The times., 1899-05-21
SOUTH AMERICAN ExpLoREus.
Return of Scientific Expedition
From Ecupdor and Bolivia.

San Francisco. May 2o.-Daniei A. Busby
has come up the Coast after two years
scientific work in Ecuador and Bolivia He
and four assistants have been seeking
fauna for the Field Museum at Chicago
and also for the Cornell University, and
the story of the party in the wilds OF
South America. especially along the head
waters of the Amazon, is as interesting as
any tale of adventure.
There were some parts of Ecuador that
we visited where only three or four white
men had ever been before us" said Mr.
Busby. ''We went there to collect fauna
not TO be found elsewhere. The region
abounds in poisonous reptiles and fierce
beasts. the climate is hot and mismatic
and the Jivaros live there. l doubt If a
fercer race of people live in South Amer
lea. not even excepting the sayages at
Cape Horn.
In our pursuit of fauna we went far
back from the Pacific shore to the source
Andean range known as the Cor
; dillercs. II was the country of the Jivaros,
+ but We found them not so inimical to kind
ness as we had been led to expect a great
many Jivaro men and women had never
/ seen white people before. and d band of
about sixty Jiyaros came down from the
mountains and forded streams purposely
/ to see us. They had missed seeing party
| of white men who went through there
some years ago. and they did not propose
to miss the show this time They asked
! permission 10 feel of us. 10 see whether
/ our light -colored flesh was a part of our
| anatomies or an ingenious contrivanee.
( You would have smiled to see how gravely
| and curiously they one by one approached
4 and felt of our bare arms and chests. We
/ had native Ecuadoran with us as i guide
and translator. and he said that they be-
lieyed we had bleached our skin by soms
| strange process that they would like tC
try ON themselves.
| Nearly every museum the world oyel
has one of the Jivaro preserved heads
They are great curiosities. The WARRIOR
decapitate their victims in fare. ans
keep the heads as ornaments at their CIR
dies. How these heads are preserved is
mystery The skull is removed, and tn
skin and flesh treated with extracts from
plants. which contract and dry them. The
the hollow head is filled with hot pebble
and dried. The pebbles are removed. an
a strange object the size of a mans han
remains.
I'VE were asked while in Valparaiso L
accompany party of scientific Chi-eans o.
the corvette Abata TO Easter Island for
fortnight's exploration. and We gladly ac
cepted. The King of the island had bes
expecting the Chileans for some time, in
asmuch as the visit had been promised 10
over two years. His Majesty King TeIona
wah spoke a few words OF English, whic
he said he had learned when boy in th
Catholic mission at Honolulu.
las We approached Easter Island tw
very large craters of extinct volcanoes wer
the chief objects that met cur view. Th
whole island is CT volcanic origin. At som
time in its history. Easter Island was in
habted by highly developed. artistic race
We found scattered the length and OTeadt
of the tiny island the immutable proofs c
their existence in the form OF statues an
images. some of immense size. and all mad
out of single block of lava. proving tha
at that period, they must have had som
mechanical mode OF handling the giganti
stones. On the southeast side of the crate
Of Terano Han stands a colossal statu,
thirty-four feet high. carved out of singl
block of gray. compact lava. found only /
,, the crater OF Otuiti, at the northeast en-
of the island. The ordinary size of tn
images ranges from fifteen to twenty fee
and the range in weight is from three
eight tons. careful estimate places III
; number Of these images al between 81
and 400. Two specimens were several veal
! ago taken on the island by an Englis
, vessel, and now occupy places in the Bri
ish Museum. They are said TO weigh foI
tons each Neither the King ucr any
the natives has any knowledge, traditions
, or otherwise. as TO the sculptors.