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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 1920)
3 INTO THE TRACKLESS JUNGLE WHOSE SOLITUDE CRUSHES Topographer of Exploring Expedition Travels With' Camera and Violin Finds Grand Piano and skilled sjir rvlusician in Luxurious tlome Hundreds of JVLiles rrom Civilization 4 THE StTXlJAY OHEGONIANV PORTLAND, JANUARY 4, 1020. i,', 34Vj2:i r,v?- - i LJentcmaat Karl Ckarok tvjpwarrapher wltlt explorers. 13 rai Bceaea alone the Nearo, where mlarhtr fozeata aeem determined to crowd man and hla work Into the rirer. Trees aad lndeaerlbablr luxuriant ea-etatloa tanleklT reclaim cleariaa-a aa If Jealous of encroachment. A GREAT adventure In loneli ness, with the oppressive welg-ht of the vast, baffling Jungle af flicting: the soul with Increasing- in tensity. An Incursion into the land of supersllence, where the anathemas of monkeys, the shriek of parr&keet, the raucous cough of the jaguar and the weird scream of the saddleback tapir echo in the moss-hung, creeper-entwined forest arcades of the Jungles of the Amazon. A Journey into a region where Dame Nature reigns with the barbaric cru elty and splendor of . a Cleopatra regions In mocking contempt of the artifices of civilised men, setting against him deadly fevers, legions of vampire bats with their wicked beaks, armies of sandbar ants eager for hu man flesh; pestilential insects which burrow under the flesh, causing nau seous ulcers; gruesome fish equipped with rasor-like teeth; fish which leap from tropical rivers for the luckless hand. dangling over the side of a ca noe; swarms of mosquitoes twice the size of the Jersey variety, laden with the germs of malaria. An expedition into a forbidden oountry, where an intense equatorial sijn plays horrible pranks with the human brain; pranks which alternately make the victim puerile or saturnine and dally crowd him closer to the borderland of ln ' sanltyN And at night while the vic tim reclines in his hammock comes the dreams Induced by the Tlerceness of Its rays, dreams In which amor phous monsters grimace and sibilate. Such were some of the experiences of Lieutenant Karl Church, now associate professor of civil engineer ing at the Pennsylvania Military col lege. As topographer and astrono mer with Dr. Hamilton Rice on ex ploration work In Brazil, he assisted In mapping some 1000 miles o( the Amazon and the Negro rivers. For seven months he traversed, in launch and canoe, the perilous ' net work- of little-known water courses of the upper Amazon and Negro, fre quently penetrating regions which no white men had ever before seen. By strict attention to quinine he kept the fevers from ravaging his system, and by taking daily baths in a solution of bichloride, of mercury he repelled the attacka of the poisonous insects. Sometimes the thrill of shooting rapids broke the 'frightful monotony of dassllng, coppery days. There were hair - raising adventures a-plenty. Sometimes his boat was caught In the turbinating suction of a mighty river cataract and whirled through treacher ous passages of jagged rock amid clouds of milky spume. Death poised expectantly on every hidden rock, but was always cheated of its prey. Then, too, came the surge of deep interest upon the finding of some forest an chorlte, living apart from his fellow- man on the fringe of the Jungle. There were Indians of misty tradi tion, who stepped from labyrinthlo woodlands to gase for the first time on the face of the white man. But. more remarkable still. Lieutenant Church came upon a palace of mod ern luxury 700 miles from the last outpost of civilization. It was the home of a millionaire Portuguese rub ber trader, a little oasla of civlllaa. tlon on the Negro In the vast desert of rioting vegetation. The rubber trader, with his native wife, beautiful daughters and stalwart sons, lived happy and content, though separated from civilization by hundreds of miles of trackless jungle. The house was outfitted from the art shops of Europe Nuremberg cab inets, Italian Ranaissance furniture, French, and Flemish tapestries, jade " '- -., . --j eiouiuco ( . - , :v ' ' ' M ' with an irlaeoence that flll the soul j V, O h "jt " " V,f i , -v Polling in. launch wrecked : la bowls and tarnished armor from an cient castles of old Spain. But best of all. from the viewpoint of the music-starved Lieutenant Church, was a grand piano from Paris.. An hour after he reaohed this oasis of modern ly he was entranced by a rendition of the Fifth Nocturne by one of the rubber trader's daughters. All through the wilderness the' lieutenant had clung to his violin, but never once had he taken it from its case, so de pressed was he with the savagery and ruthlessness of the Jungle. But : now he took the Instrument from its cedar box and played; played 'while from the .nearby Jungle cams sounds that told of savage life. When I look back upon it alL" says Lieutenant Church. "It' seems like the weirdest of dreams, so unreal aa to be impossible. But the Jungle has a fascination, a lure. Frequently I awaken in the night and feel It call ing, but I wouldn't go back for all of the gold In the world. I wouldn't go back. It's no place for a white man. In time the most miserable and besotted of exiles would perish there from the flaying of his own guilty thoughts. The most hardened misan thropist would fight his way back to civilization after seven months In the South American Jungle. In its terri ble silence the faintest of thoughts become as the roll of kettledrums and guilty consciences boom like the bar rage of t4B-mllimeter guns. ' "Even the man who has led a right eous life baoomes the victim of the most morbid of thoughts. It is the sun and the ever-present depressing weight of the endless Jungle. This Impenetrable waste of tree and creep er extends for thousands of miles on both sides of the river.' When you are traveling by launch or eanoe Cand that's the only way you can travel in that country) you are aa effectual! walled in as though the stream was fringed with insurmountable cliffs. "Ulcers form and frequently these sores never heaL These Insects made Theodore Roosevelt pay a heavy toll In suffering during his explorations in South America. "I nave heard that cities have souls. and if that is so the jungle has alsc a malignant soul which conquers you if you remain long enough. It weights you down. Tou feel powerless to combat its sinister influence. Right now I can picture a scene in rold- ajternoon PS, the ebonjr-black Negro, Borne of Foatea, mllllomair portuaraeae . l , NatlTe boatnaa and kU family oa f ti - i ' - . V the great rapids of Negro. On either bank, ranged like ancient monoliths, . are huge trees, trees as large as our redwoods. Creepers wind from trunk to trunk, forming an im passable barrier, and behind the first row of trees are more trees and more creepers. Garlands of moss hang downward from lofty branches. Or chids flaunt their vivid colors every where. There are scores of other flowers, too, such as I had never seen before, and their heavy perfume min gles with the dank breath of rotting vegetation. 'And the beautiful rare blue but terfliesthey are everywhere. These dainty creatures of the air volplane in the sun, alighting frequently in the chalice of rare flowers to feast upon hidden nectar. Sometimes you see clusters of them on a branch, and if your glance Is only casual you think you are gazing upon a beautiful flow ering shrub. .'Every foot of the way up the lit tle-known Negro there Is something of Interest. The edge of the Jungle on both sides of the stream is a stage on which little forest-dramas are be ing constantly enacted. Crane-like birds ' make genuflections in the brake, looking for all the world like polite old gentlemen In dress suits at a dinner party. On rare occasions you surprise a Jaguar taking a mid day drink. He favors you with a sleepy stare from his topaz eyes and slithers off into the Jungle. Hosts of brlght-plumaged .birds rise from the brake and fly further into the jungle. There are few songsters among the feathered inhabitants of the Amazonian jungles. Almost every note I heard from feathered throat was as discordant as the ravings of a termagant.. "In the afternoon you begin to get cloud effects which are indescribable' in their exquisite beauty. Clouds wonderful" clouds parade across a sky of turquoise, their edges shim mering as with mother-of-pearl or the most exquisite of silver. Some times they are heaped up like lofty mountains panoplied with the whitest of snow, and then again they take the form of moated castles or ancient galleons with sagging sails. "The 'cloud-maker of the Amazon is a master artist. Just before the tropic night drops down precipitately, without the courtesy of a twilight, he spreads his fleecy canvases up aloft . -.' ' - J -V-l - V ' f 'i,,-'''.S robber trade and ming ml tho Joaa-le, wnosa role la aaareme 700 ml lea aa If v , the rtver. with an Iridescence that fills the soul with awe and wonderment. To find the equal of these colors you must search the opal, the topaz, the ruby, the emerald, the sapphire, the dazzl ing wings of the peacock, the chalice of theoxullp and the soft petals of j the rose. . "A night on the Negro Is something never to be forgotten. The black. 1 mysterious river mirrors the stars so perfectly that you aeem to be looking at another sky. From the Jungle comes the wall of the howling mon keys that travel In bands and ilill attack man' at the right opportunity. Frequently from some hidden water hole you hear the. cry of the Jaguar. "I shall never forget one night on the Neg;o, a night in whloh a slivered sickle of a moon helped the stars to light the bosom of the river and the waste of troplo wilderness. Silent and oppressed by the encroaching influ ence of the vast wastes we sat upon some rooks on V little shelving beach where we had encamped for the night. Suddenly from the depths of the Jungle floated weird music, muslo sweet and resonant. So uncanny and so unexpected was the sound that we gripped each other In terror and would have fled to our launch had not a native guide explained that we were hearing the Jurupan. a native musical instrument. It was being played In a village probably miles away. Atmospheric conditions were Just right to convoy the sound a long diatanoe. Our guide Informed us that only males of a tribe are allowed to gaze upon the Jurupan. For a woman to do so meaaa oertaln death to her. The Jurupan is. able '.'to sound but four notes, yet. there Is nothing in our diatonic scale that compares with them. Probably the Jurupan ' la the oldest of musical Instruments In the world. There Is no doubt that its weird notes Jostled the echoes of the Amazonian savannas when the revel ries of tffe hanging gardens of old Babylon wers at their inglorious heights. "We made a practice of going ashore about I F. 11 to make camp, so we would He under shelter before the sudden dropping of the black tropical night. Our first work was to put up the fly and swing the ham- I mocks. We covered the bottoms of the tent poles with petroleum to keep oft the terrible sanbar ants, which are an Inch in length and travel in armies of millions. One of our party left a poncho out one night and- the next morning found It was eaten by these ants. They will eat shoes, con sume clothing and atrip flesh from human bones in' a twinkling. But this was not the only danger we had to guard against at night. . It was neces sary to keep a light burning con stantly to ward off invasion of vam pire, bats. These horrible creatures, called tamulus by the natives, will bite oft the nose, toes or fingers of human beings If given the slightest opportunity. It was nerve-shaking to hear the swish of their evil wings in the shadows beyond the circle of light. It was not comforting- to feel that one might awaken In the dead of the night minus a nose or toe. "Often upon landing to set up camp we longed to take a dip In the cooling waters of the Negro, but did not dare to because of the constant presence of a terrifying fish with rasorllke teeth, which would leap from the sur face of the stream and snap viciously at anything within reach. - It was this variety of fish that bit (Off the finger of Madame Smlthlager, who Is In charge of the famous museum at Para, at the, mouja of tho Amazon, 1 ru. -. . . . , " ... . . .- -r i This woman allowed her hand to dan gle over the side of; a Coat in which she was riding, and- one of the fish leaped .upward and got one of her fingers, . - "A phenomenon of the Jungle coun try is the Junction of .the Amazon and the Negro at Manaoa. Here the Amazon, a river of milky" whiteness. Joins the Negro, a river of the richest ebony blackness. v For some miles after the union a black and white river flow side by side,- refusing, to mingle. There Is something startl lngly human in the contest of these two great rivers to maintain separate Individualities. "Some distance up the Negro we came upon a river with a largo mouth which had never been explored. It. was a white river like the Amazon. We tried to get oua-launch up this river, but were Unable to do so on account of the numerous sandbars. "We were never worried about food. We had along plenty of canned stuff, and Meguel, our guide, kept us sup plied with farina, 'a sort of native cereal, and plenty of game. "It was with relief, after a. Journey of hundreds of miles up the Negro, we arrived at the plantation of Fon ts, a millionaire Portuguese rubber trader, known in that region aa the king of the Negro. He is indeed king in that faraway Jungle domain. He Is the last tribunal and can impose the death sentence, if he so decrees, upon his subjects, who are BO or more Indians and half-breeds, who gather rubber in the forests. Fontea has 11 children, two of whom are now In Portugal, one being a practicing phy sician in- that country. Among the children at home was a beautiful daughter, educated In Portugal. She was a wonderful musician and could make a piano weep or laugh at will. For the first tlmesinoe leaving civili zation I was able to take my violin from its case and play some of the classics with her accompanying, me. Often at night we would play with the wall of the Jungle beasts ming ling with the compositions of Wag ner and Beethoven. It was strange, to say the least. "It also struck me strangely when I became aware of the fact that this beautiful and wonderfully talented girl had no longing to return to civ ilization. "Fonts s wife Is an Indian and ex tremely clever. One of our engineers wore a coat of Norfolk style which attracted her attention and admira tion. With a tew deft motions she measured the coat with her hands and a few days later she had made a won derfully well-fitting Norfolk coat for one of her sons. "We remained at Fontes place for a month and then ressmed onr Journey up the Negro, successfully navigating the dangerous Cannanos rapids, which are 75 miles above Fontes place and 709 mU.es from the mouth of ihe Monitfra of the Negro forests v-A j? v t s i 5u.vW w -V' A ti., "A Portngneae rubber station in A ma gro. At length we reached San Ga briel, 40 miles above the rapids." Here Dr. Rice's party was obliged to return to Fontes' plantation for supplies, and In running the rapids on the way back the launch struck a rock. Fontes came to the rescue in a smaller - launch and took the members of the party to his home. The next day the 'party decided to abandon exploration further up the river because of low water. - On the return to Manaos the expe dition explored the little-known north shore of the Negro. Themapplng was done by Lieutenant Church. "The Negro," said Lieutenant Church, "la filled with small Islands and the north shore had never before been explored by white men. The width of the river ranged from three to SO miles. Sometimes it looks like a great island-dotted Inland sea. We came upon the river Paduri. which flows Into the Negro. This river has TRAP-SHOOTING DECLARED IDEAL JSPORTJFOR WOMEN "Gun-Shyness," Infirmity of Weaker Sex, Said to Be Easily Overcome. Greatest Recreation in World, Says Chicago Woman. 0' NJS thing only has stood in the way of American women taking up one of the very finest out- of-door sports, trapshootlng, and that Is that most of them are naturally 'gun shy." Before a woman can In dulge at the traps, with any pleasure , or efficiency, she must totally over come her fear of firearms. This 'many of them are now doing, very ' much to their own peace of mind, aa they have quickly discovered. Everything else being equal, trap- shooting Is Just as truly within the sphere of the real womanly woman aa any other form of athletic exercise or play, and that It is an ideal form Of sport In which the sex Is bound to become Interested in greatly increas ing numbers is the sentiment of those modern Dianas in various sections of the United States who have recently taken to trapshootlng and have found It a most fascinating .pastime, which unlike a good many other out-of-doors sports can be indulged in the year round. In most sports where - men have women as their opponents they do not play their hardest for victory. The Idea of the "weaker" sex atill prevails In a good many masculine minds. This, bowever. la not true in shooting at clay targets. At the traps woman meets the man on an equal footing because there Is no way by which she can be favored except when the man is handicapped, and the good shooter frequently gives the weaker opponent of his own sex an advan tage, either by standing farther away from the trap or by adding birds to the score of the lees proficient gun ner. As women now are expressing their indesenden.es In a good, many; pajri, 3 rival onr redirooiis la "--- ;L-Sf"- VI ltd . never been explored. We mapped the mouth of the stream. "It Is probable that if one had the good luck to navigate the Paduri he would discover that it formed a con nection with the Orinoco water sys tem. All the rivers In that region seem to be connected in one way or another. "But I must speak of the dreams which come to travelers in the trop icsdreams the like of which I have never known. Shapeless monsters hop and grimace all night long and the most unreal colors float across he vistas of sleep. The mind seems to hark back to the beginning of all things, when the earth was a ball of steaming vapor and prehlstorlo mon strosities were In vogue in the ani mal kingdom. An Amazonian dream la an experience to be dreaded. Com pared to it, the wildest nightmare of the temperate northland is aa noth ing." this may be one of the compelling reasons why they are learning to overcome their gun-shyness, so that they may engage In a great out-of-door sport on absolutely equal terms with men. The- Idea of killing live birds, so objectionable to many women. Is en tirely eliminated In trapshootlng with out me loss of interest or excitement In the game. The hunting Instinct, a remnant of the primitive, is no doubt equally strong In women as In men, ana surely no more satisfactory way offers expression to It In an ab solutely harmless manner than at the traps. It takes one out of doors and Into the country, with all the appeal of natural surroundings and chances for a scora. It does not necessitate long hours of physical exhaustion In training. An hour at practice Is sufficient.- But for a test. In skllfulness, accuracy, control and self-confidence trapshootlng Is, a good many folks agree, the ideal sport for women to show their ability. In the matter of temperament the highly-strung, quick-tempered woman Is, as a rule, her own worst enemy In most games. But that type Is also a quicker thinker, and with a little smoothing down occasionally the woman who thinks quickly is the best judge of the flight of a target. High ly sensitive nerves are evidence of keen perception, and one who acts as promptly as she "gets things" makes a good shot. At the recent grand American handicap trapshootlng tournament, held at Chicago, Mrs. Albert H. Wink ler of the windy city gained a new honor for her sex in the trapshoot lng world by winning the woman's amateur trapshootlng championship, and thus becoming the first officially recognized, woman champion, ' " 1 t , 4 l3,Vi4 i