Evening star. [volume], August 17, 1947, Page 4, Image 77

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
HOME FOR THE SIEMELS is their houseboat, the River Gypsy, which floats on five dugouts. Here the former society girt is raising a family of three. Above she’s
A young debutante and her tiger-hunting husband find
life can be cozy in Brazil. But you have to be on the
lookout for alligators, snakes and man-eating fish . . .
Photographs by Sasha Siemel
When I want to bake a cake in the jungles of Brazil’s
Mato Grosso, I first hunt an ostrich nest — then shoot
an alligator!
Sounds silly? Wait. A single ostrich egg equals a dozen
chicken eggs. And the fat boiled from the skinned tail of one
of those armor-plated giant lizards makes a fine substitute
for butter or lard. Together with cassava-root flour, salt,
water, and honey filched from some wild bee’s hoard in a
hollow tree, I have all the ingredients I need.
Sometimes, of course, I have difficulty finding the egg just
when 1 want it. A female ostrich on her nest pulls down her
long neck, flattens herself out and, being a dull-gray color,
is often mistaken for a rock. But locating the alligator is no
problem. The jungle rivers and pools swarm with them.
It Afmi mill Tkm
Such improvisations have typified my housekeeping in the
Mato Grosso for the last seven years — since I gave up the
life of a Philadelphia debutante to marry Sasha Siemel, the
tiger hunter. And my improvising seems to have agreed with
the family — we have two girls and a baby boy.
We live in the huge tract of marshland and jungle threaded
by the headwaters of the upper Paraguay River and its tribu
taries. My husband’s profession is hunting tigers — North
Americans call them jaguars — which prey on the herds of the
pioneering cattlemen.
For the last six years, we have lived in a houseboat which
my husband built on the Miranda River, within the bounda
ries of the 1,500-square-mile ranch, Est&ncia Miranda. But
during our first year of married life we lived in an earthen
floored straw hut on the river bank.
Life in the jungle was more comfortable after we were estab
lished in our houseboat, the River Gypsy. Even with the help
of our two natives, Rosando and Antonio, it took my husband
a year to build it. But it was worth it. When we pull up
our plank walk at night, we feel as safe as any medieval
knight and his family in their moated castle.
The houseboat was built to last. Hand-sawed mahogany
and rust-proof brass screws were used throughout. It was
constructed upon five 36-foot mahogany dugouts. We even
uiaiiy acquired a pnonograpn, a radio, ana even an uptigui
American piano — all transported more than 2,000 miles.
We divided the boat into three main rooms: the front room
became the children’s bedroom, the middle room serves as
living room and our bedroom, and the third room became a
workshop. Behind the third room are two small storerooms.
When we travel on the river, the workshop becomes quarters
for our native helpers and their families, and the small store
rooms house Sasha’s tiger-hunting dogs. Motive power is sup
plied by securing an outboard motor to the rear of the house
boat, or by towing the houseboat with a small launch.
Living on the water has its own dangers, for the river
AUTHOR: She killed this brute with an arrow