CHAPTER XVIII.Festival of St. John the Baptist—Water-throwing—Morning mass—Church of La Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz—“Macheteros,” or Soldiers of the Cross—Decrease of the Indians of the Beni—Suggestions for the re-population of the department—A crew for Trinidad obtained with difficulty—Desertion of an Indian lad—Landslip and dangers of the port of Exaltacion—Changes in the courses of the rivers—Richness of the soil—Prices of provisions.
Festival of St. John the Baptist—Water-throwing—Morning mass—Church of La Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz—“Macheteros,” or Soldiers of the Cross—Decrease of the Indians of the Beni—Suggestions for the re-population of the department—A crew for Trinidad obtained with difficulty—Desertion of an Indian lad—Landslip and dangers of the port of Exaltacion—Changes in the courses of the rivers—Richness of the soil—Prices of provisions.
While I was staying in Exaltacion the Festival of St. John the Baptist occurred, on the 24th of June, and the village was in fiesta, and no work of any kind was done by the Indians. The chief duty on this day appears to be to throw as much water over each other as possible, this being a custom that has been introduced by the Bolivian patrons or masters who are of Spanish origin. The great object is to wet thoroughly the best-dressed man or woman who shows on the street or at a window; and possibly this is meant for a kind of baptism, for as one cannot be made to go to the river as St. John and his followers did, the river is brought, in buckets and other vessels, to the unbeliever, who must suffer the infliction of a good wetting with the best grace he may; and thus he is at all events made to practise the Christian virtues of patience and long-suffering, for there is no escape from the devout followers of the saint, the best plan being toput on an old suit of clothing and provide one’s self also with a bucket and squirt and set forth baptizing on one’s own account.
Morning mass was held with great beating of drums and blowing of horns, the water play being abandoned for the nonce. The church is a very old edifice built of adobes, and was constructed by the Jesuits more than 200 years ago, the “cura” of the town informing me that there were ecclesiastical records belonging to it which vouched for its age. The façade facing on the central square of the village is highly ornamented with figures in cement handsomely painted; the columns are made in a twisted pattern, and there are, on either side of the principal door, images of a Christ and a Virgin, about eight feet in height, elaborately moulded and painted. The interior has been highly decorated with relievo ornamentation in mud cement, but has now become much decayed, all the pictures, of which there were a great many, having fallen out of their frames.
The service of the mass was of most barbarous character, and has evidently been adapted to the customs of the aborigines of these parts by the Jesuits. There were two Indians with head-dresses of macaw’s feathers arranged so as to form a circle at the back of the head, and attached thereto is a long appendage, reaching to the ground and made of the breast feathers of the toucan, terminating with a real tiger’s tail. These men have a species of bell-anklets to their feet, and a large wooden machete, or cutlass, in their right hands. Thus accoutred they execute dances in front of the altar and thechurch door. These fellows are called “macheteros,” and are intended to typify, I presume, the soldiers of the Church fighting and conquering its enemies. The interior of the church during mass presents a good effect from the bright colours of the “tipoys” of the Indian women, the two plaits of whose long glossy black hair are finished off with bright-coloured ribbons called “ariches.” The “tipoy” is made of white or bright-coloured calico or print, and is a long and straight garment which hangs in graceful folds to the feet of the wearer, whose arms are always bare from the shoulder. The bright colours of these dresses made an effective contrast to the dark and sombre look of the church. The singing is of a squally character, the aim seeming to be to sing through the nose as much as possible; but every one seems to be thoroughly in earnest, and all cross themselves in proper fashion.
INDIAN GIRL OF EXALTACION.
INDIAN GIRL OF EXALTACION.
INDIAN GIRL OF EXALTACION.
Most of these Indian women are, in their youth, comely and well featured, many of them being of very fair complexion, the darkest having skins of a burnished coppery hue. Some of them, however, adopt the barbarian’s practice of filing or chipping their front teeth into sharp points, and this gives them a horrid look and reminds one of the dental arrangements of the alligators. This barbarous custom is also practised slightly, in some of the larger towns of the interior of Bolivia, and it strikes one as particularly painful to meet a señorita, blessed perhaps with pretty features and dressed in fashionable attire, and to observe when she opens her lips to smile that she discloses a set of teeth as sharp as any rattlesnake’s.
The Indians of the Beni are, I fear, decreasing rapidly in numbers, and the deserted houses and lines of old streets now in ruins give a sad and desolate look to Exaltacion. The present population cannot be more than 1500, and I should judge that less than fifty years ago there must have been nearly 4000 Indians at the mission of “La Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz,” or “The Raising of the Holy Cross.”
The climate of Exaltacion is, I should judge, a very good one, except at times when the river overflows its banks, an occurrence which appears to occurwith rather a remarkable regularity about once in seven years. The lands of Exaltacion are then flooded to a depth of perhaps six inches, and after the retirement of the waters, ague fever is epidemic, but at other times the air is pure and healthy. The reason for the decline of the Indian population is to be found, without doubt, in the baneful effects to Bolivia of the rubber-collecting trade of the Madeira and Purus rivers. This trade is the real cause that is rapidly depopulating, not only Exaltacion, but all the towns of the department of the Beni. To take the year 1873 as an example of the working of the emigration from Bolivia to the rubber districts of Northern Brazil. In that year forty-three canoes descended the rapids from Bolivia, with merchants on their way to Europe with ventures of “cascarilla” (cinchona bark), or with speculators in the rubber estradas of the Madeira River, while in the same year thirteen canoes only ascended to Bolivia. We may average the Indians that leave Bolivia with these canoes at ten per canoe, and thus we have an exodus of 430 Indians from their country in twelve months, while only 130 return in the same period; we thus have 300 Indians lost to Bolivia in 1873, and as the rubber-collecting fever has been decidedly on the decrease for the last four or five years, the year 1873 does not give a fifth of the number of Indians that have left in previous years. We may, I venture to think, estimate the drain of human life that the department of the Beni has suffered from the Northern Brazilian rubber trade at 1000 men per annum during the decade of 1862 to 1872. The worst feature of this emigration is, perhaps, the factthat rubber speculators and merchants descending the rapids will not allow the Indians to take any of the females of their families with them. This is done on account of avarice in some cases and necessity in others, which prompt the “patron” or owner of the descending craft to load his canoes as fully as he can with his merchandise, reserving as small a space as possible for provisions, which, on account of the quantity of farinha consumed, occupy so much space, that every mouth that requires to be filled, without its owner being able to assist in the propulsion of the craft, becomes a very serious consideration. Thus it arises that in every town of the Beni the females are in a majority of perhaps five to one over the males, and the populations are decreasing. According to the data given by a Portuguese exploring expedition, which travelled in 1749 from Pará to Matto Grossoviâthe river Madeira, an account of which has been published in a compilation, by Colonel George Earl Church, of the explorations that have been made in the valley of the river Madeira, there was then in the fifteen missions of the Beni, a total population of 26,000 Indians; while at the present day, if all the Indians were collected together in these towns, it is probable that not more than 8000 would be found.
The only plan that is likely to succeed in restoring to these villages the Indian population, which is probably that which is best suited to the locality and climate, is that a treaty should be made by Bolivia with Brazil for the redemption of these Indians from the slavery in which they are held by their patrons the seringueiros, or rubber collectors.It is true that the old form of slavery was abolished in Bolivia when the Republic gained its independence; and in Brazil, in later years, every child of a slave is born free, so that in the due course of events slavery will be altogether abolished in the empire; but on the Amazon, Madeira, and Purus rivers a far worse form of slavery exists, for both Brazilian and Bolivian patrons keep their Indians in their power by means of debt and drink. At most of the barracas on the Madeira River where the seringueiros live, the Sundays are passed in perfect orgies of drunkenness, for it is on that day that the peon delivers over to the patron the rubber that he has collected during the week. The patron is also a shopkeeper, and therefore treats his peon liberally to white rum (called “cachaça” on the river), and, when under the influence of this liquor, the poor peon is induced to buy trinkets, calicoes, ribbons, and other articles that he could do very well without. These are charged to him at enormous prices, whilst his rubber is credited to him at inversely corresponding low ones, and thus he is kept under a heavy load of debt, and cannot, under the Brazilian laws, leave his patron until it is worked off, which happy event the patron takes care shall not happen. A Bolivian authority, aided by Brazilian officials, should visit these unhappy exiles, and settle between patron and peon the just state of the accounts; thus a thousand Bolivian peons could with ease be gathered together on the banks of the Madeira River. They could be put to work on the railway of the rapids for two or three years with advantage to themselves and to their country, and return to their native villages atthe expiration of their agreements, with a small fund in hand. This would be the most expeditious method of repopulating the now half-deserted villages of the department of the Beni.
It was with difficulty that I obtained a crew of Indians in Exaltacion for the journey to Trinidad, for all the able-bodied men of the place were either at their plantations on the river or had gone with traders to the villages on the affluents of the Itenez. However, by overbidding one of the traders for a crew of Trinitarios, who, besides getting better pay from me, preferred to return to their own town rather than go with the trader to Reyes and other outlying towns, I was able to arrange for recommencing my journey on the 28th of June. On which day, after having taken my farewell of the principal men of the place, and having seen the last lot of baggage taken down to the puerto, I was ready to start by about 9 a.m., when, to my disgust, I found that my servant-boy named Trinidad, a young Indian that had been in my service for more than twelve months, and had accompanied me up over the rapids, had absconded and was missing. I sent back to the village for him, and lost several hours waiting in hopes that he would turn up, but without success. This is one of the most disagreeable features of travelling on the upper waters of the Mamoré, that at each successive village one is exposed to the loss of men; for the struggle for hands is very great amongst the traders, and the Bolivian Indian is easily tempted, besides being cunning enough to take advance money from two or three patrons at the same time, if he can get the chance ofdoing so. I tired of waiting for the runaway, and was fearful of losing some of the other men, who might, during the delay, change their minds as to going further up the river, and give me the slip also, so I started with nine paddlers and a captain—a fair crew, but one seat empty, which looked ugly.
The port of the town of Exaltacion must, if the town is ever to be served by steamer traffic, be moved higher up the river. While I was there an enormous mass of the bank at the port gave way and fell into the river, causing the loss of one man and a large canoe. This landslip measured more than 100 feet in length, the breadth of earth that fell being more than thirty feet at top, which was upwards of forty feet above the then water level. It is therefore evident that a more secure situation must be sought for the port, when any navigation of the Mamoré commences. On this part of the river, boats are much exposed to danger from the falling banks, which are called “tierras disbarrancandas.” The Mamoré, and indeed all the rivers of the Beni valley, are for ever shifting their courses in many parts of the forests through which they flow. They undermine the banks on one side, which, falling away, form the numerous curves on the convex side of which the mud and sand brought down by the current is deposited, and playas and banks are formed, on which a forest grows in course of time. The river on the concave side of the curve is continually causing the trees of theterra firmato fall and obstruct the waterway, a barricade or “pausada” is formed, the river then returns in exceptionally high floods to its old course on the convexshore, bursting through the playas and sandbanks, and so the ever recurring changes of the river course continue. In illustration of this, I saw on the river Chapari a place where the current was breaking down a bank that was apparentlyterra firma, and had trees growing on it that were of great age. At the foot of this bank, and under some fifteen feet of earth, was a deposit of timber, blackened and, in fact, almost carbonized by time and pressure of the super-incumbent earth. From the manner in which these logs of timber were deposited, one above the other, it was evident that they formed part of a huge collection of driftwood, such as may often be seen collected together in many parts of the rivers. On the Mamoré all “chacos,” “barracas,” and “pueblos” are placed some distance from the river, generally from half a mile to a mile, so that they may not be exposed to danger from the frequent changes of the river’s course. In the cachuelas this feature of the river does not appear to exist, as there the formation of the country is of a more rocky nature.
At Exaltacion food-stuffs grown in the country are very cheap, the supply from the chacos being far greater than the wants of the sparse and scattered population. Cultivation, as is usual in all tropical countries, is carried on with a very small amount of labour, the rich soil requiring no digging or ploughing—sowing, only, being sufficient to give rich crops of maize, rice, yucas, yams, pumpkins, plantains, melons, tobacco, and all other kinds of tropical vegetation. The following are some of the prices of provisions in the Beni: “farinha deyuca,” or mandioca flour, twelve reales (4s.10d.) per Bolivian arroba of twenty-five pounds; rice, six reales the arroba in the husk—this only produces about fifteen pounds when husked, thus the dressed rice may be put at 2d.per pound. Sugar, brown, in cakes, called “empanisadas,” half a reale, say 2½d.per pound; when partially refined and of a small and white grain, it sells at one reale per pound. Ordinary aguadiente, called cachaça below the rapids, and white rum in English colonies, fetches eight reales (3s.2½d.) per frasqueira of three bottles, a stronger and better sort of spirit, called “re-sacada,” being worth eight reales per bottle. Fresh meat sells at one peso of eight reales (3s.2½d.) per arroba of twenty-five pounds; when preserved, by being salted and dried in the sun, it is called “charqui,” and sells at three pesos (9s.7½d.) per arroba, say 4⅗d.per pound. Wheaten bread is very scarce, and when obtainable costs half a reale, say 2½d., for a small cake that may perhaps weigh a couple of ounces; the reason for such a high price being that the flour has to be brought all the way from Cochabamba, a town in the interior of Bolivia that will be described hereafter. The tobacco grown in the Beni is of rough appearance in the dried leaf. It is all used up in the manufacture of very badly shaped cigars called “puros,” which sell for six reales, say 2s.8d., per 100. In the absence of Havannahs or good smoking mixture, a traveller will find them very acceptable.