they bring in. They only get payment when the full _fabrico_--say,
seventy-five days--is completed. These commissions take place sometimes
every ten days, sometimes every fifteen days, according to the period
fixed for each _puesta_, depending on the neighbourhood. Sealey gives
this as a general indication of the manner in which he has been employed
on 'commissions' and collecting the Indians from the forest. He next
states he wishes to describe what took place on a certain occasion when
he with other Barbados men went on a commission from Abisinia under
Jiménez. They were stationed at Morelia at the time, and went under
Jiménez to the Caquetá. It was a journey to catch fugitive Indians who
had fled from the rubber-working, and was soon after Sealey had gone to
Abisinia; he thinks it was in June, 1908. On the first day's march from
Morelia, about five o'clock in the afternoon, when they were some one
and a half day's distance from the Caquetá, they caught an old Indian
woman in the path. Jiménez asked the old woman where the rest of the
Indians were. Sealey states she was a bit frightened. She told him that
the next day at eleven o'clock he would get to the house where some
Indians were. She was an old woman, not able to run. They did not tie
her up. They went on with her, keeping her all night in camp until about
two o'clock of the next day, and then Jiménez asked her, 'Where is the
house; where are the Indians?' The old woman stood up, and said
nothing. She could not speak; she kept her eyes on the ground. Jiménez
said to her: 'You were telling me lies yesterday, but now you have got
to speak the truth.' With that he called his wife--he had an Indian
woman, the woman who is still with him--and he said to his wife: 'Bring
me that rope off my hammock.' She took the rope off and gave it to him,
and with that he tied the old woman's hands behind her back. There were
two trees standing just like that--one there and one there. He made an
Indian cut a post to stretch across between the two trees. Then he
hauled the old woman up, her feet were not touching the ground at all.
He said to one of the boys, a _muchacho_: 'Bring me some leaves--some
dry leaves,' he said, and he put these under the feet of the old woman
as she hung there, her feet about a foot or so above the ground; and he
then take a box of matches out of his pocket and he light the dry
leaves, and the old lady start to burn. Big bladders [blisters] I see on
her skin up here' (he pointed to his thighs). "All was burned; she was
calling out. Well, sir, when I see that, sir, I said, 'Lord, have
mercy!' and I run ahead that I could not see her no more."
"You did not go back?"
"I stayed a little ways off to where she was. I could hear him speaking.
He say to one of the boys, 'Loose her down now,' and they loose her but
she was not dead. She lay on the ground--she was still calling out. He
tell one of the Indians: 'Now, if this old woman is not able to walk,
cut her head off,' and the Indian did so--he cut her head off."
"You saw that?"
"Yes, sir, he leave her there in the same place. We left her there,
going a little ways into the forest; it was about four hours' walk;
after we left the old woman we met two women. They had no house--they
had run away. One had a child. Jiménez axed the one that had the child:
'Where is these Indians that has run away?' she tell him that she don't
know where they were. He tell her after she tell him that she don't know
that she was a liar."
"Did he tell her this himself in her own language?"
"He tell his wife to tell her. His wife speaks Spanish, too. His wife is
up there with him now at Ultimo Retiro. He tell his wife that she was a
liar. He took the child from the woman and he gave it to an Indian, one
of the Indians who had been collected to work rubber. 'Cut this child's
head off!' he say, and he did so."
"How did the Indian cut the child's head off?"
"He held it by the hair and chop its head off with a _machete_. It was a
little child walking behind its mother."
"Was it a boy or a girl?"
"It was a boy. He left the child and the head in the same place,
everything there, on the path. He went on then; he take the two women
with him, but the woman was crying for her child. Well, sir, we got a
little ways more inside the wood; walking, we met an Indian man--a
strong young fellow he was, too. That is, after we gets over to near
the Caguetá. Jiménez say he wanted to go to the next side--the other
side--of the Caquetá, but he do not know where he would get a boat, a
canoe, to go over. So this time he tell his woman, his wife, to ax the
Indian to tell where the boat is. Well, sir, the Indian say he do not
know where it is. By that time Jiménez say the Indian lie--he was a
liar, and he got a rope and he tie the Indian's hands like that behind
his back. It was in the same way with the post across between two trees.
He made the Indians tie a post across between two trees, and he haul the
Indian, like that, up to the post. His feet could not touch the ground,
and he call for some dry leaves, and tell the boys to bring some dry
leaves, same as the old woman. He put the leaves under his feet, and he
take a box of matches out of his pocket. The man was there shouting out,
greeting. Jiménez draw a match and light the leaves, and this time, sir,
the Indian start to burn, big bladders going out from his skin. The
Indian was there burning, with his head hanging like that--moaning, he
was. Jiménez say: 'Well, you will not tell me where the canoe, where the
boat is,' he says, 'so you must bear with that.' Well, the Indian was
not quite dead, but was there with his head hanging, and Jiménez he tell
the _capitán_, by name José Maria, a Boras Indian [he is chief _capitán_
of the Abisinia _muchachos_]; he says, 'Give him a ball!' he says, and
the Indian took his carbine and give him a ball here, shooting him in
the chest. Well, sir, after I saw how the blood started, I ran. It was
awful to see, and he left the Indian hanging up there with the rope and
everything on him."
"Was the Indian dead?"
"Yes, sir, he was dead with the ball, and we left him there in the same
place. That's all."
"Sealey states that he had reported these things to his
fellow-countryman, John Brown, who when he had reached Chorrera had
become the servant of a Captain Whiffen, an English officer who had
arrived there. He hoped that Captain Whiffen, hearing of it, might be
able to do something and so told John Brown.[127] Sealey states that
Chase was with him on the expedition."
Another Barbados man's (Westerman Leavine's) examination includes the
following:--
"He confirms the statement made by Genaro Caporo, in the _Truth_ charges
read out to him, who had declared what he saw in the middle of 1907. The
statement made by Caporo, that three old Indians and two young women,
their daughters, were murdered by Normand in cold blood and their bodies
eaten by the dogs, was corroborated by Leavine. He saw this take place,
and saw the dogs eating them. As to the starving to death of Indians in
the _cepo_, it was a common occurrence, and the dead and stinking bodies
left there alongside still living prisoners he declares he more than
once witnessed. The statement made by Caporo as to an Indian chief who
was burnt alive in the presence of his wife and two children, and the
wife then beheaded and the children dismembered, and all thrown on the
fire, Leavine says he remembers, and was a witness to it. He also
remembers the occurrence narrated by Caparo of an Indian woman who was
cut to pieces by Normand himself, because she refused to live with one
of his employees as he directed her to do. He was a witness to the woman
being set fire to with the Peruvian flag soaked in kerosene wrapped
round her, and of her then being shot. The statement made by Caporo as
to the ground round Andokes being sown with skulls was then read out by
the Consul-General to Leavine. He (Leavine) of himself stated that there
were days in 1906 and 1907 'when you could not eat your food on account
of the dead Indians lying around the house.' He frequently saw the dogs
eating them, and dragging the limbs about. The bodies and arms were
thrown all round and were not buried.
"With regard to the statement of Roso España, read over to him from the
_Truth_ charges, he saw one child rammed head first down one of the
holes being dug for the house timbers.
"The statement of Julio Muriedas, made in the same quarter, who stated
that he had been at Matanzas, was then read over to Leavine. He
remembers Muriedas. With regard to the statement that two hundred lashes
were given to Indians, Leavine says this often took place, also the
burning alive of children to make them reveal where their parents were
hidden. This he declares he has seen Señor Normand do more than once.
The eating of the limbs of the dead people by the house-dogs attested by
Muriedas he again confirms, and says it was 'a common occurrence.' The
statement of 'M. G.,' from the _Truth_ accusations, was then read to
Leavine. He recalls this man, named Marcial, being a short time at
Matanzas when Señor Normand wished to make him a station cook, and this
man had refused and they had quarrelled. This man's statement that he
had seen in one month and five days 'ten Indians killed and burnt'
Leavine declares is in no wise remarkable. He has himself seen twenty
Indians killed in five days in Matanzas. As to the 'stinking' of this
section referred to by 'M. G.' he affirms that this was often the case
to a revolting degree. He recalls 'M. G.,' or Marcial, shooting the
little Indian boy by Señor Normand's orders as he, 'M. G.,' accuses
himself of doing.
"Leavine finally declares that Señor Normand killed many hundreds of
Indians during his six years at Matanzas, during all which time he
(Leavine) served under him, and by many kinds of torture, cutting off
their heads and limbs and burning them alive. He more than once saw
Normand have Indians' hands and legs tied together, and the men or women
thus bound thrown alive on a fire. The employees on the station would
look on or assist at this. The station boys, or _muchachos_, would get
the firewood ready, acting under Señor Normand's orders. He saw Normand
on one occasion take three native men and tie them together in a line,
and then with his Mauser rifle shoot all of them with one bullet, the
ball going right through. He would fire more than one shot into them
like this."
On arriving in London, in January, 1912, Consul Casement gave in a
further Report to the Foreign Office, of which the following are
extracts:--
"The managing director of the company at Iquitos, Señor Pablo Zumaeta,
against whom had been issued a warrant of arrest, had, I found, not
been arrested, but, with the connivance of the police, had merely
remained in his private residence at Iquitos during the hearing of an
appeal he was permitted to lodge. This appeal being considered by the
Superior Court of Iquitos during my stay there, resulted in the court
annulling the warrant issued by the Criminal Court below, and the return
to public life of the accused man without trial or public investigation
of the charges against him."[128]
"Following my return to Iquitos in the 16th of October, an effort was
apparently made to arrest some twenty of those still employed by the
company on the Putumayo towards the very end of October and in the early
days of November. Although the localities where all of them were at work
were well known, the _comisario_ or commissioner of the Putumayo, one
Amadéo Burga, a paid employee of the company, and a brother-in-law of
its managing director, in each case took action just too late, so that
all those incriminated were either absent in the forest or said to have
gone away only a few hours before the officer's arrival. The vessel
reporting this unsatisfactory ending to this, the latest attempt[129] to
bring to justice the authors of so many crimes, returned to Iquitos on
the 25th of November, bringing only one man in custody, a subordinate
named Portocarrero, who was among those implicated. All the rest of the
accused were stated to have 'escaped,' in some cases, it was reported,
taking with them large numbers of captive Indians, either for sale or
for continued forced labour in other regions of the rubber-bearing
forests.
"Some of those wanted, however, I learned subsequently, had returned to
their stations when the officer, who had failed to find them, had left
the neighbourhood, and were at work again in the service of the company
at the date of my departure from the Amazon. Others of the individuals
charged by the judge, I found, were, or had been, actually in Iquitos at
the time the police there held warrants for their arrest, and no attempt
had been made to put these warrants into execution.
"The evidence that I obtained during my stay in Iquitos, coming as it
did from many quarters and much of it from the Putumayo itself, induced
in me the conviction that the punishment of the wrongdoers was a thing
not to be expected, and, from a variety of causes I need not dwell upon
here, possibly a matter beyond the ability of the local executive to
ensure. Suffice it to say I saw no reason to modify the opinion
expressed in my Report of the 17th of March last, that 'custom
sanctioned by long tradition, and an evil usage whose maxim is that "the
Indian has no rights," are far stronger than a distant law that rarely
emerges into practice.'
"In the Amazon territories of Peru--the great region termed the
Montaña--the entire population, it may be said, consists of native
Indians, some brought into close touch, as at Iquitos and in the
settled mission centres of the Ucayali, with white civilisation, but a
great proportion of them, like those on the Putumayo, still dwelling in
the forest, a rude and extremely primitive existence. To these remote
people civilisation has come, not in the guise of settled occupation by
men of European descent, accompanied by executive control to assert the
supremacy of law, but by individuals in search of Indian labour--a thing
to be mercilessly used, and driven to the most profitable of tasks,
rubber-getting, by terror and oppression. That the Indian has
disappeared and is disappearing rapidly under this process is nothing to
these individuals. Enough Indians may remain to constitute, in the end,
the nucleus of what is euphemistically termed 'a civilised centre.'
"The entire absence of government, which has not kept pace with the
extension of revenue-yielding communities, has left the weaker members
of those communities exposed to the ruthless greed of the stronger. The
crimes of the Putumayo, horrible as they are, have their counterpart, I
am assured, in other remote regions of the same lawless forest--although
possibly not to the same terrifying extent.
"In this instance the force of circumstance has brought to light what
was being done under British auspices--that is to say, through an
enterprise with headquarters in London, and employing both British
capital and British labour--to ravage and depopulate the wilderness. The
fact that this British company should possibly cease to direct the
original families of Peruvian origin who first brought their forest
wares (50,000 slaves) to the English market will not, I apprehend,
materially affect the situation on the Putumayo. The Arana Syndicate
still termed itself the Peruvian Amazon Company (Limited) up to the date
of my leaving Iquitos on the 7th of December last. The whole of the
rubber output of the region, it should be borne in mind, is placed upon
the English market, and is conveyed from Iquitos in British bottoms.
Some few of the employees in its service are, or were when I left the
Amazon, still British subjects, and the commercial future of the
Putumayo (if any commercial future be possible to a region so wasted and
mishandled) must largely depend on the amount of foreign, chiefly
British, support those exploiting the remnant of the Indians may be able
to secure.
"A population officially put at 50,000 should in ten years have grown by
natural increase to certainly 52,000 or 53,000 souls, seeing that every
Indian marries--a bachelor or spinster Indian is unknown--and that
respect for marriage is ingrained in uncivilised Indian nature and love
of children, probably the strongest affection these people display. By
computations made last year and the year before, by officials and by
those interested in the prosperity of the Peruvian Amazon Company, the
existing population of the entire region is now put at from 7,000
Indians, the lowest calculation, to 10,000, the highest. Around some of
the sections or rubber centres whence this drain of rubber has been
forced, the human sacrifices attained such proportions that human bones,
the remains of lost tribes of Indians, are so scattered through the
forests that, as one informant stated, these spots 'resemble
battlefields.' A Peruvian officer, who had been through the Putumayo
since the date of my visit in 1910, said that the neighbourhood of one
particular section he had visited recalled to him the battlefield of
Miraflores--the bloodiest battle of the Chilean War. Moreover, these
unarmed and defenceless people, termed, indeed, in the language of
prospectuses, the 'labourers' of this particular company, were killed
for no crime or offence, and were murdered by the men who drew the
highest profits from that company. They comprised women and
children--very often babies in arms--as well as men and boys. Neither
age nor sex was spared; all had to work rubber, to perform impossible
tasks, to abandon home and cultivation of their forest clearings, and to
search week by week and month by month for the juice of rubber-yielding
trees, until death came as sudden penalty for failing strength and
non-compliance, or more gently overtook them by the way in the form of
starvation or disease. With all that it has given to the Amazon Valley
of prosperity, of flourishing steamship communications, of port works,
of growing towns and centres of civilisation, with electric light and
tramways, of well-kept hospitals and drainage schemes, it may well be
asked whether the rubber-tree has not, perhaps, taken more away.
"However this be, it is certainly in the best interests of commercial
civilisation itself, and of the vital needs of the trading communities
upon the Amazon River, that the system of ruthless and destructive human
exploitation which has been permitted to grow up on the Putumayo should
be sternly repressed. Peru herself can only greatly benefit from the
establishment of a civilised and humane administration--a task of no
great magnitude--in those regions hitherto abandoned to the _cauchero_
and the vegetable filibuster. The healthy development of the Amazon
rubber industry, one of the foremost of Brazilian needs, calls for that
humanity of intercourse civilisation seeks to spread by commerce, not
for its degradation by the most cruel forms of slavery and greed.
"All that is sensible of this among those interested in the rubber
industry, whether of Europe, the United States, or Brazil, should
heartily unite in assisting the best elements of Peruvian life to
strengthen the arm of justice, and to establish upon the Putumayo and
throughout the Montaña, wherever the rubber-seeker seeks his profits, a
rule of right dealing and legality. It may be long before a
demoralisation drawing its sanction from so many centuries of
indifference and oppression can be uprooted, but Christianity owns
schools and missions as well as _Dreadnoughts_ and dividends. In
bringing to that neglected region and to those terrorised people
something of the suavity of life, the gentleness of mind, the equity of
intercourse between man and man that Christianity seeks to extend, the
former implements of her authority should be more potent than the
latter.
"I have, &c.,
"ROGER CASEMENT."
CONCLUSION
The foregoing are but a few portions of the accounts published in Consul
Casement's Report given by the Barbados men whose statements were taken.
They have been here selected to show that the worst stories of almost
incredible barbarity were more than confirmed. No apology is needed for
setting them forth in this book. It is in the interests of truth and
justice that one half of the world should know how another, remoter half
lives. The history of the affair throws a light on the curious character
of people of various nationalities connected with it. The Latin
Americans, even those who committed the most appalling deeds, are such
people as would under ordinary circumstances receive the traveller with
high-sounding phrases of hospitality. Away from the restraining power of
civilisation and public opinion, it is seen that men of certain
character easily revert to primitive instincts of cruelty and
oppression, and hold human life the cheapest thing on earth. The
terrible indictment that has been made of Peruvian methods away from the
influence of their cities shows how far from the principle of
self-government the people of Latin America still are. It is to be
recollected, moreover, that these poor forest Indians differ very little
from the people who have formed the basis of Peruvian and Latin
American nationality generally: whilst the Indians and Cholos of the
uplands, who are still subjected to oppression and civic negligence, are
those from whom Peru and others of the Andine republics draw, and always
will draw, unless a strong tide of immigration sets in, the bulk of
their citizens. The governing Peruvians and Bolivians of to-day are
formed from that race. They bear its stamp upon their faces and cuticle.
This brown race, which has, in Mexico and Peru, produced statesmen and
law-givers, is nothing to be ashamed of, yet the _mestizos_, or people
of mixed race, forming the bulk of the Latin American nations, are
harsher in their conduct towards the Indian than are white men.
Comparatively few women from Spain have entered the New World. The
Indians have formed the mothers of the Peruvians and their neighbours,
from Presidents and Cabinet Ministers downwards. These poor women, who
have been outraged, starved, murdered, or burnt alive, are of their own
flesh. What reparation will Peru make to expiate these terrible outrages
against man and Nature? How will it compensate the relatives of the
murdered, or the scarred and ruined survivors? Furthermore, what
reparation will the European shareholders of the now liquidated company
make?
The pressing necessity for Peru--as for every other land and nation--is
to awaken to the necessity for a new doctrine and science regarding the
disposal of the resources of the earth and the enjoyments of its fruits
by those who have their being upon it. Until this is done, commercialism
and oppression will continue to go hand in hand.
EDITOR.
INDEX
ABISINIA, rubber station, 245
Aborigines, _see_ Indians
Aborigines Protection Society, 31-2
Absentee capitalism, evils of, 49
Abuses, first mention of, 21-2, 24
Acosta, Eugenio, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 307
Acosta, General, 146
Agent, confession of an, 233-6
Agents of the Peruvian Amazon Company, _see_ Acosta, Agüero,
Alcorta, Calderon, Delgado, Esmeralda, Fonseca, Jiménez,
Loayza, Lúrquin, Macedo, Martinengui, Montt, Muñz, Negrete,
Norman, Normand, O'Donnell, Rengifo, Rodríguez, Torres, Velarde, Zumaeta
Aguarunas, native tribe, 16
Agüero, agent of Peruvian Amazon Company, 217;
crimes of, 237-8, 241, 244, 255, 257
Alarco, Abel, 200, 210
Albarracin, Lieutenant, 190
Alcorta, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 232
Alligators, 112-3, 115;
escape from, 122
_Amapá_, Brazilian war launch, 225;
forests of, 17
Amazon, the, 12-13;
discovery and history of, 13-14;
difficulties of governing, 35;
value of, 37;
forests of, 74
"Amazons," origin of legend, 14
America, North, _see_ United States
America, South, 13
American Consul at Iquitos, 45
Americans, oppressive treatment of Indians by, 49
Andes, 17
extinction of native labour in, 26-7
Andoques, native tribe, 194
Anti-Slavery Society, _see_ Aborigines Protection Society
Apostolic Prefect, Report of the, 297
Atrocities, Hardenburg's first account of, 28;
publication of, in London, 29;
denial of, by Peruvian Government and the Peruvian Amazon Company, 29
Arana, J. C., charges against, 32, 180;
rise of, 199, 200;
visits London, 201;
founds London syndicate, 201, 210, 211, 217-19
Arana Bros., import negroes, 40, 200;
charges against, 215, 271-2
Arana, Lizardo, 200
Argelia, 167; trouble at, 170-1
Arrests, attempted, 333
Arrows, poisoned, 36, 59
Authorities, guilt of, 26
Aztecs, 20
BARBADOS men, employed by Peruvian Amazon Company, 33;
crimes committed by, 39;
protests of, 40;
themselves tortured, 40, 45, 208;
charges against, 266-7, 270-8, 280, 312, 315
Bearers, starvation of, 304-5
Becerra, Don Rogero, 129
Benavides, Captain, brutal treatment of writer by, 173
Beni River, 23
Birth customs, 154
Bishop, interpreter, 312
Blackmail, alleged, 32
Blow-pipe, 36, 59, 157
Blue Book, 264
Boa constrictor, 101
_Board of Trade Journal_, 47
Bodoqueda, _see_ Blow-pipe
Bolivia, 18
Bonduel, M. Henri, Director of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 210
Boras, native tribe, 194;
at Abisinia, 245, 318
Braga, J. B., witness, 237-40;
escapes, 240
Bramall, W., Secretary Peruvian Amazon Company, 210
Brazil, 13, 39
Bribery, 19
British Consul at Iquitos, 41, 45;
at Manaos, 40, 45
British hypocrisy, 30-31
British subjects in the Putumayo, 33
Burial, 155
Burning alive, 29, 205, 214, 234, 252-3, 260, 300, 323, 327, 329
Buzzards, 128
CABRERA, José, forced to sell by Arana, 200
Calderon, Colombian rubber collector, 312
Calderon Bros., 200
Campas, native tribe, 298
Campucana, River, 65
Candirú, extraordinary and dangerous fish, 121
Cannibals, tales of, 73
Canoes, 76-7;
author's canoe stranded, 111-25
Capivara, 105
Caporo, Genaro, witness, 256, 330
Casement Reports, the, 20, 32-3, 40, 264-87;
further Report, 287-332;
last Report, 332-8
Casement, Sir Roger, 33, 46, 264;
nature of testimony, 265-6
Castaños, woman stolen from, 226-7, 236
Castration, 205
Castro, Carlos Rey de, Peruvian Consul-General for Brazil, 289
Catfish, 115, 121
Cauca Railway, 55
Cazes, David, British Consul at Iquitos, 41
Chase, witness, 317-21
Chicha, native beer, 66
Children, murder of, 223, 252-3, 319, 328, 331
Chunchos, native tribe, 24
Cionis, native tribe, 78;
habits, 80, 86, 99-100, 103
Coca, 160-1
Collantes, Daniel, 263
Colombia, 13, 17
Colombians, 39;
oppressed and massacred by Peruvians, 144-5, 220-5;
flogged, 227;
murdered, 261;
discover the Putumayo, 293-4
Commercialism, policy of, 12-13
Commission, the Consular, 33, 40
Commission of the Peruvian Company, 266
Commission of the Anti-Slavery Society, 33
Commission of the Peruvian Government, 41
Community houses, 16, 56-7, 80, 156
Concubinage, 180-1, 206-7, 245
Congo, the, 12, 32, 185
_Cosmopolita_, launch, 193-4
Cremation, 259
Crichlow, carpenter, 281;
put in his own stocks, 282
Crimes, variety of, _see_ Torture, Murder, Flogging, Burning alive, &c.
Criminal proceedings, 41
Criminals, names of, 233, 262, 267
Cruelty, a Spanish and Portuguese trait, 37
Cuellar, P., 190
Curare, 59;
its effect, 60
DANCES, 161-2
Dancurt, executioner, 44, 248-9
Davis, A., witness, 321-3
Delgado, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 248, 282
Denial, an Oriental trait of Spanish Americans, 29
Development, checked by slaughter of Indians, 27
"Devil's Paradise," the, 28-9, 164-214
Diversion, murder and torture as a, 29
Dogfish, so-called, 105
Dogs fed on human flesh, 29, 226, 301, 330-1
Drink traffic, 55
Drunkenness, 246
Duarte, 143-5
Dyall, 283
EARS cut off, 323
Economy of humanity not understood, 27
Ecuador, 13, 17
_El Comercio_, journal, 23-7
El Dorado rubber station, piracy at, 177
El Encanto rubber station, 15, 168, 177;
writer imprisoned at, 178;
treatment of Indians at, 179-80, 203, 255
_El Oriente_, journal, 41
"Englishmen," so-called, _see_ Barbados negroes
English Rubber Company, blamed, 41
Enock, C. Reginald, work and protests of, 20-2;
accuses the Peruvians of slave traffic, 24-5, 33, 49-50, 339
Esmeralda, criminal, 230-2
España, Roso, victim and witness, 221-5, 331
FAUNA of the Amazon, 91, 93
Fever, 131
Fire, child tortured by, 226;
Indians burned with kerosene and loosed, 239
Flogging, 29, 180, 204, 217, 227, 229-30, 238, 296, 299, 305;
tapir-hide whip used, 306;
with machete, 306, 325, 331
Fonseca, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 214;
crimes of, 228-33, 260-1, 322-3
Forced labour, early, 37
Foreign Office, 32;
suppresses Casement Report, 34;
publishes it, 34, 46
Forests, 17, 18
Fox, W., 303
Fritz, Padre, 51
GARCILASO DE LA VEGA, 11
Ghiorzo, Lieut., 190, 193
Gold, 54
Gonzalez, Señor, 93, 95-100
Grey, Sir Edward, 32-3, 264
Gubbins, J. R., Director of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 210
Gulpi, 108
Guevara, B., 190, 195, 231-2
Guineo River, 76
Guineo village, 77-8
Gutierrez, Pilar, victim, 175
HARDENBURG, W.E., travels of, 28;
suffering at hands of agents of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 28;
publication of his narrative refused, 31, 44;
his narrative, 154-263;
taken prisoner, 173-4;
"bluffs" his captives, 178-9;
"bluff" discovered, 195;
investigation of crimes, 215;
letters to, 240-63
Henson, Canon, indicts the Peruvian Amazon Company, 50
Huitoto Indians, character and weapons of, 16, 20, 32, 144-5, (149-63);
language of, 150-2;
habits, 152-3;
character, 153-4;
birth customs, 154;
burial customs, 155;
houses, 155-6;
dress, 159-60;
religion, 162-3;
gradual extermination of, 207 to end
Humanity, economy of, 47
IBERIAN character, 17, 339-40
Igaraparaná River, 15, 192
"Imperial Commonwealth, An," 33
Inca language, 56
Incas, laws of, 11, 18, 19;
modern, 56-60
Indians, of the Putumayo basin, decrease of, 16;
forest tribe, 17-19, 22, 36;
of Santiago, 56-60;
of Mocoa, 70;
the Cionis, 78-86;
trading with, 92;
extermination of, 196;
punishment and torture of, 204-5, 218-19;
character of Amazonian tribes, 273;
skill of, 285;
tribes of, 286;
numbers, 289;
experienced elderly individuals murdered by
rubber-gatherers, and weapons destroyed, 311-12;
amazing fidelity and fortitude of, 314-15
Iquitos, 15, 18;
output of rubber firm, 47;
arrival at, 195
_Iquitos_, Peruvian gunboat, 172;
fires on Hardenburg's party, 172-3, 244
JAGUARS, 113-4
Jesuits, missions destroyed, 14, 51
Jiménez, A., agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company,
238, 241-2, 246, 260, 326-8
_Jornal do Comercio_ Manaos, 212;
translation from, 220-5
Judiciary, Peruvian, independence of, 34;
corruption of, 333
KATERENE, native chief, 312
Kaye, Sir J. Lister, Director of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 210
King, Guy T., American Consul at Iquitos, 195
LA CHORRERA, rubber station, 193, 203;
atrocities at, 225-6, 244, 248, 257-8
_La Felpa_, journal, Iquitos, translations from, 215-20, 233-6
_La Sanción_, journal, Iquitos, translations from, 214, 225-32
La Sofia, rubber station, 94
La Union, rubber station, 15;
massacre at, 174-5, 192
Labour, cheap native, 48
Law, not for Indians, 26
Leavine, witness, 330-2
_Liberal_, Peruvian Amazon Company's launch,
168, 172, 175, 186, 193, 224, 244
Lima, 18, 34
Lima Geographical Society, 35
Loayza, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 148, 165, 168-9, 176, 178;
crimes of, 181;
amusements, 187, 203;
crimes, 231, 255-6
Lopez, Celestino, agent and witness, 250
Lopez, Jesus, 131-5
Lores, Benito, commanding the _Iquitos_, 173
Lúrquin, César, procuration by, 191
MACEDO, Victor, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 203, 214, 228-9, 257-9
Madera River, 23
Madre de Dios, 23
Maggots in wounds of victims, 28, 230, 234-5, 299, 305
Magistrates, callous, 316
Manatee, 119
_Manguare_, native telegraph, 16
Mapp, James, witness, 307
Marañon, 19, 20, 25
Marble, 64
Martinengui, Elias, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 257-8
Martinez, Gabriele, 125;
kidnapped, 133, 135-6, 149, 165, 169, 179, 186, 189, 195
Matanzas, 234, 250-3
Materón, Don Octavio, 71, 87-97
Maw, Lieut., 293
Mines, forced labour in, 37
Minister of Justice, Peru, 296
Missions, 33; need of, 50, 52, 293, 296-7, 338
Mocoa, 67-9, 70
Mongolian type of Indian, 20, 291
Monkeys, 123, 137-8
Montaña, the, 27, 35-6
Montt, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 309
Mosquitoes, 136, 192, 194
Muñz, A., agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 230-1
Murderers, _see_ Agents of the Peruvian Amazon Company
Murders, 206-7, 216, 233-4, 237, 251-2, 258, 260, &c.
Muriedas, J. F., witness, 228
NAHUMEDES, native tribe, 14
Napo River, 15
Negrete, Adan, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 302-3
Negroes, selected for savagery, 39-40
Norman, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 217, 222;
crimes of, 225-6, 234
Normand, A., agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 275, 279, 300-2, 330-2;
_see also_ Norman
O'DONNELL, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 233, 243, 304, 312
Ordoñez, Señor, 141, 143;
victimised by Peruvian Amazon Company, 202
Ordoñez y Martinez Rubber Company, 132;
persecuted by Arana Bros., 201
Orellana, 14
Orjuela, Don Jesus, 149, 164-5, 170-1;
taken prisoner, 171;
treatment of, 176-7, 179, 189, 195
PAN-AMERICAN Union, the, 50
Panama, Barbados men at, 40
Paredes, Judge, 41;
attempts to blame English, 41-2
Pardo, Don Ramiro, 167, 170-1
Paris, feeling against Peru in, 43
Peccaries, 120-1
Pedro, 70, 71
Perkins, 28, 44, 55, 64, 71, 95, 97, 103, 104;
lost, 123, 129, 130, 131, 149, 164, 166, 175, 179;
remains at El Encanto, 187;
arrives minus baggage, 195
Peru, under the Incas, 11;
under capitalism, 12
Peruvian Amazon Company, indictment of, 50, 132;
attacks Colombian estates, 132;
piracy of, 133, 144;
outrage by, 148;
treatment of Indians by agents of, 161-3;
capture of Hardenburg's party by troops acting under, 173, 179-80;
system of, 181-4;
charges against, 134-5;
atrocious crimes of agents of, 198-9;
origin of the company, 199;
founded by Arana, 201;
murder and piracy carried on by, 202;
labour system of, 204;
"punishments," 204;
atrocities committed by agents of, 196 to end;
slave traffic carried on by, 209;
directors of, 210;
charges against, 215, 222-3.
Peruvian Consul, denies atrocities, 29
Peruvian Corporation, the, 43
Peruvian Government, compensates author, 28;
hypocrisy or ignorance of, 30;
exposed, 44;
protests against the British attitude, 53;
fails to arrest criminals, 265
Peruvian officials, Hardenburg's indictment of, 38-3
Pizarro, 14
Plantation rubber, the only remedy, 47
Plata Cecilia, victim, 200
Plaza de Oro, 93
Police of the Caraparaná, 125, 133-4
Political exiles, 109
Pongo de Manseriche, 19, 20
Porpoises, fresh-water, 105
Portuguese, cruelty of, 51
Port Maldonado, 23
Portocarrera, A., witness, 230
Prat, Frei, 298
Press, timidity of, 31
Prieto, Señor Gustavo, 165
Putumayo River, 17;
sources of, 54, 63;
warning to intending labourers on, 216;
Indians of the, 216;
Sir Roger Casement on, 288
Putumayo Rubber Company, 12
QUEBRADA, San Miguel, 102
Quichua language, 56
Quinine, 93-4
RAPE, 28
Read, H. M., Director of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 210
Remolino, 141-2
Rengifo, Miguel, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 261
Reyes, President, 68, 93-4
Robuchon, French explorer, disappears, 218-19, 289
Rocca, action by, 228
Rodriguez, A., agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 242-3;
wholesale murders by, 254-5, 262, 276, 310
Rodriguez Bros., agents of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 217, 223
Rodriguez, Dr., 248
Roman Church in Peru, 52
Rosas, J., witness, 243
Rubber, cost of, in human lives, 46-7;
output of, 47;
varieties of, and method of gathering, 94-5, 294-5
Rubber companies, fraudulent, 48
SANCHEZ, DON ALFONSO, 146-7
Sanchez, Ramon, rubber agent, 274-5, 279
San Antonio, 55
San Francisco, 55, 62-3
Santa Julia, 153, 260
Santiago, 55; Indians of, 56-60
Savagery, tales of Indian, 36
Sealey, Stanley, witness, 324
"Secret of the Pacific, The," 20
Serrano, Señor, 166-8;
atrocious treatment by the Peruvians, 148-9, 164-6, 201
Shareholders, ignorance of, 48
Sibundoy, 55;
Indians of, 61
Skulls, at Matanzas, 253
Slave raids, 14
Slave trade, in Peru, 21, 51, 209, 297
Smallpox sufferers killed, 241, 243
Spears, 158
Soplín, Carlos, witness, 232
Sorcery, belief in, 71
Sousa, Deiro, Baron de, Director of Peruvian Amazon Company, 210, 241
State Socialism of Incas, 11
Starvation, 304-5, 310
Stench of murdered Indians, 234, 252, 332
Stocks, Indians starved in, 241, 279, 280-1;
flogged in, 308
Suárez, executioner, 230
Sugar, phenomenal growth of, 36
_Sunday Times_, statements in, denied, 211-12
TAMBOPATA, 23
Tapirs, 114, 117-18
Target, Indians as living, 38, 206
Telegraphy, native, 16, 158-9
Texeira, explorer, 14
Tizon, Señor, 303, 307
Torres, Colombian prisoner, 226
Torres, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 323
Torture, as a diversion, 38;
varieties of, in use, 184-5, 204-7, 213 to end.
_See_ Burning, Flogging, Stocks, Target, Water, &c.
Toucan, 123-4
_Truth_, 30-31, 44, 185, 204, 330-31
Turkey, 127
Turtles, 115-16, 119;
eggs, 124, 127
_Tunday_, _see_ Telegraph
Tyranny, a matter of opportunity, 39
UNITED STATES, 28, 42-3;
action of, tardily follows British, 46;
apathy of Consul and Government, 195
Urdaneta, General, 67
VAMPIRES, 98-9
Vasquez, A., agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 262-3, 317-21
Vasquez, Julian, witness, 243, 317-8
Vegetation, 93
Velarde, agent of the Peruvian Amazon Company, 223-4, 309
Venezuela, 13
Victims, names of some, 221
_Virginia_, Brazilian launch, 225
WATER, torture by, 205, 307
Whiffen, Captain, 324, 330
Witchcraft, belief in, 71
Women, trade in, 21;
treatment of, 180-81, 184-5, 198,
206, 218, 220, 226-7, 229, 230-35,
242, 247-8, 253, 261-2, 283-4, 306, 311, 313-14, 316
ZAPATA, Prefect, 197
Zubiaur, Carlos, 187, 192
Zumaeta, Bartolomé, agent of the Peruvian
Amazon Company, 200, 211, 226-7, 246
Zumaeta, Pablo, managing director of
the Peruvian Amazon Company released, 332-3
The Gresham Press,
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED
WOKING AND LONDON.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Garcilaso was born in 1540.
[2] Pronounced _Put-oo-my-o_.
[3] See "Peru" by the present writer, London, 1909.
[4] The present writer travelled extensively in this region, which he
described in an address to the Royal Geographical Society, and in his
book, "The Andes and the Amazon." London, 1907: T. Fisher Unwin (4th
edition).
[5] Foreign Office Reports, Miscellaneous, No. 8, 1912.
[6] "The Secret of the Pacific." London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1912.
[7] Documentos oficiales del Departmento de Loreto, Lima, 1905, of
which extracts were published in "The Andes and the Amazon."
[8] Jorge von Hassel.
[9] Name given to the Indians.
[10] Slave raids.
[11] See Consul Casement's Reports.
[12] These abuses of the Upland Indians are constantly being carried
out. Whilst this book was in press accounts were received of
systematic ill-treatment, murder, and slavery of the natives in the
Montaña of Cuzco and elsewhere, published in _El Comercio_ of Lima
under date of June and July, 1912. These districts are by no means
remote from centres of government.
[13] The ignorance or hypocrisy of the Peruvian Legation in this
connection was fully brought forward in _Truth_.
[14] The general public are insufficiently aware of the extensive and
valuable work carried on by this society (Denison House, London), in
the protection of native races against slavery all over the world, nor
of the public support it merits.
[15] The most serious charge was one brought by the Peruvian director
of the Company, Julio Cesar Arana, against an English army officer who
had travelled on the Putumayo and witnessed the atrocities committed
upon the Indians. According to this charge, which was supported by a
document, recorded in a minute upon the Company's books and issued in
a printed circular to the shareholders in December, 1909, this officer
called upon Arana in London, entertained him at the United Service
Club and Café Royal, and offered to suppress a Report he had made for
the British Foreign Office upon the subject, which was, he stated,
of a nature such as would ruin the Company, if Arana and the other
directors would pay him £1,000 to cover his expenses on the Putumayo.
The directors refused and the officer sent in the Report. The travels
of this officer are mentioned in Mr. Casement's Report. The matter is
mentioned here in the interests of common fairness.
[16] The present writer had been asked by the Company's directors in
October, 1909, to head this commission, and was prepared to go, but
no action was taken: and again in May, 1910, but being engaged on the
publication of his book, "An Imperial Commonwealth," at that time,
regretted he was unable to do so.
[17] In this connection it is to be recollected that the English
directors of the company disclaimed previous knowledge of the subject,
as they were deceived by their Peruvian colleagues.
[18] The present writer has, in his books, endeavoured to show forth
the possibilities of Peru, and the good points of its people, towards
whom as a nation he retains feelings of friendship. But no service is
performed by attempting to conceal the serious defects of character
displayed in Peruvian individuals and governance.
[19] See Consul Casement's Report.
[20] The present writer has, in South America, been hailed as a
"fellow-countryman," by chance Barbadoes men, with that singular
cordiality which is one of their characteristics. "How do you do, sir!
I'm an Englishman too," they will say, with outstretched hand.
[21] American _Review of Reviews_, September, 1912.
[22] The two American travellers were left without resources in
Iquitos, and came to London under considerable difficulties.
Hardenburg was accused by the company of attempted blackmail, in
the laying of his evidence before the editor of _Truth_ and the
Anti-Slavery Society. By a fortunate coincidence there arrived at
that moment a letter, announcing that the Peruvian Government, due to
representation made by the United States, had agreed to pay over to
the two travellers an indemnity of £500. The Peruvian Legation at the
same time was publishing letters in the London Press actually denying
that such occurrences had taken place.
[23] See _Board of Trade Journal_, September, 1912.
[24] The present writer has proposed at various times, in letters to
the Press and to the Chambers of Commerce, the establishment of a
strong Latin American Bureau in London, for the purpose of fostering
trade with those lands, of bringing forward their geographical
possibilities and natural resources, and of insisting upon attention
being paid to the condition of Latin American labour. In the United
States a strong organisation exists in the Pan-American Union at
Washington for dealing with the first two items here proposed, and due
to its exertions the United States are securing a much larger share of
Latin American trade than formerly.
[25] Mistress.
[26] After the ancient Incas of Peru.--EDITOR.
[27] Food for the journey.
[28] Porters.
[29] Packages.
[30] Ravine.
[31] Hut.
[32] Shambles.
[33] Slippery Stone.
[34] Native maize beer.
[35] Tropical lands.
[36] Bixa orellana.
[37] A skin disease.
[38] Blow-pipe.
[39] Native alcohol or rum.
[40] Cedrela odorata.
[41] Swietenia mahogani.
[42] Nectandra.
[43] Callophilum brasiliense.
[44] Hura.
[45] Acrodiclidium itauba.
[46] Atrocarium.
[47] Abrus precatorius.
[48] Bactris ciliata.
[49] Iriartea deltoida.
[50] Iriartea ventricosa.
[51] Phitelephas macrocarpa.
[52] Crescentia cuyete.
[53] Carica papaya.
[54] Citrus limonum.
[55] Lucuma caimita.
[56] Anacardium occidentale.
[57] Guilielma speciosa.
[58] Artocarpus incisa.
[59] Tapirus americanus.
[60] Dicotyles labiatus.
[61] Hydrochoerus capibara.
[62] Cervus.
[63] Bradypus.
[64] Dasypus.
[65] Cecropia peltata.
[66] Yacquinia armillaris.
[67] Musa paradisiaca.
[68] Zea maiz.
[69] Manihot utilissima.
[70] Manihot aypi.
[71] Cerveza peruviana.
[72] Vine or creeper.
[73] Genipa oblongifolia.
[74] Boatmen.
[75] _Chimbada._
[76] Rhea Americana.
[77] The Golden Beach.
[78] Gynerium segitatum.
[79] Phoeæna brasiliensis.
[80] Hydrochoerus capibara.
[81] Felis onca.
[82] Felis onca nigra.
[83] Felis concolor.
[84] Felis pardalis.
[85] Felis tigrina.
[86] framework of unseasoned wood built over an open fire to suspend
meat, &c., from.
[87] The travellers seem to have encountered a numerous
_fauna_.--EDITOR.
[88] Ramphastas discolorus.
[89] Portage.--EDITOR.
[90] American slang term for a drinking bout.--EDITOR.
[91] Simia mycetes.
[92] This concern was, before October 1, 1907, a Peruvian Company, the
J. C. Arana and Hermanos Company.
[93] One sol (S.) is equivalent to about two shillings.
[94] The full name appears in the manuscript.
[95] This, of course, was all a gigantic deception, but I firmly
believe that it saved our lives, for at the time it was rumoured that
a big American syndicate was going to begin operations on the Upper
Putumayo.
[96] The scars on their backs from floggings, called so after Julio
C. Arana, the organiser and chief stock-holder of the Peruvian Amazon
Company.
[97] Many of these have recently been published in
_Truth_.--AUTHOR.
[98] Executioners, torturers.
[99] It is to be noted that, although a year and a half has elapsed
since these outrages were committed, the American Government, in
accordance with its immemorial custom and in spite of our appeals, has
so far done absolutely nothing on our behalf.--AUTHOR. [Later
on the two travellers received £500.--EDITOR.]
[100] The bandit Burga.
[101] The celebrated Zapata.
[102] This account cannot be printed.--EDITOR.
[103] The first settlers in the Igaraparaná.
[104] These three monsters are jointly responsible with Julio César
Arana for the hellish crimes of the Putumayo to be described later.
Alarco is now managing director of this syndicate of crime, and at
present is busily engaged in swindling the public.--AUTHOR.
[105] It was in this epoch that Cecilio Plata and his employees
were murdered on the banks of the Caquetá for having dared to enter
into relations with the Indians of that region, who were afterwards
enslaved by the criminal syndicate.--AUTHOR.
[106] About this time Matías Pérez on the River Napo was forcibly
ejected from his estate, which, with all its appurtenances, passed
into the possession of the company.
[107] A _hint_ regarding these methods is given subsequently.
[108] It is difficult to think that the European directors of the
company were really cognisant of the crimes. As to the charge of
culpability of negligence, and of their liability to shareholders
under company law, these matters are being investigated, both
before the Courts and by a special Commission in the House of
Commons.--EDITOR.
[109] _Sábado de gloria_, literally _Saturday of Glory_, is the day
following Good Friday.
[110] From _La Sanción_ of Iquitos, Peru.
[111] One _arroba_ is equivalent to 15 kilos or just over 30 lbs.
[112] _Fabrico_, a period of a little over three months.
[113] One centavo is equal to one farthing in English money.
[114] Robuchon was a French explorer, commissioned in 1904 by the
Peruvian Government to make explorations, maps sketches, &c., and
take photographs of the region of the Putumayo. He spent about two
years there, traversing nearly the whole of the district occupied
by the "civilising company," when in 1906 he suddenly disappeared
in the vicinity of a point called El Retiro. As he is known to have
taken several photographs of the horrible crimes committed there, it
is thought by many that he was victimised by the employees of Arana.
Considering the character of these miserable criminals and certain
other peculiar circumstances that are said to have taken place, it
would not be strange if such were really the case.--AUTHOR.
[115] _Personal_, a gang of men.
[116] _Cauchero_, rubber-collector.
[117] An error of España's. _Aristides_, not _Juan_ Rodriguez.
[118] We shall see later how the Iquitos authorities proceeded in this
matter.--AUTHOR.
[119] _Tambo_, small, empty hut of thatch.
[120] Both of these copper-complexioned monsters were formerly
barefooted _peons_ of Chachapoyas, Peru. Going to the Putumayo, they
began their career of butchery, and by dint of continual crime have
succeeded in amassing a small fortune. Arístides has since retired and
now lives in Iquitos, a proud member of the _aristocracia_ of that
place, but Aurelio still continues his sanguinary labours in Santa
Catalina.--AUTHOR.
[121] The chiefs of section call their criminal assistants
_secretaries_.--AUTHOR.
[122] It is impossible to print the whole of this
description.--EDITOR.
[123] Although full accounts appeared in _Truth_ in 1909, it was not
until long afterwards, when the accounts had been confirmed, that the
London daily Press took the matter up.
[124] Mr. Casement received the honour of knighthood after his return.
[125] This has been commented upon in the
Introduction.--EDITOR.
[126] Equal to about 105 lbs.--EDITOR.
[127] See p. 32.
[128] In outlying places in Peru and other Latin American countries
it is extremely difficult to obtain the conviction of or even to
sustain a process against wealthy or influential persons, as in small
localities the "justices" are completely overawed or influenced by
them. There is, moreover, a strong element of police-court methods in
Latin America such as has been rendered familiar by occurrences in New
York.--EDITOR.
[129] Some further arrests have been made since.--EDITOR.
* * * * *
Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
Peruvian Governmant=> Peruvian Government {pg 41}
Materon=> Materón {pg 105}
Folis pardalis=> Felis pardalis {pg 114 n.}
Loyaza=> Loayza {pg 165 & 166}
Rubber from Matanza=> Rubber from Matanzas {pg 267}
Jiminéz=> Jiménez {pg 324 & 326}
Ghiorgo, Lieut., 190, 193=> Ghiorzo, Lieut., 190, 193 {pg 343}