The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-01-25
JACK LONDON is
RIVALED IN FACT
Johns HOPKINS PROFESSOR
TELLS OF SOUTH AMERICAN
PEOPLE WITH ANTEDILU-
WAN CIVILIZATION.
By Winifred Van Duzer.

By Winifred Van Duzer.
BALTIMORE, Md.-Monday | sat
in a rock and fossil Uttered room
at Johns Hopkins University here and
listened to. stoy that Jack London
might have told.
1t was brought from a dim corner
OF the earth by DR.. Edward w. Ber-
nv, professor of paleontology. With a
party of which DR.. J. I. Singwald, IT,
professor Of economic geology at the
university, also was member, Or.
Berry returned recently from an eX-
petition through seldom-penetrated
districts OF Chile, Bolivia and Peru
The expedition, undertaken as a
memorial to George Huntingdon VII
liams, was for the purpose OF sclentlnc
research, particularly as regards rock
formation of the Andes mountain
range and ore deposits, DR.. Berry eX-
blamed. Contact with lie and peo-
Die which the novelist OF the South
Seas would have loved was an Incl
dental part of the party's wanderings
of six months.
eve are interested in finding out
the age of the west coast ranges, SAID
DIR. Berry. go.
eve finally settled five million
years on the west coast range and
twenty million on the eastern lhey
are the youngest mountain systems
in the world!'
The story he told was OF folk who
in their civilization, household goods,
farm implements and customs live IN
the days when Pharoah's word was
law in Egypt.
The men, like Tennyson's Lotus
Eaters" spend their lives deep asleep,
vet awake" because they chew leaves
of-cocoa mixed with ashes. They sell
their children for this lethal treasure.
Their dwelling is $500 feet above
the level of the sea. There stars look
like lights set upon the hills. And on
surrounding plains packs OF wolf dogs,
running under the wind, howl all
night to the empty gods OF space!
"The pipes OF Pan are played there,
DR.. Berry continues, and at festival
times tom-toms beat through days on
end"
From the west coast OF northern
Chile far to the south where are nj
trate pampas, there is a strip OF desert
more lOIDlQQllS lltdll lllN lilOob
ter portions OF our own western
wastes, lying between the mountain
ranges. Beyond the peaks on the west
is the beauty of sub-tropical vegeta-
ton, for trade winds drop their moist
ure on the coast.
The expeditionist went on:
MANY of the mountains on the
coast of Peru and north Chile are
fourteen thousand feet high. Peaks rise
four or five miles above the sea level
and drop that much below. That
means almost l0-mile gradient: one
OF the greatest slopes on the globe.
Across the desert is the eastern
range and Bolivia with plateaus higher
than Pixies Peak. Here the Incas liv
ed nine hundred years ago and here
their descendants live now with their
civilization OF 1920 B. c.
Ancient Methods.
There has been no change in their
methods of living for hundreds OF
years." DIR. Berry said. 1T was not
until we got into Chile that we saw
spades or other agricultural imple-
ments not made OF wood, like those
OF ancient Egypt
Until Chile, Peru and Bolivia are
united by means OF communications
there will be no educational progress.
Even in coast districts and cities the
Indian population is greatly in excess
of the white.
"In Emile extent of Bolivia we
estimated SO per cent OF Indians, 80
per cent half-breeds and IA per cent
white population. ! believe more
correct estimate would be ~ per cent
+LrC,,1bct,f 4I,a
They are very peaceable, these ma
tives. Perhaps it's because so much
energy is taken to live at that eleva-
ton that they have none left to fight
with Any way, their chest develop
ment, even that of the children, would
make the expansion of our star ath
letes seem insignificant They use
such small portion of their lungs in
breathing the thin air that they at
once succumb to pulmonary troubles
if they leave their heights.
They are stolid, fatalistic, taking
life as it comes with neither JOY nor
complaint. They seem to be beyond
physical suffering. | have seen them
work barefooted upon the ice without
showing discomfort.
"They are obliged to endure ex-
tremes of heat and cold the year
round. In the daytime the sun bakes
the plateaus; at night the tempera-
ture drops to ten or twelve degrees.
We spent three weeks at a, stretch
upon a $4,000 foot elevation. From 2
O'Clock in the morning on we found
no amount of wooden clothing would
preserve bodily comfort. Half as much
air as we breathe here in Baltimore
failed to produce internal combustion.
The country furnishes no fats or sug-
ar to produce heat.
"The natives live mostly on barley
and frozen potatoes. They soak pota-
toes in water, trample them until they
are soft and allow them to freeze, af-
ter which they bury them till needed
If horse is struck dead by the sun
they cut II In into food They have