Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-02

n practice of medicine turning my at
tention, instead, to exploration Since
I left the employ of the Guayaquil
81 Quito Railway, in 1925, my wan
behring's in South America have been those of
an explorer, and no longer do my various moves
suggest merely that I am out of a job and In
search of a livelihood.
I find, however, that there Is a widespread
belief among those not experienced in explora-
tion, that explorers are forever having adven-
Eures-that they live lives Of melodramatic ex-
citement-that they are forever looking about
Tor dangers perilS, risks, hazards And this,
sad to relate, is far from true. Now and then,
of course, some explorer steps into adventure
~ to his chin, but I venture to say that that
rarely has happened because Of any desire of
his own. It is the purpose OF explorers to ex-
plore-not to have adventures. The more Sc
riouS ones are after information, not after
dangerous situations
Now am 80 years older than I was when
first went to South America, and because of
that am much more inclined to be conservative.
That Is human nature. But more than that,
know more than did
MOUTH Of course, is much more likely to
have adventures than is maturity. And
that has been my case exactly. When I was
p juvenile and itinerant doctor wandering about
the interior of South America, adventure
with me rather more often than enough.
That went to South America in the first
place was q matter of chance. Having Just
become an NJ. D., with tightly rolled sheep
skin to prove my claim to that great eminence
decided to make an effort to obtain posi-
ton as surgeon on board some passenger ship
or other in order that the salt breezes of the
bounding sea might blow a little strength into
my frame. which had never been remarkable
for excessive stamina.
IA ya0fO IN fko fOy,f rxyI1in
searching, but was, finally, offered free trans
portation on q freighter to Jamaica, and at
the same time obtained letter Of introduction
from the Colombian consul general in New
York to the general commanding the forces of
the Republic of Colombia then in the field
against the revolutionary Liberals. Such a let
ter, was assured, was tantamount to a COM
mission as captain in the medical corps of the
Colombian army, and with that decided that
I should be content, especially as I had 500
in gold, in addition to the pass to Jamaica.
That did not know exactly how to get from
Jamaica to Colombia was, at the moment, a
minor problem and I consequently bade fare
well to my family in Highland Falls, N. Y,
from which in all my life before I had never
travelled farther than a few hundred miles,
and on Christmas eve, 1899. arrived in Brook
Iyn, there to search for the freighter Erna.
upon which 1 was to embark to make my for
tune.
had never before been away from home on
christmas eve, ana Wnen i 1OunQ CnaC the
ship, which I had imagined would be a hive
of activity making ready to depart was in
reality deserted by every member of her crew
only a watchman my heart grew numb.
had been told that the Erna was to sail at
am. Christmas day, and now could learn
nothing about her plans, for the Waterman,
left alone with several bottles of gin, had con-
sumed what he could and was sprawling, with
his head buried in his arms, across the dining
room table in the compartment that, for lack
of a better term was named the saloon.
Sterterous puffs of alcohol breath came from
between his lips, but that provided me with no
Information save that he was temporarily out
of this world.
A FTER had spent miserable night on a
transom seat in the saloon-for did not
have the courage to pre-empt any of the state
rooms, fearful, as I was, that I might be
routed out by the "bucko" mate-I dared not
go ashore and walk to the lunch wagon for
food lest the crew return and take the ship
out during my absence. I shook the watch
man into half consciousness dozen times,
but he had no English, and his remarks, which
sensed rather than understood, seemed to