HEATH'S DISCOVERIES IN SOUTH AMERICA. II. 263 



work of exploration he hopes to discover rich deposits of the precious metals, 

 new forests of cinchona trees, valuable textile and medicinal plants, in the low 

 lands extensive forests of rubber trees, minerals, vegetables, and animals, new to 

 science. 



Dr. Heath is a true discoverer, and will always be numbered among the ex- 

 plorers of South America. He is endowed with those qualities that enable him 

 to lay his plans wisely, and to execute them with a daring that fears no evil, and 

 an endurance that overcomes all hardships. A cloud of superstitious fear rests 

 for centuries on one of the fairest portions of a continent, and all men pause or 

 pass around the terra incognita. A guard of ten Bolivian soldiers present their 

 bayonets at the breast of a celebrated explorer who essays to penetrate the un- 

 known region, and refuse to go further. Dr. Heath, in a canoe with two Indians, 

 paddles his frail bark out into the unknown river, and, bidding adieu to the world 

 behind him, passes safely through this region so full of terror. 



In the exigencies of his expedition he discloses qualities of being that are 

 rarely discovered, and mark the true explorer. We see him exercising his pro- 

 fession as physician and surgeon, administering to the sick in his immediate vi- 

 cinity, to furnish the means necessary to carry out his expedition. When by the 

 unskillfulness of an attendant, his canoe is upset in a dangerous river hundreds of 

 miles from human habitations, and everything seems to be lost, his helpless at- 

 tendants climbing upon a rock beside the rushing torrent and uttering a cry of 

 terror, we see him, not counting the cost, plunge into the whirlpool, and recover 

 his lost paddles and suppUes. When he needs a paddle and has no instrument to 

 manufacture one, we see him charring the wood and rubbing off the carbonized 

 portion with a stone until the rough wood is shaped into a paddle by this slow 

 and novel process. A man endowed with such purpose, courage, endurance 

 and ingenuity is surely fitted to be an explorer and discoverer. It was a fitting 

 tribute that the school children of Reyes should go out to greet him, returning 

 from his successful exploration, with songs and floral offerings. 



There is only one part of the South American continent that remains to be 

 explored—the lower portion of the Madre de Dios. Dr. Heath is now on his 

 way to the United States, having formed the purpose of organizing an expedition 

 to open this unknown river to civiHzation, and thus complete the exploration of 

 the South American continent. 



