The quote from the book itself (p. 307):
“The Nambikwara have, however, another way of resolving the problem, and that is by homosexual relations or, as they call them, tamindige kihandige: ‘the loving lie’. These relations, common among the younger men, are carried on with a publicity uncommon in the case of more normal relations. The partners do not go off into the bush, as they would with a partner of the opposite sex, but get down to it beside the camp-fire, much to the amusement oftheir neighbours. The incident provokes a joke or two, on the quiet, the relations in question being regarded as childishness and of no serious account. It remains doubtful whether these exercises are carried to the point of complete satisfaction or whether, like much that goes on between husbands and wives among the Nambikwara, they are limited to sentimental out pourings and a certain amount of erotic fore-play.
Homosexual relations are only allowed between adolescent boys who stand to one another in the relations of crossed cousins cases, that is to say, in which one partner would normally marry the other’s sister and is taking her brother as a provisional substitute. Whenever I asked an Indian about a relationship of this sort, the answer was always the same: ‘They are two cousins (or brothers-in-law) who make love together.’ Even when fully grown, the brothers-in-law are still very free in their ways, and it is not unusual to see two or three men, all married and the fathers of children, walking round in die evening with their arms round one another’s waists.”
The source he cites is A World on the Wane, or Tristes Tropiques in the original French.
It can be found here:
http://www.archive.org/details/tristestropiques000177mbp
The quote from the book itself (p. 307): “The Nambikwara have, however, another way of resolving the problem, and that is by homosexual relations or, as they call them, tamindige kihandige: ‘the loving lie’. These relations, common among the younger men, are carried on with a publicity uncommon in the case of more normal relations. The partners do not go off into the bush, as they would with a partner of the opposite sex, but get down to it beside the camp-fire, much to the amusement oftheir neighbours. The incident provokes a joke or two, on the quiet, the relations in question being regarded as childishness and of no serious account. It remains doubtful whether these exercises are carried to the point of complete satisfaction or whether, like much that goes on between husbands and wives among the Nambikwara, they are limited to sentimental out pourings and a certain amount of erotic fore-play.
Homosexual relations are only allowed between adolescent boys who stand to one another in the relations of crossed cousins cases, that is to say, in which one partner would normally marry the other’s sister and is taking her brother as a provisional substitute. Whenever I asked an Indian about a relationship of this sort, the answer was always the same: ‘They are two cousins (or brothers-in-law) who make love together.’ Even when fully grown, the brothers-in-law are still very free in their ways, and it is not unusual to see two or three men, all married and the fathers of children, walking round in die evening with their arms round one another’s waists.”