Summary of William Carlsen's Jungle of Stone

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Gulf of Honduras was unknown to most North Americans in 1839, as it was far removed from U. S. trade routes. But in 1802, the Spanish Empire began to dissolve, and its American colonies broke free.

#2 Stephens and Catherwood were tasked with meeting the leaders of the recently formed United Provinces of Central America and concluding a trade agreement. However, they were also on another mission: to explore the jungle and see if they could find any intricately sculpted stones.

#3 Catherwood and Stephens had similar adventures in the Middle East. They had both survived the region’s often hostile political and natural environment, and they had both studied the same ancient historical sites. They were like two parallel tracks that were destined to meet.

#4 In 1836, Catherwood moved his family to New York. He began work on a cavernous panorama exhibition hall to show his huge canvases of the Middle East. The enterprise took off instantly and drew in healthy profits. Meanwhile, Stephens was coming off two phenomenal publishing coups. He had never drafted anything more exciting than law briefs and contracts, but he began writing up his European and Middle Eastern adventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822525450

IRB Media

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Insights on William Carlsen's Jungle of Stone

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Gulf of Honduras was unknown to most North Americans in 1839, as it was far removed from U. S. trade routes. But in 1802, the Spanish Empire began to dissolve, and its American colonies broke free.

#2

Stephens and Catherwood were tasked with meeting the leaders of the recently formed United Provinces of Central America and concluding a trade agreement. However, they were also on another mission: to explore the jungle and see if they could find any intricately sculpted stones.

#3

Catherwood and Stephens had similar adventures in the Middle East. They had both survived the region’s often hostile political and natural environment, and they had both studied the same ancient historical sites. They were like two parallel tracks that were destined to meet.

#4

In 1836, Catherwood moved his family to New York. He began work on a cavernous panorama exhibition hall to show his huge canvases of the Middle East. The enterprise took off instantly and drew in healthy profits. Meanwhile, Stephens was coming off two phenomenal publishing coups. He had never drafted anything more exciting than law briefs and contracts, but he began writing up his European and Middle Eastern adventures.

#5

The two men signed a memorandum of agreement in September 1839, which stated that Catherwood would accompany Stephens to Central America and remain with him until Stephens finished his official duties for the U. S. government. In exchange, Stephens would pay all of Catherwood’s expenses during their journey.

#6

When the Mary Ann sailed into the Gulf of Honduras, she was hit by a tropical storm. The little brig headed straight west into the Gulf of Honduras through a torturous eighteen days of rain, wind, and pounding seas before drawing into the protected harbor at Belize.

#7

Stephens was shocked by how equal the races were in Belize, and how there were no lawyers in the colony. He was also fascinated by the dense forest that surrounded the settlement.

#8

The launch took Stephens and Catherwood out to the steamboat belching black smoke in the harbor. The whole scene was a classic display of British imperialism. It would be a final moment of comfort and security for both men.

#9

Stephens and Catherwood’s free talk about their plans to hunt down old ruins had not been lost on Colonel MacDonald. He set immediately to work, summoning Patrick Walker and an army lieutenant named John Herbert Caddy, to assemble an expedition and prepare to go up Old River.

#10

The Vera Paz crossed the bar and entered the channel. Along the right bank, a cluster of huts named Livingston came into view. It had been named after Edward Livingston, a former New York mayor and U. S. secretary of state, who had streamlined the civil, criminal, and penal codes of Louisiana.

#11

The Vera Paz entered the Guayabero River. It was a narrow tropical fjord magnificent and enervating in the same moment. The river was surrounded by gorgeous green mountains, and the setting sun illuminated the water as the Vera Paz entered the gathering darkness.

#12

The town of Izabal, Guatemala, was the main port of entry for Central America. It was a major trading station and isolated outpost pressed between water and jungle. The town was smaller and more primitive than Belize, and the jungle rose dramatically on a wall of mountains around it.

#13

The town of Izabal, where the American diplomats were to get their passports approved, was hot and humid. It was as if some impermeable barrier of illness, death, or fear blocked entrance to the country.

#14

Charles De Witt, a former congressman from New York, was the American diplomat who was sent to Guatemala in 1833. He took five months to travel from New York to Guatemala City, and he was once warned to leave the city