Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-24

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Written for The Evening Star by Thomas S. Alex
ander
On August % 1902. 1 left Cali. the prin-
cipal town in the department of the Cauqa,
Republic of Colombia on an expedition into
the interior of the country. l was accom-
panied by another white man-an English
doctor-and four natives. Our object was
to collect chronological specimens In a sec
ton of Colombia hitherto unexplored.
We did not return to Cali until June of
the present year. In the interval we had
many stirring adventures and extraordinary
experiences among savage tribes, but the
one episode of the trip which overshadowed
all the others in romance. interest and ex-
element was our six weeks stay among
the cannibal dandies of the Yari river. They
are surely one of the strangest savage races
ever discovered.
Skipping over weeks and months of travel
and adventure, let us start with morn
Ing when, on the banks of the Rio Hacha,
our native poems deserted us. They would
go no farther because we were approaching
the domnions of succession of savage
tribes who hate the Colombians, and prac-
tice cannibalism.
Fortunately, we struck the camp of a
white Colombian who was gathering rubber
on the banks of the river. We had been rec
",
great man in the Colombian rubber bust
ness. and he. therefore, gave us, for guides
two Indians who had come in from one of
the neighboring tribes to sell him rubber.
one OF these men spoke Spanish, and so we
could use him an interpreter.
Besides our guns, revolvers and provi-
sions we carried in our canoe a large stock
of macheteS, looking glasses scissors pen
knives. fish hooks brightly colored cloths
and other articles calculated to purchase
the good will and assistance of the savage
tribes through whose territory We had to
pass
We rowed down the Rio Hacha for four
days, until We arrived off the settlement of
the Tama Indians There we landed leav-
Ing the guns and everything else behind in
the canoe. Our guides led us along mar
row track. through dense tropical vegeta-
ton, to clearing where the tribe dwelt
together in one great house. as is the Gus
tom Of all the Indians in this part of Co.
lombia.
Making Friends
The tribe only numbered from forty to
sixty people. the rest having been killed
of shortly before by smallpox. Perhaps
this misfortune had soured the temper Of
the tribe. for they certainly gave us a very
cold and forbidding reception. Our two
Indians walked before us. carrying paddles
over their shoulders-a Sign of peace-and
explained that We were friends.
The chief Of the tribe was lying the
bad ulcer on the calf Of his leg. and had
not been able to move or sleep for week
The doctor offered to cure him, and after
come demur he consented to an operation
We sent back to the boat for lancet, and
the doctor opened the leg. made an incision
down the calf, took out big thorn and
dressed the wound.
While he was doing this several of the
Tamas grouped themselves around our
party, handling their blowpipes, wooden
swords and hatchets significantly, and
plainly intimating that they would kill US
If anything went wrong with the chief.
Luckily. he slept that night for the first
time in a week, and next morning nothing
was too good for US.
We stayed three days with the tribe, I'M
til the chief was quite recovered. During
that time they found out from our Span
ish-speaking Indian what We wanted to do
and where we wanted to go. AS soon as
the chief was convinced that we were not
there for gold or land, or to enslave and
murder the Indians, after the Colombian
fashion, but only TO look TOT put.erIlles
and such-like things, he was eager to help
He gave us two picked men to act as our
"bogas," or guides, and take US to the next
tribe. Our own Indians went back. The
etiquette of these tribes directs that men
of one tribe must not pass through the ter
ritory of another tribe to third. TraV-
elers are passed along by different guides
from each tribe-unless they are killed by
the first savage Indians they meet.
Our "bogas" conducted us to the Orte-
cuasas, a tribe numbering about four HUN
dred Hearing flattering account of US,
they naturally received us well, and prom
Used to pass US along with all due honor.
The Tamas then returned to their tribe
Wonderful Wireless Telegraphy.
Now came one of the most remarkable
experiences of our trip. The Ortequasas
sent a message introducing us to the next
tribe and they sent it by wireless telegra-
ply That is the only name 1 can apply to
their method
The transmitter was a felled tree trunk
about twenty feet long and one and one
half feet in diameter. Down the center OF
II a groove was cut, about three inches
wide by six inches deep. One end of the
trunk foated in the river and the other
end lay on sandbank The operator haC
a. heavy stick about three feet long, on the
end of which was a ball OF crude rubber
weighing about twenty-five pounds he
got this by the simple expedient OF cutting
the bark of the rubber tree and twisting
the sap round the stick as 1t flowed out
He struck the end OF the trunk seVera
times with this heavy ball. t did no
make much noise-indeed. hardly any-pu
n very powerful concussion or vibration o.
the air could be felt. 1t was just like the
sensation of being In tunnel when sho
ia fired You felt the sound rather thar
heard it, And the next tribe seVera
leagues farther down the river. could Zee
IL equally well, and could read or the mes
sage as q telegraphst receives the dot'
and dashes of the Morse code over tn'
wire. a, -
evidently these savages had code o
their own by which they could teiesrdpi
any message they wished. All the U.pe
in this region were constantly commuhicdl
ing with one another by this wireless sys
tenn. Next day we saw man or the trlp
10 whom we had thus been introduced seno
ing back message to the Ortequasas by
similar apparatus. Every tribe we passe
after that sent an Introduction ahead i
ths way besides giving us two 'bogas.
Travellers among savage tribes In Sout
America as well as in other parts or IN
world have often been puzzled by IN
rapidity and accuracy with which thes
barbarian Marconis transmit news TO on
another Here is one explanation, at a.
events No doubt there are others.
The Cannibal Dandies.
At last we got to the Yaris, who ar
named after the river on which they dwell
which Is a tributary Of the River Caqueta
At 1870 o'clock one morning. while We wer
having breakfast. we heard strains o
weird. barbaric music, which evident
came from native reed flutes We pushe
off our canoe from the bank. and paddle
out river twice as broad as the Hud
son at New York.
Around the next bend we met a nqmbe