Description

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 by anthropologists, ethnologists and linguists. His most important publication was this five-volume account of his 1911-1913 expedition from the sandstone mountains bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana through uncharted territory westwards to the Orinoco. Volume 1 describes the journey itself, and the author's reactions to his varied experiences. Volume 2 contains sixty myths and legends, eleven of them given in the original language as well as translation. Volume 3 describes the material and spiritual culture of a number of tribes, and includes a substantial appendix on music. Volume 4 contains linguistic data on nineteen languages, Cariban, Arawak and isolates, several of them previously undescribed. Volume 5 provides 185 photographs showing the physical characteristics of the different tribes Koch-Grünberg encountered on this epic journey.