The World's Last Terra Incognita
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r (Copyright. 1903, by William Thorp.)
II KM Hlr llenrv M. Stanley, tin
1 famous African explorer, liBt vls-
I Hod America, an ardent Harvard
undergraduate la said to have
asked him at a reception:
"How can I become a great traveler,
11 ko you? 1 want to be one, but I don't
know where to begin."
"Try the moon," Bald Stanley, with a
laugh. "That'll about tuo only place loft
to explore nowadays."
Hut Stanley exaggerated. It 1 true that
such reputations as those of Humhol.lt,
Livlngstono and Stanley himself can no
longer be made; but several tracts of the
World's surfaco are still unexplored. Of
all the continents, South America un
doubtedly offers tho most virgin ground
to the adventurous traveler. "Kxplorers
liave gone up the rivers and come down
gain," a writer on the subject correctly
Observes, "but they have not penetrated
any distance overland across the J.inglu
oovered watersheds."
It Is strange how little the Inhabitants
Of South America know about their own
countries. If you ask a Venezuelan at
I a Ouayra, a Brazilian at Hio, a Colom
bian at 1'anama, or nr. Kcuadorlan at
Guayaquil to tell you about tho Interior,
lie will shrug his shoulders and answer:
"Qulen snbe, Honor?"
Certainly ho does not know. If you told
him Unit the dwellers In the unsettle),
unexplored purls of hi own country were
"anthropophagi anil men whose heads
6o grow bene.ith their shoulders," he could
Hot contradict you.
"They are reported to hive their eyei
In their shoulders, and their mouths In
the middle of their breasts, und th:it a
long train of hair groweth back between
their shoulders." That is the account S'r
Walter Itnlelgh gave in the rvnte:nth
century, of a tribe of Indians living on
the banks of the River Cuuru In Venezuela.
Of course, people do not believe such
travelers' tales nowadays as they did In
the days of Queen Elizabeth; but, as a
matter of fact, nothing more definite U
known todiiy of this very tribe. The re
gion In which they live remains In t til 9
twentieth century the "terra IncognlU"
that it wus In the days of Raleigh."
Never a mouth passes without an expe
dition leaving the confines of civilisation
and plunging Into the heart of some unex
plored region In South America. Little or
nothing U heard of these expeditions, ex
cept In social and commerchil clrc'es In
cities like Caracas, Bogota, Sucre and
Tort of Spain. Trinidad; but each of them
would furnish material for a thrilling
book If the adventurers cared to write
about their experiences. 1'sually they do
not. Thny have other fish to fry. They
are orchid hunters, gold prospectors, dia
mond seekera or government officials en
gaged In delimiting boundaries between
the various republics und colonies of South
America.
Three months, six months, a year, per
haps three years after they left the last
ettlement on the fringe of the unknown,
half of them return, tanned, haggard, half
starved, fever stricken. Tho rest have
been lost in the Jungle, to perish mlserab'y
of hunger and thirst, or drowned In the
rapids of some mighty river, or killed by
hostile Indians, Jaguars or sting rays. The
South American explorer lives in the
midst of alarms and there are a thousand
ways In which he may meet a sudden and
violent death.
The survivors always tell the same story:
"We have seen some wonderful things,
but they were not even tho thousandth
part of thut which lies beyond. We
climbed such and such a mountain, as
cended such nnd such a river, dwelt among
uch and such a tribe; but we heard of
other mountain other rivers, other tribes
far stranger and more interesting In tho
remoter regions to which we could not
penetrate."
Tuke, for example, the immense range
of -unknown mountains which runs along
the hinterland of the three Uulanas.
"The best known of these so-called In
accessible mountains is undoubtedly Rur
almu," said Eugene Andre of Trinidad, a
well known explorer of Venexuela. Colom
bia, and the Uuiana. "Since the Specta
tor for April, 1K77, wrote, 'Will no one ex
plore Horalma und bring us back the tld
Iiiks which it has been waiting these thou
sands of years to give us?' the mountain
has been ascended ami the secrets of Its
summit laid bare. To the Quelch-MeCon-nell
exH-dltlun is due the honor of having
performed the most valuable sctenttflo
work In the exploration of this Interesting
mountain.
"Considering that Horalma Is only one of
a whole series of such masses, the exist
ence of some of which may not even be
suspected, we can form some Idea of what
remains to Ik- done In the exploration of
this little known part of South America.
When we consider, moreover, that tho
summits of these mountains are plateaus,
tssolated from tho surrounding country dur
ing countless ages, we cannot help think
ing that each of them must be a field of ab
sorbing Interest to the naturalist and bot
anist." Andre himself, in lAul. tried in vain to
scale the mighty heights of Mount Ameha,
on the River Morevarl, In Venexuela. This
mountain has never been climbed, nor have
Its companions, Mount Arlchl and Mount
Arawa. Tho country all urnund them Is
unknown, and so are tho more distant
I'nrlme mountains, hlch nre said to Vie
the home of tribes of Indians utterly un
like any of lhu.se already known In South
America.
Speaking from the depths of his own bit
ter experiences, Andre explains why thla
Vast region Is still nn unsolved riddle.
"Thru- centuries have passed away," he
said, "since the first adventurers tried to
reach the golden land supposed to exist
somewhere near the sources of the Caronl
und the Caura, and yet our knowledge of
the far Interior of tho Uulanas remains
shadowy and Indefinite.
"it was not until the beginning of the
eighteen century that Humboldt finally dis
pelled the mythical beliefs which clung to
tho Eldorado of tho 'conqulstadores.' The
veil of the enchantment which shrouds the
unexplored Interior of Onlmi bus. It Is
true, been torn aside. In place of the fairy
city gleaming with gold und precious stones
we now know that there Is an ImmenKO
stretch of impenetrable forest, Interspersed
here and there with open savannas, with
mountains of fantastic shape and surpass
ing grandeur, rising abruptly from the sur
rounding country a region of abundant
rains snd rapid rivers, thinly peopled by
small tribes of Indians, who for centuries
have carried on a series of cruel blood
feuds with their neighbors a region rich
in bird, Insect and vegetable life, but dif
ficult of access and deadly In climate.
"Beyond this our knowledge tn vague and
uncertain, and Is likely to remain so for
some time to come. The difficulty of navi
gating rivers, which consist of a series of
rapids and falls; tlie utter absence of popu
lation for considerable distances on their
banks, the almost impossible task of trans
porting a sufficiency of provisions where
only boats of no great size can he employed
on account of the frequent portages, make
the exploration of these regions an under
taking replete with danger and hardships.
"Added to thew-i natural difficulties there
is a rooted disinclination on the part of
(lie natives to undertake long and arduous
Journeys outside of the immediate district
with which they are familiar."
The natives know that when they ven
ture far from their home with nn exploring
party, It Is un even chnnce whether they
will return, tin Andre's last expedition Fix
men pciished of starvation, nnd the re.it
crawled back to civilization more dead than
h'I ve.
In 1!1 J. J. Quelch, of Ueorgetown, Brit
ish Uuiana, one of the two Englishmen
who climbed Mount Roralma, penetrated
alone Into the settlements of the Macusl
Indians in the unexplored Kanaku moun
tains on the borderland between lit sh
Uuiana and Brazil.
"I though I was the first white man who
had ever visited that region," said Mr.
Quelch to his friends In Georgi wmn en TiTa
return, "but I found a couple of Germans
settled on what Is regarded as the British
side of the frontier, ulthough the Brazilians
claim the territory as belonging to their
republic.
"Thry told us that the Brazilian gov
ernment hnd sent them, years before, to ex
plore the country and Introduce civilization
among the Macusl Indians. But the Indians
uncivilized them Instead. They had taken
native wives, renounced all their pros
pects of advancement under the Brazilian
government, turned their back forever on
civilization, and were contentedly leading;
the peaceful, pastoral life of the Indians.
"These men spoke of some strange beasts
which they called the Warakabra tigers.
They said these tigers roamed about the
country In large numbers, hunting In packs
und attacking any animals, including hu
man beings, that crossed their path. The
Hermans asserted that the only way to es
cape from these beasts was to get into run
ning water, where they would not follow
you."
Mr. Quelch's expedition was undertaken
on behalf of the British museum. He dis
covered several small mammals hitherto
unknown to science, including a new kind
if guinea pig and a new ndourl, an animal
of the rabbit tribe. He also discovered a
number of new orchids of wonderful
beauty. "But what 1 have found," he told
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Fannie Freeman, maid of honvi.
Clarke Powell, i-oyal charioteer.
QUEEN EPOLETNA AND HER ESCORT
Ctv-f; wuinp, qurrn.
Bert Wattles, roy.l equery.
AT THE CARNIVAL, AND FAIR AT NELdOH.
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DBCH'RATKO CARRIAGE f R1 VKN BY MRS GEORGE DUNN, WHICH
PA UAH E AT UEWITT. Neb.-Photo by Hare.
VltJiS PRIZE IN THE FUUWiia