The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1913-07-31
PREPARING ROADbHD

vEnzM UILDING a railroad through the
NJ IL iuugles of western Brazil is
- a strenuous and often highly
NJ Id dangerous task calling for
a'An~ nerves and muscles of STEEL
the patience of Job, and the best en-
gineering skill, az the constructors OF
the Madeira and Mamore line Will tell
you This railroad will link up the Sc
res of cataracts and rapids on the
Madeira and Mamore rivers, the
most important anluents of the mighty
amazon and Madeira rivers below the
Madeira falls with the $500 miles
of navigation In Bolivia above these
falls. thereby providing quicker
and cheaper route, via Para, for the
| transport to Europe OF valuable eS'
| ports.
! A. W. Chester. an American civil
| engineer who has had considerable
| experience in railroad work in tropl'
! cal countries, returned from the Ma
deira region recently. after working
almost year with the survey corps
of the NJ. & NJ. lie was ordered
| home by the doctor in charge OF the
hospital after severe attack of black
water fever. and was told that to re-
turn would mean death.
Surveying down there Is pretty
hard job" says Mr. Chester. THE
line follows the river bank, never go
ing more than 10 to ID miles away
from IT,
Monkeys Good Food.
In n party are usually 10 to II
Americans, two men for each job, SO
that the work is not likely to be held
up by sickness, and about 30 natives
II Is not possible to use more than
that number of natives, for their bust
ness in cutting away jungle, and any
more would be superfluous. Some
times the supplies are not torthcom'
Ing. have been up there for a
month at time with no supplies
coming up, and we had to live on
beans and crushed manioca root
which looks something like n radish
and dried makes a sort OF meal Then
you can shoot monkeys, which make
good food especially the little Tel
lows a trine smaller than rabbits. II
they are not cooked whole you can
eat them. otherwise you get ii" feel
ing that you are sort of canntbal
Monkey meat tastes something Ike
squirrel.
They you have wild pig and deer
H.. nj ar A. -
? which is edible They also have
beast about the size of COW, bu
which swims IN the water, and which
! they call the anter down there 1t!
meat is like beef. Then there Is
, wild turkey that is absolutely black
: with red comb, which has an excel'en
, flavor. There is another bird tina
they call the jachoo, which is abou
the size of hen, is the color Of
partridge and has big bill. but i
rather tough.
! We'll, when the trail is cut III
, next thing is to make camp AM
{ then you cut trails around in differen
: directions. Exploring the countr
a down there Is like feeling in the darn
!. You cannot get on hilltop and loo
+. around The heat is intense in IN
q Jungle. There is no sun and the fe
!. lows come out of the woods after
, few weeks as white as sheet Til
=. long walks are the worst featur
r about the work.
. "One great annoyance In the jul
A gle is that you are apt to r'4 out
|, tobacco. You can drink a It'll
: liquor, In fact, the doctors tell you
- is beneficial If not INDUCED in to e:
a cess. but II you drink much II is ia
4, worse than In this country. In thes
>, surveying parties you have to wear
=, heavy flannel shirt all the time;
you don't you will catch a very har
a cold. None OF the camps is ever
. tackled by Indians, though there ha'
: teen cases in which one or two me
n have gone out from camp and nevt
been heard off. Sometimes TIER bone
are found long afterward with an
row beside them"
Afraid Of Guns.
O. The savages of this region fIgl
Z with bamboo-headed spears and pc
n soned arrows, the latter propelled
Re a powerful bow seven feet long. I'll
y, arrowheads. of bone. are dipped
10 snake venom, and infiict mort
W wound. The venom is said to be pr
n. cured by boiling snakes heads to 9
tract 1t from the glands, and evapors
o. ing the solution to almost drynes
~ The Indians are, however, afraid
5. anything that will shoot. consequef
Or ~ the constructors of the Madeira al
Mammore line always carried rev