Amazon Sweet Sea by Nigel Smith, University of Texas Press, $39.95, ISBN 0292777701 Reviewed by Adrian Barnett
ASK most tropical biologists to name the most denuded part of Amazonia, and the chances are they鈥檒l say 鈥淧ar谩, the mouth of the Amazon鈥� or 鈥淎nywhere near Bel茅m鈥�. It makes sense 鈥� one of the first areas colonised by Europeans, it has long traded in timber, sugar products and cattle. Yet, as Nigel Smith shows in Amazon Sweet Sea, this area still retains a rich and vibrant ecology 鈥� humans, werepigs, plants and all.
The product of more than 30 years of research, keen observation and patient questioning, Amazon Sweet Sea explores the culture and ecology of the watery byways of the world鈥檚 grandest estuary. The Par谩 Estuary is about the size of Europe and is rich in culture and biology. Mangrove swamps, estuarine fisheries and floating meadows supplement its rainforest, all packed with resources for the local ribenhos, or river dwellers.
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Smith documents patterns of ribenho land use and paints a realistic and sympathetic picture of their lives, showing up the ignorance of the metropolitan 茅lite, who scorn nutritious forest foods as things eaten by desperate people starving on the margins of society. As Smith shows, nothing could be further from the truth. Succulent rodents, the joy of mangrove-dwelling molluscs and the central role of palms and other forest products in everyday life, are just parts of the fascinating mix of ethnobotany, geography and economic analysis he gives us.
In a light dry style, free from academic subclausing, the ever-acute Smith gets right into the minutiae of these communities 鈥� who is growing what and why 鈥� and how it affects the neighbours. This is raw and dynamic cultural reporting, that shows how many of the things vital to a subsistence economy are ignored by government economists. Amazon Sweet Sea also reveals the history of the estuary鈥檚 indigenous peoples, who cultivated the area for nearly 2000 years until the coming of Europeans. Effective farmers and massively populous, all that remains of their culture is the odd word, and massive mounds of earth filled with shards of pottery.
Every reader from armchair traveller, fieldworker to bureaucrat will profit from this book. An added bonus is the rich gallery of fabulous photographs that display the glorious richness of colours, the complexity of the lives of the rural people and the diversity of habitats in which they live.