CHAU MADE NOTES OF HOW TRIBESMEN LIVE
SOUTH ANDAMAN: A note left by American missionary John Allen Chau, feared killed by members of the Sentinelese tribe on their off-limits North Sentinel Island in Andaman, reveals more details of the indigenous people and also Chau’s own efforts to get to know them. For instance, it puts a number to the Sentinelese - 250. It also provides some details of their social hierarchy.
The detailed note, titled ’Observations’, was recovered by Andaman police from the possession of a fisherman who dropped him off at the island, S Jampo. The fisherman, along with four other fishermen, has been arrested for taking Chau to an island where outsiders, Indians and others, are not allowed.
The North Sentinel island is at least three hours away by boat from the nearest village in Andaman.
The note has been shared with anthropologists in the hope that it might provide some tips on retrieving Chau’s body.
To be sure, Chau, 27 an adventurer who wished to bring religion
THE NOTE HAS BEEN SHARED WITH ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN THE HOPE THAT IT MIGHT PROVIDE SOME TIPS ON RETRIEVING CHAU’S BODY.
to the islanders, wasn’t an anthropologist and his observations will have to be treated as that of an amateur’s. Still, some of the details about the little known tribe are interesting.
According to Chau, on the morning of November 15, when he arrived on the island he met one man who appeared to be the tribe’s leader.
The man had a white crown made of flowers (according to Chau). The missionary added that the man “took a leadership stance . ... climbed on a rock, and yelled at me.”
Detailing how the Sentinelese speak, Chau, from Alabama in the US, noted that they “make high pitched sounds...sounds such as the let te rsb,p, lands .”
Chau, the first outsider to have sneaked into the island in 12 years, also described the topography of island.
Describing the North Sentinel Island beach, Chau wrote that the sand is white but coarse. The seabed leading up to the beach has mostly dead coral, he observed, but with a very clear bottom.