A LOST CITY

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 March 1929, Page 2

A LOST CITY

SEARCHING THE AMAZON.

The Brazilian-American scientific expedition, headed by J. Tozzi Calvao, which will search for a lost city believed to have been built in the Amazon Valley by the Phoenicians many centuries ago, arrived at Rm de Jan- ! eiro a few weeks ago. Mr Calvao, who has made twelve other expeditions into the jungles of the Amazon Valley, declared (according to a United Press message to the “Christian Science Monitor”) that no white man has ever penetrated into the region where the Indians believe the lost city exists. Indians, living many miles apart, speak of the city with awe, he said. The city is believed by Calvao to be on the north-west-ern slope of the Sierra del Norte Mountain .range. “Previous trips into the region have resulted in the finding of traces of the Phoenician language in vases and pottery,” Calvao said. “The territory we

intend to visit lies to the south-west of a rock at the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Amazon River. A large rock, bearing the carving of a ship of ’the Phoenician type and an arrow pointing in a south-easterly direction, has been uncovered at that point. “The expedition wil first seek the headwaters of the Aripuana River, which has been explored for a distance of 200 miles. A trip through Cuyaba, capital of the State of Matto Grosso, to Vilhena, 450 miles distant, will then be made."’ The waters of the Aripuana River, so far as he has explored them, contain cannibal fish, Calvao said, and other specimens will be studied as the expedition progresses in its mapping of the remote lands. The expedition expects to spend ten months in the jungles. Communication with the outside world will be maintained by short-wave radio equipment. The radio will also be used to locate positions in the wilds.