The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-12-03


off for America apparently, was
big, dark-faced man the sight of
whose visage sent sudden startled
thrill through me. | had seen him
once only before, had never known
his name and yet owed him my life.
He saw me waving and heard me shout
Ing to him, recognized me and saluted,
then was lost in the crowd. Queer,
wasn't iti yet no stranger than the story
Of my first meeting with him.
II was in 1902 that l came back from
Africa with about five different sorts
of fever in me and / believe | should
have died If / had remained in the
north. My physician suggested that
return to the tropics or rather the sub
tropics, only that instead of Africa or
India that | try Central America.
Following my physicians advice
sailed for Barbados and then for Be-
lire, and after getting the general lay
OF the country and picking up two good
natives and four burros for my outfit
set out for the interior intending to
do little gold prospecting, little COL
lectins and II possible to get some fine
jaugar skins. Though the region is not
noted as a sporting country it is very
fine one. Sir George Ramsden went
there regularly until he was killed by
. jsugar and he told me at one time
that he was never fifty miles beyond
civilization and often wondered what
lay beyond. There is a popular idea
that when one can pick up a map and
see country outlined, see the noun
tains and rivers marked off and see
towns jotted down that the country
has been explored and is familiar to
yho geographers. This is erroneous
There are millions of square miles on
thc face Of the earth of which the
knowledge of the white man is very
slight indeed. determined to explore
the section to the west and in so doing
I encountered the greatest adventure of
my none too peaceful life.
had It in mind to strike southwest
20 the Cockscomb mountains, hunt down
their northwestern face TO the border
and explore the Passion River the head
waters Of the magnificent Usamacnta
River, one Of the most important sys-
TENS on the American continent, and
yet hardly known to civilization, but
about the time left British territory
was tired Of struggling with the jungle
and finding more open country off in
the general direction of Lake Peten
I changed my course intending to renew
nv, supplies at Flores or to push on to
= on the headwaters Of the Hondo
Nthen swing around into the great
country to the north. The
as ! moved due northwest
yVem that am convinced
So of the Old River,
gully forty miles from the supposed
locality Of it and by the end OF the
month, having missed Lake Peten en-
tirely, | was travelling in country
that drained to the west instead of the
east, whereby knew that even the
general line OF the watershed of the
Yucatanian peninsular has not been
properly placed by the geographers.
The shooting had been fine and my
greatest trouble was with the jungle,
as there would be points in our journey
when the forests of lignum vitae, ma
hogsny, eucalyptus and gum trees, etc,
were so dense that they would have been
hard travelling, even II not been bound
together by the creepers. These made
almost impossible masses of growth
through which we hewed our way with
big knives, sometimes making only two
or three miles day.