The Lost City of Z Summaries

Nick Indrieri

Chapter 7-8

Freeze Dried Ice Cream and Adrenaline Socks, Into the Amazon (pg. 75-100)

In this chapter James prepares to enter the Amazon, he goes to a store and buys a whole bunch of things that the salesman says are incredibly helpful, such as thermoses that double as lanterns, and kayaks that fold into very small spaces. The next chapter goes back to Fawcett’s past, where he begins by describing the prevalence of malaria in the vicinity. He then goes on to tell that he made his men swear not to fire their weapons at the opposing Indian tribes should they come upon any. Then he was lamenting the fact that he traded such luxurious conditions in his old quarters in the army for the dull and dreadful explorer’s life, he misses his family and wishes he hadn’t chose to do this. Then he and his party see an Indian tribe that surrounds them, who begin to fire arrows and other projectiles at them with large bows while the men in his team flee. Fawcett himself wanted to try to speak with them, but to no avail. His men all ran away in the boats and he had no chance to commune with the natives, they then proceeded to finish their task of mapping the borders of South America.

Chapter 9-10-11

The Secret Papers, The Green Hell, Dead Horse Camp (pg.101-113)

I the first chapter, the author pays a visit to one of Percy Fawcett’s relatives, who feeds him and allows him to peruse some of Percy’s old logbooks and diaries. She then tells him that a ring that had been retrieved from the expedition had been covered in blood when discovered. The title of the next chapter is based on the fact that the Amazon looks like a nice place but it is really horrible, a so called “counterfeit paradise” because of how nice it looks and how bad it really is. While they were in the jungle Fawcett killed a deer and all of his men ate well but five of them still died from the jungle. The next chapter goes back to the author David Grann’s point of view as he readies himself to search for clues; he shows is wife on a computer where he intends to start the search. Dead Horse Camp, where Fawcett’s horse had died. He had discovered a document at the RGS of one of the few times when Percy had disclosed his position in the jungle. He had included coordinates for which direction he would be leaving in. David then left for a plane to Brazil.