Arthur O. Friel, The Thirty Gang — Chapter 9 (1923)
“ They watched tapirs swimming in the water or standing in their holes in the clay banks; peccaries coming down in file to drink; monkeys of every kind trooping in the trees, wild peacocks and turkeys suddenly appearing and vanishing in the bush, huge ducks floating on the green surface of the stream. ”
Arthur O. Friel, The Thirty Gang — Chapter 9 (1923)
“ Why should they? Their lives are their own, not mine. Yet, like any other man whose interests depend on labor, I like to know where that labor is to come from. And I saw that for the next season, at least, I should have willing workers near at hand in the Caño Uaychamo men. "Es bueno," I told him. "I go soon to the Caño de Oso, and much farther up the Ventuari. I shall walk about and see what I may see, as I do in each dry time. Let Yaracuma make his paragua, and when the rains fall we shall meet again." ”
Arthur O. Friel, The Thirty Gang — Chapter 9 (1923)
“ But I was well pleased, too, for by this I knew Yaracuma intended to help me bleed my trees in the next wet season. You must understand, señores, that even I, for whom the Maquiritares will do far more than for any other man, am never sure of my workers from one season to another. They are free men and they do as they please; when they wish to work for me they come to me; when they would rather stay at home, or go on one of the long roving trips of which they are fond, or move their whole tribe to some other place, they give no thought to me and my balata. ”
