Why "Mosquitos A La
Paris" Was One Of The Items On Our Menu One Day.
The course was not
altogether an imaginary one either.
Having the good fortune to
possess candles, I used sometimes to read under my gauzy canopy. 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!
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