Buell Halvor Quain (May 31, 1912 – August 2, 1939) was an American ethnologist who, after graduating from University of Wisconsin–Madison and studying as a graduate student at Columbia University, worked with native peoples in Fiji and Brazil.
In 1938, Quain travelled to Brazil to work with the Kraho people of the Brazilian rainforest, where he also spent time in the Trumai village.
[3] On August 2, 1939, at the age of 27, Buell Quain committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the Brazilian rainforest.
[4] The mystery surrounding his death by suicide was the subject of Brazilian author Bernardo Carvalho's 2002 novel Nove Noites.
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