THE FATAL MARCH THROUGH THE FOREST
Thus I lived among these kind and hospitable people for five months
until one day my lust for further excitement broke out again, induced
by a seemingly commonplace notice posted outside the door of the
storeroom. It read: "The men--Marques, Freitas, Anisette, Magellaes,
Jerome, and Brabo--are to make themselves ready to hunt caoutchouc
in the eastern virgin forest." Puzzled as to the meaning of this,
I consulted the Chief and was informed that Coronel da Silva was
about to equip and send out a small expedition into the forests,
far beyond the explored territory, to locate new caoutchouc trees,
which were to be cut and the rubber or caoutchouc collected, whereupon
the expedition was to return to headquarters with these samples and a
report on the number of trees observed. This greatly interested me, and
I asked the Chief, Marques, whose wife I had operated upon previously,
if I could accompany him on this trip. He consented unwillingly, saying
that it was very dangerous and that the same number of men that went
out never came back. However, this was too rare a chance to let pass,
and I made my preparations to accompany the expedition on this journey
into regions where even the native _caucheros_ had never before been.
On a Monday morning we all assembled at the Floresta headquarters,
where Coronel da Silva bade us good-bye, and at the same time once
more warned me against venturing on this trip, but I was determined
and could not be persuaded to give it up.
The expedition consisted of the six men, above mentioned, all, except
the Chief, Marques, unmarried. After leaving the main building we
went down to the store-room where we chose the necessary articles
of food--enough to last us for three or four weeks. Our staples
were to be dried _pirarucu_, the largest fish of the Amazon, some
dried or "jerked" beef, and a large quantity of the farinha, the
eternal woody and unpalatable meal that figures on every Brazilian's
table. Besides these, we carried sugar, coffee, rice, and several
bottles of "Painkiller" from Fulton Street, N.Y. Hammocks and cooking
utensils completed our outfit. I took with me a large plate camera,
photographic plates and paper, chemicals, scales and weights; also
a magnifying glass, a primitive surgical outfit, and a hypodermic
needle with several dozen prepared "ampules." My men were armed with
the usual .44 Winchesters and some ancient muzzle-loaders, while I
had my 9mm. automatic Luger pistol. When we were fully packed, each
man carried a load weighing eighty-five pounds, strapped by means of
bark strips to the shoulders, with his rifle in his left hand and a
machete to clear the path in his right.
Thus equipped, we left headquarters, not knowing how or when we
would see it again, while the natives fired a farewell salute,
wishing us God-speed.
After a few hours by canoe, up the Itecoahy, we left the river and
turned our faces inland. Our way now led through dense forest, but for
four hours we travelled in a region familiar to the rubber-workers,
and we were able to follow pathways used by them in their daily work.
Let no one think that a jungle trail is broad and easy. As I stumbled
along the tortuous, uneven path, in the sweltering mid-day heat,
pestered by legions of _piums_ or sand-flies and the omnipresent
mosquitoes, climbing, fallen trees that impeded us at every turn,
I thought that I had reached the climax of discomfort. Little could
I know that during the time to come I was to look back upon this day
as one of easy, delightful promenading.
The four hours' march brought us to an open place, apparently a
clearing, where the _estrada_ suddenly seemed to stop. Exhausted,
I threw myself on the moist ground while the Chief explained our
position. He said that we were now at the end of the cut _estrada_
and that beyond this we would have no path to follow, though he had
somewhat explored the region farther on the year previous, during a
similar expedition. We found that the undergrowth had been renewed
to such an extent that his old track was indistinguishable, and we
had to hew our every step. When we resumed the march I received a more
thorough understanding of what the word _jungle_ really means. Ahead of
us was one solid and apparently impenetrable wall of vegetation, but
my men attacked it systematically with their heavy machetes. Slowly
we advanced, but I wondered that we made any progress at all. The
skill of these sons of the forest in cutting a pathway with their
long knives became a constant wonder to me. Where an inexperienced
person would have lost himself, looking for a round-about easy course,
these men moved straight ahead, hewing and hacking right and left,
the play of the swift blades seemingly dissolving all obstacles in
their path. Some idea of the density of the growth can be gathered
from the fact that if a man moved off he became instantly invisible
although he might be only a yard or two away.
Late in the afternoon we reached a small hut or _tambo_ built on
the former trip by the Chief. It was nothing but a roof on poles,
but it was a welcome sight to us as it meant rest and food. We were
tired and hungry and were glad to find a small creek close by where
we could refresh ourselves, taking care to keep out of the reach of
the alligators and water-snakes swimming close to the weeds by the
shore. For our supper we gave the dried _pirarucu_ flesh a boil and
soaked some farinha in water, eating this tasteless repast with as much
gusto as we would if it had been roast beef. Let me here recommend
this diet for any gourmet whose appetite has been impaired, and he
will soon be able to enjoy a stew of shoe-leather. One of the men, a
good-natured athlete, Jerome by name, was sent out after fresh meat,
and brought back a weird little animal resembling a fox (_cuti_). We
decided to test it as a stew, but, lacking salt, we found the dried
_pirarucu_ preferable.
The excitement of the night was furnished by ants, which had built
a nest in the _tambo_ where we had swung our hammocks. The visitors
swarmed up poles and down ropes and would not be denied entrance. Wads
of cotton smeared with vaseline and bandaged around the fastenings of
the hammock proved no obstacle. It was impossible to sleep; mosquitoes
came to the assistance of the ants and managed to find their way
through the mosquito-net. To complete the general "cheerfulness,"
the tree-tops were full of little spider-monkeys whispering mournfully
throughout the dark and showery night.
The second day's march took us through the region which the Chief
had explored the year before, and we spent the night in another
_tambo_ built on that occasion. Our progress, however, was made with
increasing difficulty, as the land had become more hilly and broken
and the forest, if possible, more dense and wild. We were now at a
considerable distance from the river-front and in a region where the
yearly inundation could never reach. This stage of the journey remains
among the few pleasant memories of that terrible expedition, through
what I may call the gastronomic revel with which it ended. Jerome had
succeeded in bringing down with his muzzle-loader a _mutum_, a bird
which in flavour and appearance reminds one of a turkey, while I was so
lucky as to bag a nice fat deer (marsh-deer). This happened at _tambo_
No. 2. We called each successive hut by its respective number. Here we
had a great culinary feast, so great that during the following days I
thought of this time with a sad "_ils sont passé, ces jours de fête_."
Now, guided by the position of the sun, we held a course due west, our
ultimate destination being a far-off region where the Chief expected
to find large areas covered with fine caoutchouc trees. The ground
was hilly and interspersed with deeply cut creeks where we could see
the ugly heads of the _jararaca_ snakes pop up as if they were waiting
for us. There was only one way of crossing these creeks; this was by
felling a young tree across the stream for a bridge. A long slender
stick was then cut and one end placed at the bottom of the creek, when
each man seizing this in his right hand steadied himself over the tree
to the other side of the deep treacherous water. It required steady
nerve to walk this trunk, such as I did not possess, therefore I found
it safer to hang from the levelled bole by my hands and travel across
in that manner. _Tambo_ No. 3 we constructed ourselves, as we did every
other for the rest of the journey. We always selected a site near a
creek that we were following, and cleared away the underbrush so as to
leave an open area of about twenty-five feet square, always allowing
one tree to remain for a corner. A framework of saplings tied together
with strips of _matamata_ bark was raised for a roof, and across this
were laid gigantic leaves of the _murumuru_, twenty-five to thirty
feet long. The hammocks were then strung beneath, and we managed to
keep comparatively sheltered from the nightly rain that always occurs
in these deep forests. After the frugal meal of _pirarucu_ and dried
farinha, or of some game we had picked up during the march, we would
creep into our hammocks and smoke, while the men told hunting stories,
or sang their monotonous, unmelodious tribal songs.
It must have been about two o'clock in the morning when I was awakened
by a terrific roaring which fairly made the forest tremble. Sitting
up and staring fearfully into the darkness, I heard the crashing
of underbrush and trees close upon us. My first thought was of a
hurricane, but in the confusion of my senses, stunned by the impact
of sound, I had few clear impressions. My companions were calling one
another. The noise grew louder, more terrifying. Suddenly the little
world around me went to smash in one mad upheaval. The roof of the
_tambo_ collapsed and fell upon us. At the same instant I felt some
huge body brush past me, hurling me sprawling to the ground. The noise
was deafening, mingled with the shrieks and excited yellings of my men,
but the object passed swiftly in the direction of the creek.
Some one now thought of striking a light to discover the extent of
the damage. The _tambo_ was a wreck; the hammocks were one tangled
mass. Jerome, who had jumped from his hammock when he first heard
the noise, followed the "hurricane" to the creek and soon solved
the mystery of the storm that swept our little camp. He told us,
it was a jaguar, which had sprung upon the back of a large tapir
while the animal was feeding in the woods behind our _tambo_. The
tapir started for the creek in the hope of knocking the jaguar off
its back by rushing through the underbrush; not succeeding in this,
its next hope was the water in the creek. It had chosen a straight
course through our _tambo_.
The next day we were successful in killing two howling monkeys;
these were greeted with loud yells of joy, as we had not been able
to locate any game during the last twenty-four hours' march. This is
easy to understand. We were much absorbed in cutting our way through
the bushes and the game was scared away long before we could sight it.
After the ninth day of wearisome journeying, the Chief found signs
of numerous caoutchouc trees, indicating a rich district, and it was
accordingly decided that _tambo_ No. 9 should be our last. We were
now fully 150 miles from the Floresta headquarters and some 120 miles
back in the absolutely unknown. That night the temperature went down
to 41° Fahrenheit, a remarkable drop so close to the equator and on
such low ground, but it was undoubtedly due to the fact that the sun
never penetrates the dark foliage of the surrounding dense forests
where the swamps between the hills give off their damp exhalations.
Up to this point I had not feared the jungle more than I would have
feared any other forest, but soon a dread commenced to take hold
of me, now that I could see how a great danger crept closer and
closer--danger of starvation and sickness. Our supplies were growing
scant when we reached _tambo_ No. 9, and yet we lingered, forgetful
of the precarious position into which we had thrust ourselves, and
the violated wilderness was preparing to take its revenge.
I suppose our carelessness in remaining was due in part to the
exhausted state to which we had been reduced, and which made us
all rejoice in the comfort of effortless days rather than face new
exertions.