INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



11 



the Indian women against the sexual advance of 

 the white men was made necessary by the ease 

 with which the unmarried women could be ap- 

 proached. Any sexual advance was considered a 

 proposal of marriage both by the girl and her 

 parents. On more than one occasion workmen 

 had to be shipped out for this reason. To guard 

 the camp against nocturnal prowlings, two of the 

 Villas Boas always slept in their hammocks under 

 the piqui tree in the center of the camp. 



I have stressed the life in Jacarei Camp, for it 

 was here that we met members of every tribal 

 group in the Upper Xingu and where much of our 

 work was done. The camp was an attraction for 

 the Indians. Here they received food, tools, 

 medical help, and were able to see the airplanes at 

 close quarters. Some of the men had the oppor- 

 tunity to take flights to the base camps at Chavan- 

 tina and Aragarcas or over new territory to the 

 northwest where the Expedition was planning a 

 new airfield. The Indians, especially the Cama- 

 yura and the Trumai who knew the surrounding 

 territory well, gave valuable help in pointing out 

 the location of still unknown Indian tribes and the 

 best routes of advance. The relations between the 

 Indians and the whites are now unique, and it will 

 be a pity if the Upper Xingu should be opened up 

 to an influx of miners and settlers, for, inevitably, 

 disease and exploitation will follow, leading to the 

 degradation and eventual decimation of the Indian 

 population. 



On the day we arrived the Carib-speaking 

 Nahukwa tribe was in camp, and it was with the 

 Nahukwa that we began our work. The language 

 difficulty, which we encountered throughout our 

 stay, prevented us from gathering much informa- 

 tion. We were, however, able to get the kinship 

 terminology, and one night the men played two 

 sacred flutes together. Some of the women I 

 noticed had wavy hair, a trait which we were later 

 to encounter among members of the other tribes. 



The first Camayura that we met was Nilo, the 

 eldest son of Tamapu, the Camayura chief. The 

 Villas Boas had requested that the boy remain at 

 Jacarei in order to learn Portuguese and the ways 

 of the Brazilians so that he could assist as an 

 interpreter. Tamapu assented but insisted that 

 the boy should be kept away from women. The 

 first act of acculturation was to give the bo}^ a 

 shirt, a pair of pants, and the name "Nilo." The 



clothes Nilo considered as having decorative value 

 only. In the cool of the morning while at his 

 tasks he went about naked. In the heat of the 

 afternoon when the young people painted them- 

 selves with urucu, Nilo put on his clothes, which 

 were again taken off after dark. Nilo learned his 

 Portuguese from the workmen in whose house he 

 slept, and had learned enough to be of great use to 

 us as an informant and interpreter. His Portu- 

 guese, however, was of a "caboclo" variety with a 

 strong north Brazilian accent. For instance, when 

 I would ask him to repeat in greater detail some- 

 thing upon which he had touched the day before, 

 he would say impatiently in Portuguese, "Look, 

 guy, I told you all about it yesterday." 



Nilo was about 16 years old and had already 

 been in puberty seclusion more than once, yet his 

 father did not consider him mature, claiming that 

 he got into too much mischief to be a man. At 

 Jacarei Nilo also had his troubles. After repeated 

 requests the Villas Boas presented him with a 

 22-rifle. Several days later he shot one of the 

 Camayura boys through the left arm and ribs. 

 Although the boy survived, Nilo was in bad repute 

 with the tribesmen as well as the Villas Boas. 

 Some months later he and several younger boys 

 broke into a warehouse and stole several blocks of 

 brown sugar. This escapade angered the Villas 

 Boas who complained to his father. The last time 

 I saw Nilo he was whittling arrow foreshafts and 

 learning to play the sacred flute behind the 

 puberty screen in his father's house. 



Another interesting character with whom we had 

 personal contact throughout our stay was Canato. 

 He was a handsome, well-built Iwalapeti Indian 

 who had married Tipuri, the daughter of the 

 Camayura chief. He had been brought up among 

 the Cuicuru and spoke their language well. Thus 

 knowing Carib, Arawak, and Tupi dialects and a 

 little Portuguese, he was of great use as an inform- 

 ant and interpreter. Of all the Indians we met, 

 Canato was perhaps the wisest in the ways of the 

 white man. He was always well supplied with 

 odd pieces of clothing, raw sugar, and tools with 

 which he carried on a lively trade with the other 

 Indians. Canato is also the most photographed 

 Indian in South America. As I have mentioned, 

 the Upper Xingu, with easy access, has become a 

 newspaper photographer's paradise. Since my 

 visit to the Xingu I have seen Canato's picture 



