The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-02-26
SPRINGFIELD MAN
STARTS FOR JUNGLE
lie and Two Companions to Search for
Diamond DEPOSITS in British
Guiana

NEW YORK, Feb. 26.-Two young
Americans sailed from this port yeSter-
day for South America to search for q
vast store of wealth supposed to lie in
the chimney" of the diamond deposits
of British Guiana. At Georgetown, the
capital Of the British possession, they
will be joined by q third adventureSOme
American who has Quilted in Paris.
The expedition ia under the patronage
of Harvard university and the Smith
sonian Institute of Washington for
which it viii carry ION geographical ex
plorations- William ]. LaYarre, jr., a
Harvard graduate of 1919, heads one
party and his fellow explorers are
James Macdonald, of Lima. Ohio, and
| Dudley Lewis, of Springfield, Mass.
They expect 70 spend more than year
| in the jungle.
| Besides an attempt to follow the scat
tered deposits of precious stones several
hundred miles through tangled, reptile
| infested wilderness TO their source, long
| known to exist some where in the Hill
! country. but never discovered, the expo
| dition will take observations of the abb
lcriginal inhabitants and geological fea
/ lures of the country, as well as capture
/ specimens of native wild animals for
| the Smithsonian institute.
1 Before his departure on the Brazil
ian steamer Uberaba, Mr.. LaYarre out
| lined details of the adventureSome pro-
jcct. Though still in his twenties the
young explorer has accompanied three
expeditions TO South and Central Amer
lea, including difficult mission into the
heart of the Andes.
Georgetown the expedition will board a
canoe houseboat with a crew of a dozen
to twenty oarsmen and laborers, and
begin its journey up the Essequibo river,
passing out of the area settled by white
men in a few DAYS padding After
IT rut A hA Ia
entirely on its own resources.
Establishing headquarters in the
prairie country ITO miles up the MaZa-
RUM river. which empties into the Esse-
quibo, the diamond hunters Will begin
work on the alluvial lands bordering
streams on the eastern watershed of the
Sierra Pacaraima mountains which sep
arate British Guiana from Venezuela.
/ The area in which the expedition viii
/ operate has been known since the middle
of the last century as a rich diamond
field, although its inacceSSability and
the prevalence of tropical diseases have
served to discourage prospecting by
white men. Thousands of caratS of the
gems, said to be as fine as any in the
world. however, are taken out annually
by Negro miners employing primitive
metho dds
Somewhere near every spot where
diamonds are found in considerable num-
bers there must be a chimney" ex-
planned Mr.. LaFarre. There is mo
telling definitely where the Guiana
chimney is located, but we mean to
find il and are basing our expectations
on more than speculation. Study of data
collected by other explorers and prospec-
tors, as well as my own observations, in
dictate that it is within a certain area
near the Venezuela border"
He added that the quality of stones
taken from the vicinity where his party
will work points to a chimney" as rich
or richer than those of the South
African diamond fields.
Animals which will be taken for the
, Washington geological garden include
tapirs, anteaters, jaguarS, and monkeys
as well as a variety of tropical birds.