Some 45,000 years ago this race visited Earth for the first time, their vessel having taken two of their generations to cross the galaxy. The aliens found a group of primitive nomadic hunters that impressed them with their respect for life and the planet. The aliens gave these nomads a genetic inheritance intended to help them thrive and protect the Earth. The altered humans, referred to as the Inheritors, would later spread to other parts of the planet only to eventually face near extinction at the hands of others. Subsequent visits to Earth by this race led the aliens to believe that all of the Inheritors had been destroyed. The tribe of Starfleet Commander Chakotay were descendents of the Inheritors, whom they referred to as the Rubber Tree People. According to Chakotay's tribe, the Rubber Tree People had been created by the Sky Spirits and led to a sacred land where they would live for eternity. The Sky Spirits were also known to have honored the land above all else. In 2372 USS Voyager discovered this race's home planet while searching for polyferranide deposits. During this encounter the aliens were initially fearful of Voyager because they believed that its human crew would destroy them much as the Inheritors had been destroyed. The aliens used massive cloaking devices to shield their population from Voyager's sensors. It wasn't until Chakotay, stranded on the planet and unable to return to his ship, communicated with the aliens that Voyager's peaceful intentions were revealed and the origins of Chakotay's tribe revealed. Because of their respect for the soil of their planet, the aliens only allowed Voyager to mine a small amount of polyferranide.