I get the urth list in a daily digest so I'll quote what I'm replying to. the quotes may be a bit out. " Jeff Wilson wrote:
2 quoted lines
Marc Aramini wrote:
if the jungle hut proselytes with isangoma are any indication then christ existed in urth's past. Also, that picture of Buzz Aldron and the old airless moon indicates at least some of our history is urth history. Christ would be an odd elision.
IIRC we established that there is no picture of the original moon landing that matches the composition described. It's either a mistake on Wolfe's part, a painting (perhaps by Michael Collins or Alan Bean) rather than a photograph, or a hint that Urth and Earth have divergent histories. " I don't know about you lot, but the word "Isangoma" is a totally everyday word to me that means shaman/witch doctor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangoma). It's not a Wolfe word, it's a real life word from now. Wolfe must have intended this scene to be in our past (early/mid 1900s, if I recall the air/aeroplane correctly). I think Isangoma is too specific to not mean what I think it means.
Duncan