6 THE START [chap, i 



boots coming nearly to the knee. Both the naturalists 

 told me that it was well to have either the boots or 

 leggings as a protection against snake-bites, and I also 

 had gauntlets because of the mosquitoes and sand-flies. 

 We intended where possible to live on what we could 

 get from time to time in the country, but we took some 

 United States Army emergency rations, and also ninety 

 cans, each containing a day's provisions for five men, 

 made up by Fiala. 



The trip I proposed to take can be understood only by 

 those who have a slight knowledge of South American 

 topography. The great mountain chain of the Andes 

 extends down the entire length of the western coast, 

 so close to the Pacific Ocean that no rivers of any 

 importance enter it. The rivers of South America 

 drain into the Atlantic. Southernmost South America, 

 including over half of the territory of the Argentine 

 Republic, consists chiefly of a cool, open plains country. 

 Northward of this country, and eastward of the Andes, 

 lies the great bulk of the South American continent, 

 which is included in the tropical and sub- tropical regions. 

 Most of this territory is Brazilian. Aside from certain 

 relatively smaU stretches drained by coast rivers, this 

 immense region of tropical and sub-tropical America 

 east of the Andes is drained by the three great river 

 systems of the Plate, the Amazon, and the Orinoco. 

 At their headwaters the Amazon and the Orinoco 

 systems are actually connected by a sluggish natural 

 canal. The headwaters of the northern affluents of the 

 Paraguay and the southern affluents of the Amazon are 

 sundered by a stretch of high land, which toward the 

 east broadens out into the central plateau of Brazil. 

 Geologically this is a very ancient region, having 

 appeared above the waters before the dawning of the 



