METHODS OF FISHING 29 kinds. In all parts of the world occur mineral and plant substances whose introduction into natural waters affects fishes. Mr. O. L. Shields, Valley Station, Kentucky volunteered information recently, “that people in a nearby county are in the Fia. 12. Fish-poisoning. This was the first step preparatory to poisoninganarmoftheRioChanchomayo.Bymeansofthebrushdamthe flow of water was reduced. The actual poisoning shown in the Frontispiece.
habit of throwing walnut hulls into the creeks, and dead fish come to the surface’’. Furthermore, ‘this is done whenever a mess of fish is wanted.”’ South Americz seems to have more than a reasonable share of these deleterious substances. Bates
30 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA observed the introduction into streams of a poisonous liana (Paullinia pinnata), prepared by crushing into a pulp. Under the rather commonly used name timbé Orton discusses it (page 169). Kingston’s “‘liana’”’ (page 465), “poured from a calabash” is probably the same. Fleming observed the Indians whipping the water with a bush, name forgotten (page 153).
One or more species of the leguminous genus Lonchocarpus have been reported as fish-poisons from a wide area. By im Thurn (page 233) L. densiflorus is designated as the agent employed by Guiana Indians, who create pools for poisoning by constructing dams. In my own observation temporary dams were constructed of rock, brush, and earth (Fig. 12), not for creating pools, but to divert much of the water of a stream for the opposite purpose of reducing the volume to be poisoned. Im Thurn gives the name havari (Arawak) to the plant. Three others he names are: connamt (Clibadium aspersum), the seed of which is employed; haiari-balli (Mullera moniliformis); and yarro-conalli (Tephrosia toxicaria), used by the Macusis. Kahn was informed of a Lonchocarpus, the juice of which his Djukas extracted for poisoning, and which they call nekku.
Orton’s list of fish poisons includes an ‘evergreen bush, Jacquinia armillaris, and MacCreagh refers to the thorny-boled tree solyman and bush-barbasco (as though he had knowledge also of a vine-barbasco). Paez (page 432) mentions a poison only occasionally referred to by others, cuna, a Venezuelan name. It has a clover-like leaf, and a turnip-like bulb, and is obviously the Ovalis of other regions. The various authors give accounts of the matter which seem to be founded largely upon hearsay rather than careful observation. The name barbasco is loosely applied to several plants in different regions, of very different nature, the name being no more specific than the word ‘‘poison’’. Thus Paez calls it a vine (page 432), as does Up de Graff (page 204), while Grubb (page 34) calls it a crushed liana.
Kigenmann (1912, page 39, figs. 10 and 11) took advantage of the custom of using timboé in British Guiana.
On our arrival ‘‘on the hill” in Central Peru we were informed of the use by the inhabitants of a poisonous root called cubé (pronounced koo-bay), or barbasco. It was, furthermore, known to be imported by the people of the mountain region from the tropical lowlands for use as an insecticidal dip for stock. But due to its misapplication in the unlawful poisoning of streams, it was officially contraband, not only as to use, but even to possession and sale. We canvassed Oroya, Cerro de Pasco, and Junin in the hope of obtaining it for collecting purposes, but of course no one thus approached by strangers had ever heard of it. When Prof. Eigenmann reached Huancayo, and formed the acquaintance of Mr. Dennis, the director of the Methodist Mission school, the latter was able to make the necessary contacts. At his magic words, little stocks of cwbé began to come forth from beneath counters and back rooms in the little shops all around the town. With this supply we were enabled to collect in many streams of the highlands which otherwise would have yielded nothing.
Two years later, returning via Lima and Oroya enroute to the lowlands of the interior, I also stopped off at Huancayo, and also visited Mr. Dennis. Again
METHODS OF FISHING 31 with him I canvassed the tiendas of Huancayo, and his magic formula with my form of palmistry elicited a fair supply of the root for my journey. Meanwhile Prof. Eigenmann, on his return home, had communicated to Dr. N. E. MeIndoo, U. 8. Bureau of Entomology, the story of cubé, which, of course would interest that bureau for its known insecticidal properties. We were requested to obtain a supply for analysis and testing. This also through Mr. Dennis I was able to do. The result of their analysis has had far-reaching consequences. The root proved to be so rich in rotenone that it was recommended as a substitute for Derris, and has been developed in recent years on a large commercial scale. Our interest in the root was of course its effectiveness as an agent for fishcollecting. The supply which we obtained in the high Andes, far from its point of origin, was always well-dried, the roots gnarled, shrunken, yellowish in color. Later in the interior the roots which I obtained fresh, still in the sap, well rounded out, smooth, resembled the others much as new potatoes resemble last year’s crop toward the end of winter. Many persons, seeing we had a supply, volunteered information about it. There was a general opinion that the old dry roots are the more potent. I am inclined to agree, but for the reason that the water-extraction of the powdery alkaloid is easier and more complete than from the juicy, fresh root. The manner of using the roots consists, first of thoroughly crushing them, either in the open, or in a bag, improvised in our case from our supply of cheesecloth; then of further crushing and kneading the bag with its contents under the water to be poisoned, washing out the alkaloid in a milky stream. (See Frontispiece.) Afterward the thoroughly macerated residue may be broadcast into the water.
During the preparation, either between rocks, or by use of a cudgel (beetle, in the words of Marcoy) on a stump, a fine, yellow dust of the dried sap is liberated. The operator must work with much care, for the powder gets into the air and materially impedes respiration. In high elevations with reduced oxygen this proved to be serious indeed. We had a very fair demonstration upon ourselves of the effect which the extract has upon the fish, causing it to struggle to the surface where it may gasp for air. If the dosage is high enough it results in death to fishes, and the more active they are the more susceptible. If speedily washed downstream, the fishes have opportunity to recover.
Domville-Fife’s allusion (page 210), ‘‘pounding a certain root and placing the flour so made in a bag, suspended by a cord in the river’? may refer to cubé. The method is similar, but the amount needed to poison a river would be very great. Of course the word “‘rio”’ often applies to very small streams, since there seems to be no well-used equivalent of the word ‘creek’. Orton’s (page 169) description of the process makes certain that he had the same plant in mind. Paez says barbasco is a vine, and that either vine or root is crushed with a mallet. Hesays that when fishes are to be poisoned with cuna, they are first baited with maize-meal mush, then the poison administered in a mixture with the mush, pastelike. Thus it would appear to be a stomach poison, while cwbé has its effect through the gills.
Herndon (pages 161 and 193) and Marcoy (II, 179) describe regular and peri-
32 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA odic fishing-parties of entire villages, gala events, on which streams and lakes were thoroughly poisoned and the whole fish-population removed, by the use of barbascum. The fishes when in their last struggles were retrieved by baskets used as dipnets, larger ones by bow and arrow.
Today there are statutes and decrees forbidding the use of poisons, and the practise no longer takes place in the open, except in the remotest districts. Yet the opposition to it arises more from the fears of cattle owners than from motives of conservation.
Europeans sometimes hesitate to eat fish taken in this manner, but no one is ever harmed by doing so.
SOUTH AMERICAN FISH-LORE As in other regions of the world, fishes have been looked upon through the ages, by primitive peoples, with an interest often religious, often superstitious, and with certain mystic properties attributed to them. Thus they are commonly subjects of art, in common with other forms of animal life. Means (pages 74-77) shows examples of early Peruvian ceramic work decorated with fishing scenes— Fig. 13. The Rio Azupizu, a principal tributary of the Pichis-Pachitea-Ucayali complex. My pack-train fording the river on the Via Central. even with hook and line! Enock, Andes and Amazon, (page 217) alludes to the use of the fish symbol of Viracocha, the ranking pre-Inca deity. He finds in Viracocha a parallel to the Chaldean god of beginnings, Dagon. Padre Techo, 1608, Historia de la Provincia Jesuitica del Paraguay (see Church, page 255) says that among the Guaycurtis every man selected from among a number of eligible species one who was to be the patron and protector of his life. When offered fish of this species as food, he would refuse it as taboo.
The significance to the peoples of the interior of the fish life is well exemplified in the many names of streams and places, especially the latter. The story of the Inca’s relays of runners for supplying his table with fresh fish from the coast, wherever he might be in his mountain realm, is one to appeal to the imagination. 30
34 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA A wide-spread story has survived in northern Peru and Ecuador that the voleanoes Caraguayrazo and Imbabura once housed underground reservoirs and streams inhabited by fishes. About 1700, during eruptions, it was generally believed that these waters were spewed up mingled with volcanic mud and steam, and the fishes rained upon the surrounding slopes for miles about. The story was accepted by so good a man of science as James Orton (1875, 132, 143), and not definitely denied by Edward Whymper (1891), although a much more logical explanation of the occurrence is that the fishes were inhabiting the crannies of surface streams, and were killed by the mud and ash of the eruption. Paez (page 420) knew of the episode and passed it on without raising doubts; but then he also transmits as true the story of his father’s having seen a rain of fishes (bocachica) which he had seen in youth. I found persons in northern and central Peru who knew of blind fishes living in the caves. This may be true, and the tradition may have no connection with the fishes of the voleanoes.
Paez gives us a fish-tale which is one of the best emanating from the continent, partly for its brushing elbows with history as well as a true light on natural history. Simon Bolivar, the great Liberator, was taking a brief pasear in a canoe with a friend, idling along in a holiday mood. The friend slyly splashed the great man with his paddle. ‘‘Damn it, Companero, let us pull back. Even the fish are hostile in this country.”’ Medina (Lee trans., 1934, 189) may be credited with the following narrative, which unfortunately loses effect in the absence of the background of heroic adventure of the first discovery of the Amazon, out of which it must be lifted. Padre Carbajal’s journal of Orellana’s pioneering crew names many witnesses. On the deck of the ship which they had constructed in the wilderness, Mexia, their first crossbowman, leveled his weapon to bring down a bird. A vital and necessary nut fell out of the firing mechanism of the crossbow, and overside into the river, putting the bow out of commission. Contreras meanwhile was fishing from the deck nearby. Casting his hook into the river he pulled in a fish of five spans length. This was passed to the cook, and when the latter dressed it for cooking, there was the missing nut in its belly. The last remaining crossbow was restored to usefulness. To be interpreted only as a special act of Providence, the episode once again revived the courage of the crew.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE FISHES GEOLOGICAL BASIS OF DISTRIBUTION In no part of the world do distributional studies present more interesting correlations between the hydrography and topography on the one hand, and the facts of plant and animal distribution on the other. Whether we accept or reject the Archhelenis theory to account for the beginnings of certain families of freshwater fishes in South America, we still have ample evidence of the part played by the old land masses, Archiguyana and Archibrazil.
(1) THe ORIGIN OF THE LAND Forms Throughout much of the Palaeozoic Era and the early Mesozoic, the portion of the South American continent with which we are concerned existed as an immense geosyncline, or trough, of greater or less extent below sea level. The older Paleozoic continents existed at that time farther eastward where the matured highlands of Brazil and the Guianas are today. Materials originating in the eastern highlands probably contributed to the upbuilding of the immense depths of sedimentary formations in this western trough. The Brazilian and Guiana highlands were doubtless then of much greater height and more rugged form where now reduced to maturity. There is less evidence that an additional nearby continent existed on the Pacific side which might have added its contributions to the upbuilding of the many thousand feet of andean sedimentary rocks. At any rate the formations are there, derived from adjacent highlands, of enormous horizontal and vertical magnitude, requiring a correspondingly great total of submerged area of sea bottom, now a lofty mountain system. Either great deeps existed over a long period of time, or, more probably a long series of shorter periods of subsidence accompanied by aggradation were occurring and recurring throughout the period. This period of accumulation of sedimentary formations may be considered the first step. It is closely paralleled by events in the northern hemisphere, with the older Appalachian system contributing to a great syncline in the western ocean while weathering to maturity, and the new, rugged Rocky Mountain system rearing itself along the lines of the syncline, bearing aloft the sedimentary accumulations formed in it. In the middle Mesozoic a second step has begun. Diastrophic rearrangements of enormous magnitude were in order in many parts of the earth. In this area they continued intermittently throughout the Cretaceous, culminating in a series of folds of the old geosyncline forming mountain chains. This phase was completed by the end of that period, and the youthful Andes of the early Cenozoic were born, then of moderate elevation. (Schuchert and Dunbar, page 354.) The third stage appears to have been a period of comparative diastrophic inactivity through the earlier half of the Cenozoic, at least in much of the region, 35
36 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA especially the central portion. This allowed time for a weathering down of the Andes to a peneplane and to a mature topography. That elevations were not great appears to be certain, for they were insufficient to cut off moisture-laden winds, and the weathering was more or less equal on the two flanks. A fourth phase during the Pliocene and Pleistocene consists of a second and rapid period of uplifting; this is a final chapter which continues on down to our time. (See Schuchert and Dunbar, page 411.) No other series of events would seem logically to explain the present topography, the apparent anomaly of a mountain system with immense areas of more or less level and matured relief at the top, with the most rugged and immature approaches from the flanks. The rapidity of the recent phases is well brought out by the fact that the Titicaca-Poopo basin has not had sufficient time to find an outlet to the outside, and has become well base-leveled internally. A similarly elevated intercordilleran basin, the Pampa de Junin, has had a similar history, but for an unknown time has been pirated by the Rio Mantaro and drains to the outside. (2) GEOLOGICAL AGENCIES In establishing the present relief, it 1s probable that every known type of geological agent has somewhere had a part in the sculpture of the details. (a) Weathering a. Frost: Freezing rarely occurs in elevations below 12000 feet, commonly in many areas of 13500 feet; in many spots permanently above 16000 feet. Thus freezing and thawing are effective principally in the high puna. The critical points vary with precipitation, with latitude, with the slope (isolation). Bosworth has shown the heat of the sun to be a direct agent in the cleavage of pebbles, aside from freezing and thawing.
b. Ice: Permanent ice fields furnish the principal sources of the water in certain streams, growing and diminishing with the season, with intermittent stream action. Many traces of direct ice erosion are evident in the higher elevations. ec. Rainfall: Mountains of such extreme height erected across the path of the moisture-laden Southern Trade Winds have inevitably resulted in the greatest inequality in precipitation. Two hundred inches per year are common for the eastern slopes. But it would not be an exaggeration to put the figure at an inch per two-hundred years in the rain-shadow of the western slopes. As a result the streams of the Pacific slope are of scant volume at any time, and often dry, very declivitous, short, and direct, while those of the Atlantic side have maintained throughout their history basins of great length and gorges of great depth to the interior of the ranges.
d. Wind: On the western slopes the action of the wind may be read directly from the topography, in the absence of, and out of competition with, rainfall. First, this is effected directly by the wind-distribution of sand and earth, forming dunes, ete.; second, the wind-borne sand is a tool, responsible for the etching of the details of many areas, especially on the western scarp.