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 manj'- 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 



