The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-01-17

spent nearly seven years In the
wllds gaining a knowledge Of the rub
Der resources of that country. AT the
Imperial Hotel Op De Graf related
the adventures of his first expedition
as follows:
after crossing the Andes Mountains
we struck the head waters Of the Napo
River, which Is large tributary Of
the Amazon" said he. ~ had for my
companion an old California miner
named Jack. StorieJ were told that n
hostile tribe of Indians inhabited the
upper region and that death awaited
any white man who ventured to ex-
plore IL. However, with thirty natives
as canoemen we started on what we
expected would be a~-(hree or four
months journey. The weather was
fine, and game was plentiful. The
dense forests on either side abounded
in deer, monkeys, tapir wild hogs and
turkeys. We carried a good supply Of
rum, fancy cloth beads. calico and
looking glasses, with which to make
friends with the Indians. A few days
out our Indians deserted MS.
lone afternoon n terrible shower
came up and the stream began to rise.
In several hours IL had risen twenty
five feet and the water came down In
torrents. We fastened the boat TO a
tree and went Oh shore and slept for
the night To our amaZement when
we awoke the water had subslded and
our canoe hung eighteen feet up In the
tree. All Of our supplies, including
guns, ammunition, blankets, etc, had
been lost In the stream. We tried in
every way to regain possession Of our
Wnchesters, but the water was mud
dy making this impossible. ! luckily
had taken my shoes and blanket out Of
the boat and we each had our ma
chetes, and there was half a bottle Of
molasses between us.
Eve were forty-fve days from home
and decided that our only chances lay
I'm finding some one who could give us
food. Accordingly we struck boldly
into the forest wishing to find either
friend or foe. AS II ralned continually
we couldn't see the sun and we lost
our bearings. The four and half
days that followed will never forget
They were the worst days have ever
spent With nothing to eat, in cold,
drlzzling rain, In strange country.
wading day after day through swamps
and pushing our way through dense
underground, our clothing was torn
from our bodies and our feet became
nearly raw. We became inscnsible To
pain and our feet were numb The
coolest feeling | ever experienced i'm
my life was when I'm the Amazon for
ests. And the third day we spicd n
turkey Jack threw his machctc at II,
and by good luck knocked il down. lie
ate some of the raw meat, but | could
not. | had got past the hungry stage
and had no appetite for anything.
There is n certain kind of palm leaf
very similar to cabbage which we Sc
cured. On the fifth day | dropped
from exhaustion. and thought that |
would have to stay. | didn't feel hun
cry, but just drowsy and wanted To go
10 sleep Jack said that he would go
on little further and return to me- |
had been sleeping about an hour when
he came rushing back and awoke me.
shouting that he had found fine
broad trail not far distant All thought
Of fatigue, hunger and sore feet left
me, and l felt that l was as strong rs
ever
1--WE were nearly naked, and the trip
through the brush was terrible. When
we came To the path, which in the dry
season was well beaten road we
were undecided which way to go. We
could see n half mile each way for the
Grst time since our journey began.
Finally we agreed upon one direction.
and in less than half an hour we came
to little farm and n large matched
building. There was no sign that IL
was inhabited, yet 1t might he fun of
hostiles. We approached the house,
but there was no sign of life.
'On the walls hung corn. dried meat
and plantain. We also found fresh
fruit. To pair of starved men this
was banquet and we feasted until
we could eat no more. We also found
bowls of masata. which is n very nutrl-
tious food, universally used among the
South American natives. The build
ing was large, the ground floor being
100 by forty feet and was built to ac-
commodate nine families. which was
evident from the nine fireplaces which
It contained. The roof was high In the
middle and sloped To the ground on
ether side.
THE hardest question we had to an
swer was how we would build a fire
We had no matches and no flint. While
looking through n quantity of imple
ments In the rafters found one used
'or building n fire. 1t was made of n
bow string of which was wound
once around cylindrical hardwood
stick. which was pointed at one end
BY holding the top of the latter in one
hand and rapidly revolving the stock
which was placed against a piece of
Try punk | got spark and soon had n
ire.
I'VE caught several glimpses of the
natives, who looked almost like mon
keys. but they fed at our approach.
IL was three months before we found
4 stream large enough to sail down
a. that time TO our astonlshment we
ran across our old canoe hanging eigh-
iccn feet in the air just as we had left
4. We cut II down. loaded it with
'Drovlsions and started down stream.
All along the route we saw fine forests