The White Tiger Speaks
F.A. Mitchell-Hedges
Member of the Maya Committee of the British Museum
Internationally famous explorer whom the Indians named “El Tigre Blanco”
MITCHELL-HEDGES has given over thirty-seven thousand specimens of great historical and educational value to various museums; yet has never been financed by any one. He is without question one of the greatest of scientific explorers – and among the explorers he is probably the finest speaker. Despite his scientific attainments he is a man of action, a great speaker and an outstanding personality. Named by the Indians, who at once fear and revere him as “’El Tigre Blanco” (The White Tiger) he, with his intrepid assistant and secretary, Jane Houlson, have had adventures almost too fantastic to chronicle.
His previous books, “Battles With Giant Fish,” “The Land of Wonder and Fear.” etc., together with his radio experiences, have caused him to be known from one end of this country to another, yet until now he has never been offered for an extended lecture tour.
It is our pleasure to present Mr. F. A. Mitchell-Hedges as one of the most important adventurers, scientists and lecturers of his day.
LECTURE SUBJECTS
Illustrated With Magnificently Colored Lantern Slides
THE LAND OF WONDER AND FEAR
Life among the Zutuhilc Indian living in the region of Lake Atitlan. Bloodless revolutions some not so bloodless. Impenetrable jungle, unexplored territory where rivers debauch from the bowels of the earth and volcanoes are ever active, belching forth smoke, molten lava and lire.
BATTLES WITH GIANT FISH
Some of the most remarkable pictures ever taken of great fish and the great adventures involved in their taking. Pictures of the death-ray, poison-grouper (certain death within three to six minutes to anyone it strikes), the barracuda, the liger shark, the sea scorpion, living horrors of the lovely tropical waters.
THE LOST WORLD
The jungle gives up her treasures. A deserted city of ghostly mystery is found. A white woman, unwillingly invests herself with occult powers. Adventures among the Maya Kekchi descendant of the once highly cultured Maya race.
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HAILS “THE LOST WORLD” AS A DISCOVERY WHICH “WILL COMPEL ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO RECONSTRUCT THEIR PRESENT IDEAS REGARDING THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT.”
F. A. MITCHELL-HEDGES
WHO would believe that prehistoric tribes of people still dwell on the American continent? Tribes whose manner of living has not advanced as far as the Stone Age. Who have never seen a white man, have never beard of a ship, a railroad, money, the Great War, or the United Stales of America. Who dwell in complete seclusion because they take every precaution to keep their village hidden. Who by the word of their gods savagely oppose any stranger seeking entrance to their territory. Yet some of these primitive natives live in the shadow of magnificent ruins of a once great civilization that flourished before the time of Christ and has since completely vanished from the lace of the earth.
HOW did Mitchell-Hedges find his way into these hidden places, walled in by thousands of square miles of solid jungle? Why did the natives accept this strange while man, name him “El Tigre Blanco,” allow him to take part in their strange ceremonies and rituals? Not one tribe of Indians, but twenty, be has lived among. Each one distinct, each with its own strange customs and superstitions. He penetrated the very heart of the interior of the greatest […] of all and is in possession of the most amazing facts about primitive life that have ever been collected. Daily life in the primeval jungle. Night in the jungle, when animal life awakes and the darkness is jewelled with gleaming eves, and rent with strange cries, as the age-old battle of survival of the fittest is fought to the death. When dancing lights on the hillsides mark the stronghold of the witches for those who would consult the occult. What weird knowledge is sought by the Indians who creep through little known trails to visit the wizards?
GAINING the confidence of the Indians he learned secrets which have been closely guarded for centuries. How much of these strange legends are based on fact, only the patience and courage to push on year after year through solid jungle can ever tell. Many of the rumors have already proved fruitful, leading him in one instance to the oldest Mayan city yet discovered, which he named Lubaantun, (city of fallen stones). Its principal citadel covers eight acres, and it brought to light the first amphitheatre found on the American continent, having seating accommodations for at least ten thousand people.
LAND of Wonder and Fear. Mitchell-Hedges has termed his beloved Central America. For year alter year its wonders lure him hack for fresh discoveries, while the dangers lurking in its unknown depths are a constant challenge to this great adventurer. Will he ever find the great white city which legend avers as a place of immense pyramids, temples and courtyards, gleaming like frosted ice in the sun-light? Have the Indian- revealed its location to El Tigre Blanco? And where is the stronghold in which Tecum-Umane, last of the great Quiche kings, is said to have concealed the vast treasure of the Indians at the time of the Spanish Conquest? Wondrous tales of an ancient race are written on fallen stones, while only time can tell what unsolved riddles still await discovery in the vast unexplored regions of the land of Wonder and Fear.
He spent nineteen years in Central America, fought his way to jungle depths never before penetrated by white men, discovered a new race of people, unearthed the oldest Maya city yet discovered. His deep sea research in the waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean brought to light many strange monsters in support of his theory that prehistoric life may still lurk in the depths of the sea. Shunning cities, refusing to be lionized, he returned only long enough to get supplies, arrange new expeditions and dispose of his amazing collection of hitherto unrecorded specimens which have been donated to the British Museum, the Museums of Oxford and Cambridge, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, and others.
Tags: Belize | British Museum | Lubaantun | Mitchell-Hedges | The White Tiger
