358 Appendix A 



An immense amount of this true wilderness work, 

 geographical and zoological, remains to be done in South 

 America. It can be accomplished with reasonable thor- 

 oughness only by the efiforts of very many different work- 

 ers, each in his own special field. It is desirable that 

 here and there a part of the work should be done in out- 

 line by such a geographic and zoological reconnaissance 

 as ours; we would, for example, be very grateful for 

 such work in portions of the interior of the Guianas, on 

 the headwaters of the Xingu, and here and there along 

 the eastern base of the Andes. 



But as a rule the work must be specialized ; and in its 

 final shape it must be specialized everywhere. The first 

 geographical explorers of the untrodden wilderness, the 

 first wanderers who penetrate the wastes where they are 

 confronted with starvation, disease, and danger and death 

 in every form, cannot take with them the elaborate equip- 

 ment necessary in order to do the thorough scientific 

 work demanded by modem scientific requirements. This 

 is true even of exploration done along the courses of un- 

 known rivers; it is more true of the exploration, which 

 must in South America become increasingly necessary, 

 done across country, away from the rivers. 



The scientific work proper of these early explorers 

 must be of a somewhat preliminary nature ; in other words 

 the most difficult and therefore ordinary the most impor- 

 tant pieces of first-hand exploration are precisely those 

 where the scientific work of the accompanying cartog- 

 rapher, geologist, botanist, and zoologist must be furthest 

 removed from finality. The zoologist who works to most 

 advantage in the wilderness must take his time, and there- 



