> my swish config file:
> 	MetaNames autor

I believe you'd also need to tell it which file extensions are XML:

IndexContents XML .xml

You might want to look at some of the example configurations in the current
CVS.
  http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/swishe/swish-e/conf/

README explains the various examples.  Example 9 has a simple XML config.

-- 
  David L Norris
    Dave's Web - http://www.webaugur.com/dave/
    ICQ Universal Internet Number - 412039
    E-Mail - dave@webaugur.com

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					  - Groucho Marx