Lippincotts Magazine, February 1873 | Page 7

indicative of lively emotions. Hardly were the travelers clothed and
armed when the reeds parted with a rattling noise, and three nude
Indians, sepia-colored and crowned with tufts of hair like horses' tails,
leaped out like jacks-in-the-box. At sight of the party standing to
receive them they redoubled their clamor, then, flourishing their arms
and legs and turning continually round, they gradually revolved into the
presence of the explorers. They selected as chiefs and sachems of the
party such as bore weapons, being the colonel, Marcoy and the two
interpreters. These they clasped in a warm, fulsome embrace: they were
smeared from head to foot with rocoa (crude arnotta), and their passage

through the river having dissolved this pigment, they printed
themselves off, in this act of amity, upon the persons and clothing of
their hosts. While the white men, with a very bad grace, were cleaning
off these tokens of natural affection, the new-comers went on to present
their civilities all around. Two of the porters they recognized at once,
with their eagle eyesight, from having relieved them of their shirts
while the latter were working out some penalty at the governor's farm
of Sausipata, and proceeded to claim a warm acquaintance on that basis;
but the bearers, with equally lively memories of the affront, responded
simply with a frown and the epithet of _Sua-sua_--double thief.
Pepe Garcia undertook a colloquy, and Aragon, not to be behindhand,
flashed a few words across the conversation, right and left as it were,
his expressions appearing to be in a different tongue from those used by
the chief interpreter, and both utterly without perceptible resemblance
to the rolling consonants and gutturals of the savages. Marcoy imbibed
a strong impression that the only terms understood in common were the
words of Spanish with which the palaver was thickly interlarded. This
was the first time the interpreters were put on their mettle in a strictly
professional sense, and the test was not altogether triumphant. However,
by a careful raising of the voice in all difficult passages, and a wild,
expressive pantomime, an understanding was arrived at.
The visitors belonged to the tribe of Siriniris, inhabiting the space
comprised between the valleys of Ocongate and Ollachea, and
extending eastwardly as far as the twelfth degree. They lived at peace
with their neighbors, the Huat-chipayris and the Pukiris. For several
days the reports of the Christian guns (_tasa-tasa_) had advertised them
of the presence of white men in the valley, and, curious to judge of
their numbers, they had approached. They had formed a cunning escort
to the party, always faithful but never seen, since the encampment at
Maniri: every camping-ground since that particular bivouac they
faithfully described. They were, of course, in particular and direful
need of sirutas and bambas (knives and hatchets), but their fears of the
_tasa-tasa_, or guns, was still stronger than their desires, and their
courage had not, until they saw the strangers domiciled as guests in
their own habitations, attained the firmness and consistency necessary
for a personal approach. The three dancing ambassadors were ministers
plenipotentiary on the part of their tribe, located in a bamboo

metropolis five miles off.
The white men could not well avoid laying down their _tasa-tasa_ and
disbursing sirutas and bambas. The savages, after this triumph of
diplomacy, suddenly turned, and, thrusting their fingers in their mouths,
emitted a shrill note, which had the effect of enchanting the forest of
rushes across the river, and causing it to give birth to a whole ballet of
naked coryphei. Nine men, seven women and three dogs composed the
spectacle, of which the masculine part, the human and the canine,
proceeded to swim the stream and fraternize with the strangers. The
women rested on the bank like river-nymphs: their costume was
somewhat less prudish than that of the men, the coat of rocoa being
confined to their faces, which were further decorated with joints of reed
thrust through the nose and ears. A glance of curiosity darted across the
water by the colonel was surprised in its flight by the ambassadors,
who addressed a hasty word or two to their ladies: the latter, with one
quick and cat-like gesture, whipped off each a branch of the nearest
foliage, and were dressed in a single instant.
To reward all these vociferous mendicants with the invaluable cutlery
was hardly prudent. Seeing the hesitation of their visitors, the savages
adopted other tactics. Hurling themselves across the river, they quickly
reappeared, armed with all the temptations they could think of to
induce the strangers to barter. The scene of these savages coming to
market was a picturesque one. Entering the water, provided with their
objects of exchange, which they held high above their heads, and
swimming with the right arm only, they began to