Abstract
A household survey of Tsimane' Indians of the Bolivian rain forest is used to examine the effect of different types of misfortunes (e.g., illness, deaths, evacuations, crop loss) at the level of the household, village, and region on different types of coping mechanisms. Forest clearing and advances on salaries seem to be more important than savings, reciprocity, borrowing, or credit in coping with mishaps. The statistical evidence suggests that Tsimane' remain poorly insured against unforeseen misfortunes and that inter- or intravillage reciprocity is not operative in times of need.