Vol. II. To face p. 90.
In Bolivia the Amazon system provides also some 10,000 miles of navigation (and the Plate system a further thousand miles). The principal affluent in Bolivia of this fluvial network is the Madeira and the Mamoré.
The famous Madeira-Mamoré railway was built to avoid the cataracts and rapids on that river, and provides a link in a chain of 2,000 miles of river navigation, serving Bolivia and Brazil. The line has had a terrible history, in the deaths during earlier explorations of the route and during its construction, brought about by the adverse forces of Nature in these forest wilds.
We reach the lower terminus of this railway by the steamer which ascends the Amazon from Para and Manaos, at Porto Velho, 1,000 miles upstream from the last-named town, and here our vessel, which may have brought us from Liverpool or other European ports, lies 600 feet above the level of the sea, where it has ascended under its own steam, 2,000 miles from salt water. Here the impenetrable curtain of the forest closes in, and from it timidly emerge the harmless—if sometimes cannibal—little Indian folk who dwell in its sombre depths.
"The northern region, including the territory of Colonias, the department of El Beni, and a portion of that of La Paz, is that in which the river navigation is most considerable, for it is in this region that the majority of the barracas are situated. These are the establishments installed on the river banks by which the rubber of the region is collected. They are at the same time warehouses for the storing of rubber and stores containing the most varied merchandise. The barracas are often surrounded by plantations.
"Despite their number and their importance, the rivers of this part of the country are subject to the common fate of all the higher affluents and sub-affluents of the Amazon—namely, a considerable diminution of their waters during the dry season, which renders the channels difficult and unreliable on account of the obstacles which accumulate at certain points. It is really only during the season of high water that steam navigation is easy and rapid; in general, on the Rios Beni and Madre de Dios, the steamboats run freely from December to May. From June and July the steamers encounter increasing numbers of obstacles and are exposed to the risk of a sudden fall of water, when the types of vessel peculiar to each river come into use, particularly from August to November.
"During the months of July and August navigation is inconvenient on account of the expanse of mud, which has not as yet had time to harden, but is left uncovered by the falling waters on either bank, making landing a difficult matter. The reefs uncovered at low water and the entanglements of tree trunks disappear with the rise of the waters, and the steamers recommence running.
"Descending the rivers during high water, navigation is both easy and rapid, but it is also rather dangerous on account of the swiftness of the current. It is difficult to estimate the time needed to navigate this or that river, as the day's journey, ascending or descending, varies according to the river, the amount of water in it, the kind of vessel employed, the amount of cargo carried, and the crew which steers or propels the vessel.
"The vessels peculiar to the rivers of those regions which do not permit of steam navigation, and which are everywhere employed when the waters are low, are the balsa and the callapo, each a species of raft; together with boats of various dimensions—monterias or batelon, egariteas, canoas or pirogues, the latter being dug-out canoes.
"The balsa is a raft consisting of seven pieces or trunks of a peculiar and very light wood known as palo de balsa (raft-wood); these pieces are either bound together or pinned with stakes of chonta, a kind of black palm which is very hard. The fore part of the raft is narrowed slightly, and the trunks are arranged on a curve whose elevation is perhaps eighteen inches, so that the sides are higher than the middle. Each of the seven trunks is perhaps five inches in diameter. On the framework thus made is placed a platform of plaited bamboos, known as chairo; this platform, which is intended for the reception of the cargo, and on which any passengers take their places, is called the huaracha. At each end of the raft a space of three to five feet is left free of any covering; here sit or stand the three boatmen who form the crew—two at the bow and one at the stern. A good raft is usually twenty-two to twenty-six feet long, by five to six feet wide, and will carry about 7 1/2 cwt. of cargo, as well as the three boatmen.
"A callapo or monteria consists of two or three balsas lashed together; such a raft will carry as much as 34 cwt. The crews of these rafts, according to their dimensions, consist of three to fifteen men; these men are Leco Indians, or Mosetenes, or Yuracares, who are highly skilled in this kind of navigation.
"The pilot is the captain of the crew; he is naturally the calmest and the most expert; the punteros, who are stationed at the two ends, are the strongest; the rest are the rowers. The navigation of the balsa is terribly hard work when mounting against a current; as a rule two men go ashore and tow the raft from the bank, pulling on a rope some fifteen yards in length; a third, armed with a pole sixteen or eighteen feet long, keeps the raft a certain distance from the bank, so that it shall not run aground. Where the water is too shallow to float the raft, it must be dragged over the stones in the bed of the river. In reaches where it is impossible to make one's way along the bank the raft is poled up-stream, a method of progression which costs more effort and is less speedy.
"The crew of a balsa or monteria will usually navigate for some ten or twelve hours a day, during which they will perhaps make nine or ten miles; to rest, eat or sleep they go ashore, which action is known as encostar.
"The navigation of the Mapiri (one of those rivers which run into the Beni) must be made in balsas or callapos manned by Leco Indians. From Mapiri the descent is rapid as far as Huanay, and the only obstacles are a few sunken reefs, which cause dangerous vortices in the impetuous stream. Where the Mapiri takes the name of Kaka (river of rocks)—that is, at the confluence of the Coroico—there are many dangerous passages full of surface rocks. This river finally flows into the Beni.
"The Rio Boopi also leads to the Beni; rafts like those of the Mapiri are piloted by Mosetenes Indians. The passage is rapid, for at the outset the river enters a narrow gorge, that of the Meniqui, in which the current flows at a dizzy speed; eventually the Beni is reached at Guachi. Rafts are employed as far as Rurenabaque and Salinas or Puerto Brais, as between the two ports there is the dangerous passage of the Altamirani, which is encumbered with rocks and rapids.
"The Rio Beni is then freely navigable by large steamers as far as Riberalta, at the mouth of the Madre de Dios, a distance of 473 miles. Steamers cannot proceed to Villa Bella on account of the Esperanza rapids or falls, which are 340 yards long with a declivity of 18 feet; the river here is nearly a thousand yards wide, and its depth is three fathoms. The current is so rapid that boats and rafts must be unloaded both ascending and descending. The railway now being built between Riberalta and Guayaramirim will circumvent this difficulty.
"The Rio Madre de Dios, on the banks of which there are numerous settlements, is navigable for steamers during the months of high water from Riberalta as far as its remotest tributaries, such as the Inambari, the Manu, the Tambopata or Pando, etc.; during the rest of the year the journey must be made in callapos. The navigation of this river is difficult only about the middle of its course, where there are two rapids, which are, however, completely covered when the water is high. The Madre de Dios is navigable by its affluents as far as the outlying spurs of the Andes.
"To pass from this river to the Rio Acre there is a choice of two routes. One may go overland from the Carmen barraca to Cobija, or by water, by way of the Rios Manuripi and Tahuamanu, affluents of the Orton. The Orton, an affluent of the Beni, is, like the Madre de Dios, navigated by steam-launches during the season of high water, and by other vessels—rafts and canoes—all the year. Numerous barracas (rubber stations) lie along the Orton, whence one can easily pass to the Rio Acre."[19]
The wealth of the rubber-bearing regions of Peru and Bolivia has of late years been made the subject of considerable study, but the industry of rubber-gathering and export has been overshadowed from a variety of causes. The Acre territory in Bolivia and that of Colonias have been regarded as regions of untold wealth in this respect. Difficult roads lead thereto from the capital of the Republic, but these, in some cases, are extremely picturesque.
INDIANS OF THE NAPO, PERUVIAN AMAZON REGION.