Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-04-19


1stence anu manifest a certain re-
spect TO ltoma. the sun. and Fuel. the
moon. They generally bury thei,
dead in their own tent wrapped UP i'll
a new hammock which contains all
the weapons and utensils they used
in the course of their lives.
The young Indian who wishes to
be married goes 10 the tent where his
beloved Lived. cuts some wood for his
future taihorin-law and presents the
cacique with q certain Quantity OF
cocoa ana tobacco. Some fourteen
days ait'rward the young woman is
allowed 10 follow her husband 10 hi4
t0ipa. This is the occasion for very
picturesque festivities. parades and
dances al 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 instru-
ment. sort of wireless of the Jungle
which is used not only to EXPRESS a
I tribes rejoicing but to communicate
the cacique's orders to the men at
work in the forest. II is a sort Of
drum made by following out two tree
/ trunks Of slightly different size BY
| striking the surface with a mallet
| two different notes are produced. and
/ the various combinations of those two
sounds permit the transmission OF
code signals oery similar to the signs
/ 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 If
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 respecC the law OF the vari-
GUS tribes. When forced to work be-
yond a certain limit or in unfavorable
! weather. they II 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 II
/ is rather difficult to demand steady
! labor from such a type of humanity.
/ Traders ha,F 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 a gradual weakening of
the organism ana deatn
The tapping of rubber trees is
arduous work. and the fitting out OF
rubber tapping expeditions is a cost
! ly enterprise. With the present meth
ods 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.
In 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. 1'hey make slow prog
ress. for as soon as they leave the
river hank they must travel on foot,
carrying on their back provisions for
several months As soon as they
have located a tree they cut down the
underbrush around it with their ma
chete and make notch Of special
design on it's bark. The tree thus
becomes the absolute and undisputed
property of the cauchero who finds
it."