Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. You see, that took quite some time each day to
record what I saw, to record the geology, to record the observations I
had of each place. Because we went to places that no white man has ever
been in before, in many places. And certainly no geologist had ever
visited before. We had some fascinating adventures. We were attacked
many times. We were robbed. But we always came out all right.
Mr. JENNER. Did you make movies of that?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We have a movie made of it, which I have here
with me, because I would like to show it--I showed it to many friends
in Dallas and in New York. It is an 8 millimeter movie which has about
1,200 feet--three big reels. This movie seemed to be quite interesting
to people who like the outdoors. It gives you a complete sequence of
our trip.
Mr. JENNER. Did you get pretty native in the course of that trip?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, we became completely native. We ate only
what the natives ate. We drank what they drank. And we returned to
civilization only once in awhile when we were in towns, in the big
cities. Otherwise, we lived exactly like the natives. And that is how
we were able to make a trip like that. We looked like Indians. They
thought that we were Indians from somewhere. We were poorly dressed.
All our cameras and equipment was covered by a piece of old rag, on top
of that mule. In other words, we did not want to show to the people
that we had money with us--we did carry money with us.
Mr. JENNER. Where did that trip end?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The trip ended exactly at the Panama Canal. At
the end of the trip, we went to say hello to Mr. Farland, the U.S.
Ambassador there. And we also met Mr. Telles, our Ambassador in Costa
Rica. They know all about our trip. And there were many articles
written about our trip in the local papers.
Mr. JENNER. You mean local in Dallas?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Local in Dallas--and local papers in Central
America, small local papers. It was a purely geological trip, plus a
desire to be away from civilization for a while because of the death of
my son. That, I think, is sufficient reason.
Mr. JENNER. It has no political implications whatsoever?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No political implications. I am not interested
at all in politics. Naturally, when I was going there I could not help
seeing what was going on. The dictatorship in Honduras, the civil war
in Panama, the guerilla fights. But it is all recorded in my book.
But I had nothing to do with it.
Mr. JENNER. You went from Panama to where?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We just arrived from the border of Texas to
Panama. We performed one big chunk of--we covered a big chunk of
territory which is about 5,000 miles, on foot. And, believe me, not
many people can do it, you know.