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and behave very much like humans: they talk, sing, dance and otherwise go about their daily routine like rational beings. The spirit-forms of these animals are supposed to reside inside isolated rocky hills that rise here and there in the forest, and these âhouses,â as they are called, are avoided by peopleâ¦Vai-mahsë is thus imagined to exist in many personifications: as a Master of Game Animals, a Master of Fish and, in quite general terms, as an overall spirit-protector of all species, or indeed of all nature. Within one central concept of âMaster of Animals,â there are thus many, and quite often the term is pluralized as vai-mahsa and thus reference is made to groups of âmastersâ or to their individual familiesâ (p. 161). Reichel-Dolmatoff (1978) writes: âVai-mahsë, isâ¦first and foremost a gamekeeper who protects his wards, and who constantly has to admonish the hunters and fishermen not to exceed themselves in the pursuit of their preyâ (p. 262).

CHAPTER 2

P. 19: RAIN FORESTS HAVE POOR SOILS

The heat and humidity prevailing under the canopy of rain forests speed the breakdown of organic matter so that nutrients are quickly recycled by the vegetation. This means that biological wealth does not have time to accumulate in the soil, and therefore that clear-cutting rain forests is a recipe for desertification. Davis (1998) writes: âForests have two major strategies for preserving the nutrient load of the ecosystem. In the temperate zone, with the periodicity of the seasons and the resultant accumulation of rich organic debris, the biological wealth is in the soil itself. In the tropics it is completely different. With constant high humidity and annual temperatures hovering around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), bacteria and microorganisms break down plant matter virtually as soon as the leaves hit the forest floor. Ninety percent of the root tips in a tropical forest may be found in the top ten centimeters of earth. Vital nutrients are immediately recycled into the vegetation. The wealth of this ecosystem is the living forest itself, an exceedingly complex mosaic of thousands of interacting and interdependent living organisms. It is a castle of immense biological sophistication built quite literally on a foundation of sand. Removing this canopy sets in motion a chain reaction of destruction with cataclysmic consequences. Temperatures increase dramatically, relative humidity falls, rates of evapotranspiration drop precipitously, and the mycorrhizal mats that interlace the roots of forest trees, enhancing their ability to absorb nutrients, dry up and die. With the cushion of vegetation gone, torrential rains cause erosion which leads to further loss of nutrients and chemical changes in the soil itself. In certain deforested areas of the Amazon the precipitation of iron oxides in leached exposed soils has resulted in the deposition of miles upon miles of lateritic clays, a rocklike pavement of red earth in which not even a weed will growâ (p. 111).

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P. 22: COMMUNICATING WITH PLANTS AND ANIMALS THROUGH SONG

Descola (1994) writes about concepts of nature among the Achuar people of Ecuador and Peru: âIf, in spite of everything, natureâs beings manage to communicate among themselves and with humans, it is because they have other means of making themselves understood than by emitting sounds that can be heard by the ear. In effect, intersubjectivity can be expressed by speech from the soul, which transcends all linguistic barriers and transforms every plant and animal into a subject capable of producing meaning. Depending on the way in which communication is to be established, this soul speech can take any number of forms. Normally humans speak to plants and animals by means of incantations, which are supposed to go straight to the heart of whoever they are addressed to. Although they are formulated in ordinary language, these songs can be understood by all of natureâs beingsâ¦. This sort of sung metalanguage is also used by the various species of animals and plants to communicate with each other, thus overcoming