The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

  By the time the five men Ibid.

  Scanning the forest Ibid.

  That arrow had been launched Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  “These melancholic reflections” Viveiros, Rondon.

  In fact, he claimed O’Reilly, “Rondon”. Four years earlier, after a group of Kayabi Indians had killed a rubber-tapper, Rondon had staunchly defended the Kayabi, pointing out that the tapper had had a long history of terrorizing these Indians. “I can assure you,” he had written the tapper’s employer, “that Indians never attack without a reason; they attack for no other reason than to defend themselves against treason and falsehoods.” (Diacon, Stringing Together a Nation.)

  “If you are shot” TR, Address to National Geographic Society, May 26, 1914, NGS.

  But as he examined these arrows Rondon, Lectures.

  CHAPTER 19: The Wide Belts

  Because they did not yet Although it is believed that humans did use boats in their occupation of Australia and New Guinea, there is no substantial evidence of watercraft anywhere else in the world for another thirty thousand years. (Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel [New York, 1999].)

  Some twelve thousand years ago Anna Roosevelt, ed., Amazonian Indians: From Prehistory to the Present (Tucson, 1994).

  After the Spanish explorer Alain Gheerbrant, The Amazon (New York, 1988).

  Orellana named these women John Kricher, A Neotropical Companion (Princeton, 1997).

  While traveling down Barbara Weinstein, The Amazon Rubber Boom (Stanford, Calif., 1983).

  Julio César Arana Wade Davis, One River (New York, 1996).

  Their best hope Alex Shoumatoff, The Rivers Amazon.

  “Such isolation” George Cherrie, Dark Trails (New York, 1930).

  The mysterious Indians Author’s interview with Cinta Larga.

  Their axes were ground W. Jesco von Puttkamer, “Brazil Protects Her Cinta Largas,” National Geographic, Sept. 1971; author’s interview with Dr. Robert Carneiro. Roosevelt had known about and used matches his entire life. John Walker, an English chemist, had sold the first friction matches in 1827.

  So cut off from Author’s interview with Cinta Larga. The Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition was a momentous event in the lives of the Indians of this isolated tribe, and so the story has become part of the Cinta Larga’s tribal lore and, over the intervening ninety-one years, has been passed down from generation to generation.

  Although they lived on George Cherrie, Diary, April 12, 1914, AMNH; author’s interview with Cinta Larga.

  The women, who wore their hair Richard Chapelle, Les Hommes à la Ceinture d’Écorce (Paris, 1978); von Puttkamer, “Brazil Protects Her Cinta Largas”.

  The tribe’s trails were marked “Cinta Larga,” Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (Oct. 2003); Chapelle, Les Hommes.

  In fact, so familiar Chapelle, Les Hommes; “Cinta Larga,” Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (Oct. 2003).

  This milky liquid Von Puttkamer, “Brazil Protects Her Cinta Largas”.

  Clearing the land Robert L. Carneiro, “Indians of the Amazonian Forest,” in People of the Tropical Rain Forest (Berkeley, Calif., 1988).

  Each Cinta Larga village “Cinta Larga,” Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (Oct. 2003).

  The chief had to exhibit Ibid.

  The Cinta Larga would not Chapelle, Les Hommes.

  Not only did the chief Ibid.

  Girls were considered “Cinta Larga,” Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (Oct. 2003).

  In such small Chapelle, Les Hommes.

  Like women in most Ibid.

  As important as children were Ibid.

  Because the Indians Author’s interview with Cinta Larga.

  War was not a rare event Dal Poz, “No País dos Cinta Larga: Uma Etnografia do Ritual,” Dissertação de Mestrado, University of São Paulo, 1991; Chapelle, Les Hommes.

  The Cinta Larga also occasionally Dal Poz, “No País dos Cinta Larga”.

  They would cut their hair Ibid.

  The men were sometimes forced Chapelle, Les Hommes.

  Although skilled with Dal Poz, “No País dos Cinta Larga”.

  They could eat Ibid.

  The tribe drew a clear distinction Ibid.

  The Cinta Larga often tossed Ibid.

  CHAPTER 20: Hunger

  There were no trees Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Lectures Delivered on the 5th, 7th, and 9th of October, 1915 (Rio de Janeiro, 1916).

  “We left all” Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness (New York, 1914).

  “The only way” Ibid.

  For better stability Ibid.

  Their misery growing Ibid.

  They had already consumed Ibid.

  They limited themselves Ibid.

  “taste was not unpleasant” Ibid.

  Although raw palmito George Cherrie, Memorial Meeting, March 1, 1919, TRC.

  So hard that they “Tasty Brazil Nuts Stun Harvesters and Scientists,” Smithsonian, April 1999.

  Because it touches Adrian Forsyth and Kenneth Miyata, Tropical Nature (New York, 1984).

  These specialized strategies John Kricher, A Neotropical Companion (Princeton, 1997).

  Even when they are mature Forsyth and Miyata, Tropical Nature.

  “A curious effect” George Cherrie, Dark Trails (New York, 1930)

  When the conversations Cherrie, Memorial Meeting, March 1, 1919, TRC.

  “When food was scarcest” Ibid.

  On March 16 George Cherrie, Diary, March 16, 1914, AMNH.

  The very next day Cherrie, Diary, March 17, 1914, AMNH.

  “Up to this point” Rondon, Lectures.

  Not only did they find Kermit Roosevelt, Diary, March 17, 1914, KBRP.

  Even better TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  The good mood Rondon, Lectures.

  “I had urged” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “The camaradas” Ibid.

  The men felt Cherrie, Diary, March 18, 1914, AMNH.

  Rounding a bend Rondon, Lectures.

  While the Cinta Larga Cherrie, Diary, March 18, 1914, AMNH.

  One night Cherrie, Diary, March 19, 1914, AMNH.

  “could only make a small” Rondon, Lectures.

  They had not chosen Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  The trees that they TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  As the camaradas began Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  “had kept in full flesh” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  The very next day Cherrie, Diary, March 21, 1914, AMNH; KR, Diary, March 21, 1914, KBRP.

  The tension between TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  After the men had set up Rondon, Lectures.

  They had found KR, Diary, March 21, 1914, KBRP.

  “Mr. Roosevelt asked me” Rondon, Lectures.

  The point of Roosevelt’s talk Ibid.

  “Kermit was extraordinarily” Esther de Viveiros, Rondon: Conta Sua Vida (Rio de Janeiro, 1958).

  “Mr. Kermit will not” Ibid.

  “The topographical survey” Rondon, Lectures.

  CHAPTER 21: The Myth of “Beneficent Nature”

  At 7:00 a.m. Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness (New York, 1914).

  “On all sides” Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Lectures Delivered on the 5th, 7th, and 9th of October, 1915 (Rio de Janeiro, 1916).

  The Brazilian colonel did not Ibid.

  “Our position” George Cherrie, Diary, March 23, 1914, AMNH.

  As Rondon had learned TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  As big as a bumblebee Andrew Speilman and Micheal D’Antonio, Mosquito (New York, 2001).

  A botfly maggot John Kricher, A Neotropical Companion (Princeton, 1997).

  The real menace Speilman and D’Antonio, Mosquito.

  Once she has found Ibid.

  Malaria was the danger Todd A. Diacon, Stringing Together a Nation (Durham, N.C., 2004).

  Ju
st four years earlier Ibid.

  He had only one Robert S. Desowitz, The Malaria Capers: Tales of Parasites and People (New York, 1991).

  The Brazilian doctor TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  To be truly effective Desowitz, Malaria Capers.

  The first sign of malaria Speilman and D’Antonio, Mosquito.

  Since contracting the disease Will Irwin, ed., Introduction, Letters to Kermit from Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 1946).

  He had had several attacks Kermit Roosevelt, Diary, March 19, 1914, KBRP.

  Until the expedition reached Cajazeira, Relatório, Museu do Índio, Rio de Janeiro.

  “The very pathetic myth” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “There is a universal saying” Kermit Roosevelt, The Long Trail (New York, 1921).

  “responsible to the law” Ibid.

  Roosevelt had witnessed Ibid.

  “Their clothes were” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “He wrote every day” “Col. Roosevelt As His Guide Remembers Him,” New York Times, Jan. 6, 1929, TRC.

  “the best camp companion” George Cherrie, “Roosevelt in the Field,” May 26, 1927, AMNH.

  Cherrie had just taken George Cherrie, Dark Trails (New York, 1930).

  “Day after day” Cherrie, “Roosevelt in the Field,” AMNH.

  “We talked together often” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  He had gone to work Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  Cherrie took a bland Ibid.

  South American insurrections TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “They say that” Rondon, Lectures

  He was a sergeant Ibid.

  When Paishon accepted Esther de Viveiros, Rondon: Conta Sua Vida (Rio de Janeiro, 1958).

  In fact, since the expedition TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness

  He shamelessly begged Ibid.

  The only incentive Rondon, Lectures.

  “Julio came crying” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “On such an expedition” Ibid.

  CHAPTER 22: “I Will Stop Here”

  Antonio Correia Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness (New York, 1914).

  “probably means many more” George Cherrie, Diary, March 25, 1914, AMNH.

  The skies had been clear Cherrie, Diary, March 26, 1914, AMNH.

  “as big as cables” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  On that day Ibid.

  One of the camaradas also caught Cherrie, Diary, March 26, 1914, AMNH.

  Rondon’s meticulous charting Cherrie, Diary, March 24, 1914, AMNH.

  On the day after TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  Cherrie had wandered Cherrie, Diary, March 27, 1914, AMNH.

  The two boats were pinned Ibid.

  Roosevelt was the first George Cherrie, Dark Trails (New York, 1930).

  Six years later, while he was riding Kermit Roosevelt, The Long Trail (New York, 1921).

  Although the water level George Cherrie, Memorial Meeting, March 1, 1919, TRC.

  When they reached TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  As the river roared KR, Long Trail.

  “From that time on” Cherrie, Memorial Meeting, March 1, 1919, TRC.

  When the men had finally Cherrie, Dark Trails; TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  It was 4:00 p.m. TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “Practically everything” Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  After fighting their way Kermit Roosevelt, Diary, March 28, 1914, KBRP.

  Within this gorge Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Lectures Delivered on the 5th, 7th, and 9th of October, 1915 (Rio de Janeiro, 1916).

  It was immediately apparent Ibid.

  Cherrie wrote that he Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  “Many cases have been” Arkady Fiedler, The River of Singing Fish (London, 1951).

  did not “utter a word” Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  “No man has any business” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  When he was a rancher Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (New York, 1913).

  “Both the men of my” Ibid.

  When a doctor John Milton Cooper, The Warrior and the Priest (Cambridge, Mass., 1983).

  “quite content to go now” Kathleen Dalton, Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life (New York, 2002).

  “I had always felt” TR, Autobiography.

  “The truth is” Quoted in Cooper, The Warrior and the Priest.

  To John Barrett John Barrett, The Call of South America (New York, 1922),

  “I have always” Oscar King Davis, Released for Publication (Boston, 1925).

  Just before dawn Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  CHAPTER 23: Missing

  They were not prepared New York Times, March 23, 1914.

  The article had been sparked Ibid.

  The newspaper did its best Ibid.

  Earlier in the year Sylvia Jukes Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady (New York, 1980).

  “Can you obtain” Quoted in New York Times, March 24, 1914.

  Spanish-American War Edward Renehan, The Lion’s Pride (New York, 1999).

  Kermit had succeeded TR to Ethel Roosevelt Derby, Dec. 10, 1913, TRC.

  From her hotel in Madrid New York Times, Jan. 4, 1914, KBRP.

  A few days after Fiala’s Washington Post, March 28, 1914, KBRP.

  “I have sent you” Belle Willard to KR, n.d., KBRP.

  On the overland journey Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness (New York, 1914).

  “The desert has always” KR to Belle Willard, Nov. 20, 1913, KBRP.

  “You must be getting” KR to Belle Willard, Jan. 31, 1913, KBRP.

  Even Roosevelt’s sister Bamie Quoted in Kathleen Dalton, Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life (New York, 2002).

  Kermit, who had been Quoted in J. J. Perling, Presidents’ Sons: The Prestige of Name in a Democracy (New York, 1947).

  “melancholic streak” Quoted in Dalton, TR: A Strenuous Life.

  “one with the white head” Edith Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, Oct. 5, 1913, TRC.

  “odd and independent” Quoted in Peter Collier with David Horowitz, The Roosevelts: An American Saga (New York, 1994).

  “He never need retire” Quoted in Hermann Hagedorn, The Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill (New York, 1954).

  While at Groton Quoted in Dalton, TR: A Strenuous Life.

  In childhood, Elliott Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. 1 (New York, 1992).

  When their father died David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback (New York, 1981).

  “Elliott gave unstintedly” Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, My Brother Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 1921).

  “He was so mad” Quoted in Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 1979).

  Four years later Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. 1.

  Theodore wrote to Bamie TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, July 29, 1894, in Letters, vol. 1.

  “I only need” Quoted in McCullough, Mornings on Horseback.

  “more overcome” Quoted in Dalton, TR: A Strenuous Life.

  When Kermit was at Groton In 1902, after receiving several reports on Kermit’s schoolwork that were less than sterling, Roosevelt had sent his then thirteen-year-old son a letter clearly intended to shake him out of his lethargy. “I do not like your having so many black marks,” he had written from the White House. “As you know, I have much sympathy for some kinds of mischief, but there are other kinds with which I have no sympathy at all.” (TR to KR, Nov. 24, 1902, TRC.)

  After leaving Harvard Morison, The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, Elting E. Morris, ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1951–1954).

  “I do not like” Quoted in Collier with Horowitz, The Roosevelts.

  “We worked hard” TR to Archie Roosevelt, Feb. 27, 1910, in Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children (New York, 1919).

  “It came to me” Oscar King Davis, Released for Publication (Bo
ston, 1925).

  CHAPTER 24: The Worst in a Man

  “Kermit,” Roosevelt would later Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness (New York, 1914).

  Lyra had come to respect Ibid.

  “everything except the food” Kermit Roosevelt, Diary, March 28, 1914, KBRP.

  Roosevelt kept only TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “The work was not only” Ibid.

  The men understood Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Lectures Delivered on the 5th, 7th, and 9th of October, 1915 (Rio de Janeiro, 1916).

  While Kermit and Lyra struggled George Cherrie, Dark Trails (New York, 1930).

  On the third day George Cherrie, Diary, March 30, 1914, AMNH.

  To add to Rondon, Lectures.

  The storm even TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  The men began Cherrie, Diary, April 2, 1914, AMNH.

  “Instead of getting out” Ibid.

  During that month TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “No one can tell” Ibid.

  “We had to cheer them” Ibid.

  “In the weeks” Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  Early on, Roosevelt New York Times, Jan. 6, 1929, TRC.

  He began to give George Cherrie, Memorial Meeting, March 1, 1919, TRC.

  “A sense of gloom” Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  On March 30 KR, Diary, March 30, 1914, KBRP.

  “considerable suffering” Rondon, Lectures.

  During an earlier expedition, Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  “Under such conditions” TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  While Antonio Correia Cherrie, Diary, April 3, 1914, AMNH.

  While Lyra and his men Ibid.

  Only one man TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness; Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  It was not long TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  At the intermediate Cherrie, Diary, April 3, 1914, AMNH.

  After Julio had set TR, Through the Brazilian Wilderness.

  “I wonder what” Cherrie, Dark Trails.

  The men’s voices Cherrie, Diary, April 3, 1914, AMNH.

  CHAPTER 25: “He Who Kills Must Die”

  “We all felt” George Cherrie, Dark Trails (New York, 1930).

  At the intermediate station George Cherrie, Diary, April 3, 1914, AMNH.