An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

WHIFFEN, Thomas

1 entries
  • 9182

The north-west Amazons: Notes of some months spent among cannibal tribes.

Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1915.

"This 1915 volume recounts Captain Thomas Whiffen’s travels in Brazil and Colombia in the region between the rivers Issa (or Içá) and Apaporis, and the Putumayo District. The study looks at the way in which the indigenous peoples, especially the Boro and Witoto, relate to their land. He describes their way of life, including their homes, agriculture, food, weaponry, warfare, clothing, health and medicine, songs and dances, magic and religion, tribal organization, the social status of women, and their reaction to strangers. The practice of cannibalism is also addressed and Whiffen suggests some possible reasons for it, including vengeance and supreme insult to enemies, the need to consume all available meat, and the desire to adopt some characteristics of the dead. Appendixes include detailed lists of the Native Americans’ physical features, deities, vocabulary, and names, and an example of tribal poetry" (Publisher). Digital facsimile of the New York, 1915 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: ANTHROPOLOGY, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Brazil, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Colombia, Travels by Physicians, Surgeons & Scientsts