This is one of the really better books I have ever see just about diamond prospecting in South America. It is a true adventure story of a young man who left civilized life in the West Indies and set out alone to prospect in the remote mountain ranges wherever the borders of Brazil, Republic of venezuela and (what used to be called) British Geographic area meet. His object: diamonds; his tools: shovels and a sieve; his companions: the Macoushi and Patamona Indians.

He lived with these Indians for several years, searching for diamonds in the beds of jungle streams and greatly enjoying the potent mixture of lotus-eating and spartan endurance that was his lot in the grandiose diamond country.

For the miner and general reader, several of the fascination of this story lies in the life of the tribes: hunting with bow and arrow, fishing with traps, active in their feasts, observant their taboos, and infinite another aspects of social group existence - including their mysterious sexual code. Then there are tropical storms and floods, snakes and animals, which are an ever-present danger in this country.