Across Unknown South America
By Arnold Henry Savage Landor
“More than three months to reach the spot?” asked the cinematograph man in amazement. “Then perhaps Monsieur is on a journey to Mars or the moon! No spot on earth takes so long to reach.” (Hearty laughter at his wit.)
That exclamation and the wise words that followed came from the assistant of one of the largest firms of cinematograph appliances in Paris, where I had called to purchase a moving picture apparatus and 10,000 meters of film for my forthcoming journey across the South American continent.
The shop assistant had very honestly warned me that if the films were to be used in a damp, tropical climate, they must be exposed and developed within three months of manufacturing. After that time, they would become so perforated and fogged that they would become useless. I had remarked that it would take me more than three months to reach the spot where I should begin to take cinematograph pictures.
“Will Monsieur please tell him where he would likely use the films?” the assistant continued, still overcome with surprise.
“In the heart of Brazil.”
“In the heart of Brazil … in the very heart of Brazil?… Oh, mon Dieu! mon Dieu!” (More laughter and a look of compassion at me.) “Mais nous avons une de nos maisons tout à fait près de là!” (Why, indeed, we have one of our factories quite close there.)
It was then my turn for hearty laughter and a look of compassion.
“Pray,” I inquired, “tell me more exactly. Where is your factory close to the heart of Brazil?”
Read or download Book
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
Arnold Henry Savage Landor (2 June 1865 – 26 December 1924) was an English painter, explorer, writer, and anthropologist.
Life and career
Arnold H. S. Landor was born to Charles Savage Landor in Florence, Italy, where he spent his childhood. The writer Walter Savage Landor was his grandfather.
He left for Paris at age fifteen to study at the Académie Julian, directed by Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. He then traveled the world, including America, Japan, and Korea, painting many landscapes and portraits. His 1895 travel memoirs from Korea included accounts of appointments to portray two Princes of the ruling Min clan, each of whom received him more graciously than they had the British consul. The gifts from one of his sitters included a white leopard skin and a set of screens that were of exceptional rarity. Upon his return to England, Queen Victoria invited him to Balmoral to recount his adventures and show his drawings. He later traveled to Nepal and Tibet, telling of his experiences in two books: In the Forbidden Land (1898) and Tibet and Nepal (1905).
When he learned about the Boxer Rebellion in China, he went to Peking (now spelled Beijing) to join the victory parade, and afterward, he wrote China and the Allies (1901). 1901, he traveled from Russia to India, riding on horseback through Persia. He published the account of that journey in the book Across Coveted Lands (1902). A trip to the Philippine Islands resulted in another book: The Gems of the East (1904).
During the 1900s, he visited Abyssinia and painted a portrait of the king Menelik II. Landor’s book Across Widest Africa was published in 1906. In 1911 and 1912, he made an eventful expedition to the Mato Grosso in Brazil and published Across Unknown South America in 1913.
He actively participated in World War I, designing tanks and airships. Eventually, he retired to write his autobiography in Florence, where he died in 1924.
He is buried in the English Cemetery in Florence.
Works
- Alone with the Hairy Ainu (1893).
- Corea or Cho-sen (1895)
- In the Forbidden Land (1898), China and the Allies (1901).
- Across Coveted Lands (1902). VOL I. VOL II.
- The Gems of the East (1904).
- Tibet and Nepal (1905).
- The Living Races of Mankind (1905).
- Across Widest Africa (1907).
- An Explorer’s Adventures in Tibet (1910).
- Across Unknown South America (1913).
- Everywhere, the Memoirs of an Explorer (1924).
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
