The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-31
HOME FROM UP The AMAZON.
T.. &. BENEDICT BRINGS AID SAFE
EXCEPT TINE JiCiHIRS,
Tho sleepy apo Sentenced 10 Brooklyn
Sl5-a-Platc Dinners Where once the
Savage Lurked-Truesdde Boy Lands
with an Amateur Haircut, hut AIS Wen

-sib-a-platc Dinners Where once thu
Savage Lurked-TruesdIe BOY LEnd'
with an Amateur Haircut. hut ANS Ell
Hardly cool from Amazon waters, the
steam yacht Virginia, with her load OF
industrial explorers, tied up at the New
York Yacht Club wharf yesterday morning
She left here on Nov, IS, with Commodore
j. c. Benedict the banker, and her lessee
nine passengers and crew Of thlrty-four
She brought them all back safely and also
landed one tiger five monkeys. eleven
inacaws, nine parrakeets and one sleepy
ape.
r. NJ. Bacltls of this city. who was once
Consul at Para had a mortgage on the
tigcr. Tigers do not run to the heavy in
South America. They are about in the
North American wildcat class, and Mr.
BncluIs expects to teach parlor tricks to
this one. The macaws and parrlkeeta are
10 be split up among the explorers who
care for such loud gross birds. The destiny
of the sleepy ape was in doubt for some
time Then Able Seaman McCreevy stepped
ford touched his forelock and said
please sir. | wish the sleepy ape.
What would you do with it?' asked
Commodore Benedict, somewhat curious.
Il would give it to my father who IS
policeman in Brooklyn said McCreevy.
At which great silence fell, and the
NcCrecvies had il, by large majority.
II they had not the able seaman would
have explained that he lived next door
20 Terry McGoven Then he would have
been sure of the prize
There WAS group Of merry jncamars
aboard, those birds that climb trees faster
than they could fly them, but they died
q Inconsistencies and we're buried with
honors at sea.
Perhaps 1t should bc explained now that
the mission of the Virginia, when she sailed
from here two and n half months ago. was
10 ascend the Amazon and take a good
look about the rubber country. She went
10 Bermuda. thence TO st Kits, Guade-
loupe. Dominica Martinique, Santa Lucia
and Barbados. The sail from Barbados
was to the city OF Para at the junction OF
tho Para and AMAZON Rivers, and after
that there was a Journey of 1900 miles up
the Amazon TO Manaos. There was some
rough weather, but the Virginia stood it
well, Commodore Benedict says her screw
never raced once.
week was spent at Para, big progress
sive town dependent on the rubber crop.
Then the journey up tho Amazon was be-
gun. 1t Is now painful necessity TO kill
some impressionsd dispensed by Capt. Mayne
Reid. You can sail up the Amazon without
being beset by savage dwarfs armed with
poisonous blowguns or by horrid and
hungry anacondas.
we had no encounters with snakes
said Russell q. Colt, one of the explorers,
who ia a son Of the president Of the United
States Rubber Company. we heard OF
plenty Of centipedes and tarantulas on
i
constructors on the Para and Madeira
rivers, in the interior. We did not vent
ure there. for the underbrush is thick, the
guides ARE unreliable and the bugs are
Very many.
IAN along the Amazon there were fine
turtles for soup and when we got up before
sunrise wa could shoot plenty OF birds
The real sport there is alligator shooting
which IL very much tle same as It is in
Florida. No animal llfe Is visible In bright
daylight. The spoTsman has 70 work
between and VI. The parrots always
travel in pairs. There are plenty of these
and macaws, and the tigers which are
small. We did a bit OF hunting In the early
mornings. but did not 60 far into the in
terror. We shot monkeys. wild cate and
sloths.
THE stories about the natives being
savage IS all poppycock, We saw thou
sands OF them along the river. They
build their huts over the water, which Is
unsanitary. They wear no clothes TO
speak of. From what | saw OF them they
are foes OF race suicide We heard Of can
nibal tribas on the Nlngu Piver. but we
did not get that far.
We were objects OF some curiosity. of
course, for the Virginia was the first yacht
TO 60 up the Amazon a. far az Manaos.
We didn't use our searohNght at all, az we
travelled in daytime. Our refrigerating
machine worked like a charm and, with the
electro fans going aboard the yacht all the
time, We We're very comfort able. For
amusement We had the automatic piano
and fishing. We caught Jewish. angel
fish and sharks; OF course the sharks were at
the mouth of the river.
The natives are "A mixture OF Portu-
guese and Indian. They take the rubber
from the trees and sell it for 90 cents a
pound. The agents get II so cheap that
we decided 70 cut in and establish branches
at Para and Manaos. our company alone
buys $40 900 coo worth year.
There is very little work in that country
between 10 \. NJ. and p NJ tho weather
/, 80 hot Unshlled labor makes from 50
TO s. a day, but beer costs a dollar a bottle
There are very few Americans, English
men and Germans aboIt. | met an Eng
lishman who went there three years ago
with little more than his face, and who has
made half a million. It's not "A place 10
spend your life, unless YOU are q native
Then you can have a good time in RIO,
when YOU get rich If YOU arc foreign
born you skip to Paris or New York a. soon
rs YOU have made all you need"
What became of all the fireworks the
Virginia bors away from New York;
was asked.
Those we're taken 10 celebrate the OPEN
ing Of n wireless telegraph SYSTEM said
Mr., Colt. The system was needed because
the avadors used To cut the cables But the
system wasn't quite ready, and we burned
the fireworks as we steamed out of MAnaos
On our way home
And the 500 pounds OF candv?"
1t was only 200. and we gave It as souvr-
Mrs TO the ladies who oamc aboard at our
various stops along the river. Most Of
them wero Portuguese ladies Our visits
we're usually society events In way.
They do things up pretty we'll down there
For instance, dinner given 20 Ia at Manaos,
! 900 miles up the Amazon. cost about
81, 500 for forty people. It's much more
civilized country than people think"
There WIS a real live boy aboard the
Nirginia-Aelville Truesdalc, the twelve
year-old son of the president of the Lacka-
wanna Railroad. He had great time.
Coming down the Amazon his hair got
uncomforiably long. Mr. Colt undertook
TO remedy the evil with the sailmaker's
shears. He made a shlnEle job OF It and
Melville was ashamed 10 20 ashore at
Havana
It wasn't exactly improved yesterday