The Ely miner., 1913-08-01


the patience of Job, and the best en-
gineering skill, as the constructors Of
the Madeira and Mamore line will tell
you. This railroad will link up the Sc
ries of cataracts and rapids on the
Madeira and Mamore rivers, the
most important affiuents of the mighty
amazon and Madeira rivers below the
Madeira falls with the $500 miles
of navigation in Bolivia above these
falls, thereby providing a quicker
and cheaper route, via Para, for the
transport to Europe of valuable ex-
ports.
A. w. Chester an American civil
engineer who has had considerable
experience in railroad work in tropi-
cal countries, returned from the Ma
deira region recently, after working
almost a year with the survey corps
of the M. & M. He was ordered
home by the doctor in charge of the
hospital after a 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 15 miles away
from it.
Monkeys Good Food
in a party are usually 10 to IL
Americans, two men for each job, so
that the work is not likely to be held
up by sickness, and about so natives.
1t is not possible to use more than
that number of natives, for their busi-
ness in cutting away jungle, and any
more would be superf1uous. Some
times the supplies are not forthcom-
ing. l have been up there for a
month at a time with no supplies
coming up, and we had to live on
beans and crushed manioca root,
which looks something like a radish
and dried makes a sort of meal. Then
you can shoot monkeys, which make
good food, especially the little fell
lows a trifle smaller than rabbits. If
they are not cooked whole you can
eat them, otherwise you get the feel
ing that you are sort of cannibal.
Monkey meat tastes something like
squirrel.
They you have wild pig and deer,
and there is the tapir, or anteater,
which is edible. They also have a
beast about the size of a cow, but
which swims in the water, and which
they call the anter down there. Its
meat is like beef. Then there is a
wild turkey that is absolutely black,
with red comb, which has an excellent
flavor. There is another bird that
they call the jachoo, which is about
the size of a hen, is the color Of a
partridge and has big bill, but is
rather tough.
We'll, when the trail is cut the
next thing is to make camp and
! then you cut trails around in different
directions. Exploring the country
down there is like feeling in the dark.
You cannot get on a hilltop and look
around. The heat is intense in the
jungle. There is no sun and the fel-
lows come out of the woods after a
few weeks as white as a sheet The
long walks are the worst feature
about the work.
"One great annoyance in the jun
gle is that you are apt to run out of
tobacco You can drink little
liquor, in fact, the doctors .ell you 1t
is beneficial If not INDUCED in to ex.
cess. but if you drink much 1t is far
worse than in this country. In these
surveying parties you have to wear a
heavy flannel shirt all the time; If
you don't you will catch a very hard
cold None of the camps is ever at.
tackled by Indians, though there have
teen cases in which one or two men
have gone out from camp and never
been heard off. Sometimes their bones
are found long afterward with an ar.
row beside them"