FLORESTA: LIFE AMONG THE RUBBER-WORKERS
It was half past five in the morning when we arrived at the landing
of the Floresta estate. Since it was too early to go up to the
house I placed my trunk on the bank and sat admiring the surrounding
landscape, partly enveloped in the mist that always hangs over these
damp forests until sunrise. The sun was just beginning to colour the
eastern sky with faint warm tints. Before me was the placid surface of
the Itecoahy, which seemed as though nothing but my Indian's paddles
had disturbed it for a century. Just here the river made a wide turn
and on the sand-bar that was formed a few large freshwater turtles
could be seen moving slowly around. The banks were high and steep,
and it appeared incredible that the flood could rise so high that
it would inundate the surrounding country and stand ten or twelve
feet above the roots of the trees--a rise that represented about
sixty-seven feet in all.
When I turned around I saw the half-cleared space in front of me
stretching over a square mile of ground. To the right was Coronel
da Silva's house, already described, and all about, the humbler
_barracãos_ or huts of the rubber-workers. In the clearing, palm-trees
and guava brush formed a fairly thick covering for the ground, but
compared with the surrounding impenetrable jungle the little open space
deserved its title of "clearing." A few cows formed a rare sight as
they wandered around nibbling at the sparse and sickly growth of grass.
By-and-bye the sun was fully up; but even then it could not fully
disperse the mists that hung over the landscape. The birds were waking
and their calls filled the air. The amorous notes of the inamboo were
repeated and answered from far off by its mate, and the melancholy
song of the wacurão piped musically out from the vastness of the
forest. Small green paroquets flew about and filled the air with
their not altogether pleasant voices. These are the same birds that
are well-known to the residents of New York and other large cities,
where a dozen of them can often be seen in charge of an intrepid
Italian, who has them trained to pick cards out of a box for anyone
desiring his fortune told for the sum of five cents. Here they must
provide by their own efforts for their own futures, however. Even at
this hour the howling monkey had not left off disturbing the peace
with its hideous din.
Gradually the camp woke up to the day's work. A tall pajama-clad man
spied me and was the first to come over. He was a very serious-looking
gentleman and with his full-bearded face looked not unlike the artist's
conception of the Saviour. He bade me welcome in the usual generous
terms of the Brazilians and invited me into the house, where I again
met Coronel da Silva. This first-mentioned grave-looking man was Mr. da
Marinha. The kindness with which he welcomed me was most grateful;
especially so in my present physical condition. I noticed what had
not been so apparent on my first meeting with him, that recent and
continuous ravages of fevers and spleen troubles had reduced him,
though a fairly young man, to the usual nerve-worn type that the
white man seems bound to become after any long stay in the upper
Amazon region.
Not knowing where I might stop when I left Remate de Males, I had
brought with me a case of canned goods. I only succeeded in insulting
the Coronel when I mentioned this. He gave me his best room and
sent for a new hammock for me. Such attentions to a stranger, who
came without even a letter of introduction, are typical of Brazilian
hospitality.
After a plentiful meal, consisting of fried fish and roast
loin of tapir, which tasted very good, we drank black coffee and
conversed as well as my limited knowledge of the Portuguese language
permitted. After this, naturally, feeling very tired from my travels
and the heat of the day, I arranged my future room, strung my hammock,
and slept until a servant announced that supper was served. This meal
consisted of jerked beef, farinha, rice, black beans, turtle soup,
and the national Goiabada marmalade. The cook, who was nothing but
a sick rubber-worker, had spoiled the principal part of the meal by
disregarding the juices of the meat, and cooking it without salt,
besides mixing the inevitable farinha with everything. But it was
a part of the custom of the country and could not be helped. _De
gustibus non est disputandum._
When this meal was over, I was invited to go with the secretary,
Mr. da Marinha, the man who had first greeted me in the morning,
to see a sick person. At some distance from the house was a small
barracão, where we were received by a _seringueiro_ named Marques. This
remarkable man was destined to figure prominently in experiences that
I had to undergo later. He pulled aside a large mosquito-net which
guarded the entrance of the inner room of this hut. In the hammock
we found a middle-aged woman; a native of Cearã. Her face was not
unattractive but terribly emaciated, and she was evidently very
sick. She showed us an arm bound up in rags, and the part exposed
was wasted and dark red. It was explained that three weeks before,
an accident had forced a wooden splinter into her thumb and she had
neglected the inflammation that followed. I asked her to undo the
wrappings, a thing which I should never have done, and the sight
we saw was most discouraging. The hand was swollen until it would
not have been recognised as a hand, and there was an immense lesion
extending from the palm to the middle of the forearm. The latter was in
a terrible condition, the flesh having been eaten away to the bone. It
was plainly a case of gangrene of a particularly vicious character.
Suddenly it dawned upon me that they all took me for a doctor; and the
questions they asked as to what should be done, plainly indicated that
they looked to me for assistance. I explained that I had no knowledge
of surgery, but that in spite of this I was sure that if something
were not done immediately the woman would have little time to live.
I asked if there was not a doctor that could be reached within a few
days' journey. We discussed sending the woman to Remate de Males by
canoe, but this idea was abandoned, for the journey even undertaken by
the most skilful paddlers could not be made in less than eighteen days,
and by that time the gangrene would surely have killed the patient.
Coronel da Silva was called in. He said that the woman was the wife
of the chief of the _caucheros_ and that her life must be saved if
possible. I explained my own incapacity in this field once more, but
insisted that we would be justified in undertaking an amputation as
the only chance of preventing her death.
I now found myself in a terrible position. The operation is a very
difficult one even in the hands of a skilful surgeon, and here I was
called to perform it with hardly an elementary knowledge of the science
and not even adequate instruments. At the same time, it seemed moral
cowardice to avoid it, since evidently I was the one best qualified,
and the woman would die in agony if not soon relieved. I trembled all
over when I concluded that there was no escape. We went to the room
and got the bistoury and the forceps given me by a medical friend
before I left home. Besides these, I took some corrosive sublimate,
intended for the preparation of animal skins, and some photographic
clips. The secretary, after a search produced an old and rusty hacksaw
as the only instrument the estate could furnish. This we cleaned as
carefully as possible with cloths and then immersed it in a solution
of sublimate. Before going to the patient's hut I asked the owner and
the woman's husband if they were reconciled to my attempt and would
not hold me responsible in case of her death. They answered that,
as the woman was otherwise going to die, we were entirely right
in doing whatever we could. I found the patient placidly smoking
a pipe, her injured arm over the edge of the hammock. By this time
she understood that she was to have her arm amputated by a surgical
novice. She seemed not to be greatly concerned over the matter, and
went on smoking her pipe while we made the arrangements. We placed her
on the floor and told her to lie still. We adjusted some rubber cloth
under the dead arm. Her husband and three children stood watching with
expressionless faces. Two monkeys, tied to a board in a corner were
playing and fighting together. A large parrot was making discursive
comment on the whole affair, while a little lame dog seemed to be the
most interested spectator. The secretary took the bistoury from the
bowl containing the sublimate and handed it to me with a bow. With
a piece of cotton I washed the intended spot of operation and traced
a line with a pencil on the arm.
Imagine with what emotions I worked! After we had once started,
however, we forgot everything except the success of our operation. I
omit a description of the details, as they might prove too
gruesome. The woman fainted from shock just before we touched the
bone,--Nature thus supplying an effective, if rude, anæsthetic. We
had forgotten about sewing together the flesh, and when we came
to this a boy was dispatched to the owner's house for a package of
stout needles. These were held in the fire for a few seconds, and
then immersed when cold in the sublimate before they were used to
join the flesh. By the time it was done, I was, myself, feeling very
sick. Finally I could stand the little room of torture no longer,
and left the secretary dressing the wound. Would she recover from
the barbaric operation? This question kept coursing through my head
as I vainly tried for a long time to go to sleep.
The next day, after an early observation of my patient, who seemed
to have recovered from the shock and thus gave at least this hope
of success, I spent my time going around to visit the homes of the
_seringueiros_. They were all as polite as their chief, and after
exchanging the salute of "Boa dia," they would invite me to climb
up the ladder and enter the hut. Here they would invariably offer
me a cup of strong coffee. There were always two or three hammocks,
of which I was given the one I liked best. The huts generally consist
of two rooms with a few biscuit-boxes as chairs, and Winchester rifles
and some fancy-painted paddles to complete the furniture.
The following day I arose with the sun and, after some coffee, asked
a huge small-pox-scarred fellow to accompany me on my first excursion
into the real jungle. Up to this time I had only seen it from my back
porch in Remate de Males and from the deck of the launch _Carolina_,
but now I was in the heart of the forest and would indulge in jungle
trips to my heart's content. We entered through a narrow pathway called
an _estrada_, whose gateway was guarded by a splendid palm-tree,
like a Cerberus at the gates of dark Hades. The _estrada_ led us
past one hundred to one hundred and fifty rubber trees, as it wound
its way over brooks and fallen trees. Each of the producing trees
had its rough bark gashed with cuts to a height of ten to twelve
feet all around its circumference. These marks were about an inch
and a half in length. Alongside of the tree was always to be found
a stick, on the end of which were a dozen or so of small tin-cups
used in collecting the rubber-milk. Every worker has two _estradas_
to manage, and by tapping along each one alternately he obtains the
maximum of the product. This particular _estrada_ was now deserted
as the _seringueiro_ happened to be at work on the other one under
his jurisdiction.
It was in a sense agreeable to work there as the sun could not
penetrate the dense foliage and the air was therefore cool. After we
had walked for about an hour, my big guide complained of being tired
and of feeling unwell. I told him he could go back to the camp and
leave me to find my way alone. Accordingly he left me and I now had
the task of carrying without assistance my large 8 x 10 view-camera,
a shotgun, a revolver, and a machete.
Gradually my ear caught a terrible sound which to the uninitiated
would have seemed like the roaring of a dozen lions in combat, but
the dreadful notes that vibrated through the forest were only those
of the howling monkey. I always had a great desire to see one of this
species in the act of performing this uncanny forest-concert, therefore
I left the rubber pathway after placing my camera on the ground, up
against a rubber tree, and commenced following the noise, cutting my
way through the underbrush. I walked and walked, but the sound seemed
to remain the same distance away, and I stopped to reconnoitre.
I hesitated whether to proceed or not, fearing I might lose the way
and not be able to find my camera again. The monkey was not visible
at all; it fact, it was not possible to see anything, unless it was
very close by, so dense was the foliage. I laid my automatic pistol
on a fallen tree-trunk, and was trying to figure out the chances of
getting a look at my simian friend and at the same time not losing my
valuable property on the pathway, when I heard another startling sound,
this time near-by. I prepared myself for whatever species of animal was
due, and could feel the excitement a hunter knows when he thinks he is
about to get a sight of big game. Suddenly the undergrowth parted in
front of me and a herd of wild boars came trotting out. I drew a bead
on the biggest of the lot and fired, letting five soft-nose bullets go
through his head to make sure; the others fled, and I hastened to the
spot to examine my prize more closely. It was a boar of medium size,
weighing in the neighbourhood of one hundred and twenty-five pounds,
and he had a fine set of tusks. He was rather vicious-looking and
was doing considerable kicking before he gave up the ghost. It was
impossible for me to carry him through the bush owing to the fact that
I had the valuable camera and apparatus to take care of, so I made
a mental note of the spot, and cut his ears off. It took four hours'
search to find the camera, in spite of my belief that I had not gone
far, and it was late in the afternoon when I arrived at headquarters.
The very next morning there was a good opportunity to see the smoking
of rubber-milk. A _seringueiro_ had collected his product and when
I went to the smoking-hut I found him busy turning over and over a
big stick, resting on two horizontal guides, built on both sides of
a funnel from which a dense smoke was issuing. On the middle of the
stick was a huge ball of rubber. Over this he kept pouring the milk
from a tin-basin. Gradually the substance lost its liquidity and
coagulated into a beautiful yellow-brown mass which was rubber in
its first crude shipping state.
The funnel from which the smoke issued was about three feet high and of
a conical shape. At its base was a fire of small wooden chips, which
when burning gave forth an acrid smoke containing a large percentage
of creosote. It is this latter substance which has the coagulating
effect upon the rubber-milk. When the supply of milk was exhausted,
he lifted the ball and stick off the guides and rolled it on a smooth
plank to drive the moisture out of the newly-smoked rubber. Then he
was through for the day. He placed the stick on two forked branches
and put some green leaves over the funnel to smother the fire. On top
of the leaves he put a tin-can and a chunk of clay, then filled the
hole in the ground with ashes. Under this arrangement the fire would
keep smouldering for twenty-four hours, to be used anew for the next
repetition of the smoking process.
In the afternoon we again went out to hunt. This time I took only a
12-gauge shotgun. As we travelled through the forest I was impressed
once more by the fascination of the grandly extravagant vegetation.
But there is little charm about it, nothing of the tranquillity our
idyllic Catskills or even the sterner Adirondacks, create. There is no
invitation to repose, no stimulus to quiet enjoyment, for the myriad
life of the Amazon's jungle forest never rests. There is always some
sound or some movement which is bound to stir in one the instinct
of self-preservation. You have to be constantly alive to the danger
of disagreeable annoyance from the pests that abound, or of actual
bodily harm from animals of the reptilian order.
Were I in possession of adequate descriptive power I could picture
the impression that this jungle creates upon the mind of one from the
North, but now, as I once more sit in a large city with sky-scrapers
towering about me, and hear the rattling noise of the elevated railway
train as it rushes past, my pen fails me and I have to remove myself on
the wings of thought to those remote forests, fully realising, "_Beatus
ille, qui procul negotiis, ut_" etc., etc. Then I can feel again
the silence and the gloom that pervade those immense and wonderful
woods. The few sounds of birds and animals are, generally, of a pensive
and mysterious character, and they intensify the feeling of solitude
rather than impart to it a sense of life and cheerfulness. Sometimes
in the midst of the noon-day stillness, a sudden yell or scream will
startle one, coming from some minor fruit-eating animal, set upon by a
carnivorous beast or serpent. Morning and evening, the forest resounds
with the fearful roar of the howling monkeys, and it is hard, even
for the stoutest heart, to maintain its buoyancy of spirit. The sense
of inhospitable wilderness, which the jungle inspires, is increased
tenfold by this monstrous uproar. Often in the still hours of night,
a sudden crash will be heard, as some great branch or a dead tree falls
to the ground. There are, besides, many sounds which are impossible
to account for and which the natives are as much at a loss to explain
as myself. Sometimes a strange sound is heard, like the clang of an
iron bar against a hard, hollow tree; or a piercing cry rends the
air. These are not repeated, and the succeeding stillness only tends
to heighten the unpleasant impression which they produce on the mind.
The first thing that claimed our attention, shortly after we started,
was a sound of breaking branches and falling leaves, somewhere in
the distance. Through the trees I could perceive that it was a big
dark-grey monkey, which we had alarmed. He was scrambling up a tall
tree when I fired at him. I evidently missed, for I could see him
prepare for a mighty jump to a lower tree where he would be out of
sight. But in the jump he got another load of pellets, which struck
him in the back. His leap fell short of the mark and he landed headlong
among some bushes, kicking violently as I came up to him. As he seemed
strongly built and had a rather savage expression, it did not seem
wise to tackle him with bare hands, therefore, as I desired to get him
alive, I ran back and procured my focussing cloth, which I tied around
his head. Thus I got him safely back to the camp, where he was tied
to a board and the bullets extracted from his flesh. Then his wounds,
which were not serious, were bound up and he was put into a cage with
a bunch of bananas and a saucer of goat's milk to cheer him up a bit.
The suddenness with which these monkey delicacies disappeared,
convinced me that his complete recovery was a matter of only a short
time, unless perchance some hungry rubber-worker, surreptitiously,
had removed these viands while nobody was looking, for bananas and
milk are things which will tempt any Amazonian from the narrow path
of rectitude; but it was not so in this case. The conviction as to
recovery proved right, and with the improvement of his health he
displayed a cheerful and fond disposition that decided me to take
him back with me to New York when I should go. I have since been
informed that he belonged to the Humboldt Sika species. I watched him
for several months and came to like him for the innocent tricks he
never tired of playing. One night he managed to liberate himself from
the tree near the hut where he was tied. He disappeared for two days,
but on the third he returned, chains and all. He had doubtless found
life in the jungle trees not altogether cheerful with a heavy chain
secured to his waist, and he had returned reconciled to captivity
and regular meals. There is at present one specimen of this kind of
monkey at the Bronx Zoölogical Gardens in charge of the head keeper.
At the time of low water, the so-called _prayas_ appear at the bends
of the river; they grow with the accumulation of sand and mud. They are
wide and often of a considerable area, and on them the alligators like
to bask in the sunshine of early morning and late afternoon, and the
_tartarugas_, or fresh-water turtles, lay their eggs. These eggs are
laid in the months of September and October on moon-lit nights and
are somewhat smaller than the ordinary hen's egg, the yolk tasting
very much the same, but they are covered with a tough parchment-like
shell. Here on the upper Amazon the people prepare a favourite meal
by collecting these eggs and storing them for two or three weeks,
when they tear open the shell and squeeze out the yolks, mixing them
all up into a mush with the inevitable farinha. Few people, except
native Brazilians, ever acquire a relish for this remarkable dish.
I spent a whole day waiting for the elusive alligators on one of
these sand-bars, but evidently they were too wise, for they never came
within camera-range. I did, however, see some tapir-tracks, leading
down to the water's edge. After the long wait I grew discouraged,
and chose a camping place farther up the river, where I prepared
a meal consisting of turtle eggs and river water. The meal was not
absolutely undisturbed, as the air was full of a species of fly that
derives its principal sustenance from the bodies of various dead
animals always to be found through the jungle, whose teeming life
crowds out all but those fittest to survive.
I had begun my vigil before sunrise, when there are two or three hours
very cool and humid. In the dry season the dew which collects is of
the greatest importance to animal and plant life. For the tired and
thirsty wanderer, the calyx of the beautiful scarlet orchid, which
grows abundantly in this region, contains the refreshment of two or
three ounces of clear, cool water. But you must look carefully into
this cup of nature to see that no insects lurk in its depths to spoil
the draught.
I have previously described the breakfast table of the millionaire
Coronel R. da Silva, with its black beans, the dreadful farinha, the
black coffee, and the handful of mutilated _bolachas_ or biscuits. The
only variable factor was the meat, sometimes wild hog, occasionally
tapir, and very often the common green parrot or the howling monkey. At
most meals the _pirarucu_ fish appears, especially on Mondays when
the rubber-workers have had the whole of Sunday in which to indulge
in the sport of shooting this gamy two-hundred-pound fish. They carry
their _pirarucu_ to headquarters and courteously offer the best cuts
to the Coronel, afterwards cutting the rest into long strips and
leaving them to dry in the sun. Jerked beef was always to be relied
upon when other supplies ran low.
There must have been some terrible mystery connected with the
milk. There were twenty-one cows on the place, but never a drop of
milk from them was to be had. I was always afraid to ask any questions
about this deficiency for fear I might be treading on dangerous ground,
but with the lack of any other explanation I ascribe it to continual
sickness from which the cattle must probably suffer, in common with
every other living thing here.
During the month of September, the number of patients from fever,
pleurisy, and accidents, at Floresta headquarters, amounted to 82% of
the population. A fever resembling typhoid resulted in several cases
from drinking the river-water. The Coronel claimed that Mangeroma
Indians living in the interior about 150 miles from Floresta had
poisoned the creeks and affluents of the Itecoahy to take revenge upon
the traders who brought the much dreaded Peruvian rubber-workers up
to the Itecoahy River estates. These Peruvians are hated because they
abduct the women of the indigenous tribes, when on their expeditions
far into the forests where these tribes live, and consequently they
are hunted down and their entrance to the region as far as possible
prevented.
At this morning hour in New York (Floresta is on the same meridian
as New York), thousands of toilers are entering the hot subways and
legions of workers are filing into their offices and stuffy shops
to take their places at the huge machinery which keeps the world
in motion. At the very same hour a handful of rubber-workers are
passing my house, returning from their first trip in the _estradas_,
where they have been tapping the trees, and on their way to the huts
and a frugal breakfast. Here in the wilds of Brazil there are no
subways, no worry about the "market," nor indeed any thought for the
morrow. Nature supplies the rubber trees, and the "boss" the tools to
work them with; the philosophy of the rubber-worker goes no farther. A
shirt, trousers, and a hat are all the dress that fashion requires,
and often the worker even finds the shirt superfluous. He wears a
pair of overalls, and carries slung over his shoulder his rifle and
the little hatchet for tapping the trees, besides a small rubber bag
in which he keeps a supply of farinha and jerked beef, should he be
prevented from reaching his hut in regulation time.
The _seringueiro_ is free in his movements and in his mind, he is a
quick and keen observer of nature, and an expert in knowledge of the
cries and calls of the animals of the forest. He knows their habits
and hiding-places to perfection, and he could probably astonish the
naturalist by informing him of many things he has observed that his
brother scientist never has heard of. He knows the names of the trees
and plants in the forest and what they can be used for, though his
knowledge of them is often supplemented by superstitious imaginings. He
knows the multitudinous fish of the Amazon, whether they are to be
caught with a net, speared, or shot with bow and arrows, or, if the
hunter is of a progressive disposition, shot with rifle ball. There are
varieties that have, as yet, not been seen, classified, or identified
by the scientist of to-day--I am positive of having seen several such.
The inhabitant of this region is clean in his habits and in his mind as
soon as he gets away from the evil influence of civilisation--which for
him is the town of Remate de Males or "Culmination of Evils." He takes
a bath at least twice a day, and attends closely to the cleanliness of
his wardrobe, which for that matter does not absorb any considerable
amount of time. As a rule, he is industrious, but frequent attacks of
fever, dysentery, liver and spleen complaints, or pneumonia make him
in the end, like all living things here not native to the forests,
sluggish in general, and irritable on occasion.
A little distance from the headquarters lies a beautiful lake. It is
not wider than the Itecoahy itself, four hundred feet on an average,
and is about five miles long. It runs parallel with the river, and has
only one outlet. In the dry season this amounts to nothing more than a
little rivulet across which a large fallen tree has formed a natural
bridge, but in January, when the waters rise, the creek is so full
that the servants of Coronel da Silva can wash the linen there. After
some weeks of sojourn at Floresta, I found my way to this lake, and it
was here that I was able to observe some of the largest specimens of
Amazonian reptiles in their haunts, where the equatorial sun had full
opportunity to develop an amazing growth of faunal and floral life.
It was a most enchanting stretch of water. I had heard of the dangers
lurking beneath its surface long before I saw it, so when I arrived
there one morning I was surprised to find a placid lake, set in
picturesque and romantic surroundings. My first impulse was to exclaim,
partly to myself, and partly to the Indian João who accompanied me,
"Why, this is Lake Innocence," so peaceful did it appear. In fact,
so much did it charm me that during the remainder of my stay at
Floresta there was hardly a day some part of which I did not spend
in the immediate vicinity of this lake. But it was treacherous. It
was the home of six or seven old alligators and of young ones--too
numerous to count; the oldest reaching a length of about seventeen
feet. They would lie perfectly still under the banks, among the dead
branches and snags, which made the shores generally inaccessible to
boat or canoe, but when a person approached they would make their
presence known by violent splashing in the water and repeated loud
grunts, very much resembling those of a walrus. Then they would burrow
under the soft mud and remain quiet for an hour or two. In the early
forenoon, before the sun became too hot, they would sun themselves,
but in the sweltering mid-day hours they remained buried in the mud,
and were then very hard to rouse.
I found, on the shores of the lake, two alligator nests, formed of many
twigs and branches stuck together, half in the water and half in the
soft slimy mud. There they deposited their eggs, oblong tough ones;
and one could always count on finding the female in the neighbourhood,
should one desire to visit her. I came near stepping on one of these
female alligators during a morning hunt with my camera. I was intently
examining a group of eggs I found under a cluster of branches, when
I was startled by a splash in the water and a loud grunt. As fast
as the muddy ground would let me, I scrambled up the bank, and when
I reached the top I saw the alligator swimming away from the very
spot where I had been standing, its small close-set eyes fastened on
me. Then it disappeared in the mud.
My next encounter occurred one forenoon, when I was sitting close
to the dried-up canal which formed the outlet of the lake. It was
almost mid-day. I was sitting in the shade, safe from the blazing sun,
enjoying a peaceful smoke. The air was fairly vibrating with heat,
causing the blood to surge through my veins. Not a sound was heard
except the irritating buzz of the ever-present mosquitoes. For some
time I had been aware of the slow, stealthy movement of a large body
near-by, though only half consciously. The heat made me sluggish
and sleepy, but suddenly I awoke to the fact that the moving thing,
whatever it might be, was near me. Mechanically, I released the
"safety" of my automatic pistol, and then realised that out of the
reeds near me was creeping a medium-sized alligator. He was making
straight for the water, and I do not know whether he was cognisant of
my presence or not. He was moving steadily, advancing a few inches,
stopping for a minute, then resuming the journey. I believe I was
not more than five feet from the head as it emerged from the fringe
of reeds. I raised my camera, secured a focus, and snapped the
shutter. The click of the apparatus and perhaps my movement drew
his attention. He stopped abruptly. The long jaws opened toward
me, displaying an enormous expanse of pink flesh and two rows of
shining teeth. I lost not a second in throwing aside the camera and
jumping back to a position of relative safety, whence I fired into
the open mouth of the beast. I killed him. On examining the carcass,
I noticed that he had unusually large eyes, indicating that he was
a young specimen.
A few days later I again went to this lake--which, from my remarks, had
now come to be generally called "Lago Innocencia"--to catch fish with
my Indian friend João. He carried a bow, four arrows with detachable
heads, and a harpoon six feet long. The little boat which we found
close to the outlet of the lake was pushed away from the shore, we
each seized one of the peculiarly decorated paddles, and were off,
looking for finny game. We paddled quietly along near the shore,
now and then receiving a bump from some concealed snag which nearly
upset us. It requires considerable skill to navigate one of these
poorly-made dugouts, the slightest move causing a disproportionate
amount of disturbance of equilibrium.
Suddenly João jumped up, his black eyes glowing with excitement. He
motioned me to keep quiet, but it was quiet superfluous for him to
do this, as I was unable to talk, or even look around, for fear the
canoe might upset. He seized the harpoon, and with a powerful swing
sent it into the water ahead of us, at the same time grasping the line
which was attached to the end. The spear sank deep into the water,
and then by the vivacity with which it danced around I could tell
there was something on the end of it. As he began to pull in the line,
the struggle became so violent that I crept forward on my knees in
the bottom of the canoe and helped him recover the spear. Only after
some strenuous balancing feats and a stiff fight by both of us, did
we land our game. It was a large flat fish at least four feet square,
with a long whip-shaped tail, at the base of which were two barbed
bones each about three and a half inches in length. Our first act was
to sever this tail with a hatchet, as it was far too active to make
the fish a pleasant neighbour in close quarters. When the sting-ray,
or, as the Brazilians call it, the _araya_, was dead, I cut out the
two barbed bones and no longer wondered why these fish are so dreaded
by those who know them. João told me that they attack anyone who
ventures into the water, and with their sharp, barbed bones inflict
a wound that in most cases proves fatal, for the bones are brittle
and break off in the flesh. Superstition and carelessness are the
main factors that make the wound dangerous; the people believe too
much in an ever-present evil spirit which abides in all the vicious
and fiendish animals of the forest and swamp. Once wounded by any of
these malignant creatures, they believe there is no hope of recovery
and they hardly try to survive. Besides, lack of proper care and
treatment of a wound generally results in its terminating in a case
of septicaemia and ultimately gangrene.
I have mentioned the _pirarucu_ several times as being the largest
edible fish of the Amazon. When full grown, it attains a weight of two
hundred and fifty pounds. In Lake Innocence we saw this remarkable
fish feeding close to the shore in shallow water, surrounded by a
school of young ones. The old one was about seven feet in length
and the others but recently hatched, from nine to ten inches. The
Indian who pointed them out to me stood up in the bow of the canoe
and, fitting one of his five-foot arrows to the bow-string, sent it
through the air and into the head of the big fellow.
The bow which he used was of his own manufacture. It was about seven
and a half feet long, very tough and straight, and made of Caripari
wood. The shafts of the arrows were made of long straight reeds, the
stalks of a certain species of wild cane. The detachable part of the
arrow is a short but extremely hard piece of wood upon which is fitted
an iron head with two barbs. When the point pierces the flesh this hard
piece comes off, but remains attached to the shaft by a short stout
cord. This allows the shaft free play so that it will not break during
the struggles of the victim. Then there is a line attached to the head
itself so that the hunter can handle the struggling animal or fish by
means of it and of the shaft of the arrow. The whole contrivance is
a marvel of ingenuity in meeting the conditions the Amazon hunter is
called on to face. When the arrow struck this particular _pirarucu_,
at close range, he made straight for the shore, hauling the canoe
and its contents after him at considerable speed. We got tangled
among the low branches and fought the fish in considerable danger
of being overturned--and I should not at all care to be capsized on
Lake Innocence.
Finally, we got our prize ashore. I sent the Indian to headquarters,
telling him to go, as fast as he could and bring assistance so that
we could get the fish home. I myself mounted guard over the carcass
to see that neither the turkey buzzards nor the carnivorous mammals
should destroy it. If we had left it alone for even a short time,
we would have found, on our return, little to remind us of its
existence. The Indian returned shortly with two men. They stuck a
pole through the great gills of the _pirarucu_ and in this fashion
carried it to the settlement.
These waters contain great quantities of another and smaller fish known
as the _piranha_, scientifically termed _Serraselmus piraya_. This
is quite as much dreaded by the natives as the alligator, or even as
the shark along the coast. Its ferocity seems to know no bounds. It
will attack other fish and bite large pieces out of their fins and
tails. Although it is not much larger than the herring it can make
fatal attacks on man when in large numbers.
Mr. C.B. Brown in his work on Guiana gives the following account of
this fish:
The _piranhas_ in the Corentins were so abundant and were so ferocious
that at times it was dangerous to go into the water to a greater depth
than the knees. Even then small bodies of these hungry creatures would
swim in and make a dash close to our legs, and then retreat to a short
distance. They actually bit the steering paddles as they were drawn
through the water astern of the boat. A tapir which I shot as it swam
across the water had his nose bitten off by them whilst we were towing
it to the shore. The men used to catch some of them for the sport
of it, and in taking the hook from the mouth produced a wound from
which the blood ran freely. On throwing them back into the water in
this injured condition, they were immediately set upon and devoured
by their companions. Even as one was being hauled in on the line,
its comrades, seeing that it was in difficulties, attacked it at once.
I heard about these fiends but had no opportunity to witness their
ferocity until one day, in crossing the river in a dugout, we wounded
a wild hog that had also decided to cross at the same time and at the
same place. The man with the stern paddle seized his machete as he saw
the hog swimming close by the port-side of the canoe and stabbed it in
the shoulder, intending to tow it ashore and have a luxurious dinner of
roast hog. But his dream was never realised, for the _piranhas_ which
had tasted the blood, I suppose, came in large numbers and set upon
the unfortunate hog. In a minute the water seemed to be boiling, so
great was the activity of the little demons as they tore away pieces of
the flesh until it was vanishing by inches. When we reached the other
shore there was not enough left of the hog to furnish a single meal.
Later I learned that certain Indian tribes leave their dead in the
river for the _piranhas_ to strip the flesh from the bones. It is
then customary to take the remaining skeleton and let it dry in the
sun, after which it is rubbed with the juice of the _urucu_ plant
(the _Bixa orellana_), which produces a bright scarlet colour. Then
it is hung up in the hut and the Indians consider that a token of
great reverence has been thus bestowed on the deceased.
Before leaving the subject of fish, I will mention another species,
smaller than the _piranha_, yet, although not as ferocious, the
cause of much dread and annoyance to the natives living near the
banks of the rivers. In fact, throughout the Amazon this little
worm-like creature, called the _kandiroo_, is so omnipresent that a
bath-house of a particular construction is necessary. The kandiroo is
usually three to four inches long and one sixteenth in thickness. It
belongs to the lampreys, and its particular group is the Myxinos or
slime-fish. Its body is coated with a peculiar mucus. It is dangerous
to human beings, because when they are taking a bath in the river
it will approach and with a swift powerful movement penetrate one of
the natural openings of the body whence it can be removed only by a
difficult and dangerous operation.
A small but hard and pointed dorsal fin acts as a barb and prevents
the fish from being drawn back. While I was in Remate de Males the
local doctor was called upon to remove a _kandiroo_ from the urethra
of a man. The man subsequently died from the hemorrhage following
the operation.
Largely through the danger of the attack from this scourge, though
perhaps not entirely, the natives have adopted the method of bathing
in use. A plunge into the river is unheard of, and bath-houses are
constructed so as to make this unnecessary. A hole about eighteen
inches square is cut in the middle of the floor--built immediately
above the water--through which the bather, provided with a calabash
or gourd of the bread-fruit tree, dips water up and pours it over
himself after he has first examined it carefully. The indigenous
Indians, living in the remote parts of the forest, do not use this
mode of protection, but cover the vulnerable portions of the body
carefully with strips of bark, which render complete immersion
less dangerous.
During my walks in the forest I often came across snakes of
considerable length, but never found any difficulty in killing them, as
they were sluggish in their movements and seemed to be inoffensive. The
rubber-workers, who had no doubt had many encounters with reptiles,
told me about large _sucurujus_ or boa-constrictors, which had their
homes in the river not many miles from headquarters. They told me
that these snakes were in possession of hypnotic powers, but this,
like many other assertions, should be taken with a large grain of
salt. However, I will relate an incident which occurred while I
lived at Floresta, and in which I have absolute faith, as I had the
opportunity of talking to the persons involved in the affair.
José Perreira. a rubber-worker, had left headquarters after having
delivered his weekly report on the rubber extracted, and was paddling
his canoe at a good rate down the stream, expecting to reach his
hut before midnight. Arriving at a recess in the banks formed by the
confluence of a small creek called Igarapé do Inferno, or the Creek
of Hell, he thought that he heard the noise of some game, probably a
deer or tapir, drinking, and he silently ran his canoe to the shore,
where he fastened it to a branch, at the same time holding his rifle
in readiness. Finally, as he saw nothing, he returned to the canoe
and continued his way down-stream.
Hardly more than ten yards from the spot, he stopped again and
listened. He heard only the distant howling of a monkey. This he was
used to on his nightly trips. No! there was something else! He could
not say it was a sound. It was a strange something that called him back
to the bank that he had left but a few minutes before. He fastened
his canoe again to the same branch and crept up to the same place,
feeling very uneasy and uncomfortable, but seeing nothing that could
alarm him--nothing that he could draw the bead of his rifle on. Yet,
something there was! For the second time he left, without being able
to account for the mysterious force that lured him to this gloomy,
moon-lit place on the dark, treacherous bank. In setting out in the
stream again he decided to fight off the uncanny, unexplainable feeling
that had called him back, but scarcely a stone's throw from the bank
he had the same desire to return,--a desire that he had never before
experienced. He went again, and looked, and meditated over the thing
that he did not understand.
He had not drunk _cachassa_ that day and was consequently quite sober;
he had not had fever for two weeks and was in good health physically as
well as mentally; he had never so much indulged in the dissipations of
civilisation that his nerves had been affected; he had lived all his
life in these surroundings and knew no fear of man or beast. And now,
this splendid type of manhood, free and unbound in his thoughts and
unprejudiced by superstition, broke down completely and hid his face
in his hands, sobbing like a child in a dark room afraid of ghosts. He
had been called to this spot three times without knowing the cause, and
now, the mysterious force attracting him, as a magnet does a piece of
iron, he was unable to move. Helpless as a child he awaited his fate.
Luckily three workers from headquarters happened to pass on their
way to their homes, which lay not far above the "Creek of Hell,"
and when they heard sobbing from the bank they called out.
The hypnotised _seringueiro_ managed to state that he had three
times been forced, by some strange power, to the spot where he now
was, unable to get away, and that he was deadly frightened. The
rubber-workers, with rifles cocked, approached in their canoe, fully
prepared to meet a jaguar, but when only a few yards from their comrade
they saw directly under the root where the man was sitting the head
of a monstrous boa-constrictor, its eyes fastened on its prey. Though
it was only a few feet from him, he had been unable to see it.
One of the men took good aim and fired, crushing the head of the snake,
and breaking the spell, but the intended victim was completely played
out and had to lie down in the bottom of the canoe, shivering as if
with ague.
The others took pains to measure the length of the snake before
leaving. It was 79 palmas or 52 feet 8 inches. In circumference it
measured 11 palmas, corresponding to a diameter of 28 inches. Its
mouth, they said, was two palmas or sixteen inches, but how they mean
this to be understood I do not know.
This event happened while I was living at headquarters. I had a
long talk with Perreira, but could not shake his statement, nor that
of the three others; nevertheless, I remained a sceptic as to this
alleged charming or mesmeric power of the snakes, at least so far as
man is concerned.
At that time we were awaiting the arrival of the monthly launch from
the town of Remate de Males, and had spent a day weighing rubber
at the camp of one of the employees, half a day's journey from
headquarters. The rubber-pellets were loaded into our large canoe
to take up to Floresta. We spent the evening drinking black coffee
and eating some large, sweet pineapples, whereafter we all took a
nap lasting until midnight, when we got up to start on our night
trip. It had been considered best to travel at night, when it was
nice and cool with none of the pestering insects to torture us, and
we were soon paddling the heavy canoe at a merry rate, smoking our
pipes and singing in the still, dark night. Soon we rounded a point
where the mighty trees, covered with orchids and other parasitic
plants, sent their branches down to the very water which in its
depths was hiding the dreaded water-snakes. The only sound we heard
was the weird calling of the night-owl, the "Mother of the Moon"
as the Indians call it. Except this and the lapping sound of water,
as we sped along, nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the night.
I was in the act of lighting another pipe when one of the men
cried out:
"What's this?"
We all stopped paddling and stared ahead at a large dark object,
resting on a moon-lit sand-bar not far from us. Then someone said,
"_Sucuruju_." Few people can comprehend the feeling that creeps into
one's heart when this word is pronounced, under such circumstances,
in the far-off forest, in the middle of the night. The word
means boa-constrictor, but it meant a lot more at this moment. An
indescribable feeling of awe seized me. I knew now that I was to face
the awful master of the swamps, the great silent monster of the river,
of which so much had been said, and which so few ever meet in its lair.
Running the canoe ashore we advanced in single file. I now had a
chance to inspect the object. On a soft, muddy sand-bar, half hidden
by dead branches, I beheld a somewhat cone-shaped mass about seven
feet in height. From the base of this came the neck and head of the
snake, flat on the ground, with beady eyes staring at us as we slowly
advanced and stopped. The snake was coiled, forming an enormous pile
of round, scaly monstrosity, large enough to crush us all to death at
once. We had stopped at a distance of about fifteen feet from him,
and looked at each other. I felt as if I were spellbound, unable to
move a step farther or even to think or act on my own initiative.
The snake still made no move, but in the clear moonlight I could
see its body expand and contract in breathing; its yellow eyes
seeming to radiate a phosphorescent light. I felt no fear, nor any
inclination to retreat, yet I was now facing a beast that few men
had ever succeeded in seeing. Thus we stood looking at each other,
scarcely moving an eyelid, while the great silent monster looked at
us. I slid my right hand down to the holster of my automatic pistol,
the 9mm. Luger, and slowly removed the safety lock, at the same time
staring into the faces of the men. In this manner I was less under
the spell of the mesmerism of the snake, and could to some extent
think and act. I wheeled around while I still held control of my
faculties, and, perceiving a slight movement of the snake's coils,
I fired point-blank at the head, letting go the entire chamber of
soft-nose bullets. Instantly the other men woke up from their trance
and in their turn fired, emptying their Winchesters into the huge
head, which by this time was raised to a great height above us,
loudly hissing in agony.
Our wild yelling echoed through the deep forest. The snake uncoiled
itself and writhing with pain made for the water's edge. By this time
we were relieved of the terrible suspense, but we took care to keep
at a respectful distance from the struggling reptile and the powerful
lashing of its tail, which would have killed a man with one blow.
After half an hour the struggles grew weaker, yet we hesitated to
approach even when it seemed quiet and had its head and a portion
of its body submerged in the water. We decided to stay through the
night and wait here a day, as I was very anxious to skin the snake
and take the trophy home to the States as a souvenir of a night's
adventure in this far-off jungle of the Amazon. We went up in the
bushes and lit a fire, suspended our hammocks to some tree-trunks,
and slept soundly not more than ten yards from the dying leviathan.
We all got up before sunrise, had our coffee in haste, and ran down to
see the snake. It was dead, its head practically shot to pieces. We
set to work, stretching the huge body out on the sand-bar, and by
eight o'clock we had the entire snake flat on the ground, ready to
measure and skin.
It was a most astonishing sight, that giant snake lying there full
length, while around it gathered six Amazon Indians and the one
solitary New Yorker, here in the woods about as far from civilisation
as it is possible to get. I proceeded to take measurements and used
the span between my thumb and little finger tips as a unit, knowing
that this was exactly eight inches.
Beginning at the mouth of the snake, I continued to the end and found
that this unit was contained eighty-four times. Thus 84 times 8 divided
by 12 gives exactly 56 feet as the total length. In circumference,
the unit, the "palma," was contained 8 times and a fraction, around
the thickest part of the body. From this I derived the diameter 2
feet 1 inch.
These measurements are the result of very careful work. I went from
the tail to the nose over again so as to eliminate any error, and then
asked the men with me also to take careful measurements in their own
manner, which only confirmed the figures given above.
Then we proceeded to skin the snake, which was no easy task under the
fierce sun now baking our backs. Great flocks of _urubus_, or vultures,
had smelled the carcass and were circling above our heads waiting
for their share of the spoils. Each man had his section to work on,
using a wooden club and his machete. The snake had been laid on its
belly and it was split open, following the spinal column throughout
its length, the ventral part being far too hard and unyielding. About
two o'clock in the afternoon we had the work finished and the carcass
was thrown into the river, where it was instantly set upon by the
vigilant _piranhas_ and alligators.
Standing in front of this immense skin I could not withhold my elation.
"Men," I said, "here am I on this the 29th day of July, 1910, standing
before a snake-skin the size of which is wonderful. When I return to
my people in the United States of America, and tell them that I have
seen and killed a boa-constrictor nearly eighteen metres in length,
they will laugh and call me a man with a bad tongue."
Whereupon my friend, the chief, rose to his full height and exclaimed
in a grieved tone: "Sir, you say that your people in the north will
not believe that we have snakes like this or even larger. That is
an insult to Brazilians, yet you tell us that in your town Nova York
there are _barracãos_ that have thirty-five or even forty stories on
top of each other! How do you expect us to believe such an improbable
tale as that?"
I was in a sad plight between two realities of such mighty proportions
that they could be disbelieved in localities far removed from each
other.
We brought the skin to headquarters, where I prepared it with arsenical
soap and boxed it for later shipment to New York. The skin measured,
when dried, 54 feet 8 inches, with a width of 5 feet 1 inch.
Kind reader, if you have grown weary of my accounts of the reptilian
life of the Amazon, forgive me, but such an important role does this
life play in the every-day experience of the brave rubber-workers
that the descriptions could not be omitted. A story of life in the
Amazon jungle without them would be a deficient one, indeed.
There is a bird in the forests, before referred to, called by the
Indians "_A mae da lua_," or the "Mother of the Moon." It is an owl and
makes its habitation in the large, dead, hollow trees in the depths
of the jungle, far away from the river front, and it will fly out of
its nest only on still, moonlit nights, to pour forth its desolate and
melancholy song. This consists of four notes uttered in a major key,
then a short pause lasting but a few seconds, followed by another
four notes in the corresponding minor key. After a little while the
last two notes in the minor key will be heard and then all is still.
When the lonely wanderer on the river in a canoe, or sitting in his
hammock, philosophises over the perplexing questions of life, he is
assisted in his dreary analysis by the gloomy and hair-raising cry
of the mother of the moon. When the first four notes strike his ear,
he will listen, thinking that some human being in dire distress is
somewhere out in the swamps, pitifully calling for help, but in so
painful a manner that it seems as if all hope were abandoned. Still
listening, he will hear the four succeeding melancholy notes,
sounding as if the desolate sufferer were giving up the ghost in a
last desperate effort. The final two notes, following after a brief
interval, tell him that he now hears the last despairing sobs of a
condemned soul. So harrowing and depressing is this song that, once
heard, the memory of it alone will cause one's hair to stand on end
and he will be grateful when too far away to hear again this sob of
the forest.
A surprise was in store for me one day when I visited the domicile of
a rubber-worker living at the extreme end of the estate. I expected to
find a dwelling of the ordinary appearance, raised on poles above the
ground, but instead this hut was built among the branches of a tree
some twenty feet above the level of the earth. I commenced climbing
the rickety ladder leading to the door of the hut. Half-way up a
familiar sound reached my ear. Yes, I had surely heard that sound
before, but far away from this place. When I finally entered the
habitation and had exchanged greetings with the head of the family,
I looked for the source of the sound. Turning round I saw a woman
sitting at a _sewing-machine_, working on a shirt evidently for her
husband. I examined this machine with great curiosity and found it
to be a "New Home" sewing-machine from New York. What journeys and
transfers had not this apparatus undergone before it finally settled
here in a tree-top in this far-off wilderness!
One afternoon while sitting in the office at headquarters discussing
Amazonian politics with Coronel da Silva, Francisco, a rubber-worker,
came up and talked for a while with the Coronel, who then turned to me
and said: "Do you want to get the skin of a black jaguar? Francisco
has just killed one on his _estrada_ while collecting rubber-milk;
he will take you down to his _barracão_, and from there he will lead
you to the spot where the jaguar lies, and there you can skin him."
I thanked Francisco for his information and went for my machete,
having my pistol already in my belt. I joined him at the foot of
the river bank outside the main building, where he was waiting for
me in his canoe, and we paddled down-stream to his hut. On our way
(he lived about two miles below Floresta) he told me that he was
walking at a good rate on the narrow path of the _estrada_ when
he was attracted by a growling and snarling in the thicket. He
stopped and saw a black jaguar grappling with a full-grown buck in
a small opening between the trees. The jaguar had felled the buck
by jumping on its back from the branches of a tree, and, with claws
deeply imbedded in the neck, broke its spine and opened its throat,
when Francisco drew the bead on the head or neck of the jaguar and
fired. The jaguar fell, roaring with pain. Francisco was too much
in a hurry to leave the narrow path of the rubber-workers and go
to the spot where the victim was writhing in its death agonies,
but hastened on for his dinner. Remembering later that the Coronel
had offered an attractive sum of money for any large game they would
bag for my benefit, and having finished his dinner, he paddled up to
headquarters and reminded the Coronel of the promised reward. When
we came to the hut of the rubber-worker a large dog greeted us. This
dog looked like a cross between a great Dane and a Russian greyhound;
it was rather powerfully built, although with a softness of movement
that did not correspond with its great frame. Francisco whistled for
the dog to follow us. He carried his Winchester and a machete, while
I discovered that my pistol had been left unloaded when I hurried
from headquarters, so I was armed with nothing but a machete. After
walking for nearly half an hour, we slowed down a little and Francisco
looked around at the trees and said that he thought we were on the
spot where he had heard the growlings of the jaguar. It was nearing
half-past five and the sun was low so we launched ourselves into the
thicket towards the spot where the jaguar had been killed.
We advanced rapidly; then slower and slower. The great dog at first had
been very brave, but the closer we came to the spot we were looking
for, the more timid the dog became, until it uttered a fearful yell
of fright, and with its tail between its legs slunk back. There was
nothing to do but to leave the contemptible brute alone with its fear,
so we pushed ahead. Suddenly we came to the place, but there was no
jaguar. There were plenty of evidences of the struggle. The mutilated
body of a beautiful marsh-deer was lying on the moist ground, pieces of
fur and flesh were scattered around, and the blood had even spurted on
the surrounding leaves and branches. Francisco had wounded the jaguar,
no doubt--at least he said so, but plainly he had not killed it nor
disabled it to such extent that it had remained on the spot.
We commenced searching in the underbrush, for it was evident it could
not be far off. The bloody track could be followed for some distance;
in fact, in one place the thorny roots of the remarkable _pachiuba_
palm-tree, the roots that the women here use for kitchen graters,
had torn off a bunch of long, beautiful hair from the sides of the
jaguar, which very likely was weak and was dragging itself to some
cluster of trees where it could be safe, or else to find a point of
vantage to fall upon its pursuers.
We searched for some time. The forest was growing dark, and the many
noises of the night began. First came the yelping of the toucan, which
sounded like the carefree yap-yap of some clumsy little pup. Then
came the chattering of the night monkeys and the croaking of the
thousands of frogs that hide in the swamps. And still no traces of the
jaguar. Again we separated. The dog had run home utterly scared. Now
and then we would whistle so as not to lose track of each other. I
regretted that I had been so careless as to leave my ammunition
at home, as it might happen that the wounded and enraged cat would
spring at us from some dark cluster of branches, and then a machete
would hardly be an adequate weapon.
We searched for over an hour until it was pitch dark, but, sad to
relate, we never found that jaguar. We went home silently. Francisco
did not secure the reward.
This incident is of no particular interest as the result of the
excursion was nil and our humour consequently very bad. But it serves
to show how the mind of man will be influenced by local surroundings,
and how it adapts itself to strange customs, and how a novice may be
so greatly enthused that he will, half-armed, enter upon a reckless
hunt for a wounded jaguar.