My belief is that the slavery of these Indians will terminate only when the rubber is exhausted here, which will not be very distant; for even now the Indians, in their desire to collect all the rubber demanded by their owners, and not finding it near, mix the juices of other trees with it, and it is for this reason that the rubber extracted in the Putumayo at present is of such a poor quality. When the rubber gives out, the detestable slavery of the Indians will end. But which will be exterminated first, the Indians or the rubber-trees, it is hard to say.
In conclusion, I will state that if there were no Indians in the region of the Putumayo to work free, the company would have nothing to deal in, and consequently would fall to the ground, for its assets are acquired by pillage.
Trusting that this will help you somewhat in the task you have undertaken of unmasking these wolves.
(_Sworn before_) FEDERICO M. PIZARRO, _Notary Public_.
SR. W. E. HARDENBURG,--In reply to your letter of the 16th inst., I give you the following exact and reliable information of what I have witnessed during my stay on the River Putumayo, to be used for any purpose that you deem proper:--
[Illustration: RIVER ITAYA, NEAR IQUITOS.
On the 15th of June, 1907, I arrived at the section Matanzas, which is under the orders of the sanguinary and criminal Armando Norman, the chief of this section. As soon as I arrived he ordered a commission, composed of twenty-five men, to go out on a _correría_ and to bring in chained up, all the Indians they might find, together with their women and children. The bandit Norman furnished to this commission, as food for the twenty days they would be absent, fifteen tins of sardines, at the same time ordering that nobody should carry any more clothes than he wore on his back, in order to avoid the extra weight, for in this way they would be better able to carry out the orders he imparted to them.
At the end of about twenty days the commission returned, bringing in, among men, women, and children, about thirty Indians, all in chains, who, as soon as they arrived at the house, were delivered to Norman. Then Norman stepped up and asked three old Indians and two young women, their daughters, where the rest of the Indians were. They replied that they did not know, as several days before they had all dispersed in the forest, owing to the fear they had of him. Norman then grasped his _machete_ and murdered these five unfortunate victims in cold blood. Their bodies were left stretched out near the house and Norman's dogs took charge of them, for he has them well trained; so well trained are these animals that the morning is rare that they do not appear with an arm or a leg of a victim at the bedside of this monster.