Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-12
SOUTH AMERICA.
Things We Don't Know About Our
Next Neighbor.

H. E. Armstrong in AinsIees.
The United States was the first nation
to recognize the independence of the South
American republics, and over them it raised
the aegis of the Monroe doctrine almost
eighty years ago; yet, compared with the
Europeans, we in America are profoundly
ignorant about South America. We know
almost nothing of its scenic wonders for
we do not visit them; our share in its ex-
ploration is insignificant; what information
the world has Of its flora and fauna has
been CLEANED by Europeans mainly; our
knowledge Of Its ethnology also comes from
them, and the same may be said of the
history Of it's people in the nineteenth CEN
fury Qrom American sources almost no &C
count Of the rise of the Spanish republics
can be had); and it is European, and not
American, capital that has opened up its
widernesses, built it's cities and railroads
and established its industries. How many
Americans have seen Ecuadors avenue of
volcanoes twenty Of whose mighty crests
exceed 1900 feet, one of them 10000, and
three others 10000? How many Amer
leans have heard of the Paulo Alfonso falls
on the Rio San Francisco, with their de-
scent of 800 feet and volume of 10000 cubic
feet per second; or of the seven falls OF
Guayra, on the Parana, which in combina-
ton during the rainy season challenge the
grandeur of Niagara?
How many Americans are familiar with
Gen. San Martins achievement in making
the passage of the Uspalata pass, 12,7U feet
above sea level, with an army of 5000 men,
infantry, cavalry and artillery, in the war
of independence in 1917? The Great st.
Bernard, over which Napoleon led an army,
is 5000 feet lower than Uspalata. And writ
in water, so far as most of us are con-
cerned, is the heroic defense of the Para
guayans In the war Of 1S65-1S70 with Brazil,
Argentine and Uruguay, when the popula
ton of Paraguay declined from 100000 to
rs 900, and none but women, old men and
children were left of a people distinguished
for their gentleneSS and amiabiity.
For the American naturalist, botanist,
hunter and traveller no part of the world
should have more attractions. Brazil alone
has LOO species of birds, many of splendid
iridescent plumage; no less than 80 kinds
of apes; 30 varieties Of snakes including
the water boa, which swallows horses and
men; species of alligators, the yacare-
guazu, twenty-seven feet long; "A bats, IN
Guiding the loathsome vampire Phylloso-
toma spectrum), two feet In wing stretch,
that kills cattle and fastens on sleeping
children; and 1,SCO distinct marine crea-
lures; 5000 species of beetles have been re-
corded in Ecuador; in the calambo it has
snake which is domesticated and trained to
patrol gardens, and in the f1autero bird
whose song so resembles the sound Of a
flute as to deceive the practiced ear. Among
the apes of equatorial South America is the
bowler, which has developed Kind OF
tribal organization under a chief who leads
a chorus of dismal music, unlike that Of
any other animal and heard for miles at
dawn and sunset. A curiosity Of the plant
world in Peru is the Tamal caspi, or rain
tree, which grows to a height Of sixty feet
and absorbs the humidity Of the atmosphere
in such abundance that in droughts water
drips from its branches. So many strange
things there are in the animal and vege-
table kingdom of South America that no
prudent person would do more than suggest
the wealth of them. In the first quarter
of the twentieth century most of the explo-
ration and exploiting Of South America will
be done by citizens Of the United States, be-
cause the commercial interests of this coun-
try will point the way. The political are
growing in Importance.