The Jungle Hunt

A screaming monkey in the jungle.

      The jungle native is like the jungle animals in many ways. When hunting, he is at his best. Like a snake, he moves swiftly but silently through the dense undergrowth; like a jaguar, he is agile and stealthy; like a deer, he is light-footed; like a tapir, he can hide himself effectively; and like all animals, he knows how to watch. Nothing escapes the jungle man, no matter how small it may be. He sees everything. A broken twig, a tiny track, a flight of birds‚ all these are noticed by the stalking hunter and mean something to him.

       To hunt big animals, the Amazon tribesmen use barbed spears or javelins with poisoned points. This poison is very powerful, and a small drop kills an animal. The long smooth spear is made of palm, and the sharp spearhead is of bamboo. The javelin is also made of palm, and fixed in the point is a poisoned spine that breaks off in the animal's body. The javelin is about six feet long, but it is so thin and light that as many as seven javelins can be carried by the hunter in one hand.

       To hunt small animals, like monkeys, capybaras, and birds, these indigenous people use a blowgun. This weapon, which is made of palm too, can be from eight to fourteen feet long. It is a tube made of two pieces of palm bound together, and it has a mouthpiece of vegetable ivory.

       The arrows that the men blow through the tube are about nine inches long. They are made from the ribs of palm leaves and are tufted at one end with silk-cotton. The other end of the arrow has a poisoned tip cut in such a way that it breaks off in the animal's body. Sometimes arrows with blunt points are used in hunting birds, so that the feathers will not be damaged. A talented hunter can blow the arrow through the blowgun to a distance of as much as fifty yards. He carries the arrows in a bamboo quiver that he hangs from his neck.

       The experienced hunter rarely misses his target, for in boyhood he learned how to use these weapons such as: javelins, spears and blowguns through play. Also his experience as a child in catching small animals like: lizards, snakes, and turtles, helped him in real life hunts as an adult.

       There are many jungle rivers and streams where the native people fish. Sometimes they use a line and baited hook of wood or thorn, a spear, or a net. But the most successful way is to poison the water. To do this, the natives first weaves a fence of palm branches and places it across a stream. Then they pound the roots of a certain jungle bush and throws them into the stream just above the fence. These roots poison the fishes. The fence helps to keep the fishes in one spot, and the people can get them out of the water easily with a net or spear.

The Amazon native hunter uses
a blowgun to hunt for small
 animals to eat.

       The people also sets traps for animals. The traps are simply made but they are cleverly planned. Monkeys dashing along a tree-branch are caught in a noose, birds are snared, small ground animals fall into holes covered with grass and leaves, and larger animals drop into hidden pits with sharp stakes at the bottom.

       If the traps are empty, it is not because the native has been careless or unwise in their construction but rather because the animals are scarce. At sundown the successful hunter brings home his catch to be cooked for supper by his wife. Perhaps it will go into the stew that is kept cooking day in and day out and to which is added every day some new item of food, depending on what the hunter brings home.

       Nothing is stored away for the future in case that hunting is poor. These tribal people live from day to day. When the cooking pot is empty, the family goes hungry. But when the pot is full, they eat and eat until they are full! Buchwald.

Read more about the jungle:

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

Visit more online websites to learn facts:

• Rarely-seen blowgun techniques from a tribesman in the Amazon
• Blowpipe Maker Shares Rare, Ancient Craft