Campir\g in South America 
By FRANCIS C. NICHOLAS. Ph.D. 
X.—Going Away 
I HAD been some weeks in the Sierra Nevada 
de Santa Marta of Colombia and had pretty 
thoroughly explored the jungles, the foot¬ 
hills and the higher elevations of that beautiful 
region. In ejhent it is about equal to the area 
of Long Island in our own country, a range of 
mountains stretching along the sea and separated 
by deep valleys and swamps from all the other 
mountains of South America. 
The region is so remarkable in its beauty and 
so abundantly supplied with numerous varieties 
of birds and wild animals that it seems strange 
it should be so little known. 
I have traveled many years through the Ameri¬ 
can tropics and have not found a place more 
beautiful or a region so abundantly supplied with 
game. During my explorations not a day passed 
in which we did not find something to shoot and 
usually without even the trouble of going out 
of our way for it. At other places one will 
often have to travel days before having the 
chance for a shot and must often be put to 
fatiguing effort and really dangerous exposure 
and inconvenience in order to come up with the 
game. But here in the Sierra Nevada de Santa 
Marta it seems that the birds and wild animals 
delight in the pleasant woods, cool streams and 
mysterious jungles and have congregated in such 
numbers that one can always be sure of finding 
them. There are wild turkeys, mountain hens, 
agouti, deer, wild hogs, often in great numbers. 
There are many tapirs, though it is not easy to 
come up with them. If one is venturesome 
there are the panthers and jaguars, found mostly 
in the upper forests. It requires a long, hard 
chase to overtake them and then it is a fight to 
the death, for in the colder regions of the moun¬ 
tains these animals grow large and strong, es¬ 
pecially the jaguars, which are often of unusual 
size, and are said to be so dangerous that every¬ 
one dreads them. 
If one loves the beautiful in nature, no limit 
can be placed on the magnificence which may 
be enjoyed here, for every condition of natural 
development in tropical lands is to be found. 
The sea is so blue that its radiance is reflected 
along the shore, and even the glistening sands of 
the beach are tinged with bluish light. Then 
comes a zone of arid soil covered with stunted 
bushes and coarse grass, and beyond the tangled 
swamps, burdened with heat and swarming with 
mosquitoes, black flies, gnats and wood ticks, 
which make life a veritable torture, and those 
who live in this country become mottled and 
speckled to a grotesque appearance because of 
the constant afflictions to their skins. 
Beyond these low tmhealthy reaches of coun¬ 
try come the' foothills, and then the great forests 
of the lower mountains, a region seeming al¬ 
most like a place of enchantment, where great 
trees stand festooned with long climbing vines, 
and where in places the whole forest is one con¬ 
tinued extension of palm trees where long wind¬ 
ing aisles stretch out a network of openings ex¬ 
tending for miles. Further up the mountains 
come the open woods, where no insects trouble, 
and the air is so cool and delightful that one 
finds pleasure in simply breathing and being 
alive. Here there are mossy glades and fern¬ 
eries, rocks from which cool water drips, and 
about which tender vegetation clings and grows 
in abundant luxuriance. Still higher up one 
comes to the open country of green valleys lying 
tranquil among lofty peaks and ridges. Here 
there is little vegetation to impede the view, only 
green grass-covered rolling meadows surrounded 
by black rocks and precipitous elevations, and 
high above them all the regions of perpetual 
snow are seen, blue glaciers and glistening white 
peaks under the tropical sun. From this region 
I was now returning and would soon go 
away. 
Coming down the mountains there was one 
little incident which gave us some game and' not 
a little amusement. When we reached the foot¬ 
hills there were signs that wild hogs were about, 
the places where they had rooted up the earth 
showing so fresh that Lopez said they could 
not be far away. It would be pleasant to take 
a fat, wild hog to the little town of Dibulla 
where we had so many friends, and we looked 
about cautiously among the trees, and then fol¬ 
lowing down a sloping bank and keeping in 
sight the places where the hogs had rooted, we 
came to a little glade and there saw the whole 
troop, contentedly rooting about, and evidently 
enjoying themselves. They looked almost like 
ordinary black pigs, but were somewhat smaller, 
of a more chunky build, and with longer bristles. 
So intent were they in their search for food 
that we got quite close to them without giving 
an alarm, but we were not close enough for a 
shot, so we stood waiting. We could not go 
closer without alarming them and our chances 
for a shot must depend on their movements, for 
as they ranged about it was to be expected that 
one or another would come close to us. They 
kept on, gradually working their way down the 
glade, how r ever, and after a time crossed a brook 
and began rooting about just beyond it where 
a hillside offered them a favorable feeding 
ground. Now we must follow them, so cau¬ 
tiously we started to make our way down the 
glade. As we started a sudden rustling was 
heard in the bushes and a fine wild hog was 
seen standing as if to contest our way. An 
instant we stood surprised, then Viejo’s gun 
brought the animal to the ground, where it lay 
rolling and struggling, giving terrified shriek- 
ings which were accompanied by sundry little 
squeaks. Through the woods we could hear the 
troop of wild hogs racing away. 
We gathered about the animal we had killed 
and saw that it was a fat sow and that a litter 
of funny little wild pigs were squeaking about 
her prostrate form. They did not run away, and 
the saints preserve the innocent, but those young 
pigs mistook me for their mother and came 
squeaking at my heels, nor would they be denied. 
Everywhere I went they followed, trotting along 
about two feet behind me, nor did abuse or 
violent demonstrations shake their determina¬ 
tion. If I hurried, they hurried too; if I stop¬ 
ped, they stopped; if I ran, so did they. Squeak, 
squeak, cried a lot of little pigs hanging close at 
my heels. Squeak, squeak. Kicking at them 
did no good; so resigned to be the mother of 
a litter of young pigs, I told the men who were 
laughing in uncontrolled amusement to take up 
the game and we would go on. 
The way those little pigs could travel was re¬ 
markable. Squeak, squeak, on they came after 
me, and in about an hour they had become so 
tame that we could scratch their funny little 
backs and pick them up if we wanted to, but 
the squeaking protests and kicking against that 
indignity were so violent that we usually put the 
little scamps down again at once. Then with 
many a squeak they followed after us, always 
about two feet behind my heels, no matter what 
we did to them. They might be stopped for a 
moment, but immediately their solemn procession 
was resumed and squeaking they would come on 
again. After a little time we became quite fond 
of them, and cuter or more impudent looking 
little bodies I have never seen. They followed 
me all the w r ay into Dibulla, where they were 
immediately pounced upon by the women, who 
fed bananas to the hungry little squeakers, and 
each one adopted a new mother, nine of them, 
and as they trotted contentedly at the heels of 
their new-found protectresses, each one looked 
more amusing and impudent than the other. 
After a time they would most likely be killed 
and eaten, though perhaps some of them would 
be kept to be brought up as pets, and tame wood¬ 
land hogs are often seen about the houses in 
the country parts of Spanish America, where 
