SEKINO'S REPORT
THE ORINOCO
The Orinoco, although not on the same scale as the Amazon, is one of the
three great rivers of South America. It still has a great deal of primeval
nature and aboriginal Indian groups along its upper and middle reaches.
For example, the Yanomami, who inhabit the Venezuelan-Brazilian border
region, are an Indian population who move frequently within a broad area of
110,000 square kilometers that includes portions of the Orinoco. As
Yanomami communities frequently split up and reunite, its population is not
known accurately, but is estimated to be about 20,000 people. The total
aboriginal Indian population of South America's tropical lowland is said to
be about 400,000 to 500,000, but most tribes consist of only a few hundred
to a thousand people. The Yanomami appear to be the largest tribe in the
South American tropical lowlands.
The importance of the Yanomami does not lie only in their having the
largest population. Until recently they lived in relative isolation with
only a few of their members having any contact with people from outside,
thus enabling them to preserve their indigenous culture. However, since
valuable ores were discovered in their territory in the late 1980s,
garinperos (miners) have been encroaching on their land.
Missionaries are another group of outsiders who have contact with the
Yanomami. There is a propagation base for Protestant missionaries from the
United States, whose head office is in Miami, in the jungle at Mount Plima.
Three pastors are learning the Yanomami language in order to translate the
Bible into Yanomami. However, I think it will be very difficult to teach
the Bible to the Yanomami. The Yanomami had never been to a Christian
religious service until 1990. Among the aboriginal Indians of South
America, the Yanomami are one of the groups who still do everything they
want according to their own desires. I have heard a Yanomami say"I hate
you" directly to a priest. A basic principle of Yanomami behavior is " An
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
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