New Expedition Into Unknown Brazil.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18615, 17 November 1928, Page 19 (Supplement)

New Expedition Into Unknown Brazil.

Explorer s Encounter With Man-Elating Monkeys, BY A STAFF CORRESPONDENT (Written for trie “Star” and N-AJ'LAJ

NEW YORK, September 19. Another explorer will leave New York this month to match forces with the Brazilian wilderness that swallowed up Colonel P. H. Fawcett, his son Jack, and their companion, Raleigh Rimell, and through which Commander George M. Dyott is now fighting his way out. Mr J. Tozzi Calvao, a Brazilian engineer and explorer, has been appointed by the Brazilian Government to lead a party of scientists down a 900mile long river, as yet unnamed, and on most maps unmarked, but which is known by rubber gatherers to empty into the lower Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon. This river, three-quarters of a mile wide at its mouth, is thought to rise in the mountains on the central western plateau of the Matto Grosso, westerly from the Xingu River. Rubber gatherers have been up the nameless river two hundred miles to a large waterfall. Beyond this no white man is known to have penetrated. The Calvao Expedition will operate much in the same manner as the Roosevelt-Rondon expedition which put the River of Doubt on the map. Mr Calvao was with Commander Dyott when the British explorer retraced Colonel Roosevelt's route down the River of Doubt two years ago. In addition to surveying the unnamed tributary of the Madeira, the Brazilian Government hopes the Calvao party will verify reports of a country rich in rubber and other resources. Mr Calvao will take a geologist, a naturalist, an archeologist, and a geographer with him. Part of the scientific staff will be American, and part officers supplied by the Brazilian Government. The scientists from the United States will be appointed within the next few days. A radio operator, with an adequate short-wave portable radio set, will accompany the party. “ I don’t want Colonel Roosevelt’s experience with sceptics," Mr Calvao said. “ With radio we can report and check our position. There can be no doubt then that we are on the right river." Mr Calvao is taking most of his •quipment from the United States. The party will travel in portable, folding boats. The scientific staff will be completely equipped to map, survey, photograph and chart the river and the adjoining country. The expedition will pass through a region occupied by two unknown tribes of Indians. Mr Calvao does not expect any trouble with them, although he admits there is always the possibility of trouble.

“The Indians are like children," Mr Calvao said. “On my trip with Commander Dyott we encountered a tribe who told us that the people on the other side of the river were cannibals. They warned us not to sleep there. These Indians appeared to be very friendly, but when we started to portage through their country, to avoid the dangerous rapids before us, we found an arrow stuck in the trail. Commander Dyott decided to risk the river rather than take a chance with the Indians.

“ Colonel Fawcett never had trouble with Indians during his many years in South America. He had a small party, which generally is safer than a larger one. Yet he is reported to have been killed by the Indians. “ I have always found that if you treat the Indians right they’ll usually treat you right. But the rubber gatherers, who fear the Indians, have a habit of shooting first and talking afterward. Naturally the Indians have learned to retaliate in kind. That's what makes things hard for the peaceable explorer. “ I’d rather take a chance with the purely wild Indians, those who have seen a white man. It is this sort that we will encounter on the nameless river."

Mr Calvao, who is on the staff of the Brazilian Consul in New York, has had long experience in the Amazonian wilderness. In April, 1923, while hunting the “ pe de garrafa ” or bottle-foot monkey, which is believed by the natives to be a man-eater, Mr Calvao and his companion, Carlos Reith, were attacked by a male and femle of this huge species. Mr Calvao fired into the female’s chest at close range. She rushed him as if untouched. He fired a second shot between the eyes. She wrenched his rifle away and broke it in two as she collapsed. The explorer fainted from loss of blood and shock. When Mr Calvao revived he searched for his companion, who had been attacked by the male. He found Reith’s rifle. The great ape’s tracks looked as if they had been made by pressing a bottle into the ground. Twenty feet further, Mr Calvao found his companion’s headless body. From the jungle beyond he could hear the diminishing roar of the pe de garrafa as it disappeared bearing the head of the unfortunate Reith. The Calvao Expedition will leave civilisation at the town of Vilhene in the Matto Grosso. The trip is expected to last eight or ten months. (Copyright toy tai* “ Star *• and toi« North American Newspaper Alliance. All rights reserved.)