The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1923-12-13

Katherine MacGregOr Wnen you
ask her about the necessary qualifi-
cations for a successful woman ex-
plorer. Miss MacGregor recently COM
pleted a six months tour of South Amer
lea, crossing the Andes from Lima to the
headwaters of the Amazon, feat never
before accomplished by a white woman.
This young explorer travels alone except
for hired guides and muleteers. She is
good rider and an excellent shot, and she
has the 'bit of nerve" which enables her
to meet a dangerous situation coolly, as
well as the perfect health which takes her
through extreme exposure and other hard
ships unscathed.
Two chief difficulties stood in the way
when Miss MacGregor first planned to
travel into the wilds and explore the little
known or wholly unknown parts of the
world. Her family, naturally enough,
objected to her meeting the dangers of
such an undertaking, and she had no
money with which to travel. She lived in
quiet little town in wisconsin with
nothing more exciting than the movies to
stir her 1oanderIWst. Yet she has always
When she had learned to ride and shoot
expertly her family at last gave their con-
sent to her project and she went to New
York and studied journalism, worked on
New York newspapers and saved enough
money to take her to Cuba. In Havana
she got a job as secretary for an Attache,
saved some more money, and went to
South America by way of the Panama
Canal and down the west coast to Quay
aquil. She spent some time in Ecuador,
visited the Inca and Pre-Inca ruins in
Peru, and left Lima to travel into the in
terror to Iquitos, then to take two days
journey by canoe to get an Amazon River
boat for Para, the port from which she
wished to sail for New York.
This journey over the Pichis Trail to
Iquitos was her most difficult under
taking. There was day by train from
Lima and another day by automobile. At
the end of the automobile trip Miss Mac
Gregor secured her guide, whom she met
through friends, and with two Indian
muleteers to carry provisions and camp
ing outfit she began the hard seven days
trek through the mountains. She wore
high boots, army trousers and MILDLY
blouses. Her only personal luggage was
a saddlebag, and she carried rubber
poncho to keep off the rain and mosqui-
tero to keep off the mosquitoes.
Much of the way the Pichis Trail is
trail in name only The route crosses a
number Of steep mountain ridges, so
that the party was continually going up
or down. Above the timber line it was
damp and chilling In the tropical valleys
it was damp and hot. The rainy season
is usually over by May or June, but this
year there were late rains, and conse-
quently much danger from landslides
though Miss MacGregor had waited until
the goth of June before leaving Lima.
When, the earth becomes soaked and
heavy with the long seasonal rains whole
tops of the mountains go crashing down,
uprooting trees and crushing everything
in their path. Several of the slides took
place just before or just after the party
came to the danger point in the trail.
1t rained and rained. The mules waded
through mud. The riders were caked
with mud. There were hundreds of
streams to cross, some Of them mere
tumbling brooks and others broad, plung-
ing rivers that the mules had to swim
Miss MacGregor counted the streams in
one days travel and there were 120.>
Sometimes the men had to stop and
build raft to get her and her luggage
across a flooded river.
Food was sometimes difficult PROPOSE
ton. In the Andes one eats rice, bananas
and fGrinG, the latter preparation made
from yucca, that is something like tapioca
and is cooked in hot water. One drinks
black coffee made over a campfire, for
though there may be water, water every
where there is not drop to drink, if one
is particular about avoiding typhoid,
malaria, yellow fever and bubonic plague
diseases which are very prevalent in
western South America. Miss MacGregor
carried some cans of sardines as an extra
delicacy, for it was not always possible
to find bananas, and rice and yucca do
grow monotonous, even to an explorer.
Occasionally after the travellers had made
camp for the night they took time to
catch some fish for supper But though
there was plenty of game, such as bears,
deer and leopards in the higher attitudes,
Miss MacGregor did not stop to hunt any
along the Pichis Trail.
At some points there were rude huts
in which they could sleep. If they found
no hut they slept in the open, with canvas
covers if it rained and neOSqUiteroS if it
didn't. 1t usually rained. In the huts
rats ran across the camp cots. Many
deadly snakes were also about, but Miss
MacGregor says that she would rather
have a snake around than rat. Rats
are especially dangerous in the Andes as
carriers of bubonic plague.
Miss MacGregor found the scenery very
beautiful, the mountains vaster and more
impressive than the North American
Rockies. She thrills at the memory of
mountain vistas, one misty valley and
peak after another, in a splendid pan
Drama of untouched wilderness. In the