149 “gleaming like”: Quoted in Hemming, Search for El Dorado, p. 101.
149 As fanciful as these: The theologian Sepúlveda would later dismiss the “ingenuity” of the Indians, such as the Aztecs and the Incas, by saying “animals, birds, and spiders” can also make “certain structures which no human accomplishment can competently imitate.”
149 “Some of our soldiers”: Quoted in Hemming, Search for El Dorado, p. 7.
149 “like something from”: Ibid., p. 45.
149 “Because of many reports”: Carvajal, appendix to Discovery of the Amazon, p. 245.
150 “Cinnamon of the most”: Quoted in Hemming, Search for El Dorado, p. 111.
150 “The butcher Gonzalo”: Ibid., p. 112.
151 “like mad men”: Carvajal, Discovery of the Amazon, p. 172.
151 “either die or see”: Ibid., p. 171.
151 “went in as far”: Ibid., p. 213.
151 “as the brown waters”: St. Clair, Mighty, Mighty Amazon, p. 47.
152 “more rich and bewtifull cities”: Ralegh, Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana, p. 111.
152 “more desirous”: Quoted in Trevelyan, Sir Walter Raleigh, p. 494.
152 “God knows”: Ibid., pp. 504–5.
152 His skull was: Adamson and Folland, Shepherd of the Ocean, p. 449.
152 “Some, contrary to nature”: Quoted in Hemming, Search for El Dorado, p. 63.
152 “Oh, diabolical plan!”: Ibid., p. 42.
152 “They marched like”: Ibid., p. 172.
153 “exaggerated romance”: Fawcett to Arthur R. Hinks, n.d., RGS.
153 “All that night”: Carvajal, Discovery of the Amazon, p. 202.
153 “many roads” and “fine highways”: Ibid.
154 “great quantity of maize”: Ibid., p. 211.
154 “cities that glistened”: Ibid., p. 217.
154 “there was a villa”: Ibid., p. 201.
154 “full of lies”: Carvajal, introduction to Discovery of the Amazon, p. 25.
155 “Both the General”: Quoted in Hemming, Search for El Dorado, p. 134.
155 “they had seen”: Ibid., p. 133.
155 “introduction of small-pox”: Typed extracts from Fawcett's correspondence, Faw cett to Harold Large, Oct. 16, 1923, Fawcett Family Papers.
155 “the greatest secrets”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 173.
CHAPTER 16: THE LOCKED BOX
158 “incited by the insatiable”: My translation of the document was checked against the more authoritative translation done by Richard Burton's wife, Isabel, which is included in his second volume of Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil.
“It was difficult”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 10.
“It feels genuine!”: Brian Fawcett to Nina and Joan, Feb. 6, 1952, Fawcett Family Papers.
CHAPTER 17: THE WHOLE WORLD IS MAD
161 “Of course experienced”: Keltie to Fawcett, Dec. 11, 1914, RGS.
161 “finger on important”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 3, 1915, RGS.
161 “Fear not”: Quoted in The New York Times Current History: The European War, vol. 1, August–December 1914, p. 140.
161 “in the thick”: Fawcett to Keltie, Jan. 18, 1915, RGS.
161 “one of the most”: Cecil Eric Lewis Lyne, “My Participation in the Two Great Wars” (unpublished memoir), RAHT.
161 “was probably the nastiest”: Henry Harold Hemming, “My Story” (unpublished memoir), IWM.
161 “Fawcett and I”: Lyne, “My Participation in the Two Great Wars.”
161 One day Fawcett: Ibid.
162 wearing a long: See John Ramsden's first American edition of Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend Since 1945 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 372.
162 “queer garments”: For Fawcett's encounter with Churchill, see Lyne, “My Participation in the Two Great Wars.”
162 “Filth & rubbish”: Quoted in Gilbert, Churchill, p. 332.
162 “He is very well”: Nina Fawcett to Keltie, March 2, 1916, RGS.
162 “So you can imagine”: Nina Fawcett to Keltie, April 25, 1916, RGS.
163 “If you only knew”: Fawcett to Edward A. Reeves, Feb. 5, 1915, RGS.
163 A bulletin: “Monthly Record,” Geographical Journal, Oct. 1916, p. 354.
163 “the dream of his life”: Nina Fawcett to Keltie, March 11, 1916, RGS.
163 “I possess the medal”: Fawcett to Keltie, Jan. 15, 1920, RGS.
164 It was the Battle: For descriptions of the war, see Gilbert, Somme; Ellis, Eye-Deep in Hell; Winter, Death's Men; and Hart, Somme.
164 “at least provides”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 66.
164 “Tell me”: Huntford, Shackleton, p. 599.
165 “Dante would never”: Cecil Eric Lewis Lyne diary, RAHT. 165 “burnt up”: Ellis, Eye-Deep in Hell, pp. 66–67.
165 “He was troubled”: Nina Fawcett to Keltie, March 3, 1917, RGS. 165 The war had claimed: Mill, Record of the Royal Geographical Society, p. 204. 165 “He was a good fellow”: Fawcett to Keltie, n.d., 1917, RGS. 165 “of purely unselfish”: Davson, History of the 35th Division, p. 43.
165 “If you can imagine”: “British Colonel in Letter Here Tells of Enormous Slaughter,” in Fawcett's scrapbook, n.d., n.p., Fawcett Family Papers.
166 “Is that you, boy?”: Stashower, Teller of Tales, p. 346.
166 “She loved you so”: Fawcett to Doyle, March 26, 1919, HRC.
167 “He and his intelligence”: Hemming, “My Story.” Henry Harold Hemming was also the father of John Hemming, the celebrated historian who later became the director of the Royal Geographical Society.
167 Or, as he told: Fawcett to Doyle, March 26, 1919, HRC.
167 “many times in France”: Washington Post, March 18, 1934.
168 “full of the hidden”: Letter to the editor, Times (London), July 4, 1936. 168 “It is a little”: Keltie to Fawcett, April 7, 1915, RGS.
168 “I am getting older”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 23, 1918, RGS.
168 “Knowing what these”: Fawcett, letter to the editor, Travel, 1918.
168 “the whole business”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 23, 1918, RGS.
168 “Many thousands must”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 209.
168 “now quite an inch”: Nina Fawcett to Large, May 19, 1919, Fawcett Family Papers.
168 “We all went”: Ibid.
169 “I had a ripping”: Jack Fawcett to Large, Oct. 2, 1924, Fawcett Family Papers.
169 “able and willing”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 277.
169 “This is mine”: Ibid.
169 “At school it was”: Ibid.
169 “hidden feeling”: Nina Fawcett to Joan, Dec. 14, 1952, Fawcett Family Papers.
169 “no favourites”: Brian Fawcett to Nina, Dec. 5, 1933, Fawcett Family Papers.
170 “My elder brother”: Brian Fawcett to Brigadier F. Percy Roe, March 15, 1977, RGS.
171 “the general practitioner”: Dyott, On the Trail of the Unknown, p. 141.
171 “I cannot induce”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 260.
171 “one of the world's”: Schurz, “Distribution of Population in the Amazon Valley,” p. 206.
171 “an extremely original”: Quoted in Rob Hawke, “The Making of a Legend: Colonel Fawcett in Bolivia” (thesis, University of Essex, n.d.), p. 41.
171 “He is a visionary”: Arthur R. Hinks to Sir Maurice de Bunsen, Feb. 26, 1920, RGS.
171 “I do not expect”: Hinks to Keltie, Dec. 31, 1923, RGS.
171 “Remember that I”: Fawcett to Keltie, March 17, 1925, RGS.
172 “Never mind what”: Keltie to Fawcett, Dec. 11, 1914, RGS. 172 “rather queer”: Hinks to Keltie, Dec. 31, 1923, RGS.
172 “I don't lose”: Fawcett to Keltie, April 15, 1924, RGS.
172 “an opportunity to grow”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 209.
173
“the difficulty of”: Rice, “Rio Negro, the Casiquiare Canal, and the Upper Orinoco,” p. 324.
174 “The results”: Swanson, “Wireless Receiving Equipment,” p. 210.
175 “A large, stout”: Rice, “Rio Negro, the Casiquiare Canal, and the Upper Orinoco,” p. 340.
175 “dress, manners, and”: Ibid., p. 325.
175 “There was no alternative”: Rice, “Recent Expedition of Dr. Hamilton Rice,” pp. 59–60.
175 “We could hear”: Los Angeles Times, Dec. 22, 1920. 175 “skedaddled”: Fawcett to Keltie, July 18, 1924, RGS.
175 “rather too soft”: Fawcett to Keltie, April 9, 1924, RGS.
176 “it is quite”: RGS to de Bunsen, March 10, 1920, RGS.
176 On February 26: My description of the meeting between Fawcett and Rondon is drawn largely from Leal's Coronel Fawcett, pp. 95–96.
176 “it is a matter”: Fawcett to Secretary, War Office, Feb. 17, 1919, WO 138/51, TNA.
176 “The higher rank”: Fawcett to the Secretary of the Army Council, Aug. 8, 1922, WO 138/51, TNA.
176 “instant attention”: Quoted in Hemming, Die If You Must, p. 14.
177 Undeterred, Fawcett: In Exploration Fawcett, both Brown and Holt are given pseudonyms. The former is referred to as Butch Reilly and the latter as Felipe.
177 “I'm flesh and blood”: Ibid., p. 214.
178 In the 1870s: Hobhouse, Seeds of Wealth, p. 138.
178 “The electric lights”: Furneaux, Amazon, p. 159.
178 “impoverished and backward”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, pp. 212–13.
178 “Lat x+4 to x + 5”: Nina Fawcett to Large, June 10, 1921, Fawcett Family Papers.
178 May “protection” be: Jack Fawcett to Fawcett, March 3, 1920, Fawcett Family Papers.
178 “get alarmed at”: Fawcett to James Rowsell, June 10, 1921, TNA.
178 “I am going to”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 2, 1920, RGS.
179 “More than half ill”: Holt diary, Oct. 24–26, 1920, ADAH.
179 “giving me”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 218.
179 “It was rather”: Ibid., p. 192.
179 “It is awful”: Holt diary, Nov. 18, 1920.
179 “Never mind me”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 217.
179 “There was nothing”: Ibid.
180 “The exit from Hell”: Holt diary, Nov. 17, 1920.
180 “What does it mean”: Nina Fawcett to Large, Jan. 26, 1921, Fawcett Family Papers.
180 “Col. Fawcett's expedition”: Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Anglo-Brazilian Chronicle, April 2, 1932.
180 “You are a strong”: Harriett S. Cohen to Holt, Jan. 28, 1921, ADAH.
181 “Unfortunately we live”: Fawcett to Holt, Aug. 18, 1921, ADAH.
181 “After close association”: Holt diary, Aug. 17, 1921.
181 “convinced I am”: Fawcett to Esther Windust, March 5, 1923, PHFP.
181 “I longed for the day”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 222.
181 “the prospects of returning”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 4, 1920, RGS.
182 “Loneliness is not”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 238.
182 “I must return”: Brian Fawcett, Ruins in the Sky, p. 235.
CHAPTER 18: A SCIENTIFIC OBSESSION
183 “It's up to you”: Brian Fawcett, Ruins in the Sky, p. 16.
183 “[Lawrence] may be”: Fawcett to Harold Large, March 26, 1919, Fawcett Family Papers.
184 “of faith, courage”: Fawcett to Esther Windust, March 5, 1923, PHFP.
184 “I want to go”: Fawcett, Ruins in the Sky, p. 16.
184 “unsatisfied and unsettled”: Raleigh Rimell to Roger Rimell, March 5, 1925, Rimell Family Papers.
184 “both strong as”: Fawcett to Large, Feb. 5, 1925, Fawcett Family Papers.
184 “I can only say”: Fawcett to John Scott Keltie, April 4, 1924, RGS.
185 “All water has”: Nina Fawcett to Large, Nov. 26, 1922, Fawcett Family Papers.
185 “The situation is”: Fawcett to Large, Oct. 16, 1923, Fawcett Family Papers.
185 “My man actually”: Nina Fawcett to Large, July 18, 1919, Fawcett Family Papers.
185 “I wish you”: Fawcett to Keltie, Dec. 29, 1923, RGS.
185 “P.H.F. was in”: Nina Fawcett to Large, Aug. 14, 1922, Fawcett Family Papers.
185 “My father's impatience”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 275.
186 “Archeological and ethnological”: Fawcett to Large, Oct. 16, 1923, Fawcett Family Papers.
186 “the money wasted”: Fawcett to Keltie, Nov. 29, 1921, RGS.
186 “men of science”: Fawcett, Exploration Fawcett, p. 208.
186 “all the skepticism”: Fawcett to Keltie, Nov. 1, 1924, RGS.
186 “going to see”: Fawcett to Keltie, Dec. 18, 1922, RGS.
186 “The valley and city”: Mrs. Letheran to Fawcett, Oct. 9, 1919, Fawcett Family Papers.
186 “the treasures of”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, “Planetary Control,” p. 347.
186 “a trifle unbalanced”: George Miller Dyott to Arthur R. Hinks, June 24, 1927, RGS.
186 “scientific maniac”: Stanley Allen, New Haven Register, n.d., RGS.
186 “mental storms”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, “Obsession.”
186 “The Mining Syndicate”: Fawcett to Large, Oct. 19, 1923, Fawcett Family Papers.
186 “It seemed as”: Jack Fawcett to Windust, Dec. 2, 1924, PHFP.
187 “A short time”: Jack Fawcett to Windust, Oct. 28, 1924, PHFP.
187 “The capacity for love”: Fay Brodie-Junes to Nina Fawcett, n.d., Fawcett Family Papers.
187 “the Gods will”: Fawcett to Large, Oct. 19, 1923, Fawcett Family Papers.
188 “a supply of bombs”: New York Times, Oct. 4, 1924.
188 “the whole method”: New York Times, Aug. 12, 1924.
188 “highly respectable man”: Fawcett to Hinks, Dec. 23, 1924, RGS.
188 “to get into touch”: Jack Fawcett to Windust, Oct. 28, 1924, PHFP.
189 “the finest exploration”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 4, 1925, RGS.
189 “We have known”: Atlanta Constitution, Jan. 12, 1925.
190 “I judge from Lynch's”: Fawcett to Keltie, Nov. 4, 1924, RGS.
190 “a modern Columbus”: Fawcett to Keltie, Oct. 10, 1924, RGS.
190 “The R.G.S. bred me”: Fawcett to Keltie, Nov. 2, 1924, RGS.
190 “If they don't”: Nina Fawcett to Large, March 31, 1927, Fawcett Family Papers.
190 “Not a sum”: Fawcett to Keltie, March 17, 1925, RGS.
190 “In some ways”: Fawcett to Keltie, Feb. 4, 1925, RGS.
190 “a fine young fellow”: Reeves, Recollections of a Geographer, p. 98.
190 “I shall rejoice”: Fawcett to Keltie, Nov. 10, 1924, RGS.
191 “In two years' time”: Fawcett, Ruins in the Sky, p. 46.
191 “[He] succumbed”: Fawcett to Hinks, Dec. 23, 1924, RGS.
191 “must have suffered”: Fawcett to Keltie, March 17, 1925, RGS.
191 “the plan can”: Isaiah Bowman to Rockefeller, Jan. 3, 1925, AGS.
192 “He did precipitate”: Fawcett to Keltie, March 17, 1925, RGS.
192 “I am a great believer”: Fawcett to Keltie, Dec. 25, 1924, RGS.
192 “the honour of immortality”: Fawcett to Bowman, Dec. 15, 1924, AGS.
CHAPTER 19: AN UNEXPECTED CLUE
194 In 2004: New York Times, Dec. 29, 2006.
196 Although he made: Nina Fawcett to Arthur R. Hinks, Nov. 17, 1927, RGS.
196 “would preserve a higher”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, “Proposal for a S. American Expedition,” April 4, 1924, RGS.
CHAPTER 20: HAVE NO FEAR
197 “At least forty million”: Percy Harrison Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 278.
197 “No Olympic games”: Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 1925.
197 “Aren't the reports”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 280.
197 Brazilian authorities: Fawcett to John Scott Keltie, Feb. 4, 1925, RGS.
198 “They do not want”: Ibid.
198 “We have met”: Fawcett to Keltie, March 7, 1925, RGS.
198 the daughter of: Williams, introduction to AmaZonia, p. 22.
198 “I became acquainted”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 279.
198 “[The colonel] and Jack”: Ibid.
198 “[Raleigh] is much”: Jack Fawcett to Nina and Joan, May 16, 1925, RGS.
198 “I suppose after”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 279.
198 “I don't intend”: Ibid.
199 “A whole lot”: Ibid., p. 281.
199 “A snake-bite which bleeds”: Los Angeles Times, Dec. 3, 1925. According to snake experts today, it is actually not possible to determine if a snake is poisonous simply based on whether the wound bleeds.
199 “I saw some quite”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 279.
199 “The lavatory”: Ibid., p. 281.
200 “I am now”: Raleigh Rimell to Roger Rimell, March 5, 1925, Rimell Family Papers. 200 “Raleigh is a funny”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 283.
200 “a desperate villain”: Ibid., p. 281.
200 “On Wednesday night”: Ibid., p. 282.
201 “almost big enough”: Raleigh Rimell to Dulcie Rimell, March 11, 1925, Rimell Family Papers.
201 “Cuyaba will seem”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 281.
201 “Daddy says”: Ibid., p. 282.
201 “a God forsaken hole”: Raleigh Rimell to Roger Rimell, March 5, 1925, Rimell Family Papers.
201 Fawcett wrote: Fawcett to Harold Large, March 20, 1925, Fawcett Family Papers.
201 “Raleigh's feet”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 284.
201 “[What] a hell”: Ibid., p. 283.
201 Raleigh boasted that: Raleigh Rimell to Roger Rimell, March 5, 1925, Rimell Family Papers.
202 “We are feeding”: Fawcett, epilogue to Exploration Fawcett, p. 283.
202 “We intend to buy”: Ibid., p. 280.
202 “The horses being”: Jack Fawcett to Nina and Joan, May 16, 1925, RGS.
203 “This is nothing”: Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1925.
203 “I have seen no reason”: Fawcett to Nina, March 6, 1925, RGS.
203 “Progress slow”: Royal Geographical Society, “Dr. Hamilton Rice on the Rio Branco,” p. 241.