Evening star., 1925-11-08
Explorers Face Unusual Pers Smashed Plane in Jungle River

| flight to find Indians showing the
same unconcern, day after day. for
an airplane. To them 1t was merely
some form of a bird.
Whenever Indians boarded our
plane they had no curiosity to ex-
anime the apparatus. Their one
veneration was for the white mans
whiteness. Ours was a skin they
loved to touch. We were the first
white men they had seen. They act
ed as IL we were divine beings.
say this Of the ones we saw. The
others are unknown quantities. The
Indians attached to the Rice eXpedi.
ton as canoe paddlers and baggage
bearers always warned of fierce men
in the trees ahead,
The trade winds through the day
are severe in this country, and as the
place where we were to land was at
a narrow bend in the river. difficult for
landing, we wanted to get there in the
late afternoon when the wind was at
it's de ytime hull. The trade wind, be-
ing behind us, sent us up the 90 miles
in about an hour. BY the way, in that
90 miles the river climbs 750 feet. and
IS of the miles. according to the map
pers, are filled With boulders and shall
low rapids. the worst kind of water
for a seaplane landing.
Down in the swift stream we Jockey
ed around and then / put on power to
drive up on little sandy beac that
we were to reconnoiter for the camp
site. Ii also was in our instructions
to spend the night at the site. because
of the early dusk. and return to Boa
Esperanza the next day. Rut. such
was our luck, the muddy river con-
Cealed boulder that struck the deli
cate hull of our seaplane, bashing in
bad hole that AT once let in water.
THERE was no danger of our cap
sizing. The seaplane hull was fitted
with several automobile tubes, fully
inflated, and these would have given
sufficient buoyancy to have held UP
the plane. Besides, Capt. Stevens and
| could have swum to safety. What
caused worry was that the plane
would become SO waterlogged we
should not be able to take off. The
water was pouring in.
There was only one thing to do, and
that was, in spite of the spreading
twilight, to get back into the air and
attempt to make the base camp at Boa
Esperanza, 80 miles away. directly
in the face of the trade wind that
would slow us down to a 50.mile-an-
hour speed.
Capt. Stevens. with his aviation ex-
perience, Immediately saw our need to
get away. He cranked up. and off we
went. | circled a couple of times for
altitude. and soon the Rio Urari-cuera
was a little silvery ribbon below us
silvery in the twilight.
The twilight was a problem Near
the equator, as we were, night falls.
fgura lively, with the suddenness OF a
lowering curtain. We knew we could
follow that river for an hour or longer,
but 1t was narrow. rocky. and furious
with running water. and how were we
to make landing when the light
would utterly fail us?
After We had flown a half hour the
duSkiness increased so ra pidly we had
difficulty in making out the trees bor-
dering the river. | decided ii was hest
to descend while we could vet see
water, spend the night in our ham
mocks, and then take off for camp
in the morning. | signaled to capt.
Stevens; he agreed, and down we
came.
Because of the wind II was neces-
sary to make a power landing. An
aviator should always land against
the wind wherever possible. This
counter current of air helps 10 make
his landing smooth. He throttles down
his engine for such landing. When
you and across a current of air il il
necessary to keep the engine going
full on, otherwise you would almost
certainly fall hard into the water in
stead of gliding into IT gradually as
you should.
There was bit of sandy beach near
by. | put on fun power and drove
the plane at full speed through the
water and as on far to the beach as 1t
would slide.
We built a camp fire. and decided to
sleep in watches. 1t was jungle coun-
try with a question mark in your
mind. No very dangerous game
abounds in AmaZonas, but there are
deadly snakes in abundance and dead
ly insects In their trillions. The only
protection against the insects is mos
quito netting. and we promptly
swathed ourselves in this netting, and
tried to compose ourselves for a sup
PEERLESS evening.
FAIRLY the next morning we were
up at dawn, and found to our
cha grin that the water had risen in
the night, covering the break in our