The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-20
LAST TERRA INCOGNITA
VAST AREA OF UNEMPLOYED TERRI
TORY ~ SOUTH AMERICA.
So DinicuIt of Access ns to Deter the
Most Intrepid ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
oS Recent Expeditions.

know how 70 begin"
TRY the moon," said Stanley, with q
laugh That's about the only place left
TO explore nowadays"
But Stanley exaggerated. II is true that
such regulations as those of Humboldt,
Livingstone and Stanley himself can no
longer be made: but several tracts of the
worlds surface are still unexplored. or
all the continents, South America undoubt-
edly offers the most virgin ground to the
adventurous traveller. Explorers have
gone up the rivers and come down again. -
writer on the subject correctly observes,
but they have not penetrated any distance
overland across the jungIe-covered water
sheds"
1t is strange how little the inhabitants
OF South America know about their own
countries. IL you ask a Venezuelan at La
Guayra, Brazilian at Rio, Colombian
at Panama, or on Ecuadorian at Guayaquil
20 tell you about the interior, he will shrug
his shoulders and answer:
"Quien sabe. Senor?'
Certainly he does not know. If you told
him that the jewellers in the unsettled, IN
explored parts of his own country were
''anthropophagi and men whose heads do
EiON OcucdtH luclI SUOulUCISf uC NONA0 uOl
contradict you.
They are reported TO have their eyes
In their shoulders. and their mouths in the
middle Of thzir breasts, and that long
train of hair groweth back between their
shoulders" That ic the account Sir Wal
ter Raleigh gave. in the seventeenth CEN
fury. OF tribe OF Indians living on the
banks OF the River Caura in Venezuela. Of
course. people do not believe such travel
,ers' tales nowadays as they did in the days
of Queen Elizabeth; but, as a matter Of
fact. nothing more definite is known to-
day of this very tribe. The region in
which they live remains in this twentieth
century the terra incognita" that it was in
the days of Raleigh
A STREAM OF EXPEDITIONS.
Never a mcnth passes without an expe-
dition leaving the confines of civilization
and plunging into the heart OF some unex-
plored region in South America. Little or
nothing is heard of these expeditions, ex-
cept in social and commercial circles in
cities like Caracas, Bogota. Sucre and Port
of-Spain, Trinidad: but each of them would
furnish material for a thrilling book IL the
adventures cared to write about their ex-
periences. Usually they do not They have
other fish TO fry. They are orchid hunters,
gold prospectors. diamond seekers or gov
eminent officials engaged in eliminating
boundaries between the various republics
and colonies of South America.
Three months. six months, year, per-
haps three years after they left the last
settlement on the fringe Of the unknown,
half of them return. tanned, haggard half
starved, fever stricken. The rest have been
lost in the jungle. 10 perish miserably of
hunger and thirst, or drowned in the rapids
of some mighty river. or killed by hostile
Indians. jaguars. sting rays. The South
American explorer lives in the midst of
alarms. and there are thousand ways
in which he may meet a sudden and vio-
lent death.
The survivors always tell the same story:
I'VE have seen some wonderful things,
but they were not even the thousandth
part OF that which lies beyond. We
climbed such and such a mountain. as
cended such and such a river. dwelt
among such and such tribe; but We heard
of other mountains, other rivers, other
tribes far stranger and more interesting
in the remoter regions to which we could
not penetrate"
Take, for example. the immense range
of unknown mountains which runs along
the hinterland of the three Guianas.
'"rhe best known of these so-called mac
cessible mountains is undoubtedly Ror-
aima," said Eugene Andre, of Trinidad, a
well-known explorer of Venezuela. CoIom-
bia and the Guianas. Since the Spectator
for April. 1871, wrote. will no one explore
Roraima and bring US back the tidings
which II has been waiting these thou
sands OF years TO give us?' the mountain
has been assembled and the secrets of its
summit laid bare. To the Ouelch-Mc-
Cornell expedition is due the honor of hav-
ing performed the most valuable scientific
work in the exploration of this interesting
mountain.
Considering that Roraima is only one
of whole series OF such masses, the ex-
istence OF some of which may not even
be suspected, we can form some idea of
what remains to be done in the explora-
ton OF this little known part of South
America. When consider. moreover.
that the SUBMITS of these mountains are
pIateaus Isolated from the surrounding
country during countless ages, we cannot
help thinking that each OF them must be a
field of absorbing interest To the naturalist
and botanist.'
Anorc ElnSeiIs IN lJol, tried In vain TO
scale the mighty heights OF Mount Amelia.
the River Merevari. in Venezuela This
mountain has never been climbed, nor have
Its companions Mount Arichi and Mount
Araws. The country all around them is
unknown, and so are the more distant
Parime mountains. which are said to be the
home or tribes OF Indians utterly unlike
any OF those already known in South Amer
lea.
WHY EXPLORERS FAIL
Speaking from the depths of his own
bitter experiences. Andre explained why
this vast region is still an unsolved riddle.
Three centuries have passed away" he
said. since the first Adventures tried TO
reach the golden land supposed TO exist
somewhere near the source OF the Caroni
and the Carua, and yet our knowledge Of
the far interior OF the Guianas remains
shadowy and indefinite.
1T was not until the beginning of the
eighteenth century that Humboldt finally
dispelled the mythical beliefs which chung
20 the Eldorado OF the 'conquistadores
The veil OF the enchantment which shrouds
the UNEMPLOYED interior OF Guiana has. II il
true, been torn aside. In place or the fairy
city cleaning with gold and precious
stones. We now know that there is an i'm
mense stretch OF impenetrable forest. inter-
spersed here and there with open sayanuas
with mountains OF fantastic shape and sur