Nov 17, 2016 - Sale 2432

Sale 2432 - Lot 313

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
"THE FIRST MAN WE SAW SNOOPING AROUND WOULD GET SHOT" (TRAVEL.) Diary of a hunting vacation in remote regions of Panama. [86] manuscript pages. 12mo, original limp calf, worn; minor wear to contents. Panama, 10 May to 5 June, circa 1921?
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The diary of a Panamanian hunting expedition which began on San Miguel and the Pearl Islands aboard the launch Aloha, and then on 17 May proceeded far up the Bayano or Chepo River on the mainland. The unidentified author was apparently American, and accompanied by a friend named Arden. The only other real clue to his identity is that he records his thirtieth birthday on 18 May. The year is not given, but the USS Sonoma and the launch Cherub are both mentioned, and both were in Panama in 1921. The two friends were rugged outdoorsmen, and shot everything they could find from pelicans to egrets to alligators.
The party's boat was nearly overturned by a 65-foot whale on its first day. From there, the hunting was recorded in great detail: "Saw large troup of monkeys on the river camp, must have been about fifty of them, small white faces. Shot one of them. Had monkey stew for dinner. Pretty good eating, about the same as rabbit" (20 May). The author saw "a small tiger making a meal of a pig he had jumped on. It seemed a shame to disturb him, but I thought how nice his hide would look . . . so I put a bullet through his head. He snarled once and then quit eating" (1 June). He gave a long account of a 45-minute battle with an 18-foot alligator on 5 June.
The party's human encounters were also noted with amusement: "Alcalde's wife came off to launch . . . and tried to seduce Arden, told him she wanted to have a white baby. Failed. I told Arden I didn't admire her taste" (16 May). As they reached further into the jungle interior, they encountered isolated tribes of Indians: "The natives say that to their knowledge there has never been but one white man here before, that was some three years ago, and he did not go up stream any farther. This is the last house on the river that belongs to the Spanish speaking race, above here are nothing but Indians" (20 May). They were not particularly good ambassadors for "civilization." The next day, a party of Indians told them "we must get out of the country at once. If we did not, they would kill us. I told them in Spanish that I could kill three to their one, and I would leave when I got ready. . . . Some of the Indians had old muzzle loading rifles and others had bows and arrows" (21 May). Further up river, a group of Indians stopped their ship and demanded that they turn around, and the response was "We are going up that river as far as a boat would carry us, and that the first man we saw snooping around would get shot. Then we took our poles and continued on our way. We went about a hundred yards and then they started after us, but I stood up in the stern of our cayuca and pointed the rifle at them, and they went back" (22 May). The pair safely returned downstream and headed for the town of Balboa, ending this compelling account.