FOHUSt AND STREAM.^ 
Pec. i, Igot. 
dollars, to the etigineer of our expedition, telling hini to 
remain at camp till I could send help from the capital. 
Then with the few thii gs packed which were to be my 
omfit, I waited anxiously for an oppo-tunity to begin my 
journey. 
The next day a crew of Sumo Indians came up the 
river and stopped for the night at our camp. They agreed 
to take me with them as far as they we-e going, but did 
not think I could succeed in getting over the mountains. 
They said that there were plenty of nen at their village, 
a place called Gualpatante, and as I fek sure I could ar- 
range witli some of them, I determined to push on. 
I got my things together and next morning we started. 
Their canoe was unusually large, made iro n a single 
K.ahogany log, and capable of carryi' g six or seven tons. 
Eight men made up the crew, rough looking fellows, 
such as I had never seen before, and I wondered what 
was to be my fate with them. The captain of the crew 
was old and bent, looking almost Ukc a hunchback; his 
arms reached down below his knees; his neck was long, 
skinny and protruding; he had only one tooth, which had 
grown up to the length of a boar's tusk; one eye was 
knocked out, his nose and chin almost met, his long, 
unkempt hair hung about his naked shoulders; and to 
make his appearance more frightful, one-half his face was 
painted black, which brought his protruding cheekbones 
into peculiar prominence. 
I looked at him in astonishment, not unmixed with 
fear, and he was in truth a strange, forbidding looking 
object. The Indians quickly put my things in the canoe, 
the old Indian motioned me to a seat and my journey had 
begun, my companion sneeringly remarking that he 
would wait for me at the capital, where I would find the 
property made awav with, and all because of my head- 
strong folly in refusing his orders. The time for words 
was past; I invited him to go with me, but he would not; 
and then the men pushed out in the stream, and began 
a vigorous paddling which soon took us around a bend 
in the river, and I was alone with these strange, half- 
naked Indians, perplexed and doubting the wisdom of 
the course I was pursuing. 
I was not long in finding out that I was m good com- 
pany, and the strange old Indian was as careful of me 
as if I had been his child. I soon forgot my fears in the 
novelty of my surroundings, and then anxiety gave place 
to thorough enjoyment. 
As we ascended the river the scene gradually changed, 
and presently we were among the first undulations of the 
mountains, and after two days had reached he lower foot- 
hills, and were surrounded by all that one could dream of 
in a tropical paradise. At night we camped on the sand- 
bars, and in a few minutes the Indians would have game 
and fish in abundance. Then we would eat, and it seemed 
as if I could not get enough, and fortunately there was 
no end to the supply. 
Two days more, and we reached the Indian village, a 
place called Gualpatante; the men took my things to one 
of the larger houses, and the people crowded around to 
see me. 
1 immediately began negotiations for men to take me 
on my way, and was meeting with some success when all 
my hopes were rained at a sign from the old Indian, 
whose name, I learned, was Fusa. He was a most remark- 
able person ; the oldest people in the village said that when 
they were children he was just as I found him — old, tem- 
perate in all things, and powerfully strong. While we 
were coming up the river the men had on several occa- 
sions been unable to make headway against the current, 
which at times was very swift. Old Fusa carried a great 
paddle, bigger, than himself, and at these times he would 
give one long sweep with it deep in the water, and the 
great canoe would tremble at the force; then another 
sweep of his broad paddle, and the canoe would move 
ahead slowly; then the men would get it in control again 
and we would sweep steadily on to quieter water; the did 
Indian making himself comfortable in a lazy attitude in 
the stern of the canoe. And this was the man who had 
me in his power, and I began to be anxious again, and 
wonder why he was unwilling that I should go on. 
I was well treated, and if I could have spoken to them 
fluently or understood what they said, I felt sure that all 
would soon be arranged; but my few words of the Indian 
language seemed to be lost on old Fusa, .who spoke only 
a very little English and Spanish. Conversation was not 
brilliant. Each morning old Fusa would come down to 
see me and say: "Where going to-day?" 
"Up the river," I would reply. 
"No, can't go." 
"But I want to— I must," I would protest. 
"No, can't go." 
"But I will," I would say, angrily, at times. 
"No can't go. Where going to-day?^ Stone tings; 
flower tings; butterfly tings; hunt what?" 
I was interested in collecting specimens, and would 
generally choose one or the other excursion proposed. 
The old man would give a satisfied grunt, and then, after 
a brief direction to one of the young men. who apparently 
never thought of disobeying him, I would be taken out 
in the woods; and game, insects, botanical or geological 
specimens would be found to my ■ fullest satisfac- 
^'Isut as the days accumulated, I gave up going out, and 
all my thoughts were concentrated in getting a^vay from 
that old Indian. He would have takei. me back to the 
camp down the river at any time, but he would not take 
me on nor would he let me go. and I began to fear 
that he had an understanding with the superintendent to 
detain me. Twice I nearly succeeded, but he stopped me 
each time, and I gi-ew more and more anxious 
What he meant to do I could not tell, and i was m 
despair, even expecting that later he intended to have 
me killed. ... , ^ r , . 
The Indians were drinking a good part of the time, 
and how I learned to hate those drunken feasts. Fusa 
never went to them, but the other men would soon be- 
come hopelessly intoxicated, and then v/ould promise to 
take me anywhere, and that would be the end of it, only 
promises. They drank fermented sugarcane juice which 
was prepared by women who sat around a big trough 
chewing cane and spitting the juice till they had filled the 
trough- then it was allowed to ferment. When property 
fermented, the boys would gather with their reed pipes 
and the men would drink to the acompaniment of their 
droning music, just the same thing over and over again, 
all in disorder, yet not unpleasing in its effect; and finally 
the men would would fall into a helpless drunken stupor, 
though at times angry quarrels would take place, and the 
Indians, wild with drink, would threaten all sorts of 
violence. At such times old Fusa would hurry over to my 
house, and forbid my going out. Usually he staid with 
me until the row was over, and I could not understand 
why be was so careful of me, and yet kept me so closely 
guai-ded, 
A few days later I learned why this was. I had lost 
three weeks when a large canoe came up the river filled 
with Indians, but among them there was a white man, 
a fine fellow who was building up a trade in rubber with 
the Indians. I had been living in his house, and old 
Fusa proposed to deliver me safe and sound to my host. 
This he did with but little ceremony, and as_ he went out 
of the door he said to me: "Now can go," and walked 
ofi^ entirely satisfied. 
My new friend said that the old Indian had done me a 
great service, as I would certainly have been killed if I 
had gone on without being properly prepared; and as it 
was he did not think it would be possible for me to get 
through, and advised me most seriously to go back, and 
give up the idea. It was no trip for a white man not 
accustomed to the most trying exposures. Then, if one 
did not die from the exposure, there were the wild ani- 
mals; and if not these then the Indians, almost as danger- 
ous, -and altogether he thought it would be impossible for 
me. But when I expJained the situation, he said he 
thought it was taking big risks, but he would do the best 
he could for me. 
He told me I might take my choice of evils. He could 
give me Mosquito men who would take me up the rapids 
safely, but might lose their way in the woods, which 
would mean death; then he could give me men from his 
village, but though they knew the trail well, they would 
perhaps have an accident in the rapids; which, if it did not 
kill me, would certainly mean the loss of all my things; 
or he could give me the wild men, who would be coming 
down with their rubber the next day. These were per- 
fect river hands and sure woodmen; but they were mur- 
derous, and not to be depended on, yet if I was careful 
with them they would probably take me through safely. 
I determined to cast in my lot with the wild men, and 
then my friend gave me careful directions how to treat 
them. Their last murder had been to secure $40 silver, 
quite a fortune to them. I now had only one hundred 
dollars silver, little enough with the journey ahead of me. 
This I was not to show on any account. Then I was not 
to give them directions, but simply allow them to take 
me. I would fall in with a tribe called the Piyu Indians, 
some of whom were very dangerous, and though cowardly 
would sneak up to one at night, cut one's throat and run; 
and on no account was I to sleep in their houses till I 
got to the interior valleys; when there they were perfectly 
reliable, and I would be safe. 
Then I gave my friend the money to pay the men, and 
he proposed to tell them he was advancing it to me, and 
that I had none. He said he would engage three men 
and two women as my guides and pack bearers, because 
the men rarely murdered a person when the women were 
near. 
All preparations were quickly made, and, true to their 
appointment, the men came down next morning, a whole 
lot of them, with several canoeloads of rubber. I was 
glad to see that a number of women were with them, 
and was overjoyed to learn that they proposed to go back 
to their mountains the next morning. They looked as 
wild as monkeys, but their stout muscles spake well for 
their ability as wood and river men. 
A bargain was quickly made; my friend gave them 
their money, and, after making some presents, in which 
old Fusa was especially remembered. I set out again with 
a fair prospect of reaching the interior settlements. The 
first day the men did excellent work, and the next reached 
the Wampo River, and continued on the way to their vil- 
lage at a junction with it and the Po River. It had been a 
long, hard day's work for them, and just as I was con- 
gratulating mysellf on our quick time they announced that 
they must rest one day before starting out again. 
There was no help for it, and so I determined to amuse 
myself as best I could, and when night came I began to 
think the time had not been a loss, for these were a 
strange people, and it is seldom the lot of a traveler to 
fall in with them. 
That uight the etiquette of the woods required that I 
should hand my fire arms to my host, to prove my confi- 
dence in him; usually they are handed back at once, but 
this Indian kept them, and I began to wish I had not 
been so particular, and I missed my good friend, as I 
call mv pistol, sorely that night, though I didn't have any 
occasion to use it; yet there is something companionable 
about a pistol, and I would have slept more soundly if 
it had been by my side. 
The following day the men continued resting, but in 
the afternoon I was delighted to see them making prep- 
arations to start the next morning. A little later I 
threw the town into a state of excitement because of some 
paper pin wheels that I made to amuse the children. The 
men wanted them at once, and I used up numerous pins 
and nearly all my paper before they were satisfied. When 
all were supplied, it was an amusing sight as these fully 
grown men pranced and ran about among the houses, 
shouting and kicking up their heels like a lot of children; 
thfe women following around after them equally delighted, 
and full of excitement. The fun lasted for about an hour, 
and then the pin wheels wore out, and the village settled 
down again. 
The next morning the chief said they were ready to go 
on, but to my surprise and alarm I found that five men 
were to be my companions, and that the women were not 
going at all. There was no help for it, now; to return 
was impossible, and if they intended to murder me I 
could not escape them by going back; so I made the best 
of the situation and we started. The men made good 
progress and about noon we reached a. little Indian village 
called Po. Here my chief and the chief of Po sat down 
to have a talk together. 
After a time the chief of Po said to my chief, 'Well, 
are you going to lall this one?" To which my chief re- 
plied, "I don't know yet ; I must get him up in the woods 
first and see if he has any money, and besides the trader 
takes care of him and perhaps he will only die in the 
woods." I could understand some words of their lan- 
guage, but they fell to talking about other things, which 
I could not understand, and I went to sit alone and con- 
sider my prospects. It did not seem very encouraging, 
but the road led on, not back. 
We soon were under way again, following the river as 
it wound ever on up, and still up among the mountains. 
Sometimes the rapids were really dangerous, and it was 
wonderful to see the way in which those Indians managed 
the shallow dugout or pet pau as they called it. One 
stood in front of a long pole to keep it off the rocks, two 
paddled, one bailed the water out, and one stood behind 
steering with a long pole. When we came to a rapid they 
would shout to me to sit still, which was all I could do, I 
was so frightened I scarcely dared to breathe, while those 
men, shouting with excitement, made their way along the 
sides of rapids, which to me seemed impossible. 
At time's we would come to long stretches of quiet 
water, and then to other rapids, and so on up and up, the 
men shooting iguanas and catching turtles and fish as we 
went. 
Iguana is said to be very fine eating, but after a time I 
could not bear the sight of it, though it seemed good at 
first. There was plenty of turtle at all times, however, 
and so I got along very well. 
It was strange to see the Indians catch turtles and fish, 
A turtle would slip off a log into the water, and at the 
same time an Indian would dive lightly from the boat, and 
it was rarely indeed that they missed them. A certain 
Indian named Wee Wee was particularly expert, and if he 
saw a frightened fish hide itself as we passed on up the 
river, he would slip quietly over the side .of the canoe 
and nearly always succeeded in catching it. 
At one part of the journey we found ourselves in a 
deep ravine, which was so high up among the mountains 
that we could look back out of it over a great stretch of 
country and lower mountains, and as we sat in the cool 
shade of the canon, where the water was still and deep, 
and where the rocks were all covered with orchids, ferns 
and mosses, it seemed, looking out over the distant 
country, as if something was about to overwhelm us or 
that we were soon to be swept over a cataract, it was all 
so strange and unearthly. 
One morning, after sleeping by the river bank, I noticed 
two little red spots on my arm, considerably above the 
elbow; at times they were very painful, and after a day 
or two became almost unbearable and had grown quite 
large. I tried to press them out, thinking they were 
boils, and that the sun made them hurt so severely. I 
was sure something was in there, so getting a bunch of 
flesh up between my fingers I pressed with considerable 
force, and to my astonishment a white thread-like worm 
began to appear, and as I pressed harder a large grub 
popped out and fell in my hand. It looked like a bottle 
with a long neck tapering to a thread, and had black hair 
at the folds of its skin. Then I took another out of the 
smaller sore ,and thought I would have no more trouble 
with them; but in this I was mistaken, and my arm 
began to swell rapidly, aching miserably, while green 
matter collected in the openings left where the grubs had 
been, After a time these conditions became so alarming 
that I showed my arm to the chief, who said it was very 
bad, that it was the mosquito grub, and that I should 
have told him sooner. Then he went to the woods and 
brought back a root, which he masticated with some 
chewing tobacco and placed the mass in the sores, after 
which they healed with what I thought unusual rapidity. 
I am told that I made a lucky escape, as the sores follow- 
ing the expulsion of these grubs are at times dangerous, 
rarely so, however, if taken out while they are yet small, 
and only those who are ignorant in respect to them suffer 
anv damage. 
it is said that a long black mosquito lays the eggs that_ 
produce these grubs. How, nobody has any idea, and at 
times they are very annoying. After that experience I 
was careful to sleep under my mosquito bar,_and have 
been careful to do so ever since while traveling in the 
tropics. 
After we had gone a short distance further the In- 
dians stopped, saying that we had reached the limit of 
canoe navigation, and must now make our way across 
the mountains on foot. Our things were soon landed, the 
canoe drawn well up on the bank, and then the men said 
they would have to rest for three days. Here was more 
trouble. We had been unusually slow ascending the 
river, we had rested a day and a half at Wampoo, and I 
had lost three weeks at Gualpatante. With such progress 
as this it seemed only reasonable to expect that my rival 
would- gain the victory and destroy the company's titles 
before I could succeed in having them registered. 
I was anxious enough, and tried every possible means 
to start the men on, but it was of no use, and we lost the 
balance of that day, and there seemed no prospect of 
moving fof all the week. 
Next morning I tried again, and offered to throw away 
a lot of my things and make their packs lighter, but it 
was of no avail. Then I thought of a bottle of brandy m 
one of my cases, and offered it to them for the evening 
if they would go on. , • r 
This suited their fancy. They will do anything for 
whisky or brandy, and arrangements were soon made. T 
threw away a lot of my things and gave a woolen shirt 
to one of the young men, who was really sick from cold 
and exposure, and I threw away all the things in his 
pack, so he had nothing to carry. Among my clothes was 
a canvas hunting coat, having the usual brass buttons with 
animals' heads. The chief took a great fancy to it, say- 
ing, "Give me this," a number of times. I was not well 
pleased, and told him I would see him further first, yet he 
took such a fancy to it, going back time after time to look 
at it, all the while regarding me with glittering, envious 
eyes that I thought if this man would murder to secure 
$40 from a person who trusted him as guide, he would 
probably do as much to secure the coat that he fancied so 
avariciously, consequently I gave it to him, and then all 
were contented. ,11- 
It was a pity to throw away so many useful things, but 
regrets were unavailing, so shouldering my rifle, which I 
had been told never to trust out of my hands, we started, 
the chief leading the way. 
At first the trail was easy, and I began to think that 
reports were exaggerated, but presently we came to f. 
"Stream that must be forded, T started to undress, as it 
was deep, but the' chief said. "No use; can't stop; must 
walk river," which was literally true. We had to scramble 
along its rough banks, in and out of the water, make 
thirty-three deep fordings and climb up and down all 
sorts of places. 
