The Indian lands upriver brim with timber and freshwater turtles
and fish. It would all be there for the taking, were it not for
Possuelo. When Funai first planted its flag at the Javari Valley
reservation, roughly the size of Florida, it was the Mayor of
Atalaia himself who yanked it from the ground in protest. In the
streets of the town, residents glared at us. Motor scooters came
threateningly close, then made another pass so there was no
mistaking their enmity. At the suggestion of the local police,
the Waika pulled out in a hurry. It was three years ago that
Possuelo established the first peaceful contact with a fragment
of Korubu Indians living in the Javari Valley. Having somehow
separated from their tribe about 60 miles north, these Korubu
were being ambushed and hunted down by local settlers. A fierce
people, the Korubu were nicknamed the caceteiros, or ''head
bashers,'' for the way they killed enemies. They had already
clashed with local Brazilians, once murdering two workers from
the Petrobas oil c