Vision.

This is coolbert:

The August 2003 edition of the National Geographic describes a sertanista expedition to the deepest Amazonian rain forest.

And expedition to make contact with indios bravos [wild Indians]. Amazonian jungle dwellers that HAVE NOT HAD contact with the outside world ever.

Sertanistas are part of that particularly Brazilian institution that seeks to protect Brazilian Indians from exploitation by the "outside world". Dangerous, dirty, thankless work.

Many of the sertanista party were Indians themselves. Or part Indian to some degree. Also have a knowledge of the jungle and the medicinal properties of plants found therein.

Here is an interesting description of one plant and it's application:

"Some Indians on the trek treat their eyes with a traditional potion applied with palm leaves. Brutally painful, the drug alters vision, giving the jungle's dense green walls greater texture and dimension."

A pharmacology product of "primitive peoples" that alters and ENHANCES vision. Allows for an alteration of visual acuity. An alteration that allows a hunter to be more readily able to spot game against the background of the jungle. An alteration that is valid whether the hunted is "wild game" or OTHER HUMANS.

I have mentioned this sort of thing before. The Zulu also DID have a drug that had similar properties. Altered vision of their warriors prior to their engaging in battle. Administered by "witch doctors" who carried the drug as part of their basic "kit".

"Primitive people" did and do now have an amazing pharmacological knowledge. A knowledge that is used in pursuits such as hunting animals [or humans for that matter].

[In other blog entries I have mentioned that it IS advantageous for jungle fighters to be able to pick out movement against a background. In this sense, the American black soldier in Vietnam had the advantage over his white counterpart. Black folks are supposed to possess superior visual acuity in this regard. I know it is not fashionable to speak of things in this manner, but there it is. If it is true, it is true!!]

coolbert.