WEBVTT

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:15.000
[music]

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.000
[music]

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.000
[music]

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.000
[music]

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.999
[music]

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
The story begins at the mouth of the Amazon
River on the Atlantic Coast of Brazil…

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
Where the sun and sea combined

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
to create huge cloud systems.
Caught by the onshore winds,

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
the clouds move inland to create
huge storms across Brazil.

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
[sil.]

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
Time lapse photography shows how
the moisture in these storms

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
keeps the Amazon rainforest alive.

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
[sil.]

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
The forest absorbs the
storms here like a sponge.

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
Rain and the sun combined

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
to produce the world’s greatest mass of
vegetation, the earth’s richest factory of life.

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
[sil.]

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
Then the water vapor from
the canopy of the forest

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
recycles through the trees.

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
New cloud systems are
formed, dropping their rain

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
and picking up moisture, as they move
along thousands of miles of jungle.

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
One of the planet’s most important
climate controlling mechanisms,

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
rain from most of South America,

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
one fifth of the earth’s
fresh water supply…

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
a magnificent

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
environmental system.

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
It seems impossible to believe
anything could overpower it.

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
[sil.]

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
Yet, in only 10 years, what
has taken centuries to build

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
has been devastated.

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
We began watching that devastation
in 1980, as a new road

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
was being cut into the jungle.
This land, the storm cycle

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
and the Earth’s atmosphere,
may never be the same.

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
Over the decade, millions of Brazilians
would move to the jungle state of Rondonia

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
from the overpopulated cities on the
coast and up the main highway, BR 364.

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:33.000
[music]

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
A great migration was under way
at the beginning of the decade.

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
Dozens of buses were transporting hundreds
of migrants along the road every day.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
[music]

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
They were arriving at frontier towns

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
that literally grew overnight.

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
Hundreds of poor landless farmers,
most of them had lost their land

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
as Brazil’s agriculture was mechanized.

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
The Brazilian government
promised them free land

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
and a chance to escape the poverty
and squalor of their former lives,

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
if they would homestead the rainforest.

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
They had hoped to help tens of thousands
but before the end of the decade,

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
a million would come.

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
The first were registered and given
free of charge roughly a 100 acres.

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
But complete title would only be
issued after they had built a house

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
and cleared the forest from their plot.

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
And so the colonists marched
out of the makeshift towns

00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
and into the forest.

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:08.000
[sil.]

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
This is Renato, one of the
first to come to this forest.

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:28.000
[sil.]

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
Grayano(ph) was one of his neighbors.

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
[sil.]

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
Their first harvest, are 100 old hardwood.

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:53.000
[sil.]

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
In Mato Grosso I was poor, I had
nothing, I worked for others.

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
So I got this land. Despite sickness,

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
despite the Indians, who were dangerous,
it’s still better here than there.

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
[sil.]

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
This is a great improvement.
Here, one works for oneself.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
Fine today, (inaudible) tomorrow.

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
On the land of others, you can’t do that.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
I believe life here will be
must better than where we were.

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
There he worked even harder.
Things were more difficult.

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
One couldn’t even own a piece of land.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
They build their houses.

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
But before they could burn away the stumps
and underbrush to plant their crops,

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
they had to contend with a bigger problem,
the people who had lived here before.

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
[sil.]

00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.999
The Indians came this way.

00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.999
About eight of them.

00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
There is a footprint.

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
I’m frightened but what can we do.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
We’re on their land.

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
God willing we will overcome. Chico
Presto’s was also given land

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
on the forests edge. But what he hadn’t
counted on, was that the land he was given

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
was on an Indian hunting ground.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
One day he returned to find his house
ransacked and worse, down by the river,

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
his three young sons had been attacked.

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:08.000
When I got back, my son said,
\"Father, I’m going to die.\"

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
Soon I replied, \"Have faith in God.\"

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
That day, Chico found his oldest son

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
lying on a riverbank with
two arrows in his back.

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
A boy told his father of the
horrors of an Indian attack.

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
Twenty five, thirty Indians were behind us

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
pointing arrows. My son ran

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
and the Indians shot them down.
They were lying stuck with arrows

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
when I got there. Two of his
sons were down, wounded.

00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
But Chico couldn’t find the third,
little seven year old Fabio.

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
[sil.]

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:08.000
Then I said, \"Where is Fabio, your
brother?\" On the sandbank he said.

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
On the sandbank, I found the
tracks of three Indians.

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
They captured the little one, they took him

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
and went into the jungle.

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
The grim outcome, his 19
year old son was dead,

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
the nine year old in critical condition

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
with an arrow wound in his neck. And
little Fabio, just seven years old,

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
carried off into a vast
unexplored wilderness.

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
For the next four years,

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
his father would search this
forest to find his son.

00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
All the while, more settlers

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
would come to open up this place. And every
year they waited for the dry season,

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
when all the trees came to flower.

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:18.000
[music]

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
But the flower of the settler’s
song, is not of the forest

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
but of the coffee
plantation, \"The Cafezal.\"

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:43.000
[music]

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
The settlers were waiting
to plant their coffee,

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
but first, they had to clear the land.

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
[sil.]

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
Here, Renato and Maria burned
15 acres to plant their coffee

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
and another 50 for their neighbors.

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:18.000
[sil.]

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Everything they hoped for depended on this act,
which meant a literal holocaust for the forest.

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:33.000
[sil.]

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
Thousands of fires like
this were set every day.

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
[sil.]

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:58.000
[music]

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
So much forest burned that summer,

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
the air was so dense with smoke
that airplanes were grounded

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
by the government.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
This was the start of a decade in which
more living matter was to be destroy

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
than ever before in history.

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
Then there was a hot blustering wind

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
and the earth from what was once the forest
floor was sucked up as a fine yellow dust.

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
The dust from the trucks

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
mixed with the smoke from the trees
and the world’s greatest forest

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
just seem to be fading away.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
But for the settlers in the frontier towns,

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
the time of smog was the time of planting.

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:13.000
[music]

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
They had successfully built their house.
They had sold the good hardwood

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
to buy seed and burned the underbrush.

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:33.000
[music]

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
Now they would try to find
a crop that would grow

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
in their still smoldering soil.

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
How much coffee did you plant?
2,200 seedlings.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
Did you try anything else?

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
No. Corn, pumpkin, melon, nothing grew.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
Let’s see how the coffee does.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
But it looks terrible. The land
is not good, nothing grows.

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
But let’s see this year.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
But if the family’s future
depended on healthy crops

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
grown in the hard forest
floor, their present

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
was still threatened. Their neighbor
was raided again by Indians.

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
[sil.]

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
They killed a dog. The axe was covered
in blood. They killed the dog there.

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
Did you see them?

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
S No, just the damage they did. They
took five hammocks and all our clothes.

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
They scattered all our stores.

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
First we found torn clothes,
then the head of the dog.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
They tore out its jaws,

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
the skull was smashed to get the teeth out.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:18.000
[sil.]

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
My heart bleeds for the children.

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
They won’t kill children, will they?

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:38.000
[sil.]

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
We suffer enough already.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
I’m suffering for the children,

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
but God knows what h0e does.

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
[sil.]

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
The settlements all around the area were seething
with stories of Indian cruelty and cunning.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
In this climate, Brazil’s Indian Agency

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
mounted an expedition to try to make peaceful
contact with the Indians in the forest.

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
[sil.]

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
[music]

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
They had rarely been seen and
were never photographed.

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
[music]

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
They were known as fierce
defenders of their forest.

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
They call themselves the Uru Eu Wau Wau.

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
The expedition headed up the River Jamari

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
into the heart of the Indians territory.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:03.000
[sil.]

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
It took a month to get to the
head waters of the river.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
The expedition lost three
boats, but no lives.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
The Indian Agency had made contact before with other tribes.
In fact, they brought along these Suruí Indians as guides.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
[sil.]

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
Isabel, the expeditions leader,

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
said the tribes needed protection
from the advancing columnists.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
(inaudible), the Indian agencies regional director,
hope to inoculate them from diseases like measles.

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
As they moved up the river, they spotted
a well worn opening on the riverbank,

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:50.000
which led right to a deserted Indian camp.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:08.000
[sil.]

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:33.000
[sil.]

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
The Indian agency knew of the
kidnapping of little Fabio Prestes

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:45.000
and were looking for signs
that he might have been here.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:13.000
[sil.]

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
Then they found something even more
curious, a box of revolver shells.

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
Two months later,

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
we took the evidence
back to Fabio’s father.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
Do you recognize this tin?
Well, that depends.

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
Was it from an Indian or
a civilized can. Indian.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
If there was a tourist out there,
then it’s ours, it’s ours.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
What about this box of bullets?

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
It’s ours.

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
The Indian camp is near the river bank.
(inaudible) admitted that

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
he had taken matters into his own hands.
He’d gone hunting for the Indians.

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
If they killed Indians, that’s nothing.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
The Indians killed our oldest son. (inaudible)
refused to admit that he had actually seen

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
or shot any Indians.

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
(inaudible) were bitter and sad.
Neighbors told us their second son,

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
nine year old De Mi’s, who had been
shot in the neck with an arrow

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
had just died in the hospital, adding
to the overwhelming family tragedy.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
After the Indians ransacked
his house, (inaudible)

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
left the land.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
Now his family lives in town on
the banks of the River Jamari.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
People here were demanding
that the government

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
avenge the kidnapping and rid the
forest of the Uru Eu Wau Wau,

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
to open the way for more colonists, hunters, prospectors,
and the logging and mineral companies that would follow.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:18.000
[sil.]

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
The strip of bars and brothels

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
is the gathering place for the
illegal hunters and prospectors.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
These are the people who for years have
come up against the Indians of the forest,

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
tough customers who have
not been afraid to fight.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:48.000
[music]

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
Now with the increase in Indian attacks,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
these people wanted the Indian Agency
to help them fight the tribes.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
The people who want to work.
If there are Indians,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
it’s not our problem. It’s the government,

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
the Indian agencies problem. The government
should resolve the Indian questions.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
There are Indians,

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
but the Indian Agency should remove them.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:38.000
[music]

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
And it was to this frontier underworld,
that (inaudible) came for help.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
He found out that the kidnapping of Fabio

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
was probably in retaliation
for an attack by a well known

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
poacher named Attanasio.(ph)

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
We found him illegally trapping an ocelot.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:13.000
[sil.]

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
How many cats have you killed?

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
One thousand jungle cats.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:43.000
A much did they worth?

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
Fifty dollars.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
Can you as much, gold prospecting?

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
Where there are plenty of cats.
I don’t look for gold.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
Just cat 40, 68.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
At $50 each, that’s a lot of money.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Are the cats dying out?

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Yes, it’s difficult, except far away.
Where there’s Indians,

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
that’s where I go. Where there’s Indians?

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
Yes. The Indians are on the up
waters from the River Jamari.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
Where did you go? Me? I haven’t been there.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
S But Chico was convinced that
Attanasio had attacked the Indians

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
and provoked their retaliation
against his sons.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
How can you be sure that

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
this hunter really killed some Indians?
No, all that he said was…

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
He would never go in again

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
because he met Indians. But it’s obvious,

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
the Indians never made trouble here before.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
It’s their vengeance.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
For the settlers, the forest has
always been a frightening place.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
[music]

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
Since the beginning of the century, the place
of constant hostility with the Indians.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:38.000
[music]

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
For Chico, the jungle is
less a place of mystery

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
and a vast hiding place
for countless crimes.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:58.000
[music]

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
In the six months, since
little Fabio had disappeared,

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
Chico would make trips again
and again into the forest.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
[music]

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
Threading his way through the
maze of rivers and streams,

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
he hoped to pick up the
trail of the Indians.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
This time, his journey would
take him deep into the jungle

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
following the clue passed on
through the underground network.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
[sil.]

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
He’s on his way to meet the
(inaudible), rubber tappers.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
For generations, these non Indians

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
have also considered the forest home. They take
rubber from these trees by making two cuts a week.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
For generations,

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
these trees have been
carefully used like this.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
When these bowls are smoked and
hardened, they will be sold.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
The tapper’s live in small settlements,

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
usually no more than two or three huts.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
One of their camps has recently
been raided by the Indians.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
The tapper sent word to Chico, that
of the things the Indians left behind

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
was a shirt they think might
belong to little Fabio.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
Show me the shirt.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
[sil.]

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
I tore the shirt up to clean my gun.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
[sil.]

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
It’s not my son’s.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
Where did you find it?

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
Over there, a long way. It
doesn’t belong the two that died

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
or to the little one.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
It fell as the Indians
carried off what they stole.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
This whole room was cleared out.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
They killed the dog over
there, not with an arrow,

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
battered with a machete.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
Disappointed, Chico went deeper into the
forest to meet with a rubber tappers

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
Indian expert.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
This man, Alfredo. Ironically, 15 years
earlier, in one of his attacks on the Indians,

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:58.000
Alfredo had kidnapped some
Indian women and a child.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
Now Alfredo is married to an Indian woman.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
Usually the tapper’s don’t talk to outsiders
about their battles with the Indians,

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
but they took pity on Chico’s plight. Alfredo
knows about the ways of the Indians,

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
just as they have raided his
camp, he has raided theirs.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
Just as they Chico’s son,
he took his wife Maria.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
We went after the Indians
and within 22 days,

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
we’re close.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
I called but wouldn’t negotiate.

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:48.000
They shot arrows at us. We opened fire,
six fell. Six dead? Yes, six dead.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
Alfredo captured two Indian women

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
and a six year old girl. He put
a dress on the little girl

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
and she tore it off. Now that little
girl is his wife Maria. Maria,

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
would you like to meet the Indians?

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
Yes

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
Do you remember anything
of your mother? No, sir.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:28.000
Maria, would you like to live with the Indians?
No, sir. Alfredo, will you visit the Indians?

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
When they are changed, we’ll visit them.
But Chico was alone in his search.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
The Indian agency was also having trouble
finding the elusive Uru Eu Wau Wau,

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
in a jungle the size of Ohio.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:53.000
[music]

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
(inaudible), the agency’s regional director
was still determined to make contact,

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
in the hope of heading off more violence.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
[sil.]

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
Look there, the hut’s collapsed.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
[sil.]

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:28.000
The hut’s collapsed.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
It’s the Indian’s, but
abandoned for some time…

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
when the prospectors came
here the Indians fled.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
Ten minutes later another discovery,

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
the Indians gardens.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
And from the plane it was easy to see that the
hut entrances were bare and foot trodden,

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
they had been here recently.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
[sil.]

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
The Indians territory was roughly
in the center of Rondonia.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
They roamed down all the rivers on this map,
but they were bound to return to Alto Lidia,

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
along Rondonia’s Central Plateau.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
The top of the plateau was open
savannah, where a plane could land.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
So the Indian Agency took
its next critical step.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:38.000
[sil.]

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
Although the agency had deliberately
left the Indians alone for years,

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
now they were within walking
distance of an active camp.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
[sil.]

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
They said, they felt it was time to protect
the Indians from the bullets and disease

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
of the advancing frontier, but they
were worried they had waited too long,

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
so they hiked to the garden settlement.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:18.000
[sil.]

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
They were here today.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
They are in the area.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
They are moving all around. (inaudible)
knows he is taking an enormous risk.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
Once he enters an Indian village, a process
begins that shatters a way of life.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
Even if essential for the tribe survival,

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
this is only the lesser of two evils.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
Their hammocks hang here. They put
their bows and arrows up there.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
They leave gifts, knives, metal
pans all around the area,

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
hoping to win the Indians trust.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
Finally, in this camp, their first
contact, a noise in the bushes.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
[sil.]

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
The Indians are letting
them know they are around,

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
but they won’t show themselves.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:45.000
[sil.]

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:58.000
[sil.]

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
Let’s go. We’d better leave gifts…

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
(inaudible) leaves gifts all over the
Indians territory. Perhaps this time,

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
he can draw them closer and maybe in the
process, discover the fate of little Fabio,

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
was been missing for almost a year.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
But the next move will
have to be the Indians,

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
and they’re hiding under the
protection of their forest.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
[sil.]

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
But now the colonization
roads are cutting deeper.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:53.000
[sil.]

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Bringing with them a whole
structure of development.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
Behind the early settlers

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
like Chico and Renato, were the loggers who came
up the road to take away their more valuable wood.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
The best is for export, the rest,
for the settlements growing right

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
on the edge of Indian Territory.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
A few miles down the road was the settlement of Marette
Dusera. It had been solid jungle only months before,

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
but now there were a dozen hastily
built houses and the land agency

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
had reserved plots for a gas station,
school, hospital, and industrial sector.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
This was the first shop and there was
already a bar where the colonists

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
could spend the proceeds
of their first harvest.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:53.000
[music]

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
But further down the road you went, the more developed
was the agriculture and the larger the towns.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:13.000
[music]

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
At the municipal center of (inaudible),

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
there were supermarkets, banks, and hotels.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
Also mills and warehouses

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
ready for the next harvest.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
But Renato’s hopes of contributing
to all this were dashed.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
An agronomist had seen his field coffee
plants, was now looking at the corn.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Renato, was your corn from a seed merchant?

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
It was from around here.
Coursing without pesticide.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
But it germinated well.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The problem is, soil deficiency.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
It’s very poor.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
Dig a hole, so we can see.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
Hopeless soil, no?

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
Very sandy. Soil with so much sand is dry.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
It holds less water than
soil with more clay.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
[sil.]

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
That rainy season brought Renato and his
family no relief. His children caught malaria

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
and then with his neighbors,
Renato abandoned the land

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
that he had hoped to keep forever.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
This was all there was to show for two
years of hard work and suffering.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:39:03.000
[music]

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
So Renato his dream of a coffee plantation
and moved his family further more.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:23.000
[music]

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Over a year, the Indian Agency
had been trying to make contact

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
with the Uru Eu Wau Wau, searching in vain,

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
a maze of rock pinnacles,
caves, and (inaudible).

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
There have been more clashes
with the colonists,

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
and both settlers and
Indians were being killed.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
And then suddenly

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
the Indians attacked the agency.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
The expedition had built its base camp near
the site of the Indian Gardens at Alto Lidia.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
Under the cover of a heavy storm, the Indians
crept up to the newly built post and waited.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:28.000
[sil.]

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
Arrows were fired and Mario ran toward the
brush, trying to call the Indians. They ran.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:43.000
[sil.]

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
Later, one of the (inaudible)

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
described how the Indians attacked him.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
As he was taking a bath, he
saw the Indians creeping up

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
and ducked their arrows.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
Then he reported to the agencies
headquarters in (inaudible),

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
that they were under
attack from the Indians.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:23.000
[sil.]

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
Then a week later, the
Indians next attempt.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
It was a windy day, they waited till after
lunch when everyone was in their hammocks.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
Then they fired.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
As our cameraman searched and swung,

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
he caught one Indian deliberately
letting himself be seen.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
This is the first picture
ever taken of Uru Eu Wau Wau.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:03.000
[sil.]

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
These arrows were fired, it seems,
not at the expeditions leader,

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Isabelle, but deliberately
at the wall of the hut.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
The (inaudible) guessed that
the arrows were meant more

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
as a message than a threat.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
[sil.]

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
But still there was an uneasy calm,
as they waited for nightfall.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:43.000
[sil.]

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
It seems they weren’t out to kill this time.
Or that to make sure of hitting someone.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
But it’s not much to go on,
so we must wait and see.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
Then at night, the Indians marched around

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
the perimeter of the
base camp with torches.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
The light of a full moon would
have made torches unnecessary.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
Clearly the Indians were teasing
and taunting the expedition.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:28.000
[music]

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
That night, and during the remaining dark nights
of the storm season, the Indians crept about

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
trying to peer into the barricaded huts.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:48.000
[sil.]

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
As the rainy season ended,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
all the expedition could do was wait.
But time was beginning to run out,

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
the government’s huge development
program was under way.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
Downstream,

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
on the lap of the expedition River Jamari,
geological soundings had started for a huge

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
hydroelectric dam that
would flood the forest.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
[sil.]

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:43.000
[music]

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
Inside Indian Territory, a
dredge was already mining tin.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
[music]

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
They were building the main
freight road for exports.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
And beginning to digest the great forest

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
of the Uru Eu Wau Wau.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
Meanwhile, back at the post,

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
with even more urgency, Isabel, continued
to try to lure the Indians into the camp.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:25.000
[sil.]

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:43.000
[sil.]

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
It had become an elaborate ritual,
the Indians would fire arrows,

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
Isabel would collect them and then return them
to show the agency’s peaceful intentions.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:03.000
[sil.]

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
Look at this. Well made.
But the paw is broken.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
But the arrows would contain a clue to another
mystery. Do these match those that your sons?

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
Chico Prestos had kept pieces of the
arrows that killed his oldest son.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
[sil.]

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
They are the same group.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
[sil.]

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:43.000
Exactly the same type.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
And the arrow heads the same.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
But Chico and his family had very little faith that
the Indian agency would help recover little Fabio.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
So they turn for help to a Voodoo medium.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
[sil.]

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
It’s called Umbanda,

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
an Afro-Brazilian mixture of Voodoo
like elements and Catholicism.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
[music]

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
Fabio’s mother, Hamunda, (ph) waited
for the medium to enter a trance.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
[music]

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:38.000
[non-English narration]

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
She says, while in the trance,

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
she has learned news of Fabio. I was
in the village speaking to the chief.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
[sil.]

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
The Indians are deciding

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
to accept the gifts.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
But they don’t want to hand over the child.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
They refused

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
to handover the boy.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
They like the child. They say he’s a joy.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
They are learning Portuguese and
many other things from him.

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
Whatever the truth, the family as well
as the Indian agency would have to wait.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:43.000
[music]

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
But still the wave of Colonists was coming up the
dusty unpaved road into the heart of Rondonia.

00:48:55.000 --> 00:49:03.000
[music]

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
They came with their dreams
of a new life and land.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:23.000
[music]

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
What they don’t know is the quality of
the rainforest land they’re getting,

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
whether it will sustain their hopes or like
the columnist Renato’s proved to be useless.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
[sil.]

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
On another farm

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
we found Renato working in good
soil, but it was not his own,

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
he had become a sharecropper. Renato,
why did you abandon your land?

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
It didn’t produce.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
I planted corn, it came out tiny.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
Rice, good land gives a big
share, they are minute.

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Plant 40 liters, harvest
three or four sacks.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
It was impossible to say.
How are things here?

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
I’m back to paying the
landowner 50% of my crop.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
No future, just 50-50 sharecropping.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
As I did in (inaudible),

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
but worse, because conditions here are much
worse. Renato will spend the rest of the decade

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
looking for good land. And as
more and more peasants lined up

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
for less and less good land, his hope of
owning a plot became little more than a dream.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
What are you prospects now?
We hope to acquire land.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
So as not to continue as sharecroppers.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
With good land,

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
you have everything, but that land of ours,

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
produce nothing. There was no chance.

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
We never had any help.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
If land produces, you have everything. If
you land doesn’t produce, nothing can help.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
No road, nothing.

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
I don’t know.

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
[sil.]

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
But once again they would
gather the family’s livestock

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
and move further down the road.

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
For the next few years, Renato and his
family would move roughly once a year,

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
providing annual witness to
frontiers senseless waste.

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:18.000
[music]

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
The government’s policy was
not the stop the frontier.

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
So the Indian agency began to feel it
increasingly imperative for contact to be made

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
to protect the Indians. The
agency even built a hunt for them

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
in the clearing of the post.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
Finally, after years of teasing and
taunting, the Indians let the agency know

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
they were interested in contact. The
signal fire at the perimeter of the camp,

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
show they were preparing to come in.

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
And since most tribes are nervous about cameras, we
filmed from a concealed position in the radio hut,

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
where the radio was on, in
case of a sudden attack.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
Then one day,

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
the Uru Eu Wau Wau just
walked out of the forest.

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:28.000
[sil.]

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
All the Indian agency people said
they took part in this first contact

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
with real foreboding.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
[sil.]

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
They felt it was essential to win the Indians
confidence and learn their language to protect them.

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
And yet, this was a path of no return.

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
It usually made a tribe dependent.

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
Shattered it’s self-confidence

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
and because of their lack of
immunities, even this minimal contact

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
put them in danger of picking up disease.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
After this brief contact,

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
the Indians disappeared for months.

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
The Indian Agency desperately fears, it won’t
be able to protect, the Uru Eu Wau Wau.

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
The settlers are reeling
at their own failure,

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
but continue their march into the forest.
And little Fabio’s family

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
fears for their son.

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:15.000
[sil.]

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
The Decade of Destruction by Adrian Cowell

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:35.000
is published by Henry Hold and Company and is
available in libraries and bookstores nationwide.