ROOSEVELT V. LANDOR

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2145, 11 May 1914, Page 5

ROOSEVELT V. LANDOR

-t EXPLORERS AT ISSUE OVER THE FACTS OF BRAZILIAN ' DISCOVERIES ■ By T«lesraph—Press Aeoociation-Copyricht London, May 9. Mr. Roosevelt intends to visit England. Ho has announced his intention to controvert Mr. Henry Savage Landor's reported discoveries in Brazil. Mr. Landor, interviewed in Paris, retorts that before Mr. Roosevelt docs so ho would advise him to penetrate Brazil afoot instead of on a steam launch. "It seems," says Mr. Landor, "that ho has copied some of the principal incidents of my voyage. Ho even had the samo sickness and injuries. These things often happen to big explorers who carefully read other travellers' books." A BOOK OF THE DAY. ' ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA One of the most important contributions to the literature dealing wifh travel and exploration in South America that has appeared for somo timo is Mr. H. Savage-Landor's "Across Unknown South America." Mr. Landor claims to have Imoii tho first white, man to reach and establish the sources of the Brahmapootra River, the first to settle the geographical problem that there was no range higher than the Humlayas north of that river, ami tho first European to explore the interior of Mindanao Island in the Philippine.'Group. Tiro books on Tibet eland to his credit, and he is .also responsible for the bulk of volumes chronicling his journey across "Wildest Africa," and two others in which he sets forth his adventures in' Persia, Turkestan, nnd other parts of Western Asia. In "Across Unknown South America," Mr. Savage Landor tells the story of the heroic exploits and desperate endurance of hhnsolf and a small band of native servants as they travelled through u vast hitherto unexplored portion of Brazil and Peru. -The actual distance covered was no less than 13,750 miles, 5000 miles of which' was 'through what was practically a terra incojnita. The value of tho geographical and other information which was obtained ili.ns been practically recognised by the Brazilian Government, by which the author was presented with the substantial of JMOOO, He penetrated through regions covered with dense forest, only inhabited—and that very snnrsehv-by "ferocious Indian tribes; lie navigated tho Amazon and two of its principal' tributaries for several hundreds of miles in a rough and frail canoe; he fought an almost incredible fight against hunger, accompanied by servants who had been, he discovered, desperate criminals, and yet managed to win his way back to civilisation with a whole skin, without being robbed of his money, and, most precious achievement, perhaps, in the explorer's own mind, with a splendid collection of photographic plates. The entire course of the Amazon was studied from its mouth almost to its birth-place in tho Andes. > In Peril of His Life. The story teems with exciting incidents. At one point, where ho encountered a set of rapids so formidable as to .forbid the possibility of the canoe navigating them, the undaunted explorer and his men cut a road through tho denso forest and over a steen hill. Time "after time his men rebelled, nnd on more than one occasion threatened his life. It is however, Mr. Savage-Landoi'V proudest boast that ho succeeded in pulling through tho tightest places without resorting to orce, savo on one occasion, when one of his followers was about to attack him. with a knife. But, although'ho did not use his riflo.,tp,<rhoot down a. mutiueoiv.his men knew he would if he were driven" to' desperation. As a rule, however, Mr. Sav-age-Landor clearly believes in moral suasion, and although it seems almost imrossible that he should have been so pa--lent-and long-suffering with his rascally followers, as he describes himself as having been, the fact remains that he did succeed in quelling two very serious mutinies, on both of which- occasions he was absolutely nt the mercy of men of the most degraded character. The explorer strains his reader's powers of belief not a little when ho describes himself as having been without food, save bark of trees and herbs, for fourteen davs. When at last the journey through the forest was ovor, and tlio party, travelling down the Kiver Arinos on a roughly-constructed raft, met, .to their delight, a Portuguese rubber trader, they wero in a most deplorable condition. Of the scene.which ensued Mr. Savage--miL s \ ves ' e foll<nv ing description:— ■Ino trader and his men treated us with tender care. We were practically naked when they met us, my attire consisting of tho leather, belt with the bags of money round my waist, and a small portion of tli« sleeveless coat, all torn to pieces. Don ledro ftunes immediately gavo me some clothes, ivhilo his men gave garments to I l'llippe and Benedicto. Several men rushed about collecting wood, and in a moment a Inrge fire was blazing. Tho sight of proper food brought back our nppe.tites like magic. Our ravenous eyes gazed on fevcral big nieces of anta(tapirus American us) meat, through which a stick had b?cn pnssed, being broiled over tho flame. AVe Uiree starving men did not take our eyc s off that meat for a second until the man who was cooking it removed the stick and said tho meat was ready.- We pounced upon it like so raanv famished tigers. Tho meat was so hot that, as we tore away at the largo pieces with our teeth, our lips, noses, am! fingers wero absolutely, burned by the broiliV far. Don Nunes gently put bis Sand in front of me, saying: "Do not cat so quickly;; it is bad for you." But I pushed linn away with what vigour I had left. I could have killed anybody wh.o had stood between that piece of meat and me. I tore at it lustily .with my teeth, until there was nothing left of it. . .' , The sensation of eating—normal food—after such a long fast, wns a delightful one. But only for a. few moments. Pedro Nunes was just handing mo a cup of coffee when I dropped down unconscious, rejecting everything with a quantity of blood besides. _ When I recovered consciousness, Pedro Nunes said I had been unconscious for a loug timo. They all thought I wns dead. I felt almost unbearable'pain in my inside, and a lassitude as if life were about to bo extinguished altogether; . . 1 well remember how Pedro Nunes and his men, when standing around us just as we began eating-(hat first solid meal, had tears streaming down their cheeks while I watching, us in our dreadful plight. Oncn { more Nunes, rfho was one of the. kindest men I have evor met, fobbed bitterly when he asked mo to take off my clothes and change them for the newer'ones ho had given mo. . . .