INDIANS OF SOUTHEASTERN COLOMBIA

PAUL H. ALLEN

areas occasioned by the critical wartime need was the opening to relatively easy access of South American forest areas having Indian populations almost untouched by modern civilization. This is particularly true of the Rio Vaup6 region of southeastern Colombia. Until the rubber program introduced air transport, contact with the outside world was limited almost entirely to the balata workers who occasionally made the river journey to M a n a u s a jungle odyssey of 60 days7paddle down the cataract-broken stream. The alternative route was through the forests and across the trackless llanos to Villavicencio, at the foot of the eastern Andes. Today, thanks to the now highly developed Colombian air transport service, one may be in Mitd, the Colombian government headquarters in the VaupCs Comisaria, within three hours' flying time from Bogoth. However, short river trips away from Mitd find Indian life continuing in the primitive pattern.

NE of the unexpected by-products of the search for new rubber

The Vaup6, a western tributary of the Rio Negro, is a great meandering river flowing through almost unbroken rain forest. The long reaches of quiet water are broken by boulder-filled rapids and falls, which bear rhythmic, many-syllabled names in Tupi-Guarani, the Ltngoa Geral. From the air the region is seen to be flat or slightly undulating, with occasional islandlike, bare-topped, conical granite hills, long, rounded ridges, and isolated broken mesas of overlying sandstone trending northeastsouthwest. In the late afiernoon light the white escarpments of one of the most typical of these, the Cerro de la Pintura, resemble the skyscrapers of a great modern city. The mesas are the home ofthe famous cock of the rock (Rupicola),whose curious mating dance was described by early naturalists. The young male birds develop a brilliant orange plumage, and they are often taken by the Indians and kept for sale to passing travelers. A climax rain forest covers nearly all the area south of the Rio Guaviare. Usually there are three or four huge trees to the acre, averaging go feet in height, surrounded by a wealth of palms and smaller trees whose fbll development awaits a break in the canopy. The sandy uplands and mesa tops have rather extensive patches of low, scrubby trees and bushes, grading into open savanna. Meandering tributary streams are often flanked by oxbow lakes

~6~

T H E GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

FIG. I-The

Kio VaupCs region.

and low natural levees, behind which the poorly drained marginal lands are flooded to a depth of three to five feet during the entire rainy season. Here are found many peculiar species of trees, including some kinds of rubber (Hevea) and massaranduba (Mimusops sp., a source of chicle), the roots of which can withstand long periods of submergence. Here also is to be found that rarest of botanical treasures, a blue orchid (Acacallis cyanea), until recently lost to the scientific world since Richard Spruce saw it in the 1860's. Scattered throughout the rain forest are areas of sandy soil, supporting the curious low, open woodland called ~aatin~ya the local Brazilians. by The trees average less than 20 feet in height, and most of them have rounded leathery leaves. Primitive ferns and mosses form low mounds about the bases of the trees, and epiphytic orchids and bromeliads abound. Other areas have small residual ponds, and dense groves of caranh palms (Mauritia carana), somewhat resembling the palmettos of our own southern states, make them conspicuous from the air. Many of the huge thatched communal houses, malocas, are on low ridges near falls or rapids, but others, far from any major stream, can be located from the air only by means of the rounded patches where the forest has been cleared for planting.

INDIANS OF SOUTHEASTERN COLOMBIA

569

FIG.2-A

grove of Mauretia palms in the vicinity of the Ariari, tributary of the Kio Guaviare.

For some inexplicable reason, the area from the falls of Yurupari eastward to the junction of the Vaupis with the Rio Papuri is malaria-free, and it is here that the majority of the Indian population lives. No accurate census has ever been taken, but it is estimated that there are now about 8500 Indians in this section. The white man's diseases, against which the Indians have little resistance, have evidently decimated what must once have been a much larger population. During our rubber working season of 1943-1944 a severe epidelnic of measles swept the camps, leaving more than 50 known dead. Old settlers remember the smallpox epidemic of 19171918, when whole malocas were wiped out. All personnel were vaccinated during the 1944-1945 season, and it is hoped that others can be protected in some way. Tribes are of varying social status; in fact, away from the mission villages almost a caste system prevails. Indian society ranges from large, powerfbl groups such as Cubeos, Tucanos, Tarianas, Piratapuyos, and Desanas downward through Cirianos, Yurutises, Carapanhs, Tatuyos, Barhs, and Carijonas to the lowest rung of the social ladder, the unrelated, nomadic Macuses. These last are generally despised; M a ~ his one of the most insulting terms that can be applied to an Indian of this region.

57 O

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Although nearly all the tribes supposedly belong to the general Tucanoan linguistic stock, a bewildering number of dialects are spoken. Tribes at any distance from one another have distinctive vocabularies, but most of the older men speak some Geral, Cubeo, or Tucano, all of which are in fairly wide use. Many of the men who have worked in the rubber camps now speak enough Spanish to be understood, though it is difficult to obtain specific information, since all the dialects lack words to express abstract ideas. For example, reports were received in Mit6 of great stands of rubber trees in the Kio Papuri drainage area, but investigation revealed that to the Tucanos any number over five isfe, or a great many," and that although they have specific names for many kinds of trees, they have no word for rubber, di, meaning "milk," or applied to plants having milky latex, being the nearest. It was a constant source of surprise that even Indians who had had fairly frequent contact with civilization and who spoke a good deal of Spanish could not count above 20. Although each dialect has its own words for local place names and the names of animals, birds, plants, and fish, they are best known in Geral. For example, mitti is Geral for a certain species of large bird for which the word in Cubeo is anunquimbo.
LL

Away from the mission villages, residence is in malocas, some of which measure as much as 70 by 75 feet. They are thatched with fronds of such palm species as caranh (Mauritia carana), ubi ( ~ a n i c a r i aatricha), ubi miri (Manicaria martiana), or poktamwi (Lepidocaryum allenii). Considerable care is exercised in the thatching. The small fronds of the ubi miri and poktamwi are plaited by their stems onto laths of split palm trunk, to form giant elongated shingles. These are then lashed one above the other onto the framework. The supporting posts, usually of termite-resistant acaricuara wood (Centostigma sp.?), are placed so as to leave an open space in the center for ceremonial dances. As many as 40 individuals may live in a maloca, generally brothers with their wives and families. Each family group is allotted one or more of the lateral spaces between the supporting posts, averaging 8 by 12 feet, for cooking fires and for hammocks. The malocas are lighted only from the front and rear doorways. The doors are mats of palm fronds strengthened by stakes and hinged at the top; they are propped up during the day. The darkness of the interior is a decided advantage, since it affords protection from tht: myriads of tiny sand flies that would otherwise, in some areas at least, make life almost unbearable.

FIG.3-Cerro de la Pintura on the Upper Rio Inirida (about zo1o' N., 7r02j' W.). FIG.4-Forests o f the Upper Inirida, as seen from the Cerro de la Pintura.

Frc. 5-Kubeo boy at Yararaca, Upper Cuduairi, demonstrating the use of the blowgun.

FIG. 6-A close-up of the same boy with blowgun and quiver for the darts.

FIG. 7-Matched

pairs of Yurupari horns in use.

5 72

FIG. 8-A young Kubeo couple painted for a cereinonial dance.

FIG. 9-Kubeo

man being painted with uruci.

FIG. 10-Crude figures pecked in granite. Such figures are common near rapids in the Papuri, Para, Macu Parani, and Cuduairi.

573

5 74

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Many hammocks are hung about, made either of the traditional palmfiber nets or of cotton cloth obtained from Brazilian or Colombian traders. The cotton hammocks are warmer and are much preferred. Where the old-style nets are still used, it is customary to keep a FIG. 11-T~pica1 Vaupe's Indian communal house. small fire burning to one side of the net through the night. Several cooking fires are usually going; the black clay pots are supported on three hollow cylinders of baked clay. ~urnishingsconsist principally of low wooden stools; implements and utensils include one or two huge hollowed tree trunks for the brewing of cachiri for ceremonial occasions, blowguns, quivers of poisoned darts, bows, and long fishing arrows, fariiia presses, huge, shallow clay pans with built-in ovens for baking cassava and drying fariiia, beautif31 circular woven trays (balayas), grating boards for making cassava, and mortars for the preparation of coca. The weaving of baskets from split maranta canes has been developed into a fine art by the men, and many beautiful and complicated colored designs are seen. A settlement has as standard equipment objects manufactured by widely scattered tribes. For example, the common wooden stools of the region are nude only by Tucanos. Certain basket and balaya types are restricted to Piratapuyos, others to Macuses or Banivas. Blowguns and the cleverly constructed baskets for the darts as well as the deadly curare are all made nowadays by Macuses, though other tribes evidently once had the art. Only Cubeos make the painted bark death masks, but they are often seen in the malocas of neighboring Guananos. The cassava graters used everywhere are manufactured by Banivas of the Rio Isana region and are obtained by barter by all other tribes. Only after long acquaintance is it safe to assume that articles found in any given locality were made by the residents. In the evening a standard task of the women is to prepare coca (from Erythroxylon coca, the source of medicinal cocaine). The freshly gathered green leaves of the shrub are dried rapidly so that they retain their color and are mixed with the ashes of Cecropia leaves; the whole is reduced by

INDIANS OF SOUTHEASTERN COLOMBIA

575

repeated siftings and poundings in the wooden mortars to a dust-fine, olive-green powder. A heaping tablespoonhl is held in the cheek, and is slowly absorbed while the men smoke tobacco and talk over the day's happenings. Among my clearest memories of the manv nights spent " FIG. 12-Brazilian Mission village of Umari, Kio Uaupcs. among the Cubeos is the muffled, rapid vibration of the coca pestle and the oft-repeated "Kay-vama-kay, Kay-va-ma-kay, Kay-va-tu-di, pa-ku-ma" (So it was, so it was, my friend). Coca in this form does not seem to be seriously habit-forming; the effects are merely a slight stimulation and a numbness of the tongue.
L

Agriculture is primitive. Patches of forest are cleared and burned, and the spaces between the charred logs are planted by the women to bitter yucca (Manihot), lulus (Solanum globiferum?), plantains, pineapples, peppers (Capsicum), yams (Dioscorea) of a curious deep-purple variety, coca, and, rarely, corn. New clearings are made every few years, so that they are often at some distance from the maloca. Groves of fruit trees surround many of the malocas-pupuiia palms (Guilielma gasipaes), guamos (Inga spuria), Annonas, caimarones (Pourouma cecropiaefolia), Lucumas, breadfruit (Arto, carpus), cashews (Anacardium), and others. Wild cane (G~nerium) common on most riverbanks in tropical America, is found here only in small cultivated patches; the straight, light, flowering stems are used for fishing arrows. Agricultural products are supplemented by many forest fruits, such as the well-liked umari, or seeds of various trees, including some rubber-producing species. The seeds are reduced to meal, and the poisonous principle leached out. Hunting also adds to the larder; one of the main reasons for engaging in rubber work is to obtain a trade gun to replace the relatively inefficient blowgun and poisoned darts. Heavier poisoned arrows are (or were) used with a bow for larger game, which, ifthe older inhabitants are to be believed, included human beings until some thirty years ago, for cannibal feasts often accompanied tribal dances.

576

'THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Fish are abundant, and many methods are used for taking them. Traps are set in fast water on the margins of falls, and lattice screens with a basket trap are often seen blocking the mouths of small tribu-

Frc. 13-Paccing

a canoe througll the Bacurabi cachoeiro.

garape Is

with a lattice screen at night, after the fish have entered to feed. Rings of stakes are planted in shallow water up stream, and a quantity of a barbasco, in this case the bristly, seaurchin-like, toxic fruit of an unknown leguminous tree, is macerated and placed within the rings. The poison, carried by the current, drives the fish downstream; when they are crowded near the lattice fence, more crushed barbasco is thrown into the water there, and the stupefied fish are scooped from the milky water with nets or balayas. During the dry season, when the Vaupts is low, pools between the exposed granite rocks are blocked off with broad leaves, and sections of a cultivated woody vine (L~nchocar~us), as large as a woman's forearm, are beaten with mallets and thrown into the water, to poison the fish until they can be readily caught. Large catches, obtained in this way, are apportioned among families in the maloca. Some of the fish are smoked on racks of split cane over slow fires and preserved for kture use. Other forest products give variety to the diet. During my stay in the Kio Papuri region, every able-bodied man left for the Rio Paca in August to gather tapurh, colonial caterpillars of two species, one black, one red, that feed on the leaves of an unidentified euphorbiaceous tree called in Tucano ruak-pub. The caterpillars are dried on split-cane mats over slow fires, protected from the rain by overhanging palm fronds, and are carefully stored in leaf-lined baskets. A family often collects as much as six bushels in a week. Boiled fresh and skinned, the caterpillars taste much like good shrimp, but when dried they acquire a decidedly sawdust flavor. Beetle larvae and some species of ants, particularly the leafcutters, are also collected and are regarded as great delicacies. Although fish and various forest products form the "caviar" of the

INDIANS OF SOUTHEASTERN COLOMBIA

577

Indian diet, the everyday staple is cassava, made from the roots of the b i t t e r yucca. These poisonous r o o t s are soaked in water for several days, peeled, and !grated by hand on shallow boards set with tiny quartz crystals cemented in geometric patterns with balata gum. The FIG. 14-Brazilian Mission village of Yavarett. from the Papuri. wet mash is fed into an ingenious contrivance, a cylindrical receptacle woven of split maranta canes, capable of expansion to several times its diameter but contracting to a very slender tube under tension and resembling in principle the Chinese finger traps or the metal sleeves used in our war plants for lifting shells. The tube filled with wet mash is hung to a rafier pole, a long rod inserted in the lower loop, and pressure applied, usually by a woman sitting on the end ofthe pole. The poisonous juice is squeezed out, and the mealy residue is baked on one ofthe huge oven pans into a large circular cake averaging two feet in diameter and half an inch in thickness. It is prepared daily and eaten fresh. The gated meal may, however, be allowed to ferment for a day or two to give it a pleasant, slightly acid flavor, afier which it is placed in the heated clay pan and constantly stirred, to form fariiia when dried. This is usually stored in woven baskets of about two pecks' capacity, carefLlly lined with special leaves that mature the flavor of the product. These paneros of fariiia are a standard article of commerce and form the basic provisions for all voyages, or for rubber and balata operations.

The tribes are strictly exogamous. Brides are tra&tionally stolen in the night, though there is some evidence that in recent years there has often been a previous purchase agreement with the parents. The couvade is observed, the father being confined to his hammock for some time after the birth of the child. If a baby is malformed, it is buried at once; if twins are born, one ofthem, preferably a girl, is buried. Nevertheless, a strong affection is shown for children, and although they are seldom punished, they are remarkably well behaved. This is by no means to be taken as an indication

578

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

that these youngsters are not entirely normal, and, contrary to popular supposition, Indian babies do cry. Caciques, or Ttichnguns, exercise a mild authority. They are called capitanes by the Colombian authorities, who issue them formal commissions, signed by the Protector of the Indians and the Cornisario. The religion is a primitive, little-understood belief in forest and water spirits, most ofwhich are believed to be harmful and which must be variously

FIG. 15-Pay6 equipment from the Vaupis. From left to right. gourd for carrying tobacco snuff and Y-shaped bone instrument used to blow the snuff into the nostrils; bone tube decorated with a ruff o f toucan feathers, used to blow pwodered purirh; Pay6 rattle; boxes made from leaf strips o f the miriti palm (Mauretia) containing quartz crystals and bundle o f mirhpiranya sticks used for treating rheumatism; large quartz crystal.

propitiated. There is apparently a belief in some sort of after life. The Cubeos have a tradition that the souls of their dead reside in or near a series of sandstone caverns on one of the open savanna areas between the headwaters of the Rio Cuduairi and the Rio Cubiyu, known in Cubeo as the Yapobodb. Some tribes apparently believe that the souls of the dead reside in animals, particularly deer. Religion and medicine center in the cult of Payi men, who supposedly have the power to call down lightning, change the weather, transform themselves into jaguars, shoot magic stones that kill or sicken, and cure disease. Power over lightning is believed to be contained in large perfect quartz crystals, an indispensable feature of every Pay6 kit. The crystals are kept in special palm-leaf boxes. Of equal importance is the medicine rattle, made of a small, round gourd, painted red with uructi (Bixa orellana), and having

INDIANS OF SOUTHEASTERN COLOMBIA

579

a handle of a heavy, dark-red wood called tnirh-piranga (Brositntitn sp.). These rattles contain tiny quartz crystals and sometimes have a larger crystal cemented to the handle, the whole topped with a gay ruff of toucan feathers. It is with the rattle that changes in the weather are effected, and the quartz crystals may be projected by the Payk to any distance to kill or injure an enemy. Sickness, injury, and death are never attributed to natural causes, but invariably to some human agent, who must be sought out by the aid of a Payt. The powdered seeds ofparich (Piptadeniaperegrina) are blown forcefully through a bone tube into the nostrils of the Payt, producing a sort of ecstasy, during which he determines the guilty party. Treatment of disease is also in the Payk's field and is accomplished by pure "magic" without the aid of any vulgar pharmacopoeia. The patient is seated on a log or stone. The practitioner stands behind him, dips up a calabash of water, takes a liberal mouthful, blows it forcefully over the patient's back, and follows it with the remaining contents ofthe gourd. This treatment is repeated to the quantity of about 25 gallons. The Payt then presses the crown of the patient's head, the back, chest, and sides, blows up and down the spine, and eventually extracts the source of the ailment in a crystal previously concealed in his mouth. Rheumatism, known as palitos (little sticks), is extracted in small bits of mirh-piranga wood thoughtblly placed by the Payt in the curative water beforehand. A frequent result of this treatment, particularly when given for measles, smallpox, or a common cold, is an understandable complication of bronchial pneumonia, which ofien ends in the death of the patient.

Ceremonial dances are of several types and are invariably accompanied by the drinking of great quantities of cachiri, a beverage prepared from almost anything capable'ofbeing fermented but most frequently from toasted cassava cakes broken up and steeped in water sweetened with cane juice. In February and March the farinaceous fruits of the pupuiia palm are used; they are boiled, grated, and fermented into a thick orange brew. The taste is acidulous and rather pleasant. The alcoholic content is probably about that of beer, but the drink is provided in such quantity that all and sundry manage to get drunk on it. One of the most familiar of the dances is the dabucuri, to which the participants bring gifts of large amounts of jungle fruits. Haunting music is played on panpipes and on long paired flutes, the care&lly matched tones of which are reminiscent of clarinets. Among the Cubeos there still persists

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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

an interesting custom of masked dances performed some time after the death of a tribesman. Formerly the individual was buried in the floor of the maloca and the grave was watered down (this is still in practice); after six months or more the body was disinterred and the bones reduced to charcoal, pulverized, and mixed with the cachiri for drinking The masks are manufactured from natural bark cloth, variously painted, and cover the face and the entire body. On the morning after the ceremony the costumes are set on stakes fronting the maloca and burned. Important dances are accompanied hy the use of much paint. The men use carayurti, (a red pigment prepared from the leaves of Bignonia chica), in bands of geometric design applied to the arms and legs with the aid of engraved wooden rollers. Another rrd coloring, obtained from uructi, is frequently daubed on at random. Women also paint, but usually in deep purple; the dye is obtained from the leaves of an unidentified Rubiaceous shrub cultivated for the purpose. Feather ornaments play a considerable part in all ceremonies, and most older men have palm-leaf boxes containing more or less complete regalia for several individuals. These ceremonial pieces are frequently in matched pairs and are highly prized; purchase is difficult. Most of the ceremonial material used today among the Cubeos and Guananos on the main river has been obtained by barter from neighboring Desanas living along the Abio and the Macd Paranh.

Most famous of all the dances is the yuruyari, a ceremony performed only by men. The following notes from my diary illustrate typical uses of ceremonial objects. The occasion was a rare yurupari and dabucuri dance seen at Bacurabh on March 24, 1945.
A deep booming of drums from within the maloca heralded the appearance of the mystic yurupari horns. With only very slight urging from one of the older men, all females from babes in arms to withered, toothless hags betook themselves to the fringing forest, to hear only from afar the deep, mysterious notes of the trumpets, sight of which is believed to spell certain death for any woman. White settlers in the region declare that the Payts and older men are not above aiding the workings of the mystery by the judicious administration of poison to any overcurious female. Four pairs of horns had been taken from places of concealment, and the players now ranged themselves in a rough semicircle, producing the first deep, lugubrious notes. The horns were in matched pairs, made from sections of palm trunk about four inches indiameter. Two of the pairs were simple cylindrical sections about three and five feet long respectively, with bits of green leaf bound above and below the sound openings, which had been carefully adjusted to produce identical tones. The other two pairs were similar but much shorter
- -

INDIANS OF SOUTHEASTERN COLOMBIA

581

sections and were fitted with elaborate flaring trumpets of spirally wound strips of bark strengthened with narrow lateral wooden strips. These gave forth exceedingly deep, booming notes. Evidently considerable lung power was needed to blow them as indicated by the inflated cheeks and rigid throats of the players. Many of the older men had meanwhile opened their tangatiira boxes of ceremonial feathers and were selecting with great care brilliant feather ruffs, which were bound to the mid-section of the longer horns, one pair being fitted with long scarlet guacarnayo tail feathers, the companion set with dense ruffs of bright yellow Oropindola plumes. Four

FIG. 16-Bark-cloth mask worn during special ceremonies following the death of a Kubeo tribesman. FIG. 17-Young man holding a ceremonial whip and showing marks of lashes received during his initiation during the Yurupari ceremony.

oldsters, with perfect rhythm and dramatic timing, paraded through the maloca, blowing the newly decorated horns, advancing and retreating with short dancing steps. At intervals a couple danced out of the door, their horns raised high, and returned after a brief turn, the expanding and contracting feather ruffs producing a beautiful burst of translucent color against the stronger light. Younger men were beginning the first of the savage whippings, and the master of ceremonies appeared with the red, curiously shaped clay jar containing the powerful narcotic drink called caapi (prepared from the macerated stems of Banisteria caapi). The thick, brown, bitter liquid was served in pairs of tiny round gourds; many drinkers promptly vomited. White settlers who had tried the brew agree in their descriptions of preliminary visions of beautiful colors and scenes, followed by a sense of mortal terror as they felt themselves enveloped in flames or being devoured by jaguars. Whipping proceeded by pairs. The first lashes were applied to the legs and ankles, the whip flung far back in a deliberately calculated dramatic gesture; the blows resounded like pistol shots. Places were immediately exchanged. Soon the whips were being freely applied,

s 82

THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

and all the younger men were laced with bloody welts on all parts of the body. Tiny lads not more than six or seven years old would catch up the abandoned whips, merrily imitating their elders. Gradually the volume of sound diminished, until only two lone performers remained, enchanted with their art, bowing, advancing, and retreating, with great delicacy and grace, in the center of the maloca. About a dozen of the older men were outfitting themselves with their finest diadems of resplendent guacamayo feathers, tall, feathery egret plumes, oval pieces of the russet skin of the howler monkey, armadillo-hide disks, prized loops of monkey-hair cord, precious quartzite cylinders, and jaguar-tooth belts. Bedecked with these triumphs of savage art, the men formed a swaying, dancing semicircle, each with his right hand resting on his neighbor's shoulder, all shifting and stamping in slow unison. Leading the group was the ancient Payt, blowing tobacco smoke in benediction on his companions from the huge cigar in its engraved ceremonial fork, while his long, polished rattle-lance vibrated constantly. The familiar, dignified cachiri ceremonial chant was intoned by the group; their deep voices rose and fell, mingling with the mysterious booming tones of the yurupari horns. . On my departure my old friend Marcelino of Trub6n cachoeira remembered enough Spanish to wish me a pleasant journey. He asked an evidently often pondered question, as to whether my land might be somewhere in the sky, since he had invariably seen me arrive by plane and return in the same way.