Day 251 - 17 May 96 - Page 20
1 MR. MORRIS: That is the road with Jucara and Baiyagaris(?)?
2 A. In fact, I have done it both ways. There is a road
3 which runs more or less.
4
5 Q. I am not at the moment interested. Well, I am interested
6 where you have travelled or maybe I just want you to
7 designate the area which you say was dense tropical forest
8 in 1971 and '72.
9 A. It is the areas both sides of the Araguaia River.
10
11 Q. From where to where?
12 A. On the eastern side it is an area which includes
13 Jucara, which includes Pesash(?), which includes San Miguel
14 do Araguaia.
15
16 MR. MORRIS: So, it is basically the Araguaia River and its
17 tributories then, that whole basin.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It runs basically north to south. What I am
20 trying to find out is how far south it came, do you see?
21 If one follows the River Araguaia it goes an enormous long
22 way.
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. How far did the extremely dense humid forest go south along
26 the river and its tributaries, if you can remember now?
27 A. I can definitely remember tropical forest outside
28 Baradegayasis(?), and I am trying to remember because I
29 have come up through Araguaia from an earlier trip.
30
31 Q. North from there, are you saying?
32 A. North from there, I am absolutely certain, was dense
33 tropical forest. The area round Baradegayasis was cleared
34 fairly early on, and going south from there, I really...
35 Diamantino, I went there, which is south of Baradegayasis,
36 a little place, that was tropical forest, but these areas
37 were all opened up at this period.
38
39 Q. When did the essential opening up period last to? It was
40 starting, was it, in about '71 and '72? Do not let me lead
41 you into it, I am just making sure I understand.
42 A. It was starting then, yes, the early 1970's
43
44 Q. How long did it go on for in that area?
45 A. When I went there in the early 1980s, most of the
46 vegetation near the roads areas, which were accessible by
47 roads, had been cleared. But I remember very well going up
48 there in the early 1970s during the burning season and
49 getting quite asthmatic because of the amount of smoke and
50 jungle clearance that was going on.
51
52 Q. When was that?
53 A. That was my second trip up there, which I think was
54 1973.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: You said that by... Was it 1983, I think you said,
57 that the areas around the roads...
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: By the early 1980s.
60
