The Blue Disc

by William B. Waits

  “It’s very difficult, I know. The ability of rain forest animals to hide themselves is remarkable, but can you see the knobs on its back? You can also see a part of a leg sticking out toward the leaves.”

  “I see it now. It’s tough though.”

  “Most of the animals in the rain forest are well camouflaged, and they tend to remain quiet and still because they don’t want to become another animal’s meal.”

  “What about the coral snake? Bright color is not camouflage,” commented Rick.

  “That’s a defense for it. The other animals have learned that coral snakes are highly poisonous, so those snakes benefit from being recognized. The same is true of this pretty, colorful frog over here.”

  “Bright red body and bright blue legs! Beautiful little animal.”

  “Don’t touch it! It contains enough poison to kill a hundred humans.”

  “My word!” exclaimed Rick.

  “That’s just one variety of the poisonous frogs in the rain forest. That’s where natives get the poison for their darts.” They walked a few steps more, when John added, “Remember, colorful animals are almost always dangerous.”

  Fifty yards farther along the stream, “Rick asked, “What are other hazards in the water?”

  “There are many of them. I’m sure you’ve heard about anacondas and piranhas. You need to learn what kinds of water they prefer so you can avoid those waters. Your behavior is important, too. For example, if you thrash around in the water, piranhas might think you are a distressed animal and attack you.”

  “Just awful! What else?”

  “There is a small fish called a candiru. It’s tiny, only about this long,” he said holding up his fingers about an inch-and-a-half apart. “It’s feared because it likes to swim up urine streams and enter the body through the urethra, male and female alike. It has backwards-facing barbs that prevent it from being removed except surgically. Sometimes in males, the only remedy is to amputate the penis.”

  John paused to let his words sink in. Rick shuddered.

  “You should develop the habit of urinating outside of the water, and wearing tight underwear every time you bathe in a stream.”

  Rick was thankful he wore briefs. He reminded himself to pull them up every time he got in the water.

  “Rough animal! I hate the thought of that getting into me,” said Rick.

  “Unfortunately, they’re not the only parasites by a long shot. Botflies, for example, burrow beneath the skin and move around within the person they’ve bitten, commonly causing a big lump under the skin where they settle in. Sometimes, the victim can get rid of them by placing raw meat over the place on the lump where the botfly’s nose is exposed. This cuts off the air supply and makes them burrow out.”

  “Ghastly,” said Rick.

  “Yes, they make you part of the rain forest food chain. You’re just like everything else around here.”

  They walked a bit farther while Rick absorbed the gruesome information.

  “Because of the dangers in the water, you may be tempted to forego bathing,” John continued, “but you must bathe regularly and carefully when you are in the rain forest, even more so than you may have been used to. The animals here can smell you much better than you can smell them, that’s for sure, and it’s not only body odor. That’s why the soap and shampoo in our bathing facilities are scent-free. This rule about minimizing scents also applies to any food you may carry into the rain forest to eat. Make sure it’s sealed, so the scent won’t attract a predator, otherwise they may come to eat your snack and eat you as well. I’m sure you know at least something about the large predators such as jaguars, caimans, and boa constrictors. I’m not going to talk much about them now except to say that they have keen senses of smell, much better than ours.”

  John led them back to the pathway, which comforted Rick.

  “I mentioned earlier that the rain forest teems with life. Obviously, I’ve just scratched the surface in familiarizing you with the many thousands of species that live here. These species are engaged in a very intense struggle for survival, more intense than anywhere else on the planet. For example, I assume you have noticed the vines that cling to many trees. They conserve their growing energy by not growing trunks, instead latching onto existing trees and racing up them. This allows them to get to the precious sunlight up in the canopy of trees.

  “But plants are also potential food. For example, monkeys eat leaves, just to name one animal that does. Termites eat fallen trees in short order. Plants with mutations making them poisonous survive in greater numbers, and eventually come to characterize the species. Therefore, many plants here are dangerous to eat or even touch. Therefore, whenever you are handling wood from the rain forest, you should know the type of tree it comes from, or you may be handling a poisonous wood that will give you a nasty skin rash like poison ivy or even worse. Of course, any break in your skin from a rash poses a risk to your health.

  “A number of rain forest plants produce a thick sap as a defense, for example, the latex produced by rubber plants. It makes them quite inedible. Of course, that hasn’t kept humans from using the sap in other ways that have nothing to do with edibility,” he said, smiling. “Other plants have developed a bitter taste as a defense mechanism.”

  “Everything is judged on edibility, it seems,” mused Rick.

  “Yes, even the muck deposited on the forest floor. Judged very edible by insects. These are just a few examples of how the intense struggle for survival in the rain forest affects life here. The influence can be seen in behaviors, as well. For example, almost all animals in the rain forest are masters at hiding, which I’ve already mentioned. They can hide not only because of their color, but also because of their behavior. They know the importance of staying put and staying quiet, moving only when they think it is safe. For example, we’re surrounded by animals right now and yet it is hard to see or hear them. Notice how quiet it is, yet this is the richest zoological area on Earth.”

  “You’re right. It’s amazingly quiet now that you mention it,” responded Rick. “That must make it difficult for you to find and kill them for food.”

  “Yes, it’s difficult to find them, but it becomes less difficult as you learn more about them.”

  “So there is a lot to eat?”

  “Yes, but because of the variety of things to eat here, and the defenses some plants have developed, it’s crucial to know what to eat out of the abundance of species here. For every type of bean we knew in England, there are ten types here.”

  “It’s like a restaurant with a very long menu, I guess.”

  “The rain forest is the world’s most varied greengrocer. The same is true for land animals, birds, and fish.”

  “It sounds like I’m in for some varied food.”

  “Doubtless so, but in order to take full advantage of this diversity, two principles guide us, and they should guide you. The first is to learn which of the plants and animals are edible and which ones are not. Many rain forest plants will make you ill if you eat them and some animals will, too. It’s part of their defenses against predators. The second principle is to become comfortable with eating many more types of plants and animals than you have been in the past. We had a much smaller range of species in England than we have here and, out of that smaller range, we ate only a small part of what was edible, a mere sliver of the earth’s bounty. To live here successfully, you should accustom yourself to eating strange foods that you have just learned about, foods that are unknown in the outside world.”

  “So there’s food around us and, with that, there is risk around us,” commented Rick.

  “Yes, exactly. For example, right now, Rick, you should address a risk. You should knock that tick off your shirt sleeve. You never know what diseases it may be carrying.”

  Rick immediately flicked it hard with his fingertip.

  “Of course, it’s not just ticks. The rain forest teems with all types of bugs. I notice that you sleep in a zippered
hammock, which is good. Remember to plug any gap at the end of the zipper with tissue.

  “This leads me to my next topic: germs, which are probably your greatest risk in the rain forest.”

  “Before I left, I went to the university medical school and got information about tropical diseases,” said Rick. “The doctor gave me medicines to treat the most common ones. He also gave me a book to help me diagnose them. It’s back at my room.”

  “We would like very much to read your book, if you’ll let us. You already know about our great interest in medicine.”

  “Sure, you are welcome to,” offered Rick. “After you do, I’d like to know what you think about it.”

  “Thank you. We’ll have a good discussion, I’m sure.”

  “From your experience here, what risk of disease do I have?” asked Rick.

  “It’s significant, to be sure. For example, your odds of contracting malaria are quite high, but I expect you already know that. If you get it, we can treat you but it may recur years after you leave.”

  “I came prepared for malaria, I think,” said Rick. “I have specific medicine for that.”

  “Good. You may need it. We can talk more extensively about malaria and other diseases back at the village where we can devote more time to it.”

  “I heard in my classes that natives in the New World were seriously impacted by diseases that Europeans brought with them,” recounted Rick. “Was that the case when your forebears arrived in the La Cuerda basin?”

  “Indeed, it occurred here. Our forebears’ germs caused great destruction among the groups they encountered. About eighty percent of natives they contacted died within two years from their diseases. Of course, our forebears had developed immunities to them as a result of living in Europe, but natives were defenseless against these germs they’d never encountered. It was an awful and traumatic experience for them that left them greatly weakened in numbers and profoundly dispirited. Although our forebears didn’t wish this destruction on them, I wouldn’t be forthright without acknowledging that the destruction European diseases wreaked on natives made it much easier for our forebears to survive here. Obviously, this is not a topic we bring up when we meet with other groups.”

  “I can appreciate that. I suppose there’s little that your forebears could have done about it anyway.”

  “That’s right. Fortunately, natives didn’t connect their new diseases with our forebears’ arrival. However, the epidemics put a great strain on native shamans who had no time to develop remedies. Maybe those efforts would have had some success and maybe not, but they didn’t have a chance to try.”

  “It is always possible there’s no plant-based remedy for a disease,” said Rick.

  “Correct, just like your medical system doesn’t have remedies for all of your diseases.”

  Rick nodded his head in agreement, absorbing the

  conversation.

  “How much did your forebears rely on European medicine in combating new diseases they experienced here?”

  “As much as they could, but remember they arrived before some of the major advances in medicine, for example, smallpox vaccinations and the germ theory of disease, so their medicine had limited effectiveness. In the early years, our forebears could only protect themselves from rain forest diseases by using native knowledge. For example, natives believed that disease could be caused by bad spirits in drinking water, so they heated the water till it was boiling so they could see the bad spirits leaving in the vapor. It was only at that time that the water was safe to drink, they had learned. We did the same. By the second half of the nineteenth century, we understood that boiling killed germs, but the native explanation worked well enough before that.”

  During the next several months, John was conscientious in taking Rick into the rain forest to learn more about flora and fauna.

  The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

  Thomas Jefferson

  CHAPTER 12

  All Witch Doctors

  Rick was talking with two villagers about Euromamo religion when they mentioned that a church service would be held the next day in the main room of the entertainment center. The title of the sermon, Rick learned, was ‘They Are All Witch Doctors’, which immediately caught Rick’s interest. Later, when he asked John about the service, John not only encouraged him to attend it, but also offered to go with him.

  The next day, as the two of them walked from Rick’s room in the entertainment center to the main room, Rick asked, “Is this church Anglican, John? I know very little about your religious practices.”

  “Good guess, but it’s the Church of World Religion, an independent denomination. While almost all our forebears were Anglican of one stripe or another when they left England, things changed after they got to the rain forest.”

  “Is this your only denomination?”

  “There’s another called the Church of Science. In practice, Euromamo move freely between the denominations so their services resemble lectures that are open to the public. Other Euromamo aren’t attracted to either denomination and go their own way,” he added. “You’ll learn more about the Church of World Religion during the service. The Archbishop is quite good.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Archbishop Witch Doctor Richards.”

  Rick was curious about the minister’s title but decided to ask later since they were entering the main room of the entertainment center.

  Rick noticed that carefully built chairs, about a foot high, hung over the doorways inside the room. An identical small chair was hung on the front of the lectern in the middle of the rostrum.

  Partially obscured by the chair, the lectern had a design on its front: an arc across the bottom and an arrow pointing upward from the arc. Ten large portraits were placed on easels in an arc behind the lectern, one of which seemed to be Jesus, but Rick didn’t dwell on them. Archbishop Witch Doctor Richards entered stage-right and strode confidently to the lectern. He was tall and elegant, with gray temples accenting his otherwise black hair. He wore a white shaman’s robe made of fine material and had a chain around his neck with a medal on it. As he looked out over the congregation, he smiled benignly in a way that seemed genuine, not fake and plastered. That impressed Rick right away.

  “Welcome all of you. It’s a joy to see so many smiling faces. Let’s begin with our denominational creed.”

  He lifted his hands, whereupon the congregation rose and recited:

  We are the Church of World Religion.

  We glean truth from all religions.

  No religion, including our own, is completely true.

  All religious leaders are witch doctors,

  Every last one of them.

  Religious beliefs are made up,

  So make them up to benefit society.

  “Thank you. Please be seated. It’s good to see you, friends of comparative learning. Today, I’m going to talk about the most important tenets of our denomination. Many of them may be familiar to you, but sermons here, as elsewhere, are frequently repetitive,” he said, smiling broadly.

  The congregation chuckled.

  “In any regard, it’s important that we review our tenets periodically. Fundamentally, our denomination is committed to gleaning truth from all religions. It would have been easy for our forebears to ignore the importance of learning from others. They could have walled themselves off, acquired no knowledge from neighboring groups, and repeated their own beliefs in rote phrases, without reflection. Such a strategy has a crude tribal appeal. Indeed, there have been a few among us, over the years, who’ve advocated this approach, but thankfully it’s never prevailed. It would have been like standing in a mirrored room, seeing only images of ourselves, while trying to understand all of life—an impossible task. As we say, ‘Understanding requires exposure’. In our early years, i
solation would have been rife with danger. This sermon is about why this is so.

  “We know from our ‘Origins Poem’ the history of our forebears’ arrival in this land from England, whose Anglican beliefs they brought with them. As they fought their way up the La Cuerda, they endured great perils, among the greatest of which were the strange diseases for which they had no cure. Although the sermons of their preachers, which followed the accepted English beliefs of the times, claimed that the diseases they experienced were God’s judgment being visited upon them, their efforts to appease God to get relief for these diseases were to no avail. Out of necessity, they sought local cures to deal with these local diseases, looking to shamans from neighboring groups. The shamans were, of course, responsible for dealing with disease, which they, like our forebears, blamed on bad spirits. Shamans were believed to have a special relationship with the spirit world that gave them power over illnesses. In their treatments, they developed fetishes, spells, and chants, and, more importantly, herbal medicines. Think of them as part preacher and part doctor. In time, our forebears saw that shamans could heal and ameliorate many rain forest diseases better than they could. Now, to be sure, not everything the shamans did worked, but their herbal remedies were better than what our forebears had brought from England.

  “This experience also affected our forebears’ religious views. After all, shamans and the groups they served had strong religious elements in their thinking. Incantations about the spirit world accompanied everything they did, and they attributed results—both good and bad—to spirits. Obviously, our forebears came from a different religious tradition with different spirits, so the natives’ comments on religion appeared vague, implausible, quaint, and silly compared to the majesty of Anglicanism. They’d heard tales about the Archbishop of Canterbury proceeding solemnly down the long aisle of his majestic cathedral, chanting in Latin and burning incense.