Basic HTML Version
18
away!). "But even then it's dangerous
to beach a boat just anywhere on these
muddy and treacherous shores, without
knowing what we are doing. The only
bridge between us and survival is the
70-h. p. Johnson engine and its precious
propeller. One slip, and a dead engine
or a propeller broken by treacherous
sandbars leaves us stuck in the mud !
Without food
oc
survival gear we'd be
marooned .. .
miles from anywhere!
"Why am I here in this forsaken
place anyway? Armed only with camera,
tennis shoes, and briefcase, I am sud–
denly hundreds of miles from civ–
ilization. What takes a man 5,000 miles
from fam.ily, home and office and
plunges him into the midst of earth's
largest, wildest, and remotest jungle
river ?"
My anxious mind reaches back
beyond the blinding fog ...
I remember how it all started with a
simple phone call.
The Assignment
Garner Ted Armstrong, voice of the
World Tomorrow broadcast and T. V.
program, called me out of the beautiful
and civilized Paci.fic Northwest and
rushed me to the uncivilized Amazon
to investigate a proposed project of vast
significance for the world's starving
millions. A startling report told of mil–
lions of dollars pouring into the Ama–
zon basin to open wilderness areas, to
et~itivate
acres of virgin jungle, to
offset
imminent world starvation.
Brazilian ex-President Artur da Costa
e Silva had announced an ambitious
plan "to turn the Amazon basin into
the breadbasket of the world ... Al–
most
$1O
mil! ion has been budgeted
for roads alonc. Agronomists are testing
soils, planting experimental crops and
preparing technical manuals for colo–
nists ..." The glowing report continues
to tell of vast plans for developments of
electric power, port facilities, airports,
telephone and teletype communications,
soil testing stations, etc.
But such far-reaching, opttmtshc
advertising propapanga leaves serious
questions. How far will $10 million
worth of roads go in the jungle? Where
will the money to build dams, power
lines, radio stations, ports come from?
Where will the land-clearing equipment
The
PLAIN TRUTII
come f
ro~?
How long will clearing,
crop raising and marketing take?
Can
eno11gh food be produced
to feed even
Brazil's starving mill ions ... not to
mention the world's starving HUNDREDS
OF MILLIONS? Can it come before the
world famine that scientists predict for
the mid 1970's?
These burning questions should con–
cero us all. They concern Ambassador
College. Our task is to inform you of
the real meaning behind the giant prob–
lems that threaten the well-being, even
the
mrvival of mankit1d.
Here, for PLAIN TRUTH readers, is a
firsthand report about the Amazon from
the Amazon, answering the one overall
question: Will
the Amazon feed the
tuorld?
The Insurmo.mtable Barriers
Beginning at Lima, Peru's airport I
saw, as the trip progressed, more and
more obstades and barriers to cultivat–
ing Amazonia. The problems are insur–
mountable. At least for three or four
generations.
First barrier -
tramportation
and
communication.
I almost lost
my
only flight oppor–
tunity in spite of prearranged reserva–
tions. Planes are old and break clown;
flights are not frequent enough to
handle the few passengers headed
toward jungle cities - cities which can
be reached only by air. Few towns are,
oc
can be, served by air as airports are
poor and scarce. Flights are not cheap
here, either. Boat travel is available on
the Amazon and sorne branch rivers,
but is often unscheduled, unreliable and
always slow. Most of these towns have
no telegraph office
oc
service, not to
mention telephones or power lines. Talk
about a "communication gap"! And
how can anyone open up millions of
acres for cultivation without first spend–
ing millions on transportation and
communications?
But the biggest barrier to tcans–
portation is Peru itself, where the Ama–
zon begins. Peru is a
geographic ma,·vel,
and a
geographic mflddle.
This ancient
land is inseparably divided by three con–
trasting geographic regions. The coastal
strip is barren, dry, hilly and
very
tmproductive.
The severe drought grip-
March, 1970
ping the coast is obvious from the air.
Call this a desert region. The central
area is the unbelievably precipitous, jut–
ting Andes mountain range - snow–
covered and dcsolate. Across these
mountains roads do not go.
Thirdly, the interior is hot, steam–
ing- an impenetrable jungle. How can
these widely separate arcas be tied
together? That difficult, questioning
challenge faces Peru ... and any Ama-
zon developer.
·
Then, as I viewed the breathtaking
spectacle of the White and Blue Ranges
from the air, the question occurred,
"How can divided Peru,
even
with her
sister nations - Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador - ever develop the upper
Amazon?"
World's Greatest
After pushing the maximum altitude
for a prop-driven plane, we descend to
the remete jungle outpost, Pucalpa.
This outback jungle settlement, on the
Ucayali River, lies about as far below
the equator as Panama City líes above
the equator. The Ucayali River is an
upper extension of the Amazon.
Pucalpa is connected to the outside
world by airplanes. River traffic exists
here, but it is local - not international.
Pucalpa is sweltering hot. Locals boast
of a soil experiment station ... but I see
few jungle clearings, fewer crops. Even
at the airport the major activity is fight–
ing to keep the strip clear of the
encroaching jungle. One feels as though
green walls are literally closing in.
Leaving Pucalpa the plane lifts us
above the stifling green walls of jungle,
only to reveal a limitless, unend.ing, tuf–
ted green carpet, fading into the hori–
zon on all sides as far as the eye can see.
I once again began to feel the over–
whelming, sprawling vastness of the
Amazon basin - Amazonia. The next
superhuman barrier defying develop–
ment begins to force itself upon us.
That barrier is the Amazon itself!
Amazing Amazon
There are no words to describe the
Amazon. Having been on both ends of
this giant snake, having crossed it sev–
era! times, having Rown nearly the full
lengtb of it - I fall far short of being
able to describe it. But let's try to