They live on the second largest island of the Earth, there are less than 3 thousand people and even fifty years ago they did not suspect that there are other people in the world, besides them and the neighboring tribes. And further. If you enter their territory without permission, then there is a risk of being killed and … eaten. Like a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand years ago.
ON A FAR ISLAND …
The island of New Guinea is the second largest in the world after Greenland. But Greenland is a land of ice, snow and frost, so people are not particularly eager to live there. New Guinea is located in the equatorial zone of the Pacific Ocean, just slightly higher than Australia, if you look at the map, and is almost entirely covered with tropical forests. Have you seen the movie "Avatar"? Very similar. The average temperature all year round is 36-37 degrees Celsius and 100% humidity. The diversity of flora and fauna here is such that it can be compared, perhaps, only with the jungle of the Amazon. But there are almost no places left where civilization has not penetrated in one form or another. Here - as much as you like. It is here, on the slopes of the Foggia mountains, that in 2005 a group of American scientists discovered the so-called "Garden of Eden" - 300 thousand hectares of forest, practically isolated from the surrounding world,filled with unique species of animals, insects and plants. Including those that were previously considered extinct.
The island is divided in half between Indonesia and the state of Papua New Guinea, and about 900 tribes of varying degrees of primitiveness live in the jungle of the latter. The style of many of the bottom has remained unchanged since the time they appeared in these places. That is, from the Stone Age. For a modern human tourist, access here is still practically closed. But not because the laws forbid. It's just deadly. The government of Papua New Guinea does not guarantee even a well-prepared traveler who decides to go to the jungle life. And if you die from the bite of a poisonous snake, insect or an arrow of a native, no one will investigate your death. They themselves are to blame, the authorities will say, we warned you.
THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD, THE PIG AND THE WIZARDS
The tribe we are about to tell you about is called the Korowai. People of this tribe are of short stature, even men rarely reach 160 cm, and those who are taller are considered giants. However, the Korowai do not have any reverence for tall white Europeans or Americans. For them, any person who comes from abroad, where the tribe lives, is a stranger. And, most likely, hostile. And the enemies of the Korowai not only kill, but also eat. Still. Yes, in our time this does not happen as often as, say, a hundred years ago. But it still happens. And this fact should be taken into account if you are suddenly going to visit them. According to the Korowai mythology, the world arose thanks to the spirit-creator (like the Korowai themselves, he was small in stature), who had to sacrifice his beloved pig for this. He killed herdismembered and scattered body parts and internal organs around him. It was from these remains that the surrounding Korowai world was born. And only he. Because everything that is beyond their territory is the end of the world, to which the spirit-creator has nothing to do with, and where completely incomprehensible laws operate. The Korowai religion is a constant contact with the afterlife, where you can get along a secret path, not known to everyone. The Korowai have sorcerers, but they do not enjoy the same status as in other primitive tribes. If misfortunes fall on the tribe, then it is believed that the sorcerer is to blame for this, since he conspired with evil forces. Then he is killed and eaten by the whole tribe so that everyone gets the magic power. And they are waiting for the next one to appear …Because everything that is beyond their territory is the end of the world, to which the spirit-creator has nothing to do with, and where completely incomprehensible laws operate. The Korowai religion is a constant contact with the afterlife, where you can get along a secret path, not known to everyone. The Korowai have sorcerers, but they do not enjoy the same status as in other primitive tribes. If misfortunes fall on the tribe, then it is believed that the sorcerer is to blame for this, since he conspired with evil forces. Then he is killed and eaten by the whole tribe so that everyone gets the magic power. And they are waiting for the next one to appear …Because everything that is beyond their territory is the end of the world, to which the spirit-creator has nothing to do with, and where completely incomprehensible laws operate. The Korowai religion is a constant contact with the afterlife, where you can get along a secret path, not known to everyone. The Korowai have sorcerers, but they do not enjoy the same status as in other primitive tribes. If misfortunes fall on the tribe, then it is believed that the sorcerer is to blame for this, since he conspired with evil forces. Then he is killed and eaten by the whole tribe so that everyone gets the magic power. And they are waiting for the next one to appear …where you can get on a secret path, not known to everyone. The Korowai have sorcerers, but they do not enjoy the same status as in other primitive tribes. If misfortunes fall on the tribe, then it is believed that the sorcerer is to blame for this, since he conspired with evil forces. Then he is killed and eaten by the whole tribe so that everyone gets the magic power. And they are waiting for the next one to appear …where you can get on a secret path, not known to everyone. The Korowai have sorcerers, but they do not enjoy the same status as in other primitive tribes. If misfortunes fall on the tribe, then it is believed that the sorcerer is to blame for this, since he conspired with evil forces. Then he is killed and eaten by the whole tribe so that everyone gets the magic power. And they are waiting for the next one to appear …
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LIFE ON AND UNDER TREES
Just don't think that the Korowai feed exclusively on human flesh. This is not true. The main food of the tribe is insects. Fortunately, there are so many of them in the jungle that I don't want to eat. Again, protein. They eat a wide variety of insects. Korowai women collect beetles, cicadas, grasshoppers, spiders … Everyone goes to work. Insects are rarely eaten raw, however. Usually they are baked in flat cakes. And the cakes themselves are made from flour obtained from the sago tree (a kind of palm tree). They say it's not so bad. Especially appreciated are the eggs and larvae of weevils, which are fashionable to find all on the same sago tree. In general, the sago palm is truly a source of life for the Korowai people. They use this tree completely - from root to leaves, and when they cut down palm trees in one area of the jungle, they move to the next. Not forgetting to plant young trees in place of the felled ones. At the same time, loafs live on trees. In the truest sense of the word. They build and assemble their houses, which have only a floor and a roof, in spreading crowns at a height of 20-50 meters from the ground (the higher the position in the tribe, the higher the dwelling is). Branches, bark, palm leaves and lianas are all building materials. Real nests, if you think about it. And the purpose is the same as that of the nests: higher from terrestrial tetrapods and bipedal predators, poisonous snakes and insects. Yes, climbing and descending is not so easy, but it's a matter of habit. And safety comes first. Real nests, if you think about it. And the purpose is the same as that of the nests: higher from terrestrial tetrapods and bipedal predators, poisonous snakes and insects. Yes, climbing and descending is not so easy, but it's a matter of habit. And safety comes first. Real nests, if you think about it. And the purpose is the same as that of the nests: higher from terrestrial tetrapods and bipedal predators, poisonous snakes and insects. Yes, climbing and descending is not so easy, but it's a matter of habit. And safety comes first.
But back to food. Korowai are excellent hunters and fishermen, although they use exclusively bone and stone tools and the same weapons. They make fire by rubbing rattan thread against wood and tinder, and they do it faster than a civilized person with a lighter or matches in his pocket. Korowai also have pets that replace dogs and cats. These are … pigs. The cows adore pigs (remember how they think the world was born?). These animals serve as watchmen for the cows, they carry various goods and children. For the theft of a pig, the death penalty is imposed, and the newborn piglets left without a mother are breastfed by women of the tribe who have milk.
Korowai practically do not wear clothes. Women have something like a loincloth made of leaves, and men cover their penis with a walnut shell or leaf. This is quite enough, since one of the features of the body structure of Korowai men is a very small member, as if adapted by evolution not for the sexual satisfaction of a woman, but only for procreation. This hypothesis is confirmed by the social structure within the tribe. Families exist among the Korowai, but any woman of the tribe can be with any man. But only once a year, when the sago tree blooms and the "holiday of love and intercourse" takes place, which lasts for several days. The rest of the time the Korowai abstain from sex.
WHILE JUNGLES EXIST
Korowai do not live long, on average 30-40 years, they have no medicine or hygiene, and therefore they suffer from many diseases. But they categorically do not want to change their way of life and "civilize". This is understandable. Human society progresses only when it is prompted by external circumstances - climate change, the disappearance of food, the invasion of enemies, overpopulation … The climate in this part of the Earth remains warm and unchanged for thousands and thousands of years. Food is still in bulk. The Korowai cope with their enemies, and they are not in danger of overcrowding (high and early mortality plus cannibalism). So why change? And they won't change. In any case, until we, civilized people, and the jungle around them, do not interfere in their way of life. Let it remain so in the future. People like the Korowaiare needed by all of humanity. At least in order not to forget what it once was.
Kazimir Stankevich
