Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South AmericaRay, George Whitfield
Religion
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America
Ray, George Whitfield
Ray, George Whitfield, 1868- -- Travel -- South America; South America -- Description and travel
In my journeyings here and there I employed one or another of the
braves to accompany me. All they could eat and some little present was
the pay. No sooner was the gift in their hand, however, after supper,
than they would put it back in mine and say, "Give me some more food?"
I was at first accompanied by Yantiwau (The Wolf Rider). Armed with a
bow and arrows, he was a good hunter for me, and a faithful servant,
but his custom of spitting on my knife and spoon to clean them I did
not like. When my supplies were getting low, and I went to the river
for a wash, he would say: "There's no _kiltanithliacack_ (soap)--only
_clupup_ (sand)." Yantiwau was interested in pictures; he would gaze
with wondering eyes at photos, or views of other lands, but he looked
at them _the wrong side up_, as they all invariably do. While possessed
of a profound respect for me in some ways, he thought me very lacking
in common knowledge. While I was unable to procure game, through not
seeing any, he could call the bird to him in a "ducky, ducky, come and
be killed" kind of way; and my tongue was parched when he would scent
water. This was sometimes very easy to smell, however, for it was
almost impossible to drink out of a waterhole without holding the nose
and straining the liquid through my closed teeth. Chaco water at best
is very brackish, and on drying off the ground a white coat of salt is
left.
My Indian's first and last thought was of his stomach. While capable of
passing two or three days without eating, and feeling no pangs of
hunger, yet, when food was to hand, he gorged himself, and could put
away an incredible amount. Truly, his make-up was a constant wonder to
me. Riding through the "hungry belt" I would be famishing, but to my
question: "Are you hungry?" he would answer, "No." After a toilsome
journey, and no supper at the end: "Would you like to eat?" "No." But
let an ostrich or a deer come in sight, and he could not live another
minute without food! Another proof to Yantiwau of my incapacity was the
fact that when my matches were all used I could not light the fire. He,
by rubbing a blunt-pointed hard stick in a groove of soft wood, could
cause such a friction that the dust would speedily ignite, and set fire
to the dry twigs which he was so clever in collecting. Although such a
simple process to the Indian, I never met a white man who could use the
firesticks with effect.
Sitting by the camp-fire in the stillness of evening, my guide would
draw attention to a shooting star. "Look! That is a bad witch doctor,"
he would say. "Did you notice he went to the west? Well, the Toothlis
live there. He has gone for vengeance!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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