Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-11-08

1 " 7 Is the only story Of hardship, ad-
/ venture and danger in the search
/ for treasure that Mr.. George 7.
! Kenly of Baltimore can tell his
friends when they induce him TO
talk.
Mr. Kenly, who is a civil and mining
engineer, recently returned from an
arduous trip in the United States OF
1 Colombia, in South America. whittier
he went prospecting for the lnterna-
tional Land improvement company,
which has offices in this city. He ex-
poets to leave again within two weeks
to prosecute his work further in the
tropical country.
The Baltimorean, with Mr.. Louis F.
de Montmorency, also an engineer, and
with Luis, native guide, and an in
dian boy, Patronina, travelled more
than 1000 miles on round trip into
the wilds of Colombia and out OF them.
The party found what 1t went after
gold. as we'll as other minerals, includ-
ing coal, but Mr. Kenly says there
is as much wealth above ground as
under its surface.
He brought a bottle of gold with
him; the other things he could not
bring, because when wealth is in the
shape of giant mahogany trees six
feet in diameter they are a bit I'M
handy to carry.
Il left Baltimore last July" said Mr.
Kenly, and joined MI Montgomery in
Panama We started our real explo-
ration from Barranquilla, the heavy
work beginning 300 miles from that
town Part OF our journey lay on a
route that took us up the Magdalena
and other rivers, and part of 1t was
over the toughest mountain trails man
ever encountered. where the jungle
lay on each side of us as an impene-
trable wall.
"Boatmen We hired TO take us in
their native canoes as we needed them,
and one such journey was 200 miles
long For land service We hired pack.
men or porters, and upon one trip Of
forty miles we had. besides our orig
maj laI ~ VI AOuAs wi RNANhAAiSh ann
two oxen. To add to our difficulties
we travelled in the rainy season when
the water at times poured down In
sheets for hours at a time.
This forty miles consisted Of only
a cattle trail and 200 cattle had gone
over it only a few hours before They
T go In single file, each planting his feet
in the footsteps of the one in front
and into these deep slippery holes We
had to walk. for there is not so much
as six inches Of foot-way beside the
narrow trail.
The canoes down there are dug
b outs. made by the natives from the
massive trees that fill the wilderness.
| They run anywhere from ten feet long
up to a great boat such as We used
on 200 miles of our journey. This ca
noe was sixty feet long and four feet
wide and had been worked out of a
monster mahogany log that was with
out a blemish About twenty-five feet
OF the forward part of this boat was
; occupied by the four naked natives.
t who propelled 1t. They know nothing
of rowing or padding. The boats are
poled along. and the skill and strength
displayed In ascending a river against
a current Of FIVE miles an hour Is won.
derful
How Craft Are Pooled.
One boatman goes TO the bow and
sticks his twenty -five-foot pole into
| the mud at the river bottom. Then,
, placing his shoulder to It, he walks
back along the footway TO its end
pushing the boat along. Each in turn
goes forward for this polling, and at
the end of the footway he pulls his
pole from the mud holds 1t aloft and
companions pass under his arms and
t. pole.
But to pole a boat the canoeist
must keep near shore where 1t is not
! too deep and where. unfortunately
the jungle foliage everhangs, This is
where the pole often strikes the
leaves and dislodges millions OF mos,
5 Quitoes. brings down a shower Of vic,
ious ants, frequently a snake and
5 worst of all. species of black wasp
which is the most dreaded of all Its
, sting is so strange and powerful that
ii seems TO strike a man as If with
blow from a Jim Jetfries, and the
result is the same, the man goes
down and out. All of us, including
the boatmen. were scared enough when
/ the snakes dropped in on us, but the
! reptiles seemed equally scared and
. scrambled out. But when the wasps
were seen the natives scarcely breath
ed for fear Of disturbing them
IN canoeing your way on these riv
ers through a temperature in the sun
J light OF 40 degrees to $50 degrees
;, there are no stopping places save
n where shack can be seen on shore
. There you are sure OF clearing and
% by the way, a welcome, Always you
put up for the night at such shack,
and most of them are days journey
apart from one another You cannot
stop on the river bank because the
jungle comes to the waters edge.
T. The canoemen will not run at night
# il they can avoid it, because suags
might overturu the boat and the inn
meuse alligators that are in the waters
in great numbers like nothing so
much as company. They have no
= choice between dark and light meat.
But when you so to the friendly
e. shack you can get some sort of q