page_title: Manuel Córdova-Rios
section_title: Hostilities, and firearms
hierarchical_section_title: Manuel Córdova-Rios / Life in Huni Kui village / Hostilities, and firearms
caption_attribution_description: Ara macao English: This has the appearance of a Scarlet Macaw, which have a variable amount of green in the wings. The exact pedigree of this zoo parrot may be known by the zoo.
context_page_description: Manuel Córdova-Rios was a vegetalista of the upper Amazon, and the subject of several popular books.
  As a young mestizo of Iquitos he joined in a company to set up camp in the surrounding Amazon forest and cut rubber trees. He was captured then by a native tribe, among whom he apparently lived for seven years. The elderly chief taught him in intensive private sessions traditional knowledge, e.g., about medicinal plants of the jungle, and about ways of leadership. From the small tribe he learned skills for hunting in the jungle and acquired the name Ino Moxo. The chief also led night-long group sessions under the influence of ayahuasca to sharpen prowess in the hunt. After the chief's death, Córdova was acknowledged as leader of the tribe for some years.
  He then returned to Peruvian life, married and raised a family. Eventually he became well known in the upper Amazon for his success as a curandero, by using the chief's herbal teachings. He also regularly sent medicinal plants to New York.
  In the early 1960s he met an American forester, Bruce Lamb, a veteran of many years in the Amazon.
context_section_description: Signs of a hostile "encroachment on tribal hunting territory" were noticed. A search party discovered a "small camp of two houses" about "three days away from our village". Chief Xumu spoke to the heads of families about their past struggles against enemies. Preparations were made for a raid by a party of 25 men. The women painted the warriors' faces and bodies with a blue-black stain in finely drawn designs. At a meeting the tribe swore to make war, finger-tasting a liquid tobacco mixture. The raiding party, including Manuel, used bird calls as they approached near the hostile camp, and their scouts killed an enemy lookout. Yet as they entered the camp it was deserted. When the Huni Kui warriors returned home to the village, a victory celebration followed.
  Eventually Manuel Córdova learned of the Huni Kui's past skirmishes and battles, including the names of several enemy tribes. Some forest neighbors had gotten hold of firearms which had given them a deadly advantage in warfare against the Huni Kui. Most significant, however, was the defeat of the Huni Kui by Brazilian caucheros armed with rifles, resulting in the loss of life, loss of captives, and loss of tribal territory which caused the tribe's migration. Much later Manuel heard the chief describe as a primary reason for his abduction from the caucho camp: to somehow obtain firearms for the Huni Kui.
caption: Blue and red macaw:
  omen of a tribal enemy.[62]
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