“I do not wish to cause you any harm,” said Rick.
“I have no reason to think that,” said John, “but you may do so nevertheless. Most importantly, you may harm us by simply doing the job you were sent here to do. That gives us pause about your being here. Your discipline is built on analyzing primitive societies—the more remote and unusual the better—and on publicizing your discoveries, right?”
Rick sensed the tension in John’s voice.
“I’m researching your society and writing about it so others can benefit from what I’ve learned,” confessed Rick.
“But your desire to inform your readers might destroy us. If the outside world learns about us, we might get overrun economically and culturally.”
“You live in such a remote part of the world. Surely, you could still live here in peace.”
“Perhaps so, but let me ask, why are you so interested in studying our group? Although we suggested that you find another group to study and leave us here in privacy, you insisted on remaining and studying us.”
“You have a fascinating society. You interest me a great deal,” said Rick.
“Who else, like you, would be interested?” asked John pointedly.
“Well, my professors at my university, other anthropologists, and my readers when I publish my dissertation,” responded Rick.
“That’s the risk. We know our unusual history and the unusual way we do things will spark interest in outside society. That increases the risk to our privacy.”
“You already make regular contact with outside society, you said,” responded Rick defensively.
“Yes, we do, but we do it on our terms. The problem, from our point of view, is excessive contacts initiated by outside societies that are beyond our ability to control. We could get overwhelmed with outside values, values like having to buy everything in sight before you can regard yourself as successful. The advertising would be appalling, its noise pervasive, just as it is in outside society, leaving us little peace in which to nurture our own thoughts and values. We ask you to keep this in mind as you live among us and, more importantly, when you return to outside society.”
There was an awkward pause. John looked Rick in the eyes, awaiting his response.
“I will,” answered Rick.
“Good.”
To break the uneasiness of the moment, Rick asked another question, “If someone decides to live in La Puerta or some other city in outside society, can they decide later to return to the village?”
“Yes. We would welcome them back. In addition, if they decide to live in La Puerta, they are not cut off from us. Almost all of those who choose to live there visit our village from time to time. Our boats run regularly from here to La Puerta and back. For their passage, they are expected to help with the transport of the goods we ship.”
“What you describe entails a lot of ongoing contact with the outside world,” said Rick. “It involves many trips down river carrying your plant-based products to La Puerta and then returning here with purchased items, such as medical supplies and books for your library. Tell me more about how you do that on a regular basis. It was risky for me to make it here and I only did it once.”
“It has required a lot of thought and work over the years to make it easier,” said John. “Follow me and I’ll give you an idea of how we do it.”
John led him away from the entertainment center, between the cloth manufacturing facility and the medical facility, across the bridge spanning the Bel Ami, then to the right along a well-tended pathway, covered with pebbles that had been packed down into its surface, making it firm and hard. It was bordered on each side by rows of larger stones and thick plants. They had gone about fifty yards from the bridge when they entered a clearing with a small building. Rick saw six wooden-wheeled carts lined up along one side of the building. Their wheels rested on two parallel rails which went in a downstream direction until they disappeared in heavy green foliage.
“What are the wheels on? They look like railroad rails,” commented Rick.
“They are indeed railway rails…or at least as much like railway rails as we can make them,” replied John.
“What are they made of? They don’t look like steel.”
“You’re right. We couldn’t transport steel rails this far up river because their weight is prohibitive. Besides, we had enough experience with our muskets and other steel items to know that the rails would soon be eaten up by the rust. The problem was finding a material to take the place of steel. We experimented with several before finding one that was satisfactory. These rails are made from strips of bamboo that are glued together with a waterproof adhesive that we developed. Bamboo is very hard and abundant, providing us ample material to use. We also had to pay attention to the sleepers. Most of the way, we could cut them from any tree that’s naturally resistant to ants and termites, but when we got into wet or challenging environments, for example, in low-lying areas close to the river, we used ironwood which didn’t rot, warp, or split. There was enough of it spaced along the La Cuerda so we could cut what we needed as we went. Thank goodness, because it’s terribly heavy to transport.”
“Isn’t ironwood tough to cut?” asked Rick. “I haven’t done much woodworking but I’ve heard that it’s difficult to work with.”
“What you heard is correct. When we figured out that ironwood made the best sleepers in wet areas, we still had to figure out how to cut it. After some experimentation, we designed a simple wooden frame that held a water-powered saw blade. We built the frames on site, and purchased the best blades we could find in La Puerta. In spite of the high quality of the blades, we dulled a number of them over the years.”
“Does your bamboo rail system go the entire distance to La Puerta?”
“No. We couldn’t do that, and besides, it’s not necessary to rail the entire distance. We just have to get past the falls and rapids where we can’t use the river, then we use boats to travel, just like everyone else in the rain forest.”
“If you have rail lines around the rapids, why didn’t I see them as I traveled up river?” asked Rick. “I walked along the river bank at every portage.”
“We’ve taken care over the years to place the rails where they are unlikely to be seen. We preserve nearby vegetation to hide them and plant more as needed for concealment.”
“This seems very complicated,” observed Rick. “It must have been a difficult feat of engineering to build around the rapids.”
“It was challenging. By 1870, we’d constructed a crude system around the rapids but when our trade expanded, that system proved to be insufficient for our needs. As was our custom, we tried to steal as much knowledge as we could. In the early twentieth century, we bought all the books we could find on the French and American efforts to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The rain forest they were dealing with in Panama was every bit as formidable as ours. We learned a lot from them about rail technology and excavation.”
“What they were doing was of use to you?” inquired Rick, with great curiosity.
“Yes, but obviously the scale of what they were doing was so large that the constant challenge for us was identifying which parts of their knowledge and technology were of use to us. That’s always a crucial question, isn’t it? What do you select from the technological knowledge that you encounter?” he added with a smile. “Getting a proper gradient around the falls was crucial, because we couldn’t have our goods wagons going too fast downhill or have the slopes too steep to pull them up on return trips. The canal engineers were the world’s best on such issues and that helped us create the proper gradients, even with our crude tools. Afterward, as an expression of our gratitude, we sent them some medicines anonymously from La Puerta that we’d developed to combat malaria and yellow fever. We don’t know if they used them but we did note that their problems from these two diseases declined after our mailing.”
“It seems like a remarkable achievement, but how do you pull these carts on
the rails?” asked Rick, sweeping his hand along the row of carts. “They’re too heavy to pull by hand.”
“Before we started selling in La Puerta in bulk, we tried pulling small wheeled wagons by hand on the rails but that took a lot of effort and we couldn’t transport a lot in each one…not nearly as much as we carry in the boot of these carts. Later, to ease the burden, we brought in horses and donkeys but later turned to llamas to do the pulling. We have domesticated them and now have plenty for our uses. Even though the volume of products we need to move has increased over time, it’s not that large compared to the volumes shipped in outside society. After all, we don’t buy and sell to the same extent you do.”
At the end of the day, John told Rick he would come by the next day to teach him about the flora and fauna of the rain forest, the first of several lessons he needed right away. Just before he left, he reminded Rick, one last time, to stay out of the rain forest until he knew more about it.
CHAPTER 11
Flora and Fauna
The next morning Rick went to the communal kitchen for breakfast. The food was tasty even if he didn’t know what it was. After finishing, Rick returned to his room; he was eager to meet John so he could start learning about the plants and animals of the rain forest. Soon, he heard a knock on his door.
“Good morning, Rick. I assume I’m not intruding, as your privacy disc isn’t hung on your door frame.”
“Not at all, John. I’ve been expecting you. Put your backpack on that chair.”
“Thank you.”
“I take it today I’m going to learn about the biology of the rain forest.”
“That’s right. It’s important that you learn as much as you can, as fast as you can, about the plants and animals that live here so you won’t put yourself or us at risk.”
“I’m ready to begin. Where do we start?”
“Over the next two months, we’ll take weekly walks through the rain forest so you can see for yourself what I’m talking about. It’s the only practical way to learn this. Let’s do our first walk now.”
“Sure. I’ll get my journal and pen so I won’t forget anything you tell me.”
“Good idea…and bring your survival knife. Never go into the rain forest without that, and you should always wear boots that cover your ankles.”
“I have a pair.”
“Good. Not only wear them today but wear them every other time you’re in the rain forest. They’ll protect you better from snake bites than your sneakers, which you should use only in the village.”
After Rick put on his boots, John gave him the once-over.
“Your clothing is fine for the rain forest except that you need a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt with no pattern so you can see the insects that get on you.”
“Long sleeves?” asked Rick querulously. “I don’t have any because I thought that they’d be too hot in this climate.”
“You need them because they offer some protection against leaf cuts, bug bites, and sunburns, and that’s worth the extra heat.”
“But how can I get one at this point?”
“We’ll stop by the commissary and get one before we go on our walk.”
“Thank you, John”
“You’re welcome.”
At the commissary, a worker got Rick a shirt out of stock, which he tried on. The sewing was not as finished as he was used to but it was sturdy and looked like it would last. The material was fiber cloth and felt luxurious, softer even than fine cotton.
“How do I pay for the shirt, John?” asked Rick. “I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”
“Thank you, but you don’t have to pay. Your needs are funded out of social wealth.”
John spoke quietly to the clerk who had brought him the shirt and handed him four short lengths of bamboo, or at least that’s what they looked like to Rick. As they left the facility, John led them along a trail leading southward beside the Bel Ami, that is to say, up the Euromamo valley. Rick stayed close by. As they walked, John talked generally about biology in the rain forest.
“A fundamental characteristic of life here is that there are many more species of plants and animals than there are in your environment. For example, the Mississippi River has three hundred species of fish, while the La Cuerda has over three thousand species. This ratio holds true for other plants and animals too. Since there’s ten times the variety here than you’re used to, you’ve got a lot to learn,” he paused, looking at Rick until he nodded in agreement. “At a minimum, you must know a thousand species to be safe, not only for your personal well-being, but also for the well-being of the village. For example, in our walk thus far, Rick, we have passed two slash bushes that could give you a nasty cut, like the one you got earlier. They were two feet away so I didn’t mention them. Here is another so you can learn how they look.”
After Rick made notes, John mentioned, “There is a colorful snake curled low around that tree trunk. You can see it in the shadows. Look for the orange, black, and white stripes. It goes wide orange, black, white, wide black, white, black, and then back to wide orange.”
“A coral snake?” asked Rick with some urgency in his voice.
“Yes. An aquatic coral snake to be precise.”
“I thought coral snakes were colored a little differently. There’s a rhyme about the striping, I think.”
“You’re thinking of the eastern coral snake of the southern US. It’s got wide red and black stripes separated by narrower yellow stripes. We don’t have those here.”
“The striping is complicated.”
“Let’s wait here to give the snake some room. We can still see it. Yes, the striping is probably too complicated to remember if you’re excited. In addition, there are other coral snakes in the rain forest with different striping than this one. Getting fooled could be a deadly mistake. In addition, there are non-poisonous snakes with striping very similar to coral snakes. How do you distinguish those? If you look closely, this snake’s tail is short and blunt, whereas non-poisonous snakes that mimic coral snakes generally have tails that are long and narrow.”
“Although you may find these rules about stripes and tails helpful, I give them to you with a caution. The rain forest is teeming with species, so you could encounter snakes that do not fit either rule. Rain forest animals treat all snakes striped anything like this as poisonous and avoid them. It’s a good idea for you to do the same, don’t you think?”
Rick wrote furiously in his journal but gave a nod in response to John’s question. As they walked away, Rick glanced back at the snake to make sure it remained in place.
After they had gone another fifty yards in silence, Rick asked, “What are you seeing, John?”
“Look in front of us in that big tree to the right. There is an owl perched on a limb high in the canopy.”
“I see it,” said Rick, squinting.
“In the tree just to the right of that, there’s a small dark blob by the trunk that’s probably a howler monkey. It’s impossible to tell until we get closer.”
“I missed both of them,” admitted Rick.
“That’s the purpose of this walk, to train your eyes to see what’s around you.”
“You have talked about the dangers of the rain forest. What is the greatest danger around us now?”
“Good question. In the shadows by that small stream is a toppled tree that’s started to rot. At the end of the tree is a beehive. If you look closely, you can see the bees buzzing. Fortunately, they’re not riled up at the moment. You’d have a very tough time of it, indeed, if you disturbed them and they swarmed you.”
“You’d have to jump quickly in the stream?” asked Rick.
“You probably would. If you didn’t, you might get enough stings to kill you.”
“I have some antidote in my pack of medical supplies,” offered Rick.
“It’s back in your room and the bees are out here. That would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
“I can’t very well car
ry everything with me all the time,” said Rick with slight frustration.
“True, but you should carry antidotes for the most serious dangers you might encounter. I didn’t press you to carry yours today because I have supplies in my backpack.”
“Bee-sting antidote?” asked Rick.
“Yes, and snake-bite antidote as well,” counseled John. “In fact, you will need to carry four types of that and pick the correct type based on the species of snake that bites you. When we get back to the store, I’ll get a rucksack for you to use on excursions.”
“If you were forced by bees to jump in the water, would you look first to see what’s in the water?” asked Rick.
“That depends on how many bees there were and how close they were to me. In most cases, I wouldn’t delay. I should mention, however, that there’s usually a caiman that suns on some rocks over there this time of day, and then cools himself off in the stream. Let’s go off the trail and see if he’s there. Watch out for that plant on the right.”
Rick followed him off the path with more trepidation than he had before their walk. He was careful of the plant on the right that had some nasty-looking thistles and some large ants crawling on it.
“This may be easier walking than you had imagined,” John began.
“Yes, it is. I thought I would have to hack my way through vegetation.”
“Other than the trees, not many large plants grow on the rain forest floor because the canopy blocks out the sunlight that the plants down here need to flourish. However, this is no place to take a casual stroll.”
John looked up and down the stream for about a minute before he said, “There’s the caiman, right over there.”
“I don’t see it,” said Rick. “All I see is the stream, logs, and leaves.”
“If you look closely in the shade of that log, you can make out the top of his back.”
“I can see a dark shape, but how do you know it’s not another log?”
The Blue Disc Page 13
