Deep in the Peruvian Rain Forest, safely concealed from the glare of modern civilisation, a strange tribe of beings reside. They are human, they do interact with each other and their environment, yet they have somehow managed to avoid all contact with the outside world. That is, they had managed to until an unlikely discovery was made by one Ernest J Seagrove.
In February 1806, an expedition was undertaken following a Cédula of 1802 in which an attempt was made to segregate territory from the Audiencia of Quito and the Viceroyalty of New Granada in favour of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Ernest J Seagrove, the only Englishman among a contingent of Spanish officials led by Orellana, who had previously been recruited to lead the expedition party by Gonzalo Pizarro to investigate claims of a native uprising, found himself alone in the deepest jungle. He had no idea what had become of the rest of his party. His role in the expedition was to provide linguistic support to the others. As a professor of language and an expert on South American history, he had played an integral part so far into the foray into the deepest rain forest.
Suddenly alone, he sensed an overwhelming and inexplicable euphoric state. Here's how he records the experience, as later discovered in his journal entitled, "My Yiggernaught experience".
Even though I was completely alone, alone that is apart from the wildlife sounds that make the forest such an interesting place, I had a sense that I was in the presence of some enlightened company. I could hear a distant chant, not the sound of animals - or even humans, it was something else...........'der,der, der - der, der, der' It came closer, my vision started to fail and where I had been able to make out the trees and the vines, I could now only see colours, blurred, very bright colours. Red, green, orange, turquiose, pink, yellow and blue. Brighter and brighter, obscuring all recognisable form, accompanied by the chant becoming louder and louder - 'der,der,der - der,der, der'.
I had the sensation that my body was being lifted. As the colours swirled swiftly and the sound got louder. Then another sound along with the chanting, 'der,der,der -woosh' The wooshing sound increased as I seemed to spin out of control, spiraling upwards at an impossible rate -'der,der,der, yig, ger, naught, yig, ger, naught, yig, ger, naught, yig, ger, naught' It sounded like 1000 voices, deep voices, yet hardly human voices, 'yig, ger, naught, yig, ger, naught, yig, ger, naught' on it went then suddenly it reached a climax - 'YIGGERNAUGHT!' and I was hurtling down towards the earth, hurtling through the colours as the last excrutiatingly loud 'YIGGERNAUGHT!' echoed throughout my entire being and I landed on something very hard, breaking, I was certain, every bone in my body as I made contact.
To be continued........
multicolour image created by PIXELWIT
