Abstract
A PRELIMINARY report, the first to appear, on the movements and work of the expedition to Matto Grosso, Brazil, of Dr. Levi-Strauss and Dr. J. A. Vellard, based on the infrequent telegraphic dispatches which had been received to the time of writing, has been published in the J. de la Société des Américanistes, N.S., 30, 1939. The expedition started from São Paulo in May 1938, and, proceeding along the line of the Rondon telegraphic system, made telegraph stations its bases for contacts with the Indians. At Utiarity, Juruena, Nhambiquaras, and Vilhena relations were established with various groups of the Nambikwara, of whom there are approximately 2,000 individuals in a territory extending 400 kilometres north of Utiarity. Three linguistic divisions were differentiated. The material culture was poor; but evidence was obtained of their social organization, system of relationships, family life, and of certain aspects of their technology and art. By October the expedition had arrived at Pimento Bueno, which was selected as a base for further research. Here visits were paid to groups belonging to Guaporé culture, but not classified linguistically. A prolonged stay in a village half-way between Presidente Hermes and Presidente Penna, of which the inhabitants were numerically poor and culturally degenerate, nevertheless proved fruitful in sociological material. Towards the end of the year, on reaching Presidente Penna, the return of the expedition by the normal route towards the south was barred by torrential rains and the ill-health of the members of the expedition. It was, therefore, decided to leave the country by the north in the direction of the Rio Madeira and then west to Bolivia.
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Anthropological Expedition to Brazil. Nature 144, 626–627 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144626c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144626c0