Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-05

covered canoes. even in the daytime Game
vanished strangely before them. At flrst Il
seemed unaccountable, until they found that
the Indians, invisible, but ever present,
were driving II away to starve the explorers
out. so that they should venture into the
forests to hunt, when they could be killed
easily.
When the expedition reached Laguna Pr
tano, less than three hundred miles from
the place where they had started. II was
September. 1t had taken them more than
three months to get there, and yet the mys-
FERROUS land had scarcely been entered. And
the men were then in such extremities that
1barreta saw that they could not hope to
get out aiive unless help reached them
They Were encompassed by savages. Food
was reduced to a minimum. In this crisis
Col lbarreta called for volunteers to break
through the silent hidden Gordon of foes
and try to reach Formosa. on the Para
guayan boundary. to get help.
Devils of the Woods.
OF those eight men nothing has been
learned to this day. with the exception OF
two. who were found wandering in the
thbckets with barely strength enough left
to tell even the briefest story. They had
been hunted headlong from mile to mile
The forests were instinct with death wher-
ever they turned. Six Of the fugitives were
killed before a day had passed.
The two survivors said that they had
Att1 lAic lDdiietd party III ulT6 neeU JUST
before passing certain great waterfalls of
the Pilcomayo river the hitherto deserted
banks of the gloomy stream suddenly were
filled with tall men, hideously painted and
armed with huge knotted clubs and with
spears. Their faces, painted coal black.
with circles of light blue over the cheek
bones and three blue streaks radating
from the corners of their mouths, made
them look, said the fugitives. like devils.
Indeed. the Piagas Indians-a friendly
tribe living near the borders-affirm that
these are devils and not men that haunt the
dark. impenetrable forests of the River of
Death.
The Indians made an attack in force on
the expedition and were beaten off only
after desperate efforts. They withdrew
then into the cover of the overhangiug vege-
tatfon on the banks, but they never ceased
harassing the explorers. To go ashore for
food was out of the question. The only
hope that was left when the men started
tor relief was to press on slowly to find
landing place in open country, where the
Indians might be at a disadvantage. The
two men did not live to reach civilization
but died near where the friendly Indian
hunters had found them. These carried the
news to Colonel Carmelo Uriarte, who
quickly formed relief party and advanced
toward the Pilcomayo. For twenty DAYS
he marched and added and for all those
twenty days he had to fight the savages,
VINO attacked him from every hiding place
along the line. His Indian guides found
friends. who told them that the Ibarreta
party was totally annihiiated and they led
Uriarte and his men to the spot where Col
onel Ibarreta. the last man to yield had
made his final fight
The murderous Indians were members of
the Chorotis and Oreiude tribes, of whom
little is known except that they live a life
of constant warfare between themselves
sinking their differences only when strang-
ers enter the country.
Uriartes spies found the graves of Vari-
Gus members of the Ibarreta party and re-
n
and devotion. They learned how one mem
Der of the expedition after the other had
died, either from starvation or wounds, and
how the survivors buried their comrades
and planted rude across on each grave
At last there were left with Ibarreta only
single Indian and the boy. These three
worked their way on. ever suffering more
until they were quite unable to WELD either
paddle or pole any more. Then they
crawled out on the bank, and while they
were plOdding on shore, entirely exhausted
the Indians stole on them and killed them
with axes, lbarreta fighting till the last and
not yielding until he was powerless TO
move.
Still New Victims.
And still FL Gran Chaco was to have more
victims.
While Boggiano's fate was still unknown,
Captain Sirvent, a German instructor in
the Chilean army, started with his son to
enter the Chaco country from the west. lie
expected to return in month. But three
passed and no sign came from the unknown
land.
Now. according to news just received IN
America, captain Rojas of the Paraguayan
army, who started from the east to search
Tor MIN, has returned to Villa HAYES
named after President Hayes to CONNIE mo-
rate MS settlement of the Paraguay-Ar-
sentlna boundary dispute-with the almost
positive information that this expedition
also has been destroyed. Captain Roias
found that 1t had approached the vicinity
OF the scene or lbarreta's death. and there
on the banks of the Pilcomayo river. had
persisted, to prove anew that the River of
Death still defies the worlds efforts to dis
pei its mystery.
A Land of Awe.
Awe holds the man who enters the brood
ing silence of Ell Gran Chaco's prlmeval
places. For in the forests, great with cen
turtles on Centuries of unchecked growth
there is neither sunlight or freedom of
winds or singing of birds. The waters roar
Sullenly. The air is heavy with moisture
and neither in the morning or the aftern son
does daylight find its way through the
enormous, fantastic masses of the eternal
forest. Gloom and gloom again-never less
than twilight In the brightest places and as
black as night in the darkest-shrouds the
path of the intruder.
hush so great that it burdens the sense
as with physical oppression reigns hour
after hour, day after day, week after week
Like the terrifying hush before a great
storm. it rests on the land and makes it
place of fear. The birds fit through il ST.
lentiy- Silently and like shadows the wild ]
beasts creep.
The Cry of the Lost Soul.
Only now and again is that hush of dread
broken. A terrible cry, a wall that rises
and falls and floats away awfully, resounds
through the dim aisles. Then the Indians
hastily murmur incantations-for this, they
believe, is the cry of lost soul, wander
ing, wandering, in torment eternal through
the land of the devils of the woods. 1t is
vain for explorers to tell them that the
cry is that of a bird fairly well known to
THE DUEL IN
Prom Journal AmuSant.