360 Appendix A 



need of the latter by whoever has studied some of the 

 wild theories propounded in the name of science concern- 

 ing the history of life on the South American continent. 

 There is, however, one serious criticism to be made on 

 Haseman: the extreme obscurity of his style — ^an obscur- 

 ity mixed with occasional bits of scientific pedantry, 

 which makes it difficult to tell whether or not on some 

 points his thought is obscure also. Modern scientists, 

 like modem historians and, above all, scientific and his- 

 torical educators, should ever keep in mind that clearness 

 of speech and writing is essential to clearness of thought 

 and that a simple, clear, and, if possible, vivid style is vital 

 to the production of the best work in either science or his- 

 tory. Darwin and Huxley are classics, and they would 



tion for the Brazilian Government. Mr. Landor had asserted and 

 promised that he would go through unknown country along the line 

 of eleven degrees latitude south, and, as Colonel Rondon states, it 

 was because of this proposal of his that the Brazilian Government 

 gave him material financial assistance in advance. However, Colonel 

 Rondon sets forth that Mr. Landor did not 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 piala descended the Tapajos (and, by the 



