Government.  Mr. Landor had asserted and promised that he would go through unknown country along the line of eleven degrees latitude south, and, as Colonel Rondon states, it was because of this proposal of his that the Brazilian Government gave him material financial assistance in advance.  However, Colonel Rondon sets forth that Mr. Landor did not keep his word or make any serious effort to fulfil his moral obligation to do as he had said he would do.  In a letter to me under date of May 1, 1914—­a letter which has been published in full in France—­Colonel Rondon goes at length into the question of what territory Mr. Landor had traversed.  Colonel Rondon states that—­excepting on one occasion, when Mr. Landor, wandering off a beaten trail, immediately got lost and shortly returned to his starting-point without making any discoveries—­he kept to old, well-travelled routes.  One sentence of the colonel’s letter to me runs as follows:  “I can guarantee to you that in Brazil Mr. Landor did not cross a hand’s breadth of land that had not been explored, the greater part of it many centuries ago.”  As regards Mr. Landor’s sole and brief experience in leaving a beaten route, Colonel Rondon states that at Sao Manoel Mr. Landor engaged from Senhor Jose Sotero Barreto (the revenue officer of Matto Grosso, at Sao Manoel) a guide to lead him across a well-travelled trail which connects the Tapajos with the Madeira via the Canama.  The guide, however, got lost, and after a few days they all returned to the point of departure instead of going through to the Canama.

Senhor Barreto, a gentleman of high standing, related this last incident to Fiala when Fiala descended the Tapajos (and, by the way, Fiala’s trip down the Papagaio, Juruena, and Tapajos was infinitely more important than all the work Mr. Landor did in South America put together).  Lieutenants Pyrineus and Mello, mentioned in the body of this work, informed me that they accompanied Mr. Landor on most of his overland trip before he embarked on the Arinos, and that he simply followed the highroad or else the telegraph-line, and furthermore, Colonel Rondon states that the Indians whom Mr. Landor encountered and photographed were those educated at the missions.

Colonel Rondon’s official report to the Brazilian Government and his letter to me are of interest to all geographers and other scientific men who have any concern with the alleged discoveries of Mr. Landor.  They contain very grave charges, with which it is not necessary for me to deal.  Suffice it to say that Mr. Landor’s accounts of his alleged exploration cannot be considered as entitled to the slightest serious consideration until he has satisfactorily and in detail answered Colonel Rondon; and this he has thus far signally failed to do.

Fortunately, there are numerous examples of exactly the opposite type of work.  From the days of Humboldt and Spix and Martius to the present time, German explorers have borne a conspicuous part in the exploration of South America.  As representatives of the men and women who have done such capital work, who have fronted every hazard and hardship and labored in the scientific spirit, and who have added greatly to our fund of geographic, biologic, and ethnographic knowledge, I may mention Miss Snethlage and Herr Karl von den Steinen.