The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-06-20
TROPICS NEXT
0BJECTIVE0F
j. s. SOCIETY
Explorers Turn Attention
From Poles to Uncharted
Area in South America
BY CHARLES p. STEWART
NEA Service Writer

Washington, June Wv TN lht
arctic in fair way to be conque red
soon, and criss-crossed in every d.
rection by air routes, the National
Geographic Society is beginning to
show increasing interest III the trop-
les. especially tropical America, as a
part Of the world which can be turned
to better practical account than the
polar regions.
The latter may become convenient
for aviators to short cut across, but
never are likely to support many peo-
pie as permanent inhabitants.
In South America, on the other
hand, is an area about the size OF
the United States, uneXplored and
unsettled by civilized men, except
along the coast and main water
courses, certainly enormously pro
ductive and presumably unpopulated
but for few small Indian tribes.
Even these can be killed off to
make room for civilization. Again
excepting the coast and the big
rivers, which are known already, this
virgin field stretches approximately
from the Capricorn, from the At
lantic to the Andes, something like
1000 by 5000 miles. An empire!
Now's a good time to start on Civ
ing it the once over" the National
Geographic folk think.
But it won't be as easy as the re
gions Of the poles. They're penetrat-
ed by bold dashes. This is vast
Jungle Of six million square miles.
A process of slow nibbling is the
only way of vanquishing it. Amy at
tempt to take it by storm means
death--not half the time, as at the
earth's hubs, but almost inevitably.
An airplane might fly over a cor
ner Of it, dirigible, perhaps, clear
across. But land! Not chance!
The only way to explore it is to cut
through, half dozen miles day.
Para, a modern city of 100000, at
the Amazon's mouth, stands in the
shadow of the jungle wall-almost a
solid one, Of tree trunks and inter
lacing vines.
Three years ago met there the
members of party just back from a
G-month railroad reconnaissance in
the interior. These mems faces were
bleached to prison pallor. Never
under nan-made roof the whole
time throughout that whole half year
they had been cut off completely, by
the jungle mat, from the sun.
Productive? Too much so! That
is to say, this country's superabund-
ance of vegetable life makes it al
most impossible to clear and keep
cleared. The jungle can be driven
nl,t lou
Once driven back, it can be held
back only by constant vigilance.
Otherwise it regains it's own with
astonishing rapidity. The best de-
scription I've seen of it was written
in lyric form for an English language
publication at Rio de Janeiro The
versifier began:
This is the war to the very knife.
Mankind against the trees,
Which, without sound Of drum or
fife,
I'm silent ranks of floral life,
Cling to the ground they seize"
Not much as poetry, perhaps, but
it tells the story.
Nevertheless, bit by bit this coun-
try can be and is sure to be tanned
It's worth it. Twelve months of sum-
mer but never as hot as Washington
on hot Washington day.
Ample rainfall. A bottomlessly
rich soil.
Unhealthy? Deadly, in the inter
Tor, where nature has her undisputed
way, but no worse at the coast cities,
with modern medicine on the Job,
than in present-day Havana or Pan
ANA.
Anyway, until the Geographic peo-
pie have finished with this half of a
continent, more or less, they haven't
discovered everything.