Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-24

journey as far as the territory of the
King of the Uaupes.
No farther, because IL his monteria
were to attempt to return through
that territory alone, without our pro-
lection, the King would seize il and
would murder the crew. For he was
at war with that king, who was, he
said, a Portuguese, and
a scoundrel as black of heart as he
was of complexion, and an Indian.
killer besides.
We departed from the court of
that very entertaining King of the
Issana. with regret and with expires.
sions of international good will,
sworn 10 see to IL that his monteria,
after delivering us at the rival can.
ital of the Uaupes. should depart un-
molested.
This Uaupes king lived in the Sc
curity of several days journey up his
river. at a place called the Island Of
the Crocodile: and the monterla pad
dle-men told us that he was the croco-
ollie. There is very illuninative ex.
preston in the Geral language
Ohkohthiurunga, which means, Man
Who Makes the Water Bloody: and
we were told frightful tales about him.
1t was not without certain appre.
hension and a looking to our guns
that we swung into the sitio of this
monster. A low mud veranda fronted
a particularly lovely stretch of river.
commando a clear view for a good
mile in each direction. In the We.
randa hung a most gorgeous grass
hammock decorated with hummIng.
birds feathers.
In the hammock lay gross. ponder
Gus person, dressed in dingy white.
duck trousers and an open coat dis.
playing a corp1lent expanse OF black
hairy chest and stomach.
His features were negroid, and my
immediate impression was that we
travelled, not the Uaupes River of
South America, but the upper reaches
of the Kongo, and that we were meet.
ing the chief of some central African
tribe.
From the headrope of the ham,
mock depended a huge bolster. from
which protruded the butt of an ex.
| traordinary weapon, a doube-barreled
shotgun pistol; or, to, put it another
| way, 20-gage sawed-off shotgun
with a pistol grip. Against the wall,
ready to hand. leaned Winchester
| As.
A murderous-lo blocking outfit. and
alert for any emergency. But the
King proved to be-to us, at all
events-an affable and an amusing
host; and if all those stories about his
savage cruelties were true. he coupled
with cruelty the other equally African
trait of easy good nature.
The King had a monteria left over
from the old rubber days in which we
could proceed on our journey. He had
three, as matter Of fact. But the diff.
ficulty is not conveyance but men.
| Two of the monterias had quickly
been patched and calked and crammed
with all the available men of the
sitio and sent up after balata. Thus
did he explain the shortage Of his
subjects.
For" said he, che who has most
men gets most balata." An obvious
enough conclusion. But the King
made his meaning clearer by adding.
Had I guns for all of them. would
get all the balata in those jungles."
So must a robber baron have spoken
from his stronghold on the Rhine. One
can't feel altogether hostile toward
this bold swashbuckler, even If he has
earned the ominous title of Onkohthiu-
| runga.
A route would be possible, he told
us. Indians? Well, it was wise to be
always on the alert and to keep gun
| we'll in view all the time. If an Indian
made a suspicious move, it was foolish
1 to give him a chance to do anything
treacherous with poisoned arrow. It
was wiser to shoot him at once and so
| to demonstrate that the gun was load
ed. On the whole, Indians were safe
enough If one didn't relax ones per.
petual guard.
But those Tiquie people, six or seven
days travel farther up on the right
bank-that Is to say, on the left.hand
side as we travelled upstream - they
were not so good.
They were one Of those hostile tribes
who had established a strong outpost
moloca at the mouth of their river and
plainly let it be known that they want.
ed no white strangers-white being
anybody who spoke Portuguese-in
their country. II traders persisted.
they were killed Yes, it was true that
they had shot two of his trader friends
not so long ago with poison blowguns.
So, when one Travelled up the Uau.
pes, the King went on to warn us, IL
was wise to keep close to the right
hand or farther shore, and to keep go
ing hard till one was well past that
hostile country.
Copyright. 1877