Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1916 — South American Trails [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

South American Trails

P ROBABLY no place in the world gives the traveler more contrasts in trail, scenery and climate than do the Andes in the last range of the Cordillera. From the barren snow line at the ridge down to the headwaters of the great Amazon system is but a few hundred miles, yet in this distance four distinct changes in the fauna and flora are apparent. Starting over a hard open road where we made eighteen or twenty miles a day, the trail winds down through a rolling country until the last pass is crossed and the first signs of tropical vegetation appear, writes Lee Garnett Day, of the Collins-Day South American expedition, in the American Museum Journal. Then through the mountains of the Yungas the route lies over forested hill and dale or along narrow-ledge trails, and eventually reaches lower planes where the freshets turn Into narrow streams and the streams at last into rivers. Here amidst the most abundant tropical growth, the paths underfoot more often resembled swamps than terra firma and five or six miles were considered a good day’s work. In fact, the stream beds often proved better trails than the machete-cut roads through the palm and canebrakes. Crossing South America from Mollendo on the west coast, to Para on the east, by far the most eventful part of the journey is the 500 miles by mule train from Cochabamba, high in the Cordillera, to Todos Santos, the headwaters of the Amazon, 3,400 miles above its. mouth. Cochabamba itself is a city of 60,000 inhabitants, the greater number of whom has never left its suburbs. A railroad is in course of construction, but from Arque, the end of the rails, all commerce must pass by mule pack for two days over the bowlders of the river bed. We reached Cochabamba from Mollendo by rail, lake steamer and coach. After crossing the first two ranges of the Cordillera by rail, we ascended the third by pack train starting from Cochabamba. Our party consisted of Messrs. Alfred Collins, Willard Walker, George K. Cherrie, Robert Bocker and the writer; and after securing 28 mules, a chief arriero or mule driver, and two Indian helpers, we started for the head of the pass and the tributaries of the great Amazon river beyond.

Mule Trail Hard to Follow. The mule trail from Cochabamba to Todos Santos is far from an easy one to follow, notwithstanding that it is constantly traveled, being the route for most of the commerce between the low hot grazing lands of Bolivia at the eastern base of the Andes, and the high, well-populated tablelands around La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and other cities. It is always very narrow, passes through heavy woods, over ridges, along sides of cliffs, up or down a stream, and is often difficult even to locate. Especially is this true in the rainy season When pools of mud and tangled roots incumber the way in the woods and mule drivers passing previously have often left the path in search of better going, thus making false trails unsafe to follow unless with a very experienced guide. The short journey up from Cochabamba. was hot and dry, aver trails covered with white dust, but the last divide we crossed in a thick mist and turning due north from the Santa Cruz trail, seemed suddenly to have entered another country. Almost perpetual rain was now encountered, and the precipitous nature of the descent, about fivl thousand feet in twenty-four hours, made traveling decidedly uneasy and in parts dangerous, due to the paths being water courses from which all mold had been washed away. Wet, slippery rocks and often quantities of loose, small bowlders, made it necessary to walk most of the way, as the slipping of a mule on the steep incline might be fatal to both rider and animal. "Get Out If You Can.” At Sal-si-puede (“get out if you can”) —there were many places to which this name was applicable—we had to dig or cut out a track along the face of a cliff where a slide had occurred, to make room for the pack animals to pass. This was- not only difficult to do on account of the steep decline and precarious footing; but also the work had to be very well done because if the pack of a mule should cftteh against the side of the cliff In

transit, the animal would be tipped over into the River Espirito Santo a thousand feet below. From Sal-si-puede onward the mules waded streams, floundered through mud to their middles and labored over fallen logs, often on a trail so narrow and so overgrown that it was necessary constantly to use the machete to clear the path of hanging vines and dense undergrowth. On one occasion after eight hours of scrambling and wading through mud and water, Mr. Cherrie’s mule slipped in a deep pool of thin mud and became tangled in the roots at the bottom, pinning the foot of the rider under it. Mr. Cherrie was held up there deep in the mud until two mule drivers could return to extricate him. The advantage of having compact units of baggage w.as made evident in this locality. The jamming of baggage tween saplings or in a washed-out gully would necessitate a halt and while fke load on the mule that had caused the halt was being recinched, a dozen other mules would start exploring the neighboring thickets. Sometimes the whole train would be thrown Into confusion and all the pack animals would have to be rounded up and the packs readjusted. Animal and Bird Life. There were no wild animals of a kind to be feared by man along this route. Along the banks of the Chapare we found evidences of tapir, paca, capybara, jaguar, tiger cat, peccary, deer, coati, agouti and others, but the high water, which varies sometimes forty feet between seasons, had driven game to the highlands, making hunting possible only at the highest points along the Mamore. Bird life was most abundant in Bolivia ;^^vpollector.could spend several seasons-ro advantage in these little-traversed routes across the South American states. When the incidental mishaps and inconveniences are forgotten, the Bolivian Yungas between Todos Santos and the Chepare may well be compared with other natural wonders. Daily the vistas of palm, fern and floral growth, with cascades, waterfalls and freshets, make a. delightful background for the abundant bird and other animal life. At the beginning of the Chapare the Yungas disappeared and our arriero now led the way down the river bed, or through the cane and bambpo brakes, pushing on through mud and water. Due to good chance our camps remained above water except in two instances. One night in particular the rains filled the Espirito Santo and San Antonio rivers and left us in three feet of water at daybreak.