Product Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV THE JOURNEY UP THE ITECOAHY RIVER WITH the subsiding of the waters came my long-desired opportunity to travel the course of the unmapped Itecoahy. In the month of June a local trader issued a notice that he was to send a launch up the river for trading purposes and to take the workers who had been sojourning in Remate de Males back to their places of employment, to commence the annual extraction of rubber. The launch was scheduled to sail on a Monday and would ascend the Itecoahy to its headwaters, or nearly so, thus passing the mouths of the Ituhy, the Branco, and Las Pedras rivers, affluents of considerable size which are nevertheless unrecorded on maps. The total length of the Branco River is over three hundred miles, and it has on its shores several large and productive seringales. When on my way up the Amazon to theBrazilian frontier, T had stopped at Manaos, the capital of the State of Amazonas. There T had occasion to consult an Englishman about the Javary region. In answer to one of my inquiries, T received the following letter, which speaks for itself: Referring to our conversation of recent date, I should wish once more to impress upon your mind the perilous nature of your journey, and I am not basing this information upon hearsay, but upon personal experience, having traversed the region in question quite recently. Owing to certain absolutely untrue articles written by one H—, claiming to be your countryman, I am convinced that you can not rely upon the protection of the employees of this company, as having been so badly libelled by one, they are apt to forget that such articles were not at your instigation, and as is often the case the innocent may suffer for the guilty. On the other hand, without this protection you will find yourself abso...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1767970 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Customer Reviews

This Was A Feast Indeed Such As Few White Men, I Believe, Have Witnessed

And what, might you wonder, was on the menu? Clues are provided in the preceding description of the preparations:

"Here a woman was engaged in stripping the flesh from the palm of a hand and the sole of a foot, which operation finished, she threw both into a large earthen pot to boil..."

Yup. You guessed it...

Cannibals.

The author, Algot Lange, tells a remarkable tale of adventure. After enduring incredible hardships, starving, lost in the jungle, succumbing to fever, crawling on hands and knees he comes upon the communal village of the Mangeroma tribe. And sure enough, they are cannibals. But they only eat their enemies, and for some reason don't consider Lange to be one of them. Rather, they take him in, nurse him back to health, and eventually send him on his way back to civilization.

Why he is in the Amazon in the first place is never quite made clear. The book begins with his arrival at Remate de Males, an outpost 47 days of travel upriver from the Atlantic. The translation of Remate de Males is "Culmination of Evils", but in fact, as Lange soon finds out, it is only the beginning.

The author is a keen observer, and chronicles not only his experiences, but also the fauna, flora, and life of the region. His writing weaves a rich tapestry that transports the reader into the midst of it all.

Here's a description of the sounds of the jungle...

"The few sounds of birds and animals are, generally, of a pensive and mysterious character, and they intensify the feeling of solitude rather than impart to it a sense of life and cheerfulness. Sometimes in the midst of the noon-day stillness, a sudden yell or scream will startle one, coming from some minor fruit-eating animal, set upon by a carnivorous beast or serpent. Morning and evening, the forest resounds with the fearful roar of the howling monkeys, and it is hard, even for the stoutest heart, to maintain its buoyancy of spirit. The sense of inhospitable wilderness which the jungle inspires, is increased tenfold by this monstrous uproar. Often in the still hours of night, a sudden crash will be heard, as some great branch or a dead tree falls to the ground. There are, besides, many sounds which are impossible to account for and which the natives are as much at a loss to explain as myself. Sometimes a strange sound is heard, like the clang of an iron bar against a hard, hollow tree; or a piercing cry rends the air. These are not repeated, and the succeeding stillness only tends to increase the unpleasant impression which they produce on the mind."

Or how about this portrayal of a typical dwelling on stilts in Remate de Males...

"Through the roofs and rafters gambol all sorts of wretched pests. Underneath the houses roam pigs, goats, and other domestic animals, which sometimes appear in closer proximity than might be wished, owing to the spaces between the logs of the floor. That is in the dry season. In the winter, or the wet season, these animals are moved into the homes with you, and their places underneath are occupied by river creatures, alligators, water-snakes, and malignant, repulsive fish, of which persons outside of South America know nothing."

Let your imagination run wild.

In the AMAZON jungleAlthough writt
Although written approximately one hundred years ago, this book very vividlyrelates the adventuresof the author in the Amazon jungle.

The Primitive Amazon Jungle
Excellent documentary of the amazon jungle as it was in the early 20th century (+/- 1910) Very simply but engrossing language.
Ganesh Blue Nirmul MD