TED SABINE is a retired English and creative writing teacher who taught for twelve years at Cairo American College in Egypt and has traveled the world extensively with his wife, Margaret (Mogie). The author has prospected for diamonds in Guyana, collected numerous species of insects from Africa, South America, New Guinea, and Borneo, and became known as the Bug Man by students during his time in Cairo for his ardent storytelling abilities. Still, his initial excursions were along the Pan American Highway in Ecuador, ending up in the province of El Oriente where he received his inspiration for Tsantsa. Mr. Sabines science fiction novel, The Soulsucker, was published in 1976. Today, his hobbies include fly fishing, travel photography, weight training, and insect collecting. Cover art by Bill Chapman

Meg looked about. The cloud forest had enfolded her as a blossom closes with the coming of night...In the undergrowth to her side a large spotted form moved cautiously in harmony with Meg. Oddly, she felt a sense of calm. Slowly, Meg walked toward it. "Come to me," it said. "Let me show you all that the forest has to offer. Wampang will help." A giant blue butterfly appeared at her shoulder and whispered in her ear. "Wait," Meg said as it flew away. "What were you saying? I almost understood." "It is Niawa the jaguar," a human voice said and Meg started. "Wampang was trying to tell you that you should be careful with jaguars. They rule the forest." Meg O'Connell, a single mom with a rebellious teenage daughter, is suddenly snatched from her comfortable suburban life, drawn to the Peruvian Amazon by a quest she could never have imagined, the search for her sister's head. In a rattling peque-peque, chugging up a muddy river, Meg will find the only person who can possibly help her, an anguished gun toting Jesuit priest who barely clings to the basic tenets of the Catholic faith. Together, they will discover much more than either had ever intended.

History of head shrinking as practiced by the Jivaro or Shuar Indians of Ecuador and Peru. Explains the process and cultural reasons behind it.

"This ethnography is one of the classics in the field of South America. The Jivaro (Shuar) represent one of the most important and politically well-organized groups of South American Indians, and Harner's work, reissued here, will become the major introduction in English to these people for future students."--Brent Berlin, UC Berkeley "Harner, who bases his account upon extensive anthropological field work among the Jivaro, has written one of those rare books which appeal to both scholars and laymen. HIs book provides a solid overview of these freedom-loving people in a concise, readable form. Highly recommended. . . . "--G. Edward Evans, Library Journal "This thoroughly interesting book is based on fourteen months of field work among the Jivaro Indians of Eastern Ecuador. . . . Although the Jivaro have long been regarded as unique and even bizarre, being the most warlike people in the Americas, the author has succeeded in communicating an understanding of them as human beings with basic needs and responses like our own."--Gertrude E. Dole, Natural History

"Publications of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia": v. 53, 1901, p. 788-794.