The Devil-Tree of El Dorado

by Frank Aubrey

THE DEVIL-TREE OF EL A ROMANCE OF BRITISH GUIANA... There is a long tradition among the romances of the 19th and early 20th century of the "lost race" novel concerning explorers (usually British or American) who stumble onto a culture exists hidden from the outside world. Among the most famous "lost race" novels are H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines (1885), She (1886), and Allan Quatermain (1887). Jules Verne got into the act with Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), as did Arthur Conan Doyle (most famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes) with The Lost World (1912) and its sequel, The Poison Belt (1913). Edgar Rice Burroughs was among the most prolific lost race authors through his Tarzan series. There have been literally hundreds more, many of them famous. The Devil-Tree of El Dorado (1897) concerns the discovery of the legendary city of Manoa in British Guiana, high atop Mt. Roraima, at that date an incredibly remote part of the world. British Guiana achieved independence in 1966 and became simply Guyana. In 1970 it became the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America, and its neighbours are Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana). With avid explorers and adventurers pushing to the remotest corners of the world, it was becoming harder to find isolated plateaus and secret valleys. South America and Africa held the last hopes for such romantic notions. Another aspect of the lost race novel is its fantastic content. Many of the writers pioneering the genre liberally mixed in dashes of science, science fiction, and fantasy—in Aubrey's case, it takes the form of a scientific expedition to Mt. Roraima. Once beyond the reaches of civilization and hence the rational world, the fantasy and horror begin to creep into the narrative. The devil-tree of the title is nothing less than a carnivorous, man-eating tree on the summit of the mountain!

Genres: Adventure

392 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

The first and main pseudonym of UK civil engineer and author Francis Henry Atkins (1847-1927), who contributed widely to the pre-sf Pulp magazines, writing at least three Lost-World novels along with much else.

Reviews

[Wreade1872 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something along the lines of H. Rider Haggard’s stuff but set in south america. In fact in the same table land that Conan-Doyle’s (much more entertaining) Lost World is set in.

I didn’t mind the start but once we get where we’re going it becomes so cliche, lost civilization, princess love story, past lives, predestination. It was a chore at times.
There’s a strong Christian influence, which i thought might be at least a little different but ends up just killing almost all sense of jeopardy.

And yet I’ve let it away with a low 3-stars. I vacillated wildly over the score but while there arn’t too many good scenes, there are some, and some of these are very effective.
I can see why it went with this title as the Devil-Tree and its surrounding elements are really the only new and interesting part of the story.

...once again I’m rethinking... I’m going to post this, if i wait any longer its going to drop back to 2-stars again ;) .

Made available by the Merril Collection.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad adventure tale, that holds up rather well considering it was written in the 19th century. Very reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert Howard in style, with a little less forced exposition that was the norm for the era. A trio of adventurers explore the then-exotic and foreboding plateau of Roirama, to find the lost city of El Dorado. I know, it sounds like a mash-up of two stories, but it's actually quite good.

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roraima is a real plateau in the Andes that for a long time was thought to be unclimbable, so it was natural to set a lost-world story there. (We will overlook the fact that a relatively easy hiking trail had been found many years before this book was published.) The story itself is fairly routine compared to ones by Haggard or Burroughs, for example, but is nevertheless an enjoyable read. The malevolent devil-tree seemed a bit out of place in what was otherwise a pretty realistic (as these things go) story.