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
top, apparently simply to indicate the existence of a grave. The thing
which struck me most was the intense spirit of vengeance shown."
Notwithstanding such terrible savagery, however, the Indian has ideas
of right and wrong that put Christian civilization to shame. The people
are perfectly _honest_ and _truthful_. I believe they _cannot lie_, and
stealing is entirely unknown among them.
Many are the experiences I have had in the Chaco. Some of them haunt me
still like ghostly shadows. The evening camp-fire, the glare of
which lit up and made more hideous still my savage followers,
gorging themselves until covered with filth and gore. The times when,
from sheer hunger, I have, like them, torn up bird or beast and eaten
it raw. The draughts of water from the Indian hole containing the
putrefying remains of some dead animal; my shirt dropping off in rags
and no wash for three weeks. The journeys through miles of malarial
swamps and pathless wilderness. The revolting food, and the want of
food. Ah! the memory is a bad dream from which I must awake.
The other side, you say? Yes, there is another. A cloudless blue sky
overhead. The gorgeous air-flowers, delicate and fragrant. Trees
covered with a drapery of orchidaceae. The loveliest of flowers and
shrubs. Birds of rainbow beauty, painted by the hand of God, as only He
can. Flamingoes, parrots, humming-birds, butterflies of every size and
hue. Arborescent ferns; cacti, thirty feet high, like huge candelabra.
Creeping plants growing a hundred feet, and then passing from the top
of one ever-vernal tree to another, forming a canopy for one from the
sun's rays. Chattering monkeys. Deer, with more beautiful eyes than
ever woman had since Eve fell. The balmy air wafting incense from the
burning bush; and last, but oh, not least, the joy in seeing the
degraded aborigine learning to love the "Light of the World"! Yes,
there are delights; but "life is real, life is earnest," and a meal of
_algarroba_ beans (the husks of the prodigal son of Luke XV.) is not
any more tempting if eaten under the shade of a waving palm of
surpassing beauty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account