After the death of US Missionary and adventure enthusiast John Chau in the North Sentinel Island, the Andaman and Nicobar police have been trying their best to retrieve his body.
The 26-year old was killed on November 17th by the local Sentinelese tribe.
According to a report by The Hindustan Times, a note has been recovered which may shed more light on the life of the world's most isolated tribe.
The note titled 'Observations' gives us details of the tribe, like their number which John Chau noted as 250.
The note was recovered from one of the five fishermen arrested for assisting John Chau in his 'adventure'.
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John Chau was a US Missionary who wanted to introduce the isolated tribe to Christianity and spread the word of Jesus, hence his note cannot be taken as an expert observation.
According to the note, when John arrived at the island he met a man who was wearing a crown made of flowers and appeared to be the tribe's leader. He screamed at John Chau in an unknown language.
The man failed to understand John Chau who was trying to converse in a language used by the Jarawa tribe.
Jotting down more details of the local language, John Chau writes that they make 'high-pitched' noises such as the use of letters b,p,l and s.
He assumes in his letter that they were using a lot of insults, although the basis for the conclusion is not known.
John Chau was the first intruder in the island after 12 years and his observations give us an idea of the topography of the island.
Describing the North Sentinel islands, Chau wrote that sand is coarse but white. The seabed was unclear with dead coral lined up, he observed.
He also goes on to describe the hut which houses around 10-50 Sentinelese. He puts down the population number at 250 in contrast to the observation made during the 2004 Tsunami which puts the population number between 40-200.
The arrow which hit his bible was shot by a 10-year old and gave him important insight into the metals used by the tribe. They mainly used the metals from ship wreckage to fancy their bows and arrows.
Chau also writes about the possible meaning of gestures.
“Arms in the air meant unarmed and friendly. Pointing with hand/finger meant pointing a location. Arrows in bow meant ready to shoot you.”
He observes that there were hardly any elder members, assuming that they may be living separately on another part of the island.