Brazilian Adventure

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Brazilian Adventure is a book by Peter Fleming about his search for the lost Colonel Percy Fawcett in the Brazilian jungle. Fawcett along with his son and another companion had disappeared while searching for a lost civilization in 1925. Fleming was working as literary editor for The Times when he answered a small ad asking for volunteers to join an expedition to find out what had happened to Fawcett. The story of the expedition is told in Brazilian Adventure.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Despite a great deal of fanfare, the expedition seems to have been very poorly organized and Fleming and his companions don’t seem to have done much preparation for their journey, not even bothering to learn any Portuguese. When they got to Brazil, the country was engaged in one of its many revolutions which added to their problems. The expedition, commanded by an eccentric American colonel called Pringle, eventually made its way to the Araguaya river and they proceeded up it, blasting away at any creature that moved.

This is not a book in which there are any great insights into the natural history or the local tribes that the group encounters. Fleming does not attempt to provide any background and most descriptions of the animals are usually about how they were killed and eaten.

When the expedition reached the Tapirape river along which Fawcett was known to have traveled, the group broke up, with Col Pringle refusing to go any further. Fleming and two other colleagues resigned from the expedition and headed up the river alone. After some difficult traveling they are forced to turn back without discovering anything about the fate of Fawcett.

The third part of the book is probably the best and describes Fleming and his friends racing Col Pringle and the loyalists down the Araguaya and Tocantins rivers to the Amazon and the port of Belem, from where they could get a boat home. This part of the journey actually has a purpose, whereas it is difficult to believe that members of the expedition were really serious about the search for Fawcett.

The book is a light and amusing read and Fleming writes well, although he is very much a product of his time and class. As a travel book it provides few insights into the social and political situation in Brazil in that period.