Chapter 2, An Expedition Is Born Summary and Analysis

Thor presents his manuscript to an ethnologist named Carl in the man's New York City museum office. Carl rejects the idea of ancient Incas settling the Pacific islands without reading one word of Thor's argument. Stating in absolute terms, the ethnologist maintains that no South Americans ever traveled to the islands by balsa wood rafts. He does, however, plant a seed in Thor's imagination—Carl proposes that Thor should try going to the islands from Peru by raft.

Feeling very down from the rejection, Thor visits a friend in Greenwich Village, who is also named Carl. His friend advises that most scientists specialize. Nobody in the profession wants anyone else tying pieces together into a coherent whole. Thor announces that he plans to attempt the raft trip, and Carl thinks it is...