Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

ivers, especially at rapids or deep pools. They are considered dangerous, and are
reported to attempt to capture and drown people swimming or wading in the rivers at
these points. Some people also consider them to have ecological roles, in ensuring
maintenance of the hydrology and the supply of fish in particular creeks. Water
anteaters were most commonly mentioned in connection with savannah rivers,
although some informants gave statements indicating their presence in forest rivers.
In rivers in the forest such as Kwitaro, anacondas of extremely large size are
considered to be associated with the deep pools commonly used for fishing, and are
apparently responsible for maintaining the quality of these watercourses. Their
relationship with smaller anacondas is obscure. They are sometimes distinguished
terminologically with the lexeme 'dyo dana'i' (referring to the comparability of their
dimensions with those of the etai palm, Mauritia flexuosa). A similar form of splitting
also occurs in a small number of other animal species whose members are
nonetheless considered to be of the same kind and so this observation may not be of
any great significance. It is notable that, unlike the other entities considered in this
section, I did record claims of personal sightings of these. I suggest that this indicates
that for the Wapishana the phenomenon in question is the attribution of supernatural
powers to materially existing animals.
Anacondas (Eunectes murinus) are in general attributed high levels of spiritual
power, such that they are feared by people. Anyone who kills an anaconda is
considered susceptible to revenge attacks by its spirit. One man who had been forced
to kill an anaconda that had tangled itself inextricably in his seine told me that its
spirit had appeared to him in a dream as a man armed with a shotgun, wounding him
with a bullet in his lower back. This injury had manifested itself physically as a severe
pain in that region. Had he been shot in a vital organ, it could have been fatal.
Traditional healing techniques were successfully employed in curing the injury and
ensuring protection from further spiritual attack.
The spirits of land camoudi (Constrictor constrictor) are also believed to be
dangerous to people, and these snakes are for this reason avoided by people and
rarely, if ever, handled. Coming into contact with this species of snake is believed to
make a person vulnerable to an incubus/succubus type possession. The snake's spirit
appears in the dreams of the affected person as a highly attractive and seductive
member of the opposite sex. After a time, in addition to providing sexual gratification
in these dreams, the spirit begins feeding its victim, with the consequence that they
cease eating in waking life and thus slowly starve to death. Again, a course of very
severe treatment administered by a marunao is the only course of action that can