The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1913-04-24

NJ FOl AblNt up tue A'ldLOA on IA
"a Il ocean going steamer. one Is al
w ways far above the surface OF
w the water. one is always hur-
rying rather noisily on, and so
ceccssarily but very little OF the life
Of the great river Is seen Passing
through the narrows above Para, the
'orcsts can almost be touched on eth
or side OF the steamer, but aftor that
one shore Is always very distant
There Is something mysterious
sbout the river, canoes laden with for
est produce, brightly plumaged
maccaw pcrchcd on their prov, come
smoothly to the town, river steamers
with their burden Of evil smelling rub
Der. a few brilliant orchids tied to
the whcelhousc make fast TO the
wharvcs. and always there IS that
sCnsc OF the unknown. the bright, the
elusive. A desire to overcome this
feeling Of rcmutCuCss, writes u CORE
spOndcnt of the London Times, de-
tCrmincd me to embark In n canoe
and journey out on the yellow waters
est hung channels to the black wa.
tcrs and white sand strcwn beaches Of
the Rio Negro
The difficulties ! encountered were
/ immense. All my brazilian friends
warned me Of the dangers and hard.
that prohIbitiye prices were asked
for the hire OF even the most insult
able craft Eventually / secured a
boat, and built rolda or hood over
one end took my provisions on board.
hoistod sail and set on My crew
consisted Of a Portuguese boatman
and a Japanese
Pests Of the River Amazon.
Sailing slowly down the river. the
boat kept very close to the bank and
slid along noiscIessly As the day
wore on the wind died down and the
heat became intense. \ black fly
called motuca appeared In great NUN.
bcrs and inflicted painful bites We
landed to light iirc and cook lunch
Small. dry sponges hung in the
branches OF the shrubs that had been
long submerged, yellow butterflies
were drinking in companies Of 80 or
more at little pools left on the slop,
Ing shore Huge yellow and black
hornets came around us and at first
frightened US. but We soon learned to
look on them as friends when W
found It was the motuca flies that
they were hunting, not us. Otter hard
ly had a motuca settled when 1t was
pounced upon and borne on
All insect pests we're said to be far
worse on white water rivers than on
black water ones. so We FASTENED &c
leave the Amazon, so as II possible
to sleep that night on the shores Of
one OF the lakes lying between that
river and the Rio Negro a breez,
sprung up and took us up tho river
slowly enough, as the current com
ing down was very strong but whcr
We turned up a stream leading to The
Rio Negro our progress ceased, the
sail was lowered aud we took out tn,
oars
It proved to be very hot work. Shu
in by the immense forest trees, NJ
breath OF wind came to us, and ",
were very happy to come to a small
lake with a place on its shores fire,
from brushwood on which we coulC
camp. My companions slung thci
hammocks from branches OF trees
carefully arranging their mosquito
nets to protect them at night. A 1T
tie way from them. n yard from tn,
waters edge. | placed my mattress
and cased 1t In with mosquito ne
on poles cut from the forest w
then strolled off in search of the III
, known.
There IL a curious atmosphere o
suspense or hush, in the Amazon foi
est; the light only reaches one afte
. being filtered through greenery. Tn
wide leaves of the wild banana an
the frequent palms give very trop
cal air to the scenery. Noises ar
. ew: occasionally large bird will u
, ter its call, an iguana will rus
through the rustling leaves. or som
monkeys will chatter as they swim
through the creepers overhead. Bri
liant metallic blue Morpho butterflle
: 1T silently through the more ope
aisles, and the tracks of night wander
!, ing animals can be seen on tn
ground.