Observations placeholder
Fawcett, Lt Colonel Percival Harrison - And the scourge of malaria and yellow fever
Identifier
022766
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Fawcett seemed immune to all these complaints. It might be worth asking the question – why?
A description of the experience
The Lost City of Z – David Grann
Six months into the expedition, most of the men, including Chivers, were sick with fever. They were overcome with insatiable thirst, skull splitting headaches, and uncontrollable shivering. Their muscles throbbed so much that it was hard to walk. They had contracted, in most cases, either yellow fever or malaria. If it was yellow fever, what the men feared most was spitting up mouthfuls of blood-the so-called black vomit- which meant that death was near.
When it was malaria-which, according to one estimate, more than 80 percent of the people then working in the Amazon contracted - the men sometimes experienced hallucinations, and could slip into a coma and die.
At one point, Fawcett shared a boat with four passengers who fell ill and perished. Using paddles, he helped to dig their graves along the shore. The only monument, Fawcett noted, was “a couple of crossed twigs tied with grass”.