European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday March 8, 1986 Indian chief Raboini and Hummingbird expert Augusta rus Chi in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Fairy tale cure in Brazil new Hope for Hummingbird expert by Alan Riding new York times a n evil Toad poisons a Good naturalist an the nation watches helplessly As he begins dying slowly. The president become alarmed and Calls in an Indian shaman who magically extracts the venom and the naturalist is saved. But As in All Good fairy tales some moralizing is first called for with the naturalist denouncing the devastation of rain forests and the shaman demanding Justice for the country s dwindling Indian tribes. Only then do things end happily. For the Best part of 10 Days last month the Story of an ailing 70-year-old expert in hummingbirds and orchids Augusto rus Chi and a thu Carramao Indian chief Rani captured Brazil s imagination in a Way that no news has done in months. It was a real life melodrama More incredible than the television soap operas that Are so popular Here. It appealed to this country s Strong penchant for the mystical psychic and supernatural. And the president under attack for rising inflation saw an Opportunity to adopt a popular cause. Whether rus Chi has in fact been cured of severe liver poisoning will not be known for months but looking much healthier after three Days of Indian Medicine he told reporters Here the other Day i feel As i have never Felt before. White men can learn a lot from he was the Ideal person to be cast in this role. Having dedicated his life to studying the Flora and Fauna of the vanishing Atlantic coast rain forests of his native Espirito Santo state rus Chi has constantly prodded the conscience of a country that until now has paid Little heed to protecting the environment and conserving nature. Who better then to demonstrate that his ailments could be cured by the natural herbs of the Jungle and by the natural Wisdom of the Only brazilians who know How to respect the rain forests and what clearer moral than that both nature and the indians should be protected the Story began with a front Page report Jan. 12 in the Rio de Janeiro daily journal do Brasil that carried the headline nature condemns a Man who protected it recounted How rus Chi was dying As a result of having touched poisonous Send rebates toads while carrying out research in the Amasa Region of the Amazon in 1975. Other papers immediately caught onto the Story but it was three Days later that president Jose Sarney was reportedly moved by a newspaper column written by a prominent brazilian poet Affonso Romano de Sant Anna. The column took its title from a novel by the colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez who wrote chronicle of a death foretold. In it the poet appealed to the president to order a search for an antidote not Only in the United states and the soviet Union but also among the Indian tribes of the Xingu National Park. Brazil cannot afford to lose a Man of rus Chi s stature just because some shameless toads declared him to be their enemy Sant Anna wrote. Sarney immediately told Interior minister Ronaldo Costa Couto to Contact Rani the Middle age Cacique or chief of the 4,000-Strong thu Carramao tribe who is also recognized As a spokesman for Brazil s 180,000 surviving indians. And a few Day later an unusual sight in his feathered headdress and with the huge protruding lower lip that members of his tribe develop through wearing a disk Rani was received by the president in his office in Brasilia. Rani told Sarney that he had dreamed of rus Chi struggling with toads and after looking at photographs of the naturalist he proclaimed he already has the face of a Toad. He has become a Toad. We have to take the Toad from inside or he will soon a brazilian air Force plane flew to the Xingu 500 Miles Northwest of Brasilia to collect herbs As Well As sap aim a shaman from the nearby Caimara tribe. And in the Middle of last week in the presence of newspaper reporters and television Crews Rani and sap aim met rus Chi in Rio de Janeiro. The naturalist recounted that for More than a year he had suffered intense pain nausea fevers and nose bleeding and could rarely sleep for More than two or three hours at a stretch. Further reporters noted he was barely Able to climb a Short stairway and his eyes and Mouth looked swollen and red. The treatment which was witnessed by a reporter from journal do Brasil and by rus Chi s wife Marilane 3 Ife Reuters photo first involved Rani and sap aim smoking 10-Inch hallucinogenic herbal cigars and exhaling Over the patient while chanting. Rani then massaged rus Chi s body and appeared to extract a Green Strong smelling pasty substance that he identified As the Toad Poison. While blowing smoke the Indian chief rubbed it Between his Palms and it disappeared the reporter said. Finally the naturalist took a herbal Bath. For three Days with the entire nation s attention focused on the House where the treatment was taking place the ritual was repeated with rus Chi claiming that he was feeling steadily better. By feb. 1, Rani said All the Poison had been removed and rus Chi was pronounced cured. Before completing the ritual though Rani indicated that tradition required he be Given a present by the person who had called on him in this Case Sarney. The present could be a Clay pot or he added More pointedly land for the indians. Rani and sap aim then went on a shopping spree in Rio de Janeiro and with Interior ministry officials paying the Bills acquired $800 Worth of beads and trinkets. The final act will take place in Brasilia when Sarney presents his gift to Rani in the presence of rus Chi with All three expected to use the occasion to Appeal for greater preservation of the natural and native Patrimony of this vast land. Then Only an epilogue will still have to be written describing whether rus Chi was indeed permanently cured. Not surprisingly some scepticism has already been heard from physicians. Wallace Magalhaes who treated rus Chi last year said his liver was poisoned from excessive self medication taken to combat chronic malaria. Hairy moustache a scientist at the fund Acao Oswaldo Cruz medical research Center said we have to determine whether in All the ritual there was also some but for the moment at least with patient and shaman As Well As Public and press delighted with the present Happy ending rus Chi seemed to offer the Best closing words for the fairy tale. He said that when he died he wished to be buried in the rain Forest near his Home. And i have the Hope he added that the hummingbirds will Lead me to the kingdom of
