ot 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