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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



Willems (personal communication) indicates that 

 no neo-Brazilian series within his knowledge 

 averages less than about 79, even though the 

 Portuguese are the most long-headed nationality 

 in Europe. However, several of the younger 

 Umotina adults show shorter statures and rounder 

 heads 1 than the rest of the series. This suggests 

 some admixture in the Umotina since 1913. Yet 

 Oberg's morphological descriptions (see p. 134) 

 and photographs (pis. 9, 10) give the strong 

 impression that the Umotina as a whole are 

 unmixed. Blood group analyses, such as Da 

 Silva (1949, p. 8) has made on other Brazilian 

 groups, are needed for confirmation. 



No specific statement has been made concerning 

 the racial purity of the Iranxe. They are a 

 secluded and little-known tribal remnant, whose 

 status is probably comparable to that of their 

 neighbors, the Paressf. 



For tbe Upper Xingu Basin, it seems quite 

 certain that at least those tribes recently blood 

 grouped by De Lima (1950) are unmixed with 

 neo-Brazilians. De Lima studied 377 Upper 

 Xingu Indians — 109 Bacairi, 60 Camayurd, 81 

 Nahuqua, 47 Mehinacu, and 80 Waurd — and 

 found them to be exclusively group O, except for 

 one Bacairi woman with a known neo-Brazilian 

 father. These blood-group determinations, coupled 

 with the secluded position of the Upper Xingu 

 Basin, render it definite that no appreciable neo- 

 Brazilian admixture has occurred there. Further- 

 more, the Basin was first explored by Von den 

 Steinen's expedition of 1884. Since Ehrenrich 

 was a member of this expedition, his measurements 

 are doubly certain to be of "pure" Indians. 



Because of the early date of his work, Ehren- 

 reich's measurements on the Paressi and Bororo 

 should represent largely, if not wholly, unmixed 

 Indians, although the Paressi have had contact 

 with neo-Brazilian slave hunters and others since 

 the early 18th century (Metraux, 1948, p. 180). 

 Serological confirmation of the unmixed status of 

 the Sao Lourenco Bororo, the same group measured 

 by Ehrenreich, lies in their uniform possession of 

 blood group O (Da Silva, 1949, p. 579). The status 

 of the Carajd. is less certain. They have been in 



1 In the male series, field Nos. 9 and 11, respectively estimated at 24 and 

 22 years of age, have statures of 161 and 162 cm., cephalic indices of 79.9 and 

 90.4. Nos. 6 and 7 of the female series, 19 and 17 years old, show corresponding 

 figures of 152 and 154 cm., and 88.1 and 82.8. From the photographs, No. 6 

 (pi. 10, o), at least, has the appearance of being mixed. 



contact with neo-Brazilians since 1682 (Lipkind, 

 1948, p. 180). Golden's (1930) serological work on 

 61 Carajd indicates a really extraordinary fre- 

 quency of the gene for group B. At first glance, 

 this suggests admixture. Since there is some 

 question as to the technical validity of Golden's 

 determinations (Boyd, 1950, p. 92) it is safer not 

 to use his results as evidence of admixture, or for 

 calculations as to the proportions of the mixing 

 populations. It is important, however, to note 

 that Ehrenreich's measurements of the Caraja' 

 were made over 60 years ago, when they were pre- 

 sumably less mixed than when Golden studied 

 them. 



Whereas neo-Brazilian admixture can be as- 

 sumed to have little or no effect upon the tribes 

 whose measurements are considered here, the same 

 cannot be said of intertribal mixture. For example, 

 Oberg believes ". . . that a certain amount of 

 admixture has taken place among the Upper Xingu 

 tribes for a long time" (p. 15). At the time of his 

 visit, about 15 of the 110 Camayurd were from 

 other tribes (p. 15). Tribal shif tings within the 

 Upper Xingu Basin occurred both before and after 

 Von den Steinen's visit, and the general trend has 

 been toward tribal intermixture and concentration 

 of population along the river banks (Levi-Strauss, 

 1948, p. 323). Over a long period of time, this sort 

 of genetic exchange would tend to level any 

 physical differences originally present among the 

 tribes of the Upper Xingu Basin. 



Intertribal admixture centering around the 

 Paressi has also been recorded. In fact, one large 

 Paressi subgroup, the Cozarini, ". . . seem to be 

 a mixed tribe formed by a nucleus of Paressi 

 invaders who absorbed and assimilated Indians 

 from other tribes, mainly Nambicuara .... As 

 recently as 1910 . . . the Cozarini still fought the 

 Nambicuara and kidnapped the men for slaves 

 and the women for wives" (Metraux, 1948, p. 349). 

 Other Paressi groups may be considered less mixed 

 with surrounding Indians. 



No evidence could be located concerning inter- 

 tribal admixture in the Bororo, although it must 

 have taken place in the past. It is, however, highly 

 unlikely that the Bororo were ever in contact with 

 the Upper Xingu and other tribes directly to the 

 north across the Planalto do Matogrosense. As for 

 the Carajti, they have traditionally accepted cap- 

 tured women and small children as full tribal 



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