Xingu National Park was officially set up in 1961 on the initiative of the Villas Boas brothers, whose intention was to afford shelter from economic expansion and its consequences in the form of disease and poverty to a certain number of still isolated tribes, and to give them the opportunity of being integrated gradually into the dominant society. At present about 1,500 Indians, belonging to several culturally and linguistically distinct groups, share this reservation. The members of these tribes leave them only temporarily to visit one of the two stations set up by the Villas Boas brothers, or to take part in a collective celebration in another village. Access to the Park is properly denied to settlers and missionaries. Although between 1955 and 1970 numerous changes in their favor had taken place, in 1971 Xingu was crossed by a road linking Brasilia with Manaus, against the will of the Villas Boas brothers, but with the approval of FUNAI (National Indian Foundation) and the entire government. Xingu will be the object of yet another road violation. Linking Salvador with Cuiaba, this road will cross the reservation at an even more critical point; it will cut off the bottom of an already seriously mutilated body. Finally, in addition to all this, the impending withdrawal of the Villas Boas brothers and their replacement by FUNAI personnel leaves little hope as to even the physical survival of a population relatively isolated from civilized people and unprepared for being integrated with them. (Author/NQ)