Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1912-10-03

This family had been very friendly to
us in Bucaramangs. Nearly all of
them have received European edu-
cation and speak good English. None
of the family were on the plantation,
but knowing we were to pass there
they had sent word that we were to
be given the best the place afforded.
Result-the best meal we had had
since we left Bogota in December.
As this plantation is one of the larg-
est in South America it deserves
word of description. Thirty-six miles
square, it includes over 100000 acres.
Millions on millions of magnificent
trees cover the mountain slopes and
crowd the valleys. We were shown
samples of the wood of these-mahog
any, ebony, black walnut, evergreen,
oak and many varieties unknown,
even by name, on this continent.
All are of almost inestimable value,
but at present inaccessible and so USE
less. These vast acres produce COM
parativeIy little, altho there are many
hundreds of poems on the plantation.
These men and women are absolutely
under The control of the patrone of the
estate. He serves as judge, as priests
unless be provides one) and stand
esponsible to the government for them
and their good behavior. When the
census is taken the patrone answers
for all the people he has on his estate
and they are never interviewed at all.
The same principle is carried even into
city and village affairs where man
accounts for his servants as well as for
all W no may be living in any house
that he owns.
Snake Infested Region,
/ All this region is snake infested.
When any work is done on a planta-
ton the men go ahead with their long
knives and beat the ground, the
bushes, the vines, killing all snakes,
scorpions or lizards. Then the women
and children foIlom and pick the cot
fee or gather the bananas. There is a
lizard, commonly found in these
regions, called saIamandrino whose
bite causes death in 20 or 80 minutes.
1t destroys many sheep and cattle
on the ranges SO herdcrs, in az
effort to d. stroy il, regularly
burn over their pasture lands. Short
ly before our trip through here, a
woman had been seized upon by
snake, its deadly coils encircling her
body, until lite was extinct, and she
| fell dead in the presence of her two
| little children. Snakes are numerous
in and about Bucaramanga itself. One
woman was bitten by one in Der own
dining room, in the city and she died
almost instantly. Mr.. Williams was
bitten by scorpion, that was hiding
in his shoe, one morning. The creature
Was young one (grey in color. The
Williams Instantly took the precaution
| to suck out the poison and apply an
antidote. For three days he suffered
from partial paralysis of the limb, but
nothing more serious resulted. We
frequently find scorpions in our
houses, so deposit our shoes in a
bureau drawer every night and care
fully examine the beds, and all cloth
ing. On the ocean, one night, L caught
MI. Williams lifting up the blankets
and pillows of the berth and peering
under them. When asked him if he
was hunting for scorpions, in mid
ocean, he grinned sheepishly, and ad-
mitted tina he was. Such is the force
of hauit!
The Only RealsMeaI.
That afternoon dinner at the Pull
laya estate was the only real meal we
had during the six days of our journey
to Bodega Central. We had been
warned by Bucaramanga friends
that the carrying of food was
essential. So we had provided our
selves with whatever we could secure
in the city that could be of use to u.s.
one small can of beef extract, NO cans
of crackers, one can of corn beef, one
can of condensed milk. A family, |
travelling with children, had brought
up from Barranquilla some cans of
evaporated milk and they gave us
several that they had not needed.
We toasted $500 worth of bread, all of
which we put into tin crackerbox.
Flour is 20 cents a pound in our
city,. AS was to be expected, the
toast was decidedly leathery by the
third day, but eagerly eaten, notwith-
standing. Without these supplies, we
would, indeed, have found ourselves