Evening star., 1924-02-10

Then rs feeler i neld up some
beads. and pointing to them and then
TO five Indians / said. "Ticachi
Aguaruna jurmi Chinchipe''-which
! meant that would give the beads TO
each Indian that would go with me
to the Chinchipe river, but they only
laughed as If il were a huge joke. so
/ got Munoz to treat with them while
occupied my time to better advan
| tage.
/ estimated we would need five In
dians in all to carry our cargo and
the necessary food. but the chances
OF getting so many being small. l
re sorted the gear very carefully. dis
cardng all useless articles. Even
the water-soaked box in which the
now useless movie" camera was car
ried was done away with and the in
s,rument put in my waterproof bag
! instead.
In this way the weight of our cargo
was considerably reduced. and II we
could solicit the services OF four men
all would be well. The things which
were abadoned We're not thrown
away. When dealing with Indians
everything Is useful. and sometimes s
the most trivial articles have coios-
sal value in the eyes Of the savages.
Before evening Munoz had been
successful in persuading three men
to join us, and the prices paid them
show how values run. One came for
a package OF white beads. another for
twenty rounds of .3Q3 ammunition
saved from the wreck tbut quite use
less, as had no rife). two fish
hooks and a ball of string: the third
received ten rounds of ammunition.
some metal binding strips taken of
a box and a small mirror.
The next morning another hefty
fellow who had been hanging around
decided to join our party. his price
being a few rounds of ammunition,
some beads. a pair of cheap earrings,
two old kodak tins and the sacking
which had been wrapped around the
discarded box containing the movie"
camera.
This was eminently satisfactory.
All four men were of good physique,
the weather was fine, and we would
! make an early start the next day.
In addition. there were prospects of
good afternoons fishing up the
| Ipicus, which would bring in an addi-
tional food supply for our journey. ,
4 y Indian does not fish for sport,
but for the more natural motive
that he wants something to eat. 1t
is therefore immaterial to him how
he sets about it. SO long as he can
catch plenty with the least possible
effort A common but very effective
! method employed by savages in the
river country is to barricade the
mouth of a normally shallow creek
UP which fish have swum during a
period Of food so as to avoid the
muddy waters of the main river. Cir
cumstauces do not always permit of
this being done, but IL they do 1t, II
usually means q pretty good haul
when the flood subsidies and leaves
hundreds Of Ash stranded in the once
more shallow waters above the barri-
cade.
On this particular afternoon the
Maranon had dropped FIVE feet or
more, and the Ipicus, whose mouth
had been screened off when the flood
! was at its height. was alive with fish
Of all kinds unable to get back into
deep water. Amidst shouts of glee
and much enthusiasm, the Indians
raided the pools in which the fish
had been entrapped. spearing them
right and left In many places they
plunged bodily into the water and
caught them by hand, ninging them
onto the bank, where the children
| collected them in baskets
Men and women, divested of their
scanty clothes. all assisted in the fray,
and stopped only when each had as
! many as he or she could carry. There
were about forty Of US in all and we
must have caught nearly Ave hundred