“Events that perhaps lacked a historian” - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 316

thecrossroadsofnumerousethnicities fromtheRîoNegro,theMadeira,thegreatinteri-
or plains of the Moxos, and, of course the Andes.
This complex of cultures formed of Pano, Arawak, and Tupí linguistic groups would
figure throughout da Cunha's narratives: the Shipibo, Piro, Mashco, Conibo, Kaxinuá,
Mayoruna, Campa, and Amahuaca included populations from the Ucayali that easily
shifted into and through the Juruá-Purús watersheds. The Pano, the most numerous eth-
nicity on the Purús, claimed a kinship or vassalage to an “Inca” cultural hero and set
their place of origin as near Cuzco. In ritual elements (animal sacrifice, blood offerings,
andsolardivination),medicinals(includingcoca),therapeuticmaterials,aswellasman-
ufactures of various kinds, and of course warfare, there were clear relations between
Pano cultural groups and Andean societies. 23 The interaction between the Pano and An-
dean cultures was documented by one of the pioneers of Amazonian archaeology, Don-
ald Lathrap. 24
The Purús basin was also occupied by Arawak groups, the Ipuriná, Canamari, Piro,
Campa, and Amahuaca, who brought with them sophisticated manioc agricultural tra-
ditions and the landscape modification techniques that are found throughout the Moxos
(in Bolivia), the Upper Xingu, and the Purús. 25 The Arawak formed a kind of cordon
sanitaire between the lowland and the Andean ethnicities. 26 They were also, apparently,
capable allies. As Inca emperor Atahualpa awaited his fate, it was reported to Pizarro
thatthirtythousandCarib(Arawak)“whoeathumanflesh”hadjoinedhundredsofthou-
sands of warriors from Quito. 27
While the terra firma was strewn with large-scale earthworks, the banks of the river
itself were also densely populated. Along the great channel of the Amazon River, the
mouth of the Purús had significant populations. Teixeira's chronicler, d'Acuña, counted
more than four hundred villages and two very large cities. Roads swept back from the
banksoftherivertowhere,itwassaid,“Andeansheep,”perhapsllamas,wereknown. 28
AnylinguisticmapviewedtodaywillshowwhatdaCunharemarksupon:anextraordin-
ary diversity of linguistic and cultural units concentrated at the headwaters of the Upper
Amazon, the outcome of relocation by missions, slavery, migration, and death.
DaCunhabeginshisessayonthesettlementofthePurúswiththetamingoftheMura.
TheMurawereadefiantandbellicosetribewhohadcontrolledtheentrancestoboththe
Madeira and the Purús Rivers, having moved into the void created by the demise of the
dense Omagua settlements that had previously occupied the main channel. The “isola-
tion” of the Purús and Juruá in spite of the ease of travel up them may well have been
linked to this tribe of able guerrilla fighters and water masters who dominated the re-
gion.The“official”versionoftheremarkabletransformationand“domestication”ofthe
Mura via iron implements obscured the decades of violent attack and effective guerrilla
warfare that had impeded the entrance of whites into the region for generations. 29 But