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Fawcett, Lt Colonel Percival Harrison - Seven mile boots
Identifier
022767
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
The Lost City of Z – David Grann
A Bolivian emissary who was there said of the emerging map of South America, "l must tell you that it is owing to Major Fawcett's bravery that this has been accomplished . . . If we had a few more men like him, I am sure there would not be a single comer of the unexplored regions."
Farwcett's growing legend was predicated on the fact that not only had he made journeys that no one else had dared but he had done so at a pace that seemed inhuman. He accomplished in months what others took years to do-or, as Fawcett once put it matter-of factly, "I am a rapid worker and have no idle days." Incredibly, he rarely, if ever, seemed to get sick. "He was fever-proof," said Thomas Charles Bridges, a popular adventure writer at the time who knew Fawcett. The trait caused rampant speculation about his physiology. Bridges attributed this resistance to his having "a pulse below the normal."
One historian observed that Fawcett had "a virtual immunity from tropical disease. Perhaps this last quality was the most exceptional. There were other explorers, although not many, who equaled him in dedication, courage and strength, but in his resistance to disease he was unique." Even Fawcett began to marvel at what he called the "perfect constitution."