Lippincotts Magazine, February 1873 | Page 8

cut the river
diagonally. The lifting of the waves and the dash of spray almost
concealed the file of dusky heads. Nothing could be plainly seen but
the left arms, standing out of the water as stiff and inflexible as so
many bars of bronze, relieved against the silvery brightness of the
water. These advancing arms were adorned with the material of
traffic--bird-skins of variegated colors, bows and arrows, and live
tamed parrots standing upon perches of bamboo. The white spectators
could not but admire the native vigor, elegance and promptitude of
their motions as they rose from the water like Tritons, and, throwing
their treasures down in a heap, bounded forward to give their visitors
the conventional signals of friendship. A rapid bargain was concluded,
in which the sylvan booty of the wild men (not forgetting the prudent

exaction of their weapons) was entirely made over to the custody of the
explorers in exchange for a few Birmingham knives worth fourpence
each.
However curious and amicable might be their new relations with the
savages, the party were desirous to put an end to them as soon as
possible. Pepe Garcia announced that the pale chiefs, wishing to
resume their march, were about to separate from them. This decision
appeared to be unpleasant or distressful in their estimation, and they
tried to reverse it by all sorts of arguments. No answer being
volunteered, they shouted to their women to await them, and betook
themselves to walking with the party. One of the three ambassadors, a
graceful rogue of twenty-five, marked all over with rocoa and lote, so
as to earn for himself the nickname of "the Panther," gamboled and
caracoled in front of the procession as if to give it an entertainment. His
two comrades had garroted with their arms the neck of the chief
interpreter: another held Juan of Aragon by the skirt of his blouse, and
regulated his steps by those of the youth. This accord of barbarism and
civilization had in it something decidedly graceful, and rather pathetic:
if ever the language natural to man was found, the medium in
circulation before our sickly machinery of speech came to be invented,
it was in this concert of persuasive action and tender cooing notes. The
main body of the Siriniris marched pellmell along with the porters,
whom this vicinage made exceedingly uncomfortable, and who were
perspiring in great drops.
At the commencement of a wood the whites embraced the occasion to
take formal leave of their new acquaintances. As they endeavored to
turn their backs upon them they were at once surrounded by the whole
band, crying and gesticulating, and opposing their departure with a sort
of determined playfulness.
At the same time a word often repeated, the word _Huatinmio_, began
to enter largely into their conversation, and piqued the curiosity of the
historiographer. Marcoy begged the interpreter to procure him the
explanation of this perpetual shibboleth. Half by signs, half in the
polyglot jargon which he had been employing with the Siriniris, Garcia
managed to understand that the word in question was the name of their
village, situated at a small distance and in a direction which they
indicated. In this retreat, they said, no inhabitants remained but women,

children and old men, the rest of the braves being absent on a chase.
They proposed a visit to their capital, where the strangers, they said,
honored and cherished by the tribe, might pass many enviable days.
The proposed excursion, which would cause a loss of considerable time
and a deflection from the intended route, was declined in courteous
terms by Marcoy through the interpretation of Pepe Garcia. Among
civilized folk this urbane refusal would have sufficed, but the savages,
taking such a reply as a challenge to verbal warfare, returned to the
charge with increased tenacity. It were hard to say what natural logic
they put in practice or what sylvan persuasions they wrought by, but
their peculiar mode of stroking the white men's backs with their hands,
and the softer and still softer inflections which they introduced into
their voices, would have melted hearts of marble. In brief, the civilized
portion adopted the more weakly part and allowed themselves to be led
by the savage portion.
The colonel and Pepe Garcia were still more easily persuaded than Mr.
Marcoy, and only awaited his adhesion. When it was finally announced
the Siriniris renewed their gambols and uttered shouts of delight. They
then took the head of the excursion. A singularity in their guides, which
quickly attracted the notice of the explorers, was the perfect
indifference with which they took either the clearings or the thickets in
their path. Where the strangers were afraid of tearing their garments,
these unprotected savages had no care whatever for their skins. It is