Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-03-06

EA narrative or Or. Hamilton
"a Rice, the medical scientific ex-
plorer who has just got back
from IT months of travel In the
jungles about the headwaters Of the
Amazon. 1t was the explorers second
trip to South America. The party
reached Bogota the latter part OF Janu-
airy, 1912, where preparations for the
inland expedition were completed.
In telling of his experiences Doctor
Rice said: "In. February, 1912, sent
II mules with 1900 pounds of. freight
over to San Martin, in the Andes,
which l made my first base. Ihen'
early in May, followed with 10 more
mules. using the same route that had
employed in my journey OF 1907 to the
Uaupes. At Villavicencio, the hrst
town east from Bogota on the llanos,
or plains, l made stop, got good lati-
tudes and longitudes, and laid out the
groundwork for a map. Then l con-
tinued on to San Martin.
Having spent two weeks taking OBJ
, servations to finish my work or hVe
years ago, | found that Doctor lara
milo. the Commandante, was about to
undertake a government expedition
south in an attempt to reach the Me-
saya river, and l accompanied him as
topographer and surgeon. We had 26
men, consisting of caucheros, or rub
Der gatherers, and Indians. Early in
September a camp was made on the
Rio Ililla, a branch Of the Uaupes. 1t
WAS necessary to cut path through
Jungle, swamp and forest.
~ River Full of Fish.
eve found the Mesaya river teemins
with all kinds of fish. / saw man in
one hour catch with hook and line
$50 of ten different varieties, ranging
from seven inches to two feet in
length.
81 had OPPORTUNITY here to study
the Huitoto Indians. They are very
docile and never intermarry. Natural
ly intelligent, they learn very rapidly.
The Carijona Indians, on the other
hand, are much more fierce and war
like, and continually intermarry. This
nation has been melted from time to
time by the Peruvians to make war up
on the peaceful Huitotos.
South of the Mesaya we discovered
a chain of ragged, high hills, and spent
more than week in forcing passage
over them. Three weeks more were
consumed in working south from there
Sometimes three miles were as much
as we could cover in day. The men
were worn down by hardships, tropical
ulcers, and fever. Early In November
things began to assume such critical
aspect that Jaramillo, at my sugges-
ton, reduced his working force one
half and established caches after the
manner of polar explorers. With six
Indians and six whites we advanced
a few days more, when the white men
refused to go further.
I'VE were in a dense forest, filled
with canos, or small streams, and
swamps We had to continually fell
trees to get them out of the way. The
waters were filed with rayas, which
infict terrible stings, causing ulcers.
The food got scarce. The Indians re-
fused to proceed, and two had to be
chastised. The party was reduced to
six. We had left behind everything
but our instruments and hammocks
and the cutlasses, which were abso-
lutely necessary to cut a way through
the jungle. The rain poured down
heavily all the time. Finally, on No
vember IL, we reached the Ajaju river
at It's source. This was our definite
goal. We made observations for lati-
tude and longitude, christened the
place Puerto Mercedes, left records
under trees, and started back.
1--WE were now without food, and de-
pended upon meeting supplies which
we had ordered to be sent from our
base. Sometimes we found a scrawny
monkey, sometimes a bird, which fur
nished the whole food supply for
day. Once found a huge land turtle,
on which We Toasted for two days.
Gradually we threw away everything
except our instruments. We grew
weaker and weaker. Finally Castro,
giant who had been in the habit of
carrying $50 pounds on his back, came
down to motor aphasia.
However, we all got back to our
base alive, there to find that all the
party we had left had fed, except
those who hadn't been able to get
away because of raya wounds or sick
ness. All the dogs had been killed by
jaguars. However, there was plenty
Of food, and after two days rest we
went back to Ililla and reached Gala.
mar in December. From Calamar I
went back to my base at San lose.