Amazon Nights Book

This volume contains Friel's early Lourenco and Pedro short stories plus one novella, The Jararaca. They all appeared in Adventure, the leading pulp magazine for this genre, between late 1919 and 1921. As with most of his work, the setting is the Amazonian jungle of Brazil. And the two heroes, Lourenco and Pedro, who are featured throughout, are workers on a rubber plantation. But being born adventurers, or bush men, as they identify themselves, they are continually called upon to scout the immense property holdings of their employer, Coronel Nunes. The stories and novella are loosely connected, although they can be read independently with no need to worry about the earlier works.

But here is what I find intriguing about Lourenco and Pedro. Essentially, they are a South American reworking of the mountain men of the American West. They blaze new trails and pathways. They encounter new Indian peoples. And they are able to facilitate civilizational connections through their speaking of Portuguese, Spanish, various Indian languages, and English. They are twentieth century Brazilian versions of Jim Bridger or Jedediah Smith. Or at least it seems so to me. Friel, born in 1887 just as the American Frontier was coming to a close, likely grew up well versed on dime novels about the West and its adventure heroes. Once in South America as a newspaper editor, again, I am supposing, he heard stories and tales and found fertile ground to incorporate this American genre into an entirely new culture. Later, Friel would make his own adventure, exploring the Orinoco. Not much seems to be known about Friel, but I'd bet my last dollar this brief sketch of mine of his inspiration is pretty close to the truth.

The technique for the stories is a recurring one. Lourenco begins his tales, usually referring to the sighting of some demon, devil, or other mystical or mythological creature. Then, the flashback begins and the reader hears of how Lourenco and his explorer companion, Pedro, encounter the monster. It usually occurs through some mechanism that combines discovery, revenge, and rescue. In the process, the creature or demon reveals itself as either a false monster or something easily explained as nothing more than an exceptionally dangerous version of a natural occurring reptile or animal or some individual adopting the characteristics of the animal.

This latter point also allows Friel to give vent to his suppositions about biological evolution. He appears to be something of a Lamarckian. For the Indians and renegades he encounters are people who assume the characteristics of their environments. Tribes and individuals adopt the features of apes, snakes, and spiders. Some go further, seeming to be hybrid races.

Such an intriguing view of a land and time now gone forever. Friel managed to encounter it all while it was still a mystery. And the wonder of that encounter fills each page in an almost routine manner. Shadows along the shore hide canoes from discovery by enemies on Amazonian lakes that shimmer under the brilliance of a full moon at night. And underneath the placid surface, piranhas, alligators, and river snakes lie in wait. Meanwhile, one step from the canoe into the bush brings the chance of abduction, venomous bites, seductions, poisoning, and sickness. Danger abounds. Yet you long to experience it, if not in your own shoes then through the bare feet and arms of Lourenco and Pedro.