Long ago, people came here with a canoe…

The canoe belonged to Jurumanjuba… It was huge and looked like a big animal. From the inside of this snake came early man…

And this is how the Panuré came to be born to the world.

There is a huge hole… two stones with holes, from there they started… From a long way down, I know it, there is a great lake, Buiauçu, this is where the snake came from… Virimanjoba went up from there… When returning to the lake, where it lives to this day, it made a stop…

Before there was a trail in the stone, here on the shore where they landed… But this disappeared… And on the other side of the river there is an ancient Sitio, which belongs to him.

But we stayed here…

and became men…

And then the tribes, the Arapaço, the Tucano, the Piratapúia and the Coeirrana… which all came from the snake… spread out over the land… right here… and settled.

And since then, we, the Arapato - named after a small woodpecker - have lived in this area.

This is how it was a long time ago.

Told by Antonio Matheus at the Ilha da Gaivota in Rio Negro on the equator, on 1st October 2000.