In the Wilds of South America

PART I. Colombia

COLOMBIA

CHAPTER PAGE I. BUENAVENTURA TO CALI AND THE CAUCA VALLEY 3

II. POPAYÁN AND THE CERRO MUNCHIQUE 18

III. THE ANDES SOUTHWEST OF POPAYÁN; CRUISE OF THE “CALDAS” 34

IV. CARTAGO TO THE PARAMOS OF RUIZ AND SANTA ISABEL 47

V. THE CHOCÓ COUNTRY ON THE WESTERN COAST OF COLOMBIA 64

VI. IN QUEST OF THE COCK-OF-THE-ROCK 76

VII. CROSSING THE EASTERN ANDES INTO THE CAQUETÁ 92

VIII. ACROSS THE ANTIOQUIAN GOLD-FIELDS TO PUERTO VALDIVIA ON THE LOWER CAUCA 106

IX. ASCENT OF THE PARAMILLO--COLLECTING ON THE RIO SUCIO 120

PART II. Venezuela

VENEZUELA

X. FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES ON THE ORINOCO 141

XI. THE MAQUIRITARES’ LAND AND THE UPPER ORINOCO 162

XII. LIFE IN THE GUIANA WILDS 180

XIII. FIRST WEEKS WITH THE ROOSEVELT SOUTH AMERICAN EXPEDITION 194

XIV. HUNTING EXCURSIONS ALONG THE UPPER PARAGUAY 208

XV. A FORTY DAYS’ RIDE THROUGH WILDEST MATTO GROSSO 223

XVI. THE DESCENT OF THE RIO GY-PARANÁ 240

XVII. DOWN THE COAST OF PERU--LAKE TITICACA AND LA PAZ--THROUGH THE ANCIENT INCAN EMPIRE TO COCHABAMBA 265

XVIII. CROSSING THE BOLIVIAN HIGHLANDS FROM COCHABAMBA TO THE CHAPARÉ 279

XIX. AMONG THE YURACARÉ INDIANS OF THE RIO CHIMORÉ 303

XX. THE CACTUS FORESTS OF CENTRAL BOLIVIA--COCHABAMBA TO SAMAIPATA 321

XXI. A MULE-BACK JOURNEY ON THE SANTA CRUZ TRAIL TO SUCRE 336

XXII. SUCRE, THE RIO PILCOMAYO, AND THE UPLAND DESERT TO THE ARGENTINE FRONTIER 349

XXIII. BIRD-NESTING IN NORTHWESTERN ARGENTINA 365

XXIV. THE CHACO--SUGAR PLANTATIONS AND RICE MARSHES--A SEARCH FOR A RARE BIRD 378

XXV. VIZCACHA-HUNTING IN AN ARGENTINE DESERT--GIANT SNAKES 396

XXVI. THE LAKE REGION OF WESTERN ARGENTINA--THE HEART OF THE WINE COUNTRY 412

INDEX 425

ILLUSTRATIONS

The cock-of-the-rock at home Frontispiece

FACING PAGE Buenaventura 4

Cattle grazing in the Cauca Valley 14

Port of Guanchito 14

Cerro Munchique 30

A deserted Indian hut on the Cerro Munchique 30

The Caldas fast on a sand-bar in the Cauca River 44

Bamboo rafts on the Cauca River 44

The town of Salento 50

The lake on the paramo of Santa Isabel 58

Snow on the paramo of Ruiz 58

Native of Juntas de Tamaná with trail-haunting blacksnake 68

The author with natives of Juntas de Tamaná 68

Nóvita, the largest town in the Chocó 72

Threshing wheat 78

Indian hut in the Valle de las Papas 78

The village of Santa Barbara 86

A corner of San Augustin 86

A mountain stream, such as the Rio Naranjos, where the cock-of-the-rock spends its existence 88

Tree-fern, typical of the Andean forests 98

The high, flat-topped panorama of the Andes 102

The town of Valdivia 108

The Cauca River at Puerto Valdivia 108

A naturalists’ camp in the forest 116

A native hunter with a red howling monkey 116

The porters en route to the Paramillo 124

Cuña Indians at Dabeiba 124

Our camp on the Paramillo 126

Dabeiba on the Rio Sucio 130

The village of Maipures 156

The Hilo de Oro at the end of the voyage 156

A rubber-camp on the Upper Orinoco 170

Unloading for the portage, Raudal del Muerto 172

The Cerro Duida 172

Wismar on the Demerara River 182

Tumatumari on the Potaro River 182

Camp on the Rio Negro in the Gran Chaco of the Paraguay 200

Selling oranges in the market at Asuncion 200

A street in Buenos Aires 204

Porto Gallileo on the Rio Pilcomayo 204

Fort of Coimbra on the Rio Paraguay 206

S. S. Nyoac on the Paraguay River 214

Corumbá 214

Colonel Roosevelt in the Brazilian chapadão 226

A camp in the chapadão 226

The Falls of Salto Bello of the Rio Papagayo 230

Camp on the Rio da Duvida 242

A rubber-camp on the Rio Gy-Paraná 254

A rubber-camp on the Lower Gy-Paraná 254

Country around Arequipa, showing Mount Misti 268

The expedition en route via hand-car, Changollo to Arce 268

An Indian hut in the Yungas of Cochabamba 288

The expedition in the Cuchicancha Pass 292

Vampire-bat from Todos Santos 300

Tamanduá ant-eater 300

Yuracarés chewing yucca-roots for making casire 306

Yuracaré women and children 306

The great Puya, a species of pine growing in the Bolivian Andes at an elevation of 13,000 feet 324

The plaza at Mizque 326

Vermejo on the Santa Cruz trail 338

Quechua habitation on the upland desert 346

Rio Cachimayo at Peras Pampa, Sucre 352

Bridge across the Rio Pilcomayo 352

Quechua Indians wearing the costume used during the reign of the Incas, five hundred years ago 358

Ploughing at Rosario de Lerma 374

Tilcara, showing the stream and valley and the snow-capped Andes in the distance 374

The lagoon in the Chaco, Embarcacion 380

Paramo above Tafí 380

The great crested tinamou 402

A burrowing owl 402

Skinning a boa 404

Boa sunning itself at the entrance to a vizcacha burrow 404

Oculto, or Tucotuco, a rare rodent with mole-like habits 406

Gray fox, abundant in the semiarid regions 406

Long-tailed vizcacha of the high Andes 410

Short-tailed vizcacha of the Argentine lowlands 410

Rice-fields at the foot of the Andes Mountains, Sarmientos 416

MAPS

Sketch map of the south-central part of the Amazon drainage system 241

Routes taken by the author in his South American explorations At end of the volume

PART I

COLOMBIA

CHAPTER I. Buenaventura to Cali, and the Cauca Valley

BUENAVENTURA TO CALI, AND THE CAUCA VALLEY

The voyage from Panama to Buenaventura, the more northern of Colombia’s two Pacific seaports, requires but two days’ time. Owing to numerous reefs and rocks that render navigation perilous along the coast of northwestern South America, it is necessary for ships to sail far out into the Pacific. Banks of low-hanging fog, encountered at frequent intervals, add further to the skipper’s difficulties.

The captain of the Quito followed a simple plan for finding port. It was his custom to steam in a southerly direction about forty-eight hours, and then head toward the coast. Once in sight of land, there was little difficulty in getting his bearings, although it frequently meant steaming back a distance of ten or fifteen miles.

At noon on the second day out we entered what might be called the belt of perpetual rain, and for three hours water fell in such torrents that it seemed a solid wall. When the deluge had ceased and the last wisps of blue-gray vapor melted into oblivion, the shore-line, dim and distant, could be discerned. The faint outline of a rugged coast became gradually sharper; jagged rocks, frowning precipices, and dark, gloomy forests slowly unfolded themselves to the vision. The magnitude of it all was most impressive.

Then followed a ten-mile sail through the placid water of Buenaventura Bay. Numberless brown pelicans fished in the shallows while others, in long files, alternately sailed and flapped through the air on their way to some isolated nook among the mangroves. The dark, hazy shore-line at the head of the bay gradually dissolved itself into lines of graceful cocoanut-palms and low, thatched huts flanked by a seemingly endless mantle of green. Huge dugout canoes made from logs of great size swarmed out from the water’s edge, their dusky paddlers vying with one another in their efforts to be the first to reach the steamer; then the men quarrelled violently among themselves, and also shouted to the persons on the deck, soliciting luggage to take ashore. Before long, trunks were being lowered into some of these wallowing craft while passengers embarked in others, and the paddle of a mile to shore began.

Unfortunately the tide was ebbing, leaving extensive mud-flats exposed along the water-front. As there was no pier it was necessary for the canoemen to carry on their backs the human freight as well as trunks and other luggage through a wide belt of mud and sand.

Our party consisted of Doctor Frank M. Chapman, curator of birds, of the American Museum, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and myself. At Buenaventura we were joined by William Richardson, who had spent many years as a field-naturalist in Central and South American countries. We were starting on a zoological expedition--a quest for birds and mammals, and also to study the country, life-zones, problems of distribution and many other things inseparable from a biological survey such as we proposed to make. The original plans of the expedition called for a rather short stay; but for me, at least, the experience was destined to cover a period of eighteen months and take me to some of the most remote and wildest portions of the country.

Viewed from the water, Buenaventura appears most unattractive. The row of squat, makeshift huts, built on tall poles, extends far beyond the line of high water; as the tide rises the water swishes and gurgles underneath the houses and the occupants travel about in canoes. Farther from the shore the ground is high and the town is more interesting, though not inviting. The place bears an unenviable reputation. On account of the superabundant rainfall and hot climate, fevers and other life-sapping diseases are rife and few foreigners can withstand the ordeal of a lengthy residence there. This notoriety had reached our ears long before we embarked on the journey; it was, therefore, with a feeling of relief that we learned of the departure of a train for the interior early the next morning.

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