Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A few natives have settled down in jungle clearings where they grow tobacco, rice, beans,
yucca, and a little sugar-cane. To make their clearings larger they fell the trees and hack down
the bushes, and towards the end of the dry season they set fire to them.
Thehutsofthese people areveryoriginal andwestoppedinseveral ofthem. Theroofsare
high and made of dry palm leaves. Poles are laid under them to form a kind of ceiling or 'first
floor', where everybody sleeps. Below this is the kitchen and dining-room combined in one.
The stove is simply a hole in the dirt floor where the fire is kindled. The walls are made of
postsandcane,andthedoorisalwaysbarredatnighttokeepoutdogs,ormaybesomeprowl-
ing beast. In the evenings it gets very cool, and after the meal we would usually sit around
the fire where I heard many strange stories of mystery and superstition, as well as many wild
beast and snake yarns. Only the men spoke, whilst the women and children sat huddled in the
corners listening with awe.
When everybody was ready to sleep we would all climb up to the 'bedroom' under the
roof. To reach this one has to climb up a thick, notched pole that serves as ladder. Men, wo-
menandchildrenallsleeptogether,andourpresencedidnotseemtodisturbthemintheleast.
Whilst we were sleeping in one of those huts a woman gave birth to a child. This very natural
happening caused practically no trouble or disturbance, and next day the woman was up and
about, just as she had been the day before.
I saw many
huacas
, as the old Indian graves are called. They are always covered with a
large flat stone, and treasure has been found in some of them. For this reason many have been
disturbed by treasure hunters.
The native settlers have a strange kind of yodel call which they like to make echo through
the forest.
Inevertiedmyhorses,butturnedthemloosenearthehutinwhichIslept.Theyneverwent
more than a few yards away, and I could hear them stamping and grazing all night, and every
morning they were waiting for me at the door. Both were terribly afraid of the jungle at night,
and when there was no grass near I had to cut some and bring it near the hut, for they refused
to be left alone and would not eat when I staked them out in the coarse jungle grass. I tried it
once or twice, but no sooner had I left them than they started to call me, and when I returned
tothemIfoundthemtremblingwithfear.Thiswasprobablyduetothefactthattheyhadbeen
born in the wilds and could scent wild animals and danger.
With our solitary open-air life Mancha had developed his natural instinct of observation,
and by this time he was like an excellent watchdog. Long before I could detect anything he
would sometimes lift his head, prick up his ears, and sniff the air, opening his nostrils wide.
Presently he would become restless and sometimes he gave a soft nicker, as if trying to speak.
After a while a man might appear, although often I could discover nothing, but I was fully
aware that the horse must have smelt some animal or had heard a strange noise. Once when
wewere nearing alittle stream the horsesbecame verynervousandtroublesome. Mancha had
been all nerves for some time, and when we came to the muddy edge of the stream the guide
