(Communicated by MR. J. BARKER DUNCAN, W.S.) UNDER the auspices of the Argentine Government, an attempt has been made to explore the Rio Pilcomayo ("Bird River"), a tributary of the river Paraguay, which it meets a little below Asuncion, the capital city of the Paraguayan State. Unfortunately, like some previous expeditions in comparatively recent years in that part of the world, this one too seems to have proved a failure. It will be some time, of course, ere any official report can be issued, but letters to friends in Scotland from Mr. J. Graham Kerr, naturalist to the Expedition, enable some particulars of interest to be given in the meantime. After protracted preparations during the preceding year, the Expedition seems to have started from Buenos Ayres, under the command of Captain Page, of the Argentine Navy, on New Year's day of 1890. Delays of one kind and another prevented the Bolivia (the small steamboat of the Expedition) from entering the Rio Pilcomayo until 12th March. There Mr. Kerr was at once struck with the small, even insignificant, size of the river. It presented itself as a narrow stream, some sixty yards wide, with a current scarcely perceptible, instead of being, as depicted on the maps, a large river. The river was found to be very tortuous. The water being fairly high, comparatively few obstacles to navigation were encountered, and good progress was made until 21st March, when the Expedition arrived at the point known as "Las Juntes"; thence, upwards for a long distance, the river is divided into two distinct branches. It was decided to follow the "Brazo oriental" or eastern branch. This branch was found to be extremely narrow, much overgrown with trees, and but slow progress was made. Soon the water began to diminish, and it was only by continuous steaming ahead, cutting down trees, lifting up snags, and forcing a way over shallows, that any further progress could be made. About the middle of April, in order to accumulate water to float the Bolivia onwards, it was decided to build dams at intervals across the river. By so doing some further progress was made, and by the middle of June latitude 24° 47′ was reached, and then, as the provisions were nearly finished, it was deemed madness to try to go further. Immediate preparations were made to construct a canoe to be sent down-stream for provisions, and it was started off on the 27th of the month. In it went Leon Zorilla, the second officer in command, César, the second engineer, Dr. Vignoli, the surgeon, who was in weak health, and a sailor named Agustin. In the afternoon of the same day the doctor appeared again, having apparently been put ashore from the canoe in the most heartless way, and left to scramble as best as he could back to the Bolivia, through infested jungle and thorny thickets. Indeed, he seems never to have recovered the shock, for, though carefully nursed by Mr. Kerr, he died about a couple of months later. Next, Captain Page, finding his health failing, departed down-stream on the 20th July, leaving some seven able-bodied men (including Mr. Kerr) to take care of themselves as best they could until more provisions arrived. Anxiously the small party waited for the return of Zorilla, who had promised to be back with provisions by the 6th August, every day's inaction making the future more anxious and dark. The country around was known to be peopled by treacherous Indians, and the daily rations now served out were just sufficient to keep life together. About September the 18th, the party, thin, weak, and despondent, were visited by Indians. Two chiefs with about a dozen followers showed themselves openly— fortunately, assuring friendship, and, more agreeable still, bringing some large deer and other game. Three days the Indians stayed; on leaving, they promised to come again another moon and to bring their brothers. On October 4th the party got a sudden awakening from the lethargic condition into which, from starvation and despondency, they had fallen, by hearing the distant sound of a bugle-call. They looked at one another, and knew that they were saved. A file of Argentine cavalry appeared almost immediately. They had brought provisions, as a sort of forlorn hope, for the remainder of the expedition had almost been given up as lost. Zorilla, it appeared, had got down the river all right, but, a revolution having just then broken out, instead of returning to his imperilled comrades, he had hurried off to take part in it. Then, too, the survivors learned that Captain Page had died on his way down, and that his men had paddled on for three days and nights without stopping, just managing to get his body on to Puerto Pilcomayo for burial. From the foregoing brief narrative, the expedition appears to have come to an end; and it seems that nothing now remains but to get the Bolivia down-river again. Mr. Kerr's last letter, dated "s.s. Bolivia, Rio Pilcomayo, lat. 24° 47′ S., long. 58° 40′ W., December 30, 1890," says the party are only waiting for more water to enable them to get the vessel down to the Paraguay; and they expect to be able to accomplish this some time in February of this year. From its novelty the investigation of the flora and the fauna of the region seems to have been of great interest to Mr. Kerr, although neither flora nor fauna can, he says, be called rich. "We are here," he writes, "in the midst of the great wilderness 'El Gran Chaco,' about which has always hung such a veil of mystery, due to the utter failure of most expeditions in its exploration, the mysterious disappearance of some, and the bloody massacre of others by the Indians, who have been called 'the fiercest and most treacherous savages on the face of the globe.' I will, therefore, try to give you in a very few words some notion of what the Gran Chaco is, as we find it. Looking around from my present position, I find myself in a typical piece of Chaco scenery: an immense and almost uniformly level plain stretches into the distance on all sides-a plain covered with tall waving grass and thickly studded with tall and slender fan-palms. We are, in fact, in the midst of the immense 'palmar' or palm forest, which extends over almost the entire Chaco, covering thousands upon thousands of square miles. Looking in certain directions nothing is to be seen but an endless vista of the palm trees stretching away until they become dim and hazy in the distance. In other directions, one sees the banks of the winding river marked out by a fringe of green wood; and, if we take horse and penetrate some little distance, we find that the scenery, at first so monotonous, is not without a certain amount of variety. At one point one finds the growth of palms to cease, and we have an apparently gigantic meadow covered with green verdure, and stretching for several miles, undotted by a single palm or tree. Anon one finds oneself in a scene like an English park-an expanse of green turf, dotted with isolated trees and bushes; while, again, one has the range of vision bounded by the sharp and wall-like margin of a belt of dicotyledonous forest. If one penetrates the latter, one finds oneself in a mass of dense and scrubby small trees, while large forest trees occur only occasionally, towering singly far above their fellows. The ground is overgrown with 'Caraguata,' a kind of wild pine-apple, while on the tree trunks one sees perched aroids and Tillandsias and other epiphytes. So much for the general aspect of the Chaco scenery. Animal inhabitants one sees but little of. As in the early morning one passes the margin of a marsh, one may see great marsh deer (Cervus paludosus, Desm.) grazing quietly, or by the margin of the forest a troop of peccaries may be seen grubbing in the ground for roots. There are of course many other mammalian inhabitants, but they can scarcely be considered as prominent features in the scenery. Of birds one occasionally sees a troop of tall Rheas go scuttling off in the distance; flocks of parrots fly overhead with shrill screams; while hammering vigorously on a tree trunk may be seen a pair of big woodpeckers with gorgeous pointed cowl of the most vivid scarlet. By night, when all is hushed, when not a breath of air is stirring, and when the stars are shining out like jewels in the clear sky, other bird-inhabitants of the Chaco make themselves known by their voices. The deep and sepulchral 'boo-hoo-hoo' of the great Nacurutu, or Virginian Owl, alternates with the wild shriek of the Ypecahá, the harsh cries of the Charata, and the soft and mournful 'tururu-hoo-hoo' of the Choliba Owl; while, as an accompaniment to all, is the endless concert of crickets and frogs. "As regards human beings the sole inhabitant of these wilds is the red man, still proud and untamed as when Europeans first landed in America. "I do not say this without having some knowledge of what the Indian really is, when pure and uncontaminated by intercourse with the 'Christianos.' I have gone alone amongst them; I have wandered far from the ship and from my comrades through woods and marshes, accompanied only by half-a-dozen Indians. I have been completely in their power—yet, instead of exhibiting any of the treachery and other evil traits which they commonly get credit for, they behaved like brothers. On these hunting expeditions I was much interested in studying their character, and could not but admire its nobleness as much as I admired the purity and simplicity of their social mechanism. All their good points stood out the more prominently by contrast. . "Physically these Tobas are a magnificent race: their stature varies much, but a considerable number exceed six feet, and they are beautifully proportioned-somewhat slim, as a rule, rather than stout. They walk erect with light elastic tread; their head carries a flowing mass of glossy black hair, which curves in front over their forehead as a thick fringe. Of clothing they wear merely a strip of coarse cloth about the middle, while their heads are decorated by ostrich plumes. Of weapons each carries a bow, about 5 feet in length, and a bundle of arrows with long serrated wooden points. Some also carry short clubs of extremely hard and heavy wood. The women are clothed similarly to the men; they are small in stature, and are tattooed when they reach puberty. These Indians live entirely by the chase, and are therefore nomadic in their habits. They have scarcely any horses and mules, but are able to cover immense distances on foot." PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. DR. CARL PETERS addressed a Meeting of the Society at Edinburgh, in the Queen Street Hall, on Thursday, 5th February. Dr. George Smith, C.I.E., presided. The paper which he read is published this month as our first article. Dr. Robert W. Felkin moved the vote of thanks to the lecturer, and Mr. Ralph Richardson that to the chairman. Dr. Peters repeated his lecture at a Joint Meeting of the Glasgow Branch of the Society and the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, in the Hall of the latter, on Friday, 6th February. Dr. Thomas Muir presided. On the motion of Mr. John Steven, seconded by the chairman, a vote of thanks was awarded to Dr. Peters. The Aberdeen Branch of the Society met on Monday evening, the 9th February, in the Music Hall Buildings, in order to hear Dr. Peters' address. Lord Provost Stewart presided over the meeting, and the vote of thanks to the lecturer was moved by Professor Pirie. The Dundee Branch of the Society held a Meeting on the following evening, in the University College, Mr. Victor Fraenkl presiding, when Dr. Peters repeated his lecture. Principal Peterson moved, and Mr. Weinberg seconded, a vote of thanks to the lecturer. Dr. Peters was accompanied, on the occasion of his visit, by Lieutenant Borchert, who had been in command of the second column of the German Emin Pacha Relief Expedition. |