Word: macapa
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Almost 5,000 gold seekers soon converged on the site. From the territorial capital, Macapa, they rode 200 miles up the Amazon in motor launches, another 170 miles up the Jari, paying $75 to travel in dugouts with outboard motors; they portaged around twelve waterfalls and eight long rapids. Eronias Fernandes da Silva, discoverer of the gold and, by custom, proprietor of the field, rented them on a shares basis the right to pan or sluice along 20 to 30 yards of river bank...
Last week, the first of the fortune hunters to come out of the wilderness were back in Macapa. Luckiest was Severino Gomes de Almeida, with $25,000 worth of nuggets. But most had found only misfortune. Some had lost their gear or their gold when canoes overturned. Others suffered from malaria, beriberi and bubonic ulcers. Most disillusioned was a prostitute, who had earned only $94.40. "There is no goodness or kindness up there," she said. "All those men think about is gold...