Basket, openwork, for collecting locusts
date: label: Accession Date
content: 20 Mar 2018
label: Collection Date
content: 1981 to 1983
name: label: Collector
content: Ms. Emilienne Ireland
label: Donor Name
content: Ms. Emilienne Ireland
notes: label: Notes
content: Openwork basket with handle. The basket is vaguely fish shaped with red cotton string around the brim. There is a handle.
label: Notes
content: Notes by the collector, Emilienne Ireland: This basket was used for collecting a species of locust (aháto) which the Wauja consider a delicacy. This insect looks much like the American lubber grasshopper (Romalea guttata), which is about 3 inches long. Note the efficient design of this basket. It is featherweight, with a wide conical mouth, making it easy to quickly stuff the wiggling creature into the basket, and a narrow neck, which can be plugged with a few leaves, preventing the snacks from escaping. It has a handy wrist strap, and is long and slender, so as not to impede movement through the underbrush. Small openwork basket. Sadly, the locusts that the Wauja looked forward to eating every October no longer are found in their territory. Tukupe Wauja told me on 6.28.2015 that they were all killed off about 25 years ago by pesticides sprayed by ranchers in areas just outside the reserve where the Wauja live.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 18 Oct 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Piyulaga village, Mato Grosso, Brazil, South America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Wauja (Waurá)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2074242
label: USNM Number
content: E435246-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Basket
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 72 cm
label: Height
content: 17 cm