Head Hunters of the Amazon | Page 3

the same time as I did, our two years together as members of the same fraternity had sufficed to form a lasting friendship between us. Furthermore, the long descriptions of the backwardness of his country which he had given me from time to time, had fired me with a determination to go there one day and equip the City of Quito with some much-needed modern improvements. In those days, the streets of the capital of Ecuador were lighted by means of candles placed by householders in their front windows.
So I kept in touch with C��rdovez after I left College, and later he came to see me at my house in Elmira, N. Y. There we finally decided that I would go down to Ecuador as soon as he had had a chance of examining the business possibilities of our proposed ventures, for which he was to find the money and obtain the concessions on arrival home. Then he left the States.
Thus it came about that in October, 1894, I received the following letter asking me to confirm our agreement.
Quito.
September 30th.
1894.
Mr. Fritz W. Up de Graff.
Elmira, N. Y.
My dear Fritz,
You cannot imagine how glad I was to receive your letter. As I was in Riobamba at the time it had reached this place, it did not come to my hands but some days after.
Well, you are an electrical engineer now, are you? I thought you still were engaged in the canning business over in Chicago, so I must confess I was surprised when I read your letter proposing all sorts of electrical business....,
Now I must let you know that life in the forests is not very enjoyable and has a number of unpleasant things that are in connection with it. No society is to be found there, no such amusements as shows and the like either, and one can only be there to work, and if one is enterprising and hard-working it is a sure thing to get a good remuneration after a time.
This country is composed of very indolent people, and I can assure you that though there are no possibilities of making the fabulous fortunes that are made in the States, yet it is much easier here than there to make a handsome capital. The country is backward, very backward, and there is an opening in almost every line. As I told you when in the States, the climate of the interior is extremely pleasant and healthy, whilst that of Guayaquil is unhealthy to most people, however I have been in perfect health in both....
It is now your turn to decide. If you decide to come, it is better to do so immediately, before Winter begins. Let me know at once the date of your arrival in Guayaquil, and I will arrange so that you will have no difficulties when you get there.
Hoping that I will see you soon, and that this finds you now in perfect health,
I remain, yours in the bonds,
H. Domingo C��rdovez.
It did not take me long to come to a decision. Stanley's "Through the Dark Continent" had inspired me as a boy with a determination to go off into the Unknown World which lies beyond the confines of civilization, offering a life brimful of adventure to him who would penetrate its depths. Adventure! That was the keynote of my life, the note to which my youthful, untamed spirit vibrated in sympathy. Here was my chance, then. To South America, with its vast tracts of unexplored territory, holding Heaven knows what strange secrets, I would go.
On November 18th, 1894, I sailed from New York in the S.S. Advance, of the old Ward Line, bound for Panama, via Colon, with $100 in my pocket. In ten days we made the Colombian port, after a voyage which was, I suppose, as uneventful as any other, but which was, for me, a great adventure. I was on my way to my goal.
Colon struck me as being a town of turkey-buzzards and niggers. Both turned out in large numbers to watch the arrival of the S.S. Advance. I had not much of a chance to see the town, a mere collection of thatched roofs grouped round the wooden wharves, half-hidden by the palms and banana plants which grow in profusion. Situated in the middle of a swamp, with muddy lanes for streets, and buzzards in place of sewers, it was a wholly unattractive place.
I boarded a train on the landing-pier, and was taken across the Isthmus in about two and a half hours, passing a series of small country towns much the same as Colon itself, and having frequent glimpses of the old De Lesseps Canal. The abandoned machinery still lay where it had been left by the French, rotting in the mud and water, tropical growth sprouting from the