AMONG THE CANNIBAL MANGEROMAS
I have a vague recollection of hearing the barking of dogs, of
changing my crawling direction to head for the sound, and then,
suddenly, seeing in front of me a sight which had the same effect as
a rescuing steamer on the shipwrecked.
To my confused vision it seemed that I saw many men and women and
children, and a large, round house; I saw parrots fly across the
open space in brilliant, flashing plumage and heard their shrill
screaming. I cried aloud and fell forward when a little curly-haired
dog jumped up and commenced licking my face, and then I knew no more.
When I came to I was lying in a comfortable hammock in a large, dark
room. I heard the murmur of many voices and presently a man came over
and looked at me. I did not understand where I was, but thought that
I, finally, had gone mad. I fell asleep again. The next time I woke
up I saw an old woman leaning over me and holding in her hand a gourd
containing some chicken-broth which I swallowed slowly, not feeling
the cravings of hunger, in fact not knowing whether I was dead or
alive. The old woman had a peculiar piece of wood through her lip
and looked very unreal to me, and I soon fell asleep again.
On the fifth day, so I learned later, I began to feel my senses
return, my fever commenced to abate, and I was able to grasp the
fact that I had crawled into the _maloca_, or communal village,
of the Mangeromas. I was as weak as a kitten, and, indeed, it has
been a marvel to me ever since that I succeeded at all in coming
out of the Shadow. The savages, by tender care, with strengthening
drinks prepared in their own primitive method, wrought the miracle,
and returned to life a man who was as near death as any one could be,
and not complete the transition. They fed me at regular intervals,
thus checking my sickness, and when I could make out their meaning,
I understood that I could stay with them as long as I desired.
Luckily I had kept my spectacles on my nose (they were the kind that
fasten back of the ears) during the previous hardships, and I found
these sticking in their position when I awoke. My khaki coat was on the
ground under my hammock, and the first thing was to ascertain if the
precious contents of its large pockets had been disturbed, but I found
everything safe. The exposed plates were there in their closed boxes,
the gold dust was also there and mocked me with its yellow glare,
and my hypodermic outfit was intact and was used without delay, much
to the astonishment of some of the men, standing around my hammock.
When my head was clear and strong enough to raise, I turned and began
my first visual exploration of my immediate surroundings. The big room
I found to be a colossal house, forty feet high and one hundred and
fifty feet in diameter, thatched with palm-leaves and with sides formed
of the stems of the _pachiuba_ tree. It was the communal residence of
this entire tribe, consisting, as I learned later, of two hundred and
fifty-eight souls. A single door and a circular opening in the roof
were the only apertures of this enormous structure. The door was very
low, not more than four feet, so that it was necessary to creep on
one's knees to enter the place, and this opening was closed at night,
that is to say, about six o'clock, by a sliding door which fitted so
snugly that I never noticed any mosquitoes or _piums_ in the dark,
cool room.
The next day I could get out of my hammock, though I could not
stand or walk without the aid of two women, who took me over to a
man I later found to be the chief of the tribe. He was well-fed,
and by his elaborate dress was distinguished from the rest of the
men. He had a very pleasant, good-natured smile, and almost constantly
displayed a row of white, sharp-filed teeth. This smile gave me some
confidence, but I very well knew that I was now living among cannibal
Indians, whose reputation in this part of the Amazon is anything but
flattering. I prepared for the new ordeal without any special fear--my
feelings seemed by this time to have been pretty well exhausted and
any appreciation of actual danger was considerably reduced as a result
of the gamut of the terrors which I had run.
I addressed the Chief in the Portuguese language, which I had learned
during my stay at Floresta headquarters, and also in Spanish but he
only shook his head; all my efforts were useless. He let me know
in a friendly manner that my hammock was to be my resting-place
and that I would not be molested. His tribe was one that occupied
an almost unknown region and had no connection with white men or
Brazilians or people near the river. I tried in the course of the
mimical conversation to make him understand that, with six companions
from a big Chief's _maloca_ (meaning Coronel da Silva and the Floresta
headquarters), I had penetrated into the woods near this mighty Chief's
_maloca_,--here I pointed at the Chief--that the men had died from
fever and I was left alone and that luckily, I had found my way to
the free men of the forest (here I made a sweeping movement with my
hands). He nodded and the audience was over. I was led back to my
hammock to dream and eat, and dream again.
Although the Chief and his men presented an appearance wholly unknown
to me, yet it did not seem to distract me at the first glance, but
as my faculties slowly returned to their former activity, I looked
at them and found them very strange figures, indeed. Every man had
two feathers inserted in the cartilage of his nose; at some distance
it appeared as if they wore moustaches. Besides this, the Chief had
a sort of feather-dress reaching half way down to his knees; this
was simply a quantity of _mutum_ feathers tied together as a girdle
by means of plant-fibres. The women wore no clothing whatever, their
only ornamentation being the oval wooden piece in the lower lip and
fancifully arranged designs on face, arms, and body. The colours which
they preferred were scarlet and black, and they procured these dyes
from two plants that grew in the forest near by. They would squeeze
the pulp of the fruits and apply the rich-coloured juice with their
fingers, forming one scarlet ring around each eye, outside of this a
black and larger ring, and, finally, two scarlet bands reaching from
the temples to the chin.
There were probably sixty-five families in this communal hut,
all having their little households scattered throughout the place
without any separating partitions whatever. The many poles which
supported the roof formed the only way of distinguishing the individual
households. The men strung their hammocks between the poles in such a
way that they formed a triangle, and in the middle of this a fire was
always going. Here the women were doing the cooking of game that the
men brought in at all times of the day. The men slept in the hammocks,
while the women were treated less cavalierly; they slept with their
children on the ground under the hammocks around the little family
triangle. As a rule they had woven mats made of grass-fibre and
coloured with the juices of the _urucu_ plant and the _genipapa_,
but in many instances they had skins of jaguars, and, which was more
frequent, the furs of the three-toed sloths. These were placed around
the family fire, directly under the hammocks occupied by the men. In
these hammocks the men did most of the repair work on their bows and
arrows when necessary, here they fitted the arrow heads to the shafts,
in fact, they spent all their time in them when not actually hunting
in the forests.
The hospitality of my friends proved unbounded. The Chief appointed
two young girls to care for me, and though they were not startling
from any point of view, especially when remembering their labial
ornaments and their early developed abdominal hypertrophies, they were
as kind as any one could have been, watching me when I tried to walk
and supporting me when I became too weak. There was a certain broth
they prepared, which was delicious, but there were others which were
nauseating and which I had to force myself to eat. I soon learned
that it was impolite to refuse any dish that was put in front of me,
no matter how repugnant. One day the Chief ordered me to come over to
his family triangle and have dinner with him. The meal consisted of
some very tender fried fish which were really delicious; then followed
three broiled parrots with fried bananas which were equally good;
but then came a soup which I could not swallow. The first mouthful
almost choked me,--the meat which was one of the ingredients tasted
and smelled as if it had been kept for weeks, the herbs which were
used were so bitter and gave out such a rank odour that my mouth
puckered and the muscles of my throat refused to swallow. The Chief
looked at me and frowned, and then I remembered the forest from which
I had lately arrived and the starvation and the terrors; I closed my
eyes and swallowed the dish, seeking what mental relief I could find
in the so-called auto-suggestion.
But I had the greatest respect for the impulsive, unreasoning nature
of these sons of the forest. Easily insulted, they are well-nigh
implacable. This incident shows upon what a slender thread my life
hung. The friends of one moment might become vindictive foes of
the next.
Besides the head-Chief there were two sub-Chiefs, so that in case of
sickness or death there would be always one regent. They were plainly
distinguished by their dress, which consisted mainly of fancifully
arranged feather belts of _arara_, _mutum_, and trumpeter plumes
covering the shoulders and abdomen. These articles of dress were made
by young women of the tribe: women who wanted to become favourites of
the Chief and sub-Chiefs. They often worked for months on a feather
dress and when finished presented it to the particular Chief whose
favour they desired.
The Chiefs had several wives, but the tribesmen were never allowed to
take more than one. Whenever a particularly pretty girl desired to
join the household of the Great Chief or of a sub-Chief, she set to
work and for months and months she made necklaces of alligator teeth,
peccary teeth, and finely carved ivory nuts and coloured pieces of
wood. She also would weave some elaborate hammock and fringe this
with the bushy tails of the squirrels and the forest-cats, and when
these articles were done, she would present them to the Chief, who,
in return for these favours, would bestow upon her the great honour
of accepting her as a wife.
There seemed to be few maladies among these people; in fact, during
the five weeks I spent with them, I never saw a case of fever nor of
anything else. When a person died the body was carried far into the
woods, where a fire was built, and it was cremated. The party would
then leave in a hurry and never return to the same spot; they were
afraid of the Spirit of the Dead. They told me that they could hear
the Spirit far off in the forests at night when the moon was shining.
The men were good hunters and were experts in the use of bow and arrow
and also the blow-gun, and never failed to bring home a fresh supply
of game for the village. This supply was always divided equally,
so that no one should receive more than he needed for the day. At
first glance the men might appear lazy, but why should they hurry
and worry when they have no landlord, and no grocer's bills to pay;
in fact, the value of money is entirely unknown to them.
I was allowed to walk around as I pleased, everybody showing me a
kindness for which I shall ever gratefully remember these "savages." I
frequently spent my forenoons on a tree trunk outside the _maloca_
with the Chief, who took a particular interest in my welfare. We
would sit for hours and talk, he sometimes pointing at an object
and giving its Indian name, which I would repeat until I got the
right pronunciation. Thus, gradually instructed, and by watching
the men and women as they came and went, day after day, I was able
to understand some of their language and learned to answer questions
fairly well. They never laughed at my mistakes, but repeated a word
until I had it right.
The word of the Chief was law and no one dared appeal from the
decisions of this man. In fact, there would have been nobody to appeal
to, for the natives believed him vested with mysterious power which
made him the ruler of men. I once had occasion to see him use the
power which had been given him.
I had accompanied two young Indians, one of whom was the man we had
met in the forest on our return trip not far from that fatal _tambo_
No. 3. His name, at least as it sounded to me, was Reré. They carried
bows and arrows and I my automatic pistol, although I had no great
intention of using it. What little ammunition I had left I desired to
keep for an emergency and, besides, I reasoned that I might, at some
future time, be able to use the power and noise of the weapon to good
advantage if I kept the Indians ignorant of them for the present.
We had scarcely gone a mile, when we discovered on the opposite
side of a creek, about one hundred and fifty yards away, a wild hog
rooting for food. We were on a slight elevation ourselves and under
cover of the brush, while the hog was exposed to view on the next
knoll. Almost simultaneously my companions fitted arrows to their
bow-strings. Instead of shooting point blank, manipulating the bows
with their hands and arms, they placed their great and second toes
on the cords on the ground, and with their left arms gave the proper
tension and inclination to the bows which were at least eight feet
long. With a whirr the poisoned arrows shot forth and, while the
cords still twanged, sailed gracefully through the air, describing
a hyperbola, fell with a speed that made them almost invisible, and
plunged into the animal on each side of his neck a little back from
the base of the brain.
The hog dropped in his tracks, and I doubt if he could have lived
even though the arrows had not been poisoned. Tying his feet together
with plant-fibres we slung the body over a heavy pole and carried it
to the _maloca_. All the way the two fellows disputed as to who was
the owner of the hog, and from time to time they put the carcass on
the ground to gesticulate and argue. I thought they would come to
blows. When they appealed to me I declared that the arrows had sped
so rapidly that my eyes could not follow them and therefore could
not tell which arrow had found its mark first.
A few yards from the house my friends fell to arguing again, and a
crowd collected about them, cheering first the one then the other. My
suggestion that the game be divided was rejected as showing very
poor judgment. Finally, the dispute grew to such proportions that the
Chief sent a messenger to learn the cause of the trouble and report
it to him.
The emissary retired and the crowd immediately began to disperse and
the combatants quieted. The messenger soon returned saying that the
Great Chief would judge the case and ordered the men to enter the
_maloca_. With some difficulty the hog was dragged through the door
opening and all the inhabitants crawled in after. The Chief was decked
out in a new and splendid feather dress, his face had received a fresh
coat of paint (in fact, the shells of the _urucu_ plant with which he
coloured his face and body scarlet were still lying under his hammock),
and his nose was supplied with a new set of _mutum_ feathers. He was
sitting in his hammock which was made of fine, braided, multi-coloured
grass-fibres and was fringed with numerous squirrel tails. The whole
picture was one which impressed me as being weirdly fantastic and
extremely picturesque, the reddish, flickering light from the fires
adding a mystic colour to the scene. On the opposite side of the fire
from where the Chief was sitting lay the body of the hog, and at each
end of the carcass stood the two hunters, straight as saplings, gazing
stolidly ahead. In a semi-circle, facing the Chief and surrounding the
disputants, was the tribe, squatting on the ground. The Chief motioned
to me to seat myself on the ground alongside of the hammock where he
was sitting. The men told their story, now and then looking to me for
an affirmative nod of the head. After having listened to the argument
of the hunters for a considerable time without uttering a syllable, and
regarding the crowd with a steady, unblinking expression, with a trace
of a satirical smile around the corners of his mouth, which suited him
admirably, the Chief finally spoke. He said, "The hog is mine.--Go!"
The matter was ended with this wise judgment, and there seemed to be
no disposition to grumble or re-appeal to the great authority.
My life among the Mangeromas was, for the greater part, free from
adventure, at least as compared with former experiences, and yet I was
more than once within an inch of meeting death. In fact, I think that
I looked more squarely in the eyes of death in that peaceful little
community than ever I did out in the wilds of the jungle or in my most
perilous adventures. The creek that ran near the _maloca_ supplied
the Indians with what water they needed for drinking purposes. Besides
this the creek gave them an abundant supply of fish, a dish that made
its appearance at every meal. Whatever washing was to be done--the
natives took a bath at least twice a day--was done at some distance
down the creek so as not to spoil the water for drinking and culinary
purposes. Whenever I was thirsty I was in the habit of stooping down
at the water's edge to scoop the fluid up in my curved hands. One
morning I had been tramping through the jungle with two companions
who were in search of game, and I was very tired and hot when we
came to a little stream which I took to be the same that ran past the
_maloca_. My friends were at a short distance from me, beating their
way through the underbrush, when I stooped to quench my thirst. The
cool water looked to me like the very Elixir of Life. At that moment,
literally speaking, I was only two inches from death. Hearing a sharp
cry behind me I turned slightly to feel a rough hand upon my shoulders
and found myself flung backwards on the ground.
"Poison," was the reply to my angry question. Then my friend explained,
and as he talked my knees wobbled and I turned pale. It seems that
the Mangeromas often poison the streams below the drinking places
in order to get rid of their enemies. In the present case there
had been a rumour that a party of Peruvian rubber-workers might be
coming up the creek, and this is always a signal of trouble among
these Indians. Although you cannot induce a Brazilian to go into the
Indian settlements or _malocas_, the Peruvians are more than willing
to go there, because of the chance of abducting girls. To accomplish
this, a few Peruvians sneak close to the _maloca_ at night, force the
door, which is always bolted to keep out the Evil Spirit, but which
without difficulty can be cut open, and fire a volley of shots into
the hut. The Indians sleep with the blow-guns and arrows suspended
from the rafters, and before they can collect their sleepy senses
and procure the weapons the Peruvians, in the general confusion,
have carried off some of the girls. The Mangeromas, therefore, hate
the Peruvians and will go to any extreme to compass their death. The
poisoning of the rivers is effected by the root of a plant that is
found throughout the Amazon valley; the plant belongs to the genus
_Lonchocarpus_ and bears a small cluster of bluish blossoms which
produce a pod about two inches in length. It is only the yellow roots
that are used for poisoning the water. This is done by crushing the
roots and throwing the pulp into the stream, when all animal life
will be killed or driven away.
It seems strange that during my stay among the Mangeromas, who were
heathens and even cannibals, I saw no signs of idolatry. They believed
implicitly in a good and an evil spirit. The good spirit was too good
to do them any harm and consequently they did not bother with him;
but the evil spirit was more active and could be heard in the dark
nights, howling and wailing far off in the forest as he searched for
lonely wanderers, whom he was said to devour.
Thinking to amuse some of my friends, I one day kindled a flame by
means of my magnifying glass and a few dry twigs. A group of ten or
twelve Indians had gathered squatting in a circle about me, to see
the wonder that I was to exhibit, but at the sight of smoke followed
by flame they were badly scared and ran for the house, where they
called the Chief. He arrived on the scene with his usual smile.
He asked me to show him what I had done. I applied the focussed rays
of the sun to some more dry leaves and twigs and, finally, the flames
broke out again. The Chief was delighted and begged me to make him a
present of the magnifier. As I did not dare to refuse, I showed him
how to use it and then presented it with as good grace as I could.
Some time after this, I learned that two Peruvians had been caught
in a trap set for the purpose. The unfortunate men had spent a whole
night in a pit, nine feet deep, and were discovered the next forenoon
by a party of hunters, who immediately killed them with unpoisoned,
big-game arrows. In contrast to the North-American Indians they never
torture captives, but kill them as quickly as possible.
I had plenty of opportunity to investigate the different kinds
of traps used by the Mangeromas for catching Peruvian _caboclos_
or half-breeds. First of all in importance is the pit-trap, into
which the aforesaid men had fallen. It is simple but ingenious in its
arrangement. A hole about nine feet deep and eight feet wide is dug
in the ground at a place where the _caboclos_ are liable to come. A
cover is laid across this and cleverly disguised with dead leaves and
branches so as to exactly resemble the surrounding soil. This cover
is constructed of branches placed parallel, and is slightly smaller
than the diameter of the pit. It is balanced on a stick, tied across
the middle in such a manner that the slightest weight on any part will
cause it to turn over and precipitate the object into the pit whence
egress is impossible. Besides this, the walls of the pit are inclined,
the widest part being at the bottom, and they gradually slope inward
till the level of the ground is reached. When the victim is discovered
he is quickly killed, as in the case noted above.
The second trap, which I had an opportunity to investigate, is the
so-called _araya_ trap. It is merely a small piece of ground thickly
set with the barbed bones of the sting-ray. These bones are slightly
touched with wourahli poison and, concealed as they are under dead
leaves, they inflict severe wounds on the bare feet of the _caboclos_,
and death follows within a short period.
The third trap, and the most ingenious of all, is the blow-gun
trap. One day the sub-Chief, a tall, gloomy-looking fellow, took me
to one of these traps and explained everything, till I had obtained
a thorough knowledge of the complicated apparatus. The blow-gun of
these Indians is supplied with a wide mouth-piece and requires but
slight air pressure to shoot the arrow at a considerable speed. In
the trap one is placed horizontally so as to point at a right angle
to the path leading to the _maloca_. At the "breech" of the gun is a
young sapling, severed five feet above the ground. To this is tied a
broad and straight bark-strip which, when the sapling is in its normal
vertical position, completely covers the mouth-piece. The gun was
not loaded on this occasion, as it had been accidentally discharged
the day before. To set the trap, a long, thin, and pliable climber,
which in these forests is so plentiful, is attached to the end of
the severed sapling, when this is bent to its extreme position
and is then led over branches, serving as pulleys, right across
the path and directly in front of the mouth of the blow-gun and
is tied to some small root covered with leaves. When the _caboclo_
passes along this path at night to raid the Indian _maloca,_ he must
sever this thin bushrope or climber, thereby releasing suddenly the
tension of the sapling. The bark-flap is drawn quickly up against
the mouth-piece with a slap that forces sufficient air into the gun
to eject the arrow. All this takes place in a fraction of a second;
a slight flapping sound is heard and the arrow lodges in the skin of
the unfortunate _caboclo_. He can never walk more than twenty yards,
for the poison rapidly paralyses his limbs. Death follows in less
than ten minutes.
The bodies of these captured _caboclos_ are soon found by the
"police warriors" of the tribe and carried to the _maloca_. On such
occasions a day of feasting always follows and an obscure religious
rite is performed.
It is true that the Mangeromas are cannibals, but at the same time
their habits and morals are otherwise remarkably clean. Without their
good care and excellent treatment, I have no doubt I would now be
with my brave companions out in that dark, green jungle.
But to return to my story of the two Peruvians caught in the pit-trap:
the warriors cut off the hands and feet of both corpses, pulled
the big game arrows out of the bodies, and had an audience with the
Chief. He seemed to be well satisfied, but spoke little, just nodding
his head and smiling. Shortly after the village prepared for a grand
feast. The fires were rebuilt, the pots and jars were cleaned, and a
scene followed which to me was frightful. Had it not happened, I should
always have believed this little world out in the wild forest an ideal,
pure, and morally clean community. But now I could only hasten to my
hammock and simulate sleep, for I well knew, from previous experience,
that otherwise I would have to partake of the meal in preparation: a
horrible meal of human flesh! It was enough for me to see them strip
the flesh from the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet and
fry these delicacies in the lard of tapir I hoped to see no more.
An awful thought coursed through my brain when I beheld the men bend
eagerly over the pans to see if the meat were done. How long would it
be, I said to myself, before they would forget themselves and place
my own extremities in the same pots and pans. Such a possibility
was not pleasant to contemplate, but as I had found the word of
these Indians to be always good, I believed I was safe. They were
never false and they hated falsehood. True, they were cunning, but
once their friend always their friend, through thick and thin. And
the Chief had promised that I should not be eaten, either fried or
stewed! Therefore I slept in peace.
I had long desired to see the hunters prepare the mysterious wourahli
poison, which acts so quickly and painlessly, and which allows the
game killed by it to be eaten without interfering with the nutritive
qualities. Only three men in this village understood the proper mixing
of the ingredients, although everybody knew the two plants from which
the poisonous juices were obtained. One of these is a vine that grows
close to the creeks. The stem is about two inches in diameter and
covered with a rough greyish bark. It yields several round fruits,
shaped like an apple, containing seeds imbedded in a very bitter
pulp. The other is also a vine and bears small bluish flowers, but it
is only the roots of this that are used. These are crushed and steeped
in water for several days. The three men in our village who understood
the concoction of this poison collected the plants themselves once
a month. When they returned from their expedition they set to work
at once scraping the first named vine into fine shavings and mixing
these in an earthen jar with the crushed pulp of the roots of the
second plant. The pot is then placed over a fire and kept simmering
for several hours. At this stage the shavings are removed and thrown
away as useless and several large black ants, the _Tucandeiras_, are
added. This is the ant whose bite is not only painful but absolutely
dangerous to man. The concoction is kept boiling slowly until the
next morning, when it has assumed a thick consistency of a brown
colour and very bitter to the taste. The poison is then tried on some
arrows and if it comes up to the standard it is placed in a small
earthen jar which is covered with a piece of animal skin and it is
ready for use. The arrows, which are from ten to twelve inches long,
are made from the stalks of a certain palm-leaf, the Jacy palm. They
are absolutely straight and true; in fact, they resemble very much
a lady's hat-pin. When the gun is to be used, a piece of cotton is
wound around the end of an arrow and the other end or point inserted
first in the barrel, the cotton acting as a piston by means of which
the air forces the shaft through the tube.
The men always carry a small rubber-pouch containing a few drams of
the poison; the pouch was worn strapped to the waist on the left side,
when on their hunting excursions, and they were extremely careful
in handling it and the arrows. The slightest scratch with the poison
would cause a quick and sure death.
I was so far recuperated by this time that I thought of returning to
civilisation, and I, accordingly, broached the subject to the Chief,
who answered me very kindly, promising that he would send me by the
next full-moon, with some of the wourahli men, down to the Branco
River, and from there they would guide me within a safe distance of
the rubber-estate, situated at the junction with the Itecoahy.
One day I was informed that a friendly call on a neighbouring tribe was
being contemplated and that I could accompany the Chief and his men.
At last the time arrived and the expedition was organised. I was not
absolutely sure how I would be treated by these up-stream Indians,
and I am almost ashamed to confess that, in spite of all the faithful,
unswerving friendship which the Mangeromas had shown me, I had it in
my mind that these other Indians might harm me, so black was the name
that people down at the settlements had given them.
Until this time, as related above, I had thought best not to exhibit
the character of my automatic pistol, and I had never used it here,
but before I started on this journey I decided to give them an
example of its power, and possibly awe them. Inviting the Chief and
all the tribe to witness my experiment, I explained to them that
this little weapon would make a great noise and bore a hole through
a thick tree. The Chief examined it gingerly after I had locked the
trigger mechanism. He had heard of such arms, he said, but thought
that they were much larger and heavier. This one, he thought, must
be a baby and he was inclined to doubt its power.
Selecting an "assai" palm of about nine inches diameter, across the
creek, I took steady aim and fired four bullets. Three of the bullets
went through the same hole and the fourth pierced the trunk of the
palm about two inches higher. The Chief and his men hurried across the
creek and examined the holes which caused then to discuss the affair
for more than an hour. The empty shells which had been ejected from the
magazine were picked up by two young girls who fastened them in their
ears with wire-like fibres, whereupon a dozen other women surrounded
me, beseeching me to give them also cartridge-shells. I discharged
more than a dozen bullets, to please these children of the forest,
who were as completely the slaves of fashion as are their sisters of
more civilised lands.
Early the next morning we started up the river. In one canoe the
Chief and I sat on jaguar skins, while two men paddled. In another
canoe were four men armed with bows and arrows and blow-guns, and a
fifth who acted in the capacity of "Wireless Operator." The system
of signalling which he employed was by far the most ingenious device
I saw while in Brazil, and considering their resources and their low
state of culture the affair was little short of marvellous.
Before the canoes were launched, a man fastened two upright forked
sticks on each side of one, near the middle. About three and a
half feet astern of these a cross-piece was laid on the bottom of
the craft. To this was attached two shorter forked sticks. Between
each pair of upright forked sticks was placed another cross-piece,
thus forming two horizontal bars, parallel to each other, one only
a few inches from the bottom of the boat and the other about a foot
and a half above the gunwales. Next, four slabs of Caripari wood of
varying thickness, about three feet long and eight inches wide, were
suspended from these horizontal bars, so as to hang length-wise of
the canoe and at an angle of forty-five degrees. Each pair of slabs
was perforated by a longitudinal slit and they were joined firmly at
their extremities by finely carved and richly painted end-pieces.
The operator strikes the slabs with a wooden mallet or hammer, the
head of which is wrapped with an inch layer of caoutchouc and then
with a cover of thick tapir-skin. Each section of the wooden slabs
gives forth a different note when struck, a penetrating, xylophonic,
tone but devoid of the disagreeably metallic, disharmonic bysounds of
that instrument. The slabs of wood were suspended by means of thin
fibre-cords from the crosspieces, and in this manner all absorption
by the adjacent material was done away with.
By means of many different combinations of the four notes obtained
which, as far as I could ascertain, were _Do--Re--Mi--Fa_, the
operator was able to send any message to a person who understood
this code. The operator seized one mallet with each hand and gave
the thickest section, the _Do_ slat, a blow, followed by a blow with
the left hand mallet on the _Re_ slat; a blow on the _Mi_ slat and on
the _Fa_ slat followed in quick succession. These four notes, given
rapidly and repeated several times, represented the tuning up of the
"wireless," calculated to catch the attention of the operator at the
_maloca_ up-creek. The sound was very powerful, but rather pleasant,
and made the still forest resound with a musical echo. He repeated this
tuning process several times, but received no answer and we proceeded
for a mile. Then we stopped and signalled again. Very faintly came
a reply from some invisible source. I learned afterwards that at
this time we were at least five miles from the answering station. As
soon as communication was thus established the first message was sent
through the air, and it was a moment of extreme suspense for me when
the powerful notes vibrated through the depth of the forest. I shall
never forget this message, not only because it was ethnographically
interesting, but because so much of my happiness depended upon
a favourable reply. I made the operator repeat it for my benefit
when we later returned to our village, and I learned it by heart by
whistling it. When printed it looks like this:
After each message the operator explained its meaning. The purport
of this first message was so important to me that I awaited the
translation with much the same feelings that a prisoner listens for
the verdict of the jury when it files back into the court-room.
Questions and answers now came in rapid succession. "A white man
is coming with us; he seems to have a good heart, and to be of good
character."
Whereupon the deciding answer was translated: "You are all welcome
provided you place your arms in the bottom of the canoe."
Next message: "We ask you to place your arms in the _maloca_; we
are friends."
After the last message we paddled briskly ahead, and at the end of
one hour's work we made a turn of the creek and saw a large open
space where probably five hundred Indians had assembled outside of
two round _malocas_, constructed like ours. How much I now regretted
leaving my precious camera out in the forest, but that was a thing of
the past and the loss could not be repaired. The view that presented
itself to my eyes was a splendid and rare one for a civilised man
to see. The crowd standing on the banks had never seen a white man
before; how would they greet me?
Little dogs barked, large scarlet _araras_ screamed in the tree-tops,
and the little children hid themselves behind their equally fearful
mothers. The tribal Chief, a big fellow, decorated with squirrel tails
and feathers of the _mutum_ bird around, his waist and with the tail
feathers of the scarlet and blue _arara_-parrot adorning his handsome
head, stood in front with his arms folded.
We landed and the operator dismantled his musical apparatus and laid
it carefully in the bottom of the canoe. The two Chiefs embraced each
other, at the same time uttering their welcome greeting "_He--He_." I
was greeted in the same cordial manner and we all entered the Chief's
_maloca_ in a long procession. Here in the village of the kindred
tribe we stayed for two days, enjoying unlimited hospitality and
kindness. Most of the time was spent eating, walking around the
_malocas_, looking at dugouts, and at the farinha plants.
On the third day we went back to our _maloca_ where I prepared for
my return trip to civilisation. It was now the beginning of October.
I would, finally, have recorded many words of the Mangeroma language
had not my pencil given out after I had been there a month. The
pencil was an "ink-pencil," that is, a pencil with a solid "lead" of
bluish colour, very soft, sometimes called "indelible pencil." This
lead became brittle from the moisture of the air and broke into
fragments so that I could do nothing with it, and my recording was
at an end. Fortunately I had made memoranda covering the life and
customs before this.