European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Indians get a first hand look at 20th-Century technology. To it is Ste be prospector s wife has simple Home but lots of Gold jewelry. Gold buyer sets up shop in a River town general store. Page 14 the stars and stripes photos and Story by Eddi associated press t his is the Amazon where Gold mining town of Cre Puri the wives daughters of miners hang solid Gold Orn around their necks and Flash smiles from ripped Teeth but often Don t have enough Row food. This is the Amazon where two indies living in isolation in the Forest have waged Waist each other for centuries and practice a form of Balismo As a Victory rite. This is the Amazon with two Thirdy ver water of the world and the second longest Rico the Nile. It is part of a nation bigger than the l$3tates, with rain forests unchanged Over 60  is a place where a five acre tract of Forest cont to 100 Spe cies of Trees. This is the Amazon where a of lion two Lane red Clay Highway cuts thro in Miles of Jungle but is impassable during by season. Though sparsely used the Highway Jady alter ing the life of the Region. Goncalo Raimundo Nascimento Ettler from Chadad Brazil to the South reme Milt four years ago he would see 20 or 30 wild boars above along the Road any Day. With one shot he wort his week s Supply of meat. Today he walks Long before spot Ting a single boar. This is the Amazon where Boom turn As Rio Amana and Al Patro Signo have Graf around Gold mining. Everyone carries a gun. There Toner similarities to America s wild West and Ufi Days. One 300-population town has a dozen bars their customers Are not Only Brazil poles and others seeking their Fortune a around Cre Puri a Gold mining be eral stores a Goldsmith and Clay a be brothels. Americans three Gen shacks with thatched roofs an estimated 25,000 prospectors Are look ing for Gold. This is the Amazon where there can be murderous confrontations. Last year an Indian approached two miners and warned them they were on Indian land and ordered them to leave. Returning two Days later to find them still there he shot and wounded one Miner and then bashed him to death while the other watched in terror from the Trees. But the miners still come. Venancio Firmino a Silva a Gold buyer in a general store in Cre Puri says he buys up to $20,000 Worth of Gold dust in a Good month. This is the Amazon where nature still rules. The flesh eating Piranha fish inhabit every body of water. Anaconda snakes up to 12 feet Long swell in the Forest. Wild boar Deer monkeys and Birds compete with the snakes in the Forest. And the indians compete for living space with them. There Are around 200,000 indians who according to Many anthropologists and specialists in Indian affairs have More to fear from civilization than from the wild an  brazilian government is trying to accelerate the integration of indians into modern society with current Law considering indians minors and granting full citizen ship Only when they reach 21 years and speak and read portuguese. This pressure from a far away Central govern ment and from the steadily encroaching Gold miners and settlers is slowly altering the face of the Amazon. The government pledges humane Indian policies while the primitive Indian and his culture Are disappearing. This is the Amazon today. It will be very different tomorrow. Yan Omas considered children by brazilian Law pose for their Village portrait. Friday Sefer 15, 1978 an Indian Mother returns from gathering firewood a prospector and a Hunter with boar carcass Slung on his Back hikes his Way the stars and stripes pans for homeward. Page 15