Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1920 — DWARF TRIBE in VENEZUELA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DWARF TRIBE in VENEZUELA

Explorations into,, hitherto unknown forests of Venezuela by Theodore De Booy <of the American "Geographical society and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania have brought to the knowledge of ethnologists a race of dwarf Indians that* live in an eternal fog, far more Impenetrable than that of London, and whose ihembers get drunk regularly once a month. Mr. De Booy also has located a treasure cave that will be of equal- interest to the archaeologist and to the seeker of gold, deep in a wilderness that not even the Indians will penetrate. In full sight of the mountain at the base of which the cave is located the explorer was foteed to turn back because his Indian guides and carriers refused to continue the journey. One of their reasons was a lack of food, but the principal objection apparently was a superstitious fear of the spirits of -warriors • buried in the cave after a great battle told about in their traditions. <The mountain is near the border of Venezuela and Colombia. “It is quite probable, almost certain. In fact," says Mr. De Booy in the museum Journal, “that this burial cave contains archaeological treasures of the highest value. Our archaeological researches proved without a doubt the entire region had at one time been inhabited by the Arhuacos, a tribe of which a small rerimant still lives in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. The Motilones, which includes the Macoas, were evidently comparative newcomers to the region and had either driven out the Arhuacos or had killed them off, probably only a short while before the Conquest Researched by other archaeologists have proven that a similar occurrence took place in the Goajira peninsula directly to the northward, arid that the Goajiras superseded the Arhuacos, in this latter region. Treasures of Gold Workers. “The burial cave, therefore, probably contains Arhuacan specimens, and as the Arhuacans were excellent workers in gold and had quantities of gold ornaments it will be seen that the chances of this cave containing gold ornaments as welt as burial objects of other kinds are very good. Two days before coming within sight of the peak in which the cave was to be found, the Indians had shown me certain regions where evidetace could still be seen of former clearings. ‘ These clearings were of considerable age and were only distinguished from the surrounding woods by the fact that the trees were not quite as large and the tindergrowth of lesser density." Mr. De Booy landed at Maracaibo and spent two days on horseback crossing the plain to La Horqueta, o£e of the last outposts of civilization in Venezuela. He had to pass part of this time over a narrow and gloomy trail through a wilderness abounding with tigers. Jaguars, wildcats, monkeys and deer. Beyond this forest is a great plain and back of that the mountains with their heads lost In the fog. “While the altitude of Giese mountains is not sufficiently high to make them snow covered," says the explorer, “the fog and mists mt times would almost make one think that the summits were covered with snow." In the days of the Conquistadores La Villa, a little town along the route to La Horqueta, was the starting point for raiding expeditions into the Indian territory to the south of the Bio Negro. The town is filled with rained foundations»of houses and a quaint bld ehnrch still standby ft is said to be the oldest In that part of the country. Nine hours’ travel through the jungle from IM Horqueta De Booy came to the settlement of Machiqueo. outside of which be found members of . the Tucucus Indians, who come down to the mountains to work occasionally ft exchange for hoop iron. '•. ■ ‘

cutlasses, beads, iron cooking pots and axes. “The Tucucus are a very shy race," the explorer observes, “and only came when they were in need of ironmongery.” Dwarfs Who Dwell In. Fog. Tucucu runners were sent out to request for De Booy the privilege of visiting the Macoas. Most of the Tucucus thought he was crazy and predicted that he would never return, but finally the permission was obtained. At the end of the first day of travel he ran into the fog country. “Practically every day the mists roll down the mountains at about midday,” he says, “and one spends the balance of the day in an enveloping fog»whlch makes one forget that the equator is but ten degrees distant.” Weather was so cold that at night the explorer was forced lo use two blankets. Describing the settlements of the Macoas, he says:

“No two huts are found in close proxmity. In fact, these Indians appear to take pleasure in living as far removed from each other as possible, which may be due to the eternal fights they wage among themselves. Each hut is on a separate hilltop, so that while the entire village is within hailing, distance, it often takes as much as half an hour to go from one abode to another, by first descending one slope and then ascending the other. Their clearings and plantations, on which they grow yucca, sweet potatoes, corn, bananas, plantqins and ’ yams, are also far removed from their huts, so that it frequently takes a man the half of a day. almost to walk to his farm. Why this is so, when the hill slopes directly underneath the (Indian’s abode are just aswell adapted to agricultural purposes, I

cannot state, andinqoiries failed to give a logical explanation.” The Macoas really are a race of the average . height of the men being five feet one inch, and that of the women four feet eight inches. The first thing they did for De Booy, who is more than six feet tall, was to build him a hut about four times as large as their-own. De Booy found the Indians so curious and so persistent that he had to ask the chief to build a stockade to “keep out the children.” In this he did his photographic work. The natives had never before seen a white man of light complexion and De Booy was a constant source of wonder to them.

Child of the Macoa Tribe.