How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
In such a brutal landscape, [Betty Meggers of the Smithsonian Institute] and other scientists contend, only small nomadic tribes could survive. (3.8)
This is a short line, but it shows a huge flaw in the thought processes of the time. By the end of the story, we'll be presented with a new theory that better explains the lifestyle of tribes in the Amazon. Just because Betty can't survive in the jungle doesn't mean no one else can.
Quote #2
"Monkeys are looked on as good eating," Fawcett observed. "Their meat tastes rather pleasant; but at first the idea revolted me because when stretched over a fire to burn off the hair they looked so horribly human." (8.28)
Part of surviving in the jungle is doing things you wouldn't normally want to do, like eating a monkey that looks like your cousin. Cannibalism starts to make a little more sense when you look at it this way.
Quote #3
It wasn't the big predators that he and his companions fretted about most. It was the ceaseless pests. (8.30)
If you don't like spiders, the Amazon is not the place for you. The bugs there are insane, including ticks, parasitic worms, mosquitos, and something called "kissing bugs" that leave your lips covered in welts. We haven't even gotten to the bugs that burrow into your eyeballs, because we passed out before those arrived.