The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1913-05-24

istence and manifest a certain re-
spect to Itoma, the sun. and Fuel the
moon. They generally bury theis
dead in their own tent wrapped up IN
a new hammock, which contains all
the weapons and utensils they useo
in the course of their lives.
THE Young Indian who wishes 10
be married goes to the tent where MS
beloved lived cuts some wood TOT MS
future father-in-law and presents the
caciuue with a certain quantity CT
cocoa and tobacco. Some fourteen
DAVIS afterward the young woman is
allowed to follow her husband 10 MS
tolpa. This Is the occasion for very
picturesque festivities, parades ana
dances at which Huitoto bellies dis
play their talent in skin painting All
/ the time is heard the booming SOUND
of the mangare calling from every
hill.
The mangare is a curious lnstrn
ment, a sort of wireless Of the jungle.
which is used not only to express d
tribes rejoicing, but to communicate
the cacique's orders to the men at
work in the forest. 1t is a sort or
drum made by following out two tree
trunks Of slightly different size. BY
striking the surface with mallet
two different notes are produced. and
the various combinations Of those two
sounds permit the transmission OF
~ ~, civ To no
in the Morse alphabet. AS the tents
are generally built on top of high
hills the sound of the mangare car
ries to a distance Of from ten to f1f-
teen miles.
Certain travellers have stated that
the Huitoto Indians. especially those
of the Nonuya tribe, are anthropopha-
gous. In the course of ten years I
have never observed a single case OF
cannibalism nor heard one mention
ed by any reliable witness.
AS said before. forest Indians
are absolutely harmless as long as
travellers respect the law Of the vari-
Gus tribes When forced to work be-
yond certain limit or in unfavorable
weather, they may revolt, as they did
in 1903, and drive their prosecutors
out Of the forest For that matter
they simply acted as perfectly civiliz-
ed working men would act under sim
liar circumstances.
Indians have no sense Of value and
no desire to earn money. They buy
supplies at any price, paying for
them with large quantities of rubber.
and seem to have no idea of profit 1t
is rather difficult to demand steady
labor from such type of humanity.
Traders have therefore tried to en-
ploy Chinese and Japanese laborers
and also African negroes at gathering
rubber. No other race, however. can
stand life in the tropical Jungle The
slightest exertion, even for those for
tunate enough to escape the jungle
fever. means gradual weakening of
the organism and death
THE tapping of rubber trees Is
arduous work, and the fitting out of
rubber tapping expeditions is cost
ly enterprise. With the present meth
DDS of work. rubber trees can only be
tapped six months a year. from Octo-
Der to December and from April to
June. During January, February and
March continuous tropical rains cause
all the rivers to overflow and the for.
est becomes an uncharted swamp All
work must cease. human beings and
animals alike must take refuge on
the hills.
I'm July, August and September the
rubber trees shed their leaves and re-
lapse into their annual slumber They
hardly give any latex or milk at that
time. and the slightest wound on their
trunk is likely to kill them. During
that period, however. rubber trees
can be more easily distinguished from
the tropical growth which sometimes
hides them entirely from view, and
the Indians roam the forest locating
new gonzales. They make slow prog
ress, for as soon as they leave the
river bank they must travel on foot.
carrying on their back provisions for
several months. AS soon as thew
have located tree they cut down the
underbrush around 1t with their ma.
chete and make notch of a specia,
design on its bark. The tree thus
becomes the absolute and undisputed
property OF the cauchero who finds
II ="