John Allen Chau, 26, was shot dead when he arrived on North Sentinel Island, home to the endangered and territorial Sentinelese tribe last week. But on the day before his death, Mr Chau wrote about his disastrous meeting with the tribe on November 15 after he went ashore in his kayak to visit the area, among India’s Andaman and Nicobar islands. During his initial encounter, Mr Chau wrote how he was “just inches” away from the tribes people and offered them gifts such as a football and fish in his journal.
But the tribesman got angry and shot him, hitting the Bible he was carrying before he was able to flee to safety.
Mr Chau, 27, was illegally ferried to the islands by fishermen after he told them he wanted to preach Christianity there, local media have said.
The American missionary revealed he told them: “My name is John. I love you and Jesus loves you… Here is some fish!”
But he said he was shot by a “little kid” which hit the Bible he was holding.
He penned: “’Well, I’ve been shot by the Sentinelese… By a kid probably about 10 or so years old, maybe a teenager, short compared to those who looked like adults.
“A little kid shot me with an arrow – directly into my Bible which I was holding. I grabbed the arrow shaft as it broke in my Bible and felt the arrow head.
“It was metal, thin and very sharp.
“If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though.”
But reluctant to give up, Mr Chau picked up his gifts and threw them to the tribe shooting at him before making his escape in a fisherman’s boat.
He wrote: “Two armed Sentinelese came rushing out yelling. They had two arrows each, unstrung, until they got closer.
“I regret I began to panic slightly as I saw them string arrows in their bows. I picked up the fish and threw it toward them. They kept coming.”
Mr Chau’s near death experience made him reluctant to return to the island on the Indian Ocean, but he later changed his mind.
The journal entry shows how Mr Chau was determined to make contact with the tribesman despite understanding they were determined to kill him.
He wrote: “I don’t want to die! Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue? No. I don’t think so.
“I still could make it back to the US somehow as it almost seems like certain death to stay here.
“God, I don’t want to die. WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO? OH GOD I miss my parents…
“Why did a little kid have to shoot me today?.. Father, forgive him and any of the people on this island who try to kill me…”
Just a day later, Mr Chau was killed after setting out to the island for one last time.
A source said: “He tried to reach the Sentinel island on November 14 but could not make it. Two days later he went well prepared. He left the dinghy midway and took a canoe all by himself to the island.
“He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body.”
The grieving family of Mr Chau have since released a tribute on Instagram.
They paid tribute to Mr Chau who “loved God, life, helping those in need, and had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people”.
The statement said how Mr Chau visited the island on “his own free will”, adding: “He ventured out of his own free will and his local contacts need not be persecuted for his own actions.”
As any contact with the isolated tribe is forbidden, Mr Chau’s killers can not be prosecuted.
The tribe, a community of dangerous hunter-gatherers, has a protected status meaning they cannot be contacted by the outside world.