Subsistence

The Korowai are horticulturalists who practice shifting cultivation. The basic food items are sago and bananas. Each clan has its own gardens (yasim) near its tree houses where it also cultivates Ipomoea batatas (khaw), Colocasia tubers (simbelu) and tobacco. Green vegetables, grass, and cane species are collected from the jungle, as well as wild fruits during the appropriate seasons, such as the sweet fruits of the Ponnetia pinniata and wild apples.
Pigs and dogs are the only domesticated animals. Pigs function mainly as objects of exchange and compensation. Dogs are raised for company and hunting, and their teeth are considered extremely valuable. Hunting for wild pigs is done with bows and arrows. Pigs that are caught in pits or traps made with a special fence construction are shot or pierced with spears. Cassowaries are shot or trapped with ropes strung across their paths. Smaller game consist of animals, such as birds, reptiles, rodents, marsupials, and smaller bats. For fishing the Korowai use bows and arrows, poison, and basketlike constructions placed in artificial dams. In precontact days crocodiles were hunted for consumption; they are now hunted for commercial reasons.



Source:
Gerrit Van Enk
2002 Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement.Electronic Document.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3458100056.html