Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/65

 bits, and other swift animals, bringing contempt on themselves if they fail. The Pueblo Indians frequently chase and capture cottontail rabbits without weapons of any sort.

Lumholtz says that in warm weather the Tarahumari catch fish with their hands in the crevices of the rocks, and pursue deer in the snow day after day until the animal is cornered. These Indians are among the most famous runners known to us.

The natives of the Antilles are said to have stolen on fish, concealing themselves among the rocks and sea plants, then seizing them with their hands. The Macusi Indian of Guiana dives from his canoe after a particular kind of fish, chases it to the bank, drives it into a hole there, seizes it with his hands, and brings it up. The Mura of the Amazon, according to Bates, dive for turtles and catch them by the legs. Especially is this true in the lakes where they are imprisoned during the dry season.

The distribution of this method of capture is almost universal in both Americas, and is sufficiently exemplified in the foregoing examples.

In hand capture, death is produced by simply removing the animal from its environment. Few savages swallow their animal food alive. Aquatic animals are asphyxiated and killed in the catching of them. Often aquatic mammals are killed by drowning—by holding them under water until they succumb. Burrowing animals are suffocated by simply burying them alive.

SECOND METHOD OF CAPTURE

The second method of taking animals involves some sort of device or mechanism for seizing. Such inventions are more or less substitutes for or accessories to the human hand and fingers. When the hand is held with the palm upward, it is a scoop; the fingers are a rake; the forefinger is an excellent and versatile hook; the closed fingers and hand hold fast and are best, and the heavy fist or heel of a fisherman is no mean club. It is the inventor's design to imitate them. (See plate II.)