New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-04-01

Dr. Henry ii. Rusby of Columbia university Is
leading n large body of American scientists In an
attempt to explore the sources of the Amazon. Its
Immediate program is to traverse more than 1,OOO
square miles of the virgin land in the upper
reaches Of the river basin. Members of the expe-
dition include DR.. David Starr Jordan, president
or Leland Stanford university, and DR.. Carl IL.
Eigenmann of the University of Indiana, who will
study fish and reptiles; Doctor Ruthven of the
University of Michigan, who will study frogs and
Dr. Edward krOmers Of the University of WiscoE-
Sin and Prof. A. ii. Gil Of the Massachusetts In
stitute of Technology, who VIII investigate seeds
and volatile oils.
Two young Americans sailed from New York the
other day for South America to search for a 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 n third adventuresome
American who has QUILTED In Paris.
The expedition Is under the patronage of Har.
ward university and the Smithsonian institution OF
Washington, for which it will carry on geograph.
ical explorations. William J. LaVarre, Jr, a Har-
ward graduate Of 1919, heads the party, and his
fellow explorers are James Macdonald Of Lima,
o., and Dudley Lewis Of Springfield. Mass. They
expect to spend more than, a year In the jungle.
Besides an attempt to follow the scattered de.
posits Of precious stones several hundred miles
through tangled, reptile-infested wilderness to their
source, long known to exist somewhere in the hill
country, but never discovered, the expedition will
take observations of the aboriginal inhabitants and
geological features Of the country, as well as cap
ture specimens Of native wild animals for the
Smithsonian institution and National geological
garden at Washington.
Establishing headquarters in the prairie country
10 miles up the Mazaruni river, which flows into
the Essequibo, the diamond hunters will begin
work on the alluvial lands bordering streams on
the eastern watershed of the Sierra Pacaraima
mountains, which separate British Guiana from
vene3uela.
The area In which the expedition will operate
has been known since the middle of the last CEN
fury as a rich diamond field, although Its mac
feasibility 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
methods.
somewhere near every spot where diamonds
are found in considerable numbers there must be
a chimney" explained Mr.. Lavarre. The quail
ity 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.
The vanguard of the missing link" expedition
left New York the other day. The mission of the
scientists will keep them In the vast untrodden
areas Of Asia for five years. When they return to
America they hope to have evidence that the
missing link" between man and beast actually
existed. Also they expect to bring back thousands
Of animal and botanical specimens to I'LL the pro-
posed Hall Of Asiatic Life in New York.
Roy Chapman Andrews, leader of two former
scientific parties into China, heads the expedition.
Joined In Asia by scores Of native guests, hunts
men, cooks and helpers, the scientists expect to
introduce American automobiles, moving picture
cameras and other modern machines on the Cobb
desert, central Asian plateaus. Tibetan steppes and
other little-known lands.
The first base of the party will be established
in Mongolia, where the scientists expect to remain
"a months before penetrating western China.
After the vanguard has spent a year In Mongolia,
a second group of scientists will leave New York
to Join them. Northeastern and central Asia will
be thoroughly gone over in a study of the origin
and migration of man, TO prove or ~disprove the
popular scientific belief that Asia was the center
of dispersal of the human race, as well as for