THE DEVIL'S PARADISE
The next morning, January 3rd, Serrano took me out for a stroll in the
forest, and, after considerable meditation, surprised me by proposing to
sell us a half-interest in his business. He then went on to explain his
reason, which, briefly, was that he considered that the Peruvian Amazon
Company would not dare to molest him were he not a Colombian, and that
if some foreigners were interested in his business they would have to
keep their hands off him in order to avoid complications. This point
seeming reasonable, I asked him about his profits and the price he
thought proper, both of which seemed very satisfactory. Returning to the
house, I looked over his books, which corresponded with what he had told
me, and, after some more conversation, I agreed to consider his
proposition and talk it over with Perkins upon his arrival. To tell the
truth I was greatly elated over this offer, for the price he asked was
ridiculously low in comparison with the annual profits, as revealed by
his books. His reason, too, seemed logical, for I could not believe that
the "civilising company" would dare to play any such games with Perkins
and myself.
At about 2 p.m. Orjuela, a white, handsome, determined-looking man of
about thirty-five, arrived, in company with another gentleman, who was
introduced to me as Señor Gustavo Prieto. Both seemed very decent
fellows, and we all took a liking to them at once. They had just come
from La Unión, where they had learned of the capture of Martínez and the
horrible raid on Serrano, already described. Orjuela then announced that
he had come here on his way to see Loayza, the manager of El Encanto,
the Peruvian Amazon Company's chief post on the Caraparaná, with a view
of making some arrangement with him tending to put a stop to these
occurrences.
The next morning we spent in discussing the situation. Orjuela was
confident that if he saw Loayza and had a good, friendly, man-to-man
talk with him they could come to some amicable agreement, while Serrano
took a more pessimistic view of things, declaring that the Peruvians had
for years tried to get possession of the Colombian establishments on the
Caraparaná, and that now, having a force of Peruvian soldiers to back
them, they would take more active measures to attain their ends. This
view, however, was shared by none of the others.
In the afternoon Acosta and Prieto set out for La Unión in order to
inform the Colombians there of the measures Orjuela had decided to
take--viz., to demand an interview with Loayza, while Orjuela and
Sánchez made preparations to set out on the following day for El Dorado,
the last Colombian establishment, and there invite Loayza to the
meeting. They intended going by canoe down the Caraparaná.
At about six o'clock, in the midst of a pouring rain, Perkins arrived
with the _cargadores_ carrying the effects that we were to sell Serrano.
After he had changed his clothes and got outside of some food I told him
of Serrano's proposal, which, after several gasps of amazement, he
pronounced worthy of investigation. Then, after some more talk, we
resolved that we should stop here with Serrano, look over the estate,
and, if satisfied, come to an agreement with him, while I accompanied
Orjuela to the conference with a view of informing the Peruvian Amazon
Company's agent, Loayza, that, as we were contemplating the purchase of
a part of La Reserva, we should be obliged by their keeping their hands
off it.
Assured by Orjuela that his mission was a peaceful one and that there
was no probability of any conflict with the Peruvians, I asked
permission to accompany him to the conference, which was readily
granted; so I made preparations for an early departure on the following
morning. Serrano approved of this idea, for he thought that the
Peruvians would have some respect for a foreigner.
At six o'clock the next morning Orjuela, Sánchez, myself, a _peon_ of
Orjuela's, and three of Serrano's Indian boatmen set out on the trip to
El Dorado. We made our way but slowly down the crooked, muddy course of
the Caraparaná. This river is, I believe, one of the crookedest in the
world, for it continually doubles on itself as it winds its way through
the dense vegetation that rises up on either bank. At about 10.30 we
reached Filadelfia, a deserted establishment formerly belonging to some
Colombians, who had sold it to the "civilising company," by whom it had
been abandoned some time previously.
At about four o'clock we arrived at a station, which Orjuela informed me
was Argelia, one of the chief centres of the Peruvian Amazon Company. As
Orjuela wished to see the agent we disembarked, and, climbing the long
hill that rose up from the bank, reached the house, a fairly large
structure of unpainted boards, where we were received in a friendly
manner by the man in charge, Don Ramiro de Osma y Pardo. We chatted for
about half an hour on trivial subjects, had tea, and then took our
departure.
When we had disembarked Orjuela had, somewhat to my surprise, ordered
the boatmen to go on. I now saw the reason, for I perceived that the
river wound around in the woods and formed an enormous peninsula, upon
the narrow neck of which Argelia was situated. We then descended the
opposite side of the hill and, reaching the river's bank again, waited
several minutes before the men arrived with the boat.
Embarking again, we continued for an hour or so, and then, not finding
any convenient _playa_, Orjuela, Sánchez, and myself stretched out in
the bottom of the boat, while the men slept in the brush on the bank.
The _monteria_ was small, and we were three; consequently there was not
much room, and we passed a veritable night of torture, cramped and
rolling over each other in a manner hardly conducive to a night's rest.
The next morning the trip was resumed, and, after a tedious descent of
several hours, we reached El Dorado at 4.30 p.m. Here we were cordially
received by Don Tobias Calderón, the man in charge, who informed us that
Señor Gonzalez, tired to death of the continual raids, robberies, and
other abuses of the Peruvians, had gone over on the right bank of the
Putumayo to look for some other suitable place to establish himself,
where he might be left in peace.
Immediately upon our arrival Orjuela dispatched a note to Loayza by an
Indian, who would reach El Encanto within a few hours, travelling by an
overland trail. This operation concluded, we took a look at the estate,
which was situated on a gently sloping knoll on the left bank. The house
was of good size and of the usual elevated construction. The space
around it had once been cleared, but was now grown over with bushes and
shrubs. I was informed that there were about thirty Indian families
attached to the estate; one or two of these were employed at the house,
while the rest lived out at their village in the heart of the forest.
The next morning we were surprised to see a number of canoes coming up
the river; as they approached nearer Orjuela recognised several of the
occupants as Colombian employees of the El Encanto branch of the
"civilising company." Arriving at the house, they informed us that they
had all resigned their positions on account of the ill-feeling exhibited
towards them by the Peruvians and that they were going to Guepí. Another
interesting piece of news was that sixty Peruvian soldiers had just
arrived from Iquitos on the _Liberal_, one of the Peruvian Amazon
Company's launches. These ex-employees, although naturally kept in the
dark as much as possible by their Peruvian employers, suspected some
attack was about to be made on La Unión or La Reserva before long, as a
Peruvian gunboat had also recently arrived. They had seen Martínez, the
unfortunate _Corregidor_, whom they reported as being kept in close
confinement at El Encanto.
This news was rather interesting, as it now looked as though we were in
for it sure enough. We spent the rest of the day in discussing the
different phases of this extraordinary affair and in waiting for Loayza,
who did not turn up. This looked like another portent of the approaching
storm; but, nevertheless, Orjuela decided to wait another day here. I
began to wish that we had never set out on our trip down the Putumayo,
if we were to be thus barbarously murdered by a band of half-breed
bandits, as the employees of the "civilising company" now revealed
themselves to be.
The next morning the eight ex-employees, their families, and boatmen
took their departure at about nine o'clock. We waited all day at El
Dorado for Loayza, but he never put in an appearance, so Orjuela decided
to set out early on the following morning for La Reserva.
In accordance with this resolution, at an early hour we bade _adios_ to
our hosts and set out up the river. At about eight o'clock we overtook
the ex-employees, who did not seem to be in any great hurry, and
continued along with them all day. We made but slow progress, and the
journey was tedious in the extreme. At 7 p.m. we stopped to spend
another hideous night huddled together in the canoe.
Perceiving that the ex-employees were travelling at a very leisurely
pace and wishing to reach La Reserva as soon as possible, the next
morning, Friday, the 10th, we passed on ahead of them and travelled more
rapidly. At nightfall, in order to avoid another night of torture in the
canoe, we disembarked and, clearing a small space on the bank of the
stream, went to sleep there, tying the canoe up in the brush.
At about eleven o'clock I was awakened by Orjuela shaking my arm.
Cautioning silence, he pointed with his finger at two rapidly
approaching lights ascending the river. They were two launches. Passing
us in a blaze of light, they quietly continued on upstream. Had the
contemplated raid on La Unión and La Reserva actually begun? It
certainly looked so, and we commenced to wonder if they would allow us
to pass Argelia. They certainly had the "drop" on us.
Early in the morning we again set out on our tedious journey up the
Caraparaná, and at about eleven o'clock passed without molestation the
lower port of Argelia--where we had waited for our boatmen after our
call on Señor De Osma y Pardo. There seemed to be nothing unusual taking
place at the house, and our hopes that they would let us pass began to
rise again.
Finally, at about 2.30 p.m., we reached the upper port, where we had
disembarked. Then we opened our eyes; the agent and an armed _peon_
beckoned and called us to approach. We continued on, pretending not to
notice them. Then De Osma y Pardo shouted that they would fire. The
_peon_ raised his Winchester to do so, and we started to approach.
As we slowly neared the bank I suggested to Orjuela that as there were
only two of them we might drop them when we got up at close quarters and
then get away, for we had arms, and the _peon_ as soon as he saw us come
towards the shore had let his rifle rest on the ground and was now
leaning upon it in a negligent attitude; Orjuela, however, did not seem
to think it good policy, so we pulled up at the shore and asked what was
up. The agent then informed Orjuela that he was a prisoner, and he and
the _peon_ led us--boatmen and all--up to the house. Here he stated that
he had received orders to detain Orjuela and two of the Indians; but,
having had no instructions in regard to Sánchez and myself, he announced
that we were at liberty to continue on upstream with the _peon_ of
Orjuela's--whom we passed off as my own--and the remaining Indian.
In reply to our protests and inquiries as to the reason for this
high-handed proceeding he maintained an absolute silence. Seeing that
nothing was to be done, we accordingly took our leave of the unfortunate
Orjuela and resumed our journey up the river. We continued rowing until
late that night, but were able to make but slow progress, owing to the
absence of the other two boatmen. Meanwhile we indulged in many
conjectures as to what would happen to us and the people of La Reserva
and La Unión, completely at the mercy of these latter-day pirates, who
seemed to stop at nothing in their greedy ambition to obtain possession
of the establishments of the Colombian settlers--Serrano, Gonzalez and
Ordoñez, and Martínez.
The next morning we continued the journey, and in about an hour passed
Filadelfia. At about nine o'clock we heard rifle-shots, apparently in
the vicinity of La Unión or La Reserva; these lasted nearly an hour.
Then they ceased and silence once more reigned over these vast
solitudes, so we pushed on until 8 p.m., when, hearing the whistle of a
launch coming down the river, we pulled up along the right bank to avoid
the waves caused by the propeller.
Here our Huitoto, the moment we stopped, leaped ashore, and, with a
brief remark that the "Peruvians were very wicked," disappeared in the
bushes. I suggested to Sánchez that we had better follow the aborigine's
example, but he thought that as he was an exile and I was a foreigner we
would not be molested, as at Argelia. Against my better judgment I
remained, and we sat there in the canoe, waiting for the approach of the
marauders.
Soon, turning a bend, two launches appeared, and as soon as we were
perceived we heard a voice shout out: "Fire! Fire! Sink the canoe! Sink
the canoe!" Before this order could be executed, however, the first
vessel, the _Liberal_ of the "civilising company," had passed us, but
the second, the _Iquitos_, a sort of river gunboat, in the service of
the Peruvian Government, let fly at us, one of the bullets passing just
between Sánchez and myself, and splashing into the water a little
beyond. Then, at our cries of astonishment and protest, we heard a voice
ordering us, in the most vile and obscene words, to approach the launch,
and at the same time commanding the soldiers to keep us covered with
their carbines. We approached as quickly as possible, but, handicapped
by the robbery of our Indian boatmen, were able to make but slow
progress. Then we heard once more the order, "Fire! Fire!" the click of
the hammers being cocked, and I thought all was over with us. But at
this moment an altercation arose between the two chiefs, one of them
countermanding this order, while the other insisted upon its execution.
Meanwhile, as rapidly as possible, we approached the vessel, and
perceived some twenty-five or thirty soldiers all covering us, their
rules aimed over the rail, calmly awaiting the final order to launch us
into eternity!
Fortunately, the altercation continued between the two bandits long
enough to enable us, after what seemed like a century, to reach the side
of the _Iquitos_. Here we were jerked on board, kicked, beaten,
insulted, and abused in a most cowardly manner by Captain Arce Benavides
of the Peruvian Army, Benito Lores, commander of the _Iquitos_, and a
gang of coffee-coloured soldiers, sailors, and employees of the
"civilising company," without being given a chance to speak a word.
As soon as they had finished their self-imposed task of outraging us in
this brutal and cynical manner--defenceless as we were--I told them who
we were, and demanded to be allowed to continue our journey, but all in
vain, for they merely laughed at me and my protests. Then these
conquering heroes, after searching our persons and our canoe and taking
possession of the few things we had with us, put us under a sentinel.
This operation accomplished, Captain Benavides entertained us with a
horrible account of the "victory" the Peruvians had gained at La Unión,
the sounds of which we had heard in the morning. He informed us that as
the two launches had arrived there that morning the Colombians had
treacherously opened fire upon them, and that the Peruvian forces had
gallantly repulsed the attack, under his leadership, and killed several
of the assaulting party. A peculiar feature of the "battle" was,
according to his version, that such Colombians as had not escaped had
all been killed outright, there being no wounded.
As I afterwards ascertained, the two launches, upon reaching La Unión,
had started to disembark the soldiers and employees--probably with the
intention of playing the same game as they had played on Serrano a month
or so previously--when Ordoñez ordered them off his premises. At the
same time, Prieto unfurled the Colombian flag and the unequal conflict
began. There were less than twenty Colombians against about a hundred
and forty Peruvians--employees of the criminal syndicate and soldiers
and sailors with a machine gun. The Colombians resisted bravely for
about half an hour, when, their ammunition giving out, they were
compelled to take to the woods, leaving Duarte and two _peons_ dead and
Prieto and another _peon_ severely wounded. The latter two were then
dispatched most cruelly by some of the "civilising company's"
missionaries. Then the thousand arrobas of rubber were carefully stowed
away on the _Liberal_, the houses were sacked and burned, and several
Colombian women, found hiding in the forest, were dragged aboard the
two launches as legitimate prey for the "victors."
While in my enforced state of imprisonment on the _Iquitos_, I witnessed
the cowardly and brutal violation of one of these poor women. Pilar
Gutierrez, the woman of Rafael Cano, one of the _racionales_ at La
Unión, was one of the females found in the bushes after the "battle,"
and this poor victim, already in an advanced state of pregnancy, was
allotted to Captain ---- ----.[94] This human monster, intent only on
slaking his animal thirst of lasciviousness, and regardless of the grave
state of the unhappy woman's health, dragged her to a place of privacy
and, in spite of the cries of agony of the unfortunate creature,
violated her without compunction.
A few hours later we reached Argelia, where both launches stopped for
the night side by side. Here we were transferred to the _Liberal_,
where, to my astonishment, I found Perkins and the youth Gabriel
Valderrama, one of Serrano's employees. Perkins then informed me of the
horrors committed at La Unión and of his own capture, which had been
effected upon the return of these latter-day pirates from that
sanguinary scene, when they had stopped at La Reserva, broken into and
burglarised the house--for Serrano and his men, excepting Valderrama and
Perkins, had fled to the forest--embarked the hundred and seventy
arrobas of rubber on the _Liberal_, and destroyed everything they could
not steal.
[Illustration: RUBBER-COLLECTING RIVER LAUNCH.
[To face p. 176.]
That night the four of us, Perkins, Sánchez, Valderrama, and myself,
slept--or rather feigned to sleep--on the deck of the _Liberal_,
plunged in the most gloomy reflections and expecting to be shot or
stabbed any moment, for our captors were drunk and in a most
bloodthirsty mood. However, we passed the long night without being
molested to any appreciable extent.
The next morning, Monday, the 13th, I saw Loayza, a copper-complexioned,
shifty-eyed half-breed, who spoke a little pidgin-English, and protested
against our imprisonment and demanded to be instantly set at liberty.
Loayza listened very politely, and then informed me that he was acting
for our own good, as the Colombians would certainly kill us if he did
not conduct us to a place of safety. Thinking that possibly the man
was--to use a bit of slang--up the pole, I explained that we had no fear
of the Colombians, as we had been stopping with them some time, and,
furthermore, the things we had heard about the Peruvian Amazon Company
and the recent events that had taken place had not been such as to make
us believe that this syndicate was a sort of life-saving station. Then,
favouring me with a peculiar snake-like smile, he remarked that he would
look after us all right and walked off.
At about nine o'clock Orjuela was brought on board under a heavy guard
and put down below in a little cage. We were not allowed to speak to
him, although several of the "missionaries" seemed to derive much fun by
taunting and insulting their unfortunate victim. At about the same time
De Osma y Pardo came on board, shook hands with Sánchez and myself, and
explained that he had interceded with Loayza in our behalf, but
unsuccessfully. This gentleman did not seem to be much of a favourite
with Loayza, and, as I afterwards ascertained, protested against the
raid on the Colombians, and in this way incurred that chief's
disapproval.
At about 9.30 the two pirate vessels set sail for El Encanto, and, after
descending some five hours, reached El Dorado. Here the bandits, not
content with the crimes they had already committed, stopped to execute
one more. The criminal Loayza, in company with several more of these
pirates, disembarked, entered the house, and, menacing the Colombians
with death, compelled them to surrender all their arms. Then, after
giving them a long harangue, couched in the most profane and vulgar
words, and mingled with the most terrible threats in case they did not
immediately abandon the establishment, this worthy "patriot" returned to
the launch with the arms he had robbed.
At about six o'clock we reached El Encanto, a straggling group of houses
situated upon a long, high hill, several hundred metres from the shore.
Here we were not allowed to disembark at first, but were detained on the
_Liberal_, while several of the "missionaries" who had not taken part in
the raid came down to the edge of the river and proceeded to insult and
taunt us in the most brutal and bloodthirsty terms. When they had
finished this dignified task we were disembarked, taken up the hill to
the establishment, which was composed of one large, elevated board
structure and a number of small huts--these latter grouped together and
separated from the former by a narrow courtyard--and crowded into a
small, dirty room, which possessed neither beds, chairs, nor tables. No
light was given us, and we had to undress in the dark.
Here we passed a night of torture, for we had been given no supper, and
the floor, covered with dust and mould as it was, proved to be a far
from comfortable couch. In addition to this physical discomfort, we were
plunged in the most gloomy and melancholy reflections as to the fate
that awaited us at the hands of these human beasts.
As a result of these meditations, we were convinced that they meant to
assassinate us, so I determined to have an interview with Loayza at
once. Accordingly, the next morning I insisted upon seeing him, and,
after some delay, was ushered into his presence. Without wasting time on
preliminaries, I told him that I was well aware of his intentions in
regard to us, and, in spite of his protestations to the contrary, I went
on to inform him that in murdering us he would be making a big mistake,
for we had been sent out to explore this region by a huge American
syndicate and that we were expected in Iquitos, where we were about to
open a large mercantile establishment for the said syndicate.[95]
Perceiving that this statement was having some effect on him, I went on
to assure him that we were people of importance, and that, if we
disappeared, our employers would certainly institute a most searching
investigation, and, the truth once discovered, the American Government
itself, owing to the great influence of the syndicate that employed us,
would see that those responsible received their punishment. Then I wound
up by demanding our immediate release and permission to return to Josa
to recover our baggage.
Loayza, apparently unnerved by this information, after a little more
talk, told me that we could go to Iquitos on the _Liberal_, which was
due to leave with the rubber stolen at La Unión and La Reserva in a few
days, but that we could not go to Josa to recover our effects, for he
himself would see to that. As we had but little faith in his word or
that of the military officers, his accomplices, Perkins resolved to stay
at El Encanto and see that he really did take steps to do this, while I
went on to Iquitos with the _Liberal_.
As we were allowed to walk around the houses without being
molested--although an eye was always kept on us by some one--we had the
opportunity to witness the lamentable condition of the unfortunate
_Corregidor_ Gabriel Martínez and his men, who were confined, as though
they were desperate criminals, in a small, dirty, eight-by-ten-foot room
under the main house and guarded night and day by two soldiers. These
poor wretches, in a starving condition, were insulted, taunted, and
abused daily by word and deed in a most cowardly manner. Orjuela, all
this time, was kept in close confinement on the _Liberal_.
Another edifying spectacle that we witnessed was the condition of the
poor Indians who loaded and unloaded the vessels that stopped at the
port. There were from fifty to sixty of these unfortunates, so weak,
debilitated, and scarred that many of them could hardly walk. It was a
pitiful sight to see these poor Indians, practically naked, their bones
almost protruding through their skins, and all branded with the infamous
_marca de Arana_,[96] staggering up the steep hill, carrying upon their
doubled backs enormous weights of merchandise for the consumption of
their miserable oppressors. Occasionally one of these unfortunate
victims of Peruvian "civilisation" would fall under his load, only to be
kicked up on his feet and forced to continue his stern labours by the
brutal "boss."
I noticed the food they received, which was given to them once a day, at
noon; it consisted of a handful of _fariña_ and a tin of sardines--when
there were any--for each group of four Indians, nothing more. And this
was to sustain them for twenty-four hours, sixteen of which were spent
at the hardest kind of labour!
But what was still more pitiful was to see the sick and dying lie about
the house and out in the adjacent woods, unable to move and without any
one to aid them in their agony. These poor wretches, without remedies,
without food, were exposed to the burning rays of the vertical sun and
the cold rains and heavy dews of early morning until death released them
from their sufferings. Then their companions carried their cold
corpses--many of them in an almost complete state of putrefaction--to
the river, and the yellow, turbid waters of the Caraparaná closed
silently over them.
Another sad sight was the large number of involuntary concubines who
pined--in melancholy musings over their lost liberty and their present
sufferings--in the interior of the house. This band of unfortunates was
composed of some thirteen young girls, who varied in age from nine to
sixteen years, and these poor innocents--too young to be called
women--were the helpless victims of Loayza and the other chief officials
of the Peruvian Amazon Company's El Encanto branch, who violated these
tender children without the slightest compunction, and when they tired
of them either murdered them or flogged them and sent them back to their
tribes.
Let us now take a glance at the system pursued by this "civilising
company" in the exploitation of the products of this region--that is,
the exploitation of the rubber and of the Indians. This system I
afterwards ascertained to be as follows:--
The whole region under the control of this criminal syndicate is divided
up into two departments, the chief centres of which are El Encanto and
La Chorrera. El Encanto is the headquarters of all the sections of the
Caraparaná and the right bank of the Putumayo, while La Chorrera is the
capital of the sections of the Igaraparaná and those distributed between
that river and the Caquetá. As already stated, the superintendent of El
Encanto is Loayza, while that of La Chorrera is the celebrated Victor
Macedo.
It is to these two centres that all the products are sent periodically
on the backs of Indians, by canoe, or in small launches. Once here, it
is shipped to Iquitos about every three months. At each of these centres
all books are kept and all payments to the employees are made. The
superintendents have the power of hiring and discharging all the men
employed under them, and their slightest whim is law.
These two departments, as already hinted, are subdivided into sections,
at the head of which are placed chiefs, under the instructions of the
superintendents. Each chief has under his control a number of
_racionales_, varying from five to eighty, whose business it is to
direct the Indians and force them to work. The chief of the section
keeps a list of all the Indians resident in his section, and assigns to
each worker--in some sections this term includes women and children--the
number of kilos of rubber that he must deliver every ten days.
Armed with _machetes_, the Indians penetrate the depths of the forest,
gashing frightfully every rubber-tree they can find, frequently cutting
them so much and so deep, in their frantic efforts to extract the last
drop of milk, that vast numbers of the trees die annually. The milk runs
down the trunk of the tree and dries there. A few days afterwards the
Indians return, and, gathering up the strings of rubber, place them in
baskets, which they carry to their huts on their backs.
Here, in order to remove some of the pieces of wood, dry leaves, chunks
of bark, sand, and other impurities, the Indians place the rubber in a
_quebrada_ and beat it well with clubs; in this way a few of the many
foreign matters are removed and the rubber is made more compact. It is
then wound up in big rolls, and, exposed to the air and the light, it
soon becomes of a dull, blackish colour, and is ready for delivery.
At the expiration of the ten days the slaves start out with their loads
upon their backs, accompanied by their women and children, who help
them to carry the rubber. When they reach the section-house, the rubber
is weighed in the presence of the chief of the section and his armed
subordinates. The Indians know by experience what the needle of the
balance should mark, and when it indicates that they have delivered the
full amount they leap about and laugh with pleasure. When it does not,
they throw themselves face downwards on the ground, and in this attitude
await their punishment.
As the rubber gets scarcer and scarcer the aborigines, in order to be
able to deliver the full amount of rubber demanded from them, and thus
to escape flagellations and tortures, frequently adulterate the
rubber-milk with that of various other trees, in this way still further
lowering the quality of the Putumayo rubber; for, as already remarked,
all that produced in this section is what is technically known as _jebe
débil_.
It will be easily seen that such a system--a system of organised
robbery--of collection of rubber is likely to lend itself to abuse in a
country where every man is a law unto himself, and there is absolutely
no check upon the exercise of his most brutal instincts and passions.
The probability of such abuse is increased immensely when--as in the
present case--the earnings of the employees are made dependent on
results, for Loayza, Macedo, and the chiefs of sections are paid, not
salaries but commissions on the amount of rubber produced.
Thus it is to their advantage to extract the greatest amount of rubber
in the least possible space of time, and to do this the Indians must
either be paid or punished. If paid, the payment must be great enough
to tempt a placid, indolent Indian to continuous exertion; if punished,
the punishment must be severe enough to extract from his fears what
cannot be obtained from an appeal to his cupidity. As the "civilising
company" apparently does not believe in paying for what it can obtain
otherwise, the rule of terror has been adopted throughout the company's
dominions. Those who have studied the history of the Congo will see here
precisely the same conditions which produced such lamentable results in
the Belgian companies' sphere of operations. It would be strange indeed
if, under such a system, some sort of abuse did not take place, and I am
in possession of definite documentary evidence which, I think, justifies
me in making the following statements as to the results of this
system:--
1. The pacific Indians of the Putumayo are forced to work day and night
at the extraction of rubber, without the slightest remuneration except
the food necessary to keep them alive.
2. They are kept in the most complete nakedness, many of them not even
possessing the biblical fig-leaf.
3. They are robbed of their crops, their women, and their children to
satisfy the voracity, lasciviousness, and avarice of this company and
its employees, who live on their food and violate their women.
4. They are sold wholesale and retail in Iquitos, at prices that range
from £20 to £40 each.
5. They are flogged inhumanly until their bones are laid bare, and great
raw sores cover them.
6. They are given no medical treatment, but are left to die, eaten by
maggots, when they serve as food for the chiefs' dogs.
7. They are castrated and mutilated, and their ears, fingers, arms, and
legs are cut off.
8. They are tortured by means of fire and water, and by tying them up,
crucified head down.
9. Their houses and crops are burned and destroyed wantonly and for
amusement.
10. They are cut to pieces and dismembered with knives, axes, and
_machetes_.
11. Their children are grasped by the feet and their heads are dashed
against trees and walls until their brains fly out.
12. Their old folk are killed when they are no longer able to work for
the company.
13. Men, women, and children are shot to provide amusement for the
employees or to celebrate the _sábado de gloria_, or, in preference to
this, they are burned with kerosene so that the employees may enjoy
their desperate agony.
This is indeed a horrible indictment, and may seem incredible to many.
On the other hand, we all know the inhuman atrocities of the Congo, and
it seems reasonable to suppose that the conditions that have made that
region so notorious do not fail to produce precisely similar results in
the vast and isolated region of the Putumayo. In addition to this,
during my subsequent investigations in Iquitos I obtained from a number
of eye-witnesses accounts[97] of many of the abominable outrages that
take place here hourly, and these, with my own observations, are the
basis for the indictment.
This state of affairs is intolerable. The region monopolised by this
company is a living hell--a place where unbridled cruelty and its
twin-brother, lust, run riot, with consequences too horrible to put down
in writing. It is a blot on civilisation; and the reek of its
abominations mounts to heaven in fumes of shame. Why is it not stopped?
Peru will not, because this company is settling in and occupying the
disputed territory in her name. Colombia and Ecuador cannot, for they
are not in a condition to quarrel with Peru.
And it is all for--what? Merely to fill the pockets and gratify the
passions of a handful of miserable, half-breed outlaws, who take
advantage of their autocratic authority over the helpless Huitotos to
commit the most horrible and unheard-of crimes, and to keep others, who
share the responsibility of these horrors, in luxury and fine clothes
away off across the seas.
The next morning--Wednesday, the 15th--the _Liberal_ left for Argelia,
taking three officers and about seventy men, probably to defend that
establishment against the attacks of those terrible fellows, the
Colombians. One officer and the rest of the men, about thirty, remained
at El Encanto to garrison it, while two more remained here to go to
Iquitos upon the return of the _Liberal_, in order to spread the reports
of the "victory" gained over the Colombians at La Unión.
We spent the day wandering restlessly about the establishment and the
large, rolling cleared area that surrounds it. In the afternoon we
endeavoured to speak to Martínez, but were not permitted to do so,
probably by orders of Loayza, who seemed to spend most of his time
taking Florida-water baths, drinking wine and whisky, and fooling around
with his different concubines. The other upper officials followed his
example more or less.
Early the next day the _Liberal_ returned from Argelia, and lay at the
port all day, waiting for the report that Loayza was writing up for his
chief in Iquitos. This literary labour occupied him until nightfall,
when, being concluded, it was given to the captain of the _Liberal_, the
infamous Carlos Zubiaur, otherwise "Paiche," and we were told to get on
board, as the vessel sailed early in the morning.
In accordance with these instructions, we went down and started to
embark. At the gang-plank we were met by Zubiaur, who, with an enormous
stick of firewood in his hands, demanded £17 each for our passage money.
As Loayza had informed us that he would give us free passages as a
slight compensation for what we had gone through, both Sánchez and
myself were considerably surprised at this demand, and protested loudly
against it. Zubiaur was inflexible, however, and whirled his stick of
firewood about our heads so violently while he informed us that nobody
travelled gratis on his launch, that we were finally compelled to pay
the wretch what he asked for.
Once on board, where Perkins accompanied us to say goodbye, we found
that we had been done out of our dinner, for, when we finally asked for
it, we were told that this meal had already been eaten and that we were
too late. So after a last farewell to Perkins, who, in accordance with
our decision, had decided to remain behind in order to recover our
effects, Sánchez and I again made our way to the ferocious Zubiaur and
asked to be conducted to our cabin.
The pirate stared at us in amazement for fully a minute before he
proceeded to inform us that there were no cabins for us and that we were
to sleep on the deck. Upon our remonstrance that we had paid first-class
fare and a request to pay us back the difference between that and the
third-class that he was giving us, he reached for his ever-present stick
of firewood, and, this once in his hands, took the trouble to explain to
us that he was only taking us as a favour, that the few cabins were
already occupied, and that if we did not like it we could get off his
launch. So saying, he turned clumsily on his heel and strode off.
Fortunately, when we had started for El Dorado, we had taken our
hammocks along, so we proceeded to hang them up in out-of-the-way
corners by the advice of one of the two officers. As the pirate-captain
raised no objection to this, we climbed in them and were trying to
forget our lost dinner, when the fiend came up again and told us that
they were in an inconvenient place and must be shifted. This made me so
angry--for I knew it was done only to henpeck us--that I absolutely
refused to budge an inch, and when he threatened to call up some of his
men, I was so wild that I told him that if he dared molest us again
during the trip, I should beat his brains out with a club the instant we
got off the launch at Iquitos. The pirate drew back, stared at me for
fully a minute, and then slowly retired. I imagined that perhaps he
would try some other game, but he was quite cured for all the rest of
the trip, and did not molest us once.
This affair settled, we had just got asleep, when suddenly we were
awakened by a number of loud shouts, jeers, and laughs. Thinking that
possibly it might be a midnight murder, or something of the sort, I
rushed to the side of the launch and perceived that Martínez and his men
were being escorted by a number of "missionaries" to the vessel.
Descending to the lower deck, I saw them shut him and his seven men up
in the same cage with Orjuela; here the wretches continued to insult and
abuse their unfortunate victims for more than half an hour. I observed,
before retiring to my hammock, that the cage was so small that there was
scarcely room enough for the nine prisoners to sit down together, and
dirty in the extreme.
The next morning, the 17th, we left El Encanto at about five o'clock,
and by seven we had entered the Putumayo, which was very wide and dotted
with large, heavily wooded islands. Along the banks numerous sandy
_playas_ appeared from time to time. It was like seeing an old friend
again, and I commenced to think of the time we were shipwrecked and
subsisted chiefly on turtle-eggs.
This made me think of breakfast, so awakening Sánchez, we sat down at
the table, where the pirate-captain and most of the passengers were
already beginning. The meal was execrable, being composed only of watery
tea, a quantity of extremely stale bread, and some evil-smelling butter.
We all munched this unpalatable fare in silence until we had eaten all
we could of it, when we left the table.
During the rest of the forenoon Sánchez and I got acquainted with the
other passengers. One of the officers, Lieutenant Ghiorzo, an extremely
stout, dark-complexioned man, turned out to be under arrest for refusing
to take part in the raid on La Unión, and was in charge of the other
one, a tall, blonde, cadaverous-looking man, named Lieutenant
Albarracin, who proved to be none other than the brother of the Peruvian
whom we had met in Pasto, and who had given us a letter of introduction
to his brother, whom he thought to be in Iquitos. Although the letter
had been left in our trunks with the rest of our effects, I told the
Lieutenant about it, and he was very cordial towards me during the whole
trip. Ghiorzo also seemed very affable.
Another passenger was a young, copper-coloured Colombian merchant named
Patrocinio Cuellar, who it appears had brought some merchandise down
from Colombia for the "civilising company," which had been lost or
destroyed about the time of the raid on La Unión. He was going to the
headquarters of the company at Iquitos to see if they would reimburse
him. Cuellar associated, as a rule, with an individual named Bartolomé
Guevara, a short, _carate_-covered man, to whom I took an instinctive
dislike. He was a chief of section who had recently resigned his
position at El Encanto, and was now _en route_ to Spain to spend some of
the money he had extracted from the tears, the bitter agony, the very
life-blood of the unfortunate Indians under his control. I afterwards
ascertained that he was one of the most noted of the Putumayo
"missionaries."
Another person whom I regarded with almost equal abhorrence was a
copper-complexioned rascal named César Lúrquin, the Peruvian _Comisario_
of the Putumayo. This miserable wretch was openly taking with him to
Iquitos a little Huitoto girl of some seven years, presumably to sell
her as a "servant," for it is a well-known fact that this repugnant
traffic in human beings is carried on, almost openly, there. His
position was a sinecure, for, instead of stopping on the Putumayo,
travelling about there and really making efforts to suppress crime by
punishing the criminals, he contented himself with visiting the region
four or five times a year--always on the company's launches--stopping a
week or so, collecting some children to sell, and then returning and
making his "report."
The remaining "first-class" passenger was a Brazilian custom-house
inspector, who always travelled with the company's launches in order to
see that they did not discharge any cargo while passing through
Brazilian territory. He seemed a very quiet chap, I imagine because he
did not know Spanish. This gentleman spent most of his time in his
hammock, for, like Sánchez and myself, he had no cabin.
Lunch and dinner were very similar to breakfast, for we had the same
watery tea, the same stale bread, and the same stinking butter, the only
additional dish being a repugnant preparation of codfish. The
pirate-captain and his chum, the _comisario_, however, as I ascertained
later, after eating a little of this miserable stuff, adjourned to the
former's cabin and enjoyed a magnificent spread, all by themselves.
We continued running all night, for the river was swollen and there was
no necessity to follow the main channel. At about two o'clock in the
afternoon we reached the mouth of the Igaraparaná, which is considerably
larger than the Caraparaná and also on the left. Near the junction was a
small, cleared area on the high left bank of the Putumayo, and to this
we directed our course. Anchoring close to the bank, I perceived that
the place was a military post, for, as soon as we approached a number of
soldiers--about twenty--and two officers emerged from an old tumble-down
structure that sheltered them, and came on board. They all looked ill
and emaciated, and their faces and hands were done up in rags to keep
off the gnats.
For over two hours we stopped here, fighting these little fiends, which
swarmed about us in perfect clouds, while the pirate and the _comisario_
related to the two lieutenants a full account of the "brilliant victory"
gained at La Unión. Meanwhile, I learned that the name of the place was
Arica, and that it was situated about 1° 43' 9" south of the equator and
71° 53' 36" west of Greenwich.
At last the enthralling tale of the "victory" was finished, and we set
out up the Igaraparaná, for, it seemed, the worthy Zubiaur had been so
complimented upon his bravery by the two officers that he resolved to go
and inform some other friends of his up that river of the same gallant
deed. We were all glad to set out in some direction, for the gnats did
not trouble us much when the launch was in motion.
The _Liberal_ continued the ascent until a late hour, when we retired.
The next morning when I awoke, I perceived that we were anchored off
another establishment, which I was informed by Albarracín was Santa
Julia, one of the chief sections of the "civilising company" in
Igaraparaná district. The two or three small huts were of split-palm
with a thatched roof, while the clearing around them was small and
neglected-looking. Santa Julia, Ghiorzo informed me, is the
shipping-port for the section Abisinia, some twelve hours' walk inland.
As we were taking on a quantity of firewood, another launch, the
_Cosmopolita_, appeared and came up alongside of us. Here Sánchez was
overjoyed to meet once more with his companion exiles, who had left El
Encanto about a month previously on this launch, bound for Iquitos.
Instead of going there, however, the _Cosmopolita_ had gone up to La
Chorrera, stopped there all this time, and was now about to accompany
the _Liberal_. Although we saw them only for a few moments, the meeting
cheered up Sánchez immensely, while I took an instant liking to them.
La Chorrera, the headquarters of the Igaraparaná district, they
described as being larger than El Encanto, and situated on the borders
of a little lake at the head of navigation on the Igaraparaná. They
furthermore informed me that La Chorrera was about twenty-four hours'
run above Santa Julia.
At Santa Julia, La Chorrera, and the other stations along the banks of
the Lower and Central Igaraparaná, the victims are a tribe of aborigines
known as the Boras, several of whom I saw in a practically naked
condition at Santa Julia. These Indians are distinct from the Huitotos,
and speak a dialect of their own called Bora. They are of a lighter
colour and much more intelligent and fierce than the former; thus they
do not submit so sheepishly to the persecutions and atrocities of the
"civilising company," and many of them have escaped to the left bank of
the River Caquetá, out of reach of their _verdugos_.[98]
The other sections between the Igaraparaná and Caquetá have as victims
several other tribes of aborigines, chief of which are the Andoques, the
Yurias, the Ocainas, and the Yaguas. All these tribes speak a distinct
dialect of their own, although closely resembling the Huitotos in
habits, customs, &c. The Andoques are the largest tribe, but none are so
numerous as the Huitotos.
The firewood at length on board and the gallant Zubiaur's tale of the
"victory" finally terminated, at about eight o'clock we set out down the
Igaraparaná, accompanied by the _Cosmopolita_. After a not unpleasant
journey of several hours, we again reached Arica at about 3 p.m., where
we stopped for the rest of the day. Here we were again tortured by the
gnats, which soon became so ferocious that I was obliged to don my veil
and gloves; the heat, however, was so suffocating that I had to take
them off again shortly.
After a tedious journey of several days, made in company with the
celebrated criminal Bartolomé Guevara and Lieuts. Albarracín and Ghiorzo
of the Peruvian Army, the jailers of Orjuela, Martínez, and their men,
who were confined in the small and loathsome cage, previously mentioned,
which was so diminutive that there was not sufficient space for them all
to sit down at the same time, we at last arrived at Iquitos on February
1st.
Here I informed the dentist Guy T. King, acting American Consul in this
place, of the events already narrated to the reader; but this gentleman,
considering solely and exclusively his own interests and forgetting the
duties that his position as Consul incurred upon him, contented himself
with congratulating me upon my narrow escape from death at the hands of
the assassins of Arana and informing me that, owing to various
circumstances, he could do absolutely nothing for us![99]
Towards the end of April Perkins arrived without our baggage; for the
miserable murderers of El Encanto, their cupidity aroused by the idea of
getting something for nothing, had stolen it while Perkins was held
prisoner at that place. Thus they became aware of the deception I had
practised upon them in regard to the American syndicate, and so great
was their anger that they were upon the point of murdering Perkins, but
their fears getting the better of them, they contented themselves with
keeping him a close prisoner and abusing him, as is their custom.
Although the effects we had been robbed of were of considerable value
and the hardships and perils through which we had passed while in the
hands of the employees of this syndicate were distinctly unpleasant,
nevertheless I consider that on the whole we were extremely fortunate in
making our escape from the sanguinary _selvas_ of the River Putumayo and
from the tender mercies of those human hyenas, the assassin-employees of
Arana.
From the horrors described in the following chapter the reader will be
in a position to form a faint idea of the hellish and wholesale crimes
committed upon these unfortunates; not a complete one, for in order to
do that it would be necessary for him to come here and see with his own
eyes and hear with his own ears what really takes place in these
gruesome forests; but nevertheless he will, I repeat, be able to get
some glimmering of the awful truth.
In making these exposures I have obeyed only the dictates of my
conscience and my own sense of outraged justice; and now that I have
made them and the civilised world is aware of what occurs in the vast
and tragic _selvas_ of the River Putumayo, I feel that, as an honest
man, I have done my duty before God and before society and trust that
others, who are in a position to do so, will take up the defence of
these unfortunates and the prosecution and punishment of the human
hyenas responsible for these crimes.
[Illustration: NATIVE WOMEN AND HUT AT IQUITOS.
[To face p. 196.]
As will be shown, over the whole length and breadth of this vast region
reigns one perpetual and devilish carnival of crime; in short, words
are unable to convey any idea of this gruesome field of blood and crime
and bleached skeletons, rotting under the falling leaves of the forest
trees. It is a living hell. No wonder that the vegetation is so
luxuriant here, for the soil has been deluged with the blood of so many
innocent victims of the bestial greed and rapacity of these vile
monsters that it should be the richest on earth!
Tribe after tribe of the peaceful and hospitable Indians of these
forests has disappeared before the onslaughts of Peruvian
"_civilisation_." Colombian after Colombian has been foully murdered by
these miserable criminals, until at last they were exterminated and
their establishments, so long coveted by the syndicate of crime, passed
into its unclean hands.
As we shall see in the subsequent pages of this catalogue of horrors,
the Peruvian authorities of the Department of Loreto, thanks to an
unparalleled system of wholesale bribery--for in this way only can we
explain their conduct--do absolutely nothing to put a stop to this state
of affairs. We observe a type of the _comisarios_[100] of this region;
and also the attitude of the Prefect[101] in regard to these horrors;
and we are aware that the denunciations of Saldaña were neglected,
passed over and finally pigeon-holed by the judicial authorities of
Iquitos. From this it is evident that justice cannot be looked for from
that quarter.
I venture to state that within four or five years more--if this awful
butchery is allowed to continue (which I do not believe)--these immense
forests, formerly occupied by tens of thousands of peaceful, industrious
Indians, quite capable of civilisation and Christianity, will be but
huge and silent sepulchres, sown with the unburied bones of the
unfortunate victims of an exploitation without parallel in history.
But is this to be permitted? Although we are too late to save the larger
part of these victims, who have already passed out of existence, let us
rescue the few we can and mete out punishment to the fiends who are
filling their pockets with the gold produced by the very life-blood, the
sweat, the tears, the agony of these unfortunates. Let us do what we
can, at this late hour, to release the helpless Indians of the Putumayo
from the cruel and inquisitorial yoke that these human hyenas have
riveted upon them.
Think of nine-year-old girls torn from their homes, ravished, and
afterwards tortured or flogged to death; of sucking infants snatched
from their mothers' arms and their heads smashed against a tree; of a
wife having her legs cut off merely for refusing to become one of the
concubines of these bandits; of men flogged until ...[102] or of old
fathers shot to death before their sons' eyes merely because they were
old and could work no longer!
The poor Indian, in spite of the diabolical "_civilisation_" of the
Peruvians, has never been taught to read or write, has no friends to
protect him, and, notwithstanding his _thirteen_ years of contact with
this "civilising company" of Arana, has never even heard of the
existence of God, and his untutored mind is seared and benumbed by the
long years of cruel suffering at the hands of these monsters. Heathen
and Indian they are, but they are human, just as we are; they have
souls; they have affections and love and cherish their dear ones just as
we do ours; they are our brothers. And if they are stupid, heathen,
ignorant, whose fault is it? Is it not the fault of these fiends who for
years have taken advantage of their ignorance and helplessness,
exploited their meekness and humility, and fastened upon them the iron
chains of the shocking slavery in which they are now held? And when we
see that they are ignorant, heathen, and helpless and cannot protest
against their horrible fate, is it not our duty, for that very reason,
to defend them the more energetically?
The origin and history of the Peruvian Amazon Company are as follows:--
In the latter eighties of the last century Julio César Arana arrived at
Iquitos barefooted, hawking Panama hats; but soon, by good luck and a
certain low cunning with which he is endowed, he succeeded in building
up a small business in peddling along the rivers. This business,
confined at first only to hats, &c., he afterwards extended to a variety
of articles and did fairly well at it.
Learning of the rich rubber forests of the Putumayo, which were then
being exploited by several small Colombian companies established there,
he entered the Putumayo in 1896, and soon afterwards formed a
partnership with Benjamin and Rafael Larrañaga,[103] owners of the
establishments of La Chorrera. Subsequently he also associated himself
with other Colombian companies there, and these enterprises proving
profitable, in 1898 he opened a house in Iquitos, and in 1903, together
with his brother Lizardo,[B] and his brothers-in-law, Pablo Zumaeta[B]
and Abel Alarco,[104] founded the celebrated J. C. Arana and Hermanos
Company, with a branch house in Manaos, Brazil.
In 1904 this company bought out the Larrañagas' holdings at La Chorrera,
taking advantage of their ignorance and stupidity to rob them
scandalously. Thus they remained sole masters of the whole Igaraparaná.
A little later they also acquired the establishments of Calderón
Hermanos at Encanto and that of Hipólito Pérez at Argelia, robbing them
also, according to their custom. They were now the principal company in
the whole Putumayo.
Not content with this, however, and urged on by the rapacity of Julio
César Arana and his accomplices, they forced José Cabrera, owner of
Nueva Granada, to sell out to them at an insignificant price by threats
of killing him, by shooting at him from ambush, by forcibly taking away
his Indians, and by the other methods for which this company is
known.[105]
The next step in the progress of the syndicate was the beginning of a
systematic persecution of the three remaining Colombian establishments
of Ordoñez, Serrano, and Gonzalez, with the object of making them
abandon the region and then taking possession of their properties. This
persecution took the form of robberies of their merchandise, rubber, and
Indians, murders of their employees, refusals to sell them supplies, and
all other vile expedients that cunning could suggest. The Colombians
held on, however, in spite of these persecutions, and it was not until
1908 that the black flag of this criminal company, planted over their
dead bodies, finally waved over the whole of this unfortunate region.
In 1905 Julio César went to England and succeeded in interesting some
London gentlemen in the "possessions" of the J. C. Arana and Hermanos
Company in this region. An accountant was sent out to examine the
_books_, which were apparently found to be satisfactory, and on October
1, 1907, the Peruvian Amazon Rubber Company, Ltd., was formed, with a
capital of £1,000,000 sterling, divided, according to the prospectus,
into 300,000 7 per cent. participating preference shares at £1 each and
700,000 ordinary shares, also at £1 each. In 1908 the word "Rubber" was
stricken out, and this syndicate of crime is now known as the Peruvian
Amazon Company, Ltd.
Having failed in their attempt to foist upon the public their worthless
shares, they decided to increase the assets of the company. This was
done in 1908[106] by the simple process of collecting a small army of
their assassins and murdering the already mentioned Colombians and their
employees and taking possession of their establishments. Serrano,
Gonzalez, and their employees were murdered in cold blood, their women
were added to the harems of the employees of the company, their Indians
were enslaved, their rubber and merchandise stolen, and their
establishments taken possession of. Ordoñez succeeded in escaping with
his life, but had to abandon everything else--his rubber, his house, his
Indians--to the agents of the company, who are now in full possession of
everything and are exploiting the properties of their unfortunate
victims.
Let us now take a glance at the system pursued by this "civilising
company" in the exploitation of the products of this region--that is,
the exploitation of the rubber and of the Indians.
The whole territory is divided up into sections, at the head of which
are placed chiefs, each one with a gang of bandits, varying in number
from five to eighty, to control the Indians and force them to work. The
chief of the section keeps a list of the Indians and assigns to each one
the number of kilos of rubber he must deliver every ten days. The
prettiest of the women are taken away from the Indians and become
concubines of the chief of section and his band, the chief generally
having from three to twelve and the others in proportion.
La Chorrera, the chief of which is the celebrated Victor Macedo, is the
centre to which the products of all the sections of the Igaraparaná and
those distributed between that river and the Caquetá are sent
periodically. Here all the books, &c., are kept and all payments to the
employees are made. Macedo is the chief of all the employees in this
territory, and has the power of employing or discharging men, the fixing
of salaries, &c.; and it is with the knowledge, consent, and approval of
this wretch that these incredible crimes are carried out. This torturer
and assassin is the justice of the peace of the Putumayo.
El Encanto is the chief centre of the Caraparaná, exactly as La Chorrera
is of the Igaraparaná, and its manager, Miguel S. Loayza, has similar
powers to those of Macedo. This is the individual who superintended the
murders of Serrano and Gonzalez and the other crimes committed upon
these two unfortunates, upon Ordoñez, and upon their women and children,
Indians and employees.
All the rubber produced in the whole region now being exploited by the
"civilising company" is transported upon the backs of Indians, in
canoes, or in small launches to these two centres, from whence it is
shipped to Iquitos about every three months.
Macedo, Loayza, and the chiefs of sections are paid, not salaries but
commissions upon the amount of rubber produced. Thus it is to their
interest to extract the greatest amount of rubber in the least possible
space of time, and to do this it is necessary to force the Indians to
work night and day. The best method of obliging them to do this is to
impose certain amounts which they should deliver in a fixed time. Once
this rule is made it must be enforced, and if the Indian does not
deliver as much as he has been ordered to he must be punished. The
punishment must be severe enough to strike terror into the hearts of the
other Indians, so that they will not follow the example of the culprit.
The Indians collect all this rubber gratis: the only compensation they
receive is flagellation, torture, and death if they should lack half a
kilo of the amount imposed upon them; a mirror, a handkerchief, an ounce
of beads if they deliver the full amount. They are doomed and
defenceless victims of an exploitation unparalleled in the history of
the entire world.
Should the unfortunate Indian lack even half a kilo of rubber, he is
mercilessly flogged, being given from five to two hundred lashes,
according to the enormity of his crime. As the poor wretches receive
absolutely no medical treatment, within a few days these wounds putrefy,
maggots make their appearance, and the miserable victims of this form of
Peruvian "civilisation" die a lingering and repulsive death. Their
bodies are left to rot where they fall, or else the well-trained dogs of
their "civilisers" drag them out into the forest. Indeed, in some
sections such an odour of putrefying flesh arises from the numerous
bodies of the victims that the place must be temporarily abandoned.
Often when some poor Indian, seeing that he could not deliver at the
fixed time the amount of rubber imposed upon him, has fled, they take
his tender children and torture them until they disclose the whereabouts
of their unhappy father. Their favourite mode of torture is by
suspending them from a tree and building a fire beneath them, by using
the celebrated "water cure," and by suspending them from four posts,
piling logs of wood, &c., on their tensioned bodies until they are
forced to speak. Besides the methods already mentioned they frequently
employ others,[107] so revolting that it is impossible to describe them.
Another common form of _punishment_ is that of mutilations, such as
cutting off arms, legs, noses, ears, penises, hands, feet, and even
heads. Castrations are also a popular _punishment_ for such crimes as
trying to escape, for being lazy, or for being stupid, while frequently
they employ these forms of mutilation merely to relieve the monotony of
continual floggings and murders and to provide a sort of recreation. The
victims generally die within a few days, or if they do not die they are
murdered, for it is said that in 1906 Macedo issued an order to his
subordinates advising them to kill all mutilated Indians at once for the
following reasons: first, because they consumed food although they could
not work; and second, because it looked bad to have these mutilated
wretches running about. This wise precaution of Macedo's makes it
difficult to find any mutilated Indians there, in spite of the number of
mutilations; for, obeying this order, the executioners kill all the
Indians they mutilate, after they have suffered what they consider a
sufficient space of time.
By way of amusement these employees of the company often enjoy a little
_tiro al blanco_, or target-shooting, the target being little Indian
children whose parents have been murdered. The little innocents are tied
up to trees, the murderers take their positions, and the slaughter
begins. First they shoot off an ear or hand, then another, and so on
until an unlucky bullet strikes a vital part and puts an end to their
sport.
Often on holidays and _fiestas_, in order to see the weak, starving, and
cadaverous Indians run, these people fire into a group of them, and
generally manage to bring down several before their victims have got out
of reach.
When one of these agents sees a girl he wants he takes her, and her
father or husband dare not protest, for he would be tortured to death at
once. After he is satisfied, if he still likes the woman, he adds her to
his harem; if not, he either lets her go or, as has happened, has her
flogged to death. As I have before remarked, nearly all these agents
possess a harem of two to twelve Indian girls, varying in age from eight
to fifteen years. These defenceless children are violated without the
least compassion, and when they tire of one she is either brutally
kicked out of the house and sent back to her tribe or else murdered on
the spot.
Murders and assassinations are so common here that some of the chiefs of
sections and their subordinates do not pass without killing in cold
blood from one to five, or even more, of the helpless Huitotos. Any
pretext serves, as when the Indian does not understand them or when he
is not punctual to the minute; and, indeed, they often kill them for
amusement, to fill the other Indians with a fear of the "whites," or to
practise target-shooting. These murders, let it be understood, are not
confined entirely to the slaughters of Indians, for many are the
_civilizados_, Peruvians as well as Colombians, who have incurred the
ill-will of these bandits.
Extortions are practised continually in this part of Peru by the company
and its employees. Apart from the robberies of the rubber extracted by
the Indians, the lesser employees are robbed of a part or of all their
salary balances. The profits from these thefts generally go to swell the
pockets of the chiefs of sections and those of the higher employees.
As I have before remarked, the unhappy Indians, far from getting paid
for the rubber they deliver, are not even given food to eat while they
work, and what appears more incredible is that they are given no
opportunity to cultivate food of their own; for such is the criminal
rapacity of this company that they not only compel the Indian women to
cultivate the food for their men and themselves, but also for their
oppressors, who help themselves to all they want and waste and destroy
as much as they please, the little that is left constituting, with a few
forest products, the food of the unfortunate and starving Indians.
The dress of the Huitotos has already been described, and, after
thirteen years of close contact with the company, we find these people
still stark naked.
But most remarkable are the _correrías_ which the agents of the company
carry out periodically. The crimes of the Spanish Inquisition are pale
compared with the deeds committed in this vast den of crime. Upon the
occasions of these _correrías_ the operation is as follows: The chief of
section orders his subordinates to arm themselves and set out for the
village of the Indians to receive the rubber, which, as we have
observed, should be delivered every ten days. They make their way to the
principal house, where the Indians should be assembled ready to deliver
the rubber. Once here they call the roll, on which is noted the number
of kilograms each Indian should have ready.
As each Indian's name is called he steps up and delivers the rubber he
has collected, which is weighed on the spot. Occasionally a kilogram or
two are lacking, and in this case the Indian is given from twenty-five
to one hundred lashes by the Barbados negroes, who only for this
purpose--that is, as executioners--have been brought here. At about the
tenth blow the victim generally falls unconscious from the effects of
the intense pain produced.
[Illustration: INDIANS OF THE PERUVIAN AMAZON REGION: RIVER UCAYALI.
To face p. 208.]
Sometimes two or three Indians and their families do not appear at this
assembly on account of not having been able to collect the amount of
rubber assigned to them. In this case the chief of the _correría_ orders
four or five of his agents to collect ten or twelve Indians of a tribe
hostile to the fugitives and to set out in pursuit of the poor wretches,
their _capitán_ being dragged along, tied up with chains, to act as
guide to reveal their hiding-place, and being threatened with a
painful and lingering death in case he does not find them. After some
search the hut where they have taken refuge is found, and then takes
place a horrible and repugnant scene. The hut constructed by the
refugees is of thatch, of a conical form and without doors. The chief
orders his men to surround the house, and two or three of them approach
and set fire to it. The Indians, surprised and terrified, dash out, and
the assassins discharge their carbines at the unfortunate wretches. The
men killed, the bandits turn their attention to the rest, and the old,
the sick, and the children, unable to escape, are either burned to death
or are killed with _machetes_.
Another method of exploiting these unfortunate Indians takes the form of
selling them as slaves in Iquitos, and this business in human flesh
yields excellent returns to the company or its employees, for they are
sold in that capital at from £20 to £40 each. Every steamer that goes to
Iquitos, loaded with the rubber from the Putumayo, carries from five to
fifteen little Indian boys and girls, who are torn, sobbing, from their
mothers' arms without the slightest compunction. These little innocents,
as we have already said, are sold at wholesale and retail by this
"civilising company" in Iquitos, the capital of the Department of
Loreto, the second port of a country that calls itself Christian,
republican, civilised, and, let it be well understood, with the
knowledge, consent, and approval of the authorities there.
But to relate all the crimes and infamies committed in this tragic
region by this company and its employees in its almost incredible
persecution and exploitation of the Indians, would prove an
interminable task, so many are the crimes committed in this devil's
paradise.
The following are the directors of the Peruvian Amazon Company[108]:--
HENRY M. READ, 4 Lancaster Gate Terrace, Hyde Park, London, W.
SIR JOHN LISTER KAYE, Bart., 26, Manchester Square, London, W.
JOHN RUSSEL GUBBINS, Esq., 22, Carlton Hill, London, N.W.
BARON DE SOUSA DEIRO, Chairman of Goodwin, Ferreira Company, Ltd.,
Manchester.
M. HENRI BONDUEL, Banker, Rue d'Aumale, Paris.
SEÑOR JULIO CÉSAR ARANA, Iquitos, Peru.
SEÑOR ABEL ALARCO, Salisbury House, London, E.C., managing director.
The secretary is Walter Bramall, F.C.I.S., and the registered office of
this Christian and humanitarian syndicate is at Salisbury House, London
Wall, London, E.C.
Of these seven directors, there are at least two who are well aware of
the state of affairs in their "possessions," who are far better informed
than I am of the murders, the robberies, the flagellations, the
violations of little eight and ten year old girls, the tortures, the
incredible mutilations, and the other stupendous crimes committed by
this company and its employees in the terrible Putumayo. These criminal
employees are not restrained by Julio César Arana and the manager in
Iquitos, his brother-in-law, Pablo Zumaeta, but, on the contrary, are
actually aided and encouraged by these monsters in their horrible work.
The other five directors are either dupes who have been taken in by the
slick tongues of Julio César Arana and his accomplice, Abel Alarco, and
who are not aware of the awful and appalling crimes committed in their
names by their employees in the sanguinary Putumayo, or else they are
hardened ruffians, who deliberately pocket the products of slavery,
torture, and crime.
This criminal syndicate has endeavoured to unload its million of
worthless shares upon the British public at £1 each. In their prospectus
they make such extraordinary statements, misstatements, and omissions
that they make themselves liable to the law to answer to the charges of
swindling, obtaining money under false pretences, and various others.
In a prospectus published by this company in the _Sunday Times_ of
London, December 6, 1908, I note among others, and denounce as
deliberate lies, the following statements:--
1. That they have any _legal_ rights or _legal_ titles in regard to
their gruesome "possessions" in the Putumayo.
2. That their rubber collection centres _are surrounded by cultivated
lands_.
3. That these "cultivated lands" have a population of about 40,000
Indians.
4. That these Indians are being taught to improve the crude methods that
were formerly used of treating the rubber.
5. That the "rubber-trees are the same as those which produce Para
Fine."
6. That the territory in their possession "contains valuable auriferous
quartz and gravel and deposits of coal and other minerals."
7. That "the exportation of rubber from the Putumayo is increasing."
8. That "the boundary question, even should it affect politically a
portion of the Putumayo territory, will not affect the legal rights of
the settlers."
The following statement, made by the Minister of Foreign Relations of
the Republic of Colombia, which I translate from the _Jornal do
Comercio_ of Manaos, Brazil, of June 3, 1908, gives an idea of how
Colombia views the proceedings of the "civilising company":--
"The companies that are exploiting the adjacent regions of the Putumayo
to-day have no legal existence in Colombia, but, on the contrary, are
violating many of our legal dispositions and are even committing crimes
for which our laws provide penal punishment. When the time comes, the
Government of Colombia will not only refuse them protection, but will
punish the agents of those companies that are responsible for criminal
acts with all the rigours of the law."
They also omit to state the following important and interesting facts:--
1. That their Pevas estate is practically exhausted.
2. That the Nanay estate, utterly neglected and abandoned, is now, and
has been for nearly two years, in the possession of Muniz & Co.
3. That their "large staff" of European employees in the sanguinary
Putumayo does not exceed eight or ten men at the most.
4. That the "extensive plains" are all covered with the thick, dense
forest of the tropics, and that it is a tedious and expensive task to
clear even a few acres of land there.
5. That in the short space of three or four years the Putumayo rubber
will be completely exhausted.
6. And that "they force the Pacific Indians of the Putumayo to work day
and night at the extraction of rubber, without the slightest
remuneration; that they give them nothing to eat; that they keep them in
the most complete nakedness; that they rob them of their crops, their
women, and their children to satisfy the voracity, lasciviousness and
avarice of themselves and their employees, for they live on the Indians'
food, keep harems and concubines, and sell these people at wholesale and
retail in Iquitos; that they flog them inhumanly, until their bones are
visible; that they give them no medical treatment, but let them die,
eaten up by maggots, or to serve as food for the chiefs' dogs; that they
castrate them, cut off their ears, fingers, arms, legs; that they
torture them by means of fire, of water, and by tying them up,
crucified, head down; that they burn and destroy their houses and crops;
that they cut them to pieces with _machetes_; that they grasp children
by the feet and dash their heads against walls and trees, until their
brains fly out; that they have the old folks killed when they can work
no longer; and, finally, that to amuse themselves, to practise shooting,
or to celebrate the _sábado de gloria_[109]--as Fonseca and Macedo have
done--they discharge their weapons at men, women, and children, or, in
preference to this, they souse them with kerosene and set fire to them
to enjoy their desperate agony."[110]
And all this, let us remember, is done by a gang of human beasts, who,
consulting exclusively their own evil interests, have had the audacity
to form themselves into an English company and put themselves and their
gruesome "possessions" under the protection of the English flag, in
order to carry out more conveniently their sanguinary labours in the
Putumayo and to inspire confidence here.
People of England! Just and generous people, always the advanced
sentinels of Christianity and civilisation! Consider these horrors! Put
yourselves in the place of the victims, and free these few remaining
Indians from their cruel bondage and punish the authors of the crimes!