BRAZIL: Die If Necessary

Up the Rio das Mortes (River of Death), in the Matto Grosso, to the country of the Chavante Indians last month journeyed a seven-man peace commission, sent by Brazil’s Indian Bureau. Such commissions have made peace with most of the distrustful tribes of the hinterlands by following the bureau’s inflexible rule: “Die if necessary, but never kill.”

But of all the Indians living in the jungles of the Matto Grosso, the fiercest and most unpredictable are the Chavantes. For centuries they have fought a guerrilla war with what they believe is one great tribe of white men.

At a Chavante village, Dr. Genesio Pimentel Barbosa, head of the commission, called a parley. The Indians silently listened to his offers, brought fruit for the white men to eat.

In a few minutes six of the white men of peace were violently sick. The fruit had been poisoned. Still no member of the expedition laid a finger on his rifle. Even when the Chavantes attacked them with poisoned arrows and slashing machetes, the white men did not shoot. Only one man of the seven escaped into the jungle.

Last week the River of Death bore another expedition sent by the Indian Bureau. Its purpose: to find the six bodies, to try once again to talk peace to the Chavantes. There would be no reprisals, for the Indian Bureau still insists “Never kill.”