The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-13

In working southwark in Costa Rica to
connect with Mr.. Shunk's corps, passed
through region never before explored,
where the forest growth was so densely
intermatted as to make it necessary to
cut an overland tunnel through the tropic
vegetation.
The third party, under Mr.. Kelley, en-
dured extreme hardships and trying vicis-
STUDIES in extending their line among the
Andean ranges of lower Ecuador and
Peru. Most of the party were stricken
down with fevers and had to be shipped
home, while the native Hnemen and as
sistants repeatedly deserted through fear
of hostile Indians and wild beasts. But
the remaining members bravely bore the
pangs of hunger and thirst, overcame the
difficulties and perils of the wilderness,
and successfully completed the task as
signed to them. In this section it will be
necessary to pierce 1872 tunnels through
the Cordilleras, approximating in all
forty miles, and to construct 2S6 bridges.
But the report of. the second party,
under Mr. Skunk will be found by long
odds to be the most interesting to the
general reader. Though strictly an en-
gineer by profession. Mr.. Skunk IS in
cidentally an adept in geology, botany,
zoology, and ethnology, and withal is I'M
consciously possessed of a rare literary
gift, so that the observations of life,
set down daily in the hitherto unwritten
regions of lower Colombia and Ecuador
are both valuable and pungently refresh
ing to read. Here is a specimen Of his
Ecuador notes:
SCENERY IN THE ANDES.
There is something awful, even daunt-
ing, in the magnitude Of things here. To
the eye of intellect they are inconsidera-
ble-the whole mass of the Andes, truly
proportional on a globe eight feet in
diameter, would appear as a slender
wrinkle-but to the mind embodied in
tender flesh and brittle bones, these I'M
accustomed heights are terrific. They
cost us aching fatigue; up, down, and
sidewise, they do seem indeed everlasting
hills. For centuries cattle have been
grazing on them. You see across the val
ley grassy slope 1000 feet high, looking
like velvet under the slant sunshine,
taWny shot with green, wholly covered
with a fine meshed net of their paths a.
little paler in tint than the ground color.
The old white caps to the south, Chin
borazo, Cotopaxi, Antisana, Cayambo
and the rest, rise high, beautiful and
grand. But La Galera, girded with
homes and harvests, seems half civilized
In contrast with those naughty savages.
G1mpses through mist-occasional far
Vistas-of eastern Cordillera, we'll wooded,
dark green near at hand, dark purple in
the distance; big spurs lingering into lit
tie ones. these into less and again less,
a dwindling series like the sweIls, bill
lows, waves and ripples of the ocean"
Here is one of his charcoal sketches of
the climatic conditions of a single day:
The alterations of this climate IN the
course Of day are remarkable Today,
for example, began clear, the stupendOus
bulk of the volcano La Galera rising
westward under a sky without spot, ex-
nj ha TOW r1riy, hit olnJ ite,
crater; fiat calm, bright dawn; every
outward token of a good Gay. The as
cending sun struck pallOr through the
whole heaven, universal, half trans
parent mist, opaque and dIffuse, whiten-
ing still as he rose, until it gradually
bodied into cloud, holding the mountain
tops, but leaving the lower earth visible
Thenceforward shadows and sunshine
by turns. With cloud overhead, cold
weather, Overcoat comfortable. and camp
fire a genial neighbor; between clouds,
the equatorial sun whiting hot. 1t does
not heat the air. The ground is it's beach.
1t traverses space like a sea swell I'M
broken, and splashes into calorifc surf,
which the tallest Of US cannot certify to
be more thar six feet deep-a whelming,
smothering gush of heat. Then cloud
again, cold weather again, almost in
simultaneously. In the afternoon, chilling
showers. Good ears hear them nattering
on the leaves CT hillside forest half a
mile off. About o'clock in the afternoon
it begins to tighten up, and we usually
have 4 fair evening. Scattered f1occulent
clouds, oceans and CULTS Of sky. level
purple bars, red-edged. against the sun
set flush. glorilied islands, capes, pro-
montoriess and. curVing strands. A suf-
fusive afterglow. La Galera westward,
its summit more conical than as seen
from the. south. jaggy at the topaz
enormous heave of earth and rock--a
spacious country in itself, with fruitful
slopes, a source of streams tnnumerable,
zoned by various climates, troplc at the
base, temperate at midheight, then in
succession dwindling forest, paramo.
dark green, knobby masses, and finally
a thousand feet of ashes and cinder, al
most to the snow line"