Tribe on the Xingu River

After my stay in Macapá, my next research task was to visit the native tribes living along the Xingu River. Because within the borders of this river, the Brazilian government created in the late 1950's the first Indian Park in Brazil. This park marks the first Indian territory recognized by the Brazilian government. Nowadays fourteen tribes live there, like their ancestors, surviving using natural resources, extracting from the river most that they need as food and water. These people are in great danger, because these lands and the river are menaced by uncontrolled forest exploitation, the cattle and the farming growing around the park and the construction of hydroelectric power plant in the Kuluene River, the most important tributary of the Xingu River, despite the fight of these people against this. I was to live among them and study all of their daily activities, to find out how they survived and how much of an impact the building of this gigantic dam would affect their lives. There are many indigenous Amazonian Indians inhabiting the Xingu River basin in Brazil are not a single tribe. Although commonly referred to as "Xingu

Indians" as if they were a single tribe, in reality they are composed of many different ethnic groups including Aweti, Kalapalo, Kamayura, Kapayo, Kuikuro, Maitipu, Nahukwa, Mehinaku, Suya, Trumai, Waura, and Yawalapiti tribes. Although they are composed of different tribes speaking different languages, the Xingu Indians share a common culture and practice the same ceremonies.

Although none of these tribes speak Palikur, I was able to communicate at the beginning with it and some Portuguese. It was not long before I started to pick up the language as it is not a very difficult one and it is relatively easier than Palikur. I ended up in a small village of the Kapayo, more remote and less spoiled by civilization. The village community consisted of a total of about 150 natives and one odd anachronism: a white young man of European extraction, blond, blue eyes and extremely effeminate. This young man was always referred to the others as the “blond jungle cat” or in the Portuguese: “onça loura” and he had the status of a chief or high ranking tribe member. He always remained behind and never went on the hunts nor did he help the women with the food preparation. He was actually waited on hand on foot and at times was referred to as a Chief or Cacique and also a God. He called himself “One People”How this young man came to the tribe is not exactly clear. My exhaustive inquiries only yielded a few clues. The things I found out was that first, the tribe of Kapayo did not originate in this location but had come down the river about 12 years ago when they were pushed out by the logging activities upstream. I also found that the young man came to live with the tribe as a “gift” for their hospitality when the village he was living in was decimated by fire and genocide. The survivors took refuge with the Kapayo and eventually the few that survived who were the older women who took with them some of the young children in canoes; the older women had all died off and could not recount the circumstances. I started to question the young man. He remembers a few things as he was only five years old or approximately that age, as the Kapayo have no concept of

One People had blond armpits

numbers and some relevant facts started to surface. The scenario was that his parents were from a foreign land north of the rain mountains, spoke a foreign tongue and were teaching the natives how to worship a new god. From this I deduced he was he offspring of missionaries and that it was obvious he was not even Brazilian. Then I started to inquire in different languages to see if he could understand something. I went to Spanish, to French and finally English. It was incredible the amount of words he knew in the English language. His was an English speaking family and he even remembered his mother’s and father’s name: Martin and Elizabeth Townsend.

Curiously, he had never had any other contact with any other English speaking person. I was the first one to speak to him in English since he was separated from his parents. He also remembers some relative named Martha in a place named Sacramento. But that was the extent of his knowledge. He had either forgotten the rest or had erased it from his mind as I suspect it probably was a very traumatic experience.

When I claim that homosexuality is something that is not an acquired taste or a chosen way of life I can assure you that this young man was the example of someone who was homosexual from a very early age. I don’t want to hear that it is conditioning in early childhood as his parents must have been missionaries who despised homosexuality, nor was it the Indian culture. This dude was born queer and queer he remains. His manner of speaking was mellow and gentle; the amount of attraction for other males was very obvious as was his attraction to me. He kept looking at me in the most alluring and sexual way, body language is almost the same for all human beings and this guy was demonstrating it as he looked at me.

My blond jungle god did not know his own name. Since the tribe call themselves “the people” his name was “the one people” or one person. He did not recognize any of the names I told him in English except Townsend. He had lost the ability to count and was not concerned about not being able to read. He did have one burning desire and that was to know who his family was or had been and for that reason, he wanted to get to know that woman named Martha who lived in the village of Sacramento.

One People was handsome to excess by any standard. He towered over me in height and was very proportionate, his features very fine and attractive. There were two more clues about One People, he wore a cross that had come with him and his mother had given him and then there was the fact that he was circumcised, as I later found out, in contrast with the Indians who are not.

One People had reached the age where he has to take a wife or two as the tribe practices polygamy but not having any cousins to marry he is still single. He told me that he planned on taking a husband instead. I was floored by this statement and wanted him to clarify it.

One People then explained to me that the men all lived in a large house in the compound and often took younger males for their sexual release; these would grow older and then take wives of their own. Because of his status in the tribe, he had that option or also had the option as do the wives of the chieftains to take a husband, chosen from the pool of unmarried men in the tribe whenever the wife of a chief became a widow. In other words, One People regarded himself as a female living in a male body. Sounds familiar? But here in the middle of the jungle there are no hormone injections nor is there makeup other than what they have used for thousands of years. It was also apparent that he was meticulous with his appearance and extremely clean, a sign of his royal or divine standing among his tribesmen.

Haikú the warrior was a real nacho man

One people told me that he wanted to choose me as a husband. I told him that would not be a good idea since I had to leave the tribe and would not be a permanent companion. Then he asked me if I would at least be his companion until such time I had to leave. In other words, he wanted to fuck. That presented one problem: There were also two very handsome tribesmen who wanted One People as a wife. One was a warrior and the other a gatherer and both were young and strong. One People explained to me that I had to challenge them and it would be done in a wrestling ceremony men participate in called huka-kuka or wrestling matches. I had no qualms about it since I had been in the wrestling team in high school and I was also taller and

Home sweet home, was shared with others who would do all the work for One People

stronger than my two opponents. I am certain that they were intimidated by the prospects of having to face me in a match just to get the sexual favors of One People.

The following day, the wrestling match took place. I faced the first opponent who was the gatherer and easily defeated him. However, when it was time to fight Haipú, the hunter things were a bit more difficult. To begin with, I was a bit tired from the previous bout, and then the fact that Haipú was a very

strong young man did not make things easier. The match started and the first thing that happened was that I got a bloody nose. This angered me and gave me more than an impetus to continue and even defeat my opponent. It was clear that Haipú was not going to let me defeat him as it would be disgraceful. As I was fighting him, I assessed the situation and pragmatically acted accordingly. I could have let him win or I could continue to fight him. I was getting tired and he showed no sign of being weary. This went on for about ten more minutes. When it was clear that it would be a draw, the chief interfered and stopped the bout. He raised both our arms as to declare it a tie. It was now up to One People to make the choice. As I was very different from the men he was accustomed to, and surely he would find me more sexually appealing, One People chose me. That night we were feasted like the feasts they conduct in the tribe when a marriage takes place. The feast would go on until all hours of the night and great amounts of some fermented liquid was consumed by all. The dancing and singing was exuberant and it would not be long before both of us would retire to a remote part of the jungle where a make-shift honeymoon shack had been erected just for the purpose. One People was fabulous. His eagerness to provide pleasure was incredible. It was as if he was worshiping me as a god or something to that extent. One People was passionate and had such fresh, young flesh I almost felt guilty taking him all to myself. I mostly felt sorry for Haikú who wanted to fuck him so bad that he was willing to wrestle me and face humiliation. I figured that since it was a tie, that once I was gone Haikú would claim what is rightfully his.

First I caressed One People until his body was slithering and sliding in response to my attention. Then I started to lick every inch of his body. I finally got down to his circumcised pecker and One People shot his wad the minute I put my lips around the head. This did not slow him down or diminish the love making in any way. One People was now just raising his legs and exposing his balls and beautiful asshole.

My ass licking would drive One People crazy and I think it is not one of the traditional tribe love making procedures. It was very stimulating to him as he probably never thought about someone licking his asshole and also was not aware of the great pleasure this would give in him. Next to my tongue invasion of his hole, I slowly introduced my schlong into One People. His eyes were bulging with fear so I bent over and kissed him to reassure him. Next I went down on him to give him some pleasure and also to distract him. He started to like it and seemed to be tolerating the

Choro the gatherer

pain. Eventually, the pain he was feeling turned to pleasure and he started making noises like a woman does when she is climaxing. They were short spurts of a feminine voice: “ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah” and so forth. Until these became louder and faster. One People was having an anal orgasm, as I recognized it from the ones I have had myself, only I don’t sound quite so feminine when I pant and vocalize it.

Our honeymoon lasted for as long as I was living at the village with the tribe; it never cooled off nor did it seem to wane in the least. One People was as hot a sex partner as the first day we fucked in the honeymoon shack. One People could not get enough of my dick up his ass, it was morning, noon and night and I would suck him off each and every time. He would reward me with the most delicious juice-man extract no fruit in the jungle could even begin to match.

The end of my stay was near and then American Consulate in Belem contacted me. The idea was that they should search the records for lost missionaries and something remarkable happened. I had sent word with a messenger down river with a letter to search to see if in the area there were missionaries who had a young child and were reported missing. The answer came One People as he called himself, was circumcized and had blond pubic hair back just in time two days before my departure. I explained to One People the implications and that he had an aunt named Martha who lived in Sacramento and that his parents had been killed by land raiders seeking to take away the indian’s land back in the mid eighties. The consul had written me a letter explaining that the boy’s parents appeared to be religious fanatics and that they had drifted away from the mother’s sister in Sacramento as they became more militant in their religious pursuits. They gave up their jobs, sold the house and gave the money to the church and departed for Brazil on a mission to convert the Indian populations. The last any civilized person had seen them was back in Manaus when they took a small boat that would carry them to the Xingu river area.

I presented the option to One People who now had a Christian name: Martin Townsend, born in Sacramento, California in August 1982. He could go back with me and I could hand him over to the American Consul and make the long voyage where his aunt Martha was waiting for him. He accepted and returned with me. He stayed in Macapá until I was able to make all the arrangements for his trip, civilize him a little, dress him, etc. He had never been to a city and had never laid eyes on anyone wearing clothes. It was a big adjustment for him.

The curious thing was when I took him to buy clothes. He invariably would go to the women’s section and wanted the brightest and loudest colors. I had to tone down his taste to make him more palatable for aunt Martha. I made several phone calls from my house in Macapá and explained to Martha that Martin was born gay and had been living in the wild of the jungle so she should not expect any thing and have disappointments. Soon his passport arrived and Martin was off to Manaus where he would catch a flight for Miami and then on to California. Martha even agreed to fly to Miami to meet him. I went to Manaus to make sure he was on the plane and to reassure him. It was a bitter sweet parting for us because I got to fall in love with the mother fucker. He was tender, a good lover and he was devoid of the pettiness of the rest of the world. He had few hang ups and he was so happy with me.

Martin Townsend (One People) cleaned up, looked handsome

Once in a while, I hear from Martha to report on the progress of Martin. He now reads and writes and she is tutoring him in other subjects like math, history and geography. Martin did have the option of returning to his village in the jungle but chose not to. He was able to adjust although I suspect life for him would not be easy. Fortunately Martha was a widow and had all the money in the world so that he would not ever need or want for anything.

There are two main concentrations of Indians in the Xingu, those of the upper river and another population center located about half way down the river. In the upper part are the Waurá. The Kayabí (Kaiabí), who are thought to have come more recently from the distant Tapajó region, speak a dialect of Tupi as their general language.

With exception to the Kayapó and Suyá who are nomads and hunter-gatherers, all the other Xingu natives are sedentary, primarily practicing agriculture and fishing. The crops that they cultivate are the same as before the arrival of Columbus. They include manioc, corn, yams and potatoes as the principal crops. In addition, perennial cotton is also cultivated. In particular, Kayabí agriculture is quite impressive. In addition to the above species, the Kayabí cultivate giant yams on a large scale as well as the mangarito (a type of tuber), red potatoes, and twelve different cultivated varieties of peanuts.

In general, the natives of the Upper Xingu have a basic diet consisting of manioc and fish. For the most part, they do not eat any meat besides fish and even then only certain varieties of fish are consumed. Generally they only eat fish that have scales and reject those without. With respect to birds, there are only two or three species that are consumed, the curassow, jocobins and guan. Older men (principally the shamans) are said to eat a lot of pepper in order to enhance their powers. The principal food of the Xingu Indians is manioc which is most commonly consumed in the form of tapioca cakes (beiju). Manioc is harvested from the fields, grated and then refined. The unrefined manioc is poisonous and must be leached with water to remove the toxins. With respect to harvesting wild fruits, there is an incredible variety available in the rainforest, some poisonous and some edible. The Xingu Indians say that one can