MISSING EXPLORER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21165, 23 April 1932, Page 9

MISSING EXPLORER.

CASE OF COLONEL FAWCETT. f

LOST FOR FIVE YEARS.

HOPES OF SAFETY REVIVED.

[FROM our own correspondent.]

NEW YORK, March 30,

The British authorities in London and Brazil have had their insistent hopes in the safety of Colonel Fawcett revived bv a report made to the British Consul at Sao Paulo, Brazil, by a Swiss hunter, Stephen Rattin, that he had seen a man who claimed to bo Fawcett, beyond the farthest outpost of civilisation in the region of the Upper Amazon. Mr. Rattin is reported to have lived in the jungle for 14 years arid to be on friendly terms with the Indian tribes.. Making one of his periodical trips back to civilisation, he called on the British Consul, Mr. Arthur Abbot, and advised him of the incident. "I have thoroughly questioned Mr. Rattin, and have every confidence in hi 3 information," says the Consul. "He tells me of conversing with a man who claimed to be Fawcett. Mr. Rattin said he cams to an Indian encampment, six weeks' journey from here. It was somewhere west of the Xingu and east of the Madeiro Rivers. A white man, dressed in skins and wearing a long beard, approached Mr. Rattin, saying ho was Fawcett, and asking that a report be made to me." . Missing lor Five Years. The man Mr. Rattin met asked him to communicate also with Sir Ralph Spencer Paget, British Ambassador to Brazil. Mr. Rattin said the man was wearing four rings, a custom of the explorer, who had been reported missing since 1925. Ho asked Mr. Rattin to tell the Ambassador that he was well, but unable to getaway. lie said his son Jack and a friend, Raleigh Rimmell, the only two white men who accompanied him, were dead.

The sources of the Xingu and Madeira Rivers are known only to the junglo natives. The regions they flow through are almost impenetrable. The rivers appear on maps of the interior, but definite information of the configuration of the sector is known only to the tribesmen who live on the river banks and navigato their waters in huge, crude dugouts made

from logs. Colonel Fawcett knew as much as any white man about the Brazil hinterland. Pie hoped to find the lost city, which he believed would throw some light on the earliest civilisation in South America. He was last reported to be ill with fever in the Cayuga country. His friend, Captain Dyott, who conducted niore than one search party, expressed the belief that Colonel Fawcett had died oi fever, or fallen in with hostile Indians. Dominated by Native Chie!.

Mr. Rattin in liis statement saya: "When I was talking with some Indians I noticed a white man, tall in stature, but rather heavy, with white hair _and a beard, apparently about 65 years old. He did not approach me, although he scrutinised me closely. Later I asked him if he spoke Portuguese and ho whispered the one word falteringly, 'Englishman.' The headman intervened and ended the conversation immediately, ordering the white man away. But my curiosity was aroused. I remained at the village for 10 days, determined to solve the mystery if possible and win the confidence of the Indians, so they would allow me to talk with the white man. "I got an opportunity to talk with the man after four days. He told me he was Colonel Fawcett arid asked me to communicate with any British Consulate and with a farmer named Paget. This was all the information I could get, except that he had been held prisoner for over five years. When he told me this he became so emotional ho could not continue speaking. He said nothing concerning the treatment given him by the Indians. • He wore Indian garb. His skin was almost as dark as an Indian's. It was obvious, however, that he was a white man. He did not appear to be suffering from hunger or sickness. But obviously he was completely dominated by the native chief. "I promised that I would deliver the message and set off for Bairetos, believing there was a British consulate there. I reached Barretos after many days' slow travel through the jungle, but found no British officials. I then started for Sao Paulo and after six weeks' difficult journey made my report to the British Con-sul-Gieneral, Mr. Arthur Abbott. He considered my report the most definite clue yet found to Colonel Fawcett's fate. I believo the man I saw in the jungle was tho missing explorer."