The Lost World

Ned briefly summarizes the trip to Manaos and provides more detailed descriptions of his traveling companions. He lists Summerlee’s many scientific achievements and is impressed by the professor’s passion for science. Summerlee continues to unapologetically insist that Challenger is a fraud.

Once they are inland, Ned notices that the Indigenous people admire Roxton. They call him the Red Chief. Years earlier, Roxton had freed a group of slaves from a Spanish slaver driver named Pedro Lopez. He armed them, led them against Lopez, and helped them gain their freedom.

Ned meets a dark-skinned man named Zambo, whom he describes unflatteringly as a “black Hercules” (64). Zambo will help them on their trip, along with two men named Manuel and Gomez, both of whom are referred to with a negative slur as well (64).

As instructed, they open Challenger’s letter at noon on July 15. It is blank, but Challenger arrives immediately afterwards. They travel up the river until August 2.

During the trip, Challenger and Summerlee argue frequently. They share similar opinions about science, but Summerlee describes himself as a judge who is there to expose and try Challenger as a fraud. Soon they draw near the plateau that Challenger described in their earliest conversations.

They travel the river for two more days, passing through woods with strange vegetation that none of them recognize. In the distance they hear the constant beat of war drums. Challenger says there are cannibals in the region, that the drums mean, “We will kill you if we can” (73).

They enter a “fairyland” of beautiful vegetation where the animals are tame. Gomez says there are no people in the area because of Curupuri, “the spirit of the woods” (33). Challenger sees landmarks from his prior trip on their second day of marching. They use machetes to make their way, a tedious process that exhausts Ned. Challenger points out a huge bird in the distance and says it is a pterodactyl. Roxton isn’t sure what it is but admits that he’s never seen a bird like it.

They camp at the bottom of a cliff face. On his previous trip, Challenger could not scale the cliff. However, he knows from the drawings in the sketchbook that his predecessor, Maple White, made the ascent. A huge snake appears on the cliff face, startling them.

Soon they reach White’s old camp. They find a growth of bushes where a group of bamboo stalks have impaled a skeleton. Challenger surmises that it is James Colver, a friend of Maple White’s. He fell—or was thrown from the cliff—and was impaled. The group find a chalk arrow pointing west, then another, pointing to a cleft in the cliff. They find a cave entrance. Inside, the route is blocked.

They decide to continue along the base of the cliff. That evening, Roxton shoots an animal called an ajouti for dinner. A pterodactyl swoops in and steals it as John cooks it over the fire. Soon they have to cross a swamp, which is filled with poisonous Jaracaca snakes that chase them.  

They circle back to their first camp and then climb to a summit at the edge of a gulf. Ned cuts a tree down to make a bridge across a gulf. After they cross, they are elated. However, Gomez pushes the bridge into the ravine, stranding them. He reveals that five years earlier, while helping the slaves free themselves, Roxton killed his brother, Lopez, the slave driver. Roxton shoots Gomez as he runs away. Zambo throws a rope to them, then uses it to pass their supplies across the gulf.

Ned wakes to a swollen blood tick on his leg, which he quickly dislodges. The group moves camps to avoid more insects. Challenger names the plateau Maple White Land in honor of its discoverer. Soon, they see a huge three-toed bird track. Next to it is what Challenger says is a dinosaur track.

As they keep walking, they come across five creatures: Ned describes them as enormous kangaroos with “skins like black crocodiles” (109). Summerlee calls them “iguanodons.” The men pass by, creeping slowly through the woods before finding a rookery of baby pterodactyls. The larger male pterodactyls are watching over them in the distance. One of them approaches and pecks Summerlee’s face. Roxton shoots another one in the wing and the creatures flee.

When they return to their camp, it has been destroyed. Something wrecked their camp when they were gone. Roxton asks Ned if he noticed blue clay near the pterodactyl rookery.