The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-01-16
PLANE DRIVEN DOWN
AMONG FISHER FOLK
OF SEACOAST WILDS
Flyer Finds Time Has Slipped
Back Several Centuries on
Rcgaining Senses
PILOT RESCUED BY MATES
Lived on Fish Caught by Natives
and on Corn Traded in at
Far-Off Point
PILOT RESCUED BY MATES

Mexico City.-tPp-Cruisin3 up the
Pacific coast in the far south o.
Mexico on the regular Guatemala
City-Vcra Cruz air run Sigrud Var
ian, Mexican Aviation company pilot
encountered an experience that might
have befallen a wandering Spanial d
in the sixteenth century.
Storm clouds settled on the plane
until Varian was forced down within
g dozen feet of the sea. at which
point he decided to land and think
it over. But while looking for a dry,
firm part Of the beach. the clouds and
fog met the sea. and he sat down i'm
mediately on a soft narrow sandbar a
quarter of a mile from shore.
AMID Motley TRIBE
His plane misbehaved in the soft
sand and headed for the Pacific
.w~hercupon he applied the left land
ing-whecl brake and ground looped.
a two-gallon thcrmos-jug. which
comprised part of his emergency ra-
tions, likewise executed the loop-the-
loop, completing its course by bounc-
ing off the back of Variants head.
When Varian recovered a half
hour later he found that time had
slipped backward several centuries.
His crippled plane was surrounded by
a score of thoroughly primitive In
dians. dressed in breach cloths and
speaking a strange language.
Varian had landed At the only
primitive fishing village in a hum
drcd miles of coast line of the state
OF Chiapas. His Spanish vocabulary
was about two score words and after
some time. he found a native who
had been outside and who likewise
knew a few Spanish words. All the
other Indians spoke only a native
dialect, probably Mayan, dating back
tour o. five centuries.
Tishcd with Fiber Net
For two days, until his companions
located his plane. Varian lived with
the Indians whose life was advanced
practically none at all since the
Spanish conquest.
Their sole diet was fish from the
Pacific and cakes and tcrtillas made
from corn. which was obtained by
trading dried fish for. corn at an in
terror point 50 miles away, across a
great swamp.
When the villagers prepared to cat
they pulled in a fishing net made OF
twisted fiber. collected the catch and
threw them into a large receptacle.
which appeared to have been washed
in from a.ship-wrecked vessel.
When finished the native drank
with relish the liquid formed by the
cooking fish and then picked over the
fish meat. Varian passed up the
soup and lived off %unseasoned fish
until help CAM. He reported the
natives treated him with every
courtesy giving him freely of every
thing they had except tobacco. which
they rationed out cautiously because
Of its scarcity. They made cigars by
crumpling UP tobacco leaves and
wrapping the dust into a whole leaf,
which was lighted from their ever
burning campfire.
Two days after Varian had been
rescued and had returned to Vera
Cruz. there arrived at that city the
telegram which he had dispatched by
an Indian runner to the nearest tele-
graphic point. advising his supcriors
of his predicament and location. The
dispatch bearer had crossed the
swamp to the nearest inland town.
from which place a horseman had
carried the telegram to a farther in
land railroad point.