This
would soon become so black with insects of all descriptions as to
shut out from my sight the outside world.
After carefully surveying the Bolivian shore, we fixed upon a site
for the future port and town. [Footnote: The latitude of Port
Quijarro is 17 47' 35", and the longitude, west of Greenwich, 57
44' 38". Height above the sea, 558 feet.] Planting a hugh palm in the
ground, with a long bamboo nailed to the crown, we then solemnly
unfurled the Bolivian flag. This had been made expressly for the
expedition by the hands of Senora Quijarro, wife of the Bolivian
minister residing in Buenos Ayres. As the sun for the first time
shone upon the brilliant colors of the flag, nature's stillness was
broken by a good old English hurrah, while the hunter and several
others discharged their arms in the air, until the parrots and
monkeys in the neighborhood must have wondered (or is wondering only
reserved for civilized man?) what new thing had come to pass. There
we, a small company of men in nature's solitudes, each signed his
name to the Act of Foundation of a town, which in all probability
will mean a new era for Bolivia. We fully demonstrated the fact that
Puerto Quijarro will be an ideal port, through which the whole
commerce of south-eastern Bolivia can to advantage pass.
Next day the Secretary drew out four copies of this Act. One was
for His Excellency General Pando, President of the Bolivian Republic;
another for the Mayor of Holy Cross, the nearest Bolivian town, 350
miles distant; a third for Senor Quijarro; while the fourth was
enclosed in a stone bottle and buried at the foot of the flagstaff,
there to await the erection of the first building. Thus a
commencement has been made; the lake and shores are now explored. The
work has been thoroughly done, and the sweat of the brow was not
stinted, for the birds of the air hovered around the theodolite, even
on the top of the highest adjacent mountain. [Footnote: The opening
of the country must, from its geographical situation, be productive
of political consequences of the first magnitude to South America. -
Report of the Royal Geographical Society, January, 1902.]
At last, this work over and an exhaustive chart of the lake drawn up,
tools and tents collected, specimens of soil, stones, iron, etc.,
packed and labelled, we prepared for departure.
The weather had been exceptionally warm and we had all suffered much
from the sun's vertical rays, but towards the end of our stay the
heat was sweltering - killing! The sun was not confined to one spot in
the heavens, as in more temperate climes; here he filled all the sky,
and he scorched us pitilessly! Only at early morning, when the
eastern sky blushed with warm gold and rose tints, or at even, when
the great liquid ball of fire dropped behind the distant violet-
colored hills, could you locate him. Does the Indian worship this
awful majesty out of fear, as the Chinaman worships the devil?
Next morning dawned still and portentous. Not a zephyr breeze stirred
the leaves of the trees. The sweltering heat turned to a suffocating
one. As the morning dragged on we found it more and more difficult to
breathe; there seemed to be nothing to inflate our lungs. By
afternoon we stared helplessly at each other and gasped as we lay
simmering on the deck. Were we to be asphyxiated there after all? I
had known as many as two hundred a day to die in one South American
city from this cause. Surely mortal men never went through such
awful, airless heat as this and lived. We had been permitted to
discover the lake, and if the world heard of our death, would that
flippant remark be used again, as with previous explorers, "To make
omelettes eggs must be broken"?
However, we were not to melt. Towards evening the barometer, which
had been falling all day, went lower and lower. All creation was
still. Not a sound broke the awful quiet; only in our ears there
seemed to be an unnatural singing which was painful, and we closed
our eyes in weariness, for the sun seemed to have blistered the very
eyeballs. When we mustered up sufficient energy to turn our aching
eyes to the heavens, we saw black storm-clouds piling themselves one
above another, and hope, which "springs eternal in the human breast,"
saw in them our hope, our salvation.
The fall of the barometer, and the howling of the monkeys on shore
also, warned us of the approaching tempest, so we prepared for
emergencies by securing the vessel fore and aft under the lee of a
rugged sierra before the storm broke - and break it did in all its
might.
Suddenly the wind swept down upon us with irresistible fury, and we
breathed - we lived again. So terrific was the sweep that giant trees,
which had braved a century's storms, fell to the earth with a crash.
The hurricane was truly fearful. Soon the waters of the lake were
lashed into foam. Great drops of rain fell in blinding torrents, and
every fresh roll of thunder seemed to make the mountains tremble,
while the lightning cleft asunder giant trees at one mighty stroke.
[Illustration: VICTORIA REGIA, THE WORLD'S LARGEST FLOWER]
In the old legends of the Inca, read on the "Quipus," we find that
Pachacamac and Viracocha, the highest gods, placed in the heavens
"Nusta," a royal princess, armed with a pitcher of water, which she
was to pour over the earth whenever it was needed. When the rain was
accompanied by thunder, lightning, and wind, the Indians believed
that the maiden's royal brother was teasing her, and trying to wrest
the pitcher from her hand. Nusta must indeed have been fearfully
teased that night, for the lightning of her eyes shot athwart the
heavens and the sky was rent in flame.
