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The spendid harlequin (photographed
in 2001) looks like another, even less-yummy Darién
native, the lethal poison dart frog.
From chapter 9:
"Truxtun and Maury sustained each other. They delighted in
the smallest, most trivial victories, a quality experts associate
with success in group survival situations. They talked, laughed
and found humor—and, one would imagine, sanity—in
even the most macabre moments. In an episode memorable to both,
Truxtun snatched a toad from the underbrush and, biting off and
discarding the head, ate the remainder whole. Coming up from behind,
Maury shook his head and needled his well-bred companion as being
'something of an epicure.' Smiling, Maury picked up the head and
swallowed it."
Photograph by Todd Balf
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The feared—and unfortunately ubiquitous—bullet
ant, the largest and nastiest of the new world species. Unlike
it's cute tropical cousin the leaf cutter ant, the inch-long paraponera's
sting feels like a high voltage shock and leaves victims with
a punishing fever.
From the medical report of a 19th-century Darién
expedition:
"The effects from bites from hordes of various kinds of insects,
& etc may be alluded to, not simply from their local effects,
which were sometimes severe, but from the loss of sleep occasioned
by this persistent annoyance…''
Photograph by Todd Balf
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Locally dubbed "bad woman'' the nettled
ortiga brava has spiny venomous hairs that penetrate clothing
and cause one to yelp like a child. A traditional Darién law-enforcement
procedure is to lash petty criminals with a bouquet of the stuff.
From chapter 4:
"The English exploring party had overcome fetid swamp, tenacious
sand flies, and head-high thickets of the shark-toothed pinello,
thorny black palm, and broad leafed ortiga. Lamented the leader,
of his men's wounds at the hands of native vegetation: 'If the
Indians had wished to cut off all intercourse with the Pacific
side, they could not have hit upon a more effective barrier.'
"
Photograph by Todd Balf
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Though jaguars are unlikely to be encountered,
the author's party found tracks shadowing a pack of white-lipped
peccaries.
From chapter 6:
"I shall never forget the 1st night, wrote Winthrop. "My
watch was from 12 to 2 the moon had just risen; it was the type
of a tropical night soft & clear, a glow of starlight &
from time to time clouds passing over the moon made everything
look strange & uncertain —every now & then one of
the men would think he saw something moving in the woods which
I as often found to be moonshine among the cacao trees; a dense
forest surrounded us from it came all sounds of insect life, with
strange screams of birds, unearthly roaring of monkeys & occasionally
the cat-like mew of the tiger. The party lay snoring each man
according to his own ideas of music."
Photograph by Rob
Mackinlay
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Large, easily irritated, and lethally venomous,
the fer-de-lance is credited with more human fatalities than any
other American reptile. Likes to hang out on tight, twisty trails
but also swims in rivers and climbs trees. Chief reason for the
age-old Darién trekking advice: Always let someone else
go first.
From an article on the expedition in Harper's
New Monthly magazine, 1854:
"About 5.15 p.m. they encamped on a wet sand-beach. In cutting
down some guinea-grass to protect them from dampness, Strain narrowly
escaped being bitten by a large snake of the adder species; his
macheta cleaving the reptile just as he was about to strike...''
The Century Illustrated Monthly
magazine, 1889
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The minimalist modern pack of expert Darién
guide Hernan Arauz includes a prized Colombian machete, a big
gun, and prescription sleeping pills for those long, terrifying
Darién nights.
From an officer's journal from the 1854 crossing:
"When you add to your own corporeal load you have to carry a knapsack
with 10 ds. Prov., change of clothes, pistol, cartridge box, ammunition
& carbine all wit thermom. At 80 degrees it is wearisome in
the extreme.''
Photograph by Todd Balf
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