Everyday Forms of Empire - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 344

The caucheiros appear to be the most advantaged warriors of that sinister catechism of fire; they
advanced step by step, slaughtering the most interesting aborigines of South America in those most
remote backwoods.
They owe their historic mission to the fragility of a tree. The caucheiro is obliged to be a nomad
and a devotee of combat, of destruction, and of a wandering and chaotic life because Castilla elast-
ica , which provides desirable latex, does not permit, as do the Brazilian Heveas , a stable exploitation
through periodic renovation of the vital tree saps. The caucho tree is extremely sensitive, and once
pierced it will die or remain useless for a very long time. Thus, to profit from it, the extractor fells the
tree once and for all. He drops it, then, meter by meter from the roots to the last leafy branches, and
makes a trench beside the fallen tree. He digs out rectangular cavities that correspond to sections of
the trunk, and from these he takes out at the end of the week the valuable planchas or planks of rub-
ber. Meanwhile, the remains that stick to the bark or on the outside of cuts or that drop on the ground
are joined together in the sernambi of inferior quality.
The process, as one can see, is rough and ready. The richest caucho groves are soon depleted, and
because Castilla is not evenly distributed in the forests but spreads out in stands quite separated from
one another, the caucheiros move to new groves, repeating with little variation the dramas of the no-
madic life of the hunters of trees. In this way, nomadism is imposed on them, and it is the inviolable
condition for success. They plunge boldly into the wilderness; they isolate themselves in successive
outposts and never revisit their former paths. They develop a passion for uncharted, completely new
landscapes. They reach them, they abandon them. They continue on and never return to those ardu-
ously conquered outposts.
When an area of caucho trees is discovered, they build their first tambo , their hut of Paxiuba palm
in a clearing their alongside the grove, and plunge into the tasks at hand. Their primary work imple-
ments are Winchester carbines, cocked at the ready for chance meetings in the brush; next, the ma-
chete for cutting the unraveling lianas; and the portable compass to orient them through the tangled
pathways. They position themselves and then launch a careful review of the surroundings. Then they
go in search of the natives whom they will either annihilate or enslave, so that in the same sortie they
complete the security of their new outpost and procure the hands they require.
Thosewhodaretodothisnecessary,riskytaskarefew.Ahalf-dozenmen,dispersedandimmersed
silently in the jungle, research and survey every recess, encountering the most suspicious lairs, in an
exhaustive topographic appraisal (committed to memory) of the most varied terrain. At each step,
with ears and eyes alert to the most subtle aspects and vaguest rumors of the murmuring forest airs,
they cautiously advance with the prudence and ardor demanded in that shadowy duel of the Spaniard
with the wildness.
Some never return. Others return unharmed after useless peregrinations. Some, at the end of this
exhausting research, catch a shadowy glimpse, half-distinct, in the foliage of the first native huts.
They restrain their cries of triumph and waste no time informing their companions of their discovery.
They further refine their extraordinary cunning. They cling to the ground and, by careful tracking,
get as close as they can to their hapless enemy. In this assault there is a poignant trace of hero-
ism—Man, lost in absolute solitude, seeks out the barbarian, taking with him as escort only the eight-
een shots of his loaded rifle.
It is a tortuous, long, and slow job of tracking, in which he takes advantage of every roughness of
terrain, concealing himself behind trunks. or inserting himself in the sheltering angles of buttressed
trees, sliding soundlessly over the litter of decomposing leaves, insinuating himself in the joined
stalksof Heliconias withtheirlargeprotectivefrondsuntil,withsilentandanxiousinvestigation,they