Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1914-08-14
Woman's Remarkable Voyage
Down the Amazon.
Nine. Godin des odonnals the Only
Survivor Of q Company Of Nine
Persons Who Started In
1869 for Cayenne.

1.-THE most remarkable voyage on
the Amazon was made in 1863 by Nine
Godin des Odonnais," wrote Lieut.,
William Lewis Herndon In his report
on the exploration Of the valley Of
the Amazon, made in 1853. And there
in musty volume you will find It, z
record Of the bravery Of woman who
went from the head waters to the
mouth of the river, enduring the most
terrific hardships. ",
Nine. des Odonnais was the wife Of
q member Of French commission who
was sent to measure the arc OF the
meridian near Quito" wrote her biog'
rapher; "she started In 1863 from Rio
Bsmba, in Ecuador, to join her hus-
band in Cayenne by the route Of the
Amazon. She embarked at Caneolos,
on the Borbonaza, with q company OF
eight persons, two besides herself be-
ing females. On the third day the In
dams who conducted their canoes de-
serted, and Another Indian whom they
found SICK in q howell near the bank.
and employed as pilot, fell from the
canoe IN endeavoring to pick up the
hat of one of the party and was
drowned.
"The canoe under their own manage
ment soon capsized, and they lost all
their clothing and provisions. Three
men of the party now started for An
doas, in the Pastaza, which they sup
posed themselves to be within five or
six days of, and never returned. The
party left behind now consisted OF
three females and two brothers OF
Nine. des Odonnais. They dashed a few
logs together, and attempted to nav1-
gate; but this frail vessel soon went to
pieces by striking against the fallen
trees in the river. Then they attempt
ed to journey by foot along the banks
Of the river. but finding the growth
here too thick a. tangled for them to
make any way, they struck of into the
forest in hopes Of finding less OBJ
structed path.
"They were soon lost. Despair took
possession of them, and they persisted
miserably of hunger and exhaustion.
Nine. des Odonnais, recovering from a
swoon, which she supposed to have
been of many hours duration, took the
shoes from her dead brothers feet and
started to walk she knew not whittier.
Her clothes were soon torn to rags.
her body lacerated by her exertions
in forcing her way through the, tangled
and thorny underground, and she was
kept constantly in state OF deadly
terror by the howl of the tiger and the
hiss of the serpent. 1T is wonderful
that she preserved her reason. Eight
terrible days and nights did she wander
alone in the bowling wilderness, sup
ported by a few berries and birds
eggs.
"Providentially Il cannot say acci-
dentally) she struck the river at a
point where two Indians "a man and
a woman) were just launching a
canoe. They received her with kind
ness, furnished her with food. gave her
q coarse cotton petticoat, which she
preserved for years afterward as me-
mortal Of tNeir goodness, and carried
her in their canoe to Andoas, whence
she found a passage down the river.
and finally joined her husband. Her
hair turned gray with suffering, and
she could never hear the incidents OF
her voyage alluded to without feel
ing of horror that bordered on lnsan-
ltY."