Idaho County free press., 1922-12-21
WOMAN TO
SCALE RUGGED
ANDES


feet above sea level, and then to dt
II scend and proceed over the Difficult
II trail extending over land and waite
for 1856 miles from Quito, Ecuador, t
Iquitos, Peru, on the upper reaches o
the Amazon, is Mrs. Marjorie How
. arth, wife Of a New York business
= man.
II had no idea of making such @
trip when my husband and left New
York last March, planning merely for
a pleasure outing in South America" !"
said Mrs. Howarth at her home. "But
when we decided to go over what is
known as the Papallacta-Napo route,
the American charge d'affaires at
Quito, Harold Deane, gave us all the
assistance possible. He advised us as
to guides, who were Indians, of course,
and several groups of these, who were
changed at different points for new
guides, were the only human beings
we saw during most Of the trip.
First Woman to Make the Trip.
''It was pointed out to us that the
trip might be dangerous to any one,
especially so to a woman because Of
the hardship, and that legend had not
recorded that white woman had ever
attempted the task. That decided me
to accompany my husband, as ]
thought 1t was time an American
woman should venture over the trail,
which follows closely the line of the
equator.
II want to say right here that we
came across no monsters or any other
strange creatures of the jungle, though
there were plenty of animals, but they
did not approach us closely, and shot
none, nor did make any scientific dis
coveries.
"The snakes were a terror to me.
They were everywhere, and 1t was not
safe to move about without using care.
At night the guides used light in one
hand and a stick in the other to
frighten the snakes away whenever
they had to go a few steps,"
For two days Mrs. Howarth and her
husband travelled on mules from Quito.
From that point on to the Napo river,
lbs miles, they went on foot, and the
trail was so rough and through such
jungles that progress on foot was often
hazardous and always slow and diff
cult. Near the end Of this hard hike |
Mr.. Howarth became Ill with fever |
opd Mrs Hnruo rfb tooly oopap,apd - |
the expedition. The situation looked |
serious, she said, as they were then 200
miles from Quito and nearly TOO miles
from their objective, with a trail be-
hind them over which II was almost
impossible that Howarth could be car
rfed, and 1t was at his suggestion that
his wife determined to continue. Mr..
lost weight and got worse
day by day, despite every effort with
such simple remedies they happened
tD have taken along in the stores. The
hike became a slow moving column,
with frequent halts for the benefit of
the sick man.
Lived on Game, Fish and Fruit.
"Our food supplies were nearly all
zone, and we were living on what the
guides could get In the way of game or
1sh, fruits and fried bananas, which ,
We gathered as we proceeded daily"
laid Mrs. Howarth. 1--WE feasted for
number of days on five chickens and
Iome eggs we got in an Indian village. |
dy health continued good, but would 8
lot care to risk It again In a Journey ,
ver that trail. /.
"An auto had carried us on the last r
ap to our starting point, at Quito, c
where the mountain is 10000 feet L
bove the sea, and we ascended the q
1000 feet to the top of the :
.ndes on mules and finished the ascent :
n foot. But we had to descend nearly
1900 feet from the ice and snow-clad
eaks to the heated, oven-like Jungle, 81
nd II was due to these changes and
le hardship which caused my hus-
and's Illness. He got better when we u
otained better food from the natives,
nd his improvement continued when
e got him into big canoe afioat on la
lie Napo river" az
The Indian guides charged about 10 q
'nts a day for the service Of each -,
ember, and each carried a pack 81
eighing rs pounds. Mr.. and Mrs. e
owarth always picked an open space la
the jungle for their nightly camp, q
here they kept protective fires going, &c
Ith an Indian acting as guard, and 20
cir crude beds covered with heavy ~ ~
ts to protect them from snakes, In e1
cts and enormous bats. th
The largest and most terrifying M
It's / had ever heard Of were en- te
untered in this Journey" said Mrs. tn ei
Dwarth. According to the stories nr mr.
Id by the Indians of these bats they rs
peared to be sort of vampire. The D,
dlans said these bats would kill a ca
rson quickly by puncturing veins in l9
lists or feet and drawing off the oe
pod, and we were warned about al
,epIng arrangements. At other times NJ
, scared off the bats with shots" as