Page 29 - Brugger Karl The chronicle of Akakor

The Chronicle of Akakor
fertile soil to each family, the size depending on the number of members. Many families are associated
in a settlement community, which jointly cultivates and harvests all fields. One third of the harvest
belongs to the prince, the second third to the priests; the last third remains in the community.

The average Ugha Mongulala spends his whole life in his village. He enjoys the protection of the prince
and at the same time is his servant. He performs his work on the fields under the guidance of the
officials. Work begins at the end of the dry season when preparation for sowing starts. The hard dry soil
of the fields is loosened with a digging stick, and the seed is placed into the ground. The priest of the
community then sacrifices choice fruit from the last harvest in the village temple and asks for the
blessing of the Gods. During the subsequent rainy season, the women are busy weaving and dyeing
fabrics, while the men go hunting. With bow and arrow, and a long bamboo lance they follow the tracks
of the jaguar, tapir, and wild boar. Their prey is cut into pieces; the flesh is coated with honey and
buried deep in the ground for storage. This way it stays fresh till the next dry season. The animal skins
are tanned and worked by the women into sandals and boots. At harvest time, families with baskets and
jugs go out to the fields and gather the fruits. Corn and potatoes are put away in large storage buildings
and later taken to Akakor in accordance with the prescribed division of goods.

Since the White Barbarians have advanced ever further, the fertile soil in the valleys of the Andes and
on the upper reaches of the Great River has become scarce. Therefore my people started constructing
terraces on the slopes and on the hills which are irrigated by a dense system of canals. Cleverly
staggered protective walls prevent the fertile soil from being washed away. All larger settlements have
big cisterns, and underground canals carry the water to the fields. This is how my people provide for
food in the plains and on the mountains, in the way Lhasa ordered and the way it is written down in the
chronicle:
"Now we will tell about the deeds on the fields where the Chosen Servants have assembled. They gather
the fruit of the earth. Jointly they harvest corn and potatoes, bees’ honey, and rosin. For the yield
belongs to all, and the soil is everybody’s property. This is how Lhasa arranged it so that there would be
no differences and no hunger. And the earth granted abundance. The people enjoyed growth and life.
There was more than enough food in the whole land, in the plains, and in the forests, along the rivers,
and in the wilderness of lianas."

My people make a great number of beautifully crafted objects for daily use. Women weave the finest
fabrics from the wool of the mountain sheep. They use vegetable and tree juices unknown to the White
Barbarians to dye the cloths and fashion them into simple but beautiful garments. In the plains and in
the forests on the Great River we wear only a loincloth which is supported by a colored woolen belt. We
guard against the cold of the mountains with a cloak made from coarse wool. Ornaments are used only
on special holidays. The women weave colored threads into their hair, corresponding to the respective
colors of the community settlement. Men paint themselves with the four tribal colors of the Ugha
Mongulala: white, blue, red, and yellow. Only the upper classes—officials, priests, and the members of
the high council—wear a ruff of colored feathers. As a particular sign of their high office, the prince and
the elders of the people wear tattoo marks on their chests.

As with all people on the Great River, daily requirements of the Ugha Mongulala are modest. The basic
food is potatoes, corn, as well as tubers and roots of several plants. Potatoes are baked; the meat is fried
on an open hearth in the anteroom of the house. We drink water and fermented corn juice with all our
meals. We use wooden spoons and bronze knives for eating. There are neither tables nor chairs in the
rectangular stone huts. The family kneels on the loam floor during meals, and at night they sleep on
hewn stone benches. My people learned about the use of grass-filled mattresses only from the German
soldiers. Bronze hooks are sunk into the interior walls of the houses. Woolen cloths are hung over the
entrance during the night. Food is stored in large clay jugs which have been fashioned from the red earth
of the mountains. They are lowered on long ropes into the interior of extinct volcanoes to dry and
afterward decorated with beautiful designs picturing scenes from the history of the Ugha Mongulala.
But they cannot be compared with the objects of our Former Masters. We have no tools as they did

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