To the cabodos (rubber-tree tappers and Brazil-nut gatherers) who live along tributaries of the Amazon, the Caiapó Indians are bad medicine. Savage and naked, they lurk in the jungle until the men in caboclo settlements leave for the day's work. Then they swoop down, killing everyone but the girls, whom they kidnap. If they meet resistance, they fire thatched huts with flaming arrows, like Sioux attacking a covered-wagon train. Says an old trader: "The best thing to do when you see a Caiapó is to shoot first."
To the Caiapós, on the other hand, the cabodos are sinister members of...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
