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THE NORTH-WEST AMAZONS

[Illustration: BORO MEDICINE MAN, WITH MY RIFLE]




                             THE NORTH-WEST
                                 AMAZONS

                       NOTES OF SOME MONTHS SPENT
                          AMONG CANNIBAL TRIBES

                                   BY

                             THOMAS WHIFFEN
                           F.R.G.S., F.R.A.I.
                       CAPTAIN H.P. (14TH HUSSARS)

                                NEW YORK
                          DUFFIELD AND COMPANY
                                  1915

                       _Printed in Great Britain_




                        TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE
                     DR. ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, O.M.
                        THESE NOTES ARE DEDICATED




PREFACE


In presenting to the public the results of my journey through the lands
about the upper waters of the Amazon, I make no pretence of challenging
conclusions drawn by such experienced scientists as Charles Waterton,
Alfred Russel Wallace, Richard Spruce, and Henry Walter Bates, nor to
compete with the indefatigable industry of those recent explorers Dr.
Koch-Grünberg and Dr. Hamilton Rice.

Some months of the years 1908 and 1909 were passed by me travelling in
regions between the River Issa and the River Apaporis where white men had
scarcely penetrated previously. In the remoter parts of these districts
the tribes of nomad Indians are frankly cannibal on occasion, and provide
us with evidence of a condition of savagery that can hardly be found
elsewhere in the world of the twentieth century. It will be noted that
this area includes the Putumayo District.

With regard to the references in footnotes and appendices, I have
inserted them to suggest where similarities of culture or variations of
a given custom are to be found. These notes may be of some use to the
student of such problems as the question of cultural contact with Pacific
peoples, and at the least they represent the evidence on which I have
based my own conclusions.

                                                          THOMAS WHIFFEN.

LONDON, 1914.




CONTENTS


                                                                      PAGE

                                CHAPTER I

  Introductory                                                           1

                               CHAPTER II

  Topography--Rivers--Floods and rainfall--Climate--Soil--Animal
  and vegetable life--Birds--Flowers--Forest
  scenery--Tracks--Bridges--Insect pests--Reptiles--Silence in
  the forest--Travelling in the bush--Depressing effects of the
  forest--Lost in the forest--Starvation the crowning horror            17

                               CHAPTER III

  The Indian homestead--Building--Site and plan of
  _maloka_--Furniture--Inhabitants of the house--Fire--Daily
  life--Insect inhabitants--Pets                                        40

                               CHAPTER IV

  Classification of Indian races--Difficulties of
  tabulating--Language-groups and tribes--Names--Sources
  of confusion--Witoto and Boro--Localities of
  language-groups--Population of districts--Intertribal
  strife--Tribal enemies and friends--Reasons
  for endless warfare--Intertribal trade and
  communications--Relationships--Tribal organisation--The
  chief, his position and powers--Law--Tribal
  council--Tobacco-drinking--Marriage system and
  regulations--Position of women--Slaves                                53

                                CHAPTER V

  Dress and ornament--Geographical and tribal
  differentiations--Festal attire--Feather
  ornaments--Hair-dressing--Combs--Dance
  girdles--Beads--Necklaces--Bracelets--Leg
  rattles--Ligatures--Ear-rings--Use of labret--Nose
  pins--Scarification--Tattoo--Tribal marks--Painting                   71

                               CHAPTER VI

  Occupations--Sexual division and tabu--Tribal manufactures--Arts
  and crafts--Drawing--Carving--Metals--Tools and implements--No
  textile fabrics--Pottery--Basket-making--Hammocks--Cassava-squeezer
  and grater--Pestle and mortar--Wooden vessels--Stone axes--Methods
  of felling trees--Canoes--Rafts--Paddles                              90

                               CHAPTER VII

  Agriculture--Plantations--Preparation of ground in
  the forest--Paucity of agricultural instruments--Need
  for diligence--Women’s incessant toil--No special
  harvest-time--Maize the only grain grown--No use for
  sugar--Manioc cultivation--Peppers--Tobacco--Coca
  cultivation--Tree-climbing methods--Indian wood-craft--Indian
  tracking--Exaggerated sporting yarns--Indian sense of locality
  and accuracy of observation--Blow-p