The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1910-06-17

VelGp what we have found. My two
partners arc still down there. The
| country is rough, wild and practically
| uninhabited 1t Is mountainous, and
the reason you see so few Indians is
that most of the region is covered
with dense jungle. We prospectei
for year over country 100 miles
long and about forty miles wide Dur
i-g this time we had to live on game,
for there are plenty of wild hears,
bears and little deer. Then wild tur-
keys and other birds are plentiful
IT course the anteater abounds. but
believe ME, he does not make good
food.
II was within nine feet of my first
bear before I saw him. l was not
looking for him. 1 had a life in ore
hand and a machete in the other and
was hacking away trying to make a
path when I happened to look up and
there not over three yards away was
the biggest black bear I ever saw.
He was eating palm leaves, and l
saw him as he arose upon his hind
legs. Before I got a chance. to pull
my trigger he had fallen upon all
fours again.
81 took a shot through the bushes
and hit him in the neck. AS he
reared up again I shot him in the
other side. He Immediately got busy
in my direction, but 1 had increased
the distance between us and as he
came on I fired again, and hit him en-
the jaw. He kept on, little in adj
vance, and he was only within fifteen
feet of me when he dropped. There
after I never allowed myself to get
so near live bear.
eve came across other Americans
in the country who were upon the
same errand as ourselves, and some
of them have been successful. When
we built our palm hut the nearest
Americans were about eighty miles
from us. Our outfit consisted only
of little mortar for crushing rock,
pick, pan and shovel. The re-
gion is going to be a good mining
country. We are putting up a mill
on our property. The gold is in
quartz and runs about $12 or SIS to
the ton, though in some places you
find much richer ore. The only ap-
proach to village of any kind any,
where near us is ham'et of about
twenty-five natives about six miles
away. There is a MOI thly mail that
comes through. 1t takes from eight
to ten days to cover the trail from
Semiti, and there are two ranges of
mountains between us and the Pa
cific coast.
''Since I have been down there 1
have walked more than 5000 miles.
If you get off the old trail you have
to cut your way, though we generally
followed the creeks when we could.
In taking out claim you have to
send word to the Alcalde OF the near
est town. Then you have ninety days
in which to send your papers to Bo-
gotta, or the nearest State capital.
Then an inspector goes out and meas
ures claim and you get possession,
and after a certain time you get a
title. The fees amount in all to per-
haps $50. Then you pay tax on
the possession of rights, whether you
run a mill or not.
'The main difficulty with the coun-
try is, of course, the lack of trans
Iortation facilities. We had to take
our mill in in sections and on the
backs of mules. The gold is sent out
on the backs of men. 1 nave found
the natives down there very honest.
That whole region is at an elevation
of between 1900 and 5000 feet above
sea level. There are few insects and
snakes and the nights are cold. But
it is good to get back to civilization
once more. New York Sun.