chapter ix tific achievements of a century...america and accounts of the history and life of the...

CHAPTER IX

GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS AND OTHER SCIEN-TIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF A CENTURY

The Wilkes Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas—Lieutenants Hera-in and Gibbon cross central South America—Lieutenant Page explores Is Plate River

tem—James Orion descends the Amazon—Agassis collects specimens in Brazil—Hislowers—Bailey Willis surveys Patagonia—Haseman journeys through central Southnerka—The Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition explores the River of Doubt—Frankiapman Investigates Hispanic-American bird Isfe—Squier studies archaeology insru—Bingham discovers Machu Picchu—Adolf Bandelter—Johu L. Stephens visitsoriginal ruins in Central America and Mexsco—Hardenburg exposes the Putuymayorocitics—The discovery of the Yellow Fever ste!omyia—The sanitary work againstIllow fever—The Rockefeller Foundation fights disease in the American tropics.

The man on the street scarcely appreciates the extent towhich Hispanic America has been a field of study for scholars.By governmental action, by the activities of learned institu-tions, and by the explorations of daring travelers attractivevistas have been opened in that vast region to men of science.The limits of this volume prohibit consideration of all the addi-tions to the world's knowledge concerning Mexico, CentralAmerica, and South America which have been made by thecitizens or the Government of the United States. Certainscientific achievements, however, may not be omitted or lightlymentioned: among those are expeditions by which contribu-tions have been made to the knowledge of geography andrelated sciences.

The first exploring expedition that was sent to South Americaby the United States Government wa-s dispatched underLieutenant Charles Wilkes. On March 20, 1838, Secretary ofthe Navy Dickerson placed Wilkes in command of an expeditionof six vessels, which, in accordance with an act of Congressdated May 14, 1836, was destined to explore and survey thePacific Ocean and the South Seas in order to promote the com-merce of citizens of the United States engaged in the whalefisheries. This expedition was composed of the sloops of war

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EXPLORATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 329

Vincennes and Peacock, the brig Porpoise, the storeship Relief,and the tenders Sea Gull and Flying Fish.'

Instructions dated August 11, 1838 directed 'Wilkes to sailfor the Southern Ocean by way of Rio de Janeiro. Thence heshould proceed to Patagonia where he was to make a survey ofthe Rio Negro in order to ascertain its character and itsfacilities for trade. Next he should voyage to Tierra del Fuegoin order that the scientists of the expedition might carry on re-searches. A part of the expedition was destined to explore thesouthern Antarctic, while the officers of certain vessels were tosurvey the coast of Tierra del Fuego. The expedition was tovisit Valparaiso while engaged in its main task, the explorationof the South Sea in the interests of commerce and navigation.A philologist, Horatio Hale, a conehologist, a mineralogist,James D. Dana, a botanist, two naturalists, one of whom wasCharles Pickering, and two draughtsmen were selected to ac-company the expedition. The secretary of the navy said:"The Expedition is not for conquest, but discovery. Its ob-jects are all peaceful; they are to extend the empire of com-merce and science; to diminish the hazards of the ocean, andpoint out to future navigators a course by which they may avoiddangers and find safety."2

The expedition left Norfolk on the afternoon of August 18,1838, and, sailing for Rio de Janeiro by way of Madeira, itreached that city on November 23. There the philologistsecured data concerning the slave population. Two officersgathered botanical specimens while on a trip to the summit ofthe promontory known as Sugar Loaf. A naturalist and thebotanist made collecting excursions to the Trexal and OrganMountains, whence they returned burdened with specimens.'On January 6, 1839, five vessels of the expedition sailed for theRio Negro which they reached on the twenty-fifth of thatmonth. When the estuary of that river had been surveyed andthe coast visited, the expedition left for Tierra del Fuego.

Wilkes, Nanathe of the Unild Slates Exptoring ExpedWoa dunn9 the years 1888..7889. 1840, 1841. 1841, vol. 1. Pt' . xiii-xxv; Stalutos at Lange of the Urg ,ted .Srafca, vol. vp . 29.

Wilkes, vol ,, pp. xviIi-nix. 'l&id, pp. 39, 59-04, 68

330 HISPANIC—AMERICAN RELATIONS

After passing Cape Horn, the party of Captain Wilkes was re-joined by the Relief which had coasted along the shores ofPatagonia making surveys, observations, and collections.While the vessels made their rendezvous at Orange Harbor,investigations and surveys were made of the neighboring coastand the members of a select party prepared for a cruise to theAntarctic. That party soon sailed south, discovered threesmall isles which were named Adventure Islets, and proceededto about latitude 690.

On April 20 the Vincennes and the Peacock left Orange Har-bor. The Vincennes arrived at Valparaiso on May 15 andwas soon joined by other vessels of the expedition. There, aselsewhere, careful scientific observations were taken. Certainmembers of the party made a journey into Chile visiting theplains of Maipü, Santiago, and the copper mines near SanFelipe.' Captain Wilkes sailed from Valparaiso on June 6 forCallao which he reached after a voyage of thirteen days.Thence scientists of the expedition made an excursion to themountains to gather botanical specimens; and on their journeythey saw the copper mines at Cerro de Pasco. Another partyvisited the ruins of aboriginal civilization at Pachacamac.Aside from the ethnological, philological, botanical, and min-eralogical data gathered by the scientists, it should be noticedthat this trip gave a stimulus to the geological studies of Dana.After his return to the United States Captain Wilkes composedseveral volumes concerning his trip to the South Seas. Thefirst volume contained a description of the excursions in SouthAmerica and accounts of the history and life of the countrieswhich were visited upon that continent.

As indicated in a previous chapter, about the middle of thenineteenth century the Government of the United States be-came seriously interested in the navigation of South Americanrivers. To determine the importance of the free navigation ofthe Amazon, that government planned an expedition acrossSouth America. On April 4, 851, Lieutenant Lardner Gibbonof the United States navy arrived in Peru and delivered to

'Wilkes, volt, pp. 69-154. 6 Ibid. pp 160-61, 177-98. 0 Thid.. pp. UP-SI.


Lieutenant William L. Herndon orders from Secretary of theNavy Graham directing him to conduct an exploration of theAmazon Valley. Those orders declared that the Governmentof the United States wished to secure certain information con-cerning the territory drained by the Amazon River. The in-formation sought was not only in regard to the navigability ofthe streams in the Amazon Valley, "its climate, soil, and pro-ductions," and the industrial and social condition of its in-habitants, but also in regard to the capacity of its soil forcultivation and "the character and extent of its undevelopedcommercial resources, whether of the field, the forest, the river,or the mine." Such scientific observations were to be takenen route as might serve the chief object of the expedition. Inorder to secure the desired information Herndon and Gibbonwere directed to proceed across the cordillera and to "explorethe Amazon from its source to its mouth." l The selection ofthe route by which the explorers might reach the Amazon Riverwas left to Herndon's discretion.

After a study of the routes from the Pacific coast to theAmazon, Lieutenant Herndon decided to divide his small party.His plan was to send Gibbon to search for a navigable streamwhich was said to flow from the Andes near Cuzco and to emptyinto the Amazon River, while he should proceed through north-ern Peru to the source of the Amazon and then descend thatriver to its mouth, 8 Herndon hired Manuel Ijurra, a youngPeruvian who had voyaged down the Amazon, to serve asinterpreter to the Indians; he also engaged an Indian servantand a master's mate named Richards. From ships anchored atCallao he secured carabines, pistols, ammunition, a tent, andmany fathoms of sounding line. He purchased four youngsaddle mules and a generous supply of coarse cotton cloth,fishhooks, beads, and trinkets. The travelers equipped them-selves with flannel shirts, ponchos, straw hats, and green veils.They made a chest to hold such articles as the sextant and spy-glass and packed their passports, furnished by the Peruvian

Herndon and Gibbon. Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, vol r, p 209 XMl, pp. 33, 34.


Government, as well as paper for charts, in tin cases. Theyalso provided themselves with a quantity of biscuit, a keg ofbrandy, a box of dissecting instruments, and a medicine chest.A mule driver was secured who agreed to furnish mules to trans-port their baggage from Lima to Tarma.'

On May 21, 1851, mounted on muleback in deep seatedPeruvian saddles, Herndon and Gibbon started from Lima.They were followed by a string of seven mules bearing thetrunks and boxes and bags with their supplies. The travelersreached Tarnia on June 6. After visiting certain places ofinterest near that town, on July 1, when Herndon was enteringthe valley of the Acobamba River, Gibbon shook hands withhim and returned to Tarma. With tears in his eyes Herndon,who was accompanied by Ijurra, proceeded on his journey.Making a toilsome trip by way of Cerro de Pasco he reached theHullaga River, a tributary of the Amazon. Berndon's partyembarked on the Hullaga River on August 4 in two dugoutcanoes. Each canoe was manned by a steersman, a keen eyedbowman, and several oarsmen who were busy only at dangerouspoints. On September 3 the explorers reached the junctionbetween the Hullaga and the Marafton, or main trunk of theAmazon River, which was about seven hundred miles from thepoint of embarkation. They arrived at Tabatinga on theBrazilian frontier on December 4; and on April 11, they landedat Park.'°

In his account of the trip Herndon suggested the sublimity ofthe scene which was presented by the Amazon River flowingleague after league on its march to the sea. He painted abright picture of the economic future of the Amazon Valley:

Its industrial future is the most dazzling; and to the touch of steam,settlement, and cultivation, this rolling stream and its magnificentwater-shed would start up into a display of industrial results thatwould indicate the Valley of the Amazons as one of the most enchant-ing regions on the face of the earth.

From its mountains you may dig silver, iron, coal, copper, quick-silver, zinc, and tin; from the sands of its tributaries you may wash

'Herndon and Gibbon, vol x, pp. 22-37. "Ibid. pp 38, DJ, 132, 353.


gold, diamonds, and precious stones; from its forests you may gatherdrugs of virtues the most rare, spices of aroma the most exquisite,gums and resins of the most varied and useful properties, dyes of huesthe most brilliant, with cabinet and building-woods of the finestpolish and most enduring texture.

Its climate is an everlasting summer, and its harvest perennial."

While Herndon was traveling through northern Peru, hisformer comrade proceeded from Tarma to Cuzco. As Lieuten-ant Gibbon decided not to descend the river Madre de Dios tothe Amazon, accompanied by Richards, he traveled overlandfrom Cuzco to Cochabamba by way of La Paz)2 FromCochabamba they descended through forests of cinchona treesto a source of the Amazon. There the explorers embarked in ahuge log canoe upon a stream that emptied into a branch of theMamoré River. After reaching the Mamoré they were sofortunate as to secure passage in the canoe of a friendly Brazil-ian trader. At Exaltacion the lieutenant transferred his partyto a smaller boat which turned into the Itenez River. OnSeptember 7, Gibbon's boat, flying a United States flag from anIndian arrow, was hailed by Fort Principe da Beira on theboundary between Bolivia and Brazil."

On September 20 Gibbon reached the falls of Guajará Mirim,the first of a series of rapids on the 1famor6 through which hecould not navigate his burdened boats in safety. Around thoseterrible cataracts the baggage of the party had to be transported,while the boats were dragged through rough water and liftedover the rocks. A similar mode of travel had to be used to passthe rapids of the Madeira River into which the Marnoré emptied.The voyage of five hundred miles from Sao Antonio Falls to themouth of the Madeira River was completed by October 21."At that point, in accordance with his instructions, Gibbonceased to make notes upon his trip.

The reports of Gibbon and Herndon, printed by the Govern-ment of the United States, contained interesting descriptions ofthe natural resources of the interior of South America as well as

Herndnn and Gibbon. vol 1, pp. 176, 177. "Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 1-148.Ibid. pp 259-72. I Ibid. pp. 281-$02.

EXPLORATIONS AND ACIHEVEMENTS 835

illuminating commentaries upon the customs of its inhabitants.Gibbon vividly realized that the cataracts of the Madeira andthe Mamoré were insuperable obstacles to navigation. Hesuggested that navigation upon the Amazon could be linked tonavigation upon its Bolivian tributaries by a road cut from SãoAntonio to Guajara Mirim, thus furnishing the eastern slopesof Bolivia an outlet to the markets of the world."

Another proof of the interest of the United States in HispanicAmerica was furnished in 1852 when her secretary of the navyplaced Lieutenant Thomas J. Page in charge of an expeditionfor the exploration of certain South American rivers. InSecretary Kennedy's instructions to Lieutenant Page the latterwas informed that the expedition was to "survey and explorethe river In Plata and its tributaries." Page was instructedthat a chief object of his expedition was to explore the Plata,Paraguay, and Paraná rivers and their principal tributaries; todetermine the courses of the rivers, as well as their extent andnavigability; and to examine the regions adjacent to those riversin order to acquire accurate information concerning "the natureand extent of agriculture, and, consequently, the probable ex-tent to which commercial intercourse" between the UnitedStates and these regions might be desirable. He was directedto take astronomical and other scientific observations, to collectbotanical and mineralogical specimens, and to make sketchesof the country, its inhabitants, and its geological formations."Although the primary objects of the expedition are the promo-tion of the great interests of commerce and navigation," saidthe secretary of the navy, "yet you will take all occasions,not incompatible with the great purpose of the undertaking, toextend the bounds of science, and promote the acquisition ofknowledge. . . . The expedition is not for conquest, butdiscovery.""

For his expedition Lieutenant Page was assigned a small sidewheel steamer of four hundred tons, the Water Witch, which

Ibid. pp 80!, 313."Report Committee on Foreign Relations . relative to our Difficulties with

Paraguay. p.7"Page. La Plato, the Argentine Confederation, and Paraguay, pp. 567,5GS.


was furnished with three bronze howitzers, some astronomicalinstruments, and materials for the preservation of flora andfauna. It was "officered, manned, and equipped in the usualmanner" of a vessel in the United States navy. On February8, 1853, the Water Witch left Norfolk, Virginia, bound for SouthAmerica. 18 As the steamer had to coal frequently, it did notreach Rio de Janeiro until April. Through the United Stateslegation in that capital Lieutenant Page directed the attentionof the Brazilian Government to the expedition in the hope thatit might facilitate his progress when he reached the interiorwaters of the empire. In response the Imperial governmentmerely granted him permission to ascend the Paraguay Riveras far as Albuquerque, a point to which that river hadbeen opened to foreign commerce. 19 After having provisionedand coaled his vessel, Page sailed from Rio de Janeiro forBuenos Aires which he reached on May 2 5.20

Lieutenant Page remained in Is Plata River for a few monthsto aid the diplomatic representative of the United States atBuenos Aires in negotiations with General Urquiza. Beforehis departure from Buenos Aires, on September 1, 1858, Pagesecured an order from Urquiza to officials of the riparian prov-inces of Argentina directing them to furnish him every assist-ance.sL His vessel proceeded up the Paraná River about eighthundred miles to its junction with the Paraguay. Then theWater Witch ascended that river some nine hundred miles tothe Brazilian military post of Corumbá. Lieutenant Page at-tempted to explore the upper course of the Paraná River, butwas prevented by the prohibitory decree of Dictator Lopez whohad become enraged at Page's action in assisting Hopkins'colonists to retire from Asunción. Some members of the ex-pedition explored the interior of Paraguay, and Page even visitedthe ruins of Jesuit missions upon the banks of the Paranâ.

"Report . . . Committee an Foreign Relations . . . relative to our Difficulties withParaguay, p 7

"Page, pp. 26-29, Coleman de los documentos relaiivos d to navegadôn fluvial, pp.189-01.

Page. p.35" Report . . . Commiltee on Fore,g,, Relations . . . relative to our Difficultie, with

Paraguay. p. 12.

EXPLORATIONS AND ACIHEVEMFJNTS 337

One of his companions made a trip into Argentine territoryupon its left bank. The Water Witch ascended the UruguayRiver to a rocky ledge about two hundred and fifty miles fromits confluence with la Plata River. Upon a small steamerLieutenant Page and some companions explored the SaledoRiver as far as navigation would permit, and, returning toSanta P6, then proceeded overland to the town of Santiago uponits upper waters. During this trip Page became convinced thatthe Saledo might easily be rendered navigable during high waterto a point nine hundred mites above Santa Fe. On October 3,1855, the Argentina independiente of Tucuman welcomed Pageto that city, declaring that he was the first person to penetratethe Argentine deserts by steam. Thence he proceeded as far asSalta. 22 Further, Page's expedition demonstrated that therewas an open channel iii la Plata River, east of the island MartinGarcia. As this channel formed the boundary between Argen-tina and Uruguay, that fact assured Uruguay a claim to con-current jurisdiction over the entrance to the great tributaries ofla Plata Rivcr.n

According to his own figures the expedition of LieutenantPage surveyed river courses aggregating three thousand sixhundred miles and made exploration by land amounting to fourthousand four hundred miles." In his report to the secretary ofthe navy in August, 1856, Page made valuable comments uponthe climate, resources, commerce, and future importance of theterritory which was drained by the affluents of la Plata River.He said that Paraguay presented "a field for enterprise of whichother portions of the world" were "profoundly ignorant,""offering, like Argentina, an abundant harvest which should hereaped by the merchants of the United States. He declaredthat—contrary to the prevailing impression—commerce couldbe carried on by United States vessels with riparian ports ofArgentina and Paraguay." Page pointed out that, havingascended the Paraguay River in a warship to Corumnbft, he haddiscovered an outlet by steam navigation for some of the richest

"Aid .pp. 12-34 ib,d., pp. IS, 27. "ibid. p. 33.22 ThtdpID "ibid. pp. 19-21.

23


and most inaccessible of the Brazilian provinces. Declaringthat the United States had opened for herself "a vast field fortrade in all the products of temperate and tropical zones," hepredicted that those products, "with the hidden wealth of thefrozen regions of the Andes," would find "a rapid and saletransit to the Atlantic."" Not satisfied with the official reportwhich his government printed in 1858, in the following yearLieutenant Page published a substantial volume entitled LaPlata, the Argentine Confederation, and Paraguay, which con-tained an extended account of his remarkable trip. That volumespread in the United States geographical and other informationconcerning the basin of la Plata.

By expeditions to the South the United States has increasedand diffused geographical and other knowledge concerning His-panic America. A similar service has been performed throughreports of her agents to Hispanic-American countries which havebeen published in her diplomatic and consular papers. Moreaccessible to the general reader have been articles or volumespublished by such agents after their return to the United States.After Joel R. Poinsett had acted as a confidential agent forPresident Monroe to Mexico in 1822, he published an interest-ing volume concerning his mission which made English speakingpeople acquainted with conditions in that empire." The firstpaper read before the American Geographical and StatisticalSociety, which was incorporated in 1852, was a memoir byEdward A. Hopkins upon the "Geography, History, Produc-tions, and Trade of Paraguay." It is scarcely an exaggerationto say that by this suggestive memoir Hopkins introduced hisfellow citizens to Paraguay; he directed special attention to hergreat natural wealth: her herbs, vegetables, dyestuffs, gums,and woods.20 Upon his return from Quito, where he servedefficiently for several years as United States minister, FrederickHassaurck published a volume conveying his impressions of lifeamong the Spanish Americans, a volume which still remains a

"Report . . . Committee on Foreign Relations . . . relative to our Dzffltultin withVaraçuay, p $8.

"Pousett. Notes on Mesieo, made in the Autumn Of I822.29 Hopkins, "Mmofr on the Geography, History, Th'oductions. and Trade of Para-

pay," in Bulletin of the American Geographicaland Statistical Society. VD]. 1, pp 14-44.


mine of ethnographical, geographical, and historical informationconcerning the little-known state of Ecuador." Unfortunatelyan extensive correspondence of United States diplomatic andconsular agents in Hispanic-American countries with theirgovernment still remains unpublished in the files of the Depart-ment of State at Washington.

We shall next notice certain journeys into South Americawhich were made by citizens of the United States under theauspices of her learned institutions or by the cooperation ofHispanic-American governments. On behalf of the Lyceum ofNatural History at Williams College, on July 1, 1867, JamesOrton and four companions sailed from New York City for theIsthmus of Panama. That small party was bound on a scien-tific expedition across South America which was supported bythe Smithsonian Institution. After crossing the isthmus ofPanama and visiting Paita, Peru, this party sailed to Guayaquil,which it reached on the evening of July 19. The first glimpse ofthat city brought to Orton's mind "visions of Oriental splen-dour" which the morning light changed into "a dissolving

From a balcony in Guayaquil Orton and his companions ad-mired the lofty Chimborazo. They soon proceeded by steamerseventy miles up the Guayas River to Bodegas. At that placethey equipped themselves for a trip on muleback up themountains to Quito. After riding through the squalid villageof La Mona, the travelers followed a trail which led through avirgin forest, in graceful phrases Orton thus recorded hisimpressions:

Delight is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who forthe first time wanders in a South American forest. The superbbanana, the great charm of equatorial vegetation, tossed out luxuri-antly its glossy green leaves, eight feet in length; the slender but grace-ful bamboo shot heavenward, straight as an arrow; and many speciesof palm bore aloft their feathery heads, inexpressibly light and elegant.On the branches of the independent trees sat tufts of parasites, manyof them orchids, which are here cpiphytal; and countless creeping

" Ilassaurek, Four Years among Spanish-Am means.Orton, The Andes and the Amazon, pp. xi, 25, 26

$40 HISPANIC–AMERICAN RELATIONS

plants, whose long flexible stems entwined snake-like around thetrunks, or formed gigantic loops and coils among the limbs. Beneaththis world of foliage above, thick beds of mimosae covered the ground,and a boundless variety of ferns attracted the eye by their beautifulpatterns .32

Mounted on sure footed mules the travelers slowly climbedthe precipitous trail, which for centuries had served as anEcuadorian highway. They proceeded over the elevated plain,or pdramo, of Sanancajas, through the oasis at Ambato, andalong the road from Latacunga to Quito—"the city above theclouds." There Orton made interesting studies of its inhabi-tants, fruits, flowers, birds, and reptiles. The collectionswhich his party had gathered at Quito were sent to the Ecuado-rian coast just before they left that city for the Amazonianwilderness."

On October 30 Orton and his companions ]eft Quilo on horse-bath bound for the Indian village of Papallacta, bearing an or-der from the president of Ecuador to officials in the eastern partof that country to aid them in every possible manner .14 Theyspent thirteen days in a trip on foot from Papallacta to the vil-lage of Napo. The explorers embarked on the Napo River onNovember 20 in three cedar canoes which were manned byeight Indians. At the junction of the Napo River with theCoca they disembarked and spent two days building a raft forthe voyage to the Amazon. They reembarked on November28, and on December 12—a month and a half after leavingQuito—they reached Pebas, which was about two hundredmiles from the Brazilian frontier. From Pebas they went downthe Amazon on the Peruvian steamer Morona for Tabatinga;there they transferred to the Brazilian steamer Icamiaba andsailed down the central channel of the Amazon River. Aftervisiting Manáos and other points on that river Orton proceededto Pará, and thence he returned to the United States."

Professor Orton was the first English speaking person to makethe wonderful trip from Quito to the Amazon's mouth. This

" Orton, p 88 "Ibid. I, 177' Ibid., p. 176, a. "Aid, pp. 177-t54.


was the very route by which, in 1541, Orellana had made thefirst descent of the Great River. Although several explorershad descended the Amazon River before Orton, yet in NorthAmerica his trip had many of the effects of a voyage of dis-covery. For Orton wrote a remarkable book describing "thephysical aspect, the resources, and the inhabitants" of the vastregion which lie had traversed. Not only did he present afascinating account of his trip, which was interspersed withsuggestive comment upon South American customs and sup-plemented by statistical data, but at various points he madecontributions to scientific knowledge concerning South America.His collections of birds, fishes, reptiles, plants, shells, fossils, andvolcanic rocks were sent to the Smithsonian Institution, whichdistributed them among various scientists for study. Ortonfound intercalated between the Amazon days at Pebas a fos-siliferous bed which was full of "marine tertiary shells." Thushe found evidence to support the view that the drift formationin the Amazon Valley was of salt water origin, and not of freshwater origin, as Agassiz maintained.36

A journey to Brazil of Louis Agassiz, a native of Switzerlandwho had become a citizen of the United States by naturaliza-tion, has a peculiar charm. Agassiz thus described the origin ofhis expedition. In the winter of 1865, because of ill health, itbecame necessary for him to seek a change of environment.Toward South America he was drawn by a desire that had beenborn when, as a student at the University of Munich, he hadbeen employed by his teacher, the German scientist Karl vonMartins, "to describe the fishes" which J. W. de Spix hadcollected during his journey in Brazil. A work on Spix'sBrazilian fishes, written in Latin and dedicated to Cuvier, wasindeed the first important contribution of Agassiz to naturalhistory." Agassiz's desire to visit South America was stimu-lated by the conviction that Pedro II. Emperor of Brazil, wouldpatronize a scientific expedition into his dominions. Thejourney of which Agassiz had fondly dreamed was made pos-

"(Mon. pp. 282. M." Agassiz, Lout. Agassix, vol. i, pp. 74, 75, 80.

HISPANIC—AMERICAN RELATIONS

sible through the offer of Nathaniel Thayer, a patron of science,who learned of Agassiz's desire and volunteered to pay theexpenses of his assistants.38

By Thayer's generosity Agassiz secured as assistants anartist, an ornithologist, a preparator, a conchologist, and twogeologists, Messrs. St. John and Hartt. In addition, during apart of his trip, Agassiz was accompanied by several volunteersand friends." His party left New York City on board thesteamship Colorado on April 1, 1865, and disembarked at Riode Janeiro on April 28." In that city certain members of theparty arranged a "laboratory of Natural History," while theirleader conferred with Brazilian officials about the expedition.Agassiz had decided to divide his party into three groups: onegroup was to explore the upper courses of the Rio Doce, the Riodas Vclhas, and the Sao Francisco with the lower course ofthe Tocantins and its tributaries; a second group was to explorethe lower courses of the Doce and Sfio Francisco rivers; anda third party under his immediate direction was to undertake asurvey of the Amazon and its tributaries. As some members ofhis party were destined for regions which were little known,Agassiz spent much time studying the routes to be pursued,securing maps of the territory to be explored, and procuringletters of introduction to influential persons. In all of his prep-arations he was given cordial cooperation by prominentBrazilian personages."

Pedro II kindly consented that Major Coutinho, a govern-ment engineer who had long been employed in the exploration ofAmazonian rivers, should accompany the group led by Agassiz."On July 25 that group left Rio de Janeiro bound for Pará. Ascientist's laboratory had hardly been set up there whenAgassiz made an excursion to the adjacent entrance of theAmazon River which he described as an "archipelago of islandsin an ocean of fresh water." At once by the aid of generousBrazilians and of members of his expedition Agassiz began histask of making a collection of fish. During his first week at

iS Agassiz, Louis Aga'n; vol ii, pp 25-27; Agasazi. A Journey us Bran!, pp . v-vil.Agassiz, A Journey in Brazil, p vii. 40 Ibid., pp. viii. 46.

"Ibid. pp. 59. 60. 93, 94. ' Ibid., pp. 122. 123 0 IbId.. p . 195


ParL he collected about sixty-three species of fish. This was anumber greater than had been previously described as belongingto the vast Amazonian basin.

In the morning of August 20 Agassiz's company left Path in avessel which was placed at its disposal by the Brazilian Govern-ment. This vessel was soon winding its way among the count-less islands in the estuary of the Amazon River. At variouspoints in the ascent of the river the vessel stopped in order thatAgassiz might collect fish. Ordinarily he did not collect thosefish in person but adopted the much more expeditious method ofemploying local fishermen to catch them while he superintendedthe care of the specimens as they arrived at the ship. Early inSeptember the scientists reached Mankos. 44 They had collectedspecimens of some three hundred species of fish by September 8:in the words of Agassiz "before having ascended the Amazonfor one third of its course, the number of fishes "was more thantriple that of all the species known thus far." On September12 Agassiz left Manáos for Tabatinga. During that trip hedebated whether or not he should leave the upper Amazon inorder to proceed to Peru to collect fish in her mountain streamsand to look for glacial deposits in her valleys. But the dis-covery of a fish with its mouth full of young ones made Agassizdecide to confine his investigations to Brazil. To him this inci-dent confirmed "the most incredible fact in embryology."'On September 20 the party arrived at Tahatinga, the mostwesterly point which they reached in the Amazon Valley.

Aga.ssiz's diary, as kept by his wife, was a fascinating accountof their experiences. This diary, which was embodied in avolume entitled A Journey in Brazil, helped to make that booka unique contribution to the world's knowledge concerningSouth America. While in certain particulars the primitive lifeof the people in the valley did not differ from that of otheraborigines, yet in the Amazonians' picturesque mode of lifethere were some unique traits. The impressions made uponAgassiz and his wife by the scenery, as well as by the flora andfauna, of the Amazon Valley were extremely vivid.

"Ibid., pp. 128-85. "ibid • p. 195. "Ibid.. P. 203.

344 HISPANIC–AMERICAN RELATIONS

Let us quote a few passages from the remark-able diary. Hereis a passage describing the Amazonian wilderness: "Its waterylabyrinth is rather a fresh-water ocean, cut up and divided byland, than a network of rivers. Indeed, this whole valley is anaquatic, not a terrestrial basin." The unique character ofthat basin is further indicated by Mrs. Agassiz's pen picture of ashort excursion "through a strange half-aquatic, half-terrestrialregion, where land seemed at odds with water. Groups of treesrose directly from the lake, their roots hidden below its surface,while numerous blackened and decayed trunks stood up fromthe water in all sorts of picturesque and fantastic forms.Here and there, where we coasted along by the bank, we had aglimpse into the deeper forest, with its drapery of lianas andvarious creeping vines, and its parasitic sipos twining closearound the trunks or swinging themselves from branch tobranch like loose cordage. . . Here and there a palm lifted itshead above the line of the forest, especially the light, graceful,Assai, its crown of feathery leaves vibrating above the tall,slender, smooth stem with every breeze." 48 Other features ofAmazonian life are suggested by a description of the luxuriantsetting of a Victoria regia in a "dense mass of forest, with palmand parasite, with birds of glowing plumage, with insects of allbright and wonderful tints, and with fishes which, though hiddenin the water beneath it, are not less brilliant and varied than theworld of life above."" Another passage describes Agassiz as acollector; "This marshy, overflowed ground, above which thewater had a depth of from four to six feet, was full of life. Asthe rowers pushed our canoe through the mass of grass andflowers, Mr. Agassiz gathered from the blades and stalks allsorts of creatures; small bright-colored toads of several kinds,grasshoppers, beetles, dragon-flies, aquatic snails, hunches ofeggs,—in short, an endless variety of living things, most interest-ing to the naturalist . . . and he soon had a large jar filled withobjects quite new to him."

This volume also contains some suggestive generalizations ofthe great naturalist. His biological studies in the Amazon

"Agassiz, A Joan,ey in Brazil, p . 256. "Ibid. P. 261It'd, p 356. '° Ibid. p. 360.


Valley led him to conclude that there were in South America thezoological, and, possibly also, the botanical equivalents of thefauna and the flora of the temperate zone." He maintainedthat, as the Amazon basin was flooded during one half of theyear, it should properly be treated not as dry land but as asubmerged district. 52 He made some interesting observationsupon the hybrid types produced by the blending of Indians,negroes, and whites." His investigations about the distribu-tion of fishes in Brazil convinced him that in the Amazon basinthe opposite banks of the same stream were sometimes the abodeof "an essentially different ichthyological population."" Hedecided that the migrations of the fishes in the Amazon waterswere "very limited" and that certain kinds of fish were foundsimultaneously throughout its entire basin." In a letter toEmperor Pedro II from Park, February 23, 1866, Agassiz esti-mated that he had collected fish belonging to about twothousand species." During the trip on the Amazon the artistof the expedition made over eight hundred paintings of fishes."Besides the party collected some botanical specimens, especiallyof palms." Agassiz also made certain geological studies.

His geological observations caused him to reach the conclu-sion that during the ice age the Amazon Valley had been cov-ered by an immense glacier. Stated briefly, his hypothesis wasthat the widely scattered drift of reddish day through which thewaters of the Amazon had plowed was a glacial deposit that hadbeen brought down from the Andean regions." He elucidatedhis theory concerning the geological nature of the Amazon Val-Icy to an audience at Park; subsequently he presented his viewsto North American readers through the Atlantic Monthly: and inA Journey in Brazil he reprinted this contribution to the strangehistory of glacial phenomena."

It was reserved for one of Agassiz's assistants upon this hipto support his master's hypothesis concerning the glacial age inthe Amazon Valley by a more detailed study of the geology ofBrazil. At various points during the Agassiz expedition Hartt

• ibid. pp 392-94. " Ibid • pp. *55, 256. "ibid., p. 297H ibid,p. 241. ,, M ibzd, pp 541. 27. "ibid., pp. 382. 385, a."Ibid. p. 264. "Ibid,p.SIG. "Ibid., P. 250.'flb'4.. p.398


and St. John had been engaged in geological investigations.The former made a special study of "the stone and coral reefsand of the geology of Brazil!'" In the following year he re-turned to that country and spent several months examining thecoast between Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro. Hartt'soriginal intention was to make a report to Agassiz which wouldincorporate the results of his own studies during the Thayerexpedition, as well as those of his supplementary explorations.62But in the course of his investigations Hartt's report grew into avolume which eventually included not only the results of his ownresearches but also the generalizations of some other studentsof Brazilian geology.

Hartt's book was appropriately entitled Thayer Expedition:Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil by Louis A gassis and hisTravelling Companions; Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil.In sharp contrast with Agassiz's volume Hartt's book containedfew notes concerning the topography, climate, and vegetation ofthe country. That book was in reality a treatise upon thegeology of Brazil, which was considered province by province.It also contained a chapter upon the "São Francisco Basin,"one upon the "Islands and Coral Reefs of the Abrolhos," an-other upon the "Gold-Mines of Brazil," and an appendix deal-ing with the Botocudo Indians. In part the fruit of the Agassizexpedition, it was a valuable contribution to the geology andphysical geography of Brazil.

In 1871 Hartt organized another expedition to Brazil in whichhe gathered more geological data. After the death of hismaster in 1873, Hai'tt submitted to the Imperial government aplan for a geological survey of Brazil. That scheme was ap-proved by Emperor Pedro II, and, with a number of assistants,among whom was J. Branner, Hartt soon began work on thesurvey. Unfortunately in 1878 Hartt died of yellow fcver.63The work thus initiated, however, was continued at intervalsby Branner, who, besides a work on the geology of Brazil, hasmade some noteworthy monographic contributions concerningthe geology of that country.

" llartt, 'Thayer Ezpcdthon, p. v. -11W, pp . vi , vii-"Marcou, Le, Lcttcr, qpd Works of Louts Agamz, vol ii, pp 159, 160.


The service performed by Hartt and Branner in Brazil findsa parallel in Argentina. After her title to Patagonia wassettled by arbitration, Argentina undertook to develop thatregion. About 1906, under the direction of the secretary ofpublic works, Ezequiel Ramos-Mexia, the Argentine Govern-ment adopted the policy of constructing railroads in Patagoniain order to encourage settlement. That the work of railroadconstruction might be properly performed, it was highly neces-sary to make surveys of certain sections of Patagonia. Ramos-Alexis, evidently viewed North America as an exemplar; for hebelieved that northern Patagonia was in some respects similar tothe western part of the United States. Early in 1911 there wasaccordingly established in the Argentine department of publicworks a bureau of hydrographic study. This bureau wasestablished in the belief that artesian water might be discoveredin northern Patagonia by scientific surveys. As Ramos-Alexiahad become aware that a similar situation in the United Stateshad been remedied by geological investigations, he decided tosecure in that country geologists to make a survey of Pata-gonia."

With the approval of the United States Government, BaileyWillis, a member of the United States Geological Survey, wasmade director of the projected survey. In 1911 Willis accord-ingly organized the Argentine bureau of hydrographic study.He invited from the United States a group of topographers,geologists, and economic geologists, who, in conjunction withother investigators, undertook to survey northern Patagonia.A contract which went into force on January 21, 1911, originallyrequired that the survey should be completed in two years, butthe period was later extended for almost another year. Thescientists began their work by a study of the geological struc-ture of a section of Patagonia near the railroad which was beingbuilt from San Antonio upon the Atlantic coast to LakeNahucl Huapi in the Andes. Their investigations showed thenecessity and feasibiliLy of supplying San Antonio with waterfrom a stream over one hundred kilometers distant. In Octo-

Willis, Northern Patogonia, pp. v-vu.


ber, 1911, the geologists went to the western terminus of theprojected railroad in order to make further investigations.After their labors had demonstrated that the proposed route wasimpracticable, the Argentine Government decided that thegeological survey should be extended to the entire strip whichwas tributary to the railroad from the Atlantic Ocean to theChilean boundary. The government further decided that thesurvey should include a study of the natural resources of thisregion. The geologists employed the summer of 1913 in a sur-vey of the Andean regions of Argentina between 89° 40' and 43°40'. During the following winter they surveyed the pampas ofthe Rio Negro."

The result of those investigations was a volume entitledNorthern Patagonia. That volume contained some suggestivecomparisons between Argentina and the United States. In hisintroduction Willis declared that although Argentina stretchedfrom the tropics to the Antarctic Circle, yet she had a narrowerrange of temperature than the United States. He publishedmaps which showed the curves of temperature and rainfall inArgentina and delimited the areas of ample and scanty rainfall.He declared that the "orange-grower," the "cotton-grower,"the "corn-planter," the "wheat-farmer," the "sugar-grower,"the "orchardist," the cattleman, the "sheep-herder," and the"web-footed Oregonian" from the United States could all findcongenial places for settlement in Argentina. He expressed hisopinion that the physical resources of that country indicatedthat her future was mainly dependent upon the development ofagriculture, grazing, and commerce. With an argument whichwas based upon the experience of the United States, Willismade a plea for the conservation of the natural resources ofArgentina, especially of the water power upon which the develop-ment of her manufactures depended."

Willis described the chief topographic features of the pampasof northern Patagonia, sketched the progress of railroadsthrough that region, and suggested where branch lines mightadvantageously be constructed. Various sections of that

a W,tI,s, Northern Paiaon,o, pp vii-%. "fInd., pp. S-IS.


region, such as the coastal plain, he considered in detail. Hediscussed the water resources, soils, and flora of the Patagonianpampas and their adaptability for agriculture and grazing.

The author used a large part of the volume in a detailed de-scription of the topography and natural resources of Patagoniawith considerable attention to the agricultural lands, the graz-ing lands, the timber belts, and the water resources of the cor-dillera. He devoted a section of his book to a description ofthe national park of Argentina which included Lake NahuelHuapi. In appendices he included reports upon samples ofwood from the Andean region of northern Patagonia as well asmeteorological data concerning that section. Accompanyingthe volume was a useful set of maps which showed the topog-raphy of northern Patagonia. Here and there Willis pointedthe way to further investigations that might be made concerningthe resources of Argentina and her suitability as an abode forwhite men. All in all, this handsome volume constituted amost valuable contribution upon the geology and physicalgeography of Hispanic America.

Agassiz's journey stimulated scientific investigation in SouthAmerica in another field than geology. The publication in1885 of Mrs. Agassiz's Life and Letters of Louis Agassiz contain-ing an account of his trip to Brazil, and the statement by DavidS. Jordan that no complete description of Agassiz's collectionof fish had ever been made, induced Carl H. Eigenznann toundertake an examination of that fauna. As a result of hisexamination Eigenmaim concluded that Agassiz had over-estimated the number of species of fish which he had collected.°'Presumably it was an interest in the fishes of Hispanic Americathat was thus developed which induced Eigenmann to studyother collections brought from that region and led him to makefish collecting expeditions to various countries of South Americaon behalf of the Carnegie Museum. Through his own collec-tions and by his commentaries thereon lie made large additionsto scientific knowledge concerning American ichthology. His' Ligenmano, 'The Fresh-Water Fishes of South and Middle America," in Popular

Sc,eacs Monthly, vol. ixu's, pp 515-17

$50 HISPANIC—AMERICAN RELATIONS

study of the distribution of the fresh water fishes of tropicalAmerica led him to accept the view that during the earliesttertiary period tropical America was composed of two landareas which were separated by the lower Amazon Valley andthat at that period there was a land bridge between SouthAmerica and the eastern continent, possibly between Guianaand tropical Africa.°

Further, Eigennrnnn directed the attention of some of hiszoological students to Hispanic America. Among those stu-dents John D. Haseman was adventurous and noteworthy.In 1907 Haseman was sent to central South America by theCarnegie Museum in order to collect fishes. While upon thatmission he traveled through Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina,Paraguay, and Bolivia. The period from November, 1907, toMarch, 1908, he spent in Brazil near the Sao Francisco River.In March. 1908, he was on the Atlantic coast north of Bahia.From the middle of April to the beginning of November of thatyear he was at work in the waters about Rio de Janeiro and SãoPaulo. Thence he went to the river Ribeira da Iguape. Nexthe visited the IguassO River and admired its remarkable falls.Then by way of the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sol heproceeded to Montevideo. Between February 18 and March15, 1909, he was working in the rivers San Juan and Colorado.He then went to the basin of the Paraguay River, proceededthrough the Brazilian wilderness to São Luis de Caceres, thenceto Manáos; and in January, 1910, he ended his collecting tripat Para.d S For a foreigner, who was accompanied only bynative guides, this was a most wonderful itinerary, which sur-passed any large expedition that had been made through SouthAmerica in the number of miles traversed."

In the course of his remarkable journey Haseman collectedthousands of specimens of fish in which were represented

"Eigenmann, toe. cit., Vol- mm, p 528."Haseman, "A Brief Report upon the Expedition of the Carnegie Museum to

Central South America." in Annals of the Carnegie Museum, vol. vu. pp 287-9. A mapshowing his itinerary is found in Haseman, 'Some Factors of Geographical Distributionin South America," in Annals of the New York Aced nag af Sciences, vol LXII. p 10-

"Holland. The Carnegie Museum Expedition to Central South America, 1907-1910, in Annals of the Carnegie Museum, vol. vu, p. 285.


several species that had been unknown to scientists." Al-though the main object of his trip was to investigate the distri-bution of fish in South America, yet he collected information onsome related problems. Data gathered over a much larger areathan that of any previous explorer imparted a more thanordinary significance to his suggestive generalizations concern-ing the distribution of life upon that continent. In a mono-graph concerning "Some Factors of Geographical Distributionin South America" he printed a series of maps which showedin outline the geological areas and the marine deposits of thatcontinent so far as those could be made from data which he hadat hand. He also printed a 'nap indicating that, contrary tothe prevailing view, there was no connection between the head-waters of the river Guapore and the Paraguay River, and an-other map showing that there actually was a connection be-tween the headwaters of the rivers Sao Francisco and Tocantins.He delimited a number of areas in South America where he con-sidered that the environmental conditions were approximatelyequal throughout." Upon more than one page of his mono-graphs Hascman suggested the opportunities which awaitedthe biologist in a continent one-half of which was still practi-cally unknown. One of his most suggestive passages runsthus: "In the great Guapore Valley there is scarcely a break inthe gigantic forests, which are choked by vines, smothered byephiphytes, and filled in between by bamboos and scrubbyplants. In the midst of this floral confusion roams the whistlingtapir, howling, babbling, and squealing monkeys from the sizeof a mouse to that of a dog. Counticss gorgeously coloredbirds and butterflies flit around, huge alligators bellow in thelagoons, and the fish never stop leaping after foolish insects.""

As a result of his travels and investigations in Hispanic-American countries Haseman was led to doubt the soundness of

"liaseman, "An Annotated Catalogue of the Cicblid Fishes collected by the Expedi-tion of the Carnegie Museum to Central South America, 1907-1910," 'a Annals of theCarnegie Museum, vol vu, p. 3Q9

' Baseman, 'Some Factors of Geographical Distribution in South America." Inc cii,vol. xxii, paniva.

Baseman, "A Brief Report upon the Expedition of the Carnegie Museum to Ceo-tial South Ame, ica,' lot cit., vol vii, pp 295, 299.


a theory entertained by some scientists to the effect that SouthAmerica was formerly connected by a land bridge with someportion of the eastern continent. Basing his view uponnegative and positive evidence derived from the naturalsciences, he rejected that theory and expressed the opinionthat the distribution of animal life in South America pointed"to a northern origin and not to an African-South AmericanGondwana origin. "74 In regard to the origin of life upon thisplanet ilaseman formulated the hypothesis" that continentalforms have originated and dispersed over three great tongues ofland which—" connected and disconnected from time to time"—have "always extended south from the northern hemisphere."

Just before Theodore Roosevelt made his trip to Africa, heevidently considered the project of an expedition into Brazil.In 1913, when the ox-President had received invitations to ad-dress learned societies in Argentina and Brazil, the project wasrevived, for Roosevelt accepted those invitations and plannedto make a trip through the Amazon Valley. He wrote to FrankChapman, curator of ornithology in the American Museum ofNatural History at New York City, about his trip, surmising thatChapman might wish to send some naturalists into the Brazilianwilderness in order to collect specimens for the museum. As alarge part of the region which Roosevelt proposed to explorehad not been visited by collectors, Chapman became deeply in-terested in the proposed expedition; and the museum decided tosend two experienced naturalists in Roosevelt's company. Thenaturalists selected by Chapman were George K. Cherrie andLeo E. Miller. Cherrie, a veteran field naturalist who hadspent over twenty years in the American tropics, was to makeornithological collections, while Miller, a younger naturalist,was to make a collection of mainmalia. In addition, there ac-companied Roosevelt on the trip, his son Kermit, his secretary,Frank Harper, Father Zahm, an adventurous priest, with hisattendant Jacob Sigg, and Antony Fiala, a former Arctic ex-plorer, who was given charge of the equipment. Before leaving

Haseman, "Some Factors of Geographical Distribution in South America," f or cii,vol. xxii, P. los.

"I&üf,p. 104.


New York Roosevelt's party secured a supply of firearms, can-vas canoes, ropes, pulleys, tents, mosquito bars, and ham-mocks. Each person fitted himself out in clothing according tohis taste. Although the explorers proposed to live upon the fishand game which they might secure during the trip, yet they tookwith them some army rations and a supply of canned provi-sions." As the expedition bad been undertaken primarily inthe interests of the museum in the city of New York the bag-gage and the scientific apparatus of the party were labeled"Colonel Roosevelt's South American Expedition for theAmerican Museum of Natural History?""

The intention of Roosevelt was to go up lit Plata River to thehead of navigation upon the river Paraguay, then to cross to thesource of a tributary of the Amazon, and, if feasible, to descendthat tributary in canoes to the Great River." Apparently hisoriginal intention was to proceed from the mouth of the RioNegro in a northerly direction to Venezuela." The startingpoint for this trip was to be Asunción, the capital of Paraguay.When Roosevelt reached Rio de Janeiro the Brazilian ministerof foreign affairs, Laura Muller, informed him that ColonelRondon, who had been engaged for many years in the explora-tion of the Amazon Valley on behalf of the Brazilian TelegraphicCommission, had been selected to accompany him on the ex-pedition. Through the sympathetic interest of the Govern-ment of Brazil Roosevelt thus secured the aid of the most ca-pable and experienced explorer of the Brazilian hinterland.

Upon receipt of the news that he had been selected to ac-company Brazil's distinguished guest, Colonel Rondon, whowas at Barao de Melgaço, in the depths of the Amazon Valley,at once took steps to facilitate the progress of Roosevelt's partywhatever route it might choose to follow front Asuncion to theAmazon. During his voyage from Barao de Melgaço toMankos, Rondon received information that Roosevelt's planwas to enter the Amazon basin by way of the rivers Arinos and

"Roosevelt, Through the Braz,liae Wilderness. pp."Ibid. p. 182 " Ibid., pp 7. S.

Confcrencias rea?izadas pelo coro'icl Candido Mariano do S,Ive Rondo,,, p.16

24


Tapajos. The Brazilian believed that to follow such an itiner-ary would result in comparatively small additions to thegeographical knowledge which had been secured by his explora-tions. He accordingly proposed five possible itineraries forRoosevelt's party. Here we need only concern ourselves withthe second of those proposed itineraries. That itinerary indi-cated a route from Sao Lids de Caceres or CuyabS to the stationof José Bonifacio, along a road which had been laid out by theBrazilian Telegraphic Commission. From that station Roudonproposed to descend and explore the Rio da Duvida, or River ofDoubt, a course which he believed would probably lead theparty into the Madeira River.8t1 In the words of ColonelRondon, "Of those five proposals, that which involved thegreatest difficulties and which was the most hazardous was theproposal regarding the River of Doubt:—this was the itineraryselected by Mr. Roosevelt."'

Colonel Rondon proceeded from Manaos to Rio de Janeirowhere he selected the members of the Brazilian contingent ofthe expedition. He chose certain persons who might be en-trusted with administrative duties as well as with the advance-ment of scientific knowledge and ordered them to proceed toCoruinbá. As his own companions upon the expedition heselected Captain Amilcar dc Magalhãcs and Dr. Euzebio deOliveira, who respectively acted as the assistant director andthe geologist of the expedition. Rondon busied himself withthe equipment of the expedition until he learned of the approach-ing departure of Roosevelt from Buenos Aires for Asuneión.On December 2, 1918, the Brazilian explorer left Rio de Janeiroen route for Corurnbá. Nine days later he was on board theBrazilian vessel Nioac which was anchored in the river Paraguaynear the the Paraguayan frontier. There he awaited the arrivalof the North American contingent of the party which was as-cending that river in a Paraguayan war vessel. During theforenoon of December 12 the gunboat Riquebne hove in sightand shortly before noon Colonel Rondon courteously welcomedex-President Roosevelt and his followers on board the Braziliangunboat."

"Roadon. pp. 16,1O. "lUd ,p.I7. "Ibid. P. 19; Roosevelt, p. 49


On the Niouc, which bore the United States flag at her mast-head, the Roosevelt-Rondon party ascended the ParaguayRiver to the confluence of the river São Lourenço. Thence itwent up the São Lourenço and the Cuyaba rivers to the fazendaor ranch of Jeão da Costa Marques. Alter it pleasant sojournthere the party descended to the Paraguay River and continuedthe ascent of that river to Sao Luis de Caceres, which it reachedon the afternoon of January 5. It soon proceeded up RioSepotuba or River of Tapirs. In a post of the TelegraphicCommission, the baggage, as well as the party, was divided.Skins, skulls. specimens, and all baggage that was not ab-solutely necessary, were sent down the Paraguay River, enroute to New York City. The pack oxen with extra supplieswere organized under Captain Amilear de 3lagalhAes. Rondonand other Brazilians, with Roosevelt and his company, formeda separate detachment that was accompanied by a mule trainladen with provisions and equipment. On January 21 the jointparty which, after the change in plans due to Roosevelt's ac-ceptance of the proposal of the Brazilian Government to makethe expedition in larger part geographical, had been designatedby that government as the Expediçao Scientijka Roosevelt-Rondon, started from Tapirapoan in search of the tributaries ofthe Rio da Duvida.n

The expedition proceeded to the falls of Utiarity upon theriver Papagaio. From the hamlet of that name Zahin and Sigg,who was ill, returned to Corumba, starting back in an automo-bile which belonged to the Telegraphic Commission. AtUtiarity the party was divided into three sections. Fiala ofthe United States contingent and the Brazilian lieutenant,Alcides Lauriodo, were placed in charge of a squad which wasdirected to descend the Papagaio River from Utiarity Falls toits confluence with the Juruena. Another squad led by CaptainAinilcar de Islagalhies, accompanied by Miller, was to explorethe Gy-Paraná and then to proceed by the Madeira to Manáos.The main body of the party composed of Roosevelt and his son

u Roosevelt. pp 97-182."Ibid., pp 196-913, Itondon, pp 45-50. 62; Miller, In the Wilds of South America,

p 240


Kermit, Rondon, Cherrie and others, left Utiarity on FebruaryS en route for the headwaters of the Rio da Duvida.

The headwaters of that stream were located within a segmentof the Brazilian sert&o or wilderness. So little was known aboutits interior that Rondon declared, after exploring this section formany years, the most modern maps of it had so many errorsand lacunae that he could scarcely discover any resemblancebetween those maps and the actual topography of the region.While traversing this seriäo on behalf of the Telegraphic Com-mission in July, 1909, an exploring party discovered a riverwhich, because of the discussion that arose over its course, wasdenominated by Rondon the Rio da Duvida. When the resultsof the expedition of 1909 were depicted upon a chart theBrazilian explorers represented the River of Doubt as an af-fluent of the Rio Commnemoraçao de Floriano, a tributary of theGy-Parana. But subsequent investigations by the TelegraphicCommission convinced Colonel Rondon that the River ofDoubt could not be a branch of the Gy-Parana. Rondon thenformed the hypothesis that the River of Doubt might be theupper course of a confluent of the Madeira, the AripuanaRiver, the lower course of which had been identified. TheAripuanã was known to have two branches: a branch bearingthe same name which inclined toward the east; and anotherbranch inclining toward the west which was called the Castanha.It was london's hypothesis that the River of Doubt was eitherthe upper Aripuana River or the Castanha River. So certainwas he of the correctness of his hypothesis that when Rooseveltchose to explore the River of Doubt, Rondon asked his govern-ment to send an auxiliary expedition to await the Roosevelt-Rondon party at the junction of the upper Aripuana and theCastanha rivers. Nevertheless, to afford Roosevelt every op-portunity for a notable trip, Rondon also made tentative plansfor the exploration of the Ananaz River in case the party shoulddiscover that the River of Doubt was actually a tributary of theGyParana.8

Early in the afternoon of February 27, 1914, twenty-two men"Rondo,,, pp- 60-62.


embarked on the River of Doubt in seven dugout canoes. "Wewere quite uncertain," said Roosevelt, "whether after a weekwe should find ourselves in the Gy-Parana, or after six weeks inthe Madeira or after three months we knew not where."86They began to descend the River of Doubt from a rude bridgethat had been built by the Telegraphic Commission. The six-teen boatmen—" lithe as panthers and brawny as bears "—wereof all shades of color: in Roosevelt's canoe one paddler was aBrazilian Indian; the steersman was a negro born in MattoGrosso; and the bowman was of Portuguese descent. ColonelRoosevelt's canoe went first, while Kermit Roosevelt andRondon followed to survey the river. From March 7 to March9 the explorers were employed carrying their baggage andguiding their canoes past a series of rapids. A short distancebelow those rapids a paddler lost his life in a shifting whirlpool.After eighteen days of travel the party had lost three canoes; ithad used over one third of its food, and had proceeded only onehundred and twenty-five kilometers. Some members of theexpedition then proceeded to march down the banks of theriver. On March 17 Rondon named a stream which enteredthe River of Doubt from the west the Rio Kermit. Upon theforenoon of the following day, in latitude 11° 27' 20" and longi-tude 17° 17'2" west of Rio de Janeiro, being convinced that theRio da Duvida was a great unexplored stream, in accordancewith the instructions of Lauro Muller, Rondon read an order ofthe day announcing that thenceforth the so-called River ofDoubt would be designated the Rio Roosevelt. In a lecturewhich he delivered in Rio de .Janeiro in 1915 Rondon said thatthis act of his government was performed in order to inscribeupon the map of Brazil a record of Roosevelt's voyage of geo-graphical discovery and in order "to render homage to the UnitedStates of North America in the person of her exPresident."87

It was not, however, until after many strenuous days andsome perilous adventures, not until after Theodore Roosevelthad been sorely stricken with fever, and his life well-nigh de-

" Roosevelt, p 243"Rondon, pp. IS, 76, See further, Roosevelt. pp 278, 279


spaired of, that, on April 15, the famished and wornout partyreached the huts of some rubber gatherers and became certainthat they had explored the upper course of the western branch ofthe Aripuana. On April W the explorers reached the CastanhaRiver and saw the camp of the auxiliary expedition which wassurmounted by the flags of Brazil and the United States. Thegreat geographical result of the Roosevelt-london expeditionwas the discovery of the course of a large unknown river whichflowed through five degrees of latitude, the River of Doubt,whose lower course was identical with the River Castanha.This expedition demonstrated that the streams formerly knownas the Rio da Duvida, the Castanha, and the tower Aripuantconstituted one and the same river.

The Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition thus resulted ina geographical discovery that helped to round out the know!-edge concerning the Brazilian hinterland which had been securedby the Telegraphic Commission. While the pluck and per-severance of Roosevelt and his compatriots compel admiration,yet it seems that such important results would scarcely havebeen possible without the cordial cooperation of the BrazilianGovernment and without the sage advice and guidance of thatnoble explorer, Colonel london. Ex-President Roosevelt wasa leading spirit of the expedition. Further, when he returnedto the United States Roosevelt made the geographical dis-covery known to the world in the interesting volume concerninghis trip through the Brazilian wilderness.

Roosevelt and his fellow-countrymen had not forgotten theoriginal purpose of the expedition. Chcrrie and Miller securedabout eight hundred specimens of mammals and birds beforethe party had reached Corumba. While going up the Para-guay River they caught some rare mammals, among them coatis; and the ex-President hunted peccaries and jaguars. Bythe time that they reached Tapirapoan the naturalists hadcollected about a thousand birds and two hundred and fiftymammals. Upon the road to the headwaters of the Rio daDuvida the naturalists of Roosevelt's squad made valuable ad-ditions to their collections of birds, among them a black and


blue and white jay. During a considerable part of the tripdown the mysterious river Cherrie found little time for the col-lection of birds. 88 On his trip down the Gy-Paranâ Millermade a valuable collection of birds and mammals, and studiedthe habits of the hoatzin, a reptilian bird."

Besides the Roosevelt party the American Museum of Nat-ural History has sent other expeditions into Hispanic Americato collect specimens and to study the distribution of species.Some of its most important expeditions have been sent there insearch of birds. Among the collectors whose learned commentsupon ornithology fill pages of the Bulletin of the American Mu-seum of Natural History no one is more worthy of mention thanFrank M. Chapman. As early as 1892 he published in that bul-letin certain notes upon birds and mammals that he had foundin Cuba with some remarks concerning the origin of West Indianbird life.°° A few years later he published some notes uponMexican birds. 9' More recently his interest, as well as thatof the museum, became focused upon South America.

In December, 1910, the American Museum of Natural Historybegan a zoological survey of South America. This museum de-sired to collect specimens of the birds and mammals of thatcontinent with information concerning their life and environ-ment. Its immediate object was to collect data that mightenable scientists to map the faunal areas in South America,while its ultimate object was "the discovery of the geographicorigin of South American life." 92 The museum decided to beginits operations in Colombia. That country was selected becausethe museum had become interested in her avifauna; because ofher position and proximity to the United States; and because ofher diverse zones and variety of life. The plan of the survey

" Ibid. p 534. Miller, p. 261"Chapman. Notes on Birds and Mammals observed near Trinidad, Cuba, with

remarks on the Origin of West Indian Bird.Ltfe," in Bulletin of the American if usevmof Natural JIz-,torg, vol iv, pp 279, ci nq.

Chapman, "Notes on Birds observed in Yucatan," in Bulletin of the AmericanJficseum of Natural Thatory, vol viii, pp- 271 et seq: Chapman, "Notes on Bird, ob-served at Jalapa and Las Vigas, Vera Cruz, Mexico,' ibid . vol. viii, pp 15 et seq.

92 Chapman, "Distribution of Bird-Life in Colombia," in Bulletin of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History, vol XXXVI, no 3, p 3.


was designed "to extend from sea-level to snow-line, and fromthe Pacific Ocean to the tributaries of the Amazon and Ori-noco. ,, " From December, 1910, to April, 1915, the museum hadfrom one to six men in Colombia collecting specimens in certainareas and taking notes on the dsitribution of life. Eight dis-tinct parties in charge of experienced naturalists traveledthrough Colombia: they sojourned here and there at differentaltitudes; sometimes proceeding along water courses in riverboats or canoes; more frequently pursuing lonely forest trails onhorseback or muleback; and occasionally traversing on footthe barren, wind-swept pdramos. Upon those trips the nat-uralists collected about sixteen hundred mammals and sixteenthousand birds, which were carefully labeled according tolocality and altitude." Chapman gave a detailed account ofthis cooperative, scientific survey in the museum's bulletin.

The volume describing that survey was entitled The Distribu-tion of Bird-Life in Colombia. That volume contained a briefdescription of the topography of Colombia; some notes, as wellas a map, on the distribution of her forests; and certain dataupon climatology." The larger part of the substantial volumewas occupied by a list of the species and subspecies of birdswhich had been found in Colombia. This list of birds was ac-companied by comments upon their characteristics and en-vironment. It was illustrated by diagrammatic representationsof the distribution of certain birds in that country and beyond.Basing his generalizations upon data gathered by the museum,Chapman reached the conclusion that the fauna of Colombiawas distributed in four zones: the tropical, the subtropical, thetemperate, and the pdrarno zone.9'

Let us next consider the exploits of certain citizens of theUnited States who became interested in the archteology ofHispanic America. It was the comment of the eminent his-torian Prescott about the ruins of Peruvian aborigines that sug-gested to E. G. Squier the thought of investigating Inca civili-zation. In 1869 Squier was appointed commissioner of the

• Chapman. Distribution of Bird-Ltfe in Colombia," too, cit., vol xxxv', no. 3, p. S."Ibid., pp. 5, 6. "164.. pp. 70-33. 0 lintf., p. 187 at seq.


United States to settle certain claims between his country andPeru. After his duties as commissioner were performed, Squierproceeded to execute his long-cherished design of studying theruins of the Peruvian aborigines. For more than a year and ahalf he traveled from one site of Indian civilization to another,equipped with compass, tapeline, pencil, and camera." Hisexplorations of the antiquities of Peru were begun in the terri-tory between the cordillera and the ocean. In the coastaldesert near Lima he visited Pachacamac—the sacred city of theIndians before the Spanish conquest—where he studied theruins of an aboriginal temple, disinterred some Peruvian mum-mies from their burial vaults, and collected pottery and otherrelics of primitive culture." He made sketches of the dec-orations on the walls of a ruined palace at Chimu." Aftervisiting some less known ruins in various coastal valleys, hecrossed the Andes on muleback from Tacna to Tiahuanaeo,"the Baalbec of the New World." There he studied the tem-ple, the fortress, the gateways, and the monoliths of that mys-terious aboriginal city.I

Then Squier made a trip to certain islands in Lake Titicacawhere he visited the so-called sacred rock of Manco Capac, thepalace of the Incas, and the temple of the sun." From Titicacahe proceeded to Cuzco by way of Viracocha where he investi-gated the ruins of the temple described by Garcilaso de IaVega.102 At the ancient capital of the Inca Empire he ex-amined the cyclopean or pre-Inca walls, the Inca walls andfountains, the palace of the virgins of the sun, the remains of anInca palace, and the famous temple of the sun. In particularwas he interested in the acropolis of Cuzco, the fortress ofSacsahuaman, which was built upon a spur commanding theancient capital,—a fortress that he characterized as "the mostmassive and enduring monument of aboriginal art on theAmerican continent." He noticed the most remarkable fea-ture of that ancient structure: the use of salients iii three seriesof walls which were so constructed that the defenders might

"Squmer, Pent, pp I-S. "Ibid ,pp. 6-3I. 11 Ibid. pp. 137, 153, 153.ItO Ibid • pp. 272-301 '°' Ibid ,pp. 337-44, 307-70 " Ibid. pp. 400-9.

Ibid., p.425

S6 HISPANIC—AMERICAN RELATIONS

protect them by parallel fires. Squier drew a sketch of Saesa-huaman from "the seat of the Inca." 104 Then he visited theancient fortifications and monuments at 011antaytambo, as wellas the fortress of Pisac. 105 After returning to the United StatesSquier wrote an interesting volume about his explorationswhich, illustrated with careful sketches and plans, still remainsan important contribution to knowledge concerning thePeruvian aborigines.

Not until many years after Squier had published the resultsof his archaeological investigations did another citizen of theUnited States study the aborigines of South America. Duringthe last decade of the nineteenth century Adolf F. Bandelierbegan to study the ruins left by the aborigines of Peru. In anarticle in Harper's Magazine in 1905 Bandelier made a judiciousestimate of the stage of culture which had been reached by theIncas before the arrival of the conquistadores. 106 Years later,under the auspices of the Hispanic Society of America, Bandelierundertook to explore the aboriginal ruins upon the islands ofTiticaca and Koati in Lake Titicaca. The results of his in-vestigations upon the sites of aboriginal villages of the pre-Columbian era were published in a sumptuous volume by theHispanic Society. In that volume Bandelier discussed theunique character of those ruins and described many interestingarticles of Inca manufacture which he found among them.'°By careful investigations upon the coastal hills of Ecuador.Marshall H. Saville, another citizen of the United States, madeknown to archaeologists the remains of what accrued to be anaboriginal culture distinct from that of the Incas.'°

In iOU Yale University sent to Peru an expedition for ar-ehologieal and geographical exploration. During that ex-pedition, its director, Professor Hiram Bingham, engaged in asearch for Vitcos, the last Inca capital. While searching forViteos be journeyed up the canyon of the Urubamba Riverwhere he heard rumors of aboriginal ruins at a place called

" Squier, pp. 464-77. 105 ibid., pp 493-532iS Bandelier. 'The Truth about Inca Civilization," in Harper's Magazine, vol. cx,

pp 632-40107 flnncfclicr. The Islands of Titicaca and KOOI4 see especially, pp. 188-240.101 Saville, The A,diquilie. of Monabz, &uador, final report,


Machu Picchu. At that point upon the summit of an almostinaccessible cliff, in the midst of a tropical forest, he came acrossthe ruins of ancient walls and buildings. Under Biugham'sdirection the engineers connected with the expedition made apreliminary reconnaissance of those ruins.o

Other members of the party made a trip on muleback northof Cuzco to the head of canoe navigation on the UruhzunbaRiver. Under the direction of Professor Bowman, a surveywas then made of a section of the Uruhamba Valley. A topo-graphical map was drawn of the great canyon of the UrubambaRiver below Rosalina. The geographers also made a survey ofthe Andes of Peru along the seventy-third meridian—a shortdistance west of -Machu Picchu—from Abancay to Canianaupon the Pacific coastJ'° Bowman's account of this surveycontained a suggestive and valuable commentary concerningthe physiograplmic provinces of a more or less typical section ofPeru. His assistants cooperated with the archeologists; forthey tried to collect data concerning deserted aboriginal cities."

Bingham's report upon the ruins at Machu Picchu created somuch interest in the United States that in the following yearanother expedition to Peru was organized under the auspices ofYale University and the National Geographic Society. Thatexpedition, which was also under the direction of ProfessorBingham, included a geologist, an osteologist, an arclurologicalengineer, three topographers, a surgeon, and three assistants.The members of the expedition left New York in "May and June,1916. 112 Geographical work performed during this expeditionby A. H. Bumstead consisted in a survey from Abancay acrossthe Apurimac Valley to Lucma along a route that had beenoutlined by Bowman. A map was also made of the regionaround Vitcos, the last capital of the Incas, and of the CuzcoValley and its environment." Professor Gregory made geolog-ical investigations of the Cuzco Valley and of the island of the

IU Bingham, 'in the Wonderland of Peru," :n National Ceograph,c ilaga:ine, 'otxxmv, pp 403-7

Bowman, The Andes of Southern Pain, pp 8-20, see map opposite p 314.In l&id 'pp 8-10'° Bi,igha,a, "In the \Vondei land of "em," (cc ci!, vol xxiv, p 387113 ThuS, pp 504. 306-11


Sun. 114 The most important investigations carried on by thisexpedition were those made at Machu Picchu under the per-sonal direction of Bingham.

The archmologists of the party proceeded to Machu Picchualong a new road which had been cut at much expense by thePeruvian Government at the bottom of Urubainba Canyon.A gang of Indians was employed to cut the trees and the brushthat covered the cliff and to dig amid the ruins of aboriginalbuildings. Some caves were excavated near Machu Picchufrom which were obtained human bones, pottery, and fragmentsof bronze. Excavations at the mouths of small caves unearthedother bronze articles, such as pins, tweezers, or pendants.Four months of painstaking labor revealed on the high cliffabove the Urubamba River the remarkable ruins of an Incacity of refuge. At the very top of the mountain called MachuPicchu there had been placed a signal station to warn the city ofan enemy's approach. Inside the outer wall of the city was aseries of terraces used for agricultural purposes after the fashionof Peruvian aborigines. A steep moat separated those terracesfrom the inner wall which was from fifteen to twenty feet highand composed of huge stones. Within that wall the houseswere arranged in groups which had evidently been occupied byclans. In what was designated by the explorers the "sacredplaza" were found the remains of two of the best buildings: abuilding which they called the temple of the three windows;and a more imposing structure which they named the thieftemple. The inaccessibility of the antique city, the care andstyle with which it had been built, as well as the traditions of theIndians, caused Bingham to conclude that he had discoveredTampu Tocco, the cradle of the Inca tribe)"

Long before his sojourn at Lake Titicaca, Adolf Bandelier hadmade notable contributions to knowledge concerning the pre-Columbian inhabitants of Mexico. As early as 1879 he hadpublished a study of the social organization and government ofthe ancient Mexicans. That monograph was soon followed bystudies upon topics in Mexican social organization in which

Thngliam. "Jo the Wonderland of Pci-u, joe. cit., vol. xxiv, pp. 500, 501.Thu!. pes,m.


both archaeologists and historians were interested. In 1890,under the auspices of the Archaeological Institute of America,Bandelier published certain monographs upon the colonialhistory of Mexico, monographs which dealt with the southwest-ern portion of the United States. As those papers were basedupon rare publications and archival material they were seriouscontributions to the history of a vast region which was of interestto the scholars of both Mexico and the United States." Likethe studies written or edited by H. H. Bancroft and published inhis monumental histories, the articles of Bandelier were intro-ductory to the serious archaeological and historical investiga-tion of certain parts of Hispanic America, The labors of Ban-delier and Bancroft in Mexican archaeology have, in somerespects, been supplemented by the expeditions of Carl Lum-holtz)"

On October 3,1839, John L. Stephens, who had been appointedby President Van Buren to serve upon a confidential mission toCentral America, embarked in New York harbor on a vesselbound for Honduras. An only companion was his friend Mr.Catherwood, a traveler and artist who had diligently studiedcertain antiquities of the Old World. Although Stephens foundupon his arrival in Honduras that the Federation of CentralAmerica was being dissolved and that that country was beingtorn by civil war, yet the protection afforded by his diplomaticcharacter enabled him to travel extensively. He estimatedthat to carry out his design of visiting aboriginal ruins he madea journey of almost three thousand miles in the interior of Cen-tral America and Mexico."

The first ruined city which Stephens visited was Copán inHonduras. Soon after he stepped within the walls of a pyra-midal structure enclosing that pre-Columbian city Stephensstumbled across a column which bore the sculptured represen-tation of a human figure. The sides of that column were cov-ered by undecipherable hieroglyphics which had originally been

"'Bandelier, Co,,tri buttons to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the UntiedStales, Archaeological Institute of America, Papers, vol. v.

"' Lumholtz, Unknown Max". vol- ', pp. vii—rcn 'Stephens. Incidents of Travel in Genital America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, vol r, pp

iii, 9, 10.


painted various colors. After discovering fourteen other monu-ments of the same type Stephens was convinced that thosemysterious monoliths had never been erected by savages. Withthe aid of natives he surveyed the site of Copán. He made aplan of it, while with great pains Catherwood drew pictures ofthe monoliths and of various fragments of aboriginal art thatwere scattered throughout tile ruins. As a result of their inves-tigations the explorers reached the conclusion that perhapsCopán had been a holy city of the aborigines. Stephens wasconvinced that its history was carved upon its monuments; andhe expressed the opinion that in workmanship those monumentswere as good as the best remains of Egyptian art.119

In an interlude, while Stephens was trying to locate the fugi-tive federal government or dodging the bullets of revolutionists,Catherwood visited Quirigua on the Motagua River. Therethe artist of the expedition found ruins which resembled those atCopan. The monuments, or obelisks, were much larger, butthey were carved in less relief, and were apparently much older.After it vain attempt to purchase those ruins, Stephens pro-ceeded with Catherwood to Teepan in Guatemala where theyvisited the remains of another aboriginal city. Then theyexamined the ruins of the ancient city of Santa Cruz del Quiche,which they believed to have been built by a different peoplethan that which had constructed Copan and Quirigua.120

The most important site of Indian civilization visited by thoseadventurous travelers was at Palenque on the banks of theOtula River in Mexico. There the explorers took up theirabode in the front corridor of a ruined building, where, by thelight of beetles, they read a newspaper from the United States."'Palenque was quite different from the other cities which theyhad visited. There the central feature was an ancient palacethat stood upon an artificial oblong mound. The palace ofPalenque was constructed of stone which had been partly cov-ered with stucco. Around the palace were pillars ornamented

319 Stephens, Incidents of Trrncl in Central America, Chiapas, and J'uco/au, vol c, pp102-4. 153, 159, 160. For Ial.er iu'estignLions in the same field, see Carnegie Insti-tution of \Vah,ngthn. }'car Rook, 1915 and subseqi'ent years.

'" Stepl,c,,s. lundents of Ira, ci in Ce' ,irot A ,nrncj, Chiapas, and Yucatan, vol a.pp 121-23, 152-54, 182-86. J" find, pp 291, 302.

EXPLORATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS SO7

by strange figures in has-relief and by hieroglyphics. Alongone side of the courtyard of the palace were stone figures ofheroic size. Upon the walls of several apartments in this won-derful palace were has-reliefs in stucco and in stone whichapparently represented personages in aboriginal history. Nearthe palace there were several other structures which containedtablets covered with unintelligible hieroglyphics that resembledthose found at Copán and Quirigua. 'Within a ruined chamberStephens discovered a decorated tablet nine feet wide and eightfeet high, "the most perfect and most interesting monument inPalenque." In the center of this tablet were depicted twopersonages perched upon the backs of human beings thatseemed to be making sacrifices to a hideous figure. Upon eachside of this sacrificial scene were rows of hieroglyphic inscrip-tions,'" With regard to the aboriginal city which at one timesurrounded the palace, temples, and other public buildings atPalenque, Stephens merely expressed the opinion that it mighthave covered an immense area.124

After bidding farewell to Palenque, Stephens and Cather-wood paid a visit to the ruins of Uxmal in Yucatan. Uponsight of the "mounds of ruins, and vast buildings on terraces,and pyramidal structures, grand and in good preservation,richly ornamented," Stephens felt that in picturesquenessthey were almost equal to the ruins of Thebes. His impressionwas that Uxmal had at one time been the site of "a large, popu-lous and highly civilized city." In a chamber of the mostimportant structure at Urinal Stephens found a wooden beamthat was carved or stamped with hieroglyphics which seemed toresemble those at Copán and Palenque. 127 At Urinal Cather-wood also made plans and drawings of the chief buildings.After his return to the United States, Stephens composed anaccount of his journey of exploration in Central America andMexico which was published in two volumes and illustrated byCatherwood's drawings and plans. In those volumes Stephenspropounded an hypothesis regarding the origin of the mysterious

ifl Stephens, incidents of Travel in Carat-al Amerwa, Chiapas, and Yucatan, vol. ii,p 351. "3 ibsd.pp. 351, 352 1. Ibid. pp. 555. 856.

in Aid, p 413. as Ibzd, p. 413 " lbid.pp. 43, 433.


ruins. He took the sensible view that the cities of CentralAmerica had not been built by "any ancient nation of the OldWorld"; that they had not been built by a strange, unknownpeople which had vanished; but that there were "strong reasonsto believe them the creations of the same races who inhabitedthe country at the time of the Spanish conquest, or some notvery distant progenitors."11R

In the preface to the tenth edition of his work Stephens statedhis intention to make a more complete exploration of the Yuca-tanese ruins. With his artistic friend he subsequently visitedthe sites of forty-four ruined cities in Yucatan. As a result ofthat trip lie published two volumes entitled incidents of Travelin Yucatan which described his visit to Uxmal and other ancientsettlements. One of the most interesting cities visited wasChichcn-Itza where the explorers saw upon the walls of a roomvivid, colored paintings that resembled Mexican picture writ-ings. 120 The work of archologicaI investigations in CentralAmerica to which Stephens made interesting contributions hasrecently enlisted the interest of trained archologists.

A unique service to Hispanic America was performed by an-other citizen of the United States. In October, 1907, W. B.Perkins and W. E. Hardenburg, two engineers who had resignedtheir positions on the Cauca railroad in southwestern Colombia,left Buenaventura on a trip across South America. After cross-ing several mountain ranges they reached the eastern slopes ofthe Andes and beheld the waters of the Putumayo River whichflowed to the Amazon through rich, tropical plains that wereclaimed by both Colombia and Peru.'" Early on December 1,they launched a canoe upon the strong, swift current of the upperPutumayo. 13 ' Day after day they guided their canoe along thewinding course of that stream; and, soon after reaching its cen-tral channel, they heard strange rumors about a corporationknown as the Peruvian Amazon Company. That company hadbeen formed in London in October, 1907, with aeapital of one mil-

12 Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Central America. Chiapat, and Yucatan, vol. ii.P. 455

m9 Stephens, Incident, of Travel in Yucatan, vol. ii, pp 810, 311."Haidenburg, The l'utamayo, the Demla Paradise, pp. 54, 55 37.

Ibid p 87


lion pounds as the result of the visit to England of a Peruviannamed Arana who had for some time been employed in exploit-ing the Putumayo rubber country. Peru permitted its opera-tion partly because she hoped thereby to strengthen her title tothe Putumayo region. The American office of the PeruvianAmazon Company was at Iquitos, Peru. Its chief rubbercollecting centers were at El Encanto and La Chorrera withinthe territory of the sturdy, docile Huitoto Indians.132

While traveling on foot through a forest in the rubber coun-try Hardenburg was told by a Huitoto guide that the Peruvianstreated his tribe "very badly." As an explanation of his mean-ing the guide said that when the Indians did not collect enoughrubber to satisfy the company they were scourged, mutilated, orkilled, at the pleasure of its agents. 1" Hardenburg heard thisstory with incredulity but gradually became convinced thatmore than one half of a most gruesome tale had never been told.In fact he was himself seized by Peruvians in the service of the"civilizing company," maltreated, and forcibly detained. Hedeclared that had he not pretended to be the agent of an influen-tial syndicate in the United States he might have been put todeath." His life being spared, he had opportunities to witnesscertain features of the system used by the company in the col-lection of rubber.

This system somewhat resembled that which had been em-ployed by Belgian companies in the Congo region. The Peru-vian Amazon Company's activities were based upon the use ofthe Huitoto Indians as collectors of rubber in the Putumayoforests. Hardenburg's account, which was amply corroboratedby the statements of Peruvians in Iquitos, showed that thoseIndians were forced to collect rubber by the company's agents:that in return they were given scarcely enough food for meresubsistence; that they were so scantily clad that some of themdid not even possess the traditional fig leaf; that they were"robbed of their crops, their women, and their children" by thevoracious company and its lascivious employees; that they weretransported to Iquitos and sold as slaves; that they were flogged

" Ibid • pp 132. 100-201. ''Ibid.pp 145. 140 "Ibid. pp. 172-48.25


unmercifully until they were covered with raw sores and thenleft to be the prey of dogs and maggots; that they were cas-trated, mutilated, and tortured in a horrible manner; and thatchildren and old people were ruthlessly put to death. Thethirteenth count in Hardenhurg's indictment reads thus: "Men,women, and children are shot to provide amusements for theemployees or to celebrate the id bado de gloria, or, in preferenceto this, they are burned with kerosene so that the employeesmay enjoy their desperate agony. ...The region monopo-used by this company is a living hell—a place where unbridledcruelty and its twin-brother, lust, run riot, with consequencestoo horrible to put down in writing."

Although Hardenburg was not the only person to notice thehorrible conditions prevailing in the Putumayo region, yet hisobservations were significant because they impelled him to starta propaganda against the enslavement of the Indians. Uponreaching Iquitos he informed the United States consul there ofthe Putumayo atrocities. So hideous were the crimes which hadbeen committed in the name of an English company, that whenhe reached London the adventurous engineer found that hisreports were received by the English public with incredulity.But the anti-slavery and aborigines protection society was con-vinced that they were true. Despite the denials of the Ama-zon Company and the Peruvian Government, the editor ofTruth endorsed llardenburg's denunciations of "the Devil'sParadise." 136 The ensuing agitation caused the English Gov-ernment to appoint Roger Casement, who had investigated theCongo atrocities, as consul in the Putumayo region with instruc-tions to report upon the activities of the Peruvian Amazon Com-pany. Casement started for Peru in July, 1910. In Januaryfollowing, he sent to London a preliminary report upon thePutumayo atrocities. In this report Casement expressed theopinion that the worst charges against the company were verified,'

Hence the English Government instructed the British consulHardenbnrg, pp. 185, 186 "Ibid. pp 28-32

" Correspondence respecting the treatment of British colonial subjects and ,ial,te Indian,employed zn the collection of rubber in the I'utumayo Dan) ad, pp. 1, 2.

EXPLORATIONS AND ACHUWENTS 371

at Lima to inform the Peruvian Government of the conclusionsreached by Casement, while the English minister at Washing-ton was soon instructed to inform the United States Govern-ment of the tenor of Casement's reports. In July, 1911, theEnglish Government secured the diplomatic support of theUnited States minister at Lima.' As the Peruvian Govern-merit did not take proper steps to protect the abused Indians,in July, 1912, the English Government transmitted Casement'sreports to Parliament. In his last report dated February, 1912,Casement expressed the hope that all persons who were interestedin the rubber industry, whether in Europe, the United States, orBrazil would aid the best Peruvians to establish "a rule of rightdealing and legality" among the terrorized aborigines of thePntumayo." One result of significance was at once achieved.On April 22, 1012, the president of Peru appointed a commis-sion of eminent Peruvians who should formulate a plan of admin-istrative, political, and judicial reform for the Putumayo andsimilar regions.'° That reform movement is of further interestto citizens of the United States because it is now clear that asearly as December 3, 1907, Charles C. Eberhardt, United Statesconsul at Iquitos, transmitted a confidential letter to the secre-tary of state describing conditions in the Putumayo district andcomparing the system of native slavery there employed to thatused in the Congo rubber districts."'

Physicians of the United States have been largely responsiblefor a noteworthy advance in the prevention of a disease that hasgreatly afflicted Spanish America. In 1897 medical scienceknew scarcely more with regard to the sanitation of yellow feverthan it had known a century earlier. Soldiers sent from theUnited States to Cuba during the war with Spain suffered fromyellow fever just as other armies had suffered in the tropics. Atthe end of two months' campaign four-fifths of the men had thefever, while many of the soldiers had lost their stamina, andwere anxious to go home.t42

In the end of 1898 the United States military authorities at" Ibid pp. 143-47. " Ibid. p 159 lo' Aid pp. 168, 164.

Slaucr1 ,n Peru, pp 113-1514 Gorgas, Sanitation in Panond, pp 4. 5


Habana, assuming that yellow lever was a filth disease, decidedto clean that city in the belief that if yellow fever ceased to beendemic in Habana, the United States would no longer bescourged by the dread malady. But although Habana hadbeen thoroughly cleansed under the direction of army officers,yet in 1900 the cleanest portions of that city were sufferingfrom fever most severely. Consequently the physicians in Cubadecided to devote more time to a search for the agency whichproduced yellow fever. When General Sternberg, surgeon gen-eral of the United States army, was authorized by the secretaryof war to appoint a board of army officers to investigate thatdisease he placed upon the board Drs. Reed, Lazear, Carroll,and Agramonte. That board proceeded to Habana and, aftermonths of unsatisfactory study, turned its attention to thetheory of Dr. Carlos Finlay of that city who, as early as 1881,had convinced himself that yellow fever was transmitted by thestegoniyia mosquito. From Finlay the board secured stegoniyiaova in order to raise inosquitos for experimental purposes.143

The Reed Board, through funds assured by the support ofGovernor General Leonard Wood, conducted experiments withstegomyia mosquitos and yellow fever. This board started anexperimental camp at a military station outside of Habana. Asthe result of a series of experiments, during which Dr. Lazeardied, the board demonstrated to its own satisfaction that thestegomyia mosquito transmitted the disease. The board alsoproved that for a mosquito to become infected with the fever,it must sting a patient during the first three days of his illness.After experimenting upon nonimmune Spaniards, Dr. Reedfound that a female stegomyia mosquito could not herself trans-mit the disease until from ten to fifteen days after she had bittena fever patient. Through experiments in which he used thesoiled clothing of persons who had died from the dread maladyReed proved that personal contact with such material wouldnot transmit the disease. The board injected the blood from ayellow-fever patient during the first three days of his illness intothe arm of a non-immune person, and thereby proved that the

"' Gorgas, pp. 10-16


disease could be transmitted without the intervention of a mos-quito. Other experiments indicated that the disease was con-veyed by a submicroscopic parasite, which could not survive ina temperature of 55 centigrade.'

In the words of Colonel Gorgas, those "discoveries have beenof enormous benefit to mankind, and upon them has been basedthe sanitary work against yellow fever which has been so sue-cessf ul ."141 When those discoveries were made Corgas washealth officer of Habana, where sanitary officials had beenengaged for two years in a vain endeavor to eradicate yellowfever. In February, 1901, Gorgas attempted to apply theknowledge which had been gained by the Reed Board to theeradication of yellow fever from Habana. First he tried to con-fer immunity from the fever by vaccination through the use ofinfected mosquitos. This experiment in which one patient diedconvinced Gorgas that vaccination was not of much avail as apreventative measure. Since a human host and an insect hostwere necessary for the propagation of yellow fever Gorgas thenattempted to extirpate the disease mainly by controlling thehuman host. He proceeded thoroughly to isolate yellow leverpatients, either by removing them to a hospital in a screenedambulance and lodging them in screened wards, or by carefullyscreening the patient in his own residence. As it was evidentthat in some cases a mosquito might have bitten a man beforehe was placed in screened apartments, the house in which a pa-tient had been ill was fumigated. To extend control over theinsect host Gorgas divided the city into districts which wereplaced in charge of sanitary inspectors who were to warn theinhabitants against maintaining mosquito breeding receptacleson their premises. Kerosene oil was poured over pools andpuddles in order that the mosquito larvae might be suffocated.To prevent or hinder the introduction of the yellow fever para-site from other ports a quarantine was established at Habana.

Those measures were highly successful. Almost the last easeof yellow fever occurred in Habana in September, 1901. Amost commendable achievement was this, when it is remembered

"I Ibid.. pp. 20. 21. 55-38. 31b1d., p. 39


that that city had been scourged by epidemics of yellow feverfor two hundred years. Further, the sanitary measures whichwere designed to extirpate yellow fever had other beneficialeffects upon the health of the city. In particular, the campaignagainst mosquitos checked malaria, because that disease wastransmitted like yellow fever. According to statistics printedby Gorgas, before 1901 there had occurred in Habana from threehundred to five hundred deaths from malaria annually: afterthat year there was a steady decline in the death rate; and in1912 there were only four deaths from malarial fever.146

The great medical discovery made under the direction ofReed's Board and the example of sanitation set by ColonelGorgas in Habana have exercised a widespread influence. Earlyin 1902 Gorgas called Surgeon General Stemberg's attention tothe fact that the experience gained at Habana might affordvaluable lessons at Panama where the Canal Company hadannually lost by yellow fever one third of its white employees.In March, 1914, Gorgas was ordered to accompany the IsthmianCanal Commission to Panama as sanitary adviser. Threemonths later, aided by a corps of able assistants, Gorgas under-took to kill the mosquitos in the city of Panama by house-to-house fumigation. Nevertheless the fever scourge becameworse; but, largely because of the support given by PresidentRoosevelt and the chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission,medical scientists were allowed to continue the work of sanita-tion; and in November, 1905, the last case of yellow feveroriginated on the Isthmus. Gorgas also started a vigorouscampaign against malarial mosquitos in the Canal Zone andthus prevented them from infecting the workmen to any con-siderable extent. His sanitary labors upon the Isthmus ofPanama convinced Gorgas that the most efficacious mode oferadicating the yellow fever mosquito was by the destruction ofthe stegomyia?' As a result of theft experience at Habanaand Panama, Gorgas and his colleagues felt able to formulatesanitary measures for other communities in Hispanic America.

"'Gozgas. sanitation in Partamif, pp. 47-78." Ibid., pp. 138-50. See further, Goethals, The fanamd Canal, vol. r, pp. 87-107.


To the Pan-American Scientific Congress which met at San-tiago in 1908, as a delegate of the United States, Colonel Gorgasread a paper on the sanitation of the tropics. In that paper hedescribed an organization for municipal sanitary work in thetropics against malaria and yellow fever. He hazarded theopinion that should such an organization immediately be sentto every district where yellow fever broke out that this scourgewould disappear from the New World within two years.'"

The methods developed under physicians iii the employmentof the United States Government in Habana and Panama haveindeed been used in the campaign against yellow fever else-where. In 1906 Secretary of State Boot offered to cooperatewith the Government of Ecuador for the sanitation of the pes-tiferous seaport of Guayaquil, but in vain. 149 Nevertheless,profiting by the experience of Panama, the Ecuadorian Govern-ment made an attempt to eradicate yellow fever from that port.A United States physician directed the fight against yellowfever and the bubonic plague.

The war upon disease in Hispanic America has attracted theattention of the Rockefeller Foundation. Its internationalhealth board has cooperated in the inauguration of a new depart-ment of hygiene in a medical college at São Paulo by furnishingthe services of two scientists for five years. In cooperation withthe respective Hispanic-American governments, the Rocke-feller Foundation has furnished support to various agencies forthe extermination of the hookworm in Central America and east-ern Brazil.00

In 1916 the Rockefeller Foundation dispatched to SouthAmerica a yellow fever commission led by Colonel Gorgas.After a trip lasting six months the commission reported that theeastern coast of Brazil, as well as certain sections of Colombiaand Venezuela demanded scientific observation; but that "theonly endemic center for yellow fever in South America" was

" Gorges, "Sanitation of the Tropics with Special reference to Malaria and YellowFever," in Trabajos del euario conpreso denttfie'o. vol in, tomo r. pp 113-17.

I'-Foreign Relations of the United States, 1906, p 697.Vincent, The Rockefeller Foundation. Red ewfor 191S. pp, 2!, 26, 27. 30


Guayaquil, Ecuador. 151 This commission planned the destruc-tion of that fever at its sources. The international health boardof the foundation appointed Gorgas to take charge of the fightagainst yellow fever in Hispanic America. That task was post-poned, however, because of the World War. Nevertheless, in1917 a member of the staff of the foundation's health boardsecured the cooperation of the Venezuelan Government in acampaign against yellow fever in northern Venezuela.'' Sim-ilarly in the last half of 1918 that board furnished the physicianand the funds for a successful fight against a yellow fever epi-demic in Guatemala.'" In June, 1918, a preliminary commis-sion of five men, with laboratory equipment, was sent to Guaya-quil to investigate that seed bed of the scourge. Five monthslater General Gorgas, upon his retirement from the post ofsurgeon general of the United States Army, became director ofthe yellow fever work of the foundation. By December, 1918,squads of men, under the direction of the foundation's scientists,were systematically engaged in an attack upon the stegomyiamosquito at Guayaquil,154

In sum, this chapter has shown that the United States andher citizens have increased and diffused knowledge concerningHispanic America in various fields of human endeavor. Althoughthey sometimes pursued routes that were already known, yetby their explorations Wilkes, Herndon, Gibbon, and Page madesignificant additions to geographical knowledge concerning themysterious continent of South America. Agassiz, Eigenmann,Hartt, ilaseman, Orton, and others have made notable investi-gations upon that continent in regard to the natural sciences.Under the auspices of certain South American governments,Branner, Hartt, and Willis have prosecuted important geologi-cal studies. The explorations of Bandelier, Bingham, Squier,and Stephens upon the sites of vanished civilizations producedimportant results for American archaology. Through such

'"The Roe/ce/diet Foundation: Annual Report. 1916. p. 70'"Vincent, The Rockefeller Foundation A Review of it: tear work, public health odin-

icc, and medical education projects in the year 1917. p. 31.Aid

" Review for 1918, pp. 15, 16.

'"Ibid. pp. 16.17.


ardent naturalists as Chapman, Cherrie, and Miller, the Ameri-can Museum of Natural History has gathered valuable dataconcerning the ornithology and mainology of certain portions ofHispanic America. An expedition of outstanding importancewas the heroic exploit of Colonels london and Roosevelt whichwas immortalized upon the map of South America,—the dis-covery of a Great River. With respect to medical science, thedeeds of Colonel Gorgas and the activities of the RockefellerFoundation are the harbingers of an age when yellow fever shallbe forever eradicated from the New World.

chapter ix tific achievements of a century...america and accounts of the history and life of the...

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