Voyages

1938 · WRCAM55556 — Various locations in Latin America 1938. 100pp. containing 230 photographs as well as postcards maps dozens of menus greeting cards and other travel ephemera. Thick folio. Contemporary brown paper-covered cloth string-tied. Boards lightly scuffed and worn. Some leaves loose moderate edge wear and chipping. Photographs clean and nice annotations highly legible. Good plus. An illuminating and entertaining illustrated scrapbook documenting the travels of six friends on a trip to Mexico Panama and various points in South America including Colombia Peru Chile Argentina and Brazil in 1938. One of the opening leaves has four photographs of the travellers comprised of two elderly couples and two single women captioned "Rogues to the Pampas!" Throughout the album there are numerous photographs both vernacular and professional a great many capturing locals in native dress as well as images of scenery and the city streets. The photographs are accompanied by colorful descriptive annotations. <br> <br> The voyage began January 20 1938 aboard the Japanese NYK Liner S.S. Bokuyo Maru. There are numerous menus and other ephemera from the ship as well as a photograph of the Japanese crew signed by the ship's officers. The first photographs depict Manzanillo Mexico a week later with captions such as "Worst city we ever saw says the man from Capetown South Africa who has been around the world" and "Sid Thompson says 'I bet if these Mexicans had a good hot bath they'd find a suit of underwear they didn't know they had!" They picture a "peddler of hats and drink" and a "man carrying load on his head" in the streets of Manzanillo. They then take a train to Colima Mexico on which a passenger is noted to say "Jesus Christ you'd think they never saw an American before" and where they eat papaya for the first time. In Panama on February 3 they see "a native with an iguana in each hand - we also saw our first sloth and a land crab" and they witnessed "a negro funeral." <br> <br> On February 5 the travellers stop at Buenaventura Colombia where they experienced an earthquake and their first sight of the Andes along with a "strong acrid wet odor that pervades atmosphere everywhere." There are several photographs of the city and the locals including one of "natives" fishing accompanied by significant commentary on the locals: <br> <br> "The natives have plenty of fish which they catch in nets thrown by hand - plenty of bananas and fruits and cocoanuts and will not work enough to buy anything but a little clothing rice and coffee. There are no public schools in Colombia - a few religious schools inland. All education for boys and girls of better class is in U.S. or Europe. U.S. buys 85% of Colombia's coffee. Population 80% negroes on coast. Government is unstable foreign capital will not make very much of an investment here but Standard Oil Co. has a $52000000 pipeline in Colombia. Malaria is the greatest plague here though typhoid is also guarded against in fruits and vegetables. Buenaventura is wholly tropical." <br> <br> The group then proceeds to Lime Peru where they arrive "in a dense fog - worst in 10 years." They take numerous snapshots of various cultural sights around the city images of "guano birds" along the shoreline and a "Typical Peruvian Indian of the High Andean Plateaus." They stayed three nights at the Hotel Bolivar before proceeding to Cuzco Tacua and Mollendo which they describe as "a dirty town." Still they took several photographs here including "Descendants of the Incas at Cuzco" an "Indian woman riding Burro - typical scene" in Tacua and other street scenes. <br> <br> Chile was next for the group. They were in Santiago by February 23 and shot several images at a street market such as a soap dealer the flower market a corn stand and other scenes. Shortly thereafter they traveled to Valparaiso Puerto Varas Puerto Montt and other Chilean locations. They captured the port of Valparaiso the Three Brothers at Chilean Lakes scenes in the Chilean mountains Lake Llanquihue and include in the album a professional real photo postcard captioned "Typical Araucanian Indian Hut" among other images. <br> <br> The travellers then moved on to Argentina. They describe Buenos Aires as "the most beautiful city in South America so far as the city itself is concerned." Their time in the city is illustrated exclusively with postcards but they include a plethora of descriptive text for numerous monuments landmarks harbor scenes gardens and other sites. <br> <br> During their time in Brazil the travellers document coffee production cattle and other agricultural settings as well as cities and architectural features. These include numerous images of Rio de Janeiro which "no picture however beautiful can portray with any accuracy the beauty of Rio." On March 30 the group heads "from Buenos Aires down the muddy Rio de la Plata" towards the Amazon River. Here they include real photo postcards of "Typical Indians of the Amazon" an "Amazon Indian Hut" and "More Indians - These are some of the most primitive people living." Among the images taken on the streets of Brazil is one showing a black woman walking with a bundle on her head which is captioned "N asterisks ours mammy in pink dress and head load - and was she furious when I took her picture! If looks could kill I'd be buried in Brazil." <br> <br> The group rejoined their cruise in Brazil boarding the Rio de Janeiro Maru and finished their journey at the end of April. A detailed revealing and lengthy travel account extensively illustrated and annotated by a group of judgmental American tourists. hardcover books