A SWARMING TURTLE PEN ON THE RIO BRANCO (SEE, ALSO, PAGES 362 AND 383) Despite the wholesale destruction of their eggs, turtles still abound on some of the rivers in Amazonia, and "their pursuit constitutes one of the most important industries in certain districts" (see text, page 460). After being shot in the neck with an arrow to which a cord is attached, they are herded into pens to await shipment to Manáos or Pará. From the flesh is prepared a number of tasty dishes; the eggs furnish turtle oil and turtle butter. the north a broken chain of mountains that continues a long way to the west. At Monte Alegre it crops out at the river's edge in a remarkable hill, from which one may see the Amazon Valley in epitome. To the south, beyond a maze of connecting paranás that run among lush meadows, where cattle graze for most of the year, rolls the wide yellow flood of the Amazon's main channel. To the north of this hill there stretches a country of open grass lands against a background of mountains that shut off the horizon. On the lowlands to the east and west is the tropical jungle. Far away to the northwest, in the campos, or open country of the Rio Branco, mountains loom up in every direction, to culminate on the Guiana border, in the Mountains of the Moon on the east and high Roraima on the north. After weeks or months on the monotonous jungle-lined rivers, we always greeted these campos lands with a feeling of release from some oppressive confinement. We breathed deeply and our spirits rose as if we had come out into a freer and fresher world. In fact, we have no more pleasant memories of the Amazonia than of galloping across the open country of the Rio Branco and of the lower Amazon, with the cool wind blowing in our faces and mountains looming up on the horizon. THE AMAZON JUNGLE OFTEN CAUSES PANIC The Amazonian forest is not the tangled and impenetrable jungle that is usually imagined. The heavy growth of vines and trees that generally lines the banks of the rivers is probably responsible for this impression, but back of this matted curtain of vegetation the forest soon becomes fairly open, and one can usually walk through it without even the need of a machete to cut a way. Progress is difficult only when the jungle falls into low ground, where bamboo or tobocal forms a thorny maze, or when there is a heavy growth of palm trees. The flooded forests are always forbidding and sinister, as the upland forest never is. Yet it is easy for the unpracticed woodsman to become lost in either, once he strays far from the trails. He is then liable to be seized with a panicky apprehension, especially as the jungle is poor in food, except for the good marksman who is well supplied with ammunition. Edible plants are scarce, and during the dry season the only source of water for a long distance may be in the cipós, or huge boalike lianas that hang from the trees. Even then one must have a machete to cut the thick vine. We heard many tales of denizens of the valley who had been lost in the inhospitable bush and had been saved by wandering rubber workers when on the point of starvation or exhaustion. Photograph from Dr. W. L. Schurz LOADING TURTLES AT PORTO VELHO The head of steam navigation on the Madeira is also a terminus and administration headquarters for the Madeira-Mamoré Railroad, probably the most remarkable forest railway in the world (see text, page 451). Almost every sleeper along its 226 miles represents a human life. Porto Velho itself is a clean European village, well planned and lighted. ONE AMAZON PLANT YIELDS HIGHLY The outstanding tree of the upland jungle is the castanheira, or Brazil-nut tree, which towers high above the general level of the forest. Sometimes these giants are found with a circumference of nearly forty feet. Scattered through this jungle are hundreds of species of trees that range in hardness from the light balsa wood to the heavy, deep-red aitá, one of the hardest of all woods. Among them are such curious trees as the assacú, feared by the natives for the powerful astringent poison in its sap. The Amazonian flora contains many remarkable poisons, some of whose virtues are known only to the Indians. Among these toxins are the terrible mata calado, or "silent death," which is reputed to leave no trace in the system; the capanço, about whose powers fantastic tales are told in the Acre country, and the famous EXTRACTING BRAZIL NUTS FROM THE PODS The pod sometimes weighs more than two pounds and contains from 12 to 22 nuts. After these are extracted with a machete, they are washed and sorted for shipment, the United States taking the bulk of the crop (see text, page 455). curare, a poison brew used for tipping arrows. Among other interesting plants are the one known to the Peruvians as chuchuasco, whose sap is generally reputed among the natives to have the properties of "the fountain of youth"; the parauarý, whose efficacy as a cure for wounds we demonstrated on several occasions; and a species of laurel, common on the Rio Negro, which when bored into at a certain season of the year yields a considerable quantity of clear, inflammable liquid that should find a use in industry. THERMOMETER MAY VARY 54 DEGREES IN 15 HOURS The climate of the Amazonia is not one of unmitigated heat, as is popularly believed. During the middle of the day it is generally very hot, and at such times the jungle is a veritable Turkish bath. However, the nights are nearly always cool enough to demand a blanket for comfort, and in the so-called winter season there is frequently a succession of cool days, when the mornings are uncomfortably chilly. The daily range of temperature may be very wide, and I recall one day on the Madeira when a thermometer on the open foredeck of the Andirá registered 130° at 3 p. m., and at 6 the next morning read 76°. A cool wind that blows from the snows of the far-away Andes brings the well-known friagem, that sends the thermometer down into the forties and sets the natives to shivering. Nor does it rain incessantly, even during the rainy season, though the total rainfall averages about twice that of New Photograph from Dr. W. L. Schurz TAPPING A BALATA TREE FOR GUTTA-PERCHA The stiff, heavy gum produced by the massaranduba, a slim forest giant known locally as the bully tree, is one reason for the existence of Boa Vista, the chief cattle-shipping point on the Rio Branco, tributary of the Negro (see, also, text, page 383). Guttapercha has many uses in commerce, one of the most important being in the manufacture of balata belting. York. There is, in fact, a real dry season, which is at its height in June and July, when rain may not fall for a month or more. We found the long Bolivian ponchos, made of ordinary cotton cloth covered with a thin layer of fresh rubber latex, an excellent protection against the downpours, though very hot. Except in certain ill-favored localities, where man's negligence or a highly unfavorable environment makes it so, it is The hammocks of the whole family, among the Waiwai Indians living along the headwaters of the Trombetas, are tied to the same two house posts, one above the other. The mother sleeps nearest the ground, with the father and children above. The dog is kept on a platform at the head of the hammocks, so that the jiggers may not get into his toes. |