Evening star., 1925-09-20
; By FRANCIS Cow. SMITH.


By FRANCIS Cow. SMITH.
TO be tied to tree and slowly
eaten alive by ants Is fate
| hope will never as nearly be
mine again as il WAS last Win
ter. I saw Caraia Indian
conjurer sentenced 10 this terrible
punishment. and I rescued him only
TO have him turn the tables. at later
date. and connive at the same un
speakable torture for me.
Chance only. in the shape of n trop
ical thunderstorm. unexpected in the
dry season. saved me from this hid
eous end Indeed whenever am
asked how ] happened to immerse my
self in the Brazilian wilderness. ! al.
ways truthfully answer that ii was
sheer chance-just one odd coinci-
dence leading to another.
That ! happened to notice n pair of
powerful field glasses in a shop win
dow. in Sac Paulo. where | was out
fitting for my trip. was. for instance.
nothing but chance. | hadn't even
thought of taking glasses with me
hut. seeing this pair. | decided TO add
them to my simple equipment. on the
theory that since | was setting out TO
see an unexplored country I might as
we'll take in more of it than the naked
eye would show me.
Later those very glasses helped
change me from a wary suspect. under
tacit sentence of death. into a sort of
tribal god. so important to the welfare
of the village that my ultimate de-
parture became as perilous as had
been my arrival.
! had Travelled through the wild
west ranchinG and diamond regions of
Matto Crosse to the ,headwaters of
the Rio Araguaya, which flows north
ward into n land of unmapped mys.
terry and then energies again in the
civilization of the lower Amazon.
The last white persons | had seen
for six months were settlers on the up
per Araguaya, who watched me de-
part with gloomy predictions that I
would never see any white men again.
My friend the chefe politico at Re-
Cisto was so worried by the perils
ahead of me that he forcibly hung
around my neck and down my back a
quaint little gold hand, which the Bra.
zilians consider talisman to ward off
treachery. This little charm. also
was destined to play queer part in
my adventures.
THE first real savages that saw
were the Caraja Indians. on the
Island of Bananal. II was only a
fleeting glimpse that | had at first Of
the Carajas, for they fled incontine ntly
to the jungle as [ veered in toward the
shore. They thought \ might be
coming, il developed later to avenge
the death of Brazilian who had pre-
viously fallen into their hands while
attempting to use the Araguaya as a
short cut to the Amazon. and whose
equipment had tempted them too
sorely for his own safety.
We landed. and my half-civilized
guide called the fleeing natives back
with the long-drawn.out. plaintive
cry "Carajaku-u-u." which later be.
came so familiar to me. Finally a
few emissa reS emerged from the
thicket. and n short confab on the
beach convinced them that 1 was
bringing presents instead Of ven
geance. Soon they led me up the
slope to village of huts made of up
right bamboo poles with thatched
roofs.
The greatest thrill of my whole trip
was in this first meeting on their own
soil with such utterly primitive In
dians. by the silent. mist-hung shores
of A broad river. in absolute isolation
from my own kind. surrounded by I'M
familiar trees in which monkeys were
chatterinC with hysterical curiosity.
Like a stereopticon slide. the color
fIIl picture comes back To me again
and again. ! see the gigantic feath-
cry ferns, the macaws flashing
through the foliage. the smolderine
campfire, the parrots plucked Of their
feathers to make q chieftain'S head
dress and edcing in ungainly fashion
along the roofs of the wiCwamS to
scream defiance Mt me.
see the wolf dogs that rushed M
hristling To surround me. until
kicked one of them mercilesslv in self.
defense, Cowed by the unfamiliar feel
Of a booted foot. he turned yelping
back to the huts. Meanwhile a group
of warriors had gathered to stare at
me; despite their formidable appear.
ance. they acted like undisciplined
children. feeling gingerly of my
clothes. pulling at my mustache to
see If it was real and even trying to
take out my gold tooth when my smile
revealed il.
The men were rather short. not over
> feet 6. 40 that I stood nearly 8
inches higher. Their round faces with