from: Dilwyn Jenkins: The rough
guide to Peru; Rough Guides, New York, London, Delhi; 6th edition
September 2006; www.roughguides.com
The white and mestizo industry is
pushing back the natives - some tribes have died out - self destruction
by gold mining and timber industry
Today the main problems
facing the Indians, here as elsewhere, are loss of territory, the
merciless pollution of their rivers [mercury by gold mining],
devastating environmental destruction (caused mainly by large-scale
gold-mining) and new waves of oil exploration by multinationals (p.541).
Off the main Madre de Dios waterways, within the system of smaller
tributaries and streams, live a variety of different indigenous groups.
All are depleted [reduced] in numbers due to contact with Western
influences and diseases, but while some have been completely wiped out
over the last twenty years, several have maintained their isolation.
Many tribes were acculturated as late as the 1950s and 1960s, and
occasionally "uncontacted" groups turned up during the 1980s and 1990s.
These are, however, usually segments of a larger tribe that split or
dispersed with the arrival of the rubber barons, and they are fast
being secured in controllable mission villages. Most of the native
tribes that remain in, or have returned to, their traditional
territories now find themselves forced to take on seasonal work for the
colonos who have staked
claims around the major rivers. In the dry season (May-Nov), this
usually means panning for gold - the region's most lucrative commodity
[with all mercury effects]. In the rainy season, Brazil nut collection
takes over. The timber industry, too, is well established, and most of
the accessible large cedars are already gone.
If you go anywhere in the jungle, especially on an organized tour,
you're likely to stop off at a tribal village for at least half an hour
or so, and the more you know about the people, the more you'll get out
of the visit.
Ese Eja indígenas
Downstream from Puerto Maldonado, the most populous indigenous group
are the Ese Eja tribe (often
wrongly, and derogatorily [with negative connotation], called
'Huarayos' by colonos). Originally semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers,
the Ese Eja were well-known warriors who fought the Incas and, later
on, the Spanish expedition of Alvarez Maldonado - eventually
establishing fairly friendly and respectful relationships with both.
Under Fitzcarrald's reign, they suffered greatly through the engańo system, which tricked them
into slave labour through credit offers on knives, machetes, pots and
pans, which then took years, or in some cases a lifetime to work off.
Today they live in fairly large communities and have more or less
abandoned their original bark-cloth robes in favour of shorts and
T-shirts.
Huachipaeri, Amarakaeri,
Sapitoyeri, Arasayri and Toyeri natives - self destruction by gold and
timber - university schooling and coming back
Upstream from Puerto Maldonado live several native tribes, known
collectively (again, wrongly and derogatorily [with negative
connotation]) as the Mashcos but actualy comprising at least five
separate linguistic groups - the Huachipaeri,
Amarakaeri, Sapitoyeri, Arasayri and Toyeri. All typically use
long bows - over 1.5m - and lengthy arrows, and most settlements will
also have a shotgun or two these days, since less time can be dedicated
to hunting when they are panning for gold or working timber for colonos.
Traditionally, they wore long bark-cloth robes and had long hair, and
the men often stuck eight feathers into the skin around their lips,
making them look distinctively fierce and cat-like. Having developed a
terrifying hatred of white people during the rubber era, they were
eventually conquered and settled by missionaries and the army about
forty years ago. Many Huachipaeri and Amarakaeri groups are now
actively engaging with the outside world on their own terms, without
interference from organizations with their own agendas. These days some
of their young men and women have gone through university education and
later return to their native villages (p.543).
