THE LAST OF HIS TRIBE

I read a couple accounts recently of the death of the last member of one of the indigenous tribes living in the jungles of South America. One account was on the internet from The Guardian and the other was from National Public Radio. The man was found in his hammock inside a small, thatched hut surrounded by colorful feathers, possibly indicating he had prepared for his own demise. It is estimated he was about sixty years old. He had been dead for a few weeks when discovered. His particular language and ethnicity remain unknown.

The story interested me since my book, More Than A Man Stand Can Stand, tells the story of a pilot from the United States dealing with a tribe of indigenous natives in South America. Accompanying the story was a video taken in 2011 of the man chopping down a tree. His appearance was very much like the eighty-year-old photos in my book. He is wearing no clothes and his hair is black and, in a bowl, like cut. To appear like that, he was a throwback unlike the natives appearing in the recent Netflix documentary, The Last Forest.

It is rumored that the man’s tribe had been decimated in the 1970’s by nearby ranchers who gifted the clan with sugar and after the population was accustomed to the gesture, surreptitiously laced the gift with rat poison. This man, whose name and tribe remain unknown, avoided that disaster, perhaps because he lived as a hermit outside the village. Since his tribe was slaughtered, the man fiercely avoided contact by outsiders.

He was known as the “man of the hole”, based on the many holes and trenches he dug in the ground. Some were used for hiding and avoiding contact. Others were weaponized with sharp sticks for hunting or discouraging strangers from approaching him. He rejected all attempts from charitable caregivers. Reports are that he had escaped an attack by a group of angry armed ranchers in 2009.

Dozens of campsites found after his body was discovered, indicate the man moved frequently. The hut he was found in was the fifty-third such structure found.

In 2007, Brazil formed seven reserves for the preservation of indigenous people. The man of the hole lived in one of these called Tanaru, described as “an island in the middle of a sea of cattle ranches in one of the most violent areas of Brazil”. Tanaru consists of about 20,000 acres of jungle. Recently, the President of Brazil to the delight of many ranchers and farmers, has advocated for the abolishment of all preserves saying the indigenous people have too much control over the land. As a result, attacks on the inhabitants of the reserves have increased from 109 in 2009 to 305 in 2021. It’s a familiar conflict between indigenous natives and more recent settlers.

While the man of the hole died from natural causes, his death accentuates the need for the reserve, and several candidates are now running for office in opposition to the President’s policies.