Exploration Fawcett by Lt. Col. P.H. Fawcett

Author:Lt. Col. P.H. Fawcett [FAWCETT, P.H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS033000, BIO023000
ISBN: 9781590208366
Publisher: The Overlook Press
Published: 2011-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIV

THE TURN OF THE ROAD

BEFORE we set off down the Heath the Majordomo of Marte heard of our presence and came across with a fair-sized party to visit us.

“We’re on our way to the plantations you told us about,” he informed me. “Now we know of the savages and the food they have there, we feel we must do something about getting supplies, for back at the barraca the pickers are keeping alive on nothing but leaves—and we have three hundred pickers to provide for, you know.”

“Do you mean Marte is in a state of starvation again?”

“Yes, that’s it. When are we not? It’s the one thing we can be sure of!” He patted my shoulder and added: “Thanks to you, we now have hopes of being better off than before; but even so, I wish we were as well off as they are at San Carlos.”

In this region there are to be found two valuable herbs which merit attention. The first of these is the Yawal Chunca, a small bush with leaves ten inches long by three wide, green on the front and a lighter shade behind, with veins and tips of a blood red. Three or four of these leaves infused in a quart of boiling water make an admirable cure for fever. The other is a shrub called Pando de Coca, well known to the Indians, who chew it. Its properties are similar to the ordinary Coca, but in a milder form. Neither of these herbs is exploited commercially, but both are in regular use by the people of the district.

With illness and disease so prevalent it is no wonder that herbal remedies are used in the Montaña of Bolivia and Peru. In the mountains, too, it seems as though every disorder has its appropriate nature-cure, and the average cholo relies almost entirely on herbs except when forced to submit to medical treatment. Colds and coughs yield readily to Wila Wila, a plant like Edelweiss, found only at the highest altitudes. In the coastal regions an infallible cure for the most advanced cases of arthritis or rheumatism is the Sanguinaria Canadense, or Bloodroot. There are a hundred remedies for every one I know of, and, of course, the medical profession does not encourage people to make use of them. Yet the cures they effect are often remarkable, and I speak as one who has tried several with complete success. The method of using the herbs is in all the cases I am familiar with to make an infusion in the same way as tea.

Vampire bats swarm on the Heath. They never fail to locate a camp, and at night any exposed part of your person is attacked—in fact, they will sometimes gnaw through the mosquito-net to get at you. There are such myriads of bats in South America—and particularly in the Andean foothills—that the day may come when they may be recognized as having a value for the sake of their pelts. Many have a lovely

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