The Factual Bases of La Vorágine

Author(s): Eduardo Neale-Silva

Source: PMLA , Mar., 1939, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Mar., 1939), pp. 316-331
Published by: Modern Language Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/458641

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 XVII

THE FACTUAL BASES OF LA VORAGINE

EVER since its appearance in 1924 Rivera's novel La

been widely discussed. Its literary merits are beyon
the nature of its plot is sensational. Editions and translatio
languages have rapidly succeeded one another.' Discuss
work by several critics, La Vordgine has not yet been a
cient detail to reveal fully its documentary character.2
record of importance, containing an accurate summary
conditions that prevailed in the Colombian interior an
from about 1905 to 1920.
In 1916 Venezuela and Colombia had agreed to submit their boundary
dispute for arbitration to the Swiss Confederation. When the preliminary
award, handed down on June 24, 1918, had been confirmed by the final
decision of March 24, 1922, a commission of Swiss engineers and experts
from Venezuela and Colombia was formed to mark the frontier. Among
the Colombian representatives was Jose Eustasio Rivera, who had been
appointed secretary for the Second Section, with a field of operation
including that part of the line crossing the Apure, Arauca, and Meta
regions and the Federal Territory of Amazonas in southern Venezuela.
In this capacity Rivera obtained fist-hand information about the cha-
otic world of the Amazon regions of Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and
Brazil. The experts crossed plains, rivers, swamps, and forests-deprived
of the most indispensable comforts and constantly defying danger. An
idea of their physical and spiritual prostration may be gathered from
the fact that the entire Second Section commission of Colombians re-
signed before the delimitation was finished.3 Under those conditions the
plot of La Vordgine was conceived, and parts of it were written in the
forbidding loneliness of the jungle. The part dealing with the llanos, how-

1 La Vordgine has been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese
and Russian. The English translation is by E. K. James (New York, 1935).
2 Special mention should be made here, however, of the article published by Arturo
Torres Rioseco in Revista Cubana VI (1936), Nos. 16-18. Other critical studies have been
published by R. S,nchez Ramfrez, Revista Chilena (1927), Nos. 90-91, pp. 1-12; E. K.
James, Revista de Estudios Hispdnicos, II (1929), No. 1, pp. 69-73; Concha Melendez,
Cultura Venezolana (1930), XLIII (1930), 138-149; Juan Marinello, Sur, vi (1936), No
16, pp. 59-75; L. E. Nieto Caballero, Libros Colombianos. (Bogota, 1925), pp. 154-162; and
Rafael Maya, De Silva a Rivera (Bogota, 1929). Shorter notices and appreciations have
also been published in the pages of Repertorio Americano, Universidad, Atenea, Mercur
de France, Hispania, Books Abroad, and other magazines.
8 Carlos Alamo Ybarra, Nuestras fronteras occidentales (Caracas, 1927), pp. 100-103.

316

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 317

ever, is probably traceable to Rivera's stay in Casanare in previous

years.4
The author divided his novel into three parts, but so far as subject-
matter is concerned there are really only two: one dealing with the ilanos
of Casanare, and the other with the Amazon jungle. Within these parts
one may easily separate the various component sections, for they are
poorly joined. The only thread connecting them is the flight of Alicia
and Arturo Cova with a parallel action in the affairs of Griselda and
Fidel Franco.
The basic plot of the book includes the flight through the llanos of
Casanare, affairs at Hato Grande, the stay at the Barracas del Guaracu,
and the subsequent dramatic escape to the rubber region of Yaguanari-
where the jungle finally devours the fugitives. Within this plot the author
included in the form of reports six narratives that give the novel a
tremendous sweep. Heli Mesa relates the departure of the enganchados
and the atrocities of the overseers who take over the men and women
brought by Barrera, and El Pipa tells the story of the Indiecita Mapiri-
pana, "la sacerdotiza de los silencios, la celadora de manantiales y
lagunas." Then comes the Odyssey of Don Clemente Silva, with the
horrors of the Putumayo enclosed within a sentimental tale of fatherly
devotion. In the later part of the novel there is a recital of an ill-fated
flight through forests and swamps, and the story of the macabre crimes
of Funes as witnessed by the half-blind Ramiro Estebanez.
Rivera wished to create, even at the expense of novelistic technique,
a vast, sweeping picture of the Colombian hinterland which would cover
a rather long period of time and adhere to the historical sequence of
events. Undoubtedly his book was intended as an exposure in which the
author might point an accusing finger at the Colombian authorities who
made a mad world possible in the fastnesses of the jungle.
In 342 pages, within a plot that covers no more than seven months'
time (judging from the fact that the story ends shortly after the birth
of the sietemesino) Rivera relates the dark history of some fifteen years.
The main action of the novel takes place around the year 1920. This
date is given advisedly. In its last pages the novel alludes to Monsefior
Massa, Apostolic Prefect, then living at the mission of San Gabriel,5 who
was appointed to the post shortly after the death of his predecessor,
Monsefior Giordano, in December, 1919.6 That the action does not extend
to 1921 may be gathered from the story of Funes's crimes at San
4 Cf. E. K. James, "Jose Eustasio Rivera," Revista de Estudios Hispdnicos, II, 71.
6 La Vordgine, p. 336. All references are to the fifth Spanish edition (New York, 1928).
6 Hamilton Rice, El Rio Negro (Amazonas) y sus grandes afluentes de la Guyana,
brasilena. Tr. by D. Juan Riafo y Gayangos (Cambridge, Mass., 1934), p. 180.

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318 The Factual Bases of "La Vordgine"

Fernando. Although Rivera probably knew the ultimate fate of Funes

prior to the publication of his novel, he limited himself to the period
ending with 1920.7
Wishing to give his novel the appearance of a true story, our author
included a prologue and an epilogue in the form of a letter and a telegram
respectively, thereby insisting that the novel is essentially the memoirs
of the protagonist. Rivera even took the trouble to account for the writ-
ing of the original manuscript, explaining that it was written on the
ledger of El Cayeno in about six weeks and at the request of Ramiro
Estebanez. Although the motive given for the writing of the book is
none too convincing, the choice of its autobiographical form and the
arrangement of important events in chronological order clearly show the
author's desire to give La Vordgine the appearance of a veracious ac-
count. After relating the death of the French scientist, Robuchon, which
occurred in 1906, the novelist states that the accusations of Saldafia
Rocca appeared "al aiio siguiente," adhering in this to actual history.
The allusions to the distribution of Saldafia's news-sheets among the
caucheros, the machinations of the Arana Company and the arrival of an
investigator are also given in their true sequence.8 Later on, Rivera
specifically relates that the massacre of San Fernando occurred May 8,
1913, a date that is strictly historical.9
Let us now examine the various parts of the novel in the light of
other written evidence with a view to determining to what extent La
Vordgine is a historical record and a social document. The first part
presents an accurate picture of the physical geography of the llanos.
Such travellers as Brisson, Bingham, and Mozans give us identical
observations on climate, topography, flora, fauna, and general land-
scape.'0 Upon reading Brisson in particular one surmises that this author
was not unknown to Rivera, who must have consulted every available
source of information before and after he joined the Colombian boundary
committee. With Brisson's book at hand the accuracy of Rivera, even

7Funes was killed by Arevalo Cedenio, January 30, 1921. Rivera's novel appeared
three years later.
8 Corroborations can be found in The Putumayo Red Book, London, 1913. There is also
a Spanish edition of Bogota, 1913.
9 La Vordgine, p. 298. Before describing the massacre Arthur Friel states: "On the night
of May 8, 1913, San Fernando was gay with music and general jollification for the caucho
(rubber) season had ended." The River of Seven Stars (New York: Harper and Bros., 1924),
p. 128.
10 George Brisson, Casanare (Bogota, 1896); Hiram Bingham, The Journal of an Expedi-
tion Across Venezuela and Colombia, 1906-1907 ... (New Haven, Conn., 1909), Chapters
vI-Ix; H. J. Mozans (J. A. Zahm), Up the Orinoco and Down the Magdalena (London,
1910), Chapter vII.

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 319

for insignificant details, becomes astonishingly evident. The ranches, El

Hatico and San Emigdio, mentioned in the novel" are not inventions of
Rivera. The former belonged at one time to D. Fidel Reyes and is
situated eight leagues from Orocue. The latter is a short distance from
La Trinidad and was owned at one time by Aquiles Lugo.l2 As for Hato
Grande, chosen for a good deal of the action, we presume it to be Mata
de Palma with a fictitious name. Its twenty thousand cattle were owned
by one Don Ram6n Oropeza, whose similarity with Zubieta, a character
in La Vordgine, cannot be a mere coincidence. Rivera describes Zubieta
as "borracho y gotoso", a distrustful old man with "barriga protuber-
ante, ojos de lince, cara pecosa y pelo rojizo."'3 This description given by
Brisson speaks for itself:
El sefior Ram6n Oropeza es venezolano y duenio de unas diez y ocho a veinte mil
cabezas de ganado y de una fuerte suma de oro, que nadie sino 1e conoce. Es
hombre de buena estatura, muy robusto, colorado, pint6n, marcado en toda la
piel con manchitas amarillas, como atigrado; tendra unos sesenta y cinco afnos
y sufre de gota; su voz es oscura y sus ojos muy apagados por el abuso del
alcohol.14

Probably the novelist changed the names of the ranch and the owner to
avoid possible complications.
Rivera describes a civil bureaucracy flagrantly corrupt in its highest
officials. It is easy to understand why lawlessness prevailed in the llanos
among Indians and whites. Some stole from necessity; others for want of
a notion of personal property. Speaking of the llaneros, Rivera states:
"todos tienen cuenta con la justicia, porque todos roban ganado."'5
These llaneros, so well portrayed in the novel as distrustful, melancholy
individuals with a pronounced sense of independence and personal valor,
are the same haughty Centaurs described by Mendoza in his study of
the llanerol6 except that in the novel a dramatic atmosphere envelops
them. Rivera saw the llanero as an exalted individual more restless and
quarrelsome than he really is. The atmosphere in Hato Grande is charged
with electricity; everyone is expectant, ready to make brutal force or a
weapon decide the issue. In none of the accounts dealing with Casanare
have we found this dramatic tension to be the prevailing note.
In the first part-as in the entire novel-there is a super-abundance of
action; events succeed one another with vertiginous speed; yet the

11 La Vordgine, pp. 62, 133. 12 Brisson, op. cit., pp. 156, 170.
13 La Vordgine, pp. 42, 60, 73.
14 I3risson, op. cit., pp. 140-141. If we remember that Brisson wrote in 1896 about a man
whom Rivera probably met several years later we have slight differences accounted for.
16 La Vordgine, p. 112.
16 Daniel Mendoza, El llanero. Estudio de sociologia venezolana (Caracas, 1912).

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320 The Factual Bases of "La Voragine"

novelist has been able to include a wealth of factual information that

makes his book a true social document. Authentic details abound on
customs, occupations, living quarters, food, amusements, beliefs, supe
stitions, dance, and song. Aside from the tonada, llorao, and variou
other songs and dances common at the joropos, the novelist reproduc
sayings and maxims in great profusion. Some of these are remnants
ballads, as is the boast of one cowboy: "-Mira, repuso el hombre: po
sobre yo, mi sombrero.""7 This is probably a residue of a ballad:
Sobre la paja, la palma;
Sobre la palma, los cielos;
Sobre mi caballo, yo;
Y sobre mi, mi sombrero.l8

La Vordgine contains, besides, a large number of words common amon

the llaneros: punta, atajo, rejo, botalon, colear, sabanear, barajustar, pues-
tear, etc. Some are not even recorded in dictionaries of Americanisms.
Of particular interest are the novelist's occasional remarks on supe
stitious practices: the mixing of the heart of the piapoco with coffe
the use of the aphrodisiac "venga venga," similar to the pusana used
the Indians, the magic prayers of Mauco, and that unique fever cur
with "cinco hojitas de borraja, pero arrancas de pa arriba, porque de p
abajo prouicen v6mito."'9
Tienen la cabeza llena de historias pavorosas-says Brisson-sobre tal o cual
cueva, pefia o laguna, sin hablar, por ejemplo, de la Mancarita,... que es la
bruja o hada malefica que se lleva a los viajeros aislados o extraviados....20

And in the novel we find allusions also to witches, ghosts and fairies,
such as "el Poira" of the crooked legs and the ubiquitous Indiecita
Mapiripana.21
Such are the llanos, "donde se respira un calor guerrero y la muerte
cabalga a la grupa de los cuartagos," a land of primitive peoples, un-
afraid of death, deeply rooted to those inhospitable plains of broad
horizons, where fun is found in revelries, horse taming, and cockfights-
and where love is like the wind, for it blows "pa cualquier lao."
The outcasts of the llanos are the Indians. Of these Rivera treats
especially the Guahivos and mentions also the Piapocos, Cuivas,
Salivas. A good deal has been written and said of the supposedly fie
Guahivos. Even Rivera is inclined to exaggerate the ferocity of th
17 La Vordgine, p. 37. 18 Mendoza, op. cit., p. 59.
19 La Vordgine, p. 41. 20 Brisson, op. cit., p. 214.
21 Many references to the belief in "El Poira" can be found in the novel Tod (Manizal
1933), by Cesar Uribe Piedrahita, who gathered first-hand information during his trav
in the jungles of Colombia.

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 321

nomads. Speaking of their depredations on the cattle and racionales, our

author states: "los indios guahivos de las costas del Guanapalo, que fle-
chaban las reses por centenares, asaltaron la fundaci6n del Hatico, llevan
dose a las mujeres y matando a los hombres."22 Brisson met no fierce
Indians in his travels through Casanare and categorically denies the
many stories of Indian treachery:
hablamos de los Goahivos y los Cuivas, que algunos viajeros novelescos se entre-
tienen en presentarnos como fieras; lo cierto es que hasta ahora los pobres han
sido muy mal tratados por los civilizados y huyen aterrados cuando ven a un
blanco.23

Curiously enough, some of the Indian raids were instigated and directed
by white men. The renegade "El Pipa," who lived with several tribes
and even adopted their primitive customs, is not a mere invention of
Rivera. This individual has a counterpart in the white man with the
pseudonym of Ger6nimo Perez described by Dickey in My Jungle Book.24
The Indians were not the only unfortunate ones in the ilanos. During
the promising days of the rubber boom not a few llaneros decided to
leave the plains in quest of the black gold of the rubber regions, attracted
by the fantastic reports and promises of some enganchador like Narciso
Barrera, by whom they became enslaved. Concerning the authenticity of
Narciso Barrera and the horrors of slavery we have the opinion of a
prominent Colombian, Don Antonio Gomez Restrepo, a member of the
Colombian Language Academy:
El personaje de Barrera no es una ficcion; esta tomado de la realidad y el na-
rrador ha sabido caracterizarlo con breves pero sugestivos rasgos: bajo sus apa-
riencias melifluas se esconde la crueldad del negrero africano.25

In the second part of the novel Rivera relates the incidents of a trip
to the upper reaches of the Isana river, the subsequent meeting with Don
Clemente Silva, and the story of the Putumayo horrors. The story of
the crimes perpetrated in the Putumayo, "the Devil's Paradise," is well
known today through the many books, reports, pamphlets, and articles
written in connection with the investigation of Sir Roger Casement. A
comparison of the novel with these historical materials will reveal to us
the accuracy of Rivera's account.
In the early years of the twentieth century several Colombians estab-
lished rubber-gathering stations in the Putumayo region. Among them

22 La Vordgine, p. 42.
23 Brisson, op. cit., p. xi. See also p. 70. A similar opinion in entertained by Manuel
Roca Castellanos in his recent book, Diez luces sobre elfuturo, Bogota, 1936, pp 232-233.
24 H. C. Dickey, My Jungle Book (Boston, 1932) pp. 57-71.
25 See "Algunos conceptos sobre La Vordgine" appended to the novel, p. 360.

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322 The Factual Bases of "La Vordgine"

were Gregorio Calder6n and Hipolito Perez, both mentioned in La

Vordgine.2 Calder6n was a pioneer, in a way, who worked with his
brothers among the Huitoto Indians until he was forced to sell his
properties to a Peruvian concern under most disadvantageous condi-
tions.27 The fate of Hip6lito Perez, at one time "uno de los mas acomo-
dados residentes en el Garaparana,"28 was no better. Perez entered into
a partnership with Julio Cesar Arana and eventually had to sell out for
?5000, an amount which his property could have produced in less than
two years.29
The new rubber king of the Putumayo was Julio Cesar Arana, a
historical character who figures prominently in La Vordgine. Rivera
describes Arana as "un hombre gordote y abotagado, pechudo como una
hembra, amarillento como la envidia."30 This is in sharp contrast with
Peruvian opinion. Especially loud in their praises were some public
officials who considered Arana's conquests a noble civilizing crusade.
El notable patriota y rico comerciante de Loreto, don Julio C. Arana, a quien
por sus cualidades personales y virtudes ciudadanas siempre llame el Abel del
Departamento, ha sido el civilizador de todo el rio Putumayo y el que con su
talento y capitales ha hecho florecer el comercio en sus dos mas hermosos a-
fluentes, que son el Cara Parana y el Iga Parana.a1

Arana began his career as a hat peddler. At fourteen he had begun his
rubber dealings in the Amazon region. By means of crafty machinations
the new rubber potentate gradually did away with his competitors.
His technique consisted in organizing rubber companies in such a manner
that he ultimately became the chief beneficiary. His agents co-operated
by means of raids and wholesale slaughter. For many years Arana pros-
pered, having the tacit approval of the local Peruvian authorities because
they saw in his expansion an assertion of national sovereignty over a
disputed territory.
In 1907 Arana organized a new concern, The Peruvian Amazon Co.,
registered in London. On its board of directors were several British
subjects. Great was their astonishment in 1909 when the English maga-
zine Truth began publishing sensational articles denouncing the company

2 La Vordgine, p. 218.
27 Joaquln Rocha, Memorandum de viaje (Bogota, 1905), p. 124. See also Vicente Olarte
Camacho's Las crueldades de los peruanos en el Putumayo y en el Caquetd, third edition
(Bogota, 1932), p. 66. 28 Rocha, op. cit., p. 119.
29 Fray Gaspar de Pinell, Excursi6n apost6lica por los rios Putumayo, San Miguel de
Sucumbios, Cuyabeno, Caquetd y Cagudn (Bogota, 1929), p. 220.
80 La Vordgine, p. 198.
n Hildebrando Fuentes, Loreto. Apuntes geogrdficos, historicos, estadisticos, politicos y
sociales (Lima, 1908), II, 113.

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 323

as the most brutal slavery machine of modern times. The evidence for
this accusation had been obtained from an American engineer, Mr.
W.E. Hardenburg, who had gone to the Putumayo in 1907 with his friend
Mr. W. B. Perkins to study the possibilities of the rubber industry there.
An official investigation followed three years later, and in 1913 the
atrocities of the Putumayo became known the world over.32 The Peru-
vian Amazon Company was liquidated, but Arana continued operating
new companies in a vain attempt to retain a waning market. In 1921,
Julio Cesar Arana became senator for the Department of Loreto, Peru,
and took an active part in discouraging the ratification of the Salomon-
Lozano treaty of 1922, with which Colombia and Peru sought to put an
end to a long and protracted boundary litigation which affected precisely
that region where the Arana Company had been operating.33
Among the employees of Arana were two renegades from Colombia.
One of them, Benjamin Larrafiaga, is called by Rivera: "Ese pastuso
sin coraz6n, socio de Arana y otros peruanos, que en la hoya amaz6nica
han esclavizado mas de treinta mil indios."34 His compatriot, Miguel
Triana, calls him "hijo del pueblo de Pasto que en diez afios lleg6 a ser el
Nabab de los giiitotos y el Montecristo de la ciudad teologica."35 Also
historical is Juanchito Vega, who had formerly been Colombian Consul
at Iquitos. "Se hacia indispensable sustituir al peligroso Larranfaga por
Juan Bautista Vega, tambien pastuso de nacimiento, y mas traidor que
el otro a los intereses de su pais."36
While Arana directed the export trade from Iquitos and Manaos his
agents committed unheard of atrocities at the various stations. Rivera
mentions two of these agents, the notorious Victor Macedo and the
bookkeeper Loaiza.37 Both had long criminal records.
32 Cf. House of Commons: Correspondence Respecting the Treatment of British Colonial
Subjects and Native Indians in the Putumayo District, Including Sir Roger Casement's
Report, Vol. LXVIII (1912-13), Miscellaneous No. 8; Special Report and Report from the
Select Committee on Putumayo Atrocities . . . Vol. ix (1912-13); Reports, Proceedings, Evi-
dence, Appendices and Index, Vol. xiv (1913), 713 pp.; House of Representatives: Slavery in
Peru . . 62nd Congress, 3rd. Session, Document No. 1366 (Washington, 1913), 443 pp.
33 Cf. The Putumayo Red Book (London, 1913); W. W. Hardenburg, The Putumayo, the
Devil's Paradise (London, 1913); G. S. Paternoster, The Lords of the Devil's Paradise
(London, 1913); J. F. Woodroffe, The Upper Reaches of the Amazon (New York, 1914). A
biography of Julio Cesar Arana is given by Fray Gasper de Pinell, op. cit., pp. 196 ff.
Arana's evasive testimony in London is found in House of Commons, xiv, 459-500.
34 La Vordgine, p. 192.
36 Miguel Triana, Por el sur de Colombia (Paris, 1907), p. 121. Details of his life and
sudden death, probably by poisoning, are given in The Putumayo Red Book, pp. 86-87, and
in Pinell's book, pp. 149-150.
38 From accusation of Unos Colombianos, Manaos, July, 1907, apud Olarte Camacho,
op. cit., p. 48. Cf. La Vordgine, pp. 199, 211, 226. 37 La Vordgine, pp. 214, 197.

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 324 The Factual Bases of "La Vordgine"

Victor Macedo, el gerente de la Chorrera, uno de esos miserables asesinos, y

Miguel Loaiza, su emulo, dando rienda suelta a sus instintos criminales, se dan
continuamente el placer de quemar y asesinar a los indefensos y pacificos
moradores de esas luctuosas selvas.38

The accusation goes on to relate the details of the horrible death of some
Indians who were burned alive in exactly the same manner described in
La Vordgine.
The author of these charges was the brave Benjamin Saldafia Roca,
also referred to in the novel: "No se c6mo, empez6 a circular subrep-
ticiamente en gomales y barracones un ejemplar del diario 'La Felpa,'
que dirigia en Iquitos el periodista Saldafia Roca."39 The accusation
made by Saldafia Roca, dated August 9, 1907, as well as the many
articles in La Felpa and La Sancion, published by Saldafia, probably were
in the possession of the novelist when he wrote his book. Saldafia Roca
was a Peruvian and the first to expose the Arana Company. His charges,
formally presented to the Criminal Judge of Iquitos, were promptly
pigeon-holed. They were the cause, nevertheless, of a great deal of anx-
iety among the criminal agents of the Putumayo, who had managed the
year before to do away with the inquisitive French scientist Eugenio
Robuchon, who was employed by Arana, as stated by Rivera, to explore
the Putumayo region.40 There the scientist saw too much. Horrified by
the atrocities that came to his knowledge, Robuchon began taking pic-
tures of mutilated or murdered Indians. These photographs he sent to
Lima and Europe. Word reached the masters of the Putumayo, and soon
the scientist had mysteriously disappeared. His papers were hurriedly
collected and censored. When they were published by the Peruvian
government in 1907, full credit was given to Mr. Arana for his interest
in Robuchon's work. Anyone who reads this book will grow extremely
suspicious of the vague preface by Mr. Rey de Castro, explaining the
fate of the scientist.41 In spite of all precautions, La Prensa of Lima said
in an editorial: ". . . las fotografias ineditas tomadas por Robuchon son

38 Olarte Camacho, op. cit., pp. 87-88. A picture of Macedo can be seen in Paternoster,
op. cit., between pages 64-65. 39 La Vordgine, p. 207.
40 "Un sefor frances leg6 a las caucherias como explorador y naturalista. Al principio
se susurr6 en los barracones que venfa por cuenta de un gran museo y de no s6 que sociedad
geografica; luego se dijo que los amos de los gomales le costeaban la expedici6n." La Vord-
gine, p. 203. The contract between Robuchon and Arana as well as a picture of the scientist
and his wife are found in Robuchon's own book: En el Putumayo y sus afluentes (Lima,
1907).
a "Los sefiores Arana y Hermanos presumen, con fundamento, que el Sr. Robuchon
haya sido victima de los indios antrop6fagos que frecuentan esos parajes. Los mismos
sefiores han hecho todo gEnero de esfuerzos para descubrir el paradero del activo explorador,
pero sin resultado alguno satisfactorio." Robuchon, op. cit., p. xviii.

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 325

muy conocidas y representan escenas verdaderamente espantosas."42

It should not be surprising, then, to find in La Vordgine the implication
that Robuchon was murdered. Rivera mentions specifically in this con-
nection an agent named Barchilon,43 a Jew from Tangiers who first
came to Brazil and later entered into a partnership with Larrainaga.
His guilt in the death of Robuchon and that of many others has been
discussed in several books.44
The Putumayo crimes were officially reported by several investiga-
tors. It is difficult to identify any one of these as the "Visitador" of La
Vordgine. Rivera tells us that he was energetic but accomplished very
little in his short visit. This certainly would not apply to Sir Roger
Casement, who stayed in the Putumayo for over two months and whose
investigation had tremendous repercussions. It is hardly possible that
our author is alluding to the visit (1907) of the American Consul, Mr.
Eberhardt, since this investigation was strictly private. It is not likely
either that Mr. S. J. Fuller or Mr. G. B. Michell, American and British
Consuls respectively at Iquitos is the "Visitador" of the novel, since
these gentlemen had no authority, such as the novel describes, to dismiss
employees. On the other hand, Rivera might have had in mind the in-
vestigation conducted by Judge R6mulo Paredes from March 15 to July
15, 1911. Paredes tried to whitewash the entire affair, but could not
help admitting the truth of the charges already made. The futility of
his visit is evidenced by the meagre results obtained: of the 237 warrants
he issued only 9 were served.45 We must conclude, then, that the in-
vestigator named "Visitador" is a composite figure.
Rivera also mentions the judge at Iquitos, Dr. Valcarcel,46 who ordered
the arrest of a few more criminals of the Putumayo. Valcarcel is another
historical character. The irony of his situation was that one of the most
notorious offenders, Pablo Zumaeta, was allowed to walk freely in the
streets of Iquitos while the judge himself was removed on the ground
that he had abandoned his post.47
There are two other personages in the second part of the novel whom
we can definitely identify: General Velasco, sent by the Peruvian gov-
ernment "a licenciar tropas y resguardos en el Putumayo y en el Caqu-
eta,"48 and Don Custodio Morales, "un colombiano de amables prendas
42 El libro rojo del Putumayo, p. 58. 43 La Vordgine, p. 206.
44 Cf. Fray Gaspar de Pinell, op. cit., p. 213; Olarte Camacho, op. cit., pp. 48-49, 51.
Mr. Uribe Piedrahita calls him "hombre peligroso y taimado," Tod, p. 30.
45 The reports of Eberhardt, Paredes and Fuller are found in Slavery in Peru, House of
Representatives, Document No. 1366 (Washington, 1913).
46 La Vordgine, p. 222. 47 Paternoster, op. cit., p. 283.
48 La Vordgine, p. 218. General Velasco is mentioned in Olarte Camacho, op. cit., pp. 65-
66.

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326 The Factual Bases of "La Vordgine"

... que era colono del rio Cuimafif."49 In the book of Olarte Camacho to
which we have so often referred there appears an article entitled "Voces
del Putumayo," signed by Morales.50
We now come to Don Clemente Silva and Zorayda Ayram. The former
has a prototype in the "rumbero" Di6medes of Tod, who is said to
have accompanied the French scientist Robuchon. Don Clemente's fam-
ily tragedy was in all likelihood invented by Rivera to account for the
long travels of this character. There were many expert guides like Don
Clemente, and Rivera may not have had in mind any one in particular.
As for Zorayda Ayram, "la madona," it is believed that her prototype
is dofia Narcisa Saba, widow of Barrera Malo and owner of a modest
house at Puerto Carreiio where meals were served in hotel fashion.
"Corre como valida la especie de que dofia Narcisa, cuyo verdad
nombre, mucho mas lindo, es Nazira, fue retratada por Jose Eusta
Rivera en La Vordgine, con el inolvidable nombre de Zoraida Ayram
Whether this be true or not, we have ample reason to believe Zoraid
genuine character. A few women ventured into the Colombian inter
and traded in rubber. It is known, besides, that not a few of the peddler
of the Amazon were "turcos," a vague name applied to Turks, Syrian
and Jews.
Still more difficult to identify is El Cayeno. Although he was in all
probability a real person, we have not been able to find mention of him
in any book dealing with the Isana, Vaupes, or Rio Negro. Mr. E. K.
James, however, affirms in the preface to the translation of La Vordgine
that "Funes and El Cayeno, undisguised in this story by any pseu-
donyms, were figures known and hated throughout the rubber world."
This information was obtained from Rivera himself at the time of the
novelist's stay in New York. Rivera had with him some Spanish sources
and assured Mr. James of the authenticity of El Cayeno. This is partly
corroborated by Mr. Earl P. Hanson, who traveled in the Amazon
region a few years ago. He met a Frenchman-so he states in a letter to
us-still living in the upper Guainia. This individual was reputed to be
a fugitive from Cayenne. By personal admission one of his bitter enemies
was, as related in the novel, none other than Funes. As not all the facts
given in La Vordgine agree with the ones we have been able to gather,
we are led to believe that Rivera again gives us a type rather than a
definite individual. Certainly some of the qualities of El Cayeno would
also apply to other masters of the rubber regions like that ponderous
49 La Vordgine, p. 193. 50 Olarte Camacho, op. cit., pp. 65-70.
51 L. E. Nieto Caballero, Vuelo al Orinoco, in El Tiempo, Bogota, Nov. 1., 1934, apud
Arturo Torres Rioseco, "Jose Eustasio Rivera," Revista CuLbana, vi (April-June, 1936),
Nos. 16-18, p. 75.

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 327

negroid "king" met by Gordon MacCreagh in the upper reaches of th

Vaupes.52
We need not comment here on the work of the caucheros, the crim
committed and the general prevalence of vice in the Putumayo, discussed
at length by Hardenburg and Paternoster, among others. Of particu
interest, however, are the details given by Rivera concerning the admin-
istration of the various rubber stations. His information is in perfe
accord with the evidence gathered by Sir Roger Casement. Rivera m
have used the English report as one of his main sources for the sect
dealing with the Putumayo.53
The most pitiable victims of the rubber barons were the Indians.
They were rounded up like beasts and forced to work in gangs for
mere pittance. Thousands died in a few years from starvation or il
treatment. Rivera saw several tribes of the Vichada and Meta and
alludes besides to many others.54 A discussion of the Indian custo
described in La Vordgine would be too lengthy to include here. Ou
author was intensely interested in Amazon life and felt a deep com
sion for the Indian, a Colombian citizen for whom little or nothing
been done and one who has generally been the victim of crafty adv
turers.55
The third part of the novel contains the story of Funes and the crim

62 Gordon MacCreagh, White Waters and Black (New York, 1926), pp. 320-321. S
curate is the factual data of La Vordgine that Messrs. Howard and Ralph Wolf did
hesitate to include El Cayeno as an authentic figure in their excellent work Rubbe
Story of Glory and Greed (New York, 1936). The authors have informed us that t
reference to El Cayeno was written on the basis of the facts given in Rivera's novel
63 "Nominally-says the British Consul-General-the men were well paid with f
5 1. to 61. per month, but this pay given with one hand was generally taken back wit
other, for the prices at which the men were forced to satisfy their necessities from
company's stores ate up each month's and even several months of their earnings b
they became due. A man in debt anywhere in the Amazon rubber districts is not allow
leave until the debt is paid and, as the creditor makes out the account and keep
books, the debtor frequently does not know how much he owes and, even if he ha
means, might not always be able to satisfy their claims. Accounts are falsified and me
kept in what becomes a perpetual state of bondage, partly through their own thriftles
(which is encouraged) and partly by deliberate dishonesty." From Sir Roger Casem
Report, HIouse of Commons, Vol. LXVIII, Miscellaneous No. 8, p. 18. Cf. La Vordgine
189, 217.
54 Rivera mentions the Vanivas, Bares, Carijonas, Huitotos, Andoques, Puinaves and
Maipurefios, aside from a cosmopolitan tribe of the Papunagua formed by refugees from
the rubber regions. La Vordgine, pp. 134, 168, 169, 176, 195. Mr. Custodio Morales tells of
the existence of a similar cosmopolitan tribe at Cuemafii. Cf. Olarte Camacho, op. cit.,
pp. 67-58.
55 Details on the use of achiote, yopo, yage, and on Indian beliefs and practices may be
found in the books of Fray Gaspar de Pinell, Perez Triana, and Brisson, already cited.

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328 The Factual Bases of "La Vordgine"

of San Fernando. Ever since Puerto Ayacucho was made the seat of the
government in 1928, San Fernando has been a ghost town. In 1932 it
had only about sixty people. The town, although dead, survives in the
memories of those who lived through the reign of terror of the half
demented Tomas Funes, the ogre of San Fernando.
San Fernando was not a safe place for a governor: Venancio Pulgar
was shot, Melendez Carrasco wounded, Maldonado killed; and Roberto
Pulido, the one presented in La Vordgine, was murdered in cold blood,
along with seventy others.56
Opinions on the wisdom and honesty of governor Pvlido vary. Rivera
is inclined to justify his commercial activities, admitting, however, that
Pulido "al vender con mano oficial recogia con ambas manos."57 Mr.
H. C. Dickey, on the other hand, states that Pulido, not satisfied with
taxes alone, had a monopoly of cigarettes, which he sold to his own
soldiers, charging the purchases to their next month's pay. Pulido, we
are told, even opened a gambling den where cigarettes were used as
chips.68 Some claim-with Rivera-that the governor's decrees were
well inspired. Mr. Arthur Friel, who has written a very able account of
San Fernando affairs, states that Pulido intended to use some of the
proceeds of his taxes for the improvement of transportation facilities.59
Undoubtedly the governor was not above reproach and, knowing that
his situation was not safe, he preferred to live at Catanapo, where it
was "healthier."60
As some of the taxpayers could not pay with cash, Pulido confiscated
rubber, tonka beans, balata, or any other produce of value. One of those
affected was Colonel Tomas Funes. The facts given in La Vordgine con-
cerning the events of May, 1913, are as accurate as any. The reader may
compare them with those found in the lengthier account of Friel, who
obtained his information largely from men of the Orinoco. Funes sec-
retly armed his men and attacked Pulido and his family at night. The
governor, who had just returned home with fever; was in his hammock.

68 Cf. Rufino Blanco Fombona, Diario de mi vida (Madrid, 1929), pp. 181-182.
57 La Voragine, p. 299. "El gobernador-the novelist explains-no habfa establecido
impuestos estfipidos; sin embargo, fragu6base la conjura para suprimirlo. Su mala estrella
le aconsej6 dictar un decreto en el cual disponfa que los derechos de exportar caucho se
pagaran en San Fernando, con oro o con plata, y no con pagares girados contra el comercio
de Ciudad Bolivar." La Vordgine, p. 300.
58 "He would take fifty per cent of the cigarettes out of each pot, as owner of the resort,
and sell them back to the players. And I have it on good authority that he did not disdain
shoes and articles of clothing, even food of the soldiers for which he exchanged more
cigarettes for gambling." H. C. Dickey, My Jungle Book (Boston, 1932), pp. 173-174.
69 Arthur Friel, op. cit., p. 127.
60 Cf. Leo E. Miller, In the Wilds of South America (New York, 1919), pp. 153, 163.

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 329

A volley of bullets killed him before he could defend himself. His wife,
driven to insanity by this assassination, was captured and bound, along
with her son, a lad of about fourteen. In the meantime the henchmen of
the crazed Colonel killed some seventy people: "En las tiendas, en las
calles, en los solares reventaban los tiros. Confusi6n, fogonazos, lamen-
taciones, sombras corriendo en la obscuridad."6l
After the massacre Funes appointed himself governor. With garrisons
stationed at strategic points along the rivers and with an army of crim-
inals behind him, Funes became sole authority along the Orinoco. Some-
times an innocent individual was "sent to Funes's cemetery" for the
most trivial reason. In the black list were included his own accomplices.
In mortal fear for his life, El Coronel ordered the death of whole families.
Rivera justly says:
Jamfs, en ningun pais, se vi6 tirano con tanto dominio en vida y fortunas como
el que atormenta la inmensurable zona cauchera cuyas dos salidas estas cerradas:
en el Orinoco, por los chorros de Atures y Maipures; y en el Guainia, porla
Aduana de Amanadona.62

Oddly enough, Funes became the official governor of Amazonas by a

decree of Juan Vicente Gomez. Mr. Dickey, who met the monster of
the Orinoco, describes him as "a small, dapper chap... He had a retreat-
ing forehead, a luxuriant black moustache, a sallow complexion. He wore
a number five shoe."63 His reign of terror lasted eight long years, until
January 30, 1921, when he was shot by Arevalo Cedeiio.
Rivera mentions also a few minor individuals who are historical. One
of Funes's subordinates was a certain L6pez: "El grupo de Lopez,
felinamente se acerc6 a la ventana abierta."4 This individual is men-
tioned in Friel's book. Lopez acted like a scared rabbit-Friel asserts-
when he faced a firing squad in 1921.65 Another culprit in Funes's "army"
was Gonzalez, mentioned in La Vordgine as the one who murdered sev-
eral men with his own machete. This was Gonzalez Perdomo, the author
of a book vindicating Funes. Gonzalez was later placed in charge of the
Maipures garrison. Like many others he was poisoned by Funes himself.66
Even Espinosa, barely mentioned in the novel, is a real character. And
it is at least remotely possible that Vacares, nicknamed "El Vaquiro" in
the novel, is the individual whom Friel calls Baca.67

61 La Vordgine, pp. 302-303. 62 La Vordgine, p. 301.

63 Dickey, op. cit., pp. 175-176. 4 La Vordgine, p. 302.
65 "The most noted butchers in Funes's force were Luciano L6pez, his second in com-
mand, who really was a butcher-the town's official killer of cattle-and one Avispa, whose
name (real or assumed) meant 'Wasp'." Friel, op. cit., p. 144.
66 Ibid., pp. 144, 145. Cf. La Vordgine, p. 303.
67 Friel, op. cit., pp. 135-136, 137.

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330 The Factual Bases of "La Vordgine"

Near the end of the novel Rivera mentions two other persons that
deserve comment. One is Monsefor Massa, to whom we have already
alluded. Monsefior Massa has been described as

Digno sucesor.... Hombre practico, poseedor de la educaci6n y experiencias

necesarias para una labor de este genero, y, animado del celo misionero y espiritu
religioso que parecen inspirar a los Padres Salesianos, su iniciativa, energia,
entusiasmo y habilidad estan obteniendo resultados notables.68

The other person is Joao Castanheira Fontes. Joao was probably related
to don Antonio Castanheiro Fontes of Umarituba whom Dr. Hamilton
Rice met on his trip to the Rio Negro.69
A close examination of other materials which we have been unable to
consult would probably show that several of the names and events not
discussed in this paper are also historical. As secretary of the Second
Section Committee Rivera had excellent opportunities to examine a
good number of documents from which to draw information. Besides,
he must have talked to many a river boatsman to whom the inside story
of the Putumayo and San Fernando was well known. It is well-nigh
impossible today to verify many of the details given by the novelist, as
most of the possible informers prefer to carry their secrets with them.
Friel, Hanson, and others who have traveled in the Amazon interior
have found a general reluctance to confide in strangers.
Rivera mentions over sixty rivers and tributaries of the region covered
by the novel. So sure was the novelist of his geographical knowledge that
he dared to call the map prepared by the Oficina de Longitudes "mapa
costoso, aparatoso, mentiroso y deficientisimo." Aside from the many
rectifications made in recent years concerning the headwaters of certain
Colombian rivers, we have found many evidences of imperfect knowledge
of the geography of the Colombian interior. As late as 1925, for example,
Fray Estanislao de Las Corts published a Report relating his adventures
along "el desconocido rio Caguan," a tributary of the Caqueta.70 La
Vordgine also contains a great profusion of information on the fauna
and flora of Colombia. Rivera was a lover of nature and a good observer.
Now he delights in the gorgeous sight of a herons' pond or the glory of
the awakening day; now he succumbs to the spell of the jungle and its
destructive denizens, the recoiling giilo, the voracious carib fish or the
devastating tambochas.
La Vordgine is a historical record and a social document. Probably
the historical part of its plot will relegate the novel to a secondary place

68 Rice, H. A., op. cit., p. 180. 69 Ibid., p. 6.

70 Cf. Informes de las Misiones Catblicas de Colombia relativos a los anos 1925 y 1926
(Bogota, 1926).

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 Eduardo Neale-Silva 331

in the future. But certain sections will survive, especially those writ
in complete detachment from pure history. The events of the Putum
and San Fernando refer to a specific time and a specific place and ha
no representative value. More significant by far are the sections int
preting the soul of the llanos and the jungle.
While the novel is essentially accurate, the impression it leaves in
reader is erroneous. Rivera crowded into a simple plot the history of som
fifteen long years. The choice of the events, their rapid succession,
the exalted dramatic atmosphere that pervades the pages of the nov
all contribute to make of La Vordgine exactly what its title implies,
vortex of action. The mad world depicted in the second and third par
even though its component elements are historically true, is essentia
an artificial accumulation of events unrelated in time and space. In
contrast with the first part the latter sections of the novel are no
synthesis but a summary.
Probably the more artistic passages of the novel were written
separate units and fused into one work at a later date. This explains
unevenness of the novel and its defective technique. The poetic an
factual moods indicate a difference in the time of composition and
difference in purpose. When the novel was finally written, the artist w
partly defeated by the historian.7
EDUARDO NEALE-SILVA
University of Wisconsin

71 Subsequent to the completion of this article I consulted the excellent book of Earl P.
Hanson, Journey to Manaos, (New York, 1938). In the detailed account of Funes's regime
the author alludes to the Italian Jesus Capecchi and to Dr. Baldomero Benftez, both his-
torical characters mentioned by Rivera. (Cf. La Vordgine, pp. 302, 305). I also succeeded
in obtaining a copy of El proceso del Putumayo (Lima, 1915), a general expose written in
self-defense by Sr. Carlos A. Valcarcel, the Peruvian judge at Iquitos already discussed
(See footnote 46). The evidence given by Valcarcel concerning the affairs of the Putumayo
is overwhelming. Finally, one modification. When the articles published in El Tiempo of
Bogota appeared in book form, L. E. Nieto Caballero inserted a letter signed by Nazira
(dofia Narcisa Saba) denying the supposition that she is Zoraida Ayram. Vuelo al Orinoco
(Bogota, 1935), p. 151.

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