Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-06-03


1--WE struck long stretch of smooth
water. The river was broad and big
In that part, and after two days more
we struck the uppermost camp or
house Of any OF the rubber men. We
were able to get food-sugar cane,
mauioca, sometimes rice or bananas,
occasionally chicken or a duck, not
very often. And in the II days, II l
remember rightly, we got eight eggs,
which divided among the six Of us
would have given each man one egg q
week. .5f I.:E@4 # 4
t''Until men have had experience
they can hardly realize the insuffer-
able difference there is going down 9
stream broken by rapids which are
unknown and going down q stream
Just as difficult which Is known.
"In the first place you come to the
head Of the rapids and you have not
any idea what is ahead. You have to
land and send people forward to ex--
plore. 33, ri 81 4. .s; n II IS s
AZ 4. They may have to be gone three or
four. hours: They, come back They
may have only explored one side Of
the stream. If they find It very bad
they may have to cross over and ex-
plore for three or four hours on the
other side, down, to see II there IS not
some channel on that side on which
you can get your canoe. Then you
have to come back and report as to
whether you can run the canoes
loaded. i !: Il. s ~, a.
Our canoes were SO overladen that
we could not often do that It is q
question whether you can run them
down empty and merely portage the
goods, or whether you must portage
the goods and let the canoes down by
ropes, or whether you will have to- do
as we had to do on three or four &C.
caslons -cut roads through the woods,
lay down logs. and with block and
tackle and by the severest kind OF
bodily labor drag the heavy, clumsy
dugouts overland down to the foot OF
the rapids. " f;5 " we
III you are overcautious You will
4 take so long a time that you will ex-
haust your food supply and be IN dan.
ger OF starvation. II you are over.
risky you may lose the canoes and
what's in them. Then you face star
walton, not In the future, but in the
present. .s 4 XII 5L q B.
;""The medicines are almost as impor'
i tant as the food. We had to keep the
men and ourselves all dosed with qui
nine the whole time in order to keeI
the fever from us, | think everybody
got the fever more or less, but II we
had not had the quinine we would
have been laid out, Dbl 4 Il. 83, i!
I'VE were fortunate enough on oul
trip down the river not to lose any Of
| our instruments or any Of the speci
mems or notebooks or anything else
that was Of consequence to the expe
dition, but we had to cut all our per
sona belongings to the bone 2 {. .s}
ION the upper course Of the rivel
there were Indians. They were afraid
of us and somewhat hostile. i think
their hostility was due only to timid
ity, but if you are shot by man be
cause he is afraid Of you it is almost
as unpleasant as If he shot you be
cause ,he ldisliked you. va NJ ~ =
"In the wilderness people portray
you as being in danger from croco
diIes and jaguars and SO on. They are
not the things you mind. 1t is the
mosquitoes and the poisonous ants
It is the ants that eat up your cloth
ing. 1t is the moribund wasps tina,
are perfectly awful. 1t is these SO
called borochuda and plum flies, which
I are like the black flies of the north
ern woods, only worse, and it is the
insect pests of that kind that are
really serious drawbacks to work IL
the wilderness. The life lacked 6
| good deal Of being undiluted pleasure
1 during the time we spent at that
camp. We were about three days, al
| most four days, in the camp