210 



EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER 



tied under the tree for a few hours becomes very ill and loses his hair, 

 while it is sure death for a man to eat one of the apples. 



With the pilot aboard, we soon gained the gulf again, and ere 

 long were off the Palo Seco (the withered tree), where, if luck favored, 

 guides and mules were awaiting us. This time our captain ventured 

 within three miles of the shore and sure enough saw two men. A boat 

 was sent, and in course of time, night having fallen, a light appeared 

 dancing over the waves, and soon there stepped aboard the Pioneer, who 



JUNGO, COOK ON THE "ALMIRANTE/' 



was to furnish guides and transports. He had been waiting nearly a 

 week, and would have left the next day, believing that we had turned 

 back or been wrecked by one of the Pacific hurricanes. 



The Pioneer had been in that country for many years and his 

 stories of rubber gathering up in the Cauca, and adventures in the Darien 

 with the fierce -San Bias Indians, were most interesting. As is well 

 known, these savages do not allow trespassers upon their lands, although 

 they do not molest those who gather rubber in the wilds adjacent to 



