Vom Roroima zum Orinoco

Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1872–1924) was a noted German ethnologist and explorer whose work on the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Venezuela is still consulted today. His most important publication was this five-volume account of his expedition of 1911–1913 from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 2 contains the myths and legends Koch-Grünberg recorded among the Pemon Indians, who were speakers of Taulipáng (Taurepan) and Arekuná (Arecuna). These two important Cariban languages are closely related, and are still spoken by several thousand people in the Roroima mountains. Koch-Grünberg's consultants were Möseuípu, a young Arecuna shaman, and Mayuluaípu the son of a famous Taurepan story-teller. Mayuluaípu was fluent in Portuguese and provided the author with explanations of the stories, of which 50 are recorded in German versions and eleven in the original language with German glosses.