MISSIONARIES’ FATE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22955, 10 August 1936, Page 6

MISSIONARIES’ FATE

EXPEDITION IN BRAZIL SEARCH PARTIES’ DISCOVERIES An account of the unsuccessful search for the three missionaries— Messrs F. Roberts, F. Dawson and F. Wright—who were lost in the forests of Brazil, has been received by the Unevangelised Fields Mission. The “three Freds,” as they were popularly known, set out in April of last year to conduct a mission among the Kayapos, a dangerous tribe of Indians. As no messages were received from them, Messrs H. Banner and W. Johnstone set out in search of them in May last, and they made discoveries which confirmed the fears that the three men had been killed. One of the party, Mr Roberts, who was an Australian, was well known in Dunedin, which he visited only a few months before he left on the ill-fated expedition For their journey to the Xingu River region the “ three Freds ” had been equipped with a small outboard motor boat, in which, the search party learned, they left the Brazilian village of Novo Olinda on what was intended to be an exploration of the Rio Zinho. It was well known that the lair of the Kayapo Indians lay behind an enormous cataract on this river known as the “ Smoke Falls.” The searchers found that the three men had cleared a track through the forest to enable them to transport their boat past a series of rapids, and it was here that the first warning of the fate of the men was given, for there were many traces of a recent visit by Indians, who had dragged from its hiding place and destroyed a trolley used for the transport of the motor boat. The searchers returned to their base and then set out again well equipped for an investigation of the fate of the earlier expedition. The next clue was the finding of a camping place where the men had cut their initials into a tree. For a further five days, however, the searchers were unable to find any trace of the men, but at last they reached the “Smoke Falls,” where they discovered waterlogged and half-hidden in a creek the motor boat of the “three Freds.” It was found to have been mutilated by the Indians. A search of the surrounding bush revealed a heap of clothing almost destroyed by white ants. There was no sign that the three men had camped even for a meal. “A curtain of doubt,” writes Mr Banner, “ must conceal that meeting with the Indians, though it would seem that the roar of the motor had angered them, causing them to gather together in great numbers to await the arrival of the missionaries at the falls.” . . Mr Banner formed the opinion from the behaviour of the Indians that it was unlikely that the three men were prisoners and added that both he and Mr Johnstone were convinced that they were dead.