Journal Blue waters in the Cove , Double rainbow over the
Island!
November 15, 2018
1350
North Sentinel Island
Southwest Cove
Well, I’ve been shot by the Sentilese…by a kid probably
about ten or so years old, maybe a teenager, short compared to those who looked
like adults. Let me first back up; after that initial contact, some of the guys
in my boat went spear fishing and caught what they call “entt-a-la” that looks
like a grouper or sea bass with big lips-they caught two and each weighed about
30lbs—so after a meal of that(?) and rice, I swam back to the cached kayak
(after first going poop in the water(?) about
a mile – ¾ mile from the Sentinel house. So I wasn’t worried that they
see, but more concerned that if I went on shore that they’d see or find it).
And left a few gifts (scissors, cord, and safety pins) on a log that a human
must have put there—this cache and location is on the north side of the
southwest cove. Then I built the kayak (again because I had broken it down to
hide after that first contact), and paddled back to the boat. We put the two
big fish on top of my kayak, and my small pelican (are(?) that held many
pencils, my initial contact repairs(?) kit (for arrow wounds) such as
hemostat/cuitclot(?), abdominal pads, chest seal, and dental forceps for arrow
removal, plus it contained my picture cards, and multivitamins and multitools
(including the one my brother gave as a groomsman gift that has my name
engraved on it…and unfortunately it also contained my passports [I’ll say why
it was unfortunate in a moment] inside my kayak; plus I had my waterproof Bible
(thanks Bardin and Marsee Publishing [see here]) and some gifts: scissors, tweezers,
safety pins, fishing line and hooks, and cordage, and rubber tubing, and my new
Socudo(?) tomely(?). I set off towards the north shore of the cove toward where
I had seen a dilapidated structure and two destroyed dug-outs via binoculars.
Why was it
destroyed? Perhaps a death? Then seeing no one from the water, I waded my kayak
through the shallows of the dead coral reef and still didn’t see anyone. I
affixed some gifts to the fish and then proceeded around the cove toward the
hut(?) I had been darted(?) from an initial contact. Sure enough, as I for
closer, I heard the whoops and shouts from the hut. I made sure to stay out of
arrow range, but unfortunately that meant I was out of good hearing range. So I
got a little closer and as they (about 6 from what I could see) yelled at me, I
tried to parrot their words back to them. They burst out laughing most of the
time, so they probably were bad words or insulting me. They were also yelling
into the forest behind the hut, which echoed and they(?) made drumming sounds(?),
if I recall. Perhaps their men were away which would explain why the ones
yelling at me looked fairly juvenile. I spotted one man wearing a white crown
or something (flowers maybe?) on his head and he also took a seemingly
leadership stance and yelled at me. Leadership stance meaning he climbed atop
the tallest coral rock to yell. I yelled some phrase in Xinosa(?) and sang them
some worship songs and hymns, and they would after fall silent after this. Then
two of them dropped their bows and took a dugout to meet me(?). I couldn’t
tell if they were truly anavad(?) or not; so I still kept a safe distance away
and dropped off the fish and gifts. And at first they paddled(?) their dugout
past the gifts and were coming at me, then they turned and grabbed(?) the gifts
except for the shovel/adze(?). I paddled after them and exchanged some more
yells of currently unitelligle words. Then here’s where this nice meet and
greet goes(?) south. A child and a song(?) woman both with bows came behind the few(?) gift receives(?), with bows drawn of arrows(?) first(?). I kept waving my hands
to say “no bows”, but they didn’t get the memo I guess. I tossed the
active(?)/shovel a midway distance between all of us and they began talking(?)
to the two unarmed guys. They came over to get it out unfortunately(?) and grabbed a bamboo knife. By this time the wind
had picked up and the kayak was get(?) new on shallow cool(?). The Islanders saw
that and blocked my exit. One blocked (unnamed(?)) while other (bamboo knife)
waded along the coral. Then little kid with bow and arrow came down the middle
and I figured that this was it. So I preached a bit to them starting in Genesis
and disembarked my kayak to show them that I too have two legs. I was inches
from the unarmed guy (well built with a round face one fly on his right face
cheek and yellowish pigment in circles on his cheeks, and about 5ft. 5”) and
gave him a bunch of the sacks and gifts. As they got bunched(?) together – so
basically I gave them all the gift-type items (except for some spares in my
cached gear) and then they took the Kayak…and the little kid shot me with an
arrow – directly into my Bible which I was holding in front of my chest. I
grabbed the arrow shaft as it broke in my Bible (on pg. 433, Isaiah 63:5-65:2),
and felt the arrow head. It was metal, thin but very sharp. I stumbled back and
I recall yelling at the kid for shooting me – now as I look back at it, my
Bible cover looks like bark – like tree bark, so maybe he was just being
curious, but yikes, it sure gave me a fright. They left me alone as I
half-waded, half-swam through the broken coral to the deep part of the cove
where I know their dugouts couldn’t reach if they chased me. I had to swim
almost a mile back to the boat at the mouth of the cove…as I got closer I
thought a rock was the boat and then saw the boat but(?) with figures with
their arms up waving and I thought briefly that another group of Sentinelese
had attacked the boat while they were watching me, but thank God that wasn’t
the case. Although I now have no kayak, or my small pelican and its contents,
I’m grateful that I still have the written Word of God.
The plan now is to rest and sleep on the boat and in the
morning to drop me off by the cache and then I walk alonf the beach toward the
same hut I’ve been giving gifts to. It’s weird – actually no, it’s natural: I’m
scared.
There, I said it. Also thistul(?) and uncertain –
unfortunately JP won’t go with me and only stays on the vessel. The language
gap is tough too as it’s hard to get good input – LORD let your will be done.
If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow, then so be
it. I think I could be more useful alive though, but to You, God, I give all
the glory of whatever happens. I DON’T WANT to Die! Would it be wiser to leave
and let someone else continue? NO. I don’t think so – I’m stuck here anyway
without a passport and having been off the grid. I still could make it back to
the US somehow as it almost seems like certain death to stay here – yet there
is endened(?) change in just this encontus(?) in a single day. Will try again
tomorrow. I’m sending these pages to A (for Alex?) to take a picture of all(?) this(?) to
Bobby and AN (for All Nations, see allnations.us).
Observations:
- · # of people in hut: ~10 including juveniles (with seen more elsewhere so estimated 50+ here, estimate say 250.
- · Language: Lots of high pitched sounds with [b][p],[l] and [s] heard. Couldn’t quite get any words. Insults are probably exchanged a lot. Did not seem to understand Jarawa words I said.
- · Gestures: Arms in the air=unarmed, friendly; pointing with hand/finger(?)=pointing a location; arrows in bow=ready to shoot you
- · Environment: beautiful cpve, mostly dead coral but clear and dead coral bottom. Sand is white, but coarse. There’s an amazing surf at the dark part of the entrance to the cove. Saw 3 perfect sets of 4-6 fast high swells barreling the like 200 yards or so.
- · Thuierd(?) hut and dugouts points to a cultural practice. It could also be from poaches(?) as I have seen numerous rocky coral that juts out of the cove having lines (thick) wrapped around them.
- · If they see something they like, they’ll take it (by force if necessary). I wonder how many other folks have given them something. And if they feel like it is expected or due them? ____________________________________
Watching the sunset out it’s beautiful –
crying a bit…wondering if it’ll be the last sunset I see before being in the
place where the sun never sets. Tearing up a little.
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