“This first Colombian invasion of the Putumayo regions took place, I am informed, in the early eighties, some of my informants stated about 1886. The earliest of these conquistadores were Crisóstomo Hernandez and Benjamin Larrañaga, who entered the region in search of the inferior kind of rubber there produced, known as sernambi or jebe debil (weak, fine rubber). The banks of these two rivers, and the whole of the region inhabited by the Huitotos, the Andokes, and the Boras Indians, are fairly well stocked with trees that furnish the milk out of which an inferior rubber is elaborated. The Putumayo Indians merely gash the tree with a knife or machete, and, catching the milk as it exudes in little baskets made of leaves, they wash it in their streams of running water and pound it with wooden pestles into long sausage-shaped rolls, termed in Peruvian rubber parlance chorizos, which ultimately are put upon the market just as the Indian carries them in to whoever may be locally exploiting him and his neighbourhood. That these wild Indians welcomed the coming into their country of Hernandez, Larrañaga, and the other Colombians who succeeded these earliest of the modern conquistadores it would be absurd to assert. They were, doubtless, glad to get machetes, and powder and caps for the few trade guns they possessed, with the prospect even of acquiring more of these priceless weapons themselves, along with such trifles as beads, mirrors, tin bowls, fish-hooks, and tempting tins of sardines or potted meats—all of them articles of little intrinsic value, but of very attractive character to the Indian dwelling in so inaccessible a region. Had any form of administrative authority accompanied the early settlers or searchers for Indians, as they should rightly be termed, their relations with these wild inhabitants of the forest might have been controlled and directed to some mutually useful end. But the caucheros came as filibusters, not as civilisers, and were unaccompanied by any executive officers representing a civilised control. The region was practically a no-man’s land, lying remote from any restraining authority or civilising influence, and figuring on maps of South America as claimed by three separate republics.
“Those who came in search of rubber had no intention of dwelling longer in the forest than the accumulation of the wealth they hoped to amass necessitated. They wanted to get rich quickly, not to stay and civilise the Indians or make their homes among them. The rubber-trees of themselves were of no value; it was Indians who could be made or induced to tap them and to bring in the rubber on the white man’s terms that all the invading conquistadores were in search of. Generally a leading man fitted out an expedition with a few companions, partners in effort and initial expenditure; and with a gang of hired peons, or, as they are called in that region, racionales (half-breeds mostly who can read and write to distinguish them from the Indios, who are ignorant of all save forest lore), he journeyed to some part of the forest in search of tribes of wild Indians—infieles or “infidels”—who could be easily subdued and reduced to work the wild rubber-trees in the territory they inhabited. An Indian would promise anything for a gun, or for some of the other tempting things offered as inducements to him to work rubber. Many Indians submitted to the alluring offer only to find that once in the conquistadores’ books they had lost all liberty, and were reduced to unending demands for more rubber and more varied tasks. A cacique or capitán might be bought over to dispose of the labour of all his clan, and as the cacique’s influence was very great and the natural docility of the Indian a remarkable characteristic of the Upper Amazon tribes, the work of conquering a primitive people and reducing them to a continual strain of rubber-finding was less difficult than might at first be supposed. Their arms of defence were puerile weapons as opposed to the rifles of the blancos.”
The terrible floggings practised upon the Indians are lengthily described by Consul Casement, and it is said that 90 per cent, of them, men and women, bear scars therefrom.
Further describing the outrages committed, Mr. Casement quotes from the Annual Report of the Minister of Justice, presented to the Peruvian Congress in 1907:—
“Coming to more distant regions, where executive authority is necessarily weaker, the missionary brother informs the Minister of Justice of the state of things on the Putumayo itself:—
“‘River Putumayo. In this river it is not possible to establish any mission owing to the abuses of the caucheros against the Indians (los infieles), whom they maltreat and murder for no reason (por motivos frivolos), seizing their women and children.’ (P. 782 of the Ministerial Report.)
“Lest this may be thought a vague indictment, I append a further extract from the same Report, this time directed by the Apostolic Prefect of the district of San Francisco de Ucayali to the Minister of Justice. It is dated from Contamana, on the Ucayali, the chief place of the province, on the 27th August, 1907, and deals at some length with the condition of religion and education on that great river, the main feeder and source of the Amazon, and one that has been largely occupied and in civilised hands for the better part of the last century:—
“‘Before speaking of the region of the Ucayali I wish to draw the attention of the Supreme Government to the infamous trade in buying and selling boys and girls which for years has been practised in these parts of the montaña (i.e., the forest region), in spite of the repeated prohibitions of the Government, just as if these poor savages were irrational beings (seres irracionales), or, to be still more clear, just as if they were sheep or horses. This is intolerable in such an illustrious country as Peru. This trade excites and foments the hunting (correrías, literally “chasings”) so frequently indulged in of these poor savages, so as to seize them in their houses in the moment when they least expect it. This is done by different traders (comerciantes) by means of their peóns, particularly some of those of the Upper Ucayali. I could cite many examples in confirmation of this, but I will cite one alone which took place last year (1906). Here it is:—
“‘The Campas Indians of the River Ubiriqui were dwelling peacefully in their houses when suddenly, as is reported, there fell upon them men sent on a correría by one of the traders of the Upper Ucayali, who lives near Unini. These, without warning, attacked the innocent Campas, seizing those whom they could, killing many of them so that few escaped their cruelties, so that even up to now the number of their victims is not known. It is certain that many bodies have been found in a state of putrefaction, and that all the houses of the Ubiriqui are burnt. These deeds have exasperated the Indians (los infieles), and if no effective remedy is applied, later on we shall not be safe even in the mission villages (pueblocitos de la misión), nor shall we be able to spread our winning over and civilising of the savages who dwell in our forests.’ (P. 783 and following of the Report.)
“I do not know what steps were taken to deal with this state of things on the Upper Ucayali, but no steps of any kind followed on the Putumayo the notification, as quoted, made to the Minister of Justice by Frei Prat. That the representations of these Peruvian missionaries had not escaped the eyes of the Minister himself is clear from his own remarks. In his prefatory address to the members of Congress the Minister of Justice states in his Report (p. 48 of the Part Instrucción y Culto) as follows:—