ELUDES EXPLORERS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 64, 17 March 1933, Page 3

ELUDES EXPLORERS

WHITE INDIAN TRIBE

The much-sought "pig-headed" white and pygmy Indians, supposed to be'living in the jungles of Northern1 Brazil, continue to elude the- members of tho Brooklyn Museum Brazil Expedition which has been seeking them intermittently sinae October, 1931. Emerson Smith, the expedition's motion-picture photographer, announced tho failure of the latest man-hunt in a letter made public at the expedition's New York headquarters.. ■ Led by Desmond Holdridge, the explorers have boon attempting since March to • penetrato the. unexplored Sierra Pariuia section of Brazil. Their, first attempt failed because of mutiny among their half breed guides. In •August they again set out to ascend the Catrimany River, but wore delayed by a failing petrol supply, which compelled them to abandon their cabin cruiser and proceed upstream in native craft.

Mr. Smith wrote" that ho and Mr. Holdridge had decided to abandon the river and strike out through the jungle in search of the- liidden malokas, or huts, of the Pakatai, a tribe of pygmies, and the Paitiri, the legendary white Indians. QuiritiQ, their Pauishana Indian guide, had suggested they capture a Waika chief and prevail upon him to lead the expedition to the pygmy huts. " .

"One afternoon there was a cry a long way off in the -"orest," Mr. Smith wrote. "Quirino f-aid it ■ was an Indian's, and we set off toward it. For a time it was quite exciting, with tho Pauishanas calling out, but after • a while we heard some spicier monkeys and decided that the" cry must havo come -from the.m."

That night, he.continued, the,lndians got the idea the camp was being surrounded by hostile Waikas. Strange cries were heard in the jungle and tho Pauishanas interpreted them as Waika1 signals, but finally, Smith said, "it wasi decided to call a frog a frog, for that V what'it was."

After several of these "seances," which resulted in-the pursuit of other jungle will-o'-the-wisps, Mr. .Holdridge and Mr. Smith decided to return to their boats and ascend tho Shiriana River, where the white tribe was supposed to be. Finally they reached the spot where they had expected to find the white Indians.

"I think we all had a tense expectancy of hearing the cries of the forest Indians, or of coming upon one of their trails or gardens around each end," Mr. Smith said. "Soon, though) the land became swampy and the bushes choked the stream, so we turned back to the main stem of the Shiriana. Chasing the shy little people through the matto (jungle) in this way is too much."

Mr. Smith set out for Manaos, their base camp, for new supplies, and Mr. Holdridge began an ascent of the Branco- River to Barcellos to prepare for another trip. They intend to explore the' unmapped Demini River, primarily to get pictures of the "good movie Indians" and to complete the motion-picture record of their explorations. ■