The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-16
Work or A WOMAN EXPLORER.
NJ. CoudyeaTs Task Completed by His
widow,


NJ. CoudBeaIfs Task Completed by Hi
widow.
A woman completed In South America
last year series Of geographical explora'
lions undertaken at the cost OF the State OF
Para, Brazil. Between Nov. 20. 1900, anG
Jan IL, 1908, she made three journeys
and for nineteen months was in the depths
Of the UNEMPLOYED sections Of that State
Her description Of these travels has now
been handsomely printed in Paris, volume
OF about i5o folio pages being given to each
Of the three journeys.
The explorer is the widow of Henri A.
Coudreau, who was known for twenty
years before his death as u man peculiarly
adapted for going into any unknown re-
gion and bringing back just the inforna-
ton required by governments and pioneer
settlers as to the lay Of the land, it's RE-
sources, climate and people. He made his
fame doing this sort Of work for France in
French Guiana. All geographers know
his books.
In 1905 the State OF Para invited Coudreau
to study for the Government the economic
aspects Of some Of the large Amazon trib-
Getting and distributing point for most of
the rubber of South America, the state
wished to know every place where rubber
could be found and how to get to it. Before
his death Coudreau wrote three volumes
on the branches of the Amazon he had
explored.
In the last years of his work Mrs. Cou-
dreau usually accompanied her husband
and came to he his most valuable assistant
on his expeditions. She even learned how
to make surveys and plot route maps. She
was skilled in photography and learned
Just how and what to observe to get the
information desired by the Para Govern
ment. A short time after her husband $
death she went to the Para authorities with
this proposal:
Let me carry on for YOU the explorations
in which my husband was engaged. Per
hads ! cannot equal him, but l know his
methods, / have plenty OF energy and |
know you will approve the results.
The Governm ent fitted her out for her
first Independent expe dlton. The field IL
vast and there will be plenty of work in 1t
for Nine. Coudreau. If she should con-
tnue her present career.
The Amazon and it's big afiiuents have
hundreds of smaller tributaries which at
tract little attention on the maps. Some
of them are not found on the best maps
made. But if you see photograph OF one
of them it looks like a broad, big river, as
il really is. and it leads to rich resources
and the camps of wild tribes.
The government of Para desired the
thorough exploration of some of these
rivers, and this was the task assigned to
Nine Coudreau. She was told to ascend
the Rio Curua first and see what she could
find.
In her books she plunges right into the
story of her work. with few or no details
concerning her companions or equipment.
But we know that when a steamer left her
and her little party at the mout of the turua
River the lady was dressed in the garments OF
a man. All the people she meets when on her
expeditions think she is Il man unless some
of her followers talk more than they are
expected to do. She would not dream OF
going on these expeditions in any other
clothing than that worn by men, for skirts
would be utterly absurd for the purposes
A marked characteristic of the woman
is that life amid the giant vegeta-
ton of these mighty forests Is her pre-
objection. She says that only in these
great solitudes does she feel perfectly
at home. She is stifed in the city. She
has grown to love this sort Of life. SO
her wanderings in the Amazon basin are
not a matter OF bread and butter, but OF
preference.
Nine Coudreau thinks that the most UNI
attractive and hopeless human beings she
ever saw are the blacks scattered along
the Curua River. Theyiare the descendants
of runaway African slaves who ran of
to the interior from the coast plantations
and were never again brought under the
influence of the white man. Left to them
selves. they seem to have sunk into deeper
degradation, and the woman explorer sees
no redeeming feature in them. She thinks
that they lie by preference. have not
Rlimlner OF shame or of honor, and that
the Indian tribes around are vastly superior
to them.
Her book. include many good photo
graphs and much animated narrative,
They are not all that might be wished.
One tires of too many stories Of tugging
boats around falls and rapids and the end
less detail of pioneering in virgin forests;
The keen geographical instinct that marked
her husbands books is lacking in her own.
The maps leave much to be desired. But
Nine. Coudreau has lively sense of the
mission intrusted to her, Nothing
escapes her that has to do with transporta-
ton problems, natural products and the
availability of the river banks for settle
ment Her books are filled with the practical
needed by those who wish
to know what enterprises will thrive in
the districts she is examining.
She says that the middle and the upper
Curua are rich in sources Of wealth and
in opportunities for development. but the
river il worthless for navigation, and the
good things of the country cannot be reached
without q railroad. Her books on the dis
tricts of the Mapuera and Maycuru rivers
are of equal value for those who sent her
to explore them.