TOPICS IN THE TROPICS (Part Four)

Toboba or pit viper

The Cortland News, Friday, April 27, 1883.

Topics in the Tropics (Part Four).

Letter from D. Eugene Smith, Mar. 21, 1883.

A CENTRAL AMERICAN FISHING EXCURSION— A DAY'S SPORT WITH DYNAMITE IN THE FOREST.

   One day during my stay in Central America a planter living in an adjoining clearing invited me to accompany him on a fishing expedition, promising me at least a novel entertainment. I was only too glad to accept, especially as it included a visit to a cacao plantation about ten miles through the forest.

   Accordingly, a day or so later, I breakfasted early and rode through the mule-path to his ranch, a mile away. At seven we were ready, and it was a picturesque departure. My host, a half-dozen negroes, a white hunter and I formed the party. The negroes carried the lunch, dynamite, guns, knives, etc., while we three white men brought up the rear. Some "piunes" (laborers) had been sent through in advance to clear out the old path, and so we had little trouble in making our way.

   But it was a peculiar journey. A mile of it lay through a swamp where our mules could with difficulty make headway. The rest of the way was through the "forest primeval," with palms, cottonwood, rubber trees and hundreds of other kinds of wood of little value, but all novel and interesting to a foreigner. Now and then we would ford rivers, most of them little more than creeks, although dignified by the name of "rio;" and then we would again strike into the great expanse of palms, wild bananas and cane.

   Three hours brought us to a bank of a large river, across which we saw a small clearing and a few huts, while the planter, at the sound of my host's voice, launched a dug-out canoe, and paddled over to us. We were soon ferried over and welcomed with a rude hospitality, and were glad enough to rest for awhile from our journey. A lunch was spread and the white visitors were invited to partake. It was a peculiar position for an American. On one side the steep river bank; three or four huts made of palm wood and thatched with the leaves about us; a clearing of four or five acres along the river; and back of us the somber forest.

   About us were a dozen negro and Spanish laborers, and before us a heavy cottonwood table on which was a meal as primitive as that of savagery itself. Our plates were tin, we drank from a calabash (kind of gourd, growing on a tree), and ate with our fingers and pocket-knives. The lunch consisted of wild turkey, monkey (good meat, too), wild boar, with the usual vegetables, such as yams, bread-fruit, and others unknown to the North.

   Our meal finished, we started on foot for a clearing a couple of miles away, where the best fishing ground was to be found. Emerging from the woods we found ourselves in another clearing, not unlike the first, a huge semi-circle shut in by the forest and the river. Here were a half-dozen huts, a small banana grove, a corn field, a garden and a large field of cacao, which pays them well, I understand.

   Here our fishing began. It consisted of exploding dynamite under water and so stunning the large fish that they would rise to the surface, where they would be seized by negroes who stood waiting. The system is barbarous, but so was the country, so I could only watch with interest the operation. About two ounces (I should judge) of dynamite is pressed in water-proof paper, and in it is placed a percussion-cap which is lighted by a fuse. A stone is tied to a cartridge, the water-proof fuse is ignited and it is thrown into a deep part of the river. In about thirty seconds a deadened explosion is heard, the ground trembles, the water bubbles violently, and every eye is on the lookout for game. The negroes dive into the stream, a canoe is pushed out, there is a great deal of talk and little work, a couple of fish float down stream but six or eight large ones are secured and brought up on the bluff whence we watched the sport. The operation was repeated a couple of times near us, after which the "piunes" were sent up the river to try new places, and we sat down to dinner.

   A couple of Indians had now joined the colored crowd; the huts were more primitive, and likewise the meal. Some fish were cleaned, laid on a banana leaf and roasted between two hot stones; some green corn was picked and roasted; some jerked beef was laid out for us, and by way of luxury the Spanish planter made us some lemonade. This was an amusing operation. A laborer went to a tree and picked some limes, another filled a calabash with water from the river; a third cut some sugar cane and squeezed the juice into a calabash by a most primitive machine; the planter then mixed the juice, the water and the limes, and we had the freshest lemon possible.

   This dynamite fishing is carried on to a great extent, in spite of hostile laws. Laws are at a discount in Central America.

   Our meal finished, we packed our fish and resumed our journey homeward. Again our course lay through ten or twelve miles of forest, and our ride was enlivened by the sight of a good-sized "toboba," the most dreaded serpent [pit viper] of Central America. Our hunters failed to shoot him, however, and he was soon out of sight, far more frightened than we, doubtless.

D. E. S.