Tatunca Nara - The Chronicle of Akakor

Karl Brugger is a German journalist who lives in Brazil

INTRODUCTION

Amazonia begins in Santa Maria de Belem, 120 kilometers from the shores of the Atlantic. In 1616, when 200 Portuguese under the leadership of Francisco Castello Branco took possession of this territory in the name of His Majesty, the King of Portugal and Spain, their chronicler described it as a friendly and inviting piece of land with giant trees. Nowadays, Belem is a large city with skyscrapers, traffic jams, and a population of 633,000. It is the point of departure for white civilization in its conquest of Amazonias virgin forests. But throughout 400 years, the city has managed to preserve traces of its heroic and mystic past. Dilapidated palaces in colonial style and tiled houses with enormous iron portals bear witness to the notorious era when the discovery of the vulcanization process for rubber had raised Belem to the level of a European metropolis. The two-story market at the port also dates from this period, and just about everything can be bought here: fish from the Amazon River or the ocean; sweet-smelling tropical fruit; medicinal herbs, roots, bulbs, and flowers; crocodile teeth, which are thought to have aphrodisiac properties, and rosaries made of terra cotta.

Santa Maria de Belem is a city of contrasts. Noisy business streets in the center, but the jungle world of Marajo Island, once upon a time settled by one of the great civilized populations that tried to conquer Amazonia, is a mere two-hour journey upriver, on the opposite bank. According to traditional history, the Marajoaras reached the island around A.D. 1100, when their civilization was at its height, but by the time the European explorers arrived, the people had already vanished. All that remains are beautiful ceramics, stylized figures clearly expressing grief, joy, dreams. They seem to tell a story, but what is it?

Up to Marajo Island, the Amazon is a confusing network of canals, tributaries, and lagoons. The river runs a distance of 6,000 kilometers: It rises in Peru and rushes down the Colombian rapids, changing its name in each countryfrom Apurimac to Ucayali and Maranon, from Maranon to Solimoes. From Marajo Island onward, the Amazon carries more water than any other river in the world.

A large motorboat, the only means of transport in Amazonia, takes three days to travel from Belem to the nearest larger settlement of Santarem. It may be impossible to understand the great river without having experienced these motorboats, which incorporate the Amazonian notion of time, life, and distance. One can ride 150 kilometers per day (not per hour) downriver; time on these boats is passed in eating, drinking, dreaming, and loving.

Santarem lies on the right bank of the Amazon, at the mouth of the river Tapajoz. The population of

350,000 is experiencing prosperous times, for the city is the terminal of the Transamazonica and attracts gold panners, smugglers, and adventurers. One of the oldest Amazonian civilizations flourished here, the people of the Tapajoz, probably the largest tribe of jungle Indians. The historian Heriarte stated that, if necessary, he could muster up to 50,000 archers for a battle. Even if this is an exaggeration, the Tapajoz were sufficiently numerous to supply Portuguese slave markets for eighty years. This formerly proud tribe has left nothing behind except archaeological specimens - and the river that bears their name.

Rivers, cities, and legends of the Amazonian world pass by on the stretch from Santarem to Manaus.

The Spanish adventurer Francisco Orellana allegedly fought the Amazons at the mouth of the Nhamunda River. Lake Lacy, the Mirror of the Moon, lies on the right bank of the river, close to the settlement of Faro. According to the legend, the Amazons came down to the lake from the surrounding mountains when the moon was full to meet their lovers, who were waiting for them. They dived for strange stones that, underwater, could be kneaded like bread but were hard on land. The Amazons called these rocks Muiraquita and gave them to their lovers. Scientists regard the stones as archaeological miracles: They are as hard as diamonds and artificially shaped, although evidence has shown that the Tapajoz had no tools to work this kind of material.

The real Rio Amazonas starts at the confluence of the Rio Solimoes and Rio Negro. It takes twenty minutes by boat to reach Manaus, which is without any road communication to the shore. This is where I met Tatunca Nara. The date was March 3, 1972. M., commanding the Brazilian jungle contingent in Manaus, had been instrumental in arranging this meeting. It was in the bar Gragas a Deus ("Thanks to God") that I first confronted the white Indian chieftain. He was tall and had long dark hair and a finely molded face. His brown eyes, narrowed and full of suspicion, were characteristic of the half-breed. Tatunca Nara was wearing a faded tropical suit, a gift of the officers as he explained to me later. His broad leather belt with a silver buckle was very striking. The first minutes of our conversation were difficult. Somewhat reluctantly, Tatunca Nara described in broken German his impressions of the white city, with its innumerable people, the haste and rush in the streets, the high buildings, and the unbearable noise. Only when he had overcome his reserve and his initial suspicion did he tell me the most extraordinary story I have ever heard. Tatunca Nara told of the tribe of the Ugha Mongulala, a people who were "chosen by the Gods" 15,000 years ago. He described two great catastrophes that had devastated the earth and spoke of the ruler Lhasa, a son of the Gods, who governed the South American continent, and of his relation to the Egyptians, the origin of the Incas, the arrival of the Goths, and an alliance of the Indians with 2,000 German soldiers. He spoke of giant stone cities and subterranean settlements of the divine ancestors. And he said that all these events had been written down in a document called the Chronicle of Akakor.