XIII.
THE XAVANTE
To John and Kika, the Xavante echo the story of the American Indians — pushed west by waves of settlers until their backs were to the river. The Rio das Mortes became their final line of defense, and for a time, no one dared cross it. But then came the airplane. With it, the forest and its people could be bypassed, exploited, and contained in new ways. By the time John and Kika come to know them, most Xavante are no longer in the forest — they live in and around Xavantina, a town named in their honor, but in reality is little more than a monument to their defeat.
Their first real encounter comes when the Xavante have set up camp near John’s property line, part of a months long standoff with squatters along the BR-183. Starving, they begin killing his cattle with arrows. Furious, John goes to confront them — but finds only desperation. Poverty. Hunger. A people left behind.
What follows is not pity, but partnership. John gives them cattle, teaches them how to build and steward a herd and helps lay the groundwork for a kind of self-reliance the system has long denied them.