Three years ago Brazil launched a vast programme to conquer the whole of the Amazon basin by building a network of roads. Mechanised armies are slashing red-earth tracks through virgin rain-forest in an attempt to occupy the hinterland, but deep in the forest the Indians are fighting back with bows and arrows.

Construction of Brazil's Great North Road, from Manaus to Guyana, has been brought to a standstill by one of the most hostile tribes ever encountered. A BBC expedition by mini-hovercraft traces the route of the proposed jungle highway, from the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean, and uncovers the strange story of a massacre in the forest.