The Devil-tree of
El Dorado
“IT WAS PASSED ABOUT; NOW LIFTED HIGH IN THE AIR BY ONE END, THENBY THE OTHER.”
Frontispiece.] [Page 249.
The Devil-tree
of El Dorado
A Novel
BY
FRANK AUBREY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY LEIGH ELLIS AND
FRED. HYLAND.
NEW YORK
NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY
156 FIFTH AVENUE
LONDON: HUTCHINSON & COMPANY
Copyright, 1897,
by
NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY.
PREFACE.
SHALL RORAIMA[1] BE GIVEN UP TO VENEZUELA?
Shall Roraima be handed over to Venezuela?Shall the mysterious mountain long known toscientists as foremost among the wonders of our earth—regardedby many as the greatest marvel of the world—becomedefinitely Venezuelan territory?
This is the question that hangs in the balance at thetime these words are being written, that is inseparablyassociated—though many of the public know it not—withthe dispute that has arisen about the boundariesof British Guiana.
Ever since Sir Robert Schomburgk first explored thecolony at the expense of the Royal Geographical Societysome sixty years ago, Roraima has remained an unsolvedproblem of romantic and fascinating interest, asattractive to the ‘ordinary person’ as to the man ofscience. And to those acquainted with the wondrouspossibilities that lie behind the solution of the problem,[vi]the prospect of its being handed over to a countryso little worthy of the trust as is Venezuela, cannotbe contemplated without feelings of disappointmentand dismay.
This is not the place in which to give a long descriptionof Roraima. It will suffice here to say that itssummit is a table-land which, it is believed, has beenisolated from all the rest of the world for untold ages;no wilderness of ice and snow, but a fertile country ofwood and stream, and, probably, lake. Consequently itholds out to the successful explorer the chance—theprobability even—of finding there hitherto unknown animals,plants, fish. In this respect it exceeds in interestall other parts of the earth’s surface, not excepting thepolar regions; for the latter are but ice-bound wastes,while Roraima’s mysterious table-land lies in the tropicsbut a few degrees north of the equator.
Why, then, it may be asked, have our scientificsocieties not exhibited more zeal in the solving of theproblem presented by this strange mountain? Whyis it that unlimited money can, apparently, be raised forexpeditions to the poles, while no attempt has b