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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33472-8.txt b/33472-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9935a3b --- /dev/null +++ b/33472-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8834 @@ +Project Gutenberg's With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 2 by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 2 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Morris + Oliver H. G. Leigh + +Release Date: August 20, 2010 [EBook #33472] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT TRAVELLERS, VOL 2 *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _SPECIAL EDITION_ + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS + + EDITED BY CHARLES MORRIS + AND OLIVER H. G. LEIGH + + VOL. II + + CHICAGO + UNION BOOK COMPANY + 1901 + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1896 AND 1897 + BY + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT 1901 + E. R. DUMONT + + + + +[Illustration: BOSTON COMMON, BOSTON, MASS.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + SUBJECT. AUTHOR. PAGE + + New York, Washington, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Winnipeg Lake and River W. F. BUTLER 21 + A Fine Scenic Route HENRY T. FINCK 31 + South Pass and Fremont's Park JOHN C. FREMONT 42 + In the Yellowstone Park FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 + The Country of the Cliff-Dwellers ALFRED TERRY BACON 58 + Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees A. H. TEVIS 68 + The Chinese Quarter in San Francisco HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 + Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 + A Sportsman's Experience in Mexico SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 + The Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands FELIX L. OSWALD 108 + Among the Ruins of Yucatan JOHN L. STEPHENS 119 + The Route of the Nicaragua Canal JULIUS FROEBEL 130 + The Destruction of San Salvador CARL SCHERZER 137 + Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + The High Woods of Trinidad CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 + Animals of British Guiana C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 + Life and Scenery in Venezuela ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 + The Llaneros of Venezuela RAMON PAEZ 190 + The Forests of the Amazon and Madeira + Rivers FRANZ KELLER 200 + Canoe- and Camp-Life on the Madeira FRANZ KELLER 212 + Besieged by Peccaries JAMES W. WELLS 219 + The Perils of Travel IDA PFEIFFER 232 + Brazilian Ants and Monkeys HENRY W. BATES 240 + The Monarchs of the Andes JAMES ORTON 251 + Inca High-Roads and Bridges E. GEORGE SQUIER 261 + + + + +List of Illustrations + +VOLUME II + + BOSTON COMMON, BOSTON, MASS. _Frontispiece_ + PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON 14 + MEMORIAL MONUMENT TO SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, FOUNDER OF + QUEBEC 34 + THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE FALLS 50 + GRAND CAŅON, ARIZONA 66 + RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA 96 + REGINA ANGELORUM (Queen of the Angels) 116 + A WATERFALL IN THE TROPICS 146 + LA GUAYRA, VENEZUELA 180 + A SOUTH SEA ISLAND 214 + THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES 252 + + + + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS. + + + + +THE WORLD'S GREAT CAPITALS OF TO-DAY. + +OLIVER H. G. LEIGH. + + +NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, CHICAGO. + +The reflective voyager, on his first sight of New York, is baffled when +he attempts to catalogue his sensations. All is so completely in +contrast with the capitals of Europe. The gloriously bright sky, air +that drinks like champagne, the resultant springiness of life and +movement, that overdoes itself in excitement and premature exhaustion, +and the obtrusively visible defects of this surface enthusiasm, +monotonous streets, unfinished or unbegun city improvements, and the +conspicuous lack of play-spaces for children--this is the rough +portrait sketch New York draws of itself for the newcomer. It does not +disguise the fact that money-making was for many years the dominant +consideration. The city was laid out for business, and public comfort +had to look out for itself. The workers, the poor, and the helpless were +apparently overlooked. + +But there are at least three New Yorks to explore. Old New York +stretches from the bay up to once aristocratic Madison Square, and this +is the section that first leaves its mark on the aforesaid visitor. Then +comes new New York, the splendid modern metropolis that spreads from +Central Park along the Hudson to the northern heights where the stately +mausoleum of Grant, the transplanted Columbia University, and the great +Cathedral-to-be add majestic dignity to the grandly picturesque panorama +by the river. The antiquated brownstone wilderness of fashionable houses +blossoms into white and gray and red clusters of mansions, richly varied +in form and treatment, with the welcome grassy settings so pitifully +missing in the older quarter. From a neglected span of prairie ground, +pimpled with bare rocks and goat-sheltering shanties also shared by dago +families, this section has in a few years qualified itself to rival the +famous features of old-world cities. A nobler prospect than Riverside +Drive alongside the mighty Hudson cannot be desired nor found. At +last the city has discovered and worthily utilized its splendid +opportunities. Then, thirdly, there is Greater New York. For the +simplification of local government it is doubtless excellent policy for +London and New York to lasso their humbler neighbor towns that the big +cities may pose as suddenly greater than ever. The thing is done with a +stroke of the pen and does not wound the pride of the newly scooped-in +citizens, because the individuality of the suburban districts remains +unchanged, but in our infantile capacity as mere sightseers the +side-shows do not affect the glories of the ring proper. If this fashion +of acquiring greatness continues, being inclusion rather than expansion, +there need be no limit to the ciphers periodically tacked on to the +population of the world's swarming hives. Now that New York is growing, +it might drop its insignificant borrowed name and assume its rightful +one of dignity and historic import, Manhattan. It fills the twenty-two +square miles between Harlem river, the Hudson, the East River, and the +bay, which area is Manhattan Island. North of the Harlem it includes +the district of the Bronx, a little stream which for half a mile or +so affords as exquisite a picture of nature's beauty as can be found +anywhere. The drift from town to country homes is a sign of the times +and an augury of great good to the coming generation, physical and +patriotic. After all, bricks and mortar are not the making of a city. +New York is at its best beyond the borders. Its rich citizens overflow +into these northern suburbs and lordly estates, and across the East +River into Brooklyn and Long Island's garden villages, and across the +Hudson into New Jersey's charming towns, and down the bay to Staten +Island. In no great metropolis this side of Constantinople is it so easy +and inexpensive to slip quickly from the office or home and enjoy the +bracing delights of a sail down the salt water (the upper bay has +fourteen square miles and the lower over eighty) or up a stately river +with all the charms of the Hudson. Everything is on the grand scale, +once the city's square blocks of barracky houses are left behind. + +Old-world quietists are surprised to discover one cosy quarter, perhaps +two, in the grimy section of New York. Stuyvesant Square and its +immediate belongings around St. George's Church still survive as an +oasis of sweetness and light in a wilderness of dismal commonplace. +Washington Square carries somewhat of the old aristocratic flavor to +the borders of Bohemia, and the Theological College in Chelsea used +to give a solemnizing leaven to that changing district. The social +transformation is still in progress. It may, perhaps, be a token of the +rise to metropolitanism that the distinctively American hotels of the +old-fashioned type have virtually disappeared. European models have +the preference for the time being in the in- and outdoor life of New +Yorkers. English sports have apparently taken firm root, as seen in the +popularity of golf, football, horse-racing, rowing, and some less +desirable practices incident to one or two of these erstwhile sports +that have developed into business undertakings, to the regret of true +sportsmen. In this connection it is worth while to notice the striking +disparity in the sizes of the audiences and outdoor crowds of New York +and London. If fifteen thousand people pay to see the Harvard-Yale +football game, or other such sport, it is considered worthy of special +headlines in the papers. Madison Square Garden holds that number, +seated, but the occasions when it has been filled at meetings have been +few. Football crowds in England range from thirty up to seventy +thousand, by turnstile record. The Crystal Palace accommodates over one +hundred thousand holiday-makers without being crowded, in its central +nave, sixteen hundred feet by eighty, besides transepts, and its famous +grounds. The late Rev. C. H. Spurgeon had congregations of six thousand, +seated, twice each Sunday for twenty-eight years. Mr. Gladstone and +others have addressed twenty-five thousand in the Agricultural Hall, +which covers over three acres, and St. Paul's Cathedral has occasional +congregations of over twenty thousand. These facts are the more curious +as applying to a small country. + +One explanation of this contrast lies in the fact that New York is not a +homogeneous community. In a more marked degree than other capitals it is +a congeries of towns and colonies, largely alien in sympathies. You can +wander in turn through Judea, China, Italy, Ireland, France, Russia, +Poland, Germany, Holland, and colored colonies. Local color is strong +in each. The English speech is not used, not known, by many of these +people. The picturesqueness of tenement life and its Babel sounds does +not atone for the want of the deep-rooted Americanism which must sooner +or later be the test of welcome immigration. + +Broadway is one of the great streets of the world though really a +Narrow-way for so important a thoroughfare. Running north and south +and having no rival for its most used section it has more than its +natural share of traffic. From the historic Bowling Green and Trinity +Church--two fine monuments of pre-Revolution days--up to Fourteenth +Street, Broadway is mainly a wholesale market. Then it changes to a +retail bazaar, and its trading features disappear as it nears the park. +There used to be a well-defined sky-line in the lower city, but this has +been sadly damaged by the towering office Babels that make the older +quarter of the city a cave of the winds. If some day an earthquake were +to shake the lower end of Manhattan Island, mighty would be the fall of +these presumptuous files and woe betide their inhabitants. Fifth Avenue +up to Thirty-fourth Street has given up its fashionable prestige in +exchange for the profits of business. The Stock and Produce Exchanges +are far down-town, among the multitude of banks that crowd around the +spot made sacred ground to future generations of patriots as the scene +of Washington's inauguration as President. The city and its environs are +rich in historic sites and monuments of the Revolutionary struggle. +These, happily for the country's future, are every year being sought and +studied by the young, also by bands of teachers from states near and +far, and by visitors from abroad. The devotion of one or more societies +of private individuals has of late years conferred a boon upon the +public which can hardly be too highly appreciated, in causing durable +memorial tablets to be placed on buildings of historic interest. In this +and kindred ways New York is fast removing all justification for the +stale reproach that it cared not for shrines and took small interest in +its own history. + +A mere suggestion, yet a very helpful one, toward realizing somewhat of +the enormous shipping business done for the country by New York can be +got by a tour of the main wharves. There is a water-front of twenty-five +miles around the island, without reckoning the shores of Brooklyn and +Hoboken. The bird's-eye view from the wonderful and graceful Suspension +Bridge enlarges one's conception of what such a metropolis is and can +do. Alpine grain elevators circle the city on the opposite shore of the +rivers and upper bay. Two thousand ships sail out each year laden with +the grain that feeds the nations on the other hemisphere. Three thousand +steamships enter these wharves yearly with human and commercial freight +from foreign ports. Nearly ten thousand steerage immigrants land each +week the year round, besides an immense passenger contingent. These are +the sights that fascinate the thoughtful: the comings and goings of the +peoples of the earth and its products. Old Castle Garden and the Battery +have greatly changed in recent years, but their memories linger. If it +had been possible to keep the triangle south of Fourteenth Street as the +select residential quarter, what an unrivalled site it would now be! A +water panorama worth crossing the Atlantic to see, for its immensity, +its picturesque bordering, and the magnificent view of the foreground of +an embowered city by the sea. + +Human needs shaped these water avenues to other destinies. They draw +from the great ocean beyond the Narrows the sources of all that has gone +to the building of national greatness. In turn they have borne to other +lands the seeds of a larger liberty, patterned after and stimulated by +the unparalleled success that has so splendidly rewarded self-achieved +freedom to grow, to think, to speak out, and to speed the commerce of +the world. + +The wealth thus created has of recent years done much to beautify the +city with palatial residences. In the northern districts detached +mansions in grass-plots supersede the monotonous brownstone rows. Many +of these vie with each other in the extent and delicacy of decorative +carvings outside. Others are fashioned after the castellated structures +of Europe. The general impression left by a town of the newer fashion +quarter is that Jeffersonian simplicity, in architecture at least, is no +longer to be understood as synonymous with severe plainness. Probably no +other city can point to an equally rapid transition from conventional +taste, excellent for its period, to the present enthusiasm for the best +in artistic construction, whatever its cost. + +The bicycle proved a revolutionizer of dress as well as a stimulus +to outdoor exercise. Each nation learns from the others and so we +progress, though there is possible weakness in the tendency toward +rigid uniformity. The picturesque and the primitive are disappearing +in every land. National individuality should not lightly be allowed +to lapse, even in minor matters of costume and recreation. + +Experienced travellers know that a country is not to be judged by its +metropolis. There is a sturdier back-bone of conservatism in the +provinces than in the great cities, so largely made up of aliens and +sojourners. A goodly proportion of the business men whose genius has +made New York what it is, and who are admittedly qualifying it soon to +become the financial centre of the world, are country-born and raised. +Great as New York is, and mightier as it will become by reason of its +situation, the true and abiding greatness of the nation is spread over +the thousand cities and towns that equally represent American pluck and +stability. In the farming districts and the scattered rural communities, +in vast agricultural areas of which city people take too little note, +and in the steady, plodding, smaller towns, there abides a calm but +potent force that throbs with high patriotism, and will prove an +all-sufficient strength in time of peril. + + * * * * * + +Washington! Its very name an inspiration, its every feature a +fascination to the lover of his country who makes his first pilgrimage +to the national shrine. Other great cities bear the glorious marks of +the tribulations and triumphs they suffered and enjoyed as they passed +through their historic experiences. Here is a capital created as the +consummation of a people's release from thralldom. A new city, invented +as the proclamation of a new nation's advent, the symbol and promise +of a mightier world-power than its proudest founders ever conceived +possible in their highest enthusiasms. The youngest of famous capitals, +it already holds its own with the best of its kind for grandeur and the +_rus in urbe_ charm. Its spacious avenues, one hundred and sixty feet +wide, are lined with trees and grassy walks. Their stately sweep gives +chances for fine landscape effects, which are finely used. The vistas of +the grand avenues are bounded by some piece of memorial statuary or an +imposing structure in the distance, as is Pennsylvania avenue by the +incomparable Capitol. No national monument is better known throughout +the world than this noble edifice. Its majestic stateliness is enhanced +by its snowy whiteness. + +The Capitol is the greatest building for its purposes in the United +States. It covers three acres and a half, and has a frontage of seven +hundred and fifty feet. The great dome, with its figure of Liberty, +reaches a height of over three hundred and seven feet. Standing on the +rising ground among the rich foliage it has an aspect of quiet strength, +an impressive assurance of dignity and permanence peculiar to itself +among massive buildings in the great cities. Everyone goes, or should +go, to see Congress at work, and to explore the corridors trod by +generations of the nation's legislators, soldiers, jurists, orators, in +short, by all the great makers of the nation since Washington laid its +foundation stone. A singular instance of fate thwarting intention is +found in the situation of the Capitol. It was planned to face eastward, +the White House was to be in the rear, and the city was expected to +spread away from the river, eastwardly. But it perversely grew to the +northwest, with the result that the Capitol turns its back on the +capital. No one would suppose this is so unless told, so splendidly +balanced in architectural dignity are both fronts of the edifice. +Another peculiarity is that the head city of the republic is +monarchically governed, and governed better than any other city in the +Union. Three commissioners are appointed by the President, and the +citizens have no political franchise. The city was planned as a grand +example of what a capital should be. Impressed by the lessons of the +revolutions in Paris the designer dotted the area with circular +grass-plots or miniature parks, from which avenues and streets radiate +like wheel-spokes. In case of need a gun in each of the circles could +command an enemy approaching from any quarter. The peaceful use of these +charming sites is more befitting the spirit of the republic. Statues of +its soldier-heroes who saved the Union adorn each circle and give +historic interest to the vistas. There are two hundred miles of streets. +In summer-time they are groves of rich foliage. They and the park spaces +take up half the area of the city. It is wisely intended to re-name the +principal streets after famous American patriots instead of +alphabetically. + +Washington is pre-eminently a city of "sights." The great government +buildings are distributed over the city with excellent effect. They are +noble edifices, worthy of the Capitol and the capital. The Treasury, +with its never-to-be-forgotten scenes inside, the Army and Navy offices, +the Smithsonian Institution, and the rest of the head-quarters of +national business need no further mention here. The Corcoran Art +Gallery, the Patent Office, and the new Library of Congress demand a +special word. The latter is one of the most exquisite buildings in the +world, with interior decorative treatment quite beyond anything hitherto +known in the country. Its brilliant dome does not suffer by proximity to +the Capitol. An inspection of the Patent Office is a revelation of +genius peculiarly American, and its display throws the clearest light +on the secret of the country's amazing material prosperity. A visit to +Washington ought to be the finishing touch to the schooling of every +girl and boy. Historic sites and shrines appeal to the mature mind, but +the show places of the capital peculiarly suit the youthful instinct for +the novel and striking in matters of fact. + +[Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON] + +To see the Senate and House of Representatives in session is a high +privilege for any citizen, yet it is hampered by few, if any, such +restrictions as are imposed in other national legislatures. The chambers +are spacious and handsome, so are the classified galleries for +spectators, and the sessions are held in daylight. Equally impressive is +the Supreme Court of the United States--a temple of equity in all its +features, wherein the instinctive reverence for the highest embodiment +of justice and legal authority is encouraged by the surroundings. The +robes worn by the justices invest the bench and court with a dignity +which various state courts wisely emulate by adopting the same rule. +Isolated in striking grandeur, the lofty Washington obelisk lifts the +contemplative mind to heights above the level of material evidences of +prosperity. Like the Stuart portrait, this memorial of Washington leaves +the meaner measurements of a man's stature for other seasons and moods, +and by a touch of sublimity gives the nobler cue to patriotic devotion +and whole-hearted enthusiasm for him who, though human indeed, in his +life-work neared the divine. + +Summer is not the best time to appreciate the social life of the +capital. It lies low, the Potomac's swampy margin is near and the street +forests of trees aid humidity. The White House snugly reposes in +beautiful grounds, with the great obelisk as a perpetual reminder of the +first President's example and reward. Another white portico gleams in +the distance, Arlington, the resting-place of the nation's hero-martyrs. +In the winter season Washington blooms into cosmopolitan grandeur. It +becomes the focus of the nation's lights in statesmanship, art, +literature, and social pleasures. The foreign embassies supply the grace +of brilliant color so lacking in the gatherings of men in the sombre +attire of the period. A continuous round of social festivities gladdens +the mild winter days and nights. Here, as in royal capitals, society has +its greater and lesser constellations. There are the senatorial, +judicial, diplomatic, military, and naval groups, too sharply divided, +to judge from audible criticisms in New York circles. Still literature, +art, and commerce have as free a welcome in Washington salons as +anywhere else, despite the plaints of overlooked suppliants. The White +House knows nothing of artificial shibboleths. It happily dispenses its +hospitalities--which are coveted honors--impartially upon all whom it +is an honor to honor, and so sustains the true American principle of +equal courtesy to citizens and sojourners of every degree. Washington is +an inexhaustible field for the student of men, manners and movements, a +theatre on whose stage the comedy of life plays itself, with all-potent +moulders of opinion and legislation as the actors, backed by a +supernumerary army of minor aids. Among its most eager auditors are +outsiders, reporting every byplay to profoundly interested critics +across the seas. The drama cannot be too deeply watched and pondered, +for it is fraught with issues vital to the well-being of coming +generations. + + * * * * * + +Chicago is usually figured as a conventionally insipid beauty, in +flowing garments which would obstruct her progress and could never be +kept white. This is a mistake. Most masculine of cities, most American +of America's great centres, its shield should portray a strong youth in +the flush of adolescence, conscious power in his proud curled lip, fire +in his eye, springing to the foreground in the first ray of dawn, in his +right hand the sceptre of genius and his left grasping the key of +destiny. The good people of Chicago are not conspicuously lacking in +civic self-appreciation. They are accustomed to being twitted by rivals +in the rear on their boundless faith in their city's future greatness. +They can afford to listen smilingly. If the child is father of the man, +full-grown Chicago must some day tower above the up-stretched heads of +its envious seniors like a giant among, say, a committee of venerable +municipal Solons. Ordinary cities develop as babies do, slow growth to +maturity, but this extraordinary late-comer into the family attained +mental and muscular precocity in shorter time than its sisters required +to cut their wisdom-teeth. Considered in relation to its geographical +position and its express-speed rate of progress, Chicago has the +promise and potency of an imperial greatness no easier to exaggerate +than to limit. It was tried by fire in the day of small things, but +quickly rose to a new life and it still carries the memorial glow in its +heart as an inspiration to great things. + +The word Chicago is a simpler form of the Indian name, Chacaqua, given +to the river in honor of their deity, the Thunderer. The position of +Chicago makes it the greatest lake port in the world. It is already the +second city in the United States, though only born in 1830, and has +hopes of becoming the first, by growth, and not by annexation policy. +True, the newest city inherits the wealth and experience which the older +ones had to gain for themselves, yet Chicago has done some fine original +things. It hitched up an inland sea as its beast of burden and made a +vast lake its pleasure pond. Finding itself only seven feet above the +level of Lake Michigan it lifted itself bodily another seven feet, +churches, warehouses, dwellings and all, with jack-screws, and shovelled +a new foundation of dry earth beneath. Fifteen years later the great +fire laid it lower than ever. On Oct. 8, 1871, began the disaster that +made nearly a hundred thousand people homeless, destroyed seventeen +thousand buildings and two hundred lives, and caused the loss of two +hundred millions of dollars. Within a year or so the wooden town was +transformed into a city of massive palaces built of stone and brick. It +is now fast changing itself into a maze of towering Babels, whose tops +support the pall of smoke that tells of manufacturing activity. It drove +tunnels beneath its river for street-cars. Its thirty-five bridges were +not enough for the constant rush. On its lake first swam the novel +whale-back boats. One sin will rise up against the city on the day of +doom: the twenty-mile line of lake shore has been largely prostituted +to railway interests instead of being conserved as an unrivalled +pleasure park for the people and an adornment to the city. It can plead +in mitigation of sentence that its six public parks cover more than +three square miles, besides some sixty linear miles of park-like +boulevards of which Paris might be proud. Of these Michigan Avenue has a +well-won fame. No business traffic is permitted on its wide and +well-sprinkled roadway, the morning and afternoon procession of +carriages taking its wealthy residents to and from business at times +recalls the Queen's Drive in the London season. If the Chicago man of +affairs works hard at his calling, he takes his pleasure zestfully and +plenty of it. On the grand occasion of the American Derby (for Chicago +has its Epsom and Ascot in one) it is a revelation to see the gay +caravan _en route_ to the race-course, as impressive a display of +metropolitan luxury as any capital can present. And on this day the West +can match the big crowds of England with this sixty thousand throng, +each person paying two dollars for bare admission to the ground. + +In a city primarily devoted to business it takes time for the +development of the beautiful. Chicago has its "sights" for seekers after +the merely outlandish, who often miss the real greatnesses that are less +catchy to the eye. One of its achievements which impresses both the +trained and untrained observer is the undertaking which has the +uninviting name of Drainage Canal. The pure water of Lake Michigan used +to be polluted by the inflow of the Chicago River. To prevent this the +city has made an immense waterway by which the lake water is carried to +the Illinois River and the tide of the Chicago River is diverted from +its former course. The new canal is navigable and opens a route between +the great lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. The territory involved embraces +the city and forty-three square miles of Cook County. The main channel +is twenty-eight miles long and the cost was about thirty millions. + +In their commercial aspect the famous Stock-yards have greater interest +than as a show place. They cover four hundred acres, the plant is valued +at four million dollars, and about twenty millions of animals are killed +and packed in a year. Similarly imposing are the statistics of most of +Chicago's enterprises. The Board of Trade is one of the most remarkable +sights in the country. Its public galleries are usually filled with +spectators of the feverish bidding of the grain operators, whose +slightest nod affects the markets of the world. The Stock Exchange is +yearly taking a more important share in the money market. The financial +institutions of Chicago and the West have more than once saved the East +from impending panic, and immense loans are constantly being renewed, +insuring the speedy recognition of the city as a force in the money +markets of the nations. + +More interesting is the honor-roll of Chicago's intellectual enterprise. +The Columbian World's Fair of 1893 astonished the world with its beauty, +its perfection of artistic skill and taste. It gave an impetus to the +pursuit of the beautiful and refining which has borne substantial +results. Near the site of the Fair is a cluster of buildings +constituting the University of Chicago, dating from 1891, to which a +single donor has given nine million dollars, and loyal citizens are +continually adding to its possessions. The heads of the University count +on an endowment fund of fifty millions. Nowhere is Chicago enthusiasm +for progress more finely manifested than here. The great public +libraries of the city are envied by foreign visitors. The central Public +Library is a splendid triumph of architecture, next in interior +elegance to the Library of Congress. It is valued at three millions, +exclusive of its books. The Newberry and Crerar libraries form special +branches of the system. The city's churches and charities are doing +nobly in ameliorating the condition of the toilers and the handicapped +in life's race. The name and fame of Miss Jane Addams and the Hull House +settlement are world-wide. How difficult the task is may be conceived +from the fact that out of a million and seven hundred thousand people in +the city, nine hundred thousand are Americans, German, and Irish; the +remainder represent twenty-four nationalities, exclusive of negroes. A +report issued by an investigating committee of Hull House states that +"the density of population in the Polish quarter in Chicago is three +times that of the most crowded portions of Tokio, Calcutta, and many +other Asiatic cities." + +As in New York there is a marked tendency among the richer people +to set up country homes. New suburban towns and villages of great +attractiveness are drawing an increasing number away from the smoky +city. On the other hand the far-famed hospitality of its people to +prophets of every school of thought, and the spirit of enterprise which +welcomes every new idea, attracts eccentrics and adventurers whose +trumpetings are loud enough to mislead superficial observers into the +notion that Chicago is the crank's paradise. If a fault at all, this +amiable toleration leans to virtue's side. Rightly to appreciate the +depth and breadth of Chicago's influence we must follow its trade to the +remotest corners of the earth. We must trace the influences of its seats +of learning and refinement. We must count, if we can, the tremendous +results of its world-renowned enterprises that have stimulated nations +to follow the successful lead. Be its faults what they may, Chicago has +the heart, the will, and the muscle to mend them, as the world will +see, and then will the true greatness of the Western metropolis be +discerned, and its full influence be felt. + + + + +WINNIPEG LAKE AND RIVER. + +W. F. BUTLER. + + [Colonel W. F. Butler, in "The Great Lone Land," gives us some + very interesting information about the life and scenery of the + great American Northwest, from which we select the following + description of a picturesque lake and river. His journey was + made during the Riel rebellion, and the traveller was on his + way to the Lake of the Woods, where he expected to meet an + expedition sent for the suppression of the rebellion. The Red + River Indians gave him a hearty send-off.] + + +The chief gave a signal, and a hundred trading guns were held aloft, +and a hundred shots rang out on the morning air. Again and again the +salutes were repeated, the whole tribe moving down to the water's edge +to see me off. Putting out to the middle of the river, I discharged my +fourteen-shooter into the air in rapid succession; a prolonged war-whoop +answered my salute, and, paddling their very best, for the eyes of the +finest canoers were upon them, my men drove the little craft flying over +the water until the Indian village and its still firing braves were +hidden behind a river bend. Through many marsh-lined channels, and +amidst a vast sea of reeds and rushes, the Red River of the North seeks +the water of Lake Winnipeg. A mixture of land and water, of mud, and of +the varied vegetation which grows thereon, this delta of the Red River +is, like other spots of a similar description, inexplicably lonely. + +The wind sighs over it, bending the tall weeds with mournful rustle, and +the wild bird passes and repasses with plaintive cry over the rushes +which form his summer home. + +Emerging from the sedges of the Red River, we shot out into the waters +of an immense lake,--a lake which stretched away into unseen spaces, and +over whose waters the fervid July sun was playing strange freaks of +mirage and inverted shore-land. + +This was Lake Winnipeg,--a great lake, even on a continent where lakes +are inland seas. But vast as it is now, it is only a tithe of what it +must have been in the earlier ages of the earth. + +The capes and headlands of what once was a vast inland sea now stand far +away from the shores of Winnipeg. Hundreds of miles from its present +limits these great landmarks still look down on the ocean, but it is an +ocean of grass. The waters of Winnipeg have retired from their feet, and +they are now mountain-ridges, rising over seas of verdure. At the bottom +of this by-gone lake lay the whole valley of the Red River, the present +Lakes Winnepegoos and Manitoba, and the prairie islands of the Lower +Assiniboine,--one hundred thousand square miles of water. The water +has long since been drained off by the lowering of the rocky channels +leading to Hudson Bay, and the bed of the extinct lake now forms the +richest prairie-land in the world. + +But although Winnipeg has shrunken to a tenth of its original size, its +rivers still remain worthy of the great basin into which they once +flowed. The Saskatchewan is longer than the Danube, the Winnipeg has +twice the volume of the Rhine. Four hundred thousand square miles of +continent shed their waters into Lake Winnipeg; a lake as changeful as +the ocean, but, fortunately for us, in its very calmest mood to-day. +Not a wave, not a ripple on its surface, not a breath of breeze to +aid the untiring paddles. The little canoe, weighed down by men and +provisions, had scarcely three inches of its gunwale over the water, and +yet the steersman held his course far out into the glassy waste, leaving +behind the marshy headlands which marked the river's mouth. + +A long low point stretching from the south shore of the lake was faintly +visible on the horizon. It was past mid-day when we reached it; so, +putting in among the rocky boulders which lined the shore, we lighted +our fire and cooked our dinner. Then, resuming our way, the Grand +Traverse was entered upon. Far away over the lake arose the point of the +Big Stone, a lonely cape whose perpendicular front was raised high above +the water. The sun began to sink towards the west; but still not a +breath rippled the surface of the lake, not a sail moved over the wide +expanse, all was as lonely as though our tiny craft had been the sole +speck of life on the waters of the world. The red sun sank into the +lake, warning us that it was time to seek the shore and make our beds +for the night. A deep sandy bay, with a high backing of woods and rocks, +seemed to invite us to its solitudes. Steering in with great caution +among the rocks, we landed in this sheltered spot, and drew our boat +upon the sandy beach. The shore yielded large store of drift-wood, the +relics of many a northern gale. Behind us lay a trackless forest, in +front the golden glory of the western sky. As the night shades deepened +around us and the red glare of our drift-wood fire cast its light upon +the woods and rocks, the scene became one of rare beauty. + +As I sat watching from a little distance this picture so full of all +the charms of the wild life of the voyageur and the Indian, I little +marvelled that the red child of the lakes and the woods should be loath +to quit such scenes for all the luxuries of our civilization. Almost as +I thought with pity over his fate, seeing here the treasures of nature +which were his, there suddenly emerged from the forest two dusky forms. +They were Ojibbeways, who came to share our fire and our evening meal. +The land was still their own. When I lay down to rest that night on the +dry sandy shore, I long watched the stars above me. As children sleep +after a day of toil and play, so slept the dusky men who lay around me. +It was my first night with these poor wild sons of the lone spaces; it +was strange and weird, and the lapping of the mimic wave against the +rocks close by failed to bring sleep to my thinking eyes. + + [The next day an early start was made] + +We entered the mouth of the Winnipeg River at mid-day and paddled up to +Fort Alexander, which stands about a mile from the river's entrance. +Here I made my final preparations for the ascent of the Winnipeg, +getting a fresh canoe better adapted for forcing the rapids, and at five +o'clock in the evening started on my journey up the river. Eight miles +above the fort the roar of a great fall of water sounded through the +twilight. In the surge and spray and foaming torrent the enormous volume +of the Winnipeg was making its last grand leap on its way to mingle its +waters with the lake. On the flat surface of an enormous rock which +stood well out into the boiling water we made our fire and our camp. + +The pine-trees which gave the fall its name stood round us dark and +solemn, waving their long arms to and fro in the gusty winds that swept +the valley. It was a wild picture. The pine-trees standing in inky +blackness; the rushing water, white with foam; above, the rifted +thunder-clouds. Soon the lightning began to flash and the voice of +the thunder to sound above the roar of the cataract. My Indians made +me a rough shelter with cross poles and a sail-cloth, and, huddling +themselves together under the upturned canoe, we slept regardless of the +storm.... + +A man may journey very far through the lone spaces of the earth without +meeting with another Winnipeg River. In it nature has contrived to place +her two great units of earth and water in strange and wild combinations. +To say that the Winnipeg River has an immense volume of water, that it +descends three hundred and sixty feet in a distance of one hundred +and sixty miles, that it is full of eddies and whirlpools, of every +variation of waterfall from chutes to cataracts, that it expands into +lonely pine-cliffed lakes and far-reaching island-studded bays, that +its bed is cumbered with immense wave-polished rocks, that its vast +solitudes are silent and its cascades ceaselessly active,--to say all +this is but to tell in bare items of fact the narrative of its +beauty. For the Winnipeg, by the multiplicity of its perils and the +ever-changing beauty of its character, defies the description of +civilized men as it defies the puny efforts of civilized travel. It +seems part of the savage,--fitted alone for him and for his ways, +useless to carry the burdens of man's labor, but useful to shelter the +wild things of wood and water which dwell in its waves and along its +shores. And the red man who steers his little birch-bark canoe through +the foaming rapids of the Winnipeg, how well he knows its various ways! +To him it seems to possess life and instinct, he speaks of it as one +would of a high-mettled charger which will do anything if he be rightly +handled. It gives him his test of superiority, his proof of courage. To +shoot the Otter Falls or the Rapids of Barričre, to carry his canoe down +the whirling of Portage-de-l'Isle, to lift her from the rush of water at +the Seven Portages, or launch her by the edge of the whirlpool below the +Chute-ā-Jocko, all this is to be a brave and a skilful Indian, for the +man who can do all this must possess a power in the sweep of his paddle, +a quickness of glance, and a quiet consciousness of skill, not to be +found except after generations of practice. For hundreds of years the +Indian has lived amidst these rapids, they have been the playthings of +his boyhood, the realities of his life, the instinctive habit of his old +age. What the horse is to the Arab, what the dog is to the Esquimaux, +what the camel is to those who journey across Arabian deserts, so is the +canoe to the Ojibbeway. Yonder wooded shore yields him from first to +last the materials he requires for its construction: cedar for the +slender ribs, birch bark to cover them, juniper to stitch together the +separate pieces, red pine to give resin for the seams and crevices. By +the lake or river shore, close to his wigwam, the boat is built; + + "And the forest life is in it,-- + All its mystery and its magic, + All the tightness of the birch-tree, + All the toughness of the cedar, + All the larch's supple sinews. + And it floated on the river + Like a yellow leaf in autumn, + Like a yellow water-lily." + +It is not a boat, it is a house; it can be carried long distances +overland from lake to lake. It is frail beyond words, yet you can load +it down to the water's edge; it carries the Indian by day, it shelters +him by night; in it he will steer boldly out into a vast lake where land +is unseen, or paddle through mud and swamp or reedy shallows; sitting in +it, he gathers his harvest of wild rice, or catches his fish or shoots +his game; it will dash down a foaming rapid, brave a fiercely running +torrent, or lie like a sea bird on the placid water. + +For six months the canoe is the home of the Ojibbeway. While the trees +are green, while the waters dance and sparkle, while the wild rice bends +its graceful head in the lake, and the wild duck dwells amidst the +rush-covered mere, the Ojibbeway's home is the birch-bark canoe. When +the winter comes and the lake and rivers harden beneath the icy breath +of the north wind, the canoe is put carefully away; covered with +branches and with snow, it lies through the long dreary winter until the +wild swan and the wavey, passing northward to the polar seas, call it +again from its long icy sleep. + +Such is the life of the canoe, and such the river along which it rushes +like an arrow. + +The days that now commenced to pass were filled from dawn to dark with +moments of keenest enjoyment, everything was new and strange, and each +hour brought with it some fresh surprise of Indian skill or Indian +scenery. + +The sun would be just tipping the western shores with his first rays +when the canoe would be lifted from its ledge of rock and laid gently on +the water; then the blankets and kettles, the provisions and the guns, +would be placed in it, and four Indians would take their seats, while +one remained on the shore to steady the bark upon the water and keep its +sides from contact with the rock; then when I had taken my place in the +centre, the outside man would spring gently in, and we would glide away +from the rocky resting-place. To tell the mere work of each day is no +difficult matter: start at five o'clock A.M., halt for breakfast at +seven o'clock, off again at eight, halt at one o'clock for dinner, away +at two o'clock, paddle until sunset at seven-thirty; that was the work +of each day. But how shall I attempt to fill in the details of scene and +circumstance between these rough outlines of time and toil, for almost +every hour of the long summer day the great Winnipeg revealed some new +phase of beauty and of peril, some changing scene of lonely grandeur? I +have already stated that the river in its course from the Lake of the +Woods to Lake Winnipeg, one hundred and sixty miles, makes a descent of +three hundred and sixty feet. + +This descent is effected not by a continuous decline, but by a series of +terraces at various distances from each other; in other words, the river +forms innumerable lakes and wide expanding reaches bound together by +rapids and perpendicular falls of varying altitude; thus when the +_voyageur_ has lifted his canoe from the foot of the Silver Falls and +launched it again above the head of that rapid, he will have surmounted +two-and-twenty feet of the ascent; again, the dreaded Seven Portages +will give him a total rise of sixty feet in a distance of three miles. +(How cold does the bare narration of these facts appear beside their +actual realization in a small canoe manned by Indians!) Let us see if we +can picture one of these many scenes. There sounds ahead a roar of +falling water, and we see, upon rounding some pine-clad island or ledge +of rock, a tumbling mass of foam and spray studded with projecting rocks +and flanked by dark wooded shores; above we can see nothing, but below, +the waters, maddened by their wild rush amidst the rocks, surge and leap +in angry whirlpools. It is as wild a scene of crag and wood and water as +the eye can gaze upon, but we look upon it not for its beauty, because +there is no time for that, but because it is an enemy that must be +conquered. + +Now mark how these Indians steal upon this enemy before he is aware of +it. The immense volume of water, escaping from the eddies and whirlpools +at the foot of the fall, rushes on in a majestic sweep into calmer +water; this rush produces along the shores of the river a counter- or +back-current which flows up sometimes close to the foot of the fall; +along this back-water the canoe is carefully steered, being often +not six feet from the opposing rush in the central river; but the +back-current in turn ends in a whirlpool, and the canoe, if it followed +this back-current, would inevitably end in the same place. For a minute +there is no paddling, the bow-paddle and the steersman alone keeping the +boat in her proper direction as she drifts rapidly up the current. Among +the crew not a word is spoken, but every man knows what he has to do, +and will be ready when the moment comes; and now the moment has come, +for on one side there foams along a mad surge of water, and on the other +the angry whirlpool twists and turns in smooth hollowing curves round an +axis of air, whirling round it with a strength that would snap our birch +bark into fragments, and suck us down into the great depths below. All +that can be gained by the back-current has been gained, and now it is +time to quit it; but where? for there is often only the choice of the +whirlpool or the central river. Just on the very edge of the eddy there +is one loud shout given by the bow-paddle, and the canoe shoots full +into the centre of the boiling flood, driven by the united strength of +the entire crew; the men work for their very lives, and the boat breasts +across the river, with her head turned full towards the falls; the +waters foam and dash about her, the waves leap high over the gunwale, +the Indians shout as they dip their paddles like lightning into the +foam, and the stranger to such a scene holds his breath amidst this war +of man against nature. Ha! the struggle is useless; they cannot force +her against such a torrent; we are close to the rocks and foam; but see, +she is driven down by the current, in spite of those wild fast strokes. +The dead strength of such a rushing flood must prevail. Yes, it is true, +the canoe has been driven back; but behold, almost in a second the whole +thing is done,--we float suddenly beneath a little rocky isle on the +foot of the cataract. We have crossed the river in the face of the +fall, and the portage landing is over this rock, while three yards out +on either side the torrent foams its headlong course. + +Of the skill necessary to perform such things it is useless to speak. +A single false stroke and the whole thing would have failed; driven +headlong down the torrent, another attempt would have to be made to +gain this rock-protected spot, but now we lie secure here; spray all +around us, for the rush of the river is on either side, and you can +touch it with an outstretched paddle. The Indians rest on their paddles +and laugh; their long hair has escaped from its fastening through their +exertion, and they retie it while they rest. One is already standing +upon the wet, slippery rock, holding the canoe in its place; then the +others get out. The freight is carried up, piece by piece, and deposited +on the flat surface some ten feet above; that done, the canoe is lifted +out very gently, for a single blow against this hard granite boulder +would shiver and splinter the frail birch-bark covering; they raise her +very carefully up the steep face of the cliff and rest again on the top. +What a view there is from coigne of vantage! We are on the lip of the +fall; on each side it makes its plunge, and below we mark at leisure the +torrent we have just braved; above, it is smooth water, and away ahead +we see the foam of another rapid. The rock on which we stand has been +worn smooth by the washing of the water during countless ages, and from +a cleft or fissure there springs a pine-tree or a rustling aspen. We +have crossed the Petit Roches, and our course is onward still. + +Through many scenes like this we held our way during the last days of +July. The weather was beautiful; now and then a thunder-storm would roll +along during the night, but the morning sun, rising clear and bright, +would almost tempt one to believe that it had been a dream, if the +pools of water in the hollows of the rocks and the dampness of blanket +or oil-cloth had not proved the sun a humbug. Our general distance each +day would be about thirty-two miles, with an average of six portages. At +sunset we made our camp on some rocky isle or shelving shore: one or two +cut wood, another got the cooking things ready, a fourth gummed the +seams of the canoe, a fifth cut shavings from a dry stick for the fire; +for myself, I generally took a plunge in the cool, delicious water; +and soon the supper hissed in the pans, the kettle steamed from its +suspending stick, and the evening meal was eaten with appetites such +as only the _voyageur_ can understand. + +Then when the shadows of the night had fallen around and all was silent, +save the river's tide against the rocks, we would stretch our blankets +on the springy moss of the crag, and lie down to sleep with only the +stars for a roof. + +Happy, happy days were these,--days the memory of which goes very far +into the future, growing brighter as we journey farther away from them; +for the scenes through which our course was laid were such as speak in +whispers, only when we have left them,--the whispers of the pine-tree, +the music of running water, the stillness of great lonely lakes. + + + + +A FINE SCENIC ROUTE. + +HENRY T. FINCK. + + [From Henry T. Finck's "The Pacific Coast Scenic Tour" we + select the following description of the Canadian Pacific + Railway route, which is acknowledged to possess a long + succession of grand and beautiful scenery, unequalled by any + other railroad route in America. The description is too long a + one to be given in full, and for further acquaintance with it + the reader must be referred to the book itself.] + + +After leaving Vancouver, and before reaching Westminster, the train for +some time runs along Burrard Inlet, on which is situated Fort Moody, +another town which had hoped to be chosen as terminus, and actually did +enjoy that privilege for a short time. The shores of the inlet are +beautifully wooded, and some of the trees are of enormous size. At the +crossing of Stave River a fine view is obtained of Mount Baker, looking +forward to the right; and the bridge over the Harrison River, where it +meets the Frazer, also affords a picturesque view. For the next fifteen +or sixteen hours the train follows the banks of the Frazer River and its +tributaries, and this is one of the grandest sections of the route. + +At the first the Frazer is a muddy, yellow river, about the size of +the Willamette above Oregon City, but more rapid and winding, and an +occasional steamer may be seen floating along with the current, or +slowly making headway against it. In some places the railway runs so +close to the precipitous bank of the river that a handkerchief might be +dropped from a car window into the swirling eddies, fifty feet below. +At other places it leaves room--and just room enough--for the old +wagon-road between the track and the river; but it would take a cool +driver, with much confidence in his horses, to remain on his wagon here +when a train passes. At last the road itself becomes frightened and +crosses the river on a bridge, whereupon it winds along the hill-side +above the opposite bank, at a safe distance. + +This road was made during the Frazer River gold excitement in 1858, when +twenty-five thousand miners flocked into this region, and wages for any +kind of work were ten to eighteen dollars a day. To-day the metal no +longer exists in what white men consider paying quantity; but Chinamen +may still be seen along the river, washing for remnants, their earnings +being about fifty cents a day. There is also a "Ruby Creek" in this +neighborhood, and some Indian habitations and salmon-fishing places. +Shortly before reaching Yale, which for a long time was the western +end of the road, there is a slight intermission in the scenic drama, +represented by some rich, level, agricultural lands, as if to give the +passengers a moment's rest before the wonders of the Frazer Caņon begin +to monopolize their bewildered attention, till darkness sets in and +drops the curtain on the superb panorama. + +Yale, which is so completely shut in by high, frowning mountain walls on +every side that the sun touches the village only during part of the day, +has lost its importance since it ceased to be a terminus, and seems at +present to be inhabited chiefly by Indians and half-breeds. The train is +invaded by a bevy of half-breed girls with baskets of splendid apples +and pears, which could not be beaten for size and flavor in any of our +States, and indicate a possible use for these mountain regions in the +future. And now the train plunges into the midst of the series of +terrific gorges which constitute the Frazer Caņon, and which make this +railway literally the most gorge-ous in the world. Here were appalling +engineering difficulties to overcome, which no private corporation +without the most liberal government support could have undertaken. Yet +the builders had to be thankful even for this wild and rugged caņon dug +out by the Frazer River, without which the Cascade range would have been +impassable. + +The palace cars of the Canadian Pacific, which contain all the best +features of the Pullman cars, with home improvements, have a special +observatory, with large windows, at the end of the train, whence the +caņon should be viewed; but to see it at its best one must sit on the +rear platform, so as to see at the same time both of the wild and +precipitous caņon walls, between which the river rushes along as if +pursued by demons. At every curve you think the gorge must come to an +end, but it only grows more stupendous, and the river, lashed into foam +and fury, dashes blindly against the rocks which try to arrest its +course. These rocks, ten to thirty feet wide and sometimes twice as +long, form many pretty little stone islands in the middle of the +torrent, and are a characteristic feature of the caņon scenery. Numerous +tunnels, resembling those on the Columbia River, are built through +arches seemingly projecting over the river. The train plunges into them +recklessly, but always comes out fresh and smiling on the other side, +although it seems that if the bottom of the tunnel should by any chance +drop out, the train would be precipitated into the river below. + +Once in a while the river takes a short rest, and in these comparatively +calm stretches hundreds of beautiful large red fish can be seen from +the train, in the clear water, struggling up-stream. With their dark +backs and bright red sides they form a sight which is none the less +interesting when you are told that they are "only dog salmon," which +are not relished by whites, though the Indians eat them. + + [A night now passes, during which much fine scenery is missed. + But the best is reserved for the next day.] + +Scenic wonders now succeed one another with bewildering rapidity +throughout the day. This second day, in fact, represents the climax of +the trip, and the attention is not allowed to flag for a second. However +much such a confession may go against the grain of patriotism, every +candid traveller must admit that there is nothing in the United States +in the way of massive mountain scenery (except, perhaps, in Alaska) to +compare with the glorious panorama which is unfolded on this route. +Within thirty-six hours after leaving Vancouver we traverse three of +the grandest mountain ranges in America,--the Cascades, Selkirks, and +Rockies,--all of them the abode of eternal snow and glaciers, and all of +them traversed through by caņons which vie with each other in terrific +grandeur. + + [Illustration: MEMORIAL MONUMENT TO SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, FOUNDER OF + QUEBEC] + +Before the Selkirks are reached the train passes the Columbia or Gold +range, through the Eagle Pass, so called because it was discovered by +watching an eagle's flight. Eagle's Pass is a poetic and appropriate +name, and yet I think it would be well to re-name this mountain pass and +call it Mirror Lake Caņon, because that would call the attention of +tourists to what is its most characteristic feature, which may otherwise +be overlooked. There are four lakes and many smaller bodies of water in +this valley, in whose placid surface the finely-sloped mountain ridges +and summits of the pass are reflected with marvellous distinctness, so +that here, as in the Yosemite Mirror Lake, the copy is more lovely than +the original. Some of the mountain-sides reflected in these mirrors are +naked rocks, others are covered with living evergreen trees, and others +still with dead trees. In the mirror these dead forests look hardly less +beautiful than the living ones; but in the original the eye dwells with +more pleasure on the green forests which here, and almost everywhere in +British Columbia, grow with the rank luxuriance of a Ceylon jungle. The +soil under these dense tree-masses, consisting of decayed pine- and +fir-needles, a foot deep, and always moist, makes a paradise for lovely +mosses and ferns. Here, also, is the home of the bear, and one would not +have to walk far in this thicket to encounter a grizzly, black, or +cinnamon bruin. + +On emerging from the Mirror Lake Caņon, a great surprise awaits the +passengers. The Columbia River--to which they had fancied they had said +a final farewell when they were ferried across it on the way from +Portland to Tacoma--suddenly comes upon the scene again, as clear and +as picturesque as ever; and even at this immense distance from its mouth +still large enough to require a bridge half a mile long to cross it. A +few hours later the train again crosses the Columbia, at Donald, where +the river has become much smaller than it seems that it should in such a +short distance. + +To get an explanation of this circumstance, it is interesting to glance +at the map and notice what an immense curve northward the Columbia has +made in this interval in order to find a passage through the Selkirk +range; and in thus encircling the snowy Selkirks it has, of course, +added to its volume the contents of innumerable glacier streams and +mountain brooks. Its real sources are southeast of Donald, on the summit +of the Rockies, separated by but a short distance from springs which run +down on the eastern side and find their way through the Mississippi into +the Gulf of Mexico. Thus do extremes meet. It would be difficult to find +anything so curious in the course of any other river as this immense, +irregular parallelogram which the Columbia here describes from its +sources to Arrow Lake.... + +The snow-peaks of the Selkirks are now looming up on all sides, and the +atmosphere becomes more bracing and Alpine as the train slowly creeps up +the mountain-side, doubling up on itself in a loop. The Glacier House is +reached before long, and here every tourist who has time to spare should +get off and spend a day or two, since next to Banff, in the National +Park, this is the finest point along the whole route, scenically +speaking, while the air is even more salubrious, cool, and intoxicating +than at Banff, owing to the nearness of the glacier. It would be +difficult, even in Switzerland, to find a more romantic spot for a hotel +than the location of the Glacier House. High peaks rise up on every +side, so finely moulded, so deeply mantled with snow, and presenting +such various aspects from different points of view, that we forget our +disgust at the fact that, as usual in the West, these grand eternal +peaks have been named after ephemeral mortals,--Browns, Smiths, and +Joneses. The Grizzly and Cougar Mountains are more aptly named, as these +animals will long continue to abound in the impenetrable forests which +adorn these peaks below the snow-line. Looking from the hotel towards +the glacier, to the left is a peak which looks like the Matterhorn, the +most unique mountain in Switzerland, and, what is still more striking, +at its side is another smaller peak, which is an exact copy of the +Little Matterhorn.... + +The principal difference between the Swiss Alps and the Selkirk range +lies in the aspect of the mountain-sides below the snow-line. These, in +Switzerland, are green meadows dotted with browsing cows, and presenting +one unbroken mass of dark green, except where an avalanche has +tobogganed down and opened what seems at a distance like a roadway, but +is found to be a battle-field strewn with the corpses of cedars three +and four feet in diameter. + +The most imposing view of such a mountain forest unbroken by a single +avalanche path is obtained from the snow-sheds just above the hotel. +Sitting outside these sheds and looking towards the left, you see a vast +mountain slope covered with literally millions of dark-green trees. Why +has none of the world's greatest poets ever been permitted to gaze on +such a Selkirk forest, that he might have aroused in his unfortunate +readers who are not privileged to see one emotions similar to those +inspired by it? But I fear that neither verse nor photographs, nor even +the painter's brush, can ever more than suggest the real grandeur of +such a forest scene. This mountain is not snow-crowned in September, but +its wooded summit makes a sharp green line against the snow-peaks beyond +and above. From this summit down to the foot stand the giant cedars, as +crowded as the yellow stalks in a Minnesota wheatfield. But in place of +the flat monochrome of a wheatfield, our sloping forest presents a most +fascinating color spectacle. The slanting rays of the sun tinge the +waving tree-tops with a deeply saturated yellowish-green, curiously +interspersed with a mosaic of dark, almost black streaks and patches of +shade, due to clouds and other causes, and the whole edged by the +dazzling snow. + +If we descend and enter this forest, a cathedral-like awe thrills the +nerves. Daylight has not the power to penetrate to the ground hidden by +this dense mass of tree-tops rising two hundred to three hundred feet +into the air,--except that an occasional ray of sunlight may steal in +for a second, like a flash of lightning. And the carpet on which this +forest stands! In America we rarely see a house, even of a day-laborer, +without a carpet; why, then, should these royal trees do without one? +The carpet is itself a miniature forest of ferns and mosses, luxuriating +in riotous profusion on an ever-moist soil, the product of thousands of +generations of pine-needles. Nor is this carpet a monochrome, for the +green is varied by numerous berries of various kinds, most of which are +red, as they should be,--the complementary color of green. But there are +also acres of blueberries as large as cherries; and if you will tear off +a few branches of these and bring them to the young bear chained up near +the Glacier Hotel, he will be very grateful, and you will find it +amusing to watch him eating them. + +There is music, too, in this Forest Cathedral, which is heard to best +advantage from the elevated gallery occupied by the snow-sheds. It takes +a trained ear to distinguish the steady, rippling _staccato_ sound of a +snow-fed mountain brook from the prolonged _legato_ sigh of a pine +forest, swelling to _fortissimo_, and dying away by turns. In the +romantic spot we have chosen these sounds are blended, the music +of the torrents being caught up by the sloping forest as by a huge +sounding-board, and increased in loudness by being mingled with the +mournful strains of the tree-tops, as orchestral colors are blended by +modern masters. Those err who say there is no music in nature. It is not +in "Siegfried" alone that the _Waldweben_ is musical, that leaves sing +as well as birds, while the thunder occasionally adds its loud _basso +profundo_. The æsthetic exhilaration which we owe to these poetic sights +and sounds is intensified by the salubrious breezes which waft this +music to our ears. Born among the clouds and glaciers, they are perfumed +in passing across the forests, warmed by the sun's rays in passing over +the valley; and every breath of this elixir adds a day to one's life. It +is not surprising that mountains should make the best health-resorts; +for do they not themselves understand and obey the laws of health? They +keep their heads cool under a snow-cap, their feet warm in a mossy +blanket, and their sides covered with a dense _fir_ overcoat.... + +For the greater part of the two hours which the train requires to go +from Donald to Golden City it passes along the bank of the Columbia +River; and there is, perhaps, no part of the whole route where grandeur +and beauty are so admirably united as here, especially in the autumn. +The grandeur lies in the snowy summits which frame in this Columbia +valley--the Selkirks on one side, the Rockies on the other. The beauty +lies in the river itself and in the young trees and bushes along its +banks, dressed in fall styles and colors, some as richly yellow as a +golden-rod, others as deeply purple or crimson as fuchsias or begonias, +the yellow predominating. These colored trees occur in groups and +streaks along the river, and in isolated patches on the mountain-sides, +where they might be mistaken for brown mosses or lichen-colored rocks. +There may be as beautifully colored trees in our Eastern forests, but +they are not mixed, as here, with young evergreen pines, nor have they a +framework of snow mountains, like these, to enhance their beauty. + +High up on the ridges there is another variety of trees of a beautiful +russet color set off by a deep-blue sky. Talk of color symphonies. Here +they are--miles of them--long as a Wagner trilogy, and as richly +orchestrated. Even the masses of blackened logs and stumps--if one can +set aside for the moment all thought of pity for the poor charred trees, +so happy before the fire in their green luxuriance, and of the sad waste +of useful timber--enhance the charm of this scene by contrast. + +I have said that the time-table of the Canadian Pacific Railway is +so arranged that the finest scenery is passed in daylight, in both +directions; but of course there must be exceptions, and, as a matter of +fact, as long as the road crosses the three great mountain ranges of the +Cascades, Selkirks, and Rockies, there is hardly a mile that does not +offer something worth seeing. Consequently, as darkness again closes in +soon after leaving Golden, east-bound passengers must resign themselves +to lose sight of the Kicking Horse Caņon, the Beaverfoot and Ottertail +Mountains, the large glacier on Mount Stephen, etc.,--which is all the +more provoking as they have to sit up anyway till midnight, when Banff +is reached; for, of course, every tourist who is in his right senses and +not a slave to duty gets off here to spend a few days in the Canadian +National Park. + + [The description of this park we can give only in summary.] + +Summing up on the Canadian National Park, we may say it has not so many +natural wonders as the Yellowstone Park,--no geysers, steam-holes, +gold-bottomed rivulets, paint-pots, nor anything to place beside the +Yellowstone Caņon and Falls. But the Minnewonka Lake may fairly +challenge comparison with the Yellowstone Lake, and the mountain scenery +is grander in the Canadian Park, and the snow and glaciers are nearer, +though not so near as at the Glacier House, where the air is in +consequence cooler and more bracing in summer than even at Banff. As +the Canadian Park is only twenty-six miles long and ten wide, while the +Yellowstone Park is about sixty-two by fifty-four miles, the former can +be seen in much less time than it takes to do justice to the latter. + +When we get ready to leave Banff we have to take the midnight train, so +there is no chance to say good-by to the mountains. But we have seen so +much of them since leaving Vancouver, that we have felt almost tempted +to cry out to Nature, "Hold, enough; less would be more!" Now we get +ample opportunity to ruminate in peace over our crowded impressions. +When we get up we are on the prairie; we go to bed on the prairie, after +traversing a territory larger than a European kingdom; again we rise on +the prairie, and again go to bed on it; and not till Lake Superior is +approached does the scenery once more become interesting.... + +As a general thing, it is no doubt wiser to take the Canadian Pacific +Railway westward than eastward, as the scenic climax is on the western +side. However, it is quite possible to avoid the feeling of anti-climax +on going east, if we conclude the trip with the Thousand Islands and the +Rapids of the St. Lawrence, together with Montreal; or with Niagara +Falls and the Hudson River. The Pacific slope, no doubt, is scenically +far more attractive than the Atlantic; still, there are some things in +the East which even California would be proud to add to her attractions. + + + + +SOUTH PASS AND FREMONT'S PEAK. + +JOHN C. FREMONT. + + [Captain John Charles Fremont, one of the earliest government + explorers of the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific slope, + was born at Savannah, Georgia, in 1813. Becoming a civil + engineer in the government service, in 1842 he explored the + South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, ascending in August the + highest peak in the Wind River range. This has since been known + as Fremont's Peak. In the following year he explored Great Salt + Lake. In 1845 he led a third expedition to the Pacific, and + during the Mexican war was instrumental in securing California + for the United States. He led subsequent expeditions westward, + was Republican candidate for the Presidency in 1856, served + during the war, and in 1878-82 was governor of Arizona. He died + in 1890. We subjoin his account of the crossing of the South + Pass and discovery and ascent of Fremont's Peak.] + + +The view [of the Wind River Mountains] dissipated in a moment the +pictures which had been created in our minds by many travellers who have +compared these mountains with the Alps in Switzerland, and speak of the +glittering peaks which rise in icy majesty amidst the eternal glaciers +nine or ten thousand feet into the region of eternal snows. + + [Continuing their course, they encamped on August 7 near the + South Pass, and the next morning set out for the dividing + ridge.] + +About six miles from our encampment brought us to the summit. The ascent +had been so gradual that, with all the intimate knowledge possessed by +Carson, who had made the country his home for seventeen years, we were +obliged to watch very closely to find the place at which we reached the +culminating point. This was between two low hills, rising on either +hand fifty or sixty feet. When I looked back at them, from the foot of +the immediate slope on the western plain, their summits appeared to be +about one hundred and twenty feet above. From the impression on my mind +at this time, and subsequently on our return, I should compare the +elevation which we mounted immediately at the Pass to the ascent of the +Capitol hill from the avenue at Washington. It is difficult for me to +fix positively the breadth of this pass. From the broken ground where +it commences, at the foot of the White River chain, the view to the +southeast is over a champaign country, broken, at the distance of +nineteen miles, by the Table Rock, which, with the other isolated hills +in its vicinity, seem to stand in a comparative plain. This I judged to +be its termination, the ridge recovering its rugged character with the +Table Rock. + +It will be seen that it in no manner resembles the places to which the +term is commonly applied,--nothing of the gorge-like character and +winding ascents of the Alleghany passes in America; nothing of the Great +St. Bernard and Simplon passes in Europe. Approaching it from the mouth +of the Sweet Water, a sandy plain, one hundred and twenty miles long, +conducts, by a gradual and regular ascent, to the summit, about seven +thousand feet above the sea; and the traveller, without being reminded +of any change by toilsome ascents, suddenly finds himself on the waters +which flow to the Pacific Ocean. By the route we had travelled, the +distance from Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty miles, or nine +hundred and fifty from the mouth of the Kansas. + + [They continued their course westward, crossing several + tributaries of the Colorado River, and on the 10th reached + unexpectedly a beautiful lake.] + +Here a view of the intensest magnificence and grandeur burst upon our +eyes. With nothing between us and their feet to lessen the effect of the +whole height, a grand bed of snow-capped mountains rose before us, pile +upon pile, glowing in the bright light of an August day. Immediately +below them lay the lake, between two ridges, covered with dark pines, +which swept down from the main chain to the spot where we stood. "Never +before," said Mr. Preuss, "in this country or in Europe, have I seen +such grand, magnificent rocks." I was so much pleased with the beauty of +the place that I determined to make the main camp here, where our +animals would find good pasturage, and explore the mountains with a +small party of men. + + [On the 12th this party set out, crossing intervening hills, + and ascending through dense forests to the summit of the ridge.] + +We had reached a very elevated point, and in the valley below, and among +the hills, were a number of lakes of different levels, some two or three +hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foaming +torrents. Even to our great height the roar of the cataracts came up, +and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. From this +scene of busy waters we turned abruptly into the stillness of a forest, +where we rode among the open bolls of the pines, over a lawn of verdant +grass, having strikingly the air of cultivated grounds. This led us, +after a time, among masses of rock, which had no vegetable earth but in +hollows and crevices, though still the pine-forest continued. Towards +evening we reached a defile, or rather a hole in the mountains, entirely +shut in by dark pine-covered rocks. + + [In the morning they ascended a mountain stream, to its source + in a small lake surrounded by a lawn-like expanse.] + +Here I determined to leave our animals, and make the rest of our way +on foot. The peak appeared so near that there was no doubt of our +returning before night; and a few men were left in charge of the mules, +with our provisions and blankets. We took with us nothing but our arms +and instruments, and, as the day had become warm, the greater part left +our coats. Having made an early dinner, we started again. We were soon +involved in the most rugged precipices, nearing the central chain very +slowly, and rising but little. The first ridge hid a succession of +others; and when, with great fatigue and difficulty, we had climbed up +five hundred feet, it was but to make an equal descent on the other +side; all these intervening places were filled with small deep lakes, +which met the eye in every direction, descending from one level to +another, sometimes under bridges formed by huge fragments of granite, +beneath which was heard the roar of the water. These constantly +obstructed our path, forcing us to make long _détours_; frequently +obliged to retrace our steps, and frequently falling among the rocks. +Maxwell was precipitated towards the face of a precipice, and saved +himself from going over by throwing himself flat on the ground. We +clambered on, always expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to +reach the foot of the peaks, and always disappointed, until about four +o'clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the shore of a little +lake, in which was a rocky island. + +By the time we had reached the farther side of the lake we found +ourselves all exceedingly fatigued, and, much to the satisfaction of the +whole party, we encamped. The spot we had chosen was a broad, flat rock, +in some measure protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and +the trunks of fallen pines afforded us bright fires. Near by was a +foaming torrent, which tumbled into the little lake about one hundred +and fifty feet below us, and which, by way of distinction, we have +called Island Lake. We had reached the upper limit of the piney region; +as, above this point, no tree was to be seen, and patches of snow lay +everywhere around us, on the cold sides of the rock. From barometrical +observations made during our three days' sojourn at this place, its +elevation above the Gulf of Mexico is ten thousand feet.... + + [They set out early the next morning.] + +On every side, as we advanced, was heard the roar of waters, and of a +torrent, which we followed up a short distance, until it expanded into a +lake about one mile in length. On the northern side of the lake was a +bank of ice, or rather of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had +been our guide into the mountains, and, agreeably to his advice, we +left this little valley and took to the ridges again, which we found +extremely broken, and where we were again involved among precipices. +Here were ice-fields, among which we were all dispersed, seeking each +the best way to ascend the peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the +upper edge of one of these fields, which sloped away at an angle of +about twenty degrees; but his feet slipped from under him, and he went +plunging down the plain. A few hundred feet below, at the bottom, were +some fragments of sharp rock, on which he landed; and, though he turned +a couple of somersets, fortunately received no injury beyond a few +bruises. + + [That day's work failed, and they returned at evening to the + camp. The next day they ascended a long defile on mule-back, + and soon had the satisfaction to find that they had taken the + right course. Finally, leaving their mules, they continued on + foot, eventually reaching a point near the summit. Here was an + overhanging buttress of rock, which could be surmounted only by + passing around one side of it, which was the face of a + precipice several hundred feet in depth.] + +Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded +in getting over it, and when I reached the top, found my companions in +a small valley below. Descending to them, we continued climbing, and in +a short time reached the crest. I sprang upon the summit, and another +step would have precipitated me into an immense snow-field five hundred +feet below. To the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice; and +then, with a gradual fall, the field sloped off for about a mile, until +it struck the foot of another lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest, +about three feet in width, with an inclination of about 20° north, 51° +east. + +As soon as I had gratified the first feeling of curiosity I descended, +and each man ascended in his turn; for I would only allow one at a time +to mount the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath +would precipitate into the abyss below. We mounted the barometer in the +snow of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the +national flag to wave in the breeze where never flag waved before. +During our morning's ascent we had met no sign of animal life, except a +small sparrow-like bird. A stillness the most profound and a terrible +solitude forced themselves constantly on the mind as the great features +of the place. Here, on the summit, where the stillness was absolute, +unbroken by any sound, and solitude complete, we thought ourselves +beyond the region of animated life; but while we were sitting on the +rock, a solitary bee (_Bombus, the bumble-bee_) came winging his flight +from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men. + +It was a strange place, the icy rock and the highest peak of the Rocky +Mountains, for a lover of warm sunshine and flowers; and we pleased +ourselves with the idea that he was the first of his species to cross +the mountain barrier,--a solitary pioneer to foretell the advance of +civilization. I believe that a moment's thought would have made us let +him continue his way unharmed; but we carried out the law of this +country, where all animated nature seems at war; and seizing him +immediately, put him in at least a fit place,--in the leaves of a large +book, among the flowers we had collected on our way. The barometer stood +at 18.293, the attached thermometer 44°; giving for the elevation of +this summit thirteen thousand five hundred and seventy feet above the +Gulf of Mexico, which may be called the highest flight of the bee. It is +certainly the highest known flight of that insect. + +From the description given by Mackenzie of the mountains where he +crossed them, with that of the French officer still farther to the +north, and Colonel Long's measurements to the south, joined to the +opinion of the oldest traders of the country, it is presumed that this +is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. [Fremont's Peak is now +estimated at thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety feet. There are +many peaks now known over fourteen thousand feet. The highest point is +Blanca Peak, fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty-three feet high.] + +The day was sunny and bright, but a slight shining mist hung over the +lower plains, which interfered with our view of the surrounding country. +On one side we overlooked innumerable lakes and streams, the spring of +the Colorado of the Gulf of California; and on the other was the Wind +River Valley, where were the heads of the Yellowstone branch of the +Missouri; far to the north we could just discover the snowy heads of the +_Trois Tetons_, where were the sources of the Missouri and Columbia +Rivers; and at the southern extremity of the ridge the peaks were +plainly visible among which were some of the springs of the Nebraska or +Platte River. Around us the whole scene had one main, striking feature, +which was that of terrible convulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge +was split into chasms and fissures; between which rose the thin lofty +walls, terminated with slender minarets and columns. + + [The party reached camp the next day, and on the 17th turned + their faces homeward, the purpose of the expedition having been + accomplished.] + + + + +IN THE YELLOWSTONE PARK. + +FERDINAND V. HAYDEN. + + [About the middle of this century reports began to be heard of + a veritable wonderland in the far West, as yet seen only by + trappers and other adventurers, whose stories of the marvels + they had beheld whetted the appetite of scientific explorers. + The first attempt to reach the region of the Yellowstone was + made in 1856, but failed, and it was not until 1869 that an + exploring party entered this marvellous valley. A second party + reached the Yellowstone region in 1870, and Mr. N. P. Langford + wrote a glowing account of the wonders observed. The first + detailed description of the locality was made by Dr. Hayden, + chief of the Geological Survey of the Territories, in 1871. + From this extended and highly interesting account we can only + quote a few passages, selecting those which relate to the hot + springs and geysers of the wonderful Fire-Hole River region.] + + +Early in the morning of August 30 the valley was literally filled with +columns of steam, ascending from more than a thousand vents. I can +compare the view to nothing but that of some manufacturing city like +Pittsburg, as seen from a high point, except that instead of the black +coal smoke there are here the white delicate clouds of steam. Small +groups or solitary springs that are scattered everywhere in the woods +upon the mountain-sides, and which would otherwise have escaped +observation, are detected by the columns of steam. It is evident that +some of these groups of springs have changed their base of operations +within a comparatively recent period; for about midway on the east side +of the lower basin there is a large area covered with a thick, +apparently modern, deposit of the silica, as white as snow, while +standing quite thickly all around are the dead pines, which appear to +have been destroyed by the excessive overflow of the water and the +increased deposition. These dry trees have a most desolate look; many of +them have fallen down and are incrusted with the silica, while portions +that have fallen into the boiling springs have been reduced to a pulp. + +This seems to be one of the conditions of silicification, for when these +pulpy masses of wood are permitted to dry by the cessation of the +springs, the most perfect specimens of petrified wood are the result. In +one instance a green pine-tree had fallen so as to immerse its thick top +in a large hot basin, and leaves, twigs, and cones had become completely +incrusted with the white silica, and a portion had entered into the +cellular structure, so that when removed from the water and dried in the +sun, very fair specimens were obtained. Members of my party obtained +specimens of pine-cones that were sufficiently silicified to be packed +away among the collections. + + [Illustration: THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE FALLS + FROM A PAINTING BY THOMAS MORAN] + +In order that we might get a complete view of the Lower Geyser Basin +from some high point, we made a trip to the summit of Twin Buttes, on +the west side of the basin. From the top of one of these buttes, which +is six hundred and thirty feet above the Fire-Hole River, we obtained a +bird's-eye view of the entire lower portion of the valley, which was +estimated to be about twenty miles long and five miles wide. To the +westward, among the mountains, were a number of little lakes, which were +covered with a huge species of water-lily, _Nuphar advena_. The little +streams precipitated their waters in the most picturesque cascades or +falls. One of them was named by Colonel Barlow the "Fairy Fall," from +the graceful beauty with which the little stream dropped down a clear +descent of two hundred and fifty feet. It is only from a high point +that it can be seen, for the water falls gently down from the lofty +overhanging cliff into a basin at the foot, which is surrounded by a +line of tall pines one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height. +The continual flow of the waters of this little fountain has worn a deep +channel or furrow into the vertical sides of the mountain. As far as the +eye can reach can be seen the peculiar plateau mountain ranges, black +with the dense forests of pine, averaging from nine thousand to ten +thousand feet above sea-level.... + +A spring on a level with the river has an enormous square basin thirty +feet across, of unknown depth. We called this the "Bath Spring." A +little below is another singular form of wonderful beauty. The water +issues from beneath the crust near the margin of the river from several +apertures. The basin itself is fifteen by twenty feet and twenty feet +deep. It seemed to me that nothing could exceed the transparent +clearness of the water. The slightest object was reflected in its clear +depths, and the bright blue tints were indescribable. We called this the +"Cavern." The mud springs are also numerous and important in this group. +As usual, they are of all sizes, from an inch or two to twenty or thirty +feet in diameter, with contents varying from mere turbid water to stiff +mud. They seldom have any visible outlet, but are in a constant state of +agitation, with a sound that varies with the consistency of the +contents. There are several of the mud-pots that give off a suppressed +thud as the gases burst their way through the stiff mortar. Sometimes +the mortar is as white as snow, or brown, or tinged with a variety of +vivid colors.... + +On the west side of the Fire-Hole, and along the little branch that +flows into it from the west, are numbers of springs of all grades, and +the broad bottom is covered with a snow-white silicious crust. Near the +base of the mountains there is a massive first-class boiling spring, in +a constant state of violent agitation, sending forth great columns of +steam, with a singular toadstool rim.... About three miles up the +Fire-Hole we meet with a small but quite interesting group of springs on +both sides of the stream. There is a vast accumulation of silica, +forming a hill fifty feet along the level of the river; upon the summit +one of the largest springs yet seen, nearly circular, one hundred and +fifty feet in diameter, boils up in the centre, but overflows with such +uniformity on all sides as to admit of the formation of no real rim, but +forming a succession of little ornamental steps, from one to three +inches in height, just as water would congeal from cold in flowing down +a gentle declivity. There was the same transparent clearness, the same +brilliancy of coloring to the waters, but the hot steam and the thinness +of the rim prevented me from approaching it near enough to ascertain its +temperature or observe its depth. It is certainly one of the grandest +hot springs ever seen by human eye. + +But the most formidable one of all is near the margin of the river. It +seems to have broken out close by the river, and to have continually +enlarged its orifice by the breaking down of its sides. It evidently +commenced on the east side, and the continual wear of the under side of +the crust on the west side has caused the margin to fall in, until an +aperture at least two hundred and fifty feet in diameter has been +formed, with walls or sides twenty to thirty feet high, showing the +laminæ of deposition perfectly. The water is intensely agitated all the +time, boiling like a caldron, from which a vast column of steam is ever +rising, filling the orifice. As the passing breeze sweeps it away for a +moment, one looks down into this terrible seething pit with terror. All +around the sides are large masses of the silicious crust that have +fallen from the rim. An immense column of water flows out of this +caldron into the river. As it pours over the marginal slope it descends +by numerous small channels, with a large number of smaller ones +spreading over a broad surface, and the marvellous beauty of the +strikingly vivid coloring far surpasses anything of the kind we have +seen in this land of wondrous beauty,--every possible shade of color, +from vivid scarlet to a bright rose, and every shade of yellow to a +delicate cream, mingled with vivid green from minute vegetation. Some of +the channels were lined with a very fine, delicate yellow, silky +material, which vibrates at every movement of the waters. There was one +most beautiful funnel-shaped spring, twenty feet in diameter at the top, +but tapering down, lined inside and outside with the most delicate +decorations. Indeed, to one looking down into its clear depths, it +seemed like a fairy palace. The same jelly-like substance or pulp to +which I have before alluded covers a large area with the various shades +of light red and green. The surface yields to the tread like a cushion. +It is about two inches in thickness, and although seldom so tenacious as +to hold together, yet it may be taken up in quite large masses, and when +it becomes dry it is blown about by the wind, like fragments of +variegated lichens. + + [From this description of the hot springs of the region we + proceed to an account of its marvellous geyser phenomena.] + +We camped the evening of August 5 in the middle of the Upper Geyser +Basin, in the midst of some of the grandest geysers in the world. +Colonel Barlow and Captain Heap, of the United States Engineers, were +camped on the opposite side of the Fire-Hole. Soon after reaching camp +a tremendous rumbling was heard, shaking the ground in every direction, +and soon a column of steam burst forth from a crater near the edge of +the east side of the river. Following the steam, arose, by a succession +of impulses, a volume of water, apparently six feet in diameter, to the +height of two hundred feet, while the steam ascended a thousand feet or +more. It would be difficult to describe the excitement which attended +such a display. It is probable that if we could have remained in the +valley several days, and become accustomed to all the preliminary +warnings, the excitement would have ceased, and we could have admired +calmly the marvellous ease and beauty with which this column of hot +water was held up to that great height for the space of twenty minutes. +After the display is over the water settles down in the basin several +inches, and the temperature slowly falls to 150°. We called this the +"Grand Geyser," for its power seemed greater than any other of which we +obtained any knowledge in the valley. + + [After describing more particularly the peculiarities of the + Grand Geyser and the smaller neighboring geysers, Dr. Hayden + gives us an enthusiastic pen-picture of a beautiful type of + springs.] + +On the summit of the great mound is one of a class I have called central +springs; it is located on the highest point of the mound on which this +great group belongs; has a crater twenty feet in diameter, very nearly +quiescent, slightly bubbling, or boils near the centre, with a thin, +elegant rim projecting over the spring, with the water rising within a +few inches of the top. The continual but very moderate overflow of this +spring, uniformly on every side, builds up slowly a broad-based mound, +layer by layer, one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Looking +down into these springs, you seem to be gazing into fathomless depths, +while the bright blue of the water is unequalled even by the sea. There +are a number of these marvellous central springs, with projecting rims +carved with an intricate delicacy which of itself is a marvel; and as +one ascends the mound and looks down into the wonderfully clear depths, +the vision is unique. The great beauty of the prismatic colors depends +much on the sunlight, but about the middle of the day, when the bright +rays descend nearly vertically, and a slight breeze just makes a ripple +on the surface, the colors exceed comparison; when the surface is calm +there is one vast chaos of colors, dancing, as it were, like the colors +of a kaleidoscope. + +As seen through this marvellous play of colors, the decorations on the +sides of the basin are lighted up with a wild, weird beauty which wafts +one at once into the land of enchantment; all the brilliant feats of +fairies and genii in the "Arabian Nights" entertainments are forgotten +in the actual presence of such marvellous beauty; life becomes a +privilege and a blessing after one has seen and thoroughly felt these +incomparable types of nature's cunning skill.... + +Our search for new wonders leading us across the Fire-Hole River, we +ascended a gently incrusted slope, and came suddenly upon a large oval +aperture with scalloped edges, the diameters of which were eighteen and +twenty-five feet, the sides corrugated and covered with a grayish-white +silicious deposit, which was distinctly visible at the depth of a +hundred feet below the surface. No water could be discovered, but we +could distinctly hear it gurgling and boiling at a great distance below. +Suddenly it began to rise, boiling and spluttering, and sending out huge +masses of steam, causing a general stampede of our company, driving us +to some distance from our point of observation. When within about forty +feet of the surface it became stationary, and we returned to look down +upon it. It was foaming and surging at a terrible rate, occasionally +emitting small jets of hot water nearly to the mouth of the orifice. + +All at once it seemed seized with a fearful spasm, and rose with +incredible rapidity, hardly affording us time to withdraw to a safe +distance, when it burst from the orifice with terrific momentum, rising +in a column the full size of this immense aperture to the height of +sixty feet; and through and out of the apex of this vast aqueous mass +five or six lesser jets or round columns of water, varying in size from +six to fifteen inches in diameter, were projected to the marvellous +height of two hundred and fifty feet. These lesser jets, so much higher +than the main column, and shooting through it, doubtless proceed from +auxiliary pipes leading into the principal orifice near the bottom, +where the explosive force is greater. If the theory that water by +constant boiling becomes explosive when freed from air be true, this +theory rationally accounts for all irregularities in the eruptions of +the geysers. + +This grand eruption continued for twenty minutes, and was the most +magnificent sight we ever witnessed. We were standing on the side of the +geyser nearest the sun, the gleams of which filled the sparkling column +of water and spray with myriads of rainbows, whose arches were +constantly changing, dipping and fluttering hither and thither, and +disappearing only to be succeeded by others, again and again, amid the +aqueous columns, while the minute globules into which the spent jets +were diffused when falling sparkled like a shower of diamonds, and +around every shadow which the denser clouds of vapor, interrupting the +sun's rays, cast upon the column, could be seen a luminous circle, +radiant with all the colors of the prism, and resembling the halo of +glory represented in paintings as encircling the head of Divinity. All +that we had previously witnessed seemed tame in comparison with the +perfect grandeur and beauty of this display. Two of these wonderful +eruptions occurred during the twenty-two hours we remained in the +valley. This geyser we named the "Giantess." + +A hundred yards distant from the Giantess was a silicious cone, very +symmetrical, but slightly corrugated upon its exterior surface, three +feet in height and five feet in diameter at its base, and having an oval +orifice twenty-four by thirty-six and a half inches in diameter, with +scalloped edges. Not one of our company supposed that it was a geyser; +and among so many wonders it had almost escaped notice. While we were at +breakfast upon the morning of our departure, a column of water, entirely +filling the crater, shot from it, which, by accurate triangular +measurement, we found to be two hundred and nineteen feet in height. The +stream did not deflect more than four or five degrees from a vertical +line, and the eruption lasted eighteen minutes. We named it the +"Beehive."... + +On our return to the lake from this basin we passed up the Fire-Hole +River to its source in the divide. Early in the morning, as we were +leaving the valley, the grand old geyser which stands sentinel at the +head of the valley gave us a magnificent parting display, and with +little or no preliminary warning it shot up a column of water about six +feet in diameter to the height of a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet, +and by a succession of impulses seemed to hold it up steadily for the +space of fifteen minutes, the great mass of water falling directly back +into the basin, and flowing over the edges and down the sides in large +streams. When the action ceases, the water recedes beyond sight, and +nothing is heard but the occasional escape of steam until another +exhibition occurs. This is one of the most accommodating geysers in the +basin, and during our stay played once an hour quite regularly. On +account of its apparent regularity, and its position overlooking the +valley, it was called by Messrs. Langford and Doane "Old Faithful." It +has built up a crater about twenty feet high around its base, and all +about it are decorations similar to those previously described. + +On the morning of August 6 we ascended the mountains at the head of the +Fire-Hole River, on our return to the hot-spring camp on the Yellowstone +Lake. We had merely caught a glimpse of the wonderful physical phenomena +of this remarkable valley. We had just barely gleaned a few of the +surface observations, which only sharpened our desire for a larger +knowledge. There is no doubt in my mind that these geysers are more +active at certain seasons of the year than at others. We saw them in +midsummer, when the surface waters are greatly diminished. In the +spring, at the time of the melting of the snows, the display of the +first-class geysers must be more frequent and powerful. We left this +valley, with its beautiful scenery, its hot springs and geysers, with +great regret. + + + + +THE COUNTRY OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS. + +ALFRED TERRY BACON. + + [Ruskin, among his reasons for not visiting the United States, + declared that it would be impossible for him to exist, even for + a short interval, in a country that had no old castles. Had he + known it, he might have found here old castles in abundance, + older perhaps, and grander in situation, than any to be found + in his own land. These are the ruined dwellings of the ancient + inhabitants of the western caņons and of the pueblo-builders of + Arizona and New Mexico. We give a traveller's account of the + Cliff-dwellers' habitations.] + + +The attraction which drew the conquerors of Mexico forty-five days' +journey away into the North was the fame which had reached them of the +Seven Cities of Cibola (the buffalo), great in wealth and population, +lying in the valley of the Rio de Zuņi. To the grief of the invaders, +they found not cities, but rather villages of peaceful agricultural +people dwelling in great pueblos three and four stories high, and they +searched in vain for the rumored stores of gold. At that time the +pueblos held a large population skilled in many arts of civilization. +They cultivated large tracts of ground, wove fabrics of cotton, and +produced ornate pottery. Their stone-masonry was admirable. But even +three hundred years ago it seems that the people were but a remnant of +what they had once been. Even then the conquerors wondered at the many +ruins which indicated a decline from former greatness. The people have +not now the same degree of skill in their native arts which the race +once had, and it is probable that when the Spaniards came and found them +declining in numbers the old handicrafts were already on the wane. + +In a remote age the ancestors of these Pueblo tribes, or a race of +kindred habits, filled most of that vast region which is drained by the +Colorado River and its affluents, and spread beyond into the valley of +the Rio Grande. The explorers of a great extent of country in Utah, +Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado have found everywhere evidences of +the wide distribution and wonderful industry of that ancient people. +On the low land which they used to till lie the remains of their +villages,--rectangular buildings of enormous dimensions and large +circular _estufas_, or halls for council and worship. On the sides of +the savage cliffs that wall in or overarch the caņons are scattered in +every crevice and wrinkle those strange and picturesque ruins which give +us the name "Cliff-dwellers" to distinguish this long-forgotten people. +And on commanding points, seen far away down the caņons or across the +mesas, stand the solitary watch-towers where sentinels might signal to +the villagers below on the approach of Northern barbarians.... + +There is no other district which embraces in so small a compass so great +a number and variety of the Cliff-dwellers' ruined works as the caņon of +the Little Rio Mancos in Southwestern Colorado. The stream rises in a +spur of the San Juan Mountains, near the remote mining-camp called +Parrott City. Flowing southward for a few miles through an open valley, +it is soon enclosed between the walls of a profound caņon which cuts for +nearly thirty miles through a table-land called the Mesa Verde. The +caņon is wide enough to have permitted the old inhabitants to plant +their crops along the stream, and the cliffs rising on either side to +a height of two thousand feet are so curiously broken and grooved +and shelving, from the decay of the soft horizontal strata and the +projection of the harder, as to offer remarkable facilities for building +fortified houses hard of approach and easy of defence. Therefore the +whole length of the caņon is filled with ruins, and for fifteen miles +beyond it to the borders of New Mexico, where the river meets the Rio +San Juan, the valley bears many traces of the ancient occupation. + +The scenery of the caņon is wild and imposing in the highest degree. In +the dry Colorado air there are few lichens or weather-stains to dull the +brightness of the strata to the universal hoariness of moister climates: +the vertical cliffs, standing above long slopes of débris, are colored +with the brilliant tints of freshly-quarried stone. A gay ribbon of +green follows the course of the rivulet winding down through the caņon +till it is lost to sight in the vista of crags. The utter silence and +solitude of the wilderness reigns through the valley. It is not occupied +by any savage tribe, and only a few white men within the last few years +have passed through it and told of its wonders; and yet its whole +length is but one series of houses and temples that were forsaken +centuries ago. I can hardly imagine a more exciting tour of exploration +than that which Mr. Jackson's party made on first entering this caņon in +1874. + +Above the entrance of the caņon the evidences of prehistoric life begin. +On the bottom-land, concealed by shrubbery, are the half-obliterated +outlines of square and circular buildings. The houses were of large +size, and were plainly no temporary dwelling-places, for an accumulation +of decorated pottery fills the ground about them, indicating long +occupation. No doubt they were built of adobe,--masses of hard +clay dried in the sun,--which the wear of ages has reduced to +smoothly-rounded mounds. For some miles down the caņon remains of this +sort occur at short intervals, and at one point there stands a wall +built of squared sandstone blocks. Along the ledges of the cliffs on the +right bits of ruinous masonry are detected here and there, but for a +time there is nothing to excite close attention. At last a watchful eye +is arrested by a more interesting object perched at a tremendous height +on the western wall of the caņon. It is a house built upon a shelf of +rock between the precipices, but, standing seven hundred feet above the +stream and differing not at all in color from the crags about it, only +the sharpest eyesight can detect the unusual form of the building and +the windows marking the two stories. + +The climb up to the house-platform is slow and fatiguing, but the +trouble is repaid by a sight of one of the most curious ruins on this +continent. Before the door of the house, part of the ledge has been +reserved for a little esplanade, and to make it broader three small +abutments of stone, which once supported a floor, are built on the +sloping edge of the rock. Beyond this the house is entered by a +small aperture which served as a door. It is the best specimen of a +Cliff-dweller's house that remains to our time. The walls are admirably +built of squared stones laid in a hard white mortar. The house is +divided into two stories of three rooms each. Behind it a semicircular +cistern nearly as high as the house is built against the side of it, +and a ladder is arranged for descending from an upper window to the +water-level. The floor of the second story was supported by substantial +cedar timbers, but only fragments of them remain. The roof, too, has +entirely disappeared, but the canopy of natural rock overhanging serves +to keep out the weather. The front rooms in both stories are the largest +and are most carefully finished. Perhaps they were the parlor and "best +bedroom" of some prehistoric housewife. They are plastered throughout +with fine smooth mortar, and even in that remote age the mania for +household decoration had a beginning: floor, walls, and ceiling were +colored a deep red, surrounded by a broad border of white. + +The same cliff on which this house stands has on its side many other +ruins; some half destroyed by gradual decay, some crushed by falling +rocks, none so perfect as the one described; but all are crowded into +the strangest unapproachable crevices of the caņon-wall, like the +crannies which swallows choose to hold their nests, far removed from +the possibility of depredation. Some are so utterly inaccessible that +the explorers, with all their enthusiasm and activity, have never been +able to reach them. How any beings not endowed with wings could live at +such points it is hard to conceive: it makes one suspicious that the +Cliff-dwellers had not quite outgrown the habits of monkey ancestors. + +As the caņon widens with the descent of the stream, the ruins in the +western wall increase in number. One fearful cliff a thousand feet in +height is chinked all over its face with tiny houses of one room each, +but only a few of them can be detected with the naked eye. One, which +was reached by an explorer at the peril of his life, stands intact: +ceiling and floor are of the natural rock, and the wall is built in a +neat curve conforming to the shape of the ledge. + +A mile farther down the stream there is a most interesting group of +houses. Eight hundred feet above the valley there is a shelf in the +cliff sixty feet in length that is quite covered by a house. The +building contains four large rooms, a circular sacred apartment and +smaller rooms of irregular shape. It was called by its discoverers "The +House of the Sixteen Windows." Behind this house the cliff-side rises +smooth and perpendicular thirty feet, but it can be scaled by an ancient +stairway cut into it which ascends to a still higher ledge. The stairs +lead to the very door of another house filling a niche a hundred and +twenty feet long. A great canopy of solid rock overarches the little +fortress, reaching far forward beyond the front wall, while from below +it is absolutely unapproachable except by the one difficult stairway of +niches cut in the rock. In time of war it must have been impregnable. +These dwellings have given more ideas about their interior furnishing +than any of the others. Among the accumulated rubbish were found corn +and beans stored away. In the lower house were two large water-jars of +corrugated pottery standing on a floor covered with neatly-woven rush +matting. In a house not far above were found a bin of charred corn, and +a polished hatchet of stone made with remarkable skill. + +From this point onward both the valley and the cliffs are filled with +the traces of a numerous population, every mile of travel bringing many +fresh ones into sight. Among the cliff-houses there is of necessity a +variety in form and size as great as the differences of the caves and +crevices that hold them; but among the buildings of the low ground there +is more uniformity, not only in this caņon, but in all the valleys of +the region. Most of them may be classed as aggregated dwellings or +pueblos with rectangular rooms, round watch-towers and large circular +buildings. To these must be added a few which seem to have been built +only for defence. The straight walls have generally fallen, except the +parts supported by an angle of a building; but, as usual in old masonry, +the circular walls have much better resisted decay. + +About midway down the caņon the curved wall of a large ruin rises above +the thicket. It is a building of very curious design. The outer wall +was an exact circle of heavy masonry a hundred and thirty feet in +circumference. Within, there is another circular wall, concentric with +the outer, enclosing one round room with a diameter of twenty feet. The +annular space between the two walls was divided by partitions into ten +small apartments. Other buildings of the same type occur in this region, +some of much larger size and with triple walls. Even in this one, which +is comparatively well preserved, the original height is uncertain, +though the ruin still stands about fifteen feet high. + +The vast quantity of débris about some of them indicates that they were +of no insignificant height, and their perfect symmetry of form, the +careful finish of the masonry, the large dimensions and great solidity, +made them the most imposing architectural works of that ancient people. +I find no reason to doubt that they were their temples, and the +presumption is very strong that they were temples for sun-worship. The +occurrence of a circular room in connection with nearly every group of +buildings is of special interest, as seeming to link the Cliff-dwellers +to the modern Pueblo tribes in their religious customs. + +Most striking and picturesque of all the ruins are the round +watch-towers. On commanding points in the valley, and on the highest +pinnacles of the cliffs overlooking the surface of the mesa, they occur +with a frequency which is almost pathetic as an indication of the life +of eternal vigilance which was led by that old race through the years, +perhaps centuries, of exterminating warfare which the savage red men +from the North waged upon them. To us the suffering of frontier families +at the hands of the same blood-thirsty savages is heart-rending. What +was it to those who saw year by year their whole race's life withering +away, crushed by those wild tribes? + +Near the lower end of the caņon stands one of the most perfect of these +towers, rising sixteen feet above the mound on which it is built. It +was once attached to an oblong stone building which seems to have +been a strongly-fortified house. The rectangular walls, as usual, are +prostrate, and have left the tower standing as solitary and picturesque +and as full of mystery as the round towers of Ireland.... + +In the Montezuma Caņon, just beyond the Colorado State border, there are +some remains built after an unusual manner with stones of great size. +One building of many rooms, nearly covering a little solitary mesa, is +constructed of huge stone blocks not unlike the prehistoric masonry +of Southern Europe. In the same district there is a ruined line of +fortification from which the smaller stones have fallen away and +are crumbling to dust, leaving only certain enormous upright stones +standing. They rise to a height of seven feet above the soil, and the +lower part is buried to a considerable depth. Their resemblance to the +hoary Druidical stones of Carnac and Stonehenge is striking, and there +is nothing in their appearance to indicate that they belong to a much +later age than those primeval monuments of Europe. + +All the certain knowledge that we have of the history and manners of +the Cliff-dwellers may be very briefly told, for there is no written +record of their existence, except their own rude picture-writing, +cut or painted on the caņon walls, and it is not likely that those +hieroglyphics will ever be deciphered. But much may be inferred from +their evident kinship to the Moquis of our time; and the resemblance of +the ancient architecture and ceramics to the arts as they are still +practised in the degenerate pueblos of Arizona gives us many intimations +in regard to the habits of the Cliff-dwellers. + + [Illustration: GRAND CAŅON, ARIZONA + IN THE COUNTRY OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS] + +It was centuries ago--how long a time no one will ever know--when that +old race was strong and numerous, filling the great region from the +Rio Grande to the Colorado of the West, and from the San Juan +Mountains far down into Northern Mexico. They must have numbered many +hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions. It is not probable that they +were combined under one government, or that they were even closely +leagued together, but that they were essentially one in blood and +language is strongly indicated by the similarity of their remains. +That they were sympathetic in a common hostility to the dangerous +savage tribes about them can hardly be doubted. They were of peaceful +habits and lived by agriculture, having under cultivation many +thousands of acres in the rich river-bottoms, which they knew well how +to irrigate from streams swollen in summer by the melting snows of the +high mountain-ranges. We read of their dry canals in Arizona, so deep +that a mounted horseman can hide in them. We know that they raised +crops of corn and beans, and in the south cotton, which they skilfully +wove. That they had commercial dealing across their whole country +is shown by the quantity of shell-ornaments brought from the Pacific +coast, which are found in their Colorado dwellings. They did not +understand the working of metals, but their implements of stone are of +most excellent workmanship. Their weapons indicate the practice of +hunting, and while the race was still numerous their forts and their +sharp obsidian arrows made easy their resistance to the wandering +savage hordes. + +I believe that no instance can be cited of a people still in their Stone +Age who have surpassed that old race in the mason's art: indeed, I doubt +if any such people has even approached their skill in that respect. The +difficulty of constructing a great work of well-squared, hammer-dressed +stones is enormously increased if the masons must work only with stone +implements. Imagine the infinite, toilsome patience of a people who in +such a way could rear the ancient Pueblo Bonito of New Mexico, five +hundred and forty feet long, three hundred and fourteen feet wide, and +four stories high! In one wall of a neighboring building of stone less +carefully dressed it is estimated that there were originally no less +than thirty million pieces, which were transported, fashioned, and laid +by men without a beast of burden or a trowel, chisel, or hammer of +metal.... + +At the time of the Spanish conquest the Pueblo tribes were worshippers +of the sun and fire, like all the races of this continent which were +above barbarism. To-day, even in those pueblos where a corrupted form of +the Roman faith is accepted, there are traces of the old sun-worship +mingled with it, and in all pueblos there are large circular rooms, +called estufas, reserved for councils and for worship. The invariable +appearance of estufas among the ruined towns, and even on the ledges of +the cliffs, shows what sacredness was attached to the circular room, +which, perhaps, was symbolic of the sun's orb: it indicates a unity of +religious faith between the ancients and moderns. + + + + +LAKE TAHOE AND THE BIG TREES. + +A. H. TEVIS. + + [To Rev. A. H. Tevis, author of "Beyond the Sierras; or, + Observations on the Pacific Coast," we owe the following + description of a most charming example of American lake + scenery, one of the varied and striking regions of beauty which + California offers to the tourist.] + + +Of the many curiosities that nature has scattered over the length and +breadth of this coast, Lake Tahoe is one of the most charming. + +This is a land of wonders, certainly of curiosities. Providence has made +this vast area, between the Rocky Mountains and the sea, his chief +receptacle of the wealth of the country. And what folly to travel in +foreign countries to see the sights until you have at least seen some of +the wonders and treasures of our own great Commonwealth! You can spend +your life in exploring these various wonders, and then not find an +end,--petrified forests; lost rivers, whose _termini_ no one knows, and +of whose source there is great doubt; brackish lakes, whose waters are +worse than the Dead Sea, and in which no living thing can exist; +bubbling, hissing, thundering geysers, whose awfulness impresses the +hardest heart; roaring cataracts, that with a band of silver seem to +bind together earth and sky; boiling springs, hither and yon in almost +countless profusion, that send their breath of steam as through the +throats of some great furnace from Vulcan's forge; geographical and +topographical features that are marvellous in themselves; the big trees, +whose magnitude is a wonder, and whose age links the present almost to +the days of Solomon; Yosemite, unlike anything of the kind in the known +world, whose sublimity is beyond description; and charming, silvery, +unique Tahoe, or Pearl of the Sierras. + +There is no patent on the name, hence we have chosen to christen it +thus. And who will say it is a misnomer that has seen its grandeur and +enjoyed the beauty of its surroundings? Its name belongs to the Indian +tongue, and signifies _clear water_. + +This lake in its greatest length is twenty-three miles, and greatest +width eleven miles; hence it has an area of two hundred and fifty-three +square miles. Its altitude is six thousand two hundred and twenty feet +above the level of the sea. Here, spread out before me, like the finest +of burnished silver, is a lake unlike any other body of water in the +world, save one in Switzerland, and that has only a few marks of +similarity. + +This lies nestled away, like a very jewel, in the summit of the +Sierras,--the Alps of America,--at an altitude of a mile and a quarter +above the level of the sea. Think of it! A body of water containing an +area of more than two hundred and fifty square miles, and deep enough to +float the largest vessel that ever traversed the sea, and then have +almost immeasurable depths below the keel; think of this being in the +very summit of the greatest range of mountains in America! + +It has been sounded along the line between Nevada and California, which +runs through the lake, to the distance of two hundred and fifty-three +fathoms, or fifteen hundred and eighteen feet. But other places have +been sounded to the great distance of nearly twenty-five hundred feet. +The character of the water is almost incredible to one who has never +looked upon it. Coming down from the springs that burst from the caņons, +and the everlasting snows that crown the mountain-tops, where + + "'Tis the felt presence of the Deity," + +the water is almost perfectly pure. + +I have leaned over the side of the boat and watched the play of the +trout a _hundred and fifty feet_ below the surface. I have dropped a +small, shining, metallic button, and watched distinctly its oscillations +in sinking for three or four minutes. + +The transparent nature of the water is best seen in the morning, when +the lake is perfectly calm; not even the small surface ripples that +nearly always exist on ordinary streams and lakes are visible. + +The various angles of vision present the most charming scene. Yonder the +lake looks like a quiet mass of molten silver; yonder, where the rays of +the sun meet you, is a gorgeous array of crimson and gold; then there is +a range of purest emerald, deepening into blue-black as the scene +stretches away from you, bespangled in the distance by the rising +white-caps. This, fringed with the green of the deep pine-forests that +skirt the mountains, and capped with the everlasting snows, made radiant +with the flood of sunlight, furnishes a picture of incomparable beauty, +and worthy of a master's brush. + +But here by you, right at your feet, is one of the most pleasing +features of all: so still in the morning quietness, and such air-like +purity withal. You think you can reach down and pick up those shining +pebbles, and yet they are twenty, thirty, or forty feet beneath you. And +that boat or skiff seems to be poised in mid-air. You can count the +small indentures and nail-heads in the very keel. + +You cringe with fear as your boat glides towards that huge boulder, as +large as a church, thinking surely your vessel will be wrecked; but +there is no danger, as the rock is many feet beneath you. The +transparency of the water makes the danger seem so near. + +How often have I wished this place--mountains, lake, and all--could be +the place of one of the grand Eastern camp-meetings! This bracing air, +this unique spot, this wonderful lake, this rich, healthful aroma of +deep pine-forests, this grand scenery, all combined, make it one of the +best of places for religious summer resort. + +Yonder is a quaint spot, a veritable Gibraltar on a small scale, a +lonely, rocky island in the centre of Emerald Bay. Some foolish man +built a tomb in the solid rock on its summit, intending to be buried +there, where the marks of decay would come slowly over his grave, and +where he might sleep undisturbed amid the incomparable grandeur that +would have surrounded him. His sarcophagus and all were prepared, but +the treacherous billows of the lake, that occasionally foam and roar +with fury, seized him, and he lies buried at the bottom,--no man knows +where, for no one going down ever comes up again from these waters. + +It was first an artless, genial party of three of us that drank in the +poetry of the scenery around Lake Tahoe. The "elect lady," whose +presence has ever been an inspiration and encouragement in life's +blackest, bitterest hours, her best and dearest friend, Miss Torreyson, +and the writer, made up the trio. We were joined by and by with a party +of others kindred in spirit, who entered into all our schemes and +reconnoissances after pleasure. + +Those were memorable six weeks; and now, at this distance of many months +on the road of time, that period of frolic and recuperation gleams as +with the radiance of youth's happiest sunset scene. How strange that +happy days even never look so charming as when they are mellowed in the +deep past!... + +During the days we enlivened many a bright morning hour with +boat-riding, fishing, gathering wild-flowers, and such other amusements +as this delightful place afforded. On one of these fishing excursions +one of our party came very near falling into the treacherous waters of +the lake. + +Our favorite resorts, and it is so with all tourists, were Emerald and +Carnelian Bays. The former is a beautiful, land-locked arm of the lake, +walled in by rugged and towering cliffs. The latter is a long, gravelly +beach, where by the hour we have searched for carnelian stones, of which +some of the purest quality are found. + +The mountains and caņons are most delightful points of interest as +places of observation and rest, and often charm by the echoes they +throw back. We were given to song; and many a time summering here, +and travelling over the lake, we united in singing the "Evergreen +Mountains of Life" and "A Thousand Years," our favorite lake airs; +the former suggested, no doubt, by the towering mountains that +surrounded us. The effect is peculiarly fascinating, as the song +rings out over the waters, in the pure mountain air, and echoing +dies away, after many reverberations of "evergreen mountains of +life"--"mountains of life"--"life"--in some deep caņon. Or "a thousand +years, Columbia,"--"years, Columbia,"--"Columbia,"--the vowels of the +last becoming beautifully distinct in the echoes. + +Nearly south of the head of Lake Tahoe, a distance of perhaps a mile and +a half, is a little lake that bears the name of Fallen Leaf; and then to +the west of this some three miles is Cascade Lake, as charming a little +body of water as ever flashed back the sunlight. Of all the objects of +interest here, none of its kind is more interesting than this delightful +lake, that spreads itself out a half-mile by a mile and a half, and +that at an altitude of four or five hundred feet above Tahoe. + +Above this, from the summit of Tallac Mountain, it is positively +asserted _seventeen_ lakes, varying in size, can be seen at one glance +nestled away like a cluster of diamonds in the bosom of the Sierras. All +these lakes abound with the finest of trout, and are surrounded by the +best of game. + +On the east side of Tahoe are Cave Rock and Shakespeare Rock. The former +is a bald precipitous peak, that presses its perpendicular side almost +to the water's edge, leaving just room enough for the road of the old +overland stage-coach. Under this rock is a cave of small pretensions, +but with the wild scenery, the bald, dizzy height of the cliff, and the +fine view of the lake, it is one of the many frequented places. + +Shakespeare Rock stands back perhaps full half a mile from the landing +at Pray's Bay, or Glenbrook. It is a perpendicular cliff of well on +towards a thousand feet above the waters of the lake. It has its name +from a well-defined portrait of a man, moss-formed or wind-chiselled, +doubtless, that is seen plainly several hundred feet up the rugged side. +It is said to look very much like the old bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. +But of this we cannot say; we never saw him. + +It was on one of Nature's brightest days that our trio, lunch-armed, +toiled up its rugged side, the only accessible point, and flung our +handkerchief banners to the breeze from the improvised flag-staff, while +we grew enraptured at the rich perspective from the dizzy height. It +seemed almost like being on "cloud's rest" as some cloud's shadow fell +upon us while there. + +Below us lay the bustling, thriving village of Glenbrook, having, +perhaps, well on towards a thousand souls as the number of its +inhabitants; increased by tourists, and, of course, largely diminished +in the winter months, when business here "shuts down." The temperature, +however, is generally fine from the last of April to the first of +November, or even later. It is not unpleasant now, as I write,--the +middle day of January,--to be out boat-riding or rambling by the shore. + +This is the outlet of the entire lake and its surroundings; an immense +traffic in lumber, etc., is carried on. Five saw-mills give life +and activity to the place, as they cut nearly three hundred thousand +feet per day, or more than fifty millions during the business months +of the year. A hotel, store, post-office, with daily mail, and +telegraph-office, add to the convenience of the place. There are six +steamers on the lake that run for pleasure-parties and traffic. + +From the lake one of the most unique railroads ever built runs to the +summit, a distance of nine miles by the route travelled, although the +distance by an air line is but three, while the elevation that it gains +is eight hundred and fifty feet. It climbs the mountain by zigzag +movements, like a letter Z, the engine sometimes hauling its burden, and +sometimes pushing the train. More than a quarter of a million of dollars +were required to build and stock this novel short line. It is a rare +evidence of engineering skill, and certainly is a good illustration of +Western enterprise. It lacks at least a dozen miles of connecting with +any other railroad point, and its engines, rolling-stock, etc., had to +be hauled up the mountain eight thousand feet high. + + [To this description of the liquid marvel of California we add + the author's account of one of its land marvels, a grove of the + "big trees," the vegetable giants of the world.] + +The Big Trees, as they are technically called, are of a light, bright +cinnamon color, and have a diameter at the ground of from twenty-five to +forty feet, a height of from three hundred to four hundred and fifty +feet, and a bark that will average one foot and a half in thickness +where it has not been molested. I have seen blocks of bark that would +measure thirty-two inches in thickness, and I have no doubt but some +trees have bark that would average nearly three feet. The texture is +loose and spongy, and when cut transversely it is often worked into +pincushions and such like toys. The wood is light as the cedar, but is +susceptible of a very fine polish. I had a cane made from a piece that I +bought of the guide, and I found it would polish equal to mahogany. The +Mariposa grove is a State park, together with Yosemite Valley, given by +the United States government. + +This grove, "together with the Yosemite Valley with its branches and +spurs, an estimated length of fifteen miles, and in average width one +mile back from the edge of the precipice on each side of the valley, +with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the State shall accept this +grant on the express condition that the premises shall be held for +public use and recreation, and shall be inalienable for all time." So it +is absolutely impossible to get a bit of bark or piece of wood except +from the guide, who is allowed to gather them from the outskirts of the +grove from a tree that has fallen or one that stands outside of the +prescribed limits. + +There has but one fallen, however, since their discovery, and that was +felled by men's hands. It was done by immense augers. It took five men +twenty-two days to fell the tree, equal to the services of one man for +_one hundred and ten days_. Think of that, nearly four months' work, not +counting any time lost by Sundays, or rainy days, or sickness, to fell +one tree! That tree would have yielded more than a thousand cords of +four-foot wood and a hundred cords of bark, more than eleven hundred +cords altogether. On the stump of this tree there is a house--"whose +foundation is sure"--thirty feet in diameter. This house contains room +enough in square feet, if it were the right shape, for a parlor twelve +by sixteen, a dining-room ten by twelve, a kitchen ten by twelve, two +bedrooms ten feet square each, a pantry four by eight feet, two +clothes-presses one and a half feet deep and four feet wide, and still +have a little to spare. + +The foliage of these trees resembles the cedar somewhat. They bear a +cone not more than two inches in length, and a black pitch bitter as +gall. The forests at present have a gloomy appearance, as some time in +the past, no one knows when, the Indians, the better to facilitate their +hunting, burned off the chaparral and rubbish, and, as a matter of +course, disfigured the trees by burning off nearly all the bark. + +The first sight of these monarchs is one of sore disappointment. For you +have travelled many miles where the trees are all large, and here, +surrounded as they are by immense pines, their magnitude is not +appreciated. But their greatness grows very rapidly upon you, so that if +there was at first disappointment, there is now a greater awe. Our first +view of interest was the Fallen Monarch, a ponderous old trunk stretched +out upon the ground for more than two hundred feet, upon which a stage +and four horses could be driven with ease. We had to go a hundred feet +towards the top to climb upon the trunk. The diameter of this tree, +without bark, at the base is twenty-two feet; one hundred feet from the +root it is twelve feet. + +How long this monarch has been sleeping no one pretends to know. The +guide says it is no more decayed now, to all appearances, than it was +when first discovered. The tree of greatest interest is the Grizzly +Giant, which has an altitude of more than three hundred feet. The first +thing we did to try its magnitude was to surround it on horseback, +passing around in single file, the head of one horse to the tail of +another. It called into requisition twenty-five horses out of the +twenty-eight in our party to complete the measurement. This is not +considered strictly correct, mathematically speaking, but it indicates +the size of the tree by _horse measurement_. + +I had prepared myself with a good-sized string, and, with the help of +a friend, made close calculation four feet from the ground, and found +it to be ninety-three feet, giving a diameter of thirty-one feet. This +tree has a limb one hundred feet from the ground that is six feet in +diameter. These trees stand around us in quiet grandeur, but to write +of one is to write of many, hence the reader must not be wearied with +a notice of each. Pluto's Chimney is a hollow tree, standing upright, +into which several of us rode on horseback. Yonder is another that had +fallen in some past age, and sixty feet or more of it had burned from +the root upward, and then towards the top had burned in two, leaving a +barrel-shaped or hollow part of the trunk some fifty feet in length. +Through this we all rode without any inconvenience. I have understood +that several have ridden abreast through it, which I do not think +improbable. + +This completed our tour among these forest giants. There are two +groves--and, properly speaking, but two--of these _Sequoia gigantea_, +the Mariposa and Calaveras groves. The first is about twenty miles south +of Yosemite Valley, perhaps a little more, while the latter is some +fifty miles northwest of the valley. Thus it will be seen that they are +not, as many suppose, in the great Yosemite Valley. + +The big trees of California, not of this species, however, are not +confined to these two groves. Many of the noted redwood species +(_Sequoia sempervirens_) used to grow back of Santa Cruz, many of which +are standing yet that were very great in size. We once upon a time, with +five others, rode into one of these during a storm. The butt was hollow, +and large enough to hold at least twelve men on horseback, and was not +less than two hundred and fifty feet in height. + + + + +THE CHINESE QUARTER IN SAN FRANCISCO. + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON. + + [We need not tell who Helen Hunt Jackson is. She is well known + to American readers both of verse and prose for her excellent + ability in both these fields of literature. Born in 1831, at + Amherst, Massachusetts, the daughter of Professor N. W. Fiske, + she married first Mr. Hunt, of the United States Engineer + Corps, and after his death a Mr. Jackson. She died in 1885. + From her work entitled "Bits of Travel at Home," a series of + racy sketches of experience east and west, we extract her + narrative of the odd and amusing things she saw in the Chinese + quarter of San Francisco.] + + +Sing, Wo & Co. keep one of the most picturesque shops on Jackson Street. +It is neither grocer's, nor butcher's, nor fishmonger's, nor druggist's; +but a little of all four. It is like most of the shops on Jackson +Street, part cellar, part cellar-stairs, part sidewalk, and part back +bedroom. On the sidewalk are platters of innumerable sorts of little +fishes,--little silvery fishes; little yellow fishes, with whiskers; +little snaky fishes; round flat fishes; little slices of big +fishes,--never too much or too many of any kind. Sparing and thrifty +dealers, as well as sparing and thrifty consumers, are the Celestials. +Round tubs of sprouted beans; platters of square cakes of something +whose consistency was like Dutch cheese, whose color was vivid yellow, +like baker's gingerbread, and whose tops were stamped with mysterious +letters; long roots, as long as the longest parsnips, but glistening +white, like polished turnips; cherries, tied up in stingy little bunches +of ten or twelve, and swung in all the nooks; small bunches of all +conceivable green things, from celery down to timothy grass, tied tight +and wedged into corners, or swung overhead; dried herbs, in dim +recesses; pressed chickens, on shelves (those were the most remarkable +things. They were semi-transparent, thin, skinny, and yellow, and looked +almost more like huge, flattened grasshoppers than like chickens; but +chickens they were, and no mistake),--all these were on the trays, on +the sidewalk, and on the cellar-stairs. + +In the back bedroom were Mrs. Sing and Mrs. Wo, with several little +Sings and Wos. It was too dark to see what they were doing; for the only +light came from the open front of the shop, which seemed to run back +like a cave in a hill. On shelves on the sides were teacups and teapots, +and plates of fantastic shapes and gay colors. Sing and Wo were most +courteous; but their interest centred entirely on sales; and I could +learn but one fact from them in regard to any of their goods. It was +either "Muchee good. Englis man muchee like," or else, "China man like; +Englis man no like." Why should I wish to know anything further than +that some articles would be agreeable to "Englis man's" palate, and +others would not? This must be enough to regulate my purchases. But I +shall always wish I knew how those chickens were fattened and what the +vivid yellow cakes were made of. + + [Next our traveller looks into the shop of Ty Wing & Co., where + nothing appears but darkness, dust and cobwebs, and two Chinese + women eating something unknown with chopsticks; that of Chick + Kee, a druggist, with feathers and banners without and nothing + but old dried roots visible within; and of Tuck Wo, a + restaurant-keeper, where nothing is visible that she has the + courage to taste.] + +Moo, On & Co. come next. Their shop is full, crowded full,--bags, +bundles, casks, shelves, piles, bunches of utterly nondescript articles. +It sounds like an absurd exaggeration, but it is literally true, that +the only articles in his shop which I ever saw before are bottles. There +are a few of those; but the purpose, use, or meaning of every other +article is utterly unknown to me. There are things that look like games, +like toys, like lamps, like idols, like utensils of lost trades, like +relics of lost tribes, like--well, like a pawnbroker's stock, just +brought from some other world. That comes nearest to it. + +Moo, On & Co. have apparently gone back for more. Nobody is in the +shop; the door is wide open. I wait and wait, hoping that some one +will come along who can speak English, and of whom I may ask what this +extraordinary show means. Timidly I touch a fluttering bit, which hangs +outside. It is not paper; it is not cloth; it is not woollen, silk, nor +straw; it is not leather; it is not cobweb; it is not alive; it is not +dead; it crisps and curls at my touch; it waves backward, though no air +blows it. A sort of horror seizes me. It may be a piece of an ancestor +of Moo's doing ghostly duty at his shop door. I hasten on and half fancy +that it is behind me, as I halt before Dr. Li Po Tai's door. His +promises to cure, diplomas, and so forth, are printed in gay-colored +strips of labels on each side. Six bright balloons swing overhead; and +peacocks' feathers are stuck into the balloons. I have heard that Dr. Li +Po Tai is a learned man, and works cures. His balloons are certainly +very brilliant.... + +Then comes a corner stand, with glass cases of candy. Almond candy, with +grains of rice thick on the top; little bowls of pickles, pears, and +peppers; platters of odd-shaped nuts; and beans baked black as coffee. +As I stand looking curiously at these, a well-dressed Chinaman pauses +before me, and making a gesture with his hand towards the stand, says, +"All muchee good. Buy eat. Muchee good." Hung Wung, the proprietor, is +kindled to hospitality by this, and repeats the words, "Yaas, muchee +good. Take, eat," offering me, with the word, the bowl of peppers. + +Next comes a very gay restaurant, the best in the empire. Hang Fee, Low +& Co. keep it, and foreigners go there to drink tea. There is a green +railed balcony across the front, swinging full of high-colored lanterns, +round and square; tablets with Chinese letters on bright grounds are set +in panels on the walls; a huge rhinoceros stands in the centre of the +railing: a tree grows out of the rhinoceros's back, and an India rubber +man sits at the foot of the tree. China figures and green bushes in +flower-pots are ranged all along the railing. Nowhere except in the +Chinese Empire can there be seen such another gaudy, grotesque house +front. We make an appointment on the spot to take some of Hang Fee's +tea, on our way to the Chinese Theatre, the next evening, and then we +hurry home.... + +After all, we did not take tea at Hang Fee's on our way to the theatre. +There was not time. As it was, we were late; and when we entered the +orchestra had begun to play. Orchestra! It is necessary to use that +name, I suppose, in speaking of a body of men with instruments, who are +seated on a stage, furnishing what is called music for a theatrical +performance. But it is a term calculated to mislead in this instance. +Fancy one frog-pond, one Sunday-school with pumpkin whistles, one +militia training, and two gongs for supper on a Fall River boat, all at +once, and you will have some faint idea of the indescribable noise which +saluted our ears on entering that theatre. To say that we were deafened +is nothing. The hideous hubbub of din seemed to overlap and transcend +all laws and spheres of sound. It was so loud we could not see; it was +so loud we could not breathe; it was so loud there did not seem to be +any room to sit down! The theatre was small and low and dark. The pit +and greater part of the gallery were filled with Chinamen, all smoking. +One corner of the gallery was set aside for women. That was full, also, +with Chinese women. Every woman's hair was dressed in the manner I have +described ["drawn back from her forehead, twisted tight from the nape of +the neck to the crown of the head, stiffened with glue, glistening with +oil, and made into four huge double wings, which stood out beyond her +ears on either side. It looked a little like two gigantic black satin +bats, pinned to the back of her head, or still more like a windmill gone +into mourning."] The bat-like flaps projected so far on each side of +each head that each woman seemed almost to be joined to her neighbors by +a cartilaginous band; and, as they sat almost motionless, this effect +was heightened. + +The stage had no pretence of secrecy. It was hung with gay banners and +mysterious labels. Tall plumes of peacock's feathers in the corners and +some irregularly placed chairs were all the furniture. The orchestra sat +in chairs at the back of the stage. Some of them smoked in the +intervals, some drank tea. A little boy who drummed went out when he +felt like it; and the fellow with the biggest gong had evidently no plan +of operations at all except to gong as long as his arms could bear it, +then rest a minute, then gong again. + +"Oh, well," said we, as we wedged and squeezed through the narrow +passage-way which led to our box, "it will only last a few minutes. We +shall not entirely lose our hearing." Fatal delusion. It never stopped. +The actors came out; the play began; the play went on; still the +hideous hubbub of din continued, and was made unspeakably more hideous +by the voices of the actors, which were raised to the shrillest falsetto +to surmount the noise, and which sounded like nothing in nature except +the voices of frantic cats.... + +At first, in spite of the deafening loudness of the din, it is ludicrous +beyond conception. To see the superbly dressed Chinese creatures,--every +one of them as perfectly and exquisitely dressed as the finest figures +on their satin fans or rice-paper pictures, and looking exactly like +them,--to see these creatures strutting and sailing and sweeping and +bowing and bending, beating their breasts and tearing their beards, +gesticulating and rushing about in an utterly incomprehensible play, +with caterwauling screams issuing from their mouths, is for a few +minutes so droll that you laugh till tears run, and think you will go to +the Chinese Theatre every night as long as you stay in San Francisco. I +said so to the friend who had politely gone with me. He had been to the +performance before. He smiled pityingly, and yawned behind his hand. At +the end of half an hour, I whispered, "Twice a week will do." In fifteen +minutes more, I said, "I think we will go out now. I can't endure this +racket another minute. But, nevertheless, I shall come once more, with +an interpreter. I must and will know what all this mummery means." + +The friend smiled again incredulously. But we did go again, with an +interpreter; and the drollest thing of all was to find out how very +little all the caterwauling and rushing and bending and bawling and +sweeping and strutting really meant. The difficulty of getting an +interpreter was another interesting feature in the occasion. A lady, who +had formerly been a missionary in China, had promised to go with us; +and, as even she was not sure of being able to understand Chinese +caterwauled, she proposed to take one of the boys from the missionary +school, to interpret to her before she interpreted to us. So we drove to +the school. Mrs. ---- went in. The time seemed very long that we waited. +At last she came back, looking both amused and vexed, to report that not +one of those intelligent Christian Chinese would leave his studies that +evening to go to the theatre. + +"I suppose it is an old story to them," said I. + +"Not at all," said she. "On the contrary, hardly a boy there has been +inside the theatre. But they cannot bear to lose a minute from their +lessons. Mr. Loomis really urged some of them; but it was of no use." + +In a grocery store on Kearny Street, however, we found a clever young +man, less absorbed in learning; and he went with us as interpreter. +Again the same hideous din; the same clouds of smoke; the same hubbub of +caterwauling. But the _dramatis personæ_ were few. Luckily for us, our +first lesson in the Chinese drama was to be a simple one. And here I +pause, considering whether my account of the play will be believed. This +is the traveller's great perplexity. The incredible things are always +the only things worth telling; but is it best to tell them? + +The actors in this play were three,--a lady of rank, her son, and her +man cook. The play opened with a soliloquy by the lady. She is sitting +alone, sewing. Her husband has gone to America; he did not bid her +farewell. Her only son is at school. She is sad and lonely. She weeps. + +Enter boy. He asks if dinner is ready. + +Enter cook. Cook says it is not time. Boy says he wants dinner. Cook +says he shall not have it. This takes fifteen minutes. + +Mother examines boy on his lessons. Boy does not know them; tries to +peep. Mother reproves; makes boy kneel; prepares to whip; whips. Mother +weeps; boy catches flies on the floor; bites her finger. + +Enter cook to see what the noise means. Cook takes boy to task. Boy +stops his ears. Cook bawls. Cook kneels to lady; reproves her also; +tells her she must keep her own temper, if she would train her boy. + +Lady sulks, naturally. Boy slips behind and cuts her work out of her +embroidery frame. Cook attacks boy. Cook sings a lament, and goes out to +attend to dinner; but returns in frantic distress. During his absence +everything has boiled over; everything has been burned to a crisp. +Dinner is ruined. Cook now reconciles mother and son; drags son to his +knees; makes him repeat words of supplication. While he does this cook +turns his back to the audience, takes off his beard carefully, lays it +on the floor, while he drinks a cupful of tea. + +This is all, literally all. It took an hour and a half. The audience +listened with intensest interest. The gesticulations, the expressions of +face, the tones of the actors, all conveyed the idea of the deepest +tragedy. Except for our interpreter, I should have taken the cook for a +soothsayer, priest, a highwayman and murderer, alternately. I should +have supposed that all the dangers, hopes, fears, delights possible in +the lives of three human beings were going on on that stage. Now we saw +how very far-fetched and preposterous had probably been our theories of +the play we had seen before, we having constructed a most brilliant plot +from our interpretation of the pantomime. + +After this domestic drama came a fierce spectacular play, too absurd to +be described, in which nations went to war because a king's monkey had +been killed. And the kings and their armies marched in at one door and +out at the other, sat on gilt thrones, fought with gilt swords, tumbled +each other head over heels with as much vigor and just as much art as +small boys play the battle of Bunker Hill with the nursery chairs on a +rainy day. But the dresses of these warlike monarchs were gorgeous and +fantastic beyond description. Long, gay-colored robes, blazoned and +blazing with gold and silver embroidery; small flags, two on each side, +stuck in at their shoulders, and projecting behind; helmets, square +breastplates of shining stones, and such decorations with feathers as +pass belief. Several of them had behind each ear a long, slender +bird-of-Paradise feather. These feathers reached out at least three feet +behind, and curved and swayed with each step the man took. When three or +four of these were on the stage together, marching and countermarching, +wrestling, fighting, and tumbling, why these tail feathers did not +break, did not become entangled with each other, no mortal can divine. +Others had huge wings of silver filigree-work behind their ears. These +also swayed and flapped at each step. + +Sometimes there would be forty or fifty of these nondescript creatures +on the stage at once, running, gesticulating, attacking, retreating, +howling, bowing, bending, tripping each other up, stalking, strutting, +and all the while caterwauling, and all the time the drums beating, +the gongs ringing, and the stringed instruments and the castanets and +the fifes playing. It was dazzling as a gigantic kaleidoscope and +deafening as a cotton-mill. After the plays came wonderful tumbling and +somersaulting. To see such gymnastic feats performed by men in long +damask nightgowns and with wide trousers is uncommonly droll. This is +really the best thing at the Chinese Theatre,--the only thing, in fact, +which is not incomprehensibly childish. + +My last glimpse at the Chinese Empire was in Mr. Loomis's Sunday-school. +I had curiosity to see the faces of the boys who had refused our +invitation to the theatre. As soon as I entered the room I was asked to +take charge of a class. In vain I demurred and refused. + +"You surely can hear them read a chapter in the New Testament." + +It seemed inhuman as well as unchristian to refuse, for there were +several classes without teachers, many good San Franciscans having gone +into the country. There were the eager yellow faces watching for my +reply. So I sat down in a pew with three Chinese young men on my right +hand, two on my left, and four in the pew in front, all with English +and Chinese Testaments in their hands. The lesson for the day was the +fifteenth chapter of Matthew. They read slowly, but with greater +accuracy of emphasis and pronunciation than I expected. Their patience +and eagerness in trying to correct a mispronunciation were touching. At +last came the end of the chapter. + +"Now do you go on to the next chapter?" said I. + +"No. Arx-play-in," said the brightest of the boys. "You arx-play-in what +we rade to you." + +I wished the floor of that Sunday-school chapel would open and swallow +me up. To expound the fifteenth of Matthew at all; above all, to expound +it in English which those poor souls could understand! In despair I +glanced at the clock: it lacked thirty minutes of the end of school; at +the other teachers: they were all glibly responding. Guiltily I said, +"Very well. Begin and read the chapter over again, very slowly; and when +you come to any word you do not understand, tell me, and I will try to +explain it to you." + +Their countenances fell. This was not the way they had usually been +taught. But with the meekness of a down-trodden people they obeyed. It +worked even better than I had hoped. Poor souls! they probably did not +understand enough to select the words which perplexed them. They +trudged patiently through their verses again without question. But my +Charybdis was near. The sixth verse came to the brightest boy. As he +read, "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your +tradition," he paused after the word tradition. I trembled. + +"Arx-play-in trardition," he said. + +"What?" said I, feebly, to gain a second's more of time. "What word did +you say?" + +"Trardition," he persisted. "What are trardition? Arx-play-in." + +What I said I do not know. Probably I should not tell if I did. But I am +very sure that never in all my life have I found myself, and never in +all the rest of my life shall I find myself, in so utterly desperate a +dilemma as I was then, with those patient, earnest, oblique eyes fixed +on me, and the gentle Chinese voice reiterating, "What are trardition?" + + + + +MARIPOSA GROVE AND YOSEMITE VALLEY. + +CHARLES LORING BRACE. + + [Our sketches of travel in America will not be complete without + descriptive narratives relating to its great natural wonders, + of which the United States possesses more examples than any + other country on the globe. The present selection, therefore, + from Brace's "The New West, or California in 1867-68," is + devoted to a brief account of the monster trees of that State + and the scenic marvels of the Yosemite Valley.] + + +The great pleasure of the American continent will hereafter be the +journey to the Yosemite. There is no one object of nature in the world, +except Niagara, to equal it in attraction. Whenever the Pacific road +brings the two coasts within a fortnight of each other, innumerable +parties will be made up to visit it. I have been tolerably familiar, by +foot-journeys, with Switzerland, Tyrol, and Norway, and I can truly say +that no one scene in those grand regions can compare equally, in all its +combinations, with the wonderful Caņon of the Yosemite. It is a matter +of congratulation, also, to me, that I saw it before any road, or coach, +or rail-car had approached it. It ought not to be visited otherwise than +as our party journeyed to it,--on horses winding in picturesque train +over velvety trails, beneath the gigantic pines of the Sierras.... + +Among all my many travelling experiences in various countries, I do not +think I can ever forget the romance and the delicious beauty of that +first night's ride towards the Yosemite. The trail was barely wide +enough for two to ride abreast, winding under majestic pines, over +mountains, and down wide, deep dells, each step of the horses springing +elastic from soft pine-leaves. The sun soon set, and a magnificent moon +arose, giving us at one time a broad belt of light over the path, and +then leaving us to descend into a mysterious gulf of darkness, and then +casting strange shadows and half-lights through the pine-branches over +our procession of riders. As we penetrated farther into the forest we +began to wind about beneath trees such as few of us had ever seen,--the +superb sugar-pine, perhaps the most perfect tree in nature, here +starting with a diameter of from seven to twelve feet, and mounting up +with most symmetrical branches to the height say of Trinity Church spire +(two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty feet); on the ends of +its branches cones hanging a foot long. Sometimes we came forth from the +forest for a few moments, and had grand glimpses of great mountain +valleys, only partly revealed in the glorious moonlight. Most of the +party were old travellers, and were rather impervious to sensations, +but we all agreed that this was a new one, and gave a most promising +augury of the Yosemite excursion. After fourteen miles--an easy ride--we +all reached Clark's Ranch at a late hour, ready for supper and bed. + +[The next morning] we started at not too early an hour for a forest-ride +to the Trees, Mr. Clark kindly guiding us. What may be called the avenue +to these hoary monuments of antiquity lies through a gigantic forest of +sugar-pines, themselves some two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet +high; so that when you reach the mighty towers of vegetation you lose a +little the sense of their vast height. I searched curiously as we rode +through the forest for the conditions which should produce such monsters +of growth. It must be remembered that the _Sequoia gigantea_ is not +found merely here, or at Calaveras and its neighborhood. There appears +to be a belt of them running along the slope of the Sierras, about four +thousand and five thousand feet above the sea-level, and as far south as +Visalia. They are so plentiful near that place as to be sawed for +lumber, though what so light a wood could be used for I can hardly +think. In the neighborhood of the latter place the Indians report a +tree, far in the forest, surpassing in grandeur anything ever seen; but +thus far no white man has ever cast eyes on it. It is a mistake, too, to +suppose the race wearing out. I saw, both here and in Calaveras, young +giant _Sequoiæ_, beginning patiently their thousand years of growth with +all the vigor of their grand ancestors; some of but four hundred years, +mere youths, were growing splendidly. There are fewer young trees here +than in Calaveras, because fire or some other cause has swept among the +underbrush of all trees, and must have destroyed many of these burly +saplings. + +The Sequoia grows on mountain-slopes, where the slow wash of water, +through ages, brings down minute particles of fertilizing rocks, and +the decayed vegetation of countless centuries, with the moisture of +eternal springs, water and feed its roots. It enjoys a sun of the +tropics without a cloud for six months, and has the balmy air of the +Pacific, with incessant and gentle moisture, and a warm covering of snow +for its winter. Beneath its roots, the ground never freezes. As has been +well said, "It has nothing to do but grow;" and so with all the +favorable conditions that nature can offer--air and sun and moisture--it +pumps up its food from the everlasting hills, and builds up its slow, +vegetable-like substance during century after century into a gigantic, +symmetrical, and venerable pile, while nations begin and pass away +beneath its shadow. + +Think of lying under a tree beneath which the contemporary of Attila or +Constantine might have rested, and which shall defy the storm, perhaps, +when the present political divisions of the world are utterly passed +away, and the names of Washington and Lincoln are among the heroes of a +vague past. + +But how to give an impression of its size! If my readers will imagine a +Sequoia placed beside Trinity Church, he must conceive it filling up one +of our largest dwelling-houses, say a diameter of thirty feet, with a +circumference of ninety feet; the bark of this gigantic trunk will be +light, porous, and reddish in color, with many scars upon it of fire +(its great enemy); then, perhaps, at the height of the Trinity belfry +(say one hundred feet), two opposing huge branches will protrude, it may +be, themselves, of the size of large trees (say eight feet in diameter); +these will be twisted and much broken; above them will come forth other +heavy branches, which show the marks and blows of the storms of a +thousand years or more, for the giant, so far above his fellows, meets a +continual battering from the gales of the mountains. + +There is no symmetry in his top, or delicacy and grace in his outline; +he has battled and struggled with the storm for too many centuries to +preserve an artistic appearance. He looks the giant of the forest, +broad-rooted and strong-limbed, rough and weather-beaten, but defying +snow and frost and hurricane for thousands of years, and still +sheltering bird and beast and cattle beneath his grand shadow.... + +We visited one big tree in Calaveras which had been blown over two years +before. The enormous weight which each tree carries makes it more +difficult to bear the gales, as it overtops the forest. Perhaps any +ordinary wood, such as oak or maple, would increase the specific +gravity, so that at three hundred feet high the leverage on the roots +would be too great to bear any strain of a gale; but this wood is almost +like cork,--lighter than any wood on the Eastern coast. The fall of this +mighty tower, they say, was heard for miles around, and made the earth +tremble. Where it fell it has buried its top deep in the ground, so that +there is quite a ravine made by the blow in the earth. You strike the +trunk where it is still a large tree, and then walk upon it some two +hundred feet towards the roots. When you reach the roots you are upon a +height equal to the roof of a moderate-sized house, and a fall from the +trunk would be dangerous. You descend by a ladder. + +If I recollect rightly, there were three hundred and sixty-five trees in +this Mariposa Grove. I measured one trunk, broken off at the top, where +it was a foot in diameter, which was about two hundred and ninety feet +in length, and estimating thirty feet as the length of the part broken +off, it must have been some three hundred and twenty feet high. We +lunched near a "camp" of the Geological Survey, in the heart of the +grove, lying on our backs beneath the gigantic canopies, and feeling +like pigmies at the feet of these giants. The younger trees were often +wreathed with a strange, yellow, hanging moss. Our ladies were deeply +interested in a remarkable flower which grew beneath the snow, a few +patches of which still remained here in June. It was a blood-red flower +of a fleshy-like substance, like the Pyrola, or "Dutchman's pipe," +growing somewhat like a garden hyacinth. Its stems were clustered, from +six to ten inches high, with long, erect scales, broader below and +gradually narrower, and finally becoming bracts. The flowers were +numerous, and occupied the upper half of the stem. It is the _Sarcodes +sanguinea_. + + [Leaving the Big Tree grove, the travellers made a farther ride + of twenty-five miles through the Sierras to the Yosemite, the + first view of which impressed them deeply.] + +No aspect of nature I have ever looked upon, no sight of the desolate +ocean, heaving and lashing in mighty surges beneath wintry storm, or +sudden view of Alpine snow-peaks through rifts of black thunder-clouds, +or glimpses of Norwegian coast-glaciers through the lulls of an Arctic +gale, or even Niagara itself, was so full of the inspiration of awe as +this first opening view of the Yosemite Caņon. All other scenes of +grandeur and beauty must fade away in my memory when this vision is +forgotten. Before the mighty powers which had shaped this tremendous +gorge, and in presence of this scene of unspeakable and indescribable +beauty and majesty, man and his works seemed to sink away to +nothingness.... I almost felt as if I had known nothing of the caņon +before, so surprising were the effects of coloring and shadow. It must +be remembered we had struck the gorge on one of its lateral walls, say +about four miles from its western end. There is no approach to it from +below up the stream. As we lay on the edge of the cliff we gazed up a +narrow green valley perfectly flat, from a mile to half a mile wide, +and winding, some six miles above, between enormous cliffs and +precipices, a small, bright, sparkling stream in the middle, fringed +with green grass or forest-trees. The wall, over the edge of which we +were looking, was nearly three-quarters of a mile high, and far below, +the oaks and willows and poplars and pines in the green intervale looked +like little shrubs. On the other side, a short distance beyond, was the +grand bluff of El Capitan, a sheer precipice of nearly four thousand +feet, its light granite pile, in the evening light, the most majestic +cliff that human eye has looked upon, beyond were other bluffs and +precipices, pearly gray and purplish-white, with green fringes below, +and dark archways or fantastic figures traced by shadows on their +surface. There were buttresses, as of gigantic cathedrals, and archways +such as might support hills of granite, and domes where a mountain was +the substructure, and half domes, and peaks whose regular succession has +given them the name of "Brothers,"--all varying in color and shadow, +incessantly, with the receding light; some with the delicious cool gray +of the rock color, some white, with a reddish shade; others faint +purple; others resplendent in pink and brilliant purple; while over +their edges, giving a joyous life to the scene, rushed sparkling silver +streams, in innumerable waterfalls, dashing into the green valley +below.... But the scene was changing. Over the valley, the heavy shadow +of El Capitan continually increased its gigantic breadth of shade; +beyond him the "Arches," which, to be seen at that distance, must be a +thousand feet in height, grew each instant more strongly marked, but +still farther beyond to the east the North Dome and the Half Dome were +golden and purple in the evening light, and yet beyond the still white +peaks of the Sierras towered above in the pale blue. + +On our side of the vast gorge the foot of the various precipices and +cliffs was covered with detritus, making, near the bottom, a +considerable slope, on which grew many evergreen trees. + +On the other side there was one line of massive rock, which fell +apparently plumb, without a break or curve, for nearly four thousand +feet, and at its base, so hard was the material, there seemed no recent +detritus at all. One could evidently touch the very bottom of the +immense fall of rock.... + +The form of the caņon is unique, nothing in Europe resembling it: the +immense vertical walls rising so abruptly from the green vale; the +peaks, too, which surround it, being original, even in the Sierras; the +immense, inaccessible, concentric masses of granite,--domes, or +half-domes, as if melted in some gigantic mould, and then, when cooled, +left standing in the air. + +One of the grandest and most beautiful objects in the valley was +directly opposite our hotel, and its music never ceased, day or +night,--the Yosemite Fall. The stream which bears this name heads about +ten miles away, and then flows down, almost directly over the mighty +precipice, into the valley below,--a depth of two thousand five hundred +and fifty feet. At this time it is about thirty-five feet wide by two or +three deep. The fall has almost the appearance of one grand shoot of +water, but it has, in reality, three divisions: the first is a descent +of fifteen hundred feet on a ledge (as it seems), though it is, in fact, +a shelf of rock, a third of a mile broad; then follow a series of +cascades for six hundred and twenty-five feet, and a final leap of four +hundred. There is water enough now to give a bright, foaming, grand +sweep of the whole cataract. It is certainly one of the most beautiful +objects the human eye can ever gaze upon! We never wearied of riding +out over the green meadows and gay, wild flowers to get some new aspect +of it. + +The only fall to compare it with, that I have ever seen, is the Vöring +Foss, in Norway. This is a fall of nine hundred and fifty feet, but the +water is so scanty that it is all resolved into wreaths of mist before +it reaches the bottom; and it makes but little impression on the mind, +compared with the Yosemite Fall. It is, moreover, confined in a narrow, +dark gorge, and must be seen usually from above. In seeing the +Californian fall, I did not even think of the Norwegian. + +The amount of water, at this season, adds immensely to the cheerfulness +and life of the valley; but it also occasioned us a great deal of +trouble in getting round. We were mired several times, and twice one of +our ladies was thrown on the soft greensward. + +But the scampering gallops through the groves under these grand scenes, +and the quiet amblings amid such beauty and sublimity, were pleasures +which nothing marred. In our rides down the caņon, we were struck by the +grand mass of the Sentinel Dome, four thousand one hundred and fifty +feet above the valley, and said to give the finest point of view in the +whole region round; the valley itself, it must be remembered, being over +four thousand feet above the sea-level. Then three-quarters of a mile +beyond is the majestic buttress of the Sentinel Rock, three thousand +feet high, of which a thousand feet is a smooth obelisk; opposite to +this are the Three Brothers, the highest three thousand eight hundred +and thirty feet, and each regularly lower than the next. + +[Illustration: RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA] + +Then comes the Cathedral Rock, two thousand six hundred and sixty feet, +with two perfect spires, the most picturesque object in the valley; then +the exquisite Pohono, or Bridal Veil, a flashing fall of a thousand feet +swaying like a silvery plume in the mountain breezes, and the grand +feature of the gorge, of which I have so often spoken, El Capitan, three +thousand six hundred feet. + +To the east of the hotel, about two miles above the falls, the valley +ends and divides into three caņons, each containing scenery as +remarkable as those of the main gorge. The northwest caņon is the Tinaya +Fork; here we have the Half Dome, a majestic inaccessible crest of +concentric granite, four thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven feet +above the valley, with a vertical face where the half sphere split off +of two thousand feet in height; the North Dome, a rounded mass, three +thousand five hundred and sixty-eight feet, and easy to ascend from the +north. In this fork is the exquisite Tisayic Lake, on which the morning +reflections are so beautifully given. + +The middle caņon, that of the Merced River, is the most important +one of the three. No ravine scenery in Europe equals this wild and +extraordinary gorge. The river, which at this season has a tremendous +body of water, descends through a wild ravine of two miles, nineteen +hundred and eighty feet. The path winds along over a series of wild +falls and rapids, till a cloud and gale of mist and wet cover it, +through which we reach a dry place at the foot of a magnificent fall, +four hundred and seventy-five feet high,--the Vernal. Then ladders are +ascended up the face of the cliff, and we rest on the dry, sunny ledge +over the boiling and whirling cataract. Still another scramble for a +mile, and we find ourselves blinded, gasping, in the breath of the +furious cataract above. We are all clad in India-rubber coats (furnished +by a guide), and drip with water, and work up, inch by inch, stooping, +as against a violent current. The gale takes away our breaths, and we +have every now and then to catch a breath; there is nothing visible +ahead but clouds of mist and driving swirls of rain, with a roar +filling the air, which prevents all voices from being heard. We are +helping the ladies on with the utmost difficulty, but at last all +reluctantly give out and turn back; but I cannot bear to give up the +view; and after groping in the furious storm and mist, I at length find +a side path through the chaparral, and soon reach a dry ledge beneath +the superb Nevada Fall,--a majestic sweep of thundering water, six +hundred and thirty-nine feet in height, more grand than any waterfall in +the valley, because of the volume of water. There is a peculiar twist in +the upper portion of it, which adds to its picturesque effect. On the +other side rises a most remarkable peak of granite, solitary and +inaccessible,--Mount Broderick, some two thousand feet. The scene as I +stood there alone beneath this sublime sweep of waters, and amid those +mighty mountain-cliffs, can never be forgotten. + +The South Fork I did not visit, but the photographs show that it +possesses scenery as romantic as the other branches of the caņon. It is +interesting to notice that these enormous waterfalls in the Merced Caņon +have scarcely an indentation on this most hard rock,--a fact probably +indicating that they have not existed a great length of time. The +comparative absence of detritus in the upper part of the main valley +would seem to show the action of water and ice, pressing the débris into +the lower portion, where more of it is found. There are, too (as was +discovered by Mr. King), something which may be called lateral moraines, +and perhaps a terminal moraine in the middle of the caņon, so that it +seems not improbable, though there is no absolute evidence, that in a +comparatively recent period glaciers existed in the upper part, and a +lake in the body of the Yosemite Caņon, the descent of the whole valley, +it must be remembered, being only fifty feet during some eight miles. + + + + +A SPORTSMAN'S EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO. + +SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE. + + [Major Price, whose hunting adventures seem to have extended + from Terra del Fuego to the northern boundary of the United + States, gives us, in his "Sport and Travel; or, The Two + Americas," a record full of incident and observation. From his + greatly varied hunting experience we select a description of + the pursuit of game in the vicinity of Acupulco, Mexico, which + is of interest as showing the conditions of animal and + vegetable life in that region.] + + +The day after our arrival, H---- and myself, getting mules and a guide, +started for Pira de la Questa, a small Indian village about twelve miles +from Acupulco, and situated near the extremity of a large lagoon, some +thirty miles in circumference, which we were informed was full of wild +fowl. Over many a rough road and in many lands have I ridden, but never +did I travel a highway like unto this. The path ran over the mountains +through a thick forest, and more resembled the bed of a water-course +than an actually connected route. Nothing but mules, whose cat-like +propensities enable them to overcome apparently insurmountable +difficulties, could possibly have done the journey. In places the path +was so narrow that two of these animals were unable to pass abreast, so +that one would be obliged to go back into a convenient corner, or +scramble up a bank, to permit the other to go by. + +The forest was dense, but, as it was just prior to the rains, almost +leafless, everything being burned and parched up except in the valleys +and bottoms of ravines, where running water rendered the vegetation +luxuriant and flourishing. This absence of foliage, though detracting +considerably from the beauty of the forest, permitted us to view all +the better its feathered denizens, and in few tropical countries have I +seen such lovely birds, or in such numbers as out here. To classify or +name them would require a man to be a perambulating encyclopædia of +natural history; but among them all I was most struck with the number of +specimens of the woodpecker class, several of which were very beautiful. +One in particular with a blood-red topknot, which glittered vividly in +the sun, I envied much for my fishing-book, and regretted the guide had +my gun in his possession nearly a mile behind. + +As the sun was setting we entered the village, which consisted of a few +mud huts with sideless roofs, and halting before one of them, was +informed by the guide that it was to be our quarters for the night. It +was simply a roof of palm-leaves over a mud floor, there being no kind +of wall or even screen, and it formed the universal dormitory of men, +women, and children, pigs and poultry, at the principal hotel--the +Claridge's, in fact--of Pira la Questa. Leaving the proprietress and her +numerous progeny engaged in hunting down an active-looking fowl for our +evening repast, we rode to the lagoon, and giving the guide our mules +to hold, shot a few of the curious-looking aquatic birds, which he +pronounced to be "buéno," or good for eating, that were feeding round +the banks. It was rapidly getting dark, and seeing at a distance some +birds that I took to be duck, I noiselessly crept down on them. To do so +I had to pass over a small spot of white sand, concealed, until I was on +it, by a clump of bushes. + +While still silently watching the birds I saw something move a little to +my right, and on turning round discovered a huge alligator, whom I had +almost cut off from the lake. The bushes had hidden us until absolutely +face to face, and he came by me with his teeth grinning and tail half +cocked, in the most unamiable frame of mind I ever saw in one of his +tribe. Without intending it, I had very nearly cut him off from his +native element; and though naturally a cowardly brute, feeling himself +to a certain degree cornered, he had evidently made up his mind to +fight. Not being prepared, with only small shot in my gun, for a duel +with the reptile, I stopped short and gave him right of way, and, as he +cleared me at about two yards, let him have both barrels behind the +shoulder to expedite his movements, and had the satisfaction of seeing +him give a jump into the water that would have done credit to a +performer for the Grand National. + +They are cowardly brutes, and though I have been frequently in parts of +the world they inhabit, I have never yet heard of an instance of a man +being attacked by one on land. In the water it is different. A boy had, +while bathing, been taken down some months since close to this very +spot; and from what I saw of the lagoon next morning, I would not have +ventured a swim there for untold gold. Had I been a little quicker, and +unintentionally barred this fellow's way to the lake, I am quite certain +he would have attacked me, as he must have passed somehow. These +creatures never take to the jungle, and, like a rat driven into a +corner, he would have been obliged to fight. + +On returning to the village we found our dinner nearly ready; bread and +liquor we had brought with us, but the hunted fowl, new-laid eggs, and +hot tortillas formed no bad meal for travellers sharp set by a mountain +ride. After feeding, we visited some of the principal houses in the +village, chaffed some of the good-humored and pretty little Indian +girls, and arranged about a canoe for the following morning. We then +slung our grass hammocks among the miscellaneous company and wooed the +drowsy god of slumber, our guide slinging his hammock up between us, +and sleeping with his machete buckled around him, ready for attack or +defence at a moment's notice. + +The machete is the invariable companion of the poorer and middle classes +of Mexicans, and the multiplicity of uses to which it is dedicated are +something wonderful to the uninitiated. With it he clears the tangled +paths in the forest; it helps to build his hut, to cut his firewood, and +eat his dinner; he uses it for purposes of warfare, and too frequently +also for purposes of assassination. The blade is broad, slightly curved, +a little shorter than an infantry officer's regulation sword, and about +twice as heavy. The handle is generally made of wood, the scabbard +leather, and the edge invariably as keen as a razor. Occasionally the +blades are ornamented with gold or silver, but the ordinary machete is +perfectly plain. + +Next morning we were up before daylight, and hastened to the banks of +the lagoon, where according to agreement we should have found our canoe. +None was forthcoming, however, and not until the sun broke fiercely +on our heads and our patience was completely exhausted did our guide +prevail on the man who was to have provided it to go in search of +another. After a still further considerable delay, at last he arrived, +but with a rickety conveyance that would only hold one gun besides the +paddler; and H----taking the canoe, I walked along the edge, and our +shooting commenced. + +The place was full of all kinds of odd-looking waterfowl. Geese, duck, +teal, pelicans, flamingo, and spoonbills were in hundreds, and many +kinds of waders unknown to me; in fact, such an extraordinary variety +of fresh-water birds I had never seen together before. The ducks were +particularly handsome, having bright bronze breasts, which shone like +burnished metal in the sun. Of teal I shot several varieties, many of +them with exceedingly beautiful and brilliant plumage; but I think among +the queer ones I killed there were none more beautiful in plumage than +the spoonbill; for though his singular and uncouth beak did not improve +his countenance, he had the most lovely and delicate tinge of rose-color +through his white feathers it is possible to conceive. We had him for +dinner two days afterwards, and found him excellent. + +Not knowing a quarter of the birds that got up, and many being fishy and +unfit for food, whenever one rose the guide would cry either "Buéno" or +"No buéno," as it happened to be fit or unfit for culinary purposes; and +so on for nine miles along the banks, sometimes through mud, at others +through sand, and at others through jungle or water, did I plod along, +taking whatever was termed "buéno," and occasionally peppering an +obtrusive alligator when he came anything inside twelve yards. + +The heat was intense, and, to add to the discomfort of walking, the +paths through the jungle and mangrove swamps occasionally bordered the +edges of the lake, and were so thickly crossed by cobwebs that they were +perpetually knocking off my hat, getting in my mouth and eyes, and at +times almost impeded my progress. I never saw anything like them. +Occasionally large forest-trees were entirely covered from top to +bottom, and so thickly shrouded that not a leaf or twig could be seen +through its unnatural-looking winding-sheet. The lagoon seemed full of +fish, which were jumping in shoals all over it; but not once during the +day did we see a single bird settle on its surface; and from the number +of alligators swimming about, I think they showed their wisdom. + +It was capital sport, but precious hard work also, and I was just about +"played out," when we reached a "ranche," where, after a pull of cold +water that must have somewhat alarmed my constitution, I tumbled into a +grass hammock, uncommonly glad to get out of the burning sun. + +A pleasant-featured young Mexican woman, with a dark-eyed, good-looking +sister, soon despatched between them one of the many chickens running +about the house; and while the _cazuela_ was preparing they very +good-naturedly washed out my shirt, lending me, _ad interim_, some +embroidered garment of their own. The rest of my clothes were hung up to +dry, every stitch on me being thoroughly saturated. H---- and the canoe +soon after arrived, and how we did enjoy the homely but excellent fare +our hostess put before us! Then came pipes and a siesta, and a couple of +hours' rest saw us fit to return. H---- had got enough of it, and, +borrowing a horse, rode back to the village. I returned in the canoe, +and got a good many shots _en route_. Our bag was a mixed one, and +consisted of the birds I have already mentioned, with several others +whose names we did not know, and four rabbits. Wild duck and teal +predominated, and the guides could hardly stagger from the canoe to the +houses with our united bag. + +The sun was fast setting as we left Pira la Questa on our return +journey, and ere we reached the mountain-top it was quite dark. Unable +to see a yard before us, but knowing we must go on, I threw the reins on +my mule's neck, and, lighting a pipe, resigned myself implicitly to his +sagacity, not only to find the path, but to avoid the obstacles which +at every step lay before him. My confidence was not misplaced. With +nose almost touching the ground, he seemed to smell his way along, and +not once during our long ride did he deviate for a second from the +proper track, or make a single false step or stumble. The sounds and +strange cries during the dark stillness of the night were very +remarkable. Whether caused by bird or insect I could not tell; but +one in particular, resembling the prolonged whistle of a locomotive +steam-engine, was frequently of more than a minute's duration without +ceasing, and of such volume and intensity that unless I had been aware +of the utter impossibility of a train being within hundreds of miles, I +would have almost sworn to so familiar a sound. The lights of Acupulco +at last came in sight, and our animals soon after deposited us safely, +after a somewhat trying but very agreeable trip.... + +On the 10th of May we left Acupulco and steamed quietly along the +Mexican coast in sight of land until we reached Manzanillo Bay, on +the southeast part of which are situated the few wretched huts that +constitute the village. The harbor is well protected from southerly +winds, but not from those directly from the westward. Behind the +village, and only a few hundred yards from the sea-beach, is a large +shallow lagoon which runs nearly forty miles into the interior, and at +the end of the dry season becomes almost empty. The exhalations at this +time rising from the mud and stagnant water are most dreadful, and even +at our anchorage the stench during the night was almost unbearable.... + +Next morning, before daylight, we started with Mr. D---- across the +lagoon to a place about an hour's row from the village, where he said +he was in the habit of getting wild duck. The lake was so shallow that +our boat often grounded, and the oars at each stroke disturbed the +black, ink-like mud that constituted the bottom. The sides were +beautifully wooded, and surrounded by ranges of hills extending far +into the interior, the edges of the water being fringed with a belt +of mangrove-trees, whose peculiarly bright green foliage contrasted +pleasingly with the sombre coloring of the leafless trees behind them. +The perfectly stagnant water was of a light-yellow tint, and as full of +alligators as it could well be.... + +After firing a good many shots, and gathering a somewhat miscellaneous +bag, Mr. D---- saw a large alligator asleep on some mud, lying half in +and half out of the water; and as I was the only one of the party who +had brought any bullets, he sent one of the guides to show me where it +lay, in hope that I might get a shot. + +Slowly, and with the greatest caution, I waded through water until I got +within twelve yards of where the brute lay, and aiming about an inch +behind the eye, drove a bullet clean into his brain. He gave a +convulsive kind of shudder and lash with his tail, and was, I believe, +dead; but to make certain I gave him the second barrel at about four +yards' distance behind the shoulder, and then felt quite confident that +I had indeed "wound him up." + +It was some time before we could induce the natives to assist in pulling +him on dry land. Though they do not mind them living and swimming about, +they are particularly careful of a wounded one, a single sweep of its +powerful tail, even when mortally stricken, being known to break both +legs of a man like a pipe-stem. Though dead enough to all intents and +purposes, an alligator, like either a shark or a turtle, will continue +possessed of a certain amount of vitality and motion for a long period +after life is really extinct. This fellow was still gently swaying his +tail about while we bent on a rope to it, and, all five of us clapping +on, soon hauled him to the dry mud on the bank, where we took his +length, opened his jaws, and generally examined the formidable-looking +reptile at our leisure. He was about fifteen feet long and inconceivably +hideous. The first bullet had smashed a large hole exactly where I +aimed,--namely, about one inch behind the eye; the skull seemed +comparatively thin there, was unprotected by any thick skin, and a large +lump of his brain was oozing through the wound. The second bullet went +through his heart; but I am convinced that it was unnecessary, as the +first shot had done all that was needful. + +Much as people have written to the contrary, I am quite satisfied now +that an alligator is as easily slain as a rabbit, if only hit in the +right place; and that place is not in the eye, as is generally stated, +but on the same level, and from an inch to an inch and a half behind it. +The brain in all reptiles lies rather far back in the head, joining +almost to the neck. By striking one in the eye from many positions it is +quite possible that the brain may not be touched at all; while, if the +ball hits the slightest degree in front of it, on the creature's long +ugly snout, the bullet might as well be chucked in the river for all +the harm it will do the alligator. Unsightly as these gentry are, the +Indians occasionally eat them. The skins are sometimes tanned; but +they smell so strong, it is an awkward job to handle them. During dry +seasons they collect in vast quantities in the small pools still left +unevaporated, and are then killed in large numbers for their hides, +which when tanned are found serviceable for many purposes. They are +tougher than ordinary leather, and resist water better. Only the belly +pieces are used. + +Some few years ago during a very heavy rain, a number of alligators got +taken out of the lake by a small river running into the sea, which was +greatly flooded. They were immediately attacked by the sharks, and a +strange battle ensued between these equally voracious monsters, which +all the people of the village flocked out to witness. The battle lasted +all day, and the noise of the combat could be heard half a mile off. +John Shark was, however, more at home in his native element than his +scaly antagonist, and eventually the alligators were all eaten up or +killed. + + + + +THE SCENERY OF THE MEXICAN LOWLANDS. + +FELIX L. OSWALD. + + [Mexico is made up of two distinctively different regions; one, + the central plateau, temperate in climate, and marked by a + great dearth of rainfall; the other, the lowland areas between + the plateau and the bordering oceans, tropical in climate and + productions, and luxuriant from abundant rains. Dr. Oswald, in + the following selection, leads us through the Valley of Oaxaca, + a section of this Tierra Caliente, or warm country, and makes + us familiar with its interesting vegetable and animal + productions and its scenic features.] + + +We had a glimpse of the sun before we finished our short breakfast, and +when we plunged into the maze of the forest the occasional vistas +through the leafy vault revealed larger and larger patches of bright +blue sky. Our so-called road, however, was worse than anything I had +ever seen or heard of Flemish or South Louisiana synonymes of that +word,--miry lagoons and spongy mud as black and as sticky as pitch. I +followed at the heels of my carrier, who preferred the lagoons and +seemed to find the shallow places by a sort of instinct, and the Switzer +managed to propel his heavy boots through the toughest quagmire; but his +boy, after losing his shoes five or six times, slung them across his +shoulder and splashed on barefoot. We kept through a comparatively open +forest of cottonwood- and tulip-trees, with a dense jungle on our +right-hand side, while on our left the land sloped towards the bottom of +the Rio Verde, which is here about five hundred paces wide, and during +the rainy season fills its muddy banks to the brink. These lower coast +forests abound in gigantic trees, whose fruits are only accessible to +the winged and four-handed denizens of the forest, but farther up the +river-shores are lined for miles with a dense growth of wild-growing +plantains, of which the natives distinguish four varieties under as +many different names. The fruit of the largest, the _cuernavacas_ +("cow-horns"), attains a weight of seven pounds, and resembles in shape +the crooked pod of the tamarind rather than the cucumber-shaped little +bananas which reach our Northern markets. They ripen very slowly, and +often rot on the tree before they become eatable, but the Mexicans +cure them over a slow fire of embers and green brushwood, after which +their taste can hardly be distinguished from that of the finest +yellow bananas. Palm-trees mingle here with the massive stems of the +cottonwoods, talipot-palms, and the _Palma prieta_, whose nut might +become a profitable article of export, having a close resemblance to a +filbert. The plum-clusters of the mango can only be reached by a bold +climber, as the trunk rises like a mast, often perfectly free from +branches for eighty or ninety feet, and the chief beneficiaries of +this region are still the macaws and squirrel-monkeys; but farther +up Pomona becomes more condescending, and the ancient Gymnosophists, +whose religion restricted true believers to a diet of wild-growing +tree-fruits, would have found their fittest home in the terrace-land +between the lower twenty miles of the Rio Verde and the foot-hills of +the Sierra de San Miguel. + +Plum-bearing bushes abound from June to September with red, yellow, +and wax-colored fruit; the _morus_, or wild mulberry-tree, literally +covers the ground with its dark, honey-sweet berries; the crown of the +pino-palm is loaded with grape-like clusters, which, struck by a cudgel, +discharge a shower of rich acorn-shaped nuts; guavas, alligator-pears, +mamayos, chirimoyas, and wild oranges display flowers and fruit at the +same time, and under the alternate influence of heat and moisture +produce their perennial crops with unfailing regularity; the algarobe +(_Mimosa siliqua_), a species of mezquite not larger than an apple-tree, +yields half a ton of the edible pods known as carob-beans or St. John's +bread; the figs of the gigantic banyan-tree furnish an aromatic syrup; +the trunks of the _Robinia viridis_ exude an edible gum; and from +the vine-tangle forming the vault of the forest hang the bunches and +clusters of forty or fifty varieties of wild grapes, many of them +superior to our scuppernongs and catawbas, while the amber-colored _Uva +real_ rivals the flavor of the finest Damascene raisin-grapes. A forced +march of ten hours through fens and silent virgin woods brought us at +last to the hummock region; the plain swelled into mounds, and the +currents of the sluggish bayous became more perceptible. The higher +levels showed vestiges of cultivation; we crossed dykes and ditches, +a neglected fence here and there, and where the larger trees had been +felled grapes and liana figs covered even the bushes and hedges in +incredible profusion. A troop of capuchin monkeys leaped from a low +mango-tree, and two stumbling youngsters who brought up the rear in the +scramble for the high timber would have tempted us to a chase if we had +not been anxious to reach less malarious quarters before night. The +neighborhood of the great swamps still betrayed itself by that peculiar +miasmatic odor which emanates from stagnant pools and decaying vegetable +matter, and in the recesses of the forest fluttered the slate-colored +swamp-moth, the ominous harbinger of the mosquito. The tipulary pests +were getting ready for action; their skirmishers, the _sancudos_ and +_Moscas negras_, had already opened the campaign, and became sensible +as well as audible in spite of the rapidity of our march. One of the +twilight species, the _Mosca delgada_, a straw-colored little midge, +bites like a fire-ant,--a mischievous and, it seems, unpractical freak +of nature, since the superfluous virulence of its sting must certainly +interfere with the business facilities of a suctorial insect. + + [As evening descended the travellers reached a cotton + plantation, and hastened to take refuge from the rising cloud + of mosquitoes.] + +The cotton-gin loomed at the farther end of the field, and was taken by +storm over piles of muck and scattered fence-rails. Seeing no ladder, +we clambered through the pivot-hole in the ceiling of a musty-smelling +machine-shed, but in the open loft above we found a delicious breeze, +and--St. Hubert be praised!--not a single mosquito. + +The carrier threw himself upon his pack with a sigh of relief, and we +squatted around the hatch to cool off before we opened our mess-bag. + +From the hills on our right came the perfume of blooming tamarisks, and +from the jungle below a cool lake-air; and at times strange voices of +the wilderness,--the hoarse bark of a cayman, answered by the shriek of +swamp-geese in the canebrakes of the Rio Verde, and in the distance now +and then a queer rustling sound, like the shaking of a tree butted by +some heavy animal. Bats were circling above our heads in the moonlight, +and our advent seemed to have excited the curiosity of a troop of +flying-squirrels, who uttered their chirping squeak now on the roof, now +in the branches of a neighboring live-oak-tree. + +After removing a layer of seed-cotton that might harbor scorpions or +centipedes, I spread my blanket near the hatch and made myself +comfortable for the night. My feet still smarted, though I had pulled +off my stockings as well as my boots; yet I could not regret the +hardships of a march which had brought us to such an encampment. The +portador was taking his ease in the centre of the floor, where the +night-wind played with his long hair, while the Swiss boy had fallen +asleep on the mantle of his countryman, who was sitting in the open +louvre, smoking his pipe in measureless content. The air up here was +delightfully cool, and, with the buzz of the legions of Beelzebub still +ringing in our ears, the sense of security itself was more than a +negative comfort. + +Baron Savarin, who wrote a treatise on the art of enjoying life, should +have added a chapter on the happiness of contrast. A snug little cottage +in a stormy November night, a shade-tree on the Llano Estacado, the +silence of the Upper Alleghanies after a "revival-meeting" in the +valleys, a bath in the dog-days, would rank above all the luxuries of +Paris and Stamboul, if unbought enjoyments could ever become +fashionable. + +The moon set soon after midnight, but we managed to readjust our luggage +by the light of greased paper spills, and entered the gates of the +foot-hills before the watch-call of the night-hawk had been silenced by +the reveille of the iris-crows. A keen land-breeze, tumbling the mists +through the fens of the Tierra Caliente, gave promise of a bright day. +What wonderful perfumes the morning wind brews from the atmosphere +of a moist tropical forest-land!--scents that haunt the memory more +persistently than the echo of a weird song. No latter-day nose could +analyze these odors and trace them to their several sources; but with or +without an attempt at further classification, they might be primarily +divided into sweet and pungent aromatic smells, the latter prevailing in +the coast jungles, the former in the mountain forests. A few of the +first named--the spicy scents--are so peculiar that, once identified, +they can be easily recognized: here, for instance, the effluvium of the +musk lianas, whose flowers diffuse a sort of odorous diapason which +predominates, even through the bouquet-medley of the South Mexican +flora. + +As the white streaks in the east assumed a yellowish tint, the paroquets +in the crests of the pino-palms saluted the morning with sudden screams; +the multitudinous voices of a crow-swarm approached from the coast +forests; two and two, and in a series of pairs, the macaws came flying +across the sky; and in our near neighborhood the startling cry of the +_chachalaca_ or jungle-pheasant went up from an hibiscus thicket. Softly +first, then louder and louder, the _calanda_, the mocking-bird of the +tropics, intonated its morning hymn, and the fluting curlew rose from +the grass like a skylark; but a sweeter sound to our ears was the +murmuring of a little brook at the roadside. We had reached the region +of rocks and swift-flowing waters. + +Of reptiles, as of Red Republicans, it may be said that they are least +dreaded in the countries where they most abound. While a New England +boarding-school virgin goes into epileptic spasms at the aspect of a +blindworm, the young Mexicanas surround themselves with a variety of +ophidian pets, and view a freckled tree-snake and a gay butterfly with +equal pleasure or equal unconcern. A little barefoot girl that met us on +her way to the spring put her toes caressingly on the smooth hide of a +green-and-white speckled _Vivora mansa_ that wriggled across the road; +and our barelegged portador kicked dozens of good-sized bush-snakes out +of our path after noticing that they frightened our young travelling +companion. More than ninety per cent of all South American snakes are as +harmless as lizards, and the four or five venomous varieties are well +known and easily avoided. + +I will here add a word on the dreaded venomous insects of the tropics. +The ant and mosquito plagues of the coast jungles can hardly be +over-estimated, but the virulence of their larger congeners is +frequently and grossly exaggerated. The chief insect-ogres of sensation +romancers and fireside travellers are three: the scorpion, the +tarantula, and the centipede, either of whom can rival the homicidal +prestige of Victor Hugo's octopus. But I may confidently appeal to +the verdict of any personal observer who has passed a few years in +the African or American tropics when I assert that these supposed +express-messengers of Death are not more venomous and are far less +aggressive than our common North American hornet. I doubt if the sting +of twenty tarantulas could cause the death of a healthy child, and I am +quite sure that a poison-ivy blister and the bite of a fire-ant are more +painful than the sting of a centipede. An hysterical lady may succumb +to the bite of a common gadfly, but I hold that only co-operative +insects--termites, wasps, bumble-bees, etc.--could ever make away with +a normally constituted human being. + +A swarm of vociferous iris-crows appeared in the sky overhead, and +before they had passed, the woods were wide awake all around. The +humming-birds were on the wing, the wood-pigeons repeated their +murmuring call in the taxus-groves, and from the lower depths of the +forest came the chattering scream of a squirrel-monkey. The rising sun +was hidden by the tree-tops of the eastern valleys when we halted on the +summit of a rocky bluff, but the mountain mists had disappeared, and the +vistas on our left afforded a dazzling view of the sunlit foot-hills and +the valley of the Rio Verde. The river is here crossed by a rope-ferry a +little above its junction with a tributary that drains the glorious +valley of Morillo and an Alpine group whose wooded heights stand in my +memory like a vision of a Ganadesha, the mountain park of Indra's +Paradise. + +The air of these woodlands is the antithesis of our Northern workshop +atmosphere. There is a feeling of delight--our lost sixth sense, I am +tempted to call it--which gratifies the lungs rather than the olfactory +organ if you inhale the morning breezes, oxidated, and perhaps +ozonized, by the first influence of sunlight on the aromatic vegetation +of these hills,--a delight which, like the charm of harmonious sounds, +reacts on the soul, and awakens emotions which have lain dormant in the +human breast since we exchanged the air of our Summer-land home for the +dust of our hyperborean tenement-prisons. + +The hum of insects soon mingled with the bird-voices of our forest. To +and fro, in fitful flight, flashed the _libellas_, the glitter-winged +dragon-flies, and a few large papilios flopped lazily through the +dew-drenched foliage. No gnats up here, but thousands of tiny, +honey-seeking wasps and midges, and bright-winged grasshoppers that rose +with a fluttering spring when the first sunbeams reached the damp +underbrush. Ants hurried about their daily toil, and when we ascended +the next ridge we saw various kinds of lizards flitting across the road +or basking on the wayside rocks, one of them a sort of dwarf iguana of a +moss-green tint, on which protective color it seemed to rely for its +safety, as its movements were as sluggish as those of a toad. + +As we kept steadily up-hill, the sun seemed to mount very rapidly, +and, peak after peak, the summits of the upper Sierra rose into view. +Zempantepec, La Sirena, and the Nevada de Colcoyan towered above the +rest, the latter at least four thousand feet above the snow-line. Few +prospects on earth could efface the impression of that panorama. In the +Sierra de San Miguel our continent reproduces the Syrian Lebanon on a +grander scale. Septimius Severus, who vacillated between his throne and +the Elysian valleys of Daphne, would have renounced the empire of the +world for the mountain-gardens of the Val de Morillo, and the giants of +the cypress forests on the southeastern slope of the Sierra dwarf all +the cedars of Bashan and Hebron. The largest, though not the tallest, +of these trees, the cypress of Maria del Tule (twelve miles south of San +Miguel), which Humboldt calls the "oldest vegetable monument of our +globe," has a diameter of forty-two feet, a circumference of one hundred +and thirty-six feet near the ground and of one hundred and four feet +higher up, and measures two hundred and eighty-two feet between the +extremities of two opposite branches. Yet this tree has many rivals in +the Val de Morillo and near the sources of the Rio Verde, where groups +of grayish-green mountain-firs rise like hillocks above the surrounding +vegetation. + +On our right extended the orange-gardens of Casa Blanca for two miles +along the base of the hill to a deep ravine, reappearing on the other +side, where their white-blooming tree-tops mingled with the copses of a +banana-plantation. Farther up, euphorbias and hibiscus prevailed, and +the upper limit of the foot-hills is marked by the paler green of the +cork-oak forests that cover the slopes of the sierra proper. In the +northeast this sierra becomes linked with the ramifications of the +central Cordilleras, and connected with our ridge by one of the +densely-wooded spurs that flank the plateau of the Llanos Ventosos. The +rocks at our feet belonged, therefore, to a mountain-chain that might be +called a lineal continuation of the Gila range in Arizona and Nueva +Leon. But what a difference in the climate and scenery! There arid +rocks and thorny ravines; here dense mountain forests, deep rivers, +a saturated atmosphere, and springs on almost every acre of ground. +The very brambles in the rock-clefts were fresh with dew, and the +sprouts of the broom-furze looked like wildering asparagus. The ravines +flamed with flowers of every size and every hue. An agent of a London +or Hamburg curiosity-dealer might make his living here with a common +butterfly-net. On any sunny forenoon an active boy could gather a +stock of Lepidoptera that would create a bonanza sensation among the +collectors of a North European capital. The rhododendron thickets of +the upper Rio Verde are frequented by gigantic varieties of nymphalis, +vanessa, and parnassius, which would retail in Brussels at from two to +ten dollars apiece. + +The sun rose higher, but not the thermometer, and when we clambered up +through an orchard of scattered cherry-trees I am sure that the maximum +temperature in the shade did not exceed sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. +We had reached the Llanos Ventosos, the air-plains of San Miguel, the +playground of the four winds of heaven, where sun-strokes are unknown, +though the mists of the rainy season never cloud their deep-blue sky. +Down in the coast jungles the Rain-fiend was at it again: dark-gray +showers swept visibly along the shore, while the foot-hills simmered +under the rays of a vertical sun. But up here the air was dry as well as +cool; the edge of the plateau is at least six thousand feet above the +level of the Pacific, which is in plain view from Punta Piedra to the +downs of Tehuantepec. + +We entered the village about two P.M., and my companions conducted me +to a little frame house, where I was hospitably received by the Indian +gardener and the daughters of Pastor Wenck, the minister of the +Protestant part of the community, whose brother in Tehuantepec had +intrusted me with different letters, with a note of introduction. The +pastor had harnessed his mule an hour ago to get a load of Spanish moss +from the foot-hills, so I left my carrier in charge of the Indian +gardener and sauntered out into the village. + +Neubern (New Bern) de San Miguel--or Villa Cresciente, as it was +originally called, from its situation on a crescent-shaped bluff--was +founded in 1865 under the happiest auspices, the charter of the colony +including such inducements as exemption from taxes for the first five +years, free roads and schools, gratuitous seed-corn, farming implements, +etc., to indigent immigrants, and attracted a considerable number of the +very best agriculturists from Tyrol and Southern Switzerland. But after +the collapse of the imperial government a waning moon would have +been the fitter emblem of the Crescent Village: its privileges were +abrogated, and many of the disappointed Bauern returned to their native +countries. Still, the appointment of a few half-Indian officials is the +only positive grievance of the colonists, and the advantages of their +climate and situation might well reconcile them to greater +inconveniences. + +At a distance of only sixteen degrees from the equator, the average +temperatures of the coldest and warmest months differ less than spring +and summer in the United States, so that the September weather of +Geneva or Innspruck is here as perennial as a sea-fog in Newfoundland. +During a residence of seven years, Pastor Wenck has chronicled four +thunder-storms, twenty-two common storms, two hoar-frosts (both in +November), one sultry day, and two hundred and eight short showers, +leaving a balance of two thousand two hundred and ninety-two days of +_himmelswetter_,--heaven weather,--as he called it, alternating with +cool nights whose dew indemnifies the fields for the scantiness of the +annual rainfall. Yet the denizens of this Himmel-land come in for a +first-hand share of all the luxuries which a compensating nature has +lavished on the inhabitants of the sweltering Tierra Caliente. + +Forty or fifty varieties of tropical fruits come to their tables in +a freshness and sun-ripened sweetness quite unknown to our Northern +markets; their builders may select their material from groves of +mahogany, iron-wood, American ebony, green-heart, euphorbia, and other +timber-trees of the coast swamps; cacao, vanilla, gums, and frankincense +can be bought at half trade prices, and an excursion of ten miles will +take them to a region where the pot-hunter can fill his bag day after +day without fear of ever exhausting the meat-supply, where the +adventurous sportsman may try his luck and the mettle of his dogs, and +where the naturalist can revel in all the wonders of a tropical terra +incognita. + + + + +AMONG THE RUINS OF YUCATAN. + +JOHN L. STEPHENS. + + [The Egypt of America, as one may fairly call the Maya region + of Yucatan, was first brought prominently into notice by John + L. Stephens, who did yeoman service in exploring the massive + monuments of a past civilization there scattered, and in + describing and picturing their remarkable details. Since his + period many travellers have visited and studied these vast + remains and described them in abundant detail. But Stephens + visited that region as a discoverer, and from his works we + select a description of the difficulties under which he labored + in his interesting work of exploration at Copan. He had taken + quarters in a hut near the ruins, and returned to his former + quarters for his luggage. The homeward journey was accomplished + under stress of opposing circumstances.] + + +In the mean time it began to rain; and, settling my accounts with the +seņora, thanking her for her kindness, leaving an order to have some +bread baked for the next day, and taking with me an umbrella and a blue +bag, contents unknown, belonging to Mr. Catherwood, which he had +particularly requested me to bring, I set out on my return. Augustin +followed, with a tin teapot and some other articles for immediate use. +Entering the woods, the umbrella struck against the branches of the +trees and frightened the mule; and, while I was endeavoring to close it, +she fairly ran away with me. Having only a halter, I could not hold her, +and, knocking me against the branches, she ran through the woods, +splashed into the river, missing the fording-place, and never stopped +till she was breast-deep. The river was swollen and angry, and the rain +pouring down. Rapids were forming a short distance below. In the effort +to restrain her I lost Mr. Catherwood's blue bag, caught at it with the +handle of the umbrella, and would have saved it if the beast had stood +still; but as it floated under her nose she snorted and started back. I +broke the umbrella in driving her across, and, just as I touched the +shore, saw the bag floating towards the rapids, and Augustin, with his +clothes in one hand and the teapot in the other, both above his head, +steering down the river after it. Supposing it to contain some +indispensable drawing-materials, I dashed among the thickets on the +bank, in the hope of intercepting it, but became entangled among +branches and vines. + +I dismounted and tied my mule, and was two or three minutes working +my way to the river, where I saw Augustin's clothes and the teapot, +but nothing of him, and, with the rapids roaring below, had horrible +apprehensions. It was impossible to continue along the bank; so, with a +violent effort, I jumped across a rapid channel to a ragged island of +sand covered with scrub-bushes, and, running down to the end of it, saw +the whole face of the river and the rapids, but nothing of Augustin. I +shouted with all my strength, and, to my inexpressible relief, heard +an answer, but, in the noise of the rapids, very faint; presently he +appeared in the water, working himself round a point and hauling upon +the bushes. Relieved about him, I now found myself in a quandary. +The jump back was to higher ground, the stream a torrent, and, the +excitement over, I was afraid to attempt it. It would have been +exceedingly inconvenient for me if Augustin had been drowned. Making his +way through the bushes and down to the bank opposite with his dripping +body, he stretched a pole across the stream, by springing upon which I +touched the edge of the opposite bank, slipped, but hauled myself up by +the bushes with the aid of a lift from Augustin. + +All this time it was raining very hard, and now I had forgotten +where I tied my mule. We were several minutes looking for her, and, +wishing everything but good luck to the old bag, I mounted. Augustin, +principally because he could carry them more conveniently on his back, +put on his clothes. + + [Reaching a village, he took shelter till the rain abated, but + it began worse than ever after he again took to the road.] + +I rode on some distance, and again lost my way. It was necessary to +enter the woods on the right. I had come out by a foot-path which I had +not noticed particularly. There were cattle-paths in every direction, +and within the line of a mile I kept going in and out, without hitting +the right one. Several times I saw the print of Augustin's feet, but +soon lost them in puddles of water, and they only confused me more; at +length I came to a complete standstill. It was nearly dark; I did not +know which way to turn; and as Mr. Henry Pelham did when in danger of +drowning in one of the gutters of Paris, I stood still and halloed. To +my great joy, I was answered by a roar from Augustin, who had been lost +longer than I, and was even in greater tribulation. He had the teapot in +his hand, the stump of an unlighted cigar in his mouth, was plastered +with mud from his head to his heels, and altogether a most distressful +object. + +We compared notes, and, selecting a path, shouting as we went, our +united voices were answered by barking dogs and Mr. Catherwood, who, +alarmed at our absence, and apprehending what had happened, was coming +out with Don Miguel to look for us. I had no change of clothes, and +therefore stripped and rolled myself in a blanket, in the style of a +North American Indian. All the evening peals of thunder crashed over our +heads, lightning illuminated the dark forest and flashed through the +open hut, the rain fell in torrents, and Don Miguel said that there was +a prospect of being cut off for several days from all communication with +the opposite side of the river and from our luggage. Nevertheless, we +passed the evening with great satisfaction, smoking cigars of Copan +tobacco, the most famed in Central America, of Don Miguel's own growing +and his wife's own making.... + +At daylight the clouds still hung over the forest; as the sun rose they +cleared away; our workmen made their appearance, and at nine o'clock we +left the hut. The branches of the trees were dripping wet, and the +ground was very muddy. Trudging once more over the district which +contained the principal monuments, we were startled by the immensity of +the work before us, and very soon concluded that to explore the whole +extent would be impossible. Our guides knew only of this district; but +having seen columns beyond the village, a league distant, we had reason +to believe that others were strewed in different directions, completely +buried in the woods and entirely unknown. The woods were so dense that +it was almost hopeless to think of penetrating them. The only way to +make a thorough exploration would be to cut down the whole forest and +burn the trees. This was incompatible with our immediate purposes, might +be considered taking liberties, and could only be done in the dry +season. + +After deliberation we resolved first to obtain drawings of the +sculptured columns. Even in this there was great difficulty. The designs +were very complicated, and so different from anything Mr. Catherwood had +ever seen before as to be perfectly unintelligible. The cutting was in +very high relief, and required a strong body of light to bring up the +figures, and the foliage was so thick and the shade so deep that drawing +was impossible. + +After much consultation we selected one of the "idols," and determined +to cut down the trees around it, and thus lay it open to the rays +of the sun. Here again was difficulty. There was no axe, and the +only instrument which the Indians possessed was the machete, or +chopping-knife, which varies in form in different sections of the +country. Wielded with one hand, it was useful in clearing away shrubs +and branches, but almost harmless upon large trees; and the Indians, as +in the days when the Spaniards discovered them, applied to work without +ardor, carried it on with little activity, and, like children, were +easily diverted from it. One hacked into a tree, and when tired, which +happened very soon, sat down to rest, and another relieved him. While +one worked there were always several looking on. I remembered the ring +of the woodman's axe in the forest at home, and wished for a few +long-sided Green Mountain boys. + +But we had been buffeted into patience, and watched the Indians while +they hacked with their machetes, and even wondered that they succeeded +so well. At length the trees were felled and dragged aside, a space +cleared around the base, Mr. C.'s frame set up, and he set to work. I +took two Mestitzoes, Bruno and Francisco, and, offering them a reward +for every new discovery, with a compass in my hand set out on a tour of +exploration. Neither had seen "the idols" until the morning of our first +visit, when they followed in our train to laugh at los Ingleses; but +very soon they exhibited such an interest that I hired them. Bruno +attracted my attention by his admiration, as I supposed, of my person; +but I found it was of my coat, which was a long shooting-frock, with +many pockets, and he said that he could make one just like it except the +skirts. He was a tailor by profession, and in the intervals of a great +job upon a roundabout jacket worked with his machete. But he had an +inborn taste for the arts. As we passed through the woods nothing +escaped his eye, and he was professionally curious touching the costumes +of the sculptured figures. I was struck with the first development of +their antiquarian taste. Francisco found the feet and legs of a statue, +and Bruno a part of the body to match, and the effect was electric upon +both. They searched and raked up the ground with their machetes till +they found the shoulders, and set it up entire except the head; and they +were both eager for the possession of instruments with which to dig and +find this remaining fragment. + +It is impossible to describe the interest with which I explored these +ruins. The ground was entirely new; there were no guide-books or guides; +the whole was a virgin soil. We could not see ten yards before us, and +never knew what we should stumble upon next. At one time we stopped to +cut away branches and vines which concealed the face of a monument, and +then to dig round and bring to light a fragment, a sculptured corner of +which protruded from the earth. I leaned over with breathless anxiety +while the Indians worked, and an eye, an ear, a foot, or a hand was +disentombed; and when the machete rang against the chiselled stone, I +pushed the Indians away and cleared out the loose earth with my hands. +The beauty of the sculpture, the solemn stillness of the woods, +disturbed only by the scrambling of monkeys and the chattering of +parrots, the desolation of the city, and the mystery that hung over it, +all created an interest higher, if possible, than I had ever felt among +the ruins of the Old World. After several hours' absence I returned to +Mr. Catherwood, and reported upward of fifty objects to be copied. + +I found him not so well pleased as I expected with my report. He was +standing with his feet in the mud, and was drawing with his gloves on, +to protect his hands from the mosquitoes. As we feared, the designs +were so intricate and complicated, the subjects so entirely new and +unintelligible, that he had great difficulty in drawing. He had made +several attempts, both with the camera lucida and without, but failed to +satisfy himself or even me, who was less severe in criticism. The "idol" +seemed to defy his art; two monkeys on a tree on one side appeared to be +laughing at him, and I felt discouraged and despondent. In fact, I made +up my mind, with a pang of regret, that we must abandon the idea of +carrying away any materials for antiquarian speculation, and must be +content with having seen them ourselves. Of that satisfaction nothing +could deprive us. We returned to the hut with our interest undiminished, +but sadly out of heart as to the result of our labors. + + [Meanwhile, the blue bag which had caused so much trouble was + recovered, under the incitement of a dollar reward. It was + found to contain a pair of old, but water-proof, boots, whose + recovery cheered Mr. Catherwood's heart, enabling him the next + day to defy the wet mud.] + +That day Mr. Catherwood was much more successful in his drawings; +indeed, at the beginning the light fell exactly as he wished, and he +mastered the difficulty. His preparations, too, were much more +comfortable, as he had his water-proofs, and stood on a piece of oiled +canvas used for covering luggage on the road. I passed the morning in +selecting another monument, clearing away the trees, and preparing it +for him to copy. At one o'clock Augustin came to call us to dinner. Don +Miguel had a patch of beans, from which Augustin gathered as many as he +pleased, and, with the fruits of a standing order for all the eggs in +the village, being three or four a day, strings of beef, and bread and +milk from the hacienda, we did very well. In the afternoon we were again +called off by Augustin, with the message that the alcalde had come to +pay us a visit. As it was growing late, we broke up for the day, and +went back to the hut. We shook hands with the alcalde, and gave him +and his attendants cigars, and were disposed to be sociable; but the +dignitary was so tipsy he could hardly speak. His attendants sat +crouching on the ground, swinging themselves on their knee-joints, and, +though the positions were different, reminding us of the Arabs. In a few +minutes the alcalde started up suddenly, made a staggering bow, and left +us. + + [Yet trouble was brewing for them. They had made an enemy of + the great man of the district, and he stirred up the people to + hostility. The annoyance grew so great that Stephens found it + necessary to take some steps to restore amity.] + +Mr. Catherwood went to the ruins to continue his drawings, and I to the +village, taking Augustin with me to fire the Balize guns, and buy up +eatables for a little more than they were worth. My first visit was to +Don José Maria. After clearing up our character, I broached the subject +of a purchase of the ruins; told him that, on account of my public +business, I could not remain as long as I desired, but wished to return +with spades, pickaxes, ladders, crowbars, and men, build a hut to live +in, and make a thorough exploration; that I could not incur the expense +at the risk of being refused permission to do so; and, in short, in +plain English, asked him, "What will you take for the ruins?" I think +he was not more surprised than if I had asked him to buy his poor old +wife, our rheumatic patient, to practise medicine upon. He seemed to +doubt which of us was out of his senses. The property was so utterly +worthless that my wanting to buy it seemed very suspicious. On examining +the paper, I found that he did not own the fee, but held under a lease +from Don Bernardo de Aguila, of which three years were unexpired. The +tract consisted of about six thousand acres, for which he paid eighty +dollars a year; he was at a loss what to do, but told me that he would +reflect upon it, consult his wife, and give me an answer at the hut the +next day. + +I then visited the alcalde, but he was too tipsy to be susceptible of +any impression; prescribed for several patients; and instead of going to +Don Gregorio's sent him a polite request by Don José Maria to mind his +own business and let us alone; returned and passed the rest of the day +among the ruins. It rained during the night, but again cleared off in +the morning, and we were on the ground early. My business was to go +around with the workmen to clear away trees and bushes, dig, and +excavate, and prepare monuments for Mr. Catherwood to copy. While so +engaged, I was called off by a visit from Don José Maria, who was still +undecided what to do; and not wishing to appear too anxious, told him to +take more time, and come again the next morning. + +The next morning he came, and his condition was truly pitiable. He was +anxious to convert unproductive property into money, but afraid, and +said that I was a stranger, and it might bring him into difficulty with +the government. I again went into proof of character, and engaged to +save him harmless with the government, or release him. Don Miguel read +my letters of recommendation, and re-read the letter of General Cascara. +He was convinced, but these papers did not give him a right to sell his +land; the shade of suspicion still lingered; for a finale, I opened +my trunk, put on a diplomatic coat, with a profusion of large eagle +buttons. I had on a Panama hat, soaked with rain and spotted with mud, a +check shirt, white pantaloons, yellow up to the knees with mud, and was +about as _outré_ as the negro king who received a company of British +officers on the coast of Africa in a cocked hat and military coat, +without any inexpressibles; but Don José Maria could not withstand the +buttons on my coat; the cloth was the finest he had ever seen; and Don +Miguel, and his wife, and Bartale realized fully that they had in their +hut an illustrious incognito. The only question was who should find +paper on which to draw the contract. I did not stand upon trifles, and +gave Don Miguel some paper, who took our mutual instructions, and +appointed the next day for the execution of the deed. + +The reader is perhaps curious to know how old cities sell in Central +America. Like other articles of trade, they are regulated by the +quantity in market and the demand; but, not being staple articles, +like cotton and indigo, they were held at fancy prices, and at that time +were dull of sale. I paid fifty dollars for Copan. There was never any +difficulty about price. I offered that sum, for which Don José Maria +thought me only a fool; if I had offered more, he would probably have +considered me something worse. + +We had regular communications with the hacienda by means of Francisco, +who brought thence every morning a large waccal of milk, carrying it a +distance of three miles and fording the river twice. The ladies of the +hacienda had sent us word they intended paying us a visit, and this +morning Don Gregorio's wife appeared, leading a procession of all the +women of the house, servants, and children, with two of her sons. We +received them among the ruins, seated them as well as we could, and, as +the first act of civility, gave them cigars all around. It can hardly be +believed, but not one of them, not even Don Gregorio's sons, had ever +seen the "idols" before, and now they were much more curious to see Mr. +C.'s drawings. In fact, I believe it was the fame of these drawings that +procured us the honor of the visit. In his heart, Mr. C. was not much +happier to see them than the old Don was to see us, as his work was +stopped, and every day was precious. As I considered myself in a manner +the proprietor of the city, I was bound to do the honors; and, to the +distress of Mr. C., brought them all back upon him. + +Obliged to give up work, we invited them down to the hut to see our +accommodations; some of them were our patients and reminded us we had +not sent the medicines we promised. The fact is, we avoided giving +medicines when we could, among other reasons, from an apprehension that +if any one happened to die on our hands we should be held responsible; +but our reputation was established; honors were buckled on our backs and +we were obliged to wear them. These ladies, in spite of Don Gregorio's +crustiness, had always treated us kindly, and we would fain have shown +our sense of it in some other mode than by giving them physic; but to +gratify them in their own way, we distributed among them powders and +pills, with written directions for use; and when they went away escorted +them some distance, and had the satisfaction of hearing that they +avenged us on Don Gregorio by praises of our gallantry and attentions. + + [As regards the wonderful discoveries which Mr. Stephens made + in his low-priced city, the story is much too extensive to be + given here, and those who would know more about these + remarkable ruins must refer to his "Incidents of Travel in + Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," which will be found + abundantly worth perusal.] + + + + +THE ROUTE OF THE NICARAGUA CANAL. + +JULIUS FROEBEL. + + [The waters which it is proposed to utilize in the construction + of the Nicaragua Canal, mainly those of the San Juan River and + the Lake of Nicaragua, are of sufficient interest to call for + some description at our hands, and we subjoin, from Froebel's + "Seven Years of Travel in Central America," an account of a + journey on those waters.] + + +At that time [1850] steamboats were not yet plying on the San Juan River +and the Lake of Nicaragua, and I had to content myself with the +accommodations of one of the large canoes of the natives called +_bongos_, which were then the principal means of transport between the +coast and the interior, for passengers as well as for merchandise. In +company with two Americans, who, like myself, were anxious to proceed to +Granada, I hired one of the largest of these clumsy little crafts, +manned with ten boatmen or _marineros_, together with their captain or +_patron_, all of them colored people from the interior. We laid in +provisions for a fortnight, such being the full time of a passage which +is now performed by steamers in two days. + +We left San Juan on the 23d of November, and arrived at Granada on the +5th of the following month. In reference to the beauties of nature the +trip is one of the most interesting that can be made, though the state +of my health prevented my enjoying it.... An open shed, furnished with a +hammock and surrounded by a plantain garden of half an acre, was the +only improvement in an extent of more than a hundred miles. With this +single exception, and with that of the site of the old castle of San +Juan, more generally known by the popular name of _Castillo Vičjo_, the +banks were covered with trees to the water's edge, their branches often +bearing a vegetation of vines, climbers, and parasites, so densely +interwoven that the whole appeared like a solid wall of leaves and +flowers. + +I shall never forget the impressions of one night and morning on this +river. Our boat had anchored in the midst of the stream. Strange forms +of trees, spectre-like in the dark, stood before us, and seemed to move +as the eye strove in vain to make out their real shape. From time to +time a splash in the water, caused by the movement of an alligator, the +bellowing of a manatee, the screeching of a night-bird, or the roar of +some beast of the forest, broke the silence, and mingled at last with my +feverish dream. + +In the morning a song our boatmen addressed to the Virgin roused me from +my sleep. It was a strain of plaintive notes in a few simple but most +expressive modulations. Several years later I heard them again, sung by +the Mexican miners in the subterraneous chapel of the quicksilver mine +of New Almaden in California, and I never shall forget the deep emotion +felt on both occasions, so widely different in every other respect. In +the latter the scene passed in a narrow excavation before a little altar +cut out of the natural rock, on which, before a gilded image of the +Virgin, two thin tallow candles were casting their scanty light over the +forms of fifteen or twenty men calling down the blessing of Heaven on +their day of work in the interior of the mountain. In the former, it was +in the brightness and splendor of a morning of which no description can +convey a full idea to one who has had no experience in the most favored +regions of a tropical climate. The sun was just rising, and as the +first rays, gilding the glassy leaves of the forest, fell upon the +bronze-colored bodies of our men, letting the naked forms of their +athletic frames appear in all the contrast of light and shade, while +accents plaintive and imploring strained forth from their lips, I +thought to hear the sacred spell by which, unconscious of its power, +these men were subduing their own half-savage natures. + +At once the same song was repeated from behind a projecting corner +of the bank, and other voices joined those of our crew in the sacred +notes. Two canoes, covered from our view, had anchored near us during +the night. The song at last died away in the wilderness. A silent +prayer--our anchor was raised, and, with a wild shout of the crew, +twelve oars simultaneously struck the water. The sun was glittering in +the river. The tops of the trees were steeped in light, monkeys were +swinging in the branches, splendid macaws flew in pairs from bank to +bank; all around exhibited the glory and brightness of superabundant +nature. + +Near the mouth of the river, as far up as the higher end of its delta, +the banks are almost on the water's level, overgrown with reeds, +mangroves, and a low species of palm-tree, the latter forming extensive +thickets in the swamps. After a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles +the land gradually becomes a little higher, and steep embankments of a +brown or reddish clay rise to some ten or twenty feet above the water. +The low palm thickets of the swampy region disappear, and a vegetation +of splendid trees, mostly exogenous, overhung with blooming vines, takes +their place. Flowery garlands, swung from branch to branch, hang over +the stream, while now and then the slender shaft of one of the tallest +species of the palm tribe wafts its little crown of feathery leaves high +over the gorgeous masses of the heavier foliage. + +Eight or ten miles higher up the region of the _randales_, or rapids, +begins. Here the river, locked in between wooded hills, presents a new +character of scenery. The trees, covering the hill-sides with an almost +impenetrable forest, exhibit an extraordinary variety of forms in +striking contrast. The most interesting situation in this region is that +of the _Castillo Vičjo_. Here, where the river foams over a bed of +rocks, stands the old Spanish castle of _Don Juan_. Since 1780 it has +remained a ruin, though Nicaragua has always kept a few soldiers here, +occupying a shed at the foot of the hill on which the remains of the +fort are seen. In the civil wars of the last years this place has +repeatedly been occupied and evacuated by the contending powers. + +Among the rapids, that of the Castillo Vičjo is the only one that forms +a real impediment in the navigation of the river. With the necessary +caution canoes may descend, and I myself have passed over it on my way +back to the coast in a bongo carrying forty passengers; upward, however, +all boats must be towed, after having been unloaded.... + +Above the region of the rapids the river is almost stagnant, and +the designation of the _aguas muertas_, or dead waters, is not +inappropriately applied to it. It is a deep and still water, full +of fish, with low and swampy banks, on which the palm thickets of +the delta reappear. + +Beyond this latter portion of the river the Lake of Nicaragua opens to +the view. On the little promontory formed by the lake and the inlet of +the river the custom-house of Nicaragua, designated by the high-sounding +name of the "fort of San Carlos," has been established. There are a few +houses at this place, and a small military force is kept up to protect +the establishment and, in case of necessity, enforce the payment of the +dues. The ruins of an old Spanish castle still exist here, but they are +hidden among the trees and shrubs with which they are overgrown. + +The view from this elevation has a peculiar character of grandeur. At +the foot of the hill a broad sheet of water is spread, studded, in +the immediate neighborhood, with some green islands of diminutive +dimensions, and extending, in a northwesterly direction, as far as the +eye can reach. To the left, a low wooded shore begins at the outlet +of the lake, and continues in that direction till it is lost in the +distance of the western horizon. A chain of high mountains, cast in a +shroud of dark forests, rises in the rear, covering an unknown region +of Costa Rica. It comprises several active volcanoes, which on late +occasions have illumined the surface of the lake by their flames and +red-hot streams of lava. To the right, the view does not extend beyond +the nearest hills; but at a short distance from the lake it ranges over +a long line of broken eminences, with the mountain-chain of Chontales in +the rear, bordering like a wall the table-land of Upper Mosquitia. Hill +and dale, forests and savannas, appear in endless variety in this +direction. On the distant horizon in the centre of the view the two +cones of the island of Ometepe are seen, faintly traced, and as their +forms are lifted upward by refraction, they seem to swim over the water. + +At the very spot where the San Juan River leaves the lake the Rio Frio +enters it. This is a river coming down from the mountains of Costa Rica, +through an absolute wilderness which, it is asserted, has never been +trodden by the foot of a civilized man. The dense forests of this region +are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians who refuse to have any +intercourse with the rest of the world. They are said to be of very fair +complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of _Indios +blancos_ or _Guatusos_,--the latter name being that of an animal of +reddish-brown color, and intended to designate the color of their hair. +It is stated that not only do they not allow a foreigner to enter their +territory, but that they are even in the habit of killing those of +their own people who again fall into their hands after having been away +among the civilized inhabitants of the neighboring settlements.... + +While in California, I heard of a young German, living in the +neighborhood of San Francisco, who recounts a little romance of +adventures he met with among this people. Though the story was not told +to me by the man himself, still, as it was repeated by a trustworthy +friend who had derived it from the original source, I may be allowed to +introduce it here. + +The young man was on his way to California. When at San Carlos he had +some difference or quarrel with his travelling companions, and, being +afraid of a pistol-ball or a bowie-knife, took the desperate resolution +of swimming to the opposite side of the river, where he soon fell into +the hands of a body of these Indians. He was tied to a tree, and they +then held a council as to the manner--so at least he believed--of +putting him to death. Suddenly, however, as it has happened before in +similar cases, a young girl, the daughter of the chief, hurried forth, +clasped her arms round the neck of my blue-eyed countryman, and gave a +favorable turn to his fate. + +Of course, he married the girl, and, as the consort of this Indian +princess, he spent a few months in the forest, till he was ungrateful +enough to forsake his generous bride, and avail himself of an +opportunity to swim back to San Carlos, continuing, after this romantic +episode, his journey to California. + +According to his statements, he would have remained with the Indians had +he been able to endure the life in the wilderness, which he found rather +too ill-provided with accommodations for enjoying his honeymoon. During +the rainy season the tribe lived almost exclusively on the trees, and he +speaks in very high terms of the dexterity with which they would leap +from branch to branch, a mode of travelling in which he often found it +too difficult to follow his nimble spouse. At the time of each full moon +the whole tribe met in council, for which the place was designated from +one meeting to the next by the chief, and whatever was done by common +agreement was regulated according to the phases of the moon. + +Some years before the period of my first arrival in Nicaragua, the +officer then in command of the fort of San Carlos fitted out an +expedition for the purpose of exploring the country on the Rio Frio, +which is known to be rich in gold. This little corps, having hit upon a +deserted village of the Indians on the bank of the river, and resting in +the shade of some trees in the outskirts of the forest, was suddenly +assailed by a shower of arrows, and, with the exception of the +commanding officer, who was severely wounded, but succeeded in hiding +himself between the reeds till a boat from the fort came to his rescue, +every man of the expeditionary force was killed.... + +Our passage up the river had taken us nine days, making an average +progress of about twelve miles per day. Three days more were spent in +crossing the lake. With the native boatmen it seems to be a rule to +abstain from using oars even when they are becalmed. Before we left the +_aguas muertas_ a small tree had been cut. This was now erected as a +mast, a sail was spread, and slowly we began to move in the direction of +Granada. Our navigation was of a very primitive kind. At night, while +every soul on board slept soundly, our bongo was left to find its own +way, which, however, it refused to do; for when we awoke at dawn I saw +we were heading to the place we had come from. By and by, nevertheless, +we drew nearer to our point of destination. When we had left the two +peaks of Ometepe on one side, the summit of Mombacho, designating the +site of Granada, gradually rose from the water. We passed the island of +Zapotera, celebrated for its idols, which have been discovered and +described by my friend Mr. Squier. It is uninhabited, and may be said to +be a mountain covered with a forest, here and there interrupted by a +savanna. Like other islands in this lake, it contains numerous wild +animals, such as deer, peccaries, monkeys, and panthers.... + +On the evening of the 5th of December we doubled the outermost rock of +the _Corrales_ or _Isletas_, a cluster of more than a hundred diminutive +islands at the foot of the Mombacho, and a few hours after dark landed +on the _playa_, or beach, of Granada. + + + + +THE DESTRUCTION OF SAN SALVADOR. + +CARL SCHERZER. + + [Dr. Carl Scherzer, in his "Travels in the Free States of + Central America," gives a graphic picture of the destruction, + in 1854, of the city of San Salvador by an earthquake, as + witnessed by his friend Dr. Wagner, whose description of the + event is well worth repeating. This city, which stands on a + plateau about two thousand feet above the Pacific, was built by + the Spaniards in 1528, and, with the exception of Guatemala, + was the neatest and handsomest of Central American cities, + possessing several handsome churches, a new university, and + numerous attractive residences.] + + +On the 12th and 13th of April, 1854, there was heard in the upper part +of the city, towards the southwest, a hollow, subterranean, rumbling +noise, which recurred at short intervals and continued for several +minutes, appearing to come from the mountains which form a kind of large +semi-circle at the foot of the volcano, but there was no shock whatever. +On the Good Friday, at half-past seven in the morning, two slight +shocks, quickly succeeding each other, were felt, and about ten minutes +afterwards a rather stronger one. The roof and walls of my cottage +shook, without my at first perceiving the cause; but a young Spaniard, +who waited on me, said, quietly, "_Es un temblor_." Being a native of +the country, he was accustomed to the phenomenon, and thought little of +it. + +These tremblings and rockings of the earth, that seem so terrible to us +Europeans, are such ordinary occurrences in the environs of San Salvador +that the district has acquired the name of the "swinging mat;" but these +shocks, though frequent, had never been hitherto of the violent and +destructive character which they have assumed at Valparaiso and Lima, +where about once in a century the destruction of a town is reckoned on +as a matter of course. + +The volcano of Isalco, too, being in constant activity, and only +forty-eight miles south of the city of San Salvador, had always been +regarded as a chimney and safety-valve, affording a free vent for the +steam and other dangerous products of the subterranean furnace. + +The shocks were repeated at tolerably regular intervals, two or three +in an hour, during the whole of the Good Friday, and all had the same +direction,--namely, from west-southwest to east-northeast; at which +point, a league from the town, lies the great crater of Cuscatlan, +about five hundred feet above San Salvador. + +The ceremonies of the Good Friday proceeded with the accustomed pomp, +and people did not think of disturbing their processions, or their +visits to the cathedral, on account of the earthquake; though +occasionally, when there came a shock rather stronger than usual, some +of the devout crowd did turn pale and make a rush towards the doors. + +At half-past nine in the evening there came a shock so violent that the +houses were shaken to the foundations, the roofs cracked, plaster and +tiles fell, and the walls in many places were rent. The houses are all +low and broad, without upper stories, the walls mostly of clay, which +is very elastic, and the rafters made of pliable, closely-plaited cane, +admirably adapted to resist the most violent shocks; otherwise the +houses would have fallen in a mass with this one, which lasted eight +seconds, the ground undulating like the ocean. Every one rushed out into +the open air, but a full hour passed without any further movement. We +determined, nevertheless, not to sleep under a roof; but my countryman, +Mr. Kronmeier, the Prussian vice-consul, who came home about eleven +o'clock, laughed at our caution, and went to bed as usual in his +bedroom. He was used to these unpleasant occurrences; though he +confessed that, during a residence of sixteen years in Central America +and Mexico, he had never felt in one day so many shocks as during the +one just past. + +The old volcano of Cuscatlan, from which the shocks appeared to proceed, +lies, as I have said, about three miles from the city; viewed from this +direction, it forms a beautiful cone, with a gently rounded summit, and +its sides are clothed from top to bottom with wood; its crater is still +quite perfect, a mile and a half in diameter, and filled with water at +the bottom.... There exists no certain record of the former activity of +this volcano; but according to tradition an eruption of lava from a +cleft in its side took place in 1650, and overwhelmed the village of +Neliopa; but according to others it was merely an eruption of mud and +not of fire.... + +The morning of Easter Sunday was announced as usual by the firing off +of rockets and a joyous burst of military music. The multitude betook +themselves in festival procession to the Cathedral, to witness the +celebration of high mass; the houses were gayly adorned with branches of +palm and banana-leaves, and the "_Sanctissimum_" was borne in triumph +through the streets, followed by crowds of seņors and seņoritas in their +gayest attire.... On this Easter Day, as on preceding ones, the people, +after having performed their devotions like good Catholics, gave +themselves up to festivity and enjoyment, and the day closed with music, +feasting, and fireworks. + +Immediately after nine o'clock, however, a shock occurred more violent +than the strongest felt on the Good Friday. I was unwell with a slight +feverish attack, and had gone to bed, but was awakened by the noise. +Some walls fell in, many houses were rent, and a part of the ceiling of +my room fell, striking me on the head and face, and for some minutes +blinding me with the dust. I sprang from my bed, and groped my way to +the door, which unluckily I had locked; but after a time I succeeded in +getting it open, and made my way to the court-yard, where I found the +rest of the inhabitants of the house praying and screaming. + +After a few moments had elapsed, however, they had quite got over their +fright, and were laughing and joking at their previous consternation and +precipitate flight. Unless the houses actually fall, people do not, +after the first moment, think much of these shocks, but this time they +did take the precaution to put all their doors open, and had their beds +carried out into the court. Mine was placed under the gallery of the +corridor, and a great deal of compassion was expressed for me when they +found I had been a little hurt. A young doctor, who occupied the room +next to mine, thought there would be no strong "temblor" again to-night, +but an aged priest said that this house was old and decayed, and it was +very necessary to be careful. My housemates then went back into their +rooms, and, though they kept the doors open, consumed with a good +appetite the remainder of the Easter feast, the conversation the while +turning, of course, almost exclusively on the "temblor." + +I lay gazing up into the night sky, not at all inclined to sleep. The +day had been, as usual, very warm, the thermometer at noon showing 88° +Fahrenheit; a heavy mass of clouds (strato-cumulus) lay piled up about +the waning moon, but dispersed towards ten o'clock, and the moon then +shone brightly through a clear and tranquil atmosphere. A few light +scattered clouds of the cirrus and cirro-stratus lay motionless at a few +points on the horizon, but there was nothing to portend any unusual +phenomenon. + +At thirty minutes past ten, however, came the shock that laid the city +of San Salvador in ruins. It began with a terrific noise, the earth +heaving as if lifted by a subterranean sea; and this movement, and the +thunder accompanying it, continued for ten or twelve seconds, while the +crash and uproar of falling buildings were still more deafening than the +thunder. An immense and blinding cloud of dust arose, through which were +heard the shrieks and supplications of the flying people, calling on +"Maria Santissima" and all other saints; and at length a hymn, in +thousand-voiced chorus, which was heard plainly, through all the other +noises, at a distance of a mile and a half from the town, by a family of +German emigrants with whom I was acquainted. + +I had witnessed many terrible scenes of war and revolution in the Old +World, but there at least they were visible enemies of flesh and blood +with whom people had to contend; but here were unknown, terrific, +incalculable forces at work, of whose nature they had only the vaguest +idea. The shocks went on, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, and with +very brief intervals, until, by the evening of Easter Monday, one +hundred and twenty had been counted, and they were accompanied all the +time by hollow thunder and detonations, as if a tremendous battle were +raging beneath the earth. People now abandoned all thoughts of their +property, and sought only to save their lives, for, with the continual +oscillations of the ground in all directions, rents and chasms were +opening on it, so that no one knew whether it might not the next moment +yawn beneath their feet and engulf every living soul. After every new +shock I noticed that the people changed their prayers and the names of +the saints they were invoking; but whether the saints did not hear, or +could not or would not help them, the subterranean artillery continued +to bellow forth its fearful salvos with unmitigated fury. + +Towards one in the morning, one of my acquaintances came climbing over +the ruined wall of our court-yard to inquire after me, as he knew I +was unwell; and he then proposed to me to take a walk through the town +by moonlight. We took the direction of the market-place, where the +Cathedral stood; and from what I saw I can truly say that the whole city +was destroyed, for I did not see a _single_ house uninjured. Those that +were not lying in ruin had so many rents, and damages of various kinds, +as to be quite uninhabitable. The Cathedral--an elegant rather than +imposing building--had escaped with less damage than many other +churches; but the clock-tower had fallen, the portal was lying in +fragments, and the walls were gaping open in two or three places. + +The interior of the Franciscan convent, the door of which stood wide +open, presented a sad picture of desolation. So many stones had fallen +from the roof and such large portions of the walls, that most of the +altars lay scattered in fragments, or were covered with rubbish; several +of the colossal figures of saints had fallen from the niches, and lay +with their finery all covered with dust and stones; but the people, who +the day before had been carrying them about in triumph, now did not +trouble themselves any more about them: everybody was occupied in saving +his life, or, if possible, his most valuable possessions. + +Of the new university buildings only one wing was left standing: it was +the one containing the clock-tower, and in this the clock was still +going on, regularly striking the hours. The roof of the Episcopal Palace +had fallen in, and some stones had struck the sacred head of the bishop +with no more ceremony than had been shown towards our profane pates, +though this bishop was Don Tomaso Saldana, a man most justly held in +high repute for the excellence of his life. Much injury had also been +sustained by the President of the Republic, Seņor Duenas, who was +originally a monk, but afterwards a lawyer and statesman, and perhaps +the man of the greatest capacity in the whole country. + +The streets were empty and desolate, and we had to scramble over heaps +of ruins to get through them: not a creature was to be seen but a few +sentinels, and in the interior of the houses also there reigned the +stillness of the grave. Even in the broadest streets the people did +not think themselves safe, and rich and poor were huddled together +indiscriminately in the great square, praying, singing, and screaming +whenever a new shock startled them with its terrible explosion; but +fortunately, in the midst of all this, the new President, Don José Maria +San Martin, showed much presence of mind, and gave his orders for the +preservation of property with much composure. + + [Fortunately, the previous warning shock had driven most of the + people from their houses, a chance which saved most of their + lives, though several hundreds were found buried in the ruins.] + +The rising sun of Easter Monday morning shone on a mournful spectacle, +and the few people who were left in the town wandered about looking pale +and worn, the women with a total disregard of their dress very unusual +with them. Among these I noticed the wife of the President, who was +entreating him to fly, like so many others, from the scene of danger; +but he remained faithful to duty, and was exerting himself vigorously to +keep order. He had established a kind of court-martial under a tent in +the University Square, before which every thief caught in the act was +brought, and, on the evidence of two witnesses against him, immediately +shot. + +Since the ruins of San Salvador could now no longer offer me a shelter, +I set off on foot, at an early hour, towards the hacienda of Mr. +Kronmeier, and on the way felt four more shocks, the strongest of which +lasted six or seven seconds, and was accompanied by violent oscillations +of the ground, and detonations like the salvos from Vesuvius, when, in +the lesser eruptions, you stand near the crater while stones are being +thrown up. I was now more than ever convinced that the centre of the +subterranean action was very near, and that the explosive steam and +glowing masses of the interior were seeking a new outlet. + +The country-house of Mr. Kronmeier was still standing, but its thick +walls had been rent in so many places that it offered only an +uncomfortable and insecure shelter. From the steep cliffs on the left of +the river's bed masses of rock and earth had fallen, and the hot springs +at the foot of the hill had ceased to flow; the mill-stream was dry; one +of the cocoa-palms was prostrate, and the whole landscape, so lovely +before, had a dejected and melancholy aspect, increased, of course, by +the general flight of the inhabitants of the district.... The shocks +still went on, though they were not so frequent as on the two Easter +nights; and, as the subterranean forces were evidently struggling for a +new vent, no one could feel himself safe within the sphere of their +operations. + +Many of the people whom we met, however, were leaving the place, though +not so much for any reason of this kind as on account of a prophecy of +the worthy bishop, "that before the new moon the whole district of San +Salvador, with the ruins of the city, would be swallowed up." But, +unluckily for the bishop's character as a prophet, the prediction was +not fulfilled. + + + + +SCENES IN TRINIDAD AND JAMAICA. + +JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE. + + [Froude is scarcely known as a traveller, his reputation being + founded in another field of literature, that of history. Yet he + is the author of two works of travel,--"Oceana," from which we + have elsewhere given a selection, and "The English in the West + Indies," from which our present selection is derived. He + visited most of the British West Indies, and has given + picturesque descriptions of them all. We append some extracts + from his account of Trinidad.] + + +Trinidad is the largest, after Jamaica, of the British West Indian +Islands, and the hottest absolutely after none of them. It is +square-shaped, and, I suppose, was once a part of South America. The +Orinoco River and the ocean-currents between them have cut a channel +between it and the mainland, which has expanded into a vast shallow lake +known as the Gulf of Paria. The two entrances by which the gulf is +approached are narrow, and are called _bocas_, or mouths,--one the +Dragon's Mouth, the other the Serpent's. When the Orinoco is in flood +the water is brackish, and the brilliant violet hue of the Caribbean Sea +is changed to a dirty yellow; but the harbor which is so formed would +hold all the commercial navies of the world, and seems formed by nature +to be the depot one day of an enormous trade. + + [Landing was made at Port of Spain, the capital, so called when + Trinidad was a Spanish possession, and Mr. Froude found + pleasant quarters in the house of a friend.] + +The town has between thirty and forty thousand people living in it, and +the rain and the Johnny crows [a black vulture that acts as scavenger] +between them keep off pestilence. Outside is a large savanna or park, +where the villas are of the successful men of business. One of these +belonged to my host, a cool, airy habitation, with open doors and +windows, overhanging portico, and rooms into which all the winds might +enter, but not the sun. A garden in front was shut off from the savanna +by a fence of bananas. At the gate stood as sentinel a cabbage-palm +a hundred feet high; on the lawn mangoes, oranges, papaws, and +bread-fruit-trees, strange to look at, but luxuriantly shady. Before +the door was a tree of good dimensions, whose name I have forgotten, +the stem and branches of which were hung with orchids which G---- +had collected in the woods. + +[Illustration: A WATERFALL IN THE TROPICS] + +The borders were blazing with varieties of the single hibiscus, crimson, +pink, and fawn-color, the largest that I had ever seen. The average +diameter of each single flower was from seven to eight inches. Wind +streamed freely through the long sitting-room, loaded with the perfume +of orange-trees; on table and in bookcase the hand and mind visible of a +gifted and cultivated man. The particular room assigned to myself would +have been delightful, but that my possession of it was disputed, even +in daylight, by mosquitoes, who for blood-thirsty ferocity had a bad +pre-eminence over the worst that I had ever met with elsewhere. I +killed one who was at work upon me, and examined him through a glass. +Bewick, with the inspiration of genius, had drawn his exact likeness as +the devil,--a long black stroke for a body, a nick for a neck, horns on +the head, and a beak for a mouth, spindle arms, and longer spindle legs, +two pointed wings, and a tail. Line for line, there the figure was +before me, which in the unforgetable tail-piece is driving the thief +under the gallows, and I had a melancholy satisfaction in identifying +him. I had been warned to be on the lookout for scorpions, centipedes, +jiggers, and land-crabs, who would bite me if I walked slipperless over +the floor in the dark. Of these I met with none, either there or +anywhere, but the mosquito of Trinidad is enough by himself. For malice, +mockery, and venom of tooth and trumpet he is without a match in the +world. + +From mosquitoes, however, one could seek safety in tobacco-smoke, +or hide behind the lace curtains with which every bed is provided. +Otherwise I found every provision to make life pass deliciously. To walk +is difficult in a damp, steamy atmosphere, hotter during daylight than +the hottest forcing-house in Kew.... Beautiful, however, it was beyond +dispute. Before sunset a carriage took us around the savanna. Tropical +human beings, like tropical birds, are fond of fine colors, especially +black human beings, and the park was as brilliant as Kensington Gardens +on a Sunday. At nightfall the scene became even more wonderful, air, +grass, and trees being alight with fireflies, each as brilliant as an +English glow-worm. The palm-tree at our own gate stood like a ghostly +sentinel clear against the starry sky, a single long dead frond hanging +from below the coronet of leaves and clashing against the stem as it was +blown to and fro by the night-wind, while long-winged bats swept and +whistled over our heads. + + [The governor's residence and the botanical gardens next call + for attention.] + +The "Residence" stands in a fine situation, in large grounds of its own, +at the foot of the mountains. It has been lately built, regardless of +expense, for the colony is rich, and likes to do things handsomely. On +the lawn, under the windows, stood a tree which was entirely new to me, +an enormous ceiba or silk-cotton-tree, umbrella-shaped, fifty yards in +diameter, the huge and buttressed trunk throwing out branches so massive +that one wondered how any woody fibre could bear the strain of their +weight, the boughs twisting in and out till they made a roof over one's +head, which was hung with every fantastic variety of parasites. + +Vast as the ceibas were which I saw afterwards in other parts of the +West Indies, this was the largest. The ceiba is the sacred tree of the +negro, the temple of Jumbi, the proper house of Obeah. To cut down one +is impious. No black in his right mind would wound even the bark. A +Jamaica police officer told me that if a ceiba had to be removed, the +men who used the axe were well dosed with rum to give them courage to +defy the devil. + +From Government House we strolled into the adjoining Botanical Gardens. +I had long heard of the wonders of these. The reality went beyond +description. Plants with which I was familiar as _shrubs_ in English +conservatories were here expanded into forest giants, with hundreds of +others of which we cannot raise even Liliputian imitations. Let man be +what he will, nature in the tropics is always grand. Palms were growing +in the greatest luxuriance, of every known species, from the cabbage +towering up into the sky to the fan-palm of the desert whose fronds are +reservoirs of water. + +Of exogenous trees the majority were leguminous in some shape or other, +forming flowers like a pea or vetch and hanging their seeds in pods; +yet in shape and foliage they distanced far the most splendid ornaments +of an English park. They had Old-World names with characters wholly +different: cedars which were not conifers, almonds which were no +relations of peaches, and gum-trees as unlike eucalypti as one tree can +be unlike another. + +Again, you saw ferns which you seemed to recognize till some unexpected +anomaly startled you out of your mistake. A gigantic Portugal laurel, or +what I took for such, was throwing out a flower direct from the stem +like a cactus. Grandest among them all, and happily in full bloom, was +the sacred tree of Burmah, the _Amherstia nobilis_, at a distance like a +splendid horse-chestnut, with crimson blossoms in pendent bunches, each +separate flower in the convolution of its parts exactly counterfeiting a +large orchid, with which it had not the faintest affinity, the Amherstia +being leguminous like the rest. + +Underneath, and dispersed among the imperial beauties, were spice-trees, +orange-trees, coffee plants, and cocoa, or again, shrubs with special +virtues or vices. We had to be careful what we were about, for fruits +of fairest appearance were tempting us all round. My companion was +preparing to eat something to encourage me to do the same. A gardener +stopped him in time. It was nux vomica. I was straying along a less +frequented path, conscious of a heavy vaporous odor, in which I might +have fainted had I remained exposed to it. I was close to a +manchineel-tree. + +Prettiest and freshest were the nutmegs, which had a glen all to +themselves and perfumed the surrounding air. In Trinidad and in Grenada +I believe the nutmegs are the largest that are known, being from thirty +to forty feet high; leaves brilliant green, something like the leaves of +an orange, but extremely delicate and thin, folded one over the other, +the lowest branches sweeping to the ground till the whole tree forms a +natural bower, which is proof against a tropical shower. The fragrance +attracts moths and flies; not mosquitoes, who prefer a ranker +atmosphere. I saw a pair of butterflies the match of which I do not +remember even in any museum, dark blue shot with green like a peacock's +neck, and the size of English bats. I asked a black boy to catch me one. +"That sort no let catchee, massa," he said; and I was penitently glad to +hear it. + +Among the wonders of the garden are the vines, as they call them, that +is, the creepers of various kinds that climb about the other trees. +Standing in an open space there was what once had been a mighty "cedar." +It was now dead, only the trunk and dead branches remaining, and had +been murdered by a "fig-vine" which had started from the root, twined +itself like a python round the stem, strangled out the natural life, and +spreading out in all directions, had covered boughs and twigs with a +foliage not its own. So far the "vine" had done no worse than ivy does +at home, but there was one feature about it which puzzled me altogether. +The lowest of the original branches of the cedar were about twenty feet +above our heads. From these in four or five places the parasite had let +fall shoots, perhaps an inch in diameter, which descended to within a +foot of the ground and then suddenly, without touching that or anything, +formed a bight like a rope, went straight up again, caught hold of the +branch from which they started, and so hung suspended exactly as an +ordinary swing. + +In three distinctly perfect instances the "vine" had executed this +singular evolution, while at the extremity of one of the longest and +tallest branches high up in the air it had made a clean leap of fifteen +feet without visible help and had caught hold of another tree adjoining +on the same level. These performances were so inexplicable that I +conceived that they must have been a freak of the gardener's. I was +mistaken. He said that at particular times in the year the fig-vine +threw out fine tendrils which hung downward like strings. The strongest +among them would lay hold of two or three others and climb up upon them, +the rest would die and drop off, while the successful one, having found +support for itself above, would remain swinging in the air and thicken +and prosper. The leap he explained by the wind. I retained a suspicion +that the wind had been assisted by some aspiring energy in the plant +itself, so bold it was and so ambitious. + +But the wonders of the garden were thrown into the shade by the cottage +at the extreme angle of it, where Kingsley[A] had been the guest of +Sir Arthur Gordon. It is a long straggling wooden building with deep +verandas lying in a hollow overshadowed by trees, with views opening out +into the savanna through arches formed by clumps of tall bamboos, the +canes growing thick in circular masses and shooting up a hundred feet +into the air, where they meet and form frames for the landscape, +peculiar and even picturesque when there are not too many of them. These +bamboos were Kingsley's special delight, as he had never seen the like +of them elsewhere. The room in which he wrote is still shown, and the +gallery where he walked up and down with his long pipe. His memory is +cherished in the island as of some singular and beautiful presence which +still hovers about the scenes which so delighted him in the closing +evening of his own life. + +[Footnote A: Charles Kingsley, who wrote here his "At Last," descriptive +of tropical scenes.] + + [Happiness makes its home with the negroes of Trinidad, whom + nature keeps in pristine idleness. They have little to do other + than to pull and eat.] + +In Trinidad there are eighteen thousand freeholders, most of them +negroes and representatives of the old slaves. Their cabins are spread +along the road on either side, overhung with bread-fruit-trees, +tamarinds, calabash-trees, out of which they make their cups and +water-jugs; the luscious granadilla climbs among the branches; plantains +throw their cool shade over the doors; oranges and limes and citrons +perfume the air, and droop their boughs under the weight of their golden +burdens. There were yams in the gardens and cows in the paddocks, and +cocoa-bushes loaded with purple or yellow pods. Children played about in +swarms in happy idleness and abundance, with schools, too, at intervals, +and an occasional Catholic chapel, for the old religion prevails in +Trinidad, never having been disturbed. + +What form could human life assume more charming than that which we were +now looking on? Once more, the earth does not contain any peasantry so +well off, so well cared for, so happy, so sleek and contented as the +sons and daughters of the emancipated slaves in the English West Indian +Islands. Sugar may fail the planter, but cocoa, which each peasant can +grow with small effort for himself, does not fail and will not. He may +"better his condition," if he has any such ambition, without stirring +beyond his own ground, and so far, perhaps, his ambition may extend, if +it is not turned off upon politics. + +Even the necessary evils of the tropics are not many or serious. His +skin is proof against mosquitoes. There are snakes in Trinidad as there +were snakes in Eden. "Plenty snakes," said one of them who was at work +in his garden, "plenty snakes, but no bitee." As to costume, he would +prefer the costume of innocence if he were allowed. Clothes in such a +climate are superfluous for warmth, and to the minds of the negroes, +unconscious as they are of shame, superfluous for decency. European +prejudice, however, still passes for something; the women have a love +for finery, which would prevent a complete return to African simplicity; +and in the islands which are still French, and in those like Trinidad, +which the French originally colonized, they dress themselves with real +taste. They hide their wool in red or yellow handkerchiefs, gracefully +twisted; or perhaps it is not only to conceal the wool. Columbus found +the Carib women of the island dressing their hair in the same fashion. + +The water-works, when we reached them, were even more beautiful than we +had been taught to expect. A dam has been driven across a perfectly +limpid mountain stream; a wide open area has been cleared, levelled, +strengthened with masonry, and divided into deep basins or reservoirs, +through which the current continually flows. Hedges of hibiscus shine +with crimson blossoms. Innumerable humming-birds glance to and fro among +the trees and shrubs, and gardens and ponds are overhung by magnificent +bamboos, which so astonished me by their size that I inquired if their +height had been measured. One of them, I was told, had lately fallen, +and was found to be one hundred and thirty feet long. A single drawback +only there was to this enchanting spot, and it was again the snakes. +There are huge pythons in Trinidad which are supposed to have crossed +the straits from the continent. Some washerwomen at work in the stream +had been disturbed a few days before our visit by one of these monsters, +who had come down to see what they were about. They are harmless, but +trying to the nerves. + + [We shall conclude this selection with a leap from Trinidad to + Jamaica, and the relation of an adventure experienced by our + author in that island. He was on his way back from an excursion + into the island.] + +The train from Porus brought us back to Kingston an hour before sunset. +The evening was lovely, even for Jamaica. The sea-breeze had fallen, the +land-breeze had not risen, and the dust lay harmless on road and hedge. +Cherry Garden, to which I was bound, was but seven miles distant by the +direct road, so I calculated on a delightful drive which would bring me +to my destination before dark. + +So I calculated; but alas! for human expectation. I engaged a "buggy" at +the station, with a decent-looking conductor, who assured me that he +knew the way to Cherry Garden as well as to his own door. His horse +looked starved and miserable. He insisted that there was not another in +Kingston that was more than a match for it. We set out, and for the +first two or three miles we went on well enough, conversing amicably on +things in general. But it so happened that it was market day. The road +was thronged with women plodding along with their baskets on their +heads, a single male on a donkey to each detachment of them, carrying +nothing, like an officer with a detachment of soldiers. + +Foolish indignation rose in me, and I asked my friend if he was not +ashamed of seeing the poor creatures toiling so cruelly, while their +lords and masters amused themselves. I appealed to his feelings as a +man, as if it were likely that he had got any. The wretch only laughed. +"Ah, massa," he said, with his tongue in his cheek, "women do women's +work, men do men's work,--all right." "And what is men's work?" I asked. +Instead of answering he went on, "Look at they women, massa,--how they +laugh, how happy they be! Nobody more happy than black woman, massa." + +I would not let him off. I pricked into him, till he got excited too, +and we argued and contradicted each other, till at last the horse, +finding he was not attended to, went his own way, and that was a wrong +one. Between Kingston and our destination there is a deep sandy flat, +overgrown with brush and penetrated in all directions with labyrinthine +lanes. Into this we had wandered in our quarrels, and neither of us knew +where we were. The sand was loose; our miserable beast was above his +fetlocks in it, and was visibly drooping under his efforts to drag us +along even at a walk. + +The sun went down. The tropic twilight is short. The evening star shone +out in the west, and the crescent moon over our heads. My man said this +and said that; every word was a lie, for he had lost his way and would +not allow it. We saw a light through some trees. I sent him to inquire. +We were directed one way and another way, every way except the right +one. We emerged at last upon a hard road of some kind. The stars told me +the general direction. We came to cottages where the name of Cherry +Garden was known, and we were told that it was two miles off; but alas! +again there were two roads to it,--a short and good one and a long and +bad one, and they sent us by the last. There was a steep hill to climb, +for the house is eight hundred feet above the sea. The horse could +hardly crawl, and my "nigger" went to work to flog him to let off his +own ill-humor. I had to stop that by force, and at last, as it grew too +dark to see the road under the trees, I got out and walked, leaving him +to follow at a foot's pace. The night was lovely. I began to think that +we should have to camp out after all, and that it would be no great +hardship. + +It was like the gloaming of a June night in England, the daylight in the +open spots not entirely gone, and mixing softly with the light of moon +and planet and the flashing of the fireflies. I plodded on, mile after +mile, and Cherry Garden still receded to one mile farther. We came to a +gate of some consequence. The outline of a large mansion was visible, +with gardens round it. I concluded that we had arrived, and was feeling +for the latch when the forms of a lady and gentleman appeared against +the sky who were strolling in the grounds. They directed me still +upward, with the mile which never diminished still to be travelled. + +Like myself, our weary animal had gathered hopes from the sight of the +gate. He had again to drag on as he could. His owner was subdued and +silent, and obeyed whatever order I gave him. The trees now closed over +us so thick that I could see nothing. Vainly I repented of my +unnecessary philanthropy, which had been the cause of the mischief; what +had I to do with black women, or white either, for that matter? I had to +feel the way with my feet and a stick. I came to a place where the lane +again divided. I tried the nearest turn. I found a trench across it +three feet deep, which had been cut by a torrent. This was altogether +beyond the capacity of our unfortunate animal, so I took the other +boldly, prepared, if it proved wrong, to bivouac till morning with my +"nigger," and go on with my argument. + +Happily there was no need; we came again on a gate which led into a +field. There was a drive across it and wire fences. Finally lights began +to glimmer and dogs to bark: we were at the real Cherry Garden at last, +and found the whole household alarmed for what had become of us. + +I could not punish my misleader by stinting his fare, for I knew that I +had only myself to blame. He was an honest fellow after all. In the +disturbance of my mind I left a rather valuable umbrella in his buggy. +He discovered it after he had gone, and had grace enough to see that it +was returned to me. My entertainers were much amused at the cause of the +misadventure, perhaps unique of its kind: to address homilies to the +black people on the treatment of their wives not being the fashion in +those parts. + + + + +THE HIGH WOODS OF TRINIDAD. + +CHARLES KINGSLEY. + + [The skilled and popular novelist to whom we owe our present + selection seems to have entertained for years a vivid wish to + see the glory of the tropics, the achievement of which desire + is put upon record in "At Last," the work from which we quote. + In his "Westward Ho" he had years before given a + warmly-delineated imaginary picture of the tropics, but waited + for years afterwards to see these scenes in their picturesque + reality. He tells well the story of the tropical "High Woods."] + + +And now we set ourselves to walk to the depot, where the government +timber was being felled, and the real "High Woods" to be seen at last. +Our path lay along the half-finished tramway, through the first cacao +plantation I had ever seen, though, I am happy to say, not the last by +many a one. + +Imagine an orchard of nut-trees, with very large, long leaves. Each tree +is trained to a single stem. Among them, especially near the path, grow +plants of the common hot-house Datura, its long white flowers perfuming +all the air. They have been planted as landmarks, to prevent the young +cacao-trees being cut over when the weeds are cleared. Among them, too, +at some twenty yards apart, are the stems of a tree looking much like an +ash, save that it is inclined to throw out broad spurs like a ceiba. You +look up and see that they are Bois immortelles, fifty or sixty feet +high, one blaze of vermilion against the blue sky. Those who have stood +under a Lombardy poplar in early spring and looked up at its buds and +twigs showing like pink coral against the blue sky, and have felt the +beauty of the sight, can imagine faintly--but only faintly--the beauty +of these "madres de cacao,"--cacao mothers, as they call them +here,--because their shade is supposed to shelter the cacao-trees, while +the dew collected by their leaves keeps the ground below always damp. + +I turned my dazzled eyes down again and looked into the delicious +darkness under the bushes. The ground was brown with fallen leaves, or +green with ferns; and here and there a slant ray of sunlight pierced +through the shade, and flashed on the brown leaves, and on a gray stem, +and on a crimson jewel which hung on the stem, and there, again, on a +bright orange one; and as my eye became accustomed to the darkness, I +saw that the stems and larger boughs far away into the wood were dotted +with pods, crimson, or yellow, or green, of the size and shape of a +small hand closed with the fingers straight out. They were the +cacao-pods, full of what are called at home cacao-nibs. And there lay a +heap of them, looking like a heap of gay flowers; and by them sat their +brown owner, picking them to pieces and laying the seeds to dry on a +cloth. I went up and told him that I came from England, and never saw +cacao before, though I had been eating and drinking it all my life; at +which news he grinned amusement till his white teeth and eyeballs made a +light in that dark place, and offered me a fresh broken pod, that I +might taste the pink sour sweet pulp in which the rows of the nibs lie +packed, a pulp which I found very pleasant and refreshing. + +He dries his cacao-nibs in the sun, and, if he be a well-to-do and +careful man, on a stage with wheels, which can be run into a little shed +on the slightest shower of rain; picks them over and over, separating +the better quality from the worse; and at last sends them down on +mule-back to the sea, to be sold in London as Trinidad cocoa, or perhaps +in Paris to the chocolate-makers, who convert them into chocolate, +"Menier" or other, by mixing them with sugar and vanilla--both, +possibly, from this very island. This latter fact once inspired an +adventurous German with the thought that he could make chocolate in +Trinidad just as well as in Paris. And (so goes the story) he succeeded; +but the fair Creoles would not buy it. It could not be good; it could +not be the real article, unless it had crossed the Atlantic twice to and +fro from that centre of fashion, Paris. So the manufacture, which might +have added greatly to the wealth of Trinidad, was given up, and the +ladies of the island eat naught but French chocolate, costing, it is +said, nearly four times as much as home-made chocolate need cost. + +As we walked on through the trace (for the tramway here was still +unfinished), one of my kind companions pointed out a little plant, which +bears in the island the ominous name of the Brinvilliers. It is one of +those deadly poisons too common in the bush, and too well known to the +negro Obi-men and Obi-women. And as I looked at the insignificant weed, +I wondered how the name of that wretched woman should have spread to +this remote island, and have become famous enough to be applied to a +plant. French negroes may have brought the name with them; but then +arose another wonder. How were the terrible properties of the plant +discovered? How eager and ingenious must the human mind be about the +devil's work, and what long practice--considering its usual slowness +and dulness--must it have had at the said work, ever to have picked +out this paltry thing among the thousand weeds of the forest as a tool +for its jealousy and revenge! It may have taken ages to discover the +Brinvilliers, and ages more to make its poison generally known. Why not? +As the Spaniards say, "The devil knows many things, because he is old." +Surely this is one of the many facts which point towards some immensely +ancient civilization in the tropics, and a civilization which may have +had its ugly vices and have been destroyed thereby. + +Now we left the cacao grove; and I was aware on each side of the trace +of a wall of green, such as I had never seen before on earth, not even +in my dreams,--strange colossal shapes towering up a hundred feet and +more in height, which, alas! it was impossible to reach, for on either +side of the trace were fifty yards of half-cleared ground, fallen logs, +withes, huge stumps ten feet high, charred and crumbling, and among them +and over them a wilderness of creepers and shrubs, and all the luxuriant +young growth of the "rastrajo," which springs up at once whenever the +primeval forest is cleared,--all utterly impassable. These rastrajo +forms, of course, were all new to me. I might have spent weeks in +botanizing merely at them; but all I could remark, or cared to remark, +there as in other places, was the tendency in the rastrajo towards +growing enormous rounded leaves. How to get at the giants behind was the +only question for one who for forty years had been longing for one peep +at Flora's fairy palace, and saw its portals open at last. There was a +deep gully before us, where a gang of convicts was working at a wooden +bridge for the tramway, amid the usual abysmal mud of the tropic wet +season, and on the other side of it there was no rastrajo right and left +of the trace. I hurried down it like any school-boy, dashing through mud +and water, hopping from log to log, regardless of warnings and offers of +help from good-natured negroes, who expected the respectable elderly +"buccra" to come to grief, struggled perspiring up the other side of +the gully, and then dashed away to the left, and stopped short, +breathless with awe, in the primeval forest at last. + +In the primeval forest, looking upon that upon which my teachers and +masters, Humboldt, Spix, Martius, Schomburgk, Waterton, Bates, Wallace, +Gosse, and the rest, had looked already, with far wiser eyes than mine, +comprehending somewhat at least of its wonders, while I could only stare +in ignorance. There was actually, then, such a sight to be seen on +earth, and it was not less, but far more, wonderful than they had said. + +My first feeling on entering the high woods was helplessness, confusion, +awe, all but terror. One is afraid at first to venture in fifty yards. +Without a compass, or the landmark of some opening to or from which he +can look, a man must be lost in the first ten minutes, such a sameness +is there in the infinite variety. That sameness and variety make it +impossible to give any general sketch of the forest. Once inside "you +cannot see the wood for the trees." You can only wander on as far as you +dare, letting each object impress itself on your mind as it may, and +carrying away a confused recollection of innumerable perpendicular lines +all straining upward, in fierce competition, towards the light-food far +above; and next of a green cloud, or rather mist, which hovers round +your head, and rises thickening to an unknown height. The upward lines +are of every possible thickness, and of almost every possible hue; what +leaves they bear, being for most part on the tips of the twigs, give a +scattered, mist-like appearance to the under foliage. + +For the first moment, therefore, the forest seems more open than an +English wood. But try to walk through it, and ten steps undeceive +you. Around your knees are probably Mamures, with creeping stems and +fan-shaped leaves, something like those of a young cocoa-nut-palm. You +try to brush through them, and are caught up instantly by a string or +wire belonging to some other plant. You look up and round, and then you +find that the air is full of wires,--that you are hung up in a net-work +of fine branches belonging to half a dozen different sorts of young +trees, and intertwined with as many different species of slender +creepers. You thought at your first glance among the tree-stems that you +were looking through open air; you find that you are looking through a +labyrinth of wire rigging, and must use the cutlass right and left at +every five steps. + +You push on into a bed of strong sedge-like Sclerias, with cutting edges +to their leaves. It is well for you they are only three and not six +feet high. In the midst of them you run against a horizontal stick, +triangular, rounded, smooth, green. You take a glance along it right and +left, and see no end to it either way, but gradually discover that it is +the leaf-stalk of a young Cocorite palm. The leaf is five-and-twenty +feet long, and springs from a huge ostrich plume, which is sprawling out +of the ground and up above your head a few yards off. You cut the +leaf-stalk through right and left and walk on, to be stopped suddenly +(for you get so confused by the multitude of objects that you never see +anything till you run against it) by a gray lichen-covered bar as thick +as your ankle. You follow it up with your eye, and find it entwine +itself with three or four other bars, and roll over with them in great +knots, and festoons, and loops twenty feet high, and then go up with +them into the green cloud over your head, and vanish, as if a giant had +thrown a ship's cable into the tree-tops. + +One of them, so grand that its form strikes even the negro and the +Indian, is a Liantasse. You see that at once by the form of its +cable,--six or eight inches across in one direction, and three or four +in another, furbelowed all down the middle into regular knots, and +looking like a chain cable between two flexible bars. At another of +the loops, about as thick as your arm, your companion, if you have a +forester with you, will spring joyfully. With a few blows of his cutlass +he will sever it as high up as he can reach, and again below, some three +feet down; and, while you are wondering at this seemingly wanton +destruction, he lifts the bar on high, throws his head back, and pours +down his thirsty throat a pint or more of pure cold water. This hidden +treasure is, strange as it may seem, the ascending sap, or rather the +ascending pure rain-water which has been taken up by the roots, and +is hurrying aloft, to be elaborated into sap, and leaf, and flower, +and fruit, and fresh tissue for the very stem up which it originally +climbed, and therefore it is that the woodman cuts the water-vine +through first at the top of the piece which he wants, and not at the +bottom; for so rapid is the ascent of the sap, that if he cut the stem +below, the water would have all fled upward before he could cut it off +above. + +Meanwhile, the old story of Jack and the Bean-stalk comes into your +mind. In such a forest was the old dame's hut, and up such a bean-stalk +Jack climbed, to fight a giant and a castle high above. Why not? What +may not be up there? You look up into the green cloud, and long for +a moment to be a monkey. There may be monkeys up there over your +head,--burly red Howler, or tiny peevish Sapajou, peering down at you, +but you cannot peer up at them. The monkeys, and the parrots, and the +humming-birds, and the flowers, and all the beauty, are upstairs--up +above the green cloud. You are in "the empty nave of the cathedral," and +the service is being celebrated aloft in the blazing roof. + +We will hope that, as you look up, you have not been careless enough to +walk on, for if you have you will be tripped up at once; nor to put your +hand out incautiously to rest it against a tree, or what not, for fear +of sharp thorns, ants, and wasp-nests. If you are all safe, your next +steps, probably, as you struggle through the bush between tree-trunks of +every possible size, will bring you face to face with huge upright walls +of seeming boards, whose rounded edges slope upward till, as your eye +follows them, you find them enter an enormous stem, perhaps round, like +one of the Norman pillars of Durham nave, and just as huge; perhaps +fluted, like one of William of Wykeham's columns at Winchester. + +There is the stem, but where is the tree? Above the green cloud. You +struggle up to it between two of the board walls, but find it not so +easy to reach. Between you and it are half a dozen tough strings which +you had not noticed at first,--the eye cannot focus itself rapidly +enough in this confusion of distances,--which have to be cut through ere +you can pass. Some of them are rooted in the ground, straight and tense; +some of them dangle and wave in the wind at every height. What are they? +Air-roots of wild pines, or of Matapalos, or of figs, or of Seguines, or +of some other parasite? Probably; but you cannot see. All you can see +is, as you put your chin close against the trunk of the tree and look +up, as if you were looking up against the side of a great ship set on +end, that some sixty or eighty feet up in the green cloud arms as big as +English forest-trees branch off, and that out of their forks a whole +green garden of vegetation has tumbled down twenty or thirty feet, and +half climbed up again. + +You scramble round the tree to find whence this aerial garden has +sprung: you cannot tell. The tree-trunk is smooth and free from +climbers, and that mass of verdure may belong possibly to the very +cables which you met ascending into the green cloud twenty or thirty +yards back, or to that impenetrable tangle a dozen yards on, which has +climbed a small tree, and then a taller one again, and then a taller +still, till it has climbed out of sight, and possibly into the lower +branches of the big tree. And what are their species? What are their +families? Who knows? Not even the most experienced woodman or botanist +can tell you the names of plants of which he only sees the stems. The +leaves, the flowers, the fruit, can only be examined by felling the +tree; and not even always then, for sometimes the tree, when cut, +refuses to fall, linked as it is by chains of liane to all the trees +around. Even that wonderful water-vine which we cut through just now may +be one of three or even four different plants.... + +And where are the famous Orchids? They perch on every bough and stem; +but they are not, with three or four exceptions, in flower in the +winter; and if they were, I know nothing about them; at least I know +enough to know how little I know. Whosoever has read Darwin's +"Fertilization of Orchids," and finds in his own reason that the book is +true, had best say nothing about the beautiful monsters till he has seen +with his own eyes more than his master. + +And yet even the three or four that are in flower are worth going many a +mile to see. In the hot-house they seem almost artificial from their +strangeness; but to see them "natural," on natural boughs, gives a sense +of their reality which no unnatural situation can give. Even to look up +at them perched on bough and stem, as one rides by, and to guess what +exquisite and fantastic form may issue, in a few months or weeks, out of +those fleshy, often unsightly, leaves, is a strange pleasure,--a spur to +the fancy which is surely wholesome, if we will but believe that all +these things were invented by a Fancy, which desires to call out in us, +by contemplating them, such small fancy as we possess, and to make us +poets, each according to his power, by showing a world in which, if +rightly looked at, all is poetry. + +Another fact will soon force itself on your attention, unless you wish +to tumble down and get wet up to your knees. The soil is furrowed +everywhere by holes, by graves some two or three feet wide and deep, and +of uncertain length and shape, often wandering about for thirty or forty +feet, and running confusedly into each other. They are not the work of +man, nor of an animal, for no earth seems to have been thrown out of +them. In the bottom of the dry graves you sometimes see a decaying root; +but most of them just now are full of water, and of tiny fish also, +which burrow in the mud, and sleep during the dry season, to come out +and swim during the wet. These graves are, some of them, plainly quite +new. Some, again, are very old, for trees of all sizes are growing in +them and over them. + +What makes them? A question not easily answered. But the shrewdest +foresters say that they have held the roots of trees now dead. Either +the tree has fallen, and torn its roots out of the ground, or the roots +and stumps have rotted in their place, and the soil above them has +fallen in. + +But they must decay very quickly, these roots, to leave their quiet +fresh graves thus empty; and--now one thinks of it--how few fallen +trees, or even dead sticks, there are about. An English wood, if left to +itself, would be cumbered with fallen timber; and one has heard of +forests in North America through which it is all but impossible to make +way, so high are piled up, among the still growing trees, dead logs in +every stage of decay. Such a sight may be seen in Europe among the high +silver-fir forests of the Pyrenees. How is it not so here? How, indeed? +And how comes it--if you will look again--that there are few or no +fallen leaves, and actually no leaf-mould? In an English wood there +would be a foot--perhaps two feet--of black soil, renewed by every +autumn leaf-fall. Two feet? One has heard often enough of bison-hunting +in Himalayan forests among Deodaras one hundred and fifty feet high, and +scarlet rhododendrons thirty feet high, growing in fifteen or twenty +feet of leaf- and timber-mould. And here, in a forest equally ancient, +every plant is growing out of the bare yellow loam as it might in a +well-hoed garden-bed. Is it not strange? + +Most strange, till you remember where you are,--in one of Nature's +hottest and dampest laboratories. Nearly eighty inches of yearly rain +and more than eighty degrees of perpetual heat make swift work with +vegetable fibre, which, in our cold and sluggard clime, would curdle +into leaf-mould, perhaps into peat. Far to the north, in poor old +Ireland, and far to the south, in Patagonia, begin the zones of peat, +where dead vegetable fibre, its treasures of light and heat locked up, +lies all but useless age after age. But this is the zone of illimitable +sun force, which destroys as swiftly as it generates, and generates +again as swiftly as it destroys. Here, when the forest giant falls, as +some tell me that they have heard him fall, on silent nights, when the +cracking of the roots below and the lianes aloft rattles like musketry +through the woods, till the great trunk comes down, with a boom as of a +heavy gun, re-echoing on from mountain-side to mountain-side; then + + "Nothing in him that doth fade, + But doth suffer an _air_-change + Into something rich and strange." + +Under the genial rain and genial heat, the timber-tree itself, all its +tangled ruin of lianes and parasites, and the boughs and leaves, snapped +off not only by the blow, but by the very wind of the falling tree, all +melt away swiftly and peacefully in a few months--say almost a few +days--into the water, and carbonic acid, and sunlight out of which +they were created at first, to be absorbed instantly by the green +leaves around, and, transmuted into fresh forms of beauty, leave not +a wrack behind. Explained thus,--and this I believe to be the true +explanation,--the absence of leaf-mould is one of the grandest, as it +is one of the most startling, phenomena of the forest. + + [And thus the writer rambles on, telling fresh marvels of the + tropic woods, from which a knowledge is attained that "defies + all analysis."] + +[It is that of] the causes and effects of their beauty; that "æsthetic" +of plants, of which Schleiden has spoken so well in that charming book +of his, "The Plant," which all should read who wish to know somewhat of +"The Open Secret." But when they read it let them read with open hearts. +For that same "Open Secret" is, I suspect, one of those which God may +hide from the wise and prudent, and yet reveal to babes. + +At least, so it seemed to me, the first day that I went, awe-struck, +into the High Woods; and so it seemed to me, the last day that I came, +even more awe-struck, out of them. + + + + +ANIMALS OF BRITISH GUIANA. + +C. BARRINGTON BROWN. + + [British Guiana, the land which seems so strongly inclined to + extend its borders at the expense of Venezuela, is as yet very + far from being the active and well-developed settlement which + might be imagined from the aggressiveness of its rulers. Mr. + Brown's story of it indicates a land of which nature is still + largely the lord, and which is so little known that he, as late + as twenty years ago, was able to discover a river and a + cataract not previously heard of. The selection we append, + descriptive of the wild animals of the country, is significant + of an undeveloped land. Mr. Brown, in his "Canoe and Camp Life + in British Guiana," describes a number of unsuccessful efforts + to shoot jaguars, and continues:] + + +One of the men happened to go a few yards behind one of our +camping-places, when he heard a movement behind him; turning round he +saw a jaguar leisurely surveying him. He fled to the camp with his +story, and I went in search of the animal accompanied by one man armed +with a cutlass. We did not go far before we saw its tracks in the sandy +bed of a dry water-course, and concluded that it had gone off. We gave +up all hopes of seeing it, and, turning round, were on the point of +making our way back to camp, when my companion suddenly exclaimed, +"Look! look! the tiger!" Glancing at the spot indicated I saw it +crouching in a thicket with its head bent down, its body swaying from +side to side, glaring at us with eyes of a greenish metallic hue. The +brute had evidently been following us whilst we were searching for it, +and was working itself into a rage. I took as good aim at its head as +I could, and fired; but instead of seeing it lying dead, I heard it +bounding and crashing through the forest at a fearful pace. + +One of my men got a shot at a jaguar on a sand-beach, where it passed +within twenty feet of him, as he crouched on some rocks. The only effect +the shot had on the animal was to make it gallop away a few yards, then +turn for an instant and look at him. The men whom I left in charge on +the New River cut open a hollow log containing young accouries, and took +them out. Their squeals on being seized attracted a puma, which ran +close up to the men, apparently wishing to get the accouries, when one +of them fired at it and it made off. + +One evening, whilst returning to camp along the portage path that we +were cutting at Wonobobo Falls, I walked faster than the men, and got +some two hundred yards in advance. As I rose the slope of an uneven +piece of ground, I saw a large puma (_Felis concolor_) advancing along +the other side of the rise towards me, with its nose down on the ground. +The moment I saw it I stopped; and at the same instant it tossed up its +head, and seeing me also came to a stand. With its body half crouched, +its head erect, and its eyes round and black, from its pupils having +expanded in the dusky light, it looked at once a noble and appalling +sight. I glanced back along our wide path to see if any of my men were +coming, as at the moment I felt that it was not well to be alone without +some weapon of defence, and I knew that one of them had a gun; but +nothing could I see. As long as I did not move the puma remained +motionless also, and thus we stood some fifteen yards apart, eying each +other curiously. I had heard that the human voice is potent in scaring +most wild beasts, and feeling that the time had arrived to do something +desperate, I waved my arms in the air and shouted loudly. The effect on +the tiger was electrical; it turned quickly on one side, and in two +bounds was lost in the forest. I waited until my men came up, however, +before passing the place at which it disappeared in case it might only +be lying in ambush there; but we saw nothing more of it. + +When returning down the portage and dragging our boats over, we saw a +jaguar sitting on a log near the same spot, watching our movements with +evident curiosity, and although the men were singing as they hauled the +boats along, it did not seem to mind the noise. As soon as it saw that +it was observed, it jumped off the log, and with a low growl made off. +From this I infer that the flight of my puma must have been owing more +to the windmill-like motion of my arms than to my voice. + +During our journey across from the New River to the Essequebo, we were +cooking breakfast one morning, when we heard a tremendous rushing and +crashing noise coming towards us through the forest, and then caught a +glimpse of an accourie flying for dear life before a black tiger. Just +after they passed the accourie gave a heart-rending scream as the tiger +seized it, but on my men rushing up to the spot, the tiger left its prey +and fled. When picked up the accourie was quite dead, but on examination +showed no marks whatever of the tiger's teeth. The tiger had evidently +killed it by springing upon it with its legs close together, the weight +of its body giving such a blow that the accourie's life was fairly +knocked out. The men found its dead body just beyond a large log, +slightly raised from the ground, under which it had bolted and lost some +headway, while the cunning tiger took the log in its stride and so came, +as it intended, on the poor accourie's back, with the result we have +seen. + +On returning to the head of the New River for provisions, we were +followed for many miles by a tiger, for on going back we saw its huge +tracks in the swampy places on our path. + +With good hunting-dogs fine jaguar- and puma-hunting might be obtained +on the banks of this river, where without doubt they are exceedingly +numerous. Many of the Indian hunting-dogs trained for deer or tapir will +hunt tigers. When on the track of either of these animals, should they +come across the scent of a tiger, their eager and confident manner of +pressing on after the game is immediately changed, and with hair on +their backs erect they become cautious and nervous to a degree, jumping +at even the snapping of a twig. Abandoning the hunt they take up the +tiger's track and follow it. But should the huntsman call them from it, +or not cheer them on with his voice from time to time, they exhibit +great fear, and keeping close to his heels cannot be induced to hunt any +more in that district for the day. On the contrary, if allowed to follow +the tiger, they track it up with caution, being fully aware of the +cunning dodge practised by that animal, which is, when the dog is close +at hand, to spring to one side and lie in ambush till it passes, when +with one spring the dog is seized. + +Ordinary dogs would fall a prey to this trap, but not the self-taught +tiger dogs. Their fine powers of scent warn them of their near approach +to the quarry, when they advance with great caution, never failing to +detect the tiger in time, and when once their eye is upon their enemy it +has no chance to escape. In its pride of strength, the jaguar scorns the +dogs, and with a rush like a ball from a cannon springs madly at one of +them, feeling sure that it cannot escape. It has reckoned, however, +without its host, for the dog eludes the spring with ease, and with +great quickness flies on the tiger's flank, giving it a severe nip. As +the tiger turns with a growl of pain and disappointment, the dog is off +to a little distance, yelping lustily and never remaining still an +instant, but darting first on one side and then on the other. After one +or two ineffectual charges the tiger gives it up, and on the approach of +the hunter, springs into the nearest suitable tree, which it seldom +leaves alive. + + [The Indians describe several kinds of tigers and tiger-cats, + each of which hunts one kind of animal in particular, whose + call it can imitate. The deer-tiger is the puma. The wailah, or + tapir-tiger, is pure black and of great size.] + +The Corentyne and its branches were literally teeming with fish of +various kinds, the greater number being haimara and perai. The latter +were so abundant and ferocious that at times it was dangerous, when +bathing, to go into the water at a greater depth than up to one's knees. +Even then small bodies of these hungry creatures would swim in and make +a dash close up to our legs, and then retreat to a short distance. They +actually bit the steering paddles as they were drawn through the water +astern of the boats. A tapir which I shot swimming across the river had +its nose eaten off by them whilst we were towing it to the shore. + +Of an evening the men used to catch some of them for sport, and in +taking the hook from their mouths produce a wound from which the blood +ran freely. On throwing them back into the water in this injured +condition they were immediately set upon and devoured by their +companions. Even as one was being hauled in on the line, its comrades, +seeing that it was in difficulties, attacked it at once. One day, when +the boat was hauled in to some rocks, a few of the men were engaged +shooting fish near by, and in so doing wounded a large haimara. Having +escaped from its human tormentors, it made for the open river, but was +instantly attacked by perai attracted by the blood escaping from its +wound, and was driven back to the shelter of the rocks close to the +boat, from which I had a good view of the chase. The large fish +followed by its savage enemies reminded me of a parallel case on +land,--a stricken deer pursued by wolves. + +The perai, fortunately, lie only off sand-beaches and in quiet pools, +not frequenting the cataracts, where their presence would be anything +but acceptable to the men when working in the water. I was fortunate +enough to find the spawning-place of some perai on the matted clusters +of fibrous roots of some lianes, which hung from the branches of a tree +into the water, among which much earthy sediment had collected and many +small aquatic plants had grown. The sediment gave weight to the roots, +which kept the clusters under water, and the force of the current made +them buoyant, giving the lianes a slope when the river was high, which +kept them not far from its surface. My attention was attracted to them +by two perai lying close to them, with their heads up-stream, as the men +said, engaged in watching their eggs. Procuring one of the roots I +examined it, and found among it numbers of single eggs and clusters of +small jelly-like young, which had been already hatched. The eggs were +white and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, with a hard exterior. +The young were very little larger, and had a glutinous surface, which +caused them to adhere together on being taken from the water. They had +not acquired any powers of locomotion, but could just wriggle their +tails like tadpoles. Under a lens they resembled the egg devoid of +its covering, with a gelatinous ridge around three-quarters of its +circumference, one of which expanded into a knob (probably the head), +while the other termination was flattened and tail-like. I could not +detect any eyes or mouth in them, but their bodies were speckled with +gray markings of coloring matter.... + +In hauling the boats up the shallow rapids near the mouth of the Cutari +the men, whilst wading, were frequently struck by conger eels. Every now +and then a man would call out "Congler, congler," and jumping into the +boat rub his shins, which had been benumbed by a touch from one of these +fish. After half a minute or so the numbness wore off and he took to the +water again. The boat being in a critical condition at the time, it was +impossible for the men to leave the water. They had therefore to brave +out the shocks from these batteries, which must have been very slight, +given probably by small eels, or they could not have stood them. + +Small long-bodied fish were very common, and one kind, called courami, +took the baited hook as long as the fisherman who threw the line was out +of sight. + +The lukenaine, or sunfish, was captured by my men in a singular manner. +They manufactured an exceedingly rude fly out of a bunch of silk-grass +(_Bromelia karatas_) fibre, and attached it to a large hook with a short +line and rod. Drawing it rapidly over pools among the rocks, it was +immediately taken by the lukenaine, as the artificial fly is struck by +the trout. + +Sting-rays were frequently seen on the sandy bottom or grovelling for +worms in the muddy banks under water. My interpreter, William, was +unfortunate enough to step upon one, which, being of the color of the +bottom, was not observed. It drove its spine or sting into the side of +his instep, producing a jagged wound which bled profusely. I immediately +put laudanum on the wound and gave him a strong dose of ammonia. In a +quarter of an hour after he was writhing on the ground in great agony, +actually screaming at times with the pain he felt in the wounded part, +in his groin, and under one armpit. His foot and leg were so cold that +he got one man to light a fire and support his foot over it, persisting +in trying to put it in the flames. I gave him two doses of laudanum, +one shortly after the other, without relieving his sufferings in the +slightest degree. After three hours of intense pain he became easier, +but had returns of it at intervals during the night. For a week he was +unable to put his foot on the ground, and the wound did not heal +thoroughly for six weeks.... + +We did not see a single cayman during our stay on the Corentyne. It may +safely be inferred that there are none on that river, a singular fact +that cannot be accounted for. Small alligators, of about four feet in +length, are numerous, however, and one of them one night carried off a +young cat which the men had brought from Georgetown. Poor puss had gone +to the water's edge to drink, when the alligator with one blow of its +tail swept it into the water and carried it away. On the following +morning we saw the alligator with its snout resting on a rock near by, +so I shot it; the men dragging it out of the water and leaving it on +the rocks. On returning, some months afterwards, we camped at the same +place, and there among the bones of the alligator saw those of the cat +bleaching in the sun. + +Iguanas were numerous, and on one occasion, when one in a tree overhead +was shot at with an arrow, it jumped down to gain the water, but not +calculating its distance accurately, landed on the back of one of the +men, who, seeing it coming, ducked his head and dropped his paddle +overboard. The paddle, being made of paruru, or paddle-wood, was heavy, +and sank, and the man was afraid to dive for it among the numerous +perai. + + [The author proceeds to describe the birds and trees of the + region, ending with an interesting account of the Brazil-nut.] + +Upon the borders of the New River and main Corentyne, above the +last-mentioned fall, we met with large groves of Brazil-nut-trees, +and on the ground beneath them obtained numbers of their nuts. I was +fortunate to find some of the nut-cases containing nuts that had +commenced to germinate, each nut sending out long roots from one end +and young plants from the other. The roots were all twisted and matted +together, quite filling up the cavities in the case around the nuts; +yet the nut-case was hard and showed no signs of decay, so that it is +difficult to say how the young plants free themselves. There is a small +aperture where the fruit-stalk was once attached, but in only one +instance did I find a case in which one of the young plants had found +its way out through this and sent forth leaves. It seems to me that when +this happens one plant alone survives of the twelve or fifteen that +commenced to grow, and that its matted roots, gradually filling the +nut-case, eventually burst it, when the plant is free to take root in +the earth. The strong cover of the growing nut is a necessary protection +to the young plant, for without such it would be devoured by one of the +host of animals that are ready to eat it. + +I planted some of the sprouting nuts, cut out of their hard outer +covering, on my way up the river, but on returning found that they had +all been dug up and eaten by rats and other small vermin. I therefore +had a lot planted in a box at our camp above King Frederick William IV. +Fall on my first return to that spot, and placed on the stem of a small +tree cut off some five feet from the ground. In this position they were +free from the attacks of small animals, and, being covered with a +shelter of some palm-leaves, thrived wonderfully. These plants were +subsequently sent to Kew, where they arrived in a fine healthy +condition. + +We found many nut-cases with holes cut in them by accouries, the marks +of the gnawing teeth of those animals being plainly shown. My men used +to open them by chopping off their ends with a cutlass, which, owing to +their hardness, was no easy operation. The quatas, or large black +spider-monkeys, spent a good deal of their time in trying to open them +by beating them against the branches of trees or on hard logs upon the +ground; and as we passed a grove of Brazil-nut-trees it was amusing +to hear the hammering sounds produced by these fellows at their +self-imposed tasks. Where a single monkey was thus employed the blows +were most laughably "few and far between," the creature showing its true +indolent character by the slow way in which it performed its work, +resting for a few minutes between every blow. It also showed an amount +of perseverance, however, that one would not look for in a monkey, and a +knowledge that it would eventually reap a reward for its hard labor. + +Goodness knows how long it takes one of these monkeys to break a +nut-case; but the time must be great, for on one occasion, during our +journey from the New River to the upper Essequebo, we got quietly among +a lot of the nut-breakers, and secured a nut-case which one in its hurry +had left upon a log, and which was worn smooth by the friction of the +monkey's hands. This had evidently been pounded for a length of time, +but showed no signs of cracking. Its natural aperture was large enough +to allow the monkey's fingers to touch the ends of the nuts inside, +which were picked and worn by its nails. Near the same place we saw +a nut-case split in two, on the flat surface of a large granite +rock, that had evidently been broken by a monkey, for there were no +Brazil-nut-trees, from which it could have fallen, overhanging the spot. + +The blossoms of the Brazil-nut-tree are large and yellow, having a +delicate aromatic perfume. They are similar, but larger than the +caccarali, or monkey-pot-tree (_Lecythis ollaria_), whose flowers are so +powerfully scented. + + + + +LIFE AND SCENERY IN VENEZUELA. + +ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. + + [The illustrious traveller and scientist from whose picturesque + descriptions of life and scenery in South America we here quote + was born in Berlin, September 14, 1769. After a careful + university education and scientific labors in Europe, he set + sail for America in 1799, and during the succeeding five years + explored a great extent of territory within the areas of the + present states of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and + Mexico. For twenty-five years succeeding his return he was + employed in arranging his collections, publishing the results + of his observations, and in other scientific labors. In 1829 he + again became a traveller, and explored a wide district in Asia. + He died, in his ninetieth year, May 6, 1859. Few men have ever + done so much for the advancement of science, while his + published works of travel contain much that is of value from a + literary point of view. We extract a series of interesting + passages relating to scenery and incidents in the Orinoco + region. The first is descriptive of the remarkable "cow-tree."] + + +When incisions are made in the trunk of this tree, it yields abundance +of a glutinous milk, tolerably thick, devoid of all acridity, and of +an agreeable and balmy smell. It was offered to us in the shell of a +calabash. We drank considerable quantities of it in the evening before +we went to bed, and very early in the morning, without feeling the least +injurious effect. The glutinous character of this milk alone renders it +a little disagreeable. The negroes and the free people who work in the +plantations drink it, dipping into it their bread of maize or cassava. +The overseer of the farm told us that the negroes grow sensibly fatter +during the season when the _palo de vaca_ furnishes them with most milk. +The juice, exposed to the air, presents at its surface membranes of a +strongly animalized substance, yellowish, stringy, and resembling +cheese. + +[Illustration: LA GUAYRA, VENEZUELA] + +Amidst the great number of curious phenomena which I have observed in +the course of my travels, I confess there are few that have made so +powerful an impression on me as the aspect of the cow-tree. Whatever +relates to milk or to corn inspires an interest which is not merely that +of the physical knowledge of things, but is connected with another order +of ideas and sentiments. We can scarcely conceive how the human race +could exist without farinaceous substances, and without that nourishing +juice which the breast of the mother contains, and which is appropriated +to the long feebleness of the infant. The amylaceous matter of corn, +the object of religious veneration among so many nations, ancient +and modern, is diffused in the seeds and deposited in the roots of +vegetables; milk, which serves as an aliment, appears to us exclusively +the produce of animal organization. Such are the impressions we have +received in our earliest infancy; such is also the source of that +astonishment created by the aspect of the tree just described. It is not +here the solemn shades of forests, the majestic course of rivers, the +mountains wrapped in eternal snow, that excite our emotion. A few drops +of vegetable juice recall to our minds all the powerfulness and the +fecundity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with +coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate +into the stone. For several months of the year not a single shower +moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the +trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is +at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. +The negroes and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters, +furnished with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow +and thickens at its surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree +itself, others carry the juice home to their children. + + [The great plains of Venezuela are thus described:] + +The sun was almost at its zenith; the earth, wherever it appeared +sterile and destitute of vegetation, was at the temperature of 120°. Not +a breath of air was felt at the height at which we were on our mules; +yet, in the midst of this apparent calm, whirls of dust incessantly +arose, driven on by those small currents of air which glide only over +the surface of the ground, and are occasioned by the difference of +temperature between the naked sand and the spots covered with grass. +All around us the plains seemed to ascend to the sky, and the vast and +profound solitude appeared like an ocean covered with sea-weed. On the +horizon the earth was confounded with the sky. Through the dry mist and +strata of vapor the trunks of palm-trees were seen from afar, stripped +of their foliage and their verdant summits, and looking like the masts +of a ship descried upon the horizon. There is something awful, as well +as sad and gloomy, in the uniform aspect of these steppes. Everything +seems motionless; scarcely does a small cloud, passing across the +zenith, and denoting the approach of the rainy season, cast its shadow +on the earth. I know not whether the first aspect of the llanos excites +less astonishment than that of the chain of the Andes. + +When, beneath the vertical rays of the bright and cloudless sun of the +tropics, the parched sward crumbles into dust, then the indurated soil +cracks and bursts as if rent asunder by some mighty earthquake. And if, +at such a time, two opposite currents of air, by conflict moving in +rapid gyrations, come in contact with the earth, a singular spectacle +presents itself. Like funnel-shaped clouds, their apexes touching the +earth, the sand rises in vapory form through the rarefied air in the +electrically-charged centre of the whirling current, sweeping on like +the rushing waterspout, which strikes such terror into the heart of the +mariner. A dim and sallow light gleams from the lowering sky over the +dreary plain. The horizon suddenly contracts, and the heart of the +traveller sinks with dismay as the wide steppe seems to close upon him +on all sides. The hot and dusty earth forms a cloudy veil which shrouds +the heavens from view, and increases the stifling oppression of the +atmosphere, while the east wind, when it blows over the long-heated +soil, instead of cooling, adds to the burning glow. Gradually, too, the +pools of water, which had been protected from evaporation by the now +seared foliage of the fan-palm, disappear. As in the icy north animals +become torpid from cold, so here the crocodile and the boa-constrictor +lie wrapt in unbroken sleep, deeply buried in the dried soil. Everywhere +the drought announces death, yet everywhere the thirsty wanderer is +deluded by the phantom of a moving, undulating, watery surface, created +by the deceptive play of the mirage. A narrow stratum separates the +ground from the distant palm-trees, which seem to hover aloft, owing to +the contact of currents of air having different degrees of heat, and +therefore of density. Shrouded in dark clouds of dust, and tortured by +hunger and burning thirst, oxen and horses scour the plain, the one +bellowing dismally, the other with outstretched necks snuffing the wind, +in the endeavor to detect, by the moisture of the air, the vicinity of +some pool of water not yet wholly evaporated. + +The mule, more cautious and cunning, adopts another method of +allaying his thirst. There is a globular and articulated plant, the +_Melo-cactus_, which encloses under its prickly integument an aqueous +pulp. After carefully striking away the prickles with its forefeet, +the mule cautiously ventures to apply his lips to imbibe the cooling +thistle juice. But the draught from this living vegetable spring is not +always unattended by danger, and these animals are often observed to +have been lamed by the puncture of the cactus thorn. Even if the burning +heat of day be succeeded by the cool freshness of the night, here always +of equal length, the wearied ox and horse enjoy no repose. Huge bats now +attack the animals during sleep, and vampire-like suck their blood; or, +fastening on their backs, raise festering wounds, in which mosquitoes, +hippobosces, and a host of other stinging insects burrow and nestle. + +When, after a long drought, the genial season of rain arrives, the scene +suddenly changes. The deep azure of the hitherto cloudless sky assumes a +lighter hue. Scarcely can the dark space in the constellation of the +Southern Cross be distinguished at night. The mild phosphorescence of +the Magellanic clouds fades away. Like some distant mountain, a single +cloud is seen rising perpendicularly on the southern horizon. Misty +vapors collect and gradually overspread the heavens, while distant +thunder proclaims the approach of the vivifying rain. Scarcely is the +surface of the earth moistened before the teeming steppe becomes covered +with a variety of grasses. Excited by the power of light, the herbaceous +mimosa unfolds its dormant, drooping leaves, hailing, as it were, the +rising sun in chorus with the matin song of the birds and the opening +flowers of aquatic plants. Horses and oxen, buoyant with life and +enjoyment, roam over and crop the plains. The luxuriant grass hides the +beautifully spotted jaguar, who, lurking in safe concealment, and +carefully measuring the extent of his leap, darts, like the Asiatic +tiger, with a cat-like bound upon his passing prey. At times, according +to the accounts of the natives, the humid clay on the banks of the +morasses is seen to rise slowly in broad flakes. Accompanied with a +violent noise, as on the eruption of a small mud-volcano, the upheaved +earth is hurled high into the air. Those who are familiar with the +phenomenon fly from it; for a colossal water-snake, or a mailed and +scaly crocodile, awakened from its trance by the first fall of rain, +is about to burst from its tomb. + +When the rivers bounding the plain to the south, as the Arauca, the +Apure, and the Payara, gradually overflow their banks, nature compels +those creatures to live as amphibious animals, which, during the first +half of the year, were perishing with thirst on the waterless and dusty +plain. A part of the steppe now presents the appearance of a vast inland +sea. The mares retreat with their foals to the higher banks, which +project, like islands, above the spreading waters. Day by day the dry +surface diminishes in extent. The cattle, crowded together, and deprived +of pasturage, swim for hours about the inundated plain, seeking a scanty +nourishment from the flowing panicles of the grasses which rise above +the lurid and bubbling waters. Many foals are drowned, many are seized +by crocodiles, crushed by their serrated tails, and devoured. Horses and +oxen may not unfrequently be seen which have escaped from the fury of +this blood-thirsty and gigantic lizard, bearing on their legs the marks +of its pointed teeth. + + [A widely different scene is that of the forest region, the + nocturnal noises of whose animal inhabitants are thus + picturesquely described.] + +Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we passed the night +as usual in the open air, on a sandy flat, on the bank of the Apure, +skirted by the impenetrable forest. We had some difficulty in finding +dry wood to kindle the fires with which it is here customary to surround +the bivouac, as a safeguard against the attacks of the jaguar. The air +was bland and soft and the moon shone brightly. Several crocodiles +approached the bank; and I have observed that fire attracts these +creatures as it does our crabs and many other aquatic animals. The oars +of our boats were fixed upright in the ground, to support our hammocks. +Deep stillness prevailed, only broken at intervals by the blowing of the +fresh-water dolphins, which are peculiar to the river net-work of the +Orinoco. + +After eleven o'clock such a noise began in the contiguous forest, that +for the remainder of the night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries +of animals rung through the woods. Among the many voices which resounded +together, the Indians could only recognize those which, after short +pauses, were heard singly. There was the monotonous, plaintive cry +of the howling monkeys, the whining, flute-like notes of the small +sapajous, the grunting murmur of the striped nocturnal ape, the fitful +roar of the great tiger, the cougar, or maneless American lion, the +peccary, the sloth, and a host of parrots, parraquas, and other +pheasant-like birds. Whenever the tigers approached the edge of the +forest, our dog, who before had barked incessantly, came howling to seek +protection under the hammocks. Sometimes the cry of the tiger resounded +from the branches of a tree, and was always then accompanied by the +plaintive, piping tones of the apes, who were endeavoring to escape from +the unwonted pursuit. + +If one asks the Indians why such a continuous noise is heard on certain +nights, they answer, with a smile, that "the animals are rejoicing in +the beautiful moonlight, and celebrating the return of the full +moon." To me the scene appeared rather to be owing to an accidental, +long-continued, and gradually increasing conflict among the animals. +Thus, for instance, the jaguar will pursue the peccaries and the tapirs, +which, densely crowded together, burst through the barrier of tree-like +shrubs which opposes their flight. Terrified at the confusion, the +monkeys on the tops of the trees join their cries with those of the +larger animals. This arouses the tribes of birds who build their nests +in communities, and suddenly the whole animal world is in a state of +commotion. Further experience taught us that it was by no means always +the festival of moonlight that disturbed the stillness of the forest; +for we observed that the voices were loudest during violent storms of +rain, or when the thunder echoed and the lightning flashed through the +depths of the wood. The good-natured Franciscan monk who accompanied us +through the cataracts of Apures and Maypures to San Carlos, on the Rio +Negro, and to the Brazilian frontier, used to say, when apprehensive of +a storm at night, "May heaven grant a quiet night both to us and to the +wild beasts of the forest!" + + [The unpleasant conditions of a canoe voyage on the Orinoco are + thus described:] + +The new canoe intended for us was, like all Indian boats, a trunk of a +tree hollowed out partly by the hatchet and partly by fire. It was forty +feet long and three broad. Three persons could not sit in it side by +side. These canoes are so crank, and they require, from their +instability, a cargo so equally distributed, that when you want to rise +for an instant, you must warn the rowers to lean to the opposite side. +Without this precaution the water would necessarily enter the side +pressed down. It is difficult to form an idea of the inconveniences that +are suffered in such wretched vessels. To gain something in breadth, a +sort of lattice-work had been constructed on the stern with branches of +trees, that extended on each side beyond the gunwale. Unfortunately, the +_toldo_, or roof of leaves, that covered this lattice-work, was so low +that we were obliged to lie down, without seeing anything, or, if +seated, to sit nearly double. The necessity of carrying the canoe across +the rapids, and even from one river to another, and the fear of giving +too much hold to the wind, by making the toldo higher, render this +construction necessary for vessels that go up towards the Rio Negro. +The toldo was intended to cover four persons, lying on the deck or +lattice-work of brushwood; but our legs reached far beyond it, and when +it rained half our bodies were wet. Our couches consisted of ox-hides or +tiger-skins spread upon branches of trees, which were painfully felt +through so thin a covering. The fore part of the boat was filled with +Indian rowers, furnished with paddles, three feet long, in the form +of spoons. They were all naked, seated two by two, and they kept time +in rowing with a surprising uniformity, singing songs of a sad and +monotonous character. The small cages containing our birds and our +monkeys--the number of which augmented as we advanced--were hung some to +the toldo and others to the bow of the boat. This was our travelling +menagerie. Every night, when we established our watch, our collection +of animals and our instruments occupied the centre; around these were +placed, first, our hammocks, then the hammocks of the Indians; and on +the outside were the fires, which are thought indispensable against the +attacks of the jaguar. About sunrise the monkeys in our cages answered +the cries of the monkeys of the forest. + +In a canoe not three feet wide, and so encumbered, there remained no +other place for the dried plants, trunks, sextant, a dipping needle, and +the meteorological instruments, than the space below the lattice-work of +branches, on which we were compelled to remain stretched the greater +part of the day. If we wished to take the least object out of a trunk, +or to use an instrument, it was necessary to row ashore and land. To +these inconveniences were joined the torment of the mosquitoes which +swarmed under the toldo, and the heat radiated from the leaves of the +palm-trees, the upper surface of which was continually exposed to the +solar rays. We attempted every instant, but always without success, to +amend our situation. While one of us hid himself under a sheet to ward +off the insects, the other insisted on having green wood lighted beneath +the toldo, in the hope of driving away the mosquitoes by the smoke. The +painful sensations of the eyes, and the increase of heat, already +stifling, rendered both these contrivances alike impracticable. With +some gayety of temper, with feelings of mutual good-will, and with a +vivid taste for the majestic grandeur of these vast valleys of rivers, +travellers easily support evils that become habitual. + + [The torment of insects--mosquitoes and venomous flies by day, + and the _zancudos_ (large gnats) by night--became almost + insupportable as they advanced. On the upper Orinoco the + mosquitoes form the principal topic of conversation, the usual + salutation being, "How did you find the gnats during the + night?" or, "How are you off for mosquitoes to-day?" Humboldt + thus describes the situation:] + +The lower strata of air, from the surface of the ground to the height of +fifteen or twenty feet, are absolutely filled with venomous insects. If +in an obscure spot, for instance, in the grottos of the cataracts formed +by superincumbent blocks of granite, you direct your eyes towards the +opening enlightened by the sun, you see clouds of mosquitoes more or +less thick. I doubt whether there be a country upon earth where man is +exposed to more cruel torments in the rainy season. Having passed the +fifth degree of latitude you are somewhat less stung; but on the upper +Orinoco the stings are more painful, because the heat and the absolute +want of wind render the air more burning and more irritating in its +contact with the skin. "How comfortable people must be in the moon!" +said a Salivo Indian to Father Gumilla. "She looks so beautiful and so +clear, that she must be free from mosquitoes." These words, which denote +the infancy of a people, are very remarkable. The satellite of the earth +appears to all savage nations the abode of the blessed, the country +of abundance. The Esquimaux, who counts among his riches a plank or +the trunk of a tree, thrown by the currents on a coast destitute of +vegetation, sees in the moon plains covered with forests; the Indian of +the forest of Orinoco there beholds open savannas, where the inhabitants +are never stung by mosquitoes. + + [The story of the voyage closes as follows:] + +It would be difficult for me to express the satisfaction we felt on +landing at Angostura [the capital of Spanish Guiana.] The inconveniences +endured at sea in small vessels are trivial in comparison with those +that are suffered under a burning sky, surrounded by swarms of +mosquitoes, and lying stretched in a canoe, without the possibility of +taking the least bodily exercise. In seventy-five days we had performed +a passage of five hundred leagues--twenty to a degree--on the five great +rivers, Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, Rio Negro, and Cassiquiare; and in this +vast extent we had found but a very small number of inhabited places. +Coming from an almost desert country, we were struck with the bustle of +the town, though it contained only six thousand inhabitants. We admired +the conveniences which industry and commerce furnish to civilized man. +Humble dwellings appeared to us magnificent; and every person with whom +we conversed seemed to be endowed with superior intelligence. Long +privations give a value to the smallest enjoyments; and I cannot express +the pleasure we felt when we saw for the first time wheaten bread on the +governor's table. + + + + +THE LLANEROS OF VENEZUELA. + +RAMON PAEZ. + + [Don Ramon Paez, in his "Wild Scenes in South America; or, Life + in the Llanos of Venezuela," has given us some interesting + pictures of a region little known to travellers. These vast + plains are inhabited by a people many of whom bear a close + resemblance in their habits to the Argentine Gauchos. The + following selection is devoted to a description of this people + and their region of habitation.] + + +We left Ortiz as usual, very early the next morning, stumbling here and +there amidst the mass of loose stones which paved the way along the +winding bed of the _quebrada_. In proportion as we advanced on our route +the hills decreased in size, while the loose stones seemed to increase +in quantity. The splendid groves of hardy and balsamiferous trees, which +near Ortiz formed an almost impenetrable forest, gradually became less +imposing in appearance, until they were replaced by thickets of thorny +bushes, chiefly composed of several species of mimosas, with a delicate +and feathery foliage. The traveller accustomed to the shade of a +luxuriant vegetation, and to the sight of cultivated valleys, is struck +by the rapid diminution of the former, and the total disappearance of +the latter, as he emerges from the Galeras of Ortiz; yet he is somewhat +compensated by the almost overpowering perfume shed by masses of the +canary-colored blossoms with which these shrubs are loaded, from the +summits down to the bending branches that trail the ground at every +passing breeze. + +Suddenly we entered a widely-extended tract of level land almost +destitute of vegetation. With the exception of a few clumps of +palm-trees with fan-like leaves, nothing but short grass covered its +entire surface, almost realizing the idea of an "ocean covered with +sea-weed." A dense mass of vapor pervading the atmosphere obscured the +horizon, while the fan-palms, seen from afar, appeared like ships +enveloped in a fog. Gradually the circle of the heavens seemed to close +around us, until we became, as it were, encompassed by the sky. We were, +in fact, treading the shores of the great basin of the Llanos, over one +of the ancient shoals or _mesas_, which, like successive terraces, now +form the border of those grassy oceans known as the Pampas. This was the +Mesa de Paya, the seat of one of the cattle-farms to which we were +bound. + +After wandering for nearly three hours over this monotonous landscape +without compass, and guided only by certain landmarks known to the +_vaqueanos_, we came unexpectedly upon the borders of the Mesa, which +commands an extensive view of the lower savannas. As if by magic, the +dreary scene changed to one of the most glorious panoramas in existence. +At our feet lay a beautiful expanse of meadow, fresh and smooth as the +best cultivated lawn, with troops of horses and countless herds of +cattle dispersed all over the plain. Several glittering ponds, alive +with all varieties of aquatic birds, reflected upon their limpid surface +the broad-leaved crowns of the fan-palms, towering above verdant groves +of laurel, amyris, and elm-like _robles_. Farther beyond, and as far as +the eye could reach, the undulating plain appeared like a petrified +ocean after the sweeping tempest. + +But I feel that my descriptions fall short of the reality, and that I +am unable to depict the harmonious effects of light and shade, and the +blending of the various tints of green, blue, and purple, dispersed +over this extensive panorama; the towering palms gracefully fanning +the glowing atmosphere with their majestic crowns of broad and shining +leaves, and myriad other beauties difficult to enumerate. + +I could scarcely tear myself away from the spot, so fascinated was I +with the novelty of the scene. My companions, more concerned for the +speedy termination of the journey than the beautiful in nature, set off +at a brisk trot towards the house, which was at no great distance. +Fearing to lose my way among the intricate paths leading to it, I was +compelled to follow in their wake, stopping occasionally to gaze once +more upon those enchanting groves, which seemed to return me to the +highly cultivated fields and green meadows of glorious "Old England," +from whence I had just returned. + +On descending to the plain below, my attention was attracted to an +unsightly group of palm-thatched huts, looking more like huge beehives +than the abode of human beings. A formidable fence of palm-trunks +surrounded the premises and several acres of ground beyond. These were +the _corrals_, or enclosures where the training of the fierce herds +was practised by the hardy dwellers of the Llanos; but no signs of +cultivation, or aught else connected with the rural occupations of the +farmer, were visible in the neighborhood. Presently the cavalcade +stopped before the gate, and all the individuals composing it dismounted +and began to unsaddle their horses, amidst the barking of a legion of +dogs and the braying of all the donkeys in the vicinity. + +This was the _hato_, or cattle-farm, of San Pablo we were in quest of, +famous in the annals of the civil wars in Venezuela as the occasional +head-quarters of the constitutional armies, commanded by the owner of +this farm. Our leader was received at the entrance of his estate by a +grave and elderly negro slave, who acted as overseer, and had under +his control all the men and property attached to it. Kneeling upon +the stony court-yard, he kissed the hand extended to him in friendly +greeting, after which he proceeded to unsaddle his master's horse, which +he led to a pond within the enclosure, where the horses were watered. + +We purposed remaining a few days at San Pablo, with the object of +incorporating some fresh relays of mules and horses from the abundant +stock of this estate; so we of the staff installed ourselves under +the palm-roof of our rustic mansion, while the rank and file of the +expedition found accommodation in the open barracoons adjoining it, +although none of the party had reason to boast of being better off than +his neighbor. + +"It is sad when pleasing first impressions are obliterated," remarks a +sentimental writer; "always painful to become _désenchanté_ on a more +intimate acquaintance with either people or places." I soon found that +I was not in the fairy-land I had imagined, abounding in grottos and +refreshed by sparkling fountains, but in the region of the Llanos, where +the French adage, _Chacun pour soi et Dieu_ _pour tous_, is verified to +its fullest extent. San Pablo, with its vaunted prestige, and in spite +of its proximity to several important marts, was no better provided with +accommodations than the untidy _douar_ of the wandering Arab of the +desert. A rickety table standing against the wall for fear of tumbling +down, two or three clumsy cedar chairs covered with raw hide, and a +couple of grass hammocks, serving the double purpose of beds and +lounges, constituted all the furniture of the great farm. As a +substitute for wardrobes and hat-stands, we were shown a number of +deer-antlers and bull-horns embedded in the walls of reeds and mud, +on which to hang our pouches, bridles, etc. + +I searched in vain on our arrival for something like a bowl in which to +lave my hands and face, covered with dust and parched by the broiling +sun of the savannas. Even water was so scarce that it was served to us +sparingly from a large calabash gourd used in bringing it from the +river, nearly a mile distant. It is true there was, within the enclosure +of the houses, a pond or excavation, made while searching for the +remains of a brave officer who fell fighting for his country's freedom. +Sufficient water had accumulated there during the rainy season to +entitle it to the name of _Laguna_ or Lake of Genaro Vazquez, the name +of the aforementioned hero; but it was so filled with _bavas_,--a small +species of alligator,--terrapins, and toads, as to render the water +undrinkable. + +But to return to our head-quarters, the structure of which struck me so +forcibly at first as a beehive of vast proportions, naturally suggesting +the idea of a "land of milk and honey." Unfortunately, neither of these +could be obtained for love or money, although the woods and pastures of +the estate abounded in both the creatures that produced them. So we were +compelled to resort to our reserved stock of _papelon_ to sweeten our +coffee, and to its own delicious natural aroma in the place of milk. As +to the house itself, it only differed from the rest in that region in +being larger, and perhaps in better order, than are the generality. +Imagine a pyramidal structure, thatched with palm-leaves, the roof +slanting to within a few feet of the ground, and supported on stout +posts of live timber, which served also as framework for the walls, and +you will have some idea of the style of architecture peculiar to the +country. Doors and windows are of no account in a country uniformly warm +throughout the year, and where the inhabitants possess few articles +capable of tempting the cupidity of light-fingered gentry. Therefore an +ox-hide stretched across the openings left in the walls to admit light +and the inmates is all that is required to keep off uninvited guests. As +an exception to this rule, our mansion of San Pablo had one or two rooms +set apart for invalids, provided with doors and windows of solid planks +of timber in the rough; the other apartments had the upper half of the +walls purposely left open, to admit full and free entrance of light and +air. A narrow piazza or corridor, formed by the slanting of the roof to +within five feet of the ground, ran along the entire length of the main +building, and was intended more as a protection to the rooms against the +sun and rains than as a resort for the inmates. + +The first step, on arriving, was to secure a place in the open +reception-room for my own chattels and hammock, before all the +spare posts and hooks had been appropriated by my companions. This +accomplished, I proceeded to a thorough examination of my saddle and its +accoutrements, so as to have them adapted to the peculiar mode of +travelling in the Llanos. This care I left to the good judgment of our +attendants, not being myself sufficiently skilled in the art of mending, +greasing, and putting in order the complicated gear of our riding +equipment. In the same predicament were also my two English companions, +and our worthy doctor; a kind word, however, addressed to the +good-natured Llaneros--especially if accompanied with a drop of +aguardiente--never failed of enlisting their services in our favor. + +Habit, as well as necessity, is sometimes the mother of invention, as my +experience soon taught me that, to get along in my new quarters, it +would be requisite to set aside the airs and insignia of civilization. +Divesting myself, therefore, of all such superfluities as coat, cravat, +pants, and shoes, I adopted the less cumbrous attire of the Llaneros, +consisting mainly of breeches tightly buttoned at the knee, and a loose +shirt, usually of a bright checkered pattern. Shoes are altogether +dispensed with in a country like the Llanos, subject to drenching rains, +and covered with mud during a great portion of the year, besides the +inconvenience they offer to the rider in holding the stirrup securely +when in chase of wild animals. The leg, however, is well protected from +the thorns and cutting grass of the savannas by a neat legging or +_botin_, made of buff-skin, tightly buttoned down the calf by knobs or +studs of highly polished silver. Another characteristic article of +dress, and one in which the wearers take great pride, is the linen +checkered handkerchief loosely worn around the head. Its object is +ostensibly to protect it from the intensity of the sun's rays; but +the constant habit of wearing it has rendered the handkerchief as +indispensable a head-dress to the Llaneros as is the cravat to the neck +of the city gentleman. + + [The traveller proceeds with further details of the life of + these people, and with an account of their half-savage method + of slaughtering their cattle; which we can well omit for a more + general descriptive passage.] + +The people inhabiting the vast region of the Llanos, although claiming +descent from the old Castilian race, once the rulers of the land, are, +in fact, an amalgamation of the various castes composing the present +population of the republic. These are the whites, or the descendants +of the European settlers of the country; the aboriginals or Indians, +and a great portion of blacks. In most of the towns the native whites +preponderate over all others, and represent the wealth as well as the +most respectable portion of the community; in the villages and thinly +populated districts of the plains a mongrel breed, resulting from the +admixture of these three, constitute the majority of the inhabitants. +These are dispersed over an area of twenty-seven thousand square miles, +making a proportion of only fourteen individuals, out of a population +of three hundred and ninety thousand, to every square mile. + +This race, although vastly inferior to the first in mental capacity and +moral worth, is endowed with a physique admirably adapted to endure the +fatigues of a life beset with dangers and hardships. Cast upon a wild +and apparently interminable plain, the domain of savage beasts and +poisonous reptiles, their lot has been to pass all their life in a +perpetual struggle, not only with the primitive possessors of the land, +but with the elements themselves, often as fierce as they are grand. +When it is not the alarm of the dreaded viper or the spotted jaguar, it +is the sudden inroad of vast inundations, which, spreading with fearful +rapidity over the land, sweep off in one moment their frail habitations +and their herds. Nevertheless this insecure existence, this continual +struggle between life and death, between rude intellect and matter, has +for the Llanero a sort of fascination, perhaps not so well understood by +people possessing the blessings and ideas of civilization, but without +which he could not exist, especially if deprived of his horse and cast +among the mountain region north of his cherished plains. + +The modern Centaur of the desolate regions of the New World, the Llanero +spends his life on horseback; all his actions and exertions must be +assisted by his horse; for him the noblest effort of man is when, +gliding swiftly over the boundless plain and bending over his spirited +charger, he overturns an enemy or masters a wild bull. The following +lines of Victor Hugo seem as though copied from this model: "He would +not fight but on horseback; he forms but one person with his horse; he +lives on horseback; trades, buys, and sells on horseback; eats, drinks, +sleeps, and dreams on horseback." Like the Arab he considers his horse +his best and most reliable friend on earth, often depriving himself of +rest and comfort after a hard day's journey to afford his faithful +companion abundance of food and water. + +Few people in the world are better riders than the Llaneros of +Venezuela, if we except perhaps the Gauchos of Buenos Ayres, or equal +to either in the dexterity they display in the wonderful feats of +horsemanship to which their occupations in the field inure them from +childhood. Their horses, moreover, are so well trained to the various +evolutions of their profession, that animal and rider seem to possess +but one existence. + +The life of the Llanero, like that of the Gaucho his prototype, is +singularly interesting, and resembles in many respects that of others +who, like them, have their abode in the midst of extensive plains. Thus +they have been aptly styled the Cossacks and the Arabs of the New World, +with both of whom they have many points in common, but more especially +do they resemble the last named. When visiting the famous Constantine +Gallery of paintings at Versailles, I was struck with the resemblance of +the Algerine heroes of Horace Vernet to our own, revealing at once the +Moorish descent of the latter, independently of other characteristic +peculiarities. + + [Sir Francis Head, in his "Journeys across the Pampas," gives + the following description of the infancy of a closely similar + race.] + +"Born in the rude hut, the infant Gaucho receives little attention, but +is left to swing from the roof in a bullock's hide, the corners of which +are drawn towards each other by four strips of hide. In the first year +of his life he crawls about without clothes, and I have more than once +seen a mother give a child of this age a sharp knife, a foot long, to +play with. As soon as he walks, his infantine amusements are those which +prepare him for the occupations of his future life; with a lazo made of +twine he tries to catch little birds, or the dogs, as they walk in and +out of the hut. By the time he is four years old he is on horseback, +and immediately becomes useful by assisting to drive the cattle into the +corral." + +When sufficiently strong to cope with a wild animal, the young Llanero +is taken to the _majada_ or great cattle-pen, and there hoisted upon the +bare back of a fierce young bull. With his face turned towards the +animal's tail, which he holds in lieu of bridle, and his little legs +twisted round the neck of his antagonist, he is whirled round and round +at a furious rate. His position, as may be imagined, is anything but +equestrian; yet, the fear of coming in contact with the bull's horns +compels the rider to hold on until, by a dexterous twist of the animal's +tail while he jumps off its back, he succeeds in overturning his +antagonist. + +In proportion as he grows older and stronger, a more manly amusement is +afforded him with the breaking in of a wild colt. This being, however, a +more dangerous experiment, in which many a young eagle "is rendered a +lame duck," he is provided with the necessary accoutrements to withstand +the terrible struggle with the animal. Firmly seated upon his back and +brandishing overhead a _chaparro_ vine for a whip, the apprentice is +thus installed in his new office, from which he must not descend until +the brute is perfectly subdued; the coil of lazo in the hands of his +merciless instructor would be the least evil awaiting him should he +otherwise escape safe and sound from the desperate kicks and plunges of +the horse. + +Here commences what we may term the public life of the Llanero; his +education is now considered complete. From this moment all his endeavors +and ambition will be to rival his companions in the display of physical +force, which he shows to an admirable degree when, armed with his tough +lazo, he pursues the wild animals of his domain. If a powerful bull or +wild horse tries to escape into the open plain, the cavalier unfurls the +noose which is always ready by his side, and the fugitive is quickly +brought back to the corral. Should the thong give way under the +impetuous flight of the animal, the rider seizes him by the tail, and +whirling round suddenly, pulls towards him with so much force as to +cause his immediate overthrow. + +In all these exercises the roving cavalier of the Llanos acquires that +feeling of security and enduring disposition for which he is famous. +Unfortunately, it is often turned to account in disturbing the balance +of power among his more enlightened countrymen; for he is always ready +to join the first revolutionary movement offering him the best chance +for equipping himself with arms of all descriptions. Next to the horse, +the Llanero esteems those weapons which give him a superiority over his +fellow-creatures,--viz., a lance, a blunderbuss, and a fine sword. If he +is unprovided with either of these, he considers himself a miserable and +degraded being, and all his efforts will tend to gratify this favorite +vanity even at the risk of his own life. Therefore he goes to war, +because he is sure, if victorious, of finding the battle-field covered +with these tempting trophies of his ambition. In this, unfortunately, he +is too often encouraged by a host of unprincipled politicians, who, not +wishing to earn a livelihood by fair means, are eternally plotting +against the powers that be. + + + + +THE FORESTS OF THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA RIVERS. + +FRANZ KELLER. + + [The author of the following selection, with his father, was + sent in 1867, by the Minister of Public Works at Rio Janeiro, + to explore the Madeira, and to project a railroad along its + banks where the rapids rendered navigation impossible. His + observations during this journey are given in "The Amazon and + Madeira Rivers," from which we extract his remarks concerning + the Brazilian forests.] + + +Everywhere the decomposing organisms serve as bases for new formations. +No particle, however small, is ever lost in the great household of +Nature; but nowhere is her restless activity so conspicuous as in the +tropics, where the succession of vegetable decay and life is so much +more rapid than it is in colder climes; and which will strike the +reflecting student more especially in the wide, forest-clad valleys of +tropical America, and on the Amazon and its affluents. + +On the heights of the Cordillera the process is already at work. The +waste of the mountain-slopes, broken off by rills and torrents, and +carried by them into the main river, slowly drifts down-stream in the +form of gravel-banks, until, scattered and rent asunder in a thousand +ways, it finally takes permanent form as light-green islands, which are +soon covered and protected with a dense coat of vegetation. + +As every zone of geologic formation in the extensive valley adds its +tribute, these banks are a kind of mineralogical collection, which shows +samples of all the rocks on the river-banks, with the exception, +perhaps, of light pumice-stone, the produce of the volcanoes of the +Andes, which drifts down-stream in large pieces, and is highly prized by +the Tapuia population (on the lower course) for sharpening and cleaning +their weapons and tools. Even when not picked up by hunter or fisher, it +is not lost. It will be arrested by some snag or projection of the +shore, it will so get embedded in the newly-forming sediment, and +thousands of years hence its silicic acid will afford the necessary +material for the hard glassy bark of a bambusacea, or the sharp edge of +a reed. When the currents are not strong enough to move the larger +banks, they at least carry sand and earth with them, and deposit them as +shoals or new alluvion at less exposed spots.... + +The undermined concave shores are sometimes a serious danger to the +passing barque, as even the slight ripple of a canoe is sufficient to +bring down the loosely overhanging earth, often covered with gigantic +trunks. These concave sides, with their fallen trees and their clusters +of sinking javary-palms, supported sometimes by only a tangled net-work +of tough lianas, give to the scenery that peculiar character of primeval +wildness which is so charming to foreigners. + +When one has climbed up the steep shore, often forming huge terrace-like +elevations, and has safely passed through a labyrinth of interwoven +roots and creepers into the interior of the forest, which is getting +freer from underwood at some distance from the river, he is oppressed +with the sensation of awe and wonder felt by man on entering one of the +venerable edifices of antiquity. + +A mysterious twilight encompasses us, which serves to intensify the +radiance of the occasional sunbeam as it falls on a glossy palm-leaf, or +on a large bunch of purple orchid-flowers. Splendid trunks, some of them +from twenty to thirty feet in diameter, rise like so many pillars +supporting the dense green vault of foliage; and every variety of tall, +graceful palms, spare and bushy, and bearing heavy berries of bright +yellow or red, struggle to catch a glimpse of the light, from which they +are shut out by the neighboring giants, of which the figueira (or wild +fig-tree) is one of the most striking, in the dimensions of its crown +and stem, and in the strange shape of its roots, which project like huge +outworks. These seem to grow in all directions, forming props, stays, +and cross-bars wherever they are wanted, just as if the whole were a +soft plastic mass, the sole purpose of which was to supply, with a +minimum of material, as much stability as possible to the trunk, whose +wood is of extreme softness and whose roots are not deep. The +pachiuba-palm (_Iriartea exorhiza_) and some species of Cecropiæ exhibit +other extravagances in their roots. They appear as if standing on +stilts, the real trunks only beginning at eight or ten feet above +ground. + +But, more than all, it is the profusion of orchids and Bromeliæ that +excites our admiration. These bright children of the tropics envelop +with dense foliage as well the fallen and mouldering trunks as those yet +upstanding in full vigor and bloom, thus forming hanging gardens of +astounding magnificence, which reveal leaves and flowers of the most +irregular shapes and colors. Everywhere, on the branches and on the +ground, and even from out the fissures of the bare rock, light ferns and +rich moss spring up and clothe the decaying trunks with fresh green. Of +mosses and ferns, especially tree-ferns, we found a greater exuberance +and a larger variety, in species as well as in individuals, in the +Southern provinces of the empire, São Paulo and Paraná; but for splendid +palms and gigantic dicotyledons the North is decidedly the richer of the +two. + +Without the aid of the pencil it is indeed scarcely possible to give an +adequate idea of the magnificence of this vegetation, especially of the +manner in which the different forms are grouped. We may see, it is true, +in our own hot-houses, well-trimmed palms, beautiful orchids with their +abnormal blossoms, and Aroideæ with their bright, sappy, sometimes +regularly perforated, leaves; but how different is this from the virgin +forest, wherein Nature, undisturbed by man, has created her own +prodigies, and where no narrow pots separate her children from the +maternal soil, and where no dim roof of glass intervenes between them +and the blue ether! Nor, in our carefully tended hot-houses, is the eye +ever gratified with such agreeable contrasts as are afforded by the +silver-gray and rust-brown tints of the decayed leaf of the palm or the +fern-tree, or the black bark of the rotting trunk, with the blazing +scarlet of some heliconia blossom. How difficult it must be to give to +every plant, especially to orchids, the exact quantity of light, warmth, +and moisture it requires, can be understood only by those who have seen +clusters of them hidden in the deep shade of the tree-crowns, while +others are exposed to the scorching rays of the sun in the vicinity of a +river or in some clearer part of the forest; some species thriving on +the bare rock almost, and others clinging fast with their white rootlets +to the moist rotting bark of a tree.... + +But of far greater importance to the half-civilized riverines than +either palms or orchids, for whose beauties they have no eye, are the +cacao and the caoutchouc-tree (_Siphonia elastica_), products of the +virgin forest essential to the future prosperity of the whole country. + +Although India contributes to the supply of caoutchouc, the precious +resin which is transformed into a thousand different shapes every year +in the factories of Europe and North America, and sent to the ends of +the earth, it cannot compete with Brazil, which takes the first place +among the rubber-producing countries, in respect as well of the vastness +of its export of the material as of its superior quality. + +On the shores of the Amazon its production, it is true, has already been +diminished by unreasonable treatment of the trees; the idea of replacing +the old ones by young saplings never having presented itself, +apparently, to the mind of the indolent population; but the seringaes, +or woods of rubber-trees, on the banks of the Madeira, the Purús, and +other tributaries of the main river, still continue to furnish +extraordinary quantities of it. The province of Amazon alone exports +more than fifty thousand arrobas (one million six hundred thousand +pounds) yearly, while the total of the exports of the whole basin +slightly exceeds four hundred thousand arrobas, or twelve million eight +hundred thousand pounds, per annum.... + +Unfortunately, there has not been until now the slightest attempt made +to cultivate this useful tree; and all the caoutchouc exported from Pará +is still obtained from the original seringa groves. The trees of course +suffer, as they naturally would under the best of treatment, from the +repeated tapping and drawing-off of their sap, and the rubber +collectors, therefore, must look about for new groves of the tree in the +unexplored valleys of the more distant interior. + +The planting of the _Siphonia elastica_ would be a more profitable +investment, as it yields the precious milk in the comparatively short +space of twenty or twenty-five years; but, under the combined influence +of the indolence of the Mestitzoes and the shortsightedness of the +government, measures to that end will be adopted and carried into effect +only when the rubber exportation shall have diminished with the +destruction of the trees, and when European and North American +manufacturers shall have found out a more or less appropriate substitute +for the too costly resin. + +Near the Praia de Tamanduá we acquainted ourselves with all the +particulars respecting the collection and preparation of the caoutchouc +at the cottage of a Bolivian seringueiro, Don Domingo Leigue. As I have +already stated, the Siphonia grows, or at least thrives, only on a soil +wherein its stem is annually submerged by the floods to the height of +three feet or more. The best ground for it, therefore, is the _igapó_, +the lowest and most recent deposit of the river; and there, in the +immediate vicinity of the seringaes, may be seen the low thatches of the +gatherers' huts, wretched hovels mostly, rendered tenantable during the +inundations by the device of raising the floors on wooden piles of +seven feet height, in which the canoe, the seringueiro's indispensable +horse, also finds a protected harbor. Unenviable truly must be the life +of the happy proprietor, who has nothing to do in the seringal during +the wet season, and who then has ample leisure to calculate exactly the +intervals between his fits of ague, and to let himself be devoured by +_carapanás_, _piums_, _motúcas_, and _mucuims_; under which euphonious +names are known some of the most terrible of insect pests. + +Narrow paths lead from the cottage, through the dense underwood, to each +separate tree; and, as soon as the dry season sets in, the inmate of the +palace just described betakes himself with his hatchet into the +seringal, to cut little holes in the bark. The milk-white sap +immediately begins to exude into pieces of bamboo tied below, over +little clay cups set under the gashes to prevent their trickling down +the stems. The collector travels thus from trunk to trunk; and, to +facilitate operations, on his return visit he pours the contents of the +bamboos into a large calabash provided with liana straps, which he +empties at home into one of those large turtle-shells so auxiliary to +housekeeping in these regions, serving as they do for troughs, basins, +etc. + +Without any delay he sets about the smoking process, as the resinous +parts will separate after a while, and the quality of the rubber so +become inferior. An earthen jar, without bottom and with a narrow neck, +is set by way of chimney over a fire of dry urucury, or uauassú +palm-nuts, whose smoke alone, strange to say, has the effect of +instantly coagulating the caoutchouc sap, which, in this state, greatly +resembles rich cow's milk. The workman, sitting beside this "chimney," +through which roll dense clouds of a smothering white smoke, from a +small calabash pours a little of the milk on a sort of light wooden +shovel, always careful, by proper management of the latter, to +distribute it evenly over the surface. Thrusting the shovel into the +thick smoke over the opening of the jar, he turns it several times to +and fro with great rapidity, when the milk is seen to consolidate and to +take a grayish-yellow tinge. + +Thus he puts layer upon layer, until at last the caoutchouc on both +sides of the wood has reached about an inch in thickness, when he thinks +the "plancha" ready. Cutting it on one side, he takes it off the shovel +and suspends it in the sun to dry, as there is always some water between +the several layers, which should, if possible, evaporate. A good workman +is thus able to prepare five or six pounds of solid seringa in an hour. +The plancha, from its initial color of a clear silver-gray, turns +shortly into a yellow, and finally becomes the well-known dark brown of +the rubber, such as it is exported. + +The more uniform, the denser and freer of bubbles, the whole mass is +found to be, the better is its quality and the higher the price it +fetches. Almost double the value is obtained for the first-rate article +over that of the most inferior quality, the so-called sernamby or cabeįa +de negro (negro's head); which is nothing but the drops collected at the +foot of the trees, with the remains of the milk scraped out of the +bottoms of the calabashes. The rubber of India is said to be much like +this sernamby, and, like it, to be mixed with sand and small pieces of +bark. By way of testing the quality, every plancha is cut through again +at Pará; by which means discovery is made, not only of the bubbles, but +also of any adulteration that might be effected with the milk of the +mangaba, that fine plant with dark glossy leaves, now found so often in +European saloons under the erroneous name of rubber-plant.... + +The wild cacao, with its large lancet-shaped hanging leaves, and its +cucumber-like fruit springing directly from the stem, is one of the +characteristic features of the _virgem_ [or solid soil] on which it +often forms dense thickets, which are all the more impenetrable that the +boughs--exhibiting frequently at the same time the small reddish flowers +and the ripe golden fruit, in which the seeds lie embedded in a sweet +white marrow--bend to the ground and there take root again. + +But the india-rubber and the cacao are not the only treasures worth +collecting in these forests. Even now the export of the Pará nuts, the +fruit of the _Bertholletia excelsa_, yields an annual revenue of two +hundred thousand dollars; and the copaiba oil and the urucú, the seeds +of the _Bixa orellana_, used for dyeing, about one hundred thousand +dollars. These sums seem small enough, it is true, but there are perhaps +a hundred times those values of the rich-flavored nuts rotting unheeded +in the forests, and above a score of other rich oily seeds, at present +collected only for the use of the natives, not to mention several resins +which yield the finest varnishes, plants giving the most brilliant hues, +and others with fibres that would serve not only for the finest +weavings, but also for the strongest ropes; besides about forty of the +most indispensable drugs, all which might become most valuable articles +of export.... + +Notwithstanding the fertility of tropical vegetation, I doubt whether +any other part of the world, in the same latitude, can offer as great a +number of useful plants as does the Amazon Valley; and now, when +all-transforming steam is about to open up to us this rich emporium, +European industry should take advantage of the hitherto neglected +treasures. What might not be done with the fibres, some of which surpass +our hemp and flax in all respects? The curauá, for example, a sort of +wild pine-apple, gives a delicate transparent flax of a silky lustre, +such as is used in the Philippine Islands, on a large scale, it +appears. It is sold under the name of _palha_ at Rio de Janeiro. The +tucum and the javary would make excellent ropes, cords, nets, etc., well +calculated to resist moisture and rot; and the piassaba, the murity, +etc., would readily supply solid brushes, brooms, hammocks, hats, +baskets, mats; while the snow-white bast of others would give excellent +paper. + +The lianas or cipós of these countries are, besides their minor uses, +quite indispensable to the half-civilized natives for the construction +of their light cottages, taking the place (as they do) of our nails and +cramp-irons, beams, posts, and rafters. The whole palm-leaf roof is +fastened, and artificially interwoven and intertwined, with tough +creepers of nearly an inch thickness.... + +In the hot lowlands of the Amazon, in the shade of endless forest, there +is many an herb of mysterious virtue, as yet known only to wild Indian +tribes, while the fame of others has already spread over the ocean. Who +has not heard of the _urary_, or _curare_, the quick arrow-poison which, +in the hands of clever physiologists and physicians, promises not only +to become a valuable drug, but to give us interesting disclosures on the +activity of the nerves? + +The wondrous tales of former travellers regarding the preparation of +this urary have been rectified long ago. The venom of snakes is not used +for it, but the juice of the bruised stems and leaves of several kinds +of strychnos and apocyneas is simply boiled over a coal fire, mixed with +tobacco-juice and capsicum (Spanish pepper), and thickened with the +sticky milk of some Euphorbiacea to a hard mass. This manipulation, +moreover, is not undertaken by the old squaws of the tribe, devoting +themselves to a painful death thereby, as the old stories ran, but, as +there is no danger whatever, by the young wives of the warriors, who +look upon it as part of their household duties, or by the men +themselves. There are about eight or ten different poisons of similar, +but not identical, composition and preparation, of which the urary of +the Macusi Indians, and the curare, from Venezuela and New Granada, are +considered the most powerful. + +This dark-brown, pitchy substance, usually kept in little earthen pots, +is lightly spread over the points of the weapons,--their long arrows, +their light spears, and the thin wooden shafts, of about a foot long, +which they shoot through immense blow-tubes (_sarabacanas_). Immediately +upon the diffusion in the blood of the slightest portion of the poison, +the limbs, one by one, refuse to work, as if overcome with torpor, while +the mind apparently retains its activity until death ensues, which it +does in a few minutes' time, from palsy of the lungs. It is strange that +only those nerves are affected which regulate the movements depending on +our own will, whereas those movements we cannot control--the beating of +the heart, for example--continue unaltered to the very last. Experiments +made by French physicians upon animals have shown that, if the lungs are +artificially kept in activity for several hours, the poison will be +rejected by natural means, and no bad consequences will ensue. Of late +the principal objection to the employment of the urary in medicine--its +unequal strength--has been completely overcome by the effective +alkaloid--the curarin--being extracted. This is about twenty times as +powerful as the urary, and has been used successfully in the treatment +of tetanus. The Indians shoot birds and monkeys, which they wish to +tame, with very weak curare, rousing them from the lethargy which +overpowers them with large doses of salt or sugar-juice; and this +treatment is said to be very effective, also, in the reduction of their +wildness.... + +The guraná, prepared from the fruit of the _Paullinia sorbilis_, is a +hard, chocolate-brown mass, of a slightly bitter taste, and of no smell +whatever. It is usually sold in cylindric pieces of from ten inches to a +foot in length, in which the half-bruised almond-like seeds are still +distinguishable; the more homogeneous and the harder the mass, the +better is its quality. To render it eatable, or rather drinkable, it is +rasped as fine as possible on the rough, bony roof of the mouth of the +_Sudis gigas_ (pirá-rucú), and mixed with a little sugar and water. A +teaspoonful in a cup of warm water is said to be an excellent remedy in +slight attacks of ague. + +The taste of this beverage, reminding one slightly of almonds, is very +palatable; still, it scarcely accounts for the passionate liking +entertained for it by the inhabitants of the greater part of South +America. It must be the stimulating effects of the paullinin it contains +(an alkaloid like caffeine and theïne) that render it so indispensable +to those who have been accustomed to it. All the boats that come lightly +freighted with ipecacuanha and deer- or tiger-hides, from Mato Grosso +down the Arinos and the Tapajoz, in face of the considerable cataracts +and rapids of the latter, take their full loads of guaraná at Santarem; +and the heavy boats of the Madeira also convey large quantities of it to +Bolivia; for at Cuyabá, as well as at Santa Cruz de la Sierra and +Cochabamba, there are many who cannot do without their guaraná, for +which they often have to pay thirty francs the pound, and who prefer all +the rigors of fasting to abstinence from their favorite beverage. On the +other hand, the mestizo population on the Amazon, where it is prepared +on a large scale by the half-civilized tribes of the Mauhés and +Mundurucús and sold at about three francs the pound, are not so +passionately attached to it; they rather take coffee and a sort of +coarse chocolate, which they manufacture for themselves. + + + + +CANOE- AND CAMP-LIFE ON THE MADEIRA. + +FRANZ KELLER. + + [To the extract just made from Keller's "Amazon and Madeira + Rivers," we add the following, in which an interesting account + of camp-life in the forest and river regions of Brazil is + given.] + + +The lower course of the Madeira presents, for more than four hundred +and sixty miles, a picture of grand simplicity, and, it must be owned, +monotony, which, magnificent as it appears at first, wearies the eye +and sickens the heart at last,--a dead calm on an unruffled, mirror-like +sheet of water glaring in the sun, and, as far as the eye can reach, +two walls of dark green forest, with the dark-blue firmament above them; +in the foreground, slender palms and gigantic orchid-covered trunks, +with blooming creepers hanging from the wave-worn shore, with its +red earthslips, down into the turbid floods. No hill breaks the +finely-indented line of the foliage, which everywhere bounds the +horizon, only here and there a few palm-covered sheds peep out of the +green; and still more rarely do we sight one of their quiet dark +inmates. Stately kingfishers looking thoughtfully into the river, white +herons standing for hours on one leg, and alligators lying so motionless +at the mouth of some rivulet that their jaggy tails and scarcely +protruding skulls might easily be taken for some half-sunken trunks, are +the only animals to be seen, and certainly they do not increase the +liveliness of the scene. Dreary and monotonous as the landscape, the +days, too, pass in unvaried succession. + +With the first dawn of day, before the white mist that hides the smooth +surface of the river has disappeared with the rays of the rising sun, +the day's work begins. The boatswains call their respective crews; the +tents are broken up as quickly as possible; the cooking apparatus, the +hammocks and hides that served as beds, are taken on board, together +with our arms and mathematical instruments, and every one betakes +himself to his post. The _pagaias_ (paddles) are dipped into the water, +and the prows of our heavy boats turn slowly from the shore to the +middle of the stream. Without the loss of a minute, the oars are plied +for three or four hours at a steady but rather quick rate, until a spot +on shore is discovered easy of access and offering a dry fire-place and +some fuel for the preparation of breakfast. If it be on one of the long +sand-banks, a roof is made of one of the sails, that rarely serve for +anything else; if in the wood, the undergrowth, in the shade of some +large tree, is cleared for the reception of our little table and +tent-chairs. + +The functions of the culinary _chef_ for the white faces, limited to the +preparation of a dish of black beans, with some fish or turtle, are +simple enough, but, to be appreciated, certainly require the hearty +appetite acquired by active life in the open air. The Indians have to +cook by turns for their respective boats' crews; their unalterable bill +of fare being a pap of flour of Indian corn or mandioca, with fresh or +dried fish, or a piece of _jacaré_ (alligator). + +Most of those who are not busy cooking spend their time preparing new +bast shirts, the material for which is found almost everywhere in the +neighborhood of our halting-places. Soon the wood is alive with the +sound of hatchets and the crack of falling trees; and, even before they +are summoned to breakfast, they return with pieces of a silky bast of +about four and a half yards long and somewhat less than one and a +quarter yard wide. Their implements for shirt-making are of primitive +simplicity,--a heavy wooden hammer with notches, called maceta, and a +round piece of wood to work upon. Continuously beaten with the maceta, +the fibres of the bast become loosened, until the originally hard piece +of wood gets soft and flexible, and about double its former breadth. +After it has been washed, wrung out to remove the sap, and dried in +the sun, it has the appearance of a coarse woollen stuff of a bright +whitish-yellow or light brown, disclosing two main layers of wavy fibres +held together by smaller filaments. A more easily prepared and better +working-garment for a tropical climate is hardly to be found than this, +called cáscara by the Indians of Bolivia, and turury by those of the +Amazon. Its cut is as simple and classical as its material. A hole is +cut in the middle of a piece about ten feet long, to pass the head +through, and the depending skirt is sewn together on both sides, from +below up to the height of the girdle, which usually is a piece of cotton +string or liana. + +Another branch of industry our Indians were busy at, in their hours of +leisure, was the fabrication of straw hats, with the young leaves of a +kind of little palm, the same which supplies the excellent hats imported +from Ecuador and Peru, and known in Europe under the name of Chile or +Panama hats. Dexterity at all sorts of wicker-work seems to be innate to +this race; and the prettiest little baskets and the finest mats of +colored palm-leaves are to be bought on the Missions of the Mamoré at +the lowest prices. + +[Illustration: A SOUTH SEA ISLAND] + +But all these occupations are left at the call of the first mate, who +has the proud title of Capitano. The boats' crews crowd round their +pots, each one receives his allotted portion in a calabash or a basin of +horn, and their spoons of the same material are soon in full activity. +If a jacaré has lately been shot, or caught in a _laįo_ (sling), every +one, after roasting his own piece of it on the spit, proceeds to cut +at the large slices of the white meat (which, though in appearance +like fish, is as tough as india-rubber) with the satisfaction usually +produced by three or four hours of hard rowing on view of anything +eatable. One tribe especially, the Canichanas, from the former Mission +of San Pedro at the Mamoré, think roast caiman the finest eating in the +world; while others, the Cayuabas from Exaltacion, and the Mojos from +Trinidad, whose palates are somewhat more refined, prefer beef, fish, or +turtle to the musk-exhaling saurian. Notably the turtles, which are not +found on the Guaporé and Mamoré (they are not met with above the rapids +of the Madeira), are prized by them, though we grew rather tired of +them, and no wonder. On the lower Madeira, at our fires, there was +almost daily going on the cooking of turtles, of all sizes, from the +full-grown one of a yard in length to the smallest of the size of a +hand; and in every variety of preparation, too,--whole, and chopped up +as for soup; stewed; and roasted in their own shell or on the spit. + +Bathing in the river, immediately after meals, is a luxury invariably +indulged in by all the Indians; and I never remarked that it was +attended by any evil consequences to them. + +After a rest of two hours' duration, the cooking utensils, the hammocks, +and improvised tents were carried on board again, and the voyage +continued. A second halt was made after rowing for two or three hours, +when we came in sight of a good place for fishing, such as the mouth of +some smaller river, or an extensive mud-bank. Such places were usually +recognizable from afar, by the multitude of snow-white herons and of +long caimans, which, finding it out before us, crowded there in peaceful +unity, and with similar intentions. The vicinity of the scaly monsters +is scarcely heeded by the Indians, who fish and take their bath, +laughing and jesting, though somewhat hugging the shore, just as if +there were no such thing as the tail or the tooth of the jacaré in the +world; and, indeed, these creatures are themselves in much greater +danger than the red-skins. When the last steak of alligator has been +consumed, one of the Canichanas is sure to ask leave to have some fun, +and to provide at the same time for their next dinner. Of course the +permission is always granted, as the sport keeps up their spirits and +spares our provisions. Without loss of time, then, one of them, having +carefully fastened a strong loop of raw hide at the end of a long pole, +and having dexterously slipped off his bast shirt, creeps slowly through +the shallow water, pole and sling in hand, as near as possible to the +alligator, which looks on at these preparations with perfect apathy, +only now and then betraying a sign of life by a lazy movement of its +powerful tail. But it does not take its eyes off the Indian as he crawls +nearer and nearer. The fatal sling is at arm's length from its muzzle, +and yet it does not see it. As if under the influence of witchcraft, it +continues to stare with its large protruding eyes at the bold hunter, +who in the next moment has thrown the loop over its head, and suddenly +drawn it to with a strong pull. The other Indians, who the while have +been cowering motionless on shore, now rush into the water to the help +of their companion, and four or five of them land the ugly creature that +with all its might struggles to get back into the water, lashing the +sand with its tail and showing its long teeth; but a few vigorous blows +with an axe on the tail and skull soon render it tame enough. If, +instead of dragging back, the alligator were only to rush forward boldly +to the attack of the Indians, they would, of a certainty, leave pole +and sling and run for their lives; but this bright idea never seems to +occur to the uncouth animal, and the strife always ends with its death. +Though there were more than a dozen of them killed during the voyage, I +never thought of sending a rifle-bullet through the thick skull of one, +except on one occasion, when I was afraid that one of our Canichanas was +about to make too close an acquaintance with the hard, jagged tail of an +extraordinarily strong monster, which measured full sixteen and a half +feet. + +Even before the huge spoil is cut up, four musk-glands, placed by twos +under its jaw, and on its belly, near the beginning of the tail, must be +carefully taken out, to prevent the diffusion, over the whole body, of +the penetrating odor of the greasy, brown liquid they contain. These +glands, which are about an inch and a half long and as thick as a +finger, are carefully tied up and suspended in the sun to dry. Mixed +with a little rose-water, their contents serve, as we were told, to +perfume the raven-black tresses of the elegant Bolivian ladies at Santa +Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba, in spite of, or rather by reason +of, their strong scent, which gives the headache to all save these +strong-nerved seņoritas, who love a bull-fight above everything, who +know how to roll the cigarrito, and to dance the fandango with matchless +grace, but who scarcely are able to write their own names. + +After such a pleasant interlude of fishing or hunting, the paddles are +plied with renewed vigor until the evening, when sleeping quarters are +selected, either on a sand-bank or in the forest. The canoes are moored +by strong piassaba ropes in some recess of the bank, where they +are protected against drifting trunks; the tents are erected, and +preparations ensue for the principal meal. Meanwhile, after the very +short interval of twilight usual in the tropics, night almost suddenly +throws her dark veil over the valley, and the bright constellations of +the southern sky in quiet majesty adorn the firmament. + +While we prepare to take astronomical observations, half a dozen large +fires are lighted round about, in whose fitful blaze the neighboring +forest-trees appear like huge phantoms, looking contemptuously down on +us, poor tiny mortals. Our Indians warm themselves in the cheerful glow, +smoking, and chatting of the day's adventures, or rather of what are +regarded as such,--unusual good or ill luck at fishing and hunting; the +casual meeting of some canoe; or the sight of a seringueiro's poor +cottage. Work over, they take off the rough cáscara, and put on the +camiseta, a cotton garment without sleeves, resembling a wide poncho +sewn together at the sides, and whose dazzling whiteness is set off by +two scarlet stripes along the seams. The ample folds and the simple cut +of the garment, which is made by the Indian women of the Missions on +very primitive looms, give quite a stately, classical appearance to the +numerous groups round the fires. Such must have been the aspect +presented by the halting-places of those daring seafarers, the +Phoenicians, who were the first to call into life an international +commerce, and whose light-rigged barques first ventured to distant +shores, to bring home the precious amber and the useful tin. Only the +dense swarms of mosquitoes, which set in immediately after sunset, +remind us rather unpleasantly that we are far off from those happy +northern regions, where such a nuisance can hardly be well imagined. +Especially in the dense forest beneath cacao-bushes, or under the +close leafage of the large figueiras, where no breath of air incommodes +those light-winged tormentors, it is quite impossible, for the European +at least, to close an eye without the shelter of a mosquiteiro +(mosquito-net); and we could but wonder at our Indians, most of whom did +without it. After supper they simply spread a hide on the ground, on +which, with no covering other than the starry firmament above them, +they slept undisturbed till the dawn, only occasionally brushing away, +as if by way of diversion, the most obtrusive of the little fiends. The +capitanos only, and one or other of the older rowers, allow themselves +the luxury of good cotton hammocks, which are also made by their wives +in the Missions. + +Such, with few variations, was the course of our daily life, until we +reached the regions of the rapids, when, of course, the hundred little +incidents connected with the dragging of the canoes through narrow, +foaming channels, and with carrying the goods and the vessels themselves +overland, disturbed the monotony of this rude forest life. + + + + +BESIEGED BY PECCARIES. + +JAMES W. WELLS. + + [It is to "Three Thousand Miles through Brazil, from Rio de + Janeiro to Maranhão," by James W. Wells, F.R.G.S., that we + owe the following exciting example of the perils of a hunter's + life in the wilds of the tropics. Mr. Wells and his + fellow-travellers, while journeying up the valley of the Sapão, + far in interior Brazil, came upon traces of the peccary, an + animal which, from its fearlessness, and its habit of moving in + troops, is occasionally a very unsafe creature to meet. What + followed we shall leave the author to tell.] + + +We were down in the deep, narrow valley, where the slopes of the +table-land surrounded us like a wall, up which there was no visible +ascent. The tall, rank grass was also littered with boulders of +sandstone and short, gnarled, and distorted cork-trees; it was a +toilsome march for both men and animals, but there, certainly, must be +the head-quarters of all the peccaries of the region, for everywhere the +ground was furrowed and rooted up, the grass trodden down in long +lanes, the pools of water turbid, from their wallowing, and the place +odorous as a rank pigsty; and yet, strange to say, not a pig was to be +seen, fortunately for us; for in such an inconvenient place an attack +from these vicious animals in the numbers they could evidently collect +would have enabled them to take us at great disadvantage. + +We pushed on the animals to get out of this pig-set man-trap, and +eventually got clear of the labyrinth on the farther side of the last +feeder of the main morass, and, after some difficulty, found an ascent +on to the _geraes_, where we made a bee-line to the Sapão across the +flats. + +During the passage of the swamps the Don said,-- + +"Ah! Senhor Doctor, what a shame to leave such a lovely place; if +you and I were only here to-night, what fun we would have with the +peccaries; but, patience, they will make us a visit to-night, because +of the trail of the dogs." + +But neither time nor place would permit of carrying out the Don's +desires, as there was neither water nor pasture for the animals. The +Don's remark about the peccaries paying us a visit is owing to a popular +belief that these animals, when in considerable numbers, will follow a +dog's trail for many miles, and attack and kill him. In fact, it is +customary with the hunters to imitate the barking of a dog to attract +the attention of the pigs, and induce them to collect together and make +an attack; when, the hunters being safely ensconced in trees, the game +is perfectly safe, as the men have only to shoot what they require. + +The ground traversed that afternoon was not so free from bush as we had +hitherto found, being in many places thickly covered with dense cerrado +(abounding in immense quantities of the india-rubber-producing +Mangaba-tree), where progress was very slow and difficult, and required +the free use of our wood-knives. After a long and wearisome march, we +reached the valley of the Sapão again, quite eight miles from the +peccaries' haunt. + +I found the river valley presented much the same characteristics as we +had found lower down. For the purposes of a railway it is admirable; the +gradients are practically level, and the only works of art required +would be in crossing the many _burity_ swamps that intersect the route, +and these, although numerous, are narrow. + +Even the Rio Sapão itself could doubtless be made into a good canal, in +the absence of a railway, for there is plenty of water, and the ground +offers great facilities for straightening its course. + +Especial care was taken in preparing the camp that night. The Don and +José superintended the operation of constructing the fort, the sides of +which were further protected by spreading over them the hides used for +covering the packs of the mules. Bush was also cut to make up and +enlarge the defences, and a strong stake was driven into the ground +inside the fort for the purpose of securing the dogs in case the +peccaries arrived. The camp was made on the borders of a clump of trees, +to which we were enabled to sling the hammocks, no one caring to sleep +on terra firma that night, but two of the men who were unprovided with +hammocks spread their hides on the ground inside the fort. + +After dinner, of course, peccaries formed the sole subject of +conversation, but hour after hour went by, yet no signs of their +presence appeared; and, after arranging the watches for the night, we +turned in, and with the fatigues of the day I was soon asleep. + +It appeared to me, however, that I had barely closed my eyes, when I +felt my hammock violently shaken. It was the Don awakening me, saying, +"Wake up, here are the _porcos_, we are going to have some fun." The +first peculiarity that struck me was the prevalence of the odor of old +pigsties. I sat up, looked around, and listened. The pitchy blackness of +night surrounded us, but the fire, burning brightly, sent its flickering +light upon the tree-trunks, the foliage, and the hammocks; two men were +in the fort with gun and knife in hand, and the dogs tied to their stake +were with difficulty kept quiet, and vented their excitement in deep +growls. As I listened it became evident that we were surrounded by some +animals, for in many directions was heard, in the stillness of night, +the sound of bodies moving through the bush, twigs snapping, grass +rustling, etc. It was a moment of suspense, but not for long; for +suddenly, from all around us, came a blood-curdling sound of the +simultaneous snapping of teeth from vast numbers of the enemy, followed +by the appearance of a crowd of charging black animals, rushing with +wonderful speed towards a common centre, the fort. We in the hammocks +each lighted a coil of wax tapers that were prepared ready for the +occasion. + +And what a scene ensued! the fire was rapidly scattered, and partly +extinguished; under and around us was a seething mass of black +peccaries, barely distinguishable in the dim light, but all pushing and +struggling to the front; the men in the fort had discharged their +weapons, and were hard at work, hacking and thrusting at the peccaries +as they endeavored to swarm up the smooth surface of the hides that +covered the sides of the fort. The men in the hammocks, after +discharging their guns, reached down and slashed with their knives at +the swarming animals below them. + +The attack was more like the wild, reckless bravery of the Arabs of the +Soudan, for as pig after pig fell squealing and disabled, scores more +struggled for his place. The faint light of the tapers and the partly +extinguished fire served but to dimly illuminate the elements of the +strange, noisy, wildly weird scene; the trunks of the surrounding trees +and their foliage; the swinging hammocks with their occupants reaching +downward, cutting and thrusting with their long, gleaming knives; the +dim figures of the men in the _trincheria_, repelling with shouts and +thrusts the swarming enemy; the wild, rushing, charging forms of the +black bodies of the peccaries, as in great numbers they threw themselves +against the fort, regardless of being struck down one after the other, +and always impelled forward by those in the rear struggling to the +front; others made ineffectual attempts to reach our hammocks or +viciously gashed the trees that gave us support; the extremely +disagreeable and nauseous odors of the animals, their snapping of teeth, +like musketry file-firing, the reports of the firearms, the shouts of +the men, the howling and barking of the dogs, and the dim light, created +an indescribably strange and exciting scene. Every bullet of my revolver +took effect. I shouted to the men to reserve their fire, and fire +volleys, but it was like talking in a gale of wind at sea. + +In spite of all efforts, still the battle raged. The animals appeared to +be in immense numbers, for, as far as the faint light would permit, the +ground was seen covered with their moving bodies, rushing, struggling, +the strongest beating down the weakest, grunting, squealing, and +snapping their teeth; and noticeable above everything was the abominable +exhalations from their bodies, an odor like a combination of rank butter +and garlic. + +I was getting anxious not only for my baggage, but for the men behind +the fort, who had to cut and thrust like madmen; the excitement was +intense. The strong raw hides were ripped up as though slashed with a +sharp knife, and the bags of beans and farinha were freely streaming +their contents on the ground from innumerable rippings from the keen +sharp tusks. + +Although we in the hammocks were quite safe, the fort was trembling; +many of the saddles and bags had been displaced by the sheer pressure of +the enemy. Our few miserable firearms appeared to have no more effect +than so many pop-guns, although the ground was becoming strewn with the +bodies of the slain and disabled. At last I succeeded in getting the men +in the hammocks to fire volleys at a given place, and after a time this +appeared to have an effect, for as suddenly as the attack commenced, so +it ceased; and the animals withdrew simultaneously and in silence. + +The Don (his voice chuckling with glee) called to us to get ready again, +as they would probably return. "Ah!" said he to me, in a low voice, +"what a splendid time we are having!" I thought, however, of the men in +the fort, one of whom was stanching blood from his wrist. I told the Don +to go and reinforce them; but suddenly the Don became very deaf; he was +very snug in his hammock and really could not hear me; but José, like a +good fellow, got out, ran for the fort, jumped in, and helped the men to +make good the damages. We could still hear the pigs in the bush, and +presently, without a moment's warning, we again heard that diabolical +crash of teeth from a complete circle around us, followed immediately by +another wild charge, and the battle was again renewed with all its +excitement; but then, after the first flush of excitement, we became +cooler, and José in the fort was a host in himself; this attack was of +much shorter duration, and the enemy once more suddenly retreated. In +the pause that then ensued I thought of Rodrigues, as it then occurred +to me that I had not hitherto noticed him; his hammock was quite still, +and its edges drawn together over his body, that formed a round, +ball-like protuberance in the centre. I saw it all, and could picture +the poor terror-stricken man, coiled up, with blanched face and bated +breath and making himself as small as possible. The men in the fort had +behaved very pluckily. + +Six or seven other attacks eventually followed, but each one became +weaker, and at intervals between of longer duration. The eventful night +seemed interminable, and finally it was not until near daybreak that we +heard the last grunt. + +At the first lights of gray dawn José proposed to reconnoitre, and went +off for the purpose. At first he proceeded very gingerly from tree to +tree. I proposed to myself to go also, but just at that moment I had a +fellow-feeling for the Don's deafness, and thought what a comfortable +place a hammock was, and that really I could do no good; and further I +remembered that generals should always occupy high, commanding +positions; every one was chary of moving from their places of security. + +José soon afterwards returned, and reported that the enemy had finally +withdrawn. + +Thoughts of the horses and mules then occurred to us, and we anxiously +awaited their arrival, for they had acquired the habit of appearing in +camp of their own accord in the early morning for their matutinal feed +of corn. Thankfully I saw three or four soon after arrive, but two men +had to go for the others, that were fortunately found browsing on a +plentiful supply of the shoots of young bamboos. Happily the animals had +been pasturing in a direction opposite to that from whence the peccaries +came, otherwise there would have been a stampede. + +Almost the first thing the men did after the final retreat of the +peccaries was to slash the skin on the top of the loins of the defunct +enemy, and extract the gland that creates the disgusting odor peculiar +to these animals; for if not extracted soon after death, it taints the +flesh to such an extent as to render it uneatable except by Indians, who +do not object to any flavor, and eat all their animal food cooked on the +same principle as a European cook prepares a woodcock. There were +twenty-seven dead pigs found in and about the camp, and also several +wounded, to whom it was necessary to give the _coup de grâce_. The +wounds were mostly from the knives and small axes, but a very +considerable number of the wounded must have got away to recover, or +linger unfortunately in pain. + +Six of the plumpest were selected for drying and salting, the +preparations for which, and also to repair the damages done to the bags +of provisions, delayed our departure for some time. + +An examination of these animals showed them to be a species of peccary +resembling that known as the _Dicotyles labiatus_, but an essential +difference was noticeable in the absence of the white lips that give the +name to that species; our enemies had black snouts and dark lips, +otherwise they corresponded in other points. + +They had four incisors on the upper jaw, and six molars on each side +above and below; while the tusks, although smaller than a pig's, are +much finer and sharper, inclined slightly backward, and closely overlap +each other. Some of the bodies of the animals measured thirty-six inches +in length. They are more slender in build than the common pig, and +covered with long, stiff bristles, colored with alternate rings of gray, +light-brown, and black. These colors vary with the size and age of the +animals, and as either one predominates, they cause the animal to appear +either brown, gray, or black; the largest we found was almost entirely +black, whereas the smallest had quite a brown appearance. + +During the battle I could not help noticing the apparent method of +their movements, as though they were led by chiefs. It appears that +their mode of attack on such an occasion as they favored us with is to +surround in silence, by a complete circle, the object to be stormed; +when, at a given signal, a simultaneous snapping of teeth takes place, +followed by a general converging rush to the centre, whereby the largest +and strongest reach the front first, and the smallest bring up the rear; +their retreat is carried out on an equally methodical system. There is a +small, red species known by the Guarany name of _caëitatu_;[B] our +friends are known by the Brazilian cognomen of _queixadas_, or _porcos +de matto_. + +[Footnote B: _Dicotyles torquatos._] + +From what I had witnessed during the past night, I can quite understand +how these courageous animals in large numbers are capable of surrounding +and destroying a powerful jaguar; and if my dog Feroz had fallen among +them, he would doubtless have made a brave fight, but he would not have +had the slightest chance of escape, and fortunately for us the ropes of +the hammocks did not break, as hammock-strings will sometimes do at +untoward moments, otherwise I should not be here now to tell this tale. + +But now, from the camp-fire, comes the odor of roast peccary, for parts +of them were already roasting for breakfast, and emitting a vastly more +acceptable odor to what they did when alive. When ready, it is needless +to say that, after the long night and in the keen, dewy morning air, how +appreciated were our visitors when cooked, and there was not the +slightest trace of the objectionable odor. + + [Shortly afterwards the hunters met another tenant of the + Brazilian wilds.] + +As several peccaries had crossed our path lately, José and the Don cut +three long straight bamboos; to the ends of each we fastened our +sharp-pointed knives, for the purpose of pig-sticking. But the first use +we had for our lances was for a different animal; our dogs had suddenly +disappeared into the tall grass, barking loudly, and a few moments +afterwards a huge ant-bear came rolling out into the open semi-marsh +land, followed by the dogs; it went at a good pace, but with most +extraordinary and ludicrous movements. It became then very interesting +to watch the sagacity of the dogs, as they hung well on to his rear, +trying to seize only the tail of the animal, and keeping well out of +reach of his powerful fore-legs armed with tremendous claws. The dogs, +however, were evidently losing their caution and getting closer, and the +cumbersome beast had already made some particularly rapid blows in +attempting to rip the dogs. Fearing a possible disaster to my faithful +Feroz, we galloped on, but it is amazing the speed these cumbersome +ant-bears can develop. We had to put our animals to their sharpest paces +to come up with the quarry, when we had the opportunity of fleshing our +lances. The bear died hard, lying on its back and striking out with its +fore-legs. The men cut portions of the flesh to eat, but when afterwards +prepared, I found it too strongly flavored with formic acid to be +agreeable, and the dogs refused it. + +It then occurred to me that the incident of the discovery by the Don of +the robbery of a bees'-nest some days ago might possibly be explained by +it having been taken by an ant-bear, and not by a prowling stranger as +he supposed. + + [The hunt of the ant-bear was followed a few days afterwards by + a peccary-hunt, which proved a much less safe occupation.] + +A little farther on, in a wide shallow depression, was our host's +favorite hunting-ground (where he had often found considerable +quantities of peccaries), an immense _burityzal_ that extended +apparently from the Chapadas to the Rio Preto. + +We halted at José's request and listened, and soon distinctly heard the +grunt of the _porcos_ among the _buritys_, where they feed on the fruits +of the palms that form their favorite food. + +Leaving the horses fastened to the trees of a thin _cerrado_ that +covered the sloping ground of the borders of the swamps, and haversacks, +_ponchos_, and other _impedimenta_ suspended to the branches, we +advanced to the attack. + +I confess to a feeling of trepidation and a certain bumping of the heart +as we were about to leave the borders of the convenient trees so easy +and apparently purposely constructed for a human retreat from the +peccaries, but at that moment a troop of some dozen of them emerged from +the jungle of the swamp out into the open marshy land, and disappeared +into the adjoining tall grass. + +Three of the sons of José, with Antonio, Bob, and José Grosso, started +at a run to cut off their retreat, and soon disappeared amidst the tall +grass a little lower down the hill. After a few moments of suspense, we +heard reports of guns, and shouts to us to look out; at the same time +another troop of peccaries appeared on the open marshes, and followed +the tracks of the others. The grass became agitated by the movements of +the animals, and they soon afterwards entered the more open ground of +the _cerrado_ where we were waiting, pursued by the five men; we all +fired, but as the range was long, there was not much execution. The +animals, about forty in number, now suddenly halted and faced their +pursuers with vicious little stampings of feet and snapping of teeth, +and suddenly charged down upon the men and upon ourselves. Never was +such gymnastic agility displayed as in the way that each of us rushed +for, and scurried up, the nearest trees, many dropping their guns or +knives in their hurry. + +José and his sons were the coolest, especially the old man, who, perhaps +a little too stiff for climbing, calmly placed his back against a tree, +clasped it with his left hand, and leaning forward in a semi-stooping +posture, with his long _facão_ at the ready, awaited the furious charge. + +How gallantly they come sweeping along with their muzzles well down, but +within a few feet of our trees they suddenly halt, and, snapping their +tusks, make short plunging charges. I had found a comfortable perch up a +short gnarled tree, and taking careful aim at the peccaries near me, I +knocked over three of them in five shots from my revolver. + +They were charging José's legs at close quarters, but his long, keen, +sharp pointed knife flashes quickly as he rapidly delivers cuts and +thrusts with telling effect. The other men, safely ensconced in the +trees, have made good shots, but before any of us can reload the +peccaries scamper away. All of us quickly descend from our perches and +rush after the retreating animals, loading our guns as we run, but our +brave foes suddenly halt and face us with a look of defiance, and again +make a gallant charge. How ignominious we appeared as we in our turn +beat a hurried retreat to the nearest trees, where, not having time or +finding conveniences for a climb, we were forced to imitate José's +example and face the enemy with knives; but the peccaries, after a +momentary pause, dashed onward and disappeared amidst the tall grass of +the borders of the swamps, crossed the marshes, and entered the jungle +of the _buritys_. + +Although the whole thing happened within a few moments, there were quite +enough elements of danger to spice the sport, for, if in making our +retreat any of us had stumbled and fallen, the consequences must have +been serious, if not fatal. I prefer the pig sticking on mule-back with +our extemporized spears. We gave the _coup de grâce_ to the wounded, but +many got away only partially damaged. We found our bag amounted to ten +pigs, all in excellent condition. + +As José and his sons were anxious for another tussle, we proceeded up +the valley, and soon saw here and there a solitary grunter outside the +growth of palms and aquatic vegetation of the swamps; and frequent +grunts, heard amidst the groves, indicated the presence of considerable +numbers of our foes. + +A little farther on, a spit of firm land, only covered with short grass, +extended to near the groves, but no one cared to venture so far from the +friendly sanctuary of the trees and possibly meet a huge anaconda coiled +up in the swamp. + +José Grosso and one of our host's sons now returned to remain with the +animals, whilst we proceeded a little farther on in quest of a stray +peccary. We walked about a mile, but found not what we hoped for; but on +returning some peccaries were seen straying towards the hills in twos or +threes, homeward-bound to their lairs in the dells and grottos of the +sources of streams at the foot of the bluffs of the Chapadas. We worked +our way amidst the trees, and eventually obtained a few long shots, and +succeeded in bagging two more. + +It became a question whether we should pursue our journey to enable me +to take my notes, and camp out and have another probable night-attack of +peccaries, or return to Mato Grande. I thought a night of peace and +quietness preferable, although perhaps very unsportsmanlike, and so we +wended our way homeward. + +It is rather unusual that these peccaries make such a brave fight in +daylight, but it was chiefly owing to their accidentally finding +themselves in such considerable numbers on this occasion, as they are +commonly scattered over their feeding-grounds in very small parties +during the day, and return to a common haunt at night, whence they sally +out in immense numbers upon any foe that trespasses upon their +neighborhood, like when they tracked our dogs in the Sapão. + + + + +THE PERILS OF TRAVEL. + +IDA PFEIFFER. + + [Among travellers there have been few more ardent and + enterprising than the woman from whose writings our present + selection is made. Ida Pfeiffer was born in Vienna about 1795, + married, brought up and educated her two sons, and in 1842, + when nearly fifty years of age, set out on a series of travels + which she had long contemplated, and in which she spent the + succeeding ten years. After a series of travels in Asia Minor, + Scandinavia, and Iceland, she set out in 1846 on a tour of the + world, which was not accomplished without great hardships and + dangers. In 1851 she entered on a second journey around the + world, visiting various new countries. She died in 1858. From + her "A Woman's Journey round the World" we select the following + thrilling experience. She had set out from Rio Janeiro, in + company with Count Berchthold, on an excursion to Petropolis, + a German colony in the vicinity. Suddenly, in a lonely spot, a + negro sprang out upon them, knife and lasso in hand, indicating + by gestures that he intended to murder them and drag their + bodies into the forest. She gives a vivid description of what + followed.] + + +We had no arms, as we had been told that the road was perfectly safe, +and the only weapons of defence which we possessed were our parasols, if +I except a clasp-knife, which I instantly drew out of my pocket and +opened, fully determined to sell my life as dearly as possible. We +parried our adversary's blows as long as we could with our parasols, +but these lasted but a short time; besides, he caught hold of mine, +which, as we were struggling for it, broke short off, leaving only a +piece of the handle in my hand. In the struggle, however, he dropped his +knife, which rolled a few steps from him; I instantly made a dash, and +thought I had got it, when he, more quick than I, thrust me away with +his feet and hands, and once more obtained possession of it. He waved it +furiously over my head, and dealt me two wounds, a thrust and a deep +gash, both in the upper part of the left arm; I thought I was lost, and +despair alone gave me the courage to use my own knife. I made a thrust +at his breast; this he warded off, and I only succeeded in wounding him +severely in the hand. The Count sprang forward and seized the fellow +from behind, and thus afforded me an opportunity of raising myself from +the ground. The whole affair had not taken more than a few seconds. + +The negro's fury was now roused to its highest pitch by the wounds he +had received. He gnashed his teeth at us like a wild beast, and +flourished his knife with frightful rapidity. The Count, in his turn, +had received a cut right across the hand, and we had been irrevocably +lost, had not Providence sent us assistance. We heard the tramp of +horses' hoofs upon the road, upon which the negro instantly left us and +sprang into the wood. Immediately afterwards two horsemen turned a +corner of the road, and we hurried towards them; our wounds, which were +bleeding freely, and the way in which our parasols were hacked, soon +made them understand the state of affairs. They asked us which direction +the fugitive had taken, and, springing from their horses, hurried after +him; their efforts, however, would have been fruitless, if two negroes, +who were coming from the opposite side, had not helped them. As it was, +the fellow was soon captured. + +He was pinioned, and, as he would not walk, severely beaten, most of the +blows being dealt upon the head, so that I feared the poor fellow's +skull would be broken. In spite of this, he never moved a muscle, and +lay, as if insensible to feeling, upon the ground. The two other negroes +were obliged to seize hold of him, when he endeavored to bite every one +within his reach like a wild beast, and carry him to the nearest house. +Our preservers, as well as the Count and myself, accompanied them. We +then had our wounds dressed, and afterwards continued our journey, not, +it is true, entirely devoid of fear, especially when we met one or more +negroes, but without any further mishap, and with a continually +increasing admiration of the beautiful scenery. + + [The negro was supposed to be either drunk or insane, but it + proved that he had been punished by his master for some + offence, and took that mode to obtain revenge. Madame Pfeiffer + penetrated the Brazilian forests, and thus describes the + aboriginal savages.] + +On a small space, under lofty trees, five huts, or rather sheds, formed +of leaves, were erected, eighteen feet long by twelve feet broad. The +frames were formed of four poles stuck in the ground, with another +reaching across, and the roof of palm-leaves, through which the rain +could penetrate with the utmost facility. On three sides these bowers +were entirely open. In the interior hung a hammock or two, and on the +ground glimmered a little fire, under a heap of ashes, in which a few +roots, Indian corn, and bananas were roasting. In one corner, under the +roof, a small supply of provisions was hoarded up, and a few gourds were +scattered around; these are used by the savages instead of plates, pots, +water-jugs, etc. The long-bows and arrows, which constitute their only +weapons, were leaning in the background against the wall. + +I found the Indians still more ugly than the negroes. Their complexion +is a light bronze, they are stunted in stature, well-knit, and about the +middle size. They have broad and somewhat compressed features, and +thick, coal-black hair, hanging straight down, which the women sometimes +wear in plaits, fastened to the back of the head, and sometimes falling +down loose about them. Their forehead is broad and low, the nose +somewhat flattened, the eyes long and narrow, almost like those of the +Chinese, and the mouth large, with rather thick lips. To give a still +greater effect to all these various charms, a peculiar look of stupidity +is spread over the whole face, and is more especially to be attributed +to the way in which their mouths are always kept open. Most of them, +both men and women, were tattooed with a reddish or blue color, though +only round the mouth, in the form of a moustache. Both sexes are +passionately fond of smoking, and prefer brandy to everything. Their +dress was composed of a few rags, which they had fastened round their +loins. + +The good creatures offered me the best hut they possessed, and invited +me to pass the night there. Being rather fatigued by the toilsome nature +of my journey on foot, the heat, and the hunting-excursion, I very +joyfully accepted their proposition; the day, too, was drawing to a +close, and I should not have been able to reach the settlement of the +whites before night. I therefore spread out my cloak upon the ground, +arranged a log of wood so as to serve instead of a pillow, and for the +present seated myself upon my splendid couch. In the mean while my hosts +were preparing the monkey and the parrots, by sticking them on wooden +spits and roasting them before the fire. + +In order to render the meal a peculiarly dainty one, they also buried +some Indian corn and roots in the cinders. They then gathered a few +large fresh leaves off the trees, tore the roasted ape into several +pieces with their hands, and, placing a large portion of it, as well as +a parrot, Indian corn, and some roots, upon the leaves, put it before +me. My appetite was tremendous, seeing that I had tasted nothing since +the morning. I therefore immediately fell to upon the roasted monkey, +which I found superlatively delicious; the flesh of the parrot was far +from being so tender and palatable. + + [As we have begun this selection with a perilous adventure of + our lady traveller, some other perils encountered by her in + other parts of the world may fitly close it. The following + experience in a tiger-hunt took place in India, during an + excursion to the rock temples of Ellora.] + +I had scarcely left the gates of the town behind, when I perceived a +number of Europeans seated upon elephants, coming from the bungalow. On +meeting each other we pulled up and commenced a conversation. The +gentlemen were on the road to search for a tiger-lair, of which they had +received intimation, and invited me, if such a sport would not frighten +me too much, to take part in it. I was greatly delighted to receive the +invitation, and was soon seated on one of the elephants, in a howdah +about two feet high, in which there were already two gentlemen and a +native,--the latter had been brought to load the guns. They gave me a +large knife to defend myself, in case the animal should spring too high +and reach the side of the howdah. Thus prepared, we approached the chain +of hills, and after a few hours we were already pretty near the lair of +the tigers, when our servants cried out softly, "_Bach, Bach!_" and +pointed with their fingers to some brushwood. + +I had scarcely perceived the flaming eyes which glared out of one of +the bushes before shots were fired. Several balls took effect upon +the animal, who rushed, maddened, upon us. He made such tremendous +springs, that I thought every moment he must reach the howdah, and +select a victim from among us. The sight was terrible to see, and +my apprehensions were increased by the appearance of another tiger; +however, I kept myself so calm, that none of the gentlemen had any +suspicion of what was going on in my mind. Shot followed shot; the +elephants defended their trunks with great dexterity by throwing them +up or drawing them in. After a sharp contest of half an hour, we were +the victors, and the dead animals were triumphantly stripped of their +beautiful skins. The gentlemen politely offered me one of them as a +present; but I declined accepting it, as I could not postpone my journey +sufficiently long for it to be dried. + + [Madame Pfeiffer had a courage and presence of mind in + dangerous and difficult situations which often served her in + good stead. Certainly it needed no slight courage to undertake + the adventure described in our next selection, a journey among + the cannibal Battakers of Sumatra. In 1835 two American + missionaries had been killed and eaten by them, and such a + journey without a military escort seemed foolhardy. But she + persisted, and reached a village on the borders of the Battaker + territory July 19, 1852. Here she sent for the regents of the + neighboring villages.] + +In the evening we sat in solemn conclave surrounded by regents, and by a +great crowd of the people, for it had been noised abroad far and wide +that here was a white woman who was about to venture into the dreaded +country of the wild Battakers. Regents and people all concurred in +advising me to renounce so perilous a project; but I had tolerably made +up my mind on this point, and I only wanted to be satisfied as to one +thing,--namely, whether it was true, as many travellers asserted, that +the Battakers did not put their victims out of their pain at once, but +tied them living to stakes, and, cutting pieces off them, consumed them +by degrees with tobacco and salt. + +The idea of this slow torture did a little frighten me; but my bearers +assured me, with one accord, that this was only done to those who were +regarded as criminals of a deep dye, and who had been on that account +condemned to death. Prisoners of war are tied to a tree and beheaded at +once; but the blood is carefully preserved for drinking, and sometimes +made into a kind of pudding with boiled rice. The body is then +distributed; the ears, the nose, and the soles of the feet are the +exclusive property of the rajah, who has besides a claim on other +portions. The palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the flesh of +the head, and the heart and liver, are reckoned peculiar delicacies, and +the flesh in general is roasted and eaten with salt. The regents assured +me, with a certain air of relish, that it was very good food, and that +they had not the least objection to eat it. The women are not allowed to +take part in these grand public dinners. A kind of medicinal virtue is +ascribed to trees to which prisoners have been tied when they have been +put to death, and the stem is usually cut into sticks five or six feet +long, carved into figures or arabesques, and decorated with human hair; +and these sticks are taken in hand by people who go to visit the sick, +or when any medicine is to be given. + + [Despite this gruesome warning, the daring woman continued her + journey, and prosecuted it until the 13th of August, when she + found herself in the most imminent peril.] + +More than eighty armed men stood in the pathway and barred our passage, +and before we were aware of it, their spearmen had formed a circle +around me and shut me in, looking the while indescribably terrible and +savage. They were tall robust men, fully six feet high; their features +showed the most violent agitation, and their huge mouths and projecting +teeth had really more resemblance to the jaws of a wild beast than to +anything human. They yelled and made a dreadful noise about me, and had +I not been in some measure familiar with such scenes, I should have felt +sure that my last hour was at hand. + +I was really uneasy, however: the scene was too frightful; but I never +lost my presence of mind. At first I sat down on a stone that lay near, +endeavoring to look as composed and confident as I could; but some +rajahs then came up to me with very threatening looks and gestures, and +gave me clearly to understand that if I did not turn back they would +kill and eat me. Their words, indeed, I did not comprehend, but their +action left no manner of doubt, for they pointed with their knives to my +throat, and gnashed their teeth at my arm, moving their jaws then as if +they already had them full of my flesh. + +Of course, when I thought of coming among the wild Battakers, I had +anticipated something of this sort, and I had therefore studied a little +speech in their language for such an occasion. I knew if I could say +anything that would amuse them, and perhaps make them laugh, I would +have a great advantage over them, for savages are quite like children, +and the merest trifle will often make them friends. I got up, therefore, +and patting one of the most violent, who stood next me, upon the +shoulder in a friendly manner, said, with smiling face, in a jargon half +Malay and half Battaker, "Why, you don't mean to say you would kill and +eat a woman, especially such an old one as I am! I must be very hard and +tough!" And I also gave them by signs and words to understand that I was +not at all afraid of them, and was ready, if they liked, to send back my +guide, if they would only take me as far as the _Eier-Tau_. + +Fortunately for me, the doubtless very odd way in which I pronounced +their language, and my pantomime, diverted them, and they began to +laugh. Perhaps, also, the fearless confidence which I manifested made a +good impression; they offered me their hands, the circle of spearmen +opened, and, rejoicing not a little at having escaped this danger, I +journeyed on, and reached in perfect safety a place called Tugala, where +the rajah received me into his house. + + + + +BRAZILIAN ANTS AND MONKEYS. + +HENRY W. BATES. + + [The "Naturalist in the Amazons" of Henry Walter Bates is a + work that has long held a deserved reputation for the closeness + and accuracy of its observations and the interest of its + narrative. The author, born at Leicester, England, in 1825, + accompanied the noted biologist, Alfred Russel Wallace, to + Brazil, the story of which journey is given in the work cited. + From it we extract some passages concerning the animal life of + that country, embracing the doings of the "leaf-cutting" ants + and the monkeys. Our selections begin in the suburbs of Pará.] + + +In the gardens numbers of fine showy butterflies were seen. There were +two swallow-tailed species, similar in colors to the English _Papilio +machaon_, a white Pieris (_P. monuste_), and two or three species of +brimstone- and orange-colored butterflies, which do not belong, however, +to the same genus as our English species. In weedy places a beautiful +butterfly with eye-like spots on its wings was common, the _Junonia +lavinia_, the only Amazonian species which is at all nearly related to +our Vanessas, the Admiral and Peacock butterflies. + +One day we made our first acquaintance with two of the most beautiful +productions of nature in this department,--namely, the _Helicopis +cupido_ and _endymion_. A little beyond our house one of the narrow +green lanes which I have already mentioned diverged from the mongabu +avenue, and led between enclosures overrun with a profusion of creeping +plants and glorious flowers down to a moist hollow, where there was a +public well and a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of mucajá +palm-trees. On the tree-trunks, walls, and palings grew a great quantity +of climbing Pothos plants, with large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves. +These plants were the resort of these two exquisite species, and we +captured a great number of specimens. They are of extremely delicate +texture. The wings are cream-colored; the hind pair have several +tail-like appendages, and are spangled beneath as if with silver. Their +flight is very slow and feeble; they seek the protected under surface of +the leaves, and in repose close their wings over the back, so as to +expose the brilliantly spotted under surface. + +I will pass over the many orders and families of insects, and proceed at +once to the ants. These were in great numbers everywhere, but I will +mention here only two kinds. We were amazed at seeing ants an inch and a +quarter in length, and stout in proportion, marching in single file +through the thickets. These belonged to the species called _Dinoponera +grandis_. Its colonies consist of a small number of individuals, and are +established about the roots of slender trees. It is a stinging species, +but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller kinds. There +was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of this giant among the +ants. Another far more interesting species was the Saüba (_Oecodoma +cephalotes_). This ant is seen everywhere about the suburbs, marching to +and fro in broad columns. From its habit of despoiling the most valuable +cultivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge to the +Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant that agriculture is +almost impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible +pest.... + +In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of earth, +of a different color from the surrounding soil, which were thrown up in +the plantations and woods. Some of them were very extensive, being forty +yards in circumference, but not more than two feet in height. We soon +ascertained that these were the work of the Saübas, being the outworks +or domes which overlie and protect the entrances to their vast +subterranean galleries. On close examination I found the earth of which +they are composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated +with cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The +difference in color from the superficial soil of the vicinity is owing +to their being formed of the under-soil, brought up from a considerable +depth. + +It is very rarely that the ants are seen at work on these mounds; the +entrances seem to be generally closed; only now and then, when some +particular work is going on, are the galleries opened. The entrances are +small and numerous; in the larger hillocks it would require a great +amount of excavation to get at the main galleries; but I succeeded in +removing portions of the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that +the minor entrances converged, at the depth of about two feet, to one +broad, elaborately worked gallery or mine, which was four or five inches +in diameter. + +The habit in the Saüba ant of clipping and carrying away immense +quantities of leaves has long been recorded in books on natural history. +When employed on this work their processions look like a multitude of +animated leaves on the march. In some places I found an accumulation of +such leaves, all circular pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying on +the pathway, unattended by ants, and at some distance from the colony. +Such heaps are always found to be removed when the place is revisited +the next day. In course of time I had plenty of opportunities of seeing +them at work. They mount the trees in multitudes, the individuals being +all worker-miners. Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf, and +cuts with its sharp, scissor-like jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the +piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a little +heap accumulates until carried away by another relay of workers; but +generally each marches off with the piece it has operated upon, and, as +all take the same road to their colony, the path they follow becomes in +a short time smooth and bare, looking like the impression of a +cart-wheel through the herbage. + +It is a most interesting sight to see the vast host of busy diminutive +laborers occupied on this work. Unfortunately, they choose cultivated +trees for their purpose. This ant is quite peculiar to tropical America, +as is the entire genus to which it belongs. It sometimes despoils the +young trees of species growing wild in its native forests; but it seems +to prefer, when within reach, plants imported from other countries, such +as the coffee- and orange-trees.... The heavily-laden workers, each +carrying its segment of leaf vertically, the lower edge secured in its +mandibles, troop up and cast their burdens on the hillock; another relay +of laborers place the leaves in position, covering them with a layer of +earthy granules, which are brought one by one from the soil beneath. + +The underground abodes of this wonderful ant are known to be very +extensive. The Rev. Hamlet Clark has related that the Saüba of Rio de +Janeiro, a species closely allied to ours, has excavated a tunnel under +the bed of the river Parahyba at a place where it is as broad as the +Thames at London Bridge. At the Magoary rice-mills, near Pará, these +ants once pierced the embankment of a large reservoir; the great body +of water which it contained escaped before the damage could be repaired. +In the Botanic Gardens at Pará an enterprising French gardener tried all +he could think of to extirpate the Saüba. With this object he made fires +over some of the main entrances to their colonies, and blew the fumes of +sulphur down the galleries by means of bellows. I saw the smoke issue +from a great number of outlets, one of which was seventy yards distant +from the place where the bellows were used. This shows how extensively +the underground galleries are ramified. + +Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of their +foliage, the Saüba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its habit +of plundering the stores of provisions in houses at night, for it is +even more active at night than in the daytime. At first I was inclined +to discredit the stories of their entering habitations and carrying off +grain by grain the farinha or mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer +classes of Brazil. At length, while residing at an Indian village on the +Tapajos, I had ample proof of the fact. One night my servant woke me +three or four times before sunrise by calling out that the rats were +robbing the farinha baskets. The article at that time was scarce and +dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise very unlike that made by +rats. So I took the light and went into the store-room, which was close +to my sleeping-place. I there found a broad column of Saüba ants, +consisting of thousands of individuals, as busy as possible, passing to +and fro between the door and my precious baskets. Most of those passing +outward were laden each with a grain of farinha, which was, in some +cases, larger and many times heavier than the bodies of the carriers. + +Farinha consists of grains of similar size and appearance to the tapioca +of our shops; both are products of the same root, tapioca being the +pure starch, and farinha the starch mixed with woody fibre, the latter +ingredient giving it a yellowish color. It was amusing to see some of +the dwarfs, the smallest members of their family, staggering along, +completely hidden under their load. The baskets, which were on a high +table, were entirely covered with ants, many hundreds of whom were +employed in snipping the dry leaves which served as lining. This +produced the rustling sound which had at first disturbed us. My servant +told me that they would carry off the whole contents of the two baskets +(about two bushels) in the course of the night if they were not driven +off, so we tried to exterminate them by killing them with our wooden +clogs. It was impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming in as +fast as we killed their companions. They returned the next night, and I +was then obliged to lay trains of gun-powder along their line and blow +them up. This, repeated many times, at last seemed to intimidate them, +for we were free from their visits during the remainder of my residence +at the place. + +What they did with the hard dry grains of mandioca I was never able to +ascertain, and cannot even conjecture. The meal contains no gluten, and +therefore would be useless as cement. It contains only a small relative +portion of starch, and, when mixed with water, it separates and +falls away like so much earthy matter. It may serve as food for the +subterranean workers. But the young or larvæ of ants are usually fed +by juices secreted by the worker-nurses. + + [Leaving the ants with this example of their curious habits, we + shall proceed with the author's description of Brazilian + monkeys.] + +I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate +vicinity of Pará. I met with three species only in the forest near the +city; they are shy animals and avoid the neighborhood of towns, where +they are subject to much persecution by the inhabitants, who kill them +for food. The only kind which I saw frequently was the little _Midas +ursulus_, one of the Marmosets, a family peculiar to tropical America, +and differing in many essential points of structure and habits from all +other apes. They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true +monkeys in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind +thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the thumbs +of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to the other +fingers. I do not mean to convey that they have a near relationship to +squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an inferior order of mammals; +their resemblance to those animals is merely a superficial one. They +have two molar teeth less in each jaw than the Cebidæ, the other family +of American monkeys; they agree with them, however, in the sideway +position of the nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all +the monkeys of the Old World. The body is long and slender, clothed with +soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length of the trunk, +is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger in volume than the +anterior pair. + +The _Midas ursulus_ is never seen in large flocks; three or four is +the greatest number observed together. It seems to be less afraid of +the neighborhood of man than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in +the woods which border the suburban streets, and once I espied two +individuals in a thicket behind the English consul's house at Nazareth. +Its mode of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like +that of squirrels; it does not ascend to the slender branches, or take +those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidæ do, whose prehensile tails +and flexible hands fit them for such headlong travelling. It confines +itself to the larger boughs and trunks of trees, the long nails being of +great assistance to the creature, enabling it to cling securely to the +bark; and it is often seen passing rapidly round the perpendicular +cylindrical trunks. It is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and +has a great share of curiosity, for when a person passes by under the +trees along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few moments +to have a stare at the intruder. + +In Pará _Midas ursulus_ is often seen in a tame state in the houses of +the inhabitants. When full grown it is about nine inches long, +independently of the tail, which measures fifteen inches. The fur is +thick, and black in color, with the exception of a reddish-brown streak +down the middle of the back. When first taken, or when kept tied up, it +is very timid and irritable. It will not allow itself to be approached, +but keeps retreating backward when any one attempts to coax it. It is +always in a querulous humor, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; +its dark, watchful eyes, expressive of distrust, observant of every +movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly, however, as it +generally is in the houses of the natives, it becomes very tame and +familiar. I once saw one as playful as a kitten, running about the house +after the negro children, who fondled it to their hearts' content. It +acted somewhat differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like +them to sit in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, +trying to bite, and otherwise annoying them. + +It is generally fed on sweet fruits, such as the banana, but it is also +fond of insects, especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which +it will snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of +countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing. This is +partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as one of sixty +degrees; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they have of +inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited, contribute +very much to give them a knowing expression. Anatomists who have +dissected species of Midas tell us that the brain is of a very low type +as far as the absence of convolutions goes, the surface being as smooth +as that of a squirrel's. I should conclude at once that this character +is an unsafe guide in judging of the mental qualities of these animals; +in mobility of expression of countenance, intelligence, and general +manners these small monkeys resemble the higher apes far more than they +do any rodent animal with which I am acquainted. + +On the upper Amazon I once saw a tame individual of the _Midas +leoninus_, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still more +playful and intelligent than the one just described. This rare and +beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length, exclusive of the +tail. It is named leoninus on account of the long brown mane which +depends from the neck, and which gives it very much the appearance of a +diminutive lion. In the house where it was kept it was familiar with +every one; its greatest pleasure seemed to be to climb about the bodies +of different persons who entered. The first time I went in, it ran +across the room straightway to the chair on which I sat down and climbed +up to my shoulder; arrived there, it turned round and looked into my +face, showing its little teeth, and chattering, as though it would say, +"Well, and how do you do?" It showed more affection towards its master +than towards strangers, and would climb up to his head a dozen times in +the course of an hour, making a great show every time of searching there +for certain animalcula. + +Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus that it +distinguished between different objects depicted on an engraving. M. +Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp; at these it became +much terrified; whereas at the sight of a figure of a grasshopper or +beetle it precipitated itself on the picture, as if to seize the objects +there represented. + +Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Pará, a great number +may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazilians are fond of +pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to breed in captivity +in this country. I counted in a short time thirteen different species +while walking about the Pará streets, either at the doors or windows of +houses, or in the native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with +afterwards in any other part of the country. One of these was the +well-known _Hapale jacchus_, a little creature resembling a kitten, +banded with black and gray all over the body and tail, and having a +fringe of long white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the +shoulder of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, +and I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other was +a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had ruddy brown +fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish tuft on the top of the +forehead.... + +The only monkeys I observed at Cametá were the Couxio (_Pithecia +satanas_), a large species, clothed with long brownish black hair, and +the tiny _Midas argentatus_. The Couxio has a thick bushy tail; the hair +of the head sits on it like a cap, and looks as if it had been carefully +combed. It inhabits only the most retired parts of the forest, on the +terra firma, and I observed nothing of its habits. The little _Midas +argentatus_ is one of the rarest of the American monkeys. I have not +heard of its being found anywhere except near Cametá. I once saw three +individuals together running along a branch in a cacao grove near +Cametá; they looked like white kittens: in their motions they resembled +precisely the _Midas ursulus_ already described. + +I saw afterwards a pet animal of this species, and heard that there were +many so kept, and that they were esteemed as choice treasures. The one I +saw was full grown, but it measured only seven inches in length of body. +It was covered with long white, silky hairs, the tail was blackish, and +the face nearly naked and flesh-colored. It was a most timid and +sensitive little thing. The woman who owned it carried it constantly in +her bosom, and no money would induce her to part with her pet. She +called it Mico. It fed from her mouth and allowed her to fondle it +freely, but the nervous little creature would not permit strangers to +touch it. If any one attempted to do so it shrank back, the whole body +trembling with fear, and its teeth chattered, while it uttered its +tremulous frightened tones. The expression of its features was like that +of its more robust brother _Midas ursulus_; the eyes, which were black, +were full of curiosity and mistrust, and it always kept them fixed on +the person who attempted to advance towards it. + +In the orange groves and other parts humming-birds were plentiful, but I +did not notice more than three species. I saw a little pigmy belonging +to the genus Phæthornis one day in the act of washing itself in a brook. +It was perched on a thin branch, whose end was under water. It dipped +itself, then fluttered its wings and pruned its feathers, and seemed +thoroughly to enjoy itself alone in the shady nook which it had +chosen,--a place overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and Heliconiæ. I +thought as I watched it that there was no need for poets to invent elves +and gnomes while nature furnishes us with such marvellous little sprites +ready to hand. + + + + +THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES. + +JAMES ORTON. + + [The story of the Andes and the great river to which this + mountain-chain gives birth has never been better told than in + Orton's "The Andes and the Amazon," from which we select the + following description of Chimborazo and its mountain neighbors. + James Orton, born at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1830, became a + Congregationalist clergyman, and in 1867 headed an exploring + expedition to South America. In 1873 he sought that continent + again, and died on Lake Titicaca, September 24, 1877.] + + +Coming up from Peru through the cinchona forests of Loja, and over the +barren hills of Assuay, the traveller reaches Riobamba seated on the +threshold of magnificence,--like Damascus, an oasis in a sandy plain, +but, unlike the Queen of the East, surrounded with a splendid retinue of +snowy peaks that look like icebergs floating in a sea of clouds. + +On our left is the most sublime spectacle in the New World. It is a +majestic pile of snow, its clear outline on the deep blue sky describing +the profile of a lion in repose. At noon the vertical sun, and the +profusion of light reflected from the glittering surface, will not allow +a shadow to be cast on any part, so that you can easily fancy the figure +is cut out of a mountain of spotless marble. This is Chimborazo,--yet +not the whole of it,--you see but a third of the great giant. His feet +are as eternally green as his head is everlastingly white; but they are +far away beneath the banana and cocoanut palms of the Pacific coast. + +Rousseau was disappointed when he first saw the sea; and the first +glimpse of Niagara often fails to meet one's expectations. But +Chimborazo is sure of a worshipper the moment its overwhelming grandeur +breaks upon the traveller. You feel that you are in the presence-chamber +of the monarch of the Andes. There is sublimity in his kingly look of +which the ocean might be proud. + + "All that expands the spirit, yet appeals, + Gathers around this summit, as if to show + How earth may pierce to heaven, yet leave vain man below." + +[Illustration: THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES] + +Well do we remember our disappointment as we stood before that wonder of +the world,--St. Peter's. We mounted the pyramid of steps and looked up, +but were not overcome by the magnificence. We read in our guide-book +that the edifice covers eight acres, and to the tip-top of the cross is +almost five hundred feet; that it took three hundred and fifty years and +twelve successive artists to finish it and an expenditure of fifty +million dollars, and now costs thirty thousand dollars per annum to keep +it in repair, still we do not appreciate its greatness. We pushed aside +the curtain and walked in,--walked a day's journey across the transept +and up and down the everlasting nave, and yet continued heterodox. We +tried hard to believe it was very vast and sublime, and we knew we ought +to feel its grandeur, but somehow we did not. Then we sat down by the +Holy of Holies, and there we were startled into a better judgment by the +astounding fact that the Cathedral of St. Paul--the largest edifice in +Great Britain--could stand upright, spire, dome, body, and all, inside +of St. Peter's! that the letters of the inscription which run round the +_base_ of the dome, though apparently but an inch, are in reality six +feet high! Then for the first time the scales fell from our eyes, the +giant building began to grow; higher and higher still it rose, longer +and deeper it expanded, yet in perfect proportions; the colossal +structure, now a living temple, put on its beautiful garments and the +robe of majesty. And that dome! the longer we looked at it the vaster +it grew, till finally it seemed to be a temple not made with hands; the +spacious canopy became the firmament; the mosaic figures of cherubim and +seraphim were endowed with life; and as we fixed our eyes on the zenith +where the Almighty is represented in glory, we thought we had the vision +of Stephen. Long we gazed upward into this heaven of man's creation, and +gazed again till we were lost in wonder. + +But the traveller needs no such steps to lift him up to the grand +conception of the divine Architect as he beholds the great white dome of +Chimborazo. It looks lofty from the very first. Now and then an expanse +of thin, sky-like vapor would cut the mountain in twain, and the dome, +islanded in the deep blue of the upper regions, seemed to belong more to +heaven than to earth. We knew that Chimborazo was more than twice the +altitude of Etna. We could almost see the great Humboldt struggling up +the mountain's side till he looked like a black speck moving over the +mighty white, but giving up in despair four thousand feet below the +summit. We see the intrepid Bolivar mounting still higher; but the hero +of Spanish-American independence returns a defeated man. Last of all +comes the philosophic Boussingault, and attains the prodigious elevation +of nineteen thousand six hundred feet,--the highest point reached by man +without the aid of a balloon; but the dome remains unsullied by his +foot. Yet none of these facts increase our admiration. The mountain has +a tongue which speaks louder than all mathematical calculations. + +There must be something singularly sublime about Chimborazo, for the +spectator at Riobamba is already nine thousand feet high, and the +mountain is not so elevated above him as Mont Blanc above the vale of +Chamouni, when, in reality, that culminating point of Europe would not +reach up even to the snow-limit of Chimborazo by two thousand feet. It +is only while sailing on the Pacific that one sees Chimborazo in its +complete proportions. Its very magnificence diminishes the impression of +awe and wonder, for the Andes on which it rests are heaved to such a +vast altitude above the sea, that the relative elevation of its summit +becomes reduced by comparison with the surrounding mountains. Its +altitude is twenty-one thousand four hundred and twenty feet, or +forty-five times the height of Strasburg cathedral; or, to state it +otherwise, the fall of one pound from the top of Chimborazo would raise +the temperature of water thirty degrees. One-fourth of this is +perpetually covered with snow, so that its ancient name Chimpurazu--the +mountain of snow--is very appropriate. It is a stirring thought that +this mountain, now mantled with snow, once gleamed with volcanic fires. +There is a hot spring on the north side, and an immense amount of +débris covers the slope below the snow-limit, consisting chiefly of +fine-grained, iron-stained trachyte and coarse porphyroid gray trachyte; +very rarely a dark vitreous trachyte. Chimborazo is very likely not a +solid mountain; trachytic volcanoes are supposed to be full of cavities. +Bouger found it made the plumb line deviate 7" or 8". + +The valleys which furrow the flank of Chimborazo are in keeping with its +colossal size. Narrower, but deeper, than those of the Alps, the mind +swoons and sinks in the effort to comprehend their grim majesty. The +mountain appears to have been broken to pieces like so much thin crust, +and the strata thrown on their vertical edges, revealing deep, dark +chasms, that seem to lead to the confines of the lower world. The +deepest valley in Europe, that of the Ordesa in the Pyrenees, is three +thousand two hundred feet deep; but here are rents in the side of +Chimborazo in which Vesuvius could be put away out of sight. As you look +down into the fathomless fissure, you see a white fleck rising out of +the gulf, and expanding as it mounts, till the wings of the condor, +fifteen feet in spread, glitter in the sun as the proud bird fearlessly +wheels over the dizzy chasm, and then, ascending above your head, sails +over the dome of Chimborazo. Could the condor speak, what a glowing +description he could give of the landscape beneath him when his horizon +is a thousand miles in diameter! If + + "Twelve fair counties saw the blaze from Malvern's lonely height," + +what must be the panorama from a height fifteen times higher! + +Chimborazo was long supposed to be the tallest mountain on the globe, +but its supremacy has been supplanted by Mount Everest in Asia, and +Aconcagua in Chile. In mountain gloom and glory, however, it still +stands unrivalled. The Alps have the avalanche, "the thunderbolt of +snow," and the glaciers, those icy Niagaras so beautiful and grand. Here +they are wanting. The monarch of the Andes sits motionless in calm +serenity and unbroken silence. The silence is absolute and actually +oppressive. The road from Guayaquil to Quito crosses Chimborazo at the +elevation of fourteen thousand feet. Save the rush of the trade wind in +the afternoon, as it sweeps over the Andes, not a sound is audible; not +the hum of an insect, nor the chirp of a bird, nor the roar of the puma, +nor the music of running waters. Mid-ocean is never so silent. You can +almost hear the globe turning on its axis. There was a time when the +monarch deigned to speak, and spoke with a voice of thunder, for the +lava on its sides is an evidence of volcanic activity. But ever since +the morning stars sang together over man's creation Chimbo has sat in +sullen silence, satisfied to look "from his throne of clouds o'er half +the world." There is something very suggestive in this silence of +Chimborazo. It was once full of noise and fury; it is now a _completed_ +mountain, and thunders no more. How silent was Jesus, a completed +character! The reason that we are so noisy is that we are so full of +wants; we are _unfinished_ characters. Had we perfect fulness of all +things, the beatitude of being without a want, we should lapse into the +eternal silence of God. + +Chimborazo is a leader of a long train of ambitious crags and peaks; but +as he who comes after the king must not expect to be noticed, we will +only take a glimpse of these lesser lights as we pass up the Western +Cordillera, and then down the Eastern. + +The first after leaving the monarch is Caraguairazo. The Indians call it +"the wife of Chimborazo." They are separated only by a very narrow +valley. One hundred and seventy years ago the top of this mountain fell +in, and torrents of mud flowed out containing multitudes of fishes. It +is now over seventeen thousand feet high, and is one of the most Alpine +of the Quitonian volcanoes, having sharp pinnacles instead of the smooth +trachytic domes--usually double domes--so characteristic of the Andean +summits. And now we pass in rapid succession numerous picturesque +mountains, some of them extinct volcanoes, as Iliniza, presenting two +pyramidal peaks, the highest seventeen thousand feet above the sea, and +Corazon, so named from its heart-shaped summit, till we reach Pichincha, +whose smoking crater is only five miles distant in a straight line from +the city of Quito, or eleven by the travelled route. + +The crown of this mountain presents three groups of rocky peaks. The +most westerly one is called Rucu-Pichincha, and alone manifests +activity. To the northeast of Rucu is Guagua-Pichincha, a ruined flue of +the same fiery furnace; and between the two is Cundur-Guachana. +Pichincha is the only volcano in Ecuador which has not a true cone +crater. Some violent eruption beyond the reach of history or tradition +has formed an enormous funnel-shaped basin two thousand five hundred +feet deep, fifteen hundred in diameter at the bottom, and expanding +upward to a width of three-fourths of a mile. It is the _deepest_ crater +on the globe. That of Kilauea is six hundred feet; Orizaba, five +hundred; Etna, three hundred; Hecla, one hundred. Vesuvius is a portable +furnace in comparison. The abyss is girt with a ragged wall of dark +trachyte, which rises on the inside at various angles between forty-five +degrees and perpendicularity. As we know of but one American besides the +members of our expedition (Mr. Farrand, a photographer) who has +succeeded in entering the crater of this interesting volcano, we will +give a brief sketch of our visit. + +Leaving Quito in the afternoon by the old arched gate-way at the foot of +Panecillo, and crossing a spur of the mountain, we stopped for the night +at the Jesuit hacienda, situated in the beautiful valley of Lloa, but +nearly ruined by the earthquake of 1859. On the damp walls of this +monastery, perched ten thousand two hundred and sixty-eight feet above +the ocean, we found several old paintings, among them a copy of the +_Visitation_ by Rubens. The sunset views in this heart of the Andes were +surpassingly beautiful. Mounting our horses at break of day, and taking +an Indian guide, we ascended rapidly by a narrow and difficult path +through the forest that belts the volcano up to the height of twelve +thousand feet, emerging gradually into a thicket of stunted bushes, and +then entered the dreary _paramo_. Splendid was the view of the Eastern +Cordillera. At least six dazzling white volcanoes were in sight just +across the valley of Quito, among them table-topped Cayambi, majestic +Antisana, and princely Cotopaxi, whose tapering summit is a mile above +the clouds. Toiling upward we reached the base of the cone where +vegetation ceased entirely; and tying our horses to some huge rocks +that had fallen from the mural cliff above, we started off on hands and +feet for the crater. The cone is deeply covered with sand and cinders +for about two hundred feet, and the sides are inclined at an angle of +about thirty-five degrees. At ten o'clock we reached the brim of the +crater, and the great gulf burst suddenly into view. + +We can never forget the impression made upon us by the sight. We speak +of many things here below as awful, but that word has its full meaning +when carried to the top of Pichincha. There you see a frightful opening +in the earth's crust nearly a mile in width and half a mile deep, and +from the dark abyss comes rolling up a cloud of sulphurous vapors. Monte +Somma in the time of Strabo was a miniature; but this crater is on the +top of a mountain four times the height of the Italian volcano. +Imagination finds it difficult to conceive a spectacle of more fearful +grandeur or such solemn magnificence. It well accords with Milton's +picture of the bottomless pit. The united effect of the silence and +solitude of the place, the great depth of the cavity, the dark +precipitous sides, and the column of smoke standing over an unseen +crevice, was to us more impressive than thundering Cotopaxi or fiery +Vesuvius. Humboldt, after standing on this same brink, exclaimed, "I +have never beheld a grander or more remarkable picture than that +presented by this volcano;" and La Condamine compared it to "the Chaos +of the poets." + +Below us are the smouldering fires which may any moment spring forth +into a conflagration; around us are black, ragged cliffs,--fit boundary +for this gate-way to the infernal regions. They look as if they had just +been dragged up from the central furnace of the earth. Life seems to +have fled in terror from the vicinity; even lichens, the children of the +bare rocks, refuse to clothe the scathed and beetling crags. For some +moments made mute by the dreadful sight, we stood like statues on the +rim of the mighty caldron, with our eyes riveted on the abyss below, +lost in contemplating that which cannot be described. The panorama from +this lofty summit is more pleasing, but equally sublime. Towards the +rising sun is the long range of the Eastern Cordillera, hiding from our +view the great valley of the Amazon. To right and left are the peaks of +another procession of august mountains from Cotocachi to Chimborazo. We +are surrounded by the great patriarchs of the Andes, and their speaker, +Cotopaxi, ever and anon sends his muttering voice over the land. + +The view westward is like looking down from a balloon. Those parallel +ridges of the mountain chain, dropping one behind the other, are the +gigantic staircase by which the ice-crowned Chimborazo steps down to the +sea. A white sea of clouds covers the peaceful Pacific and the lower +parts of the coast. But the vapory ocean, curling into the ravines, +beautifully represents little coves and bays, leaving islands and +promontories like a true ocean on a broken shore. We seem raised above +the earth, which lies like an opened map below us; we can look down on +the upper surface of the clouds, and, were it night, down too upon the +lightnings.... + +The first to reach the brink of the crater were the French Academicians +in 1742. Sixty years after Humboldt stood on the summit. But it was not +until 1844 that any one dared to enter the crater. This was accomplished +by Garcia Moreno, now President of Ecuador, and Sebastian Wisse, a +French engineer. Humboldt pronounced the bottom of the crater +"inaccessible from its great depth and precipitous descent." We found it +accessible, but exceedingly perilous. The moment we prepared to descend +our guide ran away. We went on without him, but when half-way down were +stopped by a precipice. + +On the 22d of October, 1867, we returned to Pichincha with another guide +and entered the crater by a different route. Manuel, our Indian, led us +to the south side, and over the brink we went. We were not long in +realizing the danger of the undertaking. Here the snow concealed an ugly +fissure or covered a treacherous rock (for nearly all the rocks are +crumbling), there we must cross a mass of loose sand moving like a +glacier down the almost vertical side of the crater; and on every hand +rocks were giving way, and, gathering momentum at each revolution, went +thundering down, leaping over precipices and jostling other rocks, which +joined in the race, till they all struck the bottom with a deep rumbling +sound, shivered like so many bomb-shells into a thousand pieces, and +telling us what would be our fate if we made a single misstep. We +followed our Indian in single file, keeping close together, that the +stones set free by those in the rear might not dash those below from +their feet; feeling our way with the greatest caution, clinging with our +hands to the snow, sand, rocks, tufts of grass, or anything that would +hold for a moment; now leaping over a chasm, now letting ourselves down +from rock to rock; at times paralyzed with fear, and always with death +staring us in the face; thus we scrambled for two hours and a half till +we reached the bottom of the crater. + +Here we found a deeply furrowed plain strewn with ragged rocks, and +containing a few patches of vegetation, with half a dozen species of +flowers. In the centre is an irregular heap of stones, two hundred and +sixty feet high by eight hundred in diameter. This is the cone of +eruption,--its sides and summit covered with an imposing group of vents, +seventy in number, all lined with sulphur and exhaling steam, black +smoke, and sulphurous gas. The temperature of the vapor just within the +fumarole is 184°, water boiling beside it at 189°. + +The central vent or chimney gives forth a sound like the violent +bubbling of boiling water. As we sat on this fiery mount surrounded by a +circular rampart of rocks, and looked up at the immense towers of dark +dolerite which ran up almost vertically to the height of twenty-five +hundred feet above us, musing over the tremendous force which fashioned +this awful amphitheatre,--spacious enough for all the gods of Tartarus +to hold high carnival,--the clouds which hung in the thin air around the +crest of the crater pealed forth thunder after thunder, which, +reverberating from precipice to precipice, were answered by the crash of +rocks let loose by the storm, till the whole mountain seemed to tremble +like a leaf. Such acoustics, mingled with the flash of lightning and the +smell of brimstone, made us believe that we had fairly got into the +realm of Pluto. It is the spot where Dante's "Inferno" ought to be read. + + + + +INCA HIGH-ROADS AND BRIDGES. + +E. GEORGE SQUIER. + + [Squier's "Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the + Land of the Incas" is the source of our present selection. The + author, Ephraim George Squier, was born in Albany County, New + York, in 1821. He studied the aboriginal monuments of New York, + and afterwards travelled and made extensive archæological + researches in Central America. He was appointed United States + Commissioner to Peru in 1863, and made important studies of the + ancient ruins of that country. We give his interesting account + of the perilous crossing of the Apurimac.] + + +The great and elaborate highways, or public roads, which the chroniclers +and the historians, following their authority, tell us were constructed +by the Incas throughout their vast empire, all radiating north, east, +south, and west from the imperial city of Cuzco, if they existed at all +in Central and Southern Peru, have disappeared, leaving here and there +only short sections or fragments, hardly justifying the extravagant +praise that has been bestowed on them. The modern mule-paths, miscalled +roads, must necessarily follow nearly, if not exactly, the routes of the +Indians under the Empire. The physical conformation of the country is +such that communication between _puna_ and _puna_, and from valley to +valley, must always be made by the same passes. All these passes over +the mountains are marked by huge piles of stone raised, like the cairns +of Scotland and Wales, by the contribution of a single stone from each +traveller as an offering to the spirits of the mountains, and as an +invocation for their aid in sustaining the fatigues of travel. These +great stone heaps still exist, and will remain to the end of time, +monuments marking forever the routes of travel in the days of the Incas. + +We know, therefore, from these rude monuments very nearly what were the +ancient lines of communication. These are also further indicated by +remains of the _tambos_, which occur at intervals all through the +country, and oftenest in places remote from supplies, in cold and desert +districts, where the traveller stands most in need of food and shelter. + +The modern voyager would consider himself supremely fortunate were he to +find one in a hundred of these tambos, now in existence; for travelling +in Peru is infinitely more difficult and dangerous than it was in the +days of the Incas: more difficult, because the facilities are less; more +dangerous, because the laws are more lax, and the moral standard of the +people lower. The influence of Spain in Peru has been every way +deleterious; the civilization of the country was far higher before the +Conquest than now. + +As I have said, few traces of the Inca roads, such as are described by +the early writers, and such as Humboldt saw in Northern Peru, are now to +be found in the southern part of that country; and as the modern +pathways must follow the ancient lines, I infer that they never existed +here, for there is no reason why they should have suffered more from +time and the elements in one part of the country than in another. + +Between Cuzco and the sweet valley of Yucay there are numerous traces of +an ancient road, some sections of which are perfect. These sections +coincide in character with the long reaches in the direction of Quito. +They consist of a pathway from ten to twelve feet wide, raised slightly +in the centre, paved with stones, and the edges defined by larger stones +sunk firmly in the ground. Where this road descends from the elevated +_puna_--a sheer descent of almost four thousand feet into the valley of +Yucay--it zigzags on a narrow shelf cut in the face of the declivity, +and supported here and there, where foothold could not otherwise be +obtained, by high retaining-walls of cut stone, looking as perfect and +firm as when first built centuries ago. + +High mountain-ranges and broad and frigid deserts, swept by fierce, +cold winds, are not the sole obstacles to intercommunication in the +Altos of Peru, and among those snow-crowned monarchs of the Andes and +Cordilleras. There are deep valleys, gorges, and ravines among the +mountains, or cut deep in the plains that alternate with them, in which +flow swelling rivers or rapid torrents, fed by the melting snows in the +dry season, and swollen by the rains in the wet season. They are often +unfordable, but still they must somehow be passed by the traveller. A +few bridges of stone were constructed by the Spaniards, some after the +Conquest, and a few others have been erected by their descendants; but, +as a rule, the rivers and mountain-torrents are passed to-day by the +aid of devices the same as were resorted to by the Incas, and at points +which they selected. + +Had the principle of the arch been well understood by the ancient +inhabitants, who have left some of the finest stone-cutting and masonry +to be found in the world, there is no doubt the interior of Peru would +have abounded in bridges rivalling those of Rome in extent and beauty. +As it was, occupying a country destitute of timber, they resorted to +suspension-bridges, no doubt precisely like those now constructed by +their descendants and successors,--bridges formed of cables of braided +withes, stretched from bank to bank, and called _puentes de mimbres_ +(bridges of withes). Where the banks are high, or where the streams are +compressed between steep or precipitous rocks, these cables are anchored +to piers of stone. In other places they are approached by inclined +causeways, raised to give them the necessary elevation above the water. +Three or four cables form the floor and the principal support of the +bridge, over which small sticks, sometimes only sections of cane or +bamboo, are laid transversely, and fastened to the cables by vines, +cords, or thongs of raw hide. Two smaller cables are sometimes stretched +on each side as a guard or hand-rail. Over these frail and swaying +structures pass men and animals, the latter frequently with their load +on their backs. + +Each bridge is usually kept up by the municipality of the nearest +village; and as it requires renewal every two or three years, the +Indians are obliged at stated periods to bring to the spot a certain +number of withes of peculiar kinds of tough wood, generally of that +variety called ioke, which are braided by experts, and then stretched +across the stream or river by the united exertions of the inhabitants. +Some of the larger and most important structures of this kind are kept +up by the government, and all passengers and merchandise pay a fixed +toll. Such is the case with the great bridge over the Apurimac, on the +main road from the ancient Guamanga (now Ayacucho) to Cuzco. + +The Apurimac is one of the head-waters of the Amazon, a large and rapid +stream, flowing in a deep valley, or rather gigantic ravine, shut in by +high and precipitous mountains. Throughout its length it is crossed at +only a single point, between two enormous cliffs, which rise dizzily +on both sides, and from the summits of which the traveller looks down +into a dark gulf. At the bottom gleams a white line of water, whence +struggles up a dull but heavy roar, giving to the river its name, +_Apu-rimac_ signifying, in the Quichua tongue, "the great speaker." From +above, the bridge, looking like a mere thread, is reached by a path +which on one side traces a thin, white line on the face of the mountain, +and down which the boldest traveller may hesitate to venture. This path, +on the other side, at once disappears from a rocky shelf, where there is +just room enough to hold the hut of the bridge-keeper, and then runs +through a dark tunnel cut in the rock, from which it emerges to trace +its line of many a steep and weary zigzag of the face of the mountain. +It is usual for the traveller to time his day's journey so as to reach +this bridge in the morning, before the strong wind sets in; for during +the greater part of the day it sweeps up the caņon of the Apurimac with +great force, and then the bridge sways like a gigantic hammock, and +crossing is next to impossible. + +It was a memorable incident in my travelling experiences, the crossing +of this great swinging bridge of the Apurimac. I shall never forget it, +even if it were not associated with a circumstance which, for the time, +gave me much uneasiness and pain. The fame of the bridge over the +Apurimac is coextensive with Peru, and every one we met who had crossed +it was full of frightful reminiscences of his passage: how the frail +structure swayed at a dizzy height between gigantic cliffs over a dark +abyss, filled with the deep, hoarse roar of the river, and how his eyes +grew dim, his heart grew faint, and his feet unsteady as he struggled +across it, not daring to cast a look on either hand. + +Our road to the bridge was circuitous and precipitous, leading down the +steeper side of the ridge of La Banca, where it seemed hardly possible +for a goat to find foothold. It was a succession of abrupt zigzags, here +and there interrupted by a stretch of horizontal pathway. To see our +cavalcade it was necessary to look up or down, not before or behind. It +was like descending the coils of a flattened corkscrew. In places the +rocks encroached on the trail so that it was necessary to crouch low on +the saddle-bow to pass beneath them, or else throw the weight of the +body on the stirrup overhanging the declivity of the mountain, to avoid +a collision. The most dangerous parts, however, were where land-slips +had occurred, and where it was impossible to construct a pathway not +liable at any moment to glide away beneath the feet of our animals. +The gorge narrowed as we descended, until it was literally shut in by +precipices of stratified rock strangely contorted; while huge masses of +stone, rent and splintered as from some terrible convulsion of nature, +rose sheer before us, apparently preventing all exit from the sunless +and threatening ravine, at the bottom of which a considerable stream +struggled, with a hoarse roar, among the black boulders. + +There was foothold for neither tree nor shrub, and our mules picked +their way warily, with head and ears pointed downward, among the broken +and angular masses. The occasional shouts of the arrieros sounded here +sharp and percussive, and seemed to smite themselves to death against +the adamantine walls. There was no room for echo. Finally the ravine +became so narrowed between the precipitous mountain-sides as barely to +afford room for the stream and our scant party. Here a roar, deeper, +stronger, and sterner than that of the stream which we had followed, +reached our ears, and we knew it was the voice of the "Great Speaker." +A little farther on we came in view of the river and two or three low +huts built on the circumscribed space where the two streams came close +together. Our muleteers were already busy in unloading the baggage, +preparatory to its being carried across the bridge on the cicatrized +backs of the occupants of the huts. + +To the left of the huts, swinging high in a graceful curve, between the +precipices on either side, looking wonderfully frail and gossamer-like, +was the famed bridge of the Apurimac. A steep, narrow path, following +for some distance a natural shelf, formed by the stratification of the +rock, and for the rest of the way hewn in its face, led up, for a +hundred feet, to a little platform, also cut in the rock, where were +fastened the cables supporting the bridge. On the opposite bank was +another and rather larger platform, partly roofed by the rock, where was +the windlass for making the cables taut, and where, perched like goats +on some mountain-shelf, lived the custodians of the bridge. The path +could barely be discovered turning sharp around a rocky projection to +the left of this perch, then reappearing high above it, and then, after +many a zigzag, losing itself in the dark mouth of a tunnel. + +My companions and myself lost no time in extracting the measuring tapes +and sounding lines from our _alforjas_, and hurriedly scrambled up the +rocky pathway to the bridge. It was in bad condition. The cables had +slacked so that the centre of the bridge hung from twelve to fifteen +feet lower than its ends, and, then, the cables had not stretched +evenly, so that one side was considerably lower than the other. The +cables on either hand, intended to answer the double purpose of stays +and parapets, had not sunk with the bridge, and were so high up that +they could not be reached without difficulty; and many of the lines +dropping from them to the floor, originally placed widely apart, had +been broken, so that practically they were useful neither for security +nor for inspiring confidence. + +Travelling in the Andes soon cures one of any nervousness about heights +and depths, and is a specific against dizziness. Nevertheless, we all +gave a rather apprehensive glance at the frail structure before us, +but we had no difficulty in crossing and recrossing--as we did several +times--except on approaching the ends, to which our weight transferred +the sag of the cables and made the last few yards rather steep. A stiff +breeze swept up the caņon of the river, and caused a vibration of the +bridge from side to side of at least six feet. The motion, however, +inspired no sense of danger. + +We carefully measured the length and altitude of the bridge, and found +it to be from fastening to fastening one hundred and forty-eight feet +long, and at its lowest part one hundred and eighteen feet above the +river. Mr. Markham, who crossed it in 1855, estimated the length at +ninety feet and the height at three hundred feet. Lieutenant Gibbon, +who crossed it in 1857, estimated the length at three hundred and +twenty-four feet and the height one hundred and fifty feet. Our +measurements, however, are exact. The height may be increased perhaps +ten feet when the cables are made taut. They are five in number, twisted +from the fibres of the _cabuya_, or maguey plant, and are about four +inches thick. The floor is of small sticks and canes, fastened +transversely with raw-hide strings. The Indians coming from Andahuaylas +and other districts where the cabuya grows, generally bring a quantity +of leaves with them wherewith to pay their toll. These are prepared and +made into rope by the custodians of the bridge, who must be glad of some +occupation in their lone and lofty eyrie. + +Our baggage was carried over the bridge, and the animals were then +led across one by one, loaded and started up the mountain. The space +is too limited to receive more than two loaded mules at a time, and +instances are known of their having been toppled over the precipice +from overcrowding. We led our horses over without difficulty except in +getting them on the bridge. But once fairly on the swaying structure +they were as composed as if moving on the solid ground. Perhaps even to +the lowest animal intelligence it must be apparent that the centre of +the bridge of the Apurimac is not the place for antics, equine or +asinine. + +Mounted once more, we commenced our steep and difficult ascent. At one +place the sheer precipice presented itself on one side, and a vertical +wall on the other; next it was a scramble up a ladder of stairs, partly +cut in the rock and partly built up with stones against it; then a +sudden turn, with a parapet built around it in a semi-circle, to prevent +descending animals from being carried into the abyss below by their own +momentum. Our cargo-mules toiled up painfully above us, stopping every +few steps to breathe, while the muleteers braced themselves against +their haunches to afford them some support and rest. + +We had scarcely reached half-way to the mouth of the tunnel, which +enters the mountain at the base of a vast vertical mass of rock, when +our attention was arrested by the shouts of our men and a commotion +among the animals above us. It was occasioned by a descending train of +loaded mules, just plunging out of the black throat of the tunnel. The +mountain mule always seeks to take the wall of the animal it meets, +being perfectly aware of the danger of trying to pass on the outer side +of the pathway; and it sometimes happens that neither will give way +under any amount of persuasion or blows. The muleteers have to unload +the animals, which may then be got past each other. A similar difficulty +occurred now, and the conductor of the advancing train hurried down to +warn us to dismount and seek the widest part of the path, or some nook +by its side, and there await the passage of his mules. He had hardly +done speaking when we saw one of our own mules, loaded with our trunks, +come plunging down the narrow zigzagging way, evidently in fright, +followed wildly by its driver. Just before reaching the place where we +stood, the animal fell, going literally heels over head, and would have +been carried over the little platform of rock into the river had not the +master of the descending train caught the falling mule by its foreleg, +and in this way saved it from tumbling over. He at once placed his whole +weight on its ears, thus preventing it from struggling, and thus +obviating its destruction, while we detached its cargo. A foot farther, +and the mule would inevitably have been lost. + +It was with no little satisfaction that we saw the last mule of the +train pass us, and resumed our ascent. We found the tunnel a roomy one, +two or three hundred yards in length, with openings from the face of the +precipice for the admission of light and air. Through these we caught +brief glimpses of the grand and solemn mountains on the opposite side +of the caņon, and through them came in also, hoarse and sullen, the +deep voice of the river. I am uncertain as to how far this tunnel may +be ascribed to the Incas, but feel sure that their bridge across the +Apurimac was at precisely the same point with the present one. We +were fully two hours in ascending the steeps, and reached the high +mountain-circled plain in which stands the straggling town of Curahuasi, +a well-watered village buried among trees and shrubbery. + + + + +INDEX. + + + PAGE + + A Fine Scenic Route HENRY T. FINCK 31 + Amazon and Madeira Rivers, Forests + of the FRANZ KELLER 200 + Andes, Monarchs of the JAMES ORTON 251 + Animals of British Guiana C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 + Ants and Monkeys, Brazilian HENRY W. BATES 240 + + BACON, ALFRED TERRY Country of the Cliff-dwellers 59 + BATES, HENRY W. Brazilian Ants and Monkeys 240 + Besieged by Peccaries JAMES W. WELLS 219 + Big Trees, Lake Tahoe and The A. H. TEVIS 68 + BRACE, CHARLES LORING Mariposa Grove and Yosemite + Valley 88 + Brazilian Ants and Monkeys HENRY W. BATES 240 + British Guiana, Animals of C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 + BROWN, C. BARRINGTON Animals of British Guiana 169 + BUTLER, W. F. Winnipeg Lake and River 21 + + Canoe- and Camp-life on the Madeira FRANZ KELLER 212 + Chicago, New York, Washington OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Chinese Quarter in San Francisco HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 + Cliff-dwellers, Country of The ALFRED TERRY BACON 59 + Country of the Cliff-dwellers ALFRED TERRY BACON 59 + + Destruction of San Salvador CARL SCHERZER 137 + + FINCK, HENRY T. A Fine Scenic Route 31 + Forests of the Amazon and Madeira + Rivers FRANZ KELLER 200 + FREMONT, JOHN C. South Pass and Fremont's Peak 42 + Fremont's Peak, South Pass and JOHN C. FREMONT 42 + FROEBEL, JULIUS Route of the Nicaragua Canal 130 + FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY Scenes in Trinidad and + Jamaica 145 + + HAYDEN, FERDINAND V. In the Yellowstone Park 49 + HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON Life and Scenery in Venezuela 179 + + Inca High-roads and Bridges E. GEORGE SQUIER 261 + In the Yellowstone Park FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 + + JACKSON, HELEN HUNT Chinese Quarter in San + Francisco 78 + Jamaica, Scenes in Trinidad and JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + + KELLER, FRANZ Forests of the Amazon and Madeira + Rivers 200 + KELLER, FRANZ Canoe- and Camp-life on The + Madeira 212 + KINGSLEY, CHARLES The High Woods of Trinidad 157 + + Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees A. H. TEVIS 68 + LEIGH, OLIVER H. G. New York, Washington, Chicago 5 + Life and Scenery In Venezuela ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 + Llaneros of Venezuela, The RAMON PAEZ 190 + + Madeira, Canoe- and Camp-Life on the FRANZ KELLER 212 + Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 + Mexico, A Sportsman's Experience in SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 + Mexican Lowlands, Scenery of the FELIX L. OSWALD 108 + Monarchs of the Andes JAMES ORTON 251 + Monkeys, Brazilian Ants and HENRY W. BATES 240 + + New York, Washington, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Nicaragua Canal, Route of the JULIUS FROEBEL 130 + + ORTON, JAMES Monarchs of the Andes 251 + OSWALD, FELIX L. Scenery of the Mexican + Lowlands 108 + + PAEZ, RAMON The Llaneros of Venezuela 190 + Peccaries, Besieged by JAMES W. WELLS 219 + Perils of Travel IDA PFEIFFER 232 + PFEIFFER, IDA Perils of Travel 232 + PRICE, SIR ROSE LAMBERT A Sportsman's Experience in + Mexico 99 + + Route of the Nicaragua Canal JULIUS FROEBEL 130 + Ruins of Yucatan, Among the JOHN L. STEPHENS 119 + + San Francisco, Chinese Quarter in HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 + San Salvador, Destruction of CARL SCHERZER 137 + Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands FELIX L. OSWALD 108 + Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + SCHERZER, CARL Destruction of San Salvador 137 + South Pass and Fremont's Peak JOHN C. FREMONT 42 + Sportsman's Experience in Mexico SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 + SQUIER, E. GEORGE Inca High-Roads and Bridges 261 + STEPHENS, JOHN L. Among the Ruins of Yucatan 119 + + TEVIS, A. H. Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees 68 + Travel, Perils of IDA PFEIFFER 232 + Trinidad, The High Woods of CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 + Trinidad and Jamaica, Scenes in JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + + Venezuela, Life and Scenery in ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 + Venezuela, The Llaneros of RAMON PAEZ 190 + + Washington, New York, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + WELLS, JAMES W. Besieged by Peccaries 219 + Winnipeg Lake and River BUTLER, W. F. 21 + Woods of Trinidad, The High CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 + + Yellowstone Park, In the FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 + Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove and CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 + Yucatan, Among the Ruins of JOHN L. STEPHENS 119 + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the authors' words and +intent. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With the World's Great Travellers, v. 2, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT TRAVELLERS, VOL 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 33472-8.txt or 33472-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/7/33472/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 2 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Morris + Oliver H. G. Leigh + +Release Date: August 20, 2010 [EBook #33472] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT TRAVELLERS, VOL 2 *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="centerbox bbox"> +<p class="smallgap"> </p> +<h3><i>SPECIAL EDITION</i></h3> + +<p class="bt"> </p> + +<h1>WITH THE WORLD’S<br /> +GREAT TRAVELLERS</h1> + +<h3>EDITED BY CHARLES MORRIS<br /> +AND OLIVER H. G. LEIGH</h3> + +<h2><span class="smcap">Vol. II</span></h2> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 135px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="135" height="50" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<p class="bt"> </p> + +<h3>CHICAGO</h3> +<h2>UNION BOOK COMPANY</h2> +<h3>1901</h3></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1896 and 1897<br /> +by</span><br /> +J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY</p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright 1901</span><br /> +E. R. D<span class="smcap">u</span>MONT</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<p><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="500" height="366" alt="BOSTON COMMON, BOSTON, MASS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BOSTON COMMON, BOSTON, MASS.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="center"><small>SUBJECT.</small></td> +<td align="center"><small>AUTHOR.</small></td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">New York, Washington, Chicago</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oliver H. G. Leigh</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#WITH_THE_WORLDS_GREAT_TRAVELLERS">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Winnipeg Lake and River</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">W. F. Butler</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#WINNIPEG_LAKE_AND_RIVER">21</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">A Fine Scenic Route</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry T. Finck</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#A_FINE_SCENIC_ROUTE">31</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">South Pass and Fremont’s Park</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John C. Fremont</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#SOUTH_PASS_AND_FREMONTS_PEAK">42</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">In the Yellowstone Park</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ferdinand V. Hayden</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#IN_THE_YELLOWSTONE_PARK">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Country of the Cliff-Dwellers</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alfred Terry Bacon</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_COUNTRY_OF_THE_CLIFF-DWELLERS">58</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A. H. Tevis</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#LAKE_TAHOE_AND_THE_BIG_TREES">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Chinese Quarter in San Francisco</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Helen Hunt Jackson</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_CHINESE_QUARTER_IN_SAN_FRANCISCO">78</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Charles Loring Brace</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#MARIPOSA_GROVE_AND_YOSEMITE_VALLEY">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">A Sportsman’s Experience in Mexico</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sir Rose Lambert Price</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#A_SPORTSMANS_EXPERIENCE_IN_MEXICO">99</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Felix L. Oswald</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_SCENERY_OF_THE_MEXICAN_LOWLANDS">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Among the Ruins of Yucatan</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John L. Stephens</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#AMONG_THE_RUINS_OF_YUCATAN">119</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Route of the Nicaragua Canal</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Julius Froebel</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_ROUTE_OF_THE_NICARAGUA_CANAL">130</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Destruction of San Salvador</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Carl Scherzer</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_DESTRUCTION_OF_SAN_SALVADOR">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Anthony Froude</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#SCENES_IN_TRINIDAD_AND_JAMAICA">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The High Woods of Trinidad</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Charles Kingsley</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_HIGH_WOODS_OF_TRINIDAD">157</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Animals of British Guiana</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">C. Barrington Brown</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#ANIMALS_OF_BRITISH_GUIANA">169</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Life and Scenery in Venezuela</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alexander von Humboldt</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#LIFE_AND_SCENERY_IN_VENEZUELA">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Llaneros of Venezuela</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ramon Paez</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_LLANEROS_OF_VENEZUELA">190</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><div class="hangingindent">The Forests of the Amazon and Madeira<br /> +Rivers</div></td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Franz Keller</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_FORESTS_OF_THE_AMAZON_AND_MADEIRA_RIVERS">200</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Canoe- and Camp-Life on the Madeira</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Franz Keller</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CANOE-_AND_CAMP-LIFE_ON_THE_MADEIRA">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Besieged by Peccaries</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James W. Wells</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#BESIEGED_BY_PECCARIES">219</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Perils of Travel</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ida Pfeiffer</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_PERILS_OF_TRAVEL">232</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Brazilian Ants and Monkeys</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry W. Bates</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#BRAZILIAN_ANTS_AND_MONKEYS">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">The Monarchs of the Andes</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Orton</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#THE_MONARCHS_OF_THE_ANDES">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Inca High-Roads and Bridges</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">E. George Squier</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#INCA_HIGH-ROADS_AND_BRIDGES">261</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>List of Illustrations</h2> + +<h3>VOLUME II</h3> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Boston Common, Boston, Mass.</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo1">14</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><div class="hangingindent"><span class="smcap">Memorial Monument to Samuel de Champlain, Founder of<br /> +Quebec</span></div></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo2">34</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Upper Yellowstone Falls</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo3">50</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Grand Cañon, Arizona</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo4">66</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Red Wood Tree, California</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo5">96</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Regina Angelorum</span> (Queen of the Angels)</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo6">116</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Waterfall in the Tropics</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo7">146</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">La Guayra, Venezuela</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo8">180</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A South Sea Island</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo9">214</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Monarchs of the Andes</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illo10">252</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="WITH_THE_WORLDS_GREAT_TRAVELLERS" id="WITH_THE_WORLDS_GREAT_TRAVELLERS"></a>WITH THE WORLD’S</h2><h1>GREAT TRAVELLERS.</h1> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<h2><a name="THE_WORLDS_GREAT_CAPITALS_OF_TO-DAY" id="THE_WORLDS_GREAT_CAPITALS_OF_TO-DAY"></a>THE WORLD’S GREAT CAPITALS OF TO-DAY.</h2> + +<h3>OLIVER H. G. LEIGH.</h3> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">New York, Washington, Chicago.</span></h3> + +<p>The reflective voyager, on his first sight of New York, is baffled when +he attempts to catalogue his sensations. All is so completely in +contrast with the capitals of Europe. The gloriously bright sky, air +that drinks like champagne, the resultant springiness of life and +movement, that overdoes itself in excitement and premature exhaustion, +and the obtrusively visible defects of this surface enthusiasm, +monotonous streets, unfinished or unbegun city improvements, and the +conspicuous lack of play-spaces for children—this is the rough portrait +sketch New York draws of itself for the newcomer. It does not disguise +the fact that money-making was for many years the dominant +consideration. The city was laid out for business, and public comfort +had to look out for itself. The workers, the poor, and the helpless were +apparently overlooked.</p> + +<p>But there are at least three New Yorks to explore. Old New York +stretches from the bay up to once aristocratic Madison Square, and this +is the section that first leaves its mark on the aforesaid visitor. Then +comes new New York, the splendid modern metropolis that spreads from +Central Park along the Hudson to the northern <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>heights where the stately +mausoleum of Grant, the transplanted Columbia University, and the great +Cathedral-to-be add majestic dignity to the grandly picturesque panorama +by the river. The antiquated brownstone wilderness of fashionable houses +blossoms into white and gray and red clusters of mansions, richly varied +in form and treatment, with the welcome grassy settings so pitifully +missing in the older quarter. From a neglected span of prairie ground, +pimpled with bare rocks and goat-sheltering shanties also shared by dago +families, this section has in a few years qualified itself to rival the +famous features of old-world cities. A nobler prospect than Riverside +Drive alongside the mighty Hudson cannot be desired nor found. At last +the city has discovered and worthily utilized its splendid +opportunities. Then, thirdly, there is Greater New York. For the +simplification of local government it is doubtless excellent policy for +London and New York to lasso their humbler neighbor towns that the big +cities may pose as suddenly greater than ever. The thing is done with a +stroke of the pen and does not wound the pride of the newly scooped-in +citizens, because the individuality of the suburban districts remains +unchanged, but in our infantile capacity as mere sightseers the +side-shows do not affect the glories of the ring proper. If this fashion +of acquiring greatness continues, being inclusion rather than expansion, +there need be no limit to the ciphers periodically tacked on to the +population of the world’s swarming hives. Now that New York is growing, +it might drop its insignificant borrowed name and assume its rightful +one of dignity and historic import, Manhattan. It fills the twenty-two +square miles between Harlem river, the Hudson, the East River, and the +bay, which area is Manhattan Island. North of the Harlem it includes the +district of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>the Bronx, a little stream which for half a mile or so +affords as exquisite a picture of nature’s beauty as can be found +anywhere. The drift from town to country homes is a sign of the times +and an augury of great good to the coming generation, physical and +patriotic. After all, bricks and mortar are not the making of a city. +New York is at its best beyond the borders. Its rich citizens overflow +into these northern suburbs and lordly estates, and across the East +River into Brooklyn and Long Island’s garden villages, and across the +Hudson into New Jersey’s charming towns, and down the bay to Staten +Island. In no great metropolis this side of Constantinople is it so easy +and inexpensive to slip quickly from the office or home and enjoy the +bracing delights of a sail down the salt water (the upper bay has +fourteen square miles and the lower over eighty) or up a stately river +with all the charms of the Hudson. Everything is on the grand scale, +once the city’s square blocks of barracky houses are left behind.</p> + +<p>Old-world quietists are surprised to discover one cosy quarter, perhaps +two, in the grimy section of New York. Stuyvesant Square and its +immediate belongings around St. George’s Church still survive as an +oasis of sweetness and light in a wilderness of dismal commonplace. +Washington Square carries somewhat of the old aristocratic flavor to the +borders of Bohemia, and the Theological College in Chelsea used to give +a solemnizing leaven to that changing district. The social +transformation is still in progress. It may, perhaps, be a token of the +rise to metropolitanism that the distinctively American hotels of the +old-fashioned type have virtually disappeared. European models have the +preference for the time being in the in- and outdoor life of New +Yorkers. English sports have apparently taken firm root, as seen in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>popularity of golf, football, horse-racing, rowing, and some less +desirable practices incident to one or two of these erstwhile sports +that have developed into business undertakings, to the regret of true +sportsmen. In this connection it is worth while to notice the striking +disparity in the sizes of the audiences and outdoor crowds of New York +and London. If fifteen thousand people pay to see the Harvard-Yale +football game, or other such sport, it is considered worthy of special +headlines in the papers. Madison Square Garden holds that number, +seated, but the occasions when it has been filled at meetings have been +few. Football crowds in England range from thirty up to seventy +thousand, by turnstile record. The Crystal Palace accommodates over one +hundred thousand holiday-makers without being crowded, in its central +nave, sixteen hundred feet by eighty, besides transepts, and its famous +grounds. The late Rev. C. H. Spurgeon had congregations of six thousand, +seated, twice each Sunday for twenty-eight years. Mr. Gladstone and +others have addressed twenty-five thousand in the Agricultural Hall, +which covers over three acres, and St. Paul’s Cathedral has occasional +congregations of over twenty thousand. These facts are the more curious +as applying to a small country.</p> + +<p>One explanation of this contrast lies in the fact that New York is not a +homogeneous community. In a more marked degree than other capitals it is +a congeries of towns and colonies, largely alien in sympathies. You can +wander in turn through Judea, China, Italy, Ireland, France, Russia, +Poland, Germany, Holland, and colored colonies. Local color is strong in +each. The English speech is not used, not known, by many of these +people. The picturesqueness of tenement life and its Babel sounds does +not atone for the want of the deep-rooted Americanism <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>which must sooner +or later be the test of welcome immigration.</p> + +<p>Broadway is one of the great streets of the world though really a +Narrow-way for so important a thoroughfare. Running north and south and +having no rival for its most used section it has more than its natural +share of traffic. From the historic Bowling Green and Trinity +Church—two fine monuments of pre-Revolution days—up to Fourteenth +Street, Broadway is mainly a wholesale market. Then it changes to a +retail bazaar, and its trading features disappear as it nears the park. +There used to be a well-defined sky-line in the lower city, but this has +been sadly damaged by the towering office Babels that make the older +quarter of the city a cave of the winds. If some day an earthquake were +to shake the lower end of Manhattan Island, mighty would be the fall of +these presumptuous files and woe betide their inhabitants. Fifth Avenue +up to Thirty-fourth Street has given up its fashionable prestige in +exchange for the profits of business. The Stock and Produce Exchanges +are far down-town, among the multitude of banks that crowd around the +spot made sacred ground to future generations of patriots as the scene +of Washington’s inauguration as President. The city and its environs are +rich in historic sites and monuments of the Revolutionary struggle. +These, happily for the country’s future, are every year being sought and +studied by the young, also by bands of teachers from states near and +far, and by visitors from abroad. The devotion of one or more societies +of private individuals has of late years conferred a boon upon the +public which can hardly be too highly appreciated, in causing durable +memorial tablets to be placed on buildings of historic interest. In this +and kindred ways New York is fast removing all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>justification for the +stale reproach that it cared not for shrines and took small interest in +its own history.</p> + +<p>A mere suggestion, yet a very helpful one, toward realizing somewhat of +the enormous shipping business done for the country by New York can be +got by a tour of the main wharves. There is a water-front of twenty-five +miles around the island, without reckoning the shores of Brooklyn and +Hoboken. The bird’s-eye view from the wonderful and graceful Suspension +Bridge enlarges one’s conception of what such a metropolis is and can +do. Alpine grain elevators circle the city on the opposite shore of the +rivers and upper bay. Two thousand ships sail out each year laden with +the grain that feeds the nations on the other hemisphere. Three thousand +steamships enter these wharves yearly with human and commercial freight +from foreign ports. Nearly ten thousand steerage immigrants land each +week the year round, besides an immense passenger contingent. These are +the sights that fascinate the thoughtful: the comings and goings of the +peoples of the earth and its products. Old Castle Garden and the Battery +have greatly changed in recent years, but their memories linger. If it +had been possible to keep the triangle south of Fourteenth Street as the +select residential quarter, what an unrivalled site it would now be! A +water panorama worth crossing the Atlantic to see, for its immensity, +its picturesque bordering, and the magnificent view of the foreground of +an embowered city by the sea.</p> + +<p>Human needs shaped these water avenues to other destinies. They draw +from the great ocean beyond the Narrows the sources of all that has gone +to the building of national greatness. In turn they have borne to other +lands the seeds of a larger liberty, patterned after and stimulated by +the unparalleled success that has so splendidly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>rewarded self-achieved +freedom to grow, to think, to speak out, and to speed the commerce of +the world.</p> + +<p>The wealth thus created has of recent years done much to beautify the +city with palatial residences. In the northern districts detached +mansions in grass-plots supersede the monotonous brownstone rows. Many +of these vie with each other in the extent and delicacy of decorative +carvings outside. Others are fashioned after the castellated structures +of Europe. The general impression left by a town of the newer fashion +quarter is that Jeffersonian simplicity, in architecture at least, is no +longer to be understood as synonymous with severe plainness. Probably no +other city can point to an equally rapid transition from conventional +taste, excellent for its period, to the present enthusiasm for the best +in artistic construction, whatever its cost.</p> + +<p>The bicycle proved a revolutionizer of dress as well as a stimulus to +outdoor exercise. Each nation learns from the others and so we progress, +though there is possible weakness in the tendency toward rigid +uniformity. The picturesque and the primitive are disappearing in every +land. National individuality should not lightly be allowed to lapse, +even in minor matters of costume and recreation.</p> + +<p>Experienced travellers know that a country is not to be judged by its +metropolis. There is a sturdier back-bone of conservatism in the +provinces than in the great cities, so largely made up of aliens and +sojourners. A goodly proportion of the business men whose genius has +made New York what it is, and who are admittedly qualifying it soon to +become the financial centre of the world, are country-born and raised. +Great as New York is, and mightier as it will become by reason of its +situation, the true and abiding greatness of the nation is spread over +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>the thousand cities and towns that equally represent American pluck and +stability. In the farming districts and the scattered rural communities, +in vast agricultural areas of which city people take too little note, +and in the steady, plodding, smaller towns, there abides a calm but +potent force that throbs with high patriotism, and will prove an +all-sufficient strength in time of peril.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p>Washington! Its very name an inspiration, its every feature a +fascination to the lover of his country who makes his first pilgrimage +to the national shrine. Other great cities bear the glorious marks of +the tribulations and triumphs they suffered and enjoyed as they passed +through their historic experiences. Here is a capital created as the +consummation of a people’s release from thralldom. A new city, invented +as the proclamation of a new nation’s advent, the symbol and promise of +a mightier world-power than its proudest founders ever conceived +possible in their highest enthusiasms. The youngest of famous capitals, +it already holds its own with the best of its kind for grandeur and the +<i>rus in urbe</i> charm. Its spacious avenues, one hundred and sixty feet +wide, are lined with trees and grassy walks. Their stately sweep gives +chances for fine landscape effects, which are finely used. The vistas of +the grand avenues are bounded by some piece of memorial statuary or an +imposing structure in the distance, as is Pennsylvania avenue by the +incomparable Capitol. No national monument is better known throughout +the world than this noble edifice. Its majestic stateliness is enhanced +by its snowy whiteness.</p> + +<p>The Capitol is the greatest building for its purposes in the United +States. It covers three acres and a half, and has a frontage of seven +hundred and fifty feet. The great dome, with its figure of Liberty, +reaches a height <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>of over three hundred and seven feet. Standing on the +rising ground among the rich foliage it has an aspect of quiet strength, +an impressive assurance of dignity and permanence peculiar to itself +among massive buildings in the great cities. Everyone goes, or should +go, to see Congress at work, and to explore the corridors trod by +generations of the nation’s legislators, soldiers, jurists, orators, in +short, by all the great makers of the nation since Washington laid its +foundation stone. A singular instance of fate thwarting intention is +found in the situation of the Capitol. It was planned to face eastward, +the White House was to be in the rear, and the city was expected to +spread away from the river, eastwardly. But it perversely grew to the +northwest, with the result that the Capitol turns its back on the +capital. No one would suppose this is so unless told, so splendidly +balanced in architectural dignity are both fronts of the edifice. +Another peculiarity is that the head city of the republic is +monarchically governed, and governed better than any other city in the +Union. Three commissioners are appointed by the President, and the +citizens have no political franchise. The city was planned as a grand +example of what a capital should be. Impressed by the lessons of the +revolutions in Paris the designer dotted the area with circular +grass-plots or miniature parks, from which avenues and streets radiate +like wheel-spokes. In case of need a gun in each of the circles could +command an enemy approaching from any quarter. The peaceful use of these +charming sites is more befitting the spirit of the republic. Statues of +its soldier-heroes who saved the Union adorn each circle and give +historic interest to the vistas. There are two hundred miles of streets. +In summer-time they are groves of rich foliage. They and the park spaces +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>take up half the area of the city. It is wisely intended to re-name the +principal streets after famous American patriots instead of +alphabetically.</p> + +<p>Washington is pre-eminently a city of “sights.” The great government +buildings are distributed over the city with excellent effect. They are +noble edifices, worthy of the Capitol and the capital. The Treasury, +with its never-to-be-forgotten scenes inside, the Army and Navy offices, +the Smithsonian Institution, and the rest of the head-quarters of +national business need no further mention here. The Corcoran Art +Gallery, the Patent Office, and the new Library of Congress demand a +special word. The latter is one of the most exquisite buildings in the +world, with interior decorative treatment quite beyond anything hitherto +known in the country. Its brilliant dome does not suffer by proximity to +the Capitol. An inspection of the Patent Office is a revelation of +genius peculiarly American, and its display throws the clearest light on +the secret of the country’s amazing material prosperity. A visit to +Washington ought to be the finishing touch to the schooling of every +girl and boy. Historic sites and shrines appeal to the mature mind, but +the show places of the capital peculiarly suit the youthful instinct for +the novel and striking in matters of fact.</p> + +<p><a name="illo1" id="illo1"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i018.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="335" alt="PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON" title="" /> +<span class="caption">PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON</span> +</div> + +<p>To see the Senate and House of Representatives in session is a high +privilege for any citizen, yet it is hampered by few, if any, such +restrictions as are imposed in other national legislatures. The chambers +are spacious and handsome, so are the classified galleries for +spectators, and the sessions are held in daylight. Equally impressive is +the Supreme Court of the United States—a temple of equity in all its +features, wherein the instinctive reverence for the highest embodiment +of justice and legal authority is encouraged by the surroundings. The +robes worn by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>the justices invest the bench and court with a dignity which various +state courts wisely emulate by adopting the same rule. Isolated in +striking grandeur, the lofty Washington obelisk lifts the contemplative +mind to heights above the level of material evidences of prosperity. +Like the Stuart portrait, this memorial of Washington leaves the meaner +measurements of a man’s stature for other seasons and moods, and by a +touch of sublimity gives the nobler cue to patriotic devotion and +whole-hearted enthusiasm for him who, though human indeed, in his +life-work neared the divine.</p> + +<p>Summer is not the best time to appreciate the social life of the +capital. It lies low, the Potomac’s swampy margin is near and the street +forests of trees aid humidity. The White House snugly reposes in +beautiful grounds, with the great obelisk as a perpetual reminder of the +first President’s example and reward. Another white portico gleams in +the distance, Arlington, the resting-place of the nation’s hero-martyrs. +In the winter season Washington blooms into cosmopolitan grandeur. It +becomes the focus of the nation’s lights in statesmanship, art, +literature, and social pleasures. The foreign embassies supply the grace +of brilliant color so lacking in the gatherings of men in the sombre +attire of the period. A continuous round of social festivities gladdens +the mild winter days and nights. Here, as in royal capitals, society has +its greater and lesser constellations. There are the senatorial, +judicial, diplomatic, military, and naval groups, too sharply divided, +to judge from audible criticisms in New York circles. Still literature, +art, and commerce have as free a welcome in Washington salons as +anywhere else, despite the plaints of overlooked suppliants. The White +House knows nothing of artificial shibboleths. It happily dispenses its +hospitalities—which are coveted honors—impartially <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>upon all whom it +is an honor to honor, and so sustains the true American principle of +equal courtesy to citizens and sojourners of every degree. Washington is +an inexhaustible field for the student of men, manners and movements, a +theatre on whose stage the comedy of life plays itself, with all-potent +moulders of opinion and legislation as the actors, backed by a +supernumerary army of minor aids. Among its most eager auditors are +outsiders, reporting every byplay to profoundly interested critics +across the seas. The drama cannot be too deeply watched and pondered, +for it is fraught with issues vital to the well-being of coming +generations.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p>Chicago is usually figured as a conventionally insipid beauty, in +flowing garments which would obstruct her progress and could never be +kept white. This is a mistake. Most masculine of cities, most American +of America’s great centres, its shield should portray a strong youth in +the flush of adolescence, conscious power in his proud curled lip, fire +in his eye, springing to the foreground in the first ray of dawn, in his +right hand the sceptre of genius and his left grasping the key of +destiny. The good people of Chicago are not conspicuously lacking in +civic self-appreciation. They are accustomed to being twitted by rivals +in the rear on their boundless faith in their city’s future greatness. +They can afford to listen smilingly. If the child is father of the man, +full-grown Chicago must some day tower above the up-stretched heads of +its envious seniors like a giant among, say, a committee of venerable +municipal Solons. Ordinary cities develop as babies do, slow growth to +maturity, but this extraordinary late-comer into the family attained +mental and muscular precocity in shorter time than its sisters required +to cut their wisdom-teeth. Considered in relation to its geographical +position <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>and its express-speed rate of progress, Chicago has the +promise and potency of an imperial greatness no easier to exaggerate +than to limit. It was tried by fire in the day of small things, but +quickly rose to a new life and it still carries the memorial glow in its +heart as an inspiration to great things.</p> + +<p>The word Chicago is a simpler form of the Indian name, Chacaqua, given +to the river in honor of their deity, the Thunderer. The position of +Chicago makes it the greatest lake port in the world. It is already the +second city in the United States, though only born in 1830, and has +hopes of becoming the first, by growth, and not by annexation policy. +True, the newest city inherits the wealth and experience which the older +ones had to gain for themselves, yet Chicago has done some fine original +things. It hitched up an inland sea as its beast of burden and made a +vast lake its pleasure pond. Finding itself only seven feet above the +level of Lake Michigan it lifted itself bodily another seven feet, +churches, warehouses, dwellings and all, with jack-screws, and shovelled +a new foundation of dry earth beneath. Fifteen years later the great +fire laid it lower than ever. On Oct. 8, 1871, began the disaster that +made nearly a hundred thousand people homeless, destroyed seventeen +thousand buildings and two hundred lives, and caused the loss of two +hundred millions of dollars. Within a year or so the wooden town was +transformed into a city of massive palaces built of stone and brick. It +is now fast changing itself into a maze of towering Babels, whose tops +support the pall of smoke that tells of manufacturing activity. It drove +tunnels beneath its river for street-cars. Its thirty-five bridges were +not enough for the constant rush. On its lake first swam the novel +whale-back boats. One sin will rise up against the city on the day of +doom: the twenty-mile line <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>of lake shore has been largely prostituted +to railway interests instead of being conserved as an unrivalled +pleasure park for the people and an adornment to the city. It can plead +in mitigation of sentence that its six public parks cover more than +three square miles, besides some sixty linear miles of park-like +boulevards of which Paris might be proud. Of these Michigan Avenue has a +well-won fame. No business traffic is permitted on its wide and +well-sprinkled roadway, the morning and afternoon procession of +carriages taking its wealthy residents to and from business at times +recalls the Queen’s Drive in the London season. If the Chicago man of +affairs works hard at his calling, he takes his pleasure zestfully and +plenty of it. On the grand occasion of the American Derby (for Chicago +has its Epsom and Ascot in one) it is a revelation to see the gay +caravan <i>en route</i> to the race-course, as impressive a display of +metropolitan luxury as any capital can present. And on this day the West +can match the big crowds of England with this sixty thousand throng, +each person paying two dollars for bare admission to the ground.</p> + +<p>In a city primarily devoted to business it takes time for the +development of the beautiful. Chicago has its “sights” for seekers after +the merely outlandish, who often miss the real greatnesses that are less +catchy to the eye. One of its achievements which impresses both the +trained and untrained observer is the undertaking which has the +uninviting name of Drainage Canal. The pure water of Lake Michigan used +to be polluted by the inflow of the Chicago River. To prevent this the +city has made an immense waterway by which the lake water is carried to +the Illinois River and the tide of the Chicago River is diverted from +its former course. The new canal is navigable and opens a route between +the great lakes and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>Gulf of Mexico. The territory involved embraces +the city and forty-three square miles of Cook County. The main channel +is twenty-eight miles long and the cost was about thirty millions.</p> + +<p>In their commercial aspect the famous Stock-yards have greater interest +than as a show place. They cover four hundred acres, the plant is valued +at four million dollars, and about twenty millions of animals are killed +and packed in a year. Similarly imposing are the statistics of most of +Chicago’s enterprises. The Board of Trade is one of the most remarkable +sights in the country. Its public galleries are usually filled with +spectators of the feverish bidding of the grain operators, whose +slightest nod affects the markets of the world. The Stock Exchange is +yearly taking a more important share in the money market. The financial +institutions of Chicago and the West have more than once saved the East +from impending panic, and immense loans are constantly being renewed, +insuring the speedy recognition of the city as a force in the money +markets of the nations.</p> + +<p>More interesting is the honor-roll of Chicago’s intellectual enterprise. +The Columbian World’s Fair of 1893 astonished the world with its beauty, +its perfection of artistic skill and taste. It gave an impetus to the +pursuit of the beautiful and refining which has borne substantial +results. Near the site of the Fair is a cluster of buildings +constituting the University of Chicago, dating from 1891, to which a +single donor has given nine million dollars, and loyal citizens are +continually adding to its possessions. The heads of the University count +on an endowment fund of fifty millions. Nowhere is Chicago enthusiasm +for progress more finely manifested than here. The great public +libraries of the city are envied by foreign visitors. The central Public +Library is a splendid triumph of architecture, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>next in interior +elegance to the Library of Congress. It is valued at three millions, +exclusive of its books. The Newberry and Crerar libraries form special +branches of the system. The city’s churches and charities are doing +nobly in ameliorating the condition of the toilers and the handicapped +in life’s race. The name and fame of Miss Jane Addams and the Hull House +settlement are world-wide. How difficult the task is may be conceived +from the fact that out of a million and seven hundred thousand people in +the city, nine hundred thousand are Americans, German, and Irish; the +remainder represent twenty-four nationalities, exclusive of negroes. A +report issued by an investigating committee of Hull House states that +“the density of population in the Polish quarter in Chicago is three +times that of the most crowded portions of Tokio, Calcutta, and many +other Asiatic cities.”</p> + +<p>As in New York there is a marked tendency among the richer people to set +up country homes. New suburban towns and villages of great +attractiveness are drawing an increasing number away from the smoky +city. On the other hand the far-famed hospitality of its people to +prophets of every school of thought, and the spirit of enterprise which +welcomes every new idea, attracts eccentrics and adventurers whose +trumpetings are loud enough to mislead superficial observers into the +notion that Chicago is the crank’s paradise. If a fault at all, this +amiable toleration leans to virtue’s side. Rightly to appreciate the +depth and breadth of Chicago’s influence we must follow its trade to the +remotest corners of the earth. We must trace the influences of its seats +of learning and refinement. We must count, if we can, the tremendous +results of its world-renowned enterprises that have stimulated nations +to follow the successful lead. Be its faults what they may, Chicago has +the heart, the will, and the muscle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>to mend them, as the world will +see, and then will the true greatness of the Western metropolis be +discerned, and its full influence be felt.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="WINNIPEG_LAKE_AND_RIVER" id="WINNIPEG_LAKE_AND_RIVER"></a>WINNIPEG LAKE AND RIVER.</h2> + +<h3>W. F. BUTLER.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Colonel W. F. Butler, in “The Great Lone Land,” gives us some +very interesting information about the life and scenery of the +great American Northwest, from which we select the following +description of a picturesque lake and river. His journey was +made during the Riel rebellion, and the traveller was on his +way to the Lake of the Woods, where he expected to meet an +expedition sent for the suppression of the rebellion. The Red +River Indians gave him a hearty send-off.]</p></div> + +<p>The chief gave a signal, and a hundred trading guns were held aloft, and +a hundred shots rang out on the morning air. Again and again the salutes +were repeated, the whole tribe moving down to the water’s edge to see me +off. Putting out to the middle of the river, I discharged my +fourteen-shooter into the air in rapid succession; a prolonged war-whoop +answered my salute, and, paddling their very best, for the eyes of the +finest canoers were upon them, my men drove the little craft flying over +the water until the Indian village and its still firing braves were +hidden behind a river bend. Through many marsh-lined channels, and +amidst a vast sea of reeds and rushes, the Red River of the North seeks +the water of Lake Winnipeg. A mixture of land and water, of mud, and of +the varied vegetation which grows thereon, this delta of the Red River +is, like other spots of a similar description, inexplicably lonely.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>The wind sighs over it, bending the tall weeds with mournful rustle, and +the wild bird passes and repasses with plaintive cry over the rushes +which form his summer home.</p> + +<p>Emerging from the sedges of the Red River, we shot out into the waters +of an immense lake,—a lake which stretched away into unseen spaces, and +over whose waters the fervid July sun was playing strange freaks of +mirage and inverted shore-land.</p> + +<p>This was Lake Winnipeg,—a great lake, even on a continent where lakes +are inland seas. But vast as it is now, it is only a tithe of what it +must have been in the earlier ages of the earth.</p> + +<p>The capes and headlands of what once was a vast inland sea now stand far +away from the shores of Winnipeg. Hundreds of miles from its present +limits these great landmarks still look down on the ocean, but it is an +ocean of grass. The waters of Winnipeg have retired from their feet, and +they are now mountain-ridges, rising over seas of verdure. At the bottom +of this by-gone lake lay the whole valley of the Red River, the present +Lakes Winnepegoos and Manitoba, and the prairie islands of the Lower +Assiniboine,—one hundred thousand square miles of water. The water has +long since been drained off by the lowering of the rocky channels +leading to Hudson Bay, and the bed of the extinct lake now forms the +richest prairie-land in the world.</p> + +<p>But although Winnipeg has shrunken to a tenth of its original size, its +rivers still remain worthy of the great basin into which they once +flowed. The Saskatchewan is longer than the Danube, the Winnipeg has +twice the volume of the Rhine. Four hundred thousand square miles of +continent shed their waters into Lake Winnipeg; a lake as changeful as +the ocean, but, fortunately for us, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>its very calmest mood to-day. +Not a wave, not a ripple on its surface, not a breath of breeze to aid +the untiring paddles. The little canoe, weighed down by men and +provisions, had scarcely three inches of its gunwale over the water, and +yet the steersman held his course far out into the glassy waste, leaving +behind the marshy headlands which marked the river’s mouth.</p> + +<p>A long low point stretching from the south shore of the lake was faintly +visible on the horizon. It was past mid-day when we reached it; so, +putting in among the rocky boulders which lined the shore, we lighted +our fire and cooked our dinner. Then, resuming our way, the Grand +Traverse was entered upon. Far away over the lake arose the point of the +Big Stone, a lonely cape whose perpendicular front was raised high above +the water. The sun began to sink towards the west; but still not a +breath rippled the surface of the lake, not a sail moved over the wide +expanse, all was as lonely as though our tiny craft had been the sole +speck of life on the waters of the world. The red sun sank into the +lake, warning us that it was time to seek the shore and make our beds +for the night. A deep sandy bay, with a high backing of woods and rocks, +seemed to invite us to its solitudes. Steering in with great caution +among the rocks, we landed in this sheltered spot, and drew our boat +upon the sandy beach. The shore yielded large store of drift-wood, the +relics of many a northern gale. Behind us lay a trackless forest, in +front the golden glory of the western sky. As the night shades deepened +around us and the red glare of our drift-wood fire cast its light upon +the woods and rocks, the scene became one of rare beauty.</p> + +<p>As I sat watching from a little distance this picture so full of all the +charms of the wild life of the voyageur and the Indian, I little +marvelled that the red child of the lakes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>and the woods should be loath +to quit such scenes for all the luxuries of our civilization. Almost as +I thought with pity over his fate, seeing here the treasures of nature +which were his, there suddenly emerged from the forest two dusky forms. +They were Ojibbeways, who came to share our fire and our evening meal. +The land was still their own. When I lay down to rest that night on the +dry sandy shore, I long watched the stars above me. As children sleep +after a day of toil and play, so slept the dusky men who lay around me. +It was my first night with these poor wild sons of the lone spaces; it +was strange and weird, and the lapping of the mimic wave against the +rocks close by failed to bring sleep to my thinking eyes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The next day an early start was made]</p></div> + +<p>We entered the mouth of the Winnipeg River at mid-day and paddled up to +Fort Alexander, which stands about a mile from the river’s entrance. +Here I made my final preparations for the ascent of the Winnipeg, +getting a fresh canoe better adapted for forcing the rapids, and at five +o’clock in the evening started on my journey up the river. Eight miles +above the fort the roar of a great fall of water sounded through the +twilight. In the surge and spray and foaming torrent the enormous volume +of the Winnipeg was making its last grand leap on its way to mingle its +waters with the lake. On the flat surface of an enormous rock which +stood well out into the boiling water we made our fire and our camp.</p> + +<p>The pine-trees which gave the fall its name stood round us dark and +solemn, waving their long arms to and fro in the gusty winds that swept +the valley. It was a wild picture. The pine-trees standing in inky +blackness; the rushing water, white with foam; above, the rifted +thunder-clouds. Soon the lightning began to flash and the voice of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>the +thunder to sound above the roar of the cataract. My Indians made me a +rough shelter with cross poles and a sail-cloth, and, huddling +themselves together under the upturned canoe, we slept regardless of the +storm....</p> + +<p>A man may journey very far through the lone spaces of the earth without +meeting with another Winnipeg River. In it nature has contrived to place +her two great units of earth and water in strange and wild combinations. +To say that the Winnipeg River has an immense volume of water, that it +descends three hundred and sixty feet in a distance of one hundred and +sixty miles, that it is full of eddies and whirlpools, of every +variation of waterfall from chutes to cataracts, that it expands into +lonely pine-cliffed lakes and far-reaching island-studded bays, that its +bed is cumbered with immense wave-polished rocks, that its vast +solitudes are silent and its cascades ceaselessly active,—to say all +this is but to tell in bare items of fact the narrative of its beauty. +For the Winnipeg, by the multiplicity of its perils and the +ever-changing beauty of its character, defies the description of +civilized men as it defies the puny efforts of civilized travel. It +seems part of the savage,—fitted alone for him and for his ways, +useless to carry the burdens of man’s labor, but useful to shelter the +wild things of wood and water which dwell in its waves and along its +shores. And the red man who steers his little birch-bark canoe through +the foaming rapids of the Winnipeg, how well he knows its various ways! +To him it seems to possess life and instinct, he speaks of it as one +would of a high-mettled charger which will do anything if he be rightly +handled. It gives him his test of superiority, his proof of courage. To +shoot the Otter Falls or the Rapids of Barrière, to carry his canoe down +the whirling of Portage-de-l’Isle, to lift her from the rush of water at +the Seven Portages, or launch her by the edge of the whirlpool below the +Chute-à-Jocko, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>all this is to be a brave and a skilful Indian, for the +man who can do all this must possess a power in the sweep of his paddle, +a quickness of glance, and a quiet consciousness of skill, not to be +found except after generations of practice. For hundreds of years the +Indian has lived amidst these rapids, they have been the playthings of +his boyhood, the realities of his life, the instinctive habit of his old +age. What the horse is to the Arab, what the dog is to the Esquimaux, +what the camel is to those who journey across Arabian deserts, so is the +canoe to the Ojibbeway. Yonder wooded shore yields him from first to +last the materials he requires for its construction: cedar for the +slender ribs, birch bark to cover them, juniper to stitch together the +separate pieces, red pine to give resin for the seams and crevices. By +the lake or river shore, close to his wigwam, the boat is built;</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox2"><p>“And the forest life is in it,—<br /> +All its mystery and its magic,<br /> +All the tightness of the birch-tree,<br /> +All the toughness of the cedar,<br /> +All the larch’s supple sinews.<br /> +And it floated on the river<br /> +Like a yellow leaf in autumn,<br /> +Like a yellow water-lily.”</p></div> + +<p>It is not a boat, it is a house; it can be carried long distances +overland from lake to lake. It is frail beyond words, yet you can load +it down to the water’s edge; it carries the Indian by day, it shelters +him by night; in it he will steer boldly out into a vast lake where land +is unseen, or paddle through mud and swamp or reedy shallows; sitting in +it, he gathers his harvest of wild rice, or catches his fish or shoots +his game; it will dash down a foaming rapid, brave a fiercely running +torrent, or lie like a sea bird on the placid water.</p> + +<p>For six months the canoe is the home of the Ojibbeway. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>While the trees +are green, while the waters dance and sparkle, while the wild rice bends +its graceful head in the lake, and the wild duck dwells amidst the +rush-covered mere, the Ojibbeway’s home is the birch-bark canoe. When +the winter comes and the lake and rivers harden beneath the icy breath +of the north wind, the canoe is put carefully away; covered with +branches and with snow, it lies through the long dreary winter until the +wild swan and the wavey, passing northward to the polar seas, call it +again from its long icy sleep.</p> + +<p>Such is the life of the canoe, and such the river along which it rushes +like an arrow.</p> + +<p>The days that now commenced to pass were filled from dawn to dark with +moments of keenest enjoyment, everything was new and strange, and each +hour brought with it some fresh surprise of Indian skill or Indian +scenery.</p> + +<p>The sun would be just tipping the western shores with his first rays +when the canoe would be lifted from its ledge of rock and laid gently on +the water; then the blankets and kettles, the provisions and the guns, +would be placed in it, and four Indians would take their seats, while +one remained on the shore to steady the bark upon the water and keep its +sides from contact with the rock; then when I had taken my place in the +centre, the outside man would spring gently in, and we would glide away +from the rocky resting-place. To tell the mere work of each day is no +difficult matter: start at five o’clock <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, halt for breakfast at +seven o’clock, off again at eight, halt at one o’clock for dinner, away +at two o’clock, paddle until sunset at seven-thirty; that was the work +of each day. But how shall I attempt to fill in the details of scene and +circumstance between these rough outlines of time and toil, for almost +every hour of the long summer day the great Winnipeg revealed some new +phase of beauty and of peril, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>some changing scene of lonely grandeur? I +have already stated that the river in its course from the Lake of the +Woods to Lake Winnipeg, one hundred and sixty miles, makes a descent of +three hundred and sixty feet.</p> + +<p>This descent is effected not by a continuous decline, but by a series of +terraces at various distances from each other; in other words, the river +forms innumerable lakes and wide expanding reaches bound together by +rapids and perpendicular falls of varying altitude; thus when the +<i>voyageur</i> has lifted his canoe from the foot of the Silver Falls and +launched it again above the head of that rapid, he will have surmounted +two-and-twenty feet of the ascent; again, the dreaded Seven Portages +will give him a total rise of sixty feet in a distance of three miles. +(How cold does the bare narration of these facts appear beside their +actual realization in a small canoe manned by Indians!) Let us see if we +can picture one of these many scenes. There sounds ahead a roar of +falling water, and we see, upon rounding some pine-clad island or ledge +of rock, a tumbling mass of foam and spray studded with projecting rocks +and flanked by dark wooded shores; above we can see nothing, but below, +the waters, maddened by their wild rush amidst the rocks, surge and leap +in angry whirlpools. It is as wild a scene of crag and wood and water as +the eye can gaze upon, but we look upon it not for its beauty, because +there is no time for that, but because it is an enemy that must be +conquered.</p> + +<p>Now mark how these Indians steal upon this enemy before he is aware of +it. The immense volume of water, escaping from the eddies and whirlpools +at the foot of the fall, rushes on in a majestic sweep into calmer +water; this rush produces along the shores of the river a counter- or +back-current which flows up sometimes close to the foot of the fall; +along this back-water the canoe is carefully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>steered, being often not +six feet from the opposing rush in the central river; but the +back-current in turn ends in a whirlpool, and the canoe, if it followed +this back-current, would inevitably end in the same place. For a minute +there is no paddling, the bow-paddle and the steersman alone keeping the +boat in her proper direction as she drifts rapidly up the current. Among +the crew not a word is spoken, but every man knows what he has to do, +and will be ready when the moment comes; and now the moment has come, +for on one side there foams along a mad surge of water, and on the other +the angry whirlpool twists and turns in smooth hollowing curves round an +axis of air, whirling round it with a strength that would snap our birch +bark into fragments, and suck us down into the great depths below. All +that can be gained by the back-current has been gained, and now it is +time to quit it; but where? for there is often only the choice of the +whirlpool or the central river. Just on the very edge of the eddy there +is one loud shout given by the bow-paddle, and the canoe shoots full +into the centre of the boiling flood, driven by the united strength of +the entire crew; the men work for their very lives, and the boat breasts +across the river, with her head turned full towards the falls; the +waters foam and dash about her, the waves leap high over the gunwale, +the Indians shout as they dip their paddles like lightning into the +foam, and the stranger to such a scene holds his breath amidst this war +of man against nature. Ha! the struggle is useless; they cannot force +her against such a torrent; we are close to the rocks and foam; but see, +she is driven down by the current, in spite of those wild fast strokes. +The dead strength of such a rushing flood must prevail. Yes, it is true, +the canoe has been driven back; but behold, almost in a second the whole +thing is done,—we float suddenly beneath a little rocky isle on the +foot of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>cataract. We have crossed the river in the face of the +fall, and the portage landing is over this rock, while three yards out +on either side the torrent foams its headlong course.</p> + +<p>Of the skill necessary to perform such things it is useless to speak. A +single false stroke and the whole thing would have failed; driven +headlong down the torrent, another attempt would have to be made to gain +this rock-protected spot, but now we lie secure here; spray all around +us, for the rush of the river is on either side, and you can touch it +with an outstretched paddle. The Indians rest on their paddles and +laugh; their long hair has escaped from its fastening through their +exertion, and they retie it while they rest. One is already standing +upon the wet, slippery rock, holding the canoe in its place; then the +others get out. The freight is carried up, piece by piece, and deposited +on the flat surface some ten feet above; that done, the canoe is lifted +out very gently, for a single blow against this hard granite boulder +would shiver and splinter the frail birch-bark covering; they raise her +very carefully up the steep face of the cliff and rest again on the top. +What a view there is from coigne of vantage! We are on the lip of the +fall; on each side it makes its plunge, and below we mark at leisure the +torrent we have just braved; above, it is smooth water, and away ahead +we see the foam of another rapid. The rock on which we stand has been +worn smooth by the washing of the water during countless ages, and from +a cleft or fissure there springs a pine-tree or a rustling aspen. We +have crossed the Petit Roches, and our course is onward still.</p> + +<p>Through many scenes like this we held our way during the last days of +July. The weather was beautiful; now and then a thunder-storm would roll +along during the night, but the morning sun, rising clear and bright, +would almost tempt one to believe that it had been a dream, if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>the +pools of water in the hollows of the rocks and the dampness of blanket +or oil-cloth had not proved the sun a humbug. Our general distance each +day would be about thirty-two miles, with an average of six portages. At +sunset we made our camp on some rocky isle or shelving shore: one or two +cut wood, another got the cooking things ready, a fourth gummed the +seams of the canoe, a fifth cut shavings from a dry stick for the fire; +for myself, I generally took a plunge in the cool, delicious water; and +soon the supper hissed in the pans, the kettle steamed from its +suspending stick, and the evening meal was eaten with appetites such as +only the <i>voyageur</i> can understand.</p> + +<p>Then when the shadows of the night had fallen around and all was silent, +save the river’s tide against the rocks, we would stretch our blankets +on the springy moss of the crag, and lie down to sleep with only the +stars for a roof.</p> + +<p>Happy, happy days were these,—days the memory of which goes very far +into the future, growing brighter as we journey farther away from them; +for the scenes through which our course was laid were such as speak in +whispers, only when we have left them,—the whispers of the pine-tree, +the music of running water, the stillness of great lonely lakes.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="A_FINE_SCENIC_ROUTE" id="A_FINE_SCENIC_ROUTE"></a>A FINE SCENIC ROUTE.</h2> + +<h3>HENRY T. FINCK.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[From Henry T. Finck’s “The Pacific Coast Scenic Tour” we +select the following description of the Canadian Pacific +Railway route, which is acknowledged to possess a long +succession of grand and beautiful scenery, unequalled by any +other railroad route in America. The description is too long a +one to be given in full, and for further acquaintance with it +the reader must be referred to the book itself.]</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>After leaving Vancouver, and before reaching Westminster, the train for +some time runs along Burrard Inlet, on which is situated Fort Moody, +another town which had hoped to be chosen as terminus, and actually did +enjoy that privilege for a short time. The shores of the inlet are +beautifully wooded, and some of the trees are of enormous size. At the +crossing of Stave River a fine view is obtained of Mount Baker, looking +forward to the right; and the bridge over the Harrison River, where it +meets the Frazer, also affords a picturesque view. For the next fifteen +or sixteen hours the train follows the banks of the Frazer River and its +tributaries, and this is one of the grandest sections of the route.</p> + +<p>At the first the Frazer is a muddy, yellow river, about the size of the +Willamette above Oregon City, but more rapid and winding, and an +occasional steamer may be seen floating along with the current, or +slowly making headway against it. In some places the railway runs so +close to the precipitous bank of the river that a handkerchief might be +dropped from a car window into the swirling eddies, fifty feet below. At +other places it leaves room—and just room enough—for the old +wagon-road between the track and the river; but it would take a cool +driver, with much confidence in his horses, to remain on his wagon here +when a train passes. At last the road itself becomes frightened and +crosses the river on a bridge, whereupon it winds along the hill-side +above the opposite bank, at a safe distance.</p> + +<p>This road was made during the Frazer River gold excitement in 1858, when +twenty-five thousand miners flocked into this region, and wages for any +kind of work were ten to eighteen dollars a day. To-day the metal no +longer exists in what white men consider paying quantity; but Chinamen +may still be seen along the river, washing for remnants, their earnings +being about fifty cents a day. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>There is also a “Ruby Creek” in this +neighborhood, and some Indian habitations and salmon-fishing places. +Shortly before reaching Yale, which for a long time was the western end +of the road, there is a slight intermission in the scenic drama, +represented by some rich, level, agricultural lands, as if to give the +passengers a moment’s rest before the wonders of the Frazer Cañon begin +to monopolize their bewildered attention, till darkness sets in and +drops the curtain on the superb panorama.</p> + +<p>Yale, which is so completely shut in by high, frowning mountain walls on +every side that the sun touches the village only during part of the day, +has lost its importance since it ceased to be a terminus, and seems at +present to be inhabited chiefly by Indians and half-breeds. The train is +invaded by a bevy of half-breed girls with baskets of splendid apples +and pears, which could not be beaten for size and flavor in any of our +States, and indicate a possible use for these mountain regions in the +future. And now the train plunges into the midst of the series of +terrific gorges which constitute the Frazer Cañon, and which make this +railway literally the most gorge-ous in the world. Here were appalling +engineering difficulties to overcome, which no private corporation +without the most liberal government support could have undertaken. Yet +the builders had to be thankful even for this wild and rugged cañon dug +out by the Frazer River, without which the Cascade range would have been +impassable.</p> + +<p>The palace cars of the Canadian Pacific, which contain all the best +features of the Pullman cars, with home improvements, have a special +observatory, with large windows, at the end of the train, whence the +cañon should be viewed; but to see it at its best one must sit on the +rear platform, so as to see at the same time both of the wild and +precipitous cañon walls, between which the river <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>rushes along as if +pursued by demons. At every curve you think the gorge must come to an +end, but it only grows more stupendous, and the river, lashed into foam +and fury, dashes blindly against the rocks which try to arrest its +course. These rocks, ten to thirty feet wide and sometimes twice as +long, form many pretty little stone islands in the middle of the +torrent, and are a characteristic feature of the cañon scenery. Numerous +tunnels, resembling those on the Columbia River, are built through +arches seemingly projecting over the river. The train plunges into them +recklessly, but always comes out fresh and smiling on the other side, +although it seems that if the bottom of the tunnel should by any chance +drop out, the train would be precipitated into the river below.</p> + +<p>Once in a while the river takes a short rest, and in these comparatively +calm stretches hundreds of beautiful large red fish can be seen from the +train, in the clear water, struggling up-stream. With their dark backs +and bright red sides they form a sight which is none the less +interesting when you are told that they are “only dog salmon,” which are +not relished by whites, though the Indians eat them.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A night now passes, during which much fine scenery is missed. +But the best is reserved for the next day.]</p></div> + +<p>Scenic wonders now succeed one another with bewildering rapidity +throughout the day. This second day, in fact, represents the climax of +the trip, and the attention is not allowed to flag for a second. However +much such a confession may go against the grain of patriotism, every +candid traveller must admit that there is nothing in the United States +in the way of massive mountain scenery (except, perhaps, in Alaska) to +compare with the glorious panorama which is unfolded on this route. +Within thirty-six hours after leaving Vancouver we traverse three of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>grandest mountain ranges in America,—the Cascades, Selkirks, and +Rockies,—all of them the abode of eternal snow and glaciers, and all of +them traversed through by cañons which vie with each other in terrific +grandeur.</p> + +<p><a name="illo2" id="illo2"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 334px;"> +<img src="images/i040.jpg" class="illogap" width="334" height="500" alt="MEMORIAL MONUMENT TO SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, FOUNDER OF +QUEBEC" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MEMORIAL MONUMENT TO SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, FOUNDER OF +QUEBEC</span> +</div> + +<p>Before the Selkirks are reached the train passes the Columbia or Gold +range, through the Eagle Pass, so called because it was discovered by +watching an eagle’s flight. Eagle’s Pass is a poetic and appropriate +name, and yet I think it would be well to re-name this mountain pass and +call it Mirror Lake Cañon, because that would call the attention of +tourists to what is its most characteristic feature, which may otherwise +be overlooked. There are four lakes and many smaller bodies of water in +this valley, in whose placid surface the finely-sloped mountain ridges +and summits of the pass are reflected with marvellous distinctness, so +that here, as in the Yosemite Mirror Lake, the copy is more lovely than +the original. Some of the mountain-sides reflected in these mirrors are +naked rocks, others are covered with living evergreen trees, and others +still with dead trees. In the mirror these dead forests look hardly less +beautiful than the living ones; but in the original the eye dwells with +more pleasure on the green forests which here, and almost everywhere in +British Columbia, grow with the rank luxuriance of a Ceylon jungle. The +soil under these dense tree-masses, consisting of decayed pine- and +fir-needles, a foot deep, and always moist, makes a paradise for lovely +mosses and ferns. Here, also, is the home of the bear, and one would not +have to walk far in this thicket to encounter a grizzly, black, or +cinnamon bruin.</p> + +<p>On emerging from the Mirror Lake Cañon, a great surprise awaits the +passengers. The Columbia River—to which they had fancied they had said +a final farewell when they were ferried across it on the way from +Portland to Tacoma—suddenly comes upon the scene again, as clear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>and +as picturesque as ever; and even at this immense distance from its mouth +still large enough to require a bridge half a mile long to cross it. A +few hours later the train again crosses the Columbia, at Donald, where +the river has become much smaller than it seems that it should in such a +short distance.</p> + +<p>To get an explanation of this circumstance, it is interesting to glance +at the map and notice what an immense curve northward the Columbia has +made in this interval in order to find a passage through the Selkirk +range; and in thus encircling the snowy Selkirks it has, of course, +added to its volume the contents of innumerable glacier streams and +mountain brooks. Its real sources are southeast of Donald, on the summit +of the Rockies, separated by but a short distance from springs which run +down on the eastern side and find their way through the Mississippi into +the Gulf of Mexico. Thus do extremes meet. It would be difficult to find +anything so curious in the course of any other river as this immense, +irregular parallelogram which the Columbia here describes from its +sources to Arrow Lake....</p> + +<p>The snow-peaks of the Selkirks are now looming up on all sides, and the +atmosphere becomes more bracing and Alpine as the train slowly creeps up +the mountain-side, doubling up on itself in a loop. The Glacier House is +reached before long, and here every tourist who has time to spare should +get off and spend a day or two, since next to Banff, in the National +Park, this is the finest point along the whole route, scenically +speaking, while the air is even more salubrious, cool, and intoxicating +than at Banff, owing to the nearness of the glacier. It would be +difficult, even in Switzerland, to find a more romantic spot for a hotel +than the location of the Glacier House. High peaks rise up on every +side, so finely moulded, so deeply mantled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>with snow, and presenting +such various aspects from different points of view, that we forget our +disgust at the fact that, as usual in the West, these grand eternal +peaks have been named after ephemeral mortals,—Browns, Smiths, and +Joneses. The Grizzly and Cougar Mountains are more aptly named, as these +animals will long continue to abound in the impenetrable forests which +adorn these peaks below the snow-line. Looking from the hotel towards +the glacier, to the left is a peak which looks like the Matterhorn, the +most unique mountain in Switzerland, and, what is still more striking, +at its side is another smaller peak, which is an exact copy of the +Little Matterhorn....</p> + +<p>The principal difference between the Swiss Alps and the Selkirk range +lies in the aspect of the mountain-sides below the snow-line. These, in +Switzerland, are green meadows dotted with browsing cows, and presenting +one unbroken mass of dark green, except where an avalanche has +tobogganed down and opened what seems at a distance like a roadway, but +is found to be a battle-field strewn with the corpses of cedars three +and four feet in diameter.</p> + +<p>The most imposing view of such a mountain forest unbroken by a single +avalanche path is obtained from the snow-sheds just above the hotel. +Sitting outside these sheds and looking towards the left, you see a vast +mountain slope covered with literally millions of dark-green trees. Why +has none of the world’s greatest poets ever been permitted to gaze on +such a Selkirk forest, that he might have aroused in his unfortunate +readers who are not privileged to see one emotions similar to those +inspired by it? But I fear that neither verse nor photographs, nor even +the painter’s brush, can ever more than suggest the real grandeur of +such a forest scene. This mountain is not snow-crowned in September, but +its wooded summit makes a sharp green line against the snow-peaks beyond +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>and above. From this summit down to the foot stand the giant cedars, as +crowded as the yellow stalks in a Minnesota wheatfield. But in place of +the flat monochrome of a wheatfield, our sloping forest presents a most +fascinating color spectacle. The slanting rays of the sun tinge the +waving tree-tops with a deeply saturated yellowish-green, curiously +interspersed with a mosaic of dark, almost black streaks and patches of +shade, due to clouds and other causes, and the whole edged by the +dazzling snow.</p> + +<p>If we descend and enter this forest, a cathedral-like awe thrills the +nerves. Daylight has not the power to penetrate to the ground hidden by +this dense mass of tree-tops rising two hundred to three hundred feet +into the air,—except that an occasional ray of sunlight may steal in +for a second, like a flash of lightning. And the carpet on which this +forest stands! In America we rarely see a house, even of a day-laborer, +without a carpet; why, then, should these royal trees do without one? +The carpet is itself a miniature forest of ferns and mosses, luxuriating +in riotous profusion on an ever-moist soil, the product of thousands of +generations of pine-needles. Nor is this carpet a monochrome, for the +green is varied by numerous berries of various kinds, most of which are +red, as they should be,—the complementary color of green. But there are +also acres of blueberries as large as cherries; and if you will tear off +a few branches of these and bring them to the young bear chained up near +the Glacier Hotel, he will be very grateful, and you will find it +amusing to watch him eating them.</p> + +<p>There is music, too, in this Forest Cathedral, which is heard to best +advantage from the elevated gallery occupied by the snow-sheds. It takes +a trained ear to distinguish the steady, rippling <i>staccato</i> sound of a +snow-fed mountain brook from the prolonged <i>legato</i> sigh of a pine +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>forest, swelling to <i>fortissimo</i>, and dying away by turns. In the +romantic spot we have chosen these sounds are blended, the music of the +torrents being caught up by the sloping forest as by a huge +sounding-board, and increased in loudness by being mingled with the +mournful strains of the tree-tops, as orchestral colors are blended by +modern masters. Those err who say there is no music in nature. It is not +in “Siegfried” alone that the <i>Waldweben</i> is musical, that leaves sing +as well as birds, while the thunder occasionally adds its loud <i>basso +profundo</i>. The æsthetic exhilaration which we owe to these poetic sights +and sounds is intensified by the salubrious breezes which waft this +music to our ears. Born among the clouds and glaciers, they are perfumed +in passing across the forests, warmed by the sun’s rays in passing over +the valley; and every breath of this elixir adds a day to one’s life. It +is not surprising that mountains should make the best health-resorts; +for do they not themselves understand and obey the laws of health? They +keep their heads cool under a snow-cap, their feet warm in a mossy +blanket, and their sides covered with a dense <i>fir</i> overcoat....</p> + +<p>For the greater part of the two hours which the train requires to go +from Donald to Golden City it passes along the bank of the Columbia +River; and there is, perhaps, no part of the whole route where grandeur +and beauty are so admirably united as here, especially in the autumn. +The grandeur lies in the snowy summits which frame in this Columbia +valley—the Selkirks on one side, the Rockies on the other. The beauty +lies in the river itself and in the young trees and bushes along its +banks, dressed in fall styles and colors, some as richly yellow as a +golden-rod, others as deeply purple or crimson as fuchsias or begonias, +the yellow predominating. These colored trees occur in groups and +streaks along the river, and in isolated patches <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>on the mountain-sides, +where they might be mistaken for brown mosses or lichen-colored rocks. +There may be as beautifully colored trees in our Eastern forests, but +they are not mixed, as here, with young evergreen pines, nor have they a +framework of snow mountains, like these, to enhance their beauty.</p> + +<p>High up on the ridges there is another variety of trees of a beautiful +russet color set off by a deep-blue sky. Talk of color symphonies. Here +they are—miles of them—long as a Wagner trilogy, and as richly +orchestrated. Even the masses of blackened logs and stumps—if one can +set aside for the moment all thought of pity for the poor charred trees, +so happy before the fire in their green luxuriance, and of the sad waste +of useful timber—enhance the charm of this scene by contrast.</p> + +<p>I have said that the time-table of the Canadian Pacific Railway is so +arranged that the finest scenery is passed in daylight, in both +directions; but of course there must be exceptions, and, as a matter of +fact, as long as the road crosses the three great mountain ranges of the +Cascades, Selkirks, and Rockies, there is hardly a mile that does not +offer something worth seeing. Consequently, as darkness again closes in +soon after leaving Golden, east-bound passengers must resign themselves +to lose sight of the Kicking Horse Cañon, the Beaverfoot and Ottertail +Mountains, the large glacier on Mount Stephen, etc.,—which is all the +more provoking as they have to sit up anyway till midnight, when Banff +is reached; for, of course, every tourist who is in his right senses and +not a slave to duty gets off here to spend a few days in the Canadian +National Park.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The description of this park we can give only in summary.]</p></div> + +<p>Summing up on the Canadian National Park, we may say it has not so many +natural wonders as the Yellowstone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>Park,—no geysers, steam-holes, +gold-bottomed rivulets, paint-pots, nor anything to place beside the +Yellowstone Cañon and Falls. But the Minnewonka Lake may fairly +challenge comparison with the Yellowstone Lake, and the mountain scenery +is grander in the Canadian Park, and the snow and glaciers are nearer, +though not so near as at the Glacier House, where the air is in +consequence cooler and more bracing in summer than even at Banff. As the +Canadian Park is only twenty-six miles long and ten wide, while the +Yellowstone Park is about sixty-two by fifty-four miles, the former can +be seen in much less time than it takes to do justice to the latter.</p> + +<p>When we get ready to leave Banff we have to take the midnight train, so +there is no chance to say good-by to the mountains. But we have seen so +much of them since leaving Vancouver, that we have felt almost tempted +to cry out to Nature, “Hold, enough; less would be more!” Now we get +ample opportunity to ruminate in peace over our crowded impressions. +When we get up we are on the prairie; we go to bed on the prairie, after +traversing a territory larger than a European kingdom; again we rise on +the prairie, and again go to bed on it; and not till Lake Superior is +approached does the scenery once more become interesting....</p> + +<p>As a general thing, it is no doubt wiser to take the Canadian Pacific +Railway westward than eastward, as the scenic climax is on the western +side. However, it is quite possible to avoid the feeling of anti-climax +on going east, if we conclude the trip with the Thousand Islands and the +Rapids of the St. Lawrence, together with Montreal; or with Niagara +Falls and the Hudson River. The Pacific slope, no doubt, is scenically +far more attractive than the Atlantic; still, there are some things in +the East which even California would be proud to add to her attractions.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SOUTH_PASS_AND_FREMONTS_PEAK" id="SOUTH_PASS_AND_FREMONTS_PEAK"></a>SOUTH PASS AND FREMONT’S PEAK.</h2> + +<h3>JOHN C. FREMONT.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Captain John Charles Fremont, one of the earliest government +explorers of the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific slope, +was born at Savannah, Georgia, in 1813. Becoming a civil +engineer in the government service, in 1842 he explored the +South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, ascending in August the +highest peak in the Wind River range. This has since been known +as Fremont’s Peak. In the following year he explored Great Salt +Lake. In 1845 he led a third expedition to the Pacific, and +during the Mexican war was instrumental in securing California +for the United States. He led subsequent expeditions westward, +was Republican candidate for the Presidency in 1856, served +during the war, and in 1878-82 was governor of Arizona. He died +in 1890. We subjoin his account of the crossing of the South +Pass and discovery and ascent of Fremont’s Peak.]</p></div> + +<p>The view [of the Wind River Mountains] dissipated in a moment the +pictures which had been created in our minds by many travellers who have +compared these mountains with the Alps in Switzerland, and speak of the +glittering peaks which rise in icy majesty amidst the eternal glaciers +nine or ten thousand feet into the region of eternal snows.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Continuing their course, they encamped on August 7 near the +South Pass, and the next morning set out for the dividing +ridge.]</p></div> + +<p>About six miles from our encampment brought us to the summit. The ascent +had been so gradual that, with all the intimate knowledge possessed by +Carson, who had made the country his home for seventeen years, we were +obliged to watch very closely to find the place at which we reached the +culminating point. This was between two low <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>hills, rising on either +hand fifty or sixty feet. When I looked back at them, from the foot of +the immediate slope on the western plain, their summits appeared to be +about one hundred and twenty feet above. From the impression on my mind +at this time, and subsequently on our return, I should compare the +elevation which we mounted immediately at the Pass to the ascent of the +Capitol hill from the avenue at Washington. It is difficult for me to +fix positively the breadth of this pass. From the broken ground where it +commences, at the foot of the White River chain, the view to the +southeast is over a champaign country, broken, at the distance of +nineteen miles, by the Table Rock, which, with the other isolated hills +in its vicinity, seem to stand in a comparative plain. This I judged to +be its termination, the ridge recovering its rugged character with the +Table Rock.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that it in no manner resembles the places to which the +term is commonly applied,—nothing of the gorge-like character and +winding ascents of the Alleghany passes in America; nothing of the Great +St. Bernard and Simplon passes in Europe. Approaching it from the mouth +of the Sweet Water, a sandy plain, one hundred and twenty miles long, +conducts, by a gradual and regular ascent, to the summit, about seven +thousand feet above the sea; and the traveller, without being reminded +of any change by toilsome ascents, suddenly finds himself on the waters +which flow to the Pacific Ocean. By the route we had travelled, the +distance from Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty miles, or nine +hundred and fifty from the mouth of the Kansas.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[They continued their course westward, crossing several +tributaries of the Colorado River, and on the 10th reached +unexpectedly a beautiful lake.]</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>Here a view of the intensest magnificence and grandeur burst upon our +eyes. With nothing between us and their feet to lessen the effect of the +whole height, a grand bed of snow-capped mountains rose before us, pile +upon pile, glowing in the bright light of an August day. Immediately +below them lay the lake, between two ridges, covered with dark pines, +which swept down from the main chain to the spot where we stood. “Never +before,” said Mr. Preuss, “in this country or in Europe, have I seen +such grand, magnificent rocks.” I was so much pleased with the beauty of +the place that I determined to make the main camp here, where our +animals would find good pasturage, and explore the mountains with a +small party of men.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[On the 12th this party set out, crossing intervening hills, +and ascending through dense forests to the summit of the +ridge.]</p></div> + +<p>We had reached a very elevated point, and in the valley below, and among +the hills, were a number of lakes of different levels, some two or three +hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foaming +torrents. Even to our great height the roar of the cataracts came up, +and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. From this +scene of busy waters we turned abruptly into the stillness of a forest, +where we rode among the open bolls of the pines, over a lawn of verdant +grass, having strikingly the air of cultivated grounds. This led us, +after a time, among masses of rock, which had no vegetable earth but in +hollows and crevices, though still the pine-forest continued. Towards +evening we reached a defile, or rather a hole in the mountains, entirely +shut in by dark pine-covered rocks.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[In the morning they ascended a mountain stream, to its source +in a small lake surrounded by a lawn-like expanse.]</p></div> + +<p>Here I determined to leave our animals, and make the rest of our way on +foot. The peak appeared so near that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>there was no doubt of our +returning before night; and a few men were left in charge of the mules, +with our provisions and blankets. We took with us nothing but our arms +and instruments, and, as the day had become warm, the greater part left +our coats. Having made an early dinner, we started again. We were soon +involved in the most rugged precipices, nearing the central chain very +slowly, and rising but little. The first ridge hid a succession of +others; and when, with great fatigue and difficulty, we had climbed up +five hundred feet, it was but to make an equal descent on the other +side; all these intervening places were filled with small deep lakes, +which met the eye in every direction, descending from one level to +another, sometimes under bridges formed by huge fragments of granite, +beneath which was heard the roar of the water. These constantly +obstructed our path, forcing us to make long <i>détours</i>; frequently +obliged to retrace our steps, and frequently falling among the rocks. +Maxwell was precipitated towards the face of a precipice, and saved +himself from going over by throwing himself flat on the ground. We +clambered on, always expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to +reach the foot of the peaks, and always disappointed, until about four +o’clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the shore of a little +lake, in which was a rocky island.</p> + +<p>By the time we had reached the farther side of the lake we found +ourselves all exceedingly fatigued, and, much to the satisfaction of the +whole party, we encamped. The spot we had chosen was a broad, flat rock, +in some measure protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and +the trunks of fallen pines afforded us bright fires. Near by was a +foaming torrent, which tumbled into the little lake about one hundred +and fifty feet below us, and which, by way of distinction, we have +called Island Lake. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>We had reached the upper limit of the piney region; +as, above this point, no tree was to be seen, and patches of snow lay +everywhere around us, on the cold sides of the rock. From barometrical +observations made during our three days’ sojourn at this place, its +elevation above the Gulf of Mexico is ten thousand feet....</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[They set out early the next morning.]</p></div> + +<p>On every side, as we advanced, was heard the roar of waters, and of a +torrent, which we followed up a short distance, until it expanded into a +lake about one mile in length. On the northern side of the lake was a +bank of ice, or rather of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had +been our guide into the mountains, and, agreeably to his advice, we left +this little valley and took to the ridges again, which we found +extremely broken, and where we were again involved among precipices. +Here were ice-fields, among which we were all dispersed, seeking each +the best way to ascend the peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the +upper edge of one of these fields, which sloped away at an angle of +about twenty degrees; but his feet slipped from under him, and he went +plunging down the plain. A few hundred feet below, at the bottom, were +some fragments of sharp rock, on which he landed; and, though he turned +a couple of somersets, fortunately received no injury beyond a few +bruises.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[That day’s work failed, and they returned at evening to the +camp. The next day they ascended a long defile on mule-back, +and soon had the satisfaction to find that they had taken the +right course. Finally, leaving their mules, they continued on +foot, eventually reaching a point near the summit. Here was an +overhanging buttress of rock, which could be surmounted only by +passing around one side of it, which was the face of a +precipice several hundred feet in depth.]</p></div> + +<p>Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded +in getting over it, and when I reached <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>the top, found my companions in +a small valley below. Descending to them, we continued climbing, and in +a short time reached the crest. I sprang upon the summit, and another +step would have precipitated me into an immense snow-field five hundred +feet below. To the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice; and +then, with a gradual fall, the field sloped off for about a mile, until +it struck the foot of another lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest, +about three feet in width, with an inclination of about 20° north, 51° +east.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had gratified the first feeling of curiosity I descended, +and each man ascended in his turn; for I would only allow one at a time +to mount the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath +would precipitate into the abyss below. We mounted the barometer in the +snow of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the +national flag to wave in the breeze where never flag waved before. +During our morning’s ascent we had met no sign of animal life, except a +small sparrow-like bird. A stillness the most profound and a terrible +solitude forced themselves constantly on the mind as the great features +of the place. Here, on the summit, where the stillness was absolute, +unbroken by any sound, and solitude complete, we thought ourselves +beyond the region of animated life; but while we were sitting on the +rock, a solitary bee (<i>Bombus, the bumble-bee</i>) came winging his flight +from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men.</p> + +<p>It was a strange place, the icy rock and the highest peak of the Rocky +Mountains, for a lover of warm sunshine and flowers; and we pleased +ourselves with the idea that he was the first of his species to cross +the mountain barrier,—a solitary pioneer to foretell the advance of +civilization. I believe that a moment’s thought would have made us let +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>him continue his way unharmed; but we carried out the law of this +country, where all animated nature seems at war; and seizing him +immediately, put him in at least a fit place,—in the leaves of a large +book, among the flowers we had collected on our way. The barometer stood +at 18.293, the attached thermometer 44°; giving for the elevation of +this summit thirteen thousand five hundred and seventy feet above the +Gulf of Mexico, which may be called the highest flight of the bee. It is +certainly the highest known flight of that insect.</p> + +<p>From the description given by Mackenzie of the mountains where he +crossed them, with that of the French officer still farther to the +north, and Colonel Long’s measurements to the south, joined to the +opinion of the oldest traders of the country, it is presumed that this +is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. [Fremont’s Peak is now +estimated at thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety feet. There are +many peaks now known over fourteen thousand feet. The highest point is +Blanca Peak, fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty-three feet high.]</p> + +<p>The day was sunny and bright, but a slight shining mist hung over the +lower plains, which interfered with our view of the surrounding country. +On one side we overlooked innumerable lakes and streams, the spring of +the Colorado of the Gulf of California; and on the other was the Wind +River Valley, where were the heads of the Yellowstone branch of the +Missouri; far to the north we could just discover the snowy heads of the +<i>Trois Tetons</i>, where were the sources of the Missouri and Columbia +Rivers; and at the southern extremity of the ridge the peaks were +plainly visible among which were some of the springs of the Nebraska or +Platte River. Around us the whole scene had one main, striking feature, +which was that of terrible convulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge +was split <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>into chasms and fissures; between which rose the thin lofty +walls, terminated with slender minarets and columns.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The party reached camp the next day, and on the 17th turned +their faces homeward, the purpose of the expedition having been +accomplished.]</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="IN_THE_YELLOWSTONE_PARK" id="IN_THE_YELLOWSTONE_PARK"></a>IN THE YELLOWSTONE PARK.</h2> + +<h3>FERDINAND V. HAYDEN.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[About the middle of this century reports began to be heard of +a veritable wonderland in the far West, as yet seen only by +trappers and other adventurers, whose stories of the marvels +they had beheld whetted the appetite of scientific explorers. +The first attempt to reach the region of the Yellowstone was +made in 1856, but failed, and it was not until 1869 that an +exploring party entered this marvellous valley. A second party +reached the Yellowstone region in 1870, and Mr. N. P. Langford +wrote a glowing account of the wonders observed. The first +detailed description of the locality was made by Dr. Hayden, +chief of the Geological Survey of the Territories, in 1871. +From this extended and highly interesting account we can only +quote a few passages, selecting those which relate to the hot +springs and geysers of the wonderful Fire-Hole River region.]</p></div> + +<p>Early in the morning of August 30 the valley was literally filled with +columns of steam, ascending from more than a thousand vents. I can +compare the view to nothing but that of some manufacturing city like +Pittsburg, as seen from a high point, except that instead of the black +coal smoke there are here the white delicate clouds of steam. Small +groups or solitary springs that are scattered everywhere in the woods +upon the mountain-sides, and which would otherwise have escaped +observation, are detected by the columns of steam. It is evident that +some of these groups <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>of springs have changed their base of operations +within a comparatively recent period; for about midway on the east side +of the lower basin there is a large area covered with a thick, +apparently modern, deposit of the silica, as white as snow, while +standing quite thickly all around are the dead pines, which appear to +have been destroyed by the excessive overflow of the water and the +increased deposition. These dry trees have a most desolate look; many of +them have fallen down and are incrusted with the silica, while portions +that have fallen into the boiling springs have been reduced to a pulp.</p> + +<p>This seems to be one of the conditions of silicification, for when these +pulpy masses of wood are permitted to dry by the cessation of the +springs, the most perfect specimens of petrified wood are the result. In +one instance a green pine-tree had fallen so as to immerse its thick top +in a large hot basin, and leaves, twigs, and cones had become completely +incrusted with the white silica, and a portion had entered into the +cellular structure, so that when removed from the water and dried in the +sun, very fair specimens were obtained. Members of my party obtained +specimens of pine-cones that were sufficiently silicified to be packed +away among the collections.</p> + +<p><a name="illo3" id="illo3"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 334px;"> +<img src="images/i058.jpg" class="illogap" width="334" height="500" alt="THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE FALLS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE FALLS<br /> +From a Painting by Thomas Moran</span> +</div> + +<p>In order that we might get a complete view of the Lower Geyser Basin +from some high point, we made a trip to the summit of Twin Buttes, on +the west side of the basin. From the top of one of these buttes, which +is six hundred and thirty feet above the Fire-Hole River, we obtained a +bird’s-eye view of the entire lower portion of the valley, which was +estimated to be about twenty miles long and five miles wide. To the +westward, among the mountains, were a number of little lakes, which were +covered with a huge species of water-lily, <i>Nuphar advena</i>. The little +streams precipitated their waters in the most picturesque <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>cascades or falls. One of them was named by Colonel Barlow the “Fairy +Fall,” from the graceful beauty with which the little stream dropped +down a clear descent of two hundred and fifty feet. It is only from a +high point that it can be seen, for the water falls gently down from the +lofty overhanging cliff into a basin at the foot, which is surrounded by +a line of tall pines one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in +height. The continual flow of the waters of this little fountain has +worn a deep channel or furrow into the vertical sides of the mountain. +As far as the eye can reach can be seen the peculiar plateau mountain +ranges, black with the dense forests of pine, averaging from nine +thousand to ten thousand feet above sea-level....</p> + +<p>A spring on a level with the river has an enormous square basin thirty +feet across, of unknown depth. We called this the “Bath Spring.” A +little below is another singular form of wonderful beauty. The water +issues from beneath the crust near the margin of the river from several +apertures. The basin itself is fifteen by twenty feet and twenty feet +deep. It seemed to me that nothing could exceed the transparent +clearness of the water. The slightest object was reflected in its clear +depths, and the bright blue tints were indescribable. We called this the +“Cavern.” The mud springs are also numerous and important in this group. +As usual, they are of all sizes, from an inch or two to twenty or thirty +feet in diameter, with contents varying from mere turbid water to stiff +mud. They seldom have any visible outlet, but are in a constant state of +agitation, with a sound that varies with the consistency of the +contents. There are several of the mud-pots that give off a suppressed +thud as the gases burst their way through the stiff mortar. Sometimes +the mortar is as white as snow, or brown, or tinged with a variety of +vivid colors....</p> + +<p>On the west side of the Fire-Hole, and along the little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>branch that +flows into it from the west, are numbers of springs of all grades, and +the broad bottom is covered with a snow-white silicious crust. Near the +base of the mountains there is a massive first-class boiling spring, in +a constant state of violent agitation, sending forth great columns of +steam, with a singular toadstool rim.... About three miles up the +Fire-Hole we meet with a small but quite interesting group of springs on +both sides of the stream. There is a vast accumulation of silica, +forming a hill fifty feet along the level of the river; upon the summit +one of the largest springs yet seen, nearly circular, one hundred and +fifty feet in diameter, boils up in the centre, but overflows with such +uniformity on all sides as to admit of the formation of no real rim, but +forming a succession of little ornamental steps, from one to three +inches in height, just as water would congeal from cold in flowing down +a gentle declivity. There was the same transparent clearness, the same +brilliancy of coloring to the waters, but the hot steam and the thinness +of the rim prevented me from approaching it near enough to ascertain its +temperature or observe its depth. It is certainly one of the grandest +hot springs ever seen by human eye.</p> + +<p>But the most formidable one of all is near the margin of the river. It +seems to have broken out close by the river, and to have continually +enlarged its orifice by the breaking down of its sides. It evidently +commenced on the east side, and the continual wear of the under side of +the crust on the west side has caused the margin to fall in, until an +aperture at least two hundred and fifty feet in diameter has been +formed, with walls or sides twenty to thirty feet high, showing the +laminæ of deposition perfectly. The water is intensely agitated all the +time, boiling like a caldron, from which a vast column of steam is ever +rising, filling the orifice. As the passing breeze sweeps it away for a +moment, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>one looks down into this terrible seething pit with terror. All +around the sides are large masses of the silicious crust that have +fallen from the rim. An immense column of water flows out of this +caldron into the river. As it pours over the marginal slope it descends +by numerous small channels, with a large number of smaller ones +spreading over a broad surface, and the marvellous beauty of the +strikingly vivid coloring far surpasses anything of the kind we have +seen in this land of wondrous beauty,—every possible shade of color, +from vivid scarlet to a bright rose, and every shade of yellow to a +delicate cream, mingled with vivid green from minute vegetation. Some of +the channels were lined with a very fine, delicate yellow, silky +material, which vibrates at every movement of the waters. There was one +most beautiful funnel-shaped spring, twenty feet in diameter at the top, +but tapering down, lined inside and outside with the most delicate +decorations. Indeed, to one looking down into its clear depths, it +seemed like a fairy palace. The same jelly-like substance or pulp to +which I have before alluded covers a large area with the various shades +of light red and green. The surface yields to the tread like a cushion. +It is about two inches in thickness, and although seldom so tenacious as +to hold together, yet it may be taken up in quite large masses, and when +it becomes dry it is blown about by the wind, like fragments of +variegated lichens.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[From this description of the hot springs of the region we +proceed to an account of its marvellous geyser phenomena.]</p></div> + +<p>We camped the evening of August 5 in the middle of the Upper Geyser +Basin, in the midst of some of the grandest geysers in the world. +Colonel Barlow and Captain Heap, of the United States Engineers, were +camped on the opposite side of the Fire-Hole. Soon after reaching <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>camp +a tremendous rumbling was heard, shaking the ground in every direction, +and soon a column of steam burst forth from a crater near the edge of +the east side of the river. Following the steam, arose, by a succession +of impulses, a volume of water, apparently six feet in diameter, to the +height of two hundred feet, while the steam ascended a thousand feet or +more. It would be difficult to describe the excitement which attended +such a display. It is probable that if we could have remained in the +valley several days, and become accustomed to all the preliminary +warnings, the excitement would have ceased, and we could have admired +calmly the marvellous ease and beauty with which this column of hot +water was held up to that great height for the space of twenty minutes. +After the display is over the water settles down in the basin several +inches, and the temperature slowly falls to 150°. We called this the +“Grand Geyser,” for its power seemed greater than any other of which we +obtained any knowledge in the valley.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[After describing more particularly the peculiarities of the +Grand Geyser and the smaller neighboring geysers, Dr. Hayden +gives us an enthusiastic pen-picture of a beautiful type of +springs.]</p></div> + +<p>On the summit of the great mound is one of a class I have called central +springs; it is located on the highest point of the mound on which this +great group belongs; has a crater twenty feet in diameter, very nearly +quiescent, slightly bubbling, or boils near the centre, with a thin, +elegant rim projecting over the spring, with the water rising within a +few inches of the top. The continual but very moderate overflow of this +spring, uniformly on every side, builds up slowly a broad-based mound, +layer by layer, one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Looking +down into these springs, you seem to be gazing into fathomless depths, +while the bright blue of the water is unequalled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>even by the sea. There +are a number of these marvellous central springs, with projecting rims +carved with an intricate delicacy which of itself is a marvel; and as +one ascends the mound and looks down into the wonderfully clear depths, +the vision is unique. The great beauty of the prismatic colors depends +much on the sunlight, but about the middle of the day, when the bright +rays descend nearly vertically, and a slight breeze just makes a ripple +on the surface, the colors exceed comparison; when the surface is calm +there is one vast chaos of colors, dancing, as it were, like the colors +of a kaleidoscope.</p> + +<p>As seen through this marvellous play of colors, the decorations on the +sides of the basin are lighted up with a wild, weird beauty which wafts +one at once into the land of enchantment; all the brilliant feats of +fairies and genii in the “Arabian Nights” entertainments are forgotten +in the actual presence of such marvellous beauty; life becomes a +privilege and a blessing after one has seen and thoroughly felt these +incomparable types of nature’s cunning skill....</p> + +<p>Our search for new wonders leading us across the Fire-Hole River, we +ascended a gently incrusted slope, and came suddenly upon a large oval +aperture with scalloped edges, the diameters of which were eighteen and +twenty-five feet, the sides corrugated and covered with a grayish-white +silicious deposit, which was distinctly visible at the depth of a +hundred feet below the surface. No water could be discovered, but we +could distinctly hear it gurgling and boiling at a great distance below. +Suddenly it began to rise, boiling and spluttering, and sending out huge +masses of steam, causing a general stampede of our company, driving us +to some distance from our point of observation. When within about forty +feet of the surface it became stationary, and we returned to look down +upon it. It was foaming and surging at a terrible rate, occasionally +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>emitting small jets of hot water nearly to the mouth of the orifice.</p> + +<p>All at once it seemed seized with a fearful spasm, and rose with +incredible rapidity, hardly affording us time to withdraw to a safe +distance, when it burst from the orifice with terrific momentum, rising +in a column the full size of this immense aperture to the height of +sixty feet; and through and out of the apex of this vast aqueous mass +five or six lesser jets or round columns of water, varying in size from +six to fifteen inches in diameter, were projected to the marvellous +height of two hundred and fifty feet. These lesser jets, so much higher +than the main column, and shooting through it, doubtless proceed from +auxiliary pipes leading into the principal orifice near the bottom, +where the explosive force is greater. If the theory that water by +constant boiling becomes explosive when freed from air be true, this +theory rationally accounts for all irregularities in the eruptions of +the geysers.</p> + +<p>This grand eruption continued for twenty minutes, and was the most +magnificent sight we ever witnessed. We were standing on the side of the +geyser nearest the sun, the gleams of which filled the sparkling column +of water and spray with myriads of rainbows, whose arches were +constantly changing, dipping and fluttering hither and thither, and +disappearing only to be succeeded by others, again and again, amid the +aqueous columns, while the minute globules into which the spent jets +were diffused when falling sparkled like a shower of diamonds, and +around every shadow which the denser clouds of vapor, interrupting the +sun’s rays, cast upon the column, could be seen a luminous circle, +radiant with all the colors of the prism, and resembling the halo of +glory represented in paintings as encircling the head of Divinity. All +that we had previously witnessed seemed tame in comparison with the +perfect <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>grandeur and beauty of this display. Two of these wonderful +eruptions occurred during the twenty-two hours we remained in the +valley. This geyser we named the “Giantess.”</p> + +<p>A hundred yards distant from the Giantess was a silicious cone, very +symmetrical, but slightly corrugated upon its exterior surface, three +feet in height and five feet in diameter at its base, and having an oval +orifice twenty-four by thirty-six and a half inches in diameter, with +scalloped edges. Not one of our company supposed that it was a geyser; +and among so many wonders it had almost escaped notice. While we were at +breakfast upon the morning of our departure, a column of water, entirely +filling the crater, shot from it, which, by accurate triangular +measurement, we found to be two hundred and nineteen feet in height. The +stream did not deflect more than four or five degrees from a vertical +line, and the eruption lasted eighteen minutes. We named it the +“Beehive.”...</p> + +<p>On our return to the lake from this basin we passed up the Fire-Hole +River to its source in the divide. Early in the morning, as we were +leaving the valley, the grand old geyser which stands sentinel at the +head of the valley gave us a magnificent parting display, and with +little or no preliminary warning it shot up a column of water about six +feet in diameter to the height of a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet, +and by a succession of impulses seemed to hold it up steadily for the +space of fifteen minutes, the great mass of water falling directly back +into the basin, and flowing over the edges and down the sides in large +streams. When the action ceases, the water recedes beyond sight, and +nothing is heard but the occasional escape of steam until another +exhibition occurs. This is one of the most accommodating geysers in the +basin, and during our stay played once an hour quite regularly. On +account of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>its apparent regularity, and its position overlooking the +valley, it was called by Messrs. Langford and Doane “Old Faithful.” It +has built up a crater about twenty feet high around its base, and all +about it are decorations similar to those previously described.</p> + +<p>On the morning of August 6 we ascended the mountains at the head of the +Fire-Hole River, on our return to the hot-spring camp on the Yellowstone +Lake. We had merely caught a glimpse of the wonderful physical phenomena +of this remarkable valley. We had just barely gleaned a few of the +surface observations, which only sharpened our desire for a larger +knowledge. There is no doubt in my mind that these geysers are more +active at certain seasons of the year than at others. We saw them in +midsummer, when the surface waters are greatly diminished. In the +spring, at the time of the melting of the snows, the display of the +first-class geysers must be more frequent and powerful. We left this +valley, with its beautiful scenery, its hot springs and geysers, with +great regret.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="THE_COUNTRY_OF_THE_CLIFF-DWELLERS" id="THE_COUNTRY_OF_THE_CLIFF-DWELLERS"></a>THE COUNTRY OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS.</h2> + +<h3>ALFRED TERRY BACON.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Ruskin, among his reasons for not visiting the United States, +declared that it would be impossible for him to exist, even for +a short interval, in a country that had no old castles. Had he +known it, he might have found here old castles in abundance, +older perhaps, and grander in situation, than any to be found +in his own land. These are the ruined dwellings of the ancient +inhabitants of the western cañons and of the pueblo-builders of +Arizona and New Mexico. We give a traveller’s account of the +Cliff-dwellers’ habitations.]</p></div> + +<p>The attraction which drew the conquerors of Mexico forty-five days’ +journey away into the North was the fame <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>which had reached them of the +Seven Cities of Cibola (the buffalo), great in wealth and population, +lying in the valley of the Rio de Zuñi. To the grief of the invaders, +they found not cities, but rather villages of peaceful agricultural +people dwelling in great pueblos three and four stories high, and they +searched in vain for the rumored stores of gold. At that time the +pueblos held a large population skilled in many arts of civilization. +They cultivated large tracts of ground, wove fabrics of cotton, and +produced ornate pottery. Their stone-masonry was admirable. But even +three hundred years ago it seems that the people were but a remnant of +what they had once been. Even then the conquerors wondered at the many +ruins which indicated a decline from former greatness. The people have +not now the same degree of skill in their native arts which the race +once had, and it is probable that when the Spaniards came and found them +declining in numbers the old handicrafts were already on the wane.</p> + +<p>In a remote age the ancestors of these Pueblo tribes, or a race of +kindred habits, filled most of that vast region which is drained by the +Colorado River and its affluents, and spread beyond into the valley of +the Rio Grande. The explorers of a great extent of country in Utah, +Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado have found everywhere evidences of the +wide distribution and wonderful industry of that ancient people. On the +low land which they used to till lie the remains of their +villages,—rectangular buildings of enormous dimensions and large +circular <i>estufas</i>, or halls for council and worship. On the sides of +the savage cliffs that wall in or overarch the cañons are scattered in +every crevice and wrinkle those strange and picturesque ruins which give +us the name “Cliff-dwellers” to distinguish this long-forgotten people. +And on commanding points, seen far away down the cañons or across the +mesas, stand the solitary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>watch-towers where sentinels might signal to +the villagers below on the approach of Northern barbarians....</p> + +<p>There is no other district which embraces in so small a compass so great +a number and variety of the Cliff-dwellers’ ruined works as the cañon of +the Little Rio Mancos in Southwestern Colorado. The stream rises in a +spur of the San Juan Mountains, near the remote mining-camp called +Parrott City. Flowing southward for a few miles through an open valley, +it is soon enclosed between the walls of a profound cañon which cuts for +nearly thirty miles through a table-land called the Mesa Verde. The +cañon is wide enough to have permitted the old inhabitants to plant +their crops along the stream, and the cliffs rising on either side to a +height of two thousand feet are so curiously broken and grooved and +shelving, from the decay of the soft horizontal strata and the +projection of the harder, as to offer remarkable facilities for building +fortified houses hard of approach and easy of defence. Therefore the +whole length of the cañon is filled with ruins, and for fifteen miles +beyond it to the borders of New Mexico, where the river meets the Rio +San Juan, the valley bears many traces of the ancient occupation.</p> + +<p>The scenery of the cañon is wild and imposing in the highest degree. In +the dry Colorado air there are few lichens or weather-stains to dull the +brightness of the strata to the universal hoariness of moister climates: +the vertical cliffs, standing above long slopes of débris, are colored +with the brilliant tints of freshly-quarried stone. A gay ribbon of +green follows the course of the rivulet winding down through the cañon +till it is lost to sight in the vista of crags. The utter silence and +solitude of the wilderness reigns through the valley. It is not occupied +by any savage tribe, and only a few white men within the last few years +have passed through it and told of its wonders; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>and yet its whole +length is but one series of houses and temples that were forsaken +centuries ago. I can hardly imagine a more exciting tour of exploration +than that which Mr. Jackson’s party made on first entering this cañon in +1874.</p> + +<p>Above the entrance of the cañon the evidences of prehistoric life begin. +On the bottom-land, concealed by shrubbery, are the half-obliterated +outlines of square and circular buildings. The houses were of large +size, and were plainly no temporary dwelling-places, for an accumulation +of decorated pottery fills the ground about them, indicating long +occupation. No doubt they were built of adobe,—masses of hard clay +dried in the sun,—which the wear of ages has reduced to +smoothly-rounded mounds. For some miles down the cañon remains of this +sort occur at short intervals, and at one point there stands a wall +built of squared sandstone blocks. Along the ledges of the cliffs on the +right bits of ruinous masonry are detected here and there, but for a +time there is nothing to excite close attention. At last a watchful eye +is arrested by a more interesting object perched at a tremendous height +on the western wall of the cañon. It is a house built upon a shelf of +rock between the precipices, but, standing seven hundred feet above the +stream and differing not at all in color from the crags about it, only +the sharpest eyesight can detect the unusual form of the building and +the windows marking the two stories.</p> + +<p>The climb up to the house-platform is slow and fatiguing, but the +trouble is repaid by a sight of one of the most curious ruins on this +continent. Before the door of the house, part of the ledge has been +reserved for a little esplanade, and to make it broader three small +abutments of stone, which once supported a floor, are built on the +sloping edge of the rock. Beyond this the house is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>entered by a small +aperture which served as a door. It is the best specimen of a +Cliff-dweller’s house that remains to our time. The walls are admirably +built of squared stones laid in a hard white mortar. The house is +divided into two stories of three rooms each. Behind it a semicircular +cistern nearly as high as the house is built against the side of it, and +a ladder is arranged for descending from an upper window to the +water-level. The floor of the second story was supported by substantial +cedar timbers, but only fragments of them remain. The roof, too, has +entirely disappeared, but the canopy of natural rock overhanging serves +to keep out the weather. The front rooms in both stories are the largest +and are most carefully finished. Perhaps they were the parlor and “best +bedroom” of some prehistoric housewife. They are plastered throughout +with fine smooth mortar, and even in that remote age the mania for +household decoration had a beginning: floor, walls, and ceiling were +colored a deep red, surrounded by a broad border of white.</p> + +<p>The same cliff on which this house stands has on its side many other +ruins; some half destroyed by gradual decay, some crushed by falling +rocks, none so perfect as the one described; but all are crowded into +the strangest unapproachable crevices of the cañon-wall, like the +crannies which swallows choose to hold their nests, far removed from the +possibility of depredation. Some are so utterly inaccessible that the +explorers, with all their enthusiasm and activity, have never been able +to reach them. How any beings not endowed with wings could live at such +points it is hard to conceive: it makes one suspicious that the +Cliff-dwellers had not quite outgrown the habits of monkey ancestors.</p> + +<p>As the cañon widens with the descent of the stream, the ruins in the +western wall increase in number. One fearful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>cliff a thousand feet in +height is chinked all over its face with tiny houses of one room each, +but only a few of them can be detected with the naked eye. One, which +was reached by an explorer at the peril of his life, stands intact: +ceiling and floor are of the natural rock, and the wall is built in a +neat curve conforming to the shape of the ledge.</p> + +<p>A mile farther down the stream there is a most interesting group of +houses. Eight hundred feet above the valley there is a shelf in the +cliff sixty feet in length that is quite covered by a house. The +building contains four large rooms, a circular sacred apartment and +smaller rooms of irregular shape. It was called by its discoverers “The +House of the Sixteen Windows.” Behind this house the cliff-side rises +smooth and perpendicular thirty feet, but it can be scaled by an ancient +stairway cut into it which ascends to a still higher ledge. The stairs +lead to the very door of another house filling a niche a hundred and +twenty feet long. A great canopy of solid rock overarches the little +fortress, reaching far forward beyond the front wall, while from below +it is absolutely unapproachable except by the one difficult stairway of +niches cut in the rock. In time of war it must have been impregnable. +These dwellings have given more ideas about their interior furnishing +than any of the others. Among the accumulated rubbish were found corn +and beans stored away. In the lower house were two large water-jars of +corrugated pottery standing on a floor covered with neatly-woven rush +matting. In a house not far above were found a bin of charred corn, and +a polished hatchet of stone made with remarkable skill.</p> + +<p>From this point onward both the valley and the cliffs are filled with +the traces of a numerous population, every mile of travel bringing many +fresh ones into sight. Among the cliff-houses there is of necessity a +variety in form and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>size as great as the differences of the caves and +crevices that hold them; but among the buildings of the low ground there +is more uniformity, not only in this cañon, but in all the valleys of +the region. Most of them may be classed as aggregated dwellings or +pueblos with rectangular rooms, round watch-towers and large circular +buildings. To these must be added a few which seem to have been built +only for defence. The straight walls have generally fallen, except the +parts supported by an angle of a building; but, as usual in old masonry, +the circular walls have much better resisted decay.</p> + +<p>About midway down the cañon the curved wall of a large ruin rises above +the thicket. It is a building of very curious design. The outer wall was +an exact circle of heavy masonry a hundred and thirty feet in +circumference. Within, there is another circular wall, concentric with +the outer, enclosing one round room with a diameter of twenty feet. The +annular space between the two walls was divided by partitions into ten +small apartments. Other buildings of the same type occur in this region, +some of much larger size and with triple walls. Even in this one, which +is comparatively well preserved, the original height is uncertain, +though the ruin still stands about fifteen feet high.</p> + +<p>The vast quantity of débris about some of them indicates that they were +of no insignificant height, and their perfect symmetry of form, the +careful finish of the masonry, the large dimensions and great solidity, +made them the most imposing architectural works of that ancient people. +I find no reason to doubt that they were their temples, and the +presumption is very strong that they were temples for sun-worship. The +occurrence of a circular room in connection with nearly every group of +buildings is of special interest, as seeming to link the Cliff-dwellers +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>to the modern Pueblo tribes in their religious customs.</p> + +<p>Most striking and picturesque of all the ruins are the round +watch-towers. On commanding points in the valley, and on the highest +pinnacles of the cliffs overlooking the surface of the mesa, they occur +with a frequency which is almost pathetic as an indication of the life +of eternal vigilance which was led by that old race through the years, +perhaps centuries, of exterminating warfare which the savage red men +from the North waged upon them. To us the suffering of frontier families +at the hands of the same blood-thirsty savages is heart-rending. What +was it to those who saw year by year their whole race’s life withering +away, crushed by those wild tribes?</p> + +<p>Near the lower end of the cañon stands one of the most perfect of these +towers, rising sixteen feet above the mound on which it is built. It was +once attached to an oblong stone building which seems to have been a +strongly-fortified house. The rectangular walls, as usual, are +prostrate, and have left the tower standing as solitary and picturesque +and as full of mystery as the round towers of Ireland....</p> + +<p>In the Montezuma Cañon, just beyond the Colorado State border, there are +some remains built after an unusual manner with stones of great size. +One building of many rooms, nearly covering a little solitary mesa, is +constructed of huge stone blocks not unlike the prehistoric masonry of +Southern Europe. In the same district there is a ruined line of +fortification from which the smaller stones have fallen away and are +crumbling to dust, leaving only certain enormous upright stones +standing. They rise to a height of seven feet above the soil, and the +lower part is buried to a considerable depth. Their resemblance to the +hoary Druidical stones of Carnac and Stonehenge is striking, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>there +is nothing in their appearance to indicate that they belong to a much +later age than those primeval monuments of Europe.</p> + +<p>All the certain knowledge that we have of the history and manners of the +Cliff-dwellers may be very briefly told, for there is no written record +of their existence, except their own rude picture-writing, cut or +painted on the cañon walls, and it is not likely that those +hieroglyphics will ever be deciphered. But much may be inferred from +their evident kinship to the Moquis of our time; and the resemblance of +the ancient architecture and ceramics to the arts as they are still +practised in the degenerate pueblos of Arizona gives us many intimations +in regard to the habits of the Cliff-dwellers.</p> + +<p><a name="illo4" id="illo4"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i076.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="332" alt="GRAND CAÑON, ARIZONA +In the Country of the Cliff-Dwellers" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GRAND CAÑON, ARIZONA<br /> +In the Country of the Cliff-Dwellers</span> +</div> + +<p>It was centuries ago—how long a time no one will ever know—when that +old race was strong and numerous, filling the great region from the Rio +Grande to the Colorado of the West, and from the San Juan Mountains far +down into Northern Mexico. They must have numbered many hundreds of +thousands, perhaps millions. It is not probable that they were combined +under one government, or that they were even closely leagued together, +but that they were essentially one in blood and language is strongly +indicated by the similarity of their remains. That they were sympathetic +in a common hostility to the dangerous savage tribes about them can +hardly be doubted. They were of peaceful habits and lived by +agriculture, having under cultivation many thousands of acres in the +rich river-bottoms, which they knew well how to irrigate from streams +swollen in summer by the melting snows of the high mountain-ranges. We +read of their dry canals in Arizona, so deep that a mounted horseman can +hide in them. We know that they raised crops of corn and beans, and in +the south cotton, which they skilfully wove. That +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>they had commercial dealing across their whole country is shown by the +quantity of shell-ornaments brought from the Pacific coast, which are +found in their Colorado dwellings. They did not understand the working +of metals, but their implements of stone are of most excellent +workmanship. Their weapons indicate the practice of hunting, and while +the race was still numerous their forts and their sharp obsidian arrows +made easy their resistance to the wandering savage hordes.</p> + +<p>I believe that no instance can be cited of a people still in their Stone +Age who have surpassed that old race in the mason’s art: indeed, I doubt +if any such people has even approached their skill in that respect. The +difficulty of constructing a great work of well-squared, hammer-dressed +stones is enormously increased if the masons must work only with stone +implements. Imagine the infinite, toilsome patience of a people who in +such a way could rear the ancient Pueblo Bonito of New Mexico, five +hundred and forty feet long, three hundred and fourteen feet wide, and +four stories high! In one wall of a neighboring building of stone less +carefully dressed it is estimated that there were originally no less +than thirty million pieces, which were transported, fashioned, and laid +by men without a beast of burden or a trowel, chisel, or hammer of +metal....</p> + +<p>At the time of the Spanish conquest the Pueblo tribes were worshippers +of the sun and fire, like all the races of this continent which were +above barbarism. To-day, even in those pueblos where a corrupted form of +the Roman faith is accepted, there are traces of the old sun-worship +mingled with it, and in all pueblos there are large circular rooms, +called estufas, reserved for councils and for worship. The invariable +appearance of estufas among the ruined towns, and even on the ledges of +the cliffs, shows what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>sacredness was attached to the circular room, +which, perhaps, was symbolic of the sun’s orb: it indicates a unity of +religious faith between the ancients and moderns.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="LAKE_TAHOE_AND_THE_BIG_TREES" id="LAKE_TAHOE_AND_THE_BIG_TREES"></a>LAKE TAHOE AND THE BIG TREES.</h2> + +<h3>A. H. TEVIS.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[To Rev. A. H. Tevis, author of “Beyond the Sierras; or, +Observations on the Pacific Coast,” we owe the following +description of a most charming example of American lake +scenery, one of the varied and striking regions of beauty which +California offers to the tourist.]</p></div> + +<p>Of the many curiosities that nature has scattered over the length and +breadth of this coast, Lake Tahoe is one of the most charming.</p> + +<p>This is a land of wonders, certainly of curiosities. Providence has made +this vast area, between the Rocky Mountains and the sea, his chief +receptacle of the wealth of the country. And what folly to travel in +foreign countries to see the sights until you have at least seen some of +the wonders and treasures of our own great Commonwealth! You can spend +your life in exploring these various wonders, and then not find an +end,—petrified forests; lost rivers, whose <i>termini</i> no one knows, and +of whose source there is great doubt; brackish lakes, whose waters are +worse than the Dead Sea, and in which no living thing can exist; +bubbling, hissing, thundering geysers, whose awfulness impresses the +hardest heart; roaring cataracts, that with a band of silver seem to +bind together earth and sky; boiling springs, hither and yon in almost +countless profusion, that send their breath of steam as through the +throats of some great furnace from Vulcan’s forge; geographical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>and +topographical features that are marvellous in themselves; the big trees, +whose magnitude is a wonder, and whose age links the present almost to +the days of Solomon; Yosemite, unlike anything of the kind in the known +world, whose sublimity is beyond description; and charming, silvery, +unique Tahoe, or Pearl of the Sierras.</p> + +<p>There is no patent on the name, hence we have chosen to christen it +thus. And who will say it is a misnomer that has seen its grandeur and +enjoyed the beauty of its surroundings? Its name belongs to the Indian +tongue, and signifies <i>clear water</i>.</p> + +<p>This lake in its greatest length is twenty-three miles, and greatest +width eleven miles; hence it has an area of two hundred and fifty-three +square miles. Its altitude is six thousand two hundred and twenty feet +above the level of the sea. Here, spread out before me, like the finest +of burnished silver, is a lake unlike any other body of water in the +world, save one in Switzerland, and that has only a few marks of +similarity.</p> + +<p>This lies nestled away, like a very jewel, in the summit of the +Sierras,—the Alps of America,—at an altitude of a mile and a quarter +above the level of the sea. Think of it! A body of water containing an +area of more than two hundred and fifty square miles, and deep enough to +float the largest vessel that ever traversed the sea, and then have +almost immeasurable depths below the keel; think of this being in the +very summit of the greatest range of mountains in America!</p> + +<p>It has been sounded along the line between Nevada and California, which +runs through the lake, to the distance of two hundred and fifty-three +fathoms, or fifteen hundred and eighteen feet. But other places have +been sounded to the great distance of nearly twenty-five hundred feet. +The character of the water is almost incredible to one who has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>never +looked upon it. Coming down from the springs that burst from the cañons, +and the everlasting snows that crown the mountain-tops, where</p> + +<p class="center">“’Tis the felt presence of the Deity,”</p> + +<p>the water is almost perfectly pure.</p> + +<p>I have leaned over the side of the boat and watched the play of the +trout a <i>hundred and fifty feet</i> below the surface. I have dropped a +small, shining, metallic button, and watched distinctly its oscillations +in sinking for three or four minutes.</p> + +<p>The transparent nature of the water is best seen in the morning, when +the lake is perfectly calm; not even the small surface ripples that +nearly always exist on ordinary streams and lakes are visible.</p> + +<p>The various angles of vision present the most charming scene. Yonder the +lake looks like a quiet mass of molten silver; yonder, where the rays of +the sun meet you, is a gorgeous array of crimson and gold; then there is +a range of purest emerald, deepening into blue-black as the scene +stretches away from you, bespangled in the distance by the rising +white-caps. This, fringed with the green of the deep pine-forests that +skirt the mountains, and capped with the everlasting snows, made radiant +with the flood of sunlight, furnishes a picture of incomparable beauty, +and worthy of a master’s brush.</p> + +<p>But here by you, right at your feet, is one of the most pleasing +features of all: so still in the morning quietness, and such air-like +purity withal. You think you can reach down and pick up those shining +pebbles, and yet they are twenty, thirty, or forty feet beneath you. And +that boat or skiff seems to be poised in mid-air. You can count the +small indentures and nail-heads in the very keel.</p> + +<p>You cringe with fear as your boat glides towards that huge boulder, as +large as a church, thinking surely your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>vessel will be wrecked; but +there is no danger, as the rock is many feet beneath you. The +transparency of the water makes the danger seem so near.</p> + +<p>How often have I wished this place—mountains, lake, and all—could be +the place of one of the grand Eastern camp-meetings! This bracing air, +this unique spot, this wonderful lake, this rich, healthful aroma of +deep pine-forests, this grand scenery, all combined, make it one of the +best of places for religious summer resort.</p> + +<p>Yonder is a quaint spot, a veritable Gibraltar on a small scale, a +lonely, rocky island in the centre of Emerald Bay. Some foolish man +built a tomb in the solid rock on its summit, intending to be buried +there, where the marks of decay would come slowly over his grave, and +where he might sleep undisturbed amid the incomparable grandeur that +would have surrounded him. His sarcophagus and all were prepared, but +the treacherous billows of the lake, that occasionally foam and roar +with fury, seized him, and he lies buried at the bottom,—no man knows +where, for no one going down ever comes up again from these waters.</p> + +<p>It was first an artless, genial party of three of us that drank in the +poetry of the scenery around Lake Tahoe. The “elect lady,” whose +presence has ever been an inspiration and encouragement in life’s +blackest, bitterest hours, her best and dearest friend, Miss Torreyson, +and the writer, made up the trio. We were joined by and by with a party +of others kindred in spirit, who entered into all our schemes and +reconnoissances after pleasure.</p> + +<p>Those were memorable six weeks; and now, at this distance of many months +on the road of time, that period of frolic and recuperation gleams as +with the radiance of youth’s happiest sunset scene. How strange that +happy days even never look so charming as when they are mellowed in the +deep past!...</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>During the days we enlivened many a bright morning hour with +boat-riding, fishing, gathering wild-flowers, and such other amusements +as this delightful place afforded. On one of these fishing excursions +one of our party came very near falling into the treacherous waters of +the lake.</p> + +<p>Our favorite resorts, and it is so with all tourists, were Emerald and +Carnelian Bays. The former is a beautiful, land-locked arm of the lake, +walled in by rugged and towering cliffs. The latter is a long, gravelly +beach, where by the hour we have searched for carnelian stones, of which +some of the purest quality are found.</p> + +<p>The mountains and cañons are most delightful points of interest as +places of observation and rest, and often charm by the echoes they throw +back. We were given to song; and many a time summering here, and +travelling over the lake, we united in singing the “Evergreen Mountains +of Life” and “A Thousand Years,” our favorite lake airs; the former +suggested, no doubt, by the towering mountains that surrounded us. The +effect is peculiarly fascinating, as the song rings out over the waters, +in the pure mountain air, and echoing dies away, after many +reverberations of “evergreen mountains of life”—“mountains of +life”—“life”—in some deep cañon. Or “a thousand years, +Columbia,”—“years, Columbia,”—“Columbia,”—the vowels of the last +becoming beautifully distinct in the echoes.</p> + +<p>Nearly south of the head of Lake Tahoe, a distance of perhaps a mile and +a half, is a little lake that bears the name of Fallen Leaf; and then to +the west of this some three miles is Cascade Lake, as charming a little +body of water as ever flashed back the sunlight. Of all the objects of +interest here, none of its kind is more interesting than this delightful +lake, that spreads itself out a half-mile by a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>mile and a half, and +that at an altitude of four or five hundred feet above Tahoe.</p> + +<p>Above this, from the summit of Tallac Mountain, it is positively +asserted <i>seventeen</i> lakes, varying in size, can be seen at one glance +nestled away like a cluster of diamonds in the bosom of the Sierras. All +these lakes abound with the finest of trout, and are surrounded by the +best of game.</p> + +<p>On the east side of Tahoe are Cave Rock and Shakespeare Rock. The former +is a bald precipitous peak, that presses its perpendicular side almost +to the water’s edge, leaving just room enough for the road of the old +overland stage-coach. Under this rock is a cave of small pretensions, +but with the wild scenery, the bald, dizzy height of the cliff, and the +fine view of the lake, it is one of the many frequented places.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare Rock stands back perhaps full half a mile from the landing +at Pray’s Bay, or Glenbrook. It is a perpendicular cliff of well on +towards a thousand feet above the waters of the lake. It has its name +from a well-defined portrait of a man, moss-formed or wind-chiselled, +doubtless, that is seen plainly several hundred feet up the rugged side. +It is said to look very much like the old bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. +But of this we cannot say; we never saw him.</p> + +<p>It was on one of Nature’s brightest days that our trio, lunch-armed, +toiled up its rugged side, the only accessible point, and flung our +handkerchief banners to the breeze from the improvised flag-staff, while +we grew enraptured at the rich perspective from the dizzy height. It +seemed almost like being on “cloud’s rest” as some cloud’s shadow fell +upon us while there.</p> + +<p>Below us lay the bustling, thriving village of Glenbrook, having, +perhaps, well on towards a thousand souls as the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>number of its +inhabitants; increased by tourists, and, of course, largely diminished +in the winter months, when business here “shuts down.” The temperature, +however, is generally fine from the last of April to the first of +November, or even later. It is not unpleasant now, as I write,—the +middle day of January,—to be out boat-riding or rambling by the shore.</p> + +<p>This is the outlet of the entire lake and its surroundings; an immense +traffic in lumber, etc., is carried on. Five saw-mills give life and +activity to the place, as they cut nearly three hundred thousand feet +per day, or more than fifty millions during the business months of the +year. A hotel, store, post-office, with daily mail, and +telegraph-office, add to the convenience of the place. There are six +steamers on the lake that run for pleasure-parties and traffic.</p> + +<p>From the lake one of the most unique railroads ever built runs to the +summit, a distance of nine miles by the route travelled, although the +distance by an air line is but three, while the elevation that it gains +is eight hundred and fifty feet. It climbs the mountain by zigzag +movements, like a letter Z, the engine sometimes hauling its burden, and +sometimes pushing the train. More than a quarter of a million of dollars +were required to build and stock this novel short line. It is a rare +evidence of engineering skill, and certainly is a good illustration of +Western enterprise. It lacks at least a dozen miles of connecting with +any other railroad point, and its engines, rolling-stock, etc., had to +be hauled up the mountain eight thousand feet high.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[To this description of the liquid marvel of California we add +the author’s account of one of its land marvels, a grove of the +“big trees,” the vegetable giants of the world.]</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>The Big Trees, as they are technically called, are of a light, bright +cinnamon color, and have a diameter at the ground of from twenty-five to +forty feet, a height of from three hundred to four hundred and fifty +feet, and a bark that will average one foot and a half in thickness +where it has not been molested. I have seen blocks of bark that would +measure thirty-two inches in thickness, and I have no doubt but some +trees have bark that would average nearly three feet. The texture is +loose and spongy, and when cut transversely it is often worked into +pincushions and such like toys. The wood is light as the cedar, but is +susceptible of a very fine polish. I had a cane made from a piece that I +bought of the guide, and I found it would polish equal to mahogany. The +Mariposa grove is a State park, together with Yosemite Valley, given by +the United States government.</p> + +<p>This grove, “together with the Yosemite Valley with its branches and +spurs, an estimated length of fifteen miles, and in average width one +mile back from the edge of the precipice on each side of the valley, +with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the State shall accept this +grant on the express condition that the premises shall be held for +public use and recreation, and shall be inalienable for all time.” So it +is absolutely impossible to get a bit of bark or piece of wood except +from the guide, who is allowed to gather them from the outskirts of the +grove from a tree that has fallen or one that stands outside of the +prescribed limits.</p> + +<p>There has but one fallen, however, since their discovery, and that was +felled by men’s hands. It was done by immense augers. It took five men +twenty-two days to fell the tree, equal to the services of one man for +<i>one hundred and ten days</i>. Think of that, nearly four months’ work, not +counting any time lost by Sundays, or rainy days, or sickness, to fell +one tree! That tree would have yielded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>more than a thousand cords of +four-foot wood and a hundred cords of bark, more than eleven hundred +cords altogether. On the stump of this tree there is a house—“whose +foundation is sure”—thirty feet in diameter. This house contains room +enough in square feet, if it were the right shape, for a parlor twelve +by sixteen, a dining-room ten by twelve, a kitchen ten by twelve, two +bedrooms ten feet square each, a pantry four by eight feet, two +clothes-presses one and a half feet deep and four feet wide, and still +have a little to spare.</p> + +<p>The foliage of these trees resembles the cedar somewhat. They bear a +cone not more than two inches in length, and a black pitch bitter as +gall. The forests at present have a gloomy appearance, as some time in +the past, no one knows when, the Indians, the better to facilitate their +hunting, burned off the chaparral and rubbish, and, as a matter of +course, disfigured the trees by burning off nearly all the bark.</p> + +<p>The first sight of these monarchs is one of sore disappointment. For you +have travelled many miles where the trees are all large, and here, +surrounded as they are by immense pines, their magnitude is not +appreciated. But their greatness grows very rapidly upon you, so that if +there was at first disappointment, there is now a greater awe. Our first +view of interest was the Fallen Monarch, a ponderous old trunk stretched +out upon the ground for more than two hundred feet, upon which a stage +and four horses could be driven with ease. We had to go a hundred feet +towards the top to climb upon the trunk. The diameter of this tree, +without bark, at the base is twenty-two feet; one hundred feet from the +root it is twelve feet.</p> + +<p>How long this monarch has been sleeping no one pretends to know. The +guide says it is no more decayed now, to all appearances, than it was +when first discovered. The tree of greatest interest is the Grizzly +Giant, which has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>an altitude of more than three hundred feet. The first +thing we did to try its magnitude was to surround it on horseback, +passing around in single file, the head of one horse to the tail of +another. It called into requisition twenty-five horses out of the +twenty-eight in our party to complete the measurement. This is not +considered strictly correct, mathematically speaking, but it indicates +the size of the tree by <i>horse measurement</i>.</p> + +<p>I had prepared myself with a good-sized string, and, with the help of a +friend, made close calculation four feet from the ground, and found it +to be ninety-three feet, giving a diameter of thirty-one feet. This tree +has a limb one hundred feet from the ground that is six feet in +diameter. These trees stand around us in quiet grandeur, but to write of +one is to write of many, hence the reader must not be wearied with a +notice of each. Pluto’s Chimney is a hollow tree, standing upright, into +which several of us rode on horseback. Yonder is another that had fallen +in some past age, and sixty feet or more of it had burned from the root +upward, and then towards the top had burned in two, leaving a +barrel-shaped or hollow part of the trunk some fifty feet in length. +Through this we all rode without any inconvenience. I have understood +that several have ridden abreast through it, which I do not think +improbable.</p> + +<p>This completed our tour among these forest giants. There are two +groves—and, properly speaking, but two—of these <i>Sequoia gigantea</i>, +the Mariposa and Calaveras groves. The first is about twenty miles south +of Yosemite Valley, perhaps a little more, while the latter is some +fifty miles northwest of the valley. Thus it will be seen that they are +not, as many suppose, in the great Yosemite Valley.</p> + +<p>The big trees of California, not of this species, however, are not +confined to these two groves. Many of the noted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>redwood species +(<i>Sequoia sempervirens</i>) used to grow back of Santa Cruz, many of which +are standing yet that were very great in size. We once upon a time, with +five others, rode into one of these during a storm. The butt was hollow, +and large enough to hold at least twelve men on horseback, and was not +less than two hundred and fifty feet in height.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CHINESE_QUARTER_IN_SAN_FRANCISCO" id="THE_CHINESE_QUARTER_IN_SAN_FRANCISCO"></a>THE CHINESE QUARTER IN SAN FRANCISCO.</h2> + +<h3>HELEN HUNT JACKSON.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[We need not tell who Helen Hunt Jackson is. She is well known +to American readers both of verse and prose for her excellent +ability in both these fields of literature. Born in 1831, at +Amherst, Massachusetts, the daughter of Professor N. W. Fiske, +she married first Mr. Hunt, of the United States Engineer +Corps, and after his death a Mr. Jackson. She died in 1885. +From her work entitled “Bits of Travel at Home,” a series of +racy sketches of experience east and west, we extract her +narrative of the odd and amusing things she saw in the Chinese +quarter of San Francisco.]</p></div> + +<p>Sing, Wo & Co. keep one of the most picturesque shops on Jackson Street. +It is neither grocer’s, nor butcher’s, nor fishmonger’s, nor druggist’s; +but a little of all four. It is like most of the shops on Jackson +Street, part cellar, part cellar-stairs, part sidewalk, and part back +bedroom. On the sidewalk are platters of innumerable sorts of little +fishes,—little silvery fishes; little yellow fishes, with whiskers; +little snaky fishes; round flat fishes; little slices of big +fishes,—never too much or too many of any kind. Sparing and thrifty +dealers, as well as sparing and thrifty consumers, are the Celestials. +Round tubs of sprouted beans; platters of square cakes of something +whose consistency was like Dutch cheese, whose color was vivid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>yellow, +like baker’s gingerbread, and whose tops were stamped with mysterious +letters; long roots, as long as the longest parsnips, but glistening +white, like polished turnips; cherries, tied up in stingy little bunches +of ten or twelve, and swung in all the nooks; small bunches of all +conceivable green things, from celery down to timothy grass, tied tight +and wedged into corners, or swung overhead; dried herbs, in dim +recesses; pressed chickens, on shelves (those were the most remarkable +things. They were semi-transparent, thin, skinny, and yellow, and looked +almost more like huge, flattened grasshoppers than like chickens; but +chickens they were, and no mistake),—all these were on the trays, on +the sidewalk, and on the cellar-stairs.</p> + +<p>In the back bedroom were Mrs. Sing and Mrs. Wo, with several little +Sings and Wos. It was too dark to see what they were doing; for the only +light came from the open front of the shop, which seemed to run back +like a cave in a hill. On shelves on the sides were teacups and teapots, +and plates of fantastic shapes and gay colors. Sing and Wo were most +courteous; but their interest centred entirely on sales; and I could +learn but one fact from them in regard to any of their goods. It was +either “Muchee good. Englis man muchee like,” or else, “China man like; +Englis man no like.” Why should I wish to know anything further than +that some articles would be agreeable to “Englis man’s” palate, and +others would not? This must be enough to regulate my purchases. But I +shall always wish I knew how those chickens were fattened and what the +vivid yellow cakes were made of.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Next our traveller looks into the shop of Ty Wing & Co., where +nothing appears but darkness, dust and cobwebs, and two Chinese +women eating something unknown with chopsticks; that of Chick +Kee, a druggist, with feathers and banners without and nothing +but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>old dried roots visible within; and of Tuck Wo, a +restaurant-keeper, where nothing is visible that she has the +courage to taste.]</p></div> + +<p>Moo, On & Co. come next. Their shop is full, crowded full,—bags, +bundles, casks, shelves, piles, bunches of utterly nondescript articles. +It sounds like an absurd exaggeration, but it is literally true, that +the only articles in his shop which I ever saw before are bottles. There +are a few of those; but the purpose, use, or meaning of every other +article is utterly unknown to me. There are things that look like games, +like toys, like lamps, like idols, like utensils of lost trades, like +relics of lost tribes, like—well, like a pawnbroker’s stock, just +brought from some other world. That comes nearest to it.</p> + +<p>Moo, On & Co. have apparently gone back for more. Nobody is in the shop; +the door is wide open. I wait and wait, hoping that some one will come +along who can speak English, and of whom I may ask what this +extraordinary show means. Timidly I touch a fluttering bit, which hangs +outside. It is not paper; it is not cloth; it is not woollen, silk, nor +straw; it is not leather; it is not cobweb; it is not alive; it is not +dead; it crisps and curls at my touch; it waves backward, though no air +blows it. A sort of horror seizes me. It may be a piece of an ancestor +of Moo’s doing ghostly duty at his shop door. I hasten on and half fancy +that it is behind me, as I halt before Dr. Li Po Tai’s door. His +promises to cure, diplomas, and so forth, are printed in gay-colored +strips of labels on each side. Six bright balloons swing overhead; and +peacocks’ feathers are stuck into the balloons. I have heard that Dr. Li +Po Tai is a learned man, and works cures. His balloons are certainly +very brilliant....</p> + +<p>Then comes a corner stand, with glass cases of candy. Almond candy, with +grains of rice thick on the top; little bowls of pickles, pears, and +peppers; platters of odd-shaped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>nuts; and beans baked black as coffee. +As I stand looking curiously at these, a well-dressed Chinaman pauses +before me, and making a gesture with his hand towards the stand, says, +“All muchee good. Buy eat. Muchee good.” Hung Wung, the proprietor, is +kindled to hospitality by this, and repeats the words, “Yaas, muchee +good. Take, eat,” offering me, with the word, the bowl of peppers.</p> + +<p>Next comes a very gay restaurant, the best in the empire. Hang Fee, Low +& Co. keep it, and foreigners go there to drink tea. There is a green +railed balcony across the front, swinging full of high-colored lanterns, +round and square; tablets with Chinese letters on bright grounds are set +in panels on the walls; a huge rhinoceros stands in the centre of the +railing: a tree grows out of the rhinoceros’s back, and an India rubber +man sits at the foot of the tree. China figures and green bushes in +flower-pots are ranged all along the railing. Nowhere except in the +Chinese Empire can there be seen such another gaudy, grotesque house +front. We make an appointment on the spot to take some of Hang Fee’s +tea, on our way to the Chinese Theatre, the next evening, and then we +hurry home....</p> + +<p>After all, we did not take tea at Hang Fee’s on our way to the theatre. +There was not time. As it was, we were late; and when we entered the +orchestra had begun to play. Orchestra! It is necessary to use that +name, I suppose, in speaking of a body of men with instruments, who are +seated on a stage, furnishing what is called music for a theatrical +performance. But it is a term calculated to mislead in this instance. +Fancy one frog-pond, one Sunday-school with pumpkin whistles, one +militia training, and two gongs for supper on a Fall River boat, all at +once, and you will have some faint idea of the indescribable noise which +saluted our ears on entering that theatre. To say <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>that we were deafened +is nothing. The hideous hubbub of din seemed to overlap and transcend +all laws and spheres of sound. It was so loud we could not see; it was +so loud we could not breathe; it was so loud there did not seem to be +any room to sit down! The theatre was small and low and dark. The pit +and greater part of the gallery were filled with Chinamen, all smoking. +One corner of the gallery was set aside for women. That was full, also, +with Chinese women. Every woman’s hair was dressed in the manner I have +described [“drawn back from her forehead, twisted tight from the nape of +the neck to the crown of the head, stiffened with glue, glistening with +oil, and made into four huge double wings, which stood out beyond her +ears on either side. It looked a little like two gigantic black satin +bats, pinned to the back of her head, or still more like a windmill gone +into mourning.”] The bat-like flaps projected so far on each side of +each head that each woman seemed almost to be joined to her neighbors by +a cartilaginous band; and, as they sat almost motionless, this effect +was heightened.</p> + +<p>The stage had no pretence of secrecy. It was hung with gay banners and +mysterious labels. Tall plumes of peacock’s feathers in the corners and +some irregularly placed chairs were all the furniture. The orchestra sat +in chairs at the back of the stage. Some of them smoked in the +intervals, some drank tea. A little boy who drummed went out when he +felt like it; and the fellow with the biggest gong had evidently no plan +of operations at all except to gong as long as his arms could bear it, +then rest a minute, then gong again.</p> + +<p>“Oh, well,” said we, as we wedged and squeezed through the narrow +passage-way which led to our box, “it will only last a few minutes. We +shall not entirely lose our hearing.” Fatal delusion. It never stopped. +The actors came out; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>the play began; the play went on; still the +hideous hubbub of din continued, and was made unspeakably more hideous +by the voices of the actors, which were raised to the shrillest falsetto +to surmount the noise, and which sounded like nothing in nature except +the voices of frantic cats....</p> + +<p>At first, in spite of the deafening loudness of the din, it is ludicrous +beyond conception. To see the superbly dressed Chinese creatures,—every +one of them as perfectly and exquisitely dressed as the finest figures +on their satin fans or rice-paper pictures, and looking exactly like +them,—to see these creatures strutting and sailing and sweeping and +bowing and bending, beating their breasts and tearing their beards, +gesticulating and rushing about in an utterly incomprehensible play, +with caterwauling screams issuing from their mouths, is for a few +minutes so droll that you laugh till tears run, and think you will go to +the Chinese Theatre every night as long as you stay in San Francisco. I +said so to the friend who had politely gone with me. He had been to the +performance before. He smiled pityingly, and yawned behind his hand. At +the end of half an hour, I whispered, “Twice a week will do.” In fifteen +minutes more, I said, “I think we will go out now. I can’t endure this +racket another minute. But, nevertheless, I shall come once more, with +an interpreter. I must and will know what all this mummery means.”</p> + +<p>The friend smiled again incredulously. But we did go again, with an +interpreter; and the drollest thing of all was to find out how very +little all the caterwauling and rushing and bending and bawling and +sweeping and strutting really meant. The difficulty of getting an +interpreter was another interesting feature in the occasion. A lady, who +had formerly been a missionary in China, had promised to go with us; +and, as even she was not sure of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>being able to understand Chinese +caterwauled, she proposed to take one of the boys from the missionary +school, to interpret to her before she interpreted to us. So we drove to +the school. Mrs. —— went in. The time seemed very long that we waited. +At last she came back, looking both amused and vexed, to report that not +one of those intelligent Christian Chinese would leave his studies that +evening to go to the theatre.</p> + +<p>“I suppose it is an old story to them,” said I.</p> + +<p>“Not at all,” said she. “On the contrary, hardly a boy there has been +inside the theatre. But they cannot bear to lose a minute from their +lessons. Mr. Loomis really urged some of them; but it was of no use.”</p> + +<p>In a grocery store on Kearny Street, however, we found a clever young +man, less absorbed in learning; and he went with us as interpreter. +Again the same hideous din; the same clouds of smoke; the same hubbub of +caterwauling. But the <i>dramatis personæ</i> were few. Luckily for us, our +first lesson in the Chinese drama was to be a simple one. And here I +pause, considering whether my account of the play will be believed. This +is the traveller’s great perplexity. The incredible things are always +the only things worth telling; but is it best to tell them?</p> + +<p>The actors in this play were three,—a lady of rank, her son, and her +man cook. The play opened with a soliloquy by the lady. She is sitting +alone, sewing. Her husband has gone to America; he did not bid her +farewell. Her only son is at school. She is sad and lonely. She weeps.</p> + +<p>Enter boy. He asks if dinner is ready.</p> + +<p>Enter cook. Cook says it is not time. Boy says he wants dinner. Cook +says he shall not have it. This takes fifteen minutes.</p> + +<p>Mother examines boy on his lessons. Boy does not know them; tries to +peep. Mother reproves; makes boy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>kneel; prepares to whip; whips. Mother +weeps; boy catches flies on the floor; bites her finger.</p> + +<p>Enter cook to see what the noise means. Cook takes boy to task. Boy +stops his ears. Cook bawls. Cook kneels to lady; reproves her also; +tells her she must keep her own temper, if she would train her boy.</p> + +<p>Lady sulks, naturally. Boy slips behind and cuts her work out of her +embroidery frame. Cook attacks boy. Cook sings a lament, and goes out to +attend to dinner; but returns in frantic distress. During his absence +everything has boiled over; everything has been burned to a crisp. +Dinner is ruined. Cook now reconciles mother and son; drags son to his +knees; makes him repeat words of supplication. While he does this cook +turns his back to the audience, takes off his beard carefully, lays it +on the floor, while he drinks a cupful of tea.</p> + +<p>This is all, literally all. It took an hour and a half. The audience +listened with intensest interest. The gesticulations, the expressions of +face, the tones of the actors, all conveyed the idea of the deepest +tragedy. Except for our interpreter, I should have taken the cook for a +soothsayer, priest, a highwayman and murderer, alternately. I should +have supposed that all the dangers, hopes, fears, delights possible in +the lives of three human beings were going on on that stage. Now we saw +how very far-fetched and preposterous had probably been our theories of +the play we had seen before, we having constructed a most brilliant plot +from our interpretation of the pantomime.</p> + +<p>After this domestic drama came a fierce spectacular play, too absurd to +be described, in which nations went to war because a king’s monkey had +been killed. And the kings and their armies marched in at one door and +out at the other, sat on gilt thrones, fought with gilt swords, tumbled +each other head over heels with as much vigor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>and just as much art as +small boys play the battle of Bunker Hill with the nursery chairs on a +rainy day. But the dresses of these warlike monarchs were gorgeous and +fantastic beyond description. Long, gay-colored robes, blazoned and +blazing with gold and silver embroidery; small flags, two on each side, +stuck in at their shoulders, and projecting behind; helmets, square +breastplates of shining stones, and such decorations with feathers as +pass belief. Several of them had behind each ear a long, slender +bird-of-Paradise feather. These feathers reached out at least three feet +behind, and curved and swayed with each step the man took. When three or +four of these were on the stage together, marching and countermarching, +wrestling, fighting, and tumbling, why these tail feathers did not +break, did not become entangled with each other, no mortal can divine. +Others had huge wings of silver filigree-work behind their ears. These +also swayed and flapped at each step.</p> + +<p>Sometimes there would be forty or fifty of these nondescript creatures +on the stage at once, running, gesticulating, attacking, retreating, +howling, bowing, bending, tripping each other up, stalking, strutting, +and all the while caterwauling, and all the time the drums beating, the +gongs ringing, and the stringed instruments and the castanets and the +fifes playing. It was dazzling as a gigantic kaleidoscope and deafening +as a cotton-mill. After the plays came wonderful tumbling and +somersaulting. To see such gymnastic feats performed by men in long +damask nightgowns and with wide trousers is uncommonly droll. This is +really the best thing at the Chinese Theatre,—the only thing, in fact, +which is not incomprehensibly childish.</p> + +<p>My last glimpse at the Chinese Empire was in Mr. Loomis’s Sunday-school. +I had curiosity to see the faces of the boys who had refused our +invitation to the theatre. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>As soon as I entered the room I was asked to +take charge of a class. In vain I demurred and refused.</p> + +<p>“You surely can hear them read a chapter in the New Testament.”</p> + +<p>It seemed inhuman as well as unchristian to refuse, for there were +several classes without teachers, many good San Franciscans having gone +into the country. There were the eager yellow faces watching for my +reply. So I sat down in a pew with three Chinese young men on my right +hand, two on my left, and four in the pew in front, all with English and +Chinese Testaments in their hands. The lesson for the day was the +fifteenth chapter of Matthew. They read slowly, but with greater +accuracy of emphasis and pronunciation than I expected. Their patience +and eagerness in trying to correct a mispronunciation were touching. At +last came the end of the chapter.</p> + +<p>“Now do you go on to the next chapter?” said I.</p> + +<p>“No. Arx-play-in,” said the brightest of the boys. “You arx-play-in what +we rade to you.”</p> + +<p>I wished the floor of that Sunday-school chapel would open and swallow +me up. To expound the fifteenth of Matthew at all; above all, to expound +it in English which those poor souls could understand! In despair I +glanced at the clock: it lacked thirty minutes of the end of school; at +the other teachers: they were all glibly responding. Guiltily I said, +“Very well. Begin and read the chapter over again, very slowly; and when +you come to any word you do not understand, tell me, and I will try to +explain it to you.”</p> + +<p>Their countenances fell. This was not the way they had usually been +taught. But with the meekness of a down-trodden people they obeyed. It +worked even better than I had hoped. Poor souls! they probably did not +understand enough to select the words which perplexed them. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>They +trudged patiently through their verses again without question. But my +Charybdis was near. The sixth verse came to the brightest boy. As he +read, “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your +tradition,” he paused after the word tradition. I trembled.</p> + +<p>“Arx-play-in trardition,” he said.</p> + +<p>“What?” said I, feebly, to gain a second’s more of time. “What word did +you say?”</p> + +<p>“Trardition,” he persisted. “What are trardition? Arx-play-in.”</p> + +<p>What I said I do not know. Probably I should not tell if I did. But I am +very sure that never in all my life have I found myself, and never in +all the rest of my life shall I find myself, in so utterly desperate a +dilemma as I was then, with those patient, earnest, oblique eyes fixed +on me, and the gentle Chinese voice reiterating, “What are trardition?”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="MARIPOSA_GROVE_AND_YOSEMITE_VALLEY" id="MARIPOSA_GROVE_AND_YOSEMITE_VALLEY"></a>MARIPOSA GROVE AND YOSEMITE VALLEY.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES LORING BRACE.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Our sketches of travel in America will not be complete without +descriptive narratives relating to its great natural wonders, +of which the United States possesses more examples than any +other country on the globe. The present selection, therefore, +from Brace’s “The New West, or California in 1867-68,” is +devoted to a brief account of the monster trees of that State +and the scenic marvels of the Yosemite Valley.]</p></div> + +<p>The great pleasure of the American continent will hereafter be the +journey to the Yosemite. There is no one object of nature in the world, +except Niagara, to equal it in attraction. Whenever the Pacific road +brings the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>coasts within a fortnight of each other, innumerable +parties will be made up to visit it. I have been tolerably familiar, by +foot-journeys, with Switzerland, Tyrol, and Norway, and I can truly say +that no one scene in those grand regions can compare equally, in all its +combinations, with the wonderful Cañon of the Yosemite. It is a matter +of congratulation, also, to me, that I saw it before any road, or coach, +or rail-car had approached it. It ought not to be visited otherwise than +as our party journeyed to it,—on horses winding in picturesque train +over velvety trails, beneath the gigantic pines of the Sierras....</p> + +<p>Among all my many travelling experiences in various countries, I do not +think I can ever forget the romance and the delicious beauty of that +first night’s ride towards the Yosemite. The trail was barely wide +enough for two to ride abreast, winding under majestic pines, over +mountains, and down wide, deep dells, each step of the horses springing +elastic from soft pine-leaves. The sun soon set, and a magnificent moon +arose, giving us at one time a broad belt of light over the path, and +then leaving us to descend into a mysterious gulf of darkness, and then +casting strange shadows and half-lights through the pine-branches over +our procession of riders. As we penetrated farther into the forest we +began to wind about beneath trees such as few of us had ever seen,—the +superb sugar-pine, perhaps the most perfect tree in nature, here +starting with a diameter of from seven to twelve feet, and mounting up +with most symmetrical branches to the height say of Trinity Church spire +(two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty feet); on the ends of +its branches cones hanging a foot long. Sometimes we came forth from the +forest for a few moments, and had grand glimpses of great mountain +valleys, only partly revealed in the glorious moonlight. Most of the +party were old travellers, and were rather impervious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>to sensations, +but we all agreed that this was a new one, and gave a most promising +augury of the Yosemite excursion. After fourteen miles—an easy ride—we +all reached Clark’s Ranch at a late hour, ready for supper and bed.</p> + +<p>[The next morning] we started at not too early an hour for a forest-ride +to the Trees, Mr. Clark kindly guiding us. What may be called the avenue +to these hoary monuments of antiquity lies through a gigantic forest of +sugar-pines, themselves some two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet +high; so that when you reach the mighty towers of vegetation you lose a +little the sense of their vast height. I searched curiously as we rode +through the forest for the conditions which should produce such monsters +of growth. It must be remembered that the <i>Sequoia gigantea</i> is not +found merely here, or at Calaveras and its neighborhood. There appears +to be a belt of them running along the slope of the Sierras, about four +thousand and five thousand feet above the sea-level, and as far south as +Visalia. They are so plentiful near that place as to be sawed for +lumber, though what so light a wood could be used for I can hardly +think. In the neighborhood of the latter place the Indians report a +tree, far in the forest, surpassing in grandeur anything ever seen; but +thus far no white man has ever cast eyes on it. It is a mistake, too, to +suppose the race wearing out. I saw, both here and in Calaveras, young +giant <i>Sequoiæ</i>, beginning patiently their thousand years of growth with +all the vigor of their grand ancestors; some of but four hundred years, +mere youths, were growing splendidly. There are fewer young trees here +than in Calaveras, because fire or some other cause has swept among the +underbrush of all trees, and must have destroyed many of these burly +saplings.</p> + +<p>The Sequoia grows on mountain-slopes, where the slow wash of water, +through ages, brings down minute particles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>of fertilizing rocks, and +the decayed vegetation of countless centuries, with the moisture of +eternal springs, water and feed its roots. It enjoys a sun of the +tropics without a cloud for six months, and has the balmy air of the +Pacific, with incessant and gentle moisture, and a warm covering of snow +for its winter. Beneath its roots, the ground never freezes. As has been +well said, “It has nothing to do but grow;” and so with all the +favorable conditions that nature can offer—air and sun and moisture—it +pumps up its food from the everlasting hills, and builds up its slow, +vegetable-like substance during century after century into a gigantic, +symmetrical, and venerable pile, while nations begin and pass away +beneath its shadow.</p> + +<p>Think of lying under a tree beneath which the contemporary of Attila or +Constantine might have rested, and which shall defy the storm, perhaps, +when the present political divisions of the world are utterly passed +away, and the names of Washington and Lincoln are among the heroes of a +vague past.</p> + +<p>But how to give an impression of its size! If my readers will imagine a +Sequoia placed beside Trinity Church, he must conceive it filling up one +of our largest dwelling-houses, say a diameter of thirty feet, with a +circumference of ninety feet; the bark of this gigantic trunk will be +light, porous, and reddish in color, with many scars upon it of fire +(its great enemy); then, perhaps, at the height of the Trinity belfry +(say one hundred feet), two opposing huge branches will protrude, it may +be, themselves, of the size of large trees (say eight feet in diameter); +these will be twisted and much broken; above them will come forth other +heavy branches, which show the marks and blows of the storms of a +thousand years or more, for the giant, so far above his fellows, meets a +continual battering from the gales of the mountains.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p><p>There is no symmetry in his top, or delicacy and grace in his outline; +he has battled and struggled with the storm for too many centuries to +preserve an artistic appearance. He looks the giant of the forest, +broad-rooted and strong-limbed, rough and weather-beaten, but defying +snow and frost and hurricane for thousands of years, and still +sheltering bird and beast and cattle beneath his grand shadow....</p> + +<p>We visited one big tree in Calaveras which had been blown over two years +before. The enormous weight which each tree carries makes it more +difficult to bear the gales, as it overtops the forest. Perhaps any +ordinary wood, such as oak or maple, would increase the specific +gravity, so that at three hundred feet high the leverage on the roots +would be too great to bear any strain of a gale; but this wood is almost +like cork,—lighter than any wood on the Eastern coast. The fall of this +mighty tower, they say, was heard for miles around, and made the earth +tremble. Where it fell it has buried its top deep in the ground, so that +there is quite a ravine made by the blow in the earth. You strike the +trunk where it is still a large tree, and then walk upon it some two +hundred feet towards the roots. When you reach the roots you are upon a +height equal to the roof of a moderate-sized house, and a fall from the +trunk would be dangerous. You descend by a ladder.</p> + +<p>If I recollect rightly, there were three hundred and sixty-five trees in +this Mariposa Grove. I measured one trunk, broken off at the top, where +it was a foot in diameter, which was about two hundred and ninety feet +in length, and estimating thirty feet as the length of the part broken +off, it must have been some three hundred and twenty feet high. We +lunched near a “camp” of the Geological Survey, in the heart of the +grove, lying on our backs beneath the gigantic canopies, and feeling +like pigmies at the feet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>of these giants. The younger trees were often +wreathed with a strange, yellow, hanging moss. Our ladies were deeply +interested in a remarkable flower which grew beneath the snow, a few +patches of which still remained here in June. It was a blood-red flower +of a fleshy-like substance, like the Pyrola, or “Dutchman’s pipe,” +growing somewhat like a garden hyacinth. Its stems were clustered, from +six to ten inches high, with long, erect scales, broader below and +gradually narrower, and finally becoming bracts. The flowers were +numerous, and occupied the upper half of the stem. It is the <i>Sarcodes +sanguinea</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Leaving the Big Tree grove, the travellers made a farther ride +of twenty-five miles through the Sierras to the Yosemite, the +first view of which impressed them deeply.]</p></div> + +<p>No aspect of nature I have ever looked upon, no sight of the desolate +ocean, heaving and lashing in mighty surges beneath wintry storm, or +sudden view of Alpine snow-peaks through rifts of black thunder-clouds, +or glimpses of Norwegian coast-glaciers through the lulls of an Arctic +gale, or even Niagara itself, was so full of the inspiration of awe as +this first opening view of the Yosemite Cañon. All other scenes of +grandeur and beauty must fade away in my memory when this vision is +forgotten. Before the mighty powers which had shaped this tremendous +gorge, and in presence of this scene of unspeakable and indescribable +beauty and majesty, man and his works seemed to sink away to +nothingness.... I almost felt as if I had known nothing of the cañon +before, so surprising were the effects of coloring and shadow. It must +be remembered we had struck the gorge on one of its lateral walls, say +about four miles from its western end. There is no approach to it from +below up the stream. As we lay on the edge of the cliff we gazed up a +narrow green valley perfectly flat, from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>a mile to half a mile wide, +and winding, some six miles above, between enormous cliffs and +precipices, a small, bright, sparkling stream in the middle, fringed +with green grass or forest-trees. The wall, over the edge of which we +were looking, was nearly three-quarters of a mile high, and far below, +the oaks and willows and poplars and pines in the green intervale looked +like little shrubs. On the other side, a short distance beyond, was the +grand bluff of El Capitan, a sheer precipice of nearly four thousand +feet, its light granite pile, in the evening light, the most majestic +cliff that human eye has looked upon, beyond were other bluffs and +precipices, pearly gray and purplish-white, with green fringes below, +and dark archways or fantastic figures traced by shadows on their +surface. There were buttresses, as of gigantic cathedrals, and archways +such as might support hills of granite, and domes where a mountain was +the substructure, and half domes, and peaks whose regular succession has +given them the name of “Brothers,”—all varying in color and shadow, +incessantly, with the receding light; some with the delicious cool gray +of the rock color, some white, with a reddish shade; others faint +purple; others resplendent in pink and brilliant purple; while over +their edges, giving a joyous life to the scene, rushed sparkling silver +streams, in innumerable waterfalls, dashing into the green valley +below.... But the scene was changing. Over the valley, the heavy shadow +of El Capitan continually increased its gigantic breadth of shade; +beyond him the “Arches,” which, to be seen at that distance, must be a +thousand feet in height, grew each instant more strongly marked, but +still farther beyond to the east the North Dome and the Half Dome were +golden and purple in the evening light, and yet beyond the still white +peaks of the Sierras towered above in the pale blue.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><p>On our side of the vast gorge the foot of the various precipices and +cliffs was covered with detritus, making, near the bottom, a +considerable slope, on which grew many evergreen trees.</p> + +<p>On the other side there was one line of massive rock, which fell +apparently plumb, without a break or curve, for nearly four thousand +feet, and at its base, so hard was the material, there seemed no recent +detritus at all. One could evidently touch the very bottom of the +immense fall of rock....</p> + +<p>The form of the cañon is unique, nothing in Europe resembling it: the +immense vertical walls rising so abruptly from the green vale; the +peaks, too, which surround it, being original, even in the Sierras; the +immense, inaccessible, concentric masses of granite,—domes, or +half-domes, as if melted in some gigantic mould, and then, when cooled, +left standing in the air.</p> + +<p>One of the grandest and most beautiful objects in the valley was +directly opposite our hotel, and its music never ceased, day or +night,—the Yosemite Fall. The stream which bears this name heads about +ten miles away, and then flows down, almost directly over the mighty +precipice, into the valley below,—a depth of two thousand five hundred +and fifty feet. At this time it is about thirty-five feet wide by two or +three deep. The fall has almost the appearance of one grand shoot of +water, but it has, in reality, three divisions: the first is a descent +of fifteen hundred feet on a ledge (as it seems), though it is, in fact, +a shelf of rock, a third of a mile broad; then follow a series of +cascades for six hundred and twenty-five feet, and a final leap of four +hundred. There is water enough now to give a bright, foaming, grand +sweep of the whole cataract. It is certainly one of the most beautiful +objects the human eye can ever gaze upon! We never wearied of riding +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>out over the green meadows and gay, wild flowers to get some new aspect +of it.</p> + +<p>The only fall to compare it with, that I have ever seen, is the Vöring +Foss, in Norway. This is a fall of nine hundred and fifty feet, but the +water is so scanty that it is all resolved into wreaths of mist before +it reaches the bottom; and it makes but little impression on the mind, +compared with the Yosemite Fall. It is, moreover, confined in a narrow, +dark gorge, and must be seen usually from above. In seeing the +Californian fall, I did not even think of the Norwegian.</p> + +<p>The amount of water, at this season, adds immensely to the cheerfulness +and life of the valley; but it also occasioned us a great deal of +trouble in getting round. We were mired several times, and twice one of +our ladies was thrown on the soft greensward.</p> + +<p>But the scampering gallops through the groves under these grand scenes, +and the quiet amblings amid such beauty and sublimity, were pleasures +which nothing marred. In our rides down the cañon, we were struck by the +grand mass of the Sentinel Dome, four thousand one hundred and fifty +feet above the valley, and said to give the finest point of view in the +whole region round; the valley itself, it must be remembered, being over +four thousand feet above the sea-level. Then three-quarters of a mile +beyond is the majestic buttress of the Sentinel Rock, three thousand +feet high, of which a thousand feet is a smooth obelisk; opposite to +this are the Three Brothers, the highest three thousand eight hundred +and thirty feet, and each regularly lower than the next.</p> + +<p><a name="illo5" id="illo5"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 369px;"> +<img src="images/i108.jpg" class="illogap" width="369" height="500" alt="RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA" title="" /> +<span class="caption">RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA</span> +</div> + +<p>Then comes the Cathedral Rock, two thousand six hundred and sixty feet, +with two perfect spires, the most picturesque object in the valley; then +the exquisite Pohono, or Bridal Veil, a flashing fall of a thousand feet +swaying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>like a silvery plume in the mountain breezes, and the grand feature of +the gorge, of which I have so often spoken, El Capitan, three thousand +six hundred feet.</p> + +<p>To the east of the hotel, about two miles above the falls, the valley +ends and divides into three cañons, each containing scenery as +remarkable as those of the main gorge. The northwest cañon is the Tinaya +Fork; here we have the Half Dome, a majestic inaccessible crest of +concentric granite, four thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven feet +above the valley, with a vertical face where the half sphere split off +of two thousand feet in height; the North Dome, a rounded mass, three +thousand five hundred and sixty-eight feet, and easy to ascend from the +north. In this fork is the exquisite Tisayic Lake, on which the morning +reflections are so beautifully given.</p> + +<p>The middle cañon, that of the Merced River, is the most important one of +the three. No ravine scenery in Europe equals this wild and +extraordinary gorge. The river, which at this season has a tremendous +body of water, descends through a wild ravine of two miles, nineteen +hundred and eighty feet. The path winds along over a series of wild +falls and rapids, till a cloud and gale of mist and wet cover it, +through which we reach a dry place at the foot of a magnificent fall, +four hundred and seventy-five feet high,—the Vernal. Then ladders are +ascended up the face of the cliff, and we rest on the dry, sunny ledge +over the boiling and whirling cataract. Still another scramble for a +mile, and we find ourselves blinded, gasping, in the breath of the +furious cataract above. We are all clad in India-rubber coats (furnished +by a guide), and drip with water, and work up, inch by inch, stooping, +as against a violent current. The gale takes away our breaths, and we +have every now and then to catch a breath; there is nothing visible +ahead but clouds of mist and driving swirls <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>of rain, with a roar +filling the air, which prevents all voices from being heard. We are +helping the ladies on with the utmost difficulty, but at last all +reluctantly give out and turn back; but I cannot bear to give up the +view; and after groping in the furious storm and mist, I at length find +a side path through the chaparral, and soon reach a dry ledge beneath +the superb Nevada Fall,—a majestic sweep of thundering water, six +hundred and thirty-nine feet in height, more grand than any waterfall in +the valley, because of the volume of water. There is a peculiar twist in +the upper portion of it, which adds to its picturesque effect. On the +other side rises a most remarkable peak of granite, solitary and +inaccessible,—Mount Broderick, some two thousand feet. The scene as I +stood there alone beneath this sublime sweep of waters, and amid those +mighty mountain-cliffs, can never be forgotten.</p> + +<p>The South Fork I did not visit, but the photographs show that it +possesses scenery as romantic as the other branches of the cañon. It is +interesting to notice that these enormous waterfalls in the Merced Cañon +have scarcely an indentation on this most hard rock,—a fact probably +indicating that they have not existed a great length of time. The +comparative absence of detritus in the upper part of the main valley +would seem to show the action of water and ice, pressing the débris into +the lower portion, where more of it is found. There are, too (as was +discovered by Mr. King), something which may be called lateral moraines, +and perhaps a terminal moraine in the middle of the cañon, so that it +seems not improbable, though there is no absolute evidence, that in a +comparatively recent period glaciers existed in the upper part, and a +lake in the body of the Yosemite Cañon, the descent of the whole valley, +it must be remembered, being only fifty feet during some eight miles.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="A_SPORTSMANS_EXPERIENCE_IN_MEXICO" id="A_SPORTSMANS_EXPERIENCE_IN_MEXICO"></a>A SPORTSMAN’S EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO.</h2> + +<h3>SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Major Price, whose hunting adventures seem to have extended +from Terra del Fuego to the northern boundary of the United +States, gives us, in his “Sport and Travel; or, The Two +Americas,” a record full of incident and observation. From his +greatly varied hunting experience we select a description of +the pursuit of game in the vicinity of Acupulco, Mexico, which +is of interest as showing the conditions of animal and +vegetable life in that region.]</p></div> + +<p>The day after our arrival, H—— and myself, getting mules and a guide, +started for Pira de la Questa, a small Indian village about twelve miles +from Acupulco, and situated near the extremity of a large lagoon, some +thirty miles in circumference, which we were informed was full of wild +fowl. Over many a rough road and in many lands have I ridden, but never +did I travel a highway like unto this. The path ran over the mountains +through a thick forest, and more resembled the bed of a water-course +than an actually connected route. Nothing but mules, whose cat-like +propensities enable them to overcome apparently insurmountable +difficulties, could possibly have done the journey. In places the path +was so narrow that two of these animals were unable to pass abreast, so +that one would be obliged to go back into a convenient corner, or +scramble up a bank, to permit the other to go by.</p> + +<p>The forest was dense, but, as it was just prior to the rains, almost +leafless, everything being burned and parched up except in the valleys +and bottoms of ravines, where running water rendered the vegetation +luxuriant and flourishing. This absence of foliage, though detracting +considerably <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>from the beauty of the forest, permitted us to view all +the better its feathered denizens, and in few tropical countries have I +seen such lovely birds, or in such numbers as out here. To classify or +name them would require a man to be a perambulating encyclopædia of +natural history; but among them all I was most struck with the number of +specimens of the woodpecker class, several of which were very beautiful. +One in particular with a blood-red topknot, which glittered vividly in +the sun, I envied much for my fishing-book, and regretted the guide had +my gun in his possession nearly a mile behind.</p> + +<p>As the sun was setting we entered the village, which consisted of a few +mud huts with sideless roofs, and halting before one of them, was +informed by the guide that it was to be our quarters for the night. It +was simply a roof of palm-leaves over a mud floor, there being no kind +of wall or even screen, and it formed the universal dormitory of men, +women, and children, pigs and poultry, at the principal hotel—the +Claridge’s, in fact—of Pira la Questa. Leaving the proprietress and her +numerous progeny engaged in hunting down an active-looking fowl for our +evening repast, we rode to the lagoon, and giving the guide our mules to +hold, shot a few of the curious-looking aquatic birds, which he +pronounced to be “buéno,” or good for eating, that were feeding round +the banks. It was rapidly getting dark, and seeing at a distance some +birds that I took to be duck, I noiselessly crept down on them. To do so +I had to pass over a small spot of white sand, concealed, until I was on +it, by a clump of bushes.</p> + +<p>While still silently watching the birds I saw something move a little to +my right, and on turning round discovered a huge alligator, whom I had +almost cut off from the lake. The bushes had hidden us until absolutely +face to face, and he came by me with his teeth grinning and tail half +cocked, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>in the most unamiable frame of mind I ever saw in one of his +tribe. Without intending it, I had very nearly cut him off from his +native element; and though naturally a cowardly brute, feeling himself +to a certain degree cornered, he had evidently made up his mind to +fight. Not being prepared, with only small shot in my gun, for a duel +with the reptile, I stopped short and gave him right of way, and, as he +cleared me at about two yards, let him have both barrels behind the +shoulder to expedite his movements, and had the satisfaction of seeing +him give a jump into the water that would have done credit to a +performer for the Grand National.</p> + +<p>They are cowardly brutes, and though I have been frequently in parts of +the world they inhabit, I have never yet heard of an instance of a man +being attacked by one on land. In the water it is different. A boy had, +while bathing, been taken down some months since close to this very +spot; and from what I saw of the lagoon next morning, I would not have +ventured a swim there for untold gold. Had I been a little quicker, and +unintentionally barred this fellow’s way to the lake, I am quite certain +he would have attacked me, as he must have passed somehow. These +creatures never take to the jungle, and, like a rat driven into a +corner, he would have been obliged to fight.</p> + +<p>On returning to the village we found our dinner nearly ready; bread and +liquor we had brought with us, but the hunted fowl, new-laid eggs, and +hot tortillas formed no bad meal for travellers sharp set by a mountain +ride. After feeding, we visited some of the principal houses in the +village, chaffed some of the good-humored and pretty little Indian +girls, and arranged about a canoe for the following morning. We then +slung our grass hammocks among the miscellaneous company and wooed the +drowsy god of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>slumber, our guide slinging his hammock up between us, +and sleeping with his machete buckled around him, ready for attack or +defence at a moment’s notice.</p> + +<p>The machete is the invariable companion of the poorer and middle classes +of Mexicans, and the multiplicity of uses to which it is dedicated are +something wonderful to the uninitiated. With it he clears the tangled +paths in the forest; it helps to build his hut, to cut his firewood, and +eat his dinner; he uses it for purposes of warfare, and too frequently +also for purposes of assassination. The blade is broad, slightly curved, +a little shorter than an infantry officer’s regulation sword, and about +twice as heavy. The handle is generally made of wood, the scabbard +leather, and the edge invariably as keen as a razor. Occasionally the +blades are ornamented with gold or silver, but the ordinary machete is +perfectly plain.</p> + +<p>Next morning we were up before daylight, and hastened to the banks of +the lagoon, where according to agreement we should have found our canoe. +None was forthcoming, however, and not until the sun broke fiercely on +our heads and our patience was completely exhausted did our guide +prevail on the man who was to have provided it to go in search of +another. After a still further considerable delay, at last he arrived, +but with a rickety conveyance that would only hold one gun besides the +paddler; and H——taking the canoe, I walked along the edge, and our +shooting commenced.</p> + +<p>The place was full of all kinds of odd-looking waterfowl. Geese, duck, +teal, pelicans, flamingo, and spoonbills were in hundreds, and many +kinds of waders unknown to me; in fact, such an extraordinary variety of +fresh-water birds I had never seen together before. The ducks were +particularly handsome, having bright bronze breasts, which shone like +burnished metal in the sun. Of teal I shot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>several varieties, many of +them with exceedingly beautiful and brilliant plumage; but I think among +the queer ones I killed there were none more beautiful in plumage than +the spoonbill; for though his singular and uncouth beak did not improve +his countenance, he had the most lovely and delicate tinge of rose-color +through his white feathers it is possible to conceive. We had him for +dinner two days afterwards, and found him excellent.</p> + +<p>Not knowing a quarter of the birds that got up, and many being fishy and +unfit for food, whenever one rose the guide would cry either “Buéno” or +“No buéno,” as it happened to be fit or unfit for culinary purposes; and +so on for nine miles along the banks, sometimes through mud, at others +through sand, and at others through jungle or water, did I plod along, +taking whatever was termed “buéno,” and occasionally peppering an +obtrusive alligator when he came anything inside twelve yards.</p> + +<p>The heat was intense, and, to add to the discomfort of walking, the +paths through the jungle and mangrove swamps occasionally bordered the +edges of the lake, and were so thickly crossed by cobwebs that they were +perpetually knocking off my hat, getting in my mouth and eyes, and at +times almost impeded my progress. I never saw anything like them. +Occasionally large forest-trees were entirely covered from top to +bottom, and so thickly shrouded that not a leaf or twig could be seen +through its unnatural-looking winding-sheet. The lagoon seemed full of +fish, which were jumping in shoals all over it; but not once during the +day did we see a single bird settle on its surface; and from the number +of alligators swimming about, I think they showed their wisdom.</p> + +<p>It was capital sport, but precious hard work also, and I was just about +“played out,” when we reached a “ranche,” where, after a pull of cold +water that must have somewhat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>alarmed my constitution, I tumbled into a +grass hammock, uncommonly glad to get out of the burning sun.</p> + +<p>A pleasant-featured young Mexican woman, with a dark-eyed, good-looking +sister, soon despatched between them one of the many chickens running +about the house; and while the <i>cazuela</i> was preparing they very +good-naturedly washed out my shirt, lending me, <i>ad interim</i>, some +embroidered garment of their own. The rest of my clothes were hung up to +dry, every stitch on me being thoroughly saturated. H—— and the canoe +soon after arrived, and how we did enjoy the homely but excellent fare +our hostess put before us! Then came pipes and a siesta, and a couple of +hours’ rest saw us fit to return. H—— had got enough of it, and, +borrowing a horse, rode back to the village. I returned in the canoe, +and got a good many shots <i>en route</i>. Our bag was a mixed one, and +consisted of the birds I have already mentioned, with several others +whose names we did not know, and four rabbits. Wild duck and teal +predominated, and the guides could hardly stagger from the canoe to the +houses with our united bag.</p> + +<p>The sun was fast setting as we left Pira la Questa on our return +journey, and ere we reached the mountain-top it was quite dark. Unable +to see a yard before us, but knowing we must go on, I threw the reins on +my mule’s neck, and, lighting a pipe, resigned myself implicitly to his +sagacity, not only to find the path, but to avoid the obstacles which at +every step lay before him. My confidence was not misplaced. With nose +almost touching the ground, he seemed to smell his way along, and not +once during our long ride did he deviate for a second from the proper +track, or make a single false step or stumble. The sounds and strange +cries during the dark stillness of the night were very remarkable. +Whether caused by bird or insect I could not tell; but one in +particular, resembling the prolonged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>whistle of a locomotive +steam-engine, was frequently of more than a minute’s duration without +ceasing, and of such volume and intensity that unless I had been aware +of the utter impossibility of a train being within hundreds of miles, I +would have almost sworn to so familiar a sound. The lights of Acupulco +at last came in sight, and our animals soon after deposited us safely, +after a somewhat trying but very agreeable trip....</p> + +<p>On the 10th of May we left Acupulco and steamed quietly along the +Mexican coast in sight of land until we reached Manzanillo Bay, on the +southeast part of which are situated the few wretched huts that +constitute the village. The harbor is well protected from southerly +winds, but not from those directly from the westward. Behind the +village, and only a few hundred yards from the sea-beach, is a large +shallow lagoon which runs nearly forty miles into the interior, and at +the end of the dry season becomes almost empty. The exhalations at this +time rising from the mud and stagnant water are most dreadful, and even +at our anchorage the stench during the night was almost unbearable....</p> + +<p>Next morning, before daylight, we started with Mr. D—— across the +lagoon to a place about an hour’s row from the village, where he said he +was in the habit of getting wild duck. The lake was so shallow that our +boat often grounded, and the oars at each stroke disturbed the black, +ink-like mud that constituted the bottom. The sides were beautifully +wooded, and surrounded by ranges of hills extending far into the +interior, the edges of the water being fringed with a belt of +mangrove-trees, whose peculiarly bright green foliage contrasted +pleasingly with the sombre coloring of the leafless trees behind them. +The perfectly stagnant water was of a light-yellow tint, and as full of +alligators as it could well be....</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p><p>After firing a good many shots, and gathering a somewhat miscellaneous +bag, Mr. D—— saw a large alligator asleep on some mud, lying half in +and half out of the water; and as I was the only one of the party who +had brought any bullets, he sent one of the guides to show me where it +lay, in hope that I might get a shot.</p> + +<p>Slowly, and with the greatest caution, I waded through water until I got +within twelve yards of where the brute lay, and aiming about an inch +behind the eye, drove a bullet clean into his brain. He gave a +convulsive kind of shudder and lash with his tail, and was, I believe, +dead; but to make certain I gave him the second barrel at about four +yards’ distance behind the shoulder, and then felt quite confident that +I had indeed “wound him up.”</p> + +<p>It was some time before we could induce the natives to assist in pulling +him on dry land. Though they do not mind them living and swimming about, +they are particularly careful of a wounded one, a single sweep of its +powerful tail, even when mortally stricken, being known to break both +legs of a man like a pipe-stem. Though dead enough to all intents and +purposes, an alligator, like either a shark or a turtle, will continue +possessed of a certain amount of vitality and motion for a long period +after life is really extinct. This fellow was still gently swaying his +tail about while we bent on a rope to it, and, all five of us clapping +on, soon hauled him to the dry mud on the bank, where we took his +length, opened his jaws, and generally examined the formidable-looking +reptile at our leisure. He was about fifteen feet long and inconceivably +hideous. The first bullet had smashed a large hole exactly where I +aimed,—namely, about one inch behind the eye; the skull seemed +comparatively thin there, was unprotected by any thick skin, and a large +lump of his brain was oozing through the wound. The second bullet went +through his heart; but I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>am convinced that it was unnecessary, as the +first shot had done all that was needful.</p> + +<p>Much as people have written to the contrary, I am quite satisfied now +that an alligator is as easily slain as a rabbit, if only hit in the +right place; and that place is not in the eye, as is generally stated, +but on the same level, and from an inch to an inch and a half behind it. +The brain in all reptiles lies rather far back in the head, joining +almost to the neck. By striking one in the eye from many positions it is +quite possible that the brain may not be touched at all; while, if the +ball hits the slightest degree in front of it, on the creature’s long +ugly snout, the bullet might as well be chucked in the river for all the +harm it will do the alligator. Unsightly as these gentry are, the +Indians occasionally eat them. The skins are sometimes tanned; but they +smell so strong, it is an awkward job to handle them. During dry seasons +they collect in vast quantities in the small pools still left +unevaporated, and are then killed in large numbers for their hides, +which when tanned are found serviceable for many purposes. They are +tougher than ordinary leather, and resist water better. Only the belly +pieces are used.</p> + +<p>Some few years ago during a very heavy rain, a number of alligators got +taken out of the lake by a small river running into the sea, which was +greatly flooded. They were immediately attacked by the sharks, and a +strange battle ensued between these equally voracious monsters, which +all the people of the village flocked out to witness. The battle lasted +all day, and the noise of the combat could be heard half a mile off. +John Shark was, however, more at home in his native element than his +scaly antagonist, and eventually the alligators were all eaten up or +killed.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_SCENERY_OF_THE_MEXICAN_LOWLANDS" id="THE_SCENERY_OF_THE_MEXICAN_LOWLANDS"></a>THE SCENERY OF THE MEXICAN LOWLANDS.</h2> + +<h3>FELIX L. OSWALD.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Mexico is made up of two distinctively different regions; one, +the central plateau, temperate in climate, and marked by a +great dearth of rainfall; the other, the lowland areas between +the plateau and the bordering oceans, tropical in climate and +productions, and luxuriant from abundant rains. Dr. Oswald, in +the following selection, leads us through the Valley of Oaxaca, +a section of this Tierra Caliente, or warm country, and makes +us familiar with its interesting vegetable and animal +productions and its scenic features.]</p></div> + +<p>We had a glimpse of the sun before we finished our short breakfast, and +when we plunged into the maze of the forest the occasional vistas +through the leafy vault revealed larger and larger patches of bright +blue sky. Our so-called road, however, was worse than anything I had +ever seen or heard of Flemish or South Louisiana synonymes of that +word,—miry lagoons and spongy mud as black and as sticky as pitch. I +followed at the heels of my carrier, who preferred the lagoons and +seemed to find the shallow places by a sort of instinct, and the Switzer +managed to propel his heavy boots through the toughest quagmire; but his +boy, after losing his shoes five or six times, slung them across his +shoulder and splashed on barefoot. We kept through a comparatively open +forest of cottonwood- and tulip-trees, with a dense jungle on our +right-hand side, while on our left the land sloped towards the bottom of +the Rio Verde, which is here about five hundred paces wide, and during +the rainy season fills its muddy banks to the brink. These lower coast +forests abound in gigantic trees, whose fruits are only accessible to +the winged and four-handed denizens of the forest, but farther up the +river-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>shores are lined for miles with a dense growth of wild-growing +plantains, of which the natives distinguish four varieties under as many +different names. The fruit of the largest, the <i>cuernavacas</i> +(“cow-horns”), attains a weight of seven pounds, and resembles in shape +the crooked pod of the tamarind rather than the cucumber-shaped little +bananas which reach our Northern markets. They ripen very slowly, and +often rot on the tree before they become eatable, but the Mexicans cure +them over a slow fire of embers and green brushwood, after which their +taste can hardly be distinguished from that of the finest yellow +bananas. Palm-trees mingle here with the massive stems of the +cottonwoods, talipot-palms, and the <i>Palma prieta</i>, whose nut might +become a profitable article of export, having a close resemblance to a +filbert. The plum-clusters of the mango can only be reached by a bold +climber, as the trunk rises like a mast, often perfectly free from +branches for eighty or ninety feet, and the chief beneficiaries of this +region are still the macaws and squirrel-monkeys; but farther up Pomona +becomes more condescending, and the ancient Gymnosophists, whose +religion restricted true believers to a diet of wild-growing +tree-fruits, would have found their fittest home in the terrace-land +between the lower twenty miles of the Rio Verde and the foot-hills of +the Sierra de San Miguel.</p> + +<p>Plum-bearing bushes abound from June to September with red, yellow, and +wax-colored fruit; the <i>morus</i>, or wild mulberry-tree, literally covers +the ground with its dark, honey-sweet berries; the crown of the +pino-palm is loaded with grape-like clusters, which, struck by a cudgel, +discharge a shower of rich acorn-shaped nuts; guavas, alligator-pears, +mamayos, chirimoyas, and wild oranges display flowers and fruit at the +same time, and under the alternate influence of heat and moisture +produce their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>perennial crops with unfailing regularity; the algarobe +(<i>Mimosa siliqua</i>), a species of mezquite not larger than an apple-tree, +yields half a ton of the edible pods known as carob-beans or St. John’s +bread; the figs of the gigantic banyan-tree furnish an aromatic syrup; +the trunks of the <i>Robinia viridis</i> exude an edible gum; and from the +vine-tangle forming the vault of the forest hang the bunches and +clusters of forty or fifty varieties of wild grapes, many of them +superior to our scuppernongs and catawbas, while the amber-colored <i>Uva +real</i> rivals the flavor of the finest Damascene raisin-grapes. A forced +march of ten hours through fens and silent virgin woods brought us at +last to the hummock region; the plain swelled into mounds, and the +currents of the sluggish bayous became more perceptible. The higher +levels showed vestiges of cultivation; we crossed dykes and ditches, a +neglected fence here and there, and where the larger trees had been +felled grapes and liana figs covered even the bushes and hedges in +incredible profusion. A troop of capuchin monkeys leaped from a low +mango-tree, and two stumbling youngsters who brought up the rear in the +scramble for the high timber would have tempted us to a chase if we had +not been anxious to reach less malarious quarters before night. The +neighborhood of the great swamps still betrayed itself by that peculiar +miasmatic odor which emanates from stagnant pools and decaying vegetable +matter, and in the recesses of the forest fluttered the slate-colored +swamp-moth, the ominous harbinger of the mosquito. The tipulary pests +were getting ready for action; their skirmishers, the <i>sancudos</i> and +<i>Moscas negras</i>, had already opened the campaign, and became sensible as +well as audible in spite of the rapidity of our march. One of the +twilight species, the <i>Mosca delgada</i>, a straw-colored little midge, +bites like a fire-ant,—a mischievous and, it seems, unpractical freak +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>of nature, since the superfluous virulence of its sting must certainly +interfere with the business facilities of a suctorial insect.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[As evening descended the travellers reached a cotton +plantation, and hastened to take refuge from the rising cloud +of mosquitoes.]</p></div> + +<p>The cotton-gin loomed at the farther end of the field, and was taken by +storm over piles of muck and scattered fence-rails. Seeing no ladder, we +clambered through the pivot-hole in the ceiling of a musty-smelling +machine-shed, but in the open loft above we found a delicious breeze, +and—St. Hubert be praised!—not a single mosquito.</p> + +<p>The carrier threw himself upon his pack with a sigh of relief, and we +squatted around the hatch to cool off before we opened our mess-bag.</p> + +<p>From the hills on our right came the perfume of blooming tamarisks, and +from the jungle below a cool lake-air; and at times strange voices of +the wilderness,—the hoarse bark of a cayman, answered by the shriek of +swamp-geese in the canebrakes of the Rio Verde, and in the distance now +and then a queer rustling sound, like the shaking of a tree butted by +some heavy animal. Bats were circling above our heads in the moonlight, +and our advent seemed to have excited the curiosity of a troop of +flying-squirrels, who uttered their chirping squeak now on the roof, now +in the branches of a neighboring live-oak-tree.</p> + +<p>After removing a layer of seed-cotton that might harbor scorpions or +centipedes, I spread my blanket near the hatch and made myself +comfortable for the night. My feet still smarted, though I had pulled +off my stockings as well as my boots; yet I could not regret the +hardships of a march which had brought us to such an encampment. The +portador was taking his ease in the centre of the floor, where the +night-wind played with his long hair, while the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>Swiss boy had fallen +asleep on the mantle of his countryman, who was sitting in the open +louvre, smoking his pipe in measureless content. The air up here was +delightfully cool, and, with the buzz of the legions of Beelzebub still +ringing in our ears, the sense of security itself was more than a +negative comfort.</p> + +<p>Baron Savarin, who wrote a treatise on the art of enjoying life, should +have added a chapter on the happiness of contrast. A snug little cottage +in a stormy November night, a shade-tree on the Llano Estacado, the +silence of the Upper Alleghanies after a “revival-meeting” in the +valleys, a bath in the dog-days, would rank above all the luxuries of +Paris and Stamboul, if unbought enjoyments could ever become +fashionable.</p> + +<p>The moon set soon after midnight, but we managed to readjust our luggage +by the light of greased paper spills, and entered the gates of the +foot-hills before the watch-call of the night-hawk had been silenced by +the reveille of the iris-crows. A keen land-breeze, tumbling the mists +through the fens of the Tierra Caliente, gave promise of a bright day. +What wonderful perfumes the morning wind brews from the atmosphere of a +moist tropical forest-land!—scents that haunt the memory more +persistently than the echo of a weird song. No latter-day nose could +analyze these odors and trace them to their several sources; but with or +without an attempt at further classification, they might be primarily +divided into sweet and pungent aromatic smells, the latter prevailing in +the coast jungles, the former in the mountain forests. A few of the +first named—the spicy scents—are so peculiar that, once identified, +they can be easily recognized: here, for instance, the effluvium of the +musk lianas, whose flowers diffuse a sort of odorous diapason which +predominates, even through the bouquet-medley of the South Mexican +flora.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p><p>As the white streaks in the east assumed a yellowish tint, the paroquets +in the crests of the pino-palms saluted the morning with sudden screams; +the multitudinous voices of a crow-swarm approached from the coast +forests; two and two, and in a series of pairs, the macaws came flying +across the sky; and in our near neighborhood the startling cry of the +<i>chachalaca</i> or jungle-pheasant went up from an hibiscus thicket. Softly +first, then louder and louder, the <i>calanda</i>, the mocking-bird of the +tropics, intonated its morning hymn, and the fluting curlew rose from +the grass like a skylark; but a sweeter sound to our ears was the +murmuring of a little brook at the roadside. We had reached the region +of rocks and swift-flowing waters.</p> + +<p>Of reptiles, as of Red Republicans, it may be said that they are least +dreaded in the countries where they most abound. While a New England +boarding-school virgin goes into epileptic spasms at the aspect of a +blindworm, the young Mexicanas surround themselves with a variety of +ophidian pets, and view a freckled tree-snake and a gay butterfly with +equal pleasure or equal unconcern. A little barefoot girl that met us on +her way to the spring put her toes caressingly on the smooth hide of a +green-and-white speckled <i>Vivora mansa</i> that wriggled across the road; +and our barelegged portador kicked dozens of good-sized bush-snakes out +of our path after noticing that they frightened our young travelling +companion. More than ninety per cent of all South American snakes are as +harmless as lizards, and the four or five venomous varieties are well +known and easily avoided.</p> + +<p>I will here add a word on the dreaded venomous insects of the tropics. +The ant and mosquito plagues of the coast jungles can hardly be +over-estimated, but the virulence of their larger congeners is +frequently and grossly exaggerated. The chief insect-ogres of sensation +romancers and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>fireside travellers are three: the scorpion, the +tarantula, and the centipede, either of whom can rival the homicidal +prestige of Victor Hugo’s octopus. But I may confidently appeal to the +verdict of any personal observer who has passed a few years in the +African or American tropics when I assert that these supposed +express-messengers of Death are not more venomous and are far less +aggressive than our common North American hornet. I doubt if the sting +of twenty tarantulas could cause the death of a healthy child, and I am +quite sure that a poison-ivy blister and the bite of a fire-ant are more +painful than the sting of a centipede. An hysterical lady may succumb to +the bite of a common gadfly, but I hold that only co-operative +insects—termites, wasps, bumble-bees, etc.—could ever make away with a +normally constituted human being.</p> + +<p>A swarm of vociferous iris-crows appeared in the sky overhead, and +before they had passed, the woods were wide awake all around. The +humming-birds were on the wing, the wood-pigeons repeated their +murmuring call in the taxus-groves, and from the lower depths of the +forest came the chattering scream of a squirrel-monkey. The rising sun +was hidden by the tree-tops of the eastern valleys when we halted on the +summit of a rocky bluff, but the mountain mists had disappeared, and the +vistas on our left afforded a dazzling view of the sunlit foot-hills and +the valley of the Rio Verde. The river is here crossed by a rope-ferry a +little above its junction with a tributary that drains the glorious +valley of Morillo and an Alpine group whose wooded heights stand in my +memory like a vision of a Ganadesha, the mountain park of Indra’s +Paradise.</p> + +<p>The air of these woodlands is the antithesis of our Northern workshop +atmosphere. There is a feeling of delight—our lost sixth sense, I am +tempted to call it—which gratifies the lungs rather than the olfactory +organ <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>if you inhale the morning breezes, oxidated, and perhaps +ozonized, by the first influence of sunlight on the aromatic vegetation +of these hills,—a delight which, like the charm of harmonious sounds, +reacts on the soul, and awakens emotions which have lain dormant in the +human breast since we exchanged the air of our Summer-land home for the +dust of our hyperborean tenement-prisons.</p> + +<p>The hum of insects soon mingled with the bird-voices of our forest. To +and fro, in fitful flight, flashed the <i>libellas</i>, the glitter-winged +dragon-flies, and a few large papilios flopped lazily through the +dew-drenched foliage. No gnats up here, but thousands of tiny, +honey-seeking wasps and midges, and bright-winged grasshoppers that rose +with a fluttering spring when the first sunbeams reached the damp +underbrush. Ants hurried about their daily toil, and when we ascended +the next ridge we saw various kinds of lizards flitting across the road +or basking on the wayside rocks, one of them a sort of dwarf iguana of a +moss-green tint, on which protective color it seemed to rely for its +safety, as its movements were as sluggish as those of a toad.</p> + +<p>As we kept steadily up-hill, the sun seemed to mount very rapidly, and, +peak after peak, the summits of the upper Sierra rose into view. +Zempantepec, La Sirena, and the Nevada de Colcoyan towered above the +rest, the latter at least four thousand feet above the snow-line. Few +prospects on earth could efface the impression of that panorama. In the +Sierra de San Miguel our continent reproduces the Syrian Lebanon on a +grander scale. Septimius Severus, who vacillated between his throne and +the Elysian valleys of Daphne, would have renounced the empire of the +world for the mountain-gardens of the Val de Morillo, and the giants of +the cypress forests on the southeastern slope of the Sierra dwarf all +the cedars of Bashan and Hebron. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>The largest, though not the tallest, +of these trees, the cypress of Maria del Tule (twelve miles south of San +Miguel), which Humboldt calls the “oldest vegetable monument of our +globe,” has a diameter of forty-two feet, a circumference of one hundred +and thirty-six feet near the ground and of one hundred and four feet +higher up, and measures two hundred and eighty-two feet between the +extremities of two opposite branches. Yet this tree has many rivals in +the Val de Morillo and near the sources of the Rio Verde, where groups +of grayish-green mountain-firs rise like hillocks above the surrounding +vegetation.</p> + +<p><a name="illo6" id="illo6"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 377px;"> +<img src="images/i130.jpg" class="illogap" width="377" height="500" alt="REGINA ANGELORUM QUEEN OF THE +ANGELS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">REGINA ANGELORUM QUEEN OF THE +ANGELS + +From the World-famous Painting by Bouguereau,<br /> +Paris Exposition, 1900</span> +</div> + +<p>On our right extended the orange-gardens of Casa Blanca for two miles +along the base of the hill to a deep ravine, reappearing on the other +side, where their white-blooming tree-tops mingled with the copses of a +banana-plantation. Farther up, euphorbias and hibiscus prevailed, and +the upper limit of the foot-hills is marked by the paler green of the +cork-oak forests that cover the slopes of the sierra proper. In the +northeast this sierra becomes linked with the ramifications of the +central Cordilleras, and connected with our ridge by one of the +densely-wooded spurs that flank the plateau of the Llanos Ventosos. The +rocks at our feet belonged, therefore, to a mountain-chain that might be +called a lineal continuation of the Gila range in Arizona and Nueva +Leon. But what a difference in the climate and scenery! There arid rocks +and thorny ravines; here dense mountain forests, deep rivers, a +saturated atmosphere, and springs on almost every acre of ground. The +very brambles in the rock-clefts were fresh with dew, and the sprouts of +the broom-furze looked like wildering asparagus. The ravines flamed with +flowers of every size and every hue. An agent of a London or Hamburg +curiosity-dealer might make his living here with a common butterfly-net. +On any sunny forenoon an active boy could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>gather a stock of Lepidoptera that would create a bonanza sensation +among the collectors of a North European capital. The rhododendron +thickets of the upper Rio Verde are frequented by gigantic varieties of +nymphalis, vanessa, and parnassius, which would retail in Brussels at +from two to ten dollars apiece.</p> + +<p>The sun rose higher, but not the thermometer, and when we clambered up +through an orchard of scattered cherry-trees I am sure that the maximum +temperature in the shade did not exceed sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. +We had reached the Llanos Ventosos, the air-plains of San Miguel, the +playground of the four winds of heaven, where sun-strokes are unknown, +though the mists of the rainy season never cloud their deep-blue sky. +Down in the coast jungles the Rain-fiend was at it again: dark-gray +showers swept visibly along the shore, while the foot-hills simmered +under the rays of a vertical sun. But up here the air was dry as well as +cool; the edge of the plateau is at least six thousand feet above the +level of the Pacific, which is in plain view from Punta Piedra to the +downs of Tehuantepec.</p> + +<p>We entered the village about two <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, and my companions conducted me to +a little frame house, where I was hospitably received by the Indian +gardener and the daughters of Pastor Wenck, the minister of the +Protestant part of the community, whose brother in Tehuantepec had +intrusted me with different letters, with a note of introduction. The +pastor had harnessed his mule an hour ago to get a load of Spanish moss +from the foot-hills, so I left my carrier in charge of the Indian +gardener and sauntered out into the village.</p> + +<p>Neubern (New Bern) de San Miguel—or Villa Cresciente, as it was +originally called, from its situation on a crescent-shaped bluff—was +founded in 1865 under the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>happiest auspices, the charter of the colony +including such inducements as exemption from taxes for the first five +years, free roads and schools, gratuitous seed-corn, farming implements, +etc., to indigent immigrants, and attracted a considerable number of the +very best agriculturists from Tyrol and Southern Switzerland. But after +the collapse of the imperial government a waning moon would have been +the fitter emblem of the Crescent Village: its privileges were +abrogated, and many of the disappointed Bauern returned to their native +countries. Still, the appointment of a few half-Indian officials is the +only positive grievance of the colonists, and the advantages of their +climate and situation might well reconcile them to greater +inconveniences.</p> + +<p>At a distance of only sixteen degrees from the equator, the average +temperatures of the coldest and warmest months differ less than spring +and summer in the United States, so that the September weather of Geneva +or Innspruck is here as perennial as a sea-fog in Newfoundland. During a +residence of seven years, Pastor Wenck has chronicled four +thunder-storms, twenty-two common storms, two hoar-frosts (both in +November), one sultry day, and two hundred and eight short showers, +leaving a balance of two thousand two hundred and ninety-two days of +<i>himmelswetter</i>,—heaven weather,—as he called it, alternating with +cool nights whose dew indemnifies the fields for the scantiness of the +annual rainfall. Yet the denizens of this Himmel-land come in for a +first-hand share of all the luxuries which a compensating nature has +lavished on the inhabitants of the sweltering Tierra Caliente.</p> + +<p>Forty or fifty varieties of tropical fruits come to their tables in a +freshness and sun-ripened sweetness quite unknown to our Northern +markets; their builders may select their material from groves of +mahogany, iron-wood, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>American ebony, green-heart, euphorbia, and other +timber-trees of the coast swamps; cacao, vanilla, gums, and frankincense +can be bought at half trade prices, and an excursion of ten miles will +take them to a region where the pot-hunter can fill his bag day after +day without fear of ever exhausting the meat-supply, where the +adventurous sportsman may try his luck and the mettle of his dogs, and +where the naturalist can revel in all the wonders of a tropical terra +incognita.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="AMONG_THE_RUINS_OF_YUCATAN" id="AMONG_THE_RUINS_OF_YUCATAN"></a>AMONG THE RUINS OF YUCATAN.</h2> + +<h3>JOHN L. STEPHENS.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The Egypt of America, as one may fairly call the Maya region +of Yucatan, was first brought prominently into notice by John +L. Stephens, who did yeoman service in exploring the massive +monuments of a past civilization there scattered, and in +describing and picturing their remarkable details. Since his +period many travellers have visited and studied these vast +remains and described them in abundant detail. But Stephens +visited that region as a discoverer, and from his works we +select a description of the difficulties under which he labored +in his interesting work of exploration at Copan. He had taken +quarters in a hut near the ruins, and returned to his former +quarters for his luggage. The homeward journey was accomplished +under stress of opposing circumstances.]</p></div> + +<p>In the mean time it began to rain; and, settling my accounts with the +señora, thanking her for her kindness, leaving an order to have some +bread baked for the next day, and taking with me an umbrella and a blue +bag, contents unknown, belonging to Mr. Catherwood, which he had +particularly requested me to bring, I set out on my return. Augustin +followed, with a tin teapot and some other articles for immediate use. +Entering the woods, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>umbrella struck against the branches of the +trees and frightened the mule; and, while I was endeavoring to close it, +she fairly ran away with me. Having only a halter, I could not hold her, +and, knocking me against the branches, she ran through the woods, +splashed into the river, missing the fording-place, and never stopped +till she was breast-deep. The river was swollen and angry, and the rain +pouring down. Rapids were forming a short distance below. In the effort +to restrain her I lost Mr. Catherwood’s blue bag, caught at it with the +handle of the umbrella, and would have saved it if the beast had stood +still; but as it floated under her nose she snorted and started back. I +broke the umbrella in driving her across, and, just as I touched the +shore, saw the bag floating towards the rapids, and Augustin, with his +clothes in one hand and the teapot in the other, both above his head, +steering down the river after it. Supposing it to contain some +indispensable drawing-materials, I dashed among the thickets on the +bank, in the hope of intercepting it, but became entangled among +branches and vines.</p> + +<p>I dismounted and tied my mule, and was two or three minutes working my +way to the river, where I saw Augustin’s clothes and the teapot, but +nothing of him, and, with the rapids roaring below, had horrible +apprehensions. It was impossible to continue along the bank; so, with a +violent effort, I jumped across a rapid channel to a ragged island of +sand covered with scrub-bushes, and, running down to the end of it, saw +the whole face of the river and the rapids, but nothing of Augustin. I +shouted with all my strength, and, to my inexpressible relief, heard an +answer, but, in the noise of the rapids, very faint; presently he +appeared in the water, working himself round a point and hauling upon +the bushes. Relieved about him, I now found myself in a quandary. The +jump back was to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>higher ground, the stream a torrent, and, the +excitement over, I was afraid to attempt it. It would have been +exceedingly inconvenient for me if Augustin had been drowned. Making his +way through the bushes and down to the bank opposite with his dripping +body, he stretched a pole across the stream, by springing upon which I +touched the edge of the opposite bank, slipped, but hauled myself up by +the bushes with the aid of a lift from Augustin.</p> + +<p>All this time it was raining very hard, and now I had forgotten where I +tied my mule. We were several minutes looking for her, and, wishing +everything but good luck to the old bag, I mounted. Augustin, +principally because he could carry them more conveniently on his back, +put on his clothes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Reaching a village, he took shelter till the rain abated, but +it began worse than ever after he again took to the road.]</p></div> + +<p>I rode on some distance, and again lost my way. It was necessary to +enter the woods on the right. I had come out by a foot-path which I had +not noticed particularly. There were cattle-paths in every direction, +and within the line of a mile I kept going in and out, without hitting +the right one. Several times I saw the print of Augustin’s feet, but +soon lost them in puddles of water, and they only confused me more; at +length I came to a complete standstill. It was nearly dark; I did not +know which way to turn; and as Mr. Henry Pelham did when in danger of +drowning in one of the gutters of Paris, I stood still and halloed. To +my great joy, I was answered by a roar from Augustin, who had been lost +longer than I, and was even in greater tribulation. He had the teapot in +his hand, the stump of an unlighted cigar in his mouth, was plastered +with mud from his head to his heels, and altogether a most distressful +object.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p><p>We compared notes, and, selecting a path, shouting as we went, our +united voices were answered by barking dogs and Mr. Catherwood, who, +alarmed at our absence, and apprehending what had happened, was coming +out with Don Miguel to look for us. I had no change of clothes, and +therefore stripped and rolled myself in a blanket, in the style of a +North American Indian. All the evening peals of thunder crashed over our +heads, lightning illuminated the dark forest and flashed through the +open hut, the rain fell in torrents, and Don Miguel said that there was +a prospect of being cut off for several days from all communication with +the opposite side of the river and from our luggage. Nevertheless, we +passed the evening with great satisfaction, smoking cigars of Copan +tobacco, the most famed in Central America, of Don Miguel’s own growing +and his wife’s own making....</p> + +<p>At daylight the clouds still hung over the forest; as the sun rose they +cleared away; our workmen made their appearance, and at nine o’clock we +left the hut. The branches of the trees were dripping wet, and the +ground was very muddy. Trudging once more over the district which +contained the principal monuments, we were startled by the immensity of +the work before us, and very soon concluded that to explore the whole +extent would be impossible. Our guides knew only of this district; but +having seen columns beyond the village, a league distant, we had reason +to believe that others were strewed in different directions, completely +buried in the woods and entirely unknown. The woods were so dense that +it was almost hopeless to think of penetrating them. The only way to +make a thorough exploration would be to cut down the whole forest and +burn the trees. This was incompatible with our immediate purposes, might +be considered taking liberties, and could only be done in the dry +season.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>After deliberation we resolved first to obtain drawings of the +sculptured columns. Even in this there was great difficulty. The designs +were very complicated, and so different from anything Mr. Catherwood had +ever seen before as to be perfectly unintelligible. The cutting was in +very high relief, and required a strong body of light to bring up the +figures, and the foliage was so thick and the shade so deep that drawing +was impossible.</p> + +<p>After much consultation we selected one of the “idols,” and determined +to cut down the trees around it, and thus lay it open to the rays of the +sun. Here again was difficulty. There was no axe, and the only +instrument which the Indians possessed was the machete, or +chopping-knife, which varies in form in different sections of the +country. Wielded with one hand, it was useful in clearing away shrubs +and branches, but almost harmless upon large trees; and the Indians, as +in the days when the Spaniards discovered them, applied to work without +ardor, carried it on with little activity, and, like children, were +easily diverted from it. One hacked into a tree, and when tired, which +happened very soon, sat down to rest, and another relieved him. While +one worked there were always several looking on. I remembered the ring +of the woodman’s axe in the forest at home, and wished for a few +long-sided Green Mountain boys.</p> + +<p>But we had been buffeted into patience, and watched the Indians while +they hacked with their machetes, and even wondered that they succeeded +so well. At length the trees were felled and dragged aside, a space +cleared around the base, Mr. C.’s frame set up, and he set to work. I +took two Mestitzoes, Bruno and Francisco, and, offering them a reward +for every new discovery, with a compass in my hand set out on a tour of +exploration. Neither had seen “the idols” until the morning of our first +visit, when they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>followed in our train to laugh at los Ingleses; but +very soon they exhibited such an interest that I hired them. Bruno +attracted my attention by his admiration, as I supposed, of my person; +but I found it was of my coat, which was a long shooting-frock, with +many pockets, and he said that he could make one just like it except the +skirts. He was a tailor by profession, and in the intervals of a great +job upon a roundabout jacket worked with his machete. But he had an +inborn taste for the arts. As we passed through the woods nothing +escaped his eye, and he was professionally curious touching the costumes +of the sculptured figures. I was struck with the first development of +their antiquarian taste. Francisco found the feet and legs of a statue, +and Bruno a part of the body to match, and the effect was electric upon +both. They searched and raked up the ground with their machetes till +they found the shoulders, and set it up entire except the head; and they +were both eager for the possession of instruments with which to dig and +find this remaining fragment.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to describe the interest with which I explored these +ruins. The ground was entirely new; there were no guide-books or guides; +the whole was a virgin soil. We could not see ten yards before us, and +never knew what we should stumble upon next. At one time we stopped to +cut away branches and vines which concealed the face of a monument, and +then to dig round and bring to light a fragment, a sculptured corner of +which protruded from the earth. I leaned over with breathless anxiety +while the Indians worked, and an eye, an ear, a foot, or a hand was +disentombed; and when the machete rang against the chiselled stone, I +pushed the Indians away and cleared out the loose earth with my hands. +The beauty of the sculpture, the solemn stillness of the woods, +disturbed only by the scrambling of monkeys and the chattering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>of +parrots, the desolation of the city, and the mystery that hung over it, +all created an interest higher, if possible, than I had ever felt among +the ruins of the Old World. After several hours’ absence I returned to +Mr. Catherwood, and reported upward of fifty objects to be copied.</p> + +<p>I found him not so well pleased as I expected with my report. He was +standing with his feet in the mud, and was drawing with his gloves on, +to protect his hands from the mosquitoes. As we feared, the designs were +so intricate and complicated, the subjects so entirely new and +unintelligible, that he had great difficulty in drawing. He had made +several attempts, both with the camera lucida and without, but failed to +satisfy himself or even me, who was less severe in criticism. The “idol” +seemed to defy his art; two monkeys on a tree on one side appeared to be +laughing at him, and I felt discouraged and despondent. In fact, I made +up my mind, with a pang of regret, that we must abandon the idea of +carrying away any materials for antiquarian speculation, and must be +content with having seen them ourselves. Of that satisfaction nothing +could deprive us. We returned to the hut with our interest undiminished, +but sadly out of heart as to the result of our labors.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Meanwhile, the blue bag which had caused so much trouble was +recovered, under the incitement of a dollar reward. It was +found to contain a pair of old, but water-proof, boots, whose +recovery cheered Mr. Catherwood’s heart, enabling him the next +day to defy the wet mud.]</p></div> + +<p>That day Mr. Catherwood was much more successful in his drawings; +indeed, at the beginning the light fell exactly as he wished, and he +mastered the difficulty. His preparations, too, were much more +comfortable, as he had his water-proofs, and stood on a piece of oiled +canvas used for covering luggage on the road. I passed the morning in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>selecting another monument, clearing away the trees, and preparing it +for him to copy. At one o’clock Augustin came to call us to dinner. Don +Miguel had a patch of beans, from which Augustin gathered as many as he +pleased, and, with the fruits of a standing order for all the eggs in +the village, being three or four a day, strings of beef, and bread and +milk from the hacienda, we did very well. In the afternoon we were again +called off by Augustin, with the message that the alcalde had come to +pay us a visit. As it was growing late, we broke up for the day, and +went back to the hut. We shook hands with the alcalde, and gave him and +his attendants cigars, and were disposed to be sociable; but the +dignitary was so tipsy he could hardly speak. His attendants sat +crouching on the ground, swinging themselves on their knee-joints, and, +though the positions were different, reminding us of the Arabs. In a few +minutes the alcalde started up suddenly, made a staggering bow, and left +us.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Yet trouble was brewing for them. They had made an enemy of +the great man of the district, and he stirred up the people to +hostility. The annoyance grew so great that Stephens found it +necessary to take some steps to restore amity.]</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Catherwood went to the ruins to continue his drawings, and I to the +village, taking Augustin with me to fire the Balize guns, and buy up +eatables for a little more than they were worth. My first visit was to +Don José Maria. After clearing up our character, I broached the subject +of a purchase of the ruins; told him that, on account of my public +business, I could not remain as long as I desired, but wished to return +with spades, pickaxes, ladders, crowbars, and men, build a hut to live +in, and make a thorough exploration; that I could not incur the expense +at the risk of being refused permission to do so; and, in short, in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>plain English, asked him, “What will you take for the ruins?” I think +he was not more surprised than if I had asked him to buy his poor old +wife, our rheumatic patient, to practise medicine upon. He seemed to +doubt which of us was out of his senses. The property was so utterly +worthless that my wanting to buy it seemed very suspicious. On examining +the paper, I found that he did not own the fee, but held under a lease +from Don Bernardo de Aguila, of which three years were unexpired. The +tract consisted of about six thousand acres, for which he paid eighty +dollars a year; he was at a loss what to do, but told me that he would +reflect upon it, consult his wife, and give me an answer at the hut the +next day.</p> + +<p>I then visited the alcalde, but he was too tipsy to be susceptible of +any impression; prescribed for several patients; and instead of going to +Don Gregorio’s sent him a polite request by Don José Maria to mind his +own business and let us alone; returned and passed the rest of the day +among the ruins. It rained during the night, but again cleared off in +the morning, and we were on the ground early. My business was to go +around with the workmen to clear away trees and bushes, dig, and +excavate, and prepare monuments for Mr. Catherwood to copy. While so +engaged, I was called off by a visit from Don José Maria, who was still +undecided what to do; and not wishing to appear too anxious, told him to +take more time, and come again the next morning.</p> + +<p>The next morning he came, and his condition was truly pitiable. He was +anxious to convert unproductive property into money, but afraid, and +said that I was a stranger, and it might bring him into difficulty with +the government. I again went into proof of character, and engaged to +save him harmless with the government, or release him. Don Miguel read +my letters of recommendation, and re-read the letter of General Cascara. +He was convinced, but these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>papers did not give him a right to sell his +land; the shade of suspicion still lingered; for a finale, I opened my +trunk, put on a diplomatic coat, with a profusion of large eagle +buttons. I had on a Panama hat, soaked with rain and spotted with mud, a +check shirt, white pantaloons, yellow up to the knees with mud, and was +about as <i>outré</i> as the negro king who received a company of British +officers on the coast of Africa in a cocked hat and military coat, +without any inexpressibles; but Don José Maria could not withstand the +buttons on my coat; the cloth was the finest he had ever seen; and Don +Miguel, and his wife, and Bartale realized fully that they had in their +hut an illustrious incognito. The only question was who should find +paper on which to draw the contract. I did not stand upon trifles, and +gave Don Miguel some paper, who took our mutual instructions, and +appointed the next day for the execution of the deed.</p> + +<p>The reader is perhaps curious to know how old cities sell in Central +America. Like other articles of trade, they are regulated by the +quantity in market and the demand; but, not being staple articles, like +cotton and indigo, they were held at fancy prices, and at that time were +dull of sale. I paid fifty dollars for Copan. There was never any +difficulty about price. I offered that sum, for which Don José Maria +thought me only a fool; if I had offered more, he would probably have +considered me something worse.</p> + +<p>We had regular communications with the hacienda by means of Francisco, +who brought thence every morning a large waccal of milk, carrying it a +distance of three miles and fording the river twice. The ladies of the +hacienda had sent us word they intended paying us a visit, and this +morning Don Gregorio’s wife appeared, leading a procession of all the +women of the house, servants, and children, with two of her sons. We +received them among the ruins, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>seated them as well as we could, and, as +the first act of civility, gave them cigars all around. It can hardly be +believed, but not one of them, not even Don Gregorio’s sons, had ever +seen the “idols” before, and now they were much more curious to see Mr. +C.’s drawings. In fact, I believe it was the fame of these drawings that +procured us the honor of the visit. In his heart, Mr. C. was not much +happier to see them than the old Don was to see us, as his work was +stopped, and every day was precious. As I considered myself in a manner +the proprietor of the city, I was bound to do the honors; and, to the +distress of Mr. C., brought them all back upon him.</p> + +<p>Obliged to give up work, we invited them down to the hut to see our +accommodations; some of them were our patients and reminded us we had +not sent the medicines we promised. The fact is, we avoided giving +medicines when we could, among other reasons, from an apprehension that +if any one happened to die on our hands we should be held responsible; +but our reputation was established; honors were buckled on our backs and +we were obliged to wear them. These ladies, in spite of Don Gregorio’s +crustiness, had always treated us kindly, and we would fain have shown +our sense of it in some other mode than by giving them physic; but to +gratify them in their own way, we distributed among them powders and +pills, with written directions for use; and when they went away escorted +them some distance, and had the satisfaction of hearing that they +avenged us on Don Gregorio by praises of our gallantry and attentions.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[As regards the wonderful discoveries which Mr. Stephens made +in his low-priced city, the story is much too extensive to be +given here, and those who would know more about these +remarkable ruins must refer to his “Incidents of Travel in +Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan,” which will be found +abundantly worth perusal.]</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_ROUTE_OF_THE_NICARAGUA_CANAL" id="THE_ROUTE_OF_THE_NICARAGUA_CANAL"></a>THE ROUTE OF THE NICARAGUA CANAL.</h2> + +<h3>JULIUS FROEBEL.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The waters which it is proposed to utilize in the construction +of the Nicaragua Canal, mainly those of the San Juan River and +the Lake of Nicaragua, are of sufficient interest to call for +some description at our hands, and we subjoin, from Froebel’s +“Seven Years of Travel in Central America,” an account of a +journey on those waters.]</p></div> + +<p>At that time [1850] steamboats were not yet plying on the San Juan River +and the Lake of Nicaragua, and I had to content myself with the +accommodations of one of the large canoes of the natives called +<i>bongos</i>, which were then the principal means of transport between the +coast and the interior, for passengers as well as for merchandise. In +company with two Americans, who, like myself, were anxious to proceed to +Granada, I hired one of the largest of these clumsy little crafts, +manned with ten boatmen or <i>marineros</i>, together with their captain or +<i>patron</i>, all of them colored people from the interior. We laid in +provisions for a fortnight, such being the full time of a passage which +is now performed by steamers in two days.</p> + +<p>We left San Juan on the 23d of November, and arrived at Granada on the +5th of the following month. In reference to the beauties of nature the +trip is one of the most interesting that can be made, though the state +of my health prevented my enjoying it.... An open shed, furnished with a +hammock and surrounded by a plantain garden of half an acre, was the +only improvement in an extent of more than a hundred miles. With this +single exception, and with that of the site of the old castle of San +Juan, more generally known by the popular name of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span><i>Castillo Vièjo</i>, the +banks were covered with trees to the water’s edge, their branches often +bearing a vegetation of vines, climbers, and parasites, so densely +interwoven that the whole appeared like a solid wall of leaves and +flowers.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the impressions of one night and morning on this +river. Our boat had anchored in the midst of the stream. Strange forms +of trees, spectre-like in the dark, stood before us, and seemed to move +as the eye strove in vain to make out their real shape. From time to +time a splash in the water, caused by the movement of an alligator, the +bellowing of a manatee, the screeching of a night-bird, or the roar of +some beast of the forest, broke the silence, and mingled at last with my +feverish dream.</p> + +<p>In the morning a song our boatmen addressed to the Virgin roused me from +my sleep. It was a strain of plaintive notes in a few simple but most +expressive modulations. Several years later I heard them again, sung by +the Mexican miners in the subterraneous chapel of the quicksilver mine +of New Almaden in California, and I never shall forget the deep emotion +felt on both occasions, so widely different in every other respect. In +the latter the scene passed in a narrow excavation before a little altar +cut out of the natural rock, on which, before a gilded image of the +Virgin, two thin tallow candles were casting their scanty light over the +forms of fifteen or twenty men calling down the blessing of Heaven on +their day of work in the interior of the mountain. In the former, it was +in the brightness and splendor of a morning of which no description can +convey a full idea to one who has had no experience in the most favored +regions of a tropical climate. The sun was just rising, and as the first +rays, gilding the glassy leaves of the forest, fell upon the +bronze-colored bodies of our men, letting the naked forms of their +athletic frames appear in all the contrast of light and shade, while +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>accents plaintive and imploring strained forth from their lips, I +thought to hear the sacred spell by which, unconscious of its power, +these men were subduing their own half-savage natures.</p> + +<p>At once the same song was repeated from behind a projecting corner of +the bank, and other voices joined those of our crew in the sacred notes. +Two canoes, covered from our view, had anchored near us during the +night. The song at last died away in the wilderness. A silent +prayer—our anchor was raised, and, with a wild shout of the crew, +twelve oars simultaneously struck the water. The sun was glittering in +the river. The tops of the trees were steeped in light, monkeys were +swinging in the branches, splendid macaws flew in pairs from bank to +bank; all around exhibited the glory and brightness of superabundant +nature.</p> + +<p>Near the mouth of the river, as far up as the higher end of its delta, +the banks are almost on the water’s level, overgrown with reeds, +mangroves, and a low species of palm-tree, the latter forming extensive +thickets in the swamps. After a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles +the land gradually becomes a little higher, and steep embankments of a +brown or reddish clay rise to some ten or twenty feet above the water. +The low palm thickets of the swampy region disappear, and a vegetation +of splendid trees, mostly exogenous, overhung with blooming vines, takes +their place. Flowery garlands, swung from branch to branch, hang over +the stream, while now and then the slender shaft of one of the tallest +species of the palm tribe wafts its little crown of feathery leaves high +over the gorgeous masses of the heavier foliage.</p> + +<p>Eight or ten miles higher up the region of the <i>randales</i>, or rapids, +begins. Here the river, locked in between wooded hills, presents a new +character of scenery. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>trees, covering the hill-sides with an almost +impenetrable forest, exhibit an extraordinary variety of forms in +striking contrast. The most interesting situation in this region is that +of the <i>Castillo Vièjo</i>. Here, where the river foams over a bed of +rocks, stands the old Spanish castle of <i>Don Juan</i>. Since 1780 it has +remained a ruin, though Nicaragua has always kept a few soldiers here, +occupying a shed at the foot of the hill on which the remains of the +fort are seen. In the civil wars of the last years this place has +repeatedly been occupied and evacuated by the contending powers.</p> + +<p>Among the rapids, that of the Castillo Vièjo is the only one that forms +a real impediment in the navigation of the river. With the necessary +caution canoes may descend, and I myself have passed over it on my way +back to the coast in a bongo carrying forty passengers; upward, however, +all boats must be towed, after having been unloaded....</p> + +<p>Above the region of the rapids the river is almost stagnant, and the +designation of the <i>aguas muertas</i>, or dead waters, is not +inappropriately applied to it. It is a deep and still water, full of +fish, with low and swampy banks, on which the palm thickets of the delta +reappear.</p> + +<p>Beyond this latter portion of the river the Lake of Nicaragua opens to +the view. On the little promontory formed by the lake and the inlet of +the river the custom-house of Nicaragua, designated by the high-sounding +name of the “fort of San Carlos,” has been established. There are a few +houses at this place, and a small military force is kept up to protect +the establishment and, in case of necessity, enforce the payment of the +dues. The ruins of an old Spanish castle still exist here, but they are +hidden among the trees and shrubs with which they are overgrown.</p> + +<p>The view from this elevation has a peculiar character of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>grandeur. At +the foot of the hill a broad sheet of water is spread, studded, in the +immediate neighborhood, with some green islands of diminutive +dimensions, and extending, in a northwesterly direction, as far as the +eye can reach. To the left, a low wooded shore begins at the outlet of +the lake, and continues in that direction till it is lost in the +distance of the western horizon. A chain of high mountains, cast in a +shroud of dark forests, rises in the rear, covering an unknown region of +Costa Rica. It comprises several active volcanoes, which on late +occasions have illumined the surface of the lake by their flames and +red-hot streams of lava. To the right, the view does not extend beyond +the nearest hills; but at a short distance from the lake it ranges over +a long line of broken eminences, with the mountain-chain of Chontales in +the rear, bordering like a wall the table-land of Upper Mosquitia. Hill +and dale, forests and savannas, appear in endless variety in this +direction. On the distant horizon in the centre of the view the two +cones of the island of Ometepe are seen, faintly traced, and as their +forms are lifted upward by refraction, they seem to swim over the water.</p> + +<p>At the very spot where the San Juan River leaves the lake the Rio Frio +enters it. This is a river coming down from the mountains of Costa Rica, +through an absolute wilderness which, it is asserted, has never been +trodden by the foot of a civilized man. The dense forests of this region +are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians who refuse to have any +intercourse with the rest of the world. They are said to be of very fair +complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of <i>Indios +blancos</i> or <i>Guatusos</i>,—the latter name being that of an animal of +reddish-brown color, and intended to designate the color of their hair. +It is stated that not only do they not allow a foreigner to enter their +territory, but that they are even in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>the habit of killing those of +their own people who again fall into their hands after having been away +among the civilized inhabitants of the neighboring settlements....</p> + +<p>While in California, I heard of a young German, living in the +neighborhood of San Francisco, who recounts a little romance of +adventures he met with among this people. Though the story was not told +to me by the man himself, still, as it was repeated by a trustworthy +friend who had derived it from the original source, I may be allowed to +introduce it here.</p> + +<p>The young man was on his way to California. When at San Carlos he had +some difference or quarrel with his travelling companions, and, being +afraid of a pistol-ball or a bowie-knife, took the desperate resolution +of swimming to the opposite side of the river, where he soon fell into +the hands of a body of these Indians. He was tied to a tree, and they +then held a council as to the manner—so at least he believed—of +putting him to death. Suddenly, however, as it has happened before in +similar cases, a young girl, the daughter of the chief, hurried forth, +clasped her arms round the neck of my blue-eyed countryman, and gave a +favorable turn to his fate.</p> + +<p>Of course, he married the girl, and, as the consort of this Indian +princess, he spent a few months in the forest, till he was ungrateful +enough to forsake his generous bride, and avail himself of an +opportunity to swim back to San Carlos, continuing, after this romantic +episode, his journey to California.</p> + +<p>According to his statements, he would have remained with the Indians had +he been able to endure the life in the wilderness, which he found rather +too ill-provided with accommodations for enjoying his honeymoon. During +the rainy season the tribe lived almost exclusively on the trees, and he +speaks in very high terms of the dexterity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>with which they would leap +from branch to branch, a mode of travelling in which he often found it +too difficult to follow his nimble spouse. At the time of each full moon +the whole tribe met in council, for which the place was designated from +one meeting to the next by the chief, and whatever was done by common +agreement was regulated according to the phases of the moon.</p> + +<p>Some years before the period of my first arrival in Nicaragua, the +officer then in command of the fort of San Carlos fitted out an +expedition for the purpose of exploring the country on the Rio Frio, +which is known to be rich in gold. This little corps, having hit upon a +deserted village of the Indians on the bank of the river, and resting in +the shade of some trees in the outskirts of the forest, was suddenly +assailed by a shower of arrows, and, with the exception of the +commanding officer, who was severely wounded, but succeeded in hiding +himself between the reeds till a boat from the fort came to his rescue, +every man of the expeditionary force was killed....</p> + +<p>Our passage up the river had taken us nine days, making an average +progress of about twelve miles per day. Three days more were spent in +crossing the lake. With the native boatmen it seems to be a rule to +abstain from using oars even when they are becalmed. Before we left the +<i>aguas muertas</i> a small tree had been cut. This was now erected as a +mast, a sail was spread, and slowly we began to move in the direction of +Granada. Our navigation was of a very primitive kind. At night, while +every soul on board slept soundly, our bongo was left to find its own +way, which, however, it refused to do; for when we awoke at dawn I saw +we were heading to the place we had come from. By and by, nevertheless, +we drew nearer to our point of destination. When we had left the two +peaks of Ometepe on one side, the summit of Mombacho, designating <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>the +site of Granada, gradually rose from the water. We passed the island of +Zapotera, celebrated for its idols, which have been discovered and +described by my friend Mr. Squier. It is uninhabited, and may be said to +be a mountain covered with a forest, here and there interrupted by a +savanna. Like other islands in this lake, it contains numerous wild +animals, such as deer, peccaries, monkeys, and panthers....</p> + +<p>On the evening of the 5th of December we doubled the outermost rock of +the <i>Corrales</i> or <i>Isletas</i>, a cluster of more than a hundred diminutive +islands at the foot of the Mombacho, and a few hours after dark landed +on the <i>playa</i>, or beach, of Granada.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="THE_DESTRUCTION_OF_SAN_SALVADOR" id="THE_DESTRUCTION_OF_SAN_SALVADOR"></a>THE DESTRUCTION OF SAN SALVADOR.</h2> + +<h3>CARL SCHERZER.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Dr. Carl Scherzer, in his “Travels in the Free States of +Central America,” gives a graphic picture of the destruction, +in 1854, of the city of San Salvador by an earthquake, as +witnessed by his friend Dr. Wagner, whose description of the +event is well worth repeating. This city, which stands on a +plateau about two thousand feet above the Pacific, was built by +the Spaniards in 1528, and, with the exception of Guatemala, +was the neatest and handsomest of Central American cities, +possessing several handsome churches, a new university, and +numerous attractive residences.]</p></div> + +<p>On the 12th and 13th of April, 1854, there was heard in the upper part +of the city, towards the southwest, a hollow, subterranean, rumbling +noise, which recurred at short intervals and continued for several +minutes, appearing to come from the mountains which form a kind of large +semi-circle at the foot of the volcano, but there was no shock whatever. +On the Good Friday, at half-past seven in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>morning, two slight +shocks, quickly succeeding each other, were felt, and about ten minutes +afterwards a rather stronger one. The roof and walls of my cottage +shook, without my at first perceiving the cause; but a young Spaniard, +who waited on me, said, quietly, “<i>Es un temblor</i>.” Being a native of +the country, he was accustomed to the phenomenon, and thought little of +it.</p> + +<p>These tremblings and rockings of the earth, that seem so terrible to us +Europeans, are such ordinary occurrences in the environs of San Salvador +that the district has acquired the name of the “swinging mat;” but these +shocks, though frequent, had never been hitherto of the violent and +destructive character which they have assumed at Valparaiso and Lima, +where about once in a century the destruction of a town is reckoned on +as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>The volcano of Isalco, too, being in constant activity, and only +forty-eight miles south of the city of San Salvador, had always been +regarded as a chimney and safety-valve, affording a free vent for the +steam and other dangerous products of the subterranean furnace.</p> + +<p>The shocks were repeated at tolerably regular intervals, two or three in +an hour, during the whole of the Good Friday, and all had the same +direction,—namely, from west-southwest to east-northeast; at which +point, a league from the town, lies the great crater of Cuscatlan, about +five hundred feet above San Salvador.</p> + +<p>The ceremonies of the Good Friday proceeded with the accustomed pomp, +and people did not think of disturbing their processions, or their +visits to the cathedral, on account of the earthquake; though +occasionally, when there came a shock rather stronger than usual, some +of the devout crowd did turn pale and make a rush towards the doors.</p> + +<p>At half-past nine in the evening there came a shock so violent that the +houses were shaken to the foundations, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>roofs cracked, plaster and +tiles fell, and the walls in many places were rent. The houses are all +low and broad, without upper stories, the walls mostly of clay, which is +very elastic, and the rafters made of pliable, closely-plaited cane, +admirably adapted to resist the most violent shocks; otherwise the +houses would have fallen in a mass with this one, which lasted eight +seconds, the ground undulating like the ocean. Every one rushed out into +the open air, but a full hour passed without any further movement. We +determined, nevertheless, not to sleep under a roof; but my countryman, +Mr. Kronmeier, the Prussian vice-consul, who came home about eleven +o’clock, laughed at our caution, and went to bed as usual in his +bedroom. He was used to these unpleasant occurrences; though he +confessed that, during a residence of sixteen years in Central America +and Mexico, he had never felt in one day so many shocks as during the +one just past.</p> + +<p>The old volcano of Cuscatlan, from which the shocks appeared to proceed, +lies, as I have said, about three miles from the city; viewed from this +direction, it forms a beautiful cone, with a gently rounded summit, and +its sides are clothed from top to bottom with wood; its crater is still +quite perfect, a mile and a half in diameter, and filled with water at +the bottom.... There exists no certain record of the former activity of +this volcano; but according to tradition an eruption of lava from a +cleft in its side took place in 1650, and overwhelmed the village of +Neliopa; but according to others it was merely an eruption of mud and +not of fire....</p> + +<p>The morning of Easter Sunday was announced as usual by the firing off of +rockets and a joyous burst of military music. The multitude betook +themselves in festival procession to the Cathedral, to witness the +celebration of high mass; the houses were gayly adorned with branches of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>palm and banana-leaves, and the “<i>Sanctissimum</i>” was borne in triumph +through the streets, followed by crowds of señors and señoritas in their +gayest attire.... On this Easter Day, as on preceding ones, the people, +after having performed their devotions like good Catholics, gave +themselves up to festivity and enjoyment, and the day closed with music, +feasting, and fireworks.</p> + +<p>Immediately after nine o’clock, however, a shock occurred more violent +than the strongest felt on the Good Friday. I was unwell with a slight +feverish attack, and had gone to bed, but was awakened by the noise. +Some walls fell in, many houses were rent, and a part of the ceiling of +my room fell, striking me on the head and face, and for some minutes +blinding me with the dust. I sprang from my bed, and groped my way to +the door, which unluckily I had locked; but after a time I succeeded in +getting it open, and made my way to the court-yard, where I found the +rest of the inhabitants of the house praying and screaming.</p> + +<p>After a few moments had elapsed, however, they had quite got over their +fright, and were laughing and joking at their previous consternation and +precipitate flight. Unless the houses actually fall, people do not, +after the first moment, think much of these shocks, but this time they +did take the precaution to put all their doors open, and had their beds +carried out into the court. Mine was placed under the gallery of the +corridor, and a great deal of compassion was expressed for me when they +found I had been a little hurt. A young doctor, who occupied the room +next to mine, thought there would be no strong “temblor” again to-night, +but an aged priest said that this house was old and decayed, and it was +very necessary to be careful. My housemates then went back into their +rooms, and, though they kept the doors open, consumed with a good +appetite the remainder of the Easter feast, the conversation the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>while +turning, of course, almost exclusively on the “temblor.”</p> + +<p>I lay gazing up into the night sky, not at all inclined to sleep. The +day had been, as usual, very warm, the thermometer at noon showing 88° +Fahrenheit; a heavy mass of clouds (strato-cumulus) lay piled up about +the waning moon, but dispersed towards ten o’clock, and the moon then +shone brightly through a clear and tranquil atmosphere. A few light +scattered clouds of the cirrus and cirro-stratus lay motionless at a few +points on the horizon, but there was nothing to portend any unusual +phenomenon.</p> + +<p>At thirty minutes past ten, however, came the shock that laid the city +of San Salvador in ruins. It began with a terrific noise, the earth +heaving as if lifted by a subterranean sea; and this movement, and the +thunder accompanying it, continued for ten or twelve seconds, while the +crash and uproar of falling buildings were still more deafening than the +thunder. An immense and blinding cloud of dust arose, through which were +heard the shrieks and supplications of the flying people, calling on +“Maria Santissima” and all other saints; and at length a hymn, in +thousand-voiced chorus, which was heard plainly, through all the other +noises, at a distance of a mile and a half from the town, by a family of +German emigrants with whom I was acquainted.</p> + +<p>I had witnessed many terrible scenes of war and revolution in the Old +World, but there at least they were visible enemies of flesh and blood +with whom people had to contend; but here were unknown, terrific, +incalculable forces at work, of whose nature they had only the vaguest +idea. The shocks went on, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, and with +very brief intervals, until, by the evening of Easter Monday, one +hundred and twenty had been counted, and they were accompanied all the +time by hollow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>thunder and detonations, as if a tremendous battle were +raging beneath the earth. People now abandoned all thoughts of their +property, and sought only to save their lives, for, with the continual +oscillations of the ground in all directions, rents and chasms were +opening on it, so that no one knew whether it might not the next moment +yawn beneath their feet and engulf every living soul. After every new +shock I noticed that the people changed their prayers and the names of +the saints they were invoking; but whether the saints did not hear, or +could not or would not help them, the subterranean artillery continued +to bellow forth its fearful salvos with unmitigated fury.</p> + +<p>Towards one in the morning, one of my acquaintances came climbing over +the ruined wall of our court-yard to inquire after me, as he knew I was +unwell; and he then proposed to me to take a walk through the town by +moonlight. We took the direction of the market-place, where the +Cathedral stood; and from what I saw I can truly say that the whole city +was destroyed, for I did not see a <i>single</i> house uninjured. Those that +were not lying in ruin had so many rents, and damages of various kinds, +as to be quite uninhabitable. The Cathedral—an elegant rather than +imposing building—had escaped with less damage than many other +churches; but the clock-tower had fallen, the portal was lying in +fragments, and the walls were gaping open in two or three places.</p> + +<p>The interior of the Franciscan convent, the door of which stood wide +open, presented a sad picture of desolation. So many stones had fallen +from the roof and such large portions of the walls, that most of the +altars lay scattered in fragments, or were covered with rubbish; several +of the colossal figures of saints had fallen from the niches, and lay +with their finery all covered with dust and stones; but the people, who +the day before had been carrying them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>about in triumph, now did not +trouble themselves any more about them: everybody was occupied in saving +his life, or, if possible, his most valuable possessions.</p> + +<p>Of the new university buildings only one wing was left standing: it was +the one containing the clock-tower, and in this the clock was still +going on, regularly striking the hours. The roof of the Episcopal Palace +had fallen in, and some stones had struck the sacred head of the bishop +with no more ceremony than had been shown towards our profane pates, +though this bishop was Don Tomaso Saldana, a man most justly held in +high repute for the excellence of his life. Much injury had also been +sustained by the President of the Republic, Señor Duenas, who was +originally a monk, but afterwards a lawyer and statesman, and perhaps +the man of the greatest capacity in the whole country.</p> + +<p>The streets were empty and desolate, and we had to scramble over heaps +of ruins to get through them: not a creature was to be seen but a few +sentinels, and in the interior of the houses also there reigned the +stillness of the grave. Even in the broadest streets the people did not +think themselves safe, and rich and poor were huddled together +indiscriminately in the great square, praying, singing, and screaming +whenever a new shock startled them with its terrible explosion; but +fortunately, in the midst of all this, the new President, Don José Maria +San Martin, showed much presence of mind, and gave his orders for the +preservation of property with much composure.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Fortunately, the previous warning shock had driven most of the +people from their houses, a chance which saved most of their +lives, though several hundreds were found buried in the ruins.]</p></div> + +<p>The rising sun of Easter Monday morning shone on a mournful spectacle, +and the few people who were left in the town wandered about looking pale +and worn, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>women with a total disregard of their dress very unusual +with them. Among these I noticed the wife of the President, who was +entreating him to fly, like so many others, from the scene of danger; +but he remained faithful to duty, and was exerting himself vigorously to +keep order. He had established a kind of court-martial under a tent in +the University Square, before which every thief caught in the act was +brought, and, on the evidence of two witnesses against him, immediately +shot.</p> + +<p>Since the ruins of San Salvador could now no longer offer me a shelter, +I set off on foot, at an early hour, towards the hacienda of Mr. +Kronmeier, and on the way felt four more shocks, the strongest of which +lasted six or seven seconds, and was accompanied by violent oscillations +of the ground, and detonations like the salvos from Vesuvius, when, in +the lesser eruptions, you stand near the crater while stones are being +thrown up. I was now more than ever convinced that the centre of the +subterranean action was very near, and that the explosive steam and +glowing masses of the interior were seeking a new outlet.</p> + +<p>The country-house of Mr. Kronmeier was still standing, but its thick +walls had been rent in so many places that it offered only an +uncomfortable and insecure shelter. From the steep cliffs on the left of +the river’s bed masses of rock and earth had fallen, and the hot springs +at the foot of the hill had ceased to flow; the mill-stream was dry; one +of the cocoa-palms was prostrate, and the whole landscape, so lovely +before, had a dejected and melancholy aspect, increased, of course, by +the general flight of the inhabitants of the district.... The shocks +still went on, though they were not so frequent as on the two Easter +nights; and, as the subterranean forces were evidently struggling for a +new vent, no one could feel himself safe within the sphere of their +operations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>Many of the people whom we met, however, were leaving the place, though +not so much for any reason of this kind as on account of a prophecy of +the worthy bishop, “that before the new moon the whole district of San +Salvador, with the ruins of the city, would be swallowed up.” But, +unluckily for the bishop’s character as a prophet, the prediction was +not fulfilled.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="SCENES_IN_TRINIDAD_AND_JAMAICA" id="SCENES_IN_TRINIDAD_AND_JAMAICA"></a>SCENES IN TRINIDAD AND JAMAICA.</h2> + +<h3>JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Froude is scarcely known as a traveller, his reputation being +founded in another field of literature, that of history. Yet he +is the author of two works of travel,—“Oceana,” from which we +have elsewhere given a selection, and “The English in the West +Indies,” from which our present selection is derived. He +visited most of the British West Indies, and has given +picturesque descriptions of them all. We append some extracts +from his account of Trinidad.]</p></div> + +<p>Trinidad is the largest, after Jamaica, of the British West Indian +Islands, and the hottest absolutely after none of them. It is +square-shaped, and, I suppose, was once a part of South America. The +Orinoco River and the ocean-currents between them have cut a channel +between it and the mainland, which has expanded into a vast shallow lake +known as the Gulf of Paria. The two entrances by which the gulf is +approached are narrow, and are called <i>bocas</i>, or mouths,—one the +Dragon’s Mouth, the other the Serpent’s. When the Orinoco is in flood +the water is brackish, and the brilliant violet hue of the Caribbean Sea +is changed to a dirty yellow; but the harbor which is so formed would +hold all the commercial navies of the world, and seems <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>formed by nature +to be the depot one day of an enormous trade.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Landing was made at Port of Spain, the capital, so called when +Trinidad was a Spanish possession, and Mr. Froude found +pleasant quarters in the house of a friend.]</p></div> + +<p>The town has between thirty and forty thousand people living in it, and +the rain and the Johnny crows [a black vulture that acts as scavenger] +between them keep off pestilence. Outside is a large savanna or park, +where the villas are of the successful men of business. One of these +belonged to my host, a cool, airy habitation, with open doors and +windows, overhanging portico, and rooms into which all the winds might +enter, but not the sun. A garden in front was shut off from the savanna +by a fence of bananas. At the gate stood as sentinel a cabbage-palm a +hundred feet high; on the lawn mangoes, oranges, papaws, and +bread-fruit-trees, strange to look at, but luxuriantly shady. Before the +door was a tree of good dimensions, whose name I have forgotten, the +stem and branches of which were hung with orchids which G—— had +collected in the woods.</p> + +<p><a name="illo7" id="illo7"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;"> +<img src="images/i162.jpg" class="illogap" width="336" height="500" alt="A WATERFALL IN THE TROPICS" title="" /> +<span class="caption">A WATERFALL IN THE TROPICS</span> +</div> + +<p>The borders were blazing with varieties of the single hibiscus, crimson, +pink, and fawn-color, the largest that I had ever seen. The average +diameter of each single flower was from seven to eight inches. Wind +streamed freely through the long sitting-room, loaded with the perfume +of orange-trees; on table and in bookcase the hand and mind visible of a +gifted and cultivated man. The particular room assigned to myself would +have been delightful, but that my possession of it was disputed, even in +daylight, by mosquitoes, who for blood-thirsty ferocity had a bad +pre-eminence over the worst that I had ever met with elsewhere. I killed +one who was at work upon me, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>examined him through a glass. Bewick, with the inspiration of genius, +had drawn his exact likeness as the devil,—a long black stroke for a +body, a nick for a neck, horns on the head, and a beak for a mouth, +spindle arms, and longer spindle legs, two pointed wings, and a tail. +Line for line, there the figure was before me, which in the unforgetable +tail-piece is driving the thief under the gallows, and I had a +melancholy satisfaction in identifying him. I had been warned to be on +the lookout for scorpions, centipedes, jiggers, and land-crabs, who +would bite me if I walked slipperless over the floor in the dark. Of +these I met with none, either there or anywhere, but the mosquito of +Trinidad is enough by himself. For malice, mockery, and venom of tooth +and trumpet he is without a match in the world.</p> + +<p>From mosquitoes, however, one could seek safety in tobacco-smoke, or +hide behind the lace curtains with which every bed is provided. +Otherwise I found every provision to make life pass deliciously. To walk +is difficult in a damp, steamy atmosphere, hotter during daylight than +the hottest forcing-house in Kew.... Beautiful, however, it was beyond +dispute. Before sunset a carriage took us around the savanna. Tropical +human beings, like tropical birds, are fond of fine colors, especially +black human beings, and the park was as brilliant as Kensington Gardens +on a Sunday. At nightfall the scene became even more wonderful, air, +grass, and trees being alight with fireflies, each as brilliant as an +English glow-worm. The palm-tree at our own gate stood like a ghostly +sentinel clear against the starry sky, a single long dead frond hanging +from below the coronet of leaves and clashing against the stem as it was +blown to and fro by the night-wind, while long-winged bats swept and +whistled over our heads.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>[The governor’s residence and the botanical gardens next call +for attention.]</p></div> + +<p>The “Residence” stands in a fine situation, in large grounds of its own, +at the foot of the mountains. It has been lately built, regardless of +expense, for the colony is rich, and likes to do things handsomely. On +the lawn, under the windows, stood a tree which was entirely new to me, +an enormous ceiba or silk-cotton-tree, umbrella-shaped, fifty yards in +diameter, the huge and buttressed trunk throwing out branches so massive +that one wondered how any woody fibre could bear the strain of their +weight, the boughs twisting in and out till they made a roof over one’s +head, which was hung with every fantastic variety of parasites.</p> + +<p>Vast as the ceibas were which I saw afterwards in other parts of the +West Indies, this was the largest. The ceiba is the sacred tree of the +negro, the temple of Jumbi, the proper house of Obeah. To cut down one +is impious. No black in his right mind would wound even the bark. A +Jamaica police officer told me that if a ceiba had to be removed, the +men who used the axe were well dosed with rum to give them courage to +defy the devil.</p> + +<p>From Government House we strolled into the adjoining Botanical Gardens. +I had long heard of the wonders of these. The reality went beyond +description. Plants with which I was familiar as <i>shrubs</i> in English +conservatories were here expanded into forest giants, with hundreds of +others of which we cannot raise even Liliputian imitations. Let man be +what he will, nature in the tropics is always grand. Palms were growing +in the greatest luxuriance, of every known species, from the cabbage +towering up into the sky to the fan-palm of the desert whose fronds are +reservoirs of water.</p> + +<p>Of exogenous trees the majority were leguminous in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>some shape or other, +forming flowers like a pea or vetch and hanging their seeds in pods; yet +in shape and foliage they distanced far the most splendid ornaments of +an English park. They had Old-World names with characters wholly +different: cedars which were not conifers, almonds which were no +relations of peaches, and gum-trees as unlike eucalypti as one tree can +be unlike another.</p> + +<p>Again, you saw ferns which you seemed to recognize till some unexpected +anomaly startled you out of your mistake. A gigantic Portugal laurel, or +what I took for such, was throwing out a flower direct from the stem +like a cactus. Grandest among them all, and happily in full bloom, was +the sacred tree of Burmah, the <i>Amherstia nobilis</i>, at a distance like a +splendid horse-chestnut, with crimson blossoms in pendent bunches, each +separate flower in the convolution of its parts exactly counterfeiting a +large orchid, with which it had not the faintest affinity, the Amherstia +being leguminous like the rest.</p> + +<p>Underneath, and dispersed among the imperial beauties, were spice-trees, +orange-trees, coffee plants, and cocoa, or again, shrubs with special +virtues or vices. We had to be careful what we were about, for fruits of +fairest appearance were tempting us all round. My companion was +preparing to eat something to encourage me to do the same. A gardener +stopped him in time. It was nux vomica. I was straying along a less +frequented path, conscious of a heavy vaporous odor, in which I might +have fainted had I remained exposed to it. I was close to a +manchineel-tree.</p> + +<p>Prettiest and freshest were the nutmegs, which had a glen all to +themselves and perfumed the surrounding air. In Trinidad and in Grenada +I believe the nutmegs are the largest that are known, being from thirty +to forty feet high; leaves brilliant green, something like the leaves of +an orange, but extremely delicate and thin, folded one over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>the other, +the lowest branches sweeping to the ground till the whole tree forms a +natural bower, which is proof against a tropical shower. The fragrance +attracts moths and flies; not mosquitoes, who prefer a ranker +atmosphere. I saw a pair of butterflies the match of which I do not +remember even in any museum, dark blue shot with green like a peacock’s +neck, and the size of English bats. I asked a black boy to catch me one. +“That sort no let catchee, massa,” he said; and I was penitently glad to +hear it.</p> + +<p>Among the wonders of the garden are the vines, as they call them, that +is, the creepers of various kinds that climb about the other trees. +Standing in an open space there was what once had been a mighty “cedar.” +It was now dead, only the trunk and dead branches remaining, and had +been murdered by a “fig-vine” which had started from the root, twined +itself like a python round the stem, strangled out the natural life, and +spreading out in all directions, had covered boughs and twigs with a +foliage not its own. So far the “vine” had done no worse than ivy does +at home, but there was one feature about it which puzzled me altogether. +The lowest of the original branches of the cedar were about twenty feet +above our heads. From these in four or five places the parasite had let +fall shoots, perhaps an inch in diameter, which descended to within a +foot of the ground and then suddenly, without touching that or anything, +formed a bight like a rope, went straight up again, caught hold of the +branch from which they started, and so hung suspended exactly as an +ordinary swing.</p> + +<p>In three distinctly perfect instances the “vine” had executed this +singular evolution, while at the extremity of one of the longest and +tallest branches high up in the air it had made a clean leap of fifteen +feet without visible help and had caught hold of another tree adjoining +on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>same level. These performances were so inexplicable that I +conceived that they must have been a freak of the gardener’s. I was +mistaken. He said that at particular times in the year the fig-vine +threw out fine tendrils which hung downward like strings. The strongest +among them would lay hold of two or three others and climb up upon them, +the rest would die and drop off, while the successful one, having found +support for itself above, would remain swinging in the air and thicken +and prosper. The leap he explained by the wind. I retained a suspicion +that the wind had been assisted by some aspiring energy in the plant +itself, so bold it was and so ambitious.</p> + +<p>But the wonders of the garden were thrown into the shade by the cottage +at the extreme angle of it, where Kingsley<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> had been the guest of Sir +Arthur Gordon. It is a long straggling wooden building with deep +verandas lying in a hollow overshadowed by trees, with views opening out +into the savanna through arches formed by clumps of tall bamboos, the +canes growing thick in circular masses and shooting up a hundred feet +into the air, where they meet and form frames for the landscape, +peculiar and even picturesque when there are not too many of them. These +bamboos were Kingsley’s special delight, as he had never seen the like +of them elsewhere. The room in which he wrote is still shown, and the +gallery where he walked up and down with his long pipe. His memory is +cherished in the island as of some singular and beautiful presence which +still hovers about the scenes which so delighted him in the closing +evening of his own life.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Happiness makes its home with the negroes of Trinidad, whom +nature keeps in pristine idleness. They have little to do other +than to pull and eat.]</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p><p>In Trinidad there are eighteen thousand freeholders, most of them +negroes and representatives of the old slaves. Their cabins are spread +along the road on either side, overhung with bread-fruit-trees, +tamarinds, calabash-trees, out of which they make their cups and +water-jugs; the luscious granadilla climbs among the branches; plantains +throw their cool shade over the doors; oranges and limes and citrons +perfume the air, and droop their boughs under the weight of their golden +burdens. There were yams in the gardens and cows in the paddocks, and +cocoa-bushes loaded with purple or yellow pods. Children played about in +swarms in happy idleness and abundance, with schools, too, at intervals, +and an occasional Catholic chapel, for the old religion prevails in +Trinidad, never having been disturbed.</p> + +<p>What form could human life assume more charming than that which we were +now looking on? Once more, the earth does not contain any peasantry so +well off, so well cared for, so happy, so sleek and contented as the +sons and daughters of the emancipated slaves in the English West Indian +Islands. Sugar may fail the planter, but cocoa, which each peasant can +grow with small effort for himself, does not fail and will not. He may +“better his condition,” if he has any such ambition, without stirring +beyond his own ground, and so far, perhaps, his ambition may extend, if +it is not turned off upon politics.</p> + +<p>Even the necessary evils of the tropics are not many or serious. His +skin is proof against mosquitoes. There are snakes in Trinidad as there +were snakes in Eden. “Plenty snakes,” said one of them who was at work +in his garden, “plenty snakes, but no bitee.” As to costume, he would +prefer the costume of innocence if he were allowed. Clothes in such a +climate are superfluous for warmth, and to the minds of the negroes, +unconscious as they are of shame, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>superfluous for decency. European +prejudice, however, still passes for something; the women have a love +for finery, which would prevent a complete return to African simplicity; +and in the islands which are still French, and in those like Trinidad, +which the French originally colonized, they dress themselves with real +taste. They hide their wool in red or yellow handkerchiefs, gracefully +twisted; or perhaps it is not only to conceal the wool. Columbus found +the Carib women of the island dressing their hair in the same fashion.</p> + +<p>The water-works, when we reached them, were even more beautiful than we +had been taught to expect. A dam has been driven across a perfectly +limpid mountain stream; a wide open area has been cleared, levelled, +strengthened with masonry, and divided into deep basins or reservoirs, +through which the current continually flows. Hedges of hibiscus shine +with crimson blossoms. Innumerable humming-birds glance to and fro among +the trees and shrubs, and gardens and ponds are overhung by magnificent +bamboos, which so astonished me by their size that I inquired if their +height had been measured. One of them, I was told, had lately fallen, +and was found to be one hundred and thirty feet long. A single drawback +only there was to this enchanting spot, and it was again the snakes. +There are huge pythons in Trinidad which are supposed to have crossed +the straits from the continent. Some washerwomen at work in the stream +had been disturbed a few days before our visit by one of these monsters, +who had come down to see what they were about. They are harmless, but +trying to the nerves.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[We shall conclude this selection with a leap from Trinidad to +Jamaica, and the relation of an adventure experienced by our +author in that island. He was on his way back from an excursion +into the island.]</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>The train from Porus brought us back to Kingston an hour before sunset. +The evening was lovely, even for Jamaica. The sea-breeze had fallen, the +land-breeze had not risen, and the dust lay harmless on road and hedge. +Cherry Garden, to which I was bound, was but seven miles distant by the +direct road, so I calculated on a delightful drive which would bring me +to my destination before dark.</p> + +<p>So I calculated; but alas! for human expectation. I engaged a “buggy” at +the station, with a decent-looking conductor, who assured me that he +knew the way to Cherry Garden as well as to his own door. His horse +looked starved and miserable. He insisted that there was not another in +Kingston that was more than a match for it. We set out, and for the +first two or three miles we went on well enough, conversing amicably on +things in general. But it so happened that it was market day. The road +was thronged with women plodding along with their baskets on their +heads, a single male on a donkey to each detachment of them, carrying +nothing, like an officer with a detachment of soldiers.</p> + +<p>Foolish indignation rose in me, and I asked my friend if he was not +ashamed of seeing the poor creatures toiling so cruelly, while their +lords and masters amused themselves. I appealed to his feelings as a +man, as if it were likely that he had got any. The wretch only laughed. +“Ah, massa,” he said, with his tongue in his cheek, “women do women’s +work, men do men’s work,—all right.” “And what is men’s work?” I asked. +Instead of answering he went on, “Look at they women, massa,—how they +laugh, how happy they be! Nobody more happy than black woman, massa.”</p> + +<p>I would not let him off. I pricked into him, till he got excited too, +and we argued and contradicted each other, till at last the horse, +finding he was not attended to, went his own way, and that was a wrong +one. Between Kingston <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>and our destination there is a deep sandy flat, +overgrown with brush and penetrated in all directions with labyrinthine +lanes. Into this we had wandered in our quarrels, and neither of us knew +where we were. The sand was loose; our miserable beast was above his +fetlocks in it, and was visibly drooping under his efforts to drag us +along even at a walk.</p> + +<p>The sun went down. The tropic twilight is short. The evening star shone +out in the west, and the crescent moon over our heads. My man said this +and said that; every word was a lie, for he had lost his way and would +not allow it. We saw a light through some trees. I sent him to inquire. +We were directed one way and another way, every way except the right +one. We emerged at last upon a hard road of some kind. The stars told me +the general direction. We came to cottages where the name of Cherry +Garden was known, and we were told that it was two miles off; but alas! +again there were two roads to it,—a short and good one and a long and +bad one, and they sent us by the last. There was a steep hill to climb, +for the house is eight hundred feet above the sea. The horse could +hardly crawl, and my “nigger” went to work to flog him to let off his +own ill-humor. I had to stop that by force, and at last, as it grew too +dark to see the road under the trees, I got out and walked, leaving him +to follow at a foot’s pace. The night was lovely. I began to think that +we should have to camp out after all, and that it would be no great +hardship.</p> + +<p>It was like the gloaming of a June night in England, the daylight in the +open spots not entirely gone, and mixing softly with the light of moon +and planet and the flashing of the fireflies. I plodded on, mile after +mile, and Cherry Garden still receded to one mile farther. We came to a +gate of some consequence. The outline of a large mansion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>was visible, +with gardens round it. I concluded that we had arrived, and was feeling +for the latch when the forms of a lady and gentleman appeared against +the sky who were strolling in the grounds. They directed me still +upward, with the mile which never diminished still to be travelled.</p> + +<p>Like myself, our weary animal had gathered hopes from the sight of the +gate. He had again to drag on as he could. His owner was subdued and +silent, and obeyed whatever order I gave him. The trees now closed over +us so thick that I could see nothing. Vainly I repented of my +unnecessary philanthropy, which had been the cause of the mischief; what +had I to do with black women, or white either, for that matter? I had to +feel the way with my feet and a stick. I came to a place where the lane +again divided. I tried the nearest turn. I found a trench across it +three feet deep, which had been cut by a torrent. This was altogether +beyond the capacity of our unfortunate animal, so I took the other +boldly, prepared, if it proved wrong, to bivouac till morning with my +“nigger,” and go on with my argument.</p> + +<p>Happily there was no need; we came again on a gate which led into a +field. There was a drive across it and wire fences. Finally lights began +to glimmer and dogs to bark: we were at the real Cherry Garden at last, +and found the whole household alarmed for what had become of us.</p> + +<p>I could not punish my misleader by stinting his fare, for I knew that I +had only myself to blame. He was an honest fellow after all. In the +disturbance of my mind I left a rather valuable umbrella in his buggy. +He discovered it after he had gone, and had grace enough to see that it +was returned to me. My entertainers were much amused at the cause of the +misadventure, perhaps unique <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>of its kind: to address homilies to the +black people on the treatment of their wives not being the fashion in +those parts.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="THE_HIGH_WOODS_OF_TRINIDAD" id="THE_HIGH_WOODS_OF_TRINIDAD"></a>THE HIGH WOODS OF TRINIDAD.</h2> + +<h3>CHARLES KINGSLEY.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The skilled and popular novelist to whom we owe our present +selection seems to have entertained for years a vivid wish to +see the glory of the tropics, the achievement of which desire +is put upon record in “At Last,” the work from which we quote. +In his “Westward Ho” he had years before given a +warmly-delineated imaginary picture of the tropics, but waited +for years afterwards to see these scenes in their picturesque +reality. He tells well the story of the tropical “High Woods.”]</p></div> + +<p>And now we set ourselves to walk to the depot, where the government +timber was being felled, and the real “High Woods” to be seen at last. +Our path lay along the half-finished tramway, through the first cacao +plantation I had ever seen, though, I am happy to say, not the last by +many a one.</p> + +<p>Imagine an orchard of nut-trees, with very large, long leaves. Each tree +is trained to a single stem. Among them, especially near the path, grow +plants of the common hot-house Datura, its long white flowers perfuming +all the air. They have been planted as landmarks, to prevent the young +cacao-trees being cut over when the weeds are cleared. Among them, too, +at some twenty yards apart, are the stems of a tree looking much like an +ash, save that it is inclined to throw out broad spurs like a ceiba. You +look up and see that they are Bois immortelles, fifty or sixty feet +high, one blaze of vermilion against the blue sky. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Those who have stood +under a Lombardy poplar in early spring and looked up at its buds and +twigs showing like pink coral against the blue sky, and have felt the +beauty of the sight, can imagine faintly—but only faintly—the beauty +of these “madres de cacao,”—cacao mothers, as they call them +here,—because their shade is supposed to shelter the cacao-trees, while +the dew collected by their leaves keeps the ground below always damp.</p> + +<p>I turned my dazzled eyes down again and looked into the delicious +darkness under the bushes. The ground was brown with fallen leaves, or +green with ferns; and here and there a slant ray of sunlight pierced +through the shade, and flashed on the brown leaves, and on a gray stem, +and on a crimson jewel which hung on the stem, and there, again, on a +bright orange one; and as my eye became accustomed to the darkness, I +saw that the stems and larger boughs far away into the wood were dotted +with pods, crimson, or yellow, or green, of the size and shape of a +small hand closed with the fingers straight out. They were the +cacao-pods, full of what are called at home cacao-nibs. And there lay a +heap of them, looking like a heap of gay flowers; and by them sat their +brown owner, picking them to pieces and laying the seeds to dry on a +cloth. I went up and told him that I came from England, and never saw +cacao before, though I had been eating and drinking it all my life; at +which news he grinned amusement till his white teeth and eyeballs made a +light in that dark place, and offered me a fresh broken pod, that I +might taste the pink sour sweet pulp in which the rows of the nibs lie +packed, a pulp which I found very pleasant and refreshing.</p> + +<p>He dries his cacao-nibs in the sun, and, if he be a well-to-do and +careful man, on a stage with wheels, which can be run into a little shed +on the slightest shower of rain; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>picks them over and over, separating +the better quality from the worse; and at last sends them down on +mule-back to the sea, to be sold in London as Trinidad cocoa, or perhaps +in Paris to the chocolate-makers, who convert them into chocolate, +“Menier” or other, by mixing them with sugar and vanilla—both, +possibly, from this very island. This latter fact once inspired an +adventurous German with the thought that he could make chocolate in +Trinidad just as well as in Paris. And (so goes the story) he succeeded; +but the fair Creoles would not buy it. It could not be good; it could +not be the real article, unless it had crossed the Atlantic twice to and +fro from that centre of fashion, Paris. So the manufacture, which might +have added greatly to the wealth of Trinidad, was given up, and the +ladies of the island eat naught but French chocolate, costing, it is +said, nearly four times as much as home-made chocolate need cost.</p> + +<p>As we walked on through the trace (for the tramway here was still +unfinished), one of my kind companions pointed out a little plant, which +bears in the island the ominous name of the Brinvilliers. It is one of +those deadly poisons too common in the bush, and too well known to the +negro Obi-men and Obi-women. And as I looked at the insignificant weed, +I wondered how the name of that wretched woman should have spread to +this remote island, and have become famous enough to be applied to a +plant. French negroes may have brought the name with them; but then +arose another wonder. How were the terrible properties of the plant +discovered? How eager and ingenious must the human mind be about the +devil’s work, and what long practice—considering its usual slowness and +dulness—must it have had at the said work, ever to have picked out this +paltry thing among the thousand weeds of the forest as a tool for its +jealousy and revenge! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>It may have taken ages to discover the +Brinvilliers, and ages more to make its poison generally known. Why not? +As the Spaniards say, “The devil knows many things, because he is old.” +Surely this is one of the many facts which point towards some immensely +ancient civilization in the tropics, and a civilization which may have +had its ugly vices and have been destroyed thereby.</p> + +<p>Now we left the cacao grove; and I was aware on each side of the trace +of a wall of green, such as I had never seen before on earth, not even +in my dreams,—strange colossal shapes towering up a hundred feet and +more in height, which, alas! it was impossible to reach, for on either +side of the trace were fifty yards of half-cleared ground, fallen logs, +withes, huge stumps ten feet high, charred and crumbling, and among them +and over them a wilderness of creepers and shrubs, and all the luxuriant +young growth of the “rastrajo,” which springs up at once whenever the +primeval forest is cleared,—all utterly impassable. These rastrajo +forms, of course, were all new to me. I might have spent weeks in +botanizing merely at them; but all I could remark, or cared to remark, +there as in other places, was the tendency in the rastrajo towards +growing enormous rounded leaves. How to get at the giants behind was the +only question for one who for forty years had been longing for one peep +at Flora’s fairy palace, and saw its portals open at last. There was a +deep gully before us, where a gang of convicts was working at a wooden +bridge for the tramway, amid the usual abysmal mud of the tropic wet +season, and on the other side of it there was no rastrajo right and left +of the trace. I hurried down it like any school-boy, dashing through mud +and water, hopping from log to log, regardless of warnings and offers of +help from good-natured negroes, who expected the respectable elderly +“buccra” to come to grief, struggled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>perspiring up the other side of +the gully, and then dashed away to the left, and stopped short, +breathless with awe, in the primeval forest at last.</p> + +<p>In the primeval forest, looking upon that upon which my teachers and +masters, Humboldt, Spix, Martius, Schomburgk, Waterton, Bates, Wallace, +Gosse, and the rest, had looked already, with far wiser eyes than mine, +comprehending somewhat at least of its wonders, while I could only stare +in ignorance. There was actually, then, such a sight to be seen on +earth, and it was not less, but far more, wonderful than they had said.</p> + +<p>My first feeling on entering the high woods was helplessness, confusion, +awe, all but terror. One is afraid at first to venture in fifty yards. +Without a compass, or the landmark of some opening to or from which he +can look, a man must be lost in the first ten minutes, such a sameness +is there in the infinite variety. That sameness and variety make it +impossible to give any general sketch of the forest. Once inside “you +cannot see the wood for the trees.” You can only wander on as far as you +dare, letting each object impress itself on your mind as it may, and +carrying away a confused recollection of innumerable perpendicular lines +all straining upward, in fierce competition, towards the light-food far +above; and next of a green cloud, or rather mist, which hovers round +your head, and rises thickening to an unknown height. The upward lines +are of every possible thickness, and of almost every possible hue; what +leaves they bear, being for most part on the tips of the twigs, give a +scattered, mist-like appearance to the under foliage.</p> + +<p>For the first moment, therefore, the forest seems more open than an +English wood. But try to walk through it, and ten steps undeceive you. +Around your knees are probably Mamures, with creeping stems and +fan-shaped leaves, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>something like those of a young cocoa-nut-palm. You +try to brush through them, and are caught up instantly by a string or +wire belonging to some other plant. You look up and round, and then you +find that the air is full of wires,—that you are hung up in a net-work +of fine branches belonging to half a dozen different sorts of young +trees, and intertwined with as many different species of slender +creepers. You thought at your first glance among the tree-stems that you +were looking through open air; you find that you are looking through a +labyrinth of wire rigging, and must use the cutlass right and left at +every five steps.</p> + +<p>You push on into a bed of strong sedge-like Sclerias, with cutting edges +to their leaves. It is well for you they are only three and not six feet +high. In the midst of them you run against a horizontal stick, +triangular, rounded, smooth, green. You take a glance along it right and +left, and see no end to it either way, but gradually discover that it is +the leaf-stalk of a young Cocorite palm. The leaf is five-and-twenty +feet long, and springs from a huge ostrich plume, which is sprawling out +of the ground and up above your head a few yards off. You cut the +leaf-stalk through right and left and walk on, to be stopped suddenly +(for you get so confused by the multitude of objects that you never see +anything till you run against it) by a gray lichen-covered bar as thick +as your ankle. You follow it up with your eye, and find it entwine +itself with three or four other bars, and roll over with them in great +knots, and festoons, and loops twenty feet high, and then go up with +them into the green cloud over your head, and vanish, as if a giant had +thrown a ship’s cable into the tree-tops.</p> + +<p>One of them, so grand that its form strikes even the negro and the +Indian, is a Liantasse. You see that at once by the form of its +cable,—six or eight inches across in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>one direction, and three or four +in another, furbelowed all down the middle into regular knots, and +looking like a chain cable between two flexible bars. At another of the +loops, about as thick as your arm, your companion, if you have a +forester with you, will spring joyfully. With a few blows of his cutlass +he will sever it as high up as he can reach, and again below, some three +feet down; and, while you are wondering at this seemingly wanton +destruction, he lifts the bar on high, throws his head back, and pours +down his thirsty throat a pint or more of pure cold water. This hidden +treasure is, strange as it may seem, the ascending sap, or rather the +ascending pure rain-water which has been taken up by the roots, and is +hurrying aloft, to be elaborated into sap, and leaf, and flower, and +fruit, and fresh tissue for the very stem up which it originally +climbed, and therefore it is that the woodman cuts the water-vine +through first at the top of the piece which he wants, and not at the +bottom; for so rapid is the ascent of the sap, that if he cut the stem +below, the water would have all fled upward before he could cut it off +above.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the old story of Jack and the Bean-stalk comes into your +mind. In such a forest was the old dame’s hut, and up such a bean-stalk +Jack climbed, to fight a giant and a castle high above. Why not? What +may not be up there? You look up into the green cloud, and long for a +moment to be a monkey. There may be monkeys up there over your +head,—burly red Howler, or tiny peevish Sapajou, peering down at you, +but you cannot peer up at them. The monkeys, and the parrots, and the +humming-birds, and the flowers, and all the beauty, are upstairs—up +above the green cloud. You are in “the empty nave of the cathedral,” and +the service is being celebrated aloft in the blazing roof.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p><p>We will hope that, as you look up, you have not been careless enough to +walk on, for if you have you will be tripped up at once; nor to put your +hand out incautiously to rest it against a tree, or what not, for fear +of sharp thorns, ants, and wasp-nests. If you are all safe, your next +steps, probably, as you struggle through the bush between tree-trunks of +every possible size, will bring you face to face with huge upright walls +of seeming boards, whose rounded edges slope upward till, as your eye +follows them, you find them enter an enormous stem, perhaps round, like +one of the Norman pillars of Durham nave, and just as huge; perhaps +fluted, like one of William of Wykeham’s columns at Winchester.</p> + +<p>There is the stem, but where is the tree? Above the green cloud. You +struggle up to it between two of the board walls, but find it not so +easy to reach. Between you and it are half a dozen tough strings which +you had not noticed at first,—the eye cannot focus itself rapidly +enough in this confusion of distances,—which have to be cut through ere +you can pass. Some of them are rooted in the ground, straight and tense; +some of them dangle and wave in the wind at every height. What are they? +Air-roots of wild pines, or of Matapalos, or of figs, or of Seguines, or +of some other parasite? Probably; but you cannot see. All you can see +is, as you put your chin close against the trunk of the tree and look +up, as if you were looking up against the side of a great ship set on +end, that some sixty or eighty feet up in the green cloud arms as big as +English forest-trees branch off, and that out of their forks a whole +green garden of vegetation has tumbled down twenty or thirty feet, and +half climbed up again.</p> + +<p>You scramble round the tree to find whence this aerial garden has +sprung: you cannot tell. The tree-trunk is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>smooth and free from +climbers, and that mass of verdure may belong possibly to the very +cables which you met ascending into the green cloud twenty or thirty +yards back, or to that impenetrable tangle a dozen yards on, which has +climbed a small tree, and then a taller one again, and then a taller +still, till it has climbed out of sight, and possibly into the lower +branches of the big tree. And what are their species? What are their +families? Who knows? Not even the most experienced woodman or botanist +can tell you the names of plants of which he only sees the stems. The +leaves, the flowers, the fruit, can only be examined by felling the +tree; and not even always then, for sometimes the tree, when cut, +refuses to fall, linked as it is by chains of liane to all the trees +around. Even that wonderful water-vine which we cut through just now may +be one of three or even four different plants....</p> + +<p>And where are the famous Orchids? They perch on every bough and stem; +but they are not, with three or four exceptions, in flower in the +winter; and if they were, I know nothing about them; at least I know +enough to know how little I know. Whosoever has read Darwin’s +“Fertilization of Orchids,” and finds in his own reason that the book is +true, had best say nothing about the beautiful monsters till he has seen +with his own eyes more than his master.</p> + +<p>And yet even the three or four that are in flower are worth going many a +mile to see. In the hot-house they seem almost artificial from their +strangeness; but to see them “natural,” on natural boughs, gives a sense +of their reality which no unnatural situation can give. Even to look up +at them perched on bough and stem, as one rides by, and to guess what +exquisite and fantastic form may issue, in a few months or weeks, out of +those fleshy, often unsightly, leaves, is a strange pleasure,—a spur to +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>fancy which is surely wholesome, if we will but believe that all +these things were invented by a Fancy, which desires to call out in us, +by contemplating them, such small fancy as we possess, and to make us +poets, each according to his power, by showing a world in which, if +rightly looked at, all is poetry.</p> + +<p>Another fact will soon force itself on your attention, unless you wish +to tumble down and get wet up to your knees. The soil is furrowed +everywhere by holes, by graves some two or three feet wide and deep, and +of uncertain length and shape, often wandering about for thirty or forty +feet, and running confusedly into each other. They are not the work of +man, nor of an animal, for no earth seems to have been thrown out of +them. In the bottom of the dry graves you sometimes see a decaying root; +but most of them just now are full of water, and of tiny fish also, +which burrow in the mud, and sleep during the dry season, to come out +and swim during the wet. These graves are, some of them, plainly quite +new. Some, again, are very old, for trees of all sizes are growing in +them and over them.</p> + +<p>What makes them? A question not easily answered. But the shrewdest +foresters say that they have held the roots of trees now dead. Either +the tree has fallen, and torn its roots out of the ground, or the roots +and stumps have rotted in their place, and the soil above them has +fallen in.</p> + +<p>But they must decay very quickly, these roots, to leave their quiet +fresh graves thus empty; and—now one thinks of it—how few fallen +trees, or even dead sticks, there are about. An English wood, if left to +itself, would be cumbered with fallen timber; and one has heard of +forests in North America through which it is all but impossible to make +way, so high are piled up, among the still growing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>trees, dead logs in +every stage of decay. Such a sight may be seen in Europe among the high +silver-fir forests of the Pyrenees. How is it not so here? How, indeed? +And how comes it—if you will look again—that there are few or no +fallen leaves, and actually no leaf-mould? In an English wood there +would be a foot—perhaps two feet—of black soil, renewed by every +autumn leaf-fall. Two feet? One has heard often enough of bison-hunting +in Himalayan forests among Deodaras one hundred and fifty feet high, and +scarlet rhododendrons thirty feet high, growing in fifteen or twenty +feet of leaf- and timber-mould. And here, in a forest equally ancient, +every plant is growing out of the bare yellow loam as it might in a +well-hoed garden-bed. Is it not strange?</p> + +<p>Most strange, till you remember where you are,—in one of Nature’s +hottest and dampest laboratories. Nearly eighty inches of yearly rain +and more than eighty degrees of perpetual heat make swift work with +vegetable fibre, which, in our cold and sluggard clime, would curdle +into leaf-mould, perhaps into peat. Far to the north, in poor old +Ireland, and far to the south, in Patagonia, begin the zones of peat, +where dead vegetable fibre, its treasures of light and heat locked up, +lies all but useless age after age. But this is the zone of illimitable +sun force, which destroys as swiftly as it generates, and generates +again as swiftly as it destroys. Here, when the forest giant falls, as +some tell me that they have heard him fall, on silent nights, when the +cracking of the roots below and the lianes aloft rattles like musketry +through the woods, till the great trunk comes down, with a boom as of a +heavy gun, re-echoing on from mountain-side to mountain-side; then</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox2"><p> +“Nothing in him that doth fade,<br /> +But doth suffer an <i>air</i>-change<br /> +Into something rich and strange.”</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p><p>Under the genial rain and genial heat, the timber-tree itself, all its +tangled ruin of lianes and parasites, and the boughs and leaves, snapped +off not only by the blow, but by the very wind of the falling tree, all +melt away swiftly and peacefully in a few months—say almost a few +days—into the water, and carbonic acid, and sunlight out of which they +were created at first, to be absorbed instantly by the green leaves +around, and, transmuted into fresh forms of beauty, leave not a wrack +behind. Explained thus,—and this I believe to be the true +explanation,—the absence of leaf-mould is one of the grandest, as it is +one of the most startling, phenomena of the forest.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[And thus the writer rambles on, telling fresh marvels of the +tropic woods, from which a knowledge is attained that “defies +all analysis.”]</p></div> + +<p>[It is that of] the causes and effects of their beauty; that “æsthetic” +of plants, of which Schleiden has spoken so well in that charming book +of his, “The Plant,” which all should read who wish to know somewhat of +“The Open Secret.” But when they read it let them read with open hearts. +For that same “Open Secret” is, I suspect, one of those which God may +hide from the wise and prudent, and yet reveal to babes.</p> + +<p>At least, so it seemed to me, the first day that I went, awe-struck, +into the High Woods; and so it seemed to me, the last day that I came, +even more awe-struck, out of them.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="ANIMALS_OF_BRITISH_GUIANA" id="ANIMALS_OF_BRITISH_GUIANA"></a>ANIMALS OF BRITISH GUIANA.</h2> + +<h3>C. BARRINGTON BROWN.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[British Guiana, the land which seems so strongly inclined to +extend its borders at the expense of Venezuela, is as yet very +far from being the active and well-developed settlement which +might be imagined from the aggressiveness of its rulers. Mr. +Brown’s story of it indicates a land of which nature is still +largely the lord, and which is so little known that he, as late +as twenty years ago, was able to discover a river and a +cataract not previously heard of. The selection we append, +descriptive of the wild animals of the country, is significant +of an undeveloped land. Mr. Brown, in his “Canoe and Camp Life +in British Guiana,” describes a number of unsuccessful efforts +to shoot jaguars, and continues:]</p></div> + +<p>One of the men happened to go a few yards behind one of our +camping-places, when he heard a movement behind him; turning round he +saw a jaguar leisurely surveying him. He fled to the camp with his +story, and I went in search of the animal accompanied by one man armed +with a cutlass. We did not go far before we saw its tracks in the sandy +bed of a dry water-course, and concluded that it had gone off. We gave +up all hopes of seeing it, and, turning round, were on the point of +making our way back to camp, when my companion suddenly exclaimed, +“Look! look! the tiger!” Glancing at the spot indicated I saw it +crouching in a thicket with its head bent down, its body swaying from +side to side, glaring at us with eyes of a greenish metallic hue. The +brute had evidently been following us whilst we were searching for it, +and was working itself into a rage. I took as good aim at its head as I +could, and fired; but instead of seeing it lying dead, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>heard it +bounding and crashing through the forest at a fearful pace.</p> + +<p>One of my men got a shot at a jaguar on a sand-beach, where it passed +within twenty feet of him, as he crouched on some rocks. The only effect +the shot had on the animal was to make it gallop away a few yards, then +turn for an instant and look at him. The men whom I left in charge on +the New River cut open a hollow log containing young accouries, and took +them out. Their squeals on being seized attracted a puma, which ran +close up to the men, apparently wishing to get the accouries, when one +of them fired at it and it made off.</p> + +<p>One evening, whilst returning to camp along the portage path that we +were cutting at Wonobobo Falls, I walked faster than the men, and got +some two hundred yards in advance. As I rose the slope of an uneven +piece of ground, I saw a large puma (<i>Felis concolor</i>) advancing along +the other side of the rise towards me, with its nose down on the ground. +The moment I saw it I stopped; and at the same instant it tossed up its +head, and seeing me also came to a stand. With its body half crouched, +its head erect, and its eyes round and black, from its pupils having +expanded in the dusky light, it looked at once a noble and appalling +sight. I glanced back along our wide path to see if any of my men were +coming, as at the moment I felt that it was not well to be alone without +some weapon of defence, and I knew that one of them had a gun; but +nothing could I see. As long as I did not move the puma remained +motionless also, and thus we stood some fifteen yards apart, eying each +other curiously. I had heard that the human voice is potent in scaring +most wild beasts, and feeling that the time had arrived to do something +desperate, I waved my arms in the air and shouted loudly. The effect on +the tiger was electrical; it turned quickly on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>one side, and in two +bounds was lost in the forest. I waited until my men came up, however, +before passing the place at which it disappeared in case it might only +be lying in ambush there; but we saw nothing more of it.</p> + +<p>When returning down the portage and dragging our boats over, we saw a +jaguar sitting on a log near the same spot, watching our movements with +evident curiosity, and although the men were singing as they hauled the +boats along, it did not seem to mind the noise. As soon as it saw that +it was observed, it jumped off the log, and with a low growl made off. +From this I infer that the flight of my puma must have been owing more +to the windmill-like motion of my arms than to my voice.</p> + +<p>During our journey across from the New River to the Essequebo, we were +cooking breakfast one morning, when we heard a tremendous rushing and +crashing noise coming towards us through the forest, and then caught a +glimpse of an accourie flying for dear life before a black tiger. Just +after they passed the accourie gave a heart-rending scream as the tiger +seized it, but on my men rushing up to the spot, the tiger left its prey +and fled. When picked up the accourie was quite dead, but on examination +showed no marks whatever of the tiger’s teeth. The tiger had evidently +killed it by springing upon it with its legs close together, the weight +of its body giving such a blow that the accourie’s life was fairly +knocked out. The men found its dead body just beyond a large log, +slightly raised from the ground, under which it had bolted and lost some +headway, while the cunning tiger took the log in its stride and so came, +as it intended, on the poor accourie’s back, with the result we have +seen.</p> + +<p>On returning to the head of the New River for provisions, we were +followed for many miles by a tiger, for on going back we saw its huge +tracks in the swampy places on our path.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>With good hunting-dogs fine jaguar- and puma-hunting might be obtained +on the banks of this river, where without doubt they are exceedingly +numerous. Many of the Indian hunting-dogs trained for deer or tapir will +hunt tigers. When on the track of either of these animals, should they +come across the scent of a tiger, their eager and confident manner of +pressing on after the game is immediately changed, and with hair on +their backs erect they become cautious and nervous to a degree, jumping +at even the snapping of a twig. Abandoning the hunt they take up the +tiger’s track and follow it. But should the huntsman call them from it, +or not cheer them on with his voice from time to time, they exhibit +great fear, and keeping close to his heels cannot be induced to hunt any +more in that district for the day. On the contrary, if allowed to follow +the tiger, they track it up with caution, being fully aware of the +cunning dodge practised by that animal, which is, when the dog is close +at hand, to spring to one side and lie in ambush till it passes, when +with one spring the dog is seized.</p> + +<p>Ordinary dogs would fall a prey to this trap, but not the self-taught +tiger dogs. Their fine powers of scent warn them of their near approach +to the quarry, when they advance with great caution, never failing to +detect the tiger in time, and when once their eye is upon their enemy it +has no chance to escape. In its pride of strength, the jaguar scorns the +dogs, and with a rush like a ball from a cannon springs madly at one of +them, feeling sure that it cannot escape. It has reckoned, however, +without its host, for the dog eludes the spring with ease, and with +great quickness flies on the tiger’s flank, giving it a severe nip. As +the tiger turns with a growl of pain and disappointment, the dog is off +to a little distance, yelping lustily and never remaining still an +instant, but darting first on one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>side and then on the other. After one +or two ineffectual charges the tiger gives it up, and on the approach of +the hunter, springs into the nearest suitable tree, which it seldom +leaves alive.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The Indians describe several kinds of tigers and tiger-cats, +each of which hunts one kind of animal in particular, whose +call it can imitate. The deer-tiger is the puma. The wailah, or +tapir-tiger, is pure black and of great size.]</p></div> + +<p>The Corentyne and its branches were literally teeming with fish of +various kinds, the greater number being haimara and perai. The latter +were so abundant and ferocious that at times it was dangerous, when +bathing, to go into the water at a greater depth than up to one’s knees. +Even then small bodies of these hungry creatures would swim in and make +a dash close up to our legs, and then retreat to a short distance. They +actually bit the steering paddles as they were drawn through the water +astern of the boats. A tapir which I shot swimming across the river had +its nose eaten off by them whilst we were towing it to the shore.</p> + +<p>Of an evening the men used to catch some of them for sport, and in +taking the hook from their mouths produce a wound from which the blood +ran freely. On throwing them back into the water in this injured +condition they were immediately set upon and devoured by their +companions. Even as one was being hauled in on the line, its comrades, +seeing that it was in difficulties, attacked it at once. One day, when +the boat was hauled in to some rocks, a few of the men were engaged +shooting fish near by, and in so doing wounded a large haimara. Having +escaped from its human tormentors, it made for the open river, but was +instantly attacked by perai attracted by the blood escaping from its +wound, and was driven back to the shelter of the rocks close to the +boat, from which I had a good <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>view of the chase. The large fish +followed by its savage enemies reminded me of a parallel case on +land,—a stricken deer pursued by wolves.</p> + +<p>The perai, fortunately, lie only off sand-beaches and in quiet pools, +not frequenting the cataracts, where their presence would be anything +but acceptable to the men when working in the water. I was fortunate +enough to find the spawning-place of some perai on the matted clusters +of fibrous roots of some lianes, which hung from the branches of a tree +into the water, among which much earthy sediment had collected and many +small aquatic plants had grown. The sediment gave weight to the roots, +which kept the clusters under water, and the force of the current made +them buoyant, giving the lianes a slope when the river was high, which +kept them not far from its surface. My attention was attracted to them +by two perai lying close to them, with their heads up-stream, as the men +said, engaged in watching their eggs. Procuring one of the roots I +examined it, and found among it numbers of single eggs and clusters of +small jelly-like young, which had been already hatched. The eggs were +white and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, with a hard exterior. +The young were very little larger, and had a glutinous surface, which +caused them to adhere together on being taken from the water. They had +not acquired any powers of locomotion, but could just wriggle their +tails like tadpoles. Under a lens they resembled the egg devoid of its +covering, with a gelatinous ridge around three-quarters of its +circumference, one of which expanded into a knob (probably the head), +while the other termination was flattened and tail-like. I could not +detect any eyes or mouth in them, but their bodies were speckled with +gray markings of coloring matter....</p> + +<p>In hauling the boats up the shallow rapids near the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>mouth of the Cutari +the men, whilst wading, were frequently struck by conger eels. Every now +and then a man would call out “Congler, congler,” and jumping into the +boat rub his shins, which had been benumbed by a touch from one of these +fish. After half a minute or so the numbness wore off and he took to the +water again. The boat being in a critical condition at the time, it was +impossible for the men to leave the water. They had therefore to brave +out the shocks from these batteries, which must have been very slight, +given probably by small eels, or they could not have stood them.</p> + +<p>Small long-bodied fish were very common, and one kind, called courami, +took the baited hook as long as the fisherman who threw the line was out +of sight.</p> + +<p>The lukenaine, or sunfish, was captured by my men in a singular manner. +They manufactured an exceedingly rude fly out of a bunch of silk-grass +(<i>Bromelia karatas</i>) fibre, and attached it to a large hook with a short +line and rod. Drawing it rapidly over pools among the rocks, it was +immediately taken by the lukenaine, as the artificial fly is struck by +the trout.</p> + +<p>Sting-rays were frequently seen on the sandy bottom or grovelling for +worms in the muddy banks under water. My interpreter, William, was +unfortunate enough to step upon one, which, being of the color of the +bottom, was not observed. It drove its spine or sting into the side of +his instep, producing a jagged wound which bled profusely. I immediately +put laudanum on the wound and gave him a strong dose of ammonia. In a +quarter of an hour after he was writhing on the ground in great agony, +actually screaming at times with the pain he felt in the wounded part, +in his groin, and under one armpit. His foot and leg were so cold that +he got one man to light a fire and support his foot over it, persisting +in trying to put it in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>flames. I gave him two doses of laudanum, +one shortly after the other, without relieving his sufferings in the +slightest degree. After three hours of intense pain he became easier, +but had returns of it at intervals during the night. For a week he was +unable to put his foot on the ground, and the wound did not heal +thoroughly for six weeks....</p> + +<p>We did not see a single cayman during our stay on the Corentyne. It may +safely be inferred that there are none on that river, a singular fact +that cannot be accounted for. Small alligators, of about four feet in +length, are numerous, however, and one of them one night carried off a +young cat which the men had brought from Georgetown. Poor puss had gone +to the water’s edge to drink, when the alligator with one blow of its +tail swept it into the water and carried it away. On the following +morning we saw the alligator with its snout resting on a rock near by, +so I shot it; the men dragging it out of the water and leaving it on the +rocks. On returning, some months afterwards, we camped at the same +place, and there among the bones of the alligator saw those of the cat +bleaching in the sun.</p> + +<p>Iguanas were numerous, and on one occasion, when one in a tree overhead +was shot at with an arrow, it jumped down to gain the water, but not +calculating its distance accurately, landed on the back of one of the +men, who, seeing it coming, ducked his head and dropped his paddle +overboard. The paddle, being made of paruru, or paddle-wood, was heavy, +and sank, and the man was afraid to dive for it among the numerous +perai.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The author proceeds to describe the birds and trees of the +region, ending with an interesting account of the Brazil-nut.]</p></div> + +<p>Upon the borders of the New River and main Corentyne, above the +last-mentioned fall, we met with large <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>groves of Brazil-nut-trees, and +on the ground beneath them obtained numbers of their nuts. I was +fortunate to find some of the nut-cases containing nuts that had +commenced to germinate, each nut sending out long roots from one end and +young plants from the other. The roots were all twisted and matted +together, quite filling up the cavities in the case around the nuts; yet +the nut-case was hard and showed no signs of decay, so that it is +difficult to say how the young plants free themselves. There is a small +aperture where the fruit-stalk was once attached, but in only one +instance did I find a case in which one of the young plants had found +its way out through this and sent forth leaves. It seems to me that when +this happens one plant alone survives of the twelve or fifteen that +commenced to grow, and that its matted roots, gradually filling the +nut-case, eventually burst it, when the plant is free to take root in +the earth. The strong cover of the growing nut is a necessary protection +to the young plant, for without such it would be devoured by one of the +host of animals that are ready to eat it.</p> + +<p>I planted some of the sprouting nuts, cut out of their hard outer +covering, on my way up the river, but on returning found that they had +all been dug up and eaten by rats and other small vermin. I therefore +had a lot planted in a box at our camp above King Frederick William IV. +Fall on my first return to that spot, and placed on the stem of a small +tree cut off some five feet from the ground. In this position they were +free from the attacks of small animals, and, being covered with a +shelter of some palm-leaves, thrived wonderfully. These plants were +subsequently sent to Kew, where they arrived in a fine healthy +condition.</p> + +<p>We found many nut-cases with holes cut in them by accouries, the marks +of the gnawing teeth of those animals being plainly shown. My men used +to open them by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>chopping off their ends with a cutlass, which, owing to +their hardness, was no easy operation. The quatas, or large black +spider-monkeys, spent a good deal of their time in trying to open them +by beating them against the branches of trees or on hard logs upon the +ground; and as we passed a grove of Brazil-nut-trees it was amusing to +hear the hammering sounds produced by these fellows at their +self-imposed tasks. Where a single monkey was thus employed the blows +were most laughably “few and far between,” the creature showing its true +indolent character by the slow way in which it performed its work, +resting for a few minutes between every blow. It also showed an amount +of perseverance, however, that one would not look for in a monkey, and a +knowledge that it would eventually reap a reward for its hard labor.</p> + +<p>Goodness knows how long it takes one of these monkeys to break a +nut-case; but the time must be great, for on one occasion, during our +journey from the New River to the upper Essequebo, we got quietly among +a lot of the nut-breakers, and secured a nut-case which one in its hurry +had left upon a log, and which was worn smooth by the friction of the +monkey’s hands. This had evidently been pounded for a length of time, +but showed no signs of cracking. Its natural aperture was large enough +to allow the monkey’s fingers to touch the ends of the nuts inside, +which were picked and worn by its nails. Near the same place we saw a +nut-case split in two, on the flat surface of a large granite rock, that +had evidently been broken by a monkey, for there were no +Brazil-nut-trees, from which it could have fallen, overhanging the spot.</p> + +<p>The blossoms of the Brazil-nut-tree are large and yellow, having a +delicate aromatic perfume. They are similar, but larger than the +caccarali, or monkey-pot-tree (<i>Lecythis ollaria</i>), whose flowers are so +powerfully scented.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LIFE_AND_SCENERY_IN_VENEZUELA" id="LIFE_AND_SCENERY_IN_VENEZUELA"></a>LIFE AND SCENERY IN VENEZUELA.</h2> + +<h3>ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The illustrious traveller and scientist from whose picturesque +descriptions of life and scenery in South America we here quote +was born in Berlin, September 14, 1769. After a careful +university education and scientific labors in Europe, he set +sail for America in 1799, and during the succeeding five years +explored a great extent of territory within the areas of the +present states of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and +Mexico. For twenty-five years succeeding his return he was +employed in arranging his collections, publishing the results +of his observations, and in other scientific labors. In 1829 he +again became a traveller, and explored a wide district in Asia. +He died, in his ninetieth year, May 6, 1859. Few men have ever +done so much for the advancement of science, while his +published works of travel contain much that is of value from a +literary point of view. We extract a series of interesting +passages relating to scenery and incidents in the Orinoco +region. The first is descriptive of the remarkable “cow-tree.”]</p></div> + +<p>When incisions are made in the trunk of this tree, it yields abundance +of a glutinous milk, tolerably thick, devoid of all acridity, and of an +agreeable and balmy smell. It was offered to us in the shell of a +calabash. We drank considerable quantities of it in the evening before +we went to bed, and very early in the morning, without feeling the least +injurious effect. The glutinous character of this milk alone renders it +a little disagreeable. The negroes and the free people who work in the +plantations drink it, dipping into it their bread of maize or cassava. +The overseer of the farm told us that the negroes grow sensibly fatter +during the season when the <i>palo de vaca</i> furnishes them with most milk. +The juice, exposed to the air, presents at its surface membranes of a +strongly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>animalized substance, yellowish, stringy, and resembling +cheese.</p> + +<p><a name="illo8" id="illo8"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i198.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="334" alt="LA GUAYRA, VENEZUELA" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LA GUAYRA, VENEZUELA</span> +</div> + +<p>Amidst the great number of curious phenomena which I have observed in +the course of my travels, I confess there are few that have made so +powerful an impression on me as the aspect of the cow-tree. Whatever +relates to milk or to corn inspires an interest which is not merely that +of the physical knowledge of things, but is connected with another order +of ideas and sentiments. We can scarcely conceive how the human race +could exist without farinaceous substances, and without that nourishing +juice which the breast of the mother contains, and which is appropriated +to the long feebleness of the infant. The amylaceous matter of corn, the +object of religious veneration among so many nations, ancient and +modern, is diffused in the seeds and deposited in the roots of +vegetables; milk, which serves as an aliment, appears to us exclusively +the produce of animal organization. Such are the impressions we have +received in our earliest infancy; such is also the source of that +astonishment created by the aspect of the tree just described. It is not +here the solemn shades of forests, the majestic course of rivers, the +mountains wrapped in eternal snow, that excite our emotion. A few drops +of vegetable juice recall to our minds all the powerfulness and the +fecundity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with +coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate +into the stone. For several months of the year not a single shower +moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the +trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is +at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. +The negroes and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters, +furnished with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow and +thickens at its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree itself, others carry the +juice home to their children.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The great plains of Venezuela are thus described:]</p></div> + +<p>The sun was almost at its zenith; the earth, wherever it appeared +sterile and destitute of vegetation, was at the temperature of 120°. Not +a breath of air was felt at the height at which we were on our mules; +yet, in the midst of this apparent calm, whirls of dust incessantly +arose, driven on by those small currents of air which glide only over +the surface of the ground, and are occasioned by the difference of +temperature between the naked sand and the spots covered with grass. All +around us the plains seemed to ascend to the sky, and the vast and +profound solitude appeared like an ocean covered with sea-weed. On the +horizon the earth was confounded with the sky. Through the dry mist and +strata of vapor the trunks of palm-trees were seen from afar, stripped +of their foliage and their verdant summits, and looking like the masts +of a ship descried upon the horizon. There is something awful, as well +as sad and gloomy, in the uniform aspect of these steppes. Everything +seems motionless; scarcely does a small cloud, passing across the +zenith, and denoting the approach of the rainy season, cast its shadow +on the earth. I know not whether the first aspect of the llanos excites +less astonishment than that of the chain of the Andes.</p> + +<p>When, beneath the vertical rays of the bright and cloudless sun of the +tropics, the parched sward crumbles into dust, then the indurated soil +cracks and bursts as if rent asunder by some mighty earthquake. And if, +at such a time, two opposite currents of air, by conflict moving in +rapid gyrations, come in contact with the earth, a singular spectacle +presents itself. Like funnel-shaped clouds, their apexes touching the +earth, the sand rises in vapory form <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>through the rarefied air in the +electrically-charged centre of the whirling current, sweeping on like +the rushing waterspout, which strikes such terror into the heart of the +mariner. A dim and sallow light gleams from the lowering sky over the +dreary plain. The horizon suddenly contracts, and the heart of the +traveller sinks with dismay as the wide steppe seems to close upon him +on all sides. The hot and dusty earth forms a cloudy veil which shrouds +the heavens from view, and increases the stifling oppression of the +atmosphere, while the east wind, when it blows over the long-heated +soil, instead of cooling, adds to the burning glow. Gradually, too, the +pools of water, which had been protected from evaporation by the now +seared foliage of the fan-palm, disappear. As in the icy north animals +become torpid from cold, so here the crocodile and the boa-constrictor +lie wrapt in unbroken sleep, deeply buried in the dried soil. Everywhere +the drought announces death, yet everywhere the thirsty wanderer is +deluded by the phantom of a moving, undulating, watery surface, created +by the deceptive play of the mirage. A narrow stratum separates the +ground from the distant palm-trees, which seem to hover aloft, owing to +the contact of currents of air having different degrees of heat, and +therefore of density. Shrouded in dark clouds of dust, and tortured by +hunger and burning thirst, oxen and horses scour the plain, the one +bellowing dismally, the other with outstretched necks snuffing the wind, +in the endeavor to detect, by the moisture of the air, the vicinity of +some pool of water not yet wholly evaporated.</p> + +<p>The mule, more cautious and cunning, adopts another method of allaying +his thirst. There is a globular and articulated plant, the +<i>Melo-cactus</i>, which encloses under its prickly integument an aqueous +pulp. After carefully striking away the prickles with its forefeet, the +mule <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>cautiously ventures to apply his lips to imbibe the cooling +thistle juice. But the draught from this living vegetable spring is not +always unattended by danger, and these animals are often observed to +have been lamed by the puncture of the cactus thorn. Even if the burning +heat of day be succeeded by the cool freshness of the night, here always +of equal length, the wearied ox and horse enjoy no repose. Huge bats now +attack the animals during sleep, and vampire-like suck their blood; or, +fastening on their backs, raise festering wounds, in which mosquitoes, +hippobosces, and a host of other stinging insects burrow and nestle.</p> + +<p>When, after a long drought, the genial season of rain arrives, the scene +suddenly changes. The deep azure of the hitherto cloudless sky assumes a +lighter hue. Scarcely can the dark space in the constellation of the +Southern Cross be distinguished at night. The mild phosphorescence of +the Magellanic clouds fades away. Like some distant mountain, a single +cloud is seen rising perpendicularly on the southern horizon. Misty +vapors collect and gradually overspread the heavens, while distant +thunder proclaims the approach of the vivifying rain. Scarcely is the +surface of the earth moistened before the teeming steppe becomes covered +with a variety of grasses. Excited by the power of light, the herbaceous +mimosa unfolds its dormant, drooping leaves, hailing, as it were, the +rising sun in chorus with the matin song of the birds and the opening +flowers of aquatic plants. Horses and oxen, buoyant with life and +enjoyment, roam over and crop the plains. The luxuriant grass hides the +beautifully spotted jaguar, who, lurking in safe concealment, and +carefully measuring the extent of his leap, darts, like the Asiatic +tiger, with a cat-like bound upon his passing prey. At times, according +to the accounts of the natives, the humid clay on the banks of the +morasses <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>is seen to rise slowly in broad flakes. Accompanied with a +violent noise, as on the eruption of a small mud-volcano, the upheaved +earth is hurled high into the air. Those who are familiar with the +phenomenon fly from it; for a colossal water-snake, or a mailed and +scaly crocodile, awakened from its trance by the first fall of rain, is +about to burst from its tomb.</p> + +<p>When the rivers bounding the plain to the south, as the Arauca, the +Apure, and the Payara, gradually overflow their banks, nature compels +those creatures to live as amphibious animals, which, during the first +half of the year, were perishing with thirst on the waterless and dusty +plain. A part of the steppe now presents the appearance of a vast inland +sea. The mares retreat with their foals to the higher banks, which +project, like islands, above the spreading waters. Day by day the dry +surface diminishes in extent. The cattle, crowded together, and deprived +of pasturage, swim for hours about the inundated plain, seeking a scanty +nourishment from the flowing panicles of the grasses which rise above +the lurid and bubbling waters. Many foals are drowned, many are seized +by crocodiles, crushed by their serrated tails, and devoured. Horses and +oxen may not unfrequently be seen which have escaped from the fury of +this blood-thirsty and gigantic lizard, bearing on their legs the marks +of its pointed teeth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[A widely different scene is that of the forest region, the +nocturnal noises of whose animal inhabitants are thus +picturesquely described.]</p></div> + +<p>Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we passed the night as +usual in the open air, on a sandy flat, on the bank of the Apure, +skirted by the impenetrable forest. We had some difficulty in finding +dry wood to kindle the fires with which it is here customary to surround +the bivouac, as a safeguard against the attacks of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>jaguar. The air +was bland and soft and the moon shone brightly. Several crocodiles +approached the bank; and I have observed that fire attracts these +creatures as it does our crabs and many other aquatic animals. The oars +of our boats were fixed upright in the ground, to support our hammocks. +Deep stillness prevailed, only broken at intervals by the blowing of the +fresh-water dolphins, which are peculiar to the river net-work of the +Orinoco.</p> + +<p>After eleven o’clock such a noise began in the contiguous forest, that +for the remainder of the night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries +of animals rung through the woods. Among the many voices which resounded +together, the Indians could only recognize those which, after short +pauses, were heard singly. There was the monotonous, plaintive cry of +the howling monkeys, the whining, flute-like notes of the small +sapajous, the grunting murmur of the striped nocturnal ape, the fitful +roar of the great tiger, the cougar, or maneless American lion, the +peccary, the sloth, and a host of parrots, parraquas, and other +pheasant-like birds. Whenever the tigers approached the edge of the +forest, our dog, who before had barked incessantly, came howling to seek +protection under the hammocks. Sometimes the cry of the tiger resounded +from the branches of a tree, and was always then accompanied by the +plaintive, piping tones of the apes, who were endeavoring to escape from +the unwonted pursuit.</p> + +<p>If one asks the Indians why such a continuous noise is heard on certain +nights, they answer, with a smile, that “the animals are rejoicing in +the beautiful moonlight, and celebrating the return of the full moon.” +To me the scene appeared rather to be owing to an accidental, +long-continued, and gradually increasing conflict among the animals. +Thus, for instance, the jaguar will pursue the peccaries and the tapirs, +which, densely crowded together, burst <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>through the barrier of tree-like +shrubs which opposes their flight. Terrified at the confusion, the +monkeys on the tops of the trees join their cries with those of the +larger animals. This arouses the tribes of birds who build their nests +in communities, and suddenly the whole animal world is in a state of +commotion. Further experience taught us that it was by no means always +the festival of moonlight that disturbed the stillness of the forest; +for we observed that the voices were loudest during violent storms of +rain, or when the thunder echoed and the lightning flashed through the +depths of the wood. The good-natured Franciscan monk who accompanied us +through the cataracts of Apures and Maypures to San Carlos, on the Rio +Negro, and to the Brazilian frontier, used to say, when apprehensive of +a storm at night, “May heaven grant a quiet night both to us and to the +wild beasts of the forest!”</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The unpleasant conditions of a canoe voyage on the Orinoco are +thus described:]</p></div> + +<p>The new canoe intended for us was, like all Indian boats, a trunk of a +tree hollowed out partly by the hatchet and partly by fire. It was forty +feet long and three broad. Three persons could not sit in it side by +side. These canoes are so crank, and they require, from their +instability, a cargo so equally distributed, that when you want to rise +for an instant, you must warn the rowers to lean to the opposite side. +Without this precaution the water would necessarily enter the side +pressed down. It is difficult to form an idea of the inconveniences that +are suffered in such wretched vessels. To gain something in breadth, a +sort of lattice-work had been constructed on the stern with branches of +trees, that extended on each side beyond the gunwale. Unfortunately, the +<i>toldo</i>, or roof of leaves, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>covered this lattice-work, was so low +that we were obliged to lie down, without seeing anything, or, if +seated, to sit nearly double. The necessity of carrying the canoe across +the rapids, and even from one river to another, and the fear of giving +too much hold to the wind, by making the toldo higher, render this +construction necessary for vessels that go up towards the Rio Negro. The +toldo was intended to cover four persons, lying on the deck or +lattice-work of brushwood; but our legs reached far beyond it, and when +it rained half our bodies were wet. Our couches consisted of ox-hides or +tiger-skins spread upon branches of trees, which were painfully felt +through so thin a covering. The fore part of the boat was filled with +Indian rowers, furnished with paddles, three feet long, in the form of +spoons. They were all naked, seated two by two, and they kept time in +rowing with a surprising uniformity, singing songs of a sad and +monotonous character. The small cages containing our birds and our +monkeys—the number of which augmented as we advanced—were hung some to +the toldo and others to the bow of the boat. This was our travelling +menagerie. Every night, when we established our watch, our collection of +animals and our instruments occupied the centre; around these were +placed, first, our hammocks, then the hammocks of the Indians; and on +the outside were the fires, which are thought indispensable against the +attacks of the jaguar. About sunrise the monkeys in our cages answered +the cries of the monkeys of the forest.</p> + +<p>In a canoe not three feet wide, and so encumbered, there remained no +other place for the dried plants, trunks, sextant, a dipping needle, and +the meteorological instruments, than the space below the lattice-work of +branches, on which we were compelled to remain stretched the greater +part of the day. If we wished to take the least object out of a trunk, +or to use an instrument, it was necessary to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>row ashore and land. To +these inconveniences were joined the torment of the mosquitoes which +swarmed under the toldo, and the heat radiated from the leaves of the +palm-trees, the upper surface of which was continually exposed to the +solar rays. We attempted every instant, but always without success, to +amend our situation. While one of us hid himself under a sheet to ward +off the insects, the other insisted on having green wood lighted beneath +the toldo, in the hope of driving away the mosquitoes by the smoke. The +painful sensations of the eyes, and the increase of heat, already +stifling, rendered both these contrivances alike impracticable. With +some gayety of temper, with feelings of mutual good-will, and with a +vivid taste for the majestic grandeur of these vast valleys of rivers, +travellers easily support evils that become habitual.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The torment of insects—mosquitoes and venomous flies by day, +and the <i>zancudos</i> (large gnats) by night—became almost +insupportable as they advanced. On the upper Orinoco the +mosquitoes form the principal topic of conversation, the usual +salutation being, “How did you find the gnats during the +night?” or, “How are you off for mosquitoes to-day?” Humboldt +thus describes the situation:]</p></div> + +<p>The lower strata of air, from the surface of the ground to the height of +fifteen or twenty feet, are absolutely filled with venomous insects. If +in an obscure spot, for instance, in the grottos of the cataracts formed +by superincumbent blocks of granite, you direct your eyes towards the +opening enlightened by the sun, you see clouds of mosquitoes more or +less thick. I doubt whether there be a country upon earth where man is +exposed to more cruel torments in the rainy season. Having passed the +fifth degree of latitude you are somewhat less stung; but on the upper +Orinoco the stings are more painful, because the heat and the absolute +want of wind render the air more burning and more irritating in its +contact with the skin. “How comfortable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>people must be in the moon!” +said a Salivo Indian to Father Gumilla. “She looks so beautiful and so +clear, that she must be free from mosquitoes.” These words, which denote +the infancy of a people, are very remarkable. The satellite of the earth +appears to all savage nations the abode of the blessed, the country of +abundance. The Esquimaux, who counts among his riches a plank or the +trunk of a tree, thrown by the currents on a coast destitute of +vegetation, sees in the moon plains covered with forests; the Indian of +the forest of Orinoco there beholds open savannas, where the inhabitants +are never stung by mosquitoes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The story of the voyage closes as follows:]</p></div> + +<p>It would be difficult for me to express the satisfaction we felt on +landing at Angostura [the capital of Spanish Guiana.] The inconveniences +endured at sea in small vessels are trivial in comparison with those +that are suffered under a burning sky, surrounded by swarms of +mosquitoes, and lying stretched in a canoe, without the possibility of +taking the least bodily exercise. In seventy-five days we had performed +a passage of five hundred leagues—twenty to a degree—on the five great +rivers, Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, Rio Negro, and Cassiquiare; and in this +vast extent we had found but a very small number of inhabited places. +Coming from an almost desert country, we were struck with the bustle of +the town, though it contained only six thousand inhabitants. We admired +the conveniences which industry and commerce furnish to civilized man. +Humble dwellings appeared to us magnificent; and every person with whom +we conversed seemed to be endowed with superior intelligence. Long +privations give a value to the smallest enjoyments; and I cannot express +the pleasure we felt when we saw for the first time wheaten bread on the +governor’s table.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_LLANEROS_OF_VENEZUELA" id="THE_LLANEROS_OF_VENEZUELA"></a>THE LLANEROS OF VENEZUELA.</h2> + +<h3>RAMON PAEZ.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Don Ramon Paez, in his “Wild Scenes in South America; or, Life +in the Llanos of Venezuela,” has given us some interesting +pictures of a region little known to travellers. These vast +plains are inhabited by a people many of whom bear a close +resemblance in their habits to the Argentine Gauchos. The +following selection is devoted to a description of this people +and their region of habitation.]</p></div> + +<p>We left Ortiz as usual, very early the next morning, stumbling here and +there amidst the mass of loose stones which paved the way along the +winding bed of the <i>quebrada</i>. In proportion as we advanced on our route +the hills decreased in size, while the loose stones seemed to increase +in quantity. The splendid groves of hardy and balsamiferous trees, which +near Ortiz formed an almost impenetrable forest, gradually became less +imposing in appearance, until they were replaced by thickets of thorny +bushes, chiefly composed of several species of mimosas, with a delicate +and feathery foliage. The traveller accustomed to the shade of a +luxuriant vegetation, and to the sight of cultivated valleys, is struck +by the rapid diminution of the former, and the total disappearance of +the latter, as he emerges from the Galeras of Ortiz; yet he is somewhat +compensated by the almost overpowering perfume shed by masses of the +canary-colored blossoms with which these shrubs are loaded, from the +summits down to the bending branches that trail the ground at every +passing breeze.</p> + +<p>Suddenly we entered a widely-extended tract of level land almost +destitute of vegetation. With the exception of a few clumps of +palm-trees with fan-like leaves, nothing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>but short grass covered its +entire surface, almost realizing the idea of an “ocean covered with +sea-weed.” A dense mass of vapor pervading the atmosphere obscured the +horizon, while the fan-palms, seen from afar, appeared like ships +enveloped in a fog. Gradually the circle of the heavens seemed to close +around us, until we became, as it were, encompassed by the sky. We were, +in fact, treading the shores of the great basin of the Llanos, over one +of the ancient shoals or <i>mesas</i>, which, like successive terraces, now +form the border of those grassy oceans known as the Pampas. This was the +Mesa de Paya, the seat of one of the cattle-farms to which we were +bound.</p> + +<p>After wandering for nearly three hours over this monotonous landscape +without compass, and guided only by certain landmarks known to the +<i>vaqueanos</i>, we came unexpectedly upon the borders of the Mesa, which +commands an extensive view of the lower savannas. As if by magic, the +dreary scene changed to one of the most glorious panoramas in existence. +At our feet lay a beautiful expanse of meadow, fresh and smooth as the +best cultivated lawn, with troops of horses and countless herds of +cattle dispersed all over the plain. Several glittering ponds, alive +with all varieties of aquatic birds, reflected upon their limpid surface +the broad-leaved crowns of the fan-palms, towering above verdant groves +of laurel, amyris, and elm-like <i>robles</i>. Farther beyond, and as far as +the eye could reach, the undulating plain appeared like a petrified +ocean after the sweeping tempest.</p> + +<p>But I feel that my descriptions fall short of the reality, and that I am +unable to depict the harmonious effects of light and shade, and the +blending of the various tints of green, blue, and purple, dispersed over +this extensive panorama; the towering palms gracefully fanning the +glowing atmosphere with their majestic crowns of broad and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>shining +leaves, and myriad other beauties difficult to enumerate.</p> + +<p>I could scarcely tear myself away from the spot, so fascinated was I +with the novelty of the scene. My companions, more concerned for the +speedy termination of the journey than the beautiful in nature, set off +at a brisk trot towards the house, which was at no great distance. +Fearing to lose my way among the intricate paths leading to it, I was +compelled to follow in their wake, stopping occasionally to gaze once +more upon those enchanting groves, which seemed to return me to the +highly cultivated fields and green meadows of glorious “Old England,” +from whence I had just returned.</p> + +<p>On descending to the plain below, my attention was attracted to an +unsightly group of palm-thatched huts, looking more like huge beehives +than the abode of human beings. A formidable fence of palm-trunks +surrounded the premises and several acres of ground beyond. These were +the <i>corrals</i>, or enclosures where the training of the fierce herds was +practised by the hardy dwellers of the Llanos; but no signs of +cultivation, or aught else connected with the rural occupations of the +farmer, were visible in the neighborhood. Presently the cavalcade +stopped before the gate, and all the individuals composing it dismounted +and began to unsaddle their horses, amidst the barking of a legion of +dogs and the braying of all the donkeys in the vicinity.</p> + +<p>This was the <i>hato</i>, or cattle-farm, of San Pablo we were in quest of, +famous in the annals of the civil wars in Venezuela as the occasional +head-quarters of the constitutional armies, commanded by the owner of +this farm. Our leader was received at the entrance of his estate by a +grave and elderly negro slave, who acted as overseer, and had under his +control all the men and property attached to it. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>Kneeling upon the +stony court-yard, he kissed the hand extended to him in friendly +greeting, after which he proceeded to unsaddle his master’s horse, which +he led to a pond within the enclosure, where the horses were watered.</p> + +<p>We purposed remaining a few days at San Pablo, with the object of +incorporating some fresh relays of mules and horses from the abundant +stock of this estate; so we of the staff installed ourselves under the +palm-roof of our rustic mansion, while the rank and file of the +expedition found accommodation in the open barracoons adjoining it, +although none of the party had reason to boast of being better off than +his neighbor.</p> + +<p>“It is sad when pleasing first impressions are obliterated,” remarks a +sentimental writer; “always painful to become <i>désenchanté</i> on a more +intimate acquaintance with either people or places.” I soon found that I +was not in the fairy-land I had imagined, abounding in grottos and +refreshed by sparkling fountains, but in the region of the Llanos, where +the French adage, <i>Chacun pour soi et Dieu</i> <i>pour tous</i>, is verified to +its fullest extent. San Pablo, with its vaunted prestige, and in spite +of its proximity to several important marts, was no better provided with +accommodations than the untidy <i>douar</i> of the wandering Arab of the +desert. A rickety table standing against the wall for fear of tumbling +down, two or three clumsy cedar chairs covered with raw hide, and a +couple of grass hammocks, serving the double purpose of beds and +lounges, constituted all the furniture of the great farm. As a +substitute for wardrobes and hat-stands, we were shown a number of +deer-antlers and bull-horns embedded in the walls of reeds and mud, on +which to hang our pouches, bridles, etc.</p> + +<p>I searched in vain on our arrival for something like a bowl in which to +lave my hands and face, covered with dust and parched by the broiling +sun of the savannas. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>Even water was so scarce that it was served to us +sparingly from a large calabash gourd used in bringing it from the +river, nearly a mile distant. It is true there was, within the enclosure +of the houses, a pond or excavation, made while searching for the +remains of a brave officer who fell fighting for his country’s freedom. +Sufficient water had accumulated there during the rainy season to +entitle it to the name of <i>Laguna</i> or Lake of Genaro Vazquez, the name +of the aforementioned hero; but it was so filled with <i>bavas</i>,—a small +species of alligator,—terrapins, and toads, as to render the water +undrinkable.</p> + +<p>But to return to our head-quarters, the structure of which struck me so +forcibly at first as a beehive of vast proportions, naturally suggesting +the idea of a “land of milk and honey.” Unfortunately, neither of these +could be obtained for love or money, although the woods and pastures of +the estate abounded in both the creatures that produced them. So we were +compelled to resort to our reserved stock of <i>papelon</i> to sweeten our +coffee, and to its own delicious natural aroma in the place of milk. As +to the house itself, it only differed from the rest in that region in +being larger, and perhaps in better order, than are the generality. +Imagine a pyramidal structure, thatched with palm-leaves, the roof +slanting to within a few feet of the ground, and supported on stout +posts of live timber, which served also as framework for the walls, and +you will have some idea of the style of architecture peculiar to the +country. Doors and windows are of no account in a country uniformly warm +throughout the year, and where the inhabitants possess few articles +capable of tempting the cupidity of light-fingered gentry. Therefore an +ox-hide stretched across the openings left in the walls to admit light +and the inmates is all that is required to keep off uninvited guests. As +an exception to this rule, our mansion of San Pablo had one or two rooms +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>set apart for invalids, provided with doors and windows of solid planks +of timber in the rough; the other apartments had the upper half of the +walls purposely left open, to admit full and free entrance of light and +air. A narrow piazza or corridor, formed by the slanting of the roof to +within five feet of the ground, ran along the entire length of the main +building, and was intended more as a protection to the rooms against the +sun and rains than as a resort for the inmates.</p> + +<p>The first step, on arriving, was to secure a place in the open +reception-room for my own chattels and hammock, before all the spare +posts and hooks had been appropriated by my companions. This +accomplished, I proceeded to a thorough examination of my saddle and its +accoutrements, so as to have them adapted to the peculiar mode of +travelling in the Llanos. This care I left to the good judgment of our +attendants, not being myself sufficiently skilled in the art of mending, +greasing, and putting in order the complicated gear of our riding +equipment. In the same predicament were also my two English companions, +and our worthy doctor; a kind word, however, addressed to the +good-natured Llaneros—especially if accompanied with a drop of +aguardiente—never failed of enlisting their services in our favor.</p> + +<p>Habit, as well as necessity, is sometimes the mother of invention, as my +experience soon taught me that, to get along in my new quarters, it +would be requisite to set aside the airs and insignia of civilization. +Divesting myself, therefore, of all such superfluities as coat, cravat, +pants, and shoes, I adopted the less cumbrous attire of the Llaneros, +consisting mainly of breeches tightly buttoned at the knee, and a loose +shirt, usually of a bright checkered pattern. Shoes are altogether +dispensed with in a country like the Llanos, subject to drenching rains, +and covered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>with mud during a great portion of the year, besides the +inconvenience they offer to the rider in holding the stirrup securely +when in chase of wild animals. The leg, however, is well protected from +the thorns and cutting grass of the savannas by a neat legging or +<i>botin</i>, made of buff-skin, tightly buttoned down the calf by knobs or +studs of highly polished silver. Another characteristic article of +dress, and one in which the wearers take great pride, is the linen +checkered handkerchief loosely worn around the head. Its object is +ostensibly to protect it from the intensity of the sun’s rays; but the +constant habit of wearing it has rendered the handkerchief as +indispensable a head-dress to the Llaneros as is the cravat to the neck +of the city gentleman.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The traveller proceeds with further details of the life of +these people, and with an account of their half-savage method +of slaughtering their cattle; which we can well omit for a more +general descriptive passage.]</p></div> + +<p>The people inhabiting the vast region of the Llanos, although claiming +descent from the old Castilian race, once the rulers of the land, are, +in fact, an amalgamation of the various castes composing the present +population of the republic. These are the whites, or the descendants of +the European settlers of the country; the aboriginals or Indians, and a +great portion of blacks. In most of the towns the native whites +preponderate over all others, and represent the wealth as well as the +most respectable portion of the community; in the villages and thinly +populated districts of the plains a mongrel breed, resulting from the +admixture of these three, constitute the majority of the inhabitants. +These are dispersed over an area of twenty-seven thousand square miles, +making a proportion of only fourteen individuals, out of a population of +three hundred and ninety thousand, to every square mile.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>This race, although vastly inferior to the first in mental capacity and +moral worth, is endowed with a physique admirably adapted to endure the +fatigues of a life beset with dangers and hardships. Cast upon a wild +and apparently interminable plain, the domain of savage beasts and +poisonous reptiles, their lot has been to pass all their life in a +perpetual struggle, not only with the primitive possessors of the land, +but with the elements themselves, often as fierce as they are grand. +When it is not the alarm of the dreaded viper or the spotted jaguar, it +is the sudden inroad of vast inundations, which, spreading with fearful +rapidity over the land, sweep off in one moment their frail habitations +and their herds. Nevertheless this insecure existence, this continual +struggle between life and death, between rude intellect and matter, has +for the Llanero a sort of fascination, perhaps not so well understood by +people possessing the blessings and ideas of civilization, but without +which he could not exist, especially if deprived of his horse and cast +among the mountain region north of his cherished plains.</p> + +<p>The modern Centaur of the desolate regions of the New World, the Llanero +spends his life on horseback; all his actions and exertions must be +assisted by his horse; for him the noblest effort of man is when, +gliding swiftly over the boundless plain and bending over his spirited +charger, he overturns an enemy or masters a wild bull. The following +lines of Victor Hugo seem as though copied from this model: “He would +not fight but on horseback; he forms but one person with his horse; he +lives on horseback; trades, buys, and sells on horseback; eats, drinks, +sleeps, and dreams on horseback.” Like the Arab he considers his horse +his best and most reliable friend on earth, often depriving himself of +rest and comfort after a hard day’s journey to afford his faithful +companion abundance of food and water.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p><p>Few people in the world are better riders than the Llaneros of +Venezuela, if we except perhaps the Gauchos of Buenos Ayres, or equal to +either in the dexterity they display in the wonderful feats of +horsemanship to which their occupations in the field inure them from +childhood. Their horses, moreover, are so well trained to the various +evolutions of their profession, that animal and rider seem to possess +but one existence.</p> + +<p>The life of the Llanero, like that of the Gaucho his prototype, is +singularly interesting, and resembles in many respects that of others +who, like them, have their abode in the midst of extensive plains. Thus +they have been aptly styled the Cossacks and the Arabs of the New World, +with both of whom they have many points in common, but more especially +do they resemble the last named. When visiting the famous Constantine +Gallery of paintings at Versailles, I was struck with the resemblance of +the Algerine heroes of Horace Vernet to our own, revealing at once the +Moorish descent of the latter, independently of other characteristic +peculiarities.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Sir Francis Head, in his “Journeys across the Pampas,” gives +the following description of the infancy of a closely similar +race.]</p></div> + +<p>“Born in the rude hut, the infant Gaucho receives little attention, but +is left to swing from the roof in a bullock’s hide, the corners of which +are drawn towards each other by four strips of hide. In the first year +of his life he crawls about without clothes, and I have more than once +seen a mother give a child of this age a sharp knife, a foot long, to +play with. As soon as he walks, his infantine amusements are those which +prepare him for the occupations of his future life; with a lazo made of +twine he tries to catch little birds, or the dogs, as they walk in and +out of the hut. By the time he is four years old he is on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>horseback, +and immediately becomes useful by assisting to drive the cattle into the +corral.”</p> + +<p>When sufficiently strong to cope with a wild animal, the young Llanero +is taken to the <i>majada</i> or great cattle-pen, and there hoisted upon the +bare back of a fierce young bull. With his face turned towards the +animal’s tail, which he holds in lieu of bridle, and his little legs +twisted round the neck of his antagonist, he is whirled round and round +at a furious rate. His position, as may be imagined, is anything but +equestrian; yet, the fear of coming in contact with the bull’s horns +compels the rider to hold on until, by a dexterous twist of the animal’s +tail while he jumps off its back, he succeeds in overturning his +antagonist.</p> + +<p>In proportion as he grows older and stronger, a more manly amusement is +afforded him with the breaking in of a wild colt. This being, however, a +more dangerous experiment, in which many a young eagle “is rendered a +lame duck,” he is provided with the necessary accoutrements to withstand +the terrible struggle with the animal. Firmly seated upon his back and +brandishing overhead a <i>chaparro</i> vine for a whip, the apprentice is +thus installed in his new office, from which he must not descend until +the brute is perfectly subdued; the coil of lazo in the hands of his +merciless instructor would be the least evil awaiting him should he +otherwise escape safe and sound from the desperate kicks and plunges of +the horse.</p> + +<p>Here commences what we may term the public life of the Llanero; his +education is now considered complete. From this moment all his endeavors +and ambition will be to rival his companions in the display of physical +force, which he shows to an admirable degree when, armed with his tough +lazo, he pursues the wild animals of his domain. If a powerful bull or +wild horse tries to escape into the open plain, the cavalier unfurls the +noose which is always <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>ready by his side, and the fugitive is quickly +brought back to the corral. Should the thong give way under the +impetuous flight of the animal, the rider seizes him by the tail, and +whirling round suddenly, pulls towards him with so much force as to +cause his immediate overthrow.</p> + +<p>In all these exercises the roving cavalier of the Llanos acquires that +feeling of security and enduring disposition for which he is famous. +Unfortunately, it is often turned to account in disturbing the balance +of power among his more enlightened countrymen; for he is always ready +to join the first revolutionary movement offering him the best chance +for equipping himself with arms of all descriptions. Next to the horse, +the Llanero esteems those weapons which give him a superiority over his +fellow-creatures,—viz., a lance, a blunderbuss, and a fine sword. If he +is unprovided with either of these, he considers himself a miserable and +degraded being, and all his efforts will tend to gratify this favorite +vanity even at the risk of his own life. Therefore he goes to war, +because he is sure, if victorious, of finding the battle-field covered +with these tempting trophies of his ambition. In this, unfortunately, he +is too often encouraged by a host of unprincipled politicians, who, not +wishing to earn a livelihood by fair means, are eternally plotting +against the powers that be.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="THE_FORESTS_OF_THE_AMAZON_AND_MADEIRA_RIVERS" id="THE_FORESTS_OF_THE_AMAZON_AND_MADEIRA_RIVERS"></a>THE FORESTS OF THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA RIVERS.</h2> + +<h3>FRANZ KELLER.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The author of the following selection, with his father, was +sent in 1867, by the Minister of Public Works at Rio Janeiro, +to explore the Madeira, and to project a railroad along its +banks where the rapids rendered navigation impossible. His +observations during this journey are given in “The Amazon and +Madeira Rivers,” from which we extract his remarks concerning +the Brazilian forests.]</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>Everywhere the decomposing organisms serve as bases for new formations. +No particle, however small, is ever lost in the great household of +Nature; but nowhere is her restless activity so conspicuous as in the +tropics, where the succession of vegetable decay and life is so much +more rapid than it is in colder climes; and which will strike the +reflecting student more especially in the wide, forest-clad valleys of +tropical America, and on the Amazon and its affluents.</p> + +<p>On the heights of the Cordillera the process is already at work. The +waste of the mountain-slopes, broken off by rills and torrents, and +carried by them into the main river, slowly drifts down-stream in the +form of gravel-banks, until, scattered and rent asunder in a thousand +ways, it finally takes permanent form as light-green islands, which are +soon covered and protected with a dense coat of vegetation.</p> + +<p>As every zone of geologic formation in the extensive valley adds its +tribute, these banks are a kind of mineralogical collection, which shows +samples of all the rocks on the river-banks, with the exception, +perhaps, of light pumice-stone, the produce of the volcanoes of the +Andes, which drifts down-stream in large pieces, and is highly prized by +the Tapuia population (on the lower course) for sharpening and cleaning +their weapons and tools. Even when not picked up by hunter or fisher, it +is not lost. It will be arrested by some snag or projection of the +shore, it will so get embedded in the newly-forming sediment, and +thousands of years hence its silicic acid will afford the necessary +material for the hard glassy bark of a bambusacea, or the sharp edge of +a reed. When the currents are not strong enough to move the larger +banks, they at least carry sand and earth with them, and deposit them as +shoals or new alluvion at less exposed spots....</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>The undermined concave shores are sometimes a serious danger to the +passing barque, as even the slight ripple of a canoe is sufficient to +bring down the loosely overhanging earth, often covered with gigantic +trunks. These concave sides, with their fallen trees and their clusters +of sinking javary-palms, supported sometimes by only a tangled net-work +of tough lianas, give to the scenery that peculiar character of primeval +wildness which is so charming to foreigners.</p> + +<p>When one has climbed up the steep shore, often forming huge terrace-like +elevations, and has safely passed through a labyrinth of interwoven +roots and creepers into the interior of the forest, which is getting +freer from underwood at some distance from the river, he is oppressed +with the sensation of awe and wonder felt by man on entering one of the +venerable edifices of antiquity.</p> + +<p>A mysterious twilight encompasses us, which serves to intensify the +radiance of the occasional sunbeam as it falls on a glossy palm-leaf, or +on a large bunch of purple orchid-flowers. Splendid trunks, some of them +from twenty to thirty feet in diameter, rise like so many pillars +supporting the dense green vault of foliage; and every variety of tall, +graceful palms, spare and bushy, and bearing heavy berries of bright +yellow or red, struggle to catch a glimpse of the light, from which they +are shut out by the neighboring giants, of which the figueira (or wild +fig-tree) is one of the most striking, in the dimensions of its crown +and stem, and in the strange shape of its roots, which project like huge +outworks. These seem to grow in all directions, forming props, stays, +and cross-bars wherever they are wanted, just as if the whole were a +soft plastic mass, the sole purpose of which was to supply, with a +minimum of material, as much stability as possible to the trunk, whose +wood is of extreme softness and whose roots are not deep. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>The +pachiuba-palm (<i>Iriartea exorhiza</i>) and some species of Cecropiæ exhibit +other extravagances in their roots. They appear as if standing on +stilts, the real trunks only beginning at eight or ten feet above +ground.</p> + +<p>But, more than all, it is the profusion of orchids and Bromeliæ that +excites our admiration. These bright children of the tropics envelop +with dense foliage as well the fallen and mouldering trunks as those yet +upstanding in full vigor and bloom, thus forming hanging gardens of +astounding magnificence, which reveal leaves and flowers of the most +irregular shapes and colors. Everywhere, on the branches and on the +ground, and even from out the fissures of the bare rock, light ferns and +rich moss spring up and clothe the decaying trunks with fresh green. Of +mosses and ferns, especially tree-ferns, we found a greater exuberance +and a larger variety, in species as well as in individuals, in the +Southern provinces of the empire, São Paulo and Paraná; but for splendid +palms and gigantic dicotyledons the North is decidedly the richer of the +two.</p> + +<p>Without the aid of the pencil it is indeed scarcely possible to give an +adequate idea of the magnificence of this vegetation, especially of the +manner in which the different forms are grouped. We may see, it is true, +in our own hot-houses, well-trimmed palms, beautiful orchids with their +abnormal blossoms, and Aroideæ with their bright, sappy, sometimes +regularly perforated, leaves; but how different is this from the virgin +forest, wherein Nature, undisturbed by man, has created her own +prodigies, and where no narrow pots separate her children from the +maternal soil, and where no dim roof of glass intervenes between them +and the blue ether! Nor, in our carefully tended hot-houses, is the eye +ever gratified with such agreeable contrasts as are afforded by the +silver-gray and rust-brown tints of the decayed leaf of the palm or the +fern-tree, or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>the black bark of the rotting trunk, with the blazing +scarlet of some heliconia blossom. How difficult it must be to give to +every plant, especially to orchids, the exact quantity of light, warmth, +and moisture it requires, can be understood only by those who have seen +clusters of them hidden in the deep shade of the tree-crowns, while +others are exposed to the scorching rays of the sun in the vicinity of a +river or in some clearer part of the forest; some species thriving on +the bare rock almost, and others clinging fast with their white rootlets +to the moist rotting bark of a tree....</p> + +<p>But of far greater importance to the half-civilized riverines than +either palms or orchids, for whose beauties they have no eye, are the +cacao and the caoutchouc-tree (<i>Siphonia elastica</i>), products of the +virgin forest essential to the future prosperity of the whole country.</p> + +<p>Although India contributes to the supply of caoutchouc, the precious +resin which is transformed into a thousand different shapes every year +in the factories of Europe and North America, and sent to the ends of +the earth, it cannot compete with Brazil, which takes the first place +among the rubber-producing countries, in respect as well of the vastness +of its export of the material as of its superior quality.</p> + +<p>On the shores of the Amazon its production, it is true, has already been +diminished by unreasonable treatment of the trees; the idea of replacing +the old ones by young saplings never having presented itself, +apparently, to the mind of the indolent population; but the seringaes, +or woods of rubber-trees, on the banks of the Madeira, the Purús, and +other tributaries of the main river, still continue to furnish +extraordinary quantities of it. The province of Amazon alone exports +more than fifty thousand arrobas (one million six hundred thousand +pounds) yearly, while the total <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>of the exports of the whole basin +slightly exceeds four hundred thousand arrobas, or twelve million eight +hundred thousand pounds, per annum....</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, there has not been until now the slightest attempt made +to cultivate this useful tree; and all the caoutchouc exported from Pará +is still obtained from the original seringa groves. The trees of course +suffer, as they naturally would under the best of treatment, from the +repeated tapping and drawing-off of their sap, and the rubber +collectors, therefore, must look about for new groves of the tree in the +unexplored valleys of the more distant interior.</p> + +<p>The planting of the <i>Siphonia elastica</i> would be a more profitable +investment, as it yields the precious milk in the comparatively short +space of twenty or twenty-five years; but, under the combined influence +of the indolence of the Mestitzoes and the shortsightedness of the +government, measures to that end will be adopted and carried into effect +only when the rubber exportation shall have diminished with the +destruction of the trees, and when European and North American +manufacturers shall have found out a more or less appropriate substitute +for the too costly resin.</p> + +<p>Near the Praia de Tamanduá we acquainted ourselves with all the +particulars respecting the collection and preparation of the caoutchouc +at the cottage of a Bolivian seringueiro, Don Domingo Leigue. As I have +already stated, the Siphonia grows, or at least thrives, only on a soil +wherein its stem is annually submerged by the floods to the height of +three feet or more. The best ground for it, therefore, is the <i>igapó</i>, +the lowest and most recent deposit of the river; and there, in the +immediate vicinity of the seringaes, may be seen the low thatches of the +gatherers’ huts, wretched hovels mostly, rendered tenantable during the +inundations by the device of raising the floors on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>wooden piles of +seven feet height, in which the canoe, the seringueiro’s indispensable +horse, also finds a protected harbor. Unenviable truly must be the life +of the happy proprietor, who has nothing to do in the seringal during +the wet season, and who then has ample leisure to calculate exactly the +intervals between his fits of ague, and to let himself be devoured by +<i>carapanás</i>, <i>piums</i>, <i>motúcas</i>, and <i>mucuims</i>; under which euphonious +names are known some of the most terrible of insect pests.</p> + +<p>Narrow paths lead from the cottage, through the dense underwood, to each +separate tree; and, as soon as the dry season sets in, the inmate of the +palace just described betakes himself with his hatchet into the +seringal, to cut little holes in the bark. The milk-white sap +immediately begins to exude into pieces of bamboo tied below, over +little clay cups set under the gashes to prevent their trickling down +the stems. The collector travels thus from trunk to trunk; and, to +facilitate operations, on his return visit he pours the contents of the +bamboos into a large calabash provided with liana straps, which he +empties at home into one of those large turtle-shells so auxiliary to +housekeeping in these regions, serving as they do for troughs, basins, +etc.</p> + +<p>Without any delay he sets about the smoking process, as the resinous +parts will separate after a while, and the quality of the rubber so +become inferior. An earthen jar, without bottom and with a narrow neck, +is set by way of chimney over a fire of dry urucury, or uauassú +palm-nuts, whose smoke alone, strange to say, has the effect of +instantly coagulating the caoutchouc sap, which, in this state, greatly +resembles rich cow’s milk. The workman, sitting beside this “chimney,” +through which roll dense clouds of a smothering white smoke, from a +small calabash pours a little of the milk on a sort of light wooden +shovel, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>always careful, by proper management of the latter, to +distribute it evenly over the surface. Thrusting the shovel into the +thick smoke over the opening of the jar, he turns it several times to +and fro with great rapidity, when the milk is seen to consolidate and to +take a grayish-yellow tinge.</p> + +<p>Thus he puts layer upon layer, until at last the caoutchouc on both +sides of the wood has reached about an inch in thickness, when he thinks +the “plancha” ready. Cutting it on one side, he takes it off the shovel +and suspends it in the sun to dry, as there is always some water between +the several layers, which should, if possible, evaporate. A good workman +is thus able to prepare five or six pounds of solid seringa in an hour. +The plancha, from its initial color of a clear silver-gray, turns +shortly into a yellow, and finally becomes the well-known dark brown of +the rubber, such as it is exported.</p> + +<p>The more uniform, the denser and freer of bubbles, the whole mass is +found to be, the better is its quality and the higher the price it +fetches. Almost double the value is obtained for the first-rate article +over that of the most inferior quality, the so-called sernamby or cabeça +de negro (negro’s head); which is nothing but the drops collected at the +foot of the trees, with the remains of the milk scraped out of the +bottoms of the calabashes. The rubber of India is said to be much like +this sernamby, and, like it, to be mixed with sand and small pieces of +bark. By way of testing the quality, every plancha is cut through again +at Pará; by which means discovery is made, not only of the bubbles, but +also of any adulteration that might be effected with the milk of the +mangaba, that fine plant with dark glossy leaves, now found so often in +European saloons under the erroneous name of rubber-plant....</p> + +<p>The wild cacao, with its large lancet-shaped hanging <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>leaves, and its +cucumber-like fruit springing directly from the stem, is one of the +characteristic features of the <i>virgem</i> [or solid soil] on which it +often forms dense thickets, which are all the more impenetrable that the +boughs—exhibiting frequently at the same time the small reddish flowers +and the ripe golden fruit, in which the seeds lie embedded in a sweet +white marrow—bend to the ground and there take root again.</p> + +<p>But the india-rubber and the cacao are not the only treasures worth +collecting in these forests. Even now the export of the Pará nuts, the +fruit of the <i>Bertholletia excelsa</i>, yields an annual revenue of two +hundred thousand dollars; and the copaiba oil and the urucú, the seeds +of the <i>Bixa orellana</i>, used for dyeing, about one hundred thousand +dollars. These sums seem small enough, it is true, but there are perhaps +a hundred times those values of the rich-flavored nuts rotting unheeded +in the forests, and above a score of other rich oily seeds, at present +collected only for the use of the natives, not to mention several resins +which yield the finest varnishes, plants giving the most brilliant hues, +and others with fibres that would serve not only for the finest +weavings, but also for the strongest ropes; besides about forty of the +most indispensable drugs, all which might become most valuable articles +of export....</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fertility of tropical vegetation, I doubt whether +any other part of the world, in the same latitude, can offer as great a +number of useful plants as does the Amazon Valley; and now, when +all-transforming steam is about to open up to us this rich emporium, +European industry should take advantage of the hitherto neglected +treasures. What might not be done with the fibres, some of which surpass +our hemp and flax in all respects? The curauá, for example, a sort of +wild pine-apple, gives a delicate transparent flax of a silky lustre, +such as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>is used in the Philippine Islands, on a large scale, it +appears. It is sold under the name of <i>palha</i> at Rio de Janeiro. The +tucum and the javary would make excellent ropes, cords, nets, etc., well +calculated to resist moisture and rot; and the piassaba, the murity, +etc., would readily supply solid brushes, brooms, hammocks, hats, +baskets, mats; while the snow-white bast of others would give excellent +paper.</p> + +<p>The lianas or cipós of these countries are, besides their minor uses, +quite indispensable to the half-civilized natives for the construction +of their light cottages, taking the place (as they do) of our nails and +cramp-irons, beams, posts, and rafters. The whole palm-leaf roof is +fastened, and artificially interwoven and intertwined, with tough +creepers of nearly an inch thickness....</p> + +<p>In the hot lowlands of the Amazon, in the shade of endless forest, there +is many an herb of mysterious virtue, as yet known only to wild Indian +tribes, while the fame of others has already spread over the ocean. Who +has not heard of the <i>urary</i>, or <i>curare</i>, the quick arrow-poison which, +in the hands of clever physiologists and physicians, promises not only +to become a valuable drug, but to give us interesting disclosures on the +activity of the nerves?</p> + +<p>The wondrous tales of former travellers regarding the preparation of +this urary have been rectified long ago. The venom of snakes is not used +for it, but the juice of the bruised stems and leaves of several kinds +of strychnos and apocyneas is simply boiled over a coal fire, mixed with +tobacco-juice and capsicum (Spanish pepper), and thickened with the +sticky milk of some Euphorbiacea to a hard mass. This manipulation, +moreover, is not undertaken by the old squaws of the tribe, devoting +themselves to a painful death thereby, as the old stories ran, but, as +there is no danger whatever, by the young wives of the warriors, who +look upon it as part of their household duties, or by the men +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>themselves. There are about eight or ten different poisons of similar, +but not identical, composition and preparation, of which the urary of +the Macusi Indians, and the curare, from Venezuela and New Granada, are +considered the most powerful.</p> + +<p>This dark-brown, pitchy substance, usually kept in little earthen pots, +is lightly spread over the points of the weapons,—their long arrows, +their light spears, and the thin wooden shafts, of about a foot long, +which they shoot through immense blow-tubes (<i>sarabacanas</i>). Immediately +upon the diffusion in the blood of the slightest portion of the poison, +the limbs, one by one, refuse to work, as if overcome with torpor, while +the mind apparently retains its activity until death ensues, which it +does in a few minutes’ time, from palsy of the lungs. It is strange that +only those nerves are affected which regulate the movements depending on +our own will, whereas those movements we cannot control—the beating of +the heart, for example—continue unaltered to the very last. Experiments +made by French physicians upon animals have shown that, if the lungs are +artificially kept in activity for several hours, the poison will be +rejected by natural means, and no bad consequences will ensue. Of late +the principal objection to the employment of the urary in medicine—its +unequal strength—has been completely overcome by the effective +alkaloid—the curarin—being extracted. This is about twenty times as +powerful as the urary, and has been used successfully in the treatment +of tetanus. The Indians shoot birds and monkeys, which they wish to +tame, with very weak curare, rousing them from the lethargy which +overpowers them with large doses of salt or sugar-juice; and this +treatment is said to be very effective, also, in the reduction of their +wildness....</p> + +<p>The guraná, prepared from the fruit of the <i>Paullinia sorbilis</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>is a +hard, chocolate-brown mass, of a slightly bitter taste, and of no smell +whatever. It is usually sold in cylindric pieces of from ten inches to a +foot in length, in which the half-bruised almond-like seeds are still +distinguishable; the more homogeneous and the harder the mass, the +better is its quality. To render it eatable, or rather drinkable, it is +rasped as fine as possible on the rough, bony roof of the mouth of the +<i>Sudis gigas</i> (pirá-rucú), and mixed with a little sugar and water. A +teaspoonful in a cup of warm water is said to be an excellent remedy in +slight attacks of ague.</p> + +<p>The taste of this beverage, reminding one slightly of almonds, is very +palatable; still, it scarcely accounts for the passionate liking +entertained for it by the inhabitants of the greater part of South +America. It must be the stimulating effects of the paullinin it contains +(an alkaloid like caffeine and theïne) that render it so indispensable +to those who have been accustomed to it. All the boats that come lightly +freighted with ipecacuanha and deer- or tiger-hides, from Mato Grosso +down the Arinos and the Tapajoz, in face of the considerable cataracts +and rapids of the latter, take their full loads of guaraná at Santarem; +and the heavy boats of the Madeira also convey large quantities of it to +Bolivia; for at Cuyabá, as well as at Santa Cruz de la Sierra and +Cochabamba, there are many who cannot do without their guaraná, for +which they often have to pay thirty francs the pound, and who prefer all +the rigors of fasting to abstinence from their favorite beverage. On the +other hand, the mestizo population on the Amazon, where it is prepared +on a large scale by the half-civilized tribes of the Mauhés and +Mundurucús and sold at about three francs the pound, are not so +passionately attached to it; they rather take coffee and a sort of +coarse chocolate, which they manufacture for themselves.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CANOE-_AND_CAMP-LIFE_ON_THE_MADEIRA" id="CANOE-_AND_CAMP-LIFE_ON_THE_MADEIRA"></a>CANOE- AND CAMP-LIFE ON THE MADEIRA.</h2> + +<h3>FRANZ KELLER.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[To the extract just made from Keller’s “Amazon and Madeira +Rivers,” we add the following, in which an interesting account +of camp-life in the forest and river regions of Brazil is +given.]</p></div> + +<p>The lower course of the Madeira presents, for more than four hundred and +sixty miles, a picture of grand simplicity, and, it must be owned, +monotony, which, magnificent as it appears at first, wearies the eye and +sickens the heart at last,—a dead calm on an unruffled, mirror-like +sheet of water glaring in the sun, and, as far as the eye can reach, two +walls of dark green forest, with the dark-blue firmament above them; in +the foreground, slender palms and gigantic orchid-covered trunks, with +blooming creepers hanging from the wave-worn shore, with its red +earthslips, down into the turbid floods. No hill breaks the +finely-indented line of the foliage, which everywhere bounds the +horizon, only here and there a few palm-covered sheds peep out of the +green; and still more rarely do we sight one of their quiet dark +inmates. Stately kingfishers looking thoughtfully into the river, white +herons standing for hours on one leg, and alligators lying so motionless +at the mouth of some rivulet that their jaggy tails and scarcely +protruding skulls might easily be taken for some half-sunken trunks, are +the only animals to be seen, and certainly they do not increase the +liveliness of the scene. Dreary and monotonous as the landscape, the +days, too, pass in unvaried succession.</p> + +<p>With the first dawn of day, before the white mist that hides the smooth +surface of the river has disappeared with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>the rays of the rising sun, +the day’s work begins. The boatswains call their respective crews; the +tents are broken up as quickly as possible; the cooking apparatus, the +hammocks and hides that served as beds, are taken on board, together +with our arms and mathematical instruments, and every one betakes +himself to his post. The <i>pagaias</i> (paddles) are dipped into the water, +and the prows of our heavy boats turn slowly from the shore to the +middle of the stream. Without the loss of a minute, the oars are plied +for three or four hours at a steady but rather quick rate, until a spot +on shore is discovered easy of access and offering a dry fire-place and +some fuel for the preparation of breakfast. If it be on one of the long +sand-banks, a roof is made of one of the sails, that rarely serve for +anything else; if in the wood, the undergrowth, in the shade of some +large tree, is cleared for the reception of our little table and +tent-chairs.</p> + +<p>The functions of the culinary <i>chef</i> for the white faces, limited to the +preparation of a dish of black beans, with some fish or turtle, are +simple enough, but, to be appreciated, certainly require the hearty +appetite acquired by active life in the open air. The Indians have to +cook by turns for their respective boats’ crews; their unalterable bill +of fare being a pap of flour of Indian corn or mandioca, with fresh or +dried fish, or a piece of <i>jacaré</i> (alligator).</p> + +<p>Most of those who are not busy cooking spend their time preparing new +bast shirts, the material for which is found almost everywhere in the +neighborhood of our halting-places. Soon the wood is alive with the +sound of hatchets and the crack of falling trees; and, even before they +are summoned to breakfast, they return with pieces of a silky bast of +about four and a half yards long and somewhat less than one and a +quarter yard wide. Their implements for shirt-making are of primitive +simplicity,—a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>heavy wooden hammer with notches, called maceta, and a +round piece of wood to work upon. Continuously beaten with the maceta, +the fibres of the bast become loosened, until the originally hard piece +of wood gets soft and flexible, and about double its former breadth. +After it has been washed, wrung out to remove the sap, and dried in the +sun, it has the appearance of a coarse woollen stuff of a bright +whitish-yellow or light brown, disclosing two main layers of wavy fibres +held together by smaller filaments. A more easily prepared and better +working-garment for a tropical climate is hardly to be found than this, +called cáscara by the Indians of Bolivia, and turury by those of the +Amazon. Its cut is as simple and classical as its material. A hole is +cut in the middle of a piece about ten feet long, to pass the head +through, and the depending skirt is sewn together on both sides, from +below up to the height of the girdle, which usually is a piece of cotton +string or liana.</p> + +<p>Another branch of industry our Indians were busy at, in their hours of +leisure, was the fabrication of straw hats, with the young leaves of a +kind of little palm, the same which supplies the excellent hats imported +from Ecuador and Peru, and known in Europe under the name of Chile or +Panama hats. Dexterity at all sorts of wicker-work seems to be innate to +this race; and the prettiest little baskets and the finest mats of +colored palm-leaves are to be bought on the Missions of the Mamoré at +the lowest prices.</p> + +<p><a name="illo9" id="illo9"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i232.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="335" alt="A SOUTH SEA ISLAND" title="" /> +<span class="caption">A SOUTH SEA ISLAND</span> +</div> + +<p>But all these occupations are left at the call of the first mate, who +has the proud title of Capitano. The boats’ crews crowd round their +pots, each one receives his allotted portion in a calabash or a basin of +horn, and their spoons of the same material are soon in full activity. +If a jacaré has lately been shot, or caught in a <i>laço</i> (sling), every +one, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>after roasting his own piece of it on the spit, proceeds to cut at the +large slices of the white meat (which, though in appearance like fish, +is as tough as india-rubber) with the satisfaction usually produced by +three or four hours of hard rowing on view of anything eatable. One +tribe especially, the Canichanas, from the former Mission of San Pedro +at the Mamoré, think roast caiman the finest eating in the world; while +others, the Cayuabas from Exaltacion, and the Mojos from Trinidad, whose +palates are somewhat more refined, prefer beef, fish, or turtle to the +musk-exhaling saurian. Notably the turtles, which are not found on the +Guaporé and Mamoré (they are not met with above the rapids of the +Madeira), are prized by them, though we grew rather tired of them, and +no wonder. On the lower Madeira, at our fires, there was almost daily +going on the cooking of turtles, of all sizes, from the full-grown one +of a yard in length to the smallest of the size of a hand; and in every +variety of preparation, too,—whole, and chopped up as for soup; stewed; +and roasted in their own shell or on the spit.</p> + +<p>Bathing in the river, immediately after meals, is a luxury invariably +indulged in by all the Indians; and I never remarked that it was +attended by any evil consequences to them.</p> + +<p>After a rest of two hours’ duration, the cooking utensils, the hammocks, +and improvised tents were carried on board again, and the voyage +continued. A second halt was made after rowing for two or three hours, +when we came in sight of a good place for fishing, such as the mouth of +some smaller river, or an extensive mud-bank. Such places were usually +recognizable from afar, by the multitude of snow-white herons and of +long caimans, which, finding it out before us, crowded there in peaceful +unity, and with similar intentions. The vicinity of the scaly monsters +is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>scarcely heeded by the Indians, who fish and take their bath, +laughing and jesting, though somewhat hugging the shore, just as if +there were no such thing as the tail or the tooth of the jacaré in the +world; and, indeed, these creatures are themselves in much greater +danger than the red-skins. When the last steak of alligator has been +consumed, one of the Canichanas is sure to ask leave to have some fun, +and to provide at the same time for their next dinner. Of course the +permission is always granted, as the sport keeps up their spirits and +spares our provisions. Without loss of time, then, one of them, having +carefully fastened a strong loop of raw hide at the end of a long pole, +and having dexterously slipped off his bast shirt, creeps slowly through +the shallow water, pole and sling in hand, as near as possible to the +alligator, which looks on at these preparations with perfect apathy, +only now and then betraying a sign of life by a lazy movement of its +powerful tail. But it does not take its eyes off the Indian as he crawls +nearer and nearer. The fatal sling is at arm’s length from its muzzle, +and yet it does not see it. As if under the influence of witchcraft, it +continues to stare with its large protruding eyes at the bold hunter, +who in the next moment has thrown the loop over its head, and suddenly +drawn it to with a strong pull. The other Indians, who the while have +been cowering motionless on shore, now rush into the water to the help +of their companion, and four or five of them land the ugly creature that +with all its might struggles to get back into the water, lashing the +sand with its tail and showing its long teeth; but a few vigorous blows +with an axe on the tail and skull soon render it tame enough. If, +instead of dragging back, the alligator were only to rush forward boldly +to the attack of the Indians, they would, of a certainty, leave pole and +sling and run for their lives; but this bright idea never seems <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>to +occur to the uncouth animal, and the strife always ends with its death. +Though there were more than a dozen of them killed during the voyage, I +never thought of sending a rifle-bullet through the thick skull of one, +except on one occasion, when I was afraid that one of our Canichanas was +about to make too close an acquaintance with the hard, jagged tail of an +extraordinarily strong monster, which measured full sixteen and a half +feet.</p> + +<p>Even before the huge spoil is cut up, four musk-glands, placed by twos +under its jaw, and on its belly, near the beginning of the tail, must be +carefully taken out, to prevent the diffusion, over the whole body, of +the penetrating odor of the greasy, brown liquid they contain. These +glands, which are about an inch and a half long and as thick as a +finger, are carefully tied up and suspended in the sun to dry. Mixed +with a little rose-water, their contents serve, as we were told, to +perfume the raven-black tresses of the elegant Bolivian ladies at Santa +Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba, in spite of, or rather by reason of, +their strong scent, which gives the headache to all save these +strong-nerved señoritas, who love a bull-fight above everything, who +know how to roll the cigarrito, and to dance the fandango with matchless +grace, but who scarcely are able to write their own names.</p> + +<p>After such a pleasant interlude of fishing or hunting, the paddles are +plied with renewed vigor until the evening, when sleeping quarters are +selected, either on a sand-bank or in the forest. The canoes are moored +by strong piassaba ropes in some recess of the bank, where they are +protected against drifting trunks; the tents are erected, and +preparations ensue for the principal meal. Meanwhile, after the very +short interval of twilight usual in the tropics, night almost suddenly +throws her dark veil over the valley, and the bright constellations of +the southern sky in quiet majesty adorn the firmament.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>While we prepare to take astronomical observations, half a dozen large +fires are lighted round about, in whose fitful blaze the neighboring +forest-trees appear like huge phantoms, looking contemptuously down on +us, poor tiny mortals. Our Indians warm themselves in the cheerful glow, +smoking, and chatting of the day’s adventures, or rather of what are +regarded as such,—unusual good or ill luck at fishing and hunting; the +casual meeting of some canoe; or the sight of a seringueiro’s poor +cottage. Work over, they take off the rough cáscara, and put on the +camiseta, a cotton garment without sleeves, resembling a wide poncho +sewn together at the sides, and whose dazzling whiteness is set off by +two scarlet stripes along the seams. The ample folds and the simple cut +of the garment, which is made by the Indian women of the Missions on +very primitive looms, give quite a stately, classical appearance to the +numerous groups round the fires. Such must have been the aspect +presented by the halting-places of those daring seafarers, the +Phœnicians, who were the first to call into life an international +commerce, and whose light-rigged barques first ventured to distant +shores, to bring home the precious amber and the useful tin. Only the +dense swarms of mosquitoes, which set in immediately after sunset, +remind us rather unpleasantly that we are far off from those happy +northern regions, where such a nuisance can hardly be well imagined. +Especially in the dense forest beneath cacao-bushes, or under the close +leafage of the large figueiras, where no breath of air incommodes those +light-winged tormentors, it is quite impossible, for the European at +least, to close an eye without the shelter of a mosquiteiro +(mosquito-net); and we could but wonder at our Indians, most of whom did +without it. After supper they simply spread a hide on the ground, on +which, with no covering other than the starry firmament <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>above them, +they slept undisturbed till the dawn, only occasionally brushing away, +as if by way of diversion, the most obtrusive of the little fiends. The +capitanos only, and one or other of the older rowers, allow themselves +the luxury of good cotton hammocks, which are also made by their wives +in the Missions.</p> + +<p>Such, with few variations, was the course of our daily life, until we +reached the regions of the rapids, when, of course, the hundred little +incidents connected with the dragging of the canoes through narrow, +foaming channels, and with carrying the goods and the vessels themselves +overland, disturbed the monotony of this rude forest life.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="BESIEGED_BY_PECCARIES" id="BESIEGED_BY_PECCARIES"></a>BESIEGED BY PECCARIES.</h2> + +<h3>JAMES W. WELLS.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[It is to “Three Thousand Miles through Brazil, from Rio de +Janeiro to Maranhão,” by James W. Wells, F.R.G.S., that we owe +the following exciting example of the perils of a hunter’s life +in the wilds of the tropics. Mr. Wells and his +fellow-travellers, while journeying up the valley of the Sapão, +far in interior Brazil, came upon traces of the peccary, an +animal which, from its fearlessness, and its habit of moving in +troops, is occasionally a very unsafe creature to meet. What +followed we shall leave the author to tell.]</p></div> + +<p>We were down in the deep, narrow valley, where the slopes of the +table-land surrounded us like a wall, up which there was no visible +ascent. The tall, rank grass was also littered with boulders of +sandstone and short, gnarled, and distorted cork-trees; it was a +toilsome march for both men and animals, but there, certainly, must be +the head-quarters of all the peccaries of the region, for everywhere the +ground was furrowed and rooted up, the grass trodden down in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>long +lanes, the pools of water turbid, from their wallowing, and the place +odorous as a rank pigsty; and yet, strange to say, not a pig was to be +seen, fortunately for us; for in such an inconvenient place an attack +from these vicious animals in the numbers they could evidently collect +would have enabled them to take us at great disadvantage.</p> + +<p>We pushed on the animals to get out of this pig-set man-trap, and +eventually got clear of the labyrinth on the farther side of the last +feeder of the main morass, and, after some difficulty, found an ascent +on to the <i>geraes</i>, where we made a bee-line to the Sapão across the +flats.</p> + +<p>During the passage of the swamps the Don said,—</p> + +<p>“Ah! Senhor Doctor, what a shame to leave such a lovely place; if you +and I were only here to-night, what fun we would have with the +peccaries; but, patience, they will make us a visit to-night, because of +the trail of the dogs.”</p> + +<p>But neither time nor place would permit of carrying out the Don’s +desires, as there was neither water nor pasture for the animals. The +Don’s remark about the peccaries paying us a visit is owing to a popular +belief that these animals, when in considerable numbers, will follow a +dog’s trail for many miles, and attack and kill him. In fact, it is +customary with the hunters to imitate the barking of a dog to attract +the attention of the pigs, and induce them to collect together and make +an attack; when, the hunters being safely ensconced in trees, the game +is perfectly safe, as the men have only to shoot what they require.</p> + +<p>The ground traversed that afternoon was not so free from bush as we had +hitherto found, being in many places thickly covered with dense cerrado +(abounding in immense quantities of the india-rubber-producing +Mangaba-tree), where progress was very slow and difficult, and required +the free use of our wood-knives. After a long and wearisome <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>march, we +reached the valley of the Sapão again, quite eight miles from the +peccaries’ haunt.</p> + +<p>I found the river valley presented much the same characteristics as we +had found lower down. For the purposes of a railway it is admirable; the +gradients are practically level, and the only works of art required +would be in crossing the many <i>burity</i> swamps that intersect the route, +and these, although numerous, are narrow.</p> + +<p>Even the Rio Sapão itself could doubtless be made into a good canal, in +the absence of a railway, for there is plenty of water, and the ground +offers great facilities for straightening its course.</p> + +<p>Especial care was taken in preparing the camp that night. The Don and +José superintended the operation of constructing the fort, the sides of +which were further protected by spreading over them the hides used for +covering the packs of the mules. Bush was also cut to make up and +enlarge the defences, and a strong stake was driven into the ground +inside the fort for the purpose of securing the dogs in case the +peccaries arrived. The camp was made on the borders of a clump of trees, +to which we were enabled to sling the hammocks, no one caring to sleep +on terra firma that night, but two of the men who were unprovided with +hammocks spread their hides on the ground inside the fort.</p> + +<p>After dinner, of course, peccaries formed the sole subject of +conversation, but hour after hour went by, yet no signs of their +presence appeared; and, after arranging the watches for the night, we +turned in, and with the fatigues of the day I was soon asleep.</p> + +<p>It appeared to me, however, that I had barely closed my eyes, when I +felt my hammock violently shaken. It was the Don awakening me, saying, +“Wake up, here are the <i>porcos</i>, we are going to have some fun.” The +first peculiarity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>that struck me was the prevalence of the odor of old +pigsties. I sat up, looked around, and listened. The pitchy blackness of +night surrounded us, but the fire, burning brightly, sent its flickering +light upon the tree-trunks, the foliage, and the hammocks; two men were +in the fort with gun and knife in hand, and the dogs tied to their stake +were with difficulty kept quiet, and vented their excitement in deep +growls. As I listened it became evident that we were surrounded by some +animals, for in many directions was heard, in the stillness of night, +the sound of bodies moving through the bush, twigs snapping, grass +rustling, etc. It was a moment of suspense, but not for long; for +suddenly, from all around us, came a blood-curdling sound of the +simultaneous snapping of teeth from vast numbers of the enemy, followed +by the appearance of a crowd of charging black animals, rushing with +wonderful speed towards a common centre, the fort. We in the hammocks +each lighted a coil of wax tapers that were prepared ready for the +occasion.</p> + +<p>And what a scene ensued! the fire was rapidly scattered, and partly +extinguished; under and around us was a seething mass of black +peccaries, barely distinguishable in the dim light, but all pushing and +struggling to the front; the men in the fort had discharged their +weapons, and were hard at work, hacking and thrusting at the peccaries +as they endeavored to swarm up the smooth surface of the hides that +covered the sides of the fort. The men in the hammocks, after +discharging their guns, reached down and slashed with their knives at +the swarming animals below them.</p> + +<p>The attack was more like the wild, reckless bravery of the Arabs of the +Soudan, for as pig after pig fell squealing and disabled, scores more +struggled for his place. The faint light of the tapers and the partly +extinguished fire <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>served but to dimly illuminate the elements of the +strange, noisy, wildly weird scene; the trunks of the surrounding trees +and their foliage; the swinging hammocks with their occupants reaching +downward, cutting and thrusting with their long, gleaming knives; the +dim figures of the men in the <i>trincheria</i>, repelling with shouts and +thrusts the swarming enemy; the wild, rushing, charging forms of the +black bodies of the peccaries, as in great numbers they threw themselves +against the fort, regardless of being struck down one after the other, +and always impelled forward by those in the rear struggling to the +front; others made ineffectual attempts to reach our hammocks or +viciously gashed the trees that gave us support; the extremely +disagreeable and nauseous odors of the animals, their snapping of teeth, +like musketry file-firing, the reports of the firearms, the shouts of +the men, the howling and barking of the dogs, and the dim light, created +an indescribably strange and exciting scene. Every bullet of my revolver +took effect. I shouted to the men to reserve their fire, and fire +volleys, but it was like talking in a gale of wind at sea.</p> + +<p>In spite of all efforts, still the battle raged. The animals appeared to +be in immense numbers, for, as far as the faint light would permit, the +ground was seen covered with their moving bodies, rushing, struggling, +the strongest beating down the weakest, grunting, squealing, and +snapping their teeth; and noticeable above everything was the abominable +exhalations from their bodies, an odor like a combination of rank butter +and garlic.</p> + +<p>I was getting anxious not only for my baggage, but for the men behind +the fort, who had to cut and thrust like madmen; the excitement was +intense. The strong raw hides were ripped up as though slashed with a +sharp knife, and the bags of beans and farinha were freely streaming +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>their contents on the ground from innumerable rippings from the keen +sharp tusks.</p> + +<p>Although we in the hammocks were quite safe, the fort was trembling; +many of the saddles and bags had been displaced by the sheer pressure of +the enemy. Our few miserable firearms appeared to have no more effect +than so many pop-guns, although the ground was becoming strewn with the +bodies of the slain and disabled. At last I succeeded in getting the men +in the hammocks to fire volleys at a given place, and after a time this +appeared to have an effect, for as suddenly as the attack commenced, so +it ceased; and the animals withdrew simultaneously and in silence.</p> + +<p>The Don (his voice chuckling with glee) called to us to get ready again, +as they would probably return. “Ah!” said he to me, in a low voice, +“what a splendid time we are having!” I thought, however, of the men in +the fort, one of whom was stanching blood from his wrist. I told the Don +to go and reinforce them; but suddenly the Don became very deaf; he was +very snug in his hammock and really could not hear me; but José, like a +good fellow, got out, ran for the fort, jumped in, and helped the men to +make good the damages. We could still hear the pigs in the bush, and +presently, without a moment’s warning, we again heard that diabolical +crash of teeth from a complete circle around us, followed immediately by +another wild charge, and the battle was again renewed with all its +excitement; but then, after the first flush of excitement, we became +cooler, and José in the fort was a host in himself; this attack was of +much shorter duration, and the enemy once more suddenly retreated. In +the pause that then ensued I thought of Rodrigues, as it then occurred +to me that I had not hitherto noticed him; his hammock was quite still, +and its edges drawn together over his body, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>formed a round, +ball-like protuberance in the centre. I saw it all, and could picture +the poor terror-stricken man, coiled up, with blanched face and bated +breath and making himself as small as possible. The men in the fort had +behaved very pluckily.</p> + +<p>Six or seven other attacks eventually followed, but each one became +weaker, and at intervals between of longer duration. The eventful night +seemed interminable, and finally it was not until near daybreak that we +heard the last grunt.</p> + +<p>At the first lights of gray dawn José proposed to reconnoitre, and went +off for the purpose. At first he proceeded very gingerly from tree to +tree. I proposed to myself to go also, but just at that moment I had a +fellow-feeling for the Don’s deafness, and thought what a comfortable +place a hammock was, and that really I could do no good; and further I +remembered that generals should always occupy high, commanding +positions; every one was chary of moving from their places of security.</p> + +<p>José soon afterwards returned, and reported that the enemy had finally +withdrawn.</p> + +<p>Thoughts of the horses and mules then occurred to us, and we anxiously +awaited their arrival, for they had acquired the habit of appearing in +camp of their own accord in the early morning for their matutinal feed +of corn. Thankfully I saw three or four soon after arrive, but two men +had to go for the others, that were fortunately found browsing on a +plentiful supply of the shoots of young bamboos. Happily the animals had +been pasturing in a direction opposite to that from whence the peccaries +came, otherwise there would have been a stampede.</p> + +<p>Almost the first thing the men did after the final retreat of the +peccaries was to slash the skin on the top of the loins of the defunct +enemy, and extract the gland that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>creates the disgusting odor peculiar +to these animals; for if not extracted soon after death, it taints the +flesh to such an extent as to render it uneatable except by Indians, who +do not object to any flavor, and eat all their animal food cooked on the +same principle as a European cook prepares a woodcock. There were +twenty-seven dead pigs found in and about the camp, and also several +wounded, to whom it was necessary to give the <i>coup de grâce</i>. The +wounds were mostly from the knives and small axes, but a very +considerable number of the wounded must have got away to recover, or +linger unfortunately in pain.</p> + +<p>Six of the plumpest were selected for drying and salting, the +preparations for which, and also to repair the damages done to the bags +of provisions, delayed our departure for some time.</p> + +<p>An examination of these animals showed them to be a species of peccary +resembling that known as the <i>Dicotyles labiatus</i>, but an essential +difference was noticeable in the absence of the white lips that give the +name to that species; our enemies had black snouts and dark lips, +otherwise they corresponded in other points.</p> + +<p>They had four incisors on the upper jaw, and six molars on each side +above and below; while the tusks, although smaller than a pig’s, are +much finer and sharper, inclined slightly backward, and closely overlap +each other. Some of the bodies of the animals measured thirty-six inches +in length. They are more slender in build than the common pig, and +covered with long, stiff bristles, colored with alternate rings of gray, +light-brown, and black. These colors vary with the size and age of the +animals, and as either one predominates, they cause the animal to appear +either brown, gray, or black; the largest we found was almost entirely +black, whereas the smallest had quite a brown appearance.</p> + +<p>During the battle I could not help noticing the apparent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>method of +their movements, as though they were led by chiefs. It appears that +their mode of attack on such an occasion as they favored us with is to +surround in silence, by a complete circle, the object to be stormed; +when, at a given signal, a simultaneous snapping of teeth takes place, +followed by a general converging rush to the centre, whereby the largest +and strongest reach the front first, and the smallest bring up the rear; +their retreat is carried out on an equally methodical system. There is a +small, red species known by the Guarany name of <i>caëitatu</i>;<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> our +friends are known by the Brazilian cognomen of <i>queixadas</i>, or <i>porcos +de matto</i>.</p> + +<p>From what I had witnessed during the past night, I can quite understand +how these courageous animals in large numbers are capable of surrounding +and destroying a powerful jaguar; and if my dog Feroz had fallen among +them, he would doubtless have made a brave fight, but he would not have +had the slightest chance of escape, and fortunately for us the ropes of +the hammocks did not break, as hammock-strings will sometimes do at +untoward moments, otherwise I should not be here now to tell this tale.</p> + +<p>But now, from the camp-fire, comes the odor of roast peccary, for parts +of them were already roasting for breakfast, and emitting a vastly more +acceptable odor to what they did when alive. When ready, it is needless +to say that, after the long night and in the keen, dewy morning air, how +appreciated were our visitors when cooked, and there was not the +slightest trace of the objectionable odor.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Shortly afterwards the hunters met another tenant of the +Brazilian wilds.]</p></div> + +<p>As several peccaries had crossed our path lately, José and the Don cut +three long straight bamboos; to the ends <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>of each we fastened our +sharp-pointed knives, for the purpose of pig-sticking. But the first use +we had for our lances was for a different animal; our dogs had suddenly +disappeared into the tall grass, barking loudly, and a few moments +afterwards a huge ant-bear came rolling out into the open semi-marsh +land, followed by the dogs; it went at a good pace, but with most +extraordinary and ludicrous movements. It became then very interesting +to watch the sagacity of the dogs, as they hung well on to his rear, +trying to seize only the tail of the animal, and keeping well out of +reach of his powerful fore-legs armed with tremendous claws. The dogs, +however, were evidently losing their caution and getting closer, and the +cumbersome beast had already made some particularly rapid blows in +attempting to rip the dogs. Fearing a possible disaster to my faithful +Feroz, we galloped on, but it is amazing the speed these cumbersome +ant-bears can develop. We had to put our animals to their sharpest paces +to come up with the quarry, when we had the opportunity of fleshing our +lances. The bear died hard, lying on its back and striking out with its +fore-legs. The men cut portions of the flesh to eat, but when afterwards +prepared, I found it too strongly flavored with formic acid to be +agreeable, and the dogs refused it.</p> + +<p>It then occurred to me that the incident of the discovery by the Don of +the robbery of a bees’-nest some days ago might possibly be explained by +it having been taken by an ant-bear, and not by a prowling stranger as +he supposed.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The hunt of the ant-bear was followed a few days afterwards by +a peccary-hunt, which proved a much less safe occupation.]</p></div> + +<p>A little farther on, in a wide shallow depression, was our host’s +favorite hunting-ground (where he had often found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>considerable +quantities of peccaries), an immense <i>burityzal</i> that extended +apparently from the Chapadas to the Rio Preto.</p> + +<p>We halted at José’s request and listened, and soon distinctly heard the +grunt of the <i>porcos</i> among the <i>buritys</i>, where they feed on the fruits +of the palms that form their favorite food.</p> + +<p>Leaving the horses fastened to the trees of a thin <i>cerrado</i> that +covered the sloping ground of the borders of the swamps, and haversacks, +<i>ponchos</i>, and other <i>impedimenta</i> suspended to the branches, we +advanced to the attack.</p> + +<p>I confess to a feeling of trepidation and a certain bumping of the heart +as we were about to leave the borders of the convenient trees so easy +and apparently purposely constructed for a human retreat from the +peccaries, but at that moment a troop of some dozen of them emerged from +the jungle of the swamp out into the open marshy land, and disappeared +into the adjoining tall grass.</p> + +<p>Three of the sons of José, with Antonio, Bob, and José Grosso, started +at a run to cut off their retreat, and soon disappeared amidst the tall +grass a little lower down the hill. After a few moments of suspense, we +heard reports of guns, and shouts to us to look out; at the same time +another troop of peccaries appeared on the open marshes, and followed +the tracks of the others. The grass became agitated by the movements of +the animals, and they soon afterwards entered the more open ground of +the <i>cerrado</i> where we were waiting, pursued by the five men; we all +fired, but as the range was long, there was not much execution. The +animals, about forty in number, now suddenly halted and faced their +pursuers with vicious little stampings of feet and snapping of teeth, +and suddenly charged down upon the men and upon ourselves. Never was +such gymnastic agility displayed as in the way that each of us rushed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>for, and scurried up, the nearest trees, many dropping their guns or +knives in their hurry.</p> + +<p>José and his sons were the coolest, especially the old man, who, perhaps +a little too stiff for climbing, calmly placed his back against a tree, +clasped it with his left hand, and leaning forward in a semi-stooping +posture, with his long <i>facão</i> at the ready, awaited the furious charge.</p> + +<p>How gallantly they come sweeping along with their muzzles well down, but +within a few feet of our trees they suddenly halt, and, snapping their +tusks, make short plunging charges. I had found a comfortable perch up a +short gnarled tree, and taking careful aim at the peccaries near me, I +knocked over three of them in five shots from my revolver.</p> + +<p>They were charging José’s legs at close quarters, but his long, keen, +sharp pointed knife flashes quickly as he rapidly delivers cuts and +thrusts with telling effect. The other men, safely ensconced in the +trees, have made good shots, but before any of us can reload the +peccaries scamper away. All of us quickly descend from our perches and +rush after the retreating animals, loading our guns as we run, but our +brave foes suddenly halt and face us with a look of defiance, and again +make a gallant charge. How ignominious we appeared as we in our turn +beat a hurried retreat to the nearest trees, where, not having time or +finding conveniences for a climb, we were forced to imitate José’s +example and face the enemy with knives; but the peccaries, after a +momentary pause, dashed onward and disappeared amidst the tall grass of +the borders of the swamps, crossed the marshes, and entered the jungle +of the <i>buritys</i>.</p> + +<p>Although the whole thing happened within a few moments, there were quite +enough elements of danger to spice the sport, for, if in making our +retreat any of us had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>stumbled and fallen, the consequences must have +been serious, if not fatal. I prefer the pig sticking on mule-back with +our extemporized spears. We gave the <i>coup de grâce</i> to the wounded, but +many got away only partially damaged. We found our bag amounted to ten +pigs, all in excellent condition.</p> + +<p>As José and his sons were anxious for another tussle, we proceeded up +the valley, and soon saw here and there a solitary grunter outside the +growth of palms and aquatic vegetation of the swamps; and frequent +grunts, heard amidst the groves, indicated the presence of considerable +numbers of our foes.</p> + +<p>A little farther on, a spit of firm land, only covered with short grass, +extended to near the groves, but no one cared to venture so far from the +friendly sanctuary of the trees and possibly meet a huge anaconda coiled +up in the swamp.</p> + +<p>José Grosso and one of our host’s sons now returned to remain with the +animals, whilst we proceeded a little farther on in quest of a stray +peccary. We walked about a mile, but found not what we hoped for; but on +returning some peccaries were seen straying towards the hills in twos or +threes, homeward-bound to their lairs in the dells and grottos of the +sources of streams at the foot of the bluffs of the Chapadas. We worked +our way amidst the trees, and eventually obtained a few long shots, and +succeeded in bagging two more.</p> + +<p>It became a question whether we should pursue our journey to enable me +to take my notes, and camp out and have another probable night-attack of +peccaries, or return to Mato Grande. I thought a night of peace and +quietness preferable, although perhaps very unsportsmanlike, and so we +wended our way homeward.</p> + +<p>It is rather unusual that these peccaries make such a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>brave fight in +daylight, but it was chiefly owing to their accidentally finding +themselves in such considerable numbers on this occasion, as they are +commonly scattered over their feeding-grounds in very small parties +during the day, and return to a common haunt at night, whence they sally +out in immense numbers upon any foe that trespasses upon their +neighborhood, like when they tracked our dogs in the Sapão.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="THE_PERILS_OF_TRAVEL" id="THE_PERILS_OF_TRAVEL"></a>THE PERILS OF TRAVEL.</h2> + +<h3>IDA PFEIFFER.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Among travellers there have been few more ardent and +enterprising than the woman from whose writings our present +selection is made. Ida Pfeiffer was born in Vienna about 1795, +married, brought up and educated her two sons, and in 1842, +when nearly fifty years of age, set out on a series of travels +which she had long contemplated, and in which she spent the +succeeding ten years. After a series of travels in Asia Minor, +Scandinavia, and Iceland, she set out in 1846 on a tour of the +world, which was not accomplished without great hardships and +dangers. In 1851 she entered on a second journey around the +world, visiting various new countries. She died in 1858. From +her “A Woman’s Journey round the World” we select the following +thrilling experience. She had set out from Rio Janeiro, in +company with Count Berchthold, on an excursion to Petropolis, a +German colony in the vicinity. Suddenly, in a lonely spot, a +negro sprang out upon them, knife and lasso in hand, indicating +by gestures that he intended to murder them and drag their +bodies into the forest. She gives a vivid description of what +followed.]</p></div> + +<p>We had no arms, as we had been told that the road was perfectly safe, +and the only weapons of defence which we possessed were our parasols, if +I except a clasp-knife, which I instantly drew out of my pocket and +opened, fully determined to sell my life as dearly as possible. We +parried our adversary’s blows as long as we could with our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>parasols, +but these lasted but a short time; besides, he caught hold of mine, +which, as we were struggling for it, broke short off, leaving only a +piece of the handle in my hand. In the struggle, however, he dropped his +knife, which rolled a few steps from him; I instantly made a dash, and +thought I had got it, when he, more quick than I, thrust me away with +his feet and hands, and once more obtained possession of it. He waved it +furiously over my head, and dealt me two wounds, a thrust and a deep +gash, both in the upper part of the left arm; I thought I was lost, and +despair alone gave me the courage to use my own knife. I made a thrust +at his breast; this he warded off, and I only succeeded in wounding him +severely in the hand. The Count sprang forward and seized the fellow +from behind, and thus afforded me an opportunity of raising myself from +the ground. The whole affair had not taken more than a few seconds.</p> + +<p>The negro’s fury was now roused to its highest pitch by the wounds he +had received. He gnashed his teeth at us like a wild beast, and +flourished his knife with frightful rapidity. The Count, in his turn, +had received a cut right across the hand, and we had been irrevocably +lost, had not Providence sent us assistance. We heard the tramp of +horses’ hoofs upon the road, upon which the negro instantly left us and +sprang into the wood. Immediately afterwards two horsemen turned a +corner of the road, and we hurried towards them; our wounds, which were +bleeding freely, and the way in which our parasols were hacked, soon +made them understand the state of affairs. They asked us which direction +the fugitive had taken, and, springing from their horses, hurried after +him; their efforts, however, would have been fruitless, if two negroes, +who were coming from the opposite side, had not helped them. As it was, +the fellow was soon captured.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p><p>He was pinioned, and, as he would not walk, severely beaten, most of the +blows being dealt upon the head, so that I feared the poor fellow’s +skull would be broken. In spite of this, he never moved a muscle, and +lay, as if insensible to feeling, upon the ground. The two other negroes +were obliged to seize hold of him, when he endeavored to bite every one +within his reach like a wild beast, and carry him to the nearest house. +Our preservers, as well as the Count and myself, accompanied them. We +then had our wounds dressed, and afterwards continued our journey, not, +it is true, entirely devoid of fear, especially when we met one or more +negroes, but without any further mishap, and with a continually +increasing admiration of the beautiful scenery.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The negro was supposed to be either drunk or insane, but it +proved that he had been punished by his master for some +offence, and took that mode to obtain revenge. Madame Pfeiffer +penetrated the Brazilian forests, and thus describes the +aboriginal savages.]</p></div> + +<p>On a small space, under lofty trees, five huts, or rather sheds, formed +of leaves, were erected, eighteen feet long by twelve feet broad. The +frames were formed of four poles stuck in the ground, with another +reaching across, and the roof of palm-leaves, through which the rain +could penetrate with the utmost facility. On three sides these bowers +were entirely open. In the interior hung a hammock or two, and on the +ground glimmered a little fire, under a heap of ashes, in which a few +roots, Indian corn, and bananas were roasting. In one corner, under the +roof, a small supply of provisions was hoarded up, and a few gourds were +scattered around; these are used by the savages instead of plates, pots, +water-jugs, etc. The long-bows and arrows, which constitute their only +weapons, were leaning in the background against the wall.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>I found the Indians still more ugly than the negroes. Their complexion +is a light bronze, they are stunted in stature, well-knit, and about the +middle size. They have broad and somewhat compressed features, and +thick, coal-black hair, hanging straight down, which the women sometimes +wear in plaits, fastened to the back of the head, and sometimes falling +down loose about them. Their forehead is broad and low, the nose +somewhat flattened, the eyes long and narrow, almost like those of the +Chinese, and the mouth large, with rather thick lips. To give a still +greater effect to all these various charms, a peculiar look of stupidity +is spread over the whole face, and is more especially to be attributed +to the way in which their mouths are always kept open. Most of them, +both men and women, were tattooed with a reddish or blue color, though +only round the mouth, in the form of a moustache. Both sexes are +passionately fond of smoking, and prefer brandy to everything. Their +dress was composed of a few rags, which they had fastened round their +loins.</p> + +<p>The good creatures offered me the best hut they possessed, and invited +me to pass the night there. Being rather fatigued by the toilsome nature +of my journey on foot, the heat, and the hunting-excursion, I very +joyfully accepted their proposition; the day, too, was drawing to a +close, and I should not have been able to reach the settlement of the +whites before night. I therefore spread out my cloak upon the ground, +arranged a log of wood so as to serve instead of a pillow, and for the +present seated myself upon my splendid couch. In the mean while my hosts +were preparing the monkey and the parrots, by sticking them on wooden +spits and roasting them before the fire.</p> + +<p>In order to render the meal a peculiarly dainty one, they also buried +some Indian corn and roots in the cinders. They then gathered a few +large fresh leaves off the trees, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>tore the roasted ape into several +pieces with their hands, and, placing a large portion of it, as well as +a parrot, Indian corn, and some roots, upon the leaves, put it before +me. My appetite was tremendous, seeing that I had tasted nothing since +the morning. I therefore immediately fell to upon the roasted monkey, +which I found superlatively delicious; the flesh of the parrot was far +from being so tender and palatable.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[As we have begun this selection with a perilous adventure of +our lady traveller, some other perils encountered by her in +other parts of the world may fitly close it. The following +experience in a tiger-hunt took place in India, during an +excursion to the rock temples of Ellora.]</p></div> + +<p>I had scarcely left the gates of the town behind, when I perceived a +number of Europeans seated upon elephants, coming from the bungalow. On +meeting each other we pulled up and commenced a conversation. The +gentlemen were on the road to search for a tiger-lair, of which they had +received intimation, and invited me, if such a sport would not frighten +me too much, to take part in it. I was greatly delighted to receive the +invitation, and was soon seated on one of the elephants, in a howdah +about two feet high, in which there were already two gentlemen and a +native,—the latter had been brought to load the guns. They gave me a +large knife to defend myself, in case the animal should spring too high +and reach the side of the howdah. Thus prepared, we approached the chain +of hills, and after a few hours we were already pretty near the lair of +the tigers, when our servants cried out softly, “<i>Bach, Bach!</i>” and +pointed with their fingers to some brushwood.</p> + +<p>I had scarcely perceived the flaming eyes which glared out of one of the +bushes before shots were fired. Several balls took effect upon the +animal, who rushed, maddened, upon us. He made such tremendous springs, +that I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>thought every moment he must reach the howdah, and select a +victim from among us. The sight was terrible to see, and my +apprehensions were increased by the appearance of another tiger; +however, I kept myself so calm, that none of the gentlemen had any +suspicion of what was going on in my mind. Shot followed shot; the +elephants defended their trunks with great dexterity by throwing them up +or drawing them in. After a sharp contest of half an hour, we were the +victors, and the dead animals were triumphantly stripped of their +beautiful skins. The gentlemen politely offered me one of them as a +present; but I declined accepting it, as I could not postpone my journey +sufficiently long for it to be dried.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Madame Pfeiffer had a courage and presence of mind in +dangerous and difficult situations which often served her in +good stead. Certainly it needed no slight courage to undertake +the adventure described in our next selection, a journey among +the cannibal Battakers of Sumatra. In 1835 two American +missionaries had been killed and eaten by them, and such a +journey without a military escort seemed foolhardy. But she +persisted, and reached a village on the borders of the Battaker +territory July 19, 1852. Here she sent for the regents of the +neighboring villages.]</p></div> + +<p>In the evening we sat in solemn conclave surrounded by regents, and by a +great crowd of the people, for it had been noised abroad far and wide +that here was a white woman who was about to venture into the dreaded +country of the wild Battakers. Regents and people all concurred in +advising me to renounce so perilous a project; but I had tolerably made +up my mind on this point, and I only wanted to be satisfied as to one +thing,—namely, whether it was true, as many travellers asserted, that +the Battakers did not put their victims out of their pain at once, but +tied them living to stakes, and, cutting pieces off them, consumed them +by degrees with tobacco and salt.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p><p>The idea of this slow torture did a little frighten me; but my bearers +assured me, with one accord, that this was only done to those who were +regarded as criminals of a deep dye, and who had been on that account +condemned to death. Prisoners of war are tied to a tree and beheaded at +once; but the blood is carefully preserved for drinking, and sometimes +made into a kind of pudding with boiled rice. The body is then +distributed; the ears, the nose, and the soles of the feet are the +exclusive property of the rajah, who has besides a claim on other +portions. The palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the flesh of +the head, and the heart and liver, are reckoned peculiar delicacies, and +the flesh in general is roasted and eaten with salt. The regents assured +me, with a certain air of relish, that it was very good food, and that +they had not the least objection to eat it. The women are not allowed to +take part in these grand public dinners. A kind of medicinal virtue is +ascribed to trees to which prisoners have been tied when they have been +put to death, and the stem is usually cut into sticks five or six feet +long, carved into figures or arabesques, and decorated with human hair; +and these sticks are taken in hand by people who go to visit the sick, +or when any medicine is to be given.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Despite this gruesome warning, the daring woman continued her +journey, and prosecuted it until the 13th of August, when she +found herself in the most imminent peril.]</p></div> + +<p>More than eighty armed men stood in the pathway and barred our passage, +and before we were aware of it, their spearmen had formed a circle +around me and shut me in, looking the while indescribably terrible and +savage. They were tall robust men, fully six feet high; their features +showed the most violent agitation, and their huge mouths and projecting +teeth had really more resemblance to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>jaws of a wild beast than to +anything human. They yelled and made a dreadful noise about me, and had +I not been in some measure familiar with such scenes, I should have felt +sure that my last hour was at hand.</p> + +<p>I was really uneasy, however: the scene was too frightful; but I never +lost my presence of mind. At first I sat down on a stone that lay near, +endeavoring to look as composed and confident as I could; but some +rajahs then came up to me with very threatening looks and gestures, and +gave me clearly to understand that if I did not turn back they would +kill and eat me. Their words, indeed, I did not comprehend, but their +action left no manner of doubt, for they pointed with their knives to my +throat, and gnashed their teeth at my arm, moving their jaws then as if +they already had them full of my flesh.</p> + +<p>Of course, when I thought of coming among the wild Battakers, I had +anticipated something of this sort, and I had therefore studied a little +speech in their language for such an occasion. I knew if I could say +anything that would amuse them, and perhaps make them laugh, I would +have a great advantage over them, for savages are quite like children, +and the merest trifle will often make them friends. I got up, therefore, +and patting one of the most violent, who stood next me, upon the +shoulder in a friendly manner, said, with smiling face, in a jargon half +Malay and half Battaker, “Why, you don’t mean to say you would kill and +eat a woman, especially such an old one as I am! I must be very hard and +tough!” And I also gave them by signs and words to understand that I was +not at all afraid of them, and was ready, if they liked, to send back my +guide, if they would only take me as far as the <i>Eier-Tau</i>.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for me, the doubtless very odd way in which I pronounced +their language, and my pantomime, diverted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>them, and they began to +laugh. Perhaps, also, the fearless confidence which I manifested made a +good impression; they offered me their hands, the circle of spearmen +opened, and, rejoicing not a little at having escaped this danger, I +journeyed on, and reached in perfect safety a place called Tugala, where +the rajah received me into his house.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="BRAZILIAN_ANTS_AND_MONKEYS" id="BRAZILIAN_ANTS_AND_MONKEYS"></a>BRAZILIAN ANTS AND MONKEYS.</h2> + +<h3>HENRY W. BATES.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The “Naturalist in the Amazons” of Henry Walter Bates is a +work that has long held a deserved reputation for the closeness +and accuracy of its observations and the interest of its +narrative. The author, born at Leicester, England, in 1825, +accompanied the noted biologist, Alfred Russel Wallace, to +Brazil, the story of which journey is given in the work cited. +From it we extract some passages concerning the animal life of +that country, embracing the doings of the “leaf-cutting” ants +and the monkeys. Our selections begin in the suburbs of Pará.]</p></div> + +<p>In the gardens numbers of fine showy butterflies were seen. There were +two swallow-tailed species, similar in colors to the English <i>Papilio +machaon</i>, a white Pieris (<i>P. monuste</i>), and two or three species of +brimstone- and orange-colored butterflies, which do not belong, however, +to the same genus as our English species. In weedy places a beautiful +butterfly with eye-like spots on its wings was common, the <i>Junonia +lavinia</i>, the only Amazonian species which is at all nearly related to +our Vanessas, the Admiral and Peacock butterflies.</p> + +<p>One day we made our first acquaintance with two of the most beautiful +productions of nature in this department,—namely, the <i>Helicopis +cupido</i> and <i>endymion</i>. A little beyond <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>our house one of the narrow +green lanes which I have already mentioned diverged from the mongabu +avenue, and led between enclosures overrun with a profusion of creeping +plants and glorious flowers down to a moist hollow, where there was a +public well and a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of mucajá +palm-trees. On the tree-trunks, walls, and palings grew a great quantity +of climbing Pothos plants, with large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves. +These plants were the resort of these two exquisite species, and we +captured a great number of specimens. They are of extremely delicate +texture. The wings are cream-colored; the hind pair have several +tail-like appendages, and are spangled beneath as if with silver. Their +flight is very slow and feeble; they seek the protected under surface of +the leaves, and in repose close their wings over the back, so as to +expose the brilliantly spotted under surface.</p> + +<p>I will pass over the many orders and families of insects, and proceed at +once to the ants. These were in great numbers everywhere, but I will +mention here only two kinds. We were amazed at seeing ants an inch and a +quarter in length, and stout in proportion, marching in single file +through the thickets. These belonged to the species called <i>Dinoponera +grandis</i>. Its colonies consist of a small number of individuals, and are +established about the roots of slender trees. It is a stinging species, +but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller kinds. There +was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of this giant among the +ants. Another far more interesting species was the Saüba (<i>Œcodoma +cephalotes</i>). This ant is seen everywhere about the suburbs, marching to +and fro in broad columns. From its habit of despoiling the most valuable +cultivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge to the +Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>that agriculture is +almost impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible +pest....</p> + +<p>In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of earth, +of a different color from the surrounding soil, which were thrown up in +the plantations and woods. Some of them were very extensive, being forty +yards in circumference, but not more than two feet in height. We soon +ascertained that these were the work of the Saübas, being the outworks +or domes which overlie and protect the entrances to their vast +subterranean galleries. On close examination I found the earth of which +they are composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated with +cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The +difference in color from the superficial soil of the vicinity is owing +to their being formed of the under-soil, brought up from a considerable +depth.</p> + +<p>It is very rarely that the ants are seen at work on these mounds; the +entrances seem to be generally closed; only now and then, when some +particular work is going on, are the galleries opened. The entrances are +small and numerous; in the larger hillocks it would require a great +amount of excavation to get at the main galleries; but I succeeded in +removing portions of the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that +the minor entrances converged, at the depth of about two feet, to one +broad, elaborately worked gallery or mine, which was four or five inches +in diameter.</p> + +<p>The habit in the Saüba ant of clipping and carrying away immense +quantities of leaves has long been recorded in books on natural history. +When employed on this work their processions look like a multitude of +animated leaves on the march. In some places I found an accumulation of +such leaves, all circular pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying on +the pathway, unattended by ants, and at some distance from the colony. +Such heaps are always found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>to be removed when the place is revisited +the next day. In course of time I had plenty of opportunities of seeing +them at work. They mount the trees in multitudes, the individuals being +all worker-miners. Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf, and +cuts with its sharp, scissor-like jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the +piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a little +heap accumulates until carried away by another relay of workers; but +generally each marches off with the piece it has operated upon, and, as +all take the same road to their colony, the path they follow becomes in +a short time smooth and bare, looking like the impression of a +cart-wheel through the herbage.</p> + +<p>It is a most interesting sight to see the vast host of busy diminutive +laborers occupied on this work. Unfortunately, they choose cultivated +trees for their purpose. This ant is quite peculiar to tropical America, +as is the entire genus to which it belongs. It sometimes despoils the +young trees of species growing wild in its native forests; but it seems +to prefer, when within reach, plants imported from other countries, such +as the coffee- and orange-trees.... The heavily-laden workers, each +carrying its segment of leaf vertically, the lower edge secured in its +mandibles, troop up and cast their burdens on the hillock; another relay +of laborers place the leaves in position, covering them with a layer of +earthy granules, which are brought one by one from the soil beneath.</p> + +<p>The underground abodes of this wonderful ant are known to be very +extensive. The Rev. Hamlet Clark has related that the Saüba of Rio de +Janeiro, a species closely allied to ours, has excavated a tunnel under +the bed of the river Parahyba at a place where it is as broad as the +Thames at London Bridge. At the Magoary rice-mills, near Pará, these +ants once pierced the embankment of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>large reservoir; the great body +of water which it contained escaped before the damage could be repaired. +In the Botanic Gardens at Pará an enterprising French gardener tried all +he could think of to extirpate the Saüba. With this object he made fires +over some of the main entrances to their colonies, and blew the fumes of +sulphur down the galleries by means of bellows. I saw the smoke issue +from a great number of outlets, one of which was seventy yards distant +from the place where the bellows were used. This shows how extensively +the underground galleries are ramified.</p> + +<p>Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of their +foliage, the Saüba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its habit +of plundering the stores of provisions in houses at night, for it is +even more active at night than in the daytime. At first I was inclined +to discredit the stories of their entering habitations and carrying off +grain by grain the farinha or mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer +classes of Brazil. At length, while residing at an Indian village on the +Tapajos, I had ample proof of the fact. One night my servant woke me +three or four times before sunrise by calling out that the rats were +robbing the farinha baskets. The article at that time was scarce and +dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise very unlike that made by +rats. So I took the light and went into the store-room, which was close +to my sleeping-place. I there found a broad column of Saüba ants, +consisting of thousands of individuals, as busy as possible, passing to +and fro between the door and my precious baskets. Most of those passing +outward were laden each with a grain of farinha, which was, in some +cases, larger and many times heavier than the bodies of the carriers.</p> + +<p>Farinha consists of grains of similar size and appearance to the tapioca +of our shops; both are products of the same <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>root, tapioca being the +pure starch, and farinha the starch mixed with woody fibre, the latter +ingredient giving it a yellowish color. It was amusing to see some of +the dwarfs, the smallest members of their family, staggering along, +completely hidden under their load. The baskets, which were on a high +table, were entirely covered with ants, many hundreds of whom were +employed in snipping the dry leaves which served as lining. This +produced the rustling sound which had at first disturbed us. My servant +told me that they would carry off the whole contents of the two baskets +(about two bushels) in the course of the night if they were not driven +off, so we tried to exterminate them by killing them with our wooden +clogs. It was impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming in as +fast as we killed their companions. They returned the next night, and I +was then obliged to lay trains of gun-powder along their line and blow +them up. This, repeated many times, at last seemed to intimidate them, +for we were free from their visits during the remainder of my residence +at the place.</p> + +<p>What they did with the hard dry grains of mandioca I was never able to +ascertain, and cannot even conjecture. The meal contains no gluten, and +therefore would be useless as cement. It contains only a small relative +portion of starch, and, when mixed with water, it separates and falls +away like so much earthy matter. It may serve as food for the +subterranean workers. But the young or larvæ of ants are usually fed by +juices secreted by the worker-nurses.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Leaving the ants with this example of their curious habits, we +shall proceed with the author’s description of Brazilian +monkeys.]</p></div> + +<p>I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate +vicinity of Pará. I met with three species <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>only in the forest near the +city; they are shy animals and avoid the neighborhood of towns, where +they are subject to much persecution by the inhabitants, who kill them +for food. The only kind which I saw frequently was the little <i>Midas +ursulus</i>, one of the Marmosets, a family peculiar to tropical America, +and differing in many essential points of structure and habits from all +other apes. They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true +monkeys in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind +thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the thumbs +of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to the other +fingers. I do not mean to convey that they have a near relationship to +squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an inferior order of mammals; +their resemblance to those animals is merely a superficial one. They +have two molar teeth less in each jaw than the Cebidæ, the other family +of American monkeys; they agree with them, however, in the sideway +position of the nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all +the monkeys of the Old World. The body is long and slender, clothed with +soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length of the trunk, +is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger in volume than the +anterior pair.</p> + +<p>The <i>Midas ursulus</i> is never seen in large flocks; three or four is the +greatest number observed together. It seems to be less afraid of the +neighborhood of man than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in the +woods which border the suburban streets, and once I espied two +individuals in a thicket behind the English consul’s house at Nazareth. +Its mode of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like +that of squirrels; it does not ascend to the slender branches, or take +those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidæ do, whose prehensile tails +and flexible hands fit them for such headlong travelling. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>It confines +itself to the larger boughs and trunks of trees, the long nails being of +great assistance to the creature, enabling it to cling securely to the +bark; and it is often seen passing rapidly round the perpendicular +cylindrical trunks. It is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and +has a great share of curiosity, for when a person passes by under the +trees along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few moments +to have a stare at the intruder.</p> + +<p>In Pará <i>Midas ursulus</i> is often seen in a tame state in the houses of +the inhabitants. When full grown it is about nine inches long, +independently of the tail, which measures fifteen inches. The fur is +thick, and black in color, with the exception of a reddish-brown streak +down the middle of the back. When first taken, or when kept tied up, it +is very timid and irritable. It will not allow itself to be approached, +but keeps retreating backward when any one attempts to coax it. It is +always in a querulous humor, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; +its dark, watchful eyes, expressive of distrust, observant of every +movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly, however, as it +generally is in the houses of the natives, it becomes very tame and +familiar. I once saw one as playful as a kitten, running about the house +after the negro children, who fondled it to their hearts’ content. It +acted somewhat differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like +them to sit in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, +trying to bite, and otherwise annoying them.</p> + +<p>It is generally fed on sweet fruits, such as the banana, but it is also +fond of insects, especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which +it will snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of +countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing. This is +partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as one of sixty +degrees; but the quick movements of the head, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>the way they have of +inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited, contribute +very much to give them a knowing expression. Anatomists who have +dissected species of Midas tell us that the brain is of a very low type +as far as the absence of convolutions goes, the surface being as smooth +as that of a squirrel’s. I should conclude at once that this character +is an unsafe guide in judging of the mental qualities of these animals; +in mobility of expression of countenance, intelligence, and general +manners these small monkeys resemble the higher apes far more than they +do any rodent animal with which I am acquainted.</p> + +<p>On the upper Amazon I once saw a tame individual of the <i>Midas +leoninus</i>, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still more +playful and intelligent than the one just described. This rare and +beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length, exclusive of the +tail. It is named leoninus on account of the long brown mane which +depends from the neck, and which gives it very much the appearance of a +diminutive lion. In the house where it was kept it was familiar with +every one; its greatest pleasure seemed to be to climb about the bodies +of different persons who entered. The first time I went in, it ran +across the room straightway to the chair on which I sat down and climbed +up to my shoulder; arrived there, it turned round and looked into my +face, showing its little teeth, and chattering, as though it would say, +“Well, and how do you do?” It showed more affection towards its master +than towards strangers, and would climb up to his head a dozen times in +the course of an hour, making a great show every time of searching there +for certain animalcula.</p> + +<p>Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus that it +distinguished between different objects depicted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>on an engraving. M. +Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp; at these it became +much terrified; whereas at the sight of a figure of a grasshopper or +beetle it precipitated itself on the picture, as if to seize the objects +there represented.</p> + +<p>Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Pará, a great number +may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazilians are fond of +pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to breed in captivity +in this country. I counted in a short time thirteen different species +while walking about the Pará streets, either at the doors or windows of +houses, or in the native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with +afterwards in any other part of the country. One of these was the +well-known <i>Hapale jacchus</i>, a little creature resembling a kitten, +banded with black and gray all over the body and tail, and having a +fringe of long white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the +shoulder of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, +and I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other was +a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had ruddy brown +fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish tuft on the top of the +forehead....</p> + +<p>The only monkeys I observed at Cametá were the Couxio (<i>Pithecia +satanas</i>), a large species, clothed with long brownish black hair, and +the tiny <i>Midas argentatus</i>. The Couxio has a thick bushy tail; the hair +of the head sits on it like a cap, and looks as if it had been carefully +combed. It inhabits only the most retired parts of the forest, on the +terra firma, and I observed nothing of its habits. The little <i>Midas +argentatus</i> is one of the rarest of the American monkeys. I have not +heard of its being found anywhere except near Cametá. I once saw three +individuals together running along a branch in a cacao grove near +Cametá; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>they looked like white kittens: in their motions they resembled +precisely the <i>Midas ursulus</i> already described.</p> + +<p>I saw afterwards a pet animal of this species, and heard that there were +many so kept, and that they were esteemed as choice treasures. The one I +saw was full grown, but it measured only seven inches in length of body. +It was covered with long white, silky hairs, the tail was blackish, and +the face nearly naked and flesh-colored. It was a most timid and +sensitive little thing. The woman who owned it carried it constantly in +her bosom, and no money would induce her to part with her pet. She +called it Mico. It fed from her mouth and allowed her to fondle it +freely, but the nervous little creature would not permit strangers to +touch it. If any one attempted to do so it shrank back, the whole body +trembling with fear, and its teeth chattered, while it uttered its +tremulous frightened tones. The expression of its features was like that +of its more robust brother <i>Midas ursulus</i>; the eyes, which were black, +were full of curiosity and mistrust, and it always kept them fixed on +the person who attempted to advance towards it.</p> + +<p>In the orange groves and other parts humming-birds were plentiful, but I +did not notice more than three species. I saw a little pigmy belonging +to the genus Phæthornis one day in the act of washing itself in a brook. +It was perched on a thin branch, whose end was under water. It dipped +itself, then fluttered its wings and pruned its feathers, and seemed +thoroughly to enjoy itself alone in the shady nook which it had +chosen,—a place overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and Heliconiæ. I +thought as I watched it that there was no need for poets to invent elves +and gnomes while nature furnishes us with such marvellous little sprites +ready to hand.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_MONARCHS_OF_THE_ANDES" id="THE_MONARCHS_OF_THE_ANDES"></a>THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES.</h2> + +<h3>JAMES ORTON.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[The story of the Andes and the great river to which this +mountain-chain gives birth has never been better told than in +Orton’s “The Andes and the Amazon,” from which we select the +following description of Chimborazo and its mountain neighbors. +James Orton, born at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1830, became a +Congregationalist clergyman, and in 1867 headed an exploring +expedition to South America. In 1873 he sought that continent +again, and died on Lake Titicaca, September 24, 1877.]</p></div> + +<p>Coming up from Peru through the cinchona forests of Loja, and over the +barren hills of Assuay, the traveller reaches Riobamba seated on the +threshold of magnificence,—like Damascus, an oasis in a sandy plain, +but, unlike the Queen of the East, surrounded with a splendid retinue of +snowy peaks that look like icebergs floating in a sea of clouds.</p> + +<p>On our left is the most sublime spectacle in the New World. It is a +majestic pile of snow, its clear outline on the deep blue sky describing +the profile of a lion in repose. At noon the vertical sun, and the +profusion of light reflected from the glittering surface, will not allow +a shadow to be cast on any part, so that you can easily fancy the figure +is cut out of a mountain of spotless marble. This is Chimborazo,—yet +not the whole of it,—you see but a third of the great giant. His feet +are as eternally green as his head is everlastingly white; but they are +far away beneath the banana and cocoanut palms of the Pacific coast.</p> + +<p>Rousseau was disappointed when he first saw the sea; and the first +glimpse of Niagara often fails to meet one’s expectations. But +Chimborazo is sure of a worshipper the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>moment its overwhelming grandeur +breaks upon the traveller. You feel that you are in the presence-chamber +of the monarch of the Andes. There is sublimity in his kingly look of +which the ocean might be proud.</p> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox2"><p> +“All that expands the spirit, yet appeals,<br /> +Gathers around this summit, as if to show<br /> +How earth may pierce to heaven, yet leave vain man below.”</p></div> + +<p><a name="illo10" id="illo10"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/i274.jpg" class="illogap" width="500" height="336" alt="THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES</span> +</div> + +<p>Well do we remember our disappointment as we stood before that wonder of +the world,—St. Peter’s. We mounted the pyramid of steps and looked up, +but were not overcome by the magnificence. We read in our guide-book +that the edifice covers eight acres, and to the tip-top of the cross is +almost five hundred feet; that it took three hundred and fifty years and +twelve successive artists to finish it and an expenditure of fifty +million dollars, and now costs thirty thousand dollars per annum to keep +it in repair, still we do not appreciate its greatness. We pushed aside +the curtain and walked in,—walked a day’s journey across the transept +and up and down the everlasting nave, and yet continued heterodox. We +tried hard to believe it was very vast and sublime, and we knew we ought +to feel its grandeur, but somehow we did not. Then we sat down by the +Holy of Holies, and there we were startled into a better judgment by the +astounding fact that the Cathedral of St. Paul—the largest edifice in +Great Britain—could stand upright, spire, dome, body, and all, inside +of St. Peter’s! that the letters of the inscription which run round the +<i>base</i> of the dome, though apparently but an inch, are in reality six +feet high! Then for the first time the scales fell from our eyes, the +giant building began to grow; higher and higher still it rose, longer +and deeper it expanded, yet in perfect proportions; the colossal +structure, now a living temple, put on its beautiful garments and the +robe of majesty. And that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>dome! the longer we looked at it the vaster it grew, till finally it +seemed to be a temple not made with hands; the spacious canopy became +the firmament; the mosaic figures of cherubim and seraphim were endowed +with life; and as we fixed our eyes on the zenith where the Almighty is +represented in glory, we thought we had the vision of Stephen. Long we +gazed upward into this heaven of man’s creation, and gazed again till we +were lost in wonder.</p> + +<p>But the traveller needs no such steps to lift him up to the grand +conception of the divine Architect as he beholds the great white dome of +Chimborazo. It looks lofty from the very first. Now and then an expanse +of thin, sky-like vapor would cut the mountain in twain, and the dome, +islanded in the deep blue of the upper regions, seemed to belong more to +heaven than to earth. We knew that Chimborazo was more than twice the +altitude of Etna. We could almost see the great Humboldt struggling up +the mountain’s side till he looked like a black speck moving over the +mighty white, but giving up in despair four thousand feet below the +summit. We see the intrepid Bolivar mounting still higher; but the hero +of Spanish-American independence returns a defeated man. Last of all +comes the philosophic Boussingault, and attains the prodigious elevation +of nineteen thousand six hundred feet,—the highest point reached by man +without the aid of a balloon; but the dome remains unsullied by his +foot. Yet none of these facts increase our admiration. The mountain has +a tongue which speaks louder than all mathematical calculations.</p> + +<p>There must be something singularly sublime about Chimborazo, for the +spectator at Riobamba is already nine thousand feet high, and the +mountain is not so elevated above him as Mont Blanc above the vale of +Chamouni, when, in reality, that culminating point of Europe would not +reach up even to the snow-limit of Chimborazo by two thousand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>feet. It +is only while sailing on the Pacific that one sees Chimborazo in its +complete proportions. Its very magnificence diminishes the impression of +awe and wonder, for the Andes on which it rests are heaved to such a +vast altitude above the sea, that the relative elevation of its summit +becomes reduced by comparison with the surrounding mountains. Its +altitude is twenty-one thousand four hundred and twenty feet, or +forty-five times the height of Strasburg cathedral; or, to state it +otherwise, the fall of one pound from the top of Chimborazo would raise +the temperature of water thirty degrees. One-fourth of this is +perpetually covered with snow, so that its ancient name Chimpurazu—the +mountain of snow—is very appropriate. It is a stirring thought that +this mountain, now mantled with snow, once gleamed with volcanic fires. +There is a hot spring on the north side, and an immense amount of débris +covers the slope below the snow-limit, consisting chiefly of +fine-grained, iron-stained trachyte and coarse porphyroid gray trachyte; +very rarely a dark vitreous trachyte. Chimborazo is very likely not a +solid mountain; trachytic volcanoes are supposed to be full of cavities. +Bouger found it made the plumb line deviate 7″ or 8″.</p> + +<p>The valleys which furrow the flank of Chimborazo are in keeping with its +colossal size. Narrower, but deeper, than those of the Alps, the mind +swoons and sinks in the effort to comprehend their grim majesty. The +mountain appears to have been broken to pieces like so much thin crust, +and the strata thrown on their vertical edges, revealing deep, dark +chasms, that seem to lead to the confines of the lower world. The +deepest valley in Europe, that of the Ordesa in the Pyrenees, is three +thousand two hundred feet deep; but here are rents in the side of +Chimborazo in which Vesuvius could be put away out of sight. As you look +down into the fathomless fissure, you see a white fleck <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>rising out of +the gulf, and expanding as it mounts, till the wings of the condor, +fifteen feet in spread, glitter in the sun as the proud bird fearlessly +wheels over the dizzy chasm, and then, ascending above your head, sails +over the dome of Chimborazo. Could the condor speak, what a glowing +description he could give of the landscape beneath him when his horizon +is a thousand miles in diameter! If</p> + +<p class="center">“Twelve fair counties saw the blaze from Malvern’s lonely height,”</p> + +<p>what must be the panorama from a height fifteen times higher!</p> + +<p>Chimborazo was long supposed to be the tallest mountain on the globe, +but its supremacy has been supplanted by Mount Everest in Asia, and +Aconcagua in Chile. In mountain gloom and glory, however, it still +stands unrivalled. The Alps have the avalanche, “the thunderbolt of +snow,” and the glaciers, those icy Niagaras so beautiful and grand. Here +they are wanting. The monarch of the Andes sits motionless in calm +serenity and unbroken silence. The silence is absolute and actually +oppressive. The road from Guayaquil to Quito crosses Chimborazo at the +elevation of fourteen thousand feet. Save the rush of the trade wind in +the afternoon, as it sweeps over the Andes, not a sound is audible; not +the hum of an insect, nor the chirp of a bird, nor the roar of the puma, +nor the music of running waters. Mid-ocean is never so silent. You can +almost hear the globe turning on its axis. There was a time when the +monarch deigned to speak, and spoke with a voice of thunder, for the +lava on its sides is an evidence of volcanic activity. But ever since +the morning stars sang together over man’s creation Chimbo has sat in +sullen silence, satisfied to look “from his throne of clouds o’er half +the world.” There is something very suggestive in this silence of +Chimborazo. It was once full of noise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>and fury; it is now a <i>completed</i> +mountain, and thunders no more. How silent was Jesus, a completed +character! The reason that we are so noisy is that we are so full of +wants; we are <i>unfinished</i> characters. Had we perfect fulness of all +things, the beatitude of being without a want, we should lapse into the +eternal silence of God.</p> + +<p>Chimborazo is a leader of a long train of ambitious crags and peaks; but +as he who comes after the king must not expect to be noticed, we will +only take a glimpse of these lesser lights as we pass up the Western +Cordillera, and then down the Eastern.</p> + +<p>The first after leaving the monarch is Caraguairazo. The Indians call it +“the wife of Chimborazo.” They are separated only by a very narrow +valley. One hundred and seventy years ago the top of this mountain fell +in, and torrents of mud flowed out containing multitudes of fishes. It +is now over seventeen thousand feet high, and is one of the most Alpine +of the Quitonian volcanoes, having sharp pinnacles instead of the smooth +trachytic domes—usually double domes—so characteristic of the Andean +summits. And now we pass in rapid succession numerous picturesque +mountains, some of them extinct volcanoes, as Iliniza, presenting two +pyramidal peaks, the highest seventeen thousand feet above the sea, and +Corazon, so named from its heart-shaped summit, till we reach Pichincha, +whose smoking crater is only five miles distant in a straight line from +the city of Quito, or eleven by the travelled route.</p> + +<p>The crown of this mountain presents three groups of rocky peaks. The +most westerly one is called Rucu-Pichincha, and alone manifests +activity. To the northeast of Rucu is Guagua-Pichincha, a ruined flue of +the same fiery furnace; and between the two is Cundur-Guachana. +Pichincha is the only volcano in Ecuador which has not a true cone +crater. Some violent eruption beyond the reach of history or tradition +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>has formed an enormous funnel-shaped basin two thousand five hundred +feet deep, fifteen hundred in diameter at the bottom, and expanding +upward to a width of three-fourths of a mile. It is the <i>deepest</i> crater +on the globe. That of Kilauea is six hundred feet; Orizaba, five +hundred; Etna, three hundred; Hecla, one hundred. Vesuvius is a portable +furnace in comparison. The abyss is girt with a ragged wall of dark +trachyte, which rises on the inside at various angles between forty-five +degrees and perpendicularity. As we know of but one American besides the +members of our expedition (Mr. Farrand, a photographer) who has +succeeded in entering the crater of this interesting volcano, we will +give a brief sketch of our visit.</p> + +<p>Leaving Quito in the afternoon by the old arched gate-way at the foot of +Panecillo, and crossing a spur of the mountain, we stopped for the night +at the Jesuit hacienda, situated in the beautiful valley of Lloa, but +nearly ruined by the earthquake of 1859. On the damp walls of this +monastery, perched ten thousand two hundred and sixty-eight feet above +the ocean, we found several old paintings, among them a copy of the +<i>Visitation</i> by Rubens. The sunset views in this heart of the Andes were +surpassingly beautiful. Mounting our horses at break of day, and taking +an Indian guide, we ascended rapidly by a narrow and difficult path +through the forest that belts the volcano up to the height of twelve +thousand feet, emerging gradually into a thicket of stunted bushes, and +then entered the dreary <i>paramo</i>. Splendid was the view of the Eastern +Cordillera. At least six dazzling white volcanoes were in sight just +across the valley of Quito, among them table-topped Cayambi, majestic +Antisana, and princely Cotopaxi, whose tapering summit is a mile above +the clouds. Toiling upward we reached the base of the cone where +vegetation ceased entirely; and tying our horses to some huge rocks +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>that had fallen from the mural cliff above, we started off on hands and +feet for the crater. The cone is deeply covered with sand and cinders +for about two hundred feet, and the sides are inclined at an angle of +about thirty-five degrees. At ten o’clock we reached the brim of the +crater, and the great gulf burst suddenly into view.</p> + +<p>We can never forget the impression made upon us by the sight. We speak +of many things here below as awful, but that word has its full meaning +when carried to the top of Pichincha. There you see a frightful opening +in the earth’s crust nearly a mile in width and half a mile deep, and +from the dark abyss comes rolling up a cloud of sulphurous vapors. Monte +Somma in the time of Strabo was a miniature; but this crater is on the +top of a mountain four times the height of the Italian volcano. +Imagination finds it difficult to conceive a spectacle of more fearful +grandeur or such solemn magnificence. It well accords with Milton’s +picture of the bottomless pit. The united effect of the silence and +solitude of the place, the great depth of the cavity, the dark +precipitous sides, and the column of smoke standing over an unseen +crevice, was to us more impressive than thundering Cotopaxi or fiery +Vesuvius. Humboldt, after standing on this same brink, exclaimed, “I +have never beheld a grander or more remarkable picture than that +presented by this volcano;” and La Condamine compared it to “the Chaos +of the poets.”</p> + +<p>Below us are the smouldering fires which may any moment spring forth +into a conflagration; around us are black, ragged cliffs,—fit boundary +for this gate-way to the infernal regions. They look as if they had just +been dragged up from the central furnace of the earth. Life seems to +have fled in terror from the vicinity; even lichens, the children of the +bare rocks, refuse to clothe the scathed and beetling crags. For some +moments made mute by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>dreadful sight, we stood like statues on the +rim of the mighty caldron, with our eyes riveted on the abyss below, +lost in contemplating that which cannot be described. The panorama from +this lofty summit is more pleasing, but equally sublime. Towards the +rising sun is the long range of the Eastern Cordillera, hiding from our +view the great valley of the Amazon. To right and left are the peaks of +another procession of august mountains from Cotocachi to Chimborazo. We +are surrounded by the great patriarchs of the Andes, and their speaker, +Cotopaxi, ever and anon sends his muttering voice over the land.</p> + +<p>The view westward is like looking down from a balloon. Those parallel +ridges of the mountain chain, dropping one behind the other, are the +gigantic staircase by which the ice-crowned Chimborazo steps down to the +sea. A white sea of clouds covers the peaceful Pacific and the lower +parts of the coast. But the vapory ocean, curling into the ravines, +beautifully represents little coves and bays, leaving islands and +promontories like a true ocean on a broken shore. We seem raised above +the earth, which lies like an opened map below us; we can look down on +the upper surface of the clouds, and, were it night, down too upon the +lightnings....</p> + +<p>The first to reach the brink of the crater were the French Academicians +in 1742. Sixty years after Humboldt stood on the summit. But it was not +until 1844 that any one dared to enter the crater. This was accomplished +by Garcia Moreno, now President of Ecuador, and Sebastian Wisse, a +French engineer. Humboldt pronounced the bottom of the crater +“inaccessible from its great depth and precipitous descent.” We found it +accessible, but exceedingly perilous. The moment we prepared to descend +our guide ran away. We went on without him, but when half-way down were +stopped by a precipice.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p><p>On the 22d of October, 1867, we returned to Pichincha with another guide +and entered the crater by a different route. Manuel, our Indian, led us +to the south side, and over the brink we went. We were not long in +realizing the danger of the undertaking. Here the snow concealed an ugly +fissure or covered a treacherous rock (for nearly all the rocks are +crumbling), there we must cross a mass of loose sand moving like a +glacier down the almost vertical side of the crater; and on every hand +rocks were giving way, and, gathering momentum at each revolution, went +thundering down, leaping over precipices and jostling other rocks, which +joined in the race, till they all struck the bottom with a deep rumbling +sound, shivered like so many bomb-shells into a thousand pieces, and +telling us what would be our fate if we made a single misstep. We +followed our Indian in single file, keeping close together, that the +stones set free by those in the rear might not dash those below from +their feet; feeling our way with the greatest caution, clinging with our +hands to the snow, sand, rocks, tufts of grass, or anything that would +hold for a moment; now leaping over a chasm, now letting ourselves down +from rock to rock; at times paralyzed with fear, and always with death +staring us in the face; thus we scrambled for two hours and a half till +we reached the bottom of the crater.</p> + +<p>Here we found a deeply furrowed plain strewn with ragged rocks, and +containing a few patches of vegetation, with half a dozen species of +flowers. In the centre is an irregular heap of stones, two hundred and +sixty feet high by eight hundred in diameter. This is the cone of +eruption,—its sides and summit covered with an imposing group of vents, +seventy in number, all lined with sulphur and exhaling steam, black +smoke, and sulphurous gas. The temperature of the vapor just within the +fumarole is 184°, water boiling beside it at 189°.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p><p>The central vent or chimney gives forth a sound like the violent +bubbling of boiling water. As we sat on this fiery mount surrounded by a +circular rampart of rocks, and looked up at the immense towers of dark +dolerite which ran up almost vertically to the height of twenty-five +hundred feet above us, musing over the tremendous force which fashioned +this awful amphitheatre,—spacious enough for all the gods of Tartarus +to hold high carnival,—the clouds which hung in the thin air around the +crest of the crater pealed forth thunder after thunder, which, +reverberating from precipice to precipice, were answered by the crash of +rocks let loose by the storm, till the whole mountain seemed to tremble +like a leaf. Such acoustics, mingled with the flash of lightning and the +smell of brimstone, made us believe that we had fairly got into the +realm of Pluto. It is the spot where Dante’s “Inferno” ought to be read.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="INCA_HIGH-ROADS_AND_BRIDGES" id="INCA_HIGH-ROADS_AND_BRIDGES"></a>INCA HIGH-ROADS AND BRIDGES.</h2> + +<h3>E. GEORGE SQUIER.</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[Squier’s “Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the +Land of the Incas” is the source of our present selection. The +author, Ephraim George Squier, was born in Albany County, New +York, in 1821. He studied the aboriginal monuments of New York, +and afterwards travelled and made extensive archæological +researches in Central America. He was appointed United States +Commissioner to Peru in 1863, and made important studies of the +ancient ruins of that country. We give his interesting account +of the perilous crossing of the Apurimac.]</p></div> + +<p>The great and elaborate highways, or public roads, which the chroniclers +and the historians, following their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>authority, tell us were constructed +by the Incas throughout their vast empire, all radiating north, east, +south, and west from the imperial city of Cuzco, if they existed at all +in Central and Southern Peru, have disappeared, leaving here and there +only short sections or fragments, hardly justifying the extravagant +praise that has been bestowed on them. The modern mule-paths, miscalled +roads, must necessarily follow nearly, if not exactly, the routes of the +Indians under the Empire. The physical conformation of the country is +such that communication between <i>puna</i> and <i>puna</i>, and from valley to +valley, must always be made by the same passes. All these passes over +the mountains are marked by huge piles of stone raised, like the cairns +of Scotland and Wales, by the contribution of a single stone from each +traveller as an offering to the spirits of the mountains, and as an +invocation for their aid in sustaining the fatigues of travel. These +great stone heaps still exist, and will remain to the end of time, +monuments marking forever the routes of travel in the days of the Incas.</p> + +<p>We know, therefore, from these rude monuments very nearly what were the +ancient lines of communication. These are also further indicated by +remains of the <i>tambos</i>, which occur at intervals all through the +country, and oftenest in places remote from supplies, in cold and desert +districts, where the traveller stands most in need of food and shelter.</p> + +<p>The modern voyager would consider himself supremely fortunate were he to +find one in a hundred of these tambos, now in existence; for travelling +in Peru is infinitely more difficult and dangerous than it was in the +days of the Incas: more difficult, because the facilities are less; more +dangerous, because the laws are more lax, and the moral standard of the +people lower. The influence of Spain in Peru has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>been every way +deleterious; the civilization of the country was far higher before the +Conquest than now.</p> + +<p>As I have said, few traces of the Inca roads, such as are described by +the early writers, and such as Humboldt saw in Northern Peru, are now to +be found in the southern part of that country; and as the modern +pathways must follow the ancient lines, I infer that they never existed +here, for there is no reason why they should have suffered more from +time and the elements in one part of the country than in another.</p> + +<p>Between Cuzco and the sweet valley of Yucay there are numerous traces of +an ancient road, some sections of which are perfect. These sections +coincide in character with the long reaches in the direction of Quito. +They consist of a pathway from ten to twelve feet wide, raised slightly +in the centre, paved with stones, and the edges defined by larger stones +sunk firmly in the ground. Where this road descends from the elevated +<i>puna</i>—a sheer descent of almost four thousand feet into the valley of +Yucay—it zigzags on a narrow shelf cut in the face of the declivity, +and supported here and there, where foothold could not otherwise be +obtained, by high retaining-walls of cut stone, looking as perfect and +firm as when first built centuries ago.</p> + +<p>High mountain-ranges and broad and frigid deserts, swept by fierce, cold +winds, are not the sole obstacles to intercommunication in the Altos of +Peru, and among those snow-crowned monarchs of the Andes and +Cordilleras. There are deep valleys, gorges, and ravines among the +mountains, or cut deep in the plains that alternate with them, in which +flow swelling rivers or rapid torrents, fed by the melting snows in the +dry season, and swollen by the rains in the wet season. They are often +unfordable, but still they must somehow be passed by the traveller. A +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>few bridges of stone were constructed by the Spaniards, some after the +Conquest, and a few others have been erected by their descendants; but, +as a rule, the rivers and mountain-torrents are passed to-day by the aid +of devices the same as were resorted to by the Incas, and at points +which they selected.</p> + +<p>Had the principle of the arch been well understood by the ancient +inhabitants, who have left some of the finest stone-cutting and masonry +to be found in the world, there is no doubt the interior of Peru would +have abounded in bridges rivalling those of Rome in extent and beauty. +As it was, occupying a country destitute of timber, they resorted to +suspension-bridges, no doubt precisely like those now constructed by +their descendants and successors,—bridges formed of cables of braided +withes, stretched from bank to bank, and called <i>puentes de mimbres</i> +(bridges of withes). Where the banks are high, or where the streams are +compressed between steep or precipitous rocks, these cables are anchored +to piers of stone. In other places they are approached by inclined +causeways, raised to give them the necessary elevation above the water. +Three or four cables form the floor and the principal support of the +bridge, over which small sticks, sometimes only sections of cane or +bamboo, are laid transversely, and fastened to the cables by vines, +cords, or thongs of raw hide. Two smaller cables are sometimes stretched +on each side as a guard or hand-rail. Over these frail and swaying +structures pass men and animals, the latter frequently with their load +on their backs.</p> + +<p>Each bridge is usually kept up by the municipality of the nearest +village; and as it requires renewal every two or three years, the +Indians are obliged at stated periods to bring to the spot a certain +number of withes of peculiar kinds of tough wood, generally of that +variety called ioke, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>which are braided by experts, and then stretched +across the stream or river by the united exertions of the inhabitants. +Some of the larger and most important structures of this kind are kept +up by the government, and all passengers and merchandise pay a fixed +toll. Such is the case with the great bridge over the Apurimac, on the +main road from the ancient Guamanga (now Ayacucho) to Cuzco.</p> + +<p>The Apurimac is one of the head-waters of the Amazon, a large and rapid +stream, flowing in a deep valley, or rather gigantic ravine, shut in by +high and precipitous mountains. Throughout its length it is crossed at +only a single point, between two enormous cliffs, which rise dizzily on +both sides, and from the summits of which the traveller looks down into +a dark gulf. At the bottom gleams a white line of water, whence +struggles up a dull but heavy roar, giving to the river its name, +<i>Apu-rimac</i> signifying, in the Quichua tongue, “the great speaker.” From +above, the bridge, looking like a mere thread, is reached by a path +which on one side traces a thin, white line on the face of the mountain, +and down which the boldest traveller may hesitate to venture. This path, +on the other side, at once disappears from a rocky shelf, where there is +just room enough to hold the hut of the bridge-keeper, and then runs +through a dark tunnel cut in the rock, from which it emerges to trace +its line of many a steep and weary zigzag of the face of the mountain. +It is usual for the traveller to time his day’s journey so as to reach +this bridge in the morning, before the strong wind sets in; for during +the greater part of the day it sweeps up the cañon of the Apurimac with +great force, and then the bridge sways like a gigantic hammock, and +crossing is next to impossible.</p> + +<p>It was a memorable incident in my travelling experiences, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>the crossing +of this great swinging bridge of the Apurimac. I shall never forget it, +even if it were not associated with a circumstance which, for the time, +gave me much uneasiness and pain. The fame of the bridge over the +Apurimac is coextensive with Peru, and every one we met who had crossed +it was full of frightful reminiscences of his passage: how the frail +structure swayed at a dizzy height between gigantic cliffs over a dark +abyss, filled with the deep, hoarse roar of the river, and how his eyes +grew dim, his heart grew faint, and his feet unsteady as he struggled +across it, not daring to cast a look on either hand.</p> + +<p>Our road to the bridge was circuitous and precipitous, leading down the +steeper side of the ridge of La Banca, where it seemed hardly possible +for a goat to find foothold. It was a succession of abrupt zigzags, here +and there interrupted by a stretch of horizontal pathway. To see our +cavalcade it was necessary to look up or down, not before or behind. It +was like descending the coils of a flattened corkscrew. In places the +rocks encroached on the trail so that it was necessary to crouch low on +the saddle-bow to pass beneath them, or else throw the weight of the +body on the stirrup overhanging the declivity of the mountain, to avoid +a collision. The most dangerous parts, however, were where land-slips +had occurred, and where it was impossible to construct a pathway not +liable at any moment to glide away beneath the feet of our animals. The +gorge narrowed as we descended, until it was literally shut in by +precipices of stratified rock strangely contorted; while huge masses of +stone, rent and splintered as from some terrible convulsion of nature, +rose sheer before us, apparently preventing all exit from the sunless +and threatening ravine, at the bottom of which a considerable stream +struggled, with a hoarse roar, among the black boulders.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p><p>There was foothold for neither tree nor shrub, and our mules picked +their way warily, with head and ears pointed downward, among the broken +and angular masses. The occasional shouts of the arrieros sounded here +sharp and percussive, and seemed to smite themselves to death against +the adamantine walls. There was no room for echo. Finally the ravine +became so narrowed between the precipitous mountain-sides as barely to +afford room for the stream and our scant party. Here a roar, deeper, +stronger, and sterner than that of the stream which we had followed, +reached our ears, and we knew it was the voice of the “Great Speaker.” A +little farther on we came in view of the river and two or three low huts +built on the circumscribed space where the two streams came close +together. Our muleteers were already busy in unloading the baggage, +preparatory to its being carried across the bridge on the cicatrized +backs of the occupants of the huts.</p> + +<p>To the left of the huts, swinging high in a graceful curve, between the +precipices on either side, looking wonderfully frail and gossamer-like, +was the famed bridge of the Apurimac. A steep, narrow path, following +for some distance a natural shelf, formed by the stratification of the +rock, and for the rest of the way hewn in its face, led up, for a +hundred feet, to a little platform, also cut in the rock, where were +fastened the cables supporting the bridge. On the opposite bank was +another and rather larger platform, partly roofed by the rock, where was +the windlass for making the cables taut, and where, perched like goats +on some mountain-shelf, lived the custodians of the bridge. The path +could barely be discovered turning sharp around a rocky projection to +the left of this perch, then reappearing high above it, and then, after +many a zigzag, losing itself in the dark mouth of a tunnel.</p> + +<p>My companions and myself lost no time in extracting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>the measuring tapes +and sounding lines from our <i>alforjas</i>, and hurriedly scrambled up the +rocky pathway to the bridge. It was in bad condition. The cables had +slacked so that the centre of the bridge hung from twelve to fifteen +feet lower than its ends, and, then, the cables had not stretched +evenly, so that one side was considerably lower than the other. The +cables on either hand, intended to answer the double purpose of stays +and parapets, had not sunk with the bridge, and were so high up that +they could not be reached without difficulty; and many of the lines +dropping from them to the floor, originally placed widely apart, had +been broken, so that practically they were useful neither for security +nor for inspiring confidence.</p> + +<p>Travelling in the Andes soon cures one of any nervousness about heights +and depths, and is a specific against dizziness. Nevertheless, we all +gave a rather apprehensive glance at the frail structure before us, but +we had no difficulty in crossing and recrossing—as we did several +times—except on approaching the ends, to which our weight transferred +the sag of the cables and made the last few yards rather steep. A stiff +breeze swept up the cañon of the river, and caused a vibration of the +bridge from side to side of at least six feet. The motion, however, +inspired no sense of danger.</p> + +<p>We carefully measured the length and altitude of the bridge, and found +it to be from fastening to fastening one hundred and forty-eight feet +long, and at its lowest part one hundred and eighteen feet above the +river. Mr. Markham, who crossed it in 1855, estimated the length at +ninety feet and the height at three hundred feet. Lieutenant Gibbon, who +crossed it in 1857, estimated the length at three hundred and +twenty-four feet and the height one hundred and fifty feet. Our +measurements, however, are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>exact. The height may be increased perhaps +ten feet when the cables are made taut. They are five in number, twisted +from the fibres of the <i>cabuya</i>, or maguey plant, and are about four +inches thick. The floor is of small sticks and canes, fastened +transversely with raw-hide strings. The Indians coming from Andahuaylas +and other districts where the cabuya grows, generally bring a quantity +of leaves with them wherewith to pay their toll. These are prepared and +made into rope by the custodians of the bridge, who must be glad of some +occupation in their lone and lofty eyrie.</p> + +<p>Our baggage was carried over the bridge, and the animals were then led +across one by one, loaded and started up the mountain. The space is too +limited to receive more than two loaded mules at a time, and instances +are known of their having been toppled over the precipice from +overcrowding. We led our horses over without difficulty except in +getting them on the bridge. But once fairly on the swaying structure +they were as composed as if moving on the solid ground. Perhaps even to +the lowest animal intelligence it must be apparent that the centre of +the bridge of the Apurimac is not the place for antics, equine or +asinine.</p> + +<p>Mounted once more, we commenced our steep and difficult ascent. At one +place the sheer precipice presented itself on one side, and a vertical +wall on the other; next it was a scramble up a ladder of stairs, partly +cut in the rock and partly built up with stones against it; then a +sudden turn, with a parapet built around it in a semi-circle, to prevent +descending animals from being carried into the abyss below by their own +momentum. Our cargo-mules toiled up painfully above us, stopping every +few steps to breathe, while the muleteers braced themselves against +their haunches to afford them some support and rest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p><p>We had scarcely reached half-way to the mouth of the tunnel, which +enters the mountain at the base of a vast vertical mass of rock, when +our attention was arrested by the shouts of our men and a commotion +among the animals above us. It was occasioned by a descending train of +loaded mules, just plunging out of the black throat of the tunnel. The +mountain mule always seeks to take the wall of the animal it meets, +being perfectly aware of the danger of trying to pass on the outer side +of the pathway; and it sometimes happens that neither will give way +under any amount of persuasion or blows. The muleteers have to unload +the animals, which may then be got past each other. A similar difficulty +occurred now, and the conductor of the advancing train hurried down to +warn us to dismount and seek the widest part of the path, or some nook +by its side, and there await the passage of his mules. He had hardly +done speaking when we saw one of our own mules, loaded with our trunks, +come plunging down the narrow zigzagging way, evidently in fright, +followed wildly by its driver. Just before reaching the place where we +stood, the animal fell, going literally heels over head, and would have +been carried over the little platform of rock into the river had not the +master of the descending train caught the falling mule by its foreleg, +and in this way saved it from tumbling over. He at once placed his whole +weight on its ears, thus preventing it from struggling, and thus +obviating its destruction, while we detached its cargo. A foot farther, +and the mule would inevitably have been lost.</p> + +<p>It was with no little satisfaction that we saw the last mule of the +train pass us, and resumed our ascent. We found the tunnel a roomy one, +two or three hundred yards in length, with openings from the face of the +precipice for the admission of light and air. Through these we caught +brief <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>glimpses of the grand and solemn mountains on the opposite side +of the cañon, and through them came in also, hoarse and sullen, the deep +voice of the river. I am uncertain as to how far this tunnel may be +ascribed to the Incas, but feel sure that their bridge across the +Apurimac was at precisely the same point with the present one. We were +fully two hours in ascending the steeps, and reached the high +mountain-circled plain in which stands the straggling town of Curahuasi, +a well-watered village buried among trees and shrubbery.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="INDEX"> + +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td> +<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">A Fine Scenic Route</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry T. Finck</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><div class="hangingindent">Amazon and Madeira Rivers, Forests<br /> +of the<br /></div></td> +<td align="left" class="bottom"><span class="smcap">Franz Keller</span></td> +<td align="right" class="bottom"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Andes, Monarchs of the</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Orton</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Animals of British Guiana</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">C. Barrington Brown</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Ants and Monkeys, Brazilian</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry W. Bates</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bacon, Alfred Terry</span></td> +<td align="left">Country of the Cliff-dwellers</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bates Henry W.</span></td> +<td align="left">Brazilian Ants and Monkeys</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Besieged by Peccaries</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James W. Wells</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Big Trees, Lake Tahoe and The</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A. H. Tevis</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" class="top"><span class="smcap">Brace, Charles Loring</span></td> +<td align="left"><div class="hangingindent">Mariposa Grove and Yosemite<br /> +Valley</div></td> +<td align="right" class="bottom"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Brazilian Ants and Monkeys</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry W. Bates</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">British Guiana, Animals of</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">C. Barrington Brown</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Brown, C. Barrington</span></td> +<td align="left">Animals of British Guiana</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Butler, W. F.</span></td> +<td align="left">Winnipeg Lake and River</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Canoe- and Camp-life on the Madeira</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Franz Keller</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Chicago, New York, Washington</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oliver H. G. Leigh</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Cliff-dwellers, Country of The</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alfred Terry Bacon</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Country of the Cliff-dwellers</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alfred Terry Bacon</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Destruction of San Salvador</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Carl Scherzer</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Finck, Henry T.</span></td> +<td align="left">A Fine Scenic Route</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><div class="hangingindent">Forests of the Amazon and Madeira<br /> +Rivers</div></td> +<td align="left" class="top"><span class="smcap">Franz Keller</span></td> +<td align="right" class="bottom"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Fremont, John C.</span></td> +<td align="left">South Pass and Fremont’s Peak </td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Fremont’s Peak, South Pass and</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John C. Fremont</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Froebel, Julius</span></td> +<td align="left">Route of the Nicaragua Canal</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Froude, James Anthony</span></td> +<td align="left">Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hayden, Ferdinand V.</span></td> +<td align="left">In the Yellowstone Park</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Humboldt, Alexander von</span></td> +<td align="left">Life and Scenery in Venezuela</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Inca High-roads and Bridges</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">E. George Squier</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">In the Yellowstone Park</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ferdinand V. Hayden</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Jackson, Helen Hunt</span></td> +<td align="left">Chinese Quarter in San Francisco</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Jamaica, Scenes in Trinidad and</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Anthony Froude</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" class="top"><span class="smcap">Keller, Franz</span></td> +<td align="left"><div class="hangingindent">Forests of the Amazon and Madeira<br /> +Rivers</div></td> +<td align="right" class="bottom"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" class="top"><span class="smcap">Keller, Franz</span></td> +<td align="left"><div class="hangingindent">Canoe- and Camp-life on The<br /> +Madeira</div></td> +<td align="right" class="bottom"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Kingsley, Charles</span></td> +<td align="left">The High Woods of Trinidad</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A. H. Tevis</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Leigh, Oliver H. G.</span></td> +<td align="left">New York, Washington, Chicago</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Life and Scenery In Venezuela</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alexander von Humboldt</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Llaneros of Venezuela, The</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ramon Paez</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Madeira, Canoe- and Camp-Life on the</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Franz Keller</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Charles Loring Brace</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Mexico, A Sportsman’s Experience in</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sir Rose Lambert Price</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Mexican Lowlands, Scenery of the</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Felix L. Oswald</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Monarchs of the Andes</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Orton</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Monkeys, Brazilian Ants and</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry W. Bates</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">New York, Washington, Chicago</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oliver H. G. Leigh</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Nicaragua Canal, Route of the</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Julius Froebel</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Orton, James</span></td> +<td align="left">Monarchs of the Andes</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oswald, Felix L.</span></td> +<td align="left">Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Paez, Ramon</span></td> +<td align="left">The Llaneros of Venezuela</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Peccaries, Besieged by</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James W. Wells</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Perils of Travel</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ida Pfeiffer</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Pfeiffer, Ida</span></td> +<td align="left">Perils of Travel</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Price, Sir Rose Lambert</span></td> +<td align="left">A Sportsman’s Experience in Mexico</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Route of the Nicaragua Canal</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Julius Froebel</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Ruins of Yucatan, Among the</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John L. Stephens</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">San Francisco, Chinese Quarter in</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Helen Hunt Jackson</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">San Salvador, Destruction of</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Carl Scherzer</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Felix L. Oswald</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Anthony Froude</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Scherzer, Carl</span></td> +<td align="left">Destruction of San Salvador</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">South Pass and Fremont’s Peak</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John C. Fremont</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Sportsman’s Experience in Mexico</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sir Rose Lambert Price</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Squier, E. George</span></td> +<td align="left">Inca High-Roads and Bridges</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Stephens, John L.</span></td> +<td align="left">Among the Ruins of Yucatan</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Tevis A. H.</span></td> +<td align="left">Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Travel, Perils of</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ida Pfeiffer</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Trinidad, The High Woods of</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Charles Kingsley</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Trinidad and Jamaica, Scenes in</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">James Anthony Froude</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Venezuela, Life and Scenery in</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Alexander von Humboldt</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Venezuela, The Llaneros of</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ramon Paez</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Washington, New York, Chicago</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Oliver H. G. Leigh</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Wells, James W.</span></td> +<td align="left">Besieged by Peccaries</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Winnipeg Lake and River</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Butler, W. F.</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Woods of Trinidad, The High</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Charles Kingsley</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Yellowstone Park, In the</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ferdinand V. Hayden</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove and</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Charles Loring Brace</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Yucatan, Among the Ruins of</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">John L. Stephens</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /><h3><span class="smcap">Footnotes:</span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Charles Kingsley, who wrote here his “At Last,” descriptive +of tropical scenes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> <i>Dicotyles torquatos.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /><h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the authors’ words and +intent.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With the World's Great Travellers, v. 2, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT TRAVELLERS, VOL 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 33472-h.htm or 33472-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/7/33472/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 2 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Morris + Oliver H. G. Leigh + +Release Date: August 20, 2010 [EBook #33472] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT TRAVELLERS, VOL 2 *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _SPECIAL EDITION_ + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS + + EDITED BY CHARLES MORRIS + AND OLIVER H. G. LEIGH + + VOL. II + + CHICAGO + UNION BOOK COMPANY + 1901 + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1896 AND 1897 + BY + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT 1901 + E. R. DUMONT + + + + +[Illustration: BOSTON COMMON, BOSTON, MASS.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + SUBJECT. AUTHOR. PAGE + + New York, Washington, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Winnipeg Lake and River W. F. BUTLER 21 + A Fine Scenic Route HENRY T. FINCK 31 + South Pass and Fremont's Park JOHN C. FREMONT 42 + In the Yellowstone Park FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 + The Country of the Cliff-Dwellers ALFRED TERRY BACON 58 + Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees A. H. TEVIS 68 + The Chinese Quarter in San Francisco HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 + Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 + A Sportsman's Experience in Mexico SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 + The Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands FELIX L. OSWALD 108 + Among the Ruins of Yucatan JOHN L. STEPHENS 119 + The Route of the Nicaragua Canal JULIUS FROEBEL 130 + The Destruction of San Salvador CARL SCHERZER 137 + Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + The High Woods of Trinidad CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 + Animals of British Guiana C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 + Life and Scenery in Venezuela ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 + The Llaneros of Venezuela RAMON PAEZ 190 + The Forests of the Amazon and Madeira + Rivers FRANZ KELLER 200 + Canoe- and Camp-Life on the Madeira FRANZ KELLER 212 + Besieged by Peccaries JAMES W. WELLS 219 + The Perils of Travel IDA PFEIFFER 232 + Brazilian Ants and Monkeys HENRY W. BATES 240 + The Monarchs of the Andes JAMES ORTON 251 + Inca High-Roads and Bridges E. GEORGE SQUIER 261 + + + + +List of Illustrations + +VOLUME II + + BOSTON COMMON, BOSTON, MASS. _Frontispiece_ + PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON 14 + MEMORIAL MONUMENT TO SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, FOUNDER OF + QUEBEC 34 + THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE FALLS 50 + GRAND CANON, ARIZONA 66 + RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA 96 + REGINA ANGELORUM (Queen of the Angels) 116 + A WATERFALL IN THE TROPICS 146 + LA GUAYRA, VENEZUELA 180 + A SOUTH SEA ISLAND 214 + THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES 252 + + + + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS. + + + + +THE WORLD'S GREAT CAPITALS OF TO-DAY. + +OLIVER H. G. LEIGH. + + +NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, CHICAGO. + +The reflective voyager, on his first sight of New York, is baffled when +he attempts to catalogue his sensations. All is so completely in +contrast with the capitals of Europe. The gloriously bright sky, air +that drinks like champagne, the resultant springiness of life and +movement, that overdoes itself in excitement and premature exhaustion, +and the obtrusively visible defects of this surface enthusiasm, +monotonous streets, unfinished or unbegun city improvements, and the +conspicuous lack of play-spaces for children--this is the rough +portrait sketch New York draws of itself for the newcomer. It does not +disguise the fact that money-making was for many years the dominant +consideration. The city was laid out for business, and public comfort +had to look out for itself. The workers, the poor, and the helpless were +apparently overlooked. + +But there are at least three New Yorks to explore. Old New York +stretches from the bay up to once aristocratic Madison Square, and this +is the section that first leaves its mark on the aforesaid visitor. Then +comes new New York, the splendid modern metropolis that spreads from +Central Park along the Hudson to the northern heights where the stately +mausoleum of Grant, the transplanted Columbia University, and the great +Cathedral-to-be add majestic dignity to the grandly picturesque panorama +by the river. The antiquated brownstone wilderness of fashionable houses +blossoms into white and gray and red clusters of mansions, richly varied +in form and treatment, with the welcome grassy settings so pitifully +missing in the older quarter. From a neglected span of prairie ground, +pimpled with bare rocks and goat-sheltering shanties also shared by dago +families, this section has in a few years qualified itself to rival the +famous features of old-world cities. A nobler prospect than Riverside +Drive alongside the mighty Hudson cannot be desired nor found. At +last the city has discovered and worthily utilized its splendid +opportunities. Then, thirdly, there is Greater New York. For the +simplification of local government it is doubtless excellent policy for +London and New York to lasso their humbler neighbor towns that the big +cities may pose as suddenly greater than ever. The thing is done with a +stroke of the pen and does not wound the pride of the newly scooped-in +citizens, because the individuality of the suburban districts remains +unchanged, but in our infantile capacity as mere sightseers the +side-shows do not affect the glories of the ring proper. If this fashion +of acquiring greatness continues, being inclusion rather than expansion, +there need be no limit to the ciphers periodically tacked on to the +population of the world's swarming hives. Now that New York is growing, +it might drop its insignificant borrowed name and assume its rightful +one of dignity and historic import, Manhattan. It fills the twenty-two +square miles between Harlem river, the Hudson, the East River, and the +bay, which area is Manhattan Island. North of the Harlem it includes +the district of the Bronx, a little stream which for half a mile or +so affords as exquisite a picture of nature's beauty as can be found +anywhere. The drift from town to country homes is a sign of the times +and an augury of great good to the coming generation, physical and +patriotic. After all, bricks and mortar are not the making of a city. +New York is at its best beyond the borders. Its rich citizens overflow +into these northern suburbs and lordly estates, and across the East +River into Brooklyn and Long Island's garden villages, and across the +Hudson into New Jersey's charming towns, and down the bay to Staten +Island. In no great metropolis this side of Constantinople is it so easy +and inexpensive to slip quickly from the office or home and enjoy the +bracing delights of a sail down the salt water (the upper bay has +fourteen square miles and the lower over eighty) or up a stately river +with all the charms of the Hudson. Everything is on the grand scale, +once the city's square blocks of barracky houses are left behind. + +Old-world quietists are surprised to discover one cosy quarter, perhaps +two, in the grimy section of New York. Stuyvesant Square and its +immediate belongings around St. George's Church still survive as an +oasis of sweetness and light in a wilderness of dismal commonplace. +Washington Square carries somewhat of the old aristocratic flavor to +the borders of Bohemia, and the Theological College in Chelsea used +to give a solemnizing leaven to that changing district. The social +transformation is still in progress. It may, perhaps, be a token of the +rise to metropolitanism that the distinctively American hotels of the +old-fashioned type have virtually disappeared. European models have +the preference for the time being in the in- and outdoor life of New +Yorkers. English sports have apparently taken firm root, as seen in the +popularity of golf, football, horse-racing, rowing, and some less +desirable practices incident to one or two of these erstwhile sports +that have developed into business undertakings, to the regret of true +sportsmen. In this connection it is worth while to notice the striking +disparity in the sizes of the audiences and outdoor crowds of New York +and London. If fifteen thousand people pay to see the Harvard-Yale +football game, or other such sport, it is considered worthy of special +headlines in the papers. Madison Square Garden holds that number, +seated, but the occasions when it has been filled at meetings have been +few. Football crowds in England range from thirty up to seventy +thousand, by turnstile record. The Crystal Palace accommodates over one +hundred thousand holiday-makers without being crowded, in its central +nave, sixteen hundred feet by eighty, besides transepts, and its famous +grounds. The late Rev. C. H. Spurgeon had congregations of six thousand, +seated, twice each Sunday for twenty-eight years. Mr. Gladstone and +others have addressed twenty-five thousand in the Agricultural Hall, +which covers over three acres, and St. Paul's Cathedral has occasional +congregations of over twenty thousand. These facts are the more curious +as applying to a small country. + +One explanation of this contrast lies in the fact that New York is not a +homogeneous community. In a more marked degree than other capitals it is +a congeries of towns and colonies, largely alien in sympathies. You can +wander in turn through Judea, China, Italy, Ireland, France, Russia, +Poland, Germany, Holland, and colored colonies. Local color is strong +in each. The English speech is not used, not known, by many of these +people. The picturesqueness of tenement life and its Babel sounds does +not atone for the want of the deep-rooted Americanism which must sooner +or later be the test of welcome immigration. + +Broadway is one of the great streets of the world though really a +Narrow-way for so important a thoroughfare. Running north and south +and having no rival for its most used section it has more than its +natural share of traffic. From the historic Bowling Green and Trinity +Church--two fine monuments of pre-Revolution days--up to Fourteenth +Street, Broadway is mainly a wholesale market. Then it changes to a +retail bazaar, and its trading features disappear as it nears the park. +There used to be a well-defined sky-line in the lower city, but this has +been sadly damaged by the towering office Babels that make the older +quarter of the city a cave of the winds. If some day an earthquake were +to shake the lower end of Manhattan Island, mighty would be the fall of +these presumptuous files and woe betide their inhabitants. Fifth Avenue +up to Thirty-fourth Street has given up its fashionable prestige in +exchange for the profits of business. The Stock and Produce Exchanges +are far down-town, among the multitude of banks that crowd around the +spot made sacred ground to future generations of patriots as the scene +of Washington's inauguration as President. The city and its environs are +rich in historic sites and monuments of the Revolutionary struggle. +These, happily for the country's future, are every year being sought and +studied by the young, also by bands of teachers from states near and +far, and by visitors from abroad. The devotion of one or more societies +of private individuals has of late years conferred a boon upon the +public which can hardly be too highly appreciated, in causing durable +memorial tablets to be placed on buildings of historic interest. In this +and kindred ways New York is fast removing all justification for the +stale reproach that it cared not for shrines and took small interest in +its own history. + +A mere suggestion, yet a very helpful one, toward realizing somewhat of +the enormous shipping business done for the country by New York can be +got by a tour of the main wharves. There is a water-front of twenty-five +miles around the island, without reckoning the shores of Brooklyn and +Hoboken. The bird's-eye view from the wonderful and graceful Suspension +Bridge enlarges one's conception of what such a metropolis is and can +do. Alpine grain elevators circle the city on the opposite shore of the +rivers and upper bay. Two thousand ships sail out each year laden with +the grain that feeds the nations on the other hemisphere. Three thousand +steamships enter these wharves yearly with human and commercial freight +from foreign ports. Nearly ten thousand steerage immigrants land each +week the year round, besides an immense passenger contingent. These are +the sights that fascinate the thoughtful: the comings and goings of the +peoples of the earth and its products. Old Castle Garden and the Battery +have greatly changed in recent years, but their memories linger. If it +had been possible to keep the triangle south of Fourteenth Street as the +select residential quarter, what an unrivalled site it would now be! A +water panorama worth crossing the Atlantic to see, for its immensity, +its picturesque bordering, and the magnificent view of the foreground of +an embowered city by the sea. + +Human needs shaped these water avenues to other destinies. They draw +from the great ocean beyond the Narrows the sources of all that has gone +to the building of national greatness. In turn they have borne to other +lands the seeds of a larger liberty, patterned after and stimulated by +the unparalleled success that has so splendidly rewarded self-achieved +freedom to grow, to think, to speak out, and to speed the commerce of +the world. + +The wealth thus created has of recent years done much to beautify the +city with palatial residences. In the northern districts detached +mansions in grass-plots supersede the monotonous brownstone rows. Many +of these vie with each other in the extent and delicacy of decorative +carvings outside. Others are fashioned after the castellated structures +of Europe. The general impression left by a town of the newer fashion +quarter is that Jeffersonian simplicity, in architecture at least, is no +longer to be understood as synonymous with severe plainness. Probably no +other city can point to an equally rapid transition from conventional +taste, excellent for its period, to the present enthusiasm for the best +in artistic construction, whatever its cost. + +The bicycle proved a revolutionizer of dress as well as a stimulus +to outdoor exercise. Each nation learns from the others and so we +progress, though there is possible weakness in the tendency toward +rigid uniformity. The picturesque and the primitive are disappearing +in every land. National individuality should not lightly be allowed +to lapse, even in minor matters of costume and recreation. + +Experienced travellers know that a country is not to be judged by its +metropolis. There is a sturdier back-bone of conservatism in the +provinces than in the great cities, so largely made up of aliens and +sojourners. A goodly proportion of the business men whose genius has +made New York what it is, and who are admittedly qualifying it soon to +become the financial centre of the world, are country-born and raised. +Great as New York is, and mightier as it will become by reason of its +situation, the true and abiding greatness of the nation is spread over +the thousand cities and towns that equally represent American pluck and +stability. In the farming districts and the scattered rural communities, +in vast agricultural areas of which city people take too little note, +and in the steady, plodding, smaller towns, there abides a calm but +potent force that throbs with high patriotism, and will prove an +all-sufficient strength in time of peril. + + * * * * * + +Washington! Its very name an inspiration, its every feature a +fascination to the lover of his country who makes his first pilgrimage +to the national shrine. Other great cities bear the glorious marks of +the tribulations and triumphs they suffered and enjoyed as they passed +through their historic experiences. Here is a capital created as the +consummation of a people's release from thralldom. A new city, invented +as the proclamation of a new nation's advent, the symbol and promise +of a mightier world-power than its proudest founders ever conceived +possible in their highest enthusiasms. The youngest of famous capitals, +it already holds its own with the best of its kind for grandeur and the +_rus in urbe_ charm. Its spacious avenues, one hundred and sixty feet +wide, are lined with trees and grassy walks. Their stately sweep gives +chances for fine landscape effects, which are finely used. The vistas of +the grand avenues are bounded by some piece of memorial statuary or an +imposing structure in the distance, as is Pennsylvania avenue by the +incomparable Capitol. No national monument is better known throughout +the world than this noble edifice. Its majestic stateliness is enhanced +by its snowy whiteness. + +The Capitol is the greatest building for its purposes in the United +States. It covers three acres and a half, and has a frontage of seven +hundred and fifty feet. The great dome, with its figure of Liberty, +reaches a height of over three hundred and seven feet. Standing on the +rising ground among the rich foliage it has an aspect of quiet strength, +an impressive assurance of dignity and permanence peculiar to itself +among massive buildings in the great cities. Everyone goes, or should +go, to see Congress at work, and to explore the corridors trod by +generations of the nation's legislators, soldiers, jurists, orators, in +short, by all the great makers of the nation since Washington laid its +foundation stone. A singular instance of fate thwarting intention is +found in the situation of the Capitol. It was planned to face eastward, +the White House was to be in the rear, and the city was expected to +spread away from the river, eastwardly. But it perversely grew to the +northwest, with the result that the Capitol turns its back on the +capital. No one would suppose this is so unless told, so splendidly +balanced in architectural dignity are both fronts of the edifice. +Another peculiarity is that the head city of the republic is +monarchically governed, and governed better than any other city in the +Union. Three commissioners are appointed by the President, and the +citizens have no political franchise. The city was planned as a grand +example of what a capital should be. Impressed by the lessons of the +revolutions in Paris the designer dotted the area with circular +grass-plots or miniature parks, from which avenues and streets radiate +like wheel-spokes. In case of need a gun in each of the circles could +command an enemy approaching from any quarter. The peaceful use of these +charming sites is more befitting the spirit of the republic. Statues of +its soldier-heroes who saved the Union adorn each circle and give +historic interest to the vistas. There are two hundred miles of streets. +In summer-time they are groves of rich foliage. They and the park spaces +take up half the area of the city. It is wisely intended to re-name the +principal streets after famous American patriots instead of +alphabetically. + +Washington is pre-eminently a city of "sights." The great government +buildings are distributed over the city with excellent effect. They are +noble edifices, worthy of the Capitol and the capital. The Treasury, +with its never-to-be-forgotten scenes inside, the Army and Navy offices, +the Smithsonian Institution, and the rest of the head-quarters of +national business need no further mention here. The Corcoran Art +Gallery, the Patent Office, and the new Library of Congress demand a +special word. The latter is one of the most exquisite buildings in the +world, with interior decorative treatment quite beyond anything hitherto +known in the country. Its brilliant dome does not suffer by proximity to +the Capitol. An inspection of the Patent Office is a revelation of +genius peculiarly American, and its display throws the clearest light +on the secret of the country's amazing material prosperity. A visit to +Washington ought to be the finishing touch to the schooling of every +girl and boy. Historic sites and shrines appeal to the mature mind, but +the show places of the capital peculiarly suit the youthful instinct for +the novel and striking in matters of fact. + +[Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WASHINGTON] + +To see the Senate and House of Representatives in session is a high +privilege for any citizen, yet it is hampered by few, if any, such +restrictions as are imposed in other national legislatures. The chambers +are spacious and handsome, so are the classified galleries for +spectators, and the sessions are held in daylight. Equally impressive is +the Supreme Court of the United States--a temple of equity in all its +features, wherein the instinctive reverence for the highest embodiment +of justice and legal authority is encouraged by the surroundings. The +robes worn by the justices invest the bench and court with a dignity +which various state courts wisely emulate by adopting the same rule. +Isolated in striking grandeur, the lofty Washington obelisk lifts the +contemplative mind to heights above the level of material evidences of +prosperity. Like the Stuart portrait, this memorial of Washington leaves +the meaner measurements of a man's stature for other seasons and moods, +and by a touch of sublimity gives the nobler cue to patriotic devotion +and whole-hearted enthusiasm for him who, though human indeed, in his +life-work neared the divine. + +Summer is not the best time to appreciate the social life of the +capital. It lies low, the Potomac's swampy margin is near and the street +forests of trees aid humidity. The White House snugly reposes in +beautiful grounds, with the great obelisk as a perpetual reminder of the +first President's example and reward. Another white portico gleams in +the distance, Arlington, the resting-place of the nation's hero-martyrs. +In the winter season Washington blooms into cosmopolitan grandeur. It +becomes the focus of the nation's lights in statesmanship, art, +literature, and social pleasures. The foreign embassies supply the grace +of brilliant color so lacking in the gatherings of men in the sombre +attire of the period. A continuous round of social festivities gladdens +the mild winter days and nights. Here, as in royal capitals, society has +its greater and lesser constellations. There are the senatorial, +judicial, diplomatic, military, and naval groups, too sharply divided, +to judge from audible criticisms in New York circles. Still literature, +art, and commerce have as free a welcome in Washington salons as +anywhere else, despite the plaints of overlooked suppliants. The White +House knows nothing of artificial shibboleths. It happily dispenses its +hospitalities--which are coveted honors--impartially upon all whom it +is an honor to honor, and so sustains the true American principle of +equal courtesy to citizens and sojourners of every degree. Washington is +an inexhaustible field for the student of men, manners and movements, a +theatre on whose stage the comedy of life plays itself, with all-potent +moulders of opinion and legislation as the actors, backed by a +supernumerary army of minor aids. Among its most eager auditors are +outsiders, reporting every byplay to profoundly interested critics +across the seas. The drama cannot be too deeply watched and pondered, +for it is fraught with issues vital to the well-being of coming +generations. + + * * * * * + +Chicago is usually figured as a conventionally insipid beauty, in +flowing garments which would obstruct her progress and could never be +kept white. This is a mistake. Most masculine of cities, most American +of America's great centres, its shield should portray a strong youth in +the flush of adolescence, conscious power in his proud curled lip, fire +in his eye, springing to the foreground in the first ray of dawn, in his +right hand the sceptre of genius and his left grasping the key of +destiny. The good people of Chicago are not conspicuously lacking in +civic self-appreciation. They are accustomed to being twitted by rivals +in the rear on their boundless faith in their city's future greatness. +They can afford to listen smilingly. If the child is father of the man, +full-grown Chicago must some day tower above the up-stretched heads of +its envious seniors like a giant among, say, a committee of venerable +municipal Solons. Ordinary cities develop as babies do, slow growth to +maturity, but this extraordinary late-comer into the family attained +mental and muscular precocity in shorter time than its sisters required +to cut their wisdom-teeth. Considered in relation to its geographical +position and its express-speed rate of progress, Chicago has the +promise and potency of an imperial greatness no easier to exaggerate +than to limit. It was tried by fire in the day of small things, but +quickly rose to a new life and it still carries the memorial glow in its +heart as an inspiration to great things. + +The word Chicago is a simpler form of the Indian name, Chacaqua, given +to the river in honor of their deity, the Thunderer. The position of +Chicago makes it the greatest lake port in the world. It is already the +second city in the United States, though only born in 1830, and has +hopes of becoming the first, by growth, and not by annexation policy. +True, the newest city inherits the wealth and experience which the older +ones had to gain for themselves, yet Chicago has done some fine original +things. It hitched up an inland sea as its beast of burden and made a +vast lake its pleasure pond. Finding itself only seven feet above the +level of Lake Michigan it lifted itself bodily another seven feet, +churches, warehouses, dwellings and all, with jack-screws, and shovelled +a new foundation of dry earth beneath. Fifteen years later the great +fire laid it lower than ever. On Oct. 8, 1871, began the disaster that +made nearly a hundred thousand people homeless, destroyed seventeen +thousand buildings and two hundred lives, and caused the loss of two +hundred millions of dollars. Within a year or so the wooden town was +transformed into a city of massive palaces built of stone and brick. It +is now fast changing itself into a maze of towering Babels, whose tops +support the pall of smoke that tells of manufacturing activity. It drove +tunnels beneath its river for street-cars. Its thirty-five bridges were +not enough for the constant rush. On its lake first swam the novel +whale-back boats. One sin will rise up against the city on the day of +doom: the twenty-mile line of lake shore has been largely prostituted +to railway interests instead of being conserved as an unrivalled +pleasure park for the people and an adornment to the city. It can plead +in mitigation of sentence that its six public parks cover more than +three square miles, besides some sixty linear miles of park-like +boulevards of which Paris might be proud. Of these Michigan Avenue has a +well-won fame. No business traffic is permitted on its wide and +well-sprinkled roadway, the morning and afternoon procession of +carriages taking its wealthy residents to and from business at times +recalls the Queen's Drive in the London season. If the Chicago man of +affairs works hard at his calling, he takes his pleasure zestfully and +plenty of it. On the grand occasion of the American Derby (for Chicago +has its Epsom and Ascot in one) it is a revelation to see the gay +caravan _en route_ to the race-course, as impressive a display of +metropolitan luxury as any capital can present. And on this day the West +can match the big crowds of England with this sixty thousand throng, +each person paying two dollars for bare admission to the ground. + +In a city primarily devoted to business it takes time for the +development of the beautiful. Chicago has its "sights" for seekers after +the merely outlandish, who often miss the real greatnesses that are less +catchy to the eye. One of its achievements which impresses both the +trained and untrained observer is the undertaking which has the +uninviting name of Drainage Canal. The pure water of Lake Michigan used +to be polluted by the inflow of the Chicago River. To prevent this the +city has made an immense waterway by which the lake water is carried to +the Illinois River and the tide of the Chicago River is diverted from +its former course. The new canal is navigable and opens a route between +the great lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. The territory involved embraces +the city and forty-three square miles of Cook County. The main channel +is twenty-eight miles long and the cost was about thirty millions. + +In their commercial aspect the famous Stock-yards have greater interest +than as a show place. They cover four hundred acres, the plant is valued +at four million dollars, and about twenty millions of animals are killed +and packed in a year. Similarly imposing are the statistics of most of +Chicago's enterprises. The Board of Trade is one of the most remarkable +sights in the country. Its public galleries are usually filled with +spectators of the feverish bidding of the grain operators, whose +slightest nod affects the markets of the world. The Stock Exchange is +yearly taking a more important share in the money market. The financial +institutions of Chicago and the West have more than once saved the East +from impending panic, and immense loans are constantly being renewed, +insuring the speedy recognition of the city as a force in the money +markets of the nations. + +More interesting is the honor-roll of Chicago's intellectual enterprise. +The Columbian World's Fair of 1893 astonished the world with its beauty, +its perfection of artistic skill and taste. It gave an impetus to the +pursuit of the beautiful and refining which has borne substantial +results. Near the site of the Fair is a cluster of buildings +constituting the University of Chicago, dating from 1891, to which a +single donor has given nine million dollars, and loyal citizens are +continually adding to its possessions. The heads of the University count +on an endowment fund of fifty millions. Nowhere is Chicago enthusiasm +for progress more finely manifested than here. The great public +libraries of the city are envied by foreign visitors. The central Public +Library is a splendid triumph of architecture, next in interior +elegance to the Library of Congress. It is valued at three millions, +exclusive of its books. The Newberry and Crerar libraries form special +branches of the system. The city's churches and charities are doing +nobly in ameliorating the condition of the toilers and the handicapped +in life's race. The name and fame of Miss Jane Addams and the Hull House +settlement are world-wide. How difficult the task is may be conceived +from the fact that out of a million and seven hundred thousand people in +the city, nine hundred thousand are Americans, German, and Irish; the +remainder represent twenty-four nationalities, exclusive of negroes. A +report issued by an investigating committee of Hull House states that +"the density of population in the Polish quarter in Chicago is three +times that of the most crowded portions of Tokio, Calcutta, and many +other Asiatic cities." + +As in New York there is a marked tendency among the richer people +to set up country homes. New suburban towns and villages of great +attractiveness are drawing an increasing number away from the smoky +city. On the other hand the far-famed hospitality of its people to +prophets of every school of thought, and the spirit of enterprise which +welcomes every new idea, attracts eccentrics and adventurers whose +trumpetings are loud enough to mislead superficial observers into the +notion that Chicago is the crank's paradise. If a fault at all, this +amiable toleration leans to virtue's side. Rightly to appreciate the +depth and breadth of Chicago's influence we must follow its trade to the +remotest corners of the earth. We must trace the influences of its seats +of learning and refinement. We must count, if we can, the tremendous +results of its world-renowned enterprises that have stimulated nations +to follow the successful lead. Be its faults what they may, Chicago has +the heart, the will, and the muscle to mend them, as the world will +see, and then will the true greatness of the Western metropolis be +discerned, and its full influence be felt. + + + + +WINNIPEG LAKE AND RIVER. + +W. F. BUTLER. + + [Colonel W. F. Butler, in "The Great Lone Land," gives us some + very interesting information about the life and scenery of the + great American Northwest, from which we select the following + description of a picturesque lake and river. His journey was + made during the Riel rebellion, and the traveller was on his + way to the Lake of the Woods, where he expected to meet an + expedition sent for the suppression of the rebellion. The Red + River Indians gave him a hearty send-off.] + + +The chief gave a signal, and a hundred trading guns were held aloft, +and a hundred shots rang out on the morning air. Again and again the +salutes were repeated, the whole tribe moving down to the water's edge +to see me off. Putting out to the middle of the river, I discharged my +fourteen-shooter into the air in rapid succession; a prolonged war-whoop +answered my salute, and, paddling their very best, for the eyes of the +finest canoers were upon them, my men drove the little craft flying over +the water until the Indian village and its still firing braves were +hidden behind a river bend. Through many marsh-lined channels, and +amidst a vast sea of reeds and rushes, the Red River of the North seeks +the water of Lake Winnipeg. A mixture of land and water, of mud, and of +the varied vegetation which grows thereon, this delta of the Red River +is, like other spots of a similar description, inexplicably lonely. + +The wind sighs over it, bending the tall weeds with mournful rustle, and +the wild bird passes and repasses with plaintive cry over the rushes +which form his summer home. + +Emerging from the sedges of the Red River, we shot out into the waters +of an immense lake,--a lake which stretched away into unseen spaces, and +over whose waters the fervid July sun was playing strange freaks of +mirage and inverted shore-land. + +This was Lake Winnipeg,--a great lake, even on a continent where lakes +are inland seas. But vast as it is now, it is only a tithe of what it +must have been in the earlier ages of the earth. + +The capes and headlands of what once was a vast inland sea now stand far +away from the shores of Winnipeg. Hundreds of miles from its present +limits these great landmarks still look down on the ocean, but it is an +ocean of grass. The waters of Winnipeg have retired from their feet, and +they are now mountain-ridges, rising over seas of verdure. At the bottom +of this by-gone lake lay the whole valley of the Red River, the present +Lakes Winnepegoos and Manitoba, and the prairie islands of the Lower +Assiniboine,--one hundred thousand square miles of water. The water +has long since been drained off by the lowering of the rocky channels +leading to Hudson Bay, and the bed of the extinct lake now forms the +richest prairie-land in the world. + +But although Winnipeg has shrunken to a tenth of its original size, its +rivers still remain worthy of the great basin into which they once +flowed. The Saskatchewan is longer than the Danube, the Winnipeg has +twice the volume of the Rhine. Four hundred thousand square miles of +continent shed their waters into Lake Winnipeg; a lake as changeful as +the ocean, but, fortunately for us, in its very calmest mood to-day. +Not a wave, not a ripple on its surface, not a breath of breeze to +aid the untiring paddles. The little canoe, weighed down by men and +provisions, had scarcely three inches of its gunwale over the water, and +yet the steersman held his course far out into the glassy waste, leaving +behind the marshy headlands which marked the river's mouth. + +A long low point stretching from the south shore of the lake was faintly +visible on the horizon. It was past mid-day when we reached it; so, +putting in among the rocky boulders which lined the shore, we lighted +our fire and cooked our dinner. Then, resuming our way, the Grand +Traverse was entered upon. Far away over the lake arose the point of the +Big Stone, a lonely cape whose perpendicular front was raised high above +the water. The sun began to sink towards the west; but still not a +breath rippled the surface of the lake, not a sail moved over the wide +expanse, all was as lonely as though our tiny craft had been the sole +speck of life on the waters of the world. The red sun sank into the +lake, warning us that it was time to seek the shore and make our beds +for the night. A deep sandy bay, with a high backing of woods and rocks, +seemed to invite us to its solitudes. Steering in with great caution +among the rocks, we landed in this sheltered spot, and drew our boat +upon the sandy beach. The shore yielded large store of drift-wood, the +relics of many a northern gale. Behind us lay a trackless forest, in +front the golden glory of the western sky. As the night shades deepened +around us and the red glare of our drift-wood fire cast its light upon +the woods and rocks, the scene became one of rare beauty. + +As I sat watching from a little distance this picture so full of all +the charms of the wild life of the voyageur and the Indian, I little +marvelled that the red child of the lakes and the woods should be loath +to quit such scenes for all the luxuries of our civilization. Almost as +I thought with pity over his fate, seeing here the treasures of nature +which were his, there suddenly emerged from the forest two dusky forms. +They were Ojibbeways, who came to share our fire and our evening meal. +The land was still their own. When I lay down to rest that night on the +dry sandy shore, I long watched the stars above me. As children sleep +after a day of toil and play, so slept the dusky men who lay around me. +It was my first night with these poor wild sons of the lone spaces; it +was strange and weird, and the lapping of the mimic wave against the +rocks close by failed to bring sleep to my thinking eyes. + + [The next day an early start was made] + +We entered the mouth of the Winnipeg River at mid-day and paddled up to +Fort Alexander, which stands about a mile from the river's entrance. +Here I made my final preparations for the ascent of the Winnipeg, +getting a fresh canoe better adapted for forcing the rapids, and at five +o'clock in the evening started on my journey up the river. Eight miles +above the fort the roar of a great fall of water sounded through the +twilight. In the surge and spray and foaming torrent the enormous volume +of the Winnipeg was making its last grand leap on its way to mingle its +waters with the lake. On the flat surface of an enormous rock which +stood well out into the boiling water we made our fire and our camp. + +The pine-trees which gave the fall its name stood round us dark and +solemn, waving their long arms to and fro in the gusty winds that swept +the valley. It was a wild picture. The pine-trees standing in inky +blackness; the rushing water, white with foam; above, the rifted +thunder-clouds. Soon the lightning began to flash and the voice of +the thunder to sound above the roar of the cataract. My Indians made +me a rough shelter with cross poles and a sail-cloth, and, huddling +themselves together under the upturned canoe, we slept regardless of the +storm.... + +A man may journey very far through the lone spaces of the earth without +meeting with another Winnipeg River. In it nature has contrived to place +her two great units of earth and water in strange and wild combinations. +To say that the Winnipeg River has an immense volume of water, that it +descends three hundred and sixty feet in a distance of one hundred +and sixty miles, that it is full of eddies and whirlpools, of every +variation of waterfall from chutes to cataracts, that it expands into +lonely pine-cliffed lakes and far-reaching island-studded bays, that +its bed is cumbered with immense wave-polished rocks, that its vast +solitudes are silent and its cascades ceaselessly active,--to say all +this is but to tell in bare items of fact the narrative of its +beauty. For the Winnipeg, by the multiplicity of its perils and the +ever-changing beauty of its character, defies the description of +civilized men as it defies the puny efforts of civilized travel. It +seems part of the savage,--fitted alone for him and for his ways, +useless to carry the burdens of man's labor, but useful to shelter the +wild things of wood and water which dwell in its waves and along its +shores. And the red man who steers his little birch-bark canoe through +the foaming rapids of the Winnipeg, how well he knows its various ways! +To him it seems to possess life and instinct, he speaks of it as one +would of a high-mettled charger which will do anything if he be rightly +handled. It gives him his test of superiority, his proof of courage. To +shoot the Otter Falls or the Rapids of Barriere, to carry his canoe down +the whirling of Portage-de-l'Isle, to lift her from the rush of water at +the Seven Portages, or launch her by the edge of the whirlpool below the +Chute-a-Jocko, all this is to be a brave and a skilful Indian, for the +man who can do all this must possess a power in the sweep of his paddle, +a quickness of glance, and a quiet consciousness of skill, not to be +found except after generations of practice. For hundreds of years the +Indian has lived amidst these rapids, they have been the playthings of +his boyhood, the realities of his life, the instinctive habit of his old +age. What the horse is to the Arab, what the dog is to the Esquimaux, +what the camel is to those who journey across Arabian deserts, so is the +canoe to the Ojibbeway. Yonder wooded shore yields him from first to +last the materials he requires for its construction: cedar for the +slender ribs, birch bark to cover them, juniper to stitch together the +separate pieces, red pine to give resin for the seams and crevices. By +the lake or river shore, close to his wigwam, the boat is built; + + "And the forest life is in it,-- + All its mystery and its magic, + All the tightness of the birch-tree, + All the toughness of the cedar, + All the larch's supple sinews. + And it floated on the river + Like a yellow leaf in autumn, + Like a yellow water-lily." + +It is not a boat, it is a house; it can be carried long distances +overland from lake to lake. It is frail beyond words, yet you can load +it down to the water's edge; it carries the Indian by day, it shelters +him by night; in it he will steer boldly out into a vast lake where land +is unseen, or paddle through mud and swamp or reedy shallows; sitting in +it, he gathers his harvest of wild rice, or catches his fish or shoots +his game; it will dash down a foaming rapid, brave a fiercely running +torrent, or lie like a sea bird on the placid water. + +For six months the canoe is the home of the Ojibbeway. While the trees +are green, while the waters dance and sparkle, while the wild rice bends +its graceful head in the lake, and the wild duck dwells amidst the +rush-covered mere, the Ojibbeway's home is the birch-bark canoe. When +the winter comes and the lake and rivers harden beneath the icy breath +of the north wind, the canoe is put carefully away; covered with +branches and with snow, it lies through the long dreary winter until the +wild swan and the wavey, passing northward to the polar seas, call it +again from its long icy sleep. + +Such is the life of the canoe, and such the river along which it rushes +like an arrow. + +The days that now commenced to pass were filled from dawn to dark with +moments of keenest enjoyment, everything was new and strange, and each +hour brought with it some fresh surprise of Indian skill or Indian +scenery. + +The sun would be just tipping the western shores with his first rays +when the canoe would be lifted from its ledge of rock and laid gently on +the water; then the blankets and kettles, the provisions and the guns, +would be placed in it, and four Indians would take their seats, while +one remained on the shore to steady the bark upon the water and keep its +sides from contact with the rock; then when I had taken my place in the +centre, the outside man would spring gently in, and we would glide away +from the rocky resting-place. To tell the mere work of each day is no +difficult matter: start at five o'clock A.M., halt for breakfast at +seven o'clock, off again at eight, halt at one o'clock for dinner, away +at two o'clock, paddle until sunset at seven-thirty; that was the work +of each day. But how shall I attempt to fill in the details of scene and +circumstance between these rough outlines of time and toil, for almost +every hour of the long summer day the great Winnipeg revealed some new +phase of beauty and of peril, some changing scene of lonely grandeur? I +have already stated that the river in its course from the Lake of the +Woods to Lake Winnipeg, one hundred and sixty miles, makes a descent of +three hundred and sixty feet. + +This descent is effected not by a continuous decline, but by a series of +terraces at various distances from each other; in other words, the river +forms innumerable lakes and wide expanding reaches bound together by +rapids and perpendicular falls of varying altitude; thus when the +_voyageur_ has lifted his canoe from the foot of the Silver Falls and +launched it again above the head of that rapid, he will have surmounted +two-and-twenty feet of the ascent; again, the dreaded Seven Portages +will give him a total rise of sixty feet in a distance of three miles. +(How cold does the bare narration of these facts appear beside their +actual realization in a small canoe manned by Indians!) Let us see if we +can picture one of these many scenes. There sounds ahead a roar of +falling water, and we see, upon rounding some pine-clad island or ledge +of rock, a tumbling mass of foam and spray studded with projecting rocks +and flanked by dark wooded shores; above we can see nothing, but below, +the waters, maddened by their wild rush amidst the rocks, surge and leap +in angry whirlpools. It is as wild a scene of crag and wood and water as +the eye can gaze upon, but we look upon it not for its beauty, because +there is no time for that, but because it is an enemy that must be +conquered. + +Now mark how these Indians steal upon this enemy before he is aware of +it. The immense volume of water, escaping from the eddies and whirlpools +at the foot of the fall, rushes on in a majestic sweep into calmer +water; this rush produces along the shores of the river a counter- or +back-current which flows up sometimes close to the foot of the fall; +along this back-water the canoe is carefully steered, being often +not six feet from the opposing rush in the central river; but the +back-current in turn ends in a whirlpool, and the canoe, if it followed +this back-current, would inevitably end in the same place. For a minute +there is no paddling, the bow-paddle and the steersman alone keeping the +boat in her proper direction as she drifts rapidly up the current. Among +the crew not a word is spoken, but every man knows what he has to do, +and will be ready when the moment comes; and now the moment has come, +for on one side there foams along a mad surge of water, and on the other +the angry whirlpool twists and turns in smooth hollowing curves round an +axis of air, whirling round it with a strength that would snap our birch +bark into fragments, and suck us down into the great depths below. All +that can be gained by the back-current has been gained, and now it is +time to quit it; but where? for there is often only the choice of the +whirlpool or the central river. Just on the very edge of the eddy there +is one loud shout given by the bow-paddle, and the canoe shoots full +into the centre of the boiling flood, driven by the united strength of +the entire crew; the men work for their very lives, and the boat breasts +across the river, with her head turned full towards the falls; the +waters foam and dash about her, the waves leap high over the gunwale, +the Indians shout as they dip their paddles like lightning into the +foam, and the stranger to such a scene holds his breath amidst this war +of man against nature. Ha! the struggle is useless; they cannot force +her against such a torrent; we are close to the rocks and foam; but see, +she is driven down by the current, in spite of those wild fast strokes. +The dead strength of such a rushing flood must prevail. Yes, it is true, +the canoe has been driven back; but behold, almost in a second the whole +thing is done,--we float suddenly beneath a little rocky isle on the +foot of the cataract. We have crossed the river in the face of the +fall, and the portage landing is over this rock, while three yards out +on either side the torrent foams its headlong course. + +Of the skill necessary to perform such things it is useless to speak. +A single false stroke and the whole thing would have failed; driven +headlong down the torrent, another attempt would have to be made to +gain this rock-protected spot, but now we lie secure here; spray all +around us, for the rush of the river is on either side, and you can +touch it with an outstretched paddle. The Indians rest on their paddles +and laugh; their long hair has escaped from its fastening through their +exertion, and they retie it while they rest. One is already standing +upon the wet, slippery rock, holding the canoe in its place; then the +others get out. The freight is carried up, piece by piece, and deposited +on the flat surface some ten feet above; that done, the canoe is lifted +out very gently, for a single blow against this hard granite boulder +would shiver and splinter the frail birch-bark covering; they raise her +very carefully up the steep face of the cliff and rest again on the top. +What a view there is from coigne of vantage! We are on the lip of the +fall; on each side it makes its plunge, and below we mark at leisure the +torrent we have just braved; above, it is smooth water, and away ahead +we see the foam of another rapid. The rock on which we stand has been +worn smooth by the washing of the water during countless ages, and from +a cleft or fissure there springs a pine-tree or a rustling aspen. We +have crossed the Petit Roches, and our course is onward still. + +Through many scenes like this we held our way during the last days of +July. The weather was beautiful; now and then a thunder-storm would roll +along during the night, but the morning sun, rising clear and bright, +would almost tempt one to believe that it had been a dream, if the +pools of water in the hollows of the rocks and the dampness of blanket +or oil-cloth had not proved the sun a humbug. Our general distance each +day would be about thirty-two miles, with an average of six portages. At +sunset we made our camp on some rocky isle or shelving shore: one or two +cut wood, another got the cooking things ready, a fourth gummed the +seams of the canoe, a fifth cut shavings from a dry stick for the fire; +for myself, I generally took a plunge in the cool, delicious water; +and soon the supper hissed in the pans, the kettle steamed from its +suspending stick, and the evening meal was eaten with appetites such +as only the _voyageur_ can understand. + +Then when the shadows of the night had fallen around and all was silent, +save the river's tide against the rocks, we would stretch our blankets +on the springy moss of the crag, and lie down to sleep with only the +stars for a roof. + +Happy, happy days were these,--days the memory of which goes very far +into the future, growing brighter as we journey farther away from them; +for the scenes through which our course was laid were such as speak in +whispers, only when we have left them,--the whispers of the pine-tree, +the music of running water, the stillness of great lonely lakes. + + + + +A FINE SCENIC ROUTE. + +HENRY T. FINCK. + + [From Henry T. Finck's "The Pacific Coast Scenic Tour" we + select the following description of the Canadian Pacific + Railway route, which is acknowledged to possess a long + succession of grand and beautiful scenery, unequalled by any + other railroad route in America. The description is too long a + one to be given in full, and for further acquaintance with it + the reader must be referred to the book itself.] + + +After leaving Vancouver, and before reaching Westminster, the train for +some time runs along Burrard Inlet, on which is situated Fort Moody, +another town which had hoped to be chosen as terminus, and actually did +enjoy that privilege for a short time. The shores of the inlet are +beautifully wooded, and some of the trees are of enormous size. At the +crossing of Stave River a fine view is obtained of Mount Baker, looking +forward to the right; and the bridge over the Harrison River, where it +meets the Frazer, also affords a picturesque view. For the next fifteen +or sixteen hours the train follows the banks of the Frazer River and its +tributaries, and this is one of the grandest sections of the route. + +At the first the Frazer is a muddy, yellow river, about the size of +the Willamette above Oregon City, but more rapid and winding, and an +occasional steamer may be seen floating along with the current, or +slowly making headway against it. In some places the railway runs so +close to the precipitous bank of the river that a handkerchief might be +dropped from a car window into the swirling eddies, fifty feet below. +At other places it leaves room--and just room enough--for the old +wagon-road between the track and the river; but it would take a cool +driver, with much confidence in his horses, to remain on his wagon here +when a train passes. At last the road itself becomes frightened and +crosses the river on a bridge, whereupon it winds along the hill-side +above the opposite bank, at a safe distance. + +This road was made during the Frazer River gold excitement in 1858, when +twenty-five thousand miners flocked into this region, and wages for any +kind of work were ten to eighteen dollars a day. To-day the metal no +longer exists in what white men consider paying quantity; but Chinamen +may still be seen along the river, washing for remnants, their earnings +being about fifty cents a day. There is also a "Ruby Creek" in this +neighborhood, and some Indian habitations and salmon-fishing places. +Shortly before reaching Yale, which for a long time was the western +end of the road, there is a slight intermission in the scenic drama, +represented by some rich, level, agricultural lands, as if to give the +passengers a moment's rest before the wonders of the Frazer Canyon begin +to monopolize their bewildered attention, till darkness sets in and +drops the curtain on the superb panorama. + +Yale, which is so completely shut in by high, frowning mountain walls on +every side that the sun touches the village only during part of the day, +has lost its importance since it ceased to be a terminus, and seems at +present to be inhabited chiefly by Indians and half-breeds. The train is +invaded by a bevy of half-breed girls with baskets of splendid apples +and pears, which could not be beaten for size and flavor in any of our +States, and indicate a possible use for these mountain regions in the +future. And now the train plunges into the midst of the series of +terrific gorges which constitute the Frazer Canyon, and which make this +railway literally the most gorge-ous in the world. Here were appalling +engineering difficulties to overcome, which no private corporation +without the most liberal government support could have undertaken. Yet +the builders had to be thankful even for this wild and rugged canyon dug +out by the Frazer River, without which the Cascade range would have been +impassable. + +The palace cars of the Canadian Pacific, which contain all the best +features of the Pullman cars, with home improvements, have a special +observatory, with large windows, at the end of the train, whence the +canyon should be viewed; but to see it at its best one must sit on the +rear platform, so as to see at the same time both of the wild and +precipitous canyon walls, between which the river rushes along as if +pursued by demons. At every curve you think the gorge must come to an +end, but it only grows more stupendous, and the river, lashed into foam +and fury, dashes blindly against the rocks which try to arrest its +course. These rocks, ten to thirty feet wide and sometimes twice as +long, form many pretty little stone islands in the middle of the +torrent, and are a characteristic feature of the canyon scenery. Numerous +tunnels, resembling those on the Columbia River, are built through +arches seemingly projecting over the river. The train plunges into them +recklessly, but always comes out fresh and smiling on the other side, +although it seems that if the bottom of the tunnel should by any chance +drop out, the train would be precipitated into the river below. + +Once in a while the river takes a short rest, and in these comparatively +calm stretches hundreds of beautiful large red fish can be seen from +the train, in the clear water, struggling up-stream. With their dark +backs and bright red sides they form a sight which is none the less +interesting when you are told that they are "only dog salmon," which +are not relished by whites, though the Indians eat them. + + [A night now passes, during which much fine scenery is missed. + But the best is reserved for the next day.] + +Scenic wonders now succeed one another with bewildering rapidity +throughout the day. This second day, in fact, represents the climax of +the trip, and the attention is not allowed to flag for a second. However +much such a confession may go against the grain of patriotism, every +candid traveller must admit that there is nothing in the United States +in the way of massive mountain scenery (except, perhaps, in Alaska) to +compare with the glorious panorama which is unfolded on this route. +Within thirty-six hours after leaving Vancouver we traverse three of +the grandest mountain ranges in America,--the Cascades, Selkirks, and +Rockies,--all of them the abode of eternal snow and glaciers, and all of +them traversed through by canons which vie with each other in terrific +grandeur. + + [Illustration: MEMORIAL MONUMENT TO SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, FOUNDER OF + QUEBEC] + +Before the Selkirks are reached the train passes the Columbia or Gold +range, through the Eagle Pass, so called because it was discovered by +watching an eagle's flight. Eagle's Pass is a poetic and appropriate +name, and yet I think it would be well to re-name this mountain pass and +call it Mirror Lake Canyon, because that would call the attention of +tourists to what is its most characteristic feature, which may otherwise +be overlooked. There are four lakes and many smaller bodies of water in +this valley, in whose placid surface the finely-sloped mountain ridges +and summits of the pass are reflected with marvellous distinctness, so +that here, as in the Yosemite Mirror Lake, the copy is more lovely than +the original. Some of the mountain-sides reflected in these mirrors are +naked rocks, others are covered with living evergreen trees, and others +still with dead trees. In the mirror these dead forests look hardly less +beautiful than the living ones; but in the original the eye dwells with +more pleasure on the green forests which here, and almost everywhere in +British Columbia, grow with the rank luxuriance of a Ceylon jungle. The +soil under these dense tree-masses, consisting of decayed pine- and +fir-needles, a foot deep, and always moist, makes a paradise for lovely +mosses and ferns. Here, also, is the home of the bear, and one would not +have to walk far in this thicket to encounter a grizzly, black, or +cinnamon bruin. + +On emerging from the Mirror Lake Canyon, a great surprise awaits the +passengers. The Columbia River--to which they had fancied they had said +a final farewell when they were ferried across it on the way from +Portland to Tacoma--suddenly comes upon the scene again, as clear and +as picturesque as ever; and even at this immense distance from its mouth +still large enough to require a bridge half a mile long to cross it. A +few hours later the train again crosses the Columbia, at Donald, where +the river has become much smaller than it seems that it should in such a +short distance. + +To get an explanation of this circumstance, it is interesting to glance +at the map and notice what an immense curve northward the Columbia has +made in this interval in order to find a passage through the Selkirk +range; and in thus encircling the snowy Selkirks it has, of course, +added to its volume the contents of innumerable glacier streams and +mountain brooks. Its real sources are southeast of Donald, on the summit +of the Rockies, separated by but a short distance from springs which run +down on the eastern side and find their way through the Mississippi into +the Gulf of Mexico. Thus do extremes meet. It would be difficult to find +anything so curious in the course of any other river as this immense, +irregular parallelogram which the Columbia here describes from its +sources to Arrow Lake.... + +The snow-peaks of the Selkirks are now looming up on all sides, and the +atmosphere becomes more bracing and Alpine as the train slowly creeps up +the mountain-side, doubling up on itself in a loop. The Glacier House is +reached before long, and here every tourist who has time to spare should +get off and spend a day or two, since next to Banff, in the National +Park, this is the finest point along the whole route, scenically +speaking, while the air is even more salubrious, cool, and intoxicating +than at Banff, owing to the nearness of the glacier. It would be +difficult, even in Switzerland, to find a more romantic spot for a hotel +than the location of the Glacier House. High peaks rise up on every +side, so finely moulded, so deeply mantled with snow, and presenting +such various aspects from different points of view, that we forget our +disgust at the fact that, as usual in the West, these grand eternal +peaks have been named after ephemeral mortals,--Browns, Smiths, and +Joneses. The Grizzly and Cougar Mountains are more aptly named, as these +animals will long continue to abound in the impenetrable forests which +adorn these peaks below the snow-line. Looking from the hotel towards +the glacier, to the left is a peak which looks like the Matterhorn, the +most unique mountain in Switzerland, and, what is still more striking, +at its side is another smaller peak, which is an exact copy of the +Little Matterhorn.... + +The principal difference between the Swiss Alps and the Selkirk range +lies in the aspect of the mountain-sides below the snow-line. These, in +Switzerland, are green meadows dotted with browsing cows, and presenting +one unbroken mass of dark green, except where an avalanche has +tobogganed down and opened what seems at a distance like a roadway, but +is found to be a battle-field strewn with the corpses of cedars three +and four feet in diameter. + +The most imposing view of such a mountain forest unbroken by a single +avalanche path is obtained from the snow-sheds just above the hotel. +Sitting outside these sheds and looking towards the left, you see a vast +mountain slope covered with literally millions of dark-green trees. Why +has none of the world's greatest poets ever been permitted to gaze on +such a Selkirk forest, that he might have aroused in his unfortunate +readers who are not privileged to see one emotions similar to those +inspired by it? But I fear that neither verse nor photographs, nor even +the painter's brush, can ever more than suggest the real grandeur of +such a forest scene. This mountain is not snow-crowned in September, but +its wooded summit makes a sharp green line against the snow-peaks beyond +and above. From this summit down to the foot stand the giant cedars, as +crowded as the yellow stalks in a Minnesota wheatfield. But in place of +the flat monochrome of a wheatfield, our sloping forest presents a most +fascinating color spectacle. The slanting rays of the sun tinge the +waving tree-tops with a deeply saturated yellowish-green, curiously +interspersed with a mosaic of dark, almost black streaks and patches of +shade, due to clouds and other causes, and the whole edged by the +dazzling snow. + +If we descend and enter this forest, a cathedral-like awe thrills the +nerves. Daylight has not the power to penetrate to the ground hidden by +this dense mass of tree-tops rising two hundred to three hundred feet +into the air,--except that an occasional ray of sunlight may steal in +for a second, like a flash of lightning. And the carpet on which this +forest stands! In America we rarely see a house, even of a day-laborer, +without a carpet; why, then, should these royal trees do without one? +The carpet is itself a miniature forest of ferns and mosses, luxuriating +in riotous profusion on an ever-moist soil, the product of thousands of +generations of pine-needles. Nor is this carpet a monochrome, for the +green is varied by numerous berries of various kinds, most of which are +red, as they should be,--the complementary color of green. But there are +also acres of blueberries as large as cherries; and if you will tear off +a few branches of these and bring them to the young bear chained up near +the Glacier Hotel, he will be very grateful, and you will find it +amusing to watch him eating them. + +There is music, too, in this Forest Cathedral, which is heard to best +advantage from the elevated gallery occupied by the snow-sheds. It takes +a trained ear to distinguish the steady, rippling _staccato_ sound of a +snow-fed mountain brook from the prolonged _legato_ sigh of a pine +forest, swelling to _fortissimo_, and dying away by turns. In the +romantic spot we have chosen these sounds are blended, the music +of the torrents being caught up by the sloping forest as by a huge +sounding-board, and increased in loudness by being mingled with the +mournful strains of the tree-tops, as orchestral colors are blended by +modern masters. Those err who say there is no music in nature. It is not +in "Siegfried" alone that the _Waldweben_ is musical, that leaves sing +as well as birds, while the thunder occasionally adds its loud _basso +profundo_. The aesthetic exhilaration which we owe to these poetic sights +and sounds is intensified by the salubrious breezes which waft this +music to our ears. Born among the clouds and glaciers, they are perfumed +in passing across the forests, warmed by the sun's rays in passing over +the valley; and every breath of this elixir adds a day to one's life. It +is not surprising that mountains should make the best health-resorts; +for do they not themselves understand and obey the laws of health? They +keep their heads cool under a snow-cap, their feet warm in a mossy +blanket, and their sides covered with a dense _fir_ overcoat.... + +For the greater part of the two hours which the train requires to go +from Donald to Golden City it passes along the bank of the Columbia +River; and there is, perhaps, no part of the whole route where grandeur +and beauty are so admirably united as here, especially in the autumn. +The grandeur lies in the snowy summits which frame in this Columbia +valley--the Selkirks on one side, the Rockies on the other. The beauty +lies in the river itself and in the young trees and bushes along its +banks, dressed in fall styles and colors, some as richly yellow as a +golden-rod, others as deeply purple or crimson as fuchsias or begonias, +the yellow predominating. These colored trees occur in groups and +streaks along the river, and in isolated patches on the mountain-sides, +where they might be mistaken for brown mosses or lichen-colored rocks. +There may be as beautifully colored trees in our Eastern forests, but +they are not mixed, as here, with young evergreen pines, nor have they a +framework of snow mountains, like these, to enhance their beauty. + +High up on the ridges there is another variety of trees of a beautiful +russet color set off by a deep-blue sky. Talk of color symphonies. Here +they are--miles of them--long as a Wagner trilogy, and as richly +orchestrated. Even the masses of blackened logs and stumps--if one can +set aside for the moment all thought of pity for the poor charred trees, +so happy before the fire in their green luxuriance, and of the sad waste +of useful timber--enhance the charm of this scene by contrast. + +I have said that the time-table of the Canadian Pacific Railway is +so arranged that the finest scenery is passed in daylight, in both +directions; but of course there must be exceptions, and, as a matter of +fact, as long as the road crosses the three great mountain ranges of the +Cascades, Selkirks, and Rockies, there is hardly a mile that does not +offer something worth seeing. Consequently, as darkness again closes in +soon after leaving Golden, east-bound passengers must resign themselves +to lose sight of the Kicking Horse Canyon, the Beaverfoot and Ottertail +Mountains, the large glacier on Mount Stephen, etc.,--which is all the +more provoking as they have to sit up anyway till midnight, when Banff +is reached; for, of course, every tourist who is in his right senses and +not a slave to duty gets off here to spend a few days in the Canadian +National Park. + + [The description of this park we can give only in summary.] + +Summing up on the Canadian National Park, we may say it has not so many +natural wonders as the Yellowstone Park,--no geysers, steam-holes, +gold-bottomed rivulets, paint-pots, nor anything to place beside the +Yellowstone Canyon and Falls. But the Minnewonka Lake may fairly +challenge comparison with the Yellowstone Lake, and the mountain scenery +is grander in the Canadian Park, and the snow and glaciers are nearer, +though not so near as at the Glacier House, where the air is in +consequence cooler and more bracing in summer than even at Banff. As +the Canadian Park is only twenty-six miles long and ten wide, while the +Yellowstone Park is about sixty-two by fifty-four miles, the former can +be seen in much less time than it takes to do justice to the latter. + +When we get ready to leave Banff we have to take the midnight train, so +there is no chance to say good-by to the mountains. But we have seen so +much of them since leaving Vancouver, that we have felt almost tempted +to cry out to Nature, "Hold, enough; less would be more!" Now we get +ample opportunity to ruminate in peace over our crowded impressions. +When we get up we are on the prairie; we go to bed on the prairie, after +traversing a territory larger than a European kingdom; again we rise on +the prairie, and again go to bed on it; and not till Lake Superior is +approached does the scenery once more become interesting.... + +As a general thing, it is no doubt wiser to take the Canadian Pacific +Railway westward than eastward, as the scenic climax is on the western +side. However, it is quite possible to avoid the feeling of anti-climax +on going east, if we conclude the trip with the Thousand Islands and the +Rapids of the St. Lawrence, together with Montreal; or with Niagara +Falls and the Hudson River. The Pacific slope, no doubt, is scenically +far more attractive than the Atlantic; still, there are some things in +the East which even California would be proud to add to her attractions. + + + + +SOUTH PASS AND FREMONT'S PEAK. + +JOHN C. FREMONT. + + [Captain John Charles Fremont, one of the earliest government + explorers of the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific slope, + was born at Savannah, Georgia, in 1813. Becoming a civil + engineer in the government service, in 1842 he explored the + South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, ascending in August the + highest peak in the Wind River range. This has since been known + as Fremont's Peak. In the following year he explored Great Salt + Lake. In 1845 he led a third expedition to the Pacific, and + during the Mexican war was instrumental in securing California + for the United States. He led subsequent expeditions westward, + was Republican candidate for the Presidency in 1856, served + during the war, and in 1878-82 was governor of Arizona. He died + in 1890. We subjoin his account of the crossing of the South + Pass and discovery and ascent of Fremont's Peak.] + + +The view [of the Wind River Mountains] dissipated in a moment the +pictures which had been created in our minds by many travellers who have +compared these mountains with the Alps in Switzerland, and speak of the +glittering peaks which rise in icy majesty amidst the eternal glaciers +nine or ten thousand feet into the region of eternal snows. + + [Continuing their course, they encamped on August 7 near the + South Pass, and the next morning set out for the dividing + ridge.] + +About six miles from our encampment brought us to the summit. The ascent +had been so gradual that, with all the intimate knowledge possessed by +Carson, who had made the country his home for seventeen years, we were +obliged to watch very closely to find the place at which we reached the +culminating point. This was between two low hills, rising on either +hand fifty or sixty feet. When I looked back at them, from the foot of +the immediate slope on the western plain, their summits appeared to be +about one hundred and twenty feet above. From the impression on my mind +at this time, and subsequently on our return, I should compare the +elevation which we mounted immediately at the Pass to the ascent of the +Capitol hill from the avenue at Washington. It is difficult for me to +fix positively the breadth of this pass. From the broken ground where +it commences, at the foot of the White River chain, the view to the +southeast is over a champaign country, broken, at the distance of +nineteen miles, by the Table Rock, which, with the other isolated hills +in its vicinity, seem to stand in a comparative plain. This I judged to +be its termination, the ridge recovering its rugged character with the +Table Rock. + +It will be seen that it in no manner resembles the places to which the +term is commonly applied,--nothing of the gorge-like character and +winding ascents of the Alleghany passes in America; nothing of the Great +St. Bernard and Simplon passes in Europe. Approaching it from the mouth +of the Sweet Water, a sandy plain, one hundred and twenty miles long, +conducts, by a gradual and regular ascent, to the summit, about seven +thousand feet above the sea; and the traveller, without being reminded +of any change by toilsome ascents, suddenly finds himself on the waters +which flow to the Pacific Ocean. By the route we had travelled, the +distance from Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty miles, or nine +hundred and fifty from the mouth of the Kansas. + + [They continued their course westward, crossing several + tributaries of the Colorado River, and on the 10th reached + unexpectedly a beautiful lake.] + +Here a view of the intensest magnificence and grandeur burst upon our +eyes. With nothing between us and their feet to lessen the effect of the +whole height, a grand bed of snow-capped mountains rose before us, pile +upon pile, glowing in the bright light of an August day. Immediately +below them lay the lake, between two ridges, covered with dark pines, +which swept down from the main chain to the spot where we stood. "Never +before," said Mr. Preuss, "in this country or in Europe, have I seen +such grand, magnificent rocks." I was so much pleased with the beauty of +the place that I determined to make the main camp here, where our +animals would find good pasturage, and explore the mountains with a +small party of men. + + [On the 12th this party set out, crossing intervening hills, + and ascending through dense forests to the summit of the ridge.] + +We had reached a very elevated point, and in the valley below, and among +the hills, were a number of lakes of different levels, some two or three +hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foaming +torrents. Even to our great height the roar of the cataracts came up, +and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. From this +scene of busy waters we turned abruptly into the stillness of a forest, +where we rode among the open bolls of the pines, over a lawn of verdant +grass, having strikingly the air of cultivated grounds. This led us, +after a time, among masses of rock, which had no vegetable earth but in +hollows and crevices, though still the pine-forest continued. Towards +evening we reached a defile, or rather a hole in the mountains, entirely +shut in by dark pine-covered rocks. + + [In the morning they ascended a mountain stream, to its source + in a small lake surrounded by a lawn-like expanse.] + +Here I determined to leave our animals, and make the rest of our way +on foot. The peak appeared so near that there was no doubt of our +returning before night; and a few men were left in charge of the mules, +with our provisions and blankets. We took with us nothing but our arms +and instruments, and, as the day had become warm, the greater part left +our coats. Having made an early dinner, we started again. We were soon +involved in the most rugged precipices, nearing the central chain very +slowly, and rising but little. The first ridge hid a succession of +others; and when, with great fatigue and difficulty, we had climbed up +five hundred feet, it was but to make an equal descent on the other +side; all these intervening places were filled with small deep lakes, +which met the eye in every direction, descending from one level to +another, sometimes under bridges formed by huge fragments of granite, +beneath which was heard the roar of the water. These constantly +obstructed our path, forcing us to make long _detours_; frequently +obliged to retrace our steps, and frequently falling among the rocks. +Maxwell was precipitated towards the face of a precipice, and saved +himself from going over by throwing himself flat on the ground. We +clambered on, always expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to +reach the foot of the peaks, and always disappointed, until about four +o'clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the shore of a little +lake, in which was a rocky island. + +By the time we had reached the farther side of the lake we found +ourselves all exceedingly fatigued, and, much to the satisfaction of the +whole party, we encamped. The spot we had chosen was a broad, flat rock, +in some measure protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and +the trunks of fallen pines afforded us bright fires. Near by was a +foaming torrent, which tumbled into the little lake about one hundred +and fifty feet below us, and which, by way of distinction, we have +called Island Lake. We had reached the upper limit of the piney region; +as, above this point, no tree was to be seen, and patches of snow lay +everywhere around us, on the cold sides of the rock. From barometrical +observations made during our three days' sojourn at this place, its +elevation above the Gulf of Mexico is ten thousand feet.... + + [They set out early the next morning.] + +On every side, as we advanced, was heard the roar of waters, and of a +torrent, which we followed up a short distance, until it expanded into a +lake about one mile in length. On the northern side of the lake was a +bank of ice, or rather of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had +been our guide into the mountains, and, agreeably to his advice, we +left this little valley and took to the ridges again, which we found +extremely broken, and where we were again involved among precipices. +Here were ice-fields, among which we were all dispersed, seeking each +the best way to ascend the peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the +upper edge of one of these fields, which sloped away at an angle of +about twenty degrees; but his feet slipped from under him, and he went +plunging down the plain. A few hundred feet below, at the bottom, were +some fragments of sharp rock, on which he landed; and, though he turned +a couple of somersets, fortunately received no injury beyond a few +bruises. + + [That day's work failed, and they returned at evening to the + camp. The next day they ascended a long defile on mule-back, + and soon had the satisfaction to find that they had taken the + right course. Finally, leaving their mules, they continued on + foot, eventually reaching a point near the summit. Here was an + overhanging buttress of rock, which could be surmounted only by + passing around one side of it, which was the face of a + precipice several hundred feet in depth.] + +Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded +in getting over it, and when I reached the top, found my companions in +a small valley below. Descending to them, we continued climbing, and in +a short time reached the crest. I sprang upon the summit, and another +step would have precipitated me into an immense snow-field five hundred +feet below. To the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice; and +then, with a gradual fall, the field sloped off for about a mile, until +it struck the foot of another lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest, +about three feet in width, with an inclination of about 20 deg. north, 51 deg. +east. + +As soon as I had gratified the first feeling of curiosity I descended, +and each man ascended in his turn; for I would only allow one at a time +to mount the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath +would precipitate into the abyss below. We mounted the barometer in the +snow of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the +national flag to wave in the breeze where never flag waved before. +During our morning's ascent we had met no sign of animal life, except a +small sparrow-like bird. A stillness the most profound and a terrible +solitude forced themselves constantly on the mind as the great features +of the place. Here, on the summit, where the stillness was absolute, +unbroken by any sound, and solitude complete, we thought ourselves +beyond the region of animated life; but while we were sitting on the +rock, a solitary bee (_Bombus, the bumble-bee_) came winging his flight +from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men. + +It was a strange place, the icy rock and the highest peak of the Rocky +Mountains, for a lover of warm sunshine and flowers; and we pleased +ourselves with the idea that he was the first of his species to cross +the mountain barrier,--a solitary pioneer to foretell the advance of +civilization. I believe that a moment's thought would have made us let +him continue his way unharmed; but we carried out the law of this +country, where all animated nature seems at war; and seizing him +immediately, put him in at least a fit place,--in the leaves of a large +book, among the flowers we had collected on our way. The barometer stood +at 18.293, the attached thermometer 44 deg.; giving for the elevation of +this summit thirteen thousand five hundred and seventy feet above the +Gulf of Mexico, which may be called the highest flight of the bee. It is +certainly the highest known flight of that insect. + +From the description given by Mackenzie of the mountains where he +crossed them, with that of the French officer still farther to the +north, and Colonel Long's measurements to the south, joined to the +opinion of the oldest traders of the country, it is presumed that this +is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. [Fremont's Peak is now +estimated at thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety feet. There are +many peaks now known over fourteen thousand feet. The highest point is +Blanca Peak, fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty-three feet high.] + +The day was sunny and bright, but a slight shining mist hung over the +lower plains, which interfered with our view of the surrounding country. +On one side we overlooked innumerable lakes and streams, the spring of +the Colorado of the Gulf of California; and on the other was the Wind +River Valley, where were the heads of the Yellowstone branch of the +Missouri; far to the north we could just discover the snowy heads of the +_Trois Tetons_, where were the sources of the Missouri and Columbia +Rivers; and at the southern extremity of the ridge the peaks were +plainly visible among which were some of the springs of the Nebraska or +Platte River. Around us the whole scene had one main, striking feature, +which was that of terrible convulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge +was split into chasms and fissures; between which rose the thin lofty +walls, terminated with slender minarets and columns. + + [The party reached camp the next day, and on the 17th turned + their faces homeward, the purpose of the expedition having been + accomplished.] + + + + +IN THE YELLOWSTONE PARK. + +FERDINAND V. HAYDEN. + + [About the middle of this century reports began to be heard of + a veritable wonderland in the far West, as yet seen only by + trappers and other adventurers, whose stories of the marvels + they had beheld whetted the appetite of scientific explorers. + The first attempt to reach the region of the Yellowstone was + made in 1856, but failed, and it was not until 1869 that an + exploring party entered this marvellous valley. A second party + reached the Yellowstone region in 1870, and Mr. N. P. Langford + wrote a glowing account of the wonders observed. The first + detailed description of the locality was made by Dr. Hayden, + chief of the Geological Survey of the Territories, in 1871. + From this extended and highly interesting account we can only + quote a few passages, selecting those which relate to the hot + springs and geysers of the wonderful Fire-Hole River region.] + + +Early in the morning of August 30 the valley was literally filled with +columns of steam, ascending from more than a thousand vents. I can +compare the view to nothing but that of some manufacturing city like +Pittsburg, as seen from a high point, except that instead of the black +coal smoke there are here the white delicate clouds of steam. Small +groups or solitary springs that are scattered everywhere in the woods +upon the mountain-sides, and which would otherwise have escaped +observation, are detected by the columns of steam. It is evident that +some of these groups of springs have changed their base of operations +within a comparatively recent period; for about midway on the east side +of the lower basin there is a large area covered with a thick, +apparently modern, deposit of the silica, as white as snow, while +standing quite thickly all around are the dead pines, which appear to +have been destroyed by the excessive overflow of the water and the +increased deposition. These dry trees have a most desolate look; many of +them have fallen down and are incrusted with the silica, while portions +that have fallen into the boiling springs have been reduced to a pulp. + +This seems to be one of the conditions of silicification, for when these +pulpy masses of wood are permitted to dry by the cessation of the +springs, the most perfect specimens of petrified wood are the result. In +one instance a green pine-tree had fallen so as to immerse its thick top +in a large hot basin, and leaves, twigs, and cones had become completely +incrusted with the white silica, and a portion had entered into the +cellular structure, so that when removed from the water and dried in the +sun, very fair specimens were obtained. Members of my party obtained +specimens of pine-cones that were sufficiently silicified to be packed +away among the collections. + + [Illustration: THE UPPER YELLOWSTONE FALLS + FROM A PAINTING BY THOMAS MORAN] + +In order that we might get a complete view of the Lower Geyser Basin +from some high point, we made a trip to the summit of Twin Buttes, on +the west side of the basin. From the top of one of these buttes, which +is six hundred and thirty feet above the Fire-Hole River, we obtained a +bird's-eye view of the entire lower portion of the valley, which was +estimated to be about twenty miles long and five miles wide. To the +westward, among the mountains, were a number of little lakes, which were +covered with a huge species of water-lily, _Nuphar advena_. The little +streams precipitated their waters in the most picturesque cascades or +falls. One of them was named by Colonel Barlow the "Fairy Fall," from +the graceful beauty with which the little stream dropped down a clear +descent of two hundred and fifty feet. It is only from a high point +that it can be seen, for the water falls gently down from the lofty +overhanging cliff into a basin at the foot, which is surrounded by a +line of tall pines one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height. +The continual flow of the waters of this little fountain has worn a deep +channel or furrow into the vertical sides of the mountain. As far as the +eye can reach can be seen the peculiar plateau mountain ranges, black +with the dense forests of pine, averaging from nine thousand to ten +thousand feet above sea-level.... + +A spring on a level with the river has an enormous square basin thirty +feet across, of unknown depth. We called this the "Bath Spring." A +little below is another singular form of wonderful beauty. The water +issues from beneath the crust near the margin of the river from several +apertures. The basin itself is fifteen by twenty feet and twenty feet +deep. It seemed to me that nothing could exceed the transparent +clearness of the water. The slightest object was reflected in its clear +depths, and the bright blue tints were indescribable. We called this the +"Cavern." The mud springs are also numerous and important in this group. +As usual, they are of all sizes, from an inch or two to twenty or thirty +feet in diameter, with contents varying from mere turbid water to stiff +mud. They seldom have any visible outlet, but are in a constant state of +agitation, with a sound that varies with the consistency of the +contents. There are several of the mud-pots that give off a suppressed +thud as the gases burst their way through the stiff mortar. Sometimes +the mortar is as white as snow, or brown, or tinged with a variety of +vivid colors.... + +On the west side of the Fire-Hole, and along the little branch that +flows into it from the west, are numbers of springs of all grades, and +the broad bottom is covered with a snow-white silicious crust. Near the +base of the mountains there is a massive first-class boiling spring, in +a constant state of violent agitation, sending forth great columns of +steam, with a singular toadstool rim.... About three miles up the +Fire-Hole we meet with a small but quite interesting group of springs on +both sides of the stream. There is a vast accumulation of silica, +forming a hill fifty feet along the level of the river; upon the summit +one of the largest springs yet seen, nearly circular, one hundred and +fifty feet in diameter, boils up in the centre, but overflows with such +uniformity on all sides as to admit of the formation of no real rim, but +forming a succession of little ornamental steps, from one to three +inches in height, just as water would congeal from cold in flowing down +a gentle declivity. There was the same transparent clearness, the same +brilliancy of coloring to the waters, but the hot steam and the thinness +of the rim prevented me from approaching it near enough to ascertain its +temperature or observe its depth. It is certainly one of the grandest +hot springs ever seen by human eye. + +But the most formidable one of all is near the margin of the river. It +seems to have broken out close by the river, and to have continually +enlarged its orifice by the breaking down of its sides. It evidently +commenced on the east side, and the continual wear of the under side of +the crust on the west side has caused the margin to fall in, until an +aperture at least two hundred and fifty feet in diameter has been +formed, with walls or sides twenty to thirty feet high, showing the +laminae of deposition perfectly. The water is intensely agitated all the +time, boiling like a caldron, from which a vast column of steam is ever +rising, filling the orifice. As the passing breeze sweeps it away for a +moment, one looks down into this terrible seething pit with terror. All +around the sides are large masses of the silicious crust that have +fallen from the rim. An immense column of water flows out of this +caldron into the river. As it pours over the marginal slope it descends +by numerous small channels, with a large number of smaller ones +spreading over a broad surface, and the marvellous beauty of the +strikingly vivid coloring far surpasses anything of the kind we have +seen in this land of wondrous beauty,--every possible shade of color, +from vivid scarlet to a bright rose, and every shade of yellow to a +delicate cream, mingled with vivid green from minute vegetation. Some of +the channels were lined with a very fine, delicate yellow, silky +material, which vibrates at every movement of the waters. There was one +most beautiful funnel-shaped spring, twenty feet in diameter at the top, +but tapering down, lined inside and outside with the most delicate +decorations. Indeed, to one looking down into its clear depths, it +seemed like a fairy palace. The same jelly-like substance or pulp to +which I have before alluded covers a large area with the various shades +of light red and green. The surface yields to the tread like a cushion. +It is about two inches in thickness, and although seldom so tenacious as +to hold together, yet it may be taken up in quite large masses, and when +it becomes dry it is blown about by the wind, like fragments of +variegated lichens. + + [From this description of the hot springs of the region we + proceed to an account of its marvellous geyser phenomena.] + +We camped the evening of August 5 in the middle of the Upper Geyser +Basin, in the midst of some of the grandest geysers in the world. +Colonel Barlow and Captain Heap, of the United States Engineers, were +camped on the opposite side of the Fire-Hole. Soon after reaching camp +a tremendous rumbling was heard, shaking the ground in every direction, +and soon a column of steam burst forth from a crater near the edge of +the east side of the river. Following the steam, arose, by a succession +of impulses, a volume of water, apparently six feet in diameter, to the +height of two hundred feet, while the steam ascended a thousand feet or +more. It would be difficult to describe the excitement which attended +such a display. It is probable that if we could have remained in the +valley several days, and become accustomed to all the preliminary +warnings, the excitement would have ceased, and we could have admired +calmly the marvellous ease and beauty with which this column of hot +water was held up to that great height for the space of twenty minutes. +After the display is over the water settles down in the basin several +inches, and the temperature slowly falls to 150 deg.. We called this the +"Grand Geyser," for its power seemed greater than any other of which we +obtained any knowledge in the valley. + + [After describing more particularly the peculiarities of the + Grand Geyser and the smaller neighboring geysers, Dr. Hayden + gives us an enthusiastic pen-picture of a beautiful type of + springs.] + +On the summit of the great mound is one of a class I have called central +springs; it is located on the highest point of the mound on which this +great group belongs; has a crater twenty feet in diameter, very nearly +quiescent, slightly bubbling, or boils near the centre, with a thin, +elegant rim projecting over the spring, with the water rising within a +few inches of the top. The continual but very moderate overflow of this +spring, uniformly on every side, builds up slowly a broad-based mound, +layer by layer, one-eighth to one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Looking +down into these springs, you seem to be gazing into fathomless depths, +while the bright blue of the water is unequalled even by the sea. There +are a number of these marvellous central springs, with projecting rims +carved with an intricate delicacy which of itself is a marvel; and as +one ascends the mound and looks down into the wonderfully clear depths, +the vision is unique. The great beauty of the prismatic colors depends +much on the sunlight, but about the middle of the day, when the bright +rays descend nearly vertically, and a slight breeze just makes a ripple +on the surface, the colors exceed comparison; when the surface is calm +there is one vast chaos of colors, dancing, as it were, like the colors +of a kaleidoscope. + +As seen through this marvellous play of colors, the decorations on the +sides of the basin are lighted up with a wild, weird beauty which wafts +one at once into the land of enchantment; all the brilliant feats of +fairies and genii in the "Arabian Nights" entertainments are forgotten +in the actual presence of such marvellous beauty; life becomes a +privilege and a blessing after one has seen and thoroughly felt these +incomparable types of nature's cunning skill.... + +Our search for new wonders leading us across the Fire-Hole River, we +ascended a gently incrusted slope, and came suddenly upon a large oval +aperture with scalloped edges, the diameters of which were eighteen and +twenty-five feet, the sides corrugated and covered with a grayish-white +silicious deposit, which was distinctly visible at the depth of a +hundred feet below the surface. No water could be discovered, but we +could distinctly hear it gurgling and boiling at a great distance below. +Suddenly it began to rise, boiling and spluttering, and sending out huge +masses of steam, causing a general stampede of our company, driving us +to some distance from our point of observation. When within about forty +feet of the surface it became stationary, and we returned to look down +upon it. It was foaming and surging at a terrible rate, occasionally +emitting small jets of hot water nearly to the mouth of the orifice. + +All at once it seemed seized with a fearful spasm, and rose with +incredible rapidity, hardly affording us time to withdraw to a safe +distance, when it burst from the orifice with terrific momentum, rising +in a column the full size of this immense aperture to the height of +sixty feet; and through and out of the apex of this vast aqueous mass +five or six lesser jets or round columns of water, varying in size from +six to fifteen inches in diameter, were projected to the marvellous +height of two hundred and fifty feet. These lesser jets, so much higher +than the main column, and shooting through it, doubtless proceed from +auxiliary pipes leading into the principal orifice near the bottom, +where the explosive force is greater. If the theory that water by +constant boiling becomes explosive when freed from air be true, this +theory rationally accounts for all irregularities in the eruptions of +the geysers. + +This grand eruption continued for twenty minutes, and was the most +magnificent sight we ever witnessed. We were standing on the side of the +geyser nearest the sun, the gleams of which filled the sparkling column +of water and spray with myriads of rainbows, whose arches were +constantly changing, dipping and fluttering hither and thither, and +disappearing only to be succeeded by others, again and again, amid the +aqueous columns, while the minute globules into which the spent jets +were diffused when falling sparkled like a shower of diamonds, and +around every shadow which the denser clouds of vapor, interrupting the +sun's rays, cast upon the column, could be seen a luminous circle, +radiant with all the colors of the prism, and resembling the halo of +glory represented in paintings as encircling the head of Divinity. All +that we had previously witnessed seemed tame in comparison with the +perfect grandeur and beauty of this display. Two of these wonderful +eruptions occurred during the twenty-two hours we remained in the +valley. This geyser we named the "Giantess." + +A hundred yards distant from the Giantess was a silicious cone, very +symmetrical, but slightly corrugated upon its exterior surface, three +feet in height and five feet in diameter at its base, and having an oval +orifice twenty-four by thirty-six and a half inches in diameter, with +scalloped edges. Not one of our company supposed that it was a geyser; +and among so many wonders it had almost escaped notice. While we were at +breakfast upon the morning of our departure, a column of water, entirely +filling the crater, shot from it, which, by accurate triangular +measurement, we found to be two hundred and nineteen feet in height. The +stream did not deflect more than four or five degrees from a vertical +line, and the eruption lasted eighteen minutes. We named it the +"Beehive."... + +On our return to the lake from this basin we passed up the Fire-Hole +River to its source in the divide. Early in the morning, as we were +leaving the valley, the grand old geyser which stands sentinel at the +head of the valley gave us a magnificent parting display, and with +little or no preliminary warning it shot up a column of water about six +feet in diameter to the height of a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet, +and by a succession of impulses seemed to hold it up steadily for the +space of fifteen minutes, the great mass of water falling directly back +into the basin, and flowing over the edges and down the sides in large +streams. When the action ceases, the water recedes beyond sight, and +nothing is heard but the occasional escape of steam until another +exhibition occurs. This is one of the most accommodating geysers in the +basin, and during our stay played once an hour quite regularly. On +account of its apparent regularity, and its position overlooking the +valley, it was called by Messrs. Langford and Doane "Old Faithful." It +has built up a crater about twenty feet high around its base, and all +about it are decorations similar to those previously described. + +On the morning of August 6 we ascended the mountains at the head of the +Fire-Hole River, on our return to the hot-spring camp on the Yellowstone +Lake. We had merely caught a glimpse of the wonderful physical phenomena +of this remarkable valley. We had just barely gleaned a few of the +surface observations, which only sharpened our desire for a larger +knowledge. There is no doubt in my mind that these geysers are more +active at certain seasons of the year than at others. We saw them in +midsummer, when the surface waters are greatly diminished. In the +spring, at the time of the melting of the snows, the display of the +first-class geysers must be more frequent and powerful. We left this +valley, with its beautiful scenery, its hot springs and geysers, with +great regret. + + + + +THE COUNTRY OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS. + +ALFRED TERRY BACON. + + [Ruskin, among his reasons for not visiting the United States, + declared that it would be impossible for him to exist, even for + a short interval, in a country that had no old castles. Had he + known it, he might have found here old castles in abundance, + older perhaps, and grander in situation, than any to be found + in his own land. These are the ruined dwellings of the ancient + inhabitants of the western canons and of the pueblo-builders of + Arizona and New Mexico. We give a traveller's account of the + Cliff-dwellers' habitations.] + + +The attraction which drew the conquerors of Mexico forty-five days' +journey away into the North was the fame which had reached them of the +Seven Cities of Cibola (the buffalo), great in wealth and population, +lying in the valley of the Rio de Zuni. To the grief of the invaders, +they found not cities, but rather villages of peaceful agricultural +people dwelling in great pueblos three and four stories high, and they +searched in vain for the rumored stores of gold. At that time the +pueblos held a large population skilled in many arts of civilization. +They cultivated large tracts of ground, wove fabrics of cotton, and +produced ornate pottery. Their stone-masonry was admirable. But even +three hundred years ago it seems that the people were but a remnant of +what they had once been. Even then the conquerors wondered at the many +ruins which indicated a decline from former greatness. The people have +not now the same degree of skill in their native arts which the race +once had, and it is probable that when the Spaniards came and found them +declining in numbers the old handicrafts were already on the wane. + +In a remote age the ancestors of these Pueblo tribes, or a race of +kindred habits, filled most of that vast region which is drained by the +Colorado River and its affluents, and spread beyond into the valley of +the Rio Grande. The explorers of a great extent of country in Utah, +Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado have found everywhere evidences of +the wide distribution and wonderful industry of that ancient people. +On the low land which they used to till lie the remains of their +villages,--rectangular buildings of enormous dimensions and large +circular _estufas_, or halls for council and worship. On the sides of +the savage cliffs that wall in or overarch the canons are scattered in +every crevice and wrinkle those strange and picturesque ruins which give +us the name "Cliff-dwellers" to distinguish this long-forgotten people. +And on commanding points, seen far away down the canons or across the +mesas, stand the solitary watch-towers where sentinels might signal to +the villagers below on the approach of Northern barbarians.... + +There is no other district which embraces in so small a compass so great +a number and variety of the Cliff-dwellers' ruined works as the canyon of +the Little Rio Mancos in Southwestern Colorado. The stream rises in a +spur of the San Juan Mountains, near the remote mining-camp called +Parrott City. Flowing southward for a few miles through an open valley, +it is soon enclosed between the walls of a profound canyon which cuts for +nearly thirty miles through a table-land called the Mesa Verde. The +canyon is wide enough to have permitted the old inhabitants to plant +their crops along the stream, and the cliffs rising on either side to +a height of two thousand feet are so curiously broken and grooved +and shelving, from the decay of the soft horizontal strata and the +projection of the harder, as to offer remarkable facilities for building +fortified houses hard of approach and easy of defence. Therefore the +whole length of the canyon is filled with ruins, and for fifteen miles +beyond it to the borders of New Mexico, where the river meets the Rio +San Juan, the valley bears many traces of the ancient occupation. + +The scenery of the canyon is wild and imposing in the highest degree. In +the dry Colorado air there are few lichens or weather-stains to dull the +brightness of the strata to the universal hoariness of moister climates: +the vertical cliffs, standing above long slopes of debris, are colored +with the brilliant tints of freshly-quarried stone. A gay ribbon of +green follows the course of the rivulet winding down through the canyon +till it is lost to sight in the vista of crags. The utter silence and +solitude of the wilderness reigns through the valley. It is not occupied +by any savage tribe, and only a few white men within the last few years +have passed through it and told of its wonders; and yet its whole +length is but one series of houses and temples that were forsaken +centuries ago. I can hardly imagine a more exciting tour of exploration +than that which Mr. Jackson's party made on first entering this canyon in +1874. + +Above the entrance of the canyon the evidences of prehistoric life begin. +On the bottom-land, concealed by shrubbery, are the half-obliterated +outlines of square and circular buildings. The houses were of large +size, and were plainly no temporary dwelling-places, for an accumulation +of decorated pottery fills the ground about them, indicating long +occupation. No doubt they were built of adobe,--masses of hard +clay dried in the sun,--which the wear of ages has reduced to +smoothly-rounded mounds. For some miles down the canyon remains of this +sort occur at short intervals, and at one point there stands a wall +built of squared sandstone blocks. Along the ledges of the cliffs on the +right bits of ruinous masonry are detected here and there, but for a +time there is nothing to excite close attention. At last a watchful eye +is arrested by a more interesting object perched at a tremendous height +on the western wall of the canyon. It is a house built upon a shelf of +rock between the precipices, but, standing seven hundred feet above the +stream and differing not at all in color from the crags about it, only +the sharpest eyesight can detect the unusual form of the building and +the windows marking the two stories. + +The climb up to the house-platform is slow and fatiguing, but the +trouble is repaid by a sight of one of the most curious ruins on this +continent. Before the door of the house, part of the ledge has been +reserved for a little esplanade, and to make it broader three small +abutments of stone, which once supported a floor, are built on the +sloping edge of the rock. Beyond this the house is entered by a +small aperture which served as a door. It is the best specimen of a +Cliff-dweller's house that remains to our time. The walls are admirably +built of squared stones laid in a hard white mortar. The house is +divided into two stories of three rooms each. Behind it a semicircular +cistern nearly as high as the house is built against the side of it, +and a ladder is arranged for descending from an upper window to the +water-level. The floor of the second story was supported by substantial +cedar timbers, but only fragments of them remain. The roof, too, has +entirely disappeared, but the canopy of natural rock overhanging serves +to keep out the weather. The front rooms in both stories are the largest +and are most carefully finished. Perhaps they were the parlor and "best +bedroom" of some prehistoric housewife. They are plastered throughout +with fine smooth mortar, and even in that remote age the mania for +household decoration had a beginning: floor, walls, and ceiling were +colored a deep red, surrounded by a broad border of white. + +The same cliff on which this house stands has on its side many other +ruins; some half destroyed by gradual decay, some crushed by falling +rocks, none so perfect as the one described; but all are crowded into +the strangest unapproachable crevices of the canyon-wall, like the +crannies which swallows choose to hold their nests, far removed from +the possibility of depredation. Some are so utterly inaccessible that +the explorers, with all their enthusiasm and activity, have never been +able to reach them. How any beings not endowed with wings could live at +such points it is hard to conceive: it makes one suspicious that the +Cliff-dwellers had not quite outgrown the habits of monkey ancestors. + +As the canyon widens with the descent of the stream, the ruins in the +western wall increase in number. One fearful cliff a thousand feet in +height is chinked all over its face with tiny houses of one room each, +but only a few of them can be detected with the naked eye. One, which +was reached by an explorer at the peril of his life, stands intact: +ceiling and floor are of the natural rock, and the wall is built in a +neat curve conforming to the shape of the ledge. + +A mile farther down the stream there is a most interesting group of +houses. Eight hundred feet above the valley there is a shelf in the +cliff sixty feet in length that is quite covered by a house. The +building contains four large rooms, a circular sacred apartment and +smaller rooms of irregular shape. It was called by its discoverers "The +House of the Sixteen Windows." Behind this house the cliff-side rises +smooth and perpendicular thirty feet, but it can be scaled by an ancient +stairway cut into it which ascends to a still higher ledge. The stairs +lead to the very door of another house filling a niche a hundred and +twenty feet long. A great canopy of solid rock overarches the little +fortress, reaching far forward beyond the front wall, while from below +it is absolutely unapproachable except by the one difficult stairway of +niches cut in the rock. In time of war it must have been impregnable. +These dwellings have given more ideas about their interior furnishing +than any of the others. Among the accumulated rubbish were found corn +and beans stored away. In the lower house were two large water-jars of +corrugated pottery standing on a floor covered with neatly-woven rush +matting. In a house not far above were found a bin of charred corn, and +a polished hatchet of stone made with remarkable skill. + +From this point onward both the valley and the cliffs are filled with +the traces of a numerous population, every mile of travel bringing many +fresh ones into sight. Among the cliff-houses there is of necessity a +variety in form and size as great as the differences of the caves and +crevices that hold them; but among the buildings of the low ground there +is more uniformity, not only in this canyon, but in all the valleys of +the region. Most of them may be classed as aggregated dwellings or +pueblos with rectangular rooms, round watch-towers and large circular +buildings. To these must be added a few which seem to have been built +only for defence. The straight walls have generally fallen, except the +parts supported by an angle of a building; but, as usual in old masonry, +the circular walls have much better resisted decay. + +About midway down the canyon the curved wall of a large ruin rises above +the thicket. It is a building of very curious design. The outer wall +was an exact circle of heavy masonry a hundred and thirty feet in +circumference. Within, there is another circular wall, concentric with +the outer, enclosing one round room with a diameter of twenty feet. The +annular space between the two walls was divided by partitions into ten +small apartments. Other buildings of the same type occur in this region, +some of much larger size and with triple walls. Even in this one, which +is comparatively well preserved, the original height is uncertain, +though the ruin still stands about fifteen feet high. + +The vast quantity of debris about some of them indicates that they were +of no insignificant height, and their perfect symmetry of form, the +careful finish of the masonry, the large dimensions and great solidity, +made them the most imposing architectural works of that ancient people. +I find no reason to doubt that they were their temples, and the +presumption is very strong that they were temples for sun-worship. The +occurrence of a circular room in connection with nearly every group of +buildings is of special interest, as seeming to link the Cliff-dwellers +to the modern Pueblo tribes in their religious customs. + +Most striking and picturesque of all the ruins are the round +watch-towers. On commanding points in the valley, and on the highest +pinnacles of the cliffs overlooking the surface of the mesa, they occur +with a frequency which is almost pathetic as an indication of the life +of eternal vigilance which was led by that old race through the years, +perhaps centuries, of exterminating warfare which the savage red men +from the North waged upon them. To us the suffering of frontier families +at the hands of the same blood-thirsty savages is heart-rending. What +was it to those who saw year by year their whole race's life withering +away, crushed by those wild tribes? + +Near the lower end of the canyon stands one of the most perfect of these +towers, rising sixteen feet above the mound on which it is built. It +was once attached to an oblong stone building which seems to have +been a strongly-fortified house. The rectangular walls, as usual, are +prostrate, and have left the tower standing as solitary and picturesque +and as full of mystery as the round towers of Ireland.... + +In the Montezuma Canyon, just beyond the Colorado State border, there are +some remains built after an unusual manner with stones of great size. +One building of many rooms, nearly covering a little solitary mesa, is +constructed of huge stone blocks not unlike the prehistoric masonry +of Southern Europe. In the same district there is a ruined line of +fortification from which the smaller stones have fallen away and +are crumbling to dust, leaving only certain enormous upright stones +standing. They rise to a height of seven feet above the soil, and the +lower part is buried to a considerable depth. Their resemblance to the +hoary Druidical stones of Carnac and Stonehenge is striking, and there +is nothing in their appearance to indicate that they belong to a much +later age than those primeval monuments of Europe. + +All the certain knowledge that we have of the history and manners of +the Cliff-dwellers may be very briefly told, for there is no written +record of their existence, except their own rude picture-writing, +cut or painted on the canyon walls, and it is not likely that those +hieroglyphics will ever be deciphered. But much may be inferred from +their evident kinship to the Moquis of our time; and the resemblance of +the ancient architecture and ceramics to the arts as they are still +practised in the degenerate pueblos of Arizona gives us many intimations +in regard to the habits of the Cliff-dwellers. + + [Illustration: GRAND CANON, ARIZONA + IN THE COUNTRY OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS] + +It was centuries ago--how long a time no one will ever know--when that +old race was strong and numerous, filling the great region from the +Rio Grande to the Colorado of the West, and from the San Juan +Mountains far down into Northern Mexico. They must have numbered many +hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions. It is not probable that they +were combined under one government, or that they were even closely +leagued together, but that they were essentially one in blood and +language is strongly indicated by the similarity of their remains. +That they were sympathetic in a common hostility to the dangerous +savage tribes about them can hardly be doubted. They were of peaceful +habits and lived by agriculture, having under cultivation many +thousands of acres in the rich river-bottoms, which they knew well how +to irrigate from streams swollen in summer by the melting snows of the +high mountain-ranges. We read of their dry canals in Arizona, so deep +that a mounted horseman can hide in them. We know that they raised +crops of corn and beans, and in the south cotton, which they skilfully +wove. That they had commercial dealing across their whole country +is shown by the quantity of shell-ornaments brought from the Pacific +coast, which are found in their Colorado dwellings. They did not +understand the working of metals, but their implements of stone are of +most excellent workmanship. Their weapons indicate the practice of +hunting, and while the race was still numerous their forts and their +sharp obsidian arrows made easy their resistance to the wandering +savage hordes. + +I believe that no instance can be cited of a people still in their Stone +Age who have surpassed that old race in the mason's art: indeed, I doubt +if any such people has even approached their skill in that respect. The +difficulty of constructing a great work of well-squared, hammer-dressed +stones is enormously increased if the masons must work only with stone +implements. Imagine the infinite, toilsome patience of a people who in +such a way could rear the ancient Pueblo Bonito of New Mexico, five +hundred and forty feet long, three hundred and fourteen feet wide, and +four stories high! In one wall of a neighboring building of stone less +carefully dressed it is estimated that there were originally no less +than thirty million pieces, which were transported, fashioned, and laid +by men without a beast of burden or a trowel, chisel, or hammer of +metal.... + +At the time of the Spanish conquest the Pueblo tribes were worshippers +of the sun and fire, like all the races of this continent which were +above barbarism. To-day, even in those pueblos where a corrupted form of +the Roman faith is accepted, there are traces of the old sun-worship +mingled with it, and in all pueblos there are large circular rooms, +called estufas, reserved for councils and for worship. The invariable +appearance of estufas among the ruined towns, and even on the ledges of +the cliffs, shows what sacredness was attached to the circular room, +which, perhaps, was symbolic of the sun's orb: it indicates a unity of +religious faith between the ancients and moderns. + + + + +LAKE TAHOE AND THE BIG TREES. + +A. H. TEVIS. + + [To Rev. A. H. Tevis, author of "Beyond the Sierras; or, + Observations on the Pacific Coast," we owe the following + description of a most charming example of American lake + scenery, one of the varied and striking regions of beauty which + California offers to the tourist.] + + +Of the many curiosities that nature has scattered over the length and +breadth of this coast, Lake Tahoe is one of the most charming. + +This is a land of wonders, certainly of curiosities. Providence has made +this vast area, between the Rocky Mountains and the sea, his chief +receptacle of the wealth of the country. And what folly to travel in +foreign countries to see the sights until you have at least seen some of +the wonders and treasures of our own great Commonwealth! You can spend +your life in exploring these various wonders, and then not find an +end,--petrified forests; lost rivers, whose _termini_ no one knows, and +of whose source there is great doubt; brackish lakes, whose waters are +worse than the Dead Sea, and in which no living thing can exist; +bubbling, hissing, thundering geysers, whose awfulness impresses the +hardest heart; roaring cataracts, that with a band of silver seem to +bind together earth and sky; boiling springs, hither and yon in almost +countless profusion, that send their breath of steam as through the +throats of some great furnace from Vulcan's forge; geographical and +topographical features that are marvellous in themselves; the big trees, +whose magnitude is a wonder, and whose age links the present almost to +the days of Solomon; Yosemite, unlike anything of the kind in the known +world, whose sublimity is beyond description; and charming, silvery, +unique Tahoe, or Pearl of the Sierras. + +There is no patent on the name, hence we have chosen to christen it +thus. And who will say it is a misnomer that has seen its grandeur and +enjoyed the beauty of its surroundings? Its name belongs to the Indian +tongue, and signifies _clear water_. + +This lake in its greatest length is twenty-three miles, and greatest +width eleven miles; hence it has an area of two hundred and fifty-three +square miles. Its altitude is six thousand two hundred and twenty feet +above the level of the sea. Here, spread out before me, like the finest +of burnished silver, is a lake unlike any other body of water in the +world, save one in Switzerland, and that has only a few marks of +similarity. + +This lies nestled away, like a very jewel, in the summit of the +Sierras,--the Alps of America,--at an altitude of a mile and a quarter +above the level of the sea. Think of it! A body of water containing an +area of more than two hundred and fifty square miles, and deep enough to +float the largest vessel that ever traversed the sea, and then have +almost immeasurable depths below the keel; think of this being in the +very summit of the greatest range of mountains in America! + +It has been sounded along the line between Nevada and California, which +runs through the lake, to the distance of two hundred and fifty-three +fathoms, or fifteen hundred and eighteen feet. But other places have +been sounded to the great distance of nearly twenty-five hundred feet. +The character of the water is almost incredible to one who has never +looked upon it. Coming down from the springs that burst from the canons, +and the everlasting snows that crown the mountain-tops, where + + "'Tis the felt presence of the Deity," + +the water is almost perfectly pure. + +I have leaned over the side of the boat and watched the play of the +trout a _hundred and fifty feet_ below the surface. I have dropped a +small, shining, metallic button, and watched distinctly its oscillations +in sinking for three or four minutes. + +The transparent nature of the water is best seen in the morning, when +the lake is perfectly calm; not even the small surface ripples that +nearly always exist on ordinary streams and lakes are visible. + +The various angles of vision present the most charming scene. Yonder the +lake looks like a quiet mass of molten silver; yonder, where the rays of +the sun meet you, is a gorgeous array of crimson and gold; then there is +a range of purest emerald, deepening into blue-black as the scene +stretches away from you, bespangled in the distance by the rising +white-caps. This, fringed with the green of the deep pine-forests that +skirt the mountains, and capped with the everlasting snows, made radiant +with the flood of sunlight, furnishes a picture of incomparable beauty, +and worthy of a master's brush. + +But here by you, right at your feet, is one of the most pleasing +features of all: so still in the morning quietness, and such air-like +purity withal. You think you can reach down and pick up those shining +pebbles, and yet they are twenty, thirty, or forty feet beneath you. And +that boat or skiff seems to be poised in mid-air. You can count the +small indentures and nail-heads in the very keel. + +You cringe with fear as your boat glides towards that huge boulder, as +large as a church, thinking surely your vessel will be wrecked; but +there is no danger, as the rock is many feet beneath you. The +transparency of the water makes the danger seem so near. + +How often have I wished this place--mountains, lake, and all--could be +the place of one of the grand Eastern camp-meetings! This bracing air, +this unique spot, this wonderful lake, this rich, healthful aroma of +deep pine-forests, this grand scenery, all combined, make it one of the +best of places for religious summer resort. + +Yonder is a quaint spot, a veritable Gibraltar on a small scale, a +lonely, rocky island in the centre of Emerald Bay. Some foolish man +built a tomb in the solid rock on its summit, intending to be buried +there, where the marks of decay would come slowly over his grave, and +where he might sleep undisturbed amid the incomparable grandeur that +would have surrounded him. His sarcophagus and all were prepared, but +the treacherous billows of the lake, that occasionally foam and roar +with fury, seized him, and he lies buried at the bottom,--no man knows +where, for no one going down ever comes up again from these waters. + +It was first an artless, genial party of three of us that drank in the +poetry of the scenery around Lake Tahoe. The "elect lady," whose +presence has ever been an inspiration and encouragement in life's +blackest, bitterest hours, her best and dearest friend, Miss Torreyson, +and the writer, made up the trio. We were joined by and by with a party +of others kindred in spirit, who entered into all our schemes and +reconnoissances after pleasure. + +Those were memorable six weeks; and now, at this distance of many months +on the road of time, that period of frolic and recuperation gleams as +with the radiance of youth's happiest sunset scene. How strange that +happy days even never look so charming as when they are mellowed in the +deep past!... + +During the days we enlivened many a bright morning hour with +boat-riding, fishing, gathering wild-flowers, and such other amusements +as this delightful place afforded. On one of these fishing excursions +one of our party came very near falling into the treacherous waters of +the lake. + +Our favorite resorts, and it is so with all tourists, were Emerald and +Carnelian Bays. The former is a beautiful, land-locked arm of the lake, +walled in by rugged and towering cliffs. The latter is a long, gravelly +beach, where by the hour we have searched for carnelian stones, of which +some of the purest quality are found. + +The mountains and canons are most delightful points of interest as +places of observation and rest, and often charm by the echoes they +throw back. We were given to song; and many a time summering here, +and travelling over the lake, we united in singing the "Evergreen +Mountains of Life" and "A Thousand Years," our favorite lake airs; +the former suggested, no doubt, by the towering mountains that +surrounded us. The effect is peculiarly fascinating, as the song +rings out over the waters, in the pure mountain air, and echoing +dies away, after many reverberations of "evergreen mountains of +life"--"mountains of life"--"life"--in some deep canyon. Or "a thousand +years, Columbia,"--"years, Columbia,"--"Columbia,"--the vowels of the +last becoming beautifully distinct in the echoes. + +Nearly south of the head of Lake Tahoe, a distance of perhaps a mile and +a half, is a little lake that bears the name of Fallen Leaf; and then to +the west of this some three miles is Cascade Lake, as charming a little +body of water as ever flashed back the sunlight. Of all the objects of +interest here, none of its kind is more interesting than this delightful +lake, that spreads itself out a half-mile by a mile and a half, and +that at an altitude of four or five hundred feet above Tahoe. + +Above this, from the summit of Tallac Mountain, it is positively +asserted _seventeen_ lakes, varying in size, can be seen at one glance +nestled away like a cluster of diamonds in the bosom of the Sierras. All +these lakes abound with the finest of trout, and are surrounded by the +best of game. + +On the east side of Tahoe are Cave Rock and Shakespeare Rock. The former +is a bald precipitous peak, that presses its perpendicular side almost +to the water's edge, leaving just room enough for the road of the old +overland stage-coach. Under this rock is a cave of small pretensions, +but with the wild scenery, the bald, dizzy height of the cliff, and the +fine view of the lake, it is one of the many frequented places. + +Shakespeare Rock stands back perhaps full half a mile from the landing +at Pray's Bay, or Glenbrook. It is a perpendicular cliff of well on +towards a thousand feet above the waters of the lake. It has its name +from a well-defined portrait of a man, moss-formed or wind-chiselled, +doubtless, that is seen plainly several hundred feet up the rugged side. +It is said to look very much like the old bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. +But of this we cannot say; we never saw him. + +It was on one of Nature's brightest days that our trio, lunch-armed, +toiled up its rugged side, the only accessible point, and flung our +handkerchief banners to the breeze from the improvised flag-staff, while +we grew enraptured at the rich perspective from the dizzy height. It +seemed almost like being on "cloud's rest" as some cloud's shadow fell +upon us while there. + +Below us lay the bustling, thriving village of Glenbrook, having, +perhaps, well on towards a thousand souls as the number of its +inhabitants; increased by tourists, and, of course, largely diminished +in the winter months, when business here "shuts down." The temperature, +however, is generally fine from the last of April to the first of +November, or even later. It is not unpleasant now, as I write,--the +middle day of January,--to be out boat-riding or rambling by the shore. + +This is the outlet of the entire lake and its surroundings; an immense +traffic in lumber, etc., is carried on. Five saw-mills give life +and activity to the place, as they cut nearly three hundred thousand +feet per day, or more than fifty millions during the business months +of the year. A hotel, store, post-office, with daily mail, and +telegraph-office, add to the convenience of the place. There are six +steamers on the lake that run for pleasure-parties and traffic. + +From the lake one of the most unique railroads ever built runs to the +summit, a distance of nine miles by the route travelled, although the +distance by an air line is but three, while the elevation that it gains +is eight hundred and fifty feet. It climbs the mountain by zigzag +movements, like a letter Z, the engine sometimes hauling its burden, and +sometimes pushing the train. More than a quarter of a million of dollars +were required to build and stock this novel short line. It is a rare +evidence of engineering skill, and certainly is a good illustration of +Western enterprise. It lacks at least a dozen miles of connecting with +any other railroad point, and its engines, rolling-stock, etc., had to +be hauled up the mountain eight thousand feet high. + + [To this description of the liquid marvel of California we add + the author's account of one of its land marvels, a grove of the + "big trees," the vegetable giants of the world.] + +The Big Trees, as they are technically called, are of a light, bright +cinnamon color, and have a diameter at the ground of from twenty-five to +forty feet, a height of from three hundred to four hundred and fifty +feet, and a bark that will average one foot and a half in thickness +where it has not been molested. I have seen blocks of bark that would +measure thirty-two inches in thickness, and I have no doubt but some +trees have bark that would average nearly three feet. The texture is +loose and spongy, and when cut transversely it is often worked into +pincushions and such like toys. The wood is light as the cedar, but is +susceptible of a very fine polish. I had a cane made from a piece that I +bought of the guide, and I found it would polish equal to mahogany. The +Mariposa grove is a State park, together with Yosemite Valley, given by +the United States government. + +This grove, "together with the Yosemite Valley with its branches and +spurs, an estimated length of fifteen miles, and in average width one +mile back from the edge of the precipice on each side of the valley, +with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the State shall accept this +grant on the express condition that the premises shall be held for +public use and recreation, and shall be inalienable for all time." So it +is absolutely impossible to get a bit of bark or piece of wood except +from the guide, who is allowed to gather them from the outskirts of the +grove from a tree that has fallen or one that stands outside of the +prescribed limits. + +There has but one fallen, however, since their discovery, and that was +felled by men's hands. It was done by immense augers. It took five men +twenty-two days to fell the tree, equal to the services of one man for +_one hundred and ten days_. Think of that, nearly four months' work, not +counting any time lost by Sundays, or rainy days, or sickness, to fell +one tree! That tree would have yielded more than a thousand cords of +four-foot wood and a hundred cords of bark, more than eleven hundred +cords altogether. On the stump of this tree there is a house--"whose +foundation is sure"--thirty feet in diameter. This house contains room +enough in square feet, if it were the right shape, for a parlor twelve +by sixteen, a dining-room ten by twelve, a kitchen ten by twelve, two +bedrooms ten feet square each, a pantry four by eight feet, two +clothes-presses one and a half feet deep and four feet wide, and still +have a little to spare. + +The foliage of these trees resembles the cedar somewhat. They bear a +cone not more than two inches in length, and a black pitch bitter as +gall. The forests at present have a gloomy appearance, as some time in +the past, no one knows when, the Indians, the better to facilitate their +hunting, burned off the chaparral and rubbish, and, as a matter of +course, disfigured the trees by burning off nearly all the bark. + +The first sight of these monarchs is one of sore disappointment. For you +have travelled many miles where the trees are all large, and here, +surrounded as they are by immense pines, their magnitude is not +appreciated. But their greatness grows very rapidly upon you, so that if +there was at first disappointment, there is now a greater awe. Our first +view of interest was the Fallen Monarch, a ponderous old trunk stretched +out upon the ground for more than two hundred feet, upon which a stage +and four horses could be driven with ease. We had to go a hundred feet +towards the top to climb upon the trunk. The diameter of this tree, +without bark, at the base is twenty-two feet; one hundred feet from the +root it is twelve feet. + +How long this monarch has been sleeping no one pretends to know. The +guide says it is no more decayed now, to all appearances, than it was +when first discovered. The tree of greatest interest is the Grizzly +Giant, which has an altitude of more than three hundred feet. The first +thing we did to try its magnitude was to surround it on horseback, +passing around in single file, the head of one horse to the tail of +another. It called into requisition twenty-five horses out of the +twenty-eight in our party to complete the measurement. This is not +considered strictly correct, mathematically speaking, but it indicates +the size of the tree by _horse measurement_. + +I had prepared myself with a good-sized string, and, with the help of +a friend, made close calculation four feet from the ground, and found +it to be ninety-three feet, giving a diameter of thirty-one feet. This +tree has a limb one hundred feet from the ground that is six feet in +diameter. These trees stand around us in quiet grandeur, but to write +of one is to write of many, hence the reader must not be wearied with +a notice of each. Pluto's Chimney is a hollow tree, standing upright, +into which several of us rode on horseback. Yonder is another that had +fallen in some past age, and sixty feet or more of it had burned from +the root upward, and then towards the top had burned in two, leaving a +barrel-shaped or hollow part of the trunk some fifty feet in length. +Through this we all rode without any inconvenience. I have understood +that several have ridden abreast through it, which I do not think +improbable. + +This completed our tour among these forest giants. There are two +groves--and, properly speaking, but two--of these _Sequoia gigantea_, +the Mariposa and Calaveras groves. The first is about twenty miles south +of Yosemite Valley, perhaps a little more, while the latter is some +fifty miles northwest of the valley. Thus it will be seen that they are +not, as many suppose, in the great Yosemite Valley. + +The big trees of California, not of this species, however, are not +confined to these two groves. Many of the noted redwood species +(_Sequoia sempervirens_) used to grow back of Santa Cruz, many of which +are standing yet that were very great in size. We once upon a time, with +five others, rode into one of these during a storm. The butt was hollow, +and large enough to hold at least twelve men on horseback, and was not +less than two hundred and fifty feet in height. + + + + +THE CHINESE QUARTER IN SAN FRANCISCO. + +HELEN HUNT JACKSON. + + [We need not tell who Helen Hunt Jackson is. She is well known + to American readers both of verse and prose for her excellent + ability in both these fields of literature. Born in 1831, at + Amherst, Massachusetts, the daughter of Professor N. W. Fiske, + she married first Mr. Hunt, of the United States Engineer + Corps, and after his death a Mr. Jackson. She died in 1885. + From her work entitled "Bits of Travel at Home," a series of + racy sketches of experience east and west, we extract her + narrative of the odd and amusing things she saw in the Chinese + quarter of San Francisco.] + + +Sing, Wo & Co. keep one of the most picturesque shops on Jackson Street. +It is neither grocer's, nor butcher's, nor fishmonger's, nor druggist's; +but a little of all four. It is like most of the shops on Jackson +Street, part cellar, part cellar-stairs, part sidewalk, and part back +bedroom. On the sidewalk are platters of innumerable sorts of little +fishes,--little silvery fishes; little yellow fishes, with whiskers; +little snaky fishes; round flat fishes; little slices of big +fishes,--never too much or too many of any kind. Sparing and thrifty +dealers, as well as sparing and thrifty consumers, are the Celestials. +Round tubs of sprouted beans; platters of square cakes of something +whose consistency was like Dutch cheese, whose color was vivid yellow, +like baker's gingerbread, and whose tops were stamped with mysterious +letters; long roots, as long as the longest parsnips, but glistening +white, like polished turnips; cherries, tied up in stingy little bunches +of ten or twelve, and swung in all the nooks; small bunches of all +conceivable green things, from celery down to timothy grass, tied tight +and wedged into corners, or swung overhead; dried herbs, in dim +recesses; pressed chickens, on shelves (those were the most remarkable +things. They were semi-transparent, thin, skinny, and yellow, and looked +almost more like huge, flattened grasshoppers than like chickens; but +chickens they were, and no mistake),--all these were on the trays, on +the sidewalk, and on the cellar-stairs. + +In the back bedroom were Mrs. Sing and Mrs. Wo, with several little +Sings and Wos. It was too dark to see what they were doing; for the only +light came from the open front of the shop, which seemed to run back +like a cave in a hill. On shelves on the sides were teacups and teapots, +and plates of fantastic shapes and gay colors. Sing and Wo were most +courteous; but their interest centred entirely on sales; and I could +learn but one fact from them in regard to any of their goods. It was +either "Muchee good. Englis man muchee like," or else, "China man like; +Englis man no like." Why should I wish to know anything further than +that some articles would be agreeable to "Englis man's" palate, and +others would not? This must be enough to regulate my purchases. But I +shall always wish I knew how those chickens were fattened and what the +vivid yellow cakes were made of. + + [Next our traveller looks into the shop of Ty Wing & Co., where + nothing appears but darkness, dust and cobwebs, and two Chinese + women eating something unknown with chopsticks; that of Chick + Kee, a druggist, with feathers and banners without and nothing + but old dried roots visible within; and of Tuck Wo, a + restaurant-keeper, where nothing is visible that she has the + courage to taste.] + +Moo, On & Co. come next. Their shop is full, crowded full,--bags, +bundles, casks, shelves, piles, bunches of utterly nondescript articles. +It sounds like an absurd exaggeration, but it is literally true, that +the only articles in his shop which I ever saw before are bottles. There +are a few of those; but the purpose, use, or meaning of every other +article is utterly unknown to me. There are things that look like games, +like toys, like lamps, like idols, like utensils of lost trades, like +relics of lost tribes, like--well, like a pawnbroker's stock, just +brought from some other world. That comes nearest to it. + +Moo, On & Co. have apparently gone back for more. Nobody is in the +shop; the door is wide open. I wait and wait, hoping that some one +will come along who can speak English, and of whom I may ask what this +extraordinary show means. Timidly I touch a fluttering bit, which hangs +outside. It is not paper; it is not cloth; it is not woollen, silk, nor +straw; it is not leather; it is not cobweb; it is not alive; it is not +dead; it crisps and curls at my touch; it waves backward, though no air +blows it. A sort of horror seizes me. It may be a piece of an ancestor +of Moo's doing ghostly duty at his shop door. I hasten on and half fancy +that it is behind me, as I halt before Dr. Li Po Tai's door. His +promises to cure, diplomas, and so forth, are printed in gay-colored +strips of labels on each side. Six bright balloons swing overhead; and +peacocks' feathers are stuck into the balloons. I have heard that Dr. Li +Po Tai is a learned man, and works cures. His balloons are certainly +very brilliant.... + +Then comes a corner stand, with glass cases of candy. Almond candy, with +grains of rice thick on the top; little bowls of pickles, pears, and +peppers; platters of odd-shaped nuts; and beans baked black as coffee. +As I stand looking curiously at these, a well-dressed Chinaman pauses +before me, and making a gesture with his hand towards the stand, says, +"All muchee good. Buy eat. Muchee good." Hung Wung, the proprietor, is +kindled to hospitality by this, and repeats the words, "Yaas, muchee +good. Take, eat," offering me, with the word, the bowl of peppers. + +Next comes a very gay restaurant, the best in the empire. Hang Fee, Low +& Co. keep it, and foreigners go there to drink tea. There is a green +railed balcony across the front, swinging full of high-colored lanterns, +round and square; tablets with Chinese letters on bright grounds are set +in panels on the walls; a huge rhinoceros stands in the centre of the +railing: a tree grows out of the rhinoceros's back, and an India rubber +man sits at the foot of the tree. China figures and green bushes in +flower-pots are ranged all along the railing. Nowhere except in the +Chinese Empire can there be seen such another gaudy, grotesque house +front. We make an appointment on the spot to take some of Hang Fee's +tea, on our way to the Chinese Theatre, the next evening, and then we +hurry home.... + +After all, we did not take tea at Hang Fee's on our way to the theatre. +There was not time. As it was, we were late; and when we entered the +orchestra had begun to play. Orchestra! It is necessary to use that +name, I suppose, in speaking of a body of men with instruments, who are +seated on a stage, furnishing what is called music for a theatrical +performance. But it is a term calculated to mislead in this instance. +Fancy one frog-pond, one Sunday-school with pumpkin whistles, one +militia training, and two gongs for supper on a Fall River boat, all at +once, and you will have some faint idea of the indescribable noise which +saluted our ears on entering that theatre. To say that we were deafened +is nothing. The hideous hubbub of din seemed to overlap and transcend +all laws and spheres of sound. It was so loud we could not see; it was +so loud we could not breathe; it was so loud there did not seem to be +any room to sit down! The theatre was small and low and dark. The pit +and greater part of the gallery were filled with Chinamen, all smoking. +One corner of the gallery was set aside for women. That was full, also, +with Chinese women. Every woman's hair was dressed in the manner I have +described ["drawn back from her forehead, twisted tight from the nape of +the neck to the crown of the head, stiffened with glue, glistening with +oil, and made into four huge double wings, which stood out beyond her +ears on either side. It looked a little like two gigantic black satin +bats, pinned to the back of her head, or still more like a windmill gone +into mourning."] The bat-like flaps projected so far on each side of +each head that each woman seemed almost to be joined to her neighbors by +a cartilaginous band; and, as they sat almost motionless, this effect +was heightened. + +The stage had no pretence of secrecy. It was hung with gay banners and +mysterious labels. Tall plumes of peacock's feathers in the corners and +some irregularly placed chairs were all the furniture. The orchestra sat +in chairs at the back of the stage. Some of them smoked in the +intervals, some drank tea. A little boy who drummed went out when he +felt like it; and the fellow with the biggest gong had evidently no plan +of operations at all except to gong as long as his arms could bear it, +then rest a minute, then gong again. + +"Oh, well," said we, as we wedged and squeezed through the narrow +passage-way which led to our box, "it will only last a few minutes. We +shall not entirely lose our hearing." Fatal delusion. It never stopped. +The actors came out; the play began; the play went on; still the +hideous hubbub of din continued, and was made unspeakably more hideous +by the voices of the actors, which were raised to the shrillest falsetto +to surmount the noise, and which sounded like nothing in nature except +the voices of frantic cats.... + +At first, in spite of the deafening loudness of the din, it is ludicrous +beyond conception. To see the superbly dressed Chinese creatures,--every +one of them as perfectly and exquisitely dressed as the finest figures +on their satin fans or rice-paper pictures, and looking exactly like +them,--to see these creatures strutting and sailing and sweeping and +bowing and bending, beating their breasts and tearing their beards, +gesticulating and rushing about in an utterly incomprehensible play, +with caterwauling screams issuing from their mouths, is for a few +minutes so droll that you laugh till tears run, and think you will go to +the Chinese Theatre every night as long as you stay in San Francisco. I +said so to the friend who had politely gone with me. He had been to the +performance before. He smiled pityingly, and yawned behind his hand. At +the end of half an hour, I whispered, "Twice a week will do." In fifteen +minutes more, I said, "I think we will go out now. I can't endure this +racket another minute. But, nevertheless, I shall come once more, with +an interpreter. I must and will know what all this mummery means." + +The friend smiled again incredulously. But we did go again, with an +interpreter; and the drollest thing of all was to find out how very +little all the caterwauling and rushing and bending and bawling and +sweeping and strutting really meant. The difficulty of getting an +interpreter was another interesting feature in the occasion. A lady, who +had formerly been a missionary in China, had promised to go with us; +and, as even she was not sure of being able to understand Chinese +caterwauled, she proposed to take one of the boys from the missionary +school, to interpret to her before she interpreted to us. So we drove to +the school. Mrs. ---- went in. The time seemed very long that we waited. +At last she came back, looking both amused and vexed, to report that not +one of those intelligent Christian Chinese would leave his studies that +evening to go to the theatre. + +"I suppose it is an old story to them," said I. + +"Not at all," said she. "On the contrary, hardly a boy there has been +inside the theatre. But they cannot bear to lose a minute from their +lessons. Mr. Loomis really urged some of them; but it was of no use." + +In a grocery store on Kearny Street, however, we found a clever young +man, less absorbed in learning; and he went with us as interpreter. +Again the same hideous din; the same clouds of smoke; the same hubbub of +caterwauling. But the _dramatis personae_ were few. Luckily for us, our +first lesson in the Chinese drama was to be a simple one. And here I +pause, considering whether my account of the play will be believed. This +is the traveller's great perplexity. The incredible things are always +the only things worth telling; but is it best to tell them? + +The actors in this play were three,--a lady of rank, her son, and her +man cook. The play opened with a soliloquy by the lady. She is sitting +alone, sewing. Her husband has gone to America; he did not bid her +farewell. Her only son is at school. She is sad and lonely. She weeps. + +Enter boy. He asks if dinner is ready. + +Enter cook. Cook says it is not time. Boy says he wants dinner. Cook +says he shall not have it. This takes fifteen minutes. + +Mother examines boy on his lessons. Boy does not know them; tries to +peep. Mother reproves; makes boy kneel; prepares to whip; whips. Mother +weeps; boy catches flies on the floor; bites her finger. + +Enter cook to see what the noise means. Cook takes boy to task. Boy +stops his ears. Cook bawls. Cook kneels to lady; reproves her also; +tells her she must keep her own temper, if she would train her boy. + +Lady sulks, naturally. Boy slips behind and cuts her work out of her +embroidery frame. Cook attacks boy. Cook sings a lament, and goes out to +attend to dinner; but returns in frantic distress. During his absence +everything has boiled over; everything has been burned to a crisp. +Dinner is ruined. Cook now reconciles mother and son; drags son to his +knees; makes him repeat words of supplication. While he does this cook +turns his back to the audience, takes off his beard carefully, lays it +on the floor, while he drinks a cupful of tea. + +This is all, literally all. It took an hour and a half. The audience +listened with intensest interest. The gesticulations, the expressions of +face, the tones of the actors, all conveyed the idea of the deepest +tragedy. Except for our interpreter, I should have taken the cook for a +soothsayer, priest, a highwayman and murderer, alternately. I should +have supposed that all the dangers, hopes, fears, delights possible in +the lives of three human beings were going on on that stage. Now we saw +how very far-fetched and preposterous had probably been our theories of +the play we had seen before, we having constructed a most brilliant plot +from our interpretation of the pantomime. + +After this domestic drama came a fierce spectacular play, too absurd to +be described, in which nations went to war because a king's monkey had +been killed. And the kings and their armies marched in at one door and +out at the other, sat on gilt thrones, fought with gilt swords, tumbled +each other head over heels with as much vigor and just as much art as +small boys play the battle of Bunker Hill with the nursery chairs on a +rainy day. But the dresses of these warlike monarchs were gorgeous and +fantastic beyond description. Long, gay-colored robes, blazoned and +blazing with gold and silver embroidery; small flags, two on each side, +stuck in at their shoulders, and projecting behind; helmets, square +breastplates of shining stones, and such decorations with feathers as +pass belief. Several of them had behind each ear a long, slender +bird-of-Paradise feather. These feathers reached out at least three feet +behind, and curved and swayed with each step the man took. When three or +four of these were on the stage together, marching and countermarching, +wrestling, fighting, and tumbling, why these tail feathers did not +break, did not become entangled with each other, no mortal can divine. +Others had huge wings of silver filigree-work behind their ears. These +also swayed and flapped at each step. + +Sometimes there would be forty or fifty of these nondescript creatures +on the stage at once, running, gesticulating, attacking, retreating, +howling, bowing, bending, tripping each other up, stalking, strutting, +and all the while caterwauling, and all the time the drums beating, +the gongs ringing, and the stringed instruments and the castanets and +the fifes playing. It was dazzling as a gigantic kaleidoscope and +deafening as a cotton-mill. After the plays came wonderful tumbling and +somersaulting. To see such gymnastic feats performed by men in long +damask nightgowns and with wide trousers is uncommonly droll. This is +really the best thing at the Chinese Theatre,--the only thing, in fact, +which is not incomprehensibly childish. + +My last glimpse at the Chinese Empire was in Mr. Loomis's Sunday-school. +I had curiosity to see the faces of the boys who had refused our +invitation to the theatre. As soon as I entered the room I was asked to +take charge of a class. In vain I demurred and refused. + +"You surely can hear them read a chapter in the New Testament." + +It seemed inhuman as well as unchristian to refuse, for there were +several classes without teachers, many good San Franciscans having gone +into the country. There were the eager yellow faces watching for my +reply. So I sat down in a pew with three Chinese young men on my right +hand, two on my left, and four in the pew in front, all with English +and Chinese Testaments in their hands. The lesson for the day was the +fifteenth chapter of Matthew. They read slowly, but with greater +accuracy of emphasis and pronunciation than I expected. Their patience +and eagerness in trying to correct a mispronunciation were touching. At +last came the end of the chapter. + +"Now do you go on to the next chapter?" said I. + +"No. Arx-play-in," said the brightest of the boys. "You arx-play-in what +we rade to you." + +I wished the floor of that Sunday-school chapel would open and swallow +me up. To expound the fifteenth of Matthew at all; above all, to expound +it in English which those poor souls could understand! In despair I +glanced at the clock: it lacked thirty minutes of the end of school; at +the other teachers: they were all glibly responding. Guiltily I said, +"Very well. Begin and read the chapter over again, very slowly; and when +you come to any word you do not understand, tell me, and I will try to +explain it to you." + +Their countenances fell. This was not the way they had usually been +taught. But with the meekness of a down-trodden people they obeyed. It +worked even better than I had hoped. Poor souls! they probably did not +understand enough to select the words which perplexed them. They +trudged patiently through their verses again without question. But my +Charybdis was near. The sixth verse came to the brightest boy. As he +read, "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your +tradition," he paused after the word tradition. I trembled. + +"Arx-play-in trardition," he said. + +"What?" said I, feebly, to gain a second's more of time. "What word did +you say?" + +"Trardition," he persisted. "What are trardition? Arx-play-in." + +What I said I do not know. Probably I should not tell if I did. But I am +very sure that never in all my life have I found myself, and never in +all the rest of my life shall I find myself, in so utterly desperate a +dilemma as I was then, with those patient, earnest, oblique eyes fixed +on me, and the gentle Chinese voice reiterating, "What are trardition?" + + + + +MARIPOSA GROVE AND YOSEMITE VALLEY. + +CHARLES LORING BRACE. + + [Our sketches of travel in America will not be complete without + descriptive narratives relating to its great natural wonders, + of which the United States possesses more examples than any + other country on the globe. The present selection, therefore, + from Brace's "The New West, or California in 1867-68," is + devoted to a brief account of the monster trees of that State + and the scenic marvels of the Yosemite Valley.] + + +The great pleasure of the American continent will hereafter be the +journey to the Yosemite. There is no one object of nature in the world, +except Niagara, to equal it in attraction. Whenever the Pacific road +brings the two coasts within a fortnight of each other, innumerable +parties will be made up to visit it. I have been tolerably familiar, by +foot-journeys, with Switzerland, Tyrol, and Norway, and I can truly say +that no one scene in those grand regions can compare equally, in all its +combinations, with the wonderful Canyon of the Yosemite. It is a matter +of congratulation, also, to me, that I saw it before any road, or coach, +or rail-car had approached it. It ought not to be visited otherwise than +as our party journeyed to it,--on horses winding in picturesque train +over velvety trails, beneath the gigantic pines of the Sierras.... + +Among all my many travelling experiences in various countries, I do not +think I can ever forget the romance and the delicious beauty of that +first night's ride towards the Yosemite. The trail was barely wide +enough for two to ride abreast, winding under majestic pines, over +mountains, and down wide, deep dells, each step of the horses springing +elastic from soft pine-leaves. The sun soon set, and a magnificent moon +arose, giving us at one time a broad belt of light over the path, and +then leaving us to descend into a mysterious gulf of darkness, and then +casting strange shadows and half-lights through the pine-branches over +our procession of riders. As we penetrated farther into the forest we +began to wind about beneath trees such as few of us had ever seen,--the +superb sugar-pine, perhaps the most perfect tree in nature, here +starting with a diameter of from seven to twelve feet, and mounting up +with most symmetrical branches to the height say of Trinity Church spire +(two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty feet); on the ends of +its branches cones hanging a foot long. Sometimes we came forth from the +forest for a few moments, and had grand glimpses of great mountain +valleys, only partly revealed in the glorious moonlight. Most of the +party were old travellers, and were rather impervious to sensations, +but we all agreed that this was a new one, and gave a most promising +augury of the Yosemite excursion. After fourteen miles--an easy ride--we +all reached Clark's Ranch at a late hour, ready for supper and bed. + +[The next morning] we started at not too early an hour for a forest-ride +to the Trees, Mr. Clark kindly guiding us. What may be called the avenue +to these hoary monuments of antiquity lies through a gigantic forest of +sugar-pines, themselves some two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet +high; so that when you reach the mighty towers of vegetation you lose a +little the sense of their vast height. I searched curiously as we rode +through the forest for the conditions which should produce such monsters +of growth. It must be remembered that the _Sequoia gigantea_ is not +found merely here, or at Calaveras and its neighborhood. There appears +to be a belt of them running along the slope of the Sierras, about four +thousand and five thousand feet above the sea-level, and as far south as +Visalia. They are so plentiful near that place as to be sawed for +lumber, though what so light a wood could be used for I can hardly +think. In the neighborhood of the latter place the Indians report a +tree, far in the forest, surpassing in grandeur anything ever seen; but +thus far no white man has ever cast eyes on it. It is a mistake, too, to +suppose the race wearing out. I saw, both here and in Calaveras, young +giant _Sequoiae_, beginning patiently their thousand years of growth with +all the vigor of their grand ancestors; some of but four hundred years, +mere youths, were growing splendidly. There are fewer young trees here +than in Calaveras, because fire or some other cause has swept among the +underbrush of all trees, and must have destroyed many of these burly +saplings. + +The Sequoia grows on mountain-slopes, where the slow wash of water, +through ages, brings down minute particles of fertilizing rocks, and +the decayed vegetation of countless centuries, with the moisture of +eternal springs, water and feed its roots. It enjoys a sun of the +tropics without a cloud for six months, and has the balmy air of the +Pacific, with incessant and gentle moisture, and a warm covering of snow +for its winter. Beneath its roots, the ground never freezes. As has been +well said, "It has nothing to do but grow;" and so with all the +favorable conditions that nature can offer--air and sun and moisture--it +pumps up its food from the everlasting hills, and builds up its slow, +vegetable-like substance during century after century into a gigantic, +symmetrical, and venerable pile, while nations begin and pass away +beneath its shadow. + +Think of lying under a tree beneath which the contemporary of Attila or +Constantine might have rested, and which shall defy the storm, perhaps, +when the present political divisions of the world are utterly passed +away, and the names of Washington and Lincoln are among the heroes of a +vague past. + +But how to give an impression of its size! If my readers will imagine a +Sequoia placed beside Trinity Church, he must conceive it filling up one +of our largest dwelling-houses, say a diameter of thirty feet, with a +circumference of ninety feet; the bark of this gigantic trunk will be +light, porous, and reddish in color, with many scars upon it of fire +(its great enemy); then, perhaps, at the height of the Trinity belfry +(say one hundred feet), two opposing huge branches will protrude, it may +be, themselves, of the size of large trees (say eight feet in diameter); +these will be twisted and much broken; above them will come forth other +heavy branches, which show the marks and blows of the storms of a +thousand years or more, for the giant, so far above his fellows, meets a +continual battering from the gales of the mountains. + +There is no symmetry in his top, or delicacy and grace in his outline; +he has battled and struggled with the storm for too many centuries to +preserve an artistic appearance. He looks the giant of the forest, +broad-rooted and strong-limbed, rough and weather-beaten, but defying +snow and frost and hurricane for thousands of years, and still +sheltering bird and beast and cattle beneath his grand shadow.... + +We visited one big tree in Calaveras which had been blown over two years +before. The enormous weight which each tree carries makes it more +difficult to bear the gales, as it overtops the forest. Perhaps any +ordinary wood, such as oak or maple, would increase the specific +gravity, so that at three hundred feet high the leverage on the roots +would be too great to bear any strain of a gale; but this wood is almost +like cork,--lighter than any wood on the Eastern coast. The fall of this +mighty tower, they say, was heard for miles around, and made the earth +tremble. Where it fell it has buried its top deep in the ground, so that +there is quite a ravine made by the blow in the earth. You strike the +trunk where it is still a large tree, and then walk upon it some two +hundred feet towards the roots. When you reach the roots you are upon a +height equal to the roof of a moderate-sized house, and a fall from the +trunk would be dangerous. You descend by a ladder. + +If I recollect rightly, there were three hundred and sixty-five trees in +this Mariposa Grove. I measured one trunk, broken off at the top, where +it was a foot in diameter, which was about two hundred and ninety feet +in length, and estimating thirty feet as the length of the part broken +off, it must have been some three hundred and twenty feet high. We +lunched near a "camp" of the Geological Survey, in the heart of the +grove, lying on our backs beneath the gigantic canopies, and feeling +like pigmies at the feet of these giants. The younger trees were often +wreathed with a strange, yellow, hanging moss. Our ladies were deeply +interested in a remarkable flower which grew beneath the snow, a few +patches of which still remained here in June. It was a blood-red flower +of a fleshy-like substance, like the Pyrola, or "Dutchman's pipe," +growing somewhat like a garden hyacinth. Its stems were clustered, from +six to ten inches high, with long, erect scales, broader below and +gradually narrower, and finally becoming bracts. The flowers were +numerous, and occupied the upper half of the stem. It is the _Sarcodes +sanguinea_. + + [Leaving the Big Tree grove, the travellers made a farther ride + of twenty-five miles through the Sierras to the Yosemite, the + first view of which impressed them deeply.] + +No aspect of nature I have ever looked upon, no sight of the desolate +ocean, heaving and lashing in mighty surges beneath wintry storm, or +sudden view of Alpine snow-peaks through rifts of black thunder-clouds, +or glimpses of Norwegian coast-glaciers through the lulls of an Arctic +gale, or even Niagara itself, was so full of the inspiration of awe as +this first opening view of the Yosemite Canyon. All other scenes of +grandeur and beauty must fade away in my memory when this vision is +forgotten. Before the mighty powers which had shaped this tremendous +gorge, and in presence of this scene of unspeakable and indescribable +beauty and majesty, man and his works seemed to sink away to +nothingness.... I almost felt as if I had known nothing of the canyon +before, so surprising were the effects of coloring and shadow. It must +be remembered we had struck the gorge on one of its lateral walls, say +about four miles from its western end. There is no approach to it from +below up the stream. As we lay on the edge of the cliff we gazed up a +narrow green valley perfectly flat, from a mile to half a mile wide, +and winding, some six miles above, between enormous cliffs and +precipices, a small, bright, sparkling stream in the middle, fringed +with green grass or forest-trees. The wall, over the edge of which we +were looking, was nearly three-quarters of a mile high, and far below, +the oaks and willows and poplars and pines in the green intervale looked +like little shrubs. On the other side, a short distance beyond, was the +grand bluff of El Capitan, a sheer precipice of nearly four thousand +feet, its light granite pile, in the evening light, the most majestic +cliff that human eye has looked upon, beyond were other bluffs and +precipices, pearly gray and purplish-white, with green fringes below, +and dark archways or fantastic figures traced by shadows on their +surface. There were buttresses, as of gigantic cathedrals, and archways +such as might support hills of granite, and domes where a mountain was +the substructure, and half domes, and peaks whose regular succession has +given them the name of "Brothers,"--all varying in color and shadow, +incessantly, with the receding light; some with the delicious cool gray +of the rock color, some white, with a reddish shade; others faint +purple; others resplendent in pink and brilliant purple; while over +their edges, giving a joyous life to the scene, rushed sparkling silver +streams, in innumerable waterfalls, dashing into the green valley +below.... But the scene was changing. Over the valley, the heavy shadow +of El Capitan continually increased its gigantic breadth of shade; +beyond him the "Arches," which, to be seen at that distance, must be a +thousand feet in height, grew each instant more strongly marked, but +still farther beyond to the east the North Dome and the Half Dome were +golden and purple in the evening light, and yet beyond the still white +peaks of the Sierras towered above in the pale blue. + +On our side of the vast gorge the foot of the various precipices and +cliffs was covered with detritus, making, near the bottom, a +considerable slope, on which grew many evergreen trees. + +On the other side there was one line of massive rock, which fell +apparently plumb, without a break or curve, for nearly four thousand +feet, and at its base, so hard was the material, there seemed no recent +detritus at all. One could evidently touch the very bottom of the +immense fall of rock.... + +The form of the canyon is unique, nothing in Europe resembling it: the +immense vertical walls rising so abruptly from the green vale; the +peaks, too, which surround it, being original, even in the Sierras; the +immense, inaccessible, concentric masses of granite,--domes, or +half-domes, as if melted in some gigantic mould, and then, when cooled, +left standing in the air. + +One of the grandest and most beautiful objects in the valley was +directly opposite our hotel, and its music never ceased, day or +night,--the Yosemite Fall. The stream which bears this name heads about +ten miles away, and then flows down, almost directly over the mighty +precipice, into the valley below,--a depth of two thousand five hundred +and fifty feet. At this time it is about thirty-five feet wide by two or +three deep. The fall has almost the appearance of one grand shoot of +water, but it has, in reality, three divisions: the first is a descent +of fifteen hundred feet on a ledge (as it seems), though it is, in fact, +a shelf of rock, a third of a mile broad; then follow a series of +cascades for six hundred and twenty-five feet, and a final leap of four +hundred. There is water enough now to give a bright, foaming, grand +sweep of the whole cataract. It is certainly one of the most beautiful +objects the human eye can ever gaze upon! We never wearied of riding +out over the green meadows and gay, wild flowers to get some new aspect +of it. + +The only fall to compare it with, that I have ever seen, is the Voering +Foss, in Norway. This is a fall of nine hundred and fifty feet, but the +water is so scanty that it is all resolved into wreaths of mist before +it reaches the bottom; and it makes but little impression on the mind, +compared with the Yosemite Fall. It is, moreover, confined in a narrow, +dark gorge, and must be seen usually from above. In seeing the +Californian fall, I did not even think of the Norwegian. + +The amount of water, at this season, adds immensely to the cheerfulness +and life of the valley; but it also occasioned us a great deal of +trouble in getting round. We were mired several times, and twice one of +our ladies was thrown on the soft greensward. + +But the scampering gallops through the groves under these grand scenes, +and the quiet amblings amid such beauty and sublimity, were pleasures +which nothing marred. In our rides down the canyon, we were struck by the +grand mass of the Sentinel Dome, four thousand one hundred and fifty +feet above the valley, and said to give the finest point of view in the +whole region round; the valley itself, it must be remembered, being over +four thousand feet above the sea-level. Then three-quarters of a mile +beyond is the majestic buttress of the Sentinel Rock, three thousand +feet high, of which a thousand feet is a smooth obelisk; opposite to +this are the Three Brothers, the highest three thousand eight hundred +and thirty feet, and each regularly lower than the next. + +[Illustration: RED WOOD TREE, CALIFORNIA] + +Then comes the Cathedral Rock, two thousand six hundred and sixty feet, +with two perfect spires, the most picturesque object in the valley; then +the exquisite Pohono, or Bridal Veil, a flashing fall of a thousand feet +swaying like a silvery plume in the mountain breezes, and the grand +feature of the gorge, of which I have so often spoken, El Capitan, three +thousand six hundred feet. + +To the east of the hotel, about two miles above the falls, the valley +ends and divides into three canons, each containing scenery as +remarkable as those of the main gorge. The northwest canyon is the Tinaya +Fork; here we have the Half Dome, a majestic inaccessible crest of +concentric granite, four thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven feet +above the valley, with a vertical face where the half sphere split off +of two thousand feet in height; the North Dome, a rounded mass, three +thousand five hundred and sixty-eight feet, and easy to ascend from the +north. In this fork is the exquisite Tisayic Lake, on which the morning +reflections are so beautifully given. + +The middle canyon, that of the Merced River, is the most important +one of the three. No ravine scenery in Europe equals this wild and +extraordinary gorge. The river, which at this season has a tremendous +body of water, descends through a wild ravine of two miles, nineteen +hundred and eighty feet. The path winds along over a series of wild +falls and rapids, till a cloud and gale of mist and wet cover it, +through which we reach a dry place at the foot of a magnificent fall, +four hundred and seventy-five feet high,--the Vernal. Then ladders are +ascended up the face of the cliff, and we rest on the dry, sunny ledge +over the boiling and whirling cataract. Still another scramble for a +mile, and we find ourselves blinded, gasping, in the breath of the +furious cataract above. We are all clad in India-rubber coats (furnished +by a guide), and drip with water, and work up, inch by inch, stooping, +as against a violent current. The gale takes away our breaths, and we +have every now and then to catch a breath; there is nothing visible +ahead but clouds of mist and driving swirls of rain, with a roar +filling the air, which prevents all voices from being heard. We are +helping the ladies on with the utmost difficulty, but at last all +reluctantly give out and turn back; but I cannot bear to give up the +view; and after groping in the furious storm and mist, I at length find +a side path through the chaparral, and soon reach a dry ledge beneath +the superb Nevada Fall,--a majestic sweep of thundering water, six +hundred and thirty-nine feet in height, more grand than any waterfall in +the valley, because of the volume of water. There is a peculiar twist in +the upper portion of it, which adds to its picturesque effect. On the +other side rises a most remarkable peak of granite, solitary and +inaccessible,--Mount Broderick, some two thousand feet. The scene as I +stood there alone beneath this sublime sweep of waters, and amid those +mighty mountain-cliffs, can never be forgotten. + +The South Fork I did not visit, but the photographs show that it +possesses scenery as romantic as the other branches of the canyon. It is +interesting to notice that these enormous waterfalls in the Merced Canyon +have scarcely an indentation on this most hard rock,--a fact probably +indicating that they have not existed a great length of time. The +comparative absence of detritus in the upper part of the main valley +would seem to show the action of water and ice, pressing the debris into +the lower portion, where more of it is found. There are, too (as was +discovered by Mr. King), something which may be called lateral moraines, +and perhaps a terminal moraine in the middle of the canyon, so that it +seems not improbable, though there is no absolute evidence, that in a +comparatively recent period glaciers existed in the upper part, and a +lake in the body of the Yosemite Canyon, the descent of the whole valley, +it must be remembered, being only fifty feet during some eight miles. + + + + +A SPORTSMAN'S EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO. + +SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE. + + [Major Price, whose hunting adventures seem to have extended + from Terra del Fuego to the northern boundary of the United + States, gives us, in his "Sport and Travel; or, The Two + Americas," a record full of incident and observation. From his + greatly varied hunting experience we select a description of + the pursuit of game in the vicinity of Acupulco, Mexico, which + is of interest as showing the conditions of animal and + vegetable life in that region.] + + +The day after our arrival, H---- and myself, getting mules and a guide, +started for Pira de la Questa, a small Indian village about twelve miles +from Acupulco, and situated near the extremity of a large lagoon, some +thirty miles in circumference, which we were informed was full of wild +fowl. Over many a rough road and in many lands have I ridden, but never +did I travel a highway like unto this. The path ran over the mountains +through a thick forest, and more resembled the bed of a water-course +than an actually connected route. Nothing but mules, whose cat-like +propensities enable them to overcome apparently insurmountable +difficulties, could possibly have done the journey. In places the path +was so narrow that two of these animals were unable to pass abreast, so +that one would be obliged to go back into a convenient corner, or +scramble up a bank, to permit the other to go by. + +The forest was dense, but, as it was just prior to the rains, almost +leafless, everything being burned and parched up except in the valleys +and bottoms of ravines, where running water rendered the vegetation +luxuriant and flourishing. This absence of foliage, though detracting +considerably from the beauty of the forest, permitted us to view all +the better its feathered denizens, and in few tropical countries have I +seen such lovely birds, or in such numbers as out here. To classify or +name them would require a man to be a perambulating encyclopaedia of +natural history; but among them all I was most struck with the number of +specimens of the woodpecker class, several of which were very beautiful. +One in particular with a blood-red topknot, which glittered vividly in +the sun, I envied much for my fishing-book, and regretted the guide had +my gun in his possession nearly a mile behind. + +As the sun was setting we entered the village, which consisted of a few +mud huts with sideless roofs, and halting before one of them, was +informed by the guide that it was to be our quarters for the night. It +was simply a roof of palm-leaves over a mud floor, there being no kind +of wall or even screen, and it formed the universal dormitory of men, +women, and children, pigs and poultry, at the principal hotel--the +Claridge's, in fact--of Pira la Questa. Leaving the proprietress and her +numerous progeny engaged in hunting down an active-looking fowl for our +evening repast, we rode to the lagoon, and giving the guide our mules +to hold, shot a few of the curious-looking aquatic birds, which he +pronounced to be "bueno," or good for eating, that were feeding round +the banks. It was rapidly getting dark, and seeing at a distance some +birds that I took to be duck, I noiselessly crept down on them. To do so +I had to pass over a small spot of white sand, concealed, until I was on +it, by a clump of bushes. + +While still silently watching the birds I saw something move a little to +my right, and on turning round discovered a huge alligator, whom I had +almost cut off from the lake. The bushes had hidden us until absolutely +face to face, and he came by me with his teeth grinning and tail half +cocked, in the most unamiable frame of mind I ever saw in one of his +tribe. Without intending it, I had very nearly cut him off from his +native element; and though naturally a cowardly brute, feeling himself +to a certain degree cornered, he had evidently made up his mind to +fight. Not being prepared, with only small shot in my gun, for a duel +with the reptile, I stopped short and gave him right of way, and, as he +cleared me at about two yards, let him have both barrels behind the +shoulder to expedite his movements, and had the satisfaction of seeing +him give a jump into the water that would have done credit to a +performer for the Grand National. + +They are cowardly brutes, and though I have been frequently in parts of +the world they inhabit, I have never yet heard of an instance of a man +being attacked by one on land. In the water it is different. A boy had, +while bathing, been taken down some months since close to this very +spot; and from what I saw of the lagoon next morning, I would not have +ventured a swim there for untold gold. Had I been a little quicker, and +unintentionally barred this fellow's way to the lake, I am quite certain +he would have attacked me, as he must have passed somehow. These +creatures never take to the jungle, and, like a rat driven into a +corner, he would have been obliged to fight. + +On returning to the village we found our dinner nearly ready; bread and +liquor we had brought with us, but the hunted fowl, new-laid eggs, and +hot tortillas formed no bad meal for travellers sharp set by a mountain +ride. After feeding, we visited some of the principal houses in the +village, chaffed some of the good-humored and pretty little Indian +girls, and arranged about a canoe for the following morning. We then +slung our grass hammocks among the miscellaneous company and wooed the +drowsy god of slumber, our guide slinging his hammock up between us, +and sleeping with his machete buckled around him, ready for attack or +defence at a moment's notice. + +The machete is the invariable companion of the poorer and middle classes +of Mexicans, and the multiplicity of uses to which it is dedicated are +something wonderful to the uninitiated. With it he clears the tangled +paths in the forest; it helps to build his hut, to cut his firewood, and +eat his dinner; he uses it for purposes of warfare, and too frequently +also for purposes of assassination. The blade is broad, slightly curved, +a little shorter than an infantry officer's regulation sword, and about +twice as heavy. The handle is generally made of wood, the scabbard +leather, and the edge invariably as keen as a razor. Occasionally the +blades are ornamented with gold or silver, but the ordinary machete is +perfectly plain. + +Next morning we were up before daylight, and hastened to the banks of +the lagoon, where according to agreement we should have found our canoe. +None was forthcoming, however, and not until the sun broke fiercely +on our heads and our patience was completely exhausted did our guide +prevail on the man who was to have provided it to go in search of +another. After a still further considerable delay, at last he arrived, +but with a rickety conveyance that would only hold one gun besides the +paddler; and H----taking the canoe, I walked along the edge, and our +shooting commenced. + +The place was full of all kinds of odd-looking waterfowl. Geese, duck, +teal, pelicans, flamingo, and spoonbills were in hundreds, and many +kinds of waders unknown to me; in fact, such an extraordinary variety +of fresh-water birds I had never seen together before. The ducks were +particularly handsome, having bright bronze breasts, which shone like +burnished metal in the sun. Of teal I shot several varieties, many of +them with exceedingly beautiful and brilliant plumage; but I think among +the queer ones I killed there were none more beautiful in plumage than +the spoonbill; for though his singular and uncouth beak did not improve +his countenance, he had the most lovely and delicate tinge of rose-color +through his white feathers it is possible to conceive. We had him for +dinner two days afterwards, and found him excellent. + +Not knowing a quarter of the birds that got up, and many being fishy and +unfit for food, whenever one rose the guide would cry either "Bueno" or +"No bueno," as it happened to be fit or unfit for culinary purposes; and +so on for nine miles along the banks, sometimes through mud, at others +through sand, and at others through jungle or water, did I plod along, +taking whatever was termed "bueno," and occasionally peppering an +obtrusive alligator when he came anything inside twelve yards. + +The heat was intense, and, to add to the discomfort of walking, the +paths through the jungle and mangrove swamps occasionally bordered the +edges of the lake, and were so thickly crossed by cobwebs that they were +perpetually knocking off my hat, getting in my mouth and eyes, and at +times almost impeded my progress. I never saw anything like them. +Occasionally large forest-trees were entirely covered from top to +bottom, and so thickly shrouded that not a leaf or twig could be seen +through its unnatural-looking winding-sheet. The lagoon seemed full of +fish, which were jumping in shoals all over it; but not once during the +day did we see a single bird settle on its surface; and from the number +of alligators swimming about, I think they showed their wisdom. + +It was capital sport, but precious hard work also, and I was just about +"played out," when we reached a "ranche," where, after a pull of cold +water that must have somewhat alarmed my constitution, I tumbled into a +grass hammock, uncommonly glad to get out of the burning sun. + +A pleasant-featured young Mexican woman, with a dark-eyed, good-looking +sister, soon despatched between them one of the many chickens running +about the house; and while the _cazuela_ was preparing they very +good-naturedly washed out my shirt, lending me, _ad interim_, some +embroidered garment of their own. The rest of my clothes were hung up to +dry, every stitch on me being thoroughly saturated. H---- and the canoe +soon after arrived, and how we did enjoy the homely but excellent fare +our hostess put before us! Then came pipes and a siesta, and a couple of +hours' rest saw us fit to return. H---- had got enough of it, and, +borrowing a horse, rode back to the village. I returned in the canoe, +and got a good many shots _en route_. Our bag was a mixed one, and +consisted of the birds I have already mentioned, with several others +whose names we did not know, and four rabbits. Wild duck and teal +predominated, and the guides could hardly stagger from the canoe to the +houses with our united bag. + +The sun was fast setting as we left Pira la Questa on our return +journey, and ere we reached the mountain-top it was quite dark. Unable +to see a yard before us, but knowing we must go on, I threw the reins on +my mule's neck, and, lighting a pipe, resigned myself implicitly to his +sagacity, not only to find the path, but to avoid the obstacles which +at every step lay before him. My confidence was not misplaced. With +nose almost touching the ground, he seemed to smell his way along, and +not once during our long ride did he deviate for a second from the +proper track, or make a single false step or stumble. The sounds and +strange cries during the dark stillness of the night were very +remarkable. Whether caused by bird or insect I could not tell; but +one in particular, resembling the prolonged whistle of a locomotive +steam-engine, was frequently of more than a minute's duration without +ceasing, and of such volume and intensity that unless I had been aware +of the utter impossibility of a train being within hundreds of miles, I +would have almost sworn to so familiar a sound. The lights of Acupulco +at last came in sight, and our animals soon after deposited us safely, +after a somewhat trying but very agreeable trip.... + +On the 10th of May we left Acupulco and steamed quietly along the +Mexican coast in sight of land until we reached Manzanillo Bay, on +the southeast part of which are situated the few wretched huts that +constitute the village. The harbor is well protected from southerly +winds, but not from those directly from the westward. Behind the +village, and only a few hundred yards from the sea-beach, is a large +shallow lagoon which runs nearly forty miles into the interior, and at +the end of the dry season becomes almost empty. The exhalations at this +time rising from the mud and stagnant water are most dreadful, and even +at our anchorage the stench during the night was almost unbearable.... + +Next morning, before daylight, we started with Mr. D---- across the +lagoon to a place about an hour's row from the village, where he said +he was in the habit of getting wild duck. The lake was so shallow that +our boat often grounded, and the oars at each stroke disturbed the +black, ink-like mud that constituted the bottom. The sides were +beautifully wooded, and surrounded by ranges of hills extending far +into the interior, the edges of the water being fringed with a belt +of mangrove-trees, whose peculiarly bright green foliage contrasted +pleasingly with the sombre coloring of the leafless trees behind them. +The perfectly stagnant water was of a light-yellow tint, and as full of +alligators as it could well be.... + +After firing a good many shots, and gathering a somewhat miscellaneous +bag, Mr. D---- saw a large alligator asleep on some mud, lying half in +and half out of the water; and as I was the only one of the party who +had brought any bullets, he sent one of the guides to show me where it +lay, in hope that I might get a shot. + +Slowly, and with the greatest caution, I waded through water until I got +within twelve yards of where the brute lay, and aiming about an inch +behind the eye, drove a bullet clean into his brain. He gave a +convulsive kind of shudder and lash with his tail, and was, I believe, +dead; but to make certain I gave him the second barrel at about four +yards' distance behind the shoulder, and then felt quite confident that +I had indeed "wound him up." + +It was some time before we could induce the natives to assist in pulling +him on dry land. Though they do not mind them living and swimming about, +they are particularly careful of a wounded one, a single sweep of its +powerful tail, even when mortally stricken, being known to break both +legs of a man like a pipe-stem. Though dead enough to all intents and +purposes, an alligator, like either a shark or a turtle, will continue +possessed of a certain amount of vitality and motion for a long period +after life is really extinct. This fellow was still gently swaying his +tail about while we bent on a rope to it, and, all five of us clapping +on, soon hauled him to the dry mud on the bank, where we took his +length, opened his jaws, and generally examined the formidable-looking +reptile at our leisure. He was about fifteen feet long and inconceivably +hideous. The first bullet had smashed a large hole exactly where I +aimed,--namely, about one inch behind the eye; the skull seemed +comparatively thin there, was unprotected by any thick skin, and a large +lump of his brain was oozing through the wound. The second bullet went +through his heart; but I am convinced that it was unnecessary, as the +first shot had done all that was needful. + +Much as people have written to the contrary, I am quite satisfied now +that an alligator is as easily slain as a rabbit, if only hit in the +right place; and that place is not in the eye, as is generally stated, +but on the same level, and from an inch to an inch and a half behind it. +The brain in all reptiles lies rather far back in the head, joining +almost to the neck. By striking one in the eye from many positions it is +quite possible that the brain may not be touched at all; while, if the +ball hits the slightest degree in front of it, on the creature's long +ugly snout, the bullet might as well be chucked in the river for all +the harm it will do the alligator. Unsightly as these gentry are, the +Indians occasionally eat them. The skins are sometimes tanned; but +they smell so strong, it is an awkward job to handle them. During dry +seasons they collect in vast quantities in the small pools still left +unevaporated, and are then killed in large numbers for their hides, +which when tanned are found serviceable for many purposes. They are +tougher than ordinary leather, and resist water better. Only the belly +pieces are used. + +Some few years ago during a very heavy rain, a number of alligators got +taken out of the lake by a small river running into the sea, which was +greatly flooded. They were immediately attacked by the sharks, and a +strange battle ensued between these equally voracious monsters, which +all the people of the village flocked out to witness. The battle lasted +all day, and the noise of the combat could be heard half a mile off. +John Shark was, however, more at home in his native element than his +scaly antagonist, and eventually the alligators were all eaten up or +killed. + + + + +THE SCENERY OF THE MEXICAN LOWLANDS. + +FELIX L. OSWALD. + + [Mexico is made up of two distinctively different regions; one, + the central plateau, temperate in climate, and marked by a + great dearth of rainfall; the other, the lowland areas between + the plateau and the bordering oceans, tropical in climate and + productions, and luxuriant from abundant rains. Dr. Oswald, in + the following selection, leads us through the Valley of Oaxaca, + a section of this Tierra Caliente, or warm country, and makes + us familiar with its interesting vegetable and animal + productions and its scenic features.] + + +We had a glimpse of the sun before we finished our short breakfast, and +when we plunged into the maze of the forest the occasional vistas +through the leafy vault revealed larger and larger patches of bright +blue sky. Our so-called road, however, was worse than anything I had +ever seen or heard of Flemish or South Louisiana synonymes of that +word,--miry lagoons and spongy mud as black and as sticky as pitch. I +followed at the heels of my carrier, who preferred the lagoons and +seemed to find the shallow places by a sort of instinct, and the Switzer +managed to propel his heavy boots through the toughest quagmire; but his +boy, after losing his shoes five or six times, slung them across his +shoulder and splashed on barefoot. We kept through a comparatively open +forest of cottonwood- and tulip-trees, with a dense jungle on our +right-hand side, while on our left the land sloped towards the bottom of +the Rio Verde, which is here about five hundred paces wide, and during +the rainy season fills its muddy banks to the brink. These lower coast +forests abound in gigantic trees, whose fruits are only accessible to +the winged and four-handed denizens of the forest, but farther up the +river-shores are lined for miles with a dense growth of wild-growing +plantains, of which the natives distinguish four varieties under as +many different names. The fruit of the largest, the _cuernavacas_ +("cow-horns"), attains a weight of seven pounds, and resembles in shape +the crooked pod of the tamarind rather than the cucumber-shaped little +bananas which reach our Northern markets. They ripen very slowly, and +often rot on the tree before they become eatable, but the Mexicans +cure them over a slow fire of embers and green brushwood, after which +their taste can hardly be distinguished from that of the finest +yellow bananas. Palm-trees mingle here with the massive stems of the +cottonwoods, talipot-palms, and the _Palma prieta_, whose nut might +become a profitable article of export, having a close resemblance to a +filbert. The plum-clusters of the mango can only be reached by a bold +climber, as the trunk rises like a mast, often perfectly free from +branches for eighty or ninety feet, and the chief beneficiaries of +this region are still the macaws and squirrel-monkeys; but farther +up Pomona becomes more condescending, and the ancient Gymnosophists, +whose religion restricted true believers to a diet of wild-growing +tree-fruits, would have found their fittest home in the terrace-land +between the lower twenty miles of the Rio Verde and the foot-hills of +the Sierra de San Miguel. + +Plum-bearing bushes abound from June to September with red, yellow, +and wax-colored fruit; the _morus_, or wild mulberry-tree, literally +covers the ground with its dark, honey-sweet berries; the crown of the +pino-palm is loaded with grape-like clusters, which, struck by a cudgel, +discharge a shower of rich acorn-shaped nuts; guavas, alligator-pears, +mamayos, chirimoyas, and wild oranges display flowers and fruit at the +same time, and under the alternate influence of heat and moisture +produce their perennial crops with unfailing regularity; the algarobe +(_Mimosa siliqua_), a species of mezquite not larger than an apple-tree, +yields half a ton of the edible pods known as carob-beans or St. John's +bread; the figs of the gigantic banyan-tree furnish an aromatic syrup; +the trunks of the _Robinia viridis_ exude an edible gum; and from +the vine-tangle forming the vault of the forest hang the bunches and +clusters of forty or fifty varieties of wild grapes, many of them +superior to our scuppernongs and catawbas, while the amber-colored _Uva +real_ rivals the flavor of the finest Damascene raisin-grapes. A forced +march of ten hours through fens and silent virgin woods brought us at +last to the hummock region; the plain swelled into mounds, and the +currents of the sluggish bayous became more perceptible. The higher +levels showed vestiges of cultivation; we crossed dykes and ditches, +a neglected fence here and there, and where the larger trees had been +felled grapes and liana figs covered even the bushes and hedges in +incredible profusion. A troop of capuchin monkeys leaped from a low +mango-tree, and two stumbling youngsters who brought up the rear in the +scramble for the high timber would have tempted us to a chase if we had +not been anxious to reach less malarious quarters before night. The +neighborhood of the great swamps still betrayed itself by that peculiar +miasmatic odor which emanates from stagnant pools and decaying vegetable +matter, and in the recesses of the forest fluttered the slate-colored +swamp-moth, the ominous harbinger of the mosquito. The tipulary pests +were getting ready for action; their skirmishers, the _sancudos_ and +_Moscas negras_, had already opened the campaign, and became sensible +as well as audible in spite of the rapidity of our march. One of the +twilight species, the _Mosca delgada_, a straw-colored little midge, +bites like a fire-ant,--a mischievous and, it seems, unpractical freak +of nature, since the superfluous virulence of its sting must certainly +interfere with the business facilities of a suctorial insect. + + [As evening descended the travellers reached a cotton + plantation, and hastened to take refuge from the rising cloud + of mosquitoes.] + +The cotton-gin loomed at the farther end of the field, and was taken by +storm over piles of muck and scattered fence-rails. Seeing no ladder, +we clambered through the pivot-hole in the ceiling of a musty-smelling +machine-shed, but in the open loft above we found a delicious breeze, +and--St. Hubert be praised!--not a single mosquito. + +The carrier threw himself upon his pack with a sigh of relief, and we +squatted around the hatch to cool off before we opened our mess-bag. + +From the hills on our right came the perfume of blooming tamarisks, and +from the jungle below a cool lake-air; and at times strange voices of +the wilderness,--the hoarse bark of a cayman, answered by the shriek of +swamp-geese in the canebrakes of the Rio Verde, and in the distance now +and then a queer rustling sound, like the shaking of a tree butted by +some heavy animal. Bats were circling above our heads in the moonlight, +and our advent seemed to have excited the curiosity of a troop of +flying-squirrels, who uttered their chirping squeak now on the roof, now +in the branches of a neighboring live-oak-tree. + +After removing a layer of seed-cotton that might harbor scorpions or +centipedes, I spread my blanket near the hatch and made myself +comfortable for the night. My feet still smarted, though I had pulled +off my stockings as well as my boots; yet I could not regret the +hardships of a march which had brought us to such an encampment. The +portador was taking his ease in the centre of the floor, where the +night-wind played with his long hair, while the Swiss boy had fallen +asleep on the mantle of his countryman, who was sitting in the open +louvre, smoking his pipe in measureless content. The air up here was +delightfully cool, and, with the buzz of the legions of Beelzebub still +ringing in our ears, the sense of security itself was more than a +negative comfort. + +Baron Savarin, who wrote a treatise on the art of enjoying life, should +have added a chapter on the happiness of contrast. A snug little cottage +in a stormy November night, a shade-tree on the Llano Estacado, the +silence of the Upper Alleghanies after a "revival-meeting" in the +valleys, a bath in the dog-days, would rank above all the luxuries of +Paris and Stamboul, if unbought enjoyments could ever become +fashionable. + +The moon set soon after midnight, but we managed to readjust our luggage +by the light of greased paper spills, and entered the gates of the +foot-hills before the watch-call of the night-hawk had been silenced by +the reveille of the iris-crows. A keen land-breeze, tumbling the mists +through the fens of the Tierra Caliente, gave promise of a bright day. +What wonderful perfumes the morning wind brews from the atmosphere +of a moist tropical forest-land!--scents that haunt the memory more +persistently than the echo of a weird song. No latter-day nose could +analyze these odors and trace them to their several sources; but with or +without an attempt at further classification, they might be primarily +divided into sweet and pungent aromatic smells, the latter prevailing in +the coast jungles, the former in the mountain forests. A few of the +first named--the spicy scents--are so peculiar that, once identified, +they can be easily recognized: here, for instance, the effluvium of the +musk lianas, whose flowers diffuse a sort of odorous diapason which +predominates, even through the bouquet-medley of the South Mexican +flora. + +As the white streaks in the east assumed a yellowish tint, the paroquets +in the crests of the pino-palms saluted the morning with sudden screams; +the multitudinous voices of a crow-swarm approached from the coast +forests; two and two, and in a series of pairs, the macaws came flying +across the sky; and in our near neighborhood the startling cry of the +_chachalaca_ or jungle-pheasant went up from an hibiscus thicket. Softly +first, then louder and louder, the _calanda_, the mocking-bird of the +tropics, intonated its morning hymn, and the fluting curlew rose from +the grass like a skylark; but a sweeter sound to our ears was the +murmuring of a little brook at the roadside. We had reached the region +of rocks and swift-flowing waters. + +Of reptiles, as of Red Republicans, it may be said that they are least +dreaded in the countries where they most abound. While a New England +boarding-school virgin goes into epileptic spasms at the aspect of a +blindworm, the young Mexicanas surround themselves with a variety of +ophidian pets, and view a freckled tree-snake and a gay butterfly with +equal pleasure or equal unconcern. A little barefoot girl that met us on +her way to the spring put her toes caressingly on the smooth hide of a +green-and-white speckled _Vivora mansa_ that wriggled across the road; +and our barelegged portador kicked dozens of good-sized bush-snakes out +of our path after noticing that they frightened our young travelling +companion. More than ninety per cent of all South American snakes are as +harmless as lizards, and the four or five venomous varieties are well +known and easily avoided. + +I will here add a word on the dreaded venomous insects of the tropics. +The ant and mosquito plagues of the coast jungles can hardly be +over-estimated, but the virulence of their larger congeners is +frequently and grossly exaggerated. The chief insect-ogres of sensation +romancers and fireside travellers are three: the scorpion, the +tarantula, and the centipede, either of whom can rival the homicidal +prestige of Victor Hugo's octopus. But I may confidently appeal to +the verdict of any personal observer who has passed a few years in +the African or American tropics when I assert that these supposed +express-messengers of Death are not more venomous and are far less +aggressive than our common North American hornet. I doubt if the sting +of twenty tarantulas could cause the death of a healthy child, and I am +quite sure that a poison-ivy blister and the bite of a fire-ant are more +painful than the sting of a centipede. An hysterical lady may succumb +to the bite of a common gadfly, but I hold that only co-operative +insects--termites, wasps, bumble-bees, etc.--could ever make away with +a normally constituted human being. + +A swarm of vociferous iris-crows appeared in the sky overhead, and +before they had passed, the woods were wide awake all around. The +humming-birds were on the wing, the wood-pigeons repeated their +murmuring call in the taxus-groves, and from the lower depths of the +forest came the chattering scream of a squirrel-monkey. The rising sun +was hidden by the tree-tops of the eastern valleys when we halted on the +summit of a rocky bluff, but the mountain mists had disappeared, and the +vistas on our left afforded a dazzling view of the sunlit foot-hills and +the valley of the Rio Verde. The river is here crossed by a rope-ferry a +little above its junction with a tributary that drains the glorious +valley of Morillo and an Alpine group whose wooded heights stand in my +memory like a vision of a Ganadesha, the mountain park of Indra's +Paradise. + +The air of these woodlands is the antithesis of our Northern workshop +atmosphere. There is a feeling of delight--our lost sixth sense, I am +tempted to call it--which gratifies the lungs rather than the olfactory +organ if you inhale the morning breezes, oxidated, and perhaps +ozonized, by the first influence of sunlight on the aromatic vegetation +of these hills,--a delight which, like the charm of harmonious sounds, +reacts on the soul, and awakens emotions which have lain dormant in the +human breast since we exchanged the air of our Summer-land home for the +dust of our hyperborean tenement-prisons. + +The hum of insects soon mingled with the bird-voices of our forest. To +and fro, in fitful flight, flashed the _libellas_, the glitter-winged +dragon-flies, and a few large papilios flopped lazily through the +dew-drenched foliage. No gnats up here, but thousands of tiny, +honey-seeking wasps and midges, and bright-winged grasshoppers that rose +with a fluttering spring when the first sunbeams reached the damp +underbrush. Ants hurried about their daily toil, and when we ascended +the next ridge we saw various kinds of lizards flitting across the road +or basking on the wayside rocks, one of them a sort of dwarf iguana of a +moss-green tint, on which protective color it seemed to rely for its +safety, as its movements were as sluggish as those of a toad. + +As we kept steadily up-hill, the sun seemed to mount very rapidly, +and, peak after peak, the summits of the upper Sierra rose into view. +Zempantepec, La Sirena, and the Nevada de Colcoyan towered above the +rest, the latter at least four thousand feet above the snow-line. Few +prospects on earth could efface the impression of that panorama. In the +Sierra de San Miguel our continent reproduces the Syrian Lebanon on a +grander scale. Septimius Severus, who vacillated between his throne and +the Elysian valleys of Daphne, would have renounced the empire of the +world for the mountain-gardens of the Val de Morillo, and the giants of +the cypress forests on the southeastern slope of the Sierra dwarf all +the cedars of Bashan and Hebron. The largest, though not the tallest, +of these trees, the cypress of Maria del Tule (twelve miles south of San +Miguel), which Humboldt calls the "oldest vegetable monument of our +globe," has a diameter of forty-two feet, a circumference of one hundred +and thirty-six feet near the ground and of one hundred and four feet +higher up, and measures two hundred and eighty-two feet between the +extremities of two opposite branches. Yet this tree has many rivals in +the Val de Morillo and near the sources of the Rio Verde, where groups +of grayish-green mountain-firs rise like hillocks above the surrounding +vegetation. + +On our right extended the orange-gardens of Casa Blanca for two miles +along the base of the hill to a deep ravine, reappearing on the other +side, where their white-blooming tree-tops mingled with the copses of a +banana-plantation. Farther up, euphorbias and hibiscus prevailed, and +the upper limit of the foot-hills is marked by the paler green of the +cork-oak forests that cover the slopes of the sierra proper. In the +northeast this sierra becomes linked with the ramifications of the +central Cordilleras, and connected with our ridge by one of the +densely-wooded spurs that flank the plateau of the Llanos Ventosos. The +rocks at our feet belonged, therefore, to a mountain-chain that might be +called a lineal continuation of the Gila range in Arizona and Nueva +Leon. But what a difference in the climate and scenery! There arid +rocks and thorny ravines; here dense mountain forests, deep rivers, +a saturated atmosphere, and springs on almost every acre of ground. +The very brambles in the rock-clefts were fresh with dew, and the +sprouts of the broom-furze looked like wildering asparagus. The ravines +flamed with flowers of every size and every hue. An agent of a London +or Hamburg curiosity-dealer might make his living here with a common +butterfly-net. On any sunny forenoon an active boy could gather a +stock of Lepidoptera that would create a bonanza sensation among the +collectors of a North European capital. The rhododendron thickets of +the upper Rio Verde are frequented by gigantic varieties of nymphalis, +vanessa, and parnassius, which would retail in Brussels at from two to +ten dollars apiece. + +The sun rose higher, but not the thermometer, and when we clambered up +through an orchard of scattered cherry-trees I am sure that the maximum +temperature in the shade did not exceed sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. +We had reached the Llanos Ventosos, the air-plains of San Miguel, the +playground of the four winds of heaven, where sun-strokes are unknown, +though the mists of the rainy season never cloud their deep-blue sky. +Down in the coast jungles the Rain-fiend was at it again: dark-gray +showers swept visibly along the shore, while the foot-hills simmered +under the rays of a vertical sun. But up here the air was dry as well as +cool; the edge of the plateau is at least six thousand feet above the +level of the Pacific, which is in plain view from Punta Piedra to the +downs of Tehuantepec. + +We entered the village about two P.M., and my companions conducted me +to a little frame house, where I was hospitably received by the Indian +gardener and the daughters of Pastor Wenck, the minister of the +Protestant part of the community, whose brother in Tehuantepec had +intrusted me with different letters, with a note of introduction. The +pastor had harnessed his mule an hour ago to get a load of Spanish moss +from the foot-hills, so I left my carrier in charge of the Indian +gardener and sauntered out into the village. + +Neubern (New Bern) de San Miguel--or Villa Cresciente, as it was +originally called, from its situation on a crescent-shaped bluff--was +founded in 1865 under the happiest auspices, the charter of the colony +including such inducements as exemption from taxes for the first five +years, free roads and schools, gratuitous seed-corn, farming implements, +etc., to indigent immigrants, and attracted a considerable number of the +very best agriculturists from Tyrol and Southern Switzerland. But after +the collapse of the imperial government a waning moon would have +been the fitter emblem of the Crescent Village: its privileges were +abrogated, and many of the disappointed Bauern returned to their native +countries. Still, the appointment of a few half-Indian officials is the +only positive grievance of the colonists, and the advantages of their +climate and situation might well reconcile them to greater +inconveniences. + +At a distance of only sixteen degrees from the equator, the average +temperatures of the coldest and warmest months differ less than spring +and summer in the United States, so that the September weather of +Geneva or Innspruck is here as perennial as a sea-fog in Newfoundland. +During a residence of seven years, Pastor Wenck has chronicled four +thunder-storms, twenty-two common storms, two hoar-frosts (both in +November), one sultry day, and two hundred and eight short showers, +leaving a balance of two thousand two hundred and ninety-two days of +_himmelswetter_,--heaven weather,--as he called it, alternating with +cool nights whose dew indemnifies the fields for the scantiness of the +annual rainfall. Yet the denizens of this Himmel-land come in for a +first-hand share of all the luxuries which a compensating nature has +lavished on the inhabitants of the sweltering Tierra Caliente. + +Forty or fifty varieties of tropical fruits come to their tables in +a freshness and sun-ripened sweetness quite unknown to our Northern +markets; their builders may select their material from groves of +mahogany, iron-wood, American ebony, green-heart, euphorbia, and other +timber-trees of the coast swamps; cacao, vanilla, gums, and frankincense +can be bought at half trade prices, and an excursion of ten miles will +take them to a region where the pot-hunter can fill his bag day after +day without fear of ever exhausting the meat-supply, where the +adventurous sportsman may try his luck and the mettle of his dogs, and +where the naturalist can revel in all the wonders of a tropical terra +incognita. + + + + +AMONG THE RUINS OF YUCATAN. + +JOHN L. STEPHENS. + + [The Egypt of America, as one may fairly call the Maya region + of Yucatan, was first brought prominently into notice by John + L. Stephens, who did yeoman service in exploring the massive + monuments of a past civilization there scattered, and in + describing and picturing their remarkable details. Since his + period many travellers have visited and studied these vast + remains and described them in abundant detail. But Stephens + visited that region as a discoverer, and from his works we + select a description of the difficulties under which he labored + in his interesting work of exploration at Copan. He had taken + quarters in a hut near the ruins, and returned to his former + quarters for his luggage. The homeward journey was accomplished + under stress of opposing circumstances.] + + +In the mean time it began to rain; and, settling my accounts with the +senora, thanking her for her kindness, leaving an order to have some +bread baked for the next day, and taking with me an umbrella and a blue +bag, contents unknown, belonging to Mr. Catherwood, which he had +particularly requested me to bring, I set out on my return. Augustin +followed, with a tin teapot and some other articles for immediate use. +Entering the woods, the umbrella struck against the branches of the +trees and frightened the mule; and, while I was endeavoring to close it, +she fairly ran away with me. Having only a halter, I could not hold her, +and, knocking me against the branches, she ran through the woods, +splashed into the river, missing the fording-place, and never stopped +till she was breast-deep. The river was swollen and angry, and the rain +pouring down. Rapids were forming a short distance below. In the effort +to restrain her I lost Mr. Catherwood's blue bag, caught at it with the +handle of the umbrella, and would have saved it if the beast had stood +still; but as it floated under her nose she snorted and started back. I +broke the umbrella in driving her across, and, just as I touched the +shore, saw the bag floating towards the rapids, and Augustin, with his +clothes in one hand and the teapot in the other, both above his head, +steering down the river after it. Supposing it to contain some +indispensable drawing-materials, I dashed among the thickets on the +bank, in the hope of intercepting it, but became entangled among +branches and vines. + +I dismounted and tied my mule, and was two or three minutes working +my way to the river, where I saw Augustin's clothes and the teapot, +but nothing of him, and, with the rapids roaring below, had horrible +apprehensions. It was impossible to continue along the bank; so, with a +violent effort, I jumped across a rapid channel to a ragged island of +sand covered with scrub-bushes, and, running down to the end of it, saw +the whole face of the river and the rapids, but nothing of Augustin. I +shouted with all my strength, and, to my inexpressible relief, heard +an answer, but, in the noise of the rapids, very faint; presently he +appeared in the water, working himself round a point and hauling upon +the bushes. Relieved about him, I now found myself in a quandary. +The jump back was to higher ground, the stream a torrent, and, the +excitement over, I was afraid to attempt it. It would have been +exceedingly inconvenient for me if Augustin had been drowned. Making his +way through the bushes and down to the bank opposite with his dripping +body, he stretched a pole across the stream, by springing upon which I +touched the edge of the opposite bank, slipped, but hauled myself up by +the bushes with the aid of a lift from Augustin. + +All this time it was raining very hard, and now I had forgotten +where I tied my mule. We were several minutes looking for her, and, +wishing everything but good luck to the old bag, I mounted. Augustin, +principally because he could carry them more conveniently on his back, +put on his clothes. + + [Reaching a village, he took shelter till the rain abated, but + it began worse than ever after he again took to the road.] + +I rode on some distance, and again lost my way. It was necessary to +enter the woods on the right. I had come out by a foot-path which I had +not noticed particularly. There were cattle-paths in every direction, +and within the line of a mile I kept going in and out, without hitting +the right one. Several times I saw the print of Augustin's feet, but +soon lost them in puddles of water, and they only confused me more; at +length I came to a complete standstill. It was nearly dark; I did not +know which way to turn; and as Mr. Henry Pelham did when in danger of +drowning in one of the gutters of Paris, I stood still and halloed. To +my great joy, I was answered by a roar from Augustin, who had been lost +longer than I, and was even in greater tribulation. He had the teapot in +his hand, the stump of an unlighted cigar in his mouth, was plastered +with mud from his head to his heels, and altogether a most distressful +object. + +We compared notes, and, selecting a path, shouting as we went, our +united voices were answered by barking dogs and Mr. Catherwood, who, +alarmed at our absence, and apprehending what had happened, was coming +out with Don Miguel to look for us. I had no change of clothes, and +therefore stripped and rolled myself in a blanket, in the style of a +North American Indian. All the evening peals of thunder crashed over our +heads, lightning illuminated the dark forest and flashed through the +open hut, the rain fell in torrents, and Don Miguel said that there was +a prospect of being cut off for several days from all communication with +the opposite side of the river and from our luggage. Nevertheless, we +passed the evening with great satisfaction, smoking cigars of Copan +tobacco, the most famed in Central America, of Don Miguel's own growing +and his wife's own making.... + +At daylight the clouds still hung over the forest; as the sun rose they +cleared away; our workmen made their appearance, and at nine o'clock we +left the hut. The branches of the trees were dripping wet, and the +ground was very muddy. Trudging once more over the district which +contained the principal monuments, we were startled by the immensity of +the work before us, and very soon concluded that to explore the whole +extent would be impossible. Our guides knew only of this district; but +having seen columns beyond the village, a league distant, we had reason +to believe that others were strewed in different directions, completely +buried in the woods and entirely unknown. The woods were so dense that +it was almost hopeless to think of penetrating them. The only way to +make a thorough exploration would be to cut down the whole forest and +burn the trees. This was incompatible with our immediate purposes, might +be considered taking liberties, and could only be done in the dry +season. + +After deliberation we resolved first to obtain drawings of the +sculptured columns. Even in this there was great difficulty. The designs +were very complicated, and so different from anything Mr. Catherwood had +ever seen before as to be perfectly unintelligible. The cutting was in +very high relief, and required a strong body of light to bring up the +figures, and the foliage was so thick and the shade so deep that drawing +was impossible. + +After much consultation we selected one of the "idols," and determined +to cut down the trees around it, and thus lay it open to the rays +of the sun. Here again was difficulty. There was no axe, and the +only instrument which the Indians possessed was the machete, or +chopping-knife, which varies in form in different sections of the +country. Wielded with one hand, it was useful in clearing away shrubs +and branches, but almost harmless upon large trees; and the Indians, as +in the days when the Spaniards discovered them, applied to work without +ardor, carried it on with little activity, and, like children, were +easily diverted from it. One hacked into a tree, and when tired, which +happened very soon, sat down to rest, and another relieved him. While +one worked there were always several looking on. I remembered the ring +of the woodman's axe in the forest at home, and wished for a few +long-sided Green Mountain boys. + +But we had been buffeted into patience, and watched the Indians while +they hacked with their machetes, and even wondered that they succeeded +so well. At length the trees were felled and dragged aside, a space +cleared around the base, Mr. C.'s frame set up, and he set to work. I +took two Mestitzoes, Bruno and Francisco, and, offering them a reward +for every new discovery, with a compass in my hand set out on a tour of +exploration. Neither had seen "the idols" until the morning of our first +visit, when they followed in our train to laugh at los Ingleses; but +very soon they exhibited such an interest that I hired them. Bruno +attracted my attention by his admiration, as I supposed, of my person; +but I found it was of my coat, which was a long shooting-frock, with +many pockets, and he said that he could make one just like it except the +skirts. He was a tailor by profession, and in the intervals of a great +job upon a roundabout jacket worked with his machete. But he had an +inborn taste for the arts. As we passed through the woods nothing +escaped his eye, and he was professionally curious touching the costumes +of the sculptured figures. I was struck with the first development of +their antiquarian taste. Francisco found the feet and legs of a statue, +and Bruno a part of the body to match, and the effect was electric upon +both. They searched and raked up the ground with their machetes till +they found the shoulders, and set it up entire except the head; and they +were both eager for the possession of instruments with which to dig and +find this remaining fragment. + +It is impossible to describe the interest with which I explored these +ruins. The ground was entirely new; there were no guide-books or guides; +the whole was a virgin soil. We could not see ten yards before us, and +never knew what we should stumble upon next. At one time we stopped to +cut away branches and vines which concealed the face of a monument, and +then to dig round and bring to light a fragment, a sculptured corner of +which protruded from the earth. I leaned over with breathless anxiety +while the Indians worked, and an eye, an ear, a foot, or a hand was +disentombed; and when the machete rang against the chiselled stone, I +pushed the Indians away and cleared out the loose earth with my hands. +The beauty of the sculpture, the solemn stillness of the woods, +disturbed only by the scrambling of monkeys and the chattering of +parrots, the desolation of the city, and the mystery that hung over it, +all created an interest higher, if possible, than I had ever felt among +the ruins of the Old World. After several hours' absence I returned to +Mr. Catherwood, and reported upward of fifty objects to be copied. + +I found him not so well pleased as I expected with my report. He was +standing with his feet in the mud, and was drawing with his gloves on, +to protect his hands from the mosquitoes. As we feared, the designs +were so intricate and complicated, the subjects so entirely new and +unintelligible, that he had great difficulty in drawing. He had made +several attempts, both with the camera lucida and without, but failed to +satisfy himself or even me, who was less severe in criticism. The "idol" +seemed to defy his art; two monkeys on a tree on one side appeared to be +laughing at him, and I felt discouraged and despondent. In fact, I made +up my mind, with a pang of regret, that we must abandon the idea of +carrying away any materials for antiquarian speculation, and must be +content with having seen them ourselves. Of that satisfaction nothing +could deprive us. We returned to the hut with our interest undiminished, +but sadly out of heart as to the result of our labors. + + [Meanwhile, the blue bag which had caused so much trouble was + recovered, under the incitement of a dollar reward. It was + found to contain a pair of old, but water-proof, boots, whose + recovery cheered Mr. Catherwood's heart, enabling him the next + day to defy the wet mud.] + +That day Mr. Catherwood was much more successful in his drawings; +indeed, at the beginning the light fell exactly as he wished, and he +mastered the difficulty. His preparations, too, were much more +comfortable, as he had his water-proofs, and stood on a piece of oiled +canvas used for covering luggage on the road. I passed the morning in +selecting another monument, clearing away the trees, and preparing it +for him to copy. At one o'clock Augustin came to call us to dinner. Don +Miguel had a patch of beans, from which Augustin gathered as many as he +pleased, and, with the fruits of a standing order for all the eggs in +the village, being three or four a day, strings of beef, and bread and +milk from the hacienda, we did very well. In the afternoon we were again +called off by Augustin, with the message that the alcalde had come to +pay us a visit. As it was growing late, we broke up for the day, and +went back to the hut. We shook hands with the alcalde, and gave him +and his attendants cigars, and were disposed to be sociable; but the +dignitary was so tipsy he could hardly speak. His attendants sat +crouching on the ground, swinging themselves on their knee-joints, and, +though the positions were different, reminding us of the Arabs. In a few +minutes the alcalde started up suddenly, made a staggering bow, and left +us. + + [Yet trouble was brewing for them. They had made an enemy of + the great man of the district, and he stirred up the people to + hostility. The annoyance grew so great that Stephens found it + necessary to take some steps to restore amity.] + +Mr. Catherwood went to the ruins to continue his drawings, and I to the +village, taking Augustin with me to fire the Balize guns, and buy up +eatables for a little more than they were worth. My first visit was to +Don Jose Maria. After clearing up our character, I broached the subject +of a purchase of the ruins; told him that, on account of my public +business, I could not remain as long as I desired, but wished to return +with spades, pickaxes, ladders, crowbars, and men, build a hut to live +in, and make a thorough exploration; that I could not incur the expense +at the risk of being refused permission to do so; and, in short, in +plain English, asked him, "What will you take for the ruins?" I think +he was not more surprised than if I had asked him to buy his poor old +wife, our rheumatic patient, to practise medicine upon. He seemed to +doubt which of us was out of his senses. The property was so utterly +worthless that my wanting to buy it seemed very suspicious. On examining +the paper, I found that he did not own the fee, but held under a lease +from Don Bernardo de Aguila, of which three years were unexpired. The +tract consisted of about six thousand acres, for which he paid eighty +dollars a year; he was at a loss what to do, but told me that he would +reflect upon it, consult his wife, and give me an answer at the hut the +next day. + +I then visited the alcalde, but he was too tipsy to be susceptible of +any impression; prescribed for several patients; and instead of going to +Don Gregorio's sent him a polite request by Don Jose Maria to mind his +own business and let us alone; returned and passed the rest of the day +among the ruins. It rained during the night, but again cleared off in +the morning, and we were on the ground early. My business was to go +around with the workmen to clear away trees and bushes, dig, and +excavate, and prepare monuments for Mr. Catherwood to copy. While so +engaged, I was called off by a visit from Don Jose Maria, who was still +undecided what to do; and not wishing to appear too anxious, told him to +take more time, and come again the next morning. + +The next morning he came, and his condition was truly pitiable. He was +anxious to convert unproductive property into money, but afraid, and +said that I was a stranger, and it might bring him into difficulty with +the government. I again went into proof of character, and engaged to +save him harmless with the government, or release him. Don Miguel read +my letters of recommendation, and re-read the letter of General Cascara. +He was convinced, but these papers did not give him a right to sell his +land; the shade of suspicion still lingered; for a finale, I opened +my trunk, put on a diplomatic coat, with a profusion of large eagle +buttons. I had on a Panama hat, soaked with rain and spotted with mud, a +check shirt, white pantaloons, yellow up to the knees with mud, and was +about as _outre_ as the negro king who received a company of British +officers on the coast of Africa in a cocked hat and military coat, +without any inexpressibles; but Don Jose Maria could not withstand the +buttons on my coat; the cloth was the finest he had ever seen; and Don +Miguel, and his wife, and Bartale realized fully that they had in their +hut an illustrious incognito. The only question was who should find +paper on which to draw the contract. I did not stand upon trifles, and +gave Don Miguel some paper, who took our mutual instructions, and +appointed the next day for the execution of the deed. + +The reader is perhaps curious to know how old cities sell in Central +America. Like other articles of trade, they are regulated by the +quantity in market and the demand; but, not being staple articles, +like cotton and indigo, they were held at fancy prices, and at that time +were dull of sale. I paid fifty dollars for Copan. There was never any +difficulty about price. I offered that sum, for which Don Jose Maria +thought me only a fool; if I had offered more, he would probably have +considered me something worse. + +We had regular communications with the hacienda by means of Francisco, +who brought thence every morning a large waccal of milk, carrying it a +distance of three miles and fording the river twice. The ladies of the +hacienda had sent us word they intended paying us a visit, and this +morning Don Gregorio's wife appeared, leading a procession of all the +women of the house, servants, and children, with two of her sons. We +received them among the ruins, seated them as well as we could, and, as +the first act of civility, gave them cigars all around. It can hardly be +believed, but not one of them, not even Don Gregorio's sons, had ever +seen the "idols" before, and now they were much more curious to see Mr. +C.'s drawings. In fact, I believe it was the fame of these drawings that +procured us the honor of the visit. In his heart, Mr. C. was not much +happier to see them than the old Don was to see us, as his work was +stopped, and every day was precious. As I considered myself in a manner +the proprietor of the city, I was bound to do the honors; and, to the +distress of Mr. C., brought them all back upon him. + +Obliged to give up work, we invited them down to the hut to see our +accommodations; some of them were our patients and reminded us we had +not sent the medicines we promised. The fact is, we avoided giving +medicines when we could, among other reasons, from an apprehension that +if any one happened to die on our hands we should be held responsible; +but our reputation was established; honors were buckled on our backs and +we were obliged to wear them. These ladies, in spite of Don Gregorio's +crustiness, had always treated us kindly, and we would fain have shown +our sense of it in some other mode than by giving them physic; but to +gratify them in their own way, we distributed among them powders and +pills, with written directions for use; and when they went away escorted +them some distance, and had the satisfaction of hearing that they +avenged us on Don Gregorio by praises of our gallantry and attentions. + + [As regards the wonderful discoveries which Mr. Stephens made + in his low-priced city, the story is much too extensive to be + given here, and those who would know more about these + remarkable ruins must refer to his "Incidents of Travel in + Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," which will be found + abundantly worth perusal.] + + + + +THE ROUTE OF THE NICARAGUA CANAL. + +JULIUS FROEBEL. + + [The waters which it is proposed to utilize in the construction + of the Nicaragua Canal, mainly those of the San Juan River and + the Lake of Nicaragua, are of sufficient interest to call for + some description at our hands, and we subjoin, from Froebel's + "Seven Years of Travel in Central America," an account of a + journey on those waters.] + + +At that time [1850] steamboats were not yet plying on the San Juan River +and the Lake of Nicaragua, and I had to content myself with the +accommodations of one of the large canoes of the natives called +_bongos_, which were then the principal means of transport between the +coast and the interior, for passengers as well as for merchandise. In +company with two Americans, who, like myself, were anxious to proceed to +Granada, I hired one of the largest of these clumsy little crafts, +manned with ten boatmen or _marineros_, together with their captain or +_patron_, all of them colored people from the interior. We laid in +provisions for a fortnight, such being the full time of a passage which +is now performed by steamers in two days. + +We left San Juan on the 23d of November, and arrived at Granada on the +5th of the following month. In reference to the beauties of nature the +trip is one of the most interesting that can be made, though the state +of my health prevented my enjoying it.... An open shed, furnished with a +hammock and surrounded by a plantain garden of half an acre, was the +only improvement in an extent of more than a hundred miles. With this +single exception, and with that of the site of the old castle of San +Juan, more generally known by the popular name of _Castillo Viejo_, the +banks were covered with trees to the water's edge, their branches often +bearing a vegetation of vines, climbers, and parasites, so densely +interwoven that the whole appeared like a solid wall of leaves and +flowers. + +I shall never forget the impressions of one night and morning on this +river. Our boat had anchored in the midst of the stream. Strange forms +of trees, spectre-like in the dark, stood before us, and seemed to move +as the eye strove in vain to make out their real shape. From time to +time a splash in the water, caused by the movement of an alligator, the +bellowing of a manatee, the screeching of a night-bird, or the roar of +some beast of the forest, broke the silence, and mingled at last with my +feverish dream. + +In the morning a song our boatmen addressed to the Virgin roused me from +my sleep. It was a strain of plaintive notes in a few simple but most +expressive modulations. Several years later I heard them again, sung by +the Mexican miners in the subterraneous chapel of the quicksilver mine +of New Almaden in California, and I never shall forget the deep emotion +felt on both occasions, so widely different in every other respect. In +the latter the scene passed in a narrow excavation before a little altar +cut out of the natural rock, on which, before a gilded image of the +Virgin, two thin tallow candles were casting their scanty light over the +forms of fifteen or twenty men calling down the blessing of Heaven on +their day of work in the interior of the mountain. In the former, it was +in the brightness and splendor of a morning of which no description can +convey a full idea to one who has had no experience in the most favored +regions of a tropical climate. The sun was just rising, and as the +first rays, gilding the glassy leaves of the forest, fell upon the +bronze-colored bodies of our men, letting the naked forms of their +athletic frames appear in all the contrast of light and shade, while +accents plaintive and imploring strained forth from their lips, I +thought to hear the sacred spell by which, unconscious of its power, +these men were subduing their own half-savage natures. + +At once the same song was repeated from behind a projecting corner +of the bank, and other voices joined those of our crew in the sacred +notes. Two canoes, covered from our view, had anchored near us during +the night. The song at last died away in the wilderness. A silent +prayer--our anchor was raised, and, with a wild shout of the crew, +twelve oars simultaneously struck the water. The sun was glittering in +the river. The tops of the trees were steeped in light, monkeys were +swinging in the branches, splendid macaws flew in pairs from bank to +bank; all around exhibited the glory and brightness of superabundant +nature. + +Near the mouth of the river, as far up as the higher end of its delta, +the banks are almost on the water's level, overgrown with reeds, +mangroves, and a low species of palm-tree, the latter forming extensive +thickets in the swamps. After a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles +the land gradually becomes a little higher, and steep embankments of a +brown or reddish clay rise to some ten or twenty feet above the water. +The low palm thickets of the swampy region disappear, and a vegetation +of splendid trees, mostly exogenous, overhung with blooming vines, takes +their place. Flowery garlands, swung from branch to branch, hang over +the stream, while now and then the slender shaft of one of the tallest +species of the palm tribe wafts its little crown of feathery leaves high +over the gorgeous masses of the heavier foliage. + +Eight or ten miles higher up the region of the _randales_, or rapids, +begins. Here the river, locked in between wooded hills, presents a new +character of scenery. The trees, covering the hill-sides with an almost +impenetrable forest, exhibit an extraordinary variety of forms in +striking contrast. The most interesting situation in this region is that +of the _Castillo Viejo_. Here, where the river foams over a bed of +rocks, stands the old Spanish castle of _Don Juan_. Since 1780 it has +remained a ruin, though Nicaragua has always kept a few soldiers here, +occupying a shed at the foot of the hill on which the remains of the +fort are seen. In the civil wars of the last years this place has +repeatedly been occupied and evacuated by the contending powers. + +Among the rapids, that of the Castillo Viejo is the only one that forms +a real impediment in the navigation of the river. With the necessary +caution canoes may descend, and I myself have passed over it on my way +back to the coast in a bongo carrying forty passengers; upward, however, +all boats must be towed, after having been unloaded.... + +Above the region of the rapids the river is almost stagnant, and +the designation of the _aguas muertas_, or dead waters, is not +inappropriately applied to it. It is a deep and still water, full +of fish, with low and swampy banks, on which the palm thickets of +the delta reappear. + +Beyond this latter portion of the river the Lake of Nicaragua opens to +the view. On the little promontory formed by the lake and the inlet of +the river the custom-house of Nicaragua, designated by the high-sounding +name of the "fort of San Carlos," has been established. There are a few +houses at this place, and a small military force is kept up to protect +the establishment and, in case of necessity, enforce the payment of the +dues. The ruins of an old Spanish castle still exist here, but they are +hidden among the trees and shrubs with which they are overgrown. + +The view from this elevation has a peculiar character of grandeur. At +the foot of the hill a broad sheet of water is spread, studded, in +the immediate neighborhood, with some green islands of diminutive +dimensions, and extending, in a northwesterly direction, as far as the +eye can reach. To the left, a low wooded shore begins at the outlet +of the lake, and continues in that direction till it is lost in the +distance of the western horizon. A chain of high mountains, cast in a +shroud of dark forests, rises in the rear, covering an unknown region +of Costa Rica. It comprises several active volcanoes, which on late +occasions have illumined the surface of the lake by their flames and +red-hot streams of lava. To the right, the view does not extend beyond +the nearest hills; but at a short distance from the lake it ranges over +a long line of broken eminences, with the mountain-chain of Chontales in +the rear, bordering like a wall the table-land of Upper Mosquitia. Hill +and dale, forests and savannas, appear in endless variety in this +direction. On the distant horizon in the centre of the view the two +cones of the island of Ometepe are seen, faintly traced, and as their +forms are lifted upward by refraction, they seem to swim over the water. + +At the very spot where the San Juan River leaves the lake the Rio Frio +enters it. This is a river coming down from the mountains of Costa Rica, +through an absolute wilderness which, it is asserted, has never been +trodden by the foot of a civilized man. The dense forests of this region +are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians who refuse to have any +intercourse with the rest of the world. They are said to be of very fair +complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of _Indios +blancos_ or _Guatusos_,--the latter name being that of an animal of +reddish-brown color, and intended to designate the color of their hair. +It is stated that not only do they not allow a foreigner to enter their +territory, but that they are even in the habit of killing those of +their own people who again fall into their hands after having been away +among the civilized inhabitants of the neighboring settlements.... + +While in California, I heard of a young German, living in the +neighborhood of San Francisco, who recounts a little romance of +adventures he met with among this people. Though the story was not told +to me by the man himself, still, as it was repeated by a trustworthy +friend who had derived it from the original source, I may be allowed to +introduce it here. + +The young man was on his way to California. When at San Carlos he had +some difference or quarrel with his travelling companions, and, being +afraid of a pistol-ball or a bowie-knife, took the desperate resolution +of swimming to the opposite side of the river, where he soon fell into +the hands of a body of these Indians. He was tied to a tree, and they +then held a council as to the manner--so at least he believed--of +putting him to death. Suddenly, however, as it has happened before in +similar cases, a young girl, the daughter of the chief, hurried forth, +clasped her arms round the neck of my blue-eyed countryman, and gave a +favorable turn to his fate. + +Of course, he married the girl, and, as the consort of this Indian +princess, he spent a few months in the forest, till he was ungrateful +enough to forsake his generous bride, and avail himself of an +opportunity to swim back to San Carlos, continuing, after this romantic +episode, his journey to California. + +According to his statements, he would have remained with the Indians had +he been able to endure the life in the wilderness, which he found rather +too ill-provided with accommodations for enjoying his honeymoon. During +the rainy season the tribe lived almost exclusively on the trees, and he +speaks in very high terms of the dexterity with which they would leap +from branch to branch, a mode of travelling in which he often found it +too difficult to follow his nimble spouse. At the time of each full moon +the whole tribe met in council, for which the place was designated from +one meeting to the next by the chief, and whatever was done by common +agreement was regulated according to the phases of the moon. + +Some years before the period of my first arrival in Nicaragua, the +officer then in command of the fort of San Carlos fitted out an +expedition for the purpose of exploring the country on the Rio Frio, +which is known to be rich in gold. This little corps, having hit upon a +deserted village of the Indians on the bank of the river, and resting in +the shade of some trees in the outskirts of the forest, was suddenly +assailed by a shower of arrows, and, with the exception of the +commanding officer, who was severely wounded, but succeeded in hiding +himself between the reeds till a boat from the fort came to his rescue, +every man of the expeditionary force was killed.... + +Our passage up the river had taken us nine days, making an average +progress of about twelve miles per day. Three days more were spent in +crossing the lake. With the native boatmen it seems to be a rule to +abstain from using oars even when they are becalmed. Before we left the +_aguas muertas_ a small tree had been cut. This was now erected as a +mast, a sail was spread, and slowly we began to move in the direction of +Granada. Our navigation was of a very primitive kind. At night, while +every soul on board slept soundly, our bongo was left to find its own +way, which, however, it refused to do; for when we awoke at dawn I saw +we were heading to the place we had come from. By and by, nevertheless, +we drew nearer to our point of destination. When we had left the two +peaks of Ometepe on one side, the summit of Mombacho, designating the +site of Granada, gradually rose from the water. We passed the island of +Zapotera, celebrated for its idols, which have been discovered and +described by my friend Mr. Squier. It is uninhabited, and may be said to +be a mountain covered with a forest, here and there interrupted by a +savanna. Like other islands in this lake, it contains numerous wild +animals, such as deer, peccaries, monkeys, and panthers.... + +On the evening of the 5th of December we doubled the outermost rock of +the _Corrales_ or _Isletas_, a cluster of more than a hundred diminutive +islands at the foot of the Mombacho, and a few hours after dark landed +on the _playa_, or beach, of Granada. + + + + +THE DESTRUCTION OF SAN SALVADOR. + +CARL SCHERZER. + + [Dr. Carl Scherzer, in his "Travels in the Free States of + Central America," gives a graphic picture of the destruction, + in 1854, of the city of San Salvador by an earthquake, as + witnessed by his friend Dr. Wagner, whose description of the + event is well worth repeating. This city, which stands on a + plateau about two thousand feet above the Pacific, was built by + the Spaniards in 1528, and, with the exception of Guatemala, + was the neatest and handsomest of Central American cities, + possessing several handsome churches, a new university, and + numerous attractive residences.] + + +On the 12th and 13th of April, 1854, there was heard in the upper part +of the city, towards the southwest, a hollow, subterranean, rumbling +noise, which recurred at short intervals and continued for several +minutes, appearing to come from the mountains which form a kind of large +semi-circle at the foot of the volcano, but there was no shock whatever. +On the Good Friday, at half-past seven in the morning, two slight +shocks, quickly succeeding each other, were felt, and about ten minutes +afterwards a rather stronger one. The roof and walls of my cottage +shook, without my at first perceiving the cause; but a young Spaniard, +who waited on me, said, quietly, "_Es un temblor_." Being a native of +the country, he was accustomed to the phenomenon, and thought little of +it. + +These tremblings and rockings of the earth, that seem so terrible to us +Europeans, are such ordinary occurrences in the environs of San Salvador +that the district has acquired the name of the "swinging mat;" but these +shocks, though frequent, had never been hitherto of the violent and +destructive character which they have assumed at Valparaiso and Lima, +where about once in a century the destruction of a town is reckoned on +as a matter of course. + +The volcano of Isalco, too, being in constant activity, and only +forty-eight miles south of the city of San Salvador, had always been +regarded as a chimney and safety-valve, affording a free vent for the +steam and other dangerous products of the subterranean furnace. + +The shocks were repeated at tolerably regular intervals, two or three +in an hour, during the whole of the Good Friday, and all had the same +direction,--namely, from west-southwest to east-northeast; at which +point, a league from the town, lies the great crater of Cuscatlan, +about five hundred feet above San Salvador. + +The ceremonies of the Good Friday proceeded with the accustomed pomp, +and people did not think of disturbing their processions, or their +visits to the cathedral, on account of the earthquake; though +occasionally, when there came a shock rather stronger than usual, some +of the devout crowd did turn pale and make a rush towards the doors. + +At half-past nine in the evening there came a shock so violent that the +houses were shaken to the foundations, the roofs cracked, plaster and +tiles fell, and the walls in many places were rent. The houses are all +low and broad, without upper stories, the walls mostly of clay, which +is very elastic, and the rafters made of pliable, closely-plaited cane, +admirably adapted to resist the most violent shocks; otherwise the +houses would have fallen in a mass with this one, which lasted eight +seconds, the ground undulating like the ocean. Every one rushed out into +the open air, but a full hour passed without any further movement. We +determined, nevertheless, not to sleep under a roof; but my countryman, +Mr. Kronmeier, the Prussian vice-consul, who came home about eleven +o'clock, laughed at our caution, and went to bed as usual in his +bedroom. He was used to these unpleasant occurrences; though he +confessed that, during a residence of sixteen years in Central America +and Mexico, he had never felt in one day so many shocks as during the +one just past. + +The old volcano of Cuscatlan, from which the shocks appeared to proceed, +lies, as I have said, about three miles from the city; viewed from this +direction, it forms a beautiful cone, with a gently rounded summit, and +its sides are clothed from top to bottom with wood; its crater is still +quite perfect, a mile and a half in diameter, and filled with water at +the bottom.... There exists no certain record of the former activity of +this volcano; but according to tradition an eruption of lava from a +cleft in its side took place in 1650, and overwhelmed the village of +Neliopa; but according to others it was merely an eruption of mud and +not of fire.... + +The morning of Easter Sunday was announced as usual by the firing off +of rockets and a joyous burst of military music. The multitude betook +themselves in festival procession to the Cathedral, to witness the +celebration of high mass; the houses were gayly adorned with branches of +palm and banana-leaves, and the "_Sanctissimum_" was borne in triumph +through the streets, followed by crowds of senors and senoritas in their +gayest attire.... On this Easter Day, as on preceding ones, the people, +after having performed their devotions like good Catholics, gave +themselves up to festivity and enjoyment, and the day closed with music, +feasting, and fireworks. + +Immediately after nine o'clock, however, a shock occurred more violent +than the strongest felt on the Good Friday. I was unwell with a slight +feverish attack, and had gone to bed, but was awakened by the noise. +Some walls fell in, many houses were rent, and a part of the ceiling of +my room fell, striking me on the head and face, and for some minutes +blinding me with the dust. I sprang from my bed, and groped my way to +the door, which unluckily I had locked; but after a time I succeeded in +getting it open, and made my way to the court-yard, where I found the +rest of the inhabitants of the house praying and screaming. + +After a few moments had elapsed, however, they had quite got over their +fright, and were laughing and joking at their previous consternation and +precipitate flight. Unless the houses actually fall, people do not, +after the first moment, think much of these shocks, but this time they +did take the precaution to put all their doors open, and had their beds +carried out into the court. Mine was placed under the gallery of the +corridor, and a great deal of compassion was expressed for me when they +found I had been a little hurt. A young doctor, who occupied the room +next to mine, thought there would be no strong "temblor" again to-night, +but an aged priest said that this house was old and decayed, and it was +very necessary to be careful. My housemates then went back into their +rooms, and, though they kept the doors open, consumed with a good +appetite the remainder of the Easter feast, the conversation the while +turning, of course, almost exclusively on the "temblor." + +I lay gazing up into the night sky, not at all inclined to sleep. The +day had been, as usual, very warm, the thermometer at noon showing 88 deg. +Fahrenheit; a heavy mass of clouds (strato-cumulus) lay piled up about +the waning moon, but dispersed towards ten o'clock, and the moon then +shone brightly through a clear and tranquil atmosphere. A few light +scattered clouds of the cirrus and cirro-stratus lay motionless at a few +points on the horizon, but there was nothing to portend any unusual +phenomenon. + +At thirty minutes past ten, however, came the shock that laid the city +of San Salvador in ruins. It began with a terrific noise, the earth +heaving as if lifted by a subterranean sea; and this movement, and the +thunder accompanying it, continued for ten or twelve seconds, while the +crash and uproar of falling buildings were still more deafening than the +thunder. An immense and blinding cloud of dust arose, through which were +heard the shrieks and supplications of the flying people, calling on +"Maria Santissima" and all other saints; and at length a hymn, in +thousand-voiced chorus, which was heard plainly, through all the other +noises, at a distance of a mile and a half from the town, by a family of +German emigrants with whom I was acquainted. + +I had witnessed many terrible scenes of war and revolution in the Old +World, but there at least they were visible enemies of flesh and blood +with whom people had to contend; but here were unknown, terrific, +incalculable forces at work, of whose nature they had only the vaguest +idea. The shocks went on, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, and with +very brief intervals, until, by the evening of Easter Monday, one +hundred and twenty had been counted, and they were accompanied all the +time by hollow thunder and detonations, as if a tremendous battle were +raging beneath the earth. People now abandoned all thoughts of their +property, and sought only to save their lives, for, with the continual +oscillations of the ground in all directions, rents and chasms were +opening on it, so that no one knew whether it might not the next moment +yawn beneath their feet and engulf every living soul. After every new +shock I noticed that the people changed their prayers and the names of +the saints they were invoking; but whether the saints did not hear, or +could not or would not help them, the subterranean artillery continued +to bellow forth its fearful salvos with unmitigated fury. + +Towards one in the morning, one of my acquaintances came climbing over +the ruined wall of our court-yard to inquire after me, as he knew I +was unwell; and he then proposed to me to take a walk through the town +by moonlight. We took the direction of the market-place, where the +Cathedral stood; and from what I saw I can truly say that the whole city +was destroyed, for I did not see a _single_ house uninjured. Those that +were not lying in ruin had so many rents, and damages of various kinds, +as to be quite uninhabitable. The Cathedral--an elegant rather than +imposing building--had escaped with less damage than many other +churches; but the clock-tower had fallen, the portal was lying in +fragments, and the walls were gaping open in two or three places. + +The interior of the Franciscan convent, the door of which stood wide +open, presented a sad picture of desolation. So many stones had fallen +from the roof and such large portions of the walls, that most of the +altars lay scattered in fragments, or were covered with rubbish; several +of the colossal figures of saints had fallen from the niches, and lay +with their finery all covered with dust and stones; but the people, who +the day before had been carrying them about in triumph, now did not +trouble themselves any more about them: everybody was occupied in saving +his life, or, if possible, his most valuable possessions. + +Of the new university buildings only one wing was left standing: it was +the one containing the clock-tower, and in this the clock was still +going on, regularly striking the hours. The roof of the Episcopal Palace +had fallen in, and some stones had struck the sacred head of the bishop +with no more ceremony than had been shown towards our profane pates, +though this bishop was Don Tomaso Saldana, a man most justly held in +high repute for the excellence of his life. Much injury had also been +sustained by the President of the Republic, Senor Duenas, who was +originally a monk, but afterwards a lawyer and statesman, and perhaps +the man of the greatest capacity in the whole country. + +The streets were empty and desolate, and we had to scramble over heaps +of ruins to get through them: not a creature was to be seen but a few +sentinels, and in the interior of the houses also there reigned the +stillness of the grave. Even in the broadest streets the people did +not think themselves safe, and rich and poor were huddled together +indiscriminately in the great square, praying, singing, and screaming +whenever a new shock startled them with its terrible explosion; but +fortunately, in the midst of all this, the new President, Don Jose Maria +San Martin, showed much presence of mind, and gave his orders for the +preservation of property with much composure. + + [Fortunately, the previous warning shock had driven most of the + people from their houses, a chance which saved most of their + lives, though several hundreds were found buried in the ruins.] + +The rising sun of Easter Monday morning shone on a mournful spectacle, +and the few people who were left in the town wandered about looking pale +and worn, the women with a total disregard of their dress very unusual +with them. Among these I noticed the wife of the President, who was +entreating him to fly, like so many others, from the scene of danger; +but he remained faithful to duty, and was exerting himself vigorously to +keep order. He had established a kind of court-martial under a tent in +the University Square, before which every thief caught in the act was +brought, and, on the evidence of two witnesses against him, immediately +shot. + +Since the ruins of San Salvador could now no longer offer me a shelter, +I set off on foot, at an early hour, towards the hacienda of Mr. +Kronmeier, and on the way felt four more shocks, the strongest of which +lasted six or seven seconds, and was accompanied by violent oscillations +of the ground, and detonations like the salvos from Vesuvius, when, in +the lesser eruptions, you stand near the crater while stones are being +thrown up. I was now more than ever convinced that the centre of the +subterranean action was very near, and that the explosive steam and +glowing masses of the interior were seeking a new outlet. + +The country-house of Mr. Kronmeier was still standing, but its thick +walls had been rent in so many places that it offered only an +uncomfortable and insecure shelter. From the steep cliffs on the left of +the river's bed masses of rock and earth had fallen, and the hot springs +at the foot of the hill had ceased to flow; the mill-stream was dry; one +of the cocoa-palms was prostrate, and the whole landscape, so lovely +before, had a dejected and melancholy aspect, increased, of course, by +the general flight of the inhabitants of the district.... The shocks +still went on, though they were not so frequent as on the two Easter +nights; and, as the subterranean forces were evidently struggling for a +new vent, no one could feel himself safe within the sphere of their +operations. + +Many of the people whom we met, however, were leaving the place, though +not so much for any reason of this kind as on account of a prophecy of +the worthy bishop, "that before the new moon the whole district of San +Salvador, with the ruins of the city, would be swallowed up." But, +unluckily for the bishop's character as a prophet, the prediction was +not fulfilled. + + + + +SCENES IN TRINIDAD AND JAMAICA. + +JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE. + + [Froude is scarcely known as a traveller, his reputation being + founded in another field of literature, that of history. Yet he + is the author of two works of travel,--"Oceana," from which we + have elsewhere given a selection, and "The English in the West + Indies," from which our present selection is derived. He + visited most of the British West Indies, and has given + picturesque descriptions of them all. We append some extracts + from his account of Trinidad.] + + +Trinidad is the largest, after Jamaica, of the British West Indian +Islands, and the hottest absolutely after none of them. It is +square-shaped, and, I suppose, was once a part of South America. The +Orinoco River and the ocean-currents between them have cut a channel +between it and the mainland, which has expanded into a vast shallow lake +known as the Gulf of Paria. The two entrances by which the gulf is +approached are narrow, and are called _bocas_, or mouths,--one the +Dragon's Mouth, the other the Serpent's. When the Orinoco is in flood +the water is brackish, and the brilliant violet hue of the Caribbean Sea +is changed to a dirty yellow; but the harbor which is so formed would +hold all the commercial navies of the world, and seems formed by nature +to be the depot one day of an enormous trade. + + [Landing was made at Port of Spain, the capital, so called when + Trinidad was a Spanish possession, and Mr. Froude found + pleasant quarters in the house of a friend.] + +The town has between thirty and forty thousand people living in it, and +the rain and the Johnny crows [a black vulture that acts as scavenger] +between them keep off pestilence. Outside is a large savanna or park, +where the villas are of the successful men of business. One of these +belonged to my host, a cool, airy habitation, with open doors and +windows, overhanging portico, and rooms into which all the winds might +enter, but not the sun. A garden in front was shut off from the savanna +by a fence of bananas. At the gate stood as sentinel a cabbage-palm +a hundred feet high; on the lawn mangoes, oranges, papaws, and +bread-fruit-trees, strange to look at, but luxuriantly shady. Before +the door was a tree of good dimensions, whose name I have forgotten, +the stem and branches of which were hung with orchids which G---- +had collected in the woods. + +[Illustration: A WATERFALL IN THE TROPICS] + +The borders were blazing with varieties of the single hibiscus, crimson, +pink, and fawn-color, the largest that I had ever seen. The average +diameter of each single flower was from seven to eight inches. Wind +streamed freely through the long sitting-room, loaded with the perfume +of orange-trees; on table and in bookcase the hand and mind visible of a +gifted and cultivated man. The particular room assigned to myself would +have been delightful, but that my possession of it was disputed, even +in daylight, by mosquitoes, who for blood-thirsty ferocity had a bad +pre-eminence over the worst that I had ever met with elsewhere. I +killed one who was at work upon me, and examined him through a glass. +Bewick, with the inspiration of genius, had drawn his exact likeness as +the devil,--a long black stroke for a body, a nick for a neck, horns on +the head, and a beak for a mouth, spindle arms, and longer spindle legs, +two pointed wings, and a tail. Line for line, there the figure was +before me, which in the unforgetable tail-piece is driving the thief +under the gallows, and I had a melancholy satisfaction in identifying +him. I had been warned to be on the lookout for scorpions, centipedes, +jiggers, and land-crabs, who would bite me if I walked slipperless over +the floor in the dark. Of these I met with none, either there or +anywhere, but the mosquito of Trinidad is enough by himself. For malice, +mockery, and venom of tooth and trumpet he is without a match in the +world. + +From mosquitoes, however, one could seek safety in tobacco-smoke, +or hide behind the lace curtains with which every bed is provided. +Otherwise I found every provision to make life pass deliciously. To walk +is difficult in a damp, steamy atmosphere, hotter during daylight than +the hottest forcing-house in Kew.... Beautiful, however, it was beyond +dispute. Before sunset a carriage took us around the savanna. Tropical +human beings, like tropical birds, are fond of fine colors, especially +black human beings, and the park was as brilliant as Kensington Gardens +on a Sunday. At nightfall the scene became even more wonderful, air, +grass, and trees being alight with fireflies, each as brilliant as an +English glow-worm. The palm-tree at our own gate stood like a ghostly +sentinel clear against the starry sky, a single long dead frond hanging +from below the coronet of leaves and clashing against the stem as it was +blown to and fro by the night-wind, while long-winged bats swept and +whistled over our heads. + + [The governor's residence and the botanical gardens next call + for attention.] + +The "Residence" stands in a fine situation, in large grounds of its own, +at the foot of the mountains. It has been lately built, regardless of +expense, for the colony is rich, and likes to do things handsomely. On +the lawn, under the windows, stood a tree which was entirely new to me, +an enormous ceiba or silk-cotton-tree, umbrella-shaped, fifty yards in +diameter, the huge and buttressed trunk throwing out branches so massive +that one wondered how any woody fibre could bear the strain of their +weight, the boughs twisting in and out till they made a roof over one's +head, which was hung with every fantastic variety of parasites. + +Vast as the ceibas were which I saw afterwards in other parts of the +West Indies, this was the largest. The ceiba is the sacred tree of the +negro, the temple of Jumbi, the proper house of Obeah. To cut down one +is impious. No black in his right mind would wound even the bark. A +Jamaica police officer told me that if a ceiba had to be removed, the +men who used the axe were well dosed with rum to give them courage to +defy the devil. + +From Government House we strolled into the adjoining Botanical Gardens. +I had long heard of the wonders of these. The reality went beyond +description. Plants with which I was familiar as _shrubs_ in English +conservatories were here expanded into forest giants, with hundreds of +others of which we cannot raise even Liliputian imitations. Let man be +what he will, nature in the tropics is always grand. Palms were growing +in the greatest luxuriance, of every known species, from the cabbage +towering up into the sky to the fan-palm of the desert whose fronds are +reservoirs of water. + +Of exogenous trees the majority were leguminous in some shape or other, +forming flowers like a pea or vetch and hanging their seeds in pods; +yet in shape and foliage they distanced far the most splendid ornaments +of an English park. They had Old-World names with characters wholly +different: cedars which were not conifers, almonds which were no +relations of peaches, and gum-trees as unlike eucalypti as one tree can +be unlike another. + +Again, you saw ferns which you seemed to recognize till some unexpected +anomaly startled you out of your mistake. A gigantic Portugal laurel, or +what I took for such, was throwing out a flower direct from the stem +like a cactus. Grandest among them all, and happily in full bloom, was +the sacred tree of Burmah, the _Amherstia nobilis_, at a distance like a +splendid horse-chestnut, with crimson blossoms in pendent bunches, each +separate flower in the convolution of its parts exactly counterfeiting a +large orchid, with which it had not the faintest affinity, the Amherstia +being leguminous like the rest. + +Underneath, and dispersed among the imperial beauties, were spice-trees, +orange-trees, coffee plants, and cocoa, or again, shrubs with special +virtues or vices. We had to be careful what we were about, for fruits +of fairest appearance were tempting us all round. My companion was +preparing to eat something to encourage me to do the same. A gardener +stopped him in time. It was nux vomica. I was straying along a less +frequented path, conscious of a heavy vaporous odor, in which I might +have fainted had I remained exposed to it. I was close to a +manchineel-tree. + +Prettiest and freshest were the nutmegs, which had a glen all to +themselves and perfumed the surrounding air. In Trinidad and in Grenada +I believe the nutmegs are the largest that are known, being from thirty +to forty feet high; leaves brilliant green, something like the leaves of +an orange, but extremely delicate and thin, folded one over the other, +the lowest branches sweeping to the ground till the whole tree forms a +natural bower, which is proof against a tropical shower. The fragrance +attracts moths and flies; not mosquitoes, who prefer a ranker +atmosphere. I saw a pair of butterflies the match of which I do not +remember even in any museum, dark blue shot with green like a peacock's +neck, and the size of English bats. I asked a black boy to catch me one. +"That sort no let catchee, massa," he said; and I was penitently glad to +hear it. + +Among the wonders of the garden are the vines, as they call them, that +is, the creepers of various kinds that climb about the other trees. +Standing in an open space there was what once had been a mighty "cedar." +It was now dead, only the trunk and dead branches remaining, and had +been murdered by a "fig-vine" which had started from the root, twined +itself like a python round the stem, strangled out the natural life, and +spreading out in all directions, had covered boughs and twigs with a +foliage not its own. So far the "vine" had done no worse than ivy does +at home, but there was one feature about it which puzzled me altogether. +The lowest of the original branches of the cedar were about twenty feet +above our heads. From these in four or five places the parasite had let +fall shoots, perhaps an inch in diameter, which descended to within a +foot of the ground and then suddenly, without touching that or anything, +formed a bight like a rope, went straight up again, caught hold of the +branch from which they started, and so hung suspended exactly as an +ordinary swing. + +In three distinctly perfect instances the "vine" had executed this +singular evolution, while at the extremity of one of the longest and +tallest branches high up in the air it had made a clean leap of fifteen +feet without visible help and had caught hold of another tree adjoining +on the same level. These performances were so inexplicable that I +conceived that they must have been a freak of the gardener's. I was +mistaken. He said that at particular times in the year the fig-vine +threw out fine tendrils which hung downward like strings. The strongest +among them would lay hold of two or three others and climb up upon them, +the rest would die and drop off, while the successful one, having found +support for itself above, would remain swinging in the air and thicken +and prosper. The leap he explained by the wind. I retained a suspicion +that the wind had been assisted by some aspiring energy in the plant +itself, so bold it was and so ambitious. + +But the wonders of the garden were thrown into the shade by the cottage +at the extreme angle of it, where Kingsley[A] had been the guest of +Sir Arthur Gordon. It is a long straggling wooden building with deep +verandas lying in a hollow overshadowed by trees, with views opening out +into the savanna through arches formed by clumps of tall bamboos, the +canes growing thick in circular masses and shooting up a hundred feet +into the air, where they meet and form frames for the landscape, +peculiar and even picturesque when there are not too many of them. These +bamboos were Kingsley's special delight, as he had never seen the like +of them elsewhere. The room in which he wrote is still shown, and the +gallery where he walked up and down with his long pipe. His memory is +cherished in the island as of some singular and beautiful presence which +still hovers about the scenes which so delighted him in the closing +evening of his own life. + +[Footnote A: Charles Kingsley, who wrote here his "At Last," descriptive +of tropical scenes.] + + [Happiness makes its home with the negroes of Trinidad, whom + nature keeps in pristine idleness. They have little to do other + than to pull and eat.] + +In Trinidad there are eighteen thousand freeholders, most of them +negroes and representatives of the old slaves. Their cabins are spread +along the road on either side, overhung with bread-fruit-trees, +tamarinds, calabash-trees, out of which they make their cups and +water-jugs; the luscious granadilla climbs among the branches; plantains +throw their cool shade over the doors; oranges and limes and citrons +perfume the air, and droop their boughs under the weight of their golden +burdens. There were yams in the gardens and cows in the paddocks, and +cocoa-bushes loaded with purple or yellow pods. Children played about in +swarms in happy idleness and abundance, with schools, too, at intervals, +and an occasional Catholic chapel, for the old religion prevails in +Trinidad, never having been disturbed. + +What form could human life assume more charming than that which we were +now looking on? Once more, the earth does not contain any peasantry so +well off, so well cared for, so happy, so sleek and contented as the +sons and daughters of the emancipated slaves in the English West Indian +Islands. Sugar may fail the planter, but cocoa, which each peasant can +grow with small effort for himself, does not fail and will not. He may +"better his condition," if he has any such ambition, without stirring +beyond his own ground, and so far, perhaps, his ambition may extend, if +it is not turned off upon politics. + +Even the necessary evils of the tropics are not many or serious. His +skin is proof against mosquitoes. There are snakes in Trinidad as there +were snakes in Eden. "Plenty snakes," said one of them who was at work +in his garden, "plenty snakes, but no bitee." As to costume, he would +prefer the costume of innocence if he were allowed. Clothes in such a +climate are superfluous for warmth, and to the minds of the negroes, +unconscious as they are of shame, superfluous for decency. European +prejudice, however, still passes for something; the women have a love +for finery, which would prevent a complete return to African simplicity; +and in the islands which are still French, and in those like Trinidad, +which the French originally colonized, they dress themselves with real +taste. They hide their wool in red or yellow handkerchiefs, gracefully +twisted; or perhaps it is not only to conceal the wool. Columbus found +the Carib women of the island dressing their hair in the same fashion. + +The water-works, when we reached them, were even more beautiful than we +had been taught to expect. A dam has been driven across a perfectly +limpid mountain stream; a wide open area has been cleared, levelled, +strengthened with masonry, and divided into deep basins or reservoirs, +through which the current continually flows. Hedges of hibiscus shine +with crimson blossoms. Innumerable humming-birds glance to and fro among +the trees and shrubs, and gardens and ponds are overhung by magnificent +bamboos, which so astonished me by their size that I inquired if their +height had been measured. One of them, I was told, had lately fallen, +and was found to be one hundred and thirty feet long. A single drawback +only there was to this enchanting spot, and it was again the snakes. +There are huge pythons in Trinidad which are supposed to have crossed +the straits from the continent. Some washerwomen at work in the stream +had been disturbed a few days before our visit by one of these monsters, +who had come down to see what they were about. They are harmless, but +trying to the nerves. + + [We shall conclude this selection with a leap from Trinidad to + Jamaica, and the relation of an adventure experienced by our + author in that island. He was on his way back from an excursion + into the island.] + +The train from Porus brought us back to Kingston an hour before sunset. +The evening was lovely, even for Jamaica. The sea-breeze had fallen, the +land-breeze had not risen, and the dust lay harmless on road and hedge. +Cherry Garden, to which I was bound, was but seven miles distant by the +direct road, so I calculated on a delightful drive which would bring me +to my destination before dark. + +So I calculated; but alas! for human expectation. I engaged a "buggy" at +the station, with a decent-looking conductor, who assured me that he +knew the way to Cherry Garden as well as to his own door. His horse +looked starved and miserable. He insisted that there was not another in +Kingston that was more than a match for it. We set out, and for the +first two or three miles we went on well enough, conversing amicably on +things in general. But it so happened that it was market day. The road +was thronged with women plodding along with their baskets on their +heads, a single male on a donkey to each detachment of them, carrying +nothing, like an officer with a detachment of soldiers. + +Foolish indignation rose in me, and I asked my friend if he was not +ashamed of seeing the poor creatures toiling so cruelly, while their +lords and masters amused themselves. I appealed to his feelings as a +man, as if it were likely that he had got any. The wretch only laughed. +"Ah, massa," he said, with his tongue in his cheek, "women do women's +work, men do men's work,--all right." "And what is men's work?" I asked. +Instead of answering he went on, "Look at they women, massa,--how they +laugh, how happy they be! Nobody more happy than black woman, massa." + +I would not let him off. I pricked into him, till he got excited too, +and we argued and contradicted each other, till at last the horse, +finding he was not attended to, went his own way, and that was a wrong +one. Between Kingston and our destination there is a deep sandy flat, +overgrown with brush and penetrated in all directions with labyrinthine +lanes. Into this we had wandered in our quarrels, and neither of us knew +where we were. The sand was loose; our miserable beast was above his +fetlocks in it, and was visibly drooping under his efforts to drag us +along even at a walk. + +The sun went down. The tropic twilight is short. The evening star shone +out in the west, and the crescent moon over our heads. My man said this +and said that; every word was a lie, for he had lost his way and would +not allow it. We saw a light through some trees. I sent him to inquire. +We were directed one way and another way, every way except the right +one. We emerged at last upon a hard road of some kind. The stars told me +the general direction. We came to cottages where the name of Cherry +Garden was known, and we were told that it was two miles off; but alas! +again there were two roads to it,--a short and good one and a long and +bad one, and they sent us by the last. There was a steep hill to climb, +for the house is eight hundred feet above the sea. The horse could +hardly crawl, and my "nigger" went to work to flog him to let off his +own ill-humor. I had to stop that by force, and at last, as it grew too +dark to see the road under the trees, I got out and walked, leaving him +to follow at a foot's pace. The night was lovely. I began to think that +we should have to camp out after all, and that it would be no great +hardship. + +It was like the gloaming of a June night in England, the daylight in the +open spots not entirely gone, and mixing softly with the light of moon +and planet and the flashing of the fireflies. I plodded on, mile after +mile, and Cherry Garden still receded to one mile farther. We came to a +gate of some consequence. The outline of a large mansion was visible, +with gardens round it. I concluded that we had arrived, and was feeling +for the latch when the forms of a lady and gentleman appeared against +the sky who were strolling in the grounds. They directed me still +upward, with the mile which never diminished still to be travelled. + +Like myself, our weary animal had gathered hopes from the sight of the +gate. He had again to drag on as he could. His owner was subdued and +silent, and obeyed whatever order I gave him. The trees now closed over +us so thick that I could see nothing. Vainly I repented of my +unnecessary philanthropy, which had been the cause of the mischief; what +had I to do with black women, or white either, for that matter? I had to +feel the way with my feet and a stick. I came to a place where the lane +again divided. I tried the nearest turn. I found a trench across it +three feet deep, which had been cut by a torrent. This was altogether +beyond the capacity of our unfortunate animal, so I took the other +boldly, prepared, if it proved wrong, to bivouac till morning with my +"nigger," and go on with my argument. + +Happily there was no need; we came again on a gate which led into a +field. There was a drive across it and wire fences. Finally lights began +to glimmer and dogs to bark: we were at the real Cherry Garden at last, +and found the whole household alarmed for what had become of us. + +I could not punish my misleader by stinting his fare, for I knew that I +had only myself to blame. He was an honest fellow after all. In the +disturbance of my mind I left a rather valuable umbrella in his buggy. +He discovered it after he had gone, and had grace enough to see that it +was returned to me. My entertainers were much amused at the cause of the +misadventure, perhaps unique of its kind: to address homilies to the +black people on the treatment of their wives not being the fashion in +those parts. + + + + +THE HIGH WOODS OF TRINIDAD. + +CHARLES KINGSLEY. + + [The skilled and popular novelist to whom we owe our present + selection seems to have entertained for years a vivid wish to + see the glory of the tropics, the achievement of which desire + is put upon record in "At Last," the work from which we quote. + In his "Westward Ho" he had years before given a + warmly-delineated imaginary picture of the tropics, but waited + for years afterwards to see these scenes in their picturesque + reality. He tells well the story of the tropical "High Woods."] + + +And now we set ourselves to walk to the depot, where the government +timber was being felled, and the real "High Woods" to be seen at last. +Our path lay along the half-finished tramway, through the first cacao +plantation I had ever seen, though, I am happy to say, not the last by +many a one. + +Imagine an orchard of nut-trees, with very large, long leaves. Each tree +is trained to a single stem. Among them, especially near the path, grow +plants of the common hot-house Datura, its long white flowers perfuming +all the air. They have been planted as landmarks, to prevent the young +cacao-trees being cut over when the weeds are cleared. Among them, too, +at some twenty yards apart, are the stems of a tree looking much like an +ash, save that it is inclined to throw out broad spurs like a ceiba. You +look up and see that they are Bois immortelles, fifty or sixty feet +high, one blaze of vermilion against the blue sky. Those who have stood +under a Lombardy poplar in early spring and looked up at its buds and +twigs showing like pink coral against the blue sky, and have felt the +beauty of the sight, can imagine faintly--but only faintly--the beauty +of these "madres de cacao,"--cacao mothers, as they call them +here,--because their shade is supposed to shelter the cacao-trees, while +the dew collected by their leaves keeps the ground below always damp. + +I turned my dazzled eyes down again and looked into the delicious +darkness under the bushes. The ground was brown with fallen leaves, or +green with ferns; and here and there a slant ray of sunlight pierced +through the shade, and flashed on the brown leaves, and on a gray stem, +and on a crimson jewel which hung on the stem, and there, again, on a +bright orange one; and as my eye became accustomed to the darkness, I +saw that the stems and larger boughs far away into the wood were dotted +with pods, crimson, or yellow, or green, of the size and shape of a +small hand closed with the fingers straight out. They were the +cacao-pods, full of what are called at home cacao-nibs. And there lay a +heap of them, looking like a heap of gay flowers; and by them sat their +brown owner, picking them to pieces and laying the seeds to dry on a +cloth. I went up and told him that I came from England, and never saw +cacao before, though I had been eating and drinking it all my life; at +which news he grinned amusement till his white teeth and eyeballs made a +light in that dark place, and offered me a fresh broken pod, that I +might taste the pink sour sweet pulp in which the rows of the nibs lie +packed, a pulp which I found very pleasant and refreshing. + +He dries his cacao-nibs in the sun, and, if he be a well-to-do and +careful man, on a stage with wheels, which can be run into a little shed +on the slightest shower of rain; picks them over and over, separating +the better quality from the worse; and at last sends them down on +mule-back to the sea, to be sold in London as Trinidad cocoa, or perhaps +in Paris to the chocolate-makers, who convert them into chocolate, +"Menier" or other, by mixing them with sugar and vanilla--both, +possibly, from this very island. This latter fact once inspired an +adventurous German with the thought that he could make chocolate in +Trinidad just as well as in Paris. And (so goes the story) he succeeded; +but the fair Creoles would not buy it. It could not be good; it could +not be the real article, unless it had crossed the Atlantic twice to and +fro from that centre of fashion, Paris. So the manufacture, which might +have added greatly to the wealth of Trinidad, was given up, and the +ladies of the island eat naught but French chocolate, costing, it is +said, nearly four times as much as home-made chocolate need cost. + +As we walked on through the trace (for the tramway here was still +unfinished), one of my kind companions pointed out a little plant, which +bears in the island the ominous name of the Brinvilliers. It is one of +those deadly poisons too common in the bush, and too well known to the +negro Obi-men and Obi-women. And as I looked at the insignificant weed, +I wondered how the name of that wretched woman should have spread to +this remote island, and have become famous enough to be applied to a +plant. French negroes may have brought the name with them; but then +arose another wonder. How were the terrible properties of the plant +discovered? How eager and ingenious must the human mind be about the +devil's work, and what long practice--considering its usual slowness +and dulness--must it have had at the said work, ever to have picked +out this paltry thing among the thousand weeds of the forest as a tool +for its jealousy and revenge! It may have taken ages to discover the +Brinvilliers, and ages more to make its poison generally known. Why not? +As the Spaniards say, "The devil knows many things, because he is old." +Surely this is one of the many facts which point towards some immensely +ancient civilization in the tropics, and a civilization which may have +had its ugly vices and have been destroyed thereby. + +Now we left the cacao grove; and I was aware on each side of the trace +of a wall of green, such as I had never seen before on earth, not even +in my dreams,--strange colossal shapes towering up a hundred feet and +more in height, which, alas! it was impossible to reach, for on either +side of the trace were fifty yards of half-cleared ground, fallen logs, +withes, huge stumps ten feet high, charred and crumbling, and among them +and over them a wilderness of creepers and shrubs, and all the luxuriant +young growth of the "rastrajo," which springs up at once whenever the +primeval forest is cleared,--all utterly impassable. These rastrajo +forms, of course, were all new to me. I might have spent weeks in +botanizing merely at them; but all I could remark, or cared to remark, +there as in other places, was the tendency in the rastrajo towards +growing enormous rounded leaves. How to get at the giants behind was the +only question for one who for forty years had been longing for one peep +at Flora's fairy palace, and saw its portals open at last. There was a +deep gully before us, where a gang of convicts was working at a wooden +bridge for the tramway, amid the usual abysmal mud of the tropic wet +season, and on the other side of it there was no rastrajo right and left +of the trace. I hurried down it like any school-boy, dashing through mud +and water, hopping from log to log, regardless of warnings and offers of +help from good-natured negroes, who expected the respectable elderly +"buccra" to come to grief, struggled perspiring up the other side of +the gully, and then dashed away to the left, and stopped short, +breathless with awe, in the primeval forest at last. + +In the primeval forest, looking upon that upon which my teachers and +masters, Humboldt, Spix, Martius, Schomburgk, Waterton, Bates, Wallace, +Gosse, and the rest, had looked already, with far wiser eyes than mine, +comprehending somewhat at least of its wonders, while I could only stare +in ignorance. There was actually, then, such a sight to be seen on +earth, and it was not less, but far more, wonderful than they had said. + +My first feeling on entering the high woods was helplessness, confusion, +awe, all but terror. One is afraid at first to venture in fifty yards. +Without a compass, or the landmark of some opening to or from which he +can look, a man must be lost in the first ten minutes, such a sameness +is there in the infinite variety. That sameness and variety make it +impossible to give any general sketch of the forest. Once inside "you +cannot see the wood for the trees." You can only wander on as far as you +dare, letting each object impress itself on your mind as it may, and +carrying away a confused recollection of innumerable perpendicular lines +all straining upward, in fierce competition, towards the light-food far +above; and next of a green cloud, or rather mist, which hovers round +your head, and rises thickening to an unknown height. The upward lines +are of every possible thickness, and of almost every possible hue; what +leaves they bear, being for most part on the tips of the twigs, give a +scattered, mist-like appearance to the under foliage. + +For the first moment, therefore, the forest seems more open than an +English wood. But try to walk through it, and ten steps undeceive +you. Around your knees are probably Mamures, with creeping stems and +fan-shaped leaves, something like those of a young cocoa-nut-palm. You +try to brush through them, and are caught up instantly by a string or +wire belonging to some other plant. You look up and round, and then you +find that the air is full of wires,--that you are hung up in a net-work +of fine branches belonging to half a dozen different sorts of young +trees, and intertwined with as many different species of slender +creepers. You thought at your first glance among the tree-stems that you +were looking through open air; you find that you are looking through a +labyrinth of wire rigging, and must use the cutlass right and left at +every five steps. + +You push on into a bed of strong sedge-like Sclerias, with cutting edges +to their leaves. It is well for you they are only three and not six +feet high. In the midst of them you run against a horizontal stick, +triangular, rounded, smooth, green. You take a glance along it right and +left, and see no end to it either way, but gradually discover that it is +the leaf-stalk of a young Cocorite palm. The leaf is five-and-twenty +feet long, and springs from a huge ostrich plume, which is sprawling out +of the ground and up above your head a few yards off. You cut the +leaf-stalk through right and left and walk on, to be stopped suddenly +(for you get so confused by the multitude of objects that you never see +anything till you run against it) by a gray lichen-covered bar as thick +as your ankle. You follow it up with your eye, and find it entwine +itself with three or four other bars, and roll over with them in great +knots, and festoons, and loops twenty feet high, and then go up with +them into the green cloud over your head, and vanish, as if a giant had +thrown a ship's cable into the tree-tops. + +One of them, so grand that its form strikes even the negro and the +Indian, is a Liantasse. You see that at once by the form of its +cable,--six or eight inches across in one direction, and three or four +in another, furbelowed all down the middle into regular knots, and +looking like a chain cable between two flexible bars. At another of +the loops, about as thick as your arm, your companion, if you have a +forester with you, will spring joyfully. With a few blows of his cutlass +he will sever it as high up as he can reach, and again below, some three +feet down; and, while you are wondering at this seemingly wanton +destruction, he lifts the bar on high, throws his head back, and pours +down his thirsty throat a pint or more of pure cold water. This hidden +treasure is, strange as it may seem, the ascending sap, or rather the +ascending pure rain-water which has been taken up by the roots, and +is hurrying aloft, to be elaborated into sap, and leaf, and flower, +and fruit, and fresh tissue for the very stem up which it originally +climbed, and therefore it is that the woodman cuts the water-vine +through first at the top of the piece which he wants, and not at the +bottom; for so rapid is the ascent of the sap, that if he cut the stem +below, the water would have all fled upward before he could cut it off +above. + +Meanwhile, the old story of Jack and the Bean-stalk comes into your +mind. In such a forest was the old dame's hut, and up such a bean-stalk +Jack climbed, to fight a giant and a castle high above. Why not? What +may not be up there? You look up into the green cloud, and long for +a moment to be a monkey. There may be monkeys up there over your +head,--burly red Howler, or tiny peevish Sapajou, peering down at you, +but you cannot peer up at them. The monkeys, and the parrots, and the +humming-birds, and the flowers, and all the beauty, are upstairs--up +above the green cloud. You are in "the empty nave of the cathedral," and +the service is being celebrated aloft in the blazing roof. + +We will hope that, as you look up, you have not been careless enough to +walk on, for if you have you will be tripped up at once; nor to put your +hand out incautiously to rest it against a tree, or what not, for fear +of sharp thorns, ants, and wasp-nests. If you are all safe, your next +steps, probably, as you struggle through the bush between tree-trunks of +every possible size, will bring you face to face with huge upright walls +of seeming boards, whose rounded edges slope upward till, as your eye +follows them, you find them enter an enormous stem, perhaps round, like +one of the Norman pillars of Durham nave, and just as huge; perhaps +fluted, like one of William of Wykeham's columns at Winchester. + +There is the stem, but where is the tree? Above the green cloud. You +struggle up to it between two of the board walls, but find it not so +easy to reach. Between you and it are half a dozen tough strings which +you had not noticed at first,--the eye cannot focus itself rapidly +enough in this confusion of distances,--which have to be cut through ere +you can pass. Some of them are rooted in the ground, straight and tense; +some of them dangle and wave in the wind at every height. What are they? +Air-roots of wild pines, or of Matapalos, or of figs, or of Seguines, or +of some other parasite? Probably; but you cannot see. All you can see +is, as you put your chin close against the trunk of the tree and look +up, as if you were looking up against the side of a great ship set on +end, that some sixty or eighty feet up in the green cloud arms as big as +English forest-trees branch off, and that out of their forks a whole +green garden of vegetation has tumbled down twenty or thirty feet, and +half climbed up again. + +You scramble round the tree to find whence this aerial garden has +sprung: you cannot tell. The tree-trunk is smooth and free from +climbers, and that mass of verdure may belong possibly to the very +cables which you met ascending into the green cloud twenty or thirty +yards back, or to that impenetrable tangle a dozen yards on, which has +climbed a small tree, and then a taller one again, and then a taller +still, till it has climbed out of sight, and possibly into the lower +branches of the big tree. And what are their species? What are their +families? Who knows? Not even the most experienced woodman or botanist +can tell you the names of plants of which he only sees the stems. The +leaves, the flowers, the fruit, can only be examined by felling the +tree; and not even always then, for sometimes the tree, when cut, +refuses to fall, linked as it is by chains of liane to all the trees +around. Even that wonderful water-vine which we cut through just now may +be one of three or even four different plants.... + +And where are the famous Orchids? They perch on every bough and stem; +but they are not, with three or four exceptions, in flower in the +winter; and if they were, I know nothing about them; at least I know +enough to know how little I know. Whosoever has read Darwin's +"Fertilization of Orchids," and finds in his own reason that the book is +true, had best say nothing about the beautiful monsters till he has seen +with his own eyes more than his master. + +And yet even the three or four that are in flower are worth going many a +mile to see. In the hot-house they seem almost artificial from their +strangeness; but to see them "natural," on natural boughs, gives a sense +of their reality which no unnatural situation can give. Even to look up +at them perched on bough and stem, as one rides by, and to guess what +exquisite and fantastic form may issue, in a few months or weeks, out of +those fleshy, often unsightly, leaves, is a strange pleasure,--a spur to +the fancy which is surely wholesome, if we will but believe that all +these things were invented by a Fancy, which desires to call out in us, +by contemplating them, such small fancy as we possess, and to make us +poets, each according to his power, by showing a world in which, if +rightly looked at, all is poetry. + +Another fact will soon force itself on your attention, unless you wish +to tumble down and get wet up to your knees. The soil is furrowed +everywhere by holes, by graves some two or three feet wide and deep, and +of uncertain length and shape, often wandering about for thirty or forty +feet, and running confusedly into each other. They are not the work of +man, nor of an animal, for no earth seems to have been thrown out of +them. In the bottom of the dry graves you sometimes see a decaying root; +but most of them just now are full of water, and of tiny fish also, +which burrow in the mud, and sleep during the dry season, to come out +and swim during the wet. These graves are, some of them, plainly quite +new. Some, again, are very old, for trees of all sizes are growing in +them and over them. + +What makes them? A question not easily answered. But the shrewdest +foresters say that they have held the roots of trees now dead. Either +the tree has fallen, and torn its roots out of the ground, or the roots +and stumps have rotted in their place, and the soil above them has +fallen in. + +But they must decay very quickly, these roots, to leave their quiet +fresh graves thus empty; and--now one thinks of it--how few fallen +trees, or even dead sticks, there are about. An English wood, if left to +itself, would be cumbered with fallen timber; and one has heard of +forests in North America through which it is all but impossible to make +way, so high are piled up, among the still growing trees, dead logs in +every stage of decay. Such a sight may be seen in Europe among the high +silver-fir forests of the Pyrenees. How is it not so here? How, indeed? +And how comes it--if you will look again--that there are few or no +fallen leaves, and actually no leaf-mould? In an English wood there +would be a foot--perhaps two feet--of black soil, renewed by every +autumn leaf-fall. Two feet? One has heard often enough of bison-hunting +in Himalayan forests among Deodaras one hundred and fifty feet high, and +scarlet rhododendrons thirty feet high, growing in fifteen or twenty +feet of leaf- and timber-mould. And here, in a forest equally ancient, +every plant is growing out of the bare yellow loam as it might in a +well-hoed garden-bed. Is it not strange? + +Most strange, till you remember where you are,--in one of Nature's +hottest and dampest laboratories. Nearly eighty inches of yearly rain +and more than eighty degrees of perpetual heat make swift work with +vegetable fibre, which, in our cold and sluggard clime, would curdle +into leaf-mould, perhaps into peat. Far to the north, in poor old +Ireland, and far to the south, in Patagonia, begin the zones of peat, +where dead vegetable fibre, its treasures of light and heat locked up, +lies all but useless age after age. But this is the zone of illimitable +sun force, which destroys as swiftly as it generates, and generates +again as swiftly as it destroys. Here, when the forest giant falls, as +some tell me that they have heard him fall, on silent nights, when the +cracking of the roots below and the lianes aloft rattles like musketry +through the woods, till the great trunk comes down, with a boom as of a +heavy gun, re-echoing on from mountain-side to mountain-side; then + + "Nothing in him that doth fade, + But doth suffer an _air_-change + Into something rich and strange." + +Under the genial rain and genial heat, the timber-tree itself, all its +tangled ruin of lianes and parasites, and the boughs and leaves, snapped +off not only by the blow, but by the very wind of the falling tree, all +melt away swiftly and peacefully in a few months--say almost a few +days--into the water, and carbonic acid, and sunlight out of which +they were created at first, to be absorbed instantly by the green +leaves around, and, transmuted into fresh forms of beauty, leave not +a wrack behind. Explained thus,--and this I believe to be the true +explanation,--the absence of leaf-mould is one of the grandest, as it +is one of the most startling, phenomena of the forest. + + [And thus the writer rambles on, telling fresh marvels of the + tropic woods, from which a knowledge is attained that "defies + all analysis."] + +[It is that of] the causes and effects of their beauty; that "aesthetic" +of plants, of which Schleiden has spoken so well in that charming book +of his, "The Plant," which all should read who wish to know somewhat of +"The Open Secret." But when they read it let them read with open hearts. +For that same "Open Secret" is, I suspect, one of those which God may +hide from the wise and prudent, and yet reveal to babes. + +At least, so it seemed to me, the first day that I went, awe-struck, +into the High Woods; and so it seemed to me, the last day that I came, +even more awe-struck, out of them. + + + + +ANIMALS OF BRITISH GUIANA. + +C. BARRINGTON BROWN. + + [British Guiana, the land which seems so strongly inclined to + extend its borders at the expense of Venezuela, is as yet very + far from being the active and well-developed settlement which + might be imagined from the aggressiveness of its rulers. Mr. + Brown's story of it indicates a land of which nature is still + largely the lord, and which is so little known that he, as late + as twenty years ago, was able to discover a river and a + cataract not previously heard of. The selection we append, + descriptive of the wild animals of the country, is significant + of an undeveloped land. Mr. Brown, in his "Canoe and Camp Life + in British Guiana," describes a number of unsuccessful efforts + to shoot jaguars, and continues:] + + +One of the men happened to go a few yards behind one of our +camping-places, when he heard a movement behind him; turning round he +saw a jaguar leisurely surveying him. He fled to the camp with his +story, and I went in search of the animal accompanied by one man armed +with a cutlass. We did not go far before we saw its tracks in the sandy +bed of a dry water-course, and concluded that it had gone off. We gave +up all hopes of seeing it, and, turning round, were on the point of +making our way back to camp, when my companion suddenly exclaimed, +"Look! look! the tiger!" Glancing at the spot indicated I saw it +crouching in a thicket with its head bent down, its body swaying from +side to side, glaring at us with eyes of a greenish metallic hue. The +brute had evidently been following us whilst we were searching for it, +and was working itself into a rage. I took as good aim at its head as +I could, and fired; but instead of seeing it lying dead, I heard it +bounding and crashing through the forest at a fearful pace. + +One of my men got a shot at a jaguar on a sand-beach, where it passed +within twenty feet of him, as he crouched on some rocks. The only effect +the shot had on the animal was to make it gallop away a few yards, then +turn for an instant and look at him. The men whom I left in charge on +the New River cut open a hollow log containing young accouries, and took +them out. Their squeals on being seized attracted a puma, which ran +close up to the men, apparently wishing to get the accouries, when one +of them fired at it and it made off. + +One evening, whilst returning to camp along the portage path that we +were cutting at Wonobobo Falls, I walked faster than the men, and got +some two hundred yards in advance. As I rose the slope of an uneven +piece of ground, I saw a large puma (_Felis concolor_) advancing along +the other side of the rise towards me, with its nose down on the ground. +The moment I saw it I stopped; and at the same instant it tossed up its +head, and seeing me also came to a stand. With its body half crouched, +its head erect, and its eyes round and black, from its pupils having +expanded in the dusky light, it looked at once a noble and appalling +sight. I glanced back along our wide path to see if any of my men were +coming, as at the moment I felt that it was not well to be alone without +some weapon of defence, and I knew that one of them had a gun; but +nothing could I see. As long as I did not move the puma remained +motionless also, and thus we stood some fifteen yards apart, eying each +other curiously. I had heard that the human voice is potent in scaring +most wild beasts, and feeling that the time had arrived to do something +desperate, I waved my arms in the air and shouted loudly. The effect on +the tiger was electrical; it turned quickly on one side, and in two +bounds was lost in the forest. I waited until my men came up, however, +before passing the place at which it disappeared in case it might only +be lying in ambush there; but we saw nothing more of it. + +When returning down the portage and dragging our boats over, we saw a +jaguar sitting on a log near the same spot, watching our movements with +evident curiosity, and although the men were singing as they hauled the +boats along, it did not seem to mind the noise. As soon as it saw that +it was observed, it jumped off the log, and with a low growl made off. +From this I infer that the flight of my puma must have been owing more +to the windmill-like motion of my arms than to my voice. + +During our journey across from the New River to the Essequebo, we were +cooking breakfast one morning, when we heard a tremendous rushing and +crashing noise coming towards us through the forest, and then caught a +glimpse of an accourie flying for dear life before a black tiger. Just +after they passed the accourie gave a heart-rending scream as the tiger +seized it, but on my men rushing up to the spot, the tiger left its prey +and fled. When picked up the accourie was quite dead, but on examination +showed no marks whatever of the tiger's teeth. The tiger had evidently +killed it by springing upon it with its legs close together, the weight +of its body giving such a blow that the accourie's life was fairly +knocked out. The men found its dead body just beyond a large log, +slightly raised from the ground, under which it had bolted and lost some +headway, while the cunning tiger took the log in its stride and so came, +as it intended, on the poor accourie's back, with the result we have +seen. + +On returning to the head of the New River for provisions, we were +followed for many miles by a tiger, for on going back we saw its huge +tracks in the swampy places on our path. + +With good hunting-dogs fine jaguar- and puma-hunting might be obtained +on the banks of this river, where without doubt they are exceedingly +numerous. Many of the Indian hunting-dogs trained for deer or tapir will +hunt tigers. When on the track of either of these animals, should they +come across the scent of a tiger, their eager and confident manner of +pressing on after the game is immediately changed, and with hair on +their backs erect they become cautious and nervous to a degree, jumping +at even the snapping of a twig. Abandoning the hunt they take up the +tiger's track and follow it. But should the huntsman call them from it, +or not cheer them on with his voice from time to time, they exhibit +great fear, and keeping close to his heels cannot be induced to hunt any +more in that district for the day. On the contrary, if allowed to follow +the tiger, they track it up with caution, being fully aware of the +cunning dodge practised by that animal, which is, when the dog is close +at hand, to spring to one side and lie in ambush till it passes, when +with one spring the dog is seized. + +Ordinary dogs would fall a prey to this trap, but not the self-taught +tiger dogs. Their fine powers of scent warn them of their near approach +to the quarry, when they advance with great caution, never failing to +detect the tiger in time, and when once their eye is upon their enemy it +has no chance to escape. In its pride of strength, the jaguar scorns the +dogs, and with a rush like a ball from a cannon springs madly at one of +them, feeling sure that it cannot escape. It has reckoned, however, +without its host, for the dog eludes the spring with ease, and with +great quickness flies on the tiger's flank, giving it a severe nip. As +the tiger turns with a growl of pain and disappointment, the dog is off +to a little distance, yelping lustily and never remaining still an +instant, but darting first on one side and then on the other. After one +or two ineffectual charges the tiger gives it up, and on the approach of +the hunter, springs into the nearest suitable tree, which it seldom +leaves alive. + + [The Indians describe several kinds of tigers and tiger-cats, + each of which hunts one kind of animal in particular, whose + call it can imitate. The deer-tiger is the puma. The wailah, or + tapir-tiger, is pure black and of great size.] + +The Corentyne and its branches were literally teeming with fish of +various kinds, the greater number being haimara and perai. The latter +were so abundant and ferocious that at times it was dangerous, when +bathing, to go into the water at a greater depth than up to one's knees. +Even then small bodies of these hungry creatures would swim in and make +a dash close up to our legs, and then retreat to a short distance. They +actually bit the steering paddles as they were drawn through the water +astern of the boats. A tapir which I shot swimming across the river had +its nose eaten off by them whilst we were towing it to the shore. + +Of an evening the men used to catch some of them for sport, and in +taking the hook from their mouths produce a wound from which the blood +ran freely. On throwing them back into the water in this injured +condition they were immediately set upon and devoured by their +companions. Even as one was being hauled in on the line, its comrades, +seeing that it was in difficulties, attacked it at once. One day, when +the boat was hauled in to some rocks, a few of the men were engaged +shooting fish near by, and in so doing wounded a large haimara. Having +escaped from its human tormentors, it made for the open river, but was +instantly attacked by perai attracted by the blood escaping from its +wound, and was driven back to the shelter of the rocks close to the +boat, from which I had a good view of the chase. The large fish +followed by its savage enemies reminded me of a parallel case on +land,--a stricken deer pursued by wolves. + +The perai, fortunately, lie only off sand-beaches and in quiet pools, +not frequenting the cataracts, where their presence would be anything +but acceptable to the men when working in the water. I was fortunate +enough to find the spawning-place of some perai on the matted clusters +of fibrous roots of some lianes, which hung from the branches of a tree +into the water, among which much earthy sediment had collected and many +small aquatic plants had grown. The sediment gave weight to the roots, +which kept the clusters under water, and the force of the current made +them buoyant, giving the lianes a slope when the river was high, which +kept them not far from its surface. My attention was attracted to them +by two perai lying close to them, with their heads up-stream, as the men +said, engaged in watching their eggs. Procuring one of the roots I +examined it, and found among it numbers of single eggs and clusters of +small jelly-like young, which had been already hatched. The eggs were +white and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, with a hard exterior. +The young were very little larger, and had a glutinous surface, which +caused them to adhere together on being taken from the water. They had +not acquired any powers of locomotion, but could just wriggle their +tails like tadpoles. Under a lens they resembled the egg devoid of +its covering, with a gelatinous ridge around three-quarters of its +circumference, one of which expanded into a knob (probably the head), +while the other termination was flattened and tail-like. I could not +detect any eyes or mouth in them, but their bodies were speckled with +gray markings of coloring matter.... + +In hauling the boats up the shallow rapids near the mouth of the Cutari +the men, whilst wading, were frequently struck by conger eels. Every now +and then a man would call out "Congler, congler," and jumping into the +boat rub his shins, which had been benumbed by a touch from one of these +fish. After half a minute or so the numbness wore off and he took to the +water again. The boat being in a critical condition at the time, it was +impossible for the men to leave the water. They had therefore to brave +out the shocks from these batteries, which must have been very slight, +given probably by small eels, or they could not have stood them. + +Small long-bodied fish were very common, and one kind, called courami, +took the baited hook as long as the fisherman who threw the line was out +of sight. + +The lukenaine, or sunfish, was captured by my men in a singular manner. +They manufactured an exceedingly rude fly out of a bunch of silk-grass +(_Bromelia karatas_) fibre, and attached it to a large hook with a short +line and rod. Drawing it rapidly over pools among the rocks, it was +immediately taken by the lukenaine, as the artificial fly is struck by +the trout. + +Sting-rays were frequently seen on the sandy bottom or grovelling for +worms in the muddy banks under water. My interpreter, William, was +unfortunate enough to step upon one, which, being of the color of the +bottom, was not observed. It drove its spine or sting into the side of +his instep, producing a jagged wound which bled profusely. I immediately +put laudanum on the wound and gave him a strong dose of ammonia. In a +quarter of an hour after he was writhing on the ground in great agony, +actually screaming at times with the pain he felt in the wounded part, +in his groin, and under one armpit. His foot and leg were so cold that +he got one man to light a fire and support his foot over it, persisting +in trying to put it in the flames. I gave him two doses of laudanum, +one shortly after the other, without relieving his sufferings in the +slightest degree. After three hours of intense pain he became easier, +but had returns of it at intervals during the night. For a week he was +unable to put his foot on the ground, and the wound did not heal +thoroughly for six weeks.... + +We did not see a single cayman during our stay on the Corentyne. It may +safely be inferred that there are none on that river, a singular fact +that cannot be accounted for. Small alligators, of about four feet in +length, are numerous, however, and one of them one night carried off a +young cat which the men had brought from Georgetown. Poor puss had gone +to the water's edge to drink, when the alligator with one blow of its +tail swept it into the water and carried it away. On the following +morning we saw the alligator with its snout resting on a rock near by, +so I shot it; the men dragging it out of the water and leaving it on +the rocks. On returning, some months afterwards, we camped at the same +place, and there among the bones of the alligator saw those of the cat +bleaching in the sun. + +Iguanas were numerous, and on one occasion, when one in a tree overhead +was shot at with an arrow, it jumped down to gain the water, but not +calculating its distance accurately, landed on the back of one of the +men, who, seeing it coming, ducked his head and dropped his paddle +overboard. The paddle, being made of paruru, or paddle-wood, was heavy, +and sank, and the man was afraid to dive for it among the numerous +perai. + + [The author proceeds to describe the birds and trees of the + region, ending with an interesting account of the Brazil-nut.] + +Upon the borders of the New River and main Corentyne, above the +last-mentioned fall, we met with large groves of Brazil-nut-trees, +and on the ground beneath them obtained numbers of their nuts. I was +fortunate to find some of the nut-cases containing nuts that had +commenced to germinate, each nut sending out long roots from one end +and young plants from the other. The roots were all twisted and matted +together, quite filling up the cavities in the case around the nuts; +yet the nut-case was hard and showed no signs of decay, so that it is +difficult to say how the young plants free themselves. There is a small +aperture where the fruit-stalk was once attached, but in only one +instance did I find a case in which one of the young plants had found +its way out through this and sent forth leaves. It seems to me that when +this happens one plant alone survives of the twelve or fifteen that +commenced to grow, and that its matted roots, gradually filling the +nut-case, eventually burst it, when the plant is free to take root in +the earth. The strong cover of the growing nut is a necessary protection +to the young plant, for without such it would be devoured by one of the +host of animals that are ready to eat it. + +I planted some of the sprouting nuts, cut out of their hard outer +covering, on my way up the river, but on returning found that they had +all been dug up and eaten by rats and other small vermin. I therefore +had a lot planted in a box at our camp above King Frederick William IV. +Fall on my first return to that spot, and placed on the stem of a small +tree cut off some five feet from the ground. In this position they were +free from the attacks of small animals, and, being covered with a +shelter of some palm-leaves, thrived wonderfully. These plants were +subsequently sent to Kew, where they arrived in a fine healthy +condition. + +We found many nut-cases with holes cut in them by accouries, the marks +of the gnawing teeth of those animals being plainly shown. My men used +to open them by chopping off their ends with a cutlass, which, owing to +their hardness, was no easy operation. The quatas, or large black +spider-monkeys, spent a good deal of their time in trying to open them +by beating them against the branches of trees or on hard logs upon the +ground; and as we passed a grove of Brazil-nut-trees it was amusing +to hear the hammering sounds produced by these fellows at their +self-imposed tasks. Where a single monkey was thus employed the blows +were most laughably "few and far between," the creature showing its true +indolent character by the slow way in which it performed its work, +resting for a few minutes between every blow. It also showed an amount +of perseverance, however, that one would not look for in a monkey, and a +knowledge that it would eventually reap a reward for its hard labor. + +Goodness knows how long it takes one of these monkeys to break a +nut-case; but the time must be great, for on one occasion, during our +journey from the New River to the upper Essequebo, we got quietly among +a lot of the nut-breakers, and secured a nut-case which one in its hurry +had left upon a log, and which was worn smooth by the friction of the +monkey's hands. This had evidently been pounded for a length of time, +but showed no signs of cracking. Its natural aperture was large enough +to allow the monkey's fingers to touch the ends of the nuts inside, +which were picked and worn by its nails. Near the same place we saw +a nut-case split in two, on the flat surface of a large granite +rock, that had evidently been broken by a monkey, for there were no +Brazil-nut-trees, from which it could have fallen, overhanging the spot. + +The blossoms of the Brazil-nut-tree are large and yellow, having a +delicate aromatic perfume. They are similar, but larger than the +caccarali, or monkey-pot-tree (_Lecythis ollaria_), whose flowers are so +powerfully scented. + + + + +LIFE AND SCENERY IN VENEZUELA. + +ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. + + [The illustrious traveller and scientist from whose picturesque + descriptions of life and scenery in South America we here quote + was born in Berlin, September 14, 1769. After a careful + university education and scientific labors in Europe, he set + sail for America in 1799, and during the succeeding five years + explored a great extent of territory within the areas of the + present states of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and + Mexico. For twenty-five years succeeding his return he was + employed in arranging his collections, publishing the results + of his observations, and in other scientific labors. In 1829 he + again became a traveller, and explored a wide district in Asia. + He died, in his ninetieth year, May 6, 1859. Few men have ever + done so much for the advancement of science, while his + published works of travel contain much that is of value from a + literary point of view. We extract a series of interesting + passages relating to scenery and incidents in the Orinoco + region. The first is descriptive of the remarkable "cow-tree."] + + +When incisions are made in the trunk of this tree, it yields abundance +of a glutinous milk, tolerably thick, devoid of all acridity, and of +an agreeable and balmy smell. It was offered to us in the shell of a +calabash. We drank considerable quantities of it in the evening before +we went to bed, and very early in the morning, without feeling the least +injurious effect. The glutinous character of this milk alone renders it +a little disagreeable. The negroes and the free people who work in the +plantations drink it, dipping into it their bread of maize or cassava. +The overseer of the farm told us that the negroes grow sensibly fatter +during the season when the _palo de vaca_ furnishes them with most milk. +The juice, exposed to the air, presents at its surface membranes of a +strongly animalized substance, yellowish, stringy, and resembling +cheese. + +[Illustration: LA GUAYRA, VENEZUELA] + +Amidst the great number of curious phenomena which I have observed in +the course of my travels, I confess there are few that have made so +powerful an impression on me as the aspect of the cow-tree. Whatever +relates to milk or to corn inspires an interest which is not merely that +of the physical knowledge of things, but is connected with another order +of ideas and sentiments. We can scarcely conceive how the human race +could exist without farinaceous substances, and without that nourishing +juice which the breast of the mother contains, and which is appropriated +to the long feebleness of the infant. The amylaceous matter of corn, +the object of religious veneration among so many nations, ancient +and modern, is diffused in the seeds and deposited in the roots of +vegetables; milk, which serves as an aliment, appears to us exclusively +the produce of animal organization. Such are the impressions we have +received in our earliest infancy; such is also the source of that +astonishment created by the aspect of the tree just described. It is not +here the solemn shades of forests, the majestic course of rivers, the +mountains wrapped in eternal snow, that excite our emotion. A few drops +of vegetable juice recall to our minds all the powerfulness and the +fecundity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with +coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate +into the stone. For several months of the year not a single shower +moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the +trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is +at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. +The negroes and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters, +furnished with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow +and thickens at its surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree +itself, others carry the juice home to their children. + + [The great plains of Venezuela are thus described:] + +The sun was almost at its zenith; the earth, wherever it appeared +sterile and destitute of vegetation, was at the temperature of 120 deg.. Not +a breath of air was felt at the height at which we were on our mules; +yet, in the midst of this apparent calm, whirls of dust incessantly +arose, driven on by those small currents of air which glide only over +the surface of the ground, and are occasioned by the difference of +temperature between the naked sand and the spots covered with grass. +All around us the plains seemed to ascend to the sky, and the vast and +profound solitude appeared like an ocean covered with sea-weed. On the +horizon the earth was confounded with the sky. Through the dry mist and +strata of vapor the trunks of palm-trees were seen from afar, stripped +of their foliage and their verdant summits, and looking like the masts +of a ship descried upon the horizon. There is something awful, as well +as sad and gloomy, in the uniform aspect of these steppes. Everything +seems motionless; scarcely does a small cloud, passing across the +zenith, and denoting the approach of the rainy season, cast its shadow +on the earth. I know not whether the first aspect of the llanos excites +less astonishment than that of the chain of the Andes. + +When, beneath the vertical rays of the bright and cloudless sun of the +tropics, the parched sward crumbles into dust, then the indurated soil +cracks and bursts as if rent asunder by some mighty earthquake. And if, +at such a time, two opposite currents of air, by conflict moving in +rapid gyrations, come in contact with the earth, a singular spectacle +presents itself. Like funnel-shaped clouds, their apexes touching the +earth, the sand rises in vapory form through the rarefied air in the +electrically-charged centre of the whirling current, sweeping on like +the rushing waterspout, which strikes such terror into the heart of the +mariner. A dim and sallow light gleams from the lowering sky over the +dreary plain. The horizon suddenly contracts, and the heart of the +traveller sinks with dismay as the wide steppe seems to close upon him +on all sides. The hot and dusty earth forms a cloudy veil which shrouds +the heavens from view, and increases the stifling oppression of the +atmosphere, while the east wind, when it blows over the long-heated +soil, instead of cooling, adds to the burning glow. Gradually, too, the +pools of water, which had been protected from evaporation by the now +seared foliage of the fan-palm, disappear. As in the icy north animals +become torpid from cold, so here the crocodile and the boa-constrictor +lie wrapt in unbroken sleep, deeply buried in the dried soil. Everywhere +the drought announces death, yet everywhere the thirsty wanderer is +deluded by the phantom of a moving, undulating, watery surface, created +by the deceptive play of the mirage. A narrow stratum separates the +ground from the distant palm-trees, which seem to hover aloft, owing to +the contact of currents of air having different degrees of heat, and +therefore of density. Shrouded in dark clouds of dust, and tortured by +hunger and burning thirst, oxen and horses scour the plain, the one +bellowing dismally, the other with outstretched necks snuffing the wind, +in the endeavor to detect, by the moisture of the air, the vicinity of +some pool of water not yet wholly evaporated. + +The mule, more cautious and cunning, adopts another method of +allaying his thirst. There is a globular and articulated plant, the +_Melo-cactus_, which encloses under its prickly integument an aqueous +pulp. After carefully striking away the prickles with its forefeet, +the mule cautiously ventures to apply his lips to imbibe the cooling +thistle juice. But the draught from this living vegetable spring is not +always unattended by danger, and these animals are often observed to +have been lamed by the puncture of the cactus thorn. Even if the burning +heat of day be succeeded by the cool freshness of the night, here always +of equal length, the wearied ox and horse enjoy no repose. Huge bats now +attack the animals during sleep, and vampire-like suck their blood; or, +fastening on their backs, raise festering wounds, in which mosquitoes, +hippobosces, and a host of other stinging insects burrow and nestle. + +When, after a long drought, the genial season of rain arrives, the scene +suddenly changes. The deep azure of the hitherto cloudless sky assumes a +lighter hue. Scarcely can the dark space in the constellation of the +Southern Cross be distinguished at night. The mild phosphorescence of +the Magellanic clouds fades away. Like some distant mountain, a single +cloud is seen rising perpendicularly on the southern horizon. Misty +vapors collect and gradually overspread the heavens, while distant +thunder proclaims the approach of the vivifying rain. Scarcely is the +surface of the earth moistened before the teeming steppe becomes covered +with a variety of grasses. Excited by the power of light, the herbaceous +mimosa unfolds its dormant, drooping leaves, hailing, as it were, the +rising sun in chorus with the matin song of the birds and the opening +flowers of aquatic plants. Horses and oxen, buoyant with life and +enjoyment, roam over and crop the plains. The luxuriant grass hides the +beautifully spotted jaguar, who, lurking in safe concealment, and +carefully measuring the extent of his leap, darts, like the Asiatic +tiger, with a cat-like bound upon his passing prey. At times, according +to the accounts of the natives, the humid clay on the banks of the +morasses is seen to rise slowly in broad flakes. Accompanied with a +violent noise, as on the eruption of a small mud-volcano, the upheaved +earth is hurled high into the air. Those who are familiar with the +phenomenon fly from it; for a colossal water-snake, or a mailed and +scaly crocodile, awakened from its trance by the first fall of rain, +is about to burst from its tomb. + +When the rivers bounding the plain to the south, as the Arauca, the +Apure, and the Payara, gradually overflow their banks, nature compels +those creatures to live as amphibious animals, which, during the first +half of the year, were perishing with thirst on the waterless and dusty +plain. A part of the steppe now presents the appearance of a vast inland +sea. The mares retreat with their foals to the higher banks, which +project, like islands, above the spreading waters. Day by day the dry +surface diminishes in extent. The cattle, crowded together, and deprived +of pasturage, swim for hours about the inundated plain, seeking a scanty +nourishment from the flowing panicles of the grasses which rise above +the lurid and bubbling waters. Many foals are drowned, many are seized +by crocodiles, crushed by their serrated tails, and devoured. Horses and +oxen may not unfrequently be seen which have escaped from the fury of +this blood-thirsty and gigantic lizard, bearing on their legs the marks +of its pointed teeth. + + [A widely different scene is that of the forest region, the + nocturnal noises of whose animal inhabitants are thus + picturesquely described.] + +Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we passed the night +as usual in the open air, on a sandy flat, on the bank of the Apure, +skirted by the impenetrable forest. We had some difficulty in finding +dry wood to kindle the fires with which it is here customary to surround +the bivouac, as a safeguard against the attacks of the jaguar. The air +was bland and soft and the moon shone brightly. Several crocodiles +approached the bank; and I have observed that fire attracts these +creatures as it does our crabs and many other aquatic animals. The oars +of our boats were fixed upright in the ground, to support our hammocks. +Deep stillness prevailed, only broken at intervals by the blowing of the +fresh-water dolphins, which are peculiar to the river net-work of the +Orinoco. + +After eleven o'clock such a noise began in the contiguous forest, that +for the remainder of the night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries +of animals rung through the woods. Among the many voices which resounded +together, the Indians could only recognize those which, after short +pauses, were heard singly. There was the monotonous, plaintive cry +of the howling monkeys, the whining, flute-like notes of the small +sapajous, the grunting murmur of the striped nocturnal ape, the fitful +roar of the great tiger, the cougar, or maneless American lion, the +peccary, the sloth, and a host of parrots, parraquas, and other +pheasant-like birds. Whenever the tigers approached the edge of the +forest, our dog, who before had barked incessantly, came howling to seek +protection under the hammocks. Sometimes the cry of the tiger resounded +from the branches of a tree, and was always then accompanied by the +plaintive, piping tones of the apes, who were endeavoring to escape from +the unwonted pursuit. + +If one asks the Indians why such a continuous noise is heard on certain +nights, they answer, with a smile, that "the animals are rejoicing in +the beautiful moonlight, and celebrating the return of the full +moon." To me the scene appeared rather to be owing to an accidental, +long-continued, and gradually increasing conflict among the animals. +Thus, for instance, the jaguar will pursue the peccaries and the tapirs, +which, densely crowded together, burst through the barrier of tree-like +shrubs which opposes their flight. Terrified at the confusion, the +monkeys on the tops of the trees join their cries with those of the +larger animals. This arouses the tribes of birds who build their nests +in communities, and suddenly the whole animal world is in a state of +commotion. Further experience taught us that it was by no means always +the festival of moonlight that disturbed the stillness of the forest; +for we observed that the voices were loudest during violent storms of +rain, or when the thunder echoed and the lightning flashed through the +depths of the wood. The good-natured Franciscan monk who accompanied us +through the cataracts of Apures and Maypures to San Carlos, on the Rio +Negro, and to the Brazilian frontier, used to say, when apprehensive of +a storm at night, "May heaven grant a quiet night both to us and to the +wild beasts of the forest!" + + [The unpleasant conditions of a canoe voyage on the Orinoco are + thus described:] + +The new canoe intended for us was, like all Indian boats, a trunk of a +tree hollowed out partly by the hatchet and partly by fire. It was forty +feet long and three broad. Three persons could not sit in it side by +side. These canoes are so crank, and they require, from their +instability, a cargo so equally distributed, that when you want to rise +for an instant, you must warn the rowers to lean to the opposite side. +Without this precaution the water would necessarily enter the side +pressed down. It is difficult to form an idea of the inconveniences that +are suffered in such wretched vessels. To gain something in breadth, a +sort of lattice-work had been constructed on the stern with branches of +trees, that extended on each side beyond the gunwale. Unfortunately, the +_toldo_, or roof of leaves, that covered this lattice-work, was so low +that we were obliged to lie down, without seeing anything, or, if +seated, to sit nearly double. The necessity of carrying the canoe across +the rapids, and even from one river to another, and the fear of giving +too much hold to the wind, by making the toldo higher, render this +construction necessary for vessels that go up towards the Rio Negro. +The toldo was intended to cover four persons, lying on the deck or +lattice-work of brushwood; but our legs reached far beyond it, and when +it rained half our bodies were wet. Our couches consisted of ox-hides or +tiger-skins spread upon branches of trees, which were painfully felt +through so thin a covering. The fore part of the boat was filled with +Indian rowers, furnished with paddles, three feet long, in the form +of spoons. They were all naked, seated two by two, and they kept time +in rowing with a surprising uniformity, singing songs of a sad and +monotonous character. The small cages containing our birds and our +monkeys--the number of which augmented as we advanced--were hung some to +the toldo and others to the bow of the boat. This was our travelling +menagerie. Every night, when we established our watch, our collection +of animals and our instruments occupied the centre; around these were +placed, first, our hammocks, then the hammocks of the Indians; and on +the outside were the fires, which are thought indispensable against the +attacks of the jaguar. About sunrise the monkeys in our cages answered +the cries of the monkeys of the forest. + +In a canoe not three feet wide, and so encumbered, there remained no +other place for the dried plants, trunks, sextant, a dipping needle, and +the meteorological instruments, than the space below the lattice-work of +branches, on which we were compelled to remain stretched the greater +part of the day. If we wished to take the least object out of a trunk, +or to use an instrument, it was necessary to row ashore and land. To +these inconveniences were joined the torment of the mosquitoes which +swarmed under the toldo, and the heat radiated from the leaves of the +palm-trees, the upper surface of which was continually exposed to the +solar rays. We attempted every instant, but always without success, to +amend our situation. While one of us hid himself under a sheet to ward +off the insects, the other insisted on having green wood lighted beneath +the toldo, in the hope of driving away the mosquitoes by the smoke. The +painful sensations of the eyes, and the increase of heat, already +stifling, rendered both these contrivances alike impracticable. With +some gayety of temper, with feelings of mutual good-will, and with a +vivid taste for the majestic grandeur of these vast valleys of rivers, +travellers easily support evils that become habitual. + + [The torment of insects--mosquitoes and venomous flies by day, + and the _zancudos_ (large gnats) by night--became almost + insupportable as they advanced. On the upper Orinoco the + mosquitoes form the principal topic of conversation, the usual + salutation being, "How did you find the gnats during the + night?" or, "How are you off for mosquitoes to-day?" Humboldt + thus describes the situation:] + +The lower strata of air, from the surface of the ground to the height of +fifteen or twenty feet, are absolutely filled with venomous insects. If +in an obscure spot, for instance, in the grottos of the cataracts formed +by superincumbent blocks of granite, you direct your eyes towards the +opening enlightened by the sun, you see clouds of mosquitoes more or +less thick. I doubt whether there be a country upon earth where man is +exposed to more cruel torments in the rainy season. Having passed the +fifth degree of latitude you are somewhat less stung; but on the upper +Orinoco the stings are more painful, because the heat and the absolute +want of wind render the air more burning and more irritating in its +contact with the skin. "How comfortable people must be in the moon!" +said a Salivo Indian to Father Gumilla. "She looks so beautiful and so +clear, that she must be free from mosquitoes." These words, which denote +the infancy of a people, are very remarkable. The satellite of the earth +appears to all savage nations the abode of the blessed, the country +of abundance. The Esquimaux, who counts among his riches a plank or +the trunk of a tree, thrown by the currents on a coast destitute of +vegetation, sees in the moon plains covered with forests; the Indian of +the forest of Orinoco there beholds open savannas, where the inhabitants +are never stung by mosquitoes. + + [The story of the voyage closes as follows:] + +It would be difficult for me to express the satisfaction we felt on +landing at Angostura [the capital of Spanish Guiana.] The inconveniences +endured at sea in small vessels are trivial in comparison with those +that are suffered under a burning sky, surrounded by swarms of +mosquitoes, and lying stretched in a canoe, without the possibility of +taking the least bodily exercise. In seventy-five days we had performed +a passage of five hundred leagues--twenty to a degree--on the five great +rivers, Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, Rio Negro, and Cassiquiare; and in this +vast extent we had found but a very small number of inhabited places. +Coming from an almost desert country, we were struck with the bustle of +the town, though it contained only six thousand inhabitants. We admired +the conveniences which industry and commerce furnish to civilized man. +Humble dwellings appeared to us magnificent; and every person with whom +we conversed seemed to be endowed with superior intelligence. Long +privations give a value to the smallest enjoyments; and I cannot express +the pleasure we felt when we saw for the first time wheaten bread on the +governor's table. + + + + +THE LLANEROS OF VENEZUELA. + +RAMON PAEZ. + + [Don Ramon Paez, in his "Wild Scenes in South America; or, Life + in the Llanos of Venezuela," has given us some interesting + pictures of a region little known to travellers. These vast + plains are inhabited by a people many of whom bear a close + resemblance in their habits to the Argentine Gauchos. The + following selection is devoted to a description of this people + and their region of habitation.] + + +We left Ortiz as usual, very early the next morning, stumbling here and +there amidst the mass of loose stones which paved the way along the +winding bed of the _quebrada_. In proportion as we advanced on our route +the hills decreased in size, while the loose stones seemed to increase +in quantity. The splendid groves of hardy and balsamiferous trees, which +near Ortiz formed an almost impenetrable forest, gradually became less +imposing in appearance, until they were replaced by thickets of thorny +bushes, chiefly composed of several species of mimosas, with a delicate +and feathery foliage. The traveller accustomed to the shade of a +luxuriant vegetation, and to the sight of cultivated valleys, is struck +by the rapid diminution of the former, and the total disappearance of +the latter, as he emerges from the Galeras of Ortiz; yet he is somewhat +compensated by the almost overpowering perfume shed by masses of the +canary-colored blossoms with which these shrubs are loaded, from the +summits down to the bending branches that trail the ground at every +passing breeze. + +Suddenly we entered a widely-extended tract of level land almost +destitute of vegetation. With the exception of a few clumps of +palm-trees with fan-like leaves, nothing but short grass covered its +entire surface, almost realizing the idea of an "ocean covered with +sea-weed." A dense mass of vapor pervading the atmosphere obscured the +horizon, while the fan-palms, seen from afar, appeared like ships +enveloped in a fog. Gradually the circle of the heavens seemed to close +around us, until we became, as it were, encompassed by the sky. We were, +in fact, treading the shores of the great basin of the Llanos, over one +of the ancient shoals or _mesas_, which, like successive terraces, now +form the border of those grassy oceans known as the Pampas. This was the +Mesa de Paya, the seat of one of the cattle-farms to which we were +bound. + +After wandering for nearly three hours over this monotonous landscape +without compass, and guided only by certain landmarks known to the +_vaqueanos_, we came unexpectedly upon the borders of the Mesa, which +commands an extensive view of the lower savannas. As if by magic, the +dreary scene changed to one of the most glorious panoramas in existence. +At our feet lay a beautiful expanse of meadow, fresh and smooth as the +best cultivated lawn, with troops of horses and countless herds of +cattle dispersed all over the plain. Several glittering ponds, alive +with all varieties of aquatic birds, reflected upon their limpid surface +the broad-leaved crowns of the fan-palms, towering above verdant groves +of laurel, amyris, and elm-like _robles_. Farther beyond, and as far as +the eye could reach, the undulating plain appeared like a petrified +ocean after the sweeping tempest. + +But I feel that my descriptions fall short of the reality, and that I +am unable to depict the harmonious effects of light and shade, and the +blending of the various tints of green, blue, and purple, dispersed +over this extensive panorama; the towering palms gracefully fanning +the glowing atmosphere with their majestic crowns of broad and shining +leaves, and myriad other beauties difficult to enumerate. + +I could scarcely tear myself away from the spot, so fascinated was I +with the novelty of the scene. My companions, more concerned for the +speedy termination of the journey than the beautiful in nature, set off +at a brisk trot towards the house, which was at no great distance. +Fearing to lose my way among the intricate paths leading to it, I was +compelled to follow in their wake, stopping occasionally to gaze once +more upon those enchanting groves, which seemed to return me to the +highly cultivated fields and green meadows of glorious "Old England," +from whence I had just returned. + +On descending to the plain below, my attention was attracted to an +unsightly group of palm-thatched huts, looking more like huge beehives +than the abode of human beings. A formidable fence of palm-trunks +surrounded the premises and several acres of ground beyond. These were +the _corrals_, or enclosures where the training of the fierce herds +was practised by the hardy dwellers of the Llanos; but no signs of +cultivation, or aught else connected with the rural occupations of the +farmer, were visible in the neighborhood. Presently the cavalcade +stopped before the gate, and all the individuals composing it dismounted +and began to unsaddle their horses, amidst the barking of a legion of +dogs and the braying of all the donkeys in the vicinity. + +This was the _hato_, or cattle-farm, of San Pablo we were in quest of, +famous in the annals of the civil wars in Venezuela as the occasional +head-quarters of the constitutional armies, commanded by the owner of +this farm. Our leader was received at the entrance of his estate by a +grave and elderly negro slave, who acted as overseer, and had under +his control all the men and property attached to it. Kneeling upon +the stony court-yard, he kissed the hand extended to him in friendly +greeting, after which he proceeded to unsaddle his master's horse, which +he led to a pond within the enclosure, where the horses were watered. + +We purposed remaining a few days at San Pablo, with the object of +incorporating some fresh relays of mules and horses from the abundant +stock of this estate; so we of the staff installed ourselves under +the palm-roof of our rustic mansion, while the rank and file of the +expedition found accommodation in the open barracoons adjoining it, +although none of the party had reason to boast of being better off than +his neighbor. + +"It is sad when pleasing first impressions are obliterated," remarks a +sentimental writer; "always painful to become _desenchante_ on a more +intimate acquaintance with either people or places." I soon found that +I was not in the fairy-land I had imagined, abounding in grottos and +refreshed by sparkling fountains, but in the region of the Llanos, where +the French adage, _Chacun pour soi et Dieu_ _pour tous_, is verified to +its fullest extent. San Pablo, with its vaunted prestige, and in spite +of its proximity to several important marts, was no better provided with +accommodations than the untidy _douar_ of the wandering Arab of the +desert. A rickety table standing against the wall for fear of tumbling +down, two or three clumsy cedar chairs covered with raw hide, and a +couple of grass hammocks, serving the double purpose of beds and +lounges, constituted all the furniture of the great farm. As a +substitute for wardrobes and hat-stands, we were shown a number of +deer-antlers and bull-horns embedded in the walls of reeds and mud, +on which to hang our pouches, bridles, etc. + +I searched in vain on our arrival for something like a bowl in which to +lave my hands and face, covered with dust and parched by the broiling +sun of the savannas. Even water was so scarce that it was served to us +sparingly from a large calabash gourd used in bringing it from the +river, nearly a mile distant. It is true there was, within the enclosure +of the houses, a pond or excavation, made while searching for the +remains of a brave officer who fell fighting for his country's freedom. +Sufficient water had accumulated there during the rainy season to +entitle it to the name of _Laguna_ or Lake of Genaro Vazquez, the name +of the aforementioned hero; but it was so filled with _bavas_,--a small +species of alligator,--terrapins, and toads, as to render the water +undrinkable. + +But to return to our head-quarters, the structure of which struck me so +forcibly at first as a beehive of vast proportions, naturally suggesting +the idea of a "land of milk and honey." Unfortunately, neither of these +could be obtained for love or money, although the woods and pastures of +the estate abounded in both the creatures that produced them. So we were +compelled to resort to our reserved stock of _papelon_ to sweeten our +coffee, and to its own delicious natural aroma in the place of milk. As +to the house itself, it only differed from the rest in that region in +being larger, and perhaps in better order, than are the generality. +Imagine a pyramidal structure, thatched with palm-leaves, the roof +slanting to within a few feet of the ground, and supported on stout +posts of live timber, which served also as framework for the walls, and +you will have some idea of the style of architecture peculiar to the +country. Doors and windows are of no account in a country uniformly warm +throughout the year, and where the inhabitants possess few articles +capable of tempting the cupidity of light-fingered gentry. Therefore an +ox-hide stretched across the openings left in the walls to admit light +and the inmates is all that is required to keep off uninvited guests. As +an exception to this rule, our mansion of San Pablo had one or two rooms +set apart for invalids, provided with doors and windows of solid planks +of timber in the rough; the other apartments had the upper half of the +walls purposely left open, to admit full and free entrance of light and +air. A narrow piazza or corridor, formed by the slanting of the roof to +within five feet of the ground, ran along the entire length of the main +building, and was intended more as a protection to the rooms against the +sun and rains than as a resort for the inmates. + +The first step, on arriving, was to secure a place in the open +reception-room for my own chattels and hammock, before all the +spare posts and hooks had been appropriated by my companions. This +accomplished, I proceeded to a thorough examination of my saddle and its +accoutrements, so as to have them adapted to the peculiar mode of +travelling in the Llanos. This care I left to the good judgment of our +attendants, not being myself sufficiently skilled in the art of mending, +greasing, and putting in order the complicated gear of our riding +equipment. In the same predicament were also my two English companions, +and our worthy doctor; a kind word, however, addressed to the +good-natured Llaneros--especially if accompanied with a drop of +aguardiente--never failed of enlisting their services in our favor. + +Habit, as well as necessity, is sometimes the mother of invention, as my +experience soon taught me that, to get along in my new quarters, it +would be requisite to set aside the airs and insignia of civilization. +Divesting myself, therefore, of all such superfluities as coat, cravat, +pants, and shoes, I adopted the less cumbrous attire of the Llaneros, +consisting mainly of breeches tightly buttoned at the knee, and a loose +shirt, usually of a bright checkered pattern. Shoes are altogether +dispensed with in a country like the Llanos, subject to drenching rains, +and covered with mud during a great portion of the year, besides the +inconvenience they offer to the rider in holding the stirrup securely +when in chase of wild animals. The leg, however, is well protected from +the thorns and cutting grass of the savannas by a neat legging or +_botin_, made of buff-skin, tightly buttoned down the calf by knobs or +studs of highly polished silver. Another characteristic article of +dress, and one in which the wearers take great pride, is the linen +checkered handkerchief loosely worn around the head. Its object is +ostensibly to protect it from the intensity of the sun's rays; but +the constant habit of wearing it has rendered the handkerchief as +indispensable a head-dress to the Llaneros as is the cravat to the neck +of the city gentleman. + + [The traveller proceeds with further details of the life of + these people, and with an account of their half-savage method + of slaughtering their cattle; which we can well omit for a more + general descriptive passage.] + +The people inhabiting the vast region of the Llanos, although claiming +descent from the old Castilian race, once the rulers of the land, are, +in fact, an amalgamation of the various castes composing the present +population of the republic. These are the whites, or the descendants +of the European settlers of the country; the aboriginals or Indians, +and a great portion of blacks. In most of the towns the native whites +preponderate over all others, and represent the wealth as well as the +most respectable portion of the community; in the villages and thinly +populated districts of the plains a mongrel breed, resulting from the +admixture of these three, constitute the majority of the inhabitants. +These are dispersed over an area of twenty-seven thousand square miles, +making a proportion of only fourteen individuals, out of a population +of three hundred and ninety thousand, to every square mile. + +This race, although vastly inferior to the first in mental capacity and +moral worth, is endowed with a physique admirably adapted to endure the +fatigues of a life beset with dangers and hardships. Cast upon a wild +and apparently interminable plain, the domain of savage beasts and +poisonous reptiles, their lot has been to pass all their life in a +perpetual struggle, not only with the primitive possessors of the land, +but with the elements themselves, often as fierce as they are grand. +When it is not the alarm of the dreaded viper or the spotted jaguar, it +is the sudden inroad of vast inundations, which, spreading with fearful +rapidity over the land, sweep off in one moment their frail habitations +and their herds. Nevertheless this insecure existence, this continual +struggle between life and death, between rude intellect and matter, has +for the Llanero a sort of fascination, perhaps not so well understood by +people possessing the blessings and ideas of civilization, but without +which he could not exist, especially if deprived of his horse and cast +among the mountain region north of his cherished plains. + +The modern Centaur of the desolate regions of the New World, the Llanero +spends his life on horseback; all his actions and exertions must be +assisted by his horse; for him the noblest effort of man is when, +gliding swiftly over the boundless plain and bending over his spirited +charger, he overturns an enemy or masters a wild bull. The following +lines of Victor Hugo seem as though copied from this model: "He would +not fight but on horseback; he forms but one person with his horse; he +lives on horseback; trades, buys, and sells on horseback; eats, drinks, +sleeps, and dreams on horseback." Like the Arab he considers his horse +his best and most reliable friend on earth, often depriving himself of +rest and comfort after a hard day's journey to afford his faithful +companion abundance of food and water. + +Few people in the world are better riders than the Llaneros of +Venezuela, if we except perhaps the Gauchos of Buenos Ayres, or equal +to either in the dexterity they display in the wonderful feats of +horsemanship to which their occupations in the field inure them from +childhood. Their horses, moreover, are so well trained to the various +evolutions of their profession, that animal and rider seem to possess +but one existence. + +The life of the Llanero, like that of the Gaucho his prototype, is +singularly interesting, and resembles in many respects that of others +who, like them, have their abode in the midst of extensive plains. Thus +they have been aptly styled the Cossacks and the Arabs of the New World, +with both of whom they have many points in common, but more especially +do they resemble the last named. When visiting the famous Constantine +Gallery of paintings at Versailles, I was struck with the resemblance of +the Algerine heroes of Horace Vernet to our own, revealing at once the +Moorish descent of the latter, independently of other characteristic +peculiarities. + + [Sir Francis Head, in his "Journeys across the Pampas," gives + the following description of the infancy of a closely similar + race.] + +"Born in the rude hut, the infant Gaucho receives little attention, but +is left to swing from the roof in a bullock's hide, the corners of which +are drawn towards each other by four strips of hide. In the first year +of his life he crawls about without clothes, and I have more than once +seen a mother give a child of this age a sharp knife, a foot long, to +play with. As soon as he walks, his infantine amusements are those which +prepare him for the occupations of his future life; with a lazo made of +twine he tries to catch little birds, or the dogs, as they walk in and +out of the hut. By the time he is four years old he is on horseback, +and immediately becomes useful by assisting to drive the cattle into the +corral." + +When sufficiently strong to cope with a wild animal, the young Llanero +is taken to the _majada_ or great cattle-pen, and there hoisted upon the +bare back of a fierce young bull. With his face turned towards the +animal's tail, which he holds in lieu of bridle, and his little legs +twisted round the neck of his antagonist, he is whirled round and round +at a furious rate. His position, as may be imagined, is anything but +equestrian; yet, the fear of coming in contact with the bull's horns +compels the rider to hold on until, by a dexterous twist of the animal's +tail while he jumps off its back, he succeeds in overturning his +antagonist. + +In proportion as he grows older and stronger, a more manly amusement is +afforded him with the breaking in of a wild colt. This being, however, a +more dangerous experiment, in which many a young eagle "is rendered a +lame duck," he is provided with the necessary accoutrements to withstand +the terrible struggle with the animal. Firmly seated upon his back and +brandishing overhead a _chaparro_ vine for a whip, the apprentice is +thus installed in his new office, from which he must not descend until +the brute is perfectly subdued; the coil of lazo in the hands of his +merciless instructor would be the least evil awaiting him should he +otherwise escape safe and sound from the desperate kicks and plunges of +the horse. + +Here commences what we may term the public life of the Llanero; his +education is now considered complete. From this moment all his endeavors +and ambition will be to rival his companions in the display of physical +force, which he shows to an admirable degree when, armed with his tough +lazo, he pursues the wild animals of his domain. If a powerful bull or +wild horse tries to escape into the open plain, the cavalier unfurls the +noose which is always ready by his side, and the fugitive is quickly +brought back to the corral. Should the thong give way under the +impetuous flight of the animal, the rider seizes him by the tail, and +whirling round suddenly, pulls towards him with so much force as to +cause his immediate overthrow. + +In all these exercises the roving cavalier of the Llanos acquires that +feeling of security and enduring disposition for which he is famous. +Unfortunately, it is often turned to account in disturbing the balance +of power among his more enlightened countrymen; for he is always ready +to join the first revolutionary movement offering him the best chance +for equipping himself with arms of all descriptions. Next to the horse, +the Llanero esteems those weapons which give him a superiority over his +fellow-creatures,--viz., a lance, a blunderbuss, and a fine sword. If he +is unprovided with either of these, he considers himself a miserable and +degraded being, and all his efforts will tend to gratify this favorite +vanity even at the risk of his own life. Therefore he goes to war, +because he is sure, if victorious, of finding the battle-field covered +with these tempting trophies of his ambition. In this, unfortunately, he +is too often encouraged by a host of unprincipled politicians, who, not +wishing to earn a livelihood by fair means, are eternally plotting +against the powers that be. + + + + +THE FORESTS OF THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA RIVERS. + +FRANZ KELLER. + + [The author of the following selection, with his father, was + sent in 1867, by the Minister of Public Works at Rio Janeiro, + to explore the Madeira, and to project a railroad along its + banks where the rapids rendered navigation impossible. His + observations during this journey are given in "The Amazon and + Madeira Rivers," from which we extract his remarks concerning + the Brazilian forests.] + + +Everywhere the decomposing organisms serve as bases for new formations. +No particle, however small, is ever lost in the great household of +Nature; but nowhere is her restless activity so conspicuous as in the +tropics, where the succession of vegetable decay and life is so much +more rapid than it is in colder climes; and which will strike the +reflecting student more especially in the wide, forest-clad valleys of +tropical America, and on the Amazon and its affluents. + +On the heights of the Cordillera the process is already at work. The +waste of the mountain-slopes, broken off by rills and torrents, and +carried by them into the main river, slowly drifts down-stream in the +form of gravel-banks, until, scattered and rent asunder in a thousand +ways, it finally takes permanent form as light-green islands, which are +soon covered and protected with a dense coat of vegetation. + +As every zone of geologic formation in the extensive valley adds its +tribute, these banks are a kind of mineralogical collection, which shows +samples of all the rocks on the river-banks, with the exception, +perhaps, of light pumice-stone, the produce of the volcanoes of the +Andes, which drifts down-stream in large pieces, and is highly prized by +the Tapuia population (on the lower course) for sharpening and cleaning +their weapons and tools. Even when not picked up by hunter or fisher, it +is not lost. It will be arrested by some snag or projection of the +shore, it will so get embedded in the newly-forming sediment, and +thousands of years hence its silicic acid will afford the necessary +material for the hard glassy bark of a bambusacea, or the sharp edge of +a reed. When the currents are not strong enough to move the larger +banks, they at least carry sand and earth with them, and deposit them as +shoals or new alluvion at less exposed spots.... + +The undermined concave shores are sometimes a serious danger to the +passing barque, as even the slight ripple of a canoe is sufficient to +bring down the loosely overhanging earth, often covered with gigantic +trunks. These concave sides, with their fallen trees and their clusters +of sinking javary-palms, supported sometimes by only a tangled net-work +of tough lianas, give to the scenery that peculiar character of primeval +wildness which is so charming to foreigners. + +When one has climbed up the steep shore, often forming huge terrace-like +elevations, and has safely passed through a labyrinth of interwoven +roots and creepers into the interior of the forest, which is getting +freer from underwood at some distance from the river, he is oppressed +with the sensation of awe and wonder felt by man on entering one of the +venerable edifices of antiquity. + +A mysterious twilight encompasses us, which serves to intensify the +radiance of the occasional sunbeam as it falls on a glossy palm-leaf, or +on a large bunch of purple orchid-flowers. Splendid trunks, some of them +from twenty to thirty feet in diameter, rise like so many pillars +supporting the dense green vault of foliage; and every variety of tall, +graceful palms, spare and bushy, and bearing heavy berries of bright +yellow or red, struggle to catch a glimpse of the light, from which they +are shut out by the neighboring giants, of which the figueira (or wild +fig-tree) is one of the most striking, in the dimensions of its crown +and stem, and in the strange shape of its roots, which project like huge +outworks. These seem to grow in all directions, forming props, stays, +and cross-bars wherever they are wanted, just as if the whole were a +soft plastic mass, the sole purpose of which was to supply, with a +minimum of material, as much stability as possible to the trunk, whose +wood is of extreme softness and whose roots are not deep. The +pachiuba-palm (_Iriartea exorhiza_) and some species of Cecropiae exhibit +other extravagances in their roots. They appear as if standing on +stilts, the real trunks only beginning at eight or ten feet above +ground. + +But, more than all, it is the profusion of orchids and Bromeliae that +excites our admiration. These bright children of the tropics envelop +with dense foliage as well the fallen and mouldering trunks as those yet +upstanding in full vigor and bloom, thus forming hanging gardens of +astounding magnificence, which reveal leaves and flowers of the most +irregular shapes and colors. Everywhere, on the branches and on the +ground, and even from out the fissures of the bare rock, light ferns and +rich moss spring up and clothe the decaying trunks with fresh green. Of +mosses and ferns, especially tree-ferns, we found a greater exuberance +and a larger variety, in species as well as in individuals, in the +Southern provinces of the empire, Sao Paulo and Parana; but for splendid +palms and gigantic dicotyledons the North is decidedly the richer of the +two. + +Without the aid of the pencil it is indeed scarcely possible to give an +adequate idea of the magnificence of this vegetation, especially of the +manner in which the different forms are grouped. We may see, it is true, +in our own hot-houses, well-trimmed palms, beautiful orchids with their +abnormal blossoms, and Aroideae with their bright, sappy, sometimes +regularly perforated, leaves; but how different is this from the virgin +forest, wherein Nature, undisturbed by man, has created her own +prodigies, and where no narrow pots separate her children from the +maternal soil, and where no dim roof of glass intervenes between them +and the blue ether! Nor, in our carefully tended hot-houses, is the eye +ever gratified with such agreeable contrasts as are afforded by the +silver-gray and rust-brown tints of the decayed leaf of the palm or the +fern-tree, or the black bark of the rotting trunk, with the blazing +scarlet of some heliconia blossom. How difficult it must be to give to +every plant, especially to orchids, the exact quantity of light, warmth, +and moisture it requires, can be understood only by those who have seen +clusters of them hidden in the deep shade of the tree-crowns, while +others are exposed to the scorching rays of the sun in the vicinity of a +river or in some clearer part of the forest; some species thriving on +the bare rock almost, and others clinging fast with their white rootlets +to the moist rotting bark of a tree.... + +But of far greater importance to the half-civilized riverines than +either palms or orchids, for whose beauties they have no eye, are the +cacao and the caoutchouc-tree (_Siphonia elastica_), products of the +virgin forest essential to the future prosperity of the whole country. + +Although India contributes to the supply of caoutchouc, the precious +resin which is transformed into a thousand different shapes every year +in the factories of Europe and North America, and sent to the ends of +the earth, it cannot compete with Brazil, which takes the first place +among the rubber-producing countries, in respect as well of the vastness +of its export of the material as of its superior quality. + +On the shores of the Amazon its production, it is true, has already been +diminished by unreasonable treatment of the trees; the idea of replacing +the old ones by young saplings never having presented itself, +apparently, to the mind of the indolent population; but the seringaes, +or woods of rubber-trees, on the banks of the Madeira, the Purus, and +other tributaries of the main river, still continue to furnish +extraordinary quantities of it. The province of Amazon alone exports +more than fifty thousand arrobas (one million six hundred thousand +pounds) yearly, while the total of the exports of the whole basin +slightly exceeds four hundred thousand arrobas, or twelve million eight +hundred thousand pounds, per annum.... + +Unfortunately, there has not been until now the slightest attempt made +to cultivate this useful tree; and all the caoutchouc exported from Para +is still obtained from the original seringa groves. The trees of course +suffer, as they naturally would under the best of treatment, from the +repeated tapping and drawing-off of their sap, and the rubber +collectors, therefore, must look about for new groves of the tree in the +unexplored valleys of the more distant interior. + +The planting of the _Siphonia elastica_ would be a more profitable +investment, as it yields the precious milk in the comparatively short +space of twenty or twenty-five years; but, under the combined influence +of the indolence of the Mestitzoes and the shortsightedness of the +government, measures to that end will be adopted and carried into effect +only when the rubber exportation shall have diminished with the +destruction of the trees, and when European and North American +manufacturers shall have found out a more or less appropriate substitute +for the too costly resin. + +Near the Praia de Tamandua we acquainted ourselves with all the +particulars respecting the collection and preparation of the caoutchouc +at the cottage of a Bolivian seringueiro, Don Domingo Leigue. As I have +already stated, the Siphonia grows, or at least thrives, only on a soil +wherein its stem is annually submerged by the floods to the height of +three feet or more. The best ground for it, therefore, is the _igapo_, +the lowest and most recent deposit of the river; and there, in the +immediate vicinity of the seringaes, may be seen the low thatches of the +gatherers' huts, wretched hovels mostly, rendered tenantable during the +inundations by the device of raising the floors on wooden piles of +seven feet height, in which the canoe, the seringueiro's indispensable +horse, also finds a protected harbor. Unenviable truly must be the life +of the happy proprietor, who has nothing to do in the seringal during +the wet season, and who then has ample leisure to calculate exactly the +intervals between his fits of ague, and to let himself be devoured by +_carapanas_, _piums_, _motucas_, and _mucuims_; under which euphonious +names are known some of the most terrible of insect pests. + +Narrow paths lead from the cottage, through the dense underwood, to each +separate tree; and, as soon as the dry season sets in, the inmate of the +palace just described betakes himself with his hatchet into the +seringal, to cut little holes in the bark. The milk-white sap +immediately begins to exude into pieces of bamboo tied below, over +little clay cups set under the gashes to prevent their trickling down +the stems. The collector travels thus from trunk to trunk; and, to +facilitate operations, on his return visit he pours the contents of the +bamboos into a large calabash provided with liana straps, which he +empties at home into one of those large turtle-shells so auxiliary to +housekeeping in these regions, serving as they do for troughs, basins, +etc. + +Without any delay he sets about the smoking process, as the resinous +parts will separate after a while, and the quality of the rubber so +become inferior. An earthen jar, without bottom and with a narrow neck, +is set by way of chimney over a fire of dry urucury, or uauassu +palm-nuts, whose smoke alone, strange to say, has the effect of +instantly coagulating the caoutchouc sap, which, in this state, greatly +resembles rich cow's milk. The workman, sitting beside this "chimney," +through which roll dense clouds of a smothering white smoke, from a +small calabash pours a little of the milk on a sort of light wooden +shovel, always careful, by proper management of the latter, to +distribute it evenly over the surface. Thrusting the shovel into the +thick smoke over the opening of the jar, he turns it several times to +and fro with great rapidity, when the milk is seen to consolidate and to +take a grayish-yellow tinge. + +Thus he puts layer upon layer, until at last the caoutchouc on both +sides of the wood has reached about an inch in thickness, when he thinks +the "plancha" ready. Cutting it on one side, he takes it off the shovel +and suspends it in the sun to dry, as there is always some water between +the several layers, which should, if possible, evaporate. A good workman +is thus able to prepare five or six pounds of solid seringa in an hour. +The plancha, from its initial color of a clear silver-gray, turns +shortly into a yellow, and finally becomes the well-known dark brown of +the rubber, such as it is exported. + +The more uniform, the denser and freer of bubbles, the whole mass is +found to be, the better is its quality and the higher the price it +fetches. Almost double the value is obtained for the first-rate article +over that of the most inferior quality, the so-called sernamby or cabeca +de negro (negro's head); which is nothing but the drops collected at the +foot of the trees, with the remains of the milk scraped out of the +bottoms of the calabashes. The rubber of India is said to be much like +this sernamby, and, like it, to be mixed with sand and small pieces of +bark. By way of testing the quality, every plancha is cut through again +at Para; by which means discovery is made, not only of the bubbles, but +also of any adulteration that might be effected with the milk of the +mangaba, that fine plant with dark glossy leaves, now found so often in +European saloons under the erroneous name of rubber-plant.... + +The wild cacao, with its large lancet-shaped hanging leaves, and its +cucumber-like fruit springing directly from the stem, is one of the +characteristic features of the _virgem_ [or solid soil] on which it +often forms dense thickets, which are all the more impenetrable that the +boughs--exhibiting frequently at the same time the small reddish flowers +and the ripe golden fruit, in which the seeds lie embedded in a sweet +white marrow--bend to the ground and there take root again. + +But the india-rubber and the cacao are not the only treasures worth +collecting in these forests. Even now the export of the Para nuts, the +fruit of the _Bertholletia excelsa_, yields an annual revenue of two +hundred thousand dollars; and the copaiba oil and the urucu, the seeds +of the _Bixa orellana_, used for dyeing, about one hundred thousand +dollars. These sums seem small enough, it is true, but there are perhaps +a hundred times those values of the rich-flavored nuts rotting unheeded +in the forests, and above a score of other rich oily seeds, at present +collected only for the use of the natives, not to mention several resins +which yield the finest varnishes, plants giving the most brilliant hues, +and others with fibres that would serve not only for the finest +weavings, but also for the strongest ropes; besides about forty of the +most indispensable drugs, all which might become most valuable articles +of export.... + +Notwithstanding the fertility of tropical vegetation, I doubt whether +any other part of the world, in the same latitude, can offer as great a +number of useful plants as does the Amazon Valley; and now, when +all-transforming steam is about to open up to us this rich emporium, +European industry should take advantage of the hitherto neglected +treasures. What might not be done with the fibres, some of which surpass +our hemp and flax in all respects? The curaua, for example, a sort of +wild pine-apple, gives a delicate transparent flax of a silky lustre, +such as is used in the Philippine Islands, on a large scale, it +appears. It is sold under the name of _palha_ at Rio de Janeiro. The +tucum and the javary would make excellent ropes, cords, nets, etc., well +calculated to resist moisture and rot; and the piassaba, the murity, +etc., would readily supply solid brushes, brooms, hammocks, hats, +baskets, mats; while the snow-white bast of others would give excellent +paper. + +The lianas or cipos of these countries are, besides their minor uses, +quite indispensable to the half-civilized natives for the construction +of their light cottages, taking the place (as they do) of our nails and +cramp-irons, beams, posts, and rafters. The whole palm-leaf roof is +fastened, and artificially interwoven and intertwined, with tough +creepers of nearly an inch thickness.... + +In the hot lowlands of the Amazon, in the shade of endless forest, there +is many an herb of mysterious virtue, as yet known only to wild Indian +tribes, while the fame of others has already spread over the ocean. Who +has not heard of the _urary_, or _curare_, the quick arrow-poison which, +in the hands of clever physiologists and physicians, promises not only +to become a valuable drug, but to give us interesting disclosures on the +activity of the nerves? + +The wondrous tales of former travellers regarding the preparation of +this urary have been rectified long ago. The venom of snakes is not used +for it, but the juice of the bruised stems and leaves of several kinds +of strychnos and apocyneas is simply boiled over a coal fire, mixed with +tobacco-juice and capsicum (Spanish pepper), and thickened with the +sticky milk of some Euphorbiacea to a hard mass. This manipulation, +moreover, is not undertaken by the old squaws of the tribe, devoting +themselves to a painful death thereby, as the old stories ran, but, as +there is no danger whatever, by the young wives of the warriors, who +look upon it as part of their household duties, or by the men +themselves. There are about eight or ten different poisons of similar, +but not identical, composition and preparation, of which the urary of +the Macusi Indians, and the curare, from Venezuela and New Granada, are +considered the most powerful. + +This dark-brown, pitchy substance, usually kept in little earthen pots, +is lightly spread over the points of the weapons,--their long arrows, +their light spears, and the thin wooden shafts, of about a foot long, +which they shoot through immense blow-tubes (_sarabacanas_). Immediately +upon the diffusion in the blood of the slightest portion of the poison, +the limbs, one by one, refuse to work, as if overcome with torpor, while +the mind apparently retains its activity until death ensues, which it +does in a few minutes' time, from palsy of the lungs. It is strange that +only those nerves are affected which regulate the movements depending on +our own will, whereas those movements we cannot control--the beating of +the heart, for example--continue unaltered to the very last. Experiments +made by French physicians upon animals have shown that, if the lungs are +artificially kept in activity for several hours, the poison will be +rejected by natural means, and no bad consequences will ensue. Of late +the principal objection to the employment of the urary in medicine--its +unequal strength--has been completely overcome by the effective +alkaloid--the curarin--being extracted. This is about twenty times as +powerful as the urary, and has been used successfully in the treatment +of tetanus. The Indians shoot birds and monkeys, which they wish to +tame, with very weak curare, rousing them from the lethargy which +overpowers them with large doses of salt or sugar-juice; and this +treatment is said to be very effective, also, in the reduction of their +wildness.... + +The gurana, prepared from the fruit of the _Paullinia sorbilis_, is a +hard, chocolate-brown mass, of a slightly bitter taste, and of no smell +whatever. It is usually sold in cylindric pieces of from ten inches to a +foot in length, in which the half-bruised almond-like seeds are still +distinguishable; the more homogeneous and the harder the mass, the +better is its quality. To render it eatable, or rather drinkable, it is +rasped as fine as possible on the rough, bony roof of the mouth of the +_Sudis gigas_ (pira-rucu), and mixed with a little sugar and water. A +teaspoonful in a cup of warm water is said to be an excellent remedy in +slight attacks of ague. + +The taste of this beverage, reminding one slightly of almonds, is very +palatable; still, it scarcely accounts for the passionate liking +entertained for it by the inhabitants of the greater part of South +America. It must be the stimulating effects of the paullinin it contains +(an alkaloid like caffeine and theine) that render it so indispensable +to those who have been accustomed to it. All the boats that come lightly +freighted with ipecacuanha and deer- or tiger-hides, from Mato Grosso +down the Arinos and the Tapajoz, in face of the considerable cataracts +and rapids of the latter, take their full loads of guarana at Santarem; +and the heavy boats of the Madeira also convey large quantities of it to +Bolivia; for at Cuyaba, as well as at Santa Cruz de la Sierra and +Cochabamba, there are many who cannot do without their guarana, for +which they often have to pay thirty francs the pound, and who prefer all +the rigors of fasting to abstinence from their favorite beverage. On the +other hand, the mestizo population on the Amazon, where it is prepared +on a large scale by the half-civilized tribes of the Mauhes and +Mundurucus and sold at about three francs the pound, are not so +passionately attached to it; they rather take coffee and a sort of +coarse chocolate, which they manufacture for themselves. + + + + +CANOE- AND CAMP-LIFE ON THE MADEIRA. + +FRANZ KELLER. + + [To the extract just made from Keller's "Amazon and Madeira + Rivers," we add the following, in which an interesting account + of camp-life in the forest and river regions of Brazil is + given.] + + +The lower course of the Madeira presents, for more than four hundred +and sixty miles, a picture of grand simplicity, and, it must be owned, +monotony, which, magnificent as it appears at first, wearies the eye +and sickens the heart at last,--a dead calm on an unruffled, mirror-like +sheet of water glaring in the sun, and, as far as the eye can reach, +two walls of dark green forest, with the dark-blue firmament above them; +in the foreground, slender palms and gigantic orchid-covered trunks, +with blooming creepers hanging from the wave-worn shore, with its +red earthslips, down into the turbid floods. No hill breaks the +finely-indented line of the foliage, which everywhere bounds the +horizon, only here and there a few palm-covered sheds peep out of the +green; and still more rarely do we sight one of their quiet dark +inmates. Stately kingfishers looking thoughtfully into the river, white +herons standing for hours on one leg, and alligators lying so motionless +at the mouth of some rivulet that their jaggy tails and scarcely +protruding skulls might easily be taken for some half-sunken trunks, are +the only animals to be seen, and certainly they do not increase the +liveliness of the scene. Dreary and monotonous as the landscape, the +days, too, pass in unvaried succession. + +With the first dawn of day, before the white mist that hides the smooth +surface of the river has disappeared with the rays of the rising sun, +the day's work begins. The boatswains call their respective crews; the +tents are broken up as quickly as possible; the cooking apparatus, the +hammocks and hides that served as beds, are taken on board, together +with our arms and mathematical instruments, and every one betakes +himself to his post. The _pagaias_ (paddles) are dipped into the water, +and the prows of our heavy boats turn slowly from the shore to the +middle of the stream. Without the loss of a minute, the oars are plied +for three or four hours at a steady but rather quick rate, until a spot +on shore is discovered easy of access and offering a dry fire-place and +some fuel for the preparation of breakfast. If it be on one of the long +sand-banks, a roof is made of one of the sails, that rarely serve for +anything else; if in the wood, the undergrowth, in the shade of some +large tree, is cleared for the reception of our little table and +tent-chairs. + +The functions of the culinary _chef_ for the white faces, limited to the +preparation of a dish of black beans, with some fish or turtle, are +simple enough, but, to be appreciated, certainly require the hearty +appetite acquired by active life in the open air. The Indians have to +cook by turns for their respective boats' crews; their unalterable bill +of fare being a pap of flour of Indian corn or mandioca, with fresh or +dried fish, or a piece of _jacare_ (alligator). + +Most of those who are not busy cooking spend their time preparing new +bast shirts, the material for which is found almost everywhere in the +neighborhood of our halting-places. Soon the wood is alive with the +sound of hatchets and the crack of falling trees; and, even before they +are summoned to breakfast, they return with pieces of a silky bast of +about four and a half yards long and somewhat less than one and a +quarter yard wide. Their implements for shirt-making are of primitive +simplicity,--a heavy wooden hammer with notches, called maceta, and a +round piece of wood to work upon. Continuously beaten with the maceta, +the fibres of the bast become loosened, until the originally hard piece +of wood gets soft and flexible, and about double its former breadth. +After it has been washed, wrung out to remove the sap, and dried in +the sun, it has the appearance of a coarse woollen stuff of a bright +whitish-yellow or light brown, disclosing two main layers of wavy fibres +held together by smaller filaments. A more easily prepared and better +working-garment for a tropical climate is hardly to be found than this, +called cascara by the Indians of Bolivia, and turury by those of the +Amazon. Its cut is as simple and classical as its material. A hole is +cut in the middle of a piece about ten feet long, to pass the head +through, and the depending skirt is sewn together on both sides, from +below up to the height of the girdle, which usually is a piece of cotton +string or liana. + +Another branch of industry our Indians were busy at, in their hours of +leisure, was the fabrication of straw hats, with the young leaves of a +kind of little palm, the same which supplies the excellent hats imported +from Ecuador and Peru, and known in Europe under the name of Chile or +Panama hats. Dexterity at all sorts of wicker-work seems to be innate to +this race; and the prettiest little baskets and the finest mats of +colored palm-leaves are to be bought on the Missions of the Mamore at +the lowest prices. + +[Illustration: A SOUTH SEA ISLAND] + +But all these occupations are left at the call of the first mate, who +has the proud title of Capitano. The boats' crews crowd round their +pots, each one receives his allotted portion in a calabash or a basin of +horn, and their spoons of the same material are soon in full activity. +If a jacare has lately been shot, or caught in a _laco_ (sling), every +one, after roasting his own piece of it on the spit, proceeds to cut +at the large slices of the white meat (which, though in appearance +like fish, is as tough as india-rubber) with the satisfaction usually +produced by three or four hours of hard rowing on view of anything +eatable. One tribe especially, the Canichanas, from the former Mission +of San Pedro at the Mamore, think roast caiman the finest eating in the +world; while others, the Cayuabas from Exaltacion, and the Mojos from +Trinidad, whose palates are somewhat more refined, prefer beef, fish, or +turtle to the musk-exhaling saurian. Notably the turtles, which are not +found on the Guapore and Mamore (they are not met with above the rapids +of the Madeira), are prized by them, though we grew rather tired of +them, and no wonder. On the lower Madeira, at our fires, there was +almost daily going on the cooking of turtles, of all sizes, from the +full-grown one of a yard in length to the smallest of the size of a +hand; and in every variety of preparation, too,--whole, and chopped up +as for soup; stewed; and roasted in their own shell or on the spit. + +Bathing in the river, immediately after meals, is a luxury invariably +indulged in by all the Indians; and I never remarked that it was +attended by any evil consequences to them. + +After a rest of two hours' duration, the cooking utensils, the hammocks, +and improvised tents were carried on board again, and the voyage +continued. A second halt was made after rowing for two or three hours, +when we came in sight of a good place for fishing, such as the mouth of +some smaller river, or an extensive mud-bank. Such places were usually +recognizable from afar, by the multitude of snow-white herons and of +long caimans, which, finding it out before us, crowded there in peaceful +unity, and with similar intentions. The vicinity of the scaly monsters +is scarcely heeded by the Indians, who fish and take their bath, +laughing and jesting, though somewhat hugging the shore, just as if +there were no such thing as the tail or the tooth of the jacare in the +world; and, indeed, these creatures are themselves in much greater +danger than the red-skins. When the last steak of alligator has been +consumed, one of the Canichanas is sure to ask leave to have some fun, +and to provide at the same time for their next dinner. Of course the +permission is always granted, as the sport keeps up their spirits and +spares our provisions. Without loss of time, then, one of them, having +carefully fastened a strong loop of raw hide at the end of a long pole, +and having dexterously slipped off his bast shirt, creeps slowly through +the shallow water, pole and sling in hand, as near as possible to the +alligator, which looks on at these preparations with perfect apathy, +only now and then betraying a sign of life by a lazy movement of its +powerful tail. But it does not take its eyes off the Indian as he crawls +nearer and nearer. The fatal sling is at arm's length from its muzzle, +and yet it does not see it. As if under the influence of witchcraft, it +continues to stare with its large protruding eyes at the bold hunter, +who in the next moment has thrown the loop over its head, and suddenly +drawn it to with a strong pull. The other Indians, who the while have +been cowering motionless on shore, now rush into the water to the help +of their companion, and four or five of them land the ugly creature that +with all its might struggles to get back into the water, lashing the +sand with its tail and showing its long teeth; but a few vigorous blows +with an axe on the tail and skull soon render it tame enough. If, +instead of dragging back, the alligator were only to rush forward boldly +to the attack of the Indians, they would, of a certainty, leave pole +and sling and run for their lives; but this bright idea never seems to +occur to the uncouth animal, and the strife always ends with its death. +Though there were more than a dozen of them killed during the voyage, I +never thought of sending a rifle-bullet through the thick skull of one, +except on one occasion, when I was afraid that one of our Canichanas was +about to make too close an acquaintance with the hard, jagged tail of an +extraordinarily strong monster, which measured full sixteen and a half +feet. + +Even before the huge spoil is cut up, four musk-glands, placed by twos +under its jaw, and on its belly, near the beginning of the tail, must be +carefully taken out, to prevent the diffusion, over the whole body, of +the penetrating odor of the greasy, brown liquid they contain. These +glands, which are about an inch and a half long and as thick as a +finger, are carefully tied up and suspended in the sun to dry. Mixed +with a little rose-water, their contents serve, as we were told, to +perfume the raven-black tresses of the elegant Bolivian ladies at Santa +Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba, in spite of, or rather by reason +of, their strong scent, which gives the headache to all save these +strong-nerved senoritas, who love a bull-fight above everything, who +know how to roll the cigarrito, and to dance the fandango with matchless +grace, but who scarcely are able to write their own names. + +After such a pleasant interlude of fishing or hunting, the paddles are +plied with renewed vigor until the evening, when sleeping quarters are +selected, either on a sand-bank or in the forest. The canoes are moored +by strong piassaba ropes in some recess of the bank, where they +are protected against drifting trunks; the tents are erected, and +preparations ensue for the principal meal. Meanwhile, after the very +short interval of twilight usual in the tropics, night almost suddenly +throws her dark veil over the valley, and the bright constellations of +the southern sky in quiet majesty adorn the firmament. + +While we prepare to take astronomical observations, half a dozen large +fires are lighted round about, in whose fitful blaze the neighboring +forest-trees appear like huge phantoms, looking contemptuously down on +us, poor tiny mortals. Our Indians warm themselves in the cheerful glow, +smoking, and chatting of the day's adventures, or rather of what are +regarded as such,--unusual good or ill luck at fishing and hunting; the +casual meeting of some canoe; or the sight of a seringueiro's poor +cottage. Work over, they take off the rough cascara, and put on the +camiseta, a cotton garment without sleeves, resembling a wide poncho +sewn together at the sides, and whose dazzling whiteness is set off by +two scarlet stripes along the seams. The ample folds and the simple cut +of the garment, which is made by the Indian women of the Missions on +very primitive looms, give quite a stately, classical appearance to the +numerous groups round the fires. Such must have been the aspect +presented by the halting-places of those daring seafarers, the +Phoenicians, who were the first to call into life an international +commerce, and whose light-rigged barques first ventured to distant +shores, to bring home the precious amber and the useful tin. Only the +dense swarms of mosquitoes, which set in immediately after sunset, +remind us rather unpleasantly that we are far off from those happy +northern regions, where such a nuisance can hardly be well imagined. +Especially in the dense forest beneath cacao-bushes, or under the +close leafage of the large figueiras, where no breath of air incommodes +those light-winged tormentors, it is quite impossible, for the European +at least, to close an eye without the shelter of a mosquiteiro +(mosquito-net); and we could but wonder at our Indians, most of whom did +without it. After supper they simply spread a hide on the ground, on +which, with no covering other than the starry firmament above them, +they slept undisturbed till the dawn, only occasionally brushing away, +as if by way of diversion, the most obtrusive of the little fiends. The +capitanos only, and one or other of the older rowers, allow themselves +the luxury of good cotton hammocks, which are also made by their wives +in the Missions. + +Such, with few variations, was the course of our daily life, until we +reached the regions of the rapids, when, of course, the hundred little +incidents connected with the dragging of the canoes through narrow, +foaming channels, and with carrying the goods and the vessels themselves +overland, disturbed the monotony of this rude forest life. + + + + +BESIEGED BY PECCARIES. + +JAMES W. WELLS. + + [It is to "Three Thousand Miles through Brazil, from Rio de + Janeiro to Maranhao," by James W. Wells, F.R.G.S., that we + owe the following exciting example of the perils of a hunter's + life in the wilds of the tropics. Mr. Wells and his + fellow-travellers, while journeying up the valley of the Sapao, + far in interior Brazil, came upon traces of the peccary, an + animal which, from its fearlessness, and its habit of moving in + troops, is occasionally a very unsafe creature to meet. What + followed we shall leave the author to tell.] + + +We were down in the deep, narrow valley, where the slopes of the +table-land surrounded us like a wall, up which there was no visible +ascent. The tall, rank grass was also littered with boulders of +sandstone and short, gnarled, and distorted cork-trees; it was a +toilsome march for both men and animals, but there, certainly, must be +the head-quarters of all the peccaries of the region, for everywhere the +ground was furrowed and rooted up, the grass trodden down in long +lanes, the pools of water turbid, from their wallowing, and the place +odorous as a rank pigsty; and yet, strange to say, not a pig was to be +seen, fortunately for us; for in such an inconvenient place an attack +from these vicious animals in the numbers they could evidently collect +would have enabled them to take us at great disadvantage. + +We pushed on the animals to get out of this pig-set man-trap, and +eventually got clear of the labyrinth on the farther side of the last +feeder of the main morass, and, after some difficulty, found an ascent +on to the _geraes_, where we made a bee-line to the Sapao across the +flats. + +During the passage of the swamps the Don said,-- + +"Ah! Senhor Doctor, what a shame to leave such a lovely place; if +you and I were only here to-night, what fun we would have with the +peccaries; but, patience, they will make us a visit to-night, because +of the trail of the dogs." + +But neither time nor place would permit of carrying out the Don's +desires, as there was neither water nor pasture for the animals. The +Don's remark about the peccaries paying us a visit is owing to a popular +belief that these animals, when in considerable numbers, will follow a +dog's trail for many miles, and attack and kill him. In fact, it is +customary with the hunters to imitate the barking of a dog to attract +the attention of the pigs, and induce them to collect together and make +an attack; when, the hunters being safely ensconced in trees, the game +is perfectly safe, as the men have only to shoot what they require. + +The ground traversed that afternoon was not so free from bush as we had +hitherto found, being in many places thickly covered with dense cerrado +(abounding in immense quantities of the india-rubber-producing +Mangaba-tree), where progress was very slow and difficult, and required +the free use of our wood-knives. After a long and wearisome march, we +reached the valley of the Sapao again, quite eight miles from the +peccaries' haunt. + +I found the river valley presented much the same characteristics as we +had found lower down. For the purposes of a railway it is admirable; the +gradients are practically level, and the only works of art required +would be in crossing the many _burity_ swamps that intersect the route, +and these, although numerous, are narrow. + +Even the Rio Sapao itself could doubtless be made into a good canal, in +the absence of a railway, for there is plenty of water, and the ground +offers great facilities for straightening its course. + +Especial care was taken in preparing the camp that night. The Don and +Jose superintended the operation of constructing the fort, the sides of +which were further protected by spreading over them the hides used for +covering the packs of the mules. Bush was also cut to make up and +enlarge the defences, and a strong stake was driven into the ground +inside the fort for the purpose of securing the dogs in case the +peccaries arrived. The camp was made on the borders of a clump of trees, +to which we were enabled to sling the hammocks, no one caring to sleep +on terra firma that night, but two of the men who were unprovided with +hammocks spread their hides on the ground inside the fort. + +After dinner, of course, peccaries formed the sole subject of +conversation, but hour after hour went by, yet no signs of their +presence appeared; and, after arranging the watches for the night, we +turned in, and with the fatigues of the day I was soon asleep. + +It appeared to me, however, that I had barely closed my eyes, when I +felt my hammock violently shaken. It was the Don awakening me, saying, +"Wake up, here are the _porcos_, we are going to have some fun." The +first peculiarity that struck me was the prevalence of the odor of old +pigsties. I sat up, looked around, and listened. The pitchy blackness of +night surrounded us, but the fire, burning brightly, sent its flickering +light upon the tree-trunks, the foliage, and the hammocks; two men were +in the fort with gun and knife in hand, and the dogs tied to their stake +were with difficulty kept quiet, and vented their excitement in deep +growls. As I listened it became evident that we were surrounded by some +animals, for in many directions was heard, in the stillness of night, +the sound of bodies moving through the bush, twigs snapping, grass +rustling, etc. It was a moment of suspense, but not for long; for +suddenly, from all around us, came a blood-curdling sound of the +simultaneous snapping of teeth from vast numbers of the enemy, followed +by the appearance of a crowd of charging black animals, rushing with +wonderful speed towards a common centre, the fort. We in the hammocks +each lighted a coil of wax tapers that were prepared ready for the +occasion. + +And what a scene ensued! the fire was rapidly scattered, and partly +extinguished; under and around us was a seething mass of black +peccaries, barely distinguishable in the dim light, but all pushing and +struggling to the front; the men in the fort had discharged their +weapons, and were hard at work, hacking and thrusting at the peccaries +as they endeavored to swarm up the smooth surface of the hides that +covered the sides of the fort. The men in the hammocks, after +discharging their guns, reached down and slashed with their knives at +the swarming animals below them. + +The attack was more like the wild, reckless bravery of the Arabs of the +Soudan, for as pig after pig fell squealing and disabled, scores more +struggled for his place. The faint light of the tapers and the partly +extinguished fire served but to dimly illuminate the elements of the +strange, noisy, wildly weird scene; the trunks of the surrounding trees +and their foliage; the swinging hammocks with their occupants reaching +downward, cutting and thrusting with their long, gleaming knives; the +dim figures of the men in the _trincheria_, repelling with shouts and +thrusts the swarming enemy; the wild, rushing, charging forms of the +black bodies of the peccaries, as in great numbers they threw themselves +against the fort, regardless of being struck down one after the other, +and always impelled forward by those in the rear struggling to the +front; others made ineffectual attempts to reach our hammocks or +viciously gashed the trees that gave us support; the extremely +disagreeable and nauseous odors of the animals, their snapping of teeth, +like musketry file-firing, the reports of the firearms, the shouts of +the men, the howling and barking of the dogs, and the dim light, created +an indescribably strange and exciting scene. Every bullet of my revolver +took effect. I shouted to the men to reserve their fire, and fire +volleys, but it was like talking in a gale of wind at sea. + +In spite of all efforts, still the battle raged. The animals appeared to +be in immense numbers, for, as far as the faint light would permit, the +ground was seen covered with their moving bodies, rushing, struggling, +the strongest beating down the weakest, grunting, squealing, and +snapping their teeth; and noticeable above everything was the abominable +exhalations from their bodies, an odor like a combination of rank butter +and garlic. + +I was getting anxious not only for my baggage, but for the men behind +the fort, who had to cut and thrust like madmen; the excitement was +intense. The strong raw hides were ripped up as though slashed with a +sharp knife, and the bags of beans and farinha were freely streaming +their contents on the ground from innumerable rippings from the keen +sharp tusks. + +Although we in the hammocks were quite safe, the fort was trembling; +many of the saddles and bags had been displaced by the sheer pressure of +the enemy. Our few miserable firearms appeared to have no more effect +than so many pop-guns, although the ground was becoming strewn with the +bodies of the slain and disabled. At last I succeeded in getting the men +in the hammocks to fire volleys at a given place, and after a time this +appeared to have an effect, for as suddenly as the attack commenced, so +it ceased; and the animals withdrew simultaneously and in silence. + +The Don (his voice chuckling with glee) called to us to get ready again, +as they would probably return. "Ah!" said he to me, in a low voice, +"what a splendid time we are having!" I thought, however, of the men in +the fort, one of whom was stanching blood from his wrist. I told the Don +to go and reinforce them; but suddenly the Don became very deaf; he was +very snug in his hammock and really could not hear me; but Jose, like a +good fellow, got out, ran for the fort, jumped in, and helped the men to +make good the damages. We could still hear the pigs in the bush, and +presently, without a moment's warning, we again heard that diabolical +crash of teeth from a complete circle around us, followed immediately by +another wild charge, and the battle was again renewed with all its +excitement; but then, after the first flush of excitement, we became +cooler, and Jose in the fort was a host in himself; this attack was of +much shorter duration, and the enemy once more suddenly retreated. In +the pause that then ensued I thought of Rodrigues, as it then occurred +to me that I had not hitherto noticed him; his hammock was quite still, +and its edges drawn together over his body, that formed a round, +ball-like protuberance in the centre. I saw it all, and could picture +the poor terror-stricken man, coiled up, with blanched face and bated +breath and making himself as small as possible. The men in the fort had +behaved very pluckily. + +Six or seven other attacks eventually followed, but each one became +weaker, and at intervals between of longer duration. The eventful night +seemed interminable, and finally it was not until near daybreak that we +heard the last grunt. + +At the first lights of gray dawn Jose proposed to reconnoitre, and went +off for the purpose. At first he proceeded very gingerly from tree to +tree. I proposed to myself to go also, but just at that moment I had a +fellow-feeling for the Don's deafness, and thought what a comfortable +place a hammock was, and that really I could do no good; and further I +remembered that generals should always occupy high, commanding +positions; every one was chary of moving from their places of security. + +Jose soon afterwards returned, and reported that the enemy had finally +withdrawn. + +Thoughts of the horses and mules then occurred to us, and we anxiously +awaited their arrival, for they had acquired the habit of appearing in +camp of their own accord in the early morning for their matutinal feed +of corn. Thankfully I saw three or four soon after arrive, but two men +had to go for the others, that were fortunately found browsing on a +plentiful supply of the shoots of young bamboos. Happily the animals had +been pasturing in a direction opposite to that from whence the peccaries +came, otherwise there would have been a stampede. + +Almost the first thing the men did after the final retreat of the +peccaries was to slash the skin on the top of the loins of the defunct +enemy, and extract the gland that creates the disgusting odor peculiar +to these animals; for if not extracted soon after death, it taints the +flesh to such an extent as to render it uneatable except by Indians, who +do not object to any flavor, and eat all their animal food cooked on the +same principle as a European cook prepares a woodcock. There were +twenty-seven dead pigs found in and about the camp, and also several +wounded, to whom it was necessary to give the _coup de grace_. The +wounds were mostly from the knives and small axes, but a very +considerable number of the wounded must have got away to recover, or +linger unfortunately in pain. + +Six of the plumpest were selected for drying and salting, the +preparations for which, and also to repair the damages done to the bags +of provisions, delayed our departure for some time. + +An examination of these animals showed them to be a species of peccary +resembling that known as the _Dicotyles labiatus_, but an essential +difference was noticeable in the absence of the white lips that give the +name to that species; our enemies had black snouts and dark lips, +otherwise they corresponded in other points. + +They had four incisors on the upper jaw, and six molars on each side +above and below; while the tusks, although smaller than a pig's, are +much finer and sharper, inclined slightly backward, and closely overlap +each other. Some of the bodies of the animals measured thirty-six inches +in length. They are more slender in build than the common pig, and +covered with long, stiff bristles, colored with alternate rings of gray, +light-brown, and black. These colors vary with the size and age of the +animals, and as either one predominates, they cause the animal to appear +either brown, gray, or black; the largest we found was almost entirely +black, whereas the smallest had quite a brown appearance. + +During the battle I could not help noticing the apparent method of +their movements, as though they were led by chiefs. It appears that +their mode of attack on such an occasion as they favored us with is to +surround in silence, by a complete circle, the object to be stormed; +when, at a given signal, a simultaneous snapping of teeth takes place, +followed by a general converging rush to the centre, whereby the largest +and strongest reach the front first, and the smallest bring up the rear; +their retreat is carried out on an equally methodical system. There is a +small, red species known by the Guarany name of _caeitatu_;[B] our +friends are known by the Brazilian cognomen of _queixadas_, or _porcos +de matto_. + +[Footnote B: _Dicotyles torquatos._] + +From what I had witnessed during the past night, I can quite understand +how these courageous animals in large numbers are capable of surrounding +and destroying a powerful jaguar; and if my dog Feroz had fallen among +them, he would doubtless have made a brave fight, but he would not have +had the slightest chance of escape, and fortunately for us the ropes of +the hammocks did not break, as hammock-strings will sometimes do at +untoward moments, otherwise I should not be here now to tell this tale. + +But now, from the camp-fire, comes the odor of roast peccary, for parts +of them were already roasting for breakfast, and emitting a vastly more +acceptable odor to what they did when alive. When ready, it is needless +to say that, after the long night and in the keen, dewy morning air, how +appreciated were our visitors when cooked, and there was not the +slightest trace of the objectionable odor. + + [Shortly afterwards the hunters met another tenant of the + Brazilian wilds.] + +As several peccaries had crossed our path lately, Jose and the Don cut +three long straight bamboos; to the ends of each we fastened our +sharp-pointed knives, for the purpose of pig-sticking. But the first use +we had for our lances was for a different animal; our dogs had suddenly +disappeared into the tall grass, barking loudly, and a few moments +afterwards a huge ant-bear came rolling out into the open semi-marsh +land, followed by the dogs; it went at a good pace, but with most +extraordinary and ludicrous movements. It became then very interesting +to watch the sagacity of the dogs, as they hung well on to his rear, +trying to seize only the tail of the animal, and keeping well out of +reach of his powerful fore-legs armed with tremendous claws. The dogs, +however, were evidently losing their caution and getting closer, and the +cumbersome beast had already made some particularly rapid blows in +attempting to rip the dogs. Fearing a possible disaster to my faithful +Feroz, we galloped on, but it is amazing the speed these cumbersome +ant-bears can develop. We had to put our animals to their sharpest paces +to come up with the quarry, when we had the opportunity of fleshing our +lances. The bear died hard, lying on its back and striking out with its +fore-legs. The men cut portions of the flesh to eat, but when afterwards +prepared, I found it too strongly flavored with formic acid to be +agreeable, and the dogs refused it. + +It then occurred to me that the incident of the discovery by the Don of +the robbery of a bees'-nest some days ago might possibly be explained by +it having been taken by an ant-bear, and not by a prowling stranger as +he supposed. + + [The hunt of the ant-bear was followed a few days afterwards by + a peccary-hunt, which proved a much less safe occupation.] + +A little farther on, in a wide shallow depression, was our host's +favorite hunting-ground (where he had often found considerable +quantities of peccaries), an immense _burityzal_ that extended +apparently from the Chapadas to the Rio Preto. + +We halted at Jose's request and listened, and soon distinctly heard the +grunt of the _porcos_ among the _buritys_, where they feed on the fruits +of the palms that form their favorite food. + +Leaving the horses fastened to the trees of a thin _cerrado_ that +covered the sloping ground of the borders of the swamps, and haversacks, +_ponchos_, and other _impedimenta_ suspended to the branches, we +advanced to the attack. + +I confess to a feeling of trepidation and a certain bumping of the heart +as we were about to leave the borders of the convenient trees so easy +and apparently purposely constructed for a human retreat from the +peccaries, but at that moment a troop of some dozen of them emerged from +the jungle of the swamp out into the open marshy land, and disappeared +into the adjoining tall grass. + +Three of the sons of Jose, with Antonio, Bob, and Jose Grosso, started +at a run to cut off their retreat, and soon disappeared amidst the tall +grass a little lower down the hill. After a few moments of suspense, we +heard reports of guns, and shouts to us to look out; at the same time +another troop of peccaries appeared on the open marshes, and followed +the tracks of the others. The grass became agitated by the movements of +the animals, and they soon afterwards entered the more open ground of +the _cerrado_ where we were waiting, pursued by the five men; we all +fired, but as the range was long, there was not much execution. The +animals, about forty in number, now suddenly halted and faced their +pursuers with vicious little stampings of feet and snapping of teeth, +and suddenly charged down upon the men and upon ourselves. Never was +such gymnastic agility displayed as in the way that each of us rushed +for, and scurried up, the nearest trees, many dropping their guns or +knives in their hurry. + +Jose and his sons were the coolest, especially the old man, who, perhaps +a little too stiff for climbing, calmly placed his back against a tree, +clasped it with his left hand, and leaning forward in a semi-stooping +posture, with his long _facao_ at the ready, awaited the furious charge. + +How gallantly they come sweeping along with their muzzles well down, but +within a few feet of our trees they suddenly halt, and, snapping their +tusks, make short plunging charges. I had found a comfortable perch up a +short gnarled tree, and taking careful aim at the peccaries near me, I +knocked over three of them in five shots from my revolver. + +They were charging Jose's legs at close quarters, but his long, keen, +sharp pointed knife flashes quickly as he rapidly delivers cuts and +thrusts with telling effect. The other men, safely ensconced in the +trees, have made good shots, but before any of us can reload the +peccaries scamper away. All of us quickly descend from our perches and +rush after the retreating animals, loading our guns as we run, but our +brave foes suddenly halt and face us with a look of defiance, and again +make a gallant charge. How ignominious we appeared as we in our turn +beat a hurried retreat to the nearest trees, where, not having time or +finding conveniences for a climb, we were forced to imitate Jose's +example and face the enemy with knives; but the peccaries, after a +momentary pause, dashed onward and disappeared amidst the tall grass of +the borders of the swamps, crossed the marshes, and entered the jungle +of the _buritys_. + +Although the whole thing happened within a few moments, there were quite +enough elements of danger to spice the sport, for, if in making our +retreat any of us had stumbled and fallen, the consequences must have +been serious, if not fatal. I prefer the pig sticking on mule-back with +our extemporized spears. We gave the _coup de grace_ to the wounded, but +many got away only partially damaged. We found our bag amounted to ten +pigs, all in excellent condition. + +As Jose and his sons were anxious for another tussle, we proceeded up +the valley, and soon saw here and there a solitary grunter outside the +growth of palms and aquatic vegetation of the swamps; and frequent +grunts, heard amidst the groves, indicated the presence of considerable +numbers of our foes. + +A little farther on, a spit of firm land, only covered with short grass, +extended to near the groves, but no one cared to venture so far from the +friendly sanctuary of the trees and possibly meet a huge anaconda coiled +up in the swamp. + +Jose Grosso and one of our host's sons now returned to remain with the +animals, whilst we proceeded a little farther on in quest of a stray +peccary. We walked about a mile, but found not what we hoped for; but on +returning some peccaries were seen straying towards the hills in twos or +threes, homeward-bound to their lairs in the dells and grottos of the +sources of streams at the foot of the bluffs of the Chapadas. We worked +our way amidst the trees, and eventually obtained a few long shots, and +succeeded in bagging two more. + +It became a question whether we should pursue our journey to enable me +to take my notes, and camp out and have another probable night-attack of +peccaries, or return to Mato Grande. I thought a night of peace and +quietness preferable, although perhaps very unsportsmanlike, and so we +wended our way homeward. + +It is rather unusual that these peccaries make such a brave fight in +daylight, but it was chiefly owing to their accidentally finding +themselves in such considerable numbers on this occasion, as they are +commonly scattered over their feeding-grounds in very small parties +during the day, and return to a common haunt at night, whence they sally +out in immense numbers upon any foe that trespasses upon their +neighborhood, like when they tracked our dogs in the Sapao. + + + + +THE PERILS OF TRAVEL. + +IDA PFEIFFER. + + [Among travellers there have been few more ardent and + enterprising than the woman from whose writings our present + selection is made. Ida Pfeiffer was born in Vienna about 1795, + married, brought up and educated her two sons, and in 1842, + when nearly fifty years of age, set out on a series of travels + which she had long contemplated, and in which she spent the + succeeding ten years. After a series of travels in Asia Minor, + Scandinavia, and Iceland, she set out in 1846 on a tour of the + world, which was not accomplished without great hardships and + dangers. In 1851 she entered on a second journey around the + world, visiting various new countries. She died in 1858. From + her "A Woman's Journey round the World" we select the following + thrilling experience. She had set out from Rio Janeiro, in + company with Count Berchthold, on an excursion to Petropolis, + a German colony in the vicinity. Suddenly, in a lonely spot, a + negro sprang out upon them, knife and lasso in hand, indicating + by gestures that he intended to murder them and drag their + bodies into the forest. She gives a vivid description of what + followed.] + + +We had no arms, as we had been told that the road was perfectly safe, +and the only weapons of defence which we possessed were our parasols, if +I except a clasp-knife, which I instantly drew out of my pocket and +opened, fully determined to sell my life as dearly as possible. We +parried our adversary's blows as long as we could with our parasols, +but these lasted but a short time; besides, he caught hold of mine, +which, as we were struggling for it, broke short off, leaving only a +piece of the handle in my hand. In the struggle, however, he dropped his +knife, which rolled a few steps from him; I instantly made a dash, and +thought I had got it, when he, more quick than I, thrust me away with +his feet and hands, and once more obtained possession of it. He waved it +furiously over my head, and dealt me two wounds, a thrust and a deep +gash, both in the upper part of the left arm; I thought I was lost, and +despair alone gave me the courage to use my own knife. I made a thrust +at his breast; this he warded off, and I only succeeded in wounding him +severely in the hand. The Count sprang forward and seized the fellow +from behind, and thus afforded me an opportunity of raising myself from +the ground. The whole affair had not taken more than a few seconds. + +The negro's fury was now roused to its highest pitch by the wounds he +had received. He gnashed his teeth at us like a wild beast, and +flourished his knife with frightful rapidity. The Count, in his turn, +had received a cut right across the hand, and we had been irrevocably +lost, had not Providence sent us assistance. We heard the tramp of +horses' hoofs upon the road, upon which the negro instantly left us and +sprang into the wood. Immediately afterwards two horsemen turned a +corner of the road, and we hurried towards them; our wounds, which were +bleeding freely, and the way in which our parasols were hacked, soon +made them understand the state of affairs. They asked us which direction +the fugitive had taken, and, springing from their horses, hurried after +him; their efforts, however, would have been fruitless, if two negroes, +who were coming from the opposite side, had not helped them. As it was, +the fellow was soon captured. + +He was pinioned, and, as he would not walk, severely beaten, most of the +blows being dealt upon the head, so that I feared the poor fellow's +skull would be broken. In spite of this, he never moved a muscle, and +lay, as if insensible to feeling, upon the ground. The two other negroes +were obliged to seize hold of him, when he endeavored to bite every one +within his reach like a wild beast, and carry him to the nearest house. +Our preservers, as well as the Count and myself, accompanied them. We +then had our wounds dressed, and afterwards continued our journey, not, +it is true, entirely devoid of fear, especially when we met one or more +negroes, but without any further mishap, and with a continually +increasing admiration of the beautiful scenery. + + [The negro was supposed to be either drunk or insane, but it + proved that he had been punished by his master for some + offence, and took that mode to obtain revenge. Madame Pfeiffer + penetrated the Brazilian forests, and thus describes the + aboriginal savages.] + +On a small space, under lofty trees, five huts, or rather sheds, formed +of leaves, were erected, eighteen feet long by twelve feet broad. The +frames were formed of four poles stuck in the ground, with another +reaching across, and the roof of palm-leaves, through which the rain +could penetrate with the utmost facility. On three sides these bowers +were entirely open. In the interior hung a hammock or two, and on the +ground glimmered a little fire, under a heap of ashes, in which a few +roots, Indian corn, and bananas were roasting. In one corner, under the +roof, a small supply of provisions was hoarded up, and a few gourds were +scattered around; these are used by the savages instead of plates, pots, +water-jugs, etc. The long-bows and arrows, which constitute their only +weapons, were leaning in the background against the wall. + +I found the Indians still more ugly than the negroes. Their complexion +is a light bronze, they are stunted in stature, well-knit, and about the +middle size. They have broad and somewhat compressed features, and +thick, coal-black hair, hanging straight down, which the women sometimes +wear in plaits, fastened to the back of the head, and sometimes falling +down loose about them. Their forehead is broad and low, the nose +somewhat flattened, the eyes long and narrow, almost like those of the +Chinese, and the mouth large, with rather thick lips. To give a still +greater effect to all these various charms, a peculiar look of stupidity +is spread over the whole face, and is more especially to be attributed +to the way in which their mouths are always kept open. Most of them, +both men and women, were tattooed with a reddish or blue color, though +only round the mouth, in the form of a moustache. Both sexes are +passionately fond of smoking, and prefer brandy to everything. Their +dress was composed of a few rags, which they had fastened round their +loins. + +The good creatures offered me the best hut they possessed, and invited +me to pass the night there. Being rather fatigued by the toilsome nature +of my journey on foot, the heat, and the hunting-excursion, I very +joyfully accepted their proposition; the day, too, was drawing to a +close, and I should not have been able to reach the settlement of the +whites before night. I therefore spread out my cloak upon the ground, +arranged a log of wood so as to serve instead of a pillow, and for the +present seated myself upon my splendid couch. In the mean while my hosts +were preparing the monkey and the parrots, by sticking them on wooden +spits and roasting them before the fire. + +In order to render the meal a peculiarly dainty one, they also buried +some Indian corn and roots in the cinders. They then gathered a few +large fresh leaves off the trees, tore the roasted ape into several +pieces with their hands, and, placing a large portion of it, as well as +a parrot, Indian corn, and some roots, upon the leaves, put it before +me. My appetite was tremendous, seeing that I had tasted nothing since +the morning. I therefore immediately fell to upon the roasted monkey, +which I found superlatively delicious; the flesh of the parrot was far +from being so tender and palatable. + + [As we have begun this selection with a perilous adventure of + our lady traveller, some other perils encountered by her in + other parts of the world may fitly close it. The following + experience in a tiger-hunt took place in India, during an + excursion to the rock temples of Ellora.] + +I had scarcely left the gates of the town behind, when I perceived a +number of Europeans seated upon elephants, coming from the bungalow. On +meeting each other we pulled up and commenced a conversation. The +gentlemen were on the road to search for a tiger-lair, of which they had +received intimation, and invited me, if such a sport would not frighten +me too much, to take part in it. I was greatly delighted to receive the +invitation, and was soon seated on one of the elephants, in a howdah +about two feet high, in which there were already two gentlemen and a +native,--the latter had been brought to load the guns. They gave me a +large knife to defend myself, in case the animal should spring too high +and reach the side of the howdah. Thus prepared, we approached the chain +of hills, and after a few hours we were already pretty near the lair of +the tigers, when our servants cried out softly, "_Bach, Bach!_" and +pointed with their fingers to some brushwood. + +I had scarcely perceived the flaming eyes which glared out of one of +the bushes before shots were fired. Several balls took effect upon +the animal, who rushed, maddened, upon us. He made such tremendous +springs, that I thought every moment he must reach the howdah, and +select a victim from among us. The sight was terrible to see, and +my apprehensions were increased by the appearance of another tiger; +however, I kept myself so calm, that none of the gentlemen had any +suspicion of what was going on in my mind. Shot followed shot; the +elephants defended their trunks with great dexterity by throwing them +up or drawing them in. After a sharp contest of half an hour, we were +the victors, and the dead animals were triumphantly stripped of their +beautiful skins. The gentlemen politely offered me one of them as a +present; but I declined accepting it, as I could not postpone my journey +sufficiently long for it to be dried. + + [Madame Pfeiffer had a courage and presence of mind in + dangerous and difficult situations which often served her in + good stead. Certainly it needed no slight courage to undertake + the adventure described in our next selection, a journey among + the cannibal Battakers of Sumatra. In 1835 two American + missionaries had been killed and eaten by them, and such a + journey without a military escort seemed foolhardy. But she + persisted, and reached a village on the borders of the Battaker + territory July 19, 1852. Here she sent for the regents of the + neighboring villages.] + +In the evening we sat in solemn conclave surrounded by regents, and by a +great crowd of the people, for it had been noised abroad far and wide +that here was a white woman who was about to venture into the dreaded +country of the wild Battakers. Regents and people all concurred in +advising me to renounce so perilous a project; but I had tolerably made +up my mind on this point, and I only wanted to be satisfied as to one +thing,--namely, whether it was true, as many travellers asserted, that +the Battakers did not put their victims out of their pain at once, but +tied them living to stakes, and, cutting pieces off them, consumed them +by degrees with tobacco and salt. + +The idea of this slow torture did a little frighten me; but my bearers +assured me, with one accord, that this was only done to those who were +regarded as criminals of a deep dye, and who had been on that account +condemned to death. Prisoners of war are tied to a tree and beheaded at +once; but the blood is carefully preserved for drinking, and sometimes +made into a kind of pudding with boiled rice. The body is then +distributed; the ears, the nose, and the soles of the feet are the +exclusive property of the rajah, who has besides a claim on other +portions. The palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the flesh of +the head, and the heart and liver, are reckoned peculiar delicacies, and +the flesh in general is roasted and eaten with salt. The regents assured +me, with a certain air of relish, that it was very good food, and that +they had not the least objection to eat it. The women are not allowed to +take part in these grand public dinners. A kind of medicinal virtue is +ascribed to trees to which prisoners have been tied when they have been +put to death, and the stem is usually cut into sticks five or six feet +long, carved into figures or arabesques, and decorated with human hair; +and these sticks are taken in hand by people who go to visit the sick, +or when any medicine is to be given. + + [Despite this gruesome warning, the daring woman continued her + journey, and prosecuted it until the 13th of August, when she + found herself in the most imminent peril.] + +More than eighty armed men stood in the pathway and barred our passage, +and before we were aware of it, their spearmen had formed a circle +around me and shut me in, looking the while indescribably terrible and +savage. They were tall robust men, fully six feet high; their features +showed the most violent agitation, and their huge mouths and projecting +teeth had really more resemblance to the jaws of a wild beast than to +anything human. They yelled and made a dreadful noise about me, and had +I not been in some measure familiar with such scenes, I should have felt +sure that my last hour was at hand. + +I was really uneasy, however: the scene was too frightful; but I never +lost my presence of mind. At first I sat down on a stone that lay near, +endeavoring to look as composed and confident as I could; but some +rajahs then came up to me with very threatening looks and gestures, and +gave me clearly to understand that if I did not turn back they would +kill and eat me. Their words, indeed, I did not comprehend, but their +action left no manner of doubt, for they pointed with their knives to my +throat, and gnashed their teeth at my arm, moving their jaws then as if +they already had them full of my flesh. + +Of course, when I thought of coming among the wild Battakers, I had +anticipated something of this sort, and I had therefore studied a little +speech in their language for such an occasion. I knew if I could say +anything that would amuse them, and perhaps make them laugh, I would +have a great advantage over them, for savages are quite like children, +and the merest trifle will often make them friends. I got up, therefore, +and patting one of the most violent, who stood next me, upon the +shoulder in a friendly manner, said, with smiling face, in a jargon half +Malay and half Battaker, "Why, you don't mean to say you would kill and +eat a woman, especially such an old one as I am! I must be very hard and +tough!" And I also gave them by signs and words to understand that I was +not at all afraid of them, and was ready, if they liked, to send back my +guide, if they would only take me as far as the _Eier-Tau_. + +Fortunately for me, the doubtless very odd way in which I pronounced +their language, and my pantomime, diverted them, and they began to +laugh. Perhaps, also, the fearless confidence which I manifested made a +good impression; they offered me their hands, the circle of spearmen +opened, and, rejoicing not a little at having escaped this danger, I +journeyed on, and reached in perfect safety a place called Tugala, where +the rajah received me into his house. + + + + +BRAZILIAN ANTS AND MONKEYS. + +HENRY W. BATES. + + [The "Naturalist in the Amazons" of Henry Walter Bates is a + work that has long held a deserved reputation for the closeness + and accuracy of its observations and the interest of its + narrative. The author, born at Leicester, England, in 1825, + accompanied the noted biologist, Alfred Russel Wallace, to + Brazil, the story of which journey is given in the work cited. + From it we extract some passages concerning the animal life of + that country, embracing the doings of the "leaf-cutting" ants + and the monkeys. Our selections begin in the suburbs of Para.] + + +In the gardens numbers of fine showy butterflies were seen. There were +two swallow-tailed species, similar in colors to the English _Papilio +machaon_, a white Pieris (_P. monuste_), and two or three species of +brimstone- and orange-colored butterflies, which do not belong, however, +to the same genus as our English species. In weedy places a beautiful +butterfly with eye-like spots on its wings was common, the _Junonia +lavinia_, the only Amazonian species which is at all nearly related to +our Vanessas, the Admiral and Peacock butterflies. + +One day we made our first acquaintance with two of the most beautiful +productions of nature in this department,--namely, the _Helicopis +cupido_ and _endymion_. A little beyond our house one of the narrow +green lanes which I have already mentioned diverged from the mongabu +avenue, and led between enclosures overrun with a profusion of creeping +plants and glorious flowers down to a moist hollow, where there was a +public well and a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of mucaja +palm-trees. On the tree-trunks, walls, and palings grew a great quantity +of climbing Pothos plants, with large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves. +These plants were the resort of these two exquisite species, and we +captured a great number of specimens. They are of extremely delicate +texture. The wings are cream-colored; the hind pair have several +tail-like appendages, and are spangled beneath as if with silver. Their +flight is very slow and feeble; they seek the protected under surface of +the leaves, and in repose close their wings over the back, so as to +expose the brilliantly spotted under surface. + +I will pass over the many orders and families of insects, and proceed at +once to the ants. These were in great numbers everywhere, but I will +mention here only two kinds. We were amazed at seeing ants an inch and a +quarter in length, and stout in proportion, marching in single file +through the thickets. These belonged to the species called _Dinoponera +grandis_. Its colonies consist of a small number of individuals, and are +established about the roots of slender trees. It is a stinging species, +but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller kinds. There +was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of this giant among the +ants. Another far more interesting species was the Sauba (_Oecodoma +cephalotes_). This ant is seen everywhere about the suburbs, marching to +and fro in broad columns. From its habit of despoiling the most valuable +cultivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge to the +Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant that agriculture is +almost impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible +pest.... + +In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of earth, +of a different color from the surrounding soil, which were thrown up in +the plantations and woods. Some of them were very extensive, being forty +yards in circumference, but not more than two feet in height. We soon +ascertained that these were the work of the Saubas, being the outworks +or domes which overlie and protect the entrances to their vast +subterranean galleries. On close examination I found the earth of which +they are composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated +with cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The +difference in color from the superficial soil of the vicinity is owing +to their being formed of the under-soil, brought up from a considerable +depth. + +It is very rarely that the ants are seen at work on these mounds; the +entrances seem to be generally closed; only now and then, when some +particular work is going on, are the galleries opened. The entrances are +small and numerous; in the larger hillocks it would require a great +amount of excavation to get at the main galleries; but I succeeded in +removing portions of the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that +the minor entrances converged, at the depth of about two feet, to one +broad, elaborately worked gallery or mine, which was four or five inches +in diameter. + +The habit in the Sauba ant of clipping and carrying away immense +quantities of leaves has long been recorded in books on natural history. +When employed on this work their processions look like a multitude of +animated leaves on the march. In some places I found an accumulation of +such leaves, all circular pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying on +the pathway, unattended by ants, and at some distance from the colony. +Such heaps are always found to be removed when the place is revisited +the next day. In course of time I had plenty of opportunities of seeing +them at work. They mount the trees in multitudes, the individuals being +all worker-miners. Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf, and +cuts with its sharp, scissor-like jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the +piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a little +heap accumulates until carried away by another relay of workers; but +generally each marches off with the piece it has operated upon, and, as +all take the same road to their colony, the path they follow becomes in +a short time smooth and bare, looking like the impression of a +cart-wheel through the herbage. + +It is a most interesting sight to see the vast host of busy diminutive +laborers occupied on this work. Unfortunately, they choose cultivated +trees for their purpose. This ant is quite peculiar to tropical America, +as is the entire genus to which it belongs. It sometimes despoils the +young trees of species growing wild in its native forests; but it seems +to prefer, when within reach, plants imported from other countries, such +as the coffee- and orange-trees.... The heavily-laden workers, each +carrying its segment of leaf vertically, the lower edge secured in its +mandibles, troop up and cast their burdens on the hillock; another relay +of laborers place the leaves in position, covering them with a layer of +earthy granules, which are brought one by one from the soil beneath. + +The underground abodes of this wonderful ant are known to be very +extensive. The Rev. Hamlet Clark has related that the Sauba of Rio de +Janeiro, a species closely allied to ours, has excavated a tunnel under +the bed of the river Parahyba at a place where it is as broad as the +Thames at London Bridge. At the Magoary rice-mills, near Para, these +ants once pierced the embankment of a large reservoir; the great body +of water which it contained escaped before the damage could be repaired. +In the Botanic Gardens at Para an enterprising French gardener tried all +he could think of to extirpate the Sauba. With this object he made fires +over some of the main entrances to their colonies, and blew the fumes of +sulphur down the galleries by means of bellows. I saw the smoke issue +from a great number of outlets, one of which was seventy yards distant +from the place where the bellows were used. This shows how extensively +the underground galleries are ramified. + +Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of their +foliage, the Sauba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its habit +of plundering the stores of provisions in houses at night, for it is +even more active at night than in the daytime. At first I was inclined +to discredit the stories of their entering habitations and carrying off +grain by grain the farinha or mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer +classes of Brazil. At length, while residing at an Indian village on the +Tapajos, I had ample proof of the fact. One night my servant woke me +three or four times before sunrise by calling out that the rats were +robbing the farinha baskets. The article at that time was scarce and +dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise very unlike that made by +rats. So I took the light and went into the store-room, which was close +to my sleeping-place. I there found a broad column of Sauba ants, +consisting of thousands of individuals, as busy as possible, passing to +and fro between the door and my precious baskets. Most of those passing +outward were laden each with a grain of farinha, which was, in some +cases, larger and many times heavier than the bodies of the carriers. + +Farinha consists of grains of similar size and appearance to the tapioca +of our shops; both are products of the same root, tapioca being the +pure starch, and farinha the starch mixed with woody fibre, the latter +ingredient giving it a yellowish color. It was amusing to see some of +the dwarfs, the smallest members of their family, staggering along, +completely hidden under their load. The baskets, which were on a high +table, were entirely covered with ants, many hundreds of whom were +employed in snipping the dry leaves which served as lining. This +produced the rustling sound which had at first disturbed us. My servant +told me that they would carry off the whole contents of the two baskets +(about two bushels) in the course of the night if they were not driven +off, so we tried to exterminate them by killing them with our wooden +clogs. It was impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming in as +fast as we killed their companions. They returned the next night, and I +was then obliged to lay trains of gun-powder along their line and blow +them up. This, repeated many times, at last seemed to intimidate them, +for we were free from their visits during the remainder of my residence +at the place. + +What they did with the hard dry grains of mandioca I was never able to +ascertain, and cannot even conjecture. The meal contains no gluten, and +therefore would be useless as cement. It contains only a small relative +portion of starch, and, when mixed with water, it separates and +falls away like so much earthy matter. It may serve as food for the +subterranean workers. But the young or larvae of ants are usually fed +by juices secreted by the worker-nurses. + + [Leaving the ants with this example of their curious habits, we + shall proceed with the author's description of Brazilian + monkeys.] + +I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate +vicinity of Para. I met with three species only in the forest near the +city; they are shy animals and avoid the neighborhood of towns, where +they are subject to much persecution by the inhabitants, who kill them +for food. The only kind which I saw frequently was the little _Midas +ursulus_, one of the Marmosets, a family peculiar to tropical America, +and differing in many essential points of structure and habits from all +other apes. They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true +monkeys in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind +thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the thumbs +of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to the other +fingers. I do not mean to convey that they have a near relationship to +squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an inferior order of mammals; +their resemblance to those animals is merely a superficial one. They +have two molar teeth less in each jaw than the Cebidae, the other family +of American monkeys; they agree with them, however, in the sideway +position of the nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all +the monkeys of the Old World. The body is long and slender, clothed with +soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length of the trunk, +is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger in volume than the +anterior pair. + +The _Midas ursulus_ is never seen in large flocks; three or four is +the greatest number observed together. It seems to be less afraid of +the neighborhood of man than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in +the woods which border the suburban streets, and once I espied two +individuals in a thicket behind the English consul's house at Nazareth. +Its mode of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like +that of squirrels; it does not ascend to the slender branches, or take +those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidae do, whose prehensile tails +and flexible hands fit them for such headlong travelling. It confines +itself to the larger boughs and trunks of trees, the long nails being of +great assistance to the creature, enabling it to cling securely to the +bark; and it is often seen passing rapidly round the perpendicular +cylindrical trunks. It is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and +has a great share of curiosity, for when a person passes by under the +trees along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few moments +to have a stare at the intruder. + +In Para _Midas ursulus_ is often seen in a tame state in the houses of +the inhabitants. When full grown it is about nine inches long, +independently of the tail, which measures fifteen inches. The fur is +thick, and black in color, with the exception of a reddish-brown streak +down the middle of the back. When first taken, or when kept tied up, it +is very timid and irritable. It will not allow itself to be approached, +but keeps retreating backward when any one attempts to coax it. It is +always in a querulous humor, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; +its dark, watchful eyes, expressive of distrust, observant of every +movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly, however, as it +generally is in the houses of the natives, it becomes very tame and +familiar. I once saw one as playful as a kitten, running about the house +after the negro children, who fondled it to their hearts' content. It +acted somewhat differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like +them to sit in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, +trying to bite, and otherwise annoying them. + +It is generally fed on sweet fruits, such as the banana, but it is also +fond of insects, especially soft-bodied spiders and grasshoppers, which +it will snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of +countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing. This is +partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as one of sixty +degrees; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they have of +inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited, contribute +very much to give them a knowing expression. Anatomists who have +dissected species of Midas tell us that the brain is of a very low type +as far as the absence of convolutions goes, the surface being as smooth +as that of a squirrel's. I should conclude at once that this character +is an unsafe guide in judging of the mental qualities of these animals; +in mobility of expression of countenance, intelligence, and general +manners these small monkeys resemble the higher apes far more than they +do any rodent animal with which I am acquainted. + +On the upper Amazon I once saw a tame individual of the _Midas +leoninus_, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still more +playful and intelligent than the one just described. This rare and +beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length, exclusive of the +tail. It is named leoninus on account of the long brown mane which +depends from the neck, and which gives it very much the appearance of a +diminutive lion. In the house where it was kept it was familiar with +every one; its greatest pleasure seemed to be to climb about the bodies +of different persons who entered. The first time I went in, it ran +across the room straightway to the chair on which I sat down and climbed +up to my shoulder; arrived there, it turned round and looked into my +face, showing its little teeth, and chattering, as though it would say, +"Well, and how do you do?" It showed more affection towards its master +than towards strangers, and would climb up to his head a dozen times in +the course of an hour, making a great show every time of searching there +for certain animalcula. + +Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus that it +distinguished between different objects depicted on an engraving. M. +Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp; at these it became +much terrified; whereas at the sight of a figure of a grasshopper or +beetle it precipitated itself on the picture, as if to seize the objects +there represented. + +Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Para, a great number +may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazilians are fond of +pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to breed in captivity +in this country. I counted in a short time thirteen different species +while walking about the Para streets, either at the doors or windows of +houses, or in the native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with +afterwards in any other part of the country. One of these was the +well-known _Hapale jacchus_, a little creature resembling a kitten, +banded with black and gray all over the body and tail, and having a +fringe of long white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the +shoulder of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, +and I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other was +a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had ruddy brown +fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish tuft on the top of the +forehead.... + +The only monkeys I observed at Cameta were the Couxio (_Pithecia +satanas_), a large species, clothed with long brownish black hair, and +the tiny _Midas argentatus_. The Couxio has a thick bushy tail; the hair +of the head sits on it like a cap, and looks as if it had been carefully +combed. It inhabits only the most retired parts of the forest, on the +terra firma, and I observed nothing of its habits. The little _Midas +argentatus_ is one of the rarest of the American monkeys. I have not +heard of its being found anywhere except near Cameta. I once saw three +individuals together running along a branch in a cacao grove near +Cameta; they looked like white kittens: in their motions they resembled +precisely the _Midas ursulus_ already described. + +I saw afterwards a pet animal of this species, and heard that there were +many so kept, and that they were esteemed as choice treasures. The one I +saw was full grown, but it measured only seven inches in length of body. +It was covered with long white, silky hairs, the tail was blackish, and +the face nearly naked and flesh-colored. It was a most timid and +sensitive little thing. The woman who owned it carried it constantly in +her bosom, and no money would induce her to part with her pet. She +called it Mico. It fed from her mouth and allowed her to fondle it +freely, but the nervous little creature would not permit strangers to +touch it. If any one attempted to do so it shrank back, the whole body +trembling with fear, and its teeth chattered, while it uttered its +tremulous frightened tones. The expression of its features was like that +of its more robust brother _Midas ursulus_; the eyes, which were black, +were full of curiosity and mistrust, and it always kept them fixed on +the person who attempted to advance towards it. + +In the orange groves and other parts humming-birds were plentiful, but I +did not notice more than three species. I saw a little pigmy belonging +to the genus Phaethornis one day in the act of washing itself in a brook. +It was perched on a thin branch, whose end was under water. It dipped +itself, then fluttered its wings and pruned its feathers, and seemed +thoroughly to enjoy itself alone in the shady nook which it had +chosen,--a place overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and Heliconiae. I +thought as I watched it that there was no need for poets to invent elves +and gnomes while nature furnishes us with such marvellous little sprites +ready to hand. + + + + +THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES. + +JAMES ORTON. + + [The story of the Andes and the great river to which this + mountain-chain gives birth has never been better told than in + Orton's "The Andes and the Amazon," from which we select the + following description of Chimborazo and its mountain neighbors. + James Orton, born at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1830, became a + Congregationalist clergyman, and in 1867 headed an exploring + expedition to South America. In 1873 he sought that continent + again, and died on Lake Titicaca, September 24, 1877.] + + +Coming up from Peru through the cinchona forests of Loja, and over the +barren hills of Assuay, the traveller reaches Riobamba seated on the +threshold of magnificence,--like Damascus, an oasis in a sandy plain, +but, unlike the Queen of the East, surrounded with a splendid retinue of +snowy peaks that look like icebergs floating in a sea of clouds. + +On our left is the most sublime spectacle in the New World. It is a +majestic pile of snow, its clear outline on the deep blue sky describing +the profile of a lion in repose. At noon the vertical sun, and the +profusion of light reflected from the glittering surface, will not allow +a shadow to be cast on any part, so that you can easily fancy the figure +is cut out of a mountain of spotless marble. This is Chimborazo,--yet +not the whole of it,--you see but a third of the great giant. His feet +are as eternally green as his head is everlastingly white; but they are +far away beneath the banana and cocoanut palms of the Pacific coast. + +Rousseau was disappointed when he first saw the sea; and the first +glimpse of Niagara often fails to meet one's expectations. But +Chimborazo is sure of a worshipper the moment its overwhelming grandeur +breaks upon the traveller. You feel that you are in the presence-chamber +of the monarch of the Andes. There is sublimity in his kingly look of +which the ocean might be proud. + + "All that expands the spirit, yet appeals, + Gathers around this summit, as if to show + How earth may pierce to heaven, yet leave vain man below." + +[Illustration: THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES] + +Well do we remember our disappointment as we stood before that wonder of +the world,--St. Peter's. We mounted the pyramid of steps and looked up, +but were not overcome by the magnificence. We read in our guide-book +that the edifice covers eight acres, and to the tip-top of the cross is +almost five hundred feet; that it took three hundred and fifty years and +twelve successive artists to finish it and an expenditure of fifty +million dollars, and now costs thirty thousand dollars per annum to keep +it in repair, still we do not appreciate its greatness. We pushed aside +the curtain and walked in,--walked a day's journey across the transept +and up and down the everlasting nave, and yet continued heterodox. We +tried hard to believe it was very vast and sublime, and we knew we ought +to feel its grandeur, but somehow we did not. Then we sat down by the +Holy of Holies, and there we were startled into a better judgment by the +astounding fact that the Cathedral of St. Paul--the largest edifice in +Great Britain--could stand upright, spire, dome, body, and all, inside +of St. Peter's! that the letters of the inscription which run round the +_base_ of the dome, though apparently but an inch, are in reality six +feet high! Then for the first time the scales fell from our eyes, the +giant building began to grow; higher and higher still it rose, longer +and deeper it expanded, yet in perfect proportions; the colossal +structure, now a living temple, put on its beautiful garments and the +robe of majesty. And that dome! the longer we looked at it the vaster +it grew, till finally it seemed to be a temple not made with hands; the +spacious canopy became the firmament; the mosaic figures of cherubim and +seraphim were endowed with life; and as we fixed our eyes on the zenith +where the Almighty is represented in glory, we thought we had the vision +of Stephen. Long we gazed upward into this heaven of man's creation, and +gazed again till we were lost in wonder. + +But the traveller needs no such steps to lift him up to the grand +conception of the divine Architect as he beholds the great white dome of +Chimborazo. It looks lofty from the very first. Now and then an expanse +of thin, sky-like vapor would cut the mountain in twain, and the dome, +islanded in the deep blue of the upper regions, seemed to belong more to +heaven than to earth. We knew that Chimborazo was more than twice the +altitude of Etna. We could almost see the great Humboldt struggling up +the mountain's side till he looked like a black speck moving over the +mighty white, but giving up in despair four thousand feet below the +summit. We see the intrepid Bolivar mounting still higher; but the hero +of Spanish-American independence returns a defeated man. Last of all +comes the philosophic Boussingault, and attains the prodigious elevation +of nineteen thousand six hundred feet,--the highest point reached by man +without the aid of a balloon; but the dome remains unsullied by his +foot. Yet none of these facts increase our admiration. The mountain has +a tongue which speaks louder than all mathematical calculations. + +There must be something singularly sublime about Chimborazo, for the +spectator at Riobamba is already nine thousand feet high, and the +mountain is not so elevated above him as Mont Blanc above the vale of +Chamouni, when, in reality, that culminating point of Europe would not +reach up even to the snow-limit of Chimborazo by two thousand feet. It +is only while sailing on the Pacific that one sees Chimborazo in its +complete proportions. Its very magnificence diminishes the impression of +awe and wonder, for the Andes on which it rests are heaved to such a +vast altitude above the sea, that the relative elevation of its summit +becomes reduced by comparison with the surrounding mountains. Its +altitude is twenty-one thousand four hundred and twenty feet, or +forty-five times the height of Strasburg cathedral; or, to state it +otherwise, the fall of one pound from the top of Chimborazo would raise +the temperature of water thirty degrees. One-fourth of this is +perpetually covered with snow, so that its ancient name Chimpurazu--the +mountain of snow--is very appropriate. It is a stirring thought that +this mountain, now mantled with snow, once gleamed with volcanic fires. +There is a hot spring on the north side, and an immense amount of +debris covers the slope below the snow-limit, consisting chiefly of +fine-grained, iron-stained trachyte and coarse porphyroid gray trachyte; +very rarely a dark vitreous trachyte. Chimborazo is very likely not a +solid mountain; trachytic volcanoes are supposed to be full of cavities. +Bouger found it made the plumb line deviate 7" or 8". + +The valleys which furrow the flank of Chimborazo are in keeping with its +colossal size. Narrower, but deeper, than those of the Alps, the mind +swoons and sinks in the effort to comprehend their grim majesty. The +mountain appears to have been broken to pieces like so much thin crust, +and the strata thrown on their vertical edges, revealing deep, dark +chasms, that seem to lead to the confines of the lower world. The +deepest valley in Europe, that of the Ordesa in the Pyrenees, is three +thousand two hundred feet deep; but here are rents in the side of +Chimborazo in which Vesuvius could be put away out of sight. As you look +down into the fathomless fissure, you see a white fleck rising out of +the gulf, and expanding as it mounts, till the wings of the condor, +fifteen feet in spread, glitter in the sun as the proud bird fearlessly +wheels over the dizzy chasm, and then, ascending above your head, sails +over the dome of Chimborazo. Could the condor speak, what a glowing +description he could give of the landscape beneath him when his horizon +is a thousand miles in diameter! If + + "Twelve fair counties saw the blaze from Malvern's lonely height," + +what must be the panorama from a height fifteen times higher! + +Chimborazo was long supposed to be the tallest mountain on the globe, +but its supremacy has been supplanted by Mount Everest in Asia, and +Aconcagua in Chile. In mountain gloom and glory, however, it still +stands unrivalled. The Alps have the avalanche, "the thunderbolt of +snow," and the glaciers, those icy Niagaras so beautiful and grand. Here +they are wanting. The monarch of the Andes sits motionless in calm +serenity and unbroken silence. The silence is absolute and actually +oppressive. The road from Guayaquil to Quito crosses Chimborazo at the +elevation of fourteen thousand feet. Save the rush of the trade wind in +the afternoon, as it sweeps over the Andes, not a sound is audible; not +the hum of an insect, nor the chirp of a bird, nor the roar of the puma, +nor the music of running waters. Mid-ocean is never so silent. You can +almost hear the globe turning on its axis. There was a time when the +monarch deigned to speak, and spoke with a voice of thunder, for the +lava on its sides is an evidence of volcanic activity. But ever since +the morning stars sang together over man's creation Chimbo has sat in +sullen silence, satisfied to look "from his throne of clouds o'er half +the world." There is something very suggestive in this silence of +Chimborazo. It was once full of noise and fury; it is now a _completed_ +mountain, and thunders no more. How silent was Jesus, a completed +character! The reason that we are so noisy is that we are so full of +wants; we are _unfinished_ characters. Had we perfect fulness of all +things, the beatitude of being without a want, we should lapse into the +eternal silence of God. + +Chimborazo is a leader of a long train of ambitious crags and peaks; but +as he who comes after the king must not expect to be noticed, we will +only take a glimpse of these lesser lights as we pass up the Western +Cordillera, and then down the Eastern. + +The first after leaving the monarch is Caraguairazo. The Indians call it +"the wife of Chimborazo." They are separated only by a very narrow +valley. One hundred and seventy years ago the top of this mountain fell +in, and torrents of mud flowed out containing multitudes of fishes. It +is now over seventeen thousand feet high, and is one of the most Alpine +of the Quitonian volcanoes, having sharp pinnacles instead of the smooth +trachytic domes--usually double domes--so characteristic of the Andean +summits. And now we pass in rapid succession numerous picturesque +mountains, some of them extinct volcanoes, as Iliniza, presenting two +pyramidal peaks, the highest seventeen thousand feet above the sea, and +Corazon, so named from its heart-shaped summit, till we reach Pichincha, +whose smoking crater is only five miles distant in a straight line from +the city of Quito, or eleven by the travelled route. + +The crown of this mountain presents three groups of rocky peaks. The +most westerly one is called Rucu-Pichincha, and alone manifests +activity. To the northeast of Rucu is Guagua-Pichincha, a ruined flue of +the same fiery furnace; and between the two is Cundur-Guachana. +Pichincha is the only volcano in Ecuador which has not a true cone +crater. Some violent eruption beyond the reach of history or tradition +has formed an enormous funnel-shaped basin two thousand five hundred +feet deep, fifteen hundred in diameter at the bottom, and expanding +upward to a width of three-fourths of a mile. It is the _deepest_ crater +on the globe. That of Kilauea is six hundred feet; Orizaba, five +hundred; Etna, three hundred; Hecla, one hundred. Vesuvius is a portable +furnace in comparison. The abyss is girt with a ragged wall of dark +trachyte, which rises on the inside at various angles between forty-five +degrees and perpendicularity. As we know of but one American besides the +members of our expedition (Mr. Farrand, a photographer) who has +succeeded in entering the crater of this interesting volcano, we will +give a brief sketch of our visit. + +Leaving Quito in the afternoon by the old arched gate-way at the foot of +Panecillo, and crossing a spur of the mountain, we stopped for the night +at the Jesuit hacienda, situated in the beautiful valley of Lloa, but +nearly ruined by the earthquake of 1859. On the damp walls of this +monastery, perched ten thousand two hundred and sixty-eight feet above +the ocean, we found several old paintings, among them a copy of the +_Visitation_ by Rubens. The sunset views in this heart of the Andes were +surpassingly beautiful. Mounting our horses at break of day, and taking +an Indian guide, we ascended rapidly by a narrow and difficult path +through the forest that belts the volcano up to the height of twelve +thousand feet, emerging gradually into a thicket of stunted bushes, and +then entered the dreary _paramo_. Splendid was the view of the Eastern +Cordillera. At least six dazzling white volcanoes were in sight just +across the valley of Quito, among them table-topped Cayambi, majestic +Antisana, and princely Cotopaxi, whose tapering summit is a mile above +the clouds. Toiling upward we reached the base of the cone where +vegetation ceased entirely; and tying our horses to some huge rocks +that had fallen from the mural cliff above, we started off on hands and +feet for the crater. The cone is deeply covered with sand and cinders +for about two hundred feet, and the sides are inclined at an angle of +about thirty-five degrees. At ten o'clock we reached the brim of the +crater, and the great gulf burst suddenly into view. + +We can never forget the impression made upon us by the sight. We speak +of many things here below as awful, but that word has its full meaning +when carried to the top of Pichincha. There you see a frightful opening +in the earth's crust nearly a mile in width and half a mile deep, and +from the dark abyss comes rolling up a cloud of sulphurous vapors. Monte +Somma in the time of Strabo was a miniature; but this crater is on the +top of a mountain four times the height of the Italian volcano. +Imagination finds it difficult to conceive a spectacle of more fearful +grandeur or such solemn magnificence. It well accords with Milton's +picture of the bottomless pit. The united effect of the silence and +solitude of the place, the great depth of the cavity, the dark +precipitous sides, and the column of smoke standing over an unseen +crevice, was to us more impressive than thundering Cotopaxi or fiery +Vesuvius. Humboldt, after standing on this same brink, exclaimed, "I +have never beheld a grander or more remarkable picture than that +presented by this volcano;" and La Condamine compared it to "the Chaos +of the poets." + +Below us are the smouldering fires which may any moment spring forth +into a conflagration; around us are black, ragged cliffs,--fit boundary +for this gate-way to the infernal regions. They look as if they had just +been dragged up from the central furnace of the earth. Life seems to +have fled in terror from the vicinity; even lichens, the children of the +bare rocks, refuse to clothe the scathed and beetling crags. For some +moments made mute by the dreadful sight, we stood like statues on the +rim of the mighty caldron, with our eyes riveted on the abyss below, +lost in contemplating that which cannot be described. The panorama from +this lofty summit is more pleasing, but equally sublime. Towards the +rising sun is the long range of the Eastern Cordillera, hiding from our +view the great valley of the Amazon. To right and left are the peaks of +another procession of august mountains from Cotocachi to Chimborazo. We +are surrounded by the great patriarchs of the Andes, and their speaker, +Cotopaxi, ever and anon sends his muttering voice over the land. + +The view westward is like looking down from a balloon. Those parallel +ridges of the mountain chain, dropping one behind the other, are the +gigantic staircase by which the ice-crowned Chimborazo steps down to the +sea. A white sea of clouds covers the peaceful Pacific and the lower +parts of the coast. But the vapory ocean, curling into the ravines, +beautifully represents little coves and bays, leaving islands and +promontories like a true ocean on a broken shore. We seem raised above +the earth, which lies like an opened map below us; we can look down on +the upper surface of the clouds, and, were it night, down too upon the +lightnings.... + +The first to reach the brink of the crater were the French Academicians +in 1742. Sixty years after Humboldt stood on the summit. But it was not +until 1844 that any one dared to enter the crater. This was accomplished +by Garcia Moreno, now President of Ecuador, and Sebastian Wisse, a +French engineer. Humboldt pronounced the bottom of the crater +"inaccessible from its great depth and precipitous descent." We found it +accessible, but exceedingly perilous. The moment we prepared to descend +our guide ran away. We went on without him, but when half-way down were +stopped by a precipice. + +On the 22d of October, 1867, we returned to Pichincha with another guide +and entered the crater by a different route. Manuel, our Indian, led us +to the south side, and over the brink we went. We were not long in +realizing the danger of the undertaking. Here the snow concealed an ugly +fissure or covered a treacherous rock (for nearly all the rocks are +crumbling), there we must cross a mass of loose sand moving like a +glacier down the almost vertical side of the crater; and on every hand +rocks were giving way, and, gathering momentum at each revolution, went +thundering down, leaping over precipices and jostling other rocks, which +joined in the race, till they all struck the bottom with a deep rumbling +sound, shivered like so many bomb-shells into a thousand pieces, and +telling us what would be our fate if we made a single misstep. We +followed our Indian in single file, keeping close together, that the +stones set free by those in the rear might not dash those below from +their feet; feeling our way with the greatest caution, clinging with our +hands to the snow, sand, rocks, tufts of grass, or anything that would +hold for a moment; now leaping over a chasm, now letting ourselves down +from rock to rock; at times paralyzed with fear, and always with death +staring us in the face; thus we scrambled for two hours and a half till +we reached the bottom of the crater. + +Here we found a deeply furrowed plain strewn with ragged rocks, and +containing a few patches of vegetation, with half a dozen species of +flowers. In the centre is an irregular heap of stones, two hundred and +sixty feet high by eight hundred in diameter. This is the cone of +eruption,--its sides and summit covered with an imposing group of vents, +seventy in number, all lined with sulphur and exhaling steam, black +smoke, and sulphurous gas. The temperature of the vapor just within the +fumarole is 184 deg., water boiling beside it at 189 deg.. + +The central vent or chimney gives forth a sound like the violent +bubbling of boiling water. As we sat on this fiery mount surrounded by a +circular rampart of rocks, and looked up at the immense towers of dark +dolerite which ran up almost vertically to the height of twenty-five +hundred feet above us, musing over the tremendous force which fashioned +this awful amphitheatre,--spacious enough for all the gods of Tartarus +to hold high carnival,--the clouds which hung in the thin air around the +crest of the crater pealed forth thunder after thunder, which, +reverberating from precipice to precipice, were answered by the crash of +rocks let loose by the storm, till the whole mountain seemed to tremble +like a leaf. Such acoustics, mingled with the flash of lightning and the +smell of brimstone, made us believe that we had fairly got into the +realm of Pluto. It is the spot where Dante's "Inferno" ought to be read. + + + + +INCA HIGH-ROADS AND BRIDGES. + +E. GEORGE SQUIER. + + [Squier's "Peru: Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the + Land of the Incas" is the source of our present selection. The + author, Ephraim George Squier, was born in Albany County, New + York, in 1821. He studied the aboriginal monuments of New York, + and afterwards travelled and made extensive archaeological + researches in Central America. He was appointed United States + Commissioner to Peru in 1863, and made important studies of the + ancient ruins of that country. We give his interesting account + of the perilous crossing of the Apurimac.] + + +The great and elaborate highways, or public roads, which the chroniclers +and the historians, following their authority, tell us were constructed +by the Incas throughout their vast empire, all radiating north, east, +south, and west from the imperial city of Cuzco, if they existed at all +in Central and Southern Peru, have disappeared, leaving here and there +only short sections or fragments, hardly justifying the extravagant +praise that has been bestowed on them. The modern mule-paths, miscalled +roads, must necessarily follow nearly, if not exactly, the routes of the +Indians under the Empire. The physical conformation of the country is +such that communication between _puna_ and _puna_, and from valley to +valley, must always be made by the same passes. All these passes over +the mountains are marked by huge piles of stone raised, like the cairns +of Scotland and Wales, by the contribution of a single stone from each +traveller as an offering to the spirits of the mountains, and as an +invocation for their aid in sustaining the fatigues of travel. These +great stone heaps still exist, and will remain to the end of time, +monuments marking forever the routes of travel in the days of the Incas. + +We know, therefore, from these rude monuments very nearly what were the +ancient lines of communication. These are also further indicated by +remains of the _tambos_, which occur at intervals all through the +country, and oftenest in places remote from supplies, in cold and desert +districts, where the traveller stands most in need of food and shelter. + +The modern voyager would consider himself supremely fortunate were he to +find one in a hundred of these tambos, now in existence; for travelling +in Peru is infinitely more difficult and dangerous than it was in the +days of the Incas: more difficult, because the facilities are less; more +dangerous, because the laws are more lax, and the moral standard of the +people lower. The influence of Spain in Peru has been every way +deleterious; the civilization of the country was far higher before the +Conquest than now. + +As I have said, few traces of the Inca roads, such as are described by +the early writers, and such as Humboldt saw in Northern Peru, are now to +be found in the southern part of that country; and as the modern +pathways must follow the ancient lines, I infer that they never existed +here, for there is no reason why they should have suffered more from +time and the elements in one part of the country than in another. + +Between Cuzco and the sweet valley of Yucay there are numerous traces of +an ancient road, some sections of which are perfect. These sections +coincide in character with the long reaches in the direction of Quito. +They consist of a pathway from ten to twelve feet wide, raised slightly +in the centre, paved with stones, and the edges defined by larger stones +sunk firmly in the ground. Where this road descends from the elevated +_puna_--a sheer descent of almost four thousand feet into the valley of +Yucay--it zigzags on a narrow shelf cut in the face of the declivity, +and supported here and there, where foothold could not otherwise be +obtained, by high retaining-walls of cut stone, looking as perfect and +firm as when first built centuries ago. + +High mountain-ranges and broad and frigid deserts, swept by fierce, +cold winds, are not the sole obstacles to intercommunication in the +Altos of Peru, and among those snow-crowned monarchs of the Andes and +Cordilleras. There are deep valleys, gorges, and ravines among the +mountains, or cut deep in the plains that alternate with them, in which +flow swelling rivers or rapid torrents, fed by the melting snows in the +dry season, and swollen by the rains in the wet season. They are often +unfordable, but still they must somehow be passed by the traveller. A +few bridges of stone were constructed by the Spaniards, some after the +Conquest, and a few others have been erected by their descendants; but, +as a rule, the rivers and mountain-torrents are passed to-day by the +aid of devices the same as were resorted to by the Incas, and at points +which they selected. + +Had the principle of the arch been well understood by the ancient +inhabitants, who have left some of the finest stone-cutting and masonry +to be found in the world, there is no doubt the interior of Peru would +have abounded in bridges rivalling those of Rome in extent and beauty. +As it was, occupying a country destitute of timber, they resorted to +suspension-bridges, no doubt precisely like those now constructed by +their descendants and successors,--bridges formed of cables of braided +withes, stretched from bank to bank, and called _puentes de mimbres_ +(bridges of withes). Where the banks are high, or where the streams are +compressed between steep or precipitous rocks, these cables are anchored +to piers of stone. In other places they are approached by inclined +causeways, raised to give them the necessary elevation above the water. +Three or four cables form the floor and the principal support of the +bridge, over which small sticks, sometimes only sections of cane or +bamboo, are laid transversely, and fastened to the cables by vines, +cords, or thongs of raw hide. Two smaller cables are sometimes stretched +on each side as a guard or hand-rail. Over these frail and swaying +structures pass men and animals, the latter frequently with their load +on their backs. + +Each bridge is usually kept up by the municipality of the nearest +village; and as it requires renewal every two or three years, the +Indians are obliged at stated periods to bring to the spot a certain +number of withes of peculiar kinds of tough wood, generally of that +variety called ioke, which are braided by experts, and then stretched +across the stream or river by the united exertions of the inhabitants. +Some of the larger and most important structures of this kind are kept +up by the government, and all passengers and merchandise pay a fixed +toll. Such is the case with the great bridge over the Apurimac, on the +main road from the ancient Guamanga (now Ayacucho) to Cuzco. + +The Apurimac is one of the head-waters of the Amazon, a large and rapid +stream, flowing in a deep valley, or rather gigantic ravine, shut in by +high and precipitous mountains. Throughout its length it is crossed at +only a single point, between two enormous cliffs, which rise dizzily +on both sides, and from the summits of which the traveller looks down +into a dark gulf. At the bottom gleams a white line of water, whence +struggles up a dull but heavy roar, giving to the river its name, +_Apu-rimac_ signifying, in the Quichua tongue, "the great speaker." From +above, the bridge, looking like a mere thread, is reached by a path +which on one side traces a thin, white line on the face of the mountain, +and down which the boldest traveller may hesitate to venture. This path, +on the other side, at once disappears from a rocky shelf, where there is +just room enough to hold the hut of the bridge-keeper, and then runs +through a dark tunnel cut in the rock, from which it emerges to trace +its line of many a steep and weary zigzag of the face of the mountain. +It is usual for the traveller to time his day's journey so as to reach +this bridge in the morning, before the strong wind sets in; for during +the greater part of the day it sweeps up the canyon of the Apurimac with +great force, and then the bridge sways like a gigantic hammock, and +crossing is next to impossible. + +It was a memorable incident in my travelling experiences, the crossing +of this great swinging bridge of the Apurimac. I shall never forget it, +even if it were not associated with a circumstance which, for the time, +gave me much uneasiness and pain. The fame of the bridge over the +Apurimac is coextensive with Peru, and every one we met who had crossed +it was full of frightful reminiscences of his passage: how the frail +structure swayed at a dizzy height between gigantic cliffs over a dark +abyss, filled with the deep, hoarse roar of the river, and how his eyes +grew dim, his heart grew faint, and his feet unsteady as he struggled +across it, not daring to cast a look on either hand. + +Our road to the bridge was circuitous and precipitous, leading down the +steeper side of the ridge of La Banca, where it seemed hardly possible +for a goat to find foothold. It was a succession of abrupt zigzags, here +and there interrupted by a stretch of horizontal pathway. To see our +cavalcade it was necessary to look up or down, not before or behind. It +was like descending the coils of a flattened corkscrew. In places the +rocks encroached on the trail so that it was necessary to crouch low on +the saddle-bow to pass beneath them, or else throw the weight of the +body on the stirrup overhanging the declivity of the mountain, to avoid +a collision. The most dangerous parts, however, were where land-slips +had occurred, and where it was impossible to construct a pathway not +liable at any moment to glide away beneath the feet of our animals. +The gorge narrowed as we descended, until it was literally shut in by +precipices of stratified rock strangely contorted; while huge masses of +stone, rent and splintered as from some terrible convulsion of nature, +rose sheer before us, apparently preventing all exit from the sunless +and threatening ravine, at the bottom of which a considerable stream +struggled, with a hoarse roar, among the black boulders. + +There was foothold for neither tree nor shrub, and our mules picked +their way warily, with head and ears pointed downward, among the broken +and angular masses. The occasional shouts of the arrieros sounded here +sharp and percussive, and seemed to smite themselves to death against +the adamantine walls. There was no room for echo. Finally the ravine +became so narrowed between the precipitous mountain-sides as barely to +afford room for the stream and our scant party. Here a roar, deeper, +stronger, and sterner than that of the stream which we had followed, +reached our ears, and we knew it was the voice of the "Great Speaker." +A little farther on we came in view of the river and two or three low +huts built on the circumscribed space where the two streams came close +together. Our muleteers were already busy in unloading the baggage, +preparatory to its being carried across the bridge on the cicatrized +backs of the occupants of the huts. + +To the left of the huts, swinging high in a graceful curve, between the +precipices on either side, looking wonderfully frail and gossamer-like, +was the famed bridge of the Apurimac. A steep, narrow path, following +for some distance a natural shelf, formed by the stratification of the +rock, and for the rest of the way hewn in its face, led up, for a +hundred feet, to a little platform, also cut in the rock, where were +fastened the cables supporting the bridge. On the opposite bank was +another and rather larger platform, partly roofed by the rock, where was +the windlass for making the cables taut, and where, perched like goats +on some mountain-shelf, lived the custodians of the bridge. The path +could barely be discovered turning sharp around a rocky projection to +the left of this perch, then reappearing high above it, and then, after +many a zigzag, losing itself in the dark mouth of a tunnel. + +My companions and myself lost no time in extracting the measuring tapes +and sounding lines from our _alforjas_, and hurriedly scrambled up the +rocky pathway to the bridge. It was in bad condition. The cables had +slacked so that the centre of the bridge hung from twelve to fifteen +feet lower than its ends, and, then, the cables had not stretched +evenly, so that one side was considerably lower than the other. The +cables on either hand, intended to answer the double purpose of stays +and parapets, had not sunk with the bridge, and were so high up that +they could not be reached without difficulty; and many of the lines +dropping from them to the floor, originally placed widely apart, had +been broken, so that practically they were useful neither for security +nor for inspiring confidence. + +Travelling in the Andes soon cures one of any nervousness about heights +and depths, and is a specific against dizziness. Nevertheless, we all +gave a rather apprehensive glance at the frail structure before us, +but we had no difficulty in crossing and recrossing--as we did several +times--except on approaching the ends, to which our weight transferred +the sag of the cables and made the last few yards rather steep. A stiff +breeze swept up the canyon of the river, and caused a vibration of the +bridge from side to side of at least six feet. The motion, however, +inspired no sense of danger. + +We carefully measured the length and altitude of the bridge, and found +it to be from fastening to fastening one hundred and forty-eight feet +long, and at its lowest part one hundred and eighteen feet above the +river. Mr. Markham, who crossed it in 1855, estimated the length at +ninety feet and the height at three hundred feet. Lieutenant Gibbon, +who crossed it in 1857, estimated the length at three hundred and +twenty-four feet and the height one hundred and fifty feet. Our +measurements, however, are exact. The height may be increased perhaps +ten feet when the cables are made taut. They are five in number, twisted +from the fibres of the _cabuya_, or maguey plant, and are about four +inches thick. The floor is of small sticks and canes, fastened +transversely with raw-hide strings. The Indians coming from Andahuaylas +and other districts where the cabuya grows, generally bring a quantity +of leaves with them wherewith to pay their toll. These are prepared and +made into rope by the custodians of the bridge, who must be glad of some +occupation in their lone and lofty eyrie. + +Our baggage was carried over the bridge, and the animals were then +led across one by one, loaded and started up the mountain. The space +is too limited to receive more than two loaded mules at a time, and +instances are known of their having been toppled over the precipice +from overcrowding. We led our horses over without difficulty except in +getting them on the bridge. But once fairly on the swaying structure +they were as composed as if moving on the solid ground. Perhaps even to +the lowest animal intelligence it must be apparent that the centre of +the bridge of the Apurimac is not the place for antics, equine or +asinine. + +Mounted once more, we commenced our steep and difficult ascent. At one +place the sheer precipice presented itself on one side, and a vertical +wall on the other; next it was a scramble up a ladder of stairs, partly +cut in the rock and partly built up with stones against it; then a +sudden turn, with a parapet built around it in a semi-circle, to prevent +descending animals from being carried into the abyss below by their own +momentum. Our cargo-mules toiled up painfully above us, stopping every +few steps to breathe, while the muleteers braced themselves against +their haunches to afford them some support and rest. + +We had scarcely reached half-way to the mouth of the tunnel, which +enters the mountain at the base of a vast vertical mass of rock, when +our attention was arrested by the shouts of our men and a commotion +among the animals above us. It was occasioned by a descending train of +loaded mules, just plunging out of the black throat of the tunnel. The +mountain mule always seeks to take the wall of the animal it meets, +being perfectly aware of the danger of trying to pass on the outer side +of the pathway; and it sometimes happens that neither will give way +under any amount of persuasion or blows. The muleteers have to unload +the animals, which may then be got past each other. A similar difficulty +occurred now, and the conductor of the advancing train hurried down to +warn us to dismount and seek the widest part of the path, or some nook +by its side, and there await the passage of his mules. He had hardly +done speaking when we saw one of our own mules, loaded with our trunks, +come plunging down the narrow zigzagging way, evidently in fright, +followed wildly by its driver. Just before reaching the place where we +stood, the animal fell, going literally heels over head, and would have +been carried over the little platform of rock into the river had not the +master of the descending train caught the falling mule by its foreleg, +and in this way saved it from tumbling over. He at once placed his whole +weight on its ears, thus preventing it from struggling, and thus +obviating its destruction, while we detached its cargo. A foot farther, +and the mule would inevitably have been lost. + +It was with no little satisfaction that we saw the last mule of the +train pass us, and resumed our ascent. We found the tunnel a roomy one, +two or three hundred yards in length, with openings from the face of the +precipice for the admission of light and air. Through these we caught +brief glimpses of the grand and solemn mountains on the opposite side +of the canyon, and through them came in also, hoarse and sullen, the +deep voice of the river. I am uncertain as to how far this tunnel may +be ascribed to the Incas, but feel sure that their bridge across the +Apurimac was at precisely the same point with the present one. We +were fully two hours in ascending the steeps, and reached the high +mountain-circled plain in which stands the straggling town of Curahuasi, +a well-watered village buried among trees and shrubbery. + + + + +INDEX. + + + PAGE + + A Fine Scenic Route HENRY T. FINCK 31 + Amazon and Madeira Rivers, Forests + of the FRANZ KELLER 200 + Andes, Monarchs of the JAMES ORTON 251 + Animals of British Guiana C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 + Ants and Monkeys, Brazilian HENRY W. BATES 240 + + BACON, ALFRED TERRY Country of the Cliff-dwellers 59 + BATES, HENRY W. Brazilian Ants and Monkeys 240 + Besieged by Peccaries JAMES W. WELLS 219 + Big Trees, Lake Tahoe and The A. H. TEVIS 68 + BRACE, CHARLES LORING Mariposa Grove and Yosemite + Valley 88 + Brazilian Ants and Monkeys HENRY W. BATES 240 + British Guiana, Animals of C. BARRINGTON BROWN 169 + BROWN, C. BARRINGTON Animals of British Guiana 169 + BUTLER, W. F. Winnipeg Lake and River 21 + + Canoe- and Camp-life on the Madeira FRANZ KELLER 212 + Chicago, New York, Washington OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Chinese Quarter in San Francisco HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 + Cliff-dwellers, Country of The ALFRED TERRY BACON 59 + Country of the Cliff-dwellers ALFRED TERRY BACON 59 + + Destruction of San Salvador CARL SCHERZER 137 + + FINCK, HENRY T. A Fine Scenic Route 31 + Forests of the Amazon and Madeira + Rivers FRANZ KELLER 200 + FREMONT, JOHN C. South Pass and Fremont's Peak 42 + Fremont's Peak, South Pass and JOHN C. FREMONT 42 + FROEBEL, JULIUS Route of the Nicaragua Canal 130 + FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY Scenes in Trinidad and + Jamaica 145 + + HAYDEN, FERDINAND V. In the Yellowstone Park 49 + HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON Life and Scenery in Venezuela 179 + + Inca High-roads and Bridges E. GEORGE SQUIER 261 + In the Yellowstone Park FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 + + JACKSON, HELEN HUNT Chinese Quarter in San + Francisco 78 + Jamaica, Scenes in Trinidad and JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + + KELLER, FRANZ Forests of the Amazon and Madeira + Rivers 200 + KELLER, FRANZ Canoe- and Camp-life on The + Madeira 212 + KINGSLEY, CHARLES The High Woods of Trinidad 157 + + Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees A. H. TEVIS 68 + LEIGH, OLIVER H. G. New York, Washington, Chicago 5 + Life and Scenery In Venezuela ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 + Llaneros of Venezuela, The RAMON PAEZ 190 + + Madeira, Canoe- and Camp-Life on the FRANZ KELLER 212 + Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 + Mexico, A Sportsman's Experience in SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 + Mexican Lowlands, Scenery of the FELIX L. OSWALD 108 + Monarchs of the Andes JAMES ORTON 251 + Monkeys, Brazilian Ants and HENRY W. BATES 240 + + New York, Washington, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Nicaragua Canal, Route of the JULIUS FROEBEL 130 + + ORTON, JAMES Monarchs of the Andes 251 + OSWALD, FELIX L. Scenery of the Mexican + Lowlands 108 + + PAEZ, RAMON The Llaneros of Venezuela 190 + Peccaries, Besieged by JAMES W. WELLS 219 + Perils of Travel IDA PFEIFFER 232 + PFEIFFER, IDA Perils of Travel 232 + PRICE, SIR ROSE LAMBERT A Sportsman's Experience in + Mexico 99 + + Route of the Nicaragua Canal JULIUS FROEBEL 130 + Ruins of Yucatan, Among the JOHN L. STEPHENS 119 + + San Francisco, Chinese Quarter in HELEN HUNT JACKSON 78 + San Salvador, Destruction of CARL SCHERZER 137 + Scenery of the Mexican Lowlands FELIX L. OSWALD 108 + Scenes in Trinidad and Jamaica JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + SCHERZER, CARL Destruction of San Salvador 137 + South Pass and Fremont's Peak JOHN C. FREMONT 42 + Sportsman's Experience in Mexico SIR ROSE LAMBERT PRICE 99 + SQUIER, E. GEORGE Inca High-Roads and Bridges 261 + STEPHENS, JOHN L. Among the Ruins of Yucatan 119 + + TEVIS, A. H. Lake Tahoe and the Big Trees 68 + Travel, Perils of IDA PFEIFFER 232 + Trinidad, The High Woods of CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 + Trinidad and Jamaica, Scenes in JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE 145 + + Venezuela, Life and Scenery in ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 179 + Venezuela, The Llaneros of RAMON PAEZ 190 + + Washington, New York, Chicago OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + WELLS, JAMES W. Besieged by Peccaries 219 + Winnipeg Lake and River BUTLER, W. F. 21 + Woods of Trinidad, The High CHARLES KINGSLEY 157 + + Yellowstone Park, In the FERDINAND V. HAYDEN 49 + Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove and CHARLES LORING BRACE 88 + Yucatan, Among the Ruins of JOHN L. STEPHENS 119 + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the authors' words and +intent. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's With the World's Great Travellers, v. 2, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT TRAVELLERS, VOL 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 33472.txt or 33472.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/7/33472/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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