Inca Land - Explorations in the Highlands of Peru | Page 4

of
Peru along the 73d meridian, from the head of canoe navigation on the
Urubamba to tidewater on the Pacific. We achieved more than we
expected.
Our success was due in large part to our "unit-food-boxes," a device
containing a balanced ration which Professor Harry W. Foote had
cooperated with me in assembling. The object of our idea was to
facilitate the provisioning of small field parties by packing in a single
box everything that two men would need in the way of provisions for a
given period. These boxes have given such general satisfaction, not
only to the explorers themselves, but to the surgeons who had the
responsibility of keeping them in good condition, that a few words in
regard to this feature of our equipment may not be unwelcome.
The best unit-food-box provides a balanced ration for two men for eight
days, breakfast and supper being hearty, cooked meals, and luncheon
light and uncooked. It was not intended that the men should depend
entirely on the food-boxes, but should vary their diet as much as
possible with whatever the country afforded, which in southern Peru
frequently means potatoes, corn, eggs, mutton, and bread. Nevertheless
each box contained sliced bacon, tinned corned beef, roast beef,
chicken, salmon, crushed oats, milk, cheese, coffee, sugar, rice, army
bread, salt, sweet chocolates, assorted jams, pickles, and dried fruits
and vegetables. By seeing that the jam, dried fruits, soups, and dried
vegetables were well assorted, a sufficient variety was procured
without destroying the balanced character of the ration. On account of
the great difficulty of transportation in the southern Andes we had to
eliminate foods that contained a large amount of water, like French
peas, baked beans, and canned fruits, however delicious and desirable
they might be. In addition to food, we found it desirable to include in
each box a cake of laundry soap, two yards of dish toweling, and three
empty cotton-cloth bags, to be used for carrying lunches and collecting
specimens. The most highly appreciated article of food in our boxes

was the rolled oats, a dish which on account of its being already
partially cooked was easily prepared at high elevations, where rice
cannot be properly boiled. It was difficult to satisfy the members of the
Expedition by providing the right amount of sugar. At the beginning of
the field season the allowance--one third of a pound per day per
man--seemed excessive, and I was criticized for having overloaded the
boxes. After a month in the field the allowance proved to be too small
and had to be supplemented.
Many people seem to think that it is one of the duties of an explorer to
"rough it," and to "trust to luck" for his food. I had found on my first
two expeditions, in Venezuela and Colombia and across South America,
that the result of being obliged to subsist on irregular and haphazard
rations was most unsatisfactory. While "roughing it" is far more
enticing to the inexperienced and indiscreet explorer, I learned in Peru
that the humdrum expedient of carefully preparing, months in advance,
a comprehensive bill of fare sufficiently varied, wholesome, and
well-balanced, is "the better part of valor," The truth is that providing
an abundance of appetizing food adds very greatly to the effectiveness
of a party. To be sure, it may mean trouble and expense for one's
transportation department, and some of the younger men may feel that
their reputations as explorers are likely to be damaged if it is known
that strawberry jam, sweet chocolate and pickles are frequently found
on their menu! Nevertheless, experience has shown that the results of
"trusting to luck" and "living as the natives do" means not only loss of
efficiency in the day's work, but also lessened powers of observation
and diminished enthusiasm for the drudgery of scientific exploration.
Exciting things are always easy to do, no matter how you are living, but
frequently they produce less important results than tasks which depend
upon daily drudgery; and daily drudgery depends upon a regular supply
of wholesome food.

We reached Arequipa, the proposed base for our campaign against Mt.
Coropuna, in June, 1911. We learned that the Peruvian "winter" reaches
its climax in July or August, and that it would be folly to try to climb
Coropuna during the winter snowstorms. On the other hand, the

"summer months," beginning with November, are cloudy and likely to
add fog and mist to the difficulties of climbing a new mountain.
Furthermore, June and July are the best months for exploration in the
eastern slopes of the Andes in the upper Amazon Basin, the lands
"behind the Ranges." Although the montaña, or jungle country, is rarely
actually dry, there is less rain then than in the other months of the year;
so we decided