Latest National Geographic Magazine reviewed: February, 1929, Vol. LV, No. 2. First article: "BUENOS AIRES TO WASHINGTON BY HORSE: A Solitary Journey of Two and a Half Years, Through 11 American Republics, Covers 9,600 Miles of Mountain and Plain, Desert and Jungle" by A.F. Tchiffley.
Why, on this earth, would a teacher (in England and Argentina) want to ride a horse from Buenos Aires, Argentina, To Washington, D.C., U.S.A.? Mr. Tchiffley started this trip on April 23, 1925, "to find out for myself," in his own words, "whether the criollo horse was ever really capable of the amazing feats of endurance claimed for him in Argentine song and story" (p. 138). The criollo horse developed after some of the purebred Arabian horses brought from Spain in the 1500s escaped into the wild. "Left to nature and having to resist climatic extremes, hunger and thirst, and attacks by both Indians and wild beasts, it became a survival of the fittest horses" (p. 135). The author obtained two "pure criollos" from a friend in Argentina.
Mr. Tchiffley named his horses Mancha and Gato. His journey was well-planned as to route; he took with him little equipment, just clothes, photographic material and several books. Money was not mentioned; I assume he took enough for he planned to buy food, and later in the trip, buy a coffee pot and pans.
Several dangers were reported by the author: "Until I reached the Bolivian border, I carried only a .45-caliber revolver. Later, I got a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot birds for food. On the whole trip I shot no bird or animal for pleasure. I did kill a number of crocodiles and alligators; to me they are worse enemies than snakes. The snake seldom attacks unless it is disturbed. This is not true of alligators" (p. 141).
Horses and man had to climb mountains in Bolivia and northern Argentina. In the higher altitudes "mountain sickness is a great danger to both men and horses" (p. 147). Mr. Tchiffley relates, "In very high regions I dismounted and went on foot up any steep slope. The horses followed me. I reasoned that by climbing on foot I would naturally feel the lack of air pressure and would stop when out of breath, whereas had I stayed on the horse's back I might have failed to realize how hard he was laboring for breath in the rare atmosphere and so might have killed him" (p. 147).
The author usually had no problem getting an "Indian squaw" to cook for him but the horses were a different matter. "Horse feed here (around the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia) is scarce and expensive, and apparently a great temptation to thieves. I soon learned not to give my animals their full allowance at any one time. When I did that, some one stole it. I had an alarm clock with me, which I would set to awake me every two hours. Thus, at regular intervals I would go out and give the horses a bit of fodder, which I scattered well over the ground to make it harder for thieves to pick up" (p. 153).
Crossing the Andes Mountains was a big challenge due to the Aymaras Indians not selling or giving food to a white man. At Ticlio, 16,000 feet above sea level, there were gold mines operated by an American company. "Always when I came to mines operated by foreigners I was given a hearty welcome and regretted that I must so soon saddle up and march off again" (p.157).
Mr. Tchiffley was in no hurry on his journey, stopping for weeks at a time. "In Lima (Peru), one of the stately cities of South America, I remained for three weeks, not only to rest, but also to get the horse accustomed to the climate. At times Lima is very hot, being almost at sea level and only twelve degrees from the equator" (p. 164).
What sights he saw! There were many ruins both from the ancient Incas and the Spanish conquistadores. The local bridges were perilous, narrow, frequently made of wood and wire. At one point, a bridge was "the man in a basket on cables pulled across the river with the horses swimming in a turbulent river." It was near Ancon (Peru) that the last battle of the Chile-Peruvian War was fought. Here dead soldiers were buried in the sand, often many in one grave. Winds now have uncovered these graves and skeletons lie scattered about with the hair still attached to many of the skulls" (p. 167).
I never knew that South America had a large desert with sand dunes. The party of man and horse carried no water for the horses: the author "calculated that the energy wasted by them in carrying water would be greater than the actual benefit derived from drinking it. So they could drink only when we came to water along the trail" (p. 167).
Close to the town of Loja, Ecuador, Mr. Tchiffley acquired a companion, Victor, "an orphan Indian boy about 16 years of age. He was ragged and hungry, I fed him and he became attached to me, perhaps because I was the first person who had treated him well" (p. 170). Mr. Tchiffley bought him an Indian pony.
Due to the extreme mountains of western South America, there were very few roads or railroads at this time. Freight was "borne on the backs of men and animals" (p. 181) on trails.
Victor ignored the frequent warnings of his mentor to refrain from drinking water from local streams and contracted typhoid fever and malaria. In Panama, he stayed in a hospital but was too weak for further travel. The two friends sadly parted company.
How did Mr, Tchiffley cope with the wood ticks and other insects of the jungle north of the Panama Canal? He "found that a mixture of vaseline, sulfur, and camphor lightly applied to the coats of the horses, especially on the legs, gave excellent results" (p. 183). Every night, he wiped himself with diluted creosote.
FYI: Have you ever seen a photo or watched a movie with Indians wearing anklets of feathers? Around Paraguay, the Indians wear them in the forest or on long, narrow trails. "They claim that should a snake strike at them, it will never hit the leg but strike at the anklet feathers" (p. 184).
Although usually the author had no trouble finding food for himself, "from the Panama border almost to San Jose there is practically no inhabited region. . . food is not always plentiful and easy to find in the Tropics. I shot some wild turkeys in the Costa Rican highlands and now and then a wild pig, but for two days I was obliged to eat monkey meat, stewed with beans and yucca root" (p. 186).
In Mexico, Mr. Tchiffley tasted new food: boiled iguana (a large lizard). He found that "in spite of the repulsive appearance of the animals the meat is excellent, tender, and tasty" (p. 193).
Mr. Tchiffley was cordially welcomed into the United States at Laredo, Texas, by an Army colonel from Fort McIntosh. He spent very little of his report telling his story in America, since "most of my readers are far better acquainted with conditions here than I am" (p. 195). However, he commented that our concrete roads were made for "motorcar traffic," not for horses, and that the once numerous stables in towns have given way to garages.
The journey ended in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1927. Mr. Tchiffley had his beloved two horses shipped to New York and then to Buenos Aires "where they will enjoy a well-earned pension in a public park. . . famous specimens of the historic criollo breed - the only horses that ever traversed the Western Hemisphere from Patagonia to the Potomac! (p. 196).
Wow! He did it!!
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