F.A. Mitchell Hedges, Land of Wonder and Fear

“The lure of the jungle is irresistible; and when once the untrammeled freedom of the wilds has been known the life of a great city in comparison appears insanity.”

-       F.A. Mitchell Hedges

Land of Wonder and Fear is an interesting piece of adventure literature.  This story takes place mainly in British Honduras, now Belize and from there Mitchell Hedges and his companion Lady Brown travel to Spanish Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama touring the different Republics in the 1920’s. The story is replete with adventure from discoveries of lost cities, and remote Indian tribes to encounters with all types of scorpions, snakes and dangerous animals to armed bandits and revolutions to earthquakes, volcanos and hurricanes.  

It is an interesting read and no doubt much of it is based on actual events, however upon researching Mitchell Hedges there has been a lot of controversy over some of his claims of discovery and such as being overly exaggerated.  Mainly he made claims of discovering lost Mayan cities that had been discovered earlier and a crystal skull that he claimed to have discovered in Mayan ruins that is to believed to have been purchased at auction, although I do not think there is conclusive evidence of that. 

Despite the fact that he has been known to “spin a yarn” the book is interesting and does describe in detail a lot of the topography, flora and fauna and details about Central America at a time when there was still a lot of discovery to be made.