire of the living.

A woman said to her husband, "Let us move " H e answered, "Then go ahead "

Sh e packed the carrying-nee an d went. Af ter a while her husband followed.

O n

the way he met two nandy6ii. On e of them at once attacked him, but the m an

wrestled with him and hurled him aside. T h en the other yelled, "H old him tig ht;

don't let him escape " T h e first one again attacked the m an, who however wounded

him with his knife and hurled him aside, so that he remained lying dead by the

road, while his companion fled. W h e n the ma n got back to his wife an d told her

he had killed a nand y6fi, she said, "Th e nandy6fi are dangerous Yo u have killed

one; now you will probably have to die." Bu t no thin g happene d to him.

I n c ont ras t t o t he K a m a k i a n d M a sa ka r i , t he Bo toc udo d o no t belie ve i n t he

tendency of the souls of the dead to turn in to man-ea t ing jaguars . On ly a f te r

repeated inquiries go t to hear the following ta le :


19/24

11

S O U T H W E S T E R N J O U R N A L O F A N T H R O P O L O G Y

man was once camping

in

the woods with his wife. T hen she begged him

to leave her alone until she should call him, saying that she wanted to transform

lierself. Sh e painted herself an d turned into a jaguar except th at fro m the shoulders

up she remained human. T he n she called her husband to her, a nd he was astonished

at her transformation.

"How can

I

now live with you?" h e asked. Sh e let him

wait and ran into the forest, where she killed two pigs. On e she brou ght to her

husband, the other she dragged to one side and devoured by herself. Sh e thus

continued to bring game to the hut, but would not permit him to approach her. O ne

day her head, too, turne d into a jaguar's; now she was a beast all over. She ran

to a site in the woods where many Indians were camped and ate every one of them.

boy who went looking for his father, who had been of the party, found nothing

left of them and remained in the woods all alone.

C O N C E P T I O N S O F NATURE

In ancient times there was no night. A man came down from the sky and

said to the people: "If you wish, you may kill me " T h e y killed him.

T h e n

night came.

Af ter a while he revived; then day came again. H e went u p to

the sky where he came from a nd is now the Sun .

Eclipses arise when S un and M oon quarrel and cal l each other names. T h e n

they turn black with rage and shame.

T h e Su n is male . T h e g reat

no t

the waxing) Moon is male, munyisk

yeka n (Father M o o n) ; the small Mo on is female, mu nyi 'k yoplie (M other

M o o n ) .

Luminous meteors are called Hatar in-yok Ca, "ar ira tail ."

Th e Or ig in

of

Thunderstorms.

TarG (Sky;

not

to be identified with either

S u n or Ye k4 n kren-yirl ign) had a wife an d

a

daughter married to Rggn-nhin.

A t that t ime they were l iving on the earth. TarG h ad a n ot terskin cal led

kriii-pakyhe, which owned the secret of th e uppe r world. T h e n Ta rl i wished

to collect s a p ~ c i ~ a s , ~ ~ H i s son-in-lawe took the skin along and hung i t up.

also wished to go to collect sapuciyas and asked to be allowed to take the

otterskin along. Ta rG finally consented, bu t admonished him to clean the site

in the woods roun d abou t where he would hang i t up. Rg 3n -nh in went to a

sapucdya tree and suspended the skin, but did only a li t t le superficial cleaning

in the vicinity. H e ascended the tree and began to throw d ow n the f ruits which

T h e n u t s

of

Lecythis ollaria, co ~ ~t ai n edn capsules.

"At the top of the vessel is a

circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly.

W he n the n uts are ripe this l id becomes

loosened, and the heavy cup falls with

a

crash, scattering the nuts over the ground" H. W.

Bates,

T h e

Natrtralist

o

t he

River

Amazons

2

vols., London,

1863,

vol.

1,

p.

67) .


20/24

111O C I A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N OF THE B O T O C U D O

fell

p5-p5

on the gr oun d in the woods. T h en the otterskin began to m9ve an d

rage around the trunk from which it was hung, beating against the trees with a

rattling, thund ering sound. A gre at storm rose: an d from the ground under

the tree the water came gushing forth. I t rose very rapidly, bu t STgqn-nhin did

not care about that . H e threw down more and more sapuciyas and they

dropped into the water t6-tCi Sud denly he noticed that th e water was reaching

his seat . T he n he began to cry and scream. T h e water carried him with the

otterskin

up

to the sky At last the mar& took pi ty on him and let him enter

the sky. T h er e the otterskin remains tc the present day.

When i t moves in

the sky, i t thunders and the water begins to overflow; then it rains on earth.

I n the beginning there were no storms. T h e sky was so close to the earth

that one could enter it from the earth ; but a t that t ime earth an d sky separated.

Wafer

(a)

T h e grea t snake N y u k u i d n is lord of the water and causes

floods.

I t signals the rain to descend by means of the rainbcw (nyu kua- n-

irnbyegn, "urine of the great snake7').

(b) T h e only one on this earth who had water was Humm ingbird ( ho b -

key cn) . Al l o thers dra nk noth ing but honey . Hu m ain gb i rd ba thed every

day.

T h e others also wan ted to have v:a:er. T h e y sent the mu tu m to trail

h ' u m n ~ i n ~ b i r dwhen he went bathing, bat Huiiltningbird went

so

fast that the

orher lost sight of him.

T h e people assembled one day and made a fire. Ir i r a Yopfidn came last ,

fo r he ha d been collecting honey. I n a low tone of voice he begged , "Give me

water."

"The re is no water here," they answered. T h e n he offered Hu m mi ng -

bird his honey for water, but he declined to exchange.

While ail were stil l

standing round the fire, Hu mm ingb ird said,

I

am g3ing bathing." I r i r a t railed

him, sticking close to his heels. Alm ost simultaneously they g3 t t3 the water,

which was in a hole in a rock. Hu m mi ngb ird jumped into the water, Ir6r a

immediately afte r him. H e splashed it in all directions, and thu s originated

brooks and rivers.12

The Origin

of Fire

Carr ion Vu ltur e (AmbCa) alone had fire.

M u t u m

(Pa ndy t) lay down in the middle of the road an d played dead. T h e blow-flies

12 Among the Yaghan , Fox is the selfish hoarder, and Hu m m in & ird discovers

his

supply

of water (M artin Gusinde, Di e Yamana, Modling bei W ien, 1937, pp. 1207-1209).

Compare

the foilowing Kaingang tale:

0

beija-flor escondeu a agua em baixo duma pedra para

qu

os outros G o pudessem beber .

Disse: 'Que ro tom ar agua no cCu.' ChekrC, outro passarinho,

acho u a agua e 'pinchou' fora a pedra" (H erb ert Baldus, Ensaios de etnologid brasileira, SQo

Paulo, 1937, p . 6 3 ) .


21/24

2 S O U T H W E S T E R N J O U R N A L O A N T H R O P O L O G Y

laid their eggs on him and he got full of maggots.

Vul ture came down and

brought fire in order to roast Mutum.

Mutum in a low voice said to the

maggots, "Don't crawl into my ears, nor into my nose " Yo un g Carrion Vu ltu re

sat nearby and, seeing Mutum moving his eyes, he cried out, "Father, he is not

de ad ; he is mo ving his eyes " "N o, he is dead," said th e old bird, "why he is

full of maggots

W ai t, soon we'll e at him up " T h en M uturn seized the

firebrand, jumped up, and fled. Car rion Vu ltu re pursued him.

b lu tum came

to Her on an d asked him to hide the fire. H e hid i t in his carrying-net and m ade

his wife sit on to p of it. Ca rrio n Vu ltu re looked everywhere and, no t finding

the fire, went away a t last. T h en H er on took it out and hur ed it in all directions

so th at now there is fire everywhere. W h e n C arrion Vu ltur e

snit

thir, hz

decided to forego the possession of fire altogethe r an d hen ceforth ate his food raw.

f 4 IS C E L L A N E O LJ S T A L E S

(a ) A r i r a was giving a feast, durin g which Ba t began quarreling with

Mutum, Arira's brother-in-law, but got the worst of it .

Ar i ra a sked , "Why

is he quarreling with my brother-in-law?

We shall be sorry for it." Peop le

were dancing. W h e n the feast was over and B at was going home, A ri r a

stepped in fro nt of him, barring his way. H e wrestled with Bat, rent him

asunder, and let him lie dead on the road. H e cu t off his nose, by which

he

mig ht have been recognized and painted him to look like a mutum. T h e n the

bats came. Th ey saw the dead man and thought i t was Mutu m.

"That's right,"

they said, "our kinsm an has killed M u tu m ; let us eat him." S o they built a fire,

roasted their own kinsman and ate him up.

b ) A r i r a and his wife were walking in the woods looking fo r sapuc iya

fruits. For a long time they looked until a t last they fou nd a tree with fruits.

When they wanted to gather them, the carrion vultures came, took possession

of the tree, and drove off the ari ras . T h e a r ir a said, "Just wait, I ' ll take

revenge " T h en the long hair the carrion vultures still had a t that t ime dropped

off and they became bald-heads.

(c) Anciently animals were like human beings, and none of them was

evilly disposed towards the others.

A magician came and gave them all food

to

eat.

T he n Ir i r a had the idea of making them hostile to one another . H e

tau gh t the snake to bite so as to kill or m aim his victims; he tau gh t the moscjuito

to suck blood. T he y turned into beasts, including Ir6ra himself, so tha t no one

should recognize him. W h e n the magician came, he called the beasts to accoun t,

but there was nothing to be done to change things back. T he n the magician

transformed himself into a woodpecker, his stone ax turning into a beak.


22/24

3

OCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE BOTOCUDO

(d) Among the monkeys there are some that are yikegn and lead a double

life, now as beasts, now as men; i. e. they are really human, but generally appear

to other human beings only in animal shape.

T w o men went hunting.

They heard the howling monkeys howl and fol-

lowed the sound.

They saw a very large howler running to and fro on his

branch. Bo th of them sho t many arrows at him, but not a single one touched

him.

Sudd enly he assumed human shape. H e had a bow and a sheaf of arrows

in his hands, and w hen the hun ters again shot at him he returned their arrowshots,

one of them wound ing one of the hun ters in the shoulder. T h en the other said,

"Now he has already wounded my comrade

I

must kill him a t all costs " H e

aimed well and this time hit the howler, which tumbled dow n. H e killed him

completely and let him lie, for he felt obliged to carry his wounded comrade

home as cluickly as possible an d treat him. W h en the wounded m an was

improving, he decided to go into the woods an d see whether the howler's corpse

was still lying there. B u t he foun d no trace of him.

Bu t on the spo t there were

several pottery sherds which had held food.

The ordinary howling monkeys eat fruits, but those which are yikegn eat

what human beings do.

(e) A n Indian named YatGii went into the woods to hun t. H e encountered

a band of monkeys. Selecting the largest, he shot an arrow at it, but the monkey

caught the missile in its hands, turned it round, and hurled it back at YatGfi,

seriously wounding him. H e dropped his weapons and drag ged himself home-

ward, where he died shortly after.

(f) [Note: Thinking that the Botocudo might s tand in the same supersti-

t ious awe of the jaguar as the Kamaki and Maiakari , I repeatedly asked my

informan t H q n i t to tell me stories about this animal.

However,

I

soon

dis

covered that in Botocudo belief the jaguar did not by any means loom as a

sup ernatu ral being. T he ir tales d o no t reveal tha t excessive terror of the beast

indicated in the relevant Ka m ak5 stories. Except for one solitary instance they

are pure hu nting tales.)

K at n ip had been gathering ant6m larvre and wanted to eat them. H e

therefore asked a relative for some bananas to eat with the anthm, but the

kinsman refused. S o Ka tn6 p took bow and arrow an d went to fetch bananas

himself. H e filled his carrying-net with them, pu t it on his back, an d went home-

ward. O n the way he foun d a thin branch with three twigs evenly projecting

from the same point. H e cut it off in order to make a tip for his bird-arrow

(mo nhE yi.k) ou t of it. T h en a jaguar, which had been lying in ambu sh, jumped

a t him. K at n ip threw off his carrying-net, jumped aside, an d discharged a n


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4 SOUTHWESTERN JOURN L OF NTHROPOLOGY

arrow, but the jaguar did not mind it even though it had struck him.

Again

and again he leapt at the man, who always managed to elude him and kept on

shooting his arrows till the jaguar was studded with them.

When he had got

rid of all his arrows, the jaguar jumped a t the back of his neck an d killed him.

H e at e half of him, let the remainder lie there, an d ran off.

When Katnip had not returned by the next morning, his relatives sent a

man named Nan to look for him. H e foun d the site of the fight, the carrying-

net, and the remains of Ka tnip's corpse. W h en he returned and narrated what

had happened, all of them gathered and went out with dogs to kill the jaguar.

T h e dogs found his tracks and drove him to bay. T he y attacked him until

he was quite exhausted.

Then the strongest of the men jumped at the beast

an d woun d his arm s roun d him. All the Indians helped, overpowering the

jaguar, a nd tied him up alive. T he n they built a big fire an d burn t him alive.

A relation of Katnip's beat up the man who had refused to give bananas

to him and took away his wife.

(g)

Bert55 went into the woods to hunt. H e had painted his arrows with

urucG in order to mak e them more effective. H e go t to a spot where a tapir

had been feecling the nigh t before. W hi le he was ooking a t the tracks, a

jaguar app eared an d jumped a t hi:n. Sevzra times Berkii evaded the attacks;

twice he shot at the jaguar and wounded him. T h en he climbed a tree. T h e

wounded animal restlessly ran about under the tree, then finally

viel?t away.

A ft er a while BerCIi climbed down an d followed his tracks. Soo n he saw the

jaguar lying on the ground. T h en he again climbed a tree an d waited fo r the

flies to swarm round the animal to make sure it was dead.

H e descended a nd

called his people thither. T he y skinned the jaguar an d ate the flesh.

(h) A m an went into the woods to gather cara gu ati fruits. H e got to an

open space, where there was only a spiny jaracatii tree.

There a jaguar ap-

peared and jumped at him.

The man leapt aside, but the animal kept on

jumping. T h e Ind ian yelled as loud as possible. H e looked round for a tree

on which he might ;ave himself, but the only one in sight was that jaracatii.

S o he climbed it regardless of its spines.

h

jaguar lay down under- the tree

an d waited. T h e man threw branches at him, bu t he remained there. A t last

another hunter answered the call of the endangered Indian. T h en the jaguar

go t u p an d followed the other voice, but the man climbed down and went home.

(i) PognC went into the woods to lie in ambush

by

a pitangueira tree,

waiting for game animals that would come to feed on the fruits which had

dropped from it.

W hile there, he was attacked by a jaguar. H e evaded its

leaps several times and finally found refuge on a tree. But this was dry and


24/24

5

OCIAL ORGANIZATION

O

THE BOTOCUDO

broke dow n at th e root und er Pognk's weight.

Pognk screamed aloud as he

toppled down to the gro un d with the tree. T h e n the jaguar grew suspicious

an d fled. Pognk went home.

j ) An Indian was hunting alone in the woods.

H e noticed a crowd of

unkn own Indian s unde r a gamelleira tree. T he y were the man-eating TombrCk.

T he ir chief was absent. W h e n the hunte r approached, they seized an d killed

him, cu t open his corpse, an d the women took o ut his entrails, which they carr ied

to the stream to wash, while the men dissected the body.

Then the chief returned.

H e examined the skin color of the slain man,

which was dark, and said, "W hy did you ki ll him? H e is a mulatto " [ H e did

n o t w an t his ~ e o p l eo kill mulattoes, b ut only whites.]

T h e n the Tom brk k said, "You are so powerful; restore him to life then "

S o the chief h ad them bring back the entrails and ha d them deposited by

the slices of flesh. H e sang, an d the man got u p an d remained sta nding upright.

T h e chief bade him g o; he took his bow an d went home.

(k )

A

man was roaming about the forest with his boy.

They me t t he

Poyekregn, who abducted the boy.

His father came home alone.

H i s k i n

said, "You ought to try to bring the boy back.''

S o the man returned to the forest.

H e gathered plenty of pret ty l i tt le

flowers and decorated himself with them. T h en h e lay d o ~ r n eside th e path of

the Po ye kd gn . T he y came, the boy in their midst .

They had painted al l his

body black with genipapo.

H e saw the flowers and asked f or permission to

fetch them.

When he got there, his father seized him by the arm and took

him home. H e washed him until the black pigment disappeared.

organização social e crenças dos botocudos (nimuendaju)

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