Chau made notes of how tribesmen live, interact

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 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 Number of Sentinelese around 250

Man with white crown of flowers took ‘leadership stance’

The tribal people spoke in high-pitched words

There were big and small huts – some housed as many as 50

No elderly were seen, women booed at him when he was spotted

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 United States, noted that they “make high pitched sounds .... sounds such as the letters b, p, l and s.” Nothing is known of the language of the Sentinelese. Chau guessed in his notes that the tribespeople “probably exchanged a lot of insults” although the basis for this isn’t clear.

Chau also notes that he tried some words used by the Jarawas, a tribe from South and Middle Andaman but the Sentinelese didn’t seem to understand them.

Chau, the first outsider to have sneaked into the island in 12 years, also described the

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