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The Lost Tribe: A Harrowing Passage into New Guinea's Heart of Darkness
Two years before this story begins, the Liawep were living deep in the jungle of Papua, New Guinea, long forgotten by the outside world. Numbering seventy-nine men, women, and children, the tribe worshipped a mountain, dressed in leaves, and hid when planes flew overhead, believing them to be evil sanguma birds. Their discovery by a missionary hit the headlines in 1993. Galvanized by the reports of people living in Stone Age conditions, Edward Marriott set out to find the Liawep. Banned from visiting the tribe by the New Guinea government, he assembled his own ragtag patrol and ventured illegally into the wilderness in search of his quarry. Nothing could have prepared him for what he found or for the dramatic events that followed. A thrilling, superbly written adventure, The Lost Tribe is a memorable account of what happens when good intentions go awry, when rational man meets primal beliefs, and when a small, primitive people are ensnared by the predations of civilization.
- GenresTravelNonfictionHistory
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 4, 2017
Hmmm. This is a hard review to write. The book is well-written, it's the story that is the problem. The author managed to harm an entire village (more than any white colonial officer did, as he said himself) while trying to find a 'lost tribe' that wasn't lost in the first place. And he admits it. Not really impressed.
July 12, 2018
This book took me 30 odd pages to get used to the writing style but once I got it I enjoyed the experience. Having said that the premise of looking for a ‘lost’ tribe in Papua New Guinea did not sit easy with me. The subject of ‘lost’ does come up in the book. To me the tribe are not lost. They are off-grid for sure but not lost.
Without permission the author, Edward Marriott, goes off with some unlikely guides (carriers) in search of the Liawep tribe. His comparison of himself and other explorers is amusing as he does not feel himself as a leader and a tumble down a slope into mud leaves him crying. It will not be the last tumble either. He has a self-deprecating way of writing about himself but he never gives up. He did what he did. I may not completely approve but that is neither here nor there.
No-one really knows how long or how far away the tribe are: ‘…I would have to stop asking for precise distances by which I could pace myself. This was a place with no clocks and no calendars, where distances were approximated in adjectives rather than miles’. The jungle walk is tough.
While reading this I remembered watching Bruce Parry’s documentary ‘Cannibals & Crampons’ about him and his friend, Mark Anstice, who trekked in Indonesian New Guinea to climb Mandala in 2001. That is a fantastic documentary by the way and they stumble across a tribe that are scared of them and their reaction to seeing these two white men is something I’ll never forget.
The premise is almost ‘The Heart of Darkness’ where a missionary, Herod, is with the Liawep but has gone native. Our traveller is off into the jungle looking for the Liawep and this missionary. Do the Liawep have Herod as their God? ‘I wanted to know what the Liawep made of it, this sudden upsetting of their belief and imposition of Christianity’.
Things are not what they seem. A foreigner in a very foreign land. Strange customs, sick children, an obstructive missionary, hunters, warriors, killers, danger, men outnumbering women by two to one, a chief that is not a chief anymore, boredom, clandestine meetings, a holy mountain and the storms which bring an air of foreboding. As the hornbills circle you feel that something bad is going to happen. It boils to a crescendo.
Without permission the author, Edward Marriott, goes off with some unlikely guides (carriers) in search of the Liawep tribe. His comparison of himself and other explorers is amusing as he does not feel himself as a leader and a tumble down a slope into mud leaves him crying. It will not be the last tumble either. He has a self-deprecating way of writing about himself but he never gives up. He did what he did. I may not completely approve but that is neither here nor there.
No-one really knows how long or how far away the tribe are: ‘…I would have to stop asking for precise distances by which I could pace myself. This was a place with no clocks and no calendars, where distances were approximated in adjectives rather than miles’. The jungle walk is tough.
While reading this I remembered watching Bruce Parry’s documentary ‘Cannibals & Crampons’ about him and his friend, Mark Anstice, who trekked in Indonesian New Guinea to climb Mandala in 2001. That is a fantastic documentary by the way and they stumble across a tribe that are scared of them and their reaction to seeing these two white men is something I’ll never forget.
The premise is almost ‘The Heart of Darkness’ where a missionary, Herod, is with the Liawep but has gone native. Our traveller is off into the jungle looking for the Liawep and this missionary. Do the Liawep have Herod as their God? ‘I wanted to know what the Liawep made of it, this sudden upsetting of their belief and imposition of Christianity’.
Things are not what they seem. A foreigner in a very foreign land. Strange customs, sick children, an obstructive missionary, hunters, warriors, killers, danger, men outnumbering women by two to one, a chief that is not a chief anymore, boredom, clandestine meetings, a holy mountain and the storms which bring an air of foreboding. As the hornbills circle you feel that something bad is going to happen. It boils to a crescendo.
February 26, 2020
This book has been written by an ambitious journalist who embarks on a journey to find a tribe living in a remote location and get rich and famous by writing a best-selling book about them.
It is shocking and frightening—but for the wrong reasons. Time and again, I was shocked by the author's sheer immaturity, by his under-preparedness (both mental and physical) for the endeavor, and by the ignorance of that ineptness.
I was baffled by how he was unable to grasp even the most basic human emotions. I was astonished by his naive, inconsiderate and almost childish questions; and by his display of suspicious behavior towards people who were already wary of him. If this book is good for one thing, it is studying not the 'lost' tribe, but its 'lost' author. It proves that people belonging to self-proclaimed advanced civilizations are capable of being 'primitive' to an advanced degree.
Near the ending of the book, I started to suspect that some of the events were fabricated, exaggerated, or dramatized. It is a claim that I cannot back up, but the final part of the book feels more like fiction than fact. The person who has written those lines has given enough reasons for his untrustworthiness throughout the book. So why do I have to trust him now?
I said it before and I will say it more blatantly again: read this book, not for gaining insight into an exotic culture in a remote location—the so-called Lost Tribe of the title—because you'll find almost no reliable information about it here. But if you read it, do so for a deep study of the human psyche: that of 'The Lost Journalist'.
It is shocking and frightening—but for the wrong reasons. Time and again, I was shocked by the author's sheer immaturity, by his under-preparedness (both mental and physical) for the endeavor, and by the ignorance of that ineptness.
I was baffled by how he was unable to grasp even the most basic human emotions. I was astonished by his naive, inconsiderate and almost childish questions; and by his display of suspicious behavior towards people who were already wary of him. If this book is good for one thing, it is studying not the 'lost' tribe, but its 'lost' author. It proves that people belonging to self-proclaimed advanced civilizations are capable of being 'primitive' to an advanced degree.
Near the ending of the book, I started to suspect that some of the events were fabricated, exaggerated, or dramatized. It is a claim that I cannot back up, but the final part of the book feels more like fiction than fact. The person who has written those lines has given enough reasons for his untrustworthiness throughout the book. So why do I have to trust him now?
I said it before and I will say it more blatantly again: read this book, not for gaining insight into an exotic culture in a remote location—the so-called Lost Tribe of the title—because you'll find almost no reliable information about it here. But if you read it, do so for a deep study of the human psyche: that of 'The Lost Journalist'.
May 28, 2021
An engaging read but lacking in detail. I really enjoyed Marriott's reflective writing and the way he assesses himself and his reasons for visiting what he calls the "lost tribe", the Liawep. I really enjoyed the book, for the writing, not for the intentions behind Marriott's visit and the reasons for the book existing. The only thing which disappointed me was how short and lacking in detail the book was. Although Marriott is not an anthropologist and does not claim to be an expert in the field (indeed, he freely admits how much of an amateur he was) I really feel that he could have gone into much more detail. This lack of depth and detail is the only reason for three stars, but the story itself is very engaging, and towards the end I couldn't put the book down. Very sad and compelling.
October 13, 2021
Initial admission before we go exploring here – I’m a sucker for the whole lost civilizations, never-heard-from-again jungle expeditions, Stone Age tribes, cannibals and fierce primitive tribes, etc. genre. I’ve read Teddy Roosevelt’s real-life and quite life-threatening and harrowing "Through the Brazilian Wilderness" account of his participation in a 1913 expedition of scientific discovery, mapping an undiscovered river, and dodging death. I’ve read "Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, a WW II Spy, and a True Story of Deadly Adventure" by Christopher S. Stewart; a middlin’ book with a more interesting title than the actual contents that are contained therein. And also "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon," David Grann’s enormously entertaining and engrossing tale of true-life latter-stage Victorian bad-ass explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett and his final 1925 Amazonian expedition to find the ancient, fabled lost city. By far, this tome is the best of the lot and resulted in a fairly decent film adaption in 2016.
Which brings us to "The Lost Tribe: A Harrowing Passage into New Guinea’s Heart of Darkness," the 1996 book by journalist Edward Marriott. The real-life tale focuses on the author’s attempts to “discover” the lost Stone Age tribe known as the Liawep in Papua, New Guinea’s vast jungle hinterlands.
Unfortunately for Mr. Marriott, as well as the reader, there was not much of mankind left in the world that was truly “undiscovered” and completely “unexposed” to the Modern World by the time this tribe were unearthed by missionaries in 1993. The lead-up to the expedition itself, including the resentment and resistance that was met from both the scientific locals as well as government officials, is interesting; as is the journey into the jungle and the eventual first encounter with the Liawep.
Once the “lost” tribe is actually “found,” a church is already a dominant part of the village presided over by a zealous missionary named Herod. Needless to say, a missionary apparently named for the cruel and despised Roman governor of Judea during the time of Christ, does not immediately inspire trust and a high comfort level. The village is a small grouping of seventy-nine men, women, and children, that worshipped a mountain, dressed in leaves, and hid when planes flew overhead, believing them to be evil sanguma birds.
It is certainly a realistic depiction of the conditions and practices of the indigenous tribesmen, but not a lot happens. The main theme of the book seems to be the irreparable destruction of totally autonomous and individual tribal New Guinean cultures by over-zealous and inflexible Christian missionaries.
There are also a few jungle thunderstorms, and then a REALLY bad storm occurs just prior to the group’s departure from the village to return to civilization; that causes the death of a child and provides some tension as the explorers rush to escape, knowing the village’s returning hunters will blame them for the tragedy and seek tribal revenge.
Since this book recounts actions from over 25 years ago, the site of the “lost” village has probably by now been clear-cut, burned, bulldozed, and is home to a strip mall.
Even for hardcore jungle adventure readers such as myself, "The Lost Tribe: A Harrowing Passage into New Guinea's Heart of Darkness" is an expedition not worth taking.
Which brings us to "The Lost Tribe: A Harrowing Passage into New Guinea’s Heart of Darkness," the 1996 book by journalist Edward Marriott. The real-life tale focuses on the author’s attempts to “discover” the lost Stone Age tribe known as the Liawep in Papua, New Guinea’s vast jungle hinterlands.
Unfortunately for Mr. Marriott, as well as the reader, there was not much of mankind left in the world that was truly “undiscovered” and completely “unexposed” to the Modern World by the time this tribe were unearthed by missionaries in 1993. The lead-up to the expedition itself, including the resentment and resistance that was met from both the scientific locals as well as government officials, is interesting; as is the journey into the jungle and the eventual first encounter with the Liawep.
Once the “lost” tribe is actually “found,” a church is already a dominant part of the village presided over by a zealous missionary named Herod. Needless to say, a missionary apparently named for the cruel and despised Roman governor of Judea during the time of Christ, does not immediately inspire trust and a high comfort level. The village is a small grouping of seventy-nine men, women, and children, that worshipped a mountain, dressed in leaves, and hid when planes flew overhead, believing them to be evil sanguma birds.
It is certainly a realistic depiction of the conditions and practices of the indigenous tribesmen, but not a lot happens. The main theme of the book seems to be the irreparable destruction of totally autonomous and individual tribal New Guinean cultures by over-zealous and inflexible Christian missionaries.
There are also a few jungle thunderstorms, and then a REALLY bad storm occurs just prior to the group’s departure from the village to return to civilization; that causes the death of a child and provides some tension as the explorers rush to escape, knowing the village’s returning hunters will blame them for the tragedy and seek tribal revenge.
Since this book recounts actions from over 25 years ago, the site of the “lost” village has probably by now been clear-cut, burned, bulldozed, and is home to a strip mall.
Even for hardcore jungle adventure readers such as myself, "The Lost Tribe: A Harrowing Passage into New Guinea's Heart of Darkness" is an expedition not worth taking.
April 5, 2009
Poetic in its descriptions, Marriott's volume is a prime example of excellent word smithery. He keeps the reader is suspense and wondering as he describes his trip to the mountain in search of the "lost" tribe in exquisite detail. At the same time, he keeps the reader at the edge of his seat with anticipation of what will befall or beguile him next. Cautioned about his search by government officials and by local anthropologists, Marriott does a magnificent job of illuminating his guilt and his fears: all within the context of the dilemmas inherent in the consequences for the tribe of contact with the outside world and the inevitable changes that such contact will bring. The ending is frightening as Marriott and his team escape the grip of the mountain in a "can't put it down" read!
January 2, 2024
Marriott's self-confessedly ill-advised journey to meet the newly-discovered Liawep tribe in Papua New Guinea serves as a devastating cautionary tale to anyone considering such an escapade. Towards the end, a profoundly shocking and deeply unfortunate event occurs which leaves Marriott with no hope of ever being able to view his adventure in a positive light. The author writes about all this with unflinching honesty, sparing no-one, least of all himself. His avoidance of sentimentality and vivid descriptions make this a highly compelling and unforgettable read.
April 10, 2019
I read this book right before my 3 month holiday in Papua New Guinea - hoping that it would give me some insight on the culture. Half way through the book I realized the tribe wasn't lost, but rather Mr. Marriott was lost. Slightly condescending when speaking about the nationalist
January 29, 2014
Awhile into it, I realized there had to be a lot of fiction in this supposed nonfictional account. The characters like the angry depressed and controlling Christian minister were copied right out of the Poisonwood Bible and events were too perfectly coincidental to be fiction IMHO.
September 5, 2007
Although somewhat disappointing, still an interesting read. Don't get too excited by the description, since the narrative does fall short of expectations.
July 23, 2009
Whether they ultimately find the "lost tribe" or not, this book is enjoyable to read and the descriptions are marvelous. I am loving reading this.
July 14, 2009
Nope, not worth it, kept waiting for something exciting to happen or at least learn something new. What a disappointment this book turned out to be.
Read
July 27, 2011a can't put down page turner
December 1, 2011
LOL. Trekking in PNG is no picnic ... and this book tells it all. Took me straight back to tropical mud and swamp and mountains and remote tribes and difficulties and confusion. Laughed and laughed.
August 10, 2013
Fascinating narrative, as much for the experience of the journey as for the history, of author's search for an undiscovered community hidden away in remote Papua New Guinea.
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April 17, 2017Remote jungle tribes + white settlers and missionaries = sometimes things get icky.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews