The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1913-09-05

! q strenuous and often highly
dangerous task. calling for
nerves and muscles of steel,
the patience Of Job. and the best en-
cheering skill. as the constructors OF
the Madeira and Mamore line will tell
you. This railroad will link up the Sc
ries OF cataracts and rapids on the
Madeira and Mamore rivers, the
most important affiuents of the mighty
amazon and Madeira rivers below the
Madeira falls with the $500 miles
of navigation in Bolivia above these
falls. thereby providing a quicker
and cheaper route, via Para, for the
transport to Europe of valuable ex-
ports
A. w. Chester, an American civil
engineer who has had considerable
experience In railroad work In tropi-
cal countries. returned from the Ma
deira region recently, after working
almost year with the survey corps
OF the NJ & M. He was ordered
home by the doctor in charge of the
hospital after a severe attack of black
water fever. and was told that to re-
turn wOUfu mean death.
Surveying down there Is q pretty
hard job says Mr.. Chester The
line follows the river bank. never go
ing more than 10 to Is miles away
from It,
Monkeys Good Food
In party are usually 10 to IL
Americans, two men for each job, SO
that the work Is not likely to be held
up by sickness, and about so natives.
1t is not possible to use more than
that number of natives, for their bust
ness In cutting away jungle, and any
more would be superfiuous. Some
times the supplies are not forthcom-
Ing. l have been up there for
month at a time with no supplies
coming up, and we had to live on
beans and crushed manioca root.
which looks something like radish
and dried makes a sort of meal. Theu
you can shoot monkeys, which make
good food, especially the little fell
lows a tritie smaller than rabbits, If
they are not cooked whole you can
eat them otherwise you get the feel
ing that you are a sort of cannibal
Monkey meat tastes something like
squirrel
They you have wild pig and deer.
ard there is the tapir, or anteater,
which is edible. They also have a
beast about the size of COW, but
which swims in the water. and which
they call the anter down there. Its
meat is like beef Then there is a
wild turkey that is absolutely black.
with red comb, which has an excellent
flavor There is another bird that
they call the jachoo. which is about
the size of hen. is the color OF
partridge and has big bill, but is
rather tough.
We'll, when the trail is cut the
next thing is to make a camp and
then you cut trails around in different
directions. Exploring the country
down there is like feeling in the dark.
You cannot get on hilltop and look
around. The heat is intense in the
jungle. There is no sun and the fell
lows come out of the woods after a
few weeks as white as a sheet. The
long walks are the worst feature
about the work.
"One great annoyance In the Jun.
gle is that you are apt to run out OF
tobacco. You can drink a little
liquor, in fact, the doctors .ell YOU It
is beneficial If not INDUCED in TO ex-
cess, but IL you drink much ii is far
worse than In this country. In these
surveying parties you have to wear
heavy flannel shirt all the time; il
you don't you will catch very hard
cold None of the camps is ever at
tackled by Indians, though here have
cen cases in which one or two men
have gone out from camp and never
been heard off. Sometimes their bones
are found long afterward with an ar
row beside them"
Afraid of Guns.
The savages of this region neht
with bamboo-headed spears and moi
soned arrows. the latter propelled by
powerful bow seven feet long The
arrowheads. of bone. are dipped In
snake venom, and infict mortal
wound. The venom is said to he nro. |
cured by boiling snakes heads to ex-
tract 1t from the glands, and evaporat- |
Ing the solution to almost dryness |
The Indians are, however, afraid of |
anything that viii shoot, consequent.
Ivy the constructors of the Madeira and |
Iammore line always carried a reyol-