The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-17

DedS are lousy and dirty. Other necessities
are rubber coat heavy boots, vicuna
rug and canned provisions.
TROPICAL BOLIVIA.
This part of Bolivia through which ] am
travelling may be said to have temperate
climate. La Paz, in fact, is just now little
too cool for spring or fall clothing, and
have on two heavy suits of underwear and
the same wooden clothes that / wear at
home in December. 1t showed this after
noon. Still, week or so on horseback would
take me into tropical Bolivia. The eastern
part of this country is one of the richest
lands of the world, and I am told that it will
be the great Bolivia of the future. l have
met several men who have gone from La
Paz down the rivers which flow into the
Amazon and by the Amazon to the Allan
tic. They tell me wonderful stories of rubber
forests, of trees of wild cotton, of plants
with fiber like silk and of vegetation which
is so dense as to be almost impenetrable.
They speak also of savages who are canni-
balls and of other tribes who go about stark
naked and regard not the laws of God nor
man. At Lima l met a young German ex-
plorer named Kroehle, who had spent three
years in travelling about through the eastern
provinces of Peru and among the Indians
of the PARKWAY branches of the Amazon.
He had an excellent camera with him, and
have had the good fortune to get some
prints from his negatives. The most of them
dare not publish, for the figures of both
men and women are entirely nude, and the
curious features of life which they show,
while interesting from an chronological
standpoint are hardly fit for family news
paper. Mr.. Kroehle was many times in dam
ger of his life. He was twice wounded with
poisoned arrows, and he describes the travel
through these regions as dangerous in the
extreme He was for time among the
head hunters of the River Napo in Ecuador
and Peru and the first pictures ever taken
of these people were made by him. One of
these pictures l published in connection with
my letter on Ecuador
The Napo region is full of queer people.
The Indians of one tribe there wear plates
of wool metal in the lobes of their ears
as big around as the bottom of the average
lumber. They have their ears pierced
when they are children and at first put
bits of grass and twiGs in the holes to
keep them open. A little later additional
twigs are inserted and the holes are grad
tally enlarged. until they are as big around
as a bracelet. 1 have seen in Burmah and
in southern India natives who follow the
thing in Burmah for woman to carry
cigar made of tobacco wrapped in corn
husks and big around as a broomstick
in her ear holes. These Indians go the
Burmese one better, but the extra expendi-
ture they put on their ear holes they save
on their dress, for both women and
men go about naked. There are other
queer tribes on the Napo. The river, you
know, rises in the Andes of Ecuador and
flows distance Of 500 miles before it emp
ties into the Amazon. 1t is navigable for
500 miles from the mouth by small steam
boats. The Javary river, which flows be-
tween Brazil and Peru, is said to be 1900
miles long, and the Ucayli, another branch
of the Amazon, is of about the same length.
The Upper Maranon flows through Peru
and it is navigable to Borja distance of
$500 miles from the Atlantic. Think of a
stream running across the United States
from New York to far beyond Salt Lake
City, and let this be navigable for small
steamers and you have an idea of the pos
sibilities of trade on these -kmazon
branches. The Benz is another Amazon
branch which flows through Bolivia, and
the Mamora and Guapon are other long
navigable waterways.
AMONG THE CANNIBALS.
All of these tropical districts of Peru and
Bolivia contain curious tribes. There are
some cannipals among them who eat the
flesh of their enemies and do not scruple to
serve up baby roasts and woman stews
upon occasion Some of the pictures that
Mr. Kroehle took were of the cannibal
tribes. He calls them the Cachiro Indians
and says they live along the River Pachi-
tea, a branch Of the Amazon. Others of
the Indians of these regions use blow guns
and poisoned arrows. The arrows are made
of iron wood, tipped with fints, which are
poisoned at the points. The guns are reeds
from ten to twelve feet long. The Indians
use these weapons for killing their game
as well as for their wars. The slightest
scratch of the arrow will cause death, and,
strange to say, the poison does not injure
the meat of the animals killed by it. The
making of this poison is kept a secret by
the Indians. l am told it is made by stick
ing the arrows in purified human flesh
which has already been poisoned in some
other way. The poison acts very quickly
and causes death within few moments.
On the Pachitea there are Indians who cut
their hair close and who look much like
negroes, though their hair is brown. The
women wear waist cloths, but their legs
ana lI6 upper parts Oh JnSlr D0QleS are
bare. In trading with these people it is
necessary to carry a stock Of goods with
you. They do not use money, and all of
their dealings are by trade. Not few of
them have gold to exchange for hatchets,
knives and guns They especially like Amer
lean hardware. They wash the gold out of
the streams and bring it to the traders
in nuggets and coarse dust. They will not
hole in it, They use such pieces to make
necklaces. 1t is seldom that any of these
people cultivate the land. There are plenty
of fruits, and things grow so easily that
all that is necessary 10 get a crop is to
stick in the seeds plants. They burn
over the ground and plant without plow-
ing. Corn ripens at four months and
onions, beans and turnips at three. In the
valley of the Maranon there are planta-
tions of sugar cane. The cane is cut when
produce for twelve successive years.
THE RUBBER FORESTS.
1t is estimated that Bolivia now produces
100000 pounds of rubber a year. and that
the total annual product of the Amazon
forests is over COO pounds. There
are rubber camps scattered all along the
branches of the Amazon. and the most of
the product is shipped down that river to
Para and thence to the United States or to
Europe. Within the past year or so rubber