Nathaniel H. Bishop

The Pampas and Andes: a Thousand Miles' Walk Across South America (Dodo Press) Nathaniel H. Bishop

Nathaniel Holmes Bishop (1837-1902) was an American adventurer and author. At age 17 he worked his way south from Massachusetts on a sailing ship, then hiked across South America. This is the subject of his first book, The Pampas and Andes: A Thousand Miles' Walk Across South America (1869). By 1872 he had become a canoe enthusiast, along the lines of British canoeist John "Rob Roy" MacGregor. He ordered the 18-foot canoe Mayeta, and started on a two-man voyage from Quebec. The voyage was abandoned because the canoe was too heavy, and Bishop apparently didn't like the company. He obtained Maria Theresa, a 58-pound paper canoe and started again. Bishop rigged his canoe with rowlocks; he did not use a double paddle, and he did not sail Maria Theresa much on his Florida cruise 1874- 5, which he wrote about in Voyage of the Paper Canoe (1878). His last book was Four Months in a Sneak Box (1879). After these three books, Bishop seems to have stopped writing except for correspondence concerning the ACA (American Canoe Association) of which he was one of the founders and for many years the Secretary.