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Head Hunters of the Amazon is one of the greatest adventure books of all time. In 1894 the author, just out of a New York college, took off for the headwaters of the Amazon. For seven years he survived piranhas, army ants, vampire bats, electric eels, murderous pirates, giant whirlpools, 30-foot anacondas, sand crabs, parasites, and – of course – headhunters.
Early on he partnered-up with another American, a veteran of the Klondike, and the two of them hunted their fortunes up the Yasuní River,
...a venture which appealed above all others to both of us; to Jack, a born prospector, it opened up visions of gold-working descendants of the Incas in possession of the hidden treasures of the Ancients; in me it awakened the old longing to explore where no white man had ever trodden before.
Abandoned by their Indian guides, they lost all of their gear except two machetes and half a bottle of molasses. But they emerged, six months later, their clothes rotting from their bodies, with a small fortune in rubber.
The author is a reliable observer, careful with facts, looking for answers.
Suddenly, ten feet above the ground there came into view a long thin neck surmounted by a head with a pair of horns... “If this is its neck,” I thought, what will its body be like?” And then there flashed through my mind a possible solution. “The Diplodocus at last!” .... The neck withdrew, slowly and gracefully, leaving what I had taken to be the animal's head suspended from the vines... The anaconda – for such it was – after ridding itself of that portion of its prey which it could not swallow, withdrew slowly to find a spot where it could sleep off its meal in peace.
Despite the hardships, the author never loses his boyish wonder and appreciation of beauty.
We stopped to swim when the spirit moved us. We shot at everything we saw which might or might not be good to eat. We had time and powder to burn. Nobody was waiting for us on the pier at New York. There was nobody to say us yea or nay. We were having a splendid time.
The author is driven by curiosity more than wealth, and he survives on pure guts and ingenuity. He has left us a masterpiece of adventure writing.
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