Jungle Crafts

       Indigenous crafts in the South American jungle are simple and few. Pottery is made by the women, who mold by hand well-shaped vessels of clay. They find this clay on the river banks and mix it with wood ashes. They rub the clay between their hands until they have long rolls. Then, starting from a base, they build up a pot by coiling these rolls around and around and pressing them into shape. This is the coil method of pottery-making. After the pot has reached the right height, it is rubbed smooth and dried in the sun. Then it is baked and polished. Besides this pottery, flat earthenware plates, gourd containers, and wooden platters are made.

       The women are also skillful basket-makers. From plaited bark-fiber or cane a large basket is made that can be carried on the back attached to a bark-fiber band worn around the forehead. We call this a tumpline. Often when the Indians are on a hunt they make temporary baskets. If an native finds something he wants to take back to camp with him, he can make in about five minutes a nice box-like basket of palm leaves. Then he has something in which to carry his treasure.

       A very important craft is hammock construction also done by the women. First of all they make string from vegetable fiber, doing by hand all the hard work of shredding and twisting. Then this fiber cord is strung back and forth between two posts, and across these cords are knotted cross-strings. This hammock tied to the house poles might seem like an uncomfortable bed to you, but in the jungle it is ideal. It keeps the hordes of crawling insects away because the thin supporting ropes of the hammock do not provide an adequate highway for the pests. To keep warm during the chilly night, the native, who does not know about blankets, keeps a fire burning under his hammock. The fire also helps to keep insects away. Another necessity in the life of the jungle people is the cassava squeezer used in the making of cassava bread, the main food of the people. This squeezer is a long tube-like basket made from woven splints. It is open at each end and has loops attached to the ends.

Crafts From The Jungle Include: stone ax, cassava squeezer, blowgun, pottery, canoe paddle, woven mat,
 wooden utensils, gourd rattle, case for darts, musical instrument, woven basket, and gourd container.

       The top loop is hung over a beam in the maloca, and through the bottom loop is thrust a long pole. And this is how the device works. Through the top opening of the long basket is stuffed the mash grated from the poisonous cassava roots. Then an Indian sits on the pole, and his weight pulls down the basket, making it longer and thinner. This squeezes the mash, and out of the bottom opening drips the poisonous juice.

       Because the main passageway through the jungle is the river, a boat is very important. For just one crossing, a man can make himself a temporary canoe in a little more than an hour. A boat of this kind is a hollowed trunk of a certain palm tree, and after this boat has served its purpose, it will be left to drift downstream.

       A more permanent canoe for travel is made from a hardwood tree, usually a cedar. The native hollows out a trunk about twenty feet long. To do this, he first uses a stone ax and then builds a fire with the chips to burn out the rest of the hollow. After the embers are scraped away and while the wood is still hot, he pulls out the sides of the log to a width of about eighteen inches.

       The canoes are built in common by the members of the tribe, and so they belong to the whole tribe. When the canoes are not being used, they are hidden in the bushes close to the river, and the wooden paddles are stored in the maloka for safekeeping.
Read more about the jungle:

• The Jungle
• Jungle Animals
• People Who Live in The Jungle
• The Jungle "Maloca"
• The Jungle Hunt
• Jungle Farming and Foods 
• Jungle Medicine Past and Future 
• The Jungle Dance