Making a whisk

In this image, Adalberto Rapu Lucu is making a whisk broom, using a wooden mallet. His raw material is the stalk that connects a cluster of fruits to a motacú palm (Attalea phalerata). These whisk brooms are very useful when floodwaters are rising or falling, to ward off swarms of biting insects. Behind him is a wattle-and-daub house, and the skin of an ox hanging under the roof. The picture was probably taken during March or April of 1997. Originally taken on Kodachrome film on a Pentax K-1000 camera, it was scanned and processed several years later. Adalberto worked with me as a guide and field technician from 1996 through 1997.