CONTENTS

[PART I]
COLOMBIA
CHAPTER PAGE
I.Buenaventura to Cali and the Cauca Valley[3]
II.Popayán and the Cerro Munchique[18]
III.The Andes Southwest of Popayán; Cruise of the “Caldas”[34]
IV.Cartago to the Paramos of Ruiz and Santa Isabel[47]
V.The Chocó Country on the Western Coast of Colombia[64]
VI.In Quest of the Cock-of-the-Rock[76]
VII.Crossing the Eastern Andes into the Caquetá[92]
VIII.Across the Antioquian Gold-Fields to Puerto Valdivia on the Lower Cauca[106]
IX.Ascent of the Paramillo—Collecting on the Rio Sucio[120]
[PART II]
VENEZUELA
X.Fifteen Hundred Miles on the Orinoco[141]
XI.The Maquiritares’ Land and the Upper Orinoco[162]
XII.Life in the Guiana Wilds[180]
XIII.First Weeks with the Roosevelt South American Expedition[194]
XIV.Hunting Excursions Along the Upper Paraguay[208]
XV.A Forty Days’ Ride through Wildest Matto Grosso[223]
XVI.The Descent of the Rio Gy-Paraná[240]
XVII.Down the Coast of Peru—Lake Titicaca and La Paz—Through the Ancient Incan Empire to Cochabamba[265]
XVIII.Crossing the Bolivian Highlands from Cochabamba to the Chaparé[279]
XIX.Among the Yuracaré Indians of the Rio Chimoré[303]
XX.The Cactus Forests of Central Bolivia—Cochabamba to Samaipata[321]
XXI.A Mule-Back Journey on the Santa Cruz Trail to Sucre[336]
XXII.Sucre, the Rio Pilcomayo, and the Upland Desert to the Argentine Frontier[349]
XXIII.Bird-Nesting in Northwestern Argentina[365]
XXIV.The Chaco—Sugar Plantations and Rice Marshes—A Search for a Rare Bird[378]
XXV.Vizcacha-Hunting in an Argentine Desert—Giant Snakes[396]
XXVI.The Lake Region of Western Argentina—the Heart of the Wine Country[412]
Index[425]

ILLUSTRATIONS

The cock-of-the-rock at home [Frontispiece]
FACING PAGE
Buenaventura[4]
Cattle grazing in the Cauca Valley[14]
Port of Guanchito[14]
Cerro Munchique[30]
A deserted Indian hut on the Cerro Munchique[30]
The Caldas fast on a sand-bar in the Cauca River[44]
Bamboo rafts on the Cauca River[44]
The town of Salento[50]
The lake on the paramo of Santa Isabel[58]
Snow on the paramo of Ruiz[58]
Native of Juntas de Tamaná with trail-haunting blacksnake[68]
The author with natives of Juntas de Tamaná[68]
Nóvita, the largest town in the Chocó[72]
Threshing wheat[78]
Indian hut in the Valle de las Papas[78]
The village of Santa Barbara[86]
A corner of San Augustin[86]
A mountain stream, such as the Rio Naranjos, where the cock-of-the-rock spends its existence[88]
Tree-fern, typical of the Andean forests[98]
The high, flat-topped panorama of the Andes[102]
The town of Valdivia[108]
The Cauca River at Puerto Valdivia[108]
A naturalists’ camp in the forest[116]
A native hunter with a red howling monkey[116]
The porters en route to the Paramillo[124]
Cuña Indians at Dabeiba[124]
Our camp on the Paramillo[126]
Dabeiba on the Rio Sucio[130]
The village of Maipures[156]
The Hilo de Oro at the end of the voyage[156]
A rubber-camp on the Upper Orinoco[170]
Unloading for the portage, Raudal del Muerto[172]
The Cerro Duida[172]
Wismar on the Demerara River[182]
Tumatumari on the Potaro River[182]
Camp on the Rio Negro in the Gran Chaco of the Paraguay[200]
Selling oranges in the market at Asuncion[200]
A street in Buenos Aires[204]
Porto Gallileo on the Rio Pilcomayo[204]
Fort of Coimbra on the Rio Paraguay[206]
S. S. Nyoac on the Paraguay River[214]
Corumbá[214]
Colonel Roosevelt in the Brazilian chapadão[226]
A camp in the chapadão[226]
The Falls of Salto Bello of the Rio Papagayo[230]
Camp on the Rio da Duvida[242]
A rubber-camp on the Rio Gy-Paraná[254]
A rubber-camp on the Lower Gy-Paraná[254]
Country around Arequipa, showing Mount Misti[268]
The expedition en route via hand-car, Changollo to Arce[268]
An Indian hut in the Yungas of Cochabamba[288]
The expedition in the Cuchicancha Pass[292]
Vampire-bat from Todos Santos[300]
Tamanduá ant-eater[300]
Yuracarés chewing yucca-roots for making casire[306]
Yuracaré women and children[306]
The great Puya, a species of pine growing in the Bolivian Andes at an elevation of 13,000 feet[324]
The plaza at Mizque[326]
Vermejo on the Santa Cruz trail[338]
Quechua habitation on the upland desert[346]
Rio Cachimayo at Peras Pampa, Sucre[352]
Bridge across the Rio Pilcomayo[352]
Quechua Indians wearing the costume used during the reign of the Incas, five hundred years ago[358]
Ploughing at Rosario de Lerma[374]
Tilcara, showing the stream and valley and the snow-capped Andes in the distance[374]
The lagoon in the Chaco, Embarcacion[380]
Paramo above Tafí[380]
The great crested tinamou[402]
A burrowing owl[402]
Skinning a boa[404]
Boa sunning itself at the entrance to a vizcacha burrow[404]
Oculto, or Tucotuco, a rare rodent with mole-like habits[406]
Gray fox, abundant in the semiarid regions[406]
Long-tailed vizcacha of the high Andes[410]
Short-tailed vizcacha of the Argentine lowlands[410]
Rice-fields at the foot of the Andes Mountains, Sarmientos[416]
MAPS
Sketch map of the south-central part of the Amazon drainage system[241]
Routes taken by the author in his South American explorations [At end of the volume]

PART I
COLOMBIA

CHAPTER I
BUENAVENTURA TO CALI, AND THE CAUCA VALLEY

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

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