"THE GREEN HELL"

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1916, 26 November 1913, Page 7

"THE GREEN HELL"

DREADFUL ATROCITIES IN THE

UPPER AMAZON,

TORTURE OF INDIAN RUBBER WORKERS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright London, November 25. In connection with tho Beni horrors, a book, 'The Green Hell," is exciting attention in Brazil. Tho cover of the. hook portrays a naked Indian woman whoso body is scored with cuts from whicn the life Mood has been drained into little tin cups used bv rubber collectors. Ihe book describes how tlio South Brazilian natives aro persuaded to work on the Upper Amazon, domiciled in forest- clearings, whero they stop till ijiey die, as tliey aro put into debt for clothes and food and unable to secure sufficient rubber to pay off the debt for ruinously costly goods. Tho density of tiio jungle renders escape impossible. A traveller who voyaged on tho Amazon io Bolivia states that five hundred lashes is a common punishment. A woman was cruelly beaten nt Jteni for upsetting lamps. There aro 110 missionaries or travellers to report tho tragedies. A feature of tlio traffic is the frequent suicide of despairing white agents. (Rec. November 25, 11.25 p.m.) London, November 25. Mr. AVoodroofc, who supplied tlio reports to the Anti-Slavery Society, spent eight yours on the Bolivian frontier, most of the tiino in the rubber trade. He alleges that fifteen or twenty firms dealing direct with Europe aro concerned in tho peonage system. One. employer who had six "workmen sick of bcri-beri fever, told bis overseers only t-o feed the folk who could wc-rk. The sick men wero placed on a rock in the rapids and swept away when the- river rose. Tlio Brazilian authorities opened all •inquiry, but tho pressure of influenco procured tho cessation of the investigation. Mr. Woodroofe saw a boy flogged so several,y that his eyo was torn out. Tho Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are. ho says, more dircetly responsible. Brazil is tho only one of the republics concerned that is seriously attempting to protect the natives. Young children and girls are being sold into slavery. Tho Anti-Slavery £oeicty lias forwarded to (lis Foreisn Office the depositions of an _ English traveller in tho Bern regions in H-outh. America, alleging horrors surpassing those of the Ptifmnayo rubber plantations scandals. He declares that e. system of peonage exists more cruel than slavery. The flogging of women and murders of Indian rubber workers are common, and British subjects and British capital are deeply involved, The Beni. River, in Bolivia, South America, is formed by the junction of nil tlio streams descending from the Eastern Cordillera. It; unites with, the Mamoro on the Bra' zilian. frontier, thence beingknown as tho Madeira, Bcui, or El Eon.i, which is traversed by the Ileni Biver, is the northernmost part of Bolivia.