Kontaktaufnahme mit Urwaldindianern 
813 
hergestellt werden soll und störende böse Mächte vertrieben werden sollen. Dieses 
Ritual vollzog man auch bei unserem Abschied. Nachdem uns die Frauen mit 
ihren Halsketten geschmückt hatten, bliesen Männer und Frauen den Rauch 
der Zeremonial-Zigarre in die Richtung unseres Reiseweges. Zu ihrer Genug 
tuung beräucherten auch wir mit der gleichen Zigarre und auf die gleiche Weise 
ihren Rückweg zum Dorf. 
Die Asurini, die bisher immer wieder als „Wilde" bezeichnet wurden, 
lernten wir mitten in ihrer Gemeinschaft als einträchtig lebende Menschen 
kennen - arbeitsam, schöpferisch und von freundlichem Betragen. 
Summarium. - The expedition which the author and his brother led in early 1971 
fitted in with the attempts to establish peaceful contact with isolated Indian groups 
in the Amazonian forests. The beginning of the construction of the highway “Trans- 
amazönica” is linked with the execution of a plan for the systematic colonization and 
renders such expeditions extremely urgent, in order to avoid the danger of dramatic 
interethnic clashes. The region on the right bank of the central Xingu upstream and 
downstream from Altamira has from time immemorial, been called by the settlers „Terra 
dos Asurini”, which meant for them another world, the world of the savage Indians, 
whose violence was dreaded and whose land was considered to be inaccessible and for 
bidden territory. The author first gives a short sketch of all that had been known about 
these Indians up till now. He describes his difficult expedition, the way in which he 
brought about the encounter with a group of Indians and how he finally succeeded in 
gaining admission into their villages in the vicinity of the Ipiafaba, a right tributary of 
the Xingu. Peril-laden hours, in which the Indians behaved absolutely hostile, preceded 
the peaceful solution. Based upon linguistic comparisons, comparisons with historic 
data, and personal impressions of the group and their phenotype, he identifies them as 
Tupian and Asurini. Since the group is monolingual, and since it was only possible to 
extend the visit with them in their villages to a maximum period of two weeks, his 
observations refer mainly to their cultural situation on an adaptive level, although 
observations of an ideological and sociological nature are not lacking. The reproduced 
field notes deal with the daily life of the Indians, their housing, the village, their gardens, 
trails, wanderings, and staple food, the preparation of meals and table manners, their 
curative procedures, dance and music, the objects of their material culture and art, 
and, as far as it was possible, a certain tendency toward acculturation. The attitude 
with which the Indians accepted the author, a stranger, into their society — an extraor 
dinary attitude for Indians — is probably best explained by the fact that he was really 
the first one who came to them. 
The author got to know the Asurini, who had always been considered to be sav 
ages, as a friendly, harmoniously living, industrious and creative people. 
Bibliographie 
Adalbert, Prinz von Preussen 
1894 Travels in the South of Europe and in Brazil: With a Vogage up the Amazon 
and Its Tributary the Xingu, Now First Explored. Vol, 2. Transí, by R. H. 
Schomburg and J. E. Taylor. London. D. Bogue. 
Arnaud, Expedito 
1961 Breve informa§ao sobre os indios Asurini e Parakanan; rio Tocantins, Pará. 
Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi. Belém; n. ser. Antrop., 11. 
1971 A a£áo indigenista no sul do Pará: 1940-1970. Boletim do Museu Paraense 
Emilio Goeldi. Belém; n. ser. Antrop., 49.