The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-08-25

the tops of trees that seem to lose their majestic
forms in the sky. are covered with wild flow
ers which sometimes deceive the most careful.
remember one morning while breaking camp,
l strolled into the forest and found standing on
a knoll q tree which was covered with net
work of vines some of which encircled the
trunk like cordage. All over this mass of
creepers were flowers of dozen hues and they
were seen far up among the lofty branches of
the tree. / admired a flower that looked
strange and fairer than its neighbors, and call
ing ascarillero i asked him to ascend and
bring it down.
The man went up the vines as the sailor
ascends the ropes on shipboard. He found not
only the flower seen by me. but one worth two
Of it in beauty and botanical value, and bring
ing it down laid it at nay feet as if the feat was
an everyday affair with him. Yet this man
had risked his life in the service for some of
the vines of the Quinine Trail exude deadly
poison when pressed. and it is death to bruise
them with the naked hand.
The Montana is inhabited by bands OF the
most savage Indians. These red demons live
along the streams that flow through the region,
and are to be seen at odd hours watching you
through the dark parts of the wood. They
carry arrows tipped with deadly poison which
they obtain from tribe far northward. This
poison is so virulent that monkey shot by
them in the tallest tree, though but slightly
wounded, is dead in less than 10 seconds. The
ChUnchos, the most savage Of ali the natives OF
the Montana. have a fashion of wearing the
black quilts of a porcupine through their lips
These quilts stick ont in every direction and
render the wearers hideous They march to
war in small bands, and as they wear no clothes
at all they have no modesty.
The Chuucho is dreaded by everything in
the qainine region. The jaguar, which will
fight any other Indian, seems 10 have whois-
sale dread of this savage monarch of the trail,
and viii fee with cry of fear when he ap-
prosches. One of our men picked up an arrow
in the forest, aud In examining it pricked his
fnger until the blood came. In less than five
minutes he was rolling On the ground in the
most torturing agony and the finger had swelled
nearly to bursting. What was to be done we
did not know, but Juan, the Terrible, coming
up, seized the hand, and while the sufferer shut
his teeth till they seemed to crack he severed
il at the wrist and threw the severed member
into the Ere.
The cascarillero recovered. but will never
forget the day he picked up "a Chuncho arrow
in the forest
The animals that live on the Quiniue Trail
are many, but few are dangerous to human
life. The most ferocious is the jaguar. which
is the lion of South America. He reposes his
spotted body in the forks Of some tree, and, as
he never seems to sleep, will lie in wait for his
prey. Woe to the man or animal that passes
under his ambush. he leaps downward with
shrill cry. which the victim hears too late, and
in an instant the teeth Of the brute are buried
in the throat and he is drinking the warm
blood. Now and then the jsguar and the ant
eater come together in mortal combat
Now the spotted pest finds his match, for the
great ant-eater is no mean antagonist, and his
terrible claws have disemboweld more than
one confident jaguar. Juan and l were wit
nesses of one of these duels one morning.
The jaguar, sure of victory, had sneaked
up on the ant-eater, and at one wild spring
had gained the old fellows back. But
in the twinkling of an eye the ant-eater
whirled, and in another second the black claws,
which he uses for tearing open the homes of
the ant, had fastened in the jaguaF's back.
1t was contest worth looking at; the two
combatants seemed to shake the earth with
their struggles, but at last the bullet of Juan
found the jaguar's skull, aud as he rolled from
the ant-eater there was rush toward the
nearest thicket, and We saw the bleeding form
OF the jaguar's enemy vanish there.
Some Of the most beautiful birds Of the
world make music all along the Quinine Trail.
The forest is filled with macaws and parrots !;
trogons look down upon the bark hunters from
their homes on the hollow trees and along tho
rivers and around the marshes gather troops OF
herons and egrets OF the richest plumage
imaginable. The natives secure the birds by
the long -bow, which they bend with their legs,
lying down Oh their backs and picking OF the
birds as they rise from th-s lakes and soar
through the air in 1ocks These bows are 80
strong that the average man cannot bend one