Page 6 - Brugger Karl The chronicle of Akakor

The Chronicle of Akakor
Up to Marajó 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 country—from Apurimac to Ucayali and Maranón, from Maranón to Solimoes. From
Marajó 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 Belém to
the nearest larger settlement of Santarém. 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.

Santarém 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 Santarém 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 Graças 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.

The longest part of his story was about the Indians’ struggle against the whites, against Spaniards and
Portuguese, rubber planters, settlers, adventurers, and Peruvian soldiers. They drove the Ugha
Mongulala, whose prince he claimed to be, further and further into the Andes, even into the
subterranean settlements. He was now appealing to his bitterest enemies, the white men, for help
because of the imminent extinction of his people. Before talking to me, Tatunca Nara had talked to high

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