BLOW-BY-BLOW DESCRIPTIONS

Gary Seaman


0000 This CD-ROM offers perspectives on a 16mm film, The Ax Fight, which may be played in the above window.

0064 Graphic: Map of Venezuela. Craig Johnson voiceover: "February 28, 1971. Afternoon. Ten minutes after 3:00." The film was shot in the Yanomamö village of Mishimishimaböwei-teri, then located at the headwaters of the Mavaca River in southern Venezuela (1' 37'' N by 65' 15'' W). See : *10 (A mouseclick on asterisked numbers calls up maps or graphics. A click on them makes them disappear. A shift+click makes them small.) Mishimishimaböwei-teri had never been contacted by a Westerner until the ethnographer Napoleon Chagnon arrived in 1968. He visited the village each year before he led the filming expedition in 1971.

3620 Title: "A Documentary Educational Resources Production" Timothy Asch operated the film camera and Craig Johnson recorded sound. From start to finish, the events seen in this film lasted about half an hour. During that time, 11 minutes of 16mm film were shot. All the film footage and related sound recordings are included in the final version of the film. Chagnon took 35mm stills of the same events Asch filmed. Chagnon's photographs are synchronized here with the film.

7077 Title: "THE AX FIGHT" For several weeks before the film was shot, people from the neighboring village of Ironasi-teri had been visiting relatives in Mishimishimaböwei-teri. The visitors are led by Nanokawä, who was invited by his brother-in-law, Wadoshewä. Nanokawä's two nephews play prominent roles in the film. Mohesiwä is a visitor, Törawä a resident. *11 (People whose names are underlined are not on camera at the current moment. A mouseclick on an underlined name causes the icon of that person to be centered in the Main Genealogy window.)

14458 Graphic: Map of Amazonia. The visiting group had recently splintered from Mishimishimaböwei-teri to found its own settlement. Coming back to their old village, the visitors demanded to be fed: they now wished to be treated as guests. Events reveal that after several weeks the hosts began to resist providing food. Like many of the local men, Yoinakuwä instructed his wives Sinabimi and Sharama not to feed visitors any more.

14880 Chagnon voiceover: "Two women are fighting with each other."

16000 Superimposed titlecard: "Large Yanomamö villages are volatile and the slightest provocation can start a violent outburst. In the afternoon of February 28, 1971, a fight erupted in the village of Mishimishimaböwei-teri, with some 270 inhabitants. The fight began when a woman was beaten in the garden. She fled into the village, where her brother challenged the assailant to a club fight. The contest rapidly escalated into an ax fight."

27000 Chagnon voiceover: "Bring your camera over here. It's going to start."

29200 Fade-out.

30960 Fade-in to close-up of Yoinakuwä. He and many of the men had painted themselves for their afternoon curing ceremonies, a regular event in Mishimishimaböwei-teri and all villages in this area. (When a name in bold is mouseclicked, the cursor points to that person on screen. The person's icon is centered in the Genealogy.) Camera cuts.

31320 Wide shot of Yoinakuwä's house, a characteristic open-air section of the circular, Yanomamö village shabono. *12 Five children, including Räaiyowä, the young son of Yoinakuwä and Sinabimi, look intently into the shabono. Superimposed titlecard: "You are about to see and hear the unedited record of this seemingly chaotic and confusing fight, just as the field workers witnessed it on their second day in the village."

37560 Fadeout titlecard. Sinabimi's son, Räaiyowä, and other children look inward at Yoinakuwä 's house. They are distracted by distant shouts from the plaza. Zoom in to hammocks strung between house posts of the shabono.

50600 Sinabimi sobs in her hammock. Sharama, her half-sister, strokes and comforts her. [Chagnon has reconstructed events on the basis of contradictory reports. He concludes that shortly before filming began, Sinabimi, a resident,was working in her garden. Her visiting nephew, Mohesiwä, demanded food. Sinabimi followed her husband's instructions and refused to share her plantains with him. Mohesiwä then beat her with a club. She ran crindexng into the village and told what had happened. Early rumors circulated that the incident had involved incest. When he heard them, Chagnon first assumed that Sinabimi had been sexually assaulted. Yanomamö concepts of incest, however, include any act of familiarity or physical contact between a man and a prohibited woman. Technically, Mohesiwä's physical but non-sexual contact with Sinabimi was also an incestuous act.]

57869 Pan to Dimöma, Sinabimi's niece, crindexng in her hammock.

63760 As women sob and wail, Sinabimi's male relatives hear of the outrage. Her brother, Uuwä, is infuriated. Off camera, the men pull out support poles for a club fight. Uuwä takes up a club and marches to the center of the village where he loudly challenges and insults Mohesiwä.

77953 Swish-pan to erupting conflict in the village plaza. [The camera is near the section of the shabono where Chagnon, Asch and Johnson lived, section F, house-post 23. See diagram for the camera location, the first of two in the film: *11 ]

83120 Mohesiwä swings rapidly at Uuwä with his bow stave, but misses each time. Mohesiwä's sister Nakahedami, carrindexng a club, runs from her house toward the conflict.

84240 Uuwä delivers one clean blow with his club, striking Mohesiwä on the wrist. Some twenty minutes later, Mohesiwä can be seen still nursing and massaging the wrist. See REF249080> (A mouseclick on "REF" numbers calls up referenced moments in the film and corresponding text. Arrows [< >] indicate whether the reference is before or after the current moment. The "Return" button turns black. When it is clicked, film and text return to the point of origin.)
84280 See still frame : FR494640 (A mouseclick on "FR" numbers calls up small freeze-frames of the current moment of the film. A click on the freeze-frames enlarges them.)

84320 PH01 (A mouseclick on "PH" numbers calls up a photograph that Chagnon took at the current moment. A click on the photographs enlarges them.)

85360 Again, Mohesiwä attacks with his bow stave. Uuwä gives ground, dodging the thrusts. Borowama, mother of Nakahedami, Törawä and Mohesiwä, leaves her section of the village and walks into the plaza. She brings a himo club, a short, heavy palmwood club specifically made for fighting.

86040 A woman standing in the village entrance carries a baby. She sees the conflict and rapidly walks toward it.

86880 PH02

87160 FR497120

89720 Nakahedami reaches her brother Mohesiwä and hands him the himo club to use against Uuwä.

89520 PH03

90520 Recognizing that his brother Mohesiwä has been hurt, Törawä rushes out with his nabrushi club raised against Uuwä. [Nabrushi clubs are made as needed, from roof support poles cut to a length suitable for fighting.] Uuwä's brothers-in-law, Yoinakuwä (Sinabimi 's husband) and Keböwä, also arrive with clubs.

90560 FR504593

91920 The number of people involved in the confrontation grows. Kaaböwä, Mohesiwä's brother-in-law, brings a club. Törawä steps in between Uuwä and Keböwä.

91640 PH04

93160 Mohesiwä abandons his bow stave and takes the himo club brought by Nakahedami.

93880 A woman, possibly Mohesiwä's wife Huuhuumi , takes a child by the hand and begins to walk toward the fight. A baby is slung on her back. She meets another woman carrindexng a baby. Both turn away from the conflict.

96640 Mohesiwä, Törawä and Uuwä square off, glaring at each other.

96880 PH05

97440 Mohesiwä braces his club on the ground and assumes the formal stance used by Yanomamö in club fights. He apparently challenges Uuwä to hit him. Nakahedami circles behind him.

98640 Mohesiwä's mother, Borowama, approaches, retrieves her son's bow stave from the ground, and reprimands Uuwä.

101440 Mohesiwä stretches out his injured arm and Borowama comforts him by stroking it. Nakahedami stamps her feet and shouts insults at Uuwä while she goads her brother Törawä.

102920 Other women and children gather as Borowama and Nakahedami scold Uuwä. One woman walks behind him, carrindexng her baby and a club. FR533120

103000 PH06

107600 Borowama strokes Mohesiwä' s injured arm while they confront Uuwä.

112680 Moramanama and other women move in closer. Moramanama is the widow of Uuwä's two paternal uncles and is therefore Uuwä's classificatory mother.

114800 Husiheami, Borowama's co-wife, supports Mohesiwä by standing between him and Nakahedami. She glares at a woman from Uuwä's side who points an accusing finger at Husiheami and Nakahedami as she charges toward them.

117040 PH07

121629 Mohesiwä leans on his club. With formal gestures, he denounces Uuwä and justifies beating Sinabimi.

123160 Though Kaaböwä is a brother of Mohesiwä's wife, he stands beside Uuwä, faced off against Törawä. [Kaaböwä's alignment is notable because affines are usually strong allies.]

125400 Husiheami, Borowama and Nakahedami continue to shout at the women near Moramanama. Dirimawä, a son of the famous shaman, Dedeheiwä, walks across the plaza and takes a position at the edge of the crowd.

131280 Zoom out to numerous people attracted by the conflict. One man shoulders an ax.

137840 PH08

140400 Zoom in to Törawä, Yoinakuwä and Kaaböwä who brandish clubs. The original antagonists, Uuwä and Mohesiwä, rest their weapons.

146400 Räaiyowä waves at his aunt, Kaösarama, and then runs off toward his house.

146840 The injured Mohesiwä turns from the confrontation and heads back to his hammock, leaving Törawä to keep Uuwä at bay. Kaösarama, the wife of Mohesiwä's uncle, Daramasiwä, walks in the same direction. *11 Nakahedami continues to berate Uuwä's group as she and Borowama return home.

147240 Möawä, a resident and headman of the village, passes close to the camera, wearing body paint and feathers. <REF30960 Although Möawä is the most violent man in the village and a classificatory brother of Uuwä, he refrains from intervening in the incident.

148720 Across the plaza from Möawä is Nanokawä, Borowama's brother, wearing a feather armband. Nanokawä is a leader of the visiting Ironasi-teri (including Mohesiwä ) and is a rival of Möawä. He shakes his finger at the retreating Mohesiwä, apparently reprimanding him. [Chagnon reports that Nanokawä stood off-camera behind Mohesiwä during the fight, in a gesture of support.]

153160 When Mohesiwä has almost reached his house, Uuwä turns his back on Törawä and walks off. Törawä then spits, turns, and swaggers off as well.

154880 Camera pans with Törawä. Kaaböwä departs with his club over his shoulder.

155960 Törawä marches away, arms out and shoulders hunched forward. Nakahedami and Borowama continue to shout insults at Uuwä 's supporters.

162040 Zoom out. The crowd thins. Roenama, Kumishiwä 's wife, and other female supporters of Uuwä, walk toward the camera.

162880 Shimoneiwä, a son of Dedeheiwä, and Shiririwä, a son of Ishiweiwä (Dedeheiwä's older brother), walk from the plaza holding hands.

170320 During the lull, Yoinakuwä and Keböwä, his younger brother, have prepared to attack Mohesiwä 's house. Yoinakuwä's wife Sinabimi was beaten by Mohesiwä. <REF50600 But Keböwä, her husband's brother, charges out first, wielding his ax.

171200 A woman stops in her tracks when Keböwä charges past. She turns and follows him.

173640 Yoinakuwä runs from of his house with a machete, following his brother Keböwä. REF204880>

177320 Keböwä sprints across the plaza, passing behind Dirimawä who appears not to notice him.

178520 Seeing Keböwä's approach, Borowama grabs a bow stave and hands it to Mohesiwä, who has been resting. A woman, probably Mohesiwä's wife Huuhuumi, sits in a hammock beside him, nursing a baby. The woman begins to shout and tucks her nursling under one arm.

180120 Keböwä attacks the woman, probably Huuhuumi. Mohesiwä fends off Keböwä with his bow stave and the woman escapes to the rear. Another woman breaks into a run across the plaza as Yoinakuwä aggressively approaches Mohesiwä's group with his machete. [For a still-frame sequence of Keböwä's attack, see: FR180120 ]

182440 Mohesiwä and Keböwä struggle over the ax. Borowama and Husiheami, Mohesiwä's wife, back off when Yoinakuwä arrives and threatens them.

184000 Yoinakuwä sneaks behind Mohesiwä to outflank him. Ruwamowä walks casually past, paindexng little attention to the violence.

186000 Camera pans with Törawä as he runs past the struggle between Mohesiwä and Keböwä. He joins a woman, who then sprints on ahead of him. Törawä stops and turns to look at Mohesiwä. Holding his right arm out toward the woman who is fetching him a weapon, he then runs back to the fight.

192000 Iyaböwä, carrindexng an ax, strides toward the conflict but steps on something that delays his progress.

194360 Törawä raises his machete to threaten Keböwä. Keböwä finally wrests his ax from Mohesiwä. Husiheami faces Yoinakuwä on one side of the confrontation, while Nakahedami stamps her feet and shouts on the other side. <REF101440 The men separate in a standoff. <REF96640

196080 Keböwä feigns disengagement, then suddenly seizes Mohesiwä by the arm and strikes him repeatedly on the leg with the blunt end of his ax.

198280 Keböwä continues to strike Mohesiwä, undeterred by the fact that Törawä threatens him with a raised machete. Yoinakuwä watches Törawä. A woman, possibly Yaukuima, the sister of Keböwä and Yoinakuwä, runs across the plaza with a himo club over her shoulder.

199880 PH09

201520 Unable to intimidate the ax-wielding Keböwä, Törawä exchanges his machete for Iyaböwä's ax. <REF192000 PH10

202040 PH11

203160 Törawä attacks Keböwä who is struggling with Mohesiwä for control of the ax. Törawämisses his first swing but then delivers a series of blows, with the blunt end of his ax, to Keböwä's lower back and legs. Keböwä retreats inside the shabono but quickly squares off again with his antagonists. <REF96640

204200 FR655372

204880 Nanokawä, leader of the visiting group, strides aggressively but unarmed into the throng. Iyaböwä and Yoinakuwä hang back from the action with their machetes. A woman, possibly Yaukuima, arrives with a himo club which she offers to Yoinakuwä in exchange for his machete. <REF89720 Moramanama sprints toward the fight, passing a woman who runs away with a baby.

206360 PH12

206600 Keböwä again struggles with Mohesiwä for control of his ax. Törawä maneuvers to strike Keböwä. As a number of armed men sprint to the action, Nanokawä strides off to obtain a club.

207400 Törawä escalates the conflict by preparing to strike with the sharp edge of his ax. Before he can strike, however, an unidentified man in the crowd prevents him from using the blade. REF256480> As Törawä gathers for the blow, he is spun around, shoved down, and pushed bodily away. Törawä crashes into Yoinakuwä and their momentum carries them to where Nakahedami stands on the sidelines.

208320 PH13

209120 Yoroshianawä steps into view at the location where Törawä was prevented from striking with his ax.

209240 Törawä recovers his balance. He takes a few steps backward. His sister Nakahedami and another woman stamp their feet and shout. Törawä raises his ax, dull side forward, and prepares again to enter the fray.

209760 PH14

211240 Törawä moves toward Mohesiwä and Keböwä, who struggle over possession of the ax. He is blocked again, this time by Yoroshianawä, his classificatory father. [Yoroshianawä's action is notable in view of the expectation that classificatory fathers support their 'sons' in a fight.]

212240 For a second time Törawä escalates the fight by turning the sharp edge of his ax upward, preparing to strike Keböwä. <REF207400 Yoroshianawä watches closely.

212680 FR675160

212760 Again, Yoroshianawä prevents Törawä from attacking Keböwä. <REF211240 Yoroshianawä shoves his nephew, who staggers back a step. Keböwä's sister, Yaukuima, watches from behind .

214180 PH15

214280 Yaukuima, Keböwä' s sister, seizes the handle of Törawä's ax as he staggers back. She twists the sharp edge away from Keböwä and pulls Törawä off balance. FR679574

216040 Yaukuima drags Törawä out of the fight toward the village entrance. Keböwä sees that Törawä's back is turned and charges the young man from behind.

216480 Yoroshianawä, unaware of Keböwä's attack, strides away from Törawä. Visible over the heads of the crowd, Keböwä launches a powerful overhead blow with his ax, the dull end forward. The rest of the action is not visible. [Chagnon, who was near Törawä, says that the ax hit him squarely between the shoulder blades.] FR685867

216640 PH16

217000 [In 1975 Chagnon wrote narration for the current moment: "Törawä instantly collapses to the ground and lies there motionless." According to Asch, the sound of the blow was inaudible on the original tape recording It was simulated in a Massachusetts film lab. A watermelon was hit with an ax.] Fast swishpan and zoom out to wide angle, perhaps motivated by the fact that the cameraman was upset by the violence.

219760 Chagnon appears at the periphery of the fight, taking a picture with a 35mm camera. A man with an ax strides from Wadoshewä's section of the shabono toward the conflict. Räaiyowä, Sinabimi 's 10-year old son, turns and runs at top speed toward his house. PH17

220960 Törawä cannot be seen on camera. [Chagnon's 1975 narration for the current moment: "The situation is now very tense, for it is not clear if the young man has been killed or is merely unconscious."] PH18 REF429200> [For the point in the film where Chagnon gives this narration, play the film at: REF695480> ]

224600 Törawä lunges to his feet and starts back toward his assailant . Räaiyowä continues his dash across the plaza. Zoom in.

226360 Nanokawä, previously unarmed, arrives with a short, heavy club. He wades into the throng, pushing Mohesiwä backward. PH19 <REF206600

226760 FR704120

227000 Nakahedami, visible through a break in the crowd, flails at a woman, probably Yaukuima.

229760 Dirimawä shortens a roof pole with his machete, turning it into a nabrushi club. <REF90520 Räaiyowä, now armed, races back across the plaza toward the conflict. <REF219760

230440 Nakahedami, Törawä's sister, threatens Yaukuima, Keböwä' s sister , by wielding a piece of firewood. At this moment, Yaukuima is probably called by Keböwä, for she suddenly abandons her fight and dashes to him. She lifts the ax from his hand and runs off with it.

230960 Keböwä takes up a himo club and swings as Törawä charges him.

231200 Törawä raises his ax high, attempting for a third time to strike Keböwä with the sharp edge. <REF212240 Törawä rushes at Keböwä, but someone catches the ax and slows Törawä's momentum. <REF214280

232080 As Törawä's movement is slowed, Nanokawä steps in between him and Keböwä.

232120 Törawä's father, Wadoshewä, tussles briefly with a bystander, probably Maiyahariwä, and pushes him back. Nanokawä moves forward, beside Törawä, waving his club in the direction of Keböwä. Mohesiwä advances.

232360 Keböwä slashes again with his himo club, probably at Törawä. One cannot tell from the image whether the blow lands. Mohesiwä strikes at Keböwä with his club.

232800 Törawä gives up his attack. [He was weakened by Keböwä 's earlier blow and now is perhaps further weakened from a second blow with the himo club.] <REF216480

233400 Zoom in. Wadoshewä passes Mohesiwä and moves off to the right. There, a man wearing a red loin cloth, probably Kaaböwä, strikes a terrific overhead blow with a long club at someone in the throng. <REF216480

233720 PH20

234560 Törawä turns, lowers his ax, and retreats from the surge of the crowd. Mohesiwä again rushes Keböwä.

235400 Wadoshewä shakes his finger at the man, probably Kaaböwä, who has just struck a blow at someone in the crowd. PH21

235480 Yakahaiwä, co-husband of Hurumöwä, charges out of the crowd to drive away a woman on the fringes. FR720387 REF257440>

235800 Törawä backs out of the fight, makes a half turn, and lets his ax drop.

236280 Fighting surges to the right as more men take up weapons. PH22

236560 Räaiyowä and a young girl watch the fight from the middle of the plaza. The boy moves toward the action with his club held at the ready, then plants the butt on the ground in imitation of a club fighter's stance. <REF90520

240840 A man carrindexng a club over his shoulder passes Räaiyowä on the way to join the crowd. The boy shoulders his club and marches in the man's footsteps toward the confrontation. <REF155960

240577 PH23

244880 Räaiyowä marches toward the fight. Just above his head in the current frame of film, Törawä can be seen collapsing. A woman, probably Törawä's wife Bireima, kneels behind him as he falls to the ground. [A still-frame sequence provides greater clarity: FR244880 ]

245240 A woman passes her infant to a child. Cut. [The camera is off for a few minutes while it is moved to its second location, closer to Mohesiwä 's section of the shabono. *11]

247560 Photographs taken while the 16mm camera position is being moved: PH24 PH25 PH25a PH26

249080 Medium shot. Mohesiwä and Wadoshewä, newly armed with a club, stand behind Kuaiwä, Nakahedami 's husband.

250720 PH27

251063 Pan to Sinabimi 's son-in-law, Maiyahariwä. Daramasiwä, Mohesiwä 's paternal uncle, stands opposite, with his eyes almost closed, his club stuck upright in the ground, and his back to Mohesiwä 's opponents.

252320 Behind Wadoshewä, Yaukuima brandishes a piece of firewood and yells at Nakahedami. Zoom out.

255960 Nanokawä stands behind Daramasiwä. Mohesiwä leans on his club behind Kuaiwä, Nakahedami 's husband.

256480 Nakahedami prepares to strike Yaukuima with the sharp edge of her ax, but before she swings she turns the blunt end forward. <REF214280 Nanokawä sees this threat and moves toward the women.

257440 Zoom out to wide angle. Törawä sits almost collapsed on the ground and is stroked by his wife, Bireima. Mohesiwä leans heavily on his club while his uncle Hurumöwä lifts his own club and takes a few stutter-steps forward. Cut.

259480 Photographs taken while the 16mm camera is off: PH28 PH29 PH30 PH31

260080 Medium shot. [Filming has resumed after a short pause.] Bireima continues to stroke Törawä. Nanokawä threatens someone off-camera with his club.

260600 Hurumöwä and Daramasiwä stand conspicuously between their young nephew and his adversaries. Zoom in to Törawä on the ground.

265200 Zoom out. Borowama joins Bireima in ministering to Törawä.

264920 PH32

268160 Barahiwä, brother of Wadoshewä and Daramasiwä, begins an animated harangue of his nephew, Mohesiwä. <REF121629 <REF211240

272280 Wadoshewä waves his hand dismissively in the direction of Mohesiwä. Daramasiwä relaxes his threatening pose and also remonstrates in the same direction.

274520 A woman carrindexng a long firewood club begins an exchange of insults with Barahiwä, who is shouting at Mohesiwä.

276400 Mohesiwä leans on his club, unresponsive to the verbal attacks of Barahiwä. A woman stands behind Mohesiwä and shouts vigorously at his uncle.

279440 Maiyahariwä departs as Wadoshewä walks off-camera. At the rear of the shabono, Nakahedami struggles with Yaukuima. <REF256480 Cut.

280320 Long shot. [Filming has resumed after a short pause.] Mohesiwä leans on his club and stares fixedly at the ground. Bireima strokes Törawä while Hurumöwä stands over them protectively. Behind Mohesiwä, Nakahedami shouts in the direction of her adversary, Yaukuima. Barahiwä makes one final emphatic gesture and departs.

282400 Photograph taken while the 16mm camera is off: PH33

287040 Wadoshewä's younger wife, Husiheami, strokes Törawä as Borowama tries to help him to his feet.

287640 Wadoshewä returns and tersely addresses his son Törawä. Nakahedami, still holding an ax, continues to shout insults in the direction of Yaukuima.

289075 PH34

289280 As Törawä begins to stand, Mohesiwä turns and walks rapidly back toward his house. Wadoshewä makes one more comment to his son and walks away.

292600 PH35

294920 PH36

297360 Törawä finally gets to his feet and strides off in an unconvincing display of nonchalance. He is followed by his wife, Bireima.

299440 Törawä leaves. Fast zoom out and pan to a young man, near the camera. He laughs and feints with his machete at the soundman, Craig Johnson. Cut.

307320 Wide shot. Chagnon walks off screen and a young man drags the tip of his bow across the ground, making a line in the sand. [On seeing the footage, Chagnon protested the inclusion of this image because it erroneously implies drawing a threatening boundary.] The camera pans with the boy's movement during a discussion, voice over, between Johnson and Asch.

312080 Asch: "Notice how completely out of their social relationships [we are] that they can kid us about it."

314350 Johnson: "[Unintelligible] ... Some guy came up with a machete and ..."

315440 Asch: "Yeah, but he was joking!"

316100 Johnson: "I know, but I didn't know that!"

316920 Asch: "But they were all ... they were all joking! We're really ... we're really out of it!" Cut.

318800 Wide angle of the youth dragging his bow.

319400 Chagnon voice-over: "Poor son of a bitch!"

320600 Asch: "What?"

321440 Chagnon: "He had his back turned and a guy walked up to him with an ax and just let him have it right in the back." <REF216480 Cut.

324240 Long shot. Räaiyowä stands in front of Yoinakuwä 's house. He holds his distinctive club. Zoom in to Dimöma who has apparently remained crying in her hammock since the first moments of the film. <REF57869 Slow zoom out.

331520 Under the overhanging roof of the shabono, two women part company from a third.

334670 The third woman stares pensively, then shouts. Subtitle translation: "Why the hell did your shiftless son insult us that way? He said we had blemishes! We don't take that kind of talk from a bunch of visiting bastards like you!" [See description at: <REF14458 ] Zoom in and cut.

352600 Soft focus close-up, then slow zoom out from Dimöma in her hammock. Wailing is heard. Cut.

366800 Medium long shot. Waböama holds her baby and shouts insults, apparently at Törawä 's mother and father. Subtitle: "It's your goddam son that has all the filthy blemishes on his ugly face! [Zoom out.] He's an ass of the first order! His ugly skin is so blemished that he looks more like a pimple than a person!"

380880 Waböama shouts. Subtitle: "And it's clear to us why all your children are so foul and ugly! We know! We know!" Two young men smile at the camera. Yoaiyoböwä, waves. Zoom in.

393760 Waböama insults someone across the plaza, apparently Borowama, whom she calls a "woman of the Waikas," neighboring Yanomamö who are regarded as inferior to one's own group. Subtitle: "It's their ugly mothers that made them that way! You're all descended from pus and pimples! You all come from the Village of Pimples!"

406240 Waböama turns away, glancing back petulantly as she walks to her hammock. She sits down. Pan and cut.

413600 Black screen. [The 16mm film is exhausted, but a recorded conversation between Johnson, Asch and Chagnon begins, voice over.]

414040 Johnson: "Sound Reel 14, February 28, 1971: finished [sic] of wife-beating sequence ..."

417920 Asch: "Did you get sync on that?"

418400 Chagnon: "Wife-beating sequence my foot!"

419400 Johnson: "Okay. What is it?"

420260 Chagnon: "It was a club fight." <REF83120

421000 Johnson: "What was first?"

422057 Chagnon: "Well, two women were in the garden and one of them was seduced by her 'son.' It was an incestuous relationship and the others found out about it and that's what started the fight." <REF50600

427120 Asch: "No kidding!"

428000 Johnson: "About 3:30 in the afternoon."

429200 Chagnon: "No, about 3:00 it started. One guy was hit on the back from behind with an ax and just about knocked unconscious with the blow." <REF216480 <REF244880

434053 Asch: "So this is just the beginning of lots more."

435790 Chagnon: "Well, when you get a village this big things like this are bound to happen."

437480 Asch: "Did you figure out how many there were in the village?"

438856 Chagnon: "No. I haven't counted yet. There're over two hundred though." <REF16000 *11

440315 Möawä, headman of the village, asks in the Yanomamö language for Chagnon to give him some soap.

444600 Chagnon: "That's about the tenth person today that's asked me for my soap!"

446400 Asch: "Tell him I'll give him my soap ..."

447100 Chagnon: "No, you won't give him your soap!"

447600 Asch: "... well, when I ... when I go home."

448800 Johnson [laughs]: "God!"

448900 Chagnon: "They're going to make damn sure we're gonna leave in a hurry [Johnson laughs] if we keep promising them everything when we go home." <REF299440

452240 Asch: "Shoriwä [brother-in-law], living in your village is ... tiresome."

454200 Chagnon: "Thought I was shitting you about 'the fierce people,' huh?" <REF244880

455300 For a description of the remainder of the film, click here: 'Narration'