Peru, Purús, Brazil - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 161

ence in the region, to manufacture conflict, and to draw in the military from Iquitos into
thePurús.Whetherthiswasjusthischaracteroranassignedchargeisnotknown,buthe
was a consistently a point man on the Peruvian side, apparently able to command mil-
itary backup whenever he needed it. Scharff liked to display a diploma that named him
the governor of the upper Purús, incited local Peruvians not to pay the customs fees to
Brazilianofficials,andembarkedonvicious correrías— huntsofnativepeoples.Inmany
casestheindigenouspeoplewereinakindoffrontier“liveandletlive”relationwiththe
seringueiros , who were for the most part tethered to their tapping routes and typically
did not hunt Indians. These relatively cautious intercultural relations had underpinned
the early successes of Brazilian occupation and were described in the history of places
such as Sena Madureira's Gazeta do Purús as well as in da Cunha's laudatory remarks
aboutManoelUrbano(seechapter15,withapictureof Urbano ) . 27 Thosewhoweretap-
ping trees alone in the depths of the forest certainly did not want to upset relations with
natives who could pick them off at will. Peruvian caucheiros traveling in large armed
bands of twenty men or more, however, were happy to stir up trouble if it meant they
could capture a new labor force and concubines.
One observer of the dynamics between Hevea tappers, Indians, and caucheiro s was
the earnest amateur ethnographer Alcot Lange, who provides an unusually detailed eye-
witness account of this destabilization. 28 Lange, a wealthy young New York adventurer
and gifted photographer, spent time—really the best term would be hung out—on a trib-
utary of the Javarí and was a participant-observer when the durable relations of the can-
nibal Mangerona tribe and the traditional rubber estate based on H. brasiliense were
caught up in battles triggered by incoming caucheiros hunting for labor and trees. Many
of the enslaved natives died miserably in transit in the pestilent entrepôt of Remate de
MalesontheJavari.Toevadethisfate,Langeexplains,theMangeronasembarkedonan
arrayofdefensivemaneuvers,suchasambushesorpoisoningcreekstomake caucheiros
ill, and he recounts a battle in which every caucheiro was killed—a necessary action for
avoiding a later, obliterating reveng—and eventually eaten. 29
Scharff was unreliable in his economic obligations—taking latex and not furnishing
goodsinreturn,ornotdeliveringlatextohissuppliersaspromised—andlocalBrazilians
threatenedtoexpelhim.HeurgedthePeruvianauthoritiestosendintroops,andonJune
23,1903,twentysoldiersandtwosergeantsappearedatthemouthoftheRioChandless,
alongwithIquitospolicechiefJorgeBarreto.Theybegantosetupanothercustomspost.
A similar action occurred on the Amônea in the Juruá watershed, part of a coordinated
effort to assert Peruvian presence on the upper stretches of these rubber rivers. Appar-
entlythepowersinLimahadrereadthe1851treatyandembarkedonapolicyofoccupa-
tion. 30 Small steamers from Peru flying the Brazilian flag changed them to the Peruvian
colors as they passed over what Peru understood as the boundary line, then made their