The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

In this four-page chapter, back in the early 21st century, Grann purchases supplies for his journey at a Manhattan store for outdoor enthusiasts. A friendly attendant helps Grann find everything he needs and engages him in a conversation about the Amazon’s most notorious dangers, including the flesh-eating piranha and blood-sucking candiru. Back home, Grann tucks his son into bed and examines a copy of a letter that contains a reference to Fawcett’s first RGS mission.

In 1901, Fawcett enters Morocco as a spy for the British government. He completes his mission in 1902 and then passes four years in comparative idleness. In 1906, new RGS president George Taubman Goldie, a former imperial official, invites Fawcett to lead an expedition into South America to map a particular region, thereby settling a boundary dispute between Bolivia and Brazil. Fawcett leaps at the chance.

On July 4, 1906, Fawcett and his second in command, Arthur John Chivers, set out from the Bolivian capital of La Paz. At the “distant outpost” of Riberalta, deep in the Amazon frontier, Fawcett is horrified to find “guards with whips driving a chain of about thirty” Indigenous men and women off a boat so they can be inspected for purchase (88). Far beyond the reach of organized government, the region’s extremely wealthy rubber barons still use slave labor, and their deadly methods to acquire these slaves have made the local tribes wary of foreigners. Fawcett is openly appalled by this system and speaks out against how dangerous it has made expeditions like his. Having recruited a party of nearly two-dozen adventurers and guides, Fawcett and Chivers leave Riberalta, heading north and west. They are all wary of the various dangerous creatures that live in the rivers, and the expedition has a harrowing encounter with a giant anaconda along the way. Notwithstanding the dangers, Fawcett proves a demanding taskmaster, driving the men to the point of exhaustion. Meanwhile, mosquitoes drive everyone to near insanity. Overcome with fear of cannibalistic natives, the men are “beginning to panic,” and even Chivers is “unraveling” (99). Fawcett, however, appears impervious to the difficulties, and the expedition completes its task in May 1907, a year earlier than anticipated. 

The narrative returns to Grann, who travels to Wales to meet Fawcett’s granddaughter, Rolette de Montet-Guerin, a “petite, energetic woman in her fifties,” who informs Grann that her family has always referred to Fawcett as simply “PHF” (101). Rolette offers to show Grann Fawcett’s diaries and logbooks. Examining the materials, Grann discovers that in the 1920s an increasingly paranoid Fawcett communicated with Nina in code. Grann also finds coordinates for Dead Horse Camp, a spot along Fawcett’s ill-fated 1925 route, that do not match coordinates published by Fawcett’s son Brian in the 1953 book Exploration Fawcett. Rolette informs him that the published coordinates were intentionally misreported to keep other explorers from finding it. Finally, Rolette shows Grann a photo of Fawcett’s signet ring, which turned up at a Brazilian shop in 1979. A psychic told Rolette that the ring “had been bathed in blood” (106).

In 1908, Fawcett embarks upon his second expedition into the Amazon. With Frank Fisher as his second-in-command and accompanied by seven new recruits, Fawcett leaves Corumba on the Brazil-Bolivia border and heads northwest to explore the Rio Verde. When the river becomes impassable, Fawcett decides to follow it on foot and live off the land. He orders the men to leave behind every non-essential item and bring only a few days’ worth of rations. They struggle to find food and are near starvation. Some are delirious, thinking only of hunger. They are too weak even to swat the mosquitoes. Fawcett shoots a deer, which buys time, but five of the men eventually perish. When he emerges from the jungle, Fawcett appears emaciated.

Grann shows his wife the exact spot on the map where he intends to pick up Fawcett’s trail. In this two-page chapter, Grann points to the coordinates for Dead Horse Camp that he discovered in the logbook while visiting Fawcett’s granddaughter in Wales. Grann also mentions a document he found in the RGS archives. Marked “CONFIDENTIAL” and dated April 13, 1924, the document lays out Fawcett’s case for “the most remarkable relics of ancient civilization” between the Xingu and Tapajos Rivers, southern tributaries of the Amazon (114). Fawcett indicates that he plans to take the dangerous path overland, between the two rivers, and that he might not survive. 

At home in Devon, Fawcett grows restless. His obsession takes a toll on Nina, who is forced to live in “genteel poverty,” though she also operates as “her husband’s chief advocate” while living vicariously through him (117). Young Jack also dreams of following in his father’s footsteps. The press begins to take notice, trumpeting Fawcett’s superhuman fitness and apparent indestructibility.

Fawcett shows little tolerance for others’ weakness, as evidenced by his 1911 expedition with James Murray, a scientist who had explored Antarctica. Accompanied by Henry Costin and Henry Manley, who prove to be his most trusted compatriots, Fawcett sets ambitious goals for the expedition. Accustomed to tracking through ice and snow, the newcomer Murray struggles to keep up with Fawcett’s breakneck pace. Fawcett chides Murray, accuses him of cowardice and thievery. Manley contracts malaria, and Costin develops espundia. Maggots begin to grow inside Murray’s knee and elbow. Murray weakens. His limbs appear gangrenous. With reluctance, Fawcett diverts his path in search of a way to get Murray out of the jungle. Fawcett believes Murray will die and is tempted to abandon him, but he encounters a man who is willing to carry Murray to the nearest settlement. Murray survives, is nursed back to health, and returns to La Paz, furious at Fawcett and threatening legal action. The RGS exonerates Fawcett, though it is unknown how or if Murray was appeased.

In Sao Paolo, Grann meets with James Lynch, who along with his son and 10 others had been taken prisoner by an Indigenous tribe in 1996. Lynch explains that after three days in captivity, he had managed to negotiate his party’s release in exchange for thirty-thousand dollars’ worth of equipment. He advises Grann to find an excellent guide, keep his numbers small so as not to attract unwanted attention, and remember that “[m]ost of these Fawcett expeditions never come back” (146).