THE DARK HIGHWAY. 
25 
slide past. 
He told us of how men found themselves 
prisoners up the river. Lured there by the 
promise of high wages, they soon found them¬ 
selves entangled in a web of debt. Goods were 
supplied by the 
companies, in the 
companies 5 
stores : wages 
were paid in metal 
tokens that were 
useless elsewhere. 
And how could 
a man escape? 
Were he to find 
his way through 
the pathless 
jungle to the 
edge of the river, 
what hope was 
there of finding a 
boat ? Some, more desperate perhaps than 
others, tried to swim across the river—but it 
was desperation indeed that would brave its 
dangers. And yet the attempt had been made 
again and again. 
A few years ago the weekly river steamer so 
often met floating corpses coming down stream 
that it proved upsetting to the comfort of the 
passengers. Then police had been sent up to 
4 enquire into things —but the police had been 
