THE MAQUIRITARES’ LAND AND THE UPPER ORINOCO
San Fernando, on the Atabapo, consists of about fifty adobe huts of the
usual type, and at the time of our arrival was all but deserted. Almost
the entire population had gone up-river to the scattered rubber-camps,
as this was the season for collecting the valuable latex.
The town is situated on the Atabapo, where this river and the Guaviare
unite, and its elevation above sea-level is three hundred and seventy
feet. The mean temperature is about 80° F., although in the sun the
mercury ascends to 112° F. or more, but the place is not particularly
unhealthful.
The water of the Guaviare is muddy, while that of the Atabapo is of
a clear red color and unfit for drinking. There are few fish, no
crocodiles or sand-flies, and practically no mosquitoes, all of which
is attributed to the discolored water. Two small springs near the
town furnish an abundant supply of potable water, and when during the
rainy season these are covered with the overflow from the river it is
necessary to paddle across and fill the water-jars from the Guaviare.
To secure a crew of men for our trip up the river was a difficult
undertaking and required a great deal of time. This gave us an
opportunity of exploring the surrounding country.
In the immediate vicinity of San Fernando the forest has been cut down
and tall second-growth sprouts form dense thickets; this is a favorite
resort of many small birds, and several species of night-hawks make
it a daytime rendezvous. The basic granite crops out in many places,
the strata occasionally standing on end, and it is often streaked
with narrow seams of quartz. There is no cultivation of any kind;
the inhabitants lack all initiative for work and eat tinned foods and
mandioc received in exchange for trinkets from the Indians.
When we returned a few months later a changed town confronted us. The
rubber-collectors had returned from their several months isolation in
the interior, and were spending the fruits of their labor as rapidly as
possible. Dance-halls, gaming-dens, and almost every conceivable device
for relieving men of their money had sprung up like mushrooms, and
there was drinking and merrymaking day and night. Then suddenly, and
without presage, a tragedy occurred; it will never be forgotten by the
few who survived.
Governor Pulido, so it was rumored, had imposed a new tax on all
rubber collected in the district, and had come to San Fernando to
personally collect the extortion. Naturally, there was a good deal
of dissatisfaction, and one night, just after we had been provided
with a canoe and secretly advised to leave as soon as possible, the
storm broke. A band of men, said to be under the leadership of one
Colonel Funes, an Indian and the most notorious man in the district,
attacked the town, killed the governor, and practically the entire male
population, and rifled the shops and dwellings. If one may believe the
tales of the few who escaped the brutalities committed that night, the
deeds rival those of the most barbaric ages.
Perhaps some of those who perished deserved their fate, others
assuredly did not; but it is a fact that government offices had been
conducted abominably. In the post-office, for example, stamps were sold
for twice their face value, and if one did not purchase them there and
place them on the letters in full view of the postmaster, the mail was
destroyed. A physician who chanced to be there, named La Page, and
who apparently belonged to the military organization as he wore the
regulation uniform, tried to collect over four hundred dollars gold for
a few injections of quinine; and so the robbery went on until the whole
band was exterminated.
Having engaged a captain with some experience on the Upper Orinoco, and
a crew, we on February 3 loaded the low _batelão_ and started on our
mission, reaching a point called _Puerto Ti Ti_ that night; from this
spot a wide trail leads through the magnificent forest to the clearing
wherein stands San Fernando.
For six days we made slow but steady progress up the river, and then
entered the formidable _Raudal de Santa Barbara_, which extends across
the entire delta of the Ventuari.
The Orinoco is wide but with few exceptions so shallow that we pushed
along with long poles. Where the water was deep and the current swift,
long-handled hooks were used to catch the overhanging vegetation
and pull the boat along. This latter mode of travel was always slow
and dangerous and the swarms of wasps and other insects living
among the leaves, and shaken down, were far from being agreeable
travelling companions. The banks were covered with dense, virgin
forest; but there were extensive sand-banks and flat ledges of rock at
convenient intervals, and one of these was always chosen for a night’s
camping-site. If we chanced to be on a _playa_, the early hours of
the evening were spent in fishing. Armed with _machetes_, a bag, and
acetylene-lamps, we waded out in the shallow water and “shined” the
shoals of fish much in the manner that frogs are caught in parts of
this country. At night the fish swam near the surface, and by directing
the rays of the strong white light upon them one could approach to
within a short distance and then strike with the knife: in this manner
large numbers were taken. Occasionally a stingray, electric eel, or
crocodile was suddenly encountered and then there ensued a hurried
scramble in the other direction; this gave the pastime a decided
element of sport. We also became more familiar with the dreaded
_caribe_ or cannibal fish, known as the _piranha_ in Brazil, with which
the water teemed. In the Orinoco they attain a weight exceeding three
pounds and are formidable indeed. The natives will not go in bathing
except in very shallow water, and I know of two instances where men
were attacked and severely bitten before they could escape. The fish
somewhat resembles a bass in shape, although the mouth is smaller; the
jaws are armed with triangular, razor-edged teeth; and as they travel
in immense shoals they are capable of easily devouring a man or large
animal if caught in deep water. Floundering or splashing in the water
attracts them, but they seldom attack unless their appetite has been
whetted by a taste of blood; and then woe to the unfortunate creature
which falls into their power. To catch them, we used a large hook
secured to a long wire leader and baited with any kind of raw meat, and
they always put up a good fight. Without a wire, a line would be bitten
in two every time a fish struck. When taken from the water they are
first killed by a blow on the head with the _machete_, and then removed
from the hook.
At night there was always a heavy dew, and it rained intermittently
each day. On dark nights, and often after a shower, the banks of the
river where there was forest glowed with twinkling phosphorescence.
Examination showed that the decaying vegetation was filled with
myriads of small, wriggling insects, greatly resembling our well-known
cellar-bug (_Isopod_), and one day we paddled for many hours through
a mass of flying ants which had come to grief in the river. The water
was covered with them and the waves had tossed them up on the banks to
a depth of several inches. Another thing that attracted our attention
was the large number of bats. On one occasion we heard a dull rumbling
among the granite ledges near camp, and not long after a stream of
bats began to emerge from the cracks; from a distance they resembled
a cloud of smoke. There must have been many thousands, for the black
masses continued to rise until darkness obscured them from our view.
Spruce records that on one occasion he saw not less than a million
under similar circumstances. This brings up an interesting problem.
The individual range of these bats is probably not very great, the
result of which is that immense numbers of them are distributed over
a comparatively small area. Now, if the struggle for existence is as
keen as is often supposed, how can the female, encumbered with her
offspring fully three-fourths as large as herself, compete successfully
with the unhampered males, and secure enough food not only for herself
but also for her young? The fruit-eating varieties might not suffer
seriously from this handicap, but it does seem as if the agility of the
insectivorous kinds catching their food on the wing would be greatly
affected.
There are numbers of curious formations along the river which cannot
fail to attract the interest of the traveller, no matter what his
particular mission might be. One of these is the Cerro Yapacana, a
square block of granite not over one thousand five hundred feet high;
it is a very conspicuous landmark as it towers above the forest like
a giant monument, and can be seen many miles away. We did not come
abreast of it until eight days after first sighting it.
There are few rubber-camps along this part of the river, but several
Indian families had come to spend some weeks collecting turtles
and eggs on the sand-banks. At night absolute quiet reigned on the
_playas_ so long as the moon shone; but no sooner had the brilliant orb
disappeared below the horizon than the water was broken with ripples
as numbers of turtles emerged to deposit their eggs in the loose, warm
sand, and jaguars came from the dark forest to feast on the defenseless
creatures and rend the still night air with ugly coughs and grunts.
In returning from fishing excursions we usually cut across the several
miles of sandy waste toward camp, guided by the bright fire which the
cook was required to keep burning, and in this way learned a good deal
about the turtle’s habits. After leaving the water the creature wends
its way toward the highest point on the island or _playa_, and with a
few powerful strokes of the flippers excavates a deep hole; the eggs,
twenty to a hundred in number, are then deposited, after which the sand
is scooped back into place and patted down so carefully that it takes a
very experienced eye to locate the spot. The turtle then hurries back
to the water, where it apparently remains until the following year.
When the eggs, warmed by the sun’s rays, finally hatch, the _playas_
swarm with small turtles which are eagerly collected by the natives,
boiled entire and eaten. The egg contains a great deal of oil, and
although cooked a long time always remains soft. Iguana eggs are taken,
also, and boiled and eaten, even when about to hatch.
Besides the turtles there were many other signs of life on the
sand-banks. Water-birds, squatting low in some cup-shaped hollow,
looked stupidly at the dazzling light of the gas-lamps, and could be
approached to within a few feet; downy young birds waited quietly until
nearly touched with the hand and then ran away into the darkness, like
puffballs rolling before a breeze.
The _Raudal de Santa Barbara_ is a wicked stretch of water. The
Ventuari, coming from the neighborhood of the Brazilian border, forms
an extensive delta near its mouth. There are many islands, some of
great size, and all heavily forested. The Orinoco is very wide, and
hundreds of sharp, tall rocks protrude above the water, causing a
series of rapids which are hard to ascend. It took us three days of
the most trying kind of work to traverse this stretch of agitated
water, and finally to haul the boat up the falls, which come as a
sort of climax at the end. A strong wind blows from the north almost
constantly, whipping the water into a choppy sea. On the bank stands
a good-sized rubber-camp, and extra hands can usually be secured to
help pull the boat through the rapids. The men from this place had
just returned from a hunt in the forest, bringing two jaguars and an
armadillo weighing sixty-five pounds. One of the jaguars was black.
All of these animals were eaten, and of the two species the flesh of
the jaguars was the better. One night, not long after, one of these
animals invaded our camp. As the sand-bank we had selected was a narrow
one, the crew chose to sleep on the forest side; they greatly feared
the crocodiles in the river. Early in the morning I was awakened by a
jaguar’s roaring mingled with frightened wails, and upon investigation
discovered that the men had come to our part of the camp near the
water, leaving the captain’s wife in their former location. They had
reasoned that she was the least useful member of the party and had
compelled her to remain as “bait.” Maria was sent back to San Fernando
in the next canoe we met bound down the river.
The abundance of the big, spotted cats and their harmlessness under
ordinary circumstances is astonishing, although at times they will
attack human beings. At one of the rubber-camps we were shown the skin
of a recently killed animal which had stalked a two-year-old child at
play not far from the hut; the mother, a negress, seeing the animal in
time, attacked it with a _machete_ and killed it.
The next river of any importance to be encountered was the Rio Lao,
reached February 17. Up to this time the strong north wind had
continued to blow without interruption, and the course of the river
was dotted with islands. Rubber-camps were situated on the river-bank,
and we had our first glimpses of the Maquiritare Indians. Owing to
the frequent rains, the year had been a bad one for the _patrones_,
or managers of the camps; also, a kind of malady had broken out among
the _peons_ and Indians which killed many and frightened others away.
Nevertheless, those who remained seemed quite contented, and if we
chanced to spend the night at a camp or _barraca_, our men always
joined them in their pastime of drinking, playing the guitar, and
singing songs about one another, far into the night. Some of the men
were clever at improvising songs apropos of the occasion. At one place,
for instance, they heard of the jaguar’s visit to the sand-bank, and
that the captain’s wife had been sent back to San Fernando. Without
hesitation one of the peons sang:
_Qué tristeza en nuestro campamento,
Pobrecito Ildefonso está llorando,
A caramba, nadie está alegre,
Será porqué Maria fué á San Fernando._
The largest _barraca_ by far which we saw was owned by an old Turk
named Parraquete. He received us cordially, shook our hands, and
embraced us, apologetically explaining that a slight fever prevented
his rising from the hammock; later we found out that he was a leper
in the last stages of the disease. He had fifteen Maquiritares in
his employ, each of whom collected the latex from several hundred
rubber-trees every morning; in the afternoon the milk was smoked, one
hundred pounds of the liquid yielding about forty or fifty pounds of
crude rubber. A species of heavy, deep-red wood called _mazarandul_
was used to produce the dense smoke necessary to coagulate the latex.
_Hevea_ only was gathered here, although _balata_ was also collected
farther down the river and on the Guaviare. The governor of the
district told me that about fifteen million trees of the _balata_ had
been cut down along the latter river during the last ten years, as the
method used to secure this class of rubber necessitates felling the
trees.
The proprietors of rubber-camps use the same system of keeping their
employees that the commission merchants in Ciudad Bolivar, who are the
purchasers of the crude product, employ in dealing with themselves;
namely, they keep them constantly in debt by advancing quantities of
merchandise at exorbitant prices. It is not unusual for one _patrón_ to
sell some of his men to another for the amount of their indebtedness,
or more, if he can get it, and sometimes an unsatisfactory _peon_ is
turned loose in the wilderness to shift for himself; we picked up one
who had been abandoned on a sand-bank, in a half-starved condition.
The Cerro Carriche is another granite mass similar to Yapacana, but
not quite so high. It stands on the south bank of the river, between
the mouths of two small rivers called Carriche and Trocoapure.
Early on February 21 we had the first distinct view of the Cerro Duida,
looming, faintly outlined, in the distance. From afar it resembled a
high, level plain, but as the vapor clinging to the huge, dark mass
slowly dissolved itself, a well-defined short range appeared with twin
peaks showing high above the rest of the mountains.
The Orinoco steadily decreases in width until the distance across
is not more than half a mile; in many places the banks are high and
composed of pink and white clay streaked with layers of dark-blue clay.
On both sides the jungle presents an unbroken wall of tangled verdure;
occasionally a slender palm rears its delicate head high above the
riotous mass, as if gasping for one more breath of air before being
strangled by the figs and creepers slowly entwining its stem with
their death-dealing tentacles. Among the lower growth are vast areas
of palms, known as _coco del mono_, with long fronds resembling those
of the _Seaforthia_, and bearing small, hard nuts; the leaves are used
in thatching huts and the _carroza_ or covering of the boats. Another
palm, tall and thorny, resembles the well-known _chonta_ of Colombia;
it bears large clusters of red nuts, which are very palatable when
thoroughly boiled.
The heat was always intense and most oppressive; even the cool nights
brought no respite, and in the early morning a thick vapor slowly rose
from the water, to be later wafted above the tree-tops and disappear.
Flocks of hoatzins, or lizard-birds (_Opisthocomus cristatus_),
were seen almost daily. They fussed and fluttered among the dense
vegetation, but could not be induced to leave their dark retreat. There
were also nesting-trees of the black and yellow orioles, better known
as caciques, which are about the size of a blue jay; sometimes a single
tree contained thirty or more nests placed close together, and also
invariably a number of large wasp-nests were placed in the same
tree. The nests of these birds differed from those of the giant orioles
(_Ostinops_) in being smaller and having the opening at the top instead
of at the side of the swinging bag.
[Illustration: A rubber-camp on the Upper Orinoco.]
At the end of the twentieth day we reached the mouth of the Cunucunuma,
and camped upon its sandy banks for the night. This river is
approximately five hundred feet wide at its mouth, shallow, with dark,
clear water, and flows southward, joining the Orinoco at right angles,
as the course of the latter river at this point is eastward; a low,
forested hill called _Ventana_ rises to the north. One may cover the
distance from the mouth of the Cunucunuma to the Cassiquiare in a day,
and reach the plains on which was located Esmeraldas by continuing his
journey an additional day.
Not far above the mouth of the river is the dry bed of a stream, said
to have been the former course of the Cunucunuma; short, soft grass
now covers the ancient, sandy route and the lines of trees on each
side present such clean-cut edges as to suggest well-kept hedgerows.
Tapirs and capybaras have worn many paths through the luxuriant sward;
apparently these animals come out into the open at night to feed.
The current of the river is so strong that we could not average more
than four or five miles a day. Through the clear water we could see
shoals of fish and numbers of large sting-rays darting about over the
bottom. One fish, resembling a beautifully spotted trout, rose eagerly
to a trailing hook baited with a strip of white cloth; it weighed
about a pound, and was called _pabón_ by the natives; on two occasions
members of this species leaped clear of the water and into the boat
as we poled along after nightfall. Another kind greatly resembled a
flying-fish, and leaving the water singly or in pairs, skimmed over the
surface for a distance of twenty yards or more, and then dropped with
a splash; when “flying” it left a train of ripples in its wake, as if
long appendages were trailing after it.
There now followed a series of low, disconnected mountains which might
be called the foot-hills of Duida. The first of these is the Cerro
Piapoco, one thousand three hundred feet high; parts of it are covered
with low scrub growth, and the river winds around three sides of it.
Next comes the Cerro Tapicure, a rounded granite mass approximately
one thousand four hundred feet high. At the base of the latter is a
Maquiritare plantation of _yucas_ (Manihot), pineapples, and plantains,
on the edge of which stood the communal house, conical in shape and one
hundred feet in diameter. The place was temporarily deserted, as the
Indians were down-river gathering the rubber harvest. Near by also grew
a palm new to us, the _Tamiche_; it is thirty feet high, with erect,
undivided leaves, and the crown resembles a huge, green, opening tulip.
While tramping in the forest across the river from the Indian
plantation we came suddenly upon a Maquiritare woman and her four small
children, squatting around a small fire built under a rough lean-to.
She was roasting a curassow and tearing off pieces for her young brood,
which was devouring them with the voracity of wolves. The frightened
glances of these wild people and their gnawing at the half-cooked
flesh was quite in keeping with their surroundings, and stamped them
immediately as a perfect part of the virgin wilderness.
Rapids are not wanting in the Cunucunuma. The first is the _Raudal del
Muerto_, formed by a wide ledge of rock which extends across the river,
and over which the water rushes with a deafening roar. Next comes the
_Raudal del Sina_, which is longer but not so difficult to navigate.
Just above this we entered the Sina, a small stream which comes from
the direction of Duida, and ascended to its highest navigable point;
this, however, was only a few miles above its mouth.
[Illustration: Unloading for the portage, Raudal del Muerto.]
[Illustration: The Cerro Duida.]
The Cunucunuma, it may be stated, rises in the vicinity of the
little-known Cerro Cuachamacari, and may be ascended to the foot of
the Cerro Maravaca. On most maps its course has been marked east
of Duida, while in reality it is on the western side. Its tributaries
from the east are the Tabarí, Sina, Cua, and Rio Negro; and from the
west the Yacaré and Cumichi. There are numerous rapids. Besides the two
mentioned, the Indians named the San Ramón, Rayao, Chacherito, Vaquiro,
Mapaco, Chipirima, Picure, and Culebra, all of which must be passed
before reaching Maravaca.
When rocks and low water barred a farther ascent we made camp on the
high bank and began the arduous work of cutting a trail to Duida,
about six miles distant. We had secured the services of a number of
Maquiritares; two men, two women, and a boy, and these, together with
the members of our crew, were immediately put to work on the trail.
While this was in progress we devoted ourselves to the exploration of
the forest and its inhabitants.
Apparently the Indians, who in common with many South American tribes
seek the smaller streams for their habitations, and who live in small
groups all along the Cunucunuma, rarely visited this locality. Game
was so abundant and so tame that it was impossible that the animals
had been persecuted to any considerable extent. We also visited the
house of the chief of the tribe, named Antonio Yaracuma, whose _cunuco_
(clearing) was on the Cunucunuma, a few miles above the mouth of the
Sina (Sina is a Maquiritare word meaning wolf). This place he chose
to call Yacaré. Surrounding the great, conical house was a small
patch of _yucas_ and pineapple-plants, walled in on all sides by the
interminable forest. The edge of the roof came down to within five feet
of the ground, and there were eight fireplaces, equal distances apart,
showing that eight families occupied the dwelling. A perfect network of
poles and beams supported the ragged grass and palm-leaf canopy, and
from these various articles were suspended: Drums, made of sections
of hollow tree-trunks and covered with the skin of a red howling
monkey on one side and of a peccary on the other; long tubular baskets
of wickerwork used to express the poisonous juice of the _yuca_
root in making _mandioca_; blow-guns ten feet long, hammocks, and
fishing-tackle. Everything was immaculately clean and well arranged. On
one side two small rooms had been built of adobe, one for the chief,
and the other for storing baskets of _mandioca_, each of which held
about a hundred pounds.
A walk around the edge of the clearing disclosed an obscure trail which
zigzagged and wound through the forest about a mile and then opened
into an immense plantation, which we estimated contained not less than
a hundred acres. The trees had been cut down and burned, and _yucas_
neatly planted in hills stretched to the very edge of the clearing.
Through the centre ran lanes of plantain and banana plants, bordered by
rows of pineapples, sugar-cane, and cashews. The ground was carefully
cultivated, and there were no weeds; the stalks of uprooted plants had
been piled around the edge of the field forming a thick fence. The
reason for maintaining such large plantations is that the women make
a good deal of _mandioca_ to sell to the traders for cloth, matches,
perfume, and trinkets. The men clear the ground; the women plant and
care for the crops. From the juice of the _yuca_ a very intoxicating
drink called _casire_ is made, and of this great quantities are
consumed during the wild orgies which take place at frequent intervals.
Boiling and fermentation destroy the poisonous effect of the fresh
juice.
We found the forest around camp to be all but impenetrable on account
of the underbrush and creepers. Also, there were a number of windfalls
where cyclones had cut wide, clean swaths through the forest, leaving
an upheaved barrier that could not be crossed without the liberal
use of axe and _machete_. Small birds were abundant and travelled in
mixed flocks. Of the larger birds there was an unfailing supply; guans
and curassows strutted unconcernedly about, or flew into the lower
branches of the trees to look at us with surprise or resentment; large
tinamou ran about in pairs like chickens and were slow to take wing.
Occasionally we ran into a flock of trumpeters (_Psophia_), which
stared at us in curiosity for a few moments and then flew into a tree,
and raised an unearthly din, cackling and screaming until dispersed by
a few shots.
The Indians told a curious story about a trumpeter and a curassow.
In the very beginning of things two of these birds decided upon a
matrimonial alliance, but domestic troubles soon broke out and there
was no possibility of a reconciliation; it was thereupon decided to
lay the case before the gods who live on the summit of Mount Duida.
The wise gods ordered them to fight it out; in the course of the
combat that followed, the curassow pushed the trumpeter into the fire,
burning off the feathers of the latter’s tail; the trumpeter promptly
retaliated by pushing her mate into the fire, singeing his crest.
Thereupon the gods decreed that they should remain in this humiliating
plight for the rest of their days, and so even to this day the curassow
wears a curled crest and the trumpeter has a very short tail.
No matter how far we chanced to go during the morning’s hunt it was
always easy to determine the exact location of our camp. A colony of
caciques had built their nests in the top of a tree near the tent, and
quarrelled and chirped so noisily all day long that we could not get
out of hearing of them.
After the trail had been completed for a distance of several miles,
hunting was rendered much easier. It was a delight to wander
noiselessly along the clean path and watch the wild things pursuing
their daily activities. Tapirs moved quietly across the narrow lane,
like shadows; but if disturbed crashed through the brush and thundered
away like frightened horses. Large red squirrels frisked in the trees
or fed in the nut-bearing palms. Monkeys were always about; there were
red howlers, cebus, and small black woolly monkeys with gold-colored
hands; the latter travelled in small troops and raced through the
tree-tops at great speed, making long jumps from branch to branch; at
frequent intervals during the morning and evening they raised their
voices in shrill little cries of distress, resembling a series of
quickly repeated ohs.
The river was teeming with fish. At night, after their work had been
completed, the Indians, who camped on the water’s edge, threw in their
lines and never failed to catch a goodly supply. While in our presence
the men always wore blue cotton trousers and the women loose dresses of
the same color, but when alone they threw aside all clothing.
Occasionally a light canoe containing women and children passed our
camping-site, but they always remained as near as possible to the
opposite bank and paid no attention to us whatever if we chanced to
call to them; in fact, they could not even be induced to look in our
direction.
The nights were always sultry and it rained frequently. If the weather
permitted, a huge fire was built; into this a steady stream of
fireflies or click-beetles winged their way to destruction. Late one
night we heard a queer pattering on the top of the tent-fly; back and
forth scurried the little feet, and up and down the sloping roof. Our
acetylene-lamps revealed a family of opossums which had discovered an
ideal playground. Often, too, we heard cautious footsteps near by, and
the suddenly flashed light disclosed the glowing eyes of a deer, tapir,
or jaguar, which gazed stupidly a moment into the dazzling brilliance
and then darted away.
On account of the dampness mould formed so rapidly that cameras and all
leather goods had to be cleaned daily, and there was great difficulty
in drying specimens.
We had frequent views of Duida. Each morning at about ten the mist
drifted from the summit and revealed the jagged, rocky peaks; our
calculations placed the altitude of the mountain at approximately five
thousand five hundred feet. Toward the Orinoco the mass presents a
bold front, the sheer walls of granite rising to a height of several
thousand feet. The western slope is gradual and any attempt to ascend
the mountain should be made from that side.
Cutting the trail required more time than we had anticipated. It was
our intention to remove the equipment to the very base of Duida,
and this was impossible until a suitable way had been prepared. The
intervening country is rolling and the hollows are filled with a
network of deep, water-filled canyons; across these trees had to be
felled to provide a means of crossing. Also, neither the Maquiritares
or the Venezuelans proved to be very industrious, and were about as
poor a class of assistants as can be found. However, work progressed
steadily, and there came the day when the last bridge had been placed
across the winding river, and we were able to proceed to the foot of
Duida.
Near the mountain the forest assumes a different aspect. Instead of
the tall trees there are vast groves of palms which form such a dense
canopy that the sunlight never penetrates to the ground; for this
reason there is no undergrowth, but the earth is covered with a soft
carpet of dry leaves. Some of the plants attain such giant proportions,
with fronds thirty or forty feet long and fifteen feet wide, they form
great tent-like shelters.
As we neared the mountain the Indians became restive and finally
refused to go any farther. They firmly believe that it is the abode of
spirits who will be quick to resent any intrusion into their sacred
precincts. Besides, the rainy season was fast approaching, and at night
blinding flashes of lightning played among the crags, and the dull boom
of distant thunder pierced the sultry blackness. Wind swept through the
forest in fitful blasts, and it rained frequently. Sometimes the blasts
attained the velocity of a cyclone and sent tall trees crashing down on
all sides. The Indians could endure the strain no longer, so one night
they quietly disappeared, taking the boat with them. At first this loss
seemed anything but pleasant, but a raft was soon constructed, and two
of the men were sent down to the nearest rubber-camp on the Orinoco
for another craft. We never saw our Indians again, but one afternoon
two men of the tribe visited our camp. They emerged silently from the
forest, having concealed their canoe somewhere above or below, laden
with baskets of plantains, sweet potatoes, and bananas, and several
cakes of cassava bread, also a large, freshly killed curassow--enough
provisions to keep two men a week. I thought they wanted to stop with
us for the night, and showed them the fireplace. They paid no heed
to my implied invitation, but dropped their burdens at our feet,
reluctantly accepted a few fish-hooks which were offered to them, and
then departed as mysteriously as they had come. Perhaps they had been
sent by our erstwhile companions, who may have been conscientious
enough to make some reparation for the theft of the canoe.
The rainy season advanced with such rapid strides that further work was
impossible. Vapor hung over the forest like a pall for days at a time,
and the river, rising with each passing hour, was quickly inundating
the lowlands. The sight of the new canoe coming up the river was
therefore a welcome one, and it did not require many days to pack our
collections and outfit, stow them aboard, and steer a course downward
with the rapid current. It required only nine days to reach San
Fernando de Atabapo.
The results of the expedition are surprising and interesting. Duida is
not the isolated “mountain island” it was commonly supposed to be, but
is connected with the mountains of the Ventuari and Parima by a series
of hills, some of which reach a height of over a thousand feet. Its
elevation is comparatively low, being less than that of the Maravaca.
To attempt its ascent from the Orinoco side seems hopeless on account
of the frowning precipices facing the plains near Esmeraldas. The
proper placing of the Cunucunuma and an elaboration of the map of the
region are other results.
It should be remembered that the dry season is much shorter on the
Upper Orinoco than on the lower river, and work must be pushed with
the utmost speed. The tributaries of the Orinoco, as well as the
main river, leave their banks soon after the beginning of the steady
downpours, and the whole country is flooded many miles inland; in
places the river is then one hundred and twenty miles wide; all the
rubber-camps we had seen on the upward trip were totally deserted when
we passed them going down, and of some of the huts the roofs only
showed above the water; others had vanished with the yellow flood.
The collections of birds and mammals were large and interesting; they
yielded a number of species and one genus new to science.
And finally, a word about assistants; under no circumstances should
Venezuelans or Indians be depended upon. It is possible to secure
experienced river-men in Trinidad, and with proper treatment they make
faithful and efficient companions.