The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1914. ROOSEVELT'S BRAZILIAN EXPEDITION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 127, 29 May 1914, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1914. ROOSEVELT'S BRAZILIAN EXPEDITION.

For tto cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistantm. For the future in the distance. And the good that we enn do.

Colonel Roosewk hae no-w published I ■the first instalment of bir. account of the Brazilian Expedition, which i» arousing sime scientific controversy. The first idea of exploring tlic unknown tra<7ts between the Paraguay and Uw Amazon wae suggested to hkn about cix years ago by Father Zahm, who had lately returned from a. journey across thp .Andns and down the river. Nothing came of ttrc project until last year, when Ooloncl Roosevelt was invited by thp frOtverriTncrrts of thp Argentine, Brazil, and Chile to lecture to some of their learned sociftios. Jt then o>.-eurrpd to him that instead of returning ta>mely by Ihp eea. he might travel northward up the unfrequented Paraguay and explore some part of unknown BraziL The nwmbeju of ■the Expedition were selected with a view to covering efficiently the fields nf scientific obser- | vation open to such PxpLoration. The I Brazilian Govprnment lent the services! of Colonel Rodon. who has the roost i intimate knowledge of the interior of the I country. The plan of the Kxpedi- I tion wa.-. lo ascend the Paraguay i as far as it was navigable, and '■ from their point of disembarkation : to crosa to the enurncs of onp of the j tributaries of the Jmaznn. through unexplored land. d«?ce-nding the river in ! canoes bnik on t!ie t.he j water systpin of the Paraguay and that of thr Amazon there extends a plateau! ot" geological antiquity, upheaved from fh.- water before thp evolution of any land vrrtchrates. co i;. is bolipved. Parr of thit trac-t coneiste of open, sandy soil and prairiP: part of denf? forest. Jsorth 01 this highland i<> the vaet basin of the .\jnazon. covered by the greatest tropical forcet -of thp «a,rth. and still to a large extent unexplored. The traveller -who penetrates these foreste ha* to face torrents ni rain and 6 team ing heat, and to force a way throujrh almost imppnetraible vegetation, ! along scarcely navigable streams; .both ' land and water are infested with dangerous animals, reptiles, and noxious insects. Th<> Expedition started from Asuncion at the eloee of Roosevelt'e lecturing tour. Thr ho-nth Ameriran Governments showed the party not only courtesy, but generosity, and everywhere they eeem to have mft with the most friendly attention from Paraguayans and Brazilians alike—a fact worth noting, when so much is heard of the of ttK*<> Republics. rYoin Asuncion they steamed northward along the track of the old Spanish Oonrjuistadores. passing the stone walls of "Fort Bourbon." and the towns of Conception. .Santo Martinho. and the village of Ooimbra. a former Portuguese fort; then oa to ths larger town of

Cornmba. at "which point "the published t>eetion of the narrative breaks off. On the Upper Paraguay they were told il was thp first lime the American flng had been 6ppn there. The Paraguay was explored before the Mississippi, but 10-day it is more than a hundred years behind the rest of the world. One of the objects, of the Expedition was ir> collect information on the fauna ami flora, of tropiuaJ South America, and some of Roosevelt'e observations on this head are extremely interesting. The valleys of the Amazon and TWaguay are extraordinarily rich in a variety of ■birds, many of them of singular .beauty. In reference to ihr- birds farther south, in the open country. Roosevelt makes an observation that throws same doubt on Darwin's theory of the survival o-f those species which possets t.hv colours or shape best suited to conceal them from enemies. Many of the bird's he noticed ha.d a colouration that made them con-epit-uoTis at a. glance —for example, the scarlet-headed blackbird and the whitewinged, black-bodied silvcrbill. Along the bankii the country Ibegan with the level, swampy wastes known as the Cbaeu, th-en changed to a i-parsely-popu-lated dUtriet of lonely ranches and horse .corrals, old towns, lines of palms and marshy meadows, some, rising ground, and finally changed to a vast marshy plain, in whicn -the upper I reaches of the Paraguay widened out into a lake-like expanse. These regions of the Amazon are richer in fauna and flora than the African tropics, and they are so little known to the ouwide world that these opening chapters offer something fascinating to t!w imagination. With scientists a more serious interest will be excited by the sequel describing the newly-dieeovered river, tire, existence of which Sir Cleniente Markham denies. Roosevelt, however, i.- not an unknown ■man. and the other members n) hie party are of some scientific standing. It is hardly poseinle that the discovery of vhe .river is a fabrication, unices we can suppose Rooerevelt to have been like Speke on his voyage with BuTton, fclre victim of an hallucination during an attack of fever, and that is an impTobable supposition.