PERUVIAN ATROCITIES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 16 May 1912, Page 3

PERUVIAN ATROCITIES.

HORRIBLE TREATMENT OF INDIANS.

Mr Seymour Bell, for some year commercial agent on behalf of the Brit ish Government in -the United States and lately a member of the Commis sio* appointed by the Peruvian Ama son Rubber Company in 1910 to visil Putumayo and report upon its com mercial possibilities and investigate the state* of tb«» Indians, has just comt back to London. He tells a horrihh story of the cruelties practised upox the Indians in the collection of rubbej in the Putuntayo district of Peru. After visiting the whole of the fores* region Mr Bell says: '1 was forced tc the reluctant conclusion that the whol* local system of rubber collection was based on systematic cruelty. The system is as follows: The Indians are a primitive, gentle race of forest dwellers. Each rubber station is in charge of a Peruvian, who keeps an armed band, mostly half-breeds, and a small force of armed Indians. Through these the natives are terrorised. They were first of all caught and tamed by flog- , ging and starvation. Then they were released and are now allowed to live in the forest under supervision on condition that they bring in every ten or fifteen days a certain weight of rubber. Once a quarter or so they are made to carry tbe rubber down to the river stations, a distance in some cases of as much as 60 miles. The whole of this work is enforced by flogging, and often by torture and death. I know that from what I saw and from what I heard from the evidence of men who took part in the acts described. In my judgment the Indians are living in a most abject state of slavery of the worst kind, and some of the cases of cruelty, most terrible in the extreme, that were brought to light, would be considered incredible. Flogging on the bare body with the most cruel kind of whips was the principal form of punishment for not producing the required amount of rubber. We did not actually see any instance of beating, but some employees confessed to us. AYe saw the marks on the bodies of the Indians. I should say that 50 per cent, of them had marks of flogging on their bodies. Even the youngest boys were so marked." Mr Bell then detailed some specific acts of cruelty which had come under his own observation: "A case of illtreatment was brought to our notice at the first place we landed on the company's property. About half way up the Cara Parana, an affluent of the Putumayo, we stopped at a small substation to take firewood for our boilers. We all went on shore for a stroll, and one of the first persons we saw was an Indian undergoing punishment because he was not disposed to work. He had a big chain fastened to his ankle with a padlock and was carrying some twelve or more feet of chain on his shoulders, the object being to prevent his running away to join his tiibe. I was staying at a white man's house in a clearing in the forest. I saw some natives coming in, perhaps some 20 or 30 of them, from the outlying districts. I noticed that one man had a cut on his side freshly made. I asked the Indian what was the origin of the cut. He replied: 'The white man did it with his machete because I was not coming along quickly enough.' I asked him to point out the man who had cut him. He pointed to one of the Peruvian Company's employees. AVhile we were talking an Indian came up. He pointed to his long hair, and I noticed that the ear was gone. I asked who had done it; he replied 'the same man. I learned that he had been treated in this way because he had not brought in sufficient rubber. Immediately afterwards, I came across another Indian who had been treated in precisely the same way, and on my making enquiries I found that he had suffered for the same cause. Of course everything possible was done in order to conceal from us evidence of any cruelty, but I saw stocks in several districts which were used as punishments for failing to bring rubber. I often saw the people— men, women and children —coming down with the rubber from their journeys. The only food they had for the j journey was an insufficient supply of manioc, provided by themselves. In j many cases it was evident that they were in a condition of starvation. I j had seen Indians lying at the side of the ! track exhausted or ill. AA Then one of the masters came along they were kicked or beaten till they struggled on with their burdens. One tribe that we i saw at Atenas were really walking skeletons." Mr Bell dealt with the question of, the Indian women. "In several trading stations," he said, "I saw houses specially built for unattached Indian women. Recruits for these houses are taken by force, and no regard is paid to the prior claim of the Indian husband." Mr Bell next narrated several cases which did not come under his personal observation, but of which he had reliable evidence. "I am satisfied," he said, "that Inufans were often held under the water of the river until nearly drowned, in some cases death did ensue. We heard of some of these cases from the Indian chiefs, and in some instances the details came from the Peruvians themselves. This punishment was inflicted because the Indians had not completed their tale of rubber. I heard evidence of a case of two people being, burned alive, an old woman and a ycung man, and this occurred in one day's march. Another case was that in which a small boy was taken away from his mother and beheaded before her eyes because she was unable to say whether certain fugitive Indians, of whom the Peruvians were in search., were hidden." , "At the time of our visit," added Mi Bell, "the wMte employees were paid by commission on the amount of rubber they were able to send* to head-quarters. It is only to be expected that in a district so far away from civilisation, when ] payment is made by results, that the natives should be made to suffer. As long as this iniquitous system is continued in these outlying districts, so long will these cruelties last. We were informed that the system was to be abolished. Whether it has been I do not know." —London correspondent Christchurch News: March 28.