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Garden Journal 22(5): 139-142, 1972.

A Jamamadi boy places the cotton flight on a blowgun dart poisoned with curare
Jamamadi child sniffs narcotic snuff, shina, through a hollow monkey bone

THE BOTANY OF
A BRAZILIAN INDIAN TRIBE

By Ghillean and Anne Prance

RECENTLY MANY AMERICANS have become re-aware of the close link between man and nature. There is great involvement with natural foods and herbs, and housewives in increasing numbers are concerned about food freshness and purity. "Ecology" has become a household word; pollution is recognized as everyone's problem. In this country, as in the other developed nations, the dilemma is to preserve the amenities of living without destroying the environment. We are acutely conscious again of our dependence on nature and the natural world.

The Jamamadi Indians, who live in the Brazilian forests near the Purus River, a tributary of the Amazon, have never passed into the Industrial Age, but are still living in close harmony with nature. They have been in contact with Western civilization for some years, but in spite of this have retained much of their own culture: they use blowguns with poisoned darts, though they now also have shotguns; they still sing their own songs but they also own one record player. As civilization comes closer to them they are gradually becoming more westernized. The purpose of our visit to this tribe was to learn about their uses of plants before this unique knowledge is lost.

Each tribe of Brazilian Indians has its distinct culture. Although some plant uses are common to many tribes, others are confined to one. The life and culture of the Jamamadi tribe is dominated by its dependence upon plants which are used for many purposes ranging from housing to medicinal. Not all of these uses can be described in detail here so we have concentrated on some of the more interesting ones.