The Lost Lady of the Amazon

Book excerpt: The French scientific expedition that set off for Peru in 1735 did not have much luck. Five of its members died or went insane before their seven years' work was completed, but Jean Godin, the youngest member of the team, fell in love with and married a local girl - Isabela, the daughter of the local Spanish governor. After a few years, Godin crossed the Andes and travelled the Amazon to test whether it was a route suitable for his family. Unfortunately, having safely reached Cayenne in French Guiana, he discovered the political situation prevented his return: neither the Spanish nor the Portuguese would allow his passage back upriver. After almost 20 years, during which Jean waited on in Guiana, the King of Portugal sent a boat to retrieve the family. Isabela at last set off with her children, her brothers and her servants, over the Andes and down the Amazon, but the journey was to prove worse than the waiting. Smallpox, starvation, the torrential river and the horrors of the jungle beset the travellers. Some drowned, some ran away, others died of hunger. In the end, Isabela alone survived of the 42 who set off - she was found wandering in the jungle sick and half-crazed.