162 PRINCIPES lVor..24

Principes,24(4), f980, pp. 162-169 The Palm- Sail of the Warao Indians

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For hundreds and possibly thou- lives of the Warao. The four known sands of years the Warao Indians have species of the Manicaria are made their home in the extensive palms that occur from Central Amer- 22,500 km2 wide swampland of the ica, across Trinidad. the Orinoco Del- Orinoco Delta on the east coast of ta, and the Cuianas down to the lower Venezuela, South America. Currently Amazon River. Throughout this vast the tribe numbers an estimated 16,000 region they occur as very conspicuous individuals in whose language the self- and abundant swamp , some- ooboat denomination Warao means times in forests interspersed with oth- people." Contemplating the thorough- er growth and at other times as colo- ly aquatic Delta with its network of in- nies, or temichals, of considerable numerable riv€rs and drainage canals density. In the Orinoco Delta the palm it is hardly surprising to find the dug- grows dispersed or clustered, mostly out canoe so intimately associated iqthe 60 km-wide tidal zone along the with these people. Without boats hu- seaboard, precisely in the region man existence in the Orinoco Delta where the majority of the Indians live. would be nearly impossible, for the I have previously detailed the Warao spend much of their life trav- palm's value as a source of food, raw eling, transporting, fishing, and for- material, and medicine (Wilbert 1976). aging on board their multipurpose In a recent issue of this journal I de- craft. scribed the manufacturing process of Until the late 1920s the Warao had a terniche cap from the saclike spathe remained nonagricultural swamp for- of the Manicaria (Wilbert l9B0). But agers who provided for them"selvesby here I should like to document an in- exploiting the wild animal and genious naval invention of the Warao resources of their habitat. Principal who employ the large leaf of Manicar- among the plant foods were those ob- ia to sail before the wind. tained from palms like, Mauritia fl.ex- The outstanding characteristic of uosa, Manicaria saccifera, Euterpe Manicaria is its , renowned as sp., and. Jessenia, and throughout the among the largest in the plant kingdom historic era missionaries, travelers, and the biggest entire leaves that grow and ethnologists have repeatedly mar- on palms. Leaves of 9 to l0 m in length veled at the high degree to which War- and 1.5 to2 m in width are not unusu- ao economy has been adapted to the al, and 15 to 20 contemporaneous sub- palmetum of the Orinoco Delta. erect leaves can often be seen toeether Among the different kinds of palm with several persistent deaJones Manicaria (temiche, tirniche, tirniti, hanging down the stem. The younger truli, ubussl) ranks second only to blades of inner leaves are undivided. Mauitia in importance to the daily whereas those of the outer ones tend r9801 WILBERT: PALM.IEAF SAIL r63

l. Manicaria palm at the edge of an open field with one inner leaf of undivided blade; surrounding leaves are wind-torn with irregularly pinnatisect blades.

to become wind-torn and irregularly palm's ubiquity, finding a leaf requires pinnatisect. little effort and cutting it, with a single For obvious reasons the Warao blow of a bush knife, even less. The choose for their Manicaria sail an un- Indian takes the leaf to his boat and divided inner leaf. In view of the sits down in the midsection of the ca- 164 PRINCIPES IYor.24

2. Manicaria leaf sail braced against a strut in the midsection of a fishing canoe. The Indian is seated on his paddle, which he will need for the return trip, and holds the leaf sail with his left hand. noe. He then braces the bottom of the the rachis with one hand. Depending upright leaf against a strut and his foot on the strength of the wind, two over- or in a so-called step attached to the lapping leaves may be held up as a sin- floor of the dugout, while holding on to gle sail. If there is a large number of 19801 WILBERT: PALM-LEAF SAIL I65

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3. Adolescent Warao and young boy sail their dugout by means of a Manicoriu leaf sail. Paddles serving as improvised seat and rudder will be used to propel the vessel on the way back.

passengerson board or if a heavy load The Orinoco Delta is situated be- needs hauling, two or more such sails tween B" and l0' North Latitude, sub- are raised in the prow section of the jected, that is, to the northeastern boat. trade winds. More than 30 percent of 166 PRINCIPES lVor. 24

I

4. Sailing toward a I'avorable spot to fish with net, young helmsman maneuvers to avoid collision of his craft with author's oncomins motorboat. the wind direction frequencies are rents, most of the rivers draining the northeasterly to easterly with an av- Orinoco Delta are diverted to flow in erage velocity of 5 kph. Conditioned a northeasterly direction, open, that by strong Amazonian offshore cur- is, to the trades. These are the winds 19801 WILBERT; PALM-M'AF SAIL t67

'i,.,-,r:.,..,,. :.;. are 5. Sailing cargo boat with three leaf sails. A dozen passengers and a heavy load of firewood visible. (Photo by Peter T' Furst.)

Warao take advantage of when sailing sengersand a heavy cargo of firewood. inland from the coast. In comparison' To see a boat like this go bY at a good wind frequencies and velocities from speed and with no human effort other other directions of the wind rose are than the helmsmankeeping course by less significant, although they do blow means of a paddle held vertically as a at times (from I percent to 7 percent) rudder leads one to realize that the with velocities of f-3 kPh. I have temiche sail of the Warao represents clocked canoes6 m long with two pad- critical navigational tackle, despite its dlers but no sails going 3 kph, at full elementary nature. Manicaria leaf speed. Canoes with temiche sails go at sails are as efficient as they are handy, - least as fast if not faster and, of free, and uncomplicated. In fact' the | "ou.se, for a longer period of time.* leaf sail and the idea of employing it navigation are so . The full work capacitY of the tem- for wind-powered I irh, sail becomes especially evident natural in this environment of wind- when several of them are used on car- swept rivers that one wonders whether go boats. For instance, with two or sailing is indeed a post-Columbianin- three crewmen, seated or standing, novation along the northern seaboard attending to their sails in the bow, the of South America or whethe,r it might load being pushed before the wind not be an autochthonousinvention af- may consist of as many as a dozenpas- ter all. True, the Warao term for the Manicaria sailis yawihi wera, derived from yawihi, temiche, and wera, the * grateful to Dr. Elwin V. Svenson and I am word for sail (uela). And yet, Dr. H. Dieter Heinen for their assistance with Spanish the nautical experiments in the field. it would seem ironic that navigators 168 PRINCIPES [Yor.24

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6. Dugout canoe on land with fixed step for lea.f sail. (Photo by Peter T. Furst.) like the Warao, with centuries of ex- For this as well as for a related eth- perience in wind and water, would nohistorical question, there exists no have to await the coming of the Euro- conclusive answer at this point. I am peans to become inspired by their referring to the fact that the Warao small-boat sails. have been known to cross the Carib- l9B0l WILBERT: PALM.I-EAF SAIL 169 bean Sea to go to Trinidad and, Pos- tive of whether the sail originated with sibly, other islands. There are Indians the Warao or whether it was adoPted still living in the Delta who have par- from other Indians or Europeans,how- ticipated in such voyages but none of ever, nowadays at least, navigating by those I queried recalled :usingtemiche means of temiche sails is a serious sails on their way across the sea, not nautical tradition among the Warao. even on the way home when the wind For centuries, the palm's spectacular favored their course. Overseas voy- leaf has served the Warao well in their ages took place usually between July windswept world. and September when the trade winds are calm and the waves small. There Llrrnerunr Ctrno is some weak evidence for the exis- Eow.lnos, Cr,rNroN R. f 965. Aboriginal sail in tence of the knowledge of aboriginal the New World. Southwestern Journal of -358. sailing in the Caribbean (Edwards Anthropology 2f(4): 35f 1976. Manicaria sacci- 1965).This, however, is inconclusive, Wrrernr, JonnNtrs. fero and its cullural significanceamong the and no new light can, unfortunately, Warao Indians of Venezuela. Botanical Mu- be shed on this questionfrom the point seum Leaflets 24(1f): 275-335. of view of Warao navigation.Irrespec- 1980. The temiche caP. PrinciPes 24(3): 105-109.

WHAT'SIN A NAME?

Nengella (neng 6ll a) combines Nen- Greekparo (beside, near, by). Names ga with the suffix -ella, oiginally a sirnilarly derived arePar&gulubia (pt6ra diminutive. Other such names are goo 16o bee a), Parajubaea (P6ra jew Phtogella (flo g6ll a) combined with b6e a), and Parascheelea (P6ra sh6 Phloga, Haitiella (h6y tee 6ll a) after lee a). the island of Haiti, Iriartella (ir ee are Pichisermollia (p6e kee ser m5w lee t6ll a) combined with lriartea, Maur- a), a replacement name for Gigliolia, itiella (maw rit ee 611a) combined with is modified from the name of Rodolfo Mauritia, and Zalacella (26'lack 6ll a) E. G. Pichi-Sermolli (L9I2-), an Italian combined with Zalacca. botanist who has worked largely with Neodypsis (n6e oh dip sis) is derived ferns but who revised and published from the Greek neos (new) and the ge- a manuscript on arecoid palms left by neric name Dypsis. Some other names Odoardo Beccari (SubfamiliaeArecoi- that similarly incorporate neo- are dearum Palmae GerontogeaeTribuum Neonicholsonia(n6e oh nick ole s6 nee et Generum Conspectus). a) named after George Nicholson Pritchardiopsls (pri ch6r dee 6p sis) (1847-1908),once Curator of the Royal combines the generic name Pritchar- -opsis Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, and dia withthe Greek suffix (having editor of The lllustrated Dictionary of the appearanceof, like) becauseof its Gard,ening(1884-1887), and N eowash- resemblance to that genus. ingtonia (n6e oh w6sh ing t6e nee a) Trichodypsi.s (trj' ko dip sis) is de- (see Principes rived from the Greek roottrichos, from based on Washingtonia "hairy 2:20,l95B) named after GeorgeWash- thrix (hair), and Dypsis, thus ington (1732-1799). Dypsis" from the abundant hairs on Paralinospadix (pfua lie no sP6Y the . dix) prefixes the generic names Linos- padix, to which it is related, with the H. E. Moonr, Jn.