Auca on the Cononaco Indians of the Ecuadorian Rain Forest. Text and photographs: Peter Broennimann. Springer Basel AG

Transcription

1 Auca on the Cononaco Indians of the Ecuadorian Rain Forest Text and photographs: Peter Broennimann Springer Basel AG

2 Peter Broennimann

3 amcononaco Indianer im ecuadorianischen Regenwald

4 -'\ \. " \ \ I > LATACUNGA AMBATO 2570m Tungurahua 1\ 5016 m

5 AEOUATOR KM o

6 Library rif Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Broennimann, Peter, Auca on the Cononaco. Title on added t.p.: Auca am Cononaco. Includes index. 1. Araucanian Indians. I. Title. H. Title: Auca am Cononaco. F3126.B76 980'.004' ISBN AACR2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. English version: Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart Layout and design: Albert Gomm Cover photo The luminous red toucan feathers shine in magnificent contrast to Menga's blue-black hair. Free, proud and content, he lives in harmony with nature in the tropical forest of his forefathers. But his freedom is endangered. Oil companies and missionaries see only the 'primitive heathens lost in the realms of darkness' and will be able to find no peace until the last Auca is on the reservation. CIP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek Broennimann, Peter: Auca on the Cononaco : indians of the Ecuadorian rain forest / Peter Broennimann. - Basel; Boston; Stuttgart : Birkhäuser, Dt. Ausg. u.d. T.; Broennimann, Peter: Auca am Cononaco Springer Basel AG 1981 Originally published by Birkhäuser Verlag Basel in 1981 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1981 ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Tide page Menga's first drawing: carefully and conscientiously he has put one line next to the other and deliberated over his choice of colors. Visibly pleased with the results, he explains his work: "Those are trails that run through the forest, and big huts and many Auca with blowguns."

7 Contents 17 Introduction 19 Auca: An Endangered Tribe Foreword by Annemarie Seiler-Baldinger 27 Destination: Cononaco 53 An Island in the J ungle 109 Waaponi! 153 The Auca Reservation on the Curaray 177 Survival in the Tropical Forest 183 Epilogue

8 The author with Cincawae

9 Sam Caento Padilla, the son of an Auca and a Spaniard, is a man between two worlds. For the Linguists who educated hirn he is nothing more than a lost ho pe today. But for the Auca on the Cononaco he is an important link to the outside world.

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11 11 The Auca's huts stand above the Cononaco, far removed from civilization. The interrelated group of twenty-six, made up of Menga's, Apa's, Boca's and Caruae's families, live in dose harmony with nature here in the tropical rain forest. The excitement over our arrival has not yet died down. As the first white woman on the Cononaco, Wally becornes the focal point of their curiosity.again and again. We are struck by the Auca's srnall build. At an average height of 1 rn 54 crn, the rnen are about 10 crn taller than the wornen.

12 > Garni belongs to Titae's group. In contrast to Cacadi's features, hers carry only a faint trace ofthe Mongoloid stamp. Months later she fell victim to the Linguists' promises. On the Tiwaeno Reservation, the Auca pay for their guileless curiosity with their freedom. The first thing the zealous missionaries taught naked Garni was a sense of shame. Innocent of clothing, they wear nothing but a hip-cord. The Mongoloid element in Cacadi's features is unmistakable. She is in the early stages of her first pregnancy.

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14 14 Auca huts are solid and rainproof. Under the palm-thatched roof, wh ich slopes down from the high ridge beam to the ground, the usual confusion reigns: ajumble of hammocks hanging round the fires, plaited baskets, carrying bags, spears, blowguns, kapok containers and bamboo quivers everywhere. > Awaenca is proud of her child. Healthy and well-fed, it will spend the first years of its life in the constant loving care of its mother.

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