Gunnison news-champion., 1917-04-13

. l@TE- u IN lIglt US Gll1tf
It's leafy archway. every stroke Of our
I paddles sending a thousand rippIes
across its shining surface II was a
citing avenue TO a land of wonders
AL signs Of the Indians had passed
away. but animal life was more FIRE
gleat. and the tameness Of TIE crea-
lures showed that they knew nOihln.
Of the hunter. Fuzz.. .Etie black vel
re' monkeys with Sow white teeth
and cleaning. hooking eyes chartered
&; Us a. we passed With a dull.
heavy splash an occasional cayman
plunged In from the bank Once
Jark. clumsy tapir stared at US from
zap in the bushes and then lumber
Ell AWAY through the forest. Once. too.
The yellow. sinuous form Of a great
puma whisked amid the brushwood.
alI - green. balefui eyes rlare,i tn
'Tal at - over Its tnwuy shoulder
Bird life was abundant especially the
uaIlU- birds. stork. heron and Ibis
l..arriug IA little groups. blue. scar
lrr and white. upon every log which
y-ueL from the bank. while beneath
o. the crystal water was alive with
f-I ~ every shape and color.
For three days we made our way
gr this tunnel Of hazy green sunshine
ur the longer stretches one could hard
.g fell as one looked ahead where th.
distant green water ended and the
..-'anr green arvhway begun. The
aarp rcacc Of this strange waterway
70, uubroken by any sign OF man.
ND Indian here, Too much afraid
uruIrL" said Gomez.
u-upuri Is the spirit OF the woods
L.-I John explained Its "A name
Z. auy kind OF devil. The poor beg
-r-. thinks that there l. something
1..-r,ue Ia this direction. and there
.. they avoid it
ur the third day fl became evident
THAT our Journey In the canoes could
NJ last much longer. for the stream
VAS upIdIy growing more shallow.
..r iu as many hours we stuck upon
t.r bottom. Finally we pulled the
lHls up among the brushwood and
at the night on the bank OF the
r..v- In the morning Lord John and
male our way for II couple OF miles
ugh the forest. keeping parallel
% AAA'+ buI Us u grew ever
s.a.luwer we returned and reported.
what Professor Challenger had already
SUSPECTED. that we had reached the
hr-hcst point to which the canoes could
b. brought We drew them up. there
furv. and concealed them among the
bushes, blazing tree with our axes
T So that We should find them again.
Then we distributed the various bur
dcus among us-guns. ammunition.
food. tent, blankets and the rest
I and shouldering our packages, we set
forth upon the more laborious stage OF
I our journey.
4 Advancing In single file along the bank
I Of the stream, we soon found that 1t
narrowed down TO mere brook. and
J finally that II lost itself In great
green morass OF spongelike MOSES.
into which we sank up to our knees.
/ The place was horribly haunted by
] clouds OF mosquitoes and every form
Of flying pest. SO we were glad to find
solid ground again and to make n cir
cult among the trees. which enabled
us to outtiank this pestilent morass.
which droned like an organ in the dis
lance. SO loud was II with insect life.
On the ninth day after leaving the
canoes. having done. as reckon. about
10 miles. we began to emerge from
the trees. which had grown smaller I'M
til they We're mere shrubs. Their place
was taken by an immense wilderness
Of bamboo, which grew so thickly that
we could only penetrate 1t by cutting
q 49, A. ~.
hooks OF the Indians. 1t took US long
day. travelling from In the morning
till s at night, with only two breaks
Of one hour each. to get through this
obstacle. Anything more monotonous
and wearying could not I've imagined.
for. even at the most open places. |
could not see more than ten or twelve
yards. while usually my vision was
limited TO the back of Lord Johns cot
ton jncket in front OF me and to the
yellow wall within foot OF me on
either side. From above came one
thin knife edge Of sunshine. and fifteen
feet over our heads one saw the tops
Of the reeds swaying against the deep
blue sky. do not know what kind OF
/ creatures inhabit such n thicket. but
several times we heard the plunging OF
large. heavy animals quite close TO us
From their sounds Lord John judged
them to be some form Of wild cattle
Just as night fell we cleared the belt
Of bamboos and at once formed our
1 camp. exhausted by the interminable
I day.
Early next morning we were again
afoot and found that the character of
the country had changed once again
Behind us was the wall Of bamboo. as
definite as II II marked the course OF
Q river. In front was an open plain
sloping slightly upward and dotted
with clumps OF tree ferns. the whole
curving before us until II ended In a
lonD Whale hacked ridge This NE