At Atures, one hundred miles above, and again at Maypures, just beyond, were two rapids around which our boats had to be carried; but with these exceptions it was plain sailing, or paddling, until we crossed the line into Brazil. Another hundred miles beyond the rapids brought us to the jumping-off place of the world—the indescribably filthy little hamlet of San Fernando de Atabapo, built where the Guaviare River comes down from the mountains of Colombia to join the Orinoco. It is on the border of Venezuela and Colombia and its population is largely made up of murderers and escaped convicts from both countries, with a few from near-by Brazil. A number of the leading citizens undertook to waylay us as we were leaving the place but the only result of their misguided effort was that two or three of them received what the law would have administered if it had been given a chance.
From the time we left Ciudad Bolivar we had been sailing through a veritable wilderness, with human habitations few and far between, but after we left San Fernando de Atabapo we travelled through the primeval forest, which came down to the river’s edge on both sides. Its only inhabitants were widely scattered Indians, who were inquisitive enough but not at all ugly. There were miles and miles of magnificent rubber trees, which were especially abundant along the Casiquiare, and great stretches of vanilla and cacao growing wild. The Orinoco is indeed a wasted waterway. The vast empire it drains, covering more than half of Venezuela, is marvellously rich in minerals and in its forests, and could easily be made as rich in agriculture. Yet when we made our trip there were fewer people living along it than there had been four hundred years before when Ordaz, the Spanish explorer, ascended it to the mouth of the Meta, and I doubt if there has been any increase in the population since our visit. Ten Hudson Rivers could be added to or taken from the Orinoco without affecting it, yet it is traversed only by the native lanchas and bongos, or dugouts.
We turned into the Casiquiare River, two hundred miles above San Fernando de Atabapo, with considerable regret, for we would have greatly liked to follow the Orinoco to its unexplored source in the mysterious Parima Mountains, where is said to dwell a race of white Indians, who are popularly supposed to stand guard, with deadly blow pipes shooting darts that produce instant death, over vast treasures of virgin gold. But that would have taken many months more and we were not prepared for so long a trip. The priceless forest which surrounded us was filled with game of all kinds and great snakes, and alive with birds of wondrous plumage. There were so many snakes, in fact, that we anchored our boats at night and slept in them in the middle of the river, where we had nothing to fear but the enormous crocodiles which poked us with their ugly snouts to prevent us from oversleeping. We landed every day to stretch our legs and shoot, with ridiculous ease, enough game to keep us in fresh meat, but we never camped on shore at night.
After following the Casiquiare for one hundred and fifty miles or more we came to the parting of the ways—the point at which the Rio Negro, coming down from the foothills of the Andes, five hundred miles away, divides to feed both the Orinoco and the Amazon—and solved the mystery of the two rivers. There was no connecting canal of slack water, as the Frenchman was said to have reported. The Rio Negro, a wide and deep stream, forms the boundary between Venezuela and Colombia for nearly two hundred miles. At two degrees north latitude, or about one hundred and twenty miles from the equator, it divides, the smaller part, approximately one-third of the volume, forming the Casiquiare, which runs east for a short distance and then north to the Orinoco, while the main stream runs south and then east until it empties into the Amazon at Manaos. Though we had no map to guide us the situation seemed plain when we reached the larger river, which fed the Casiquiare, and by following the downward course of that stream until we were certain it was the Rio Negro, we settled the question.
Just below the junction of the Ucayari River with the Rio Negro, almost directly under the equator, we came to a succession of falls and rapids around which we made a portage. From there on, through the same silent wilderness of natural wealth that we had traversed for weeks, we leisurely sailed and drifted down to the Amazon, for the blistering heat discouraged all physical effort that was not mandatory. It was not until we reached the lower reaches of the river that we found men gathering rubber, and they were taking only ounces where tons were at their hands. We reached Manaos early in May, 1874. We had been six months on the trip and had covered all of two thousand miles which, everything considered, was fast travelling. Aside from its educational value the exploration had been delightful, and though tired from living so long in cramped quarters we were all in better health than when we left Trinidad.
My companions, who rejoiced in having been thrown in the way of greater sport and more interesting experiences than they had expected to find, were ready to return to England and I arranged to go with them. After resting for a week or two we went down to Para on a river boat and thence to Rio Janiero on one of the Lloyd Brazilero steamships. From there we sailed for England on the Royal Mail steamship “Elbe,” commanded by Captain Moir, who was in command of the “Trent” when Mason and Slidell were taken off. On the way across I compiled a full report of the exploring trip which I mailed to Guzman, with a promise that I would return to Venezuela within a few years. I left my British friends at Southampton and went to London to join Frank Norton and start for the China Sea, of which he had pictured so much that was good in my sight.
CHAPTER VII
PREYING ON PIRATES
AS a boy it was my ambition to fight Indians, but if I had known as much about them then as I do now, I would have selected pirates. They have none of the claims on life which the real, red, native Americans enjoy, and they can be fought on the glorious sea instead of on land, which adds to the inherent excitement. It was in the Summer of 1874 that I made my first plunge into piracy, for, with all of the trimmings and aids to deception stripped away, that was what it really amounted to. I did not know into just what I was being led when I embarked in this new enterprise; but I am frank to say that it would have made no difference, for a free translation of the word “pirate” is “adventure of the first order,” and that was what I was looking for.
When I reached London, after my strange escape from execution in Santo Domingo and the exploration of the headwaters of the Orinoco and the Rio Negro, Frank Norton was coming up from the Mediterranean with the “Leckwith,” carrying a general cargo, and I had not long to wait for him. He was joyous when I told him I was ready to accompany him to the China Sea, which he had pictured as an El Dorado of excitement, with many golden Manoas that might be converted into Bank of England notes. There was to be no filibustering there for we had no thought of playing against the concert of Europe with our one little fiddle, even had there been any prospective revolutions worth the hatching; but Norton insisted that there was plenty of adventure to be found and much money to be made in handling equally illegitimate cargoes which included no explosives or munitions of war. As he was familiar with that part of the world I took his word for it, without going into minute details. He said we would need the “Leckwith” and two ships to carry on the business to the best advantage, so I selected the “Surprise,” an American brig, and the “Florence,” a topsail schooner, both stout, fast ships. I put Lorensen on the “Leckwith” as sailing master, George Brown on the “Surprise,” and old Bill Heather on the “Florence.” The “Surprise” took on a general cargo for Japan and was ordered to rendezvous at Hong Kong, while the “Florence” loaded for Singapore. Norton and I followed in the “Leckwith.” Two brass cannon were mounted in place of the yacht’s guns she carried and we took on board four small carronades, a French mitrailleuse, and several hundred rifles, cutlasses, and side arms, with an abundance of ammunition, all of which were stored in the hold.
Before our departure I had printed on parchment, in exact imitation of the genuine, certificates of registry in English, Dutch, German, French, and Spanish, and seals made to correspond to them. These I filled out, as occasion demanded, in the name the particular ship bore at the time, and in the nationality which I thought would furnish the best protection. I also had certificates of health, consular clearances and bills of health, custom house clearances, and shipping certificates printed in different languages. Forged service certificates were also issued to old men of long service who were competent officers but who could not pass the technical examinations provided for in the amended maritime laws. These and the certificates of registry were aged with a solution of iron and, if necessary, rubbed on the cabin floor to add to their years. I had used similar forged papers while filibustering in the West Indies but had never had such an elaborate outfit, though I was never afterward without it. With these papers I could give a ship a registry under any flag and make it appear that she had come from any port that suited my purpose. They were signed with an illegible scrawl, as are the genuine. To further complicate matters the “Leckwith” was supplied with a telescopic smokestack which, when lowered, was completely hidden. She was schooner-rigged and could be transformed into a fore and aft schooner by dousing the stack and housing the yards on the foremast, or into a brig by putting yards on the mainmast. Similar changes of rig could be made on the “Florence” and “Surprise.” I never used a ship on which this could not be done. The efficacy of these precautions is proved by the fact that I have never lost a cargo of contraband, though I have handled scores of them.