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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