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Show i ' PANAMA s i J'Ftyifeif - i i ill -il-.Via oi 1 X Mii& klf-ki t 4 .-.'trvi h k wfev 1 , I' Nut Palm Beside the Jungle Trail. Bello. East of Cerro Bruja peak the Itio Piedras rises almost in the basin of the Cbagres, flows north around the base of Cerro Brujo, then west, and empties into the sea half way between Colon and Porto Bello. The Piedras is one of the largest rivers of Panama, but you will not find it on any map, even, its mouth having been mistaken for a lagoon of the sea when the coast line was charted. The Rio Grande, figuring largely on existing maps, is an Insignificant little stream, several miles long, really unworthy un-worthy of a name. Beyond the valley of the upper Piedras rises a really Imposing Im-posing range of mountains called Cerro Cer-ro Saximo, culminating in a peak somewhere some-where south of Nombre de Dois, which must attain an altitude of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. I think I am the only one who has ever viewed this range, as it seems to be invisible from any place where there is any trace of human hu-man beings, and its presence Is barely bare-ly noted on only one old map, with no Indication as to Its altitude. Beyond Saximo neither I nor anyone any-one else know what. There are rumors that the interior beyond is Inhnbited by Indians of the- San Bias (Cuna-Cuna) (Cuna-Cuna) tribe, and that they are very hostile to invasion of their country by whites. Plant and Animal Life. I must confess to absolute Incompetency Incom-petency when It comes to a description of the flora of the jungle, Incompetency Incompe-tency both scientific and linguistic. 1 doubt if the juggle as a whole can be described It can only be marveled ot. It Is beautiful, appealing, terrifying. ; never cease to wonder at the trees giant moras, borigon, cayanlllesifi. ceibas, rubber, and fig. The enormous trunks with great buttressed roots rise 100 feet without a limb, and then spread out literally to hide the sky. Limbs, so high that one can scarcelj see them among the leaves, drop liamn to the ground long tangled lines llk the wrecked rigging of some masted ship. Then there Is the secondary growth, a hundred varieties of tree ferns and palms, suited by nature to grow In semldarkness, robbed of the sunlight by their giant neighbors. The bird life Is no less wonderful than the vegetation. The Panama jungle Is alive wiih birds. The variety nnd coloring are truly remarkable. On the ground I observed several varieties of quail, tlnamou, and pheasants. In the low-bush area are wrens, humming birds, thrashes, 0"t birds, and a variety va-riety of other species either common to the United States or unknown to me. In the medium zone, half way to the leafy ceiling of the Jungle, dwell doves, guans, owls, molmots, and tro-gans. tro-gans. High up In the roof are parrots, purmkeets, macaws, toucanH, and cotingas. The mammal life of the Jungle Is also very abundant. The ordinary traveler, however, will see little of it owing to several conditions winch only a man with extensive hunting or collecting col-lecting experience will realize. Among the animals I observed were tapir, deer, peccary, agouti, paca, slotli, coatl-mundi, klnkajou, anti-aters, monkeys, mon-keys, otter, puma, jaguar (spotted und black), ocelot, squirrels, opossums of many varieties, and rabbits. Snakes were fairly numerous, the harlequin snake, boa constrictors, and a very long and thin bright green tree snake being the most numerous. T BELIEVE It will surprise most Americans, and perhaps a few of our field naturalists, to learn that right at the back door of the Panama canal lies an almost unknown jungle wilderness, unmapped aud practically uninhabited in the interior except for a few very primitive Indians. In-dians. Virtually the entire eastern portion of the republic of Panama lying ly-ing between the canal and Colombia, roughly 300 miles long by from 50 to 100 miles wide, is unknown, aud the published maps of this country, except for the seacoast and the location of half a dozen small towns, are all faked, writes Lieut. Col. Townsend Whelen in Natural History. It was my good fortune to spend the entire dry seasons (December to June) of 1916 and 1917 exploring a part of this country. We found it necessary to know something of that portion of It nearest the canal, and it fell to my lot, assisted by Companies E and H. Twenty-ninth United States infantry, to make a preliminary exploration with a view to planning and expediting expedit-ing its accurate mapping by the engineer en-gineer corps. It is because this little piece of jungle jun-gle probably will remain virgin and unspoiled for many years that I think it ought to be brought to the attention of our field naturalists. It is so easily accessible, and yet only the borders of it have been scratched by the scientist. scien-tist. No one yet knows what is in the interior, what secrets it contains, what new fauna and flora its exploration will reveal. In the Real Jungle. In the Canal zone, which extends five miles to either side of the canal, practically prac-tically all of the jungle forest has long since been cut off, and in its place has grown up a dense, impenetrable second sec-ond group of small trees, palms, creepers, creep-ers, thorns, and coarse grass. But if one cuts his way through this tangled growth for about five miles in from the canal he comes to the real jungle, standing up like a gigantic wall of green verdure. Once in it all is different, dif-ferent, even the very climate Itself. Here one can wander at will, unimpeded unim-peded by thorns and creepers. It is even easier traveling here than in the woods of our own Northeast, because as a rule there is much less "down" timber. It is like a new world, a world that one has not even read about. From the blazing sun and sweltering heat of the second growth one enters what is almost an underground world, cool and balmy. Everywhere the giant trees go up limbless for from 100 to 200 feet, and then spread out their verdure, literally hiding the sky. Beautiful Beau-tiful slender palms grow in great profusion pro-fusion in the semidarkness forming the lower growth. Impeding one's view hut not one's progress. Scarcely ever can one see more than 50 yards, and never does the explorer get an extended extend-ed view, even from the tops of the highest mountains. When I first entered en-tered the jungle it was with an Indescribable Inde-scribable feeling of awe and wonder, and this feeling has never left me: nay, it persists, drawing me, calling me to come back, more insistent even than the "Call of the North." Unexplored Mountain Ranges. That part of the jungle In which my most intensive exploration was conducted con-ducted lies to the east of the city of Colon, between there and the town of Nombre de Dois, nnd extending from the Caribbean coast inland to the headwaters head-waters of the Cbagres river system. Between the Cbagres basin and the Caribbean coast rises the cordillera of Cerro I'.ruja, a mountain range Unit starts about ten miles east of Colon, and rises steadily, culminating in the peak of Cerro Bruja (.'5.200 feet) about 15 niib-s south of the town of Porto |