188 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



are purchased in quantities. For a short time they revel 

 in luxury and live in contempt of their erstwhile compan- 

 ions. Quite naturally their wealth soon disappears, and 

 the tawdry finery is pawned to provide money for more 

 necessary things; but there is an end even to this resource. 

 Soon they again seek the stake of a few dollars and hie 

 themselves back to the wilderness to once more try their 

 luck as ordinary pork-knockers. To strangers the negroes 

 are courteous and obedient, but among themselves they 

 are quarrelsome, unfeeling, and even cruel. I heard of an 

 instance where a number of them had been commanded 

 to take a very sick companion down the river in search 

 of medical treatment. As they paddled along the pilot 

 frequently called to the man nearest the sufferer: "Ain't 

 dead yet?" The person addressed roughly turned the sick 

 man over with his paddle to inspect him, and then answered 

 with a curt "No." "My! dat man dead hard," replied 

 the pilot. They were most eagerly awaiting his death be- 

 cause it would save them a long trip, and they had planned 

 to divide among themselves his possessions the moment 

 life departed. 



We met an American at the landing, who had experi- 

 enced several unpleasant encounters with the negroes. He 

 was engaged in searching for diamonds and had many of the 

 colored folk in his employ. So far all the stones discovered 

 had been of small size, but one day two of his men found a 

 gem of good proportions. They immediately entered into 

 an argument as to whether or not it was a real diamond, 

 and to settle the dispute placed it on an anvil and hit it 

 repeatedly with a sledge-hammer. "If it a diamond, it 

 can't broke," was the gist of their theory. However, it 

 was a real diamond, and it also broke; their outraged boss 

 found the worthless particles a short time later. On an- 

 other occasion this same man was confined in a hospital at 

 Georgetown with a severe attack of fever. One night the 

 colored head nurse swept in majestically, gave him a short, 

 condescending look, and then directed his private nurse as 



