Identifier: putumayodevilspa00hard (find matches)
Title: The Putumayo : the devil's paradise, travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an account of the atrocities committed upon the Indians therein
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Hardenburg, W. E. (Walter Ernest), 1886-1942
Subjects: Casement, Roger, Sir, 1864-1916 Peruvian Amazon Company, Ltd Rubber
Publisher: London : Fischer Unwin
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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on which is notedthe number of kilograms each Indian should haveready. As each Indians name is called he steps up anddelivers the rubber he has collected, which isweighed on the spot. Occasionally a kilogram ortwo are lacking, and in this case the Indian is givenfrom twenty-five to one hundred lashes by theBarbados negroes, who only for this purpose—thatis, as executioners—have been brought here. Atabout the tenth blow the victim generally falls un-conscious from the effects of the intense pain,produced. Sometimes two or three Indians and their familiesdo not appear at this assembly on account of nothaving been able to collect the amount of rubberassigned to them. In this case the chief of thecorreria orders four or five of his agents to collectten or twelve Indians of a tribe hostile to thefugitives and to set out in pursuit of the poorwretches, their capitdn being dragged along, tiedup with chains, to act as guide to reveal theirhiding-place, and being threatened with a painful
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THE DEVILS PARADISE 209 and lingering death in case he does not find them.After some search the hut where they have takenrefuge is found, and then takes place a horribleand repugnant scene. The hut constructed by therefugees is of thatch, of a conical form and withoutdoors. The chief orders his men to surround thehouse, and two or three of them approach and setfire to it. The Indians, surprised and terrified,dash out, and the assassins discharge their carbinesat the unfortunate wretches. The men killed, thebandits turn their attention to the rest, and theold, the sick, and the children, unable to escape,are either burned to death or are killed withmachetes. Another method of exploiting these unfortunateIndians takes the form of selling them as slavesin Iquitos, and this business in human fleshyields excellent returns to the company or itsemployees, for they are sold in that capital at from£20 to £40 each. Every steamer that goes toIquitos, loaded with the rubber from the Putumayo,ca

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