The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-03-31
LIVED MOI N VAN
Interesting Story of the Three
Rey8 Brothers.
EXPLORED A CONTINENT
And Discovered How to Con-
meet Great Rivers.
EXPLORED A CONTINENT

| men Of good fine physique and culture.
Luxury and ease might have been theirs.
They had every temptation TO revel in
the good things Of this life, to live an
existence Of empty self indulgence.
What do they do? Why, they join
their forces, their means, their energies,
their brains, their manhood In place
Of falling into the open lap of self-in-
! diligence they mature a scheme of be-
coming explorers over a vast continent.
They abandon the comforts of the club
and the armchair to face the perilous
! adventure to be swung from one side
Of g precipice to another by means of
rope-such has been one of their exper-
fences. They sacrifice a life Of health
and wealth for the terrific hardships of
an explorers life, accumulated by the in
evitable and endlessly recurring attacks
Of malaria, sgue and fever, the pinch of
hunger and poor foo0 the risks of death
from the weapons Of savage tribes and
the subsequent probability of being chop
ped Up and served as food for cannibals.
Surely the case is a very extraordinary
one. 1t shows that there are still heroic
men in the world and heroic" in the
highest sense Of term.
RESULT That of the three brothers
who went into this magnificent expedi-
ton, combined with sqlf-denial, but one
returned. The two others are dead
They died, having sacrificed their lives
in the carrying out OF their self chosen
and dangerous mission.
The third and lucky survivor remains,
and he is General Reyes, the Colombian
envoy to the French Republic
His two brothers are dead. but they did
not die IN vain. Their lives were nobly
sacrificed in the carrying out of explora-
lions which haxe not been up to now ap-
preciated at their full value, but which
viii be more and more recognized as
time goes on.
From now out and forever the names
Of the brother Reyes will be indelibly and
perpetualy connected with the present
and future development Of that vast con-
tinent known as South America, consist
ing of Brazil Ecuador, Peru, Colombia,
Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina
and Chill.
What these enterprising brothers I'M
dertook was to explore all the principal
rivers Of a great continent, the natural
waterways of which are the finest in the
lected.
The fruit of their efforts. the sacrifice
of the lives Of two or three Of them. has
been to show that with little artificial
assistance in the form Of a canal extend
ing over couple of score of miles or
less, uninterrupted water communication
can be established over the entire CONT
nent over thousands and thousands Of
miles.
To bring it home somewhat to the not
thoroughly versed reader, it is as though
by some great and hitherto unexplored
tributary it had been suddenly discov-
cred that an artery of the Mississippi
ran into the Hudson and that thus the
United States from one end to the other.
from New Orleans to New York, was
connected by a continuous or almost con-
tinuous waterway.
1t is the equivalent Of that which the
Reyes brothers have achieved for South
America. Years and years of hard work,
of painfully slow progress, of difficult
navigation, Of cutting of roads through
almost impossible jUngles, bu the result
has been a stupendous revelation, a tri-
umph of patience and perseverance on
the part of the three explorers, and with
slight engineering assistance they have
shown how easily the two great water
courses of the southern continent of
America-the Amazon and Rio de la
Plata-can be connected.
Let me try to give YOU some idea of
what the line was which the Reyes
brothers followed and from which they
achieved such valuable results. It viii
be very easy to follow it out upon the
accompanying map.
They started from the Pacific coast Of
Colombia. perhaps more popularity known
as Panama, on foot because there was
no other feasible way Of travelling. The
first trips made We're down the Putu-
mayo and the Yapura. both leading di-
rechy into the great Amazon. A glance
at the map win show how splendidly pro-
lie nature has been in her gift of grand
waterways in the South American CONT
nent
For years and years the three brothers
Reyes explored and explored thousands
and thousands of miles of magnificent /
rivers. accompanied by Indians. Inter
esting" is not a strong enough word to
describe the country through which they
passed it was nearly all unknown
region. where the small and widely dis
tributed colonies Of natives had never
before seen any human being outside II
their own race. Virgin forests abound
cd filed with the richest and rarest of
timher-mahogauy saunwood and the
prolific india rubber tree Cocoa and
palm groves were everywhere Nature
prodigany productive, yielded untold
wealth on all sides
The River Putmayo was reached. and.
after being explored and found particu-
larry suitable for navigation. lire of
good sized steamers were started To Para.
in this particular expedition the intrepid
brothers Travelled under an sorts Of diff
aculues for three thousand miles.
Look again at the map and follow up
the Parana river. which falls into the sea
al Buenos Avres and rlgns risht up 20
the Sierra Eselavana. high chain of
huls which under various names form
chain across the entire breadth Of che
continent between the te0th and twelfth
desrees OF laCtude That IS 5ust The
point where isatlon Is interrupted but
only Tor Q few knometers. There it Is
that the erglneers VIM have dttRcast
uroh'ea. Bue once solved. the Erand
lire az water communication over the
entire continent VIII have been achieved
For 5ust the ether side IL the Sierra
most coava niently there comes as though
to meet the travellers from the south
and carry them north. e hne and noble
stream. the Tosantia which rams up
through Brazil 60 Para where 81 connects I
by an arm with the Auabcn thus form
icr. when the intermediate few k5ome-
tiers az mountain has been passed q 6i-
r.rr Iona az yv.efer commit r7fc--flrs f..-