SIRION

South American Indian people of eastern Bolivia. They live in the dense tropical forests of the eastern and northern parts of the department of Beni. Unlike other Indians of the Chiquitos-Moxos region, the Sirion are linguistically Tupians (q.v.) who long ago became separated from the main stock through migration; they have a simple seminomadic culture in sharp contrast to their neighbours' more developed cultures. Earlier efforts by missionaries and government agents to settle them on the land proved disastrous, and their numbers have been reduced by disease. A few of the remaining Sirion, a nonwarlike people, have withdrawn into the deep forest, while others provide labour on farms and cattle ranches. Sirion subsistence needs were traditionally met through a combination of farming, hunting, and gathering. In the dry season they planted corn (maize), sweet potatoes, and sweet cassava; then they left their fields for a nomadic period of hunting and gathering, returning only for short intervals to care for their crops. The harvest season brought them back to clear their fields and store the crop, after which they resumed their migratory life. Their material culture and social organization were simple. They carried fire from camp to camp, saying that they had lost the art of making it. Their temporary huts, built of poles covered with palm leaves, were sometimes large enough to shelter 120 people. They traced their descent through the maternal line, and the married couple lived in the wife's village or band. They believed in spirits but lacked shamans to intercede with them. They made beer out of maize and wild honey; among their pastimes were dancing and singing. They wore no clothes but painted their bodies.