Evening star. [volume], April 04, 1937, Page A-13, Image 13

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
SAVAGES RESIST
JIMINVASION
Explorers Bare Primitive
Life in Mountains
of Venezuela.
Hn the Perija Mountains of
Venezuela lies an unexplored area,
covered with jungle, where savage
Indians resist all encroachments of
civilization. The writer, professor
of genetics at Syracuse University,
and Dr. W. B. Reid, a Rome, N. Y.,
physician, penetrated that forbid
den region. Their experiences and
disccweries are told here in a series
of four articles, of which this is
tha first.r
BY DR. ERNEST REED.
MARACAIBO, Venezuela, March 8
(By courier from the Perija Moun
tains).—Savage Indians still dominate
and hold as their domain certain sec
tions of South America. New Yorkers
in their modern, commodious homes
may find it difficult to believe that, at
a distance of but 2,000 miles from
them, live aborigines of the most
primitive habits of life.
One may take off in a passenger
plane from New York and fly to the
edge of these Indian confines in 48
hours or less. So one may travel in
two days by modern means of trans
portation from the greatest of civil
ization's cities to valleys where In
dians roam and kill as did their an
cestors in the early dawn of man on
the American continent. Furthermore,
I believe, after having been among
these savages, that they live In a
more primitive manner than did gen
erations of their Carib ancestors long
before white men crossed the Atlantic.
Venezuela and Colombia occupy the
northern end of South America. From
east to west, Venezuela extends about
900 miles and Colombia about 700
miles. The border between these two
countries, beginning at the Caribbean
Sea. runs south on a line about due
south of Miami. Fla. The Perija
Mountains, a spur of the great Andes,
occupy the territory where these two
countries meet.
An Unexplored Region.
These mountains are unexplored
and covered with jungle and forest.
Many rivers flow east to the Mara
caibo Basin and into the Caribbean
Sea. The western slopes drain into
the Magdalena River in Colombia.
Savage Indians occupy these valleys
and slopes and still defy the intrusion
of the white man and civilization.
DR. ERNEST REED.
The purpose of our journey into
these parts was to study these Indians.
Their progenitors roamed the wide
stretches of mountains and plains of
South America, but white man's civ
ilization has been crowding them into
more limited areas, until now they
keep within the valleys of the moun
tains which have not. as yet. been
penetrated or explored by the whites.
Within the last three decades, the
Riant oil companies of America and
Europe have learned that vast fields
of oil lie throughout the lowlands
eurroundmg these mountains. Armies
of geologists, engineers and oil cagnp
workers have, therefore, been crowd
ing the Indians still more urgently up
the valleys of the Perija Mountains.
The amazing aspect of this to me
Is that these particular red men still
hold to their independent and primi
tive ways, resisting with deadly arrows
any approach of the hated white man.
The Indians’ hostility, in fact, has
been the main barrier agaiast suc
cessful exploration, and, today, is a
constant hazard to the economic de
velopment of the lower stretches of
the valleys, where abundant fields of
oil are known to exist. Workers are
killed every month by the deadly
arrows of these savages.
Resist Civilisation.
That savages exist there is not so
surprising to me. The almost incred
ible fact is that, for over 400 years,
successive waves of civilized projects
have swept in upon them and the
most modern achievements of civiliza
tion now border them in without the
Indians being absorbed or changed
from their primitive ways of living
and without their savage behavior
abating in the least.
Prior to my entering their confines,
I heard many tales pertaining to
those primitive people, but I dis
counted them as largely creations of
the imagination, for most people have
a tendency to enlarge on a good story.
In substance, however, the reports
I gathered led me to fear that it might
hot be possible to enter the haunts
of these Indians or to secure the
atudies I desired. I am frank to
admit that I am not anxious to make
myself a target for an arrow from an
Unseen Indian's bow. Consequently,
I approached the outskirts of the
Indian oountry with the comfortable
plan to go no further if things looked
unpropitious. In the end, a small
unforeseen event turned the trick and
I entered the Indian confines when
all apparent signs Implied the worst
possible.
Lest some skeptical reader may feel
that I have purposefully introduced
an element of danger, a setting for
dramatic action for my tale. I wash
to quote from sedate and unimagina
tive scientific resources which the
layman seldom considers fanciful.
Men Shot With Arrows.
Prom Civil Engineering, August,
1936, by Robert Stephenson, pertain
ing to oil field operations: "Guards
were necessary for all men working in
the bush or on the grade because of
accasional attacks by Indians. • * *
Not only were men shot with arrows,
but tool boxes were broken open
and robbed. * • • The favorite plun
der of these brush people seemed to
be machetes, axes, and any sort of
unpainted canvas. They would also
take shovels, especially if they were
worn. * * * Evidently the older shovels,
■worn thin, could more easily be
worked into arrow points. We also
I I
Jamboree Meals Mapped
Cow£ and Chickens for Miles Around
Capital Enlisted for Scouts.
This poster, taken from a painting by Norman Rockwell, has
been chosen by the Boy Scouts of America as typical of the
“happy Scouts" who will attend the National Scout Jamboree,
to be held here June 30 to July 9.
Br the Associated Press.
IT WAS all very nice to think
of getting 30,000 Boy Scouts
together in Washington June 30
I to July 9 for an International
' jamboree.
But boys have a way of bringing
their appetites with them when they
travel. And how many eggs do 30.000
stomachs need for breakfast? How
many gallons of water does it take
to wash 30,000 chins afterwards? And
how in thunder do you get eggs and
water to boys living in tent villages
all over the parks in Washington?
Washington merchants were pretty
well stumped by the problem until
the Scouts sent on their magic worker,
Harvey Gordon.
Gordon, whose office is in New
York, is known by the unromantic
name of director of engineering for
the Scouts.
He arrived here three months ahead
of the jamboree and is rapidly bring
ing order out of chaos. He’s signing
up chickens as far south as Rich
mond for the 70,000 eggs he’ll need
for each breakfast. And the cows
that will supply the 30,000 quarts of
milk a day stretch back into Pennsyl
vania.
Plans for 250 Cooks.
He has engineers drawing stacks
of blueprints to pump the 1,000.000
gallons of water into the tent colonies
for drinking and bathing.
There will be 25 big kitchens run
ning full blast. 250 cooks perspiring,
250 tons of food daily moving into the
Scout towns along the Potomac.
Those tons break up into such un
imaginable quantities as: 900 bushels
of potatoes for one meal, 15.000 pounds
of bread a day, 30,000 quarts of milk
a day, 4.000 pounds of sugar and the
makings for 100,000 flap-jacks for
one breakfast (and please don’t ask
for a second helping, the cooks have
been taken to the hospital).
found arrows bound with raveled
threads of canvas.
"This is a wild brush people who
refuse to make any contact with out
siders and resent any encroachment
on their limited territory. All ef
forts we made to get acquainted with
them were without result.”
As a result, camps were fenced with
barbed wire, flood lights were in
stalled, guards kept at night. One
of their camps, with all their equip
ment, was destroyed while they were
in the field, and they finally were
forced to abandon the work.
Aside from the operations of the
oil companies in the lower lands,
there have been two scientific explora
tions into the mountains.
In 1918 Theodore de Booy entered
one of the valleys with a twofold ob
jective: first, to cross the mountains
into Colombia, and second, to make
ethnological observations about the
Indians. He reached the Indian camp
in one of the valleys, but failed to
get over the mountains. In 1920, H.
Case Wilcox performed an outstand
ing feat in exploration by crossing
the mountains from Colombia to Ven
ezuela and mapping the route, put
ting accurately on the map several
mountains and the precise course of
the Rio de Oro. This was of some
consequence to the oil company for
which he undertook the task.
Months of Preparation.
Wilcox spent about 10 months in
preparation and reconnaisance on the
Colombia side. He expected to do his
actual trip across in less than 10
days. He took 12 helpers and suffi
cient food for the 10 days. However,
the push over the mountain was such
that it took the party 32 days, which,
of course, caused considerable suffer
ing. His principal concern, however,
was the Indians. These he succeeded
in missing.
Our endeavor is precisely one of
the genetical objective to reach the
Indians, to study them as to physical
characteristics, their food, living tech
niques and habits. In short, we want
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Gordon, who is a scout himself, had
charge of the meals at the London
jamboree in 1929 and everything went
along fine, even if it does sound con
fusing.
The confusion will be taken out of
the picture by Gordon's three dis
patchers, who work m eight-hour
shifts around the clock.
They will sit at a big wooden table,
littered with telephones connected
with the 25 kitchens and the city's
food wholesalers. They'll keep big
charts, one for each kitchen.
Keep Tab by Phones.
At dawn the phones will start ring
ing with messages like this: "Milk
beginning to move—eggs on the road
—sugar leaving the warehouse.”
For a few minutes the dispatcher
can sit cozily imagining the trucks
on the road, and then the phones
will start all over again with: "Kitchen
No. 1 reporting milk arrival—kitchen
No. 18 reporting coffee coming In—
kitchen No. 9, Sir: eggs have arrived.”
And so on, until every kitchen has
every item scheduled for that day's
breakfast.
Naturally Gordon isn’t planning to
feed the whole 30,000 at just 25
' kitchens. Those 35 are merely the
\ big cooking aftd dispatching points
that will send hot food to the 816
small kitchens and dining tents that
| will be set up.
Dinah will blow no horn when
mealtime arrives. Instead a flag will
run up at the 25 big kitchens. Each
troop will send twb scouts to nearest
kitchen. Those two will stagger back
to their troop village with a sort
of metal coffin holding four containers
of hot food. Back in their own small
I kitchen they'll dish out the individual
plates. And 30,000 of those elastic
caverns in boys’ middles will stop
growling for another short while.
! ed to study a tribe of these Indians
in their environment. We had no
special or general concern In the ge«
ology of the region or crossing the
mountains, or mapping. Wilcox's
concern was to miss the Indians,
whereas they were the sole object of
our efforts.
(Copyright. 1P37, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
This is what over 50,000
doctors have used and
recommended
RELIEF IN 1 HOUR! '
When you need a lax
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Dr. L. R. E. of Ohio says, "By taking
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Dr. E. N. P. of Wisconsin says, "My
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Simply mix 1/5 of a glass of Pluto
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You’ll find it pleasant tasting. There’s
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So, when you need a laxative, be sure
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you’ll feel worlds better.
t
plants Rum as At
traction.
tty the Associated Press.
BIMINI, Bahamas.—Residents of
this low-lying British Isle are chasing
away the hangover of departed rum
trade days by catering with profit
to another alien throng—game fisher
men.
It is estimated authoritatively 750
well-to-do sportsmen visited Bimini
during 1936, spending $500,000 for sup
plies, boat hire and other accessories.
Business Is brisker now along “King’s
Highway,” Alicetown's half-mile thor
oughfare, than in the days when Bi
mini was the axis on which the rum
running world turned in Southern
waters.
Paradise Bay, Bimini's small
throated harbor, was Jammed then
with barges of stored liquor, supply
\ boats from Nassau, and the fast, gray
i craft of the blockade runners.
The inhabitants of this tongue of
; sea-level soil 56 miles from Florida
j gained little wealth from the roaring
trade in Paradise Bay, so when prohi
bition ended In the United States, there
remained sparse cash to keep business
running here.
Natives Catch Fish.
The 610 natives, most of them Ne
groes speaking with a pronounced
Scotch accent, turned to sisal raising,
general farming for home use—and
catching fish.
Their lines were snapped so often
that the word got out there were big
fish about.
Anglers come to Bimini by yacht or
airplane. There are two hotels In
Alicetown, chief of the Island’s three
settlements, which are crowded during
the Midsummer months when the big
fish run.
Erl Roman, fishing editor of the
Miami (Fla.) Herald, Is credited gen
erally with being the first to identify
the big fish as blue marlin and tuna.
He spread the word, although he
failed to boat even one of the fish
with the first tackle—big enough for
most deep-sea angling—he brought
here.
S. Kip Farrington, New York stock
broker, took the first blue marlin.
His weighed less than 200 pounds.
The year was 1933.
Two years later, Thomas Shevlin of
New York and Cat Cay. near here,
brought In the current world record
blue marlin, straining the scales at
636 pounds.
Woman Holds Record.
The largest white marlin, a 152
pounder, was boated in Bimini waters
last year by Mrs. Marlon B. Stevens
of Miami, said to be the only woman
ever to hold a world record for salt
water fish. Mrs. Stevens’ record
still stands.
Three women are among the' 16
persons eligible for jnembership In
the Bahamas Marlin and Tuna Olub,
In which entry is restricted to men
who have boated unassisted a marlin
or tuna weighing more than 400
pounds and women who have taken
300-pounders.
These women are Mrs. W. B. Hurst
of Baltimore, Mrs. Paul C. Sanborn
of Boston aud Mrs. Helen Lemer of
New York. Ernest Hemingway, the
author, is president of the club;
Michael Lerner, vice president, and
Roman, historian.
But the biggest fish still swim the
sea. Competent piscatorial authori
ties have seen ’•blues”—escaping in a
trail of wrecked tackle—they esti
mated weighed up to 1,200 pounds.
-•
Chicks Require Protein.
It requires approximately 70 to 75
million pounds of animal protein to
raise to maturity the chicks hatched
annually In Oklahoma.
DEAF?
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PRESS WOMEN’S CLUB
GIVES AWARDS FOR 1936
M tbi Associated Press.
NEW YORK, April I.—Four New
York newspaper women shared last
night awards made by the New York
Newspaper Women's Club for out
standing work during 1936.
Doris Fleeson of the New York
Dally News was given a cash award
for her coverage of the 1936 Repub
llcan National Convention. A similar
award went to Emily Genauer of the
World-Telegram, for a series on in
terior decorating.
The third award was divided, one
half going to Anne O'Hare McCormick
of the New York Times for a feature
article entitled “Exploring the Hitler
Legend,” and the other to Dorothy
Thompson of the New York Herald
Tribune for her column "An Invitation
to Death,” In which she refused an
official invitation to witness the execu
tion of Bruno Richard Hauptmann.
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