Revisitando la obra del Padre João Daniel. Redescubriendo el Tesoro

Abstract

Daniel, J. (2004). Tesouro descoberto no máximo Rio Amazonas (Vol. I e II; 1722-1776). Rio de Janeiro: Editora Contraponto.This review is about a revisit to the work Discovered Treasure at the maximum Amazon River (volumes I and II). After having read it for over ten years and drafted two reviews, one in the year of its own publication by Editora Contraponto at the request of the SBPC, and another in 2005, at the invitation of the magazine Ambiente & Sociedade, published by Unicamp. In those two documents, we deal with biodiversity and environment, precious things that Priest João Daniel described, providing us with a detailed and precise narrative that seems current to the reader today, although written in the eighteenth century. In this paper we recall some points and we highlight two parts where he describes the amphibian fish, treating all aquatic animal biodiversity that breathe air. After this revisit, we bring a part not covered in the other reviews, in which Priest João Daniel describes the Indians ("natural" as he also calls them) and their physical characteristics and social organization. It also deals with the relation of the European man (Spanish and Portuguese people) with the Indian. It is striking how there is a strong parallel between the hierarchical and social relations that existed at the time of colonization and still persists in the present time. It is worth to feel the affection that the author had while living as a Jesuit in the Amazon and how he could have been a great historian, philosopher and biologist in the present times.