Done, and, done.
The Machuaginga people of South America were a very interesting culture to study. In watching a documentary on them, I learned quite a bit about their culture. One of the first things we learned was that the name Machuaginga actually means “the people” in their native tongue. These people live in extended families in the middle of the rainforest, and are more than able to sustain themselves. They usually live with many animals that they take care of, the most notable of which is the large, almost elephant like, Tapir. The Machuaginga believe that when they die, their souls go into a Tapir, and live on that way. They take good care of their pet Tapirs, but they also will hunt Tapirs for food. In this way, they keep the so-called “circle of life” going. If they kill the mother of an animal, they will take care of the mother’s babies until they are ready to be released back into the wild, although many such animals tend to stick around for the remainder of their lives, having the “imprint” of humans on their personality and their normal abilities. They also go out and hunt for monkeys regularly, sometimes traveling up to twenty-five miles on one hunt. Many times they will come back empty-handed, but such is the life of a Machuaginga hunter. They will also eat very large grubs that they extract from felled trees. They have been described as tasting like a soft cheese. They seem to be big enough that a few of these could sustain a person for a little while at least. The Machuaginga people are excellent herbalists, knowing of more than 300 medicinal plants in their area alone. Most of these plants are just now being identified by Western medicine, and some of them are still unknown to us! The Machuaginga are a Shamanistic people, and use some of these plants to contact ethereal planes. They believe that the use of some of these plants will help them on their hunting trips, and it seems like it works for them. These people were extremely interesting to learn about, as their culture is completely different from my own. I would have liked to learn more about these people.
