Show the SOUTH 1 0 4 HEN some years ago the present writer projected a journey through the interior ot of venezuela and colombia his friends among them several natives of the two countries named tried to dissuade him from the under taking after picturing to him the countless privations and bangers arifer they were certain would be incident to raveling through the great wilderness which con the larger part of the republics that border the caribbean they declared it would be tempting providence to venture among the ruth less savages who inhabit the forests and llanos watered by the orinoco and its effluents so great however was his desire to visit this flits little known part of f the world that he tie determined la in spite of the difficulties and dangers predicted to make at least the attempt to accomplish his long cherished heri shed purpose he ile has always been glad that he tie paid no heed to the horrible forebodings that were volunteered by well meaning but Ill advised people had he done so he would have deprived himself of one ot of the most delightful experiences of his life dor bor outride of certain discomforts inseparably con necked with roughing it in the wild vald the entire trip was one of agreeable surprises and unalloyed pl pleasure ealure and in lieu of bloodthirsty savages seeking to transfix him with poisoned arrows he lie found the indians all along his route to be not only harmless but hospitable and obliging in deed some ot the most pleasant recollections he has of his wanderings in the wilds of venezuela and colombia Is the ther kindly treatment he my received it the bands hands of the children of the forest f these observations says a writer in the pan american bulletin have been suggested by a work which has recently been published in her ber lin on the indians inhabiting the region between the rio negro and the capura it Is by dr theodor koch grunberg a distinguished german trav eler and ethnologist and is entitled gwei jahre unter den two years among the in deans it has appealed to us in a special man ner not only on account of the mine of informs tion it contains regarding the manners and cus toms of the various tribes of indians which the author visited during his two years peregrinations in this comparatively unknown part of the world not only on account of its numerous and valuable illustrations reproduced from photographs which constitutes so valuable an aid to the right under standing of the narrative but also and chiefly because the doctor s experiences among the red men of the regions visited were almost icren identical with our own in other parts of the continent it was in august 1903 that dr koch Kochs berg reached the little town of sao felippe on the up per rio negro using this place as a base he proceeded without delay to explore its western at fluen ts the the bapes the and their chief tributaries and to study the manners customs and languages of the divers indian tribes that live on or near their banks after spending nearly two years among these people some of whom never saw a white man before he returned to manaos malaos near the mouth of the klo rio negro by way of the capura and the amazon he was well nell equipped tor for his work which fa tor r him was ever a labor of love he had previously accompanied dr hermann meyer during his ex of the in southern brazil and had then learned to admire the many notable quail ties of the unspoiled denizens of the jungle outside of a young brazilian of berman descent his sole companions during his long wanderings among many tribes some of whom he had been warned were cannibals were in deans whom he employed as porters and boatmen and these were in most instances what are known as indies bravos wild indians who had little or no contact with civilization but so completely did he from the first win the confidence and at af faction of these simple kindly people that they at once treated him as one of their own and made him feel at home wherever he went and so considerate and just was he in all his dealings with them that his reputation preceded him from tribe to tribe everywhere he was known and welcomed as the filand of the in deans and any service they could perform for him was freely given he lived in their malokas communal homes shared in their repasts and festivities took part in their dances and their hunting expeditions was a witness of their strange marriage and burial ceremonies and romped with their children helped to entertain friends and guests he ile had every opportunity of familiarizing himself with the peculiar manners customs aradi eions and superstitions of his hosts for they were ever willing to impart to him all the information in their power and assist him in his ethnographic researches in every way possible besides treating them with justice and kind ness he be made it a rule never to accept any ice fee however slight without making some corn com sensation pens pensa atlon tion tor for it the remuneration offered might be trifling but the effect was magical they were all men women and children at his beck and call every hour of the day or night of the indiana indians of caara cuara the author declares that they did everything to make his sojourn among them comfortable and pleasant bor kor a lew few glass beads and fish fishhooks books they kept us lib rally supplied with meat and drink kowl ot of 0 0 av 0 1 european origin they provided us with in abundance they themselves eat neither chickens nor eggs their malokas or communal houses are quite different v from the tepees or wigwams 0 of our north american in deans they are al so as a rule much larger and more substantially coi cot strutted ted soma 8 of them are nearly feet long by 40 or 50 wide and 25 or 30 high it Is ordina rily thatched with the fan shaped leaves of thi th carana palm and Is quite rain proof A re f feature e a t u r e Z about the building 42 is that no nails are used in its construction and yet it Is strong enough to withstand the strongest tempests ot of the tropics liana vines take the place ot of nails and bolts and posts beams and rafters are so thoroughly bound together that the building Is aa as sate safe as it is durable these rhese communal houses far from being abodes of filth as usually supposed are models of clean liness they are carefully swept every day and are re as the author expresses it pein lich Min manfully painfully fully clean the malokas are generally built on elevated ground so that they may always be above in during the rainy season and near a stream of pure water in front of them Is a clear open space anu and near by are clumps of plantain and banana bariana plants and pupula palms while in the immediate neighborhood are plantations of man dioca and fields felds of maize these afford them all the food they need but besides these sources of food supply they can usually find an abundance of fish in the rivers and a choice variety of game in the forest the mother looks after the man dioca which is the indians indiana staff of life in the equatorial regions of america while the father procures the game and the fish life in one of these large commercial lodges we are informed Is on ordinary days of idyllic regularity long before daybreak its inmates are awake and from hammock to hammock carry on an animated conversation in a loud voice this was often to my disgust especially when I 1 had worked to a late hour the night before tor for with all their chatter further sleep was ble at early dawn about five 0 clock all take a bath in the adjoining river soon thereafter the women call to the first breakfast bach each one puts in a large earthenware vessel the remnants warmed over of the preceding days day s meal this consists of boiled asb strongly seasoned with pepper or game together with a shallow basket of mand loca cakes placed in the middle of the ho ise the men now leave their hammocks lu in which they ensconced themselves atter after their bath and eq sq at in a circle around the appetizing repast prepared tor for them after eating each one washes his mouth and hands in preparation tor for the des sert large calabashes filled with refreshing and nourishing mand loca broth are then passed around the women so custom requires eat after the men then all betake themselves to their dally daily occupation the men to hunting and fishing the women to their plantations and peaceful stillness reigns throughout the entire village only a few old women remain behind and swing themselves idly in their hammocks from froin time to time there come from the river hard by the mut fled voices of children who are splashing around in it or from the top of an adjacent tree Is heard the shrill cry of a tame parrot several families commonly occupy one of these malokas in some of the larger ones there are at times as many as a hundred souls the building Is then petitioned oft off and each family has ita its own furniture and the larger hall A J d 0 2 in the center cepter of the edifice Is used for a general reception room tor for dances and tor for the entertain ment of friends and visitors the chief or head of this patriarchal community lives with his tarn tam lly fly in irk an apartment at one end of the haloka everything Is under his direction and nothing of Import importance ancA is undertaken without bis his consent and advice fw tt na the large number of ot people liv ing under the sime roof there is the greatest peace and harmony I 1 have lived for months at a time declares aies our author in one of these malokas and never have I 1 under normal condl alons witnessed any disputes or quarrels it Is however the moral conditions of the oc capants of these communal lodges that that impressed him most deeply these naked indians he as aerts are as decorous as it Is possible tor for men to be their morality Is on a high plane although several families live together in the same room the woman plays an important role as the wife and counselor of her husband but her in fluence Is greatly augmented when she becomes a mother she then enters upon her proper life work for the care and cringing up the children are committed entirely to her unfailing love and devotion from the moment of birth until it la Is able to wa walk ak one rarely rarely sees the child without the mother the two ar are practically inseparable the baby here Is ever the object of the same tender affect tion as with as us and the older children too are never without their mother mothers s special solicitude I 1 have seen a mother playing with and entertaining them tor for hours at a time the indian woman is far from being the stupid beast of burden pictured for us by superficial observers while the husband devotes his attention to the commonweal the wife spends her time within the limits of the family circle but along ath with the chief duties of the family she also as the chief rights her life is indeed one of toll and fatigue but she thereby expands her faculties and brings her true nature to its full development what however excited the authors author s greatest astonishment was their extraordinary honesty the Ehrlich kett he tells us war I 1 could have left all my trunks remain open and they would have taken nothing even pieces of printed paper which I 1 had thrown away and bits of that had dropped from my candle they always carefully placed on my camp stool speaking generally the author does not hesi best tate to declare the property of another Is strict ly inspected never will an indian sell the small est thing while hile in his keeping which belongs to another without the owner s knowledge and con sent and never will he accept payment tor for an other regarding the cannibals against whom he had been warned when nhen he was in manaos malaos he assures us that they were nere all as harmless and gooy natured as all the other wild indians with whom he came in contact haying having had such delightful experiences among these simple kind hearted people we can well understand that when the day of parting came the author found it difficult to tear himself away from those at whose hands he had tor for nearly two years received such unvarying kindness and who had contrib cited eo materially to the success of his expedition we are well aware that the account dr koch grunberg gives of the copper colored denizens of the south american forests is wholly different from that of most writers but he Is not alone in his favorable estimate of them those who know them best who have spent the longest time among them and have had an opportunity of studying them at close range will find our au an mior thors e descriptions and judgments correct as well as sympathetic but divergent as his experiences are from those of the majority of travelers they are ne less quite I 1 iq harmony with ith those we should expect from one who was willing to treat the indian ae as a human being and not as a pariah or as a soul less brute i A |