By Major P. H. FAWCETT, R.A.

In March, 1910, I had the honour of reading a paper before the Royal Geographical Society more or less generalizing on South American exploration, its problems and its disabilities. Judging by the letters which I received, and by the comments which it elicited from the Press, it aroused, considerable interest amongst those who concern themselves with the progress of geographical research. The difficulties of South American exploration were in no way exaggerated, not even the plague of insects, the long tale of which suggested to some minds, I have no doubt a fervid imagination. I may say, however, that if any corroboration was required I received it in abundance, even to the tri-coloured Indian, as some paper facetiously dubbed him, and the giant anaconda. That our experiences, as well as the hints of romantic secrets, which I have no personal doubt lie behind the well-nigh impenetrable veil of unexplored forest, should have been received in an atmosphere of incredulity, is of no great importance; for time is an infallible arbiter in these matters.

This year I have been invited to give an account of the exploration which became-necessary before the delimitation of the new frontier between Bolivia and Peru could be satisfactorily carried out.

In what is known as the north-west of Bolivia, immediately east of the Andes, and contained between that range and the rivers Madre de Dios and Beni, is an extensive triangle of country, some 35,000 square miles in area, known as the Caupolican, whose extremities lie between 11 and 15 degrees S. latitude, and 66 and 70 degrees longitude west of Greenwich At the southern end of this triangle are the mission villages of Apolo and San Jose, and a few rather isolated squatters in the forest. Further to the north are the small Indian villages of Tumapasa and Ixiamas, very remotely located in the forest of the Beni basin, and subject to occasional attacks by the Guarayo savages. Further to the south the banks of the rivers Mapiri and Caja, boast a couple of small villages, a remnant of the once powerful Lejos Indians, and a few small trading stations at long intervals, to the confluence with the Beni, whence the latter is uninhabited to the neighbourhood of the village of Rurenabaque. Except for a single rubber station in the vicinity of Rurenabaque, the Beni is unpopulated to a point below the confluence of the Madidi, and from there is studded at long intervals by the establishments of more or less exhausted rubber concessions. It is quite a mistake to imagine that all the names which occur on the maps of these parts indicate villages or even a single inhabited house. To the south-west the upper Tambopata, connected by a forest track to Apolo, and by a mountain trail to Kohata and the Altiplanicie of Peru, is exploited for rubber by an English syndicate, which means one Englishman and about three hundred Altiplanicie Indians, and is otherwise uninhabited. In the lower Tambopata, where the river bends from the west to the north-north-east, is the Inca Rubber Company's station of Astillero, the limit of navigation for small boats. From this point the river is populated at intervals to the Peruvian Government station of Maldonado at the confluence with the Madre de Dios. From Maldonado to the Bolivian Government station at the confluence of the Heath is deserted forest. Below this point exist various stations to the"confluence of the Madre de Dios with the Beni at Riberalta. With the exception of these stations in the main rivers and the small villages already mentioned in the Beni basin, the entire Caupolican is peopled only by savages, the warlike Guarayos, who have held from historical times a more or less undisputed sway over the basins of the Heath and Madidi and the intermediate country, the Chunchos or Echojas of the Tambopata, and the Toromonas on the southern bank of the Madre de Dios. Of these the Guarayos are the most powerful and the most feared.

In 12° 30' S. and 68° 44' W., the river Heath (so named from an English explorer killed here by the savages) enters the Madre de Dios, an apparently insignificant and muddy stream. The course of this stream had been agreed upon as constituting a portion of the new frontier, unexplored as it was for more than a few miles from its mouth, because its imaginary course on a small-scale plan seemed to offer a convenient line for the adjustment of conflicting claims.

The first record of any exploration east of the Cordilleras is that of an expedition of Topa Inca Yupanqui, who is said to have crossed the Andes about 1450 with 12,000 men in order to gather in to the Incan Empire the numerous and powerful tribes of Chunchos which held these regions. He is said to have failed in this object owing to the enormous mortality of his troops and to the warlike character of the tribes, but is reputed to have left two fortresses in the Caupolican, whose locality has not hitherto been traceable, and a very fine road, vestiges of which, in immense stone viaducts some 300 feet in height, are still supposed to exist in the forest somewhere between Apolo and San Jose.

Now, it will be remembered that, subsequently to the conquest, Gonzalo Pizarro carried out two years of exploration in the upper Amazon in search of a reputed El Dorado which never materialized. This same El Dorado, which in Southern Peru went by the name of Ambaya or Paititi, furnished the impulse which led to the exploration by the Spanish conquerors of the forest regions lying to the east of the Andes. Treasure and blood were squandered wholesale over this search for an apparently phantom empire, reputed to be fabulously rich, and which, in fact, did not lack some circumstantial evidence of its existence. For instance, a priest named Chavez in the sixteenth century recorded having actually visited the capital and seen its riches in gold, silver, and amber; while another priest gloried in having got within twelve leagues of it. The Grand Paititi, indeed, is familiarly spoken of in the chronicles of early Spanish exploration, and was reputed to exist on the shores of a great lake in a hilly region rich in gold and silver, somewhere amongst the furthest outliers of the Andean range. The forest Indians were emphatic in its existence, and showed, according to the accounts, knives and other manufactured goods asserted to have been exchanged with a white people who came periodically to the capital from some distant civilization. Seventeen Government and numerous private expeditions searched for it in vain. The great lake of Rogagua, in the plains of Mojos east of the Beni, was believed at one time to be its locality ; but this is a region of flat plains subject, so far as is known, to annual inundations; and although little known to the present day, the savages, as in the upper Beni where they were originally so numerous, have disappeared. It is not an extravagant supposition that some sort of Indian civilization, commonly called savage, may have existed in, or migrated to, those vast spaces of unexplored country over the Brazilian borders, of which nothing is still known beyond that they are thickly populated by savages, difficult to reach, and dangerous if not impossible to enter - regions which involve two months of trying journey to reach the outskirts of. In the face of the numerous expeditions which have disappeared and probably have been massacred, and in the total absence of any reliable information, rumours of strange peoples cannot wholly be condemned.

It is interesting to note that, after the exploration of the course of the river Heath this past year, there still remain something like 10,000 square miles of the Caupolican into which it is believed that no white man has ever entered. This region I propose to traverse diagonally this year after completing the boundary work with Peru.

In Bolivia; as in other parts of the continent, the diseases of civilization, measles, small-pox, influenza, and the rest, have swept away whole populations of the indigenes; while in later years an unscrupulous exploitation of the savages by rubber-hunters, either to exterminate them or to secure forced labour, has barbarously wasted a very valuable asset. It is known historically that the forests of Caupolican and Mojos were thickly populated, and that the population received a heavy increment from Incan refugees on the destruction of their empire.

The names principally associated with the exploration of the Caupolican are Pedro de Candia and Juan Alvarez Maldonado, the latter of whom explored the main river system and practically opened the river-banks to civilization. The story of every expedition has been, however, the same; a land journey over the mountains to Apolo or its neighbourhood, beyond which transport difficulties forbade advance; journeys via Sta. Cruz into the plains of Mojos; or the descent and ascent of the main navigable rivers on rafts or in canoes - the Madre de Dios, for example, or the Beni or Diabeni, as it was originally called; fighting with the savages from the first moment of entry into the forests until the last moment of departure. Protracted inland forest journeys have always proved impracticable. The immense difficulties under which these expeditions laboured are scarcely intelligible to those who have no practical experience of South American forests. They are, however, contained in the old records so far as words can describe them. Here, for instance, is a description given by one of the early pioneers of the western Caupolican: -

"Mountain torrents with an impetuosity capable of destroying everything in their course; voracious wild beasts; gigantic and poisonous reptiles; legions of insects more poisonous even than the snakes; precipitous and practically inaccessible hills in which dangers lurk at each step, now of slipping over a precipice, now of being bitten by some poisonous snake or one of the equally venomous ants should one grasp a tree to save a fall; rotten and impenetrable forests; immense lagoons and impassable swamps; torrential rains; inundations; constant damp and fevers of a thousand forms; troublesome and dangerous ulcers; and an absolute lack of food supplies." Through a portion of this delectable region runs part of the frontier between Bolivia and Peru. This is not an exaggerated picture of, the western Caupolican, to-day, away from roads, rivers, and civilization. Off the beaten track indeed the conditions remain the same, with the single exception that where the old Incan trails over the mountains provided a precarious means of reaching the low country, there are now comparatively safe mule-tracks, and perhaps it is to-day a little easier to starve.

These expeditions took place principally between 1650 and 1660, subsequently to which date practically the entire region east of the Andes, excepting the few mission stations in the Beni and the Jesuit mining establishments further to the south, was abandoned to its indigenes. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century and later years that the lower Beni, the Madre de Dios, and other main rivers were re-explored on the rising importance of the industry in rubber. Maldonado, Dr. Heath, Vaca Diez, and General Pando, all made notable explorations. In 1893 General Pando, ex-president and probably the best-known explorer in Bolivia, ascended the upper Madre de Dios, the Tambopata, and the Inambari. In 1896 he entered the Heath, ascended some distance, but losing five men killed by the Guarayos and subjected to such hostility that he was forced to the expedient of ostensibly pitching camp and actually sleeping some distance from it, he crossed to the lower Madidi and Beni. In 1897 he passed from Apolo by an existing track to the upper Tambopata and rediscovered its larger tributaries, now-known as the Lanza and Colorado. In 1903 a Peruvian force under Senor Villalta, availing himself of the opportunity afforded by the Bolivian trouble in the Acre, attempted the ascent of the Heath, but was attacked by the savages, and driven out with loss. Meanwhile, the interior of the Caupolican, together with the rivers Heath and Madidi and other less important streams, has remained a blank upon the map until the present day; both Bolivia and Peru contenting themselves with the exploration of rivers which, from their navigability, do not offer any serious difficulty.

For some years now, since the rubber industry attained considerable importance to Bolivia and Peru by virtue of the revenues accruing to the export of that product, the question of definitely delimited frontiers has become acute. The claims of the two republics overlapped one another so extensively that the matter was placed in the hands of the Argentine President to adjudicate, with a result which was not very far from leading to hostilities. The two republics, however, agreed to settle their frontier differences between themselves. A provisional line was therefore agreed upon from the Cordilleras of Suchez to the junction of a tributary named the Javerija with the Acre, approximately in 10° 56' S. and 69° 30' W., according to the data obtained in my exploration in the upper Acre in 1906. Intermediately the frontier was designed to follow a geodetic line z from the confluence of the Lanza with the upper Tambopata to the most westerly source of the Heath, or what would have. been more correctly described as the most westerly source of the headwaters of the Heath. The Heath was believed to be a short and comparatively unimportant forest steam, rising somewhere to the north of Puerto Markham in the Tambopata. It-had never been successfully explored, for the very good reason that it was known to be a stronghold of the Guarayo Indians in common with the upper Madidi and the intermediate country; and the Guarayo Indians are regarded with considerable fear and respect by their civilized neighbours.

Amongst various expeditions in the Heath, a Swiss named Heller attempted its ascent from the Madre de Dios about six years ago with sixty men, but was forced to retreat with loss. According to Peruvian officers at Maldonado, half a battalion of their soldiers were driven out on a similar attempt. This probably was the expedition of 1903 to which I have already referred. General Pando, as I have already mentioned, was forced to cross to the Madidi to escape annihilation ; and a Bolivian military expedition, in 1909, ascended the river from its confluence for a short distance, attacked a small population of savages, and also crossed to the Madidi and Beni, incidentally leaving the river a little more difficult for the next comers. As I explained in March of last year before this Society, all exploration across, as opposed to expeditions into, these regions depends for its success upon the selection of a limited personnel, able, if needs be, to do without transport under usually exceedingly trying conditions. For I have heard the opinion expressed more than once by men who have pioneered the world from the Yukon to the Australian deserts, and then tasted the delights of the South American forests, that nowhere do nature and the savage combine to make exploration work so difficult and so risky as in the remote corners of this continent. I do not propose to enlarge upon the elements which make for these difficulties, for they are described in detail in my paper of March last year. Insects, savages, diseases, lack of food and lack of transport facilities, away from the main rivers, combine to make journeys exceedingly precarious; nor is it merely a matter of organization. Nor should the health and immunity that I personally have enjoyed mislead any one.

There are records of expeditions into the Caupolican ranging from over a hundred to twenty in strength, of which one or two men, and sometimes none, have returned - disasters attributed variously to fever, starvation, or savages, the latter of which are constantly attacking the rubber pickers and the villages on the outskirts of their country.

There is another and very real risk in the custom of some of the tribes to effectually stop exploration, which to them is, synonymous with head hunting, by poisoning the water, where, as is sometimes the case, an expedition is dependent upon more or less stagnant sources of supply. I am inclined to think that ignorance of this possibility has brought more than one expedition to a tragic end. For the savage takes every advantage of his perfect forest lore. He is wary, stealthy, almost invisible and certainly inaudible in the forest, and has, according to the old Spanish records, a peculiarly wide knowledge of potent forest poisons. An expedition is rarely rushed, but it may be subjected to sudden fire from concealed positions, or, what is more demoralizing, may be picked off one by one. It is therefore essential to make friends with them if any passage through their country is to be assured.

• "Maldonado", "Road on the Altiplanicie", Images
• "The Altiplanicie of Peru", "Echojas, River Heath", Images

Moreover, there is another difficulty peculiar to South America. Carriers, even if obtainable in any number for cross-forest work, which is doubtful, are not a practical solution for transport difficulties, because unlike Africa or other countries where villages, even if savage, occur every few miles, and there is plenty of game, the South American forests provide nothing, with the result that carriers cannot transport more than is necessary for their own subsistence over a comparatively short period. Nor will mules or horses work and live for long in the forest, even if the class of forest permits of their use; and I may say that swamps, bog, and rivers are prohibitive for cargo animals. I mention these things because of the natural criticism that organization is a solution for all such problems.

Now, when the Bolivian Government invited me to undertake the delimitation of this portion of the frontier, it was very clear to me that it was necessary to have some definite data about the Heath, in order to avoid questions which would of a certainty make the work of demarcation futile, owing to the necessity of referring modifications to Congress. I therefore proposed to explore the river Heath thoroughly in 1910, determine its relation to the upper Tambopata, and defer the delimitation to the following year, stipulating, however, that for work which carried somewhat grave risks, I might be permitted to contract in England six noncommissioned officers in place of local peons or Indians, who not only readily collapse under trying conditions, but are exceedingly timid of savages unless in superior numbers. To this the Government at once agreed, and as Peru was anticipating trouble with Ecuador, it also suited her very well to postpone the delimitation; in fact, she cordially joined in the desire to know more about the Heath before forming her frontier commission.

In England I obtained three excellent men, Sergeant Leigh and Corporal Costin of the Rifle Brigade, and ex-Corporal Todd, who had served for some years with me in the artillery. Two more, Mr. Gibbs, an ex-subaltern of the Northamptonshire Regiment, and a young doctor, Mr. Simpson, were contracted subsequently to my departure, and joined me on the road to the forest.

The party was augmented in La Paz by two young Bolivian officers, for whom the Government anticipated that the experience would be useful, and in the Tambopata by an employe of the Inca Rubber Company, sent to view rubber prospects. The latter bolted on seeing fresh tracks of savages, and one of the young officers, filled with stories of savage atrocities, developed a serious illness and was left behind in the Madre de Dios. The party ultimately reduced itself therefore to seven, of whom six were Englishmen, and one a Bolivian officer, Captain Vargas Bozo. I attempted to take three Bolivian soldiers from the Madre de Dios into the Heath, with the idea of utilizing their services to carry the instruments in the upper river; but excellent as these men are for fighting purposes,. their inordinate appetites and inability to respond to the work I demanded from all, compelled me to send them back to avoid a certainty of starvation for the rest, The work being purely exploratory, I did not take any technical assistant.

We left La Paz at the beginning of June, crossing Lake Titicaca into Peru for the descent of the Inca Mining Company's road from Tirapata, on the railway to Cuzco, to Astillero, a port of the same company on the river Tambopata, and were subject, of course, to the inevitable troubles incidental to all South American journeys. Of my two arrieros contracted to manage the mules, one, on hearing of the savages below, bolted with my best animal, and the other shammed sickness, got it "all over him," as he described the malady (having pecuniary guarantees in La Paz which prohibited flight), so I got rid of him. The Inca Mining Company's road crosses the Cordilleras by the Aricoma pass, 15,088 feet above sea-level, and drops down the gorge of the Limbani river to meet the Inambari at Oroya. Crossing and recrossing the torrential Limbani by flimsy-looking wire rope bridges, and hollowed out in part in the sheer face of mighty precipices, it is a most picturesque road, and by far the best mountain trail in the country. From the Inambari it rises sharply to the famous Santo Domingo mine, crosses a lofty ridge, and drops gradually to the Tambopata at the port of Astillero. The section of the road taken by a Richard barograph gives a good idea of the abrupt fall from the Altiplanicie to the forests.

One can appreciate the difficulties of the Spanish pioneers who brought their animals over the passes by narrow Inca trails designed only for Indians on foot. Below 10,000 feet is a region of mountain torrents and precipitous hills covered by dense, and to a great extent sodden, forest of shallow-rooted and moss-covered trees heavy with orchids - a region of apparently perpetual humidity and singularly barren of bird and animal life. In the hills of Santo Domingo rain is recorded for 360 days in the year; the forest-clad hills being scarred by the constant slips of decomposed rock. This nature of country extends well into the Caupolican - razor-backed ridges with precipitous sides covered by dense and rank vegetation. Short of cutting or constructing roads, it is impassable, owing to the difficulties of movement and the certainty of starvation. To Apolo, in the Caupolican, and to the banks of the Tambopata, tracks, originally made by the Incas, have long been in existence; but any forest trail, however carefully made, is either swept away by the torrential rains or eaten up by the forest without constant attention. Future transandine railway tracks will have the same trouble.

The country is rich in gold throughout, from the Apurimac to the southern extremity of Bolivia, and attracted no little attention from the Incas and their successors. In the sixties a population of over twenty thousand Indians are said to have washed gold in the Apuroma field south of 'the Inambari. To-day there are a few prospectors picking at the crevices in the upper waters of the numerous creeks which empty themselves into this river.

In the basin of the lower Tambopata, 220 miles by the trail from Tirapata, one is on the outskirts of the mud and clay region of the Amazonian basin, and begins to get a taste of its winged and crawling pests. To the north and east, flat country though it appears, still extend the razor-backed outliers of the Andes, which make the country so difficult to pass. Assuming from its innocent appearance from the heights around Astillero an easy passage through the forest, I intended to cross this with animals in a line designed to strike the probable course of the Heath about three or four leagues from its confluence with the Madre de Dios, descend to the confluence, and from that point to reascend the river to its source, crossing again to the upper Tambopata, somewhere near the supposed position of the confluence of the Lanza. I originally intended to retrace my steps from this point to the Heath, and pass in about lat. 13° 30' S. to the Madidi, coming out eventually somewhere in the neighbourhood of San Jose, but unexpected delays in completing the personnel of the expedition made it too late in the season. For, the heavy rains and local inundations of November to March render all cross-country travelling impracticable or very risky.

We reached the Tambopata in heavy rain, which should have ceased in May in favour of the spasmodic bursts which signal all lunar changes in this part of the world, and it was ten days before the river, which was raging in heavy flood, permitted the passage of the animals. We started on foot with eight well-loaded mules, a plentiful store of dried and compressed provisions being sent by water to meet us at the confluence of the Heath. The Inca Rubber Company had cut about two leagues of track in a northeasterly direction into the forest, of which I took advantage. At least, I meant to take advantage of it; for there were frequent small bogs and several primitive bridges, and every mule persistently stuck in every bog and fell through every bridge with results disastrous to patience and equipment. In ten days we succeeded in cutting a circuitous track through about 15 miles of abominable country. But the bulk of my party were not accustomed to the hard work of cutting forest - for we had, it must be remembered, no peons or Indians - nor were they accustomed to mules with which they persistently got into difficulties; and as one or other of these duties fell to the lot of every one, it was very soon clear that we should never arrive at the Madre de Dios before provisions ran out. I therefore decided to return to Astillero, abandon the animals, and perform the journey as far as possible by boat, which, although easier, had the disadvantage in the Heath of being more vulnerable to attack by the savages, assuming that the latter were hostile.

This piece of forest work had the merits of giving my party some practical experience, if only, of insects, which in places fairly swarm over one in their search for salt; while cutting paths in forest where wasps and poisonous ants abound inevitably means trouble. All of us were bitten, for instance, more than once by that very poisonous black ant, over an inch long, known as the "tucandera." Moreover, we suffered from torrents of rain. No one was therefore loth to return to Astillero, despite the unpleasant feeling of turning back. On August 11, I secured a boat to take us down to the Madre de Dios. This latter river and its tributaries are being populated by Peru with a view to effective occupation of the land; although this artificial population is scarcely likely to be permanent without railways to facilitate transport and create markets. Moreover, the Inca Mining Company's road, which practically forms the only means of communication with outside Peru, will rapidly vanish if that company ceases operations. I stopped a day or two at Maldonado to exchange compliments with the Peruvian authorities at that post, and then passed on to the mouth of the Heath, where there is a small Bolivian detachment. The Madre de Dios here has an average width of 450 yards, and the, Heath enters the river an insignificant and turbid stream only 45 yards wide.

From this point I had three small canoes and a plentiful supply of provisions; for, as I have said before, there need be no scarcity in this respect as long as some form of navigation is possible. The Heath loses its insignificant character a few miles from the confluence, when it develops into a fine but tortuous river some 80 yards wide, with huge sandbanks at every turn, and with banks of mud 12 to 20 feet above the low-water level, topped by heavy but singularly clean forest. In the lower river are rapids formed by blocks of hard-baked mud and river conglomerate, common throughout the upper Amazon basin at low-water periods; while the accumulation of snags makes navigation somewhat difficult at this season. The river was sufficiently shallow to allow of poling the canoes, a much more rapid method than paddling against a strong current. Hours of work were from seven to five, with an occasional short spell of a few minutes, time being an element of great importance, and a midday meal being undesirable owing to the flies; "mariguis" and "tabanas" being very numerous. The party had of course, to accustom itself to the work, involuntary baths being frequent.

Fifty miles from the confluence we encountered the savages. Leigh, Costin, and myself were some distance ahead in the leading canoe, the other having fallen behind owing to the difficulties of threading the labyrinth of snags. On rounding a turn on the river we saw, about a quarter of a mile ahead, a collection of newly made palm huts on the point of a large sandbank, and at the same moment heard an uproar of barking dogs, shouting men, and screaming women and children, emphatic testimony to their appreciation of their civilized neighbours. We immediately. endeavoured to reach the huts before they had disappeared. Opposite to the sandbank, on the other side of the river, which narrows at this point to about 30 yards in the dry season, was a red earth cliff cut out by the river, and some 20 to 30 feet in height, extending the whole length of the sandbank. Against this cliff and on the sand were tied up fifteen large canoes and various rafts known as balsas. With South American savages it is foolish to show any hesitation; so passing directly under the high bank, we landed opposite the huts. There was not a sign of a savage, only barking dogs, two or three parrots, and a monkey tied to a pole. As the second canoe came. up, however, an arrow struck it, passing completely through about an inch and a quarter of wood, succeeded immediately by more arrows and by fire from shot-guns, which latter had probably been stolen at different times from the rubber pickers on the Madre de Dios and Tambopata. How some one was not hit it is difficult to understand.

One of the party - it was not one of the three non-commissioned officers I have mentioned - embarrassed matters by throwing himself in a panic into the water behind a canoe and trying to bury his head, ostrich-like, in the sand, only emerging as the canoe was pulled ashore to pray me to retreat. I had previously given orders that under no circumstances was a shot to be fired, but it was not easy to restrain some nervous members of the party. Reprisals were of course out of the question except as a last resource, for any shooting would have been the death-warrant of the lot, as I have no doubt it has been before in similar cases. Trusting in the proverbial influence of music, I told Todd to strike up a tune on the accordion, which, although considered under some circumstances a somewhat deadly instrument, must have been a new experience to savages. The rain of arrows, however, did not abate. As I remarked before, I do not know how the party escaped, but I assume that from under cover at sixty yards, and with the expectation of a bullet, the savage is not a deadly shot. A monkey belonging to themselves and tied to a post in the middle of us was struck by no less than seven buck shot, and, needless to say, killed ; while the sandbank itself presented the appearance of a plantation of arrows, each of which was some 7 or 8 feet in length. These arrows have a long barbed point of heavy wood, followed by a light cane shaft on which the feathers are set spirally, acting in a similar manner to rifling and preserving the straight flight otherwise impossible for so long a weapon. Their penetration is tremendous. I have heard of the case of an Englishman in the upper Paraguay, where the arrows are similar, being pinned to the deck of a launch transversely through both arms and his chest. In order to show some intention not to molest the tribe, the canoes were dragged one by one, under short-range fire from their position in front of the huts to a far corner of the sandbank. The attack, however, persisted for about an hour and a half, and was rather serious, as the escapes, again and again, were exceedingly narrow, and a party of the savages had gathered in our rear. Wherefore, with one eye on the look-out for arrows, and the other on a little vocabulary of Guarayo words secured in the Tambopata, it became necessary for me to enter the river, and at close range endeavour to conciliate the enemy. I do not recommend it as at all inviting to search a book for suitable words in an unknown guttural language with the whizz of arrows about one's ears and at a range of some 25 yards from savages who are supposed to be experts at the game. However, Providence has been gracious to us on all these expeditions. Two savages at last showed themselves, and, as my pronunciation of the language appeared to be at fault, I signed to them that I would come across. The river proved too deep to wade, and the savages signalling to me to take one of their canoes, I called up Gibbs, and between us we launched a heavy dugout and shoved across the stream. To cut the story short, they gave us a hand up some footholds in the cliff face, on the top of which we were received by some thirty savages, accompanied them into the forest, interviewed the chief with the aid of the book, and, very much to the relief of the rest of the party, returned in about half an hour to the bank with the chief's son wearing my hat, and all of us the best of friends.

Ten savages came across the river with me, and having collected their plantation of arrows, helped us to make camp, remaining in it all night and giving us yuka, bananas, fish necklaces, parrots, and in fact of all they had, including a red vegetable paint named "uruku," or "sepai," which made the insect bites more or less innocuous while it lasted, and for which we were not a little grateful. Such was the first and only encounter with the dreaded Guarayos.

In this village I estimated at least one hundred and fifty savages. The women and children remained in the forest, and did not return whilst we were there. The men are finely developed, and of a warm brown, blackhaired, good looking and well clothed in dyed cotton shirts, plenty of which were in course of manufacture in their huts. Their skin is exceedingly coarse, and a mass of little lumps, due to the bites of "mariguis" and "tabanas," to which no amount of custom seems to render them immune. They struck one as a most intelligent race of people, whose services it seems a vast pity not to have used in a country where labour is so scarce. They appear a healthy race, and sanitarily are far and away ahead of the so-called civilized Indian outside. These Guarayos who were formerly reputed to have been cannibals, are supposed to have originally come from Brazil, and their language is said to be akin to the Guarani of Northern Paraguay, and Southern Matto Grosso. There was, of course, no opportunity for studying their customs. Moreover, we expected to meet plenty more of them further upstream. From the little that is known of them, all religious ceremony and beliefs are kept rigidly excluded from the women; the men are monogamic excepting the chief, who usually has eight to twelve wives; and all men too old to work in the plantations or women too old to bear children, are killed, or commit suicide - a custom due probably to scarcity of food supplies throughout these regions. Such a thing as an old man or woman does not exist, as far as I know, in the whole interior Amazonian basin. The Guarayos live in family groups or small tribes up to about two hundred in number, each tribe having its territorial limits and its own plantations. Infringement of boundaries means intertribal war, practically a perennial condition amongst the tribes. In these days I doubt if the Guarayos use poisoned arrows; but, as no one was hit, it is hard to say. According to the chronicles of the ancient missions, they were peculiarly dexterous in the composition of deadly poisons. They use, at any rate, the milk of the "manuna," or "soliman " tree, the scientific name of which is, I think, Hura crepitans, of the Euphorbia genus, for catching fish.

• "In The Upper Heath", "Middle Heath, Showing High-Water Level of River", Images
• "Guayrayos, Heath River", "Rock Path on the Inca Mining Company Road", Images

The morning after the encounter I went with some of the Indians to a lagoon in the forest. Here, floating on the surface of the water perfectly alive and yet absolutely unable to get away, were fish of all kinds big and small, from which they selected the most palatable for food. The milk is merely poured into the water, and as it spreads every fish which comes into contact with it becomes paralyzed, and yet is not affected as food. Moreover, the effect appears to last for several days without killing the fish. The milk is also used as a cure for toothache, as a caustic, and for the purpose of suicide, for which a teaspoonful is employed. As a poison they say the results are painful. The constitution of the sap is well known.

This meeting and its fortunate sequel led to a friendly attitude of the Indians throughout the river. For many of the Indians left their camp for upstream, and we were not molested by Guaravos again throughout the river, although there was evidence of an extensive population.

This did not, relieve us, however, from night watches, or constant vigilance. On several occasions at night, voices were heard of reconnoitring savages, nor was the party ever free from the possibility of a sudden attack. In one place a quantity of large canoes were drawn up clear of the water, and many others moored at various points in the river, whilst almost every sandbank had its huts, all constructed since May. At almost every turn of the river exist large plantations of bananas or maize. In the wet season the Indians are supposed to live some distance away from the river in large huts of more substantial construction. They have dogs, fowls, monkeys, and tame parrots in abundance. Two Indians accompanied us up the river for three days with the idea of assuring a friendly reception by other Guarayos, but on the third day improved their opportunities to decamp, carrying with them a rifle and bag of ammunition.

The work of ascending the upper river was very hard, particularly when the region of stones was reached, and more rapids were encountered, involving constant wading. The heavy rain incidental to every change of the moon in the Amazon basin, a blazing sun, the plague of poisonous flies from morning to night, and hauling heavy canoes through rapids over a river-bed of very slippery stones, are trying to the strongest. Constant wet and sand, or perhaps some microbe peculiar to the water, pitted the soles of our feet and skinned the legs and between the toes in such a way as to make walking exceedingly painful. Boots which were not wire sewn came to pieces. Moreover, it must be remembered that we anticipated a shower of arrows at any turn of the river, and that constant vigilance and night watching kept the nerves of the party at tension. In lat. 13° 35' S. we entered hills, not, I think, a little glad of the change from the monotony of flat forest. Up to this point the river must be readily navigable in the wet season by launches, as it rises 9 to 12 feet above low-water level, and clearly floods the surrounding forest in places. It is navigable with patience at any season by canoes, and the current is easy. In the upper river, however, boulders and rapids make navigation difficult. We pulled the heavy canoes over no less than a hundred and twenty rapids, some of them long and formidable, in five days. This it was necessary to do partly because the transport of food and instruments is so much easier by boats, and partly because it was impossible to anticipate as continuation of rapids to the source. The Verde, for instance, which we explored in 1908, had an extended stretch of easily navigable water above a long series of rapids.

In 13° 39' S. we encountered another tribe of savages similar to those met with in the river Tambopata and wrongly known there as Guarayos, from whom they essentially differ. It was in their language that I had tried to conciliate the people below, though the two races have many words in common.

They made for Leigh and myself, who were well ahead of the others, apparently with the intention of attacking, but fled on the appearance of the second canoe. However, I chased them, and with some difficulty induced two of them to believe that we were friendly. After liberal presents of knives and sugar they left for their camp, returning later with the whole tribe numbering only a score of men. The men wore shirts of bark, and the women nothing. The whole tribe, which belonged to the Echojas or Tiatinaguas of the Tambopata, generically better known as Chunchos, have a similar backward and dirty appearance. They were evidently afraid of the Guarayos below.

The names of these tribes are very confusing and difficult to identify with existing records, from the custom in each small tribe of adopting the name of its temporary chief. The name Guarayo, for instance, is quite unknown to the savages themselves, who call themselves "Quinaqui," and other names. It is more than possible that it was given to them by the early explorers of the Caupolican, who adopted the word with Which the savages first accost a stranger in the farm of interrogation, namely, "guanayo?" or "guarayo?" meaning throughout all the tribes, "enemy?"

I knew that we could, not be very far from the Tambopata river, so, was not surprised to learn from the savages that it was close by. But what did surprise me was that a short, distance above this point the rubber-pickers of the upper Tambopata had been tapping trees in the Heath, ignorant, so I discovered later, of what river they had struck. The Heath, in fact, bends to within two leagues of the upper Tambopata, in 13° 40' S. From this latitude to its confluence with the Madre de Dios it is very rich in rubber. With easy navigation and an outlet by the rapidly completing Madera and Mamore railway, which is being extended to Riberalta in the Beni, it only requires judicious management of the Guarayos to ensure a most lucrative business. In fish and game the river is most plentifully supplied. The fish, in fact, give excellent sport, particularly the "sabalo," approaching the salmon in appearance and almost as good to eat, and which is most prolific. Troops of pig haunt the river-bank; the "anta" or tapir is ubiquitous; and a short excursion into the forest will always produce a bag in the lower river. This river and the Madidi and the intermediate country have no doubt been selected by the most powerful tribe as the garden of the Caupolican.

In the upper waters south of 13° 40' its character changes. It emerges from a labyrinth of hills practically impassable across country near the source, and whose sides, covered with rank vegetation and rotten trees, bearded with moss and dripping from perpetual rain, rise precipitously some 1200 feet above the river and make as gloomy surroundings as the lower river is cheerful. In what virtually are gorges, a quantity of torrential streams hurl themselves over rugged boulders down a 10-per-cent gradient to form the Heath.

The ascent of these streams is most difficult. From navigation end it was necessary to carry everything on the back, progress over large and slippery stones with raw feet, and later sheer rock climbing over huge boulders or creeping along ledges of greasy slate with fifty or sixty pounds on the back, a rifle in the hand, and a 20-foot drop on to rocks below, being anything but a pleasant experience to look back upon. There were, indeed, constant and serious falls. The undergrowth was far too dense and obstructed by boulders to permit of threading a way through the forest edge. Scarcity of food supplies necessitated a single meal daily; it rained all day and most of the night; and no wood could be induced to burn. Of game or fish there was none. Captain Vargas Bozo, our Bolivian companion, broke down completely in lat. 13° 40', and had to be left behind to make his best way westward to the Tambopata in order to save his life. I learnt afterwards that he lost his compass and then himself, and if the much-abused savages whom we left friendly had not discovered him he certainly would never have got out. But for the inexhaustible energies of Leigh and Todd, the rest of the party would have suffered a good deal more. As it was, three of them broke down and could carry nothing beyond their bare kit.

It would be difficult to speak too highly of Leigh, who was a cheerful and splendid worker throughout. Unfortunately, his doctor will not allow him to go out again.

Owing to the persistent rain in the upper river, it was impossible to take astronomical observations. The position of the source is therefore dependent upon the compass and dead reckoning.

From the source I was forced to retrace my steps to lat. 13° 39', in order to cross to the Tambopata, which we struck at a small post called Marte within two leagues of the Heath.

Geologically, the predominating feature of the upper Heath is slate, alternating with contorted beds of granite and quartzite, and occasional sandstone. With the granite and quartzite frequently occur shallow beds of red and blue clays. This blue clay occasionally occurs as a conglomerate with small rounded pebbles of quartz, and might possibly repay a prospect for diamonds, of which there are rumours in a similar formation in the Madre de Dios. The slate, which is probably a continuation of the same formation which occurs at Sto. Domingo on the Inca Mining Company's road, carries veins of quartz which may be gold bearing in places; but I had no means of making any efficient prospect.

Butterflies are magnificent, and insects generally troublesome throughout the river, particularly the "pium" or "marigui," every one of whose myriads leaves its itchy blood-blister. The water in the upper river is remarkably clear and most prolific of fish, amongst which is a very small bellicose variety to which we attributed mysterious stings while bathing, and another which skims along the surface on its tail in the manner of the familiar gar fish, and both of which are, I fancy, peculiar to this river. The sting ray is plentiful throughout, and the "kanderu," that unpleasant little fish with a predilection for getting into the interior economy, infests the lower river. Snakes, poisonous and other, are very numerous both in the rivers and on the banks.

The usual accompaniment of venomous ants, poisonous flies, ticks, etc., is, of course. present in the forest, and through the entire Caupolican precautions have to be taken against the vampire bat. Four of us were bitten by this pest on the same night. The soft whirring of its wings over the head prior to biting has a curiously soporific effect. One feels absolutely nothing. I awoke one morning to find the upper end of, my hammock saturated with blood. There are no recognizable ill effects; but in some parts of the civilized Caupolican it is impossible to keep cattle, and in the upper Tambopata the Indian rubber-pickers suffer from a species of anaemia attributed to the repeated attacks of this pest. Mules and horses are almost invariably bitten on the withers, the bite in a couple of days swarming with maggots if not attended to. The region of the upper Tambopata is specially victimized by that delightful insect known as the "boro" or "sututu," which lays eggs under the human skin to ripen to maggots. Scarcely any one escapes these attentions. There are three culprits, a moth, a tabana, or species of large housefly, and a mosquito, the maggots of which take some days to develop, and vary from the size of a pin's head to that of a large chrysalis. The maggots grip and eat their way into the flesh and are very painful, only being extracted by previously intoxicating the occupant with tobacco juice or some strong antiseptic.

We were fortunate in reaching the Tambopata at Marte, where we found Captain Vargas Bozo, and passed slowly, after a day's rest, to San Carlos, a rubber station about 40 miles up river. Here I left the party to recover, with the exception of Leigh, who accompanied me to search for the Lanza, whose confluence with the Tambopata it was necessary to determine accurately. The position was found considerably at variance with previous reports; indeed, the geographical data of the whole of this portion of the frontier compel modifications in the treaty. On September 30 the party returned to Marte, whence it was necessary to reach Astillero in the lower river. I had two occultations supporting one another to which to refer longitudes, one in the Madre de Dios and the other in the Heath; but it is always a satisfaction to link up a circle of longitudinal differences. Moreover, there was a considerable discrepancy with the Inca Mining Company's position for Astillero, and I wished to be sure that I was not in the wrong. I discovered on the way out that they had made a mistake in their calculations, which brought all my observations into line with their own; so that there is not probably any great error in the co-ordinates.

The upper Tambopata between Marte and Astillero is one 45-mile series of rapids 200 or 300 yards apart. Above Marte it is not navigable. Below it is not inhabited to Astillero, except by some small tribes of Chunchos or Echojas, who are friendly; and the navigation is confined to balsas, rafts of seven logs of a special light wood. Our Bolivian friend was unable to swim, and as it is not advisable to risk such a journey without this accomplishment, he returned to La Paz by way of Sandia and Kohata. The rest of us set out on three balsas. All the valuable cargo went with me, as I had previous experience of this class of navigation. In fact, Leigh and I reached Astillero without mishap. But the other balsas suffered repeated shipwreck, one going to pieces on a snag, and being repaired by some friendly Indians. Anything more exhilarating than the descent of roaring and tortuous rapids, the end of which cannot be seen, in a river unknown to one, can scarcely be imagined. The balsa swung down them, sometimes through a raging tumble of great waves, at a rate of 40 miles an hour. I looked back once in a rapid to see Leigh in the water behind the balsa gasping for breath and holding on by his fingernails. He had simply tried to keep the stern off a rock in the middle of the rapid, and had shot overboard. The descent made up, however, for all the labour in the Heath. We reached Astillero on October 3, and were warmly welcomed by its incredulous population, who had so considerably prophesied and anticipated all sorts of disasters. From here in due course we took mules, and returned to La Paz on the 25th of the same month.

This exploration, the difficulties of which are scarcely. appreciated by even the Government concerned, after the event, would have been absolutely impracticable for any large force without a previous knowledge of the upper river, or for a small force of Bolivians or Peruvians, against whom the savages are especially revengeful. It all hinged upon friendly relations with the Indians, and, like all other journeys in South American forests, upon the ability to withstand the strain of very hard work coupled with shortage of food. I certainly anticipated no such easy return, nor do I think we should have had such a one if the source of the river had been more to the east of the Tambopata, or the latter river been uninhabited, as for all that we knew to the contrary it might have been. Because, although we had plenty of excellent food whilst we bad canoe transport, there is a very narrow limit to the amount one can carry on ones back in addition to instruments, rifles, and the minimum of camp equipment. As it was, we ran out of food completely before reaching the Tambopata, and some of the party had not only passed the limit of carrying anything more than their hammock and rifle, but had just about reached their limit of endurance even with that light load. What is required for these explorations is a small party of loyal and very hard men. Numbers are a distinct handicap, except in so far as they save the nervous strain inevitable to a small party in hostile country.

I fail to see, after five years' experience of South American exploration, how it is possible to simplify or render less risky such work. A leader with experience and six good men can, in my opinion, go anywhere; whereas a large force can very well be lost, as they not infrequently have been. A system of depots and unlimited expenditure might simplify matters, as in the Brazilian telegraph work in northern Matto Grosso, where, however, the loss of life has been very great ; but in this case it has been necessary to condense our work into the months between May and October, when rivers are passable and local inundations do not exist. I neither have unlimited funds nor do I want them. Moreover, the Government, with very good reason, wishes the work done quickly and economically. After all, exploration is a very different matter from the leisurely survey which follows, when the party knows exactly where it is going and what it is up against.

This mapping of the river Heath winds up the frontier exploration of Bolivia, whose delimitation should be completed next year.

However, I hope this year to have the opportunity of crossing from the Heath to the Madidi, somewhere about the latitude of 13° 35', and seeing more of the Guarayos, and possibly old Incan ruins.

The Bolivian Government has, I may say, given me throughout every facility for which I have asked, and has denied me nothing. I owe also a debt of gratitude to my friend Colonel Don Pedro Suarez, the Bolivian Consul-General in London, whose interest and sympathy have been as unfailing as they have been invaluable. I have been limited only by the natural difficulties of the country. In this year's' work we had, too, the cordial co-operation of the Peruvian Government, whose local governors were most courteous and hospitable so far as their abilities extend. There is every hope that the delimitation, which on the part of Peru is in the hands of British officers, will be conducted on equally cordial terms, which will go far to cement the friendly relations of two rich countries of identical interests. The benefits are likely to be appreciated at no distant date, for although the increasing production of gold is for many reasons to be deprecated, and is responsible for many troublesome social problems, it seems to me certain that, when or perhaps before the Panama canal is opened, there will be a boom on the rich gold belts of southern Peru and all Bolivia east of the Andean Cordilleras. The mineral wealth of these regions it is difficult to exaggerate. Gold is everywhere. Immense masses of auriferous quartz can be encountered throughout the Andes running, perhaps, one-half to one and a half ounces to the ton, while the gold-bearing slates to the east which at Sto. Domingo have reached eighty ounces to the ton, persist throughout southern Peru and Bolivia. These formations have been denuded for hundreds of thousands of years either into the old glacial moraines of the western heights or washed into the old river-beds and existing torrents of the . abrupt eastern slopes. None of these have been more than scratched at. A great gold district extends over 400 square leagues in the neighbourhood of Sta Cruz, and pushes out like a wedge into south-western Brazil. Remains of primitive washings and quartz workings of the Jesuits, abandoned on their expulsion, fairly litter the country. In southern Bolivia exists also what is probably the richest tin region in the world, the vast bulk of it unworked yet for the want of capital and difficulty of transport. I am not going into more details, for it is only repeating what I said in my paper of 1910. I only urge upon public attention the great awakening which is taking place on the Pacific side of the continent, which will be accentuated on the completion of the canal, affording a unique opportunity for enterprise. In Bolivia, at any rate, facilities will shortly exist for all mining ventures east of the Andes, as well as for other lucrative enterprises by the establishment of the transandine railway from La Paz to the Beni, which is the finest railway proposition to-day in South America.

Regarding further exploration, when the less exacting frontier delimitation has been completed this year, as it should be, I propose to traverse the unexplored portion of the Caupolican, a scheme encouraged by the Government, and almost certain to have interesting results. There will probably be only three of us, and I intend to risk the wet season in order to carry it through.

It may be as well to say that, though there is much to map or map accurately throughout South America, the areas which can properly be called unexplored are confined to certain parts of western Brazil, certain restricted corners of Bolivia and of the hinterland of Colombia, the latter of which, however, I am not, quite sure about.

Elsewhere, in Peru for instance, in the hinterland of Venezuela, and in Brazil, the rubber hunter and the gold prospector have between them penetrated pretty well every corner, and there are at least no mysteries. South of lat. 15° S., that is, in the open scrub and grass country to the south of the big forests of the Amazon basin, the geography is fairly well known, although there is still a hazy idea about some comers of the Bolivian Chaco and northern Paraguay. In all these places the savage has had trade relations with the white man, and may be visited with discretion and discomfort; and, as a rule, boats or the useful mule will simplify transport.

But in those portions of the forest regions of Brazil between the main rivers and up in the unknown whereabouts of their sources, or in the veritably unexplored parts of Bolivia, it is quite another problem. Experience is essential, and even with it the traveller must risk a good deal. Certain parts of western Brazil are probably impossible to penetrate without a considerable armed force, the financing, transport, and feeding of which offer serious difficulties, unless the explorer likes to risk my small party theory and peaceful tactics. In Bolivia there is still the interior of the Caupolican unknown, and the eastern centre between the Mamore and Guapore in the region of the S. Simon hills, which, if once partially known, needs re-exploration.

For reasons which may now be better appreciated, there is not to-day one single genuine exploration party in the forests of tropical South America south of the equator, nor have I heard of any expedition independent of boats and mules. It is an absolute fact that in the region of the upper waters of the Amazonian tributaries, east of the Andean slopes and away from rubber concessions and highways of trade, nothing is known of the great mass of the country a hundred yards from the river-banks.

I hinted last year at the romances which may await the explorer if he will leave the rivers and get away from the rubber districts into the more remote forests. They were not exaggerated. There are strange beasts and weird insects for the naturalist, and reason, at any rate, for not condemning as a myth the existence of the mysterious white Indian. There are rumours of forest pigmies and old ruins. Of the Amazonian aborigines there are plenty of theories, and little of fact. Nearer civilization there are lost mines.

I could tickle the appetite of the romantic with more, but it is not sufficiently definite to warrant courting a reputation for travellers tales from the incredulous folk who sit at home and think they know all that is to be known about the world. What I hope is that the publicity of these explorations may attract other adventurous spirits into this neglected part of the world. But it should be remembered that the difficulties are great and the tale of disasters a long one, for the few remaining unknown corners of the world exact a price for their secrets. Without any desire whatever for self-glorification, I can vouch for it that it requires a great enthusiasm to successfully bridge, year after year, the wide gulf which lies between the comforts of civilization and the very real risks and penalties which dog every footstep in the unexplored forests of this still little-known continent.

The PRESIDENT (before the lecture): Major Fawcett, who is going to lecture to us to-night, addressed us less than a year ago in this hall, and therefore it is necessary to say very few words in introducing him. In the year 1906 he went out to Bolivia in connection with the Boundary Commission demarcating the boundary between Bolivia and Brazil, and he went through a country practically unknown, suffering great hardships. His present expedition - the one he has undertaken since this time last year - is in connection with the boundary between Bolivia and Peru, and he has also traversed regions which have never before been visited by Europeans, and has again met with considerable difficulty and considerable danger. The river he ascended has never before been ascended by any one, and is new ground.

Colonel PEDRO SUAREZ: I must commence by thanking Major Fawcett for the very interesting paper he has just given to us on his recent explorations in my country. I must tell you that it is owing to Major Fawcett's bravery that this has been accomplished, because I know, from persons who have informed me, how he crossed the river in front of a whole tribe of hostile savages, and simply by his bravery induced them to cease firing, and accompanied them to their village. I must say they are indeed very hostile, because I have been among them myself, and in 1893 General Pando not only lost some of his men, but also lost his nephew, and the engineer, Mr. Muller, who, tired of the journey, decided to cross from one of the rivers up to the Modeidi, and up to this day we have not heard anything about them. In fact, an expedition that was sent a year or two afterwards discovered in the savage village the empty cartridges of the revolvers, which undoubtedly showed that they had defended themselves against the savages. About the insects that Major Fawcett has just told you, I can vouch for those myself, because unfortunately I had a few in my arm on one occasion, and I did not quite understand what they were until some Indians pulled them out from my arm. Bolivia owes a great deal to Major Fawcett and the three non-commissioned officers who accompanied him, because they have indeed discovered an unknown part of the Heath, as General Pando and some of the others have not gone quite up. Major Fawcett has done more work in that part of South America than all the other men who have gone on explorations. If we had a few more men like him, I am sure there would not be a single corner of the unexplored regions of Brazil or Bolivia that would remain long without being known to everybody. I have to thank Major Fawcett once more for the interesting paper, and I wish him great success this year, as he is returning early neat month to join the Bolivian Commission, which will meet on April 1.

M. EDUARDO Lembcke : As a result of the treaty about the delimitation of Peru and Bolivia, my Government has asked the British Government to lend them some officers to undertake the task on our side. This is the result of the good work done already by Major Fawcett and his companions for Bolivia. I feel sure that both Commissions, working in harmony, will be able to bring this boundary question to a satisfactory end. What Major Fawcett has told us to-night about the interesting features in Bolivia will certainly be enlarged much more when these two commissions have completed their work there, and I can only say that when the delimitation is finished we shall have another very, interesting evening here, listening to the gallant officers to whom this delicate piece of work has been entrusted by both Governments respectively.

The PRESIDENT: Those ladies and gentlemen who often attend our meetings know how easy it is for me, as a rule, to call on a number of gentlemen who are acquainted with the part of the world being described, and it is a tribute to the solitary and unknown region which we have heard discussed tonight that there is not, I believe, a single person in this hall who has ever been anywhere near this part of the world. There are, it is true, the three non-commissioned officers who accompanied Major Fawcett, whose names, I know, he wishes always to have coupled with his in connection with this arduous exploration. The main exploration accomplished by Major Fawcett on this occasion was the ascent for the first time of the Heath river. If you look at his map which he gave us this time last year you will see that the Heath river is fairly accurately drawn, and possibly in time it may be said that that accuracy indicated that the course of that river was known beforehand. It was, however, merely a clever anticipation of Major Fawcett that enabled him to draw that river on the map. Major Fawcett, you will observe, travelled nearly the whole of his time along the banks of rivers. But we are glad to hear from him that he intends to go right across the country next time. It will be an arduous expedition, but it will be well worth undertaking, and we wish Major Fawcett the best good luck in his endeavour to accomplish the feat. I think we must all be thankful to Bolivia in that it still affords one of the few places in the world where the explorer can go forth and exhibit perseverance, energy, courage, forethought, and all those qualities which go to make up the qualities of an explorer of the times now passing away. Major Fawcett has shown all these qualities, and also another, the one I like to dwell on most. I allude to the way in which he was able, by peaceful dealing with the savages, to win his way amongst them without having to fire a single shot.

Major FAWCETT: I should like to thank Your Excellencies and Major Darwin for your kindly allusions to the work, both on my own account and on behalf of my companions. I am sure that as long as we can uphold British prestige, benefit the country for which we are working, and also add something to geographical knowledge, we shall not grumble at the difficulties and the insects. I thank you very much for your attention.

Reproduced with the permission of the Royal Geographic Society, 2001