Among the Savage Redskins of the Amazon by Harold Wildish (1961)

Posted on 2022-12-21 by thelittleman
Get it in paperback (paid link)

And the award for the most offensive book title goes to…

Harold Wildish felt called to the ministry in 1922 (nearly a century before wokeness, mind you), leaving behind his passions for both cricket and football (the un-American kind). The Lord called him to South America where he would eventually make his way up the Amazon River until he met and lived with the Tubi tribe, learning their language and sharing with them the love of “the Great Spirit” and His Son Jesus.

When I found this book years ago on a church library shelf, I was in a missionary-biography phase. I’m sort of in that phase again, and this book is such a quick read, I thought I’d give it a shot (despite its title). I found it to be almost too quick, for it lacks many of the details one would hope to find regarding the spiritual growth of the missionary, not merely the various scrapes he endured for the sake of the Gospel. This book was lacking both in depth and spiritual lessons, and I get the impression that Wildish published it at the urging of friends who had been often gripped by his tales of life in Amazonia.

As far as I can tell, Wildish spent several years among the Tupi people during the 1920s or ’30s, which was about two decades before the Saints, Elliots and others ventured in to reach the Aucas. Published in 1961, this book may have been a response to the wave of hope that washed the nations following the famous martyrdom of those men in the Amazon. By Wildish’s count, sixteen missionaries had thus far been killed in the jungles, Wildish’s own life being spared only through miracles and prayer.

There were several standout comments and scenes in this book, though not enough to make it a “must read.” When aboard the ship heading to South America, for example, he met a sophisticated West Indian preacher who observed how “black and white” is such an inaccurate description of skin color. “Put my old black bowler against my skin,” he said, “I’m not black, I’m chocolate. Put your white shirts against your faces, you are cream, not white. So why not say chocolate and cream? Sounds much better!” (15) The man’s got a point!

Wildish also makes a few cultural observations of the Tupi tribe, the most enlightening was that of the old tribal women hauling logs from the forest while the young warriors sat and watched. Wildish was at first astonished and offended by this behavior, but soon learned that these women made such effort in order to spare their own lives, for when it came time to move camp, only the physically fit could join in the move while the weak were left behind either to fend for themselves or to starve. Of course, this was a cultural quirk that the Gospel might one day change, but had Wildish jumped the gun and forced the young to treat the aged women with gentleness and respect, he might have inadvertently caused their abandonment and deaths (26).

I also enjoyed how Wildish related the villagers’ fascination with his ability to “see God’s voice” in the black leather thing he carried around (a Bible) to his own fascination with their ability to read nature in a way he never could. “My eyes could not read [the message of a passing bird],” he writes. “Yes, the Redman could read God’s Book of Nature, but so far had no eyes or ears for the revealed Word of God.” (28)

Wildish also makes two observations about missionary work that I found insightful. First, he writes this about one’s willingness to suffer for the Savior:

When fighting for their country, soldiers die in battle. That is an accepted fact all the world over. So must the men of God who fight those soul-winning battles on the fields of heathendom and evil be ready, if necessary, to die for Christ. (55)

Second, he quotes an aged missionary not long for this world who tells him:

“I still cherish my old belief that the Lord does not intend you to be a missionary in any particular locality, but to be an Evangelist, to go at His bidding with His Glad Tidings from place to place.” (63)

As a record of one missionary’s experiences along the banks of the Amazon in the early 20th century, this book is a nice piece of history. As a book that inspires the reader towards prayer and action, it’s a bit lacking. If you’re big into reading anything you can get your hands on, go for it, but there are much better missionary histories out there than this. Try for example Elizabeth Elliot’s Through Gates of Splendor or the biography of Chinese missionary James O. Fraser, Mountain Rain.

©2022 E.T.

Read More Great Missionary Stories:

This entry was posted in Nonfiction - Christian and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

What do you think?