STIRRING ADVENTURES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 267, 1 April 1911, Page 9

STIRRING ADVENTURES

IX SOUTH AMERICA. One is liable to forgot that the inland parts of South America contain wildernesses and savages as forbidding as Central Africa, forests as impenetrable, swamps as impassable. The narrative, therefore, of .Mr. Balbrookc Grnbb's adventures as an explorer and missionary in the Paraguayan Cliaeo comes with all the freshness and inviting romance of an undiscovered cotintry. For twenty years he has lived among the Indians of the Chaeo, a life of peril and adventure, at least in the earlier stages dealt with in his "An Unknown People in an Unknown ly.in.cl," that makes a most, engrossing book.

Mis first entry into the country of these savages alone gives an idea of the sheer courage and capacity a missionary may lie called upon to display. He gives some instances of the methods of dealing with what were indubitably dangerous savages.

On one occasion, when he came to a strange village, his guides hung back, doubtful of the reception they were likely to have, thus bringing a stranger into their fastnesses. /

''Annoyed at the conduct of my guides. I. determined "to take a high hand, and so beckoned to a young Indian standing by and ordered him to take my horse to water. My vocabulary being limited. 1 was compelled to make considerable use # of signs. '•.Beckoning to a woman, I pointed to a shady tree near by, and, sitting down upon the ground, gave her to understand that 1 would camp under that tree, and, pointing to a lire, 1 told her to take it there for my convenience. "I then walked round the village, beatnig off the dogs with my whip, and selecting a piece of pumpkin hero and there and a few potatoes. These I gave to a man and signed to him to put tiiem under the tree' where I intended to camp.

"By this time my horse had been brought back, so l' unsaddled it, and then gave the lad instructions as well as I could to let it loose and to look after it. 1 then called one of the boys to me and sent him off with my' kettle to the swamp for water, and thus the arrangements for my comfort were complete." This high-handed attitude so impressed them that they thought he must be possessed of some occult power. "The Indian is superstitious and impulsive, and if my ofl'ensiveness had been my only passport I might have fallen a victim at any moment, and the chances of my gaining an influence over them for their good would have been remote.

"Hut when lie saw mo apparently defenceless, and yet assuming an air of authority, the Tndian was puzzled, as I intended he should be. I afterwards lea nil. that they did not regard me as an ordinary foreigner, and that they were impressed by the fact that I never threatened violence, but simply assumed that they must submit to my wishes." There is an ultra-modern suggestion in the savagery of the following incident: -'That day news had come in of the death of an old resident in a \\\- lage to the south. It appears that he had I n very ill for a long time, and had been sud'eiing intense pain. "He was very old and frail, and could not possibly have lived much longer. His relatives grieved to see him sutl'ering, and, realising that there was no possible hope for him, agreed to hasten his death. "His brother and sjon-in-law took an early opportunity to carry this resolve into effect. Taking the old man unawares, the son-in-law suddenly wrapped a blanket, round his head, wlulo the brother at the -ame time sat upon his chest, and so he was suffocated." One liflle incident will illustrati- the attitude of the Indian Christian's mind towards superstition. A young man, preparatory to concluding the marriage contract with an Indian girl, wished to have some proof of her Christianity.

"'rile points lio considered essential were llmt she must cease to use obscene language, must learn to pray, ami must) no longer be afraid of ghosts. After the lapse of a certain period he put her to the test. From enquiries he found that her language had been faultless, and healing her pray he was satisfied on that point. ]!ut the ghost test was severe, lie ~ent her on a dark night alone to draw wnter from a swamp, about half a mile away, which she successfully accomplished. When it is considered that a Woman seldom, is ever, leaves the village after dark, and. should there be occasion to fetch water at night, she is invariably accompanied by one of the men, it will be seen that this girl's action was courageous." This is a description of Riacho Fernandez, a temporary mission-station on an island in the Paraguay river. "Mosquitoes hung about all day. and at night were so troublesome that [ had early to seek the shelter of my net. In addition to these pests, sandflies, horseHies anil Ileus made life almost intolerable. The island was .sandy and swarmed with ant.-, little red. stinging creatures, which got into all the food and swarmed so thickly on to the table during meals that it was necessary to skim the soup. The sugar wa.s always a mass of anis, and the only means of getting rid of them wa.s by putting them with the sugar into the tea or coffee and skimming them oil' when they rose to tile surface. My food consisted childly of biscuits, rice and sun-dried meat.

"Owing to the damp, hot climate, this meat soon became tilled with maggots, but in the process of stewing these also rose to the surface and were easily got rid of."

As among other savage tribes, wizards are a great power among the Indians of the Chaco, and' Mr. Crubb gives some most interesting information about them.

"The training necessary to qualify an Indian to become a witch-doctor consists, in the first place, in severe fastings, and especially in abstention from iluid. They carry this fasting to such an axcess as to a fleet the nervous system and brain. Certain herbs are eaten to hasten this stage. "They pass (lavs in solitude, and, when thoroughly worked up to an hysterical condition, they -ee spirits and ghosts and have .-d range visions. It is necessary, furthermore, that they should eat a few live toads and Mime kinds of snakes.

■•Certain little birds are plucked alive and then devoured, their power of whistling being -opposed to be thus communicated to the witch doctor. There are other features in the preliminary training which need not be mentioned, and "'hen lhe initiatory stage has been satisfactorily pa=.sed they are instructed in Ule my»t cries under pledge of secrecy. After that their future depends upon themselves.

"'ft k uii(|iic>li(iii:ili]c dial; a few of these wizards understand to ft slight decree I lie power () f liypnot isin. They apJiear at |iinc< to throw themselves into »■ hypnotic state by sitting in a strained position for hours, fixing their gar.e upon •sonip distant object. "One of the chief duties of the wizard is to arrange the weather to suit his clansmen. If they want rain, it is to liiii) lliey apply, [lis sorceries are of such a kind that they may lie extended over a Ions; period. Tie is'never lacking in excuses, and so : while apparently busy in combating the opposing forces which

are hindering the rains, he gains lime to study weather .signs.

"He will never or rarely venture an opinion as to the expected chance until he is nearly certain of a satisfactory result. Any' other Indian could foretell rain were he to observe signs as closely as duet the wizard.

The killing of a. certain kind of duck, and the sprinkling of its blood upwards, is bis ehiof charm. When he is able to procure this bird he is sure that rain cannot be far oil', because these dneks do not migrate southwards until tlley know that there is going to be Witter in the swamp*.

"due day J. heard a great uproar in the village. On enquiring t|t" cause 1 was informed that a woman was possessed of "kilyikhama." I \vent to the scene of. ifce' disorder, and, round her strelclied on the ground, throwing hersclt about violently.

Pour men were holding her down by the limbs, while the wizard was bending over her. trying to drive out the spirits. 1 at once saw that it was simply a case of hysteria.

"Bidding the wizard desist from his performances, and telling the people that I had a potent drug which would very soon restore the patient, I returned to my hut. and brought back with me some strong liquid ammonia. "As «oon as I applied a. liberal dose to her nose on a handkerchief the effect was instantaneous, much to the astonishment of the people. "A short tjme afterwards the wizard sought me out privately and asked me to give him some of the wonderful medicine. I gave him a sniff of the bottle witli the cork right out, and the elfect was almost more marked than in the case of the woman. He was nearly overbalanced from shock. "f asked him if he would like to take some with him, but. as soon as he could speak, he emphatically declined.' I. think he ceased to wonder why the spirits left the woman so quickly."