Mebengokre

The Mebengokre, meaning people of the water's source, are known to outsiders as the Kayapo, a name given by neighboring peoples in the early nineteenth century and said to mean those who look like monkeys, after a men's rite with monkey masks. They speak a Je language and are divided into subgroups spread across Para and Mato Grosso along the Xingu and its tributaries.

In the 1700s they first met Portuguese bandeirantes hunting gold and indigenous slaves and migrated westward away from the raids into forests that became their homeland.

They combined slash-and-burn gardens with hunting and fishing, and kept hidden war gardens against scarcity. They painted their bodies in black patterns, elders wore wooden lip disks and chiefs yellow feather headdresses, and they prized oratory, calling themselves the people who speak beautifully.