teddy roosevelt

swUHSi
ill
H9HH
mm
t~
"T
THROUGH THE
BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS
BY
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY KERMIT ROOSEVELT

AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION ,/
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1914
.7?
78
Copyright, 1914, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

All rights reserved, including that of translation into
foreign languages, including the Scandinavian
Published October, 1914
NOV -3 1914
)CLA387321
jj./.
&
TO
H. E.
LAURO MULLER
SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS FOR BRAZIL, AND TO HIS

GOVERNMENTAL COLLEAGUES
COLONEL RONDON
GALLANT OFFICER, HIGH-MINDED GENTLEMAN, AND INTREPID EXPLORER
AND TO HIS ASSISTANTS
CAPTAIN AMILCAR, LIEUTENANT LYRA, LIEUTENANT MELLO,

LIEUTENANT LAURIADO, AND DOCTOR CAJAZEIRA, OF
THE BRAZILIAN ARMY, AND EUSEBIO OLIVEIRA
OUR COMPANIONS
IN SCIENTIFIC
WORK AND
IN
THE EXPLORATION
OF THE WILDERNESS
THIS
IS
BOOK
INSCRIBED, WITH ESTEEM, REGARD, AND AFFECTION
BY THEIR FRIEND
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Map
showing the entire South American journey of Colonel Roosevelt and members of the expedition
PREFACE
This
is
an account of a zoogeographic reconnoissance
through the Brazilian hinterland.
The
given
tifica
official
it
by the
and proper
title
of the expedition
is
that
Government: Expedicao Scien-
Brazilian
When
Roosevelt-Rondon.
started from the United
was to make an expedition, primarily concerned

with mammalogy and ornithology, for the American MuStates,
it
seum of Natural History of
New
This was under-
York.
taken under the auspices of Messrs. Osborn and Chapman,

acting on behalf of the
work
describe
larged,
and how
how
it
Museum.
In the body of this
the scope of the expedition was en-
was given a geographic
logical character, in
as well as a zoo-
consequence of the kind proposal of
the Brazilian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, General
Lauro Muller.
expedition was
In
its
body of the work
my
will
Government.
Throughout the
be found reference after reference
colleagues and companions of the expedition,
services to science I
whom
and enlarged form the
rendered possible only by the generous
assistance of the Brazilian
to
altered
I shall
always
have endeavored to
feel
set forth,
whose
and
for
the most cordial friendship and
regard.
Theodore Roosevelt.
Sagamore Hill,
September
I,
1914.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER
I.
The Start
Up the Paraguay
38
III.
A Jaguar-Hunt
62
IV.
The Headwaters of the Paraguay
II.
V.
VI.
Up the River
on the Taquary
95
of Tapirs
132
Through The Highland Wilderness of Western

Brazil
VII.
VIII.
IX.
167
With a Mule-Train Across Nhambiquara Land
The River of Doubt
243
Down an Unknown River
into
the
Equatorial
Forest
X.
203
282
To the Amazon and Home; Zoological and Geographical Results of the Expedition
Appendices
A.
The Work of the Field Zoologist and Field

Geographer
B.
321
in
South America
The Outfit for Travelling
in
343
the South
American Wilderness
C.
Index
My Letter of
MIJLLER
May
353
i
to General Lauro
370
373
ILLUSTRATIONS
Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel
Rondon
at Navaite on
Doubt
the River of
Frontispiece
Photogravure from a photograph by Cherrie.

FACING PAGE
The
mussurama swallowing the jararaca or fer-de-lance, after

having just killed it. Method of the mussurama's attack upon the
Group
jararaca
Man-eating
Group
fish,
piranha
42
Indian
boy with coati (coon-like animal) and parakeet.

with young ostrich. Indian girl at cooking-pot
girl
Group
24
Indians rolling logs at

the river
wood
station.
Tupi
48
Palms along the bank of

50
Cattle on the upper Paraguay River
Group
58
Nips with the marsh deer. Returning to the fazenda (ranch)

with the marsh deer on the saddle
76
Group The brown boy on the long-horned trotting steer, which he

managed by a string through its nostril and lip. Colonel Roosevelt
and the
80
jaguar
first
A South American puma. A South American jaguar ....

GroupNine-banded armadillo. Capybaras. Collared peccary ...
Group
The
An
entire party
on the way back to the ranch
102
passed an Indian fishing village on the edge of the river, with huts,
scaffoldings for drying the fish, hammocks, and rude tables.
Wood
Group A jabiru's
Group
88
92
Indian village
We
84
ibis.
South American jabiru.

nest.
troupial nest
xi
Sariema
106
..118
ILLUSTRATIONS
xu
FACING PAGE
Snake-birds and cormorants
Mixed
120
flocks of scores of
cormorants and darters covered certain
trees,
both at sunset and after sunrise.
Group
The great ant-eater.
South American tapir
134
Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel Rondon with bush deer

We hung the buck in a tree.
138
The
142
return from a day's hunt

Tapir, white-lipped peccary, and bush deer.
Kermit Roosevelt
Two
152
pranchas being pulled by launch with our baggage and provisions

The prancha was towed at the end of a hawser and her crew poled.
160
Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel Rondon looking over the vast landscape .
The ground was sandy, covered with grass and with a sparse growth of
stunted, twisted trees, never more than a few feet high.
174
The
188
Salto Bello Falls
There
a sheer drop of forty or fifty yards, and a breadth perhaps three

times as great.
is
One woman was making a hammock. The mothers carried the

child slung against their side or hip, seated in a cloth belt, or sling,
Group
which went over the opposite shoulder of the mother
Group
The
game
192
of headball played by Parecis Indians at Utiarity
Falls
194
The
The
a player runs forward, throws himself flat on the ground,

and butts the ball toward the opposite side. Often it will be sent
to and fro a dozen times, from head to head until finally it rises.
kick-off:
Falls of Utiarity
I
196
doubt whether, excepting, of course, Niagara, there is a waterfall in

North America which outranks this if both volume and beauty are
considered.
Group
A lonely grave by the wayside.
The dance
The
Parecis dance
of the Parecis Indians

carried pipes through which they blew a kind of deep
number
198
200
stifled
whistle in time to the dancing.
Group
Tres Burity.
The
Campos Novos
a party of Nhambiquaras, very friendly and

and very glad to see Colonel Rondon
At the Juruena we met

ciable,
kitchen under the ox-hide at
208
so-
216
ILLUSTRATIONS
xiii
FACING PAGE
Nhambiquara child with a pet monkey. The men had holes

pierced through the septum of the nose and through the upper lip,
and wore a straw through each hole
Group
Group
Maloca or beehive hut of the Nhambiquaras.
shelter hut
The
ant-hills
and
Nhambiquara
220
utensils
were not infrequently
Group A Nhambiquara
"Adam and Eve"
family.
taller
than a horseman's head
Nhambiquara women and
222
children.
236
Second position
Nhambiquara archer. First
headnet and gauntlets. Colonel Roosevelt's
Group did my writing
Group
position.
240
in
canoe disappears down the River of Doubt
244
Colonel Roosevelt's and Colonel Rondon's canoes at the mouth of the

Bandeira
In mid-afternoon we came to the mouth of a big and swift affluent.
It was undoubtedly the Bandeira.
.
The
218
rapids of Navaite
250
There were many
Cherrie holding a
rifle
At one point
it
248
to
curls,
and one or two regular
falls.
show the width of the rapids
was
less
at Navaite
252
than two yards across.
Portaging around Navaite Rapids

We spent March 3 and 4 and the morning of the 5th
254
in portaging
around
the rapids.
Rapids of the Duvida
258
Dragging the canoes over a portage by means of ropes and logs
Manner of dragging the canoes across a hilly portage.

the big canoe which was soon afterward lost
Group
The Upper Duvida. Cherrie

Group Red-and-yellow macaw. Egret.
Group
in his
Toco toucan.
The
Making
canoe
Curassow.
Hyacinthine macaw.
290
chasm or canyon, between two
mountains
Rapids at the chasm. We bathed and

though in it we caught piranhas
Group
266
284
Trumpeter
river rushed through a wild gorge, a
262
300
swam
in the river al-
308
ILLUSTRATIONS
xiv
Castanho-tree (Brazil-nut). Pacova-tree

Group At the rubber-man's house. The canoe
FACING PAGE
Group
314
rigged
with a cover
under which Colonel Roosevelt travelled when sick
The camaradas, gathered around

Rondon
the
monument
erected
324
by Colonel
332
MAPS
FACING PAGE
Map
showing the entire South American journey of Colonel Roosevelt

and members of the expedition
Map
of the River of Doubt (Duvida), christened Rio Roosevelt and subsequently Rio Teodoro by direction of the Brazilian Government
.
vii
338
THROUGH THE
BOOKS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT

PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS.

Illustrated.
Large 8vo
$3.50 net
GAME
LIFE-HISTORIES OF AFRICAN
MALS. With Edmund Heller.
vols.
ANI-
Illustrated.
Large 8vo
$10.00 net
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS. An account of the African

Wanderings
of
Illustrated.
Larg'e 8vo
an American Hunter-Naturalist.
$4.00 net
OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER.

New Edition. Illustrated. 8vo
$3.00 net
.
HISTORY AS LITERATURE and
Other Essays.
12mo
$1.50 net
OLIVER CROMWELL.
THE ROUGH RIDERS.
Illustrated.
Selections
ings of Theodore Roosevelt.
EDITION.
Theodore Roosevelt.
8vo.
8vo
Illustrated.
THE ROOSEVELT BOOK.
THE ELKHORN
8vo
$2.00 net
$1.50 net
from the Writ-
l6mo
50 cents net
Complete Works of
26 volumes.
Sold by subscription.
Illustrated.
//,
rn/jf
/>/
THROUGH THE
THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN

WILDERNESS
CHAPTER
THE START
One day
ing to a close,
in to call
when my
Father Zahm, a
in 1908,
on me.
Father
presidential
priest
term was com-
whom
Zahm and
knew, came
had been cronies
some time, because we were both of us fond of Dante

and of history and of science I had always commended
for
to theologians his book,
was an Ohio boy, and
"Evolution and Dogma."
his early schooling
tained in old-time American fashion in a
He
had been ob-
little
log school;
where, by the way, one of the other boys was Januarius
MacGahan, afterward the famous war
Aloysius
dent and friend of Skobeloff.
MacGahan even
at that time
Father
Zahm
correspon-
told
me
that
added an utter fearlessness
to chivalric tenderness for the weak, and
was the defender
boy who was oppressed by a larger one. Later

Father Zahm was at Notre Dame University, in Indiana,
with Maurice Egan, whom, when I was President, I appointed minister to Denmark.
of any small
On
the occasion in question Father
Zahm had
just re-
turned from a trip across the Andes and down the

zon,
and came
he and
Ama-
in to propose that after I left the presidency
should go up the Paraguay into the interior of
THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS
At the time I wished to go to Africa, and

so the subject was dropped; but from time to time afterward we talked it over. Five years later, in the spring of
South America.
1913, I accepted invitations conveyed through the govern-
ments of Argentina and Brazil to address certain learned

bodies in these countries.
instead of
Then
making the conventional
sea round South America, after I

I
it
occurred to
me
that,
tourist trip purely
had
finished
my
by
lectures
would come north through the middle of the continent
Amazon; and I decided to write

him my intentions. Before doing so,
into the valley of the
Father
Zahm and
tell
desired to see the authorities of the American
however,
Museum
of Natural History, in
out whether they cared to have

uralists
with
me
into Brazil
New York
me
City, to find
take a couple of nat-
and make a
collecting trip for
museum.
the
Accordingly,
wrote to Frank Chapman, the curator of
ornithology of the museum, and accepted his invitation to
lunch at the
museum one day
early in June.
in addition to various naturalists, to
also
my
found Father Zahm; and as soon as
At the lunch,
astonishment
saw him
told
was now intending to make the South American

trip.
It appeared that he had made up his mind that he
would take it himself, and had actually come on to see
Mr. Chapman to find out if the latter could recommend
a naturalist to go with him; and he at once said he would
him
accompany me.
Chapman was
pleased
when he found
up the Paraguay and across

into the valley of the Amazon, because much of the ground
over which we were to pass had not been covered by colout that
we intended
lectors.
He saw Henry
to go
Fairfield Osborn, the president of
THE START
museum, who wrote me that the museum would be

pleased to send under me a couple of naturalists, whom,
the
my
Chapman would choose.

The men whom Chapman recommended were
with
approval,
George K. Cherrie and Leo E. Miller.
Messrs.
gladly accepted
The former was to attend chiefly to the ornithology

and the latter to the mammalogy of the expedition; but
each was to help out the other. No two better men for
both.
Both were veterans
such a trip could have been found.

of the tropical
American
Miller was a
forests.
young man,
born in Indiana, an enthusiastic naturalist with good
He was
erary as well as scientific training.

in the
Guiana
forests,
and joined us
was an older man, born

mont.
He had
in
at the time
at Barbados.
Iowa, but
now
a wife and six children.
lit-
Cherrie
a farmer in Ver-
Mrs. Cherrie had
accompanied him during two or three years of their early

married
life in
his collecting trips along the Orinoco.
Their
camp a couple
from any white man or woman. One
second child was born when they were in

of
hundred miles
night a few weeks later they were obliged to leave a camping-place,
where they had intended to spend the night, be-
cause the baby was fretful, and
its cries
which prowled nearer and nearer

thought
it
safest
and seek a new
in the twilight until
they
once more to put out into the open river

resting-place.
twenty-two years collecting
most of the
attracted a jaguar,
Cherrie had spent about
in the
field-naturalists I
American
tropics.
Like
have met, he was an unusually
man; and willy-nilly he had been forced

at times to vary his career by taking part in insurrections.
Twice he had been behind the bars in consequence, on one
occasion spending three months in a prison of a certain
efficient
and
fearless
South American
and
state, expecting
each day to be taken out
In another state he had, as an interlude to his
shot.
ornithological pursuits, followed the career of a gun-runner,
acting as such off and on for

particular
two and a half years. The

revolutionary chief whose fortunes he was follow-
came into power, and Cherrie immortalized

name by naming a new species of ant-thrush after him
ing finally
delightful touch, in
its
his
practical combination of those not
normally kindred pursuits, ornithology and gun-running.

In Anthony Fiala, a former arctic explorer,
an excellent
man
charge of
handling and shipment.
its
for
we found
assembling equipment and taking
In addition to his
four years in the arctic regions, Fiala had served in the
New York
Squadron
War, and through
in
Porto Rico during the Spanish
squadron had been
his service in the
brought into contact with his
little
Tennessee wife.
She
came down with her four children to say good-by to him

when the steamer left. My secretary, Mr. Frank Harper,
went with us. Jacob Sigg, who had served three years
in the United States Army, and was both a hospital nurse
and a cook, as well
went
as
having a natural taste for adventure,
Zahm. In southHe had been bridge
as the personal attendant of Father
ern Brazil
my
son Kermit joined me.
and a couple of months previously, while on top

of a long steel span, something went wrong with the derrick, he and the steel span coming down together on the
building,
He
rocky bed beneath.
escaped with two broken
ribs,
two
teeth knocked out, and a knee partially dislocated, but
was
practically
In
dition.
its
all
right again
when he
started with us.
composition ours was a typical American expe-
Kermit and
were of the old Revolutionary stock,
THE START
and
in
was on
our veins ran about every strain of blood that there
water during colonial times.
this side of the
Cher-
was born in Ireland, and his mother in Scotland; they came here when very young, and his father
served throughout the Civil War in an Iowa cavalry regiment. His wife was of old Revolutionary stock. Father
rie's
father
Zahm's father was an Alsacian immigrant, and
was partly of
Irish
his
mother
and partly of old American stock, a
descendant of a niece of General Braddock.
Miller's father
came from Germany, and his mother from France. Fiala's

father and mother were both from Bohemia, being Czechs,
and his father had served four years in the Civil War in
the Union Army his Tennessee wife was of old Revolutionary stock. Harper was born in England, and Sigg in
We
Switzerland.
ethnic origin.
were as varied
in religious creed as in
Zahm and
Father
Miller were Catholics,
Kermit and Harper Episcopalians, Cherrie a Presbyterian,

Fiala a Baptist, Sigg a Lutheran, while I belonged to the
Dutch Reformed Church.

For arms the naturalists took 16-bore shotguns, one of
Cherrie's having a
rifle
barrel underneath.
for the rest of the party
myself, including
my
The
firearms
were supplied by Kermit and
Springfield
rifle,
Kermit's two Win-
and 30-40, the Fox 12-gauge shotgun, and

another 16-gauge gun, and a couple of revolvers, a Colt and
chesters, a 405
a Smith
&
Wesson.
We
took from
New York
a couple
of canvas canoes, tents, mosquito-bars, plenty of cheesecloth, including nets for the hats,
hammocks.
We
and both
light cots
took ropes and pulleys which proved
valuable on our canoe

the clothing he fancied.
and
in-
Each equipped himself with

Mine consisted of khaki, such as
trip.
6
I
wore
flannel shirts
Army
with a couple of United States
in Africa,
and a couple of
silk shirts,
one pair of hob-
and one pair of laced leather

boots coming nearly to the knee. Both the naturalists told
nailed shoes with leggings,
me
that
it
was well to have
either the boots or leggings as
a protection against snake-bites, and
also
had gauntlets
because of the mosquitoes and sand-flies.
where possible to
live
We
intended
on what we could get from time to
time in the country, but we took some United States
Army emergency
and
rations,
also ninety cans, each con-
taining a day's provisions for five men,
The
there
The
is
trip I
made up by
Fiala.
proposed to take can be understood only
if
a slight knowledge of South American topography.
great mountain chain of the
Andes extends down the
entire length of the western coast, so close to the Pacific
Ocean that no
rivers of
of
rivers
any importance enter
South America drain into the Atlantic.
The
it.
South-
ernmost South America, including over half of the
terri-
tory of the Argentine Republic, consists chiefly of a cool,
open plains country.
ward of the Andes,
lies
can continent, which

subtropical regions.
Northward of
this country,
and
east-
the great bulk of the South Ameri-
is
included in the tropical and the
Most
of this territory
is
Brazilian.
Aside from certain relatively small stretches drained by
immense region of tropical and subtropical America east of the Andes is drained by the three
great river systems of the Plate, the Amazon, and the
coast rivers, this
Orinoco.
At
their headwaters the
Amazon and
the Ori-
noco systems are actually connected by a sluggish natural

canal.
The headwaters
of the northern affluents of the
Paraguay and the southern
affluents of the
Amazon
are
THE START
sundered by a stretch of high land, which toward the east
broadens out into the central plateau of Brazil.

cally this
is
Geologi-
a very ancient region, having appeared above
the waters before the dawning of the age of reptiles,

indeed, of
plateau
open
is
any true land vertebrates on the

partly of forest.
The
great and low-lying
basin of the Paraguay, which borders

largest,
zon, which borders

all
This
globe.
a region partly of healthy, rather dry and sandy,
prairie,
one of the
or,
and the
still
on the south,
greater basin of the
on the north,
it
it
is
is
Ama-
the very largest of
the river basins of the earth.
In these basins, but especially in the basin of the
Am-
azon, and thence in most places northward to the Carib-
bean Sea,
lie
the most extensive stretches of tropical forest
The
to be found anywhere.
forests of tropical
and of portions of the Farther-Indian
West
Africa,
region, are the only
ones that can be compared with them.
Much
difficulty
has been experienced in exploring these forests, because
under the torrential rains and steaming heat the rank
growth of vegetation becomes almost impenetrable, and

the streams difficult of navigation; while white
much from
diseases
men
suffer
the terrible insect scourges and the deadly
which modern science has discovered to be due
very largely to insect

are of great interest.
bites.
The fauna and
however,
The American museum was
larly anxious to obtain collections
the headwaters of the
from the southern
flora,
particu-
from the divide between
Paraguay and the Amazon, and
affluents of the
was to ascend the Paraguay
Amazon.
Our purpose
as nearly as possible to the
head of navigation, thence cross to the sources of one of

the affluents of the Amazon, and
if
possible descend
it
in
The Paraguay is regularly naviboats can go. The starting-point for our
canoes built on the spot.
gated as high as
trip
was to be Asuncion,
My
little
but on reaching Rio de Janeiro the minister of
Mr. Lauro Muller, who had been kind
affairs,
enough to take great personal
me
Paraguay.
exact plan of operations was necessarily a
indefinite,
foreign
in the state of
interest in
my
informed
trip,
that he had arranged that on the headwaters of the
Paraguay, at the town of Caceres,
Army
Brazilian
would be met by a
colonel, himself chiefly Indian
Colonel Rondon.
Colonel
Rondon has been
by
blood,
for a quarter
of a century the foremost explorer of the Brazilian hin-
He was
terland.
at the time in
Manaos, but
his lieuten-
ants were in Caceres and had been notified that
we were
coming.
More important
only an
still,
efficient public
who
Mr. Lauro Muller
servant but a
man
is
not
of wide culti-
him that reminded me of

help me make my trip of much more
vation, with a quality about
offered to
John Hay
consequence than
had
He
originally intended.
has taken
a keen interest in the exploration and development of the

interior
of Brazil,
and he believed that
my
expedition
could be used as a means toward spreading abroad a more

general knowledge of the country.
would co-operate with me
in
every
He
way
told
if I
me
that he
cared to un-
dertake the leadership of a serious expedition into the unexplored portion of western Matto Grosso, and to attempt
the descent of a river which flowed nobody
but which the best-informed

be a very big
river, utterly
knew whither,
men believed would prove

unknown to geographers.
eagerly and gladly accepted, for
I felt
to
I
that with such help
THE START
the trip could be
made
of
much
a substantial addition could be
scientific value,
made
and that
to the geographical
knowledge of one of the least-known parts of South America.

Accordingly,
some
was arranged that Colonel Rondon and
it
assistants
and
scientists should
meet me
at or
below
Corumba, and that we should attempt the descent of the
come
of which they had already
river,
across the head-
waters.
I
had to travel through
and Chile
for six
Uruguay, the Argentine,
fulfil
my
speaking engagements.
and Sigg
left
me
weeks to
Fiala, Cherrie, Miller,
Brazil,
at Rio, continuing
we had
come
down from New York. From Buenos Aires they went up
the Paraguay to Corumba, where they awaited me. The
two naturalists went first, to do all the collecting that was
to Buenos Aires in the boat in which
possible;
Fiala and Sigg travelled
more
leisurely,
all
with the
heavy baggage.
Before
followed
them
witnessed an incident worthy
of note from the standpoint of a naturalist, and of possible
importance to us because of the trip we were about
to take.
Africa,
South America even more than Australia and
and almost as much as India,
sonous snakes.
As
in India,
is
a country of poi-
although not to the same
degree, these snakes are responsible for a very serious mor-
among human beings. One

evidences of the modern advance
tality
of the most interesting

in Brazil
is
the estab-
lishment near Sao Paulo of an institution especially for

the study of these poisonous snakes, so as to secure antidotes to the poison and to develop enemies to the snakes
themselves.
We
wished to take into the interior with us
10
some
bottles of the anti-venom serum, for
pedition there
On
is
always a certain danger from snakes.
one of his trips Cherrie had
The man was
snake-bite.
forest, and,
on such an ex-
lost a native follower
by
bitten while out alone in the
although he reached camp, the poison was
ready working in him, so that he could give no
al-
intelligible
account of what had occurred, and he died in a short time.

Poisonous snakes are of several different families, but
the most poisonous ones, those which are dangerous to
man, belong to the two great
Most
snakes and the vipers.
families of the colubrine
of the colubrine snakes are
and are the common snakes that we
entirely harmless,
But some of them, the cobras
meet everywhere.
stance, develop into
most formidable of
brine snakes in the
what
all
are
on the whole perhaps the
The only poisonous
snakes.
New World
coral-snakes of the genus
for in-
colu-
are the ring-snakes, the
elaps,
which are found from
the extreme southern United States southward to the Ar-
These coral-snakes are not vicious and have
gentine.
small teeth which cannot penetrate even ordinary clothing.
They
are only dangerous
one with bare
if
actually trodden on
feet or if seized in the
hand.
by some
There are
harmless snakes very like them in color which are sometimes kept as pets; but
such a pet or
who
as to the genus to
The
it
behooves every
keeps
handles such a snake to be very sure
which
it
belongs.
great bulk of the poisonous snakes of America,
including
all
the really dangerous ones, belong to a divi-
sion of the widely spread family of vipers

as the pit-vipers.
distinct
man who
which
is
known
In South America these include two
subfamilies or genera
whether
they are called
THE START
11
would depend,
families, subfamilies, or genera
suppose,
upon the varying personal views of the individual

describer on the subject of herpetological nomenclature.
largely
One genus
includes
Brazilian species
United States.
is
rattlesnakes, of
the
which the big
as dangerous as those of the southern
But the
large majority of the species
and
individuals of dangerous snakes in tropical America are
These are
included in the genus lachecis.
aggressive snakes without rattles.
They
active, vicious,
are exceedingly
Some of them grow to a very large size, being

indeed among the largest poisonous snakes in the world
poisonous.
their only
rivals in this respect
being the diamond rat-
mambas, and the

snake-eating cobra. The fer-de-
tlesnake of Florida, one of the African
Indian hamadryad, or
dreaded in Martinique, and the equally danger-
lance, so
ous bushmaster of Guiana are included in this genus.
dozen species are known

identical with the
in Brazil, the biggest
one being
Guiana bushmaster, and the most com-
mon
one, the jararaca, being identical or practically iden-
tical
with the fer-de-lance.
The snakes
of this genus, like
the rattlesnakes and the Old- World vipers and puff-adders,

possess long poison-fangs
which
strike
any other human garment except stout
through clothes or
leather.
Moreover,
they are very aggressive, more so than any other snakes

in the world, except possibly
some of the cobras.
As, in
addition, they are numerous, they are a source of really

frightful
fields
danger to scantily clad
and
forests,
or
who
for
men who work
in
any reason are abroad
the
at
night.
The poison
uniform
of
venomous serpents
in its quality.
On
is
not in the least
the contrary, the natural forces
12
to use a term which
is
vague, but which
our present-day knowledge permits

in so
many
that
is
as exact as
have developed
different families of snakes these poisoned fangs
have worked
in
two or three
totally different fashions.
Unlike the vipers, the colubrine poisonous snakes have

small fangs, and their poison, though on the whole even
more deadly, has
and owes
entirely different effects,
Even within the
deadliness to entirely different qualities.
same family there are wide

the long poison-fangs.
In the jararaca an
differences.
extraordinary quantity of yellow
venom
This poison
its
is
spurted from
is
secreted in
among vipers, give the head

shape. The rattlesnake yields
glands which,
its
of-spades
large
peculiar ace-
much
smaller
quantity of white venom, but, quantity for quantity, this
venom is more deadly. It is the great quantity of

venom injected by the long fangs of the jararaca, the bushwhite
master, and their fellows that renders their bite so generally

fatal.
Moreover, even between these two
allied
genera of
pit-vipers, the differences in the action of the poison are
marked to be
sufficiently
easily recognizable,
and to render
the most effective anti-venomous serum for each slightly
from the other.
different
make
alike to
However, they are near enough
this difference, in practice, of
small consequence.
comparatively
In practice the same serum can be used
to neutralize the effect of either, and, as will be seen later

on, the snake that
immune
immune
to one kind of
venom
is
also
to the other.
But the
snakes
is
deadly
as,
jararaca.
is
effect of the
venom
of the poisonous colubrine
totally different from, although to the full as
the effect of the poison of the rattlesnake or
The serum
that
is
an antidote as regards the
THE START
pit-viper
wholly or well-nigh
is
13
as
useless
regards the
The animal that is immune to the bite of

one may not be immune to the bite of the other. The
colubrines.
bite of a cobra or other colubrine poisonous snake
painful in
immediate
its
of the big vipers.
than
effects
The victim
suffers
more
is
the bite of one
is
There
more.
is
greater effect on the nerve-centres, but less swelling of the
wound
itself,
and, whereas the blood of the rattlesnake's
victim coagulates, the blood of the victim of an elapine
that of one of the only poisonous American

ubrines becomes watery and incapable of coagulation.
snake
is,
col-
Snakes are highly specialized in every way, including
Some live
on mammals, or
their prey.
exclusively
mals,
birds.
on warm-blooded
Some
live
ani-
exclusively on
batrachians, others only on lizards, a few only on insects.
A very
few species
live exclusively
on other snakes.
These
venomous snake, the Indian

hamadryad, or giant cobra, and several non-poisonous
include one very formidable
In Africa
snakes.
within
it
I killed
a small cobra which contained
a snake but a few inches shorter than
itself;
but,
as far as I could find out, snakes were not the habitual

.
diet of the African cobras.
The poisonous snakes use

victims,
and
also to kill
menaces them.
only fight
if
Some
own
of
venom
possible foe
them
when
kill
are good-tempered,
and on rare occasions
accord
to
entirely
their
which they think
injured or seriously alarmed.
cessively irritable,
of their
any
their
and
Others are exwill
even attack
unprovoked and un-
threatened.
On
reaching Sao Paulo on our southward journey from
Rio to Montevideo, we drove out to the "Instituto Serum-
14
therapico," designed for the study of the effects of the
venom
of poisonous Brazilian snakes.
who
tor Vital Brazil,
Its director
is
Doc-
has performed a most extraordinary
work and whose experiments and
investigations are not
only of the utmost value to Brazil but will ultimately be

recognized as of the utmost value for humanity at large.
I
know
of no institution of similar kind anywhere.
a fine modern building, with
all
has
the best appliances, in which
experiments are carried on with
all
kinds of serpents,
ing and dead, with the object of discovering

erties of their several
It
all
liv-
the prop-
kinds of venom, and of developing
various anti-venom serums which nullify the effects of the

different
venoms.
ple at large
by
Every
effort
is
made
to teach the peo-
been the diminution
bites in the province of
field
One notable
the lessons thus learned in the laboratory.

result has
open
practical demonstration in the
in the mortality
from snake-
Sao Paulo.
In connection with his institute,
and
by the
right
laboratory, the doctor has a large serpentarium, in which

quantities of the
common
poisonous and non-poisonous
snakes are kept, and some of the rarer ones.
voted considerable time to the
effort to find
He
out
has deif
there
any natural enemies of the poisonous snakes of his

country, and he has discovered that the most formidable
are
enemy
of the
many
dangerous Brazilian snakes
poisonous, entirely harmless, rather

snake, the mussurama.
Of
all
uncommon
is
a non-
Brazilian
the interesting things the
doctor showed us, by far the most interesting was the op-
portunity of witnessing for ourselves the action of the mus-
surama toward a dangerous snake.
The doctor
first
showed us specimens of the various
THE START
15
important snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous,
in alcohol.
Then he showed us preparations of the different kinds of

venom and of the different anti-venom serums, presenting
us with some of the latter for our use on the journey.
He has been able

venom serum, one
to produce
two
distinct kinds of anti-
to neutralize the virulent poison of the
rattlesnake's bite, the other to neutralize the poison of
These poisons
the different snakes of the lachecis genus.
somewhat
are
some
different
differences
between the poisons of the
cies of lachecis; in
and
less,
son
and moreover there appear to be
some
cases the poison
different spe-
nearly color-
is
in others, as in that of the jararaca,
saw,
it is
But the
whose
poi-
yellow.
vital difference
is
that between
these poi-
all
sons of the pit-vipers and the poisons of the colubrine
As yet the
snakes, such as the cobra and the coral-snake.
doctor has not been able to develop an anti-venom serum
which
will neutralize the poison of these colubrine snakes.
Practically this
for the
is
a matter of
little
consequence
Brazilian coral-snakes are dangerous only
mishandled by some one whose bare skin

bite.
in Brazil,
The numerous
is
when
exposed to the
accidents and fatalities continually
occurring in Brazil are almost always to be laid to the
account of the several species of lachecis and the single

species of rattlesnake.
Finally, the doctor took us into his lecture-room to
show us how he conducted
his experiments.
The
various
snakes were in boxes, on one side of the room, under the

care of a skilful and impassive assistant,
who handled them
with the cool and fearless caution of the doctor himself.
The poisonous ones were taken out by means
of a long-
16
handled
steel
sert this
under the snake and
is
hook.
All that
is
lift
necessary to do
him
not only unable to escape, but he
he cannot
unable to
He
strike, for
strike unless coiled so as to give himself support
The
and leverage.
table on which the snakes are laid
and smooth,
fairly large
nary
the ground.
off
is
to in-
is
differing in
no way from an
is
ordi-
table.
There were a number of us
The doctor
or three photographers.
room, including two
in the
put on the table
first
a non-poisonous but very vicious and truculent colubrine

snake.
picked
no
up, opened
it
and handed
fangs,
and examined
its
at
and
It struck right
its
teeth,
to me.
In
or three times.
opened
I also
and then put
temper having been much
me two
Then the doctor
at us.
mouth, and showed that
its
it
left
its
had
mouth
down, whereupon,
it
ruffled,
its
it
struck violently
it
action and temper this
snake was quite as vicious as the most irritable poisonous
Yet
snakes.
it is
entirely harmless.
One
of the innumer-
able mysteries of nature which are at present absolutely

insoluble
is
why some
snakes should be so vicious and
others absolutely placid and good-tempered.
After removing the vicious harmless snake, the doctor
warned us to get away from the

put on
called
it,
very big lachecis
in succession, a
bushmaster
and
and
table,
a big rattlesnake.
his attendant
of the
Each
kind
coiled
menacingly, a formidable brute ready to attack anything

that approached.
his iron crook
it
Then the attendant
on the neck of each
right behind the head,
The
snake's
mouth was
and held
in
adroitly dropped
in succession,
it
seized
toward the doctor.
each case wide open, and the
great fangs erect and very evident.
It
would not have
THE START
17
been possible to have held an African ring-necked cobra
in
such fashion, because the ring-neck would have ejected
its
venom through
the fangs into the eyes of the onlookers.
There was no danger
and the doctor inserted
in this case,
a shallow glass saucer into the
mouth
the fangs, permitted
its
to eject
it
of the snake behind
poison, and then himself
squeezed out the remaining poison from the poison-bags
From
through the fangs.
came
the big lachecis
a large
quantity of yellow venom, a liquid which speedily crystal-
number
lized into a
yielded a
much
less
of minute crystals.
The
rattlesnake
quantity of white venom, which the
doctor assured us was far more active than the yellow

lachecis
venom.
Then each snake was returned
to
its
box
unharmed.
After this the doctor took out of a box and presented
to
me
fine,
handsome, nearly black snake, an individual
of the species called the mussurama.
This
is
in
my
perhaps the most interesting serpent in the world.
eyes
It is
a big snake, four or five feet long, sometimes even longer,

nearly black, lighter below, with a friendly, placid temper.
It lives exclusively
mune
on other snakes, and
is
completely im-
to the poison of the lachecis and rattlesnake groups,
which contain
all
Doctor Brazil told
ments with
the really dangerous snakes of America.
me
that he had conducted
this interesting snake.
and prefers wet places
in
which to
It
is
live.
many
not very
experi-
common,
It lays eggs,
and
the female remains coiled above the eggs, the object being
apparently not to
evaporation.
weather.
warm them, but
It will
Otherwise
six days, or a big
not eat
it
to prevent too great
when moulting, nor
will eat a small
one every fortnight.
snake every
in cold
five or
18

There
and non-poisonous snakes, not alone

irascibility
among poisonous
the widest difference, both
is
in
nervousness and
but also in ability to accustom themselves to
out-of-the-way surroundings.
Many
of non-poi-
species
sonous snakes which are entirely harmless, to
any other animal except
man
their small prey, are nevertheless
very vicious and truculent, striking right and
on the smallest provocation
biting freely
or to
this
and
left
the case
is
with the species of which the doctor had previously placed

a specimen on the table.
many
snakes,
some
and some vicious ones, are so nervous
entirely harmless
and uneasy that
Moreover,
it is
with the greatest
difficulty
they can
be induced to eat in captivity, and the slightest distur-
bance or interference
will
prevent their eating.
other snakes, however, of which the
mussurama
There are
is
perhaps
the best example, which are very good captives, and at the
same time very
showing a complete indifference
fearless,
not only to being observed but to being handled
when
they are feeding.
There
is
in the
United States a beautiful and attractive
snake, the king-snake, with
mussurama.
It is friendly
sonous, so that
serpents,
immune
and
it
much
the same habits as the
toward mankind, and not poi-
can be handled
freely.
It feeds
on other
will kill a rattlesnake as big as itself,
being
Mr. Ditmars, of the
to the rattlesnake venom.
Bronx Zoo, has made many interesting experiments with

I have had them in my own possesthese king-snakes.
sion.
They
are good-natured
dled with impunity, but
Doctor Brazil informed

to
make
the
mussurama
and can generally be han-
have known them to
me
that
bite a
it
bite,
whereas
was almost impossible
man.
The king-snake
will
THE START
19
feed greedily on other snakes in the presence of
knew
of one case where
it
it
couple of years ago
not
is
partly swallowed another snake
while both were in a small boy's pocket.

to viper poison but
man
immune
It
is
immune
to colubrine poison.
was informed of a case where one
of these king-snakes was put into an enclosure with an In-
dian snake-eating cobra or hamadryad of about the same

It killed
size.
it,
and very soon showed the
believe
laid
my
it
made no
the cobra but
effort to
effects of the
cobra poison.
afterward died, but unfortunately
notes and cannot
now remember
swallow
have mis-
the details of the
incident.
Doctor Brazil informed

the king-snake, was not
mussurama
killed
me
that the mussurama, like
immune
in his possession,
to the colubrine poison.
which had with impunity
and eaten several rattlesnakes and representatives
of the lachecis genus, also killed and ate a
venomous
coral-
snake, but shortly afterward itself died from the effects
of the poison.
It
is
one of the
many
that these American serpents which
should only have grown
immune
kill
puzzles of nature
poisonous serpents
to the poison of the
most
dangerous American poisonous serpents, the pit-vipers, and
immune to the poison of the coralsnakes which are commonly distributed throughout their
range.
Yet, judging by the one instance mentioned by
should not have become
Doctor
Brazil,
they attack and master these coral-snakes,
although the conflict in the end results in their death.
would be interesting to
exceptional, that
is,
find out
whether
this attack
It
was
whether the mussurama has or has
not as a species learned to avoid the coral-snake.
was not exceptional, then not only
is
If
it
the instance highly
20
curious in
itself,
but
would
it
mussurama
failure of the
to
also
become
go far to explain the

plentiful.
For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with

the subject,
snake
in
is
may mention
not dangerous to
that the poison of a poisonous

its
own
species unless injected
very large doses, about ten times what would normally
be injected by a
bite;
but that
it
is
deadly to
all
other
snakes, poisonous or non-poisonous, save as regards the
very few species which themselves eat poisonous snakes.
The Indian hamadryad,

It evidently
snake-eater.
or giant cobra,
exclusively a
is
draws a sharp distinction between
poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, for Mr. Ditmars has

recorded that two individuals in the Bronx Zoo which are
habitually fed on harmless snakes, and attack
refused to attack a copperhead which
their
would be interesting to
its
all
find out
pit-vipers,
and
if
was thrown into
not
immune
the poison of
its
if
the
hamadryad
also whether,
small relative, the true cobra
even
eagerly,
being evidently afraid of this pit-viper.
cage,
to prey on
them
for
it
it
may
to the viper poison,
will
is
It
afraid
prey on
well be that,
it is
immune
to
close ally, the smaller cobra.
and many other questions would be speedily

settled by Doctor Brazil if he were given the opportunity
It must be remembered, moreover, that not
to test them.
only have his researches been of absorbing value from the
All these
standpoint of pure science but that they also have a real

utilitarian worth.
mussurama.
The
He
is
now
collecting
favorite prey of the
and breeding the
mussurama
is
the
most common and therefore the most dangerous poisonous snake of Brazil, the jararaca, which is known in MarIn Martinique and elsewhere
tinique as the fer-de-lance.
THE START
this
snake
is
21
such an object of terror as to be at times a

Surely
genuine scourge.
it
would be worth while
for the
authorities of Martinique to import specimens of the mus-
surama to that
British India
is
island.
The mortality from
very great.
while for the able Indian
Surely
it
would be well worth
Government
create such an institute as that over

Brazil
At
is
snake-bite in
to copy Brazil
and
which Doctor Vital
the curator.
first
sight
seems extraordinary that poisonous
it
pents, so dreaded
by and
ser-
most animals,
so irresistible to
should be so utterly helpless before the few creatures that
prey on them.
But the explanation
is
Any
easy.
specialized creature, the higher its specialization,
be proportionately helpless when once

ized traits are effectively nullified
is
is
highly
apt to
peculiar special-
its
by an opponent.
This
eminently the case with the most dangerous poisonous
snakes.
In them a highly peculiar specialization has been
carried to the highest point.
They
rely for attack
and
All other
means
and methods of attack and defence have atrophied.
They
defence purely on their poison-fangs.
neither crush nor tear with their teeth nor constrict with
their bodies.
The
poison-fangs are slender and delicate,
and, save for the poison, the

character.
wound
inflicted
is
of a trivial
In consequence they are utterly helpless in the
presence of any animal which the poison does not affect.
There are several mammals immune to snake-bite, including various species of hedgehog, pig, and
other
mammals which
kill
them do
so
mongoose
the
by pouncing on
them unawares or by avoiding their stroke through sheer

quickness of movement; and probably this is the case with
most snake-eating birds. The mongoose is very quick,
22
but in some cases at least
Game
"African
Trails"
it
have mentioned one
permits
itself to
in the
be bitten by
poisonous snakes, treating the bite with utter indifference.
There should be extensive experiments made to determine

if
there are species of
and viper poison.
mongoose immune to both cobra
Hedgehogs, as determined by actual
experiments, pay no heed at
all
to viper poison even
when
bitten on such tender places as the tongue and lips and

eat the snake as
if it
Even among animals
were a radish.
which are not immune to the poison
different species are
very differently affected by the different kinds of snake

poisons.
Not only
others to
all
are
some
species
poisons, but there
amount of immunity each

One species will be quickly
species of snake,
and be
is
more
than
a wide variation in the
displays to
killed
resistant
any given venom.
by the poison from one
fairly resistant to the poison of
another; whereas in another species the conditions
may
be
directly reversed.
The mussurama which Doctor

fine
handed me was a
specimen, perhaps four and a half feet long.
the smooth, lithe bulk in

its coils
and
Brazil
fro,
so that
on
its
it
my
hands, and then
rested at ease in
own
my
arms;
I lifted
let it
it
twist
glided to
length, with the sinuous grace of
its
showed not the slightest trace of either nervousMeanwhile the doctor bade his atness or bad temper.
kind, and
tendant put on the table a big jararaca, or fer-de-lance,
which was accordingly done.
The
jararaca was
about
three feet and a half or perhaps nearly four feet long
was about nine inches shorter than the mussurama. The latter, which I continued to hold in my arms,
behaved with friendly and impassive indifference, moving
that
is,
it
THE START
and
easily to
hiding
my
fro
my
through
hands, and once or twice
head between the sleeve
its
The doctor was not
coat.
surama would behave,
for
it
snake, and unless hungry

to
23
it
and the body of
quite sure
how
the mus-
had recently eaten a small

pays no attention whatever
venomous snakes, even when they attack and
However,
it
fortunately proved
to have a
still
bite
it.
good ap-
petite.
The
itself
jararaca was alert and vicious.
on the
table, threatening the bystanders.
big black serpent
the
down on
enemy and headed
go with
my
It partly coiled
hands
it
put the
the table four or five feet fro.m
As soon
in its direction.
as I let
glided toward where the threatening,
formidable-looking lance-head lay stretched in a half
The mussurama
displayed not the slightest sign of excite-
ment.
Apparently
to run
its
out
flickering
its
nosed
its
it
trusted
little
to
its
eyes, for
it
began
head along the body of the jararaca, darting

tongue to
way up toward
placid were
it
coil.
meant to
its
where
feel just
the head of
its
actions that I did not at
attack, for there
it
it
So
antagonist.
first
was not the
was, as
suppose that
slightest exhibi-
tion of anger or excitement.

It
was the jararaca that began the
no fear whatever of
its
foe,
but
its
fight.
irritable
It
showed
temper was
aroused by the proximity and actions of the other, and

like a flash it
drew back
its
head and struck, burying
fangs in the forward part of the mussurama's body.
its
Im-
mediately the latter struck in return, and the counter-attack was so instantaneous that
what had happened.
it
was
difficult to see just
There was tremendous writhing and
struggling on the part of the jararaca; and then, leaning
24
\,
over the knot into which the two serpents were twisted,
I
saw that the mussurama had
lower jaw, putting
gaping mouth of
seized the jararaca
by the
own head completely into the widethe poisonous snake. The long fangs
its
were just above the top of the mussurama's head; and

appeared, as well as
could see, that they were once again
driven into the mussurama; but without the slightest

fect.
Then
which
it
ef-
the fangs were curved back in the jaw, a fact
particularly noted,
and
all effort
at the offensive
was abandoned by the poisonous snake.

Meanwhile the mussurama was chewing hard, and gradually shifted
its grip,
little
by
of the head of the jararaca in
little,
its
until
got the top
it
mouth, the lower jaw of
the jararaca being spread out to one side.
The venomous
serpent was helpless; the fearsome master of the wild
of the forest, the deadly foe of humankind, was
struggled.
But
held
Its cold, baleful serpent's eyes shone,
in the grip of death.
as evil as ever.
itself
life
it
was dying.
Nothing availed
In vain
it
writhed and
it.
Once or twice the mussurama took a turn round the

middle of the body of its opponent, but it did not seem
to press hard, and apparently used its coils chiefly in order
to get a better grip so as to crush the head of
or to hold the latter in place.

its
teeth;
effort that
Then
it
and the repeated
its
antagonist,
This crushing was done by

bites
were made with such
the muscles stood out on the mussurama's neck.
took two
coils
round the neck of the jararaca and
proceeded deliberately to try to break the backbone of
opponent by twisting the head round. With this purpose it twisted its own head and neck round so that the
its
lighter-colored surface
was uppermost; and indeed
at
one
The mussurama swallowing
the jararaca, or fer-de-lance, after having just killed
From
Method
of the
a photograph, by
Maza
mussurama's attack upon the jararaca
Reproduced by courtesy of Dr. Vital Brazil
it
THE START
time
it
looked as
had made almost a complete
if it
own body.
spiral revolution of its
relaxed
its
25
It
grip except to shift slightly the jaws.
although the body continued to
When
began to try to get the head
some
its
move
head crushed
convulsively.
opponent was dead, the mussurama
satisfied that its
process of
moment
never for a
In a few minutes the jararaca was dead,

in,
single
difficulty
This was a
mouth.
in its
on account of the angle
the lower jaw of the jararaca stuck out.
But
at
which
finally the
head was taken completely inside and then swallowed.
mussurama proceeded
After this, the
unbroken speed, to devour

process of crawling outside
opponent by the simple
its
it,
deliberately, but with
the body and
jararaca writhing and struggling until the
the early portion of the meal, the

to this writhing and struggling
on that of
its
by
tail
last.
of the
During
mussurama put a
resting
its
stop
own body
prey; but toward the last the part of the
body that remained outside was
left
free to wriggle as
it
wished.
Not only was the mussurama

presence, but
it
was
totally indifferent to our
totally indifferent to being handled
while the meal was going on.
Several times
the combatants in the middle of the table
writhed to the edge, and
finally,
when
tially
replaced
when they had
the photographers
found that they could not get good pictures,
mussurama up
held the
against a white background with the par-
swallowed snake
on uninterruptedly.
mouth; and the feast went

never saw cooler or more utterly
in its
and the ease and certainty with

poisonous snake was mastered gave me
unconcerned conduct;
which the
terrible
the heartiest respect and liking for the easy-going, good-
26
natured, and exceedingly efficient serpent which
holding in
Our
my
was not intended
trip
had been
as a hunting-trip but as a
Before starting on the trip
expedition.
scientific
arms.
while travelling in the Argentine,
itself,
received certain pieces of
first-hand information concerning the natural history of
the jaguar, and of the cougar, or puma, which are worth
The
recording.
facts
about the jaguar are not new in the
sense of casting
new
are interesting;
but the facts about the behavior of the
puma
in
one
on
light
district of
its
character, although they
Patagonia are of great interest,
because they give an entirely new side of
There was travelling with

cisco P.
Moreno, of Buenos
the present day a
member
cation of the Argentine, a
way
me
at the time
Doctor Fran-
Doctor Moreno
Aires.
is
man who
at
Edu-
of the National Board of
has worked in every
for the benefit of his country, perhaps especially for
the benefit of the children, so that
duced to
its life-history.
for
me
it
was
they know
Jacob
Riis.
He
as the
my
is
when he was
first
intro-
"Jacob Riis of the Argentine"
deep and affectionate intimacy with
also
an eminent
man
of science,
who
has done admirable work as a geologist and a geographer.
At one
period, in connection with his duties as a
boundary
commissioner on the survey between Chile and the Argentine,
made
the
he worked for years
in Patagonia.
It
was he who
the extraordinary discovery in a Patagonian cave of
still
fresh fragments of skin
and other remains of the
mylodon, the aberrant horse known as the onohipidium,

the huge South American tiger, and the macrauchenia,
them
extinct animals.
all
of
This discovery showed that some of
THE START
27
the strange representatives of the giant South American
had lasted down to within a compara-
pleistocene fauna
tively few
thousand years, down to the time when man,
substantially as the Spaniards found him, flourished on
Incidentally the discovery tended to
the continent.
that this fauna had lasted
much
later in
show
South America
than was the case with the corresponding faunas in other

parts of the world; and therefore
claims advanced
man on
tended to disprove the
by Doctor Ameghino
geologically, of this fauna,
of
it
and
for the
for the
extreme age,
extreme antiquity
the American continent.
One day Doctor Moreno handed me a copy
my
Outlook containing
account of a cougar-hunt in Ari-
zona, saying that he noticed that

in cougars attacking
had very
men, although
had
that such attacks sometimes occurred.
that
to
little faith
explicitly stated
told him, Yes,
had found that the cougar was practically harmless
man, the undoubtedly authentic instances of attacks on
men
being so exceptional that they could in practice be
Thereupon Doctor Moreno showed
wholly disregarded.
me
of The
me that he had himself been

mauled by a puma which was undoubt-
a scar on his face, and told
attacked and badly
edly trying to prey on him; that
is,
which had started on
me most interesting.
I had often met men who knew other men who had seen
other men who said that they had been attacked by pumas,
a career as a man-eater.
but this was the
man who had

I
have
said,
scientific
is
first
This was to
time that
had ever come across a
himself been attacked.
Doctor Moreno, as
not only an eminent citizen, but an eminent
man, and
his
account of what occurred
is
unques-
tionably a scientifically accurate statement of the facts.
28
I
give
exactly as the doctor told
it
paraphrasing a letter
it;
he sent me, and including one or two answers to questions

I
The
put to him.
by the way,
doctor,
stated to
me
that
he had known Mr. Hudson, the author of the "Naturalist
on the Plata," and that the

of
pumas from personal
latter
knew nothing whatever
experience and had accepted as
facts utterly wild fables.
Undoubtedly,
America,
like the
said
puma
the
in
puma
the
doctor,
North America,
South
in
as a general
is
cowardly animal which not only never attacks
rule a
but rarely makes any
efficient
defence
when
Indian and white hunters have no fear of

of the country, and
But there
its
harmlessness to
one particular spot
is
attacked.
it
man
man
The
in
most parts
is
proverbial.
southern Patagonia
in
where cougars, to the doctor's own personal knowledge,

have
for years
local
change
been dangerous foes of man.
in habits,
by the way,
am
nothing unprece-
In portions of
dented as regards wild animals.

as I
is
This curious
its
range,
informed by Mr. Lord Smith, the Asiatic tiger can
hardly be forced to fight man, and never preys on him,

while throughout most of
beast,
its
range
and often turns man-eater.
it
is
a most dangerous
So there are waters in
which sharks are habitual man-eaters, and others where

they never touch men; and there are rivers and lakes
where crocodiles or caymans are very dangerous, and others

where they are practically harmless
have myself seen
this in Africa.
In March, 1877, Doctor Moreno with a party of men

working on the boundary commission, and with a number
of Patagonian horse-Indians, was
beside
encamped
for
some weeks
Lake Viedma, which had not before been
visited
THE START
29
by white men for a century, and which was rarely visited

even by Indians. One morning, just before sunrise, he
left his camp by the south shore of the lake, to make a
topographical sketch of the lake.
carried a prismatic
It
was
round
cold,
his
compass
when
in a leather case
and he wrapped
neck and head.
He was unarmed,
his
but
with a strap.
poncho of guanaco-hide
He had walked
a few hundred
him from behind

and knocked him down. As she sprang on him she tried
to seize his head with one paw, striking him on the shoulder with the other.
She lacerated his mouth and also his
back, but tumbled over with him, and in the scuffle they
yards,
a puma, a female, sprang on
He
separated before she could bite him.

feet,
sprang to his
and, as he said, was forced to think quickly.
had recovered
herself,
and
sat
on her haunches
She
like a cat,
looking at him, and then crouched to spring again; where-
upon he whipped off his poncho, and as she sprang at him

he opened it, and at the same moment hit her head with
the prismatic compass in its case which he held by the
strap.
She struck the poncho and was evidently puzzled
by
it,
for,
turning, she slunk off to one side, under a bush,
and then proceeded to try to get round behind him.

faced her, keeping his eyes upon her, and backed
off.
He
She
him for three or four hundred yards. At least

twice she came up to attack him, but each time he opened
followed
his
poncho and
back.
yelled,
and
at the last
She continually, however,
moment
tried,
she shrank
by taking advan-
tage of cover, to sneak up to one side, or behind, to at-
tack him.
Finally,
when he got near camp,
she abandoned
the pursuit and went into a small patch of bushes.

raised the alarm;
an Indian rode up and
He
set fire to the
30
bushes from the windward
When
side.
from the bushes, the Indian rode

bolas,
after her,
which twisted around her hind
was struggling to
The
bolas.
free herself,
the cougar broke
and threw
his
and while she
legs;
he brained her with his second
doctor's injuries were rather painful, but not
serious.
Twenty-one years
on the same
a basaltic
with
lake,
cliff.
whom
later, in April, 1898,
he was camped
but on the north shore, at the foot of
He was
in
company with
four soldiers,
he had travelled from the Strait of Magellan.
In the night he was aroused by the shriek of a
man and
As the men sprang up from where

they were lying asleep they saw a large puma run off out
of the firelight into the darkness. It had sprung on a soldier named Marcelino Huquen while he was asleep, and
had tried to carry him off. Fortunately, the man was so
wrapped up in his blanket, as the night was cold, that he
was not injured. The puma was never found or killed.
About the same time a surveyor of Doctor Moreno's
party, a Swede named Arneberg, was attacked in similar
fashion.
The doctor was not with him at the time. Mr.
Arneberg was asleep in the forest near Lake San Martin.
The cougar both bit and clawed him, and tore his mouth,
breaking out three teeth. The man was rescued; but this
the barking of his dogs.
puma
also escaped.
The doctor stated that in this particular locality the

Indians, who elsewhere paid no heed whatever to the puma,
never let their women go out after wood for fuel unless
two or three were
occasions
pumas.
together.
This was because on several
women who had gone
out alone were killed by
Evidently in this one locality the habit of at
THE START
become chronic with a
occasional man-eating has
least
which elsewhere
species
the least dangerous, of
31
the most cowardly, and to
is
man
the big cats.
all
These observations of Doctor Moreno have a peculiar

value, because, as far as
know, they are the
trust-
first
worthy accounts of a cougar's having attacked man save

under circumstances so exceptional as to make the attack
more than the
similar exceptional instances
by various other
species of wild animals that
signify little
of attack
are not normally dangerous to
The
man.
known not only

attacked, but also now
jaguar, however, has long been
when
to be a dangerous foe
itself
and then to become a man-eater.
me
of such attacks furnished
Therefore the instances
are of merely corroborative
value.
In the excellent zoological gardens at Buenos Aires the

curator, Doctor Onelli, a naturalist of note,
showed us a
big male jaguar which had been trapped in the Chaco,
where
it
had already begun a career
They were
killed three persons.
were eaten;
as a man-eater, having
killed,
and two of them
the animal was trapped, in consequence of
the alarm excited
by the death
This
of his third victim.
jaguar was very savage; whereas a young jaguar, which
was
as
in a cage
was
visit
with a young
also the case
tiger,
was playful and
with the young
La Plata Museum
tiger.
friendly,
On my
trip to
was accompanied by Captain
Vicente Montes, of the Argentine Navy, an accomplished

officer of scientific
attainments.
He had
at
one time been
engaged on a survey of the boundary between the Argentine
and Parana and
dried beef in camp.
Brazil.
On
They had
quantity of
several occasions a jaguar
came
32
into
camp
protecting
so that he could not reach
it
however, was disastrous.

visited
Finally they succeeded in
after this dried beef.
On
The
it.
the next occasion that he
camp, at midnight, he seized a man.
was asleep
at the time,
Everybody
and the jaguar came
was
killed,
the woods.
the dogs, and finally

first-class condition.
two
moment
but the next
There was a scene of uproar and con-
and the jaguar was forced to drop
flee into
seized
the jaguar driving his fangs through the man's
skull into the brain.
fusion,
yell,
in so noise-
As he
lessly as to elude the vigilance of the dogs.
the man, the latter gave one
result,
Next morning they followed him with

killed him.
He was a large male, in
The only
was that
incidents
prey and
his
in
feature of note about these
each case the man-eater was a
powerful animal in the prime of
life;
whereas
it
frequently
happens that the jaguars that turn man-eaters are old

animals, and have become too inactive or too feeble to
catch their ordinary prey.
During the two months before starting from Asuncion,

in
Paraguay, for our journey into the
so
busy that
But
interior, I
was kept
had scant time to think of natural
in a strange land a
man who
cares for wild birds
wild beasts always sees and hears something that

to
him and
interests him.
near Rio Janeiro
the southern tropic
history.
is
and
new
In the dense tropical woods
heard in late October
springtime, near
the songs of many birds that
could
But the most beautiful music was from a

shy woodland thrush, sombre-colored, which lived near the
not identify.
ground
in
branches.
the thick timber, but sang high
among
At a great distance we could hear the
the
ringing,
THE START
33
musical, bell-like note, long-drawn and of piercing sweet-
which occurs
ness,
this
at intervals in the song; at first I
was the song, but when
it
was
thought
possible to approach the
singer I found that these far-sounding notes were scattered
through a continuous song of great melody.

ened to one that impressed
in
Argentina
which
is
me
more.
never
list-
In different places
heard and saw the Argentine mocking-bird,
not very unlike our own, and
remarkable singer.
But
is
also a delightful
and
never heard the wonderful white-
by Hudson, who knew

well the birds of both South America and Europe, to be
the song-king of them all.
Most of the birds I thus noticed while hurriedly passbanded mocking-bird, which
said
is
ing through the country were, of course, the conspicuous
The spurred
marked
plover, were everywhere; they were very noisy and active
and both inquisitive and daring, and they have a very
ones.
lapwings, big, tame, boldly
curious dance custom.
him, and
will look for

yell the
No man
need look for them.
when they
find
discovery to the universe.
lower Parana
saw
him they
They
will fairly
In the marshes of the
flocks of scarlet-headed blackbirds
on
the tops of the reeds; the females are as strikingly colored

as the males,
heads make
it
and their jet-black bodies and

impossible for
them
among
their natural surroundings.
west
saw
brilliant red
to escape observation
On
the plains to the
flocks of the beautiful rose-breasted starlings;
unlike the red-headed blackbirds, which seemed fairly to
court attention, these starlings sought to escape observation
by crouching on the ground
were hidden.
wet
places,
so that their red breasts
There were yellow-shouldered blackbirds
and cow-buntings abounded.
in
34
But the most conspicuous birds
saw were members of

of which our own king-
the family of tyrant flycatchers,

bird
the most familiar example.
is
numerously represented
Some
individuals.
This family
very
is
both in species and
in Argentina,
of the species are so striking, both in
and habits, and
color
in
one case also
in shape, as to at-
The least conspicuous, and nevertheless very conspicuous, among those

that I saw was the bientevido, which is brown above,
yellow beneath, with a boldly marked black and white
tract the attention of even the unobservant.
head, and a yellow crest.
It
is
very noisy,
the neighborhood of houses, and builds a big

It
is
ful
really a big,
heavy king-bird,
fiercer
than any northern king-bird.
common
is
domed
in
nest.
and more power-
saw them
assail
not
only the big but the small hawks with fearlessness, driving
them
in
headlong
They not only capture
flight.
but pounce on mice, small
frogs, lizards,
and
little
insects,
snakes,
rob birds' nests of the fledgling young, and catch tadpoles
and even small
Two
of the tyrants which I
with which
tail is
grew
which seem
tract attention
It
saw
nating
like
The
two
scissor-
the open country, and the long
at times to
whether the bird
is
hamper
its flight, at-
in flight or
perched on
has a habit of occasionally soaring into the air
and descending
I
observed are
fairly familiar in Texas.
common throughout
tail feathers,
a tree.
fish.
in loops
in the orchards
little bird,
and
spirals.
and gardens.
The scarlet tyrant

The male is a fasci-
coal-black above, while his crested head
and the body beneath are

rapid, low-voiced musical
brilliant scarlet.
trill
He
in the air, rising
utters his
with
flut-
tering wings to a height of a hundred feet, hovering while
THE START
he
and then
sings,
35
The
back to earth.
falling
color of the
bird and the character of his performance attract the at-
tention of every observer, bird, beast, or man, within reach

of vision.
The red-backed
tyrant
is
United States, and until
in the
and Hudson's ornithology
He
longed to this family.

colored
birds
is
any of
utterly unlike
looked him up in Sclater
never dreamed that he be-
for only the male
is
coal-black with a dull-red back.
on December
gonian plains.
kind
his
so brightly
saw these
near Barilloche, out on the bare Pata-
They behaved
like
pipits
or
longspurs,
running actively over the ground in the same manner and
showing the same restlessness and the same kind of
But whereas
pipits
are
flight.
inconspicuous, the red-backs at
once attracted attention by the contrast between their

bold coloring and the grayish or yellowish tones of the
ground along which they ran.

ever,
is
much more
The
conspicuous;
saw
neighborhood as the red-back and also

places.
He
The male
is
how-
silver-bill tyrant,
it
in the
same
in
many
other
jet-black, with white bill
and wings.
runs about on the ground like a pipit, but also frequently
perches on some bush to go through a strange flight-song
performance.
He
perches motionless,
bolt
upright,
and
even then his black coloring advertises him for a quarter

of a mile round about.
up
But every few minutes he springs
into the air to the height of
twenty or thirty
feet,
the
white wings flashing in contrast to the black body, screams
and gyrates, and then instantly returns to

and resumes
his erect pose of waiting.
his
It is
former post
hard to im-
agine a more conspicuous bird than the silver-bill;
the next and last tyrant flycatcher of which
I shall
but
speak
36
possesses on the whole the
any small bird

moreover
most advertising coloration of
have ever seen
in the
open country, and
this advertising coloration exists in
and throughout the year.
It
both sexes
a brilliant white,
is
all
over,
except the long wing-quills and the ends of the tail-feathers,
The
which are black.

tance, I thought
first
must be an
one
see
a silver mirror.
like
it;
its
of
and
it
on the top
shines in the
cat, or
man must
it.
These common Argentine

all
prey,
Every hawk,
no one can help seeing
open country, and
It perches
albino.
of a bush or tree watching for
sun
saw, at a very long dis-
birds,
most of them of the
them with a
strikingly advertis-
ing coloration, are interesting because of their beauty and

their habits.
They
are also interesting because they offer
such illuminating examples of the truth that
many
of the
most common and successful birds not merely lack a concealing coloration, but possess a coloration which
highest degree revealing.
The
them.
in the
coloration and the habits
of most of these birds are such that every

foe that can see at all
is
must have
its
hawk
or other
attention attracted to
Evidently in their cases neither the coloration nor
any habit of concealment based on the coloration
is
a sur-
vival factor, and this although they live in a land teeming
with bird-eating hawks.

there are
in
one
many known
set of cases,
Among
factors
some
in
the higher vertebrates
which have
influence,
some
another set of cases, in the
development and preservation of
species.
Courage,
ligence, adaptability, prowess, bodily vigor,
intel-
speed, alert-
ness, ability to hide, ability to build structures
which
will
young while they are helpless, fecundity all,

and many more like them, have their several places; and
protect the
THE START
behind
often
all
which
these visible causes there are at
more potent causes of which
nothing.
37
Some
may
species
owe much
be wholly lacking
work other and
as yet science can say
to a given
in influence
on other
and every one of the attributes above enumerated

vival factor in
some
attribute
species, while in others
it
species;
is
a sur-
has no sur-
vival value whatever, and in yet others, although of benefit, it is
on
not of sufficient benefit to offset the benefit conferred
foes or rivals
by
totally different attributes.
Intelli-
of course a survival factor;
but
to-day there exist multitudes of animals with very
little
gence, for instance,
intelligence
is
which have persisted through immense periods
of geologic time either unchanged or else without
any
in the direction of increased intelligence;
and dur-
ing their species-life they have witnessed the
death of
change
countless other species of far greater intelligence but in
other ways less adapted to succeed in the environmental
The same statement can be made of all the

many, many other known factors in development, from
fecundity to concealing coloration; and behind them lie
forces as to which we veil our ignorance by the use of
high-sounding nomenclature as when we use such a con-
complex.
venient but far from satisfactory term as orthogenesis.
CHAPTER
II
UP THE PARAGUAY
On
the afternoon of December 9
and picturesque
city of
we
left
the attractive
Asuncion to ascend the Paraguay.
With generous courtesy the Paraguayan Government had

put at
self,
my
disposal the gunboat-yacht of the President him-
a most comfortable river steamer, and so the open-
The
ing days of our trip were pleasant in every way.
we
food was good, our quarters were clean,
slept well,
below or on deck, usually without our mosquito-nettings,
and
It
in
was
daytime the deck was pleasant under the awnings.

hot, of course, but
we were
dressed suitably in our
exploring and hunting clothes and did not
The
river
was low,
some weeks
for there
judging
information
mind the
heat.
had been dry weather
for
from the vague and contradictory
received
there
is
much
elasticity
to the
terms wet season and dry season at this part of the Paraguay.
Under the
mighty
river;
brilliant
the sunset was glorious as
we
leaned on the
and after nightfall the moon, nearly
port railing;
hanging high
in the heavens,
mering radiance.
among
sky we steamed steadily up the
On
full
and
turned the water to shim-
the mud-flats and sand-bars, and
the green rushes of the bays and inlets, were stately
water-fowl;
crimson flamingoes and rosy spoonbills, dark-
colored ibis and white storks with black wings.
with snakelike necks and pointed
on the brink of the
river.
Snowy
38
bills,
Darters,
perched in the trees
egrets flapped across the
UP THE PARAGUAY
39
Caymans were common, and differed from the

crocodiles we had seen in Africa in two points: they were
not alarmed by the report of a rifle when fired at, and
marshes.
they lay with the head raised instead of stretched along

the sand.
For three days, as we steamed northward toward the

Tropic of Capricorn, and then passed
the Republic of Paraguay.
was a
On
it,
we were within
our right, to the east, there
fairly well-settled country,
where bananas and
or-
anges were cultivated and other crops of hot countries
On
raised.
we
the banks
passed an occasional small town,
or saw a ranch-house close to the river's brink, or stopped

for
wood
some
at
west lay the
Chaco,
still
little
level,
Across the river to the
settlement.
swampy,
fertile
wastes
known
as the
given over either to the wild Indians or to
The broad river ran

curves between mud-banks where terraces marked suc-
cattle-ranching on a gigantic scale.

in
cessive periods of flood.
bank, but
it
belt of forest stood
on each
was only a couple of hundred yards wide.
Back of it was the open country; on the Chaco side this

was a vast plain of grass dotted with tall, graceful palms.
In places the belt of forest vanished and the palm-dotted
prairie
came
to the river's edge.
cattle country,
and not
The Chaco
really unhealthy.
ered with ranches at a not distant day.
and many other winged
insect pests
is
It will
an ideal
be cov-
But mosquitoes
swarm over
it.
Cherrie
and Miller had spent a week there collecting mammals and

birds prior to
my
arrival at Asuncion.
They were
veter-
ans of the tropics, hardened to the insect plagues of Guiana
and the Orinoco.

been so tortured as
But they reported that never had they

in the
Chaco.
The
sand-flies crawled
40
through the meshes
them
to sleep;
the mosquito-nets,
in
knee touched the net
in their sleep a
if
on
and forbade
by
birdshot; and the nights were a torment, although they had
done well in their work, collecting some two hundred and
fifty specimens of birds and mammals.
Nevertheless for some as yet inscrutable reason the
river served as a barrier to certain insects which are menaces to the cattlemen.
With me on the gunboat was an
old Western friend, Tex Rickard, of the Panhandle and
the mosquitoes
fell
so that
it
Alaska and various places

large tract of land
cattle in the
was to
stop.
in
and some
it
looked as
if
riddled
He now
between.
has a
thousand head of
thirty-five
Chaco, opposite Concepcion, at which city he
He
told
me
that horses did not do well in
the Chaco but that cattle throve, and that while ticks
bank of the great river, they would

on the west bank. Again and again he had crossed
swarmed on the
not live
east
herds of cattle which were covered with the loathsome

bloodsuckers; and in a couple of months every tick would
be dead.
The worst animal
foes of
dangerous
foes, are insects;
and
the tropics.
Fortunately,
man, indeed the only
this
exactly as
especially true in
is
certain
differences
too minute for us as yet to explain render some insects
man
deadly to
or domestic animals, while closely allied
forms are harmless,
so,
for other reasons,
which
also
we
are not as yet able to fathom, these insects are for the
most part
by geographical and other conThe war against what Sir Harry Johnston calls
strictly limited
siderations.
the really material devil, the devil of evil wild nature in the
tropics, has
been waged with marked success only during
the last two decades.
The men,
in the
United States,
in
UP THE PARAGUAY
the
men
England, France, Germany, Italy
Cruz
in
41
Rio Janeiro and Doctor Vital Brazil
like
in
Doctor
Sao Paulo
who work experimentally within and without the laboratory in their warfare against the disease and death bearing
insects
make
and microbes, are the true leaders
the tropics the
home
in the fight to
of civilized man.
Late on the evening of the second day of our
trip, just
we reached Concepcion. On this

when we stopped for wood or to get provisions at
before midnight,
day,
pic-
women from rough mud and
turesque places, where the
thatched cabins were washing clothes in the
river, or
where
ragged horsemen stood gazing at us from the bank, or where
ranchmen stood
dark, well-dressed
houses
we
many
caught
in front of red-roofed
They belonged
fish.
to one of
the most formidable genera of fish in the world, the pi-
ranha or cannibal
get the chance.
fish,
the fish that eats
At
this point
guay the piranha do not seem to go

in all the
teen inches or over.
the world.
can
it
Farther north there are species of small
piranha that go in schools.
they swarm
men when
on the Para-
in regular schools,
but
waters and attain a length of eigh-
They
are the
most ferocious
Even the most formidable
fish,
fish in
the sharks or
the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves.
larger
But the piranhas habitually attack things much

than themselves. They will snap a finger off a hand
incautiously trailed in the water; they mutilate swimmers
in
every river town in Paraguay there are
been thus mutilated; they
wounded man or
them to madness.
pieces;
and
beast;
They
will
men who have
rend and devour alive any
for blood
will tear
in the
water excites
wounded wild fowl
bite off the tails of big fish as they
grow
to
ex-
42
hausted when fighting after being hooked.

I
Miller, before
reached Asuncion, had been badly bitten by one.
we caught sometimes
that
bit
Those
through the hooks, or the
double strands of copper wire that served as leaders, and
Those that we hauled on deck
got away.
minutes.
Most predatory
alligator-gar
and
deep-bodied
fish,
fish are
lived for
long and slim, like the
But the piranha
pickerel.
many
is
a short,
with a blunt face and a heavily under-
shot or projecting lower jaw which gapes widely.
The
razor-edged teeth are wedge-shaped like a shark's, and the
The
jaw muscles possess great power.
rabid, furious snaps
drive the teeth through flesh and bone.

its
The head with
short muzzle, staring malignant eyes, and gaping, cruelly
armed jaws,
is
the embodiment of evil ferocity;
match
actions of the fish exactly
its
looks.
and the
never wit-
nessed an exhibition of such impotent, savage fury as was
shown by the piranhas as they flapped on deck. When

fresh from the water and thrown on the boards they uttered an extraordinary squealing sound. As they flapped
about they
itself.
bit
One
with vicious eagerness at whatever presented
them flapped
of
into a cloth
Another grasped one of
a bulldog grip.
other snapped at a piece of wood, and
deep therein.
and seized
They
left
its
it
with
fellows;
an-
the teeth-marks
are the pests of the waters,
and
it is
necessary to be exceedingly cautious about either swim-
ming or wading where they

into,
or of their
own
are found.
If cattle are driven
accord enter, the water, they are
commonly not molested; but
if
by chance some unusually
big or ferocious specimen of these fearsome fishes does
taking
part of an ear, or perhaps of a
bite
an animal
teat
from the udder of a cow
off
the
blood brings up every
RcJV
m*m
Wi
mJ
wk
'*~i
m^i^-
fli
JI
:
...
Man-eating
fish,
piranha
Note the razor-edged teeth
From photographs
by Harper
UP THE PARAGUAY
member
of the ravenous throng which
43
anywhere near,
is
and unless the attacked animal can immediately make

escape from the water
is
it
devoured
Paraguay the natives hold them

the caymans are not feared at
them
feature about
is
in
all.
Here on the
alive.
much
The
its
whereas
respect,
only redeeming
that they are themselves fairly good
many
to eat, although with too
bones.
At daybreak of the third day, finding we were still

moored off Concepcion, we were rowed ashore and strolled
through the
off
streets of the quaint, picturesque old
town;
a town which, like Asuncion, was founded by the conquistadores three-quarters of a century before our
glish
and Dutch forefathers landed
United States.
possession of
The
what
what
in
is
own Ennow the
Jesuits then took practically complete
is
tianizing the Indians,
now Paraguay,
and
controlling
and Chris-
raising their flourishing missions
to a pitch of prosperity they never elsewhere achieved.
They were
expelled
by the
(backed by the
civil authorities
other representatives of ecclesiastical authority) some
fifty
years before Spanish South America became independent.
But they had already made the language of the Indians,

Guarany, a culture-tongue, reducing
printing religious books in
it.
to writing,
it
Guarany
is
and
one of the most
wide-spread of the Indian tongues, being originally found

in various closely allied
in
forms not only
Uruguay and over the major part
in
Paraguay but
of Brazil.
It
remains
here and there, as a lingua geral at least, and doubtless in

cases as an original tongue,
among
the wild tribes.
In most
of Brazil, as around Para and around Sao Paulo,

left
its
it
has
traces in place-names, but has been completely
superseded as a language by Portuguese.
In Paraguay
44
it
still
exists
side
by
common
with Spanish as the
side
language of the lower people and as a familiar tongue
among
The blood
the upper classes.
their language dual;
of the people
while the upper
predominantly white, with a strong infusion of
There
Indian.
mixed,
the lower classes are chiefly of In-
dian blood but with a white admixture;

classes are
is
no other case quite
is
parallel to this in
the annals of European colonization, although the Goanese in India have a native tongue and a Portuguese creed,
while in several of the Spanish-American states the In-
dian blood
is
dominant and the majority of the population
speak an Indian tongue, perhaps
itself,
with the Qui-
as
Whether
chuas, once a culture-tongue of the archaic type.

in
Paraguay one tongue
and,
if so,
which
will
be the victor,
The English
prophesy.
will ultimately drive out the other,

it
is
yet too early to
missionaries and the Bible Society
have recently published parts of the Scriptures
and
in
in
Asuncion a daily paper
Oklahoma
and
in
there
the
is
Guarany;
published with the text
Spanish and Guarany
columns,
parallel
is
in
just
a similar paper published in
tongue
as
in
English
which the extraordinary Cherokee
Cadmus, made a
chief Sequoia, a veritable
literary lan-
guage.
as
The Guarany-speaking Paraguayan is a

much an inheritor of our common culture
peasant populations of Europe.

the wild Indian,
who
He
Christian,
as
and
most of the
has no kinship with
hates and fears him.
The Indian
of the Chaco, a pure savage, a bow-bearing savage, will
never come east of the Paraguay, and the Paraguayan
is
only beginning to venture into the western interior, away
from the banks of the
under the lead of pioneer
river
set-
UP THE PARAGUAY
whom, by
Rickard,
tiers like
thoroughly trust, and for
There
faithfully.
is
45
the way, the wild Indians
whom
they work eagerly and
a great development ahead for Para-
guay, as soon as they can definitely shake
off
the revolu-
tionary habit and establish an orderly permanence of gov-
The people
ernment.
blood
are a fine people; the
strains
of
white and Indianare good.
We
walked up the
Concepcion, and inter-
streets of
estedly looked at everything of interest: at the one-story
houses, their
windows covered with gratings of
fretted
ironwork, and their occasional open doors giving us glimpses

into cool inner courtyards, with trees
two-wheel
and flowers;
at the
drawn by mules or oxen; at an occawith spurs on his bare feet, and his big toes
carts,
sional rider,
thrust into the small stirrup-rings; at the
and
little stores,
Then we came to a
kept by a Frenchman and his wife, of
the warehouses for matte and hides.

pleasant
little inn,
old Spanish style, with

as
an inn
in
the garrison
He
guay.
me
Normandy
around a
coffee,
told
in
or inner court, but as neat
Concepcion
when
is
in
were
sitting at
came the
colonel of
the second city in Para-
me
that they had prepared a reception for
my
rough hunting-clothes, but there was
nothing to do but to accompany

to their good nature to pardon
matter of dress.
We
or Brittany.
little table,
for
was
its patio,
The
my
my
colonel drove
kind hosts and trust

shortcomings in the
me
about
smart
in a
two good horses and a liveried driver.

It was a much more fashionable turnout than would be
seen in any of our cities save the largest, and even in them
open
carriage, with
probably not
in the service of a public official.
South American countries there
is
In
all
more pomp and
the
cere-
46
mony
and
in connection
with public functions than with
us,
at these functions the liveried servants, often with
knee-breeches and powdered hair, are like those seen at
European functions; there is not the democratic

simplicity which better suits our own habits of life and
ways of thought. But the South Americans often surpass
similar
us,
not merely in
pomp and ceremony but
real importance, courtesy;
in
what
is
of
and courtesy we can
in civility
well afford to take lessons from them.
We
first
visited the barracks,
saw the troops
in the
setting-up exercises, and inspected the arms, the artillery,
There was a German lieutenant with the
the equipment.
Paraguayan
officers;
one of several German
officers
who
now engaged in helping the Paraguayans with their

army. The equipments and arms were in good condition;
the enlisted men evidently offered fine material; and the
are
officers
were doing hard work.
militarists to
It
ponder the fact that
can country where a really
is
worth while
in
efficient
for anti-
every South Ameri-
army
is
developed,
the increase in military efficiency goes hand in hand with a

decrease in lawlessness and disorder, and a growing reluc-
tance to settle internal disagreements by violence.
They
are introducing universal military service in Paraguay; the

officers,
many
of
whom
have studied abroad, are grow-
ing to feel an increased esprit de corps, an increased pride in
the army, and therefore a desire to see the
army made the
servant of the nation as a whole and not the tool of any

faction or individual.
they
will
If these feelings
grow strong enough
be powerful factors in giving Paraguay what she
most needs, freedom from revolutionary disturbance and

therefore the chance to achieve the material prosperity
UP THE PARAGUAY
47
without which as a basis there can be no advance in other
and even more important matters.
Then
was driven to the City
accompanied by
Hall,
German long settled in the counleading men of the city. There was a
the intendente, or mayor, a

try and one of the
When
breakfast.
had to speak
impressed into
my
ser-
young Paraguayan who was a graduof the University of Pennsylvania.

He was able to
vice as interpreter a
ate
my
render into Spanish
ideas
on such subjects as orderly
and the far-reaching mischief done by the revolu-
liberty
tionary habit
with
and
clearness
oughly understood not only how
way
I felt
but also the American
My
hosts were hospitality
of looking at such things.
itself,
and
We
vigor, because he thor-
enjoyed the unexpected greeting.
steamed on up the
another boat
a steamer,
Now and then we passed

my surprise, perhaps a bar-
river.
or, to
The Paraguay
kentine or schooner.
Once we passed a big beef-canning
is
a highway of
factory.
traffic.
Ranches stood
on either bank a few leagues apart, and we stopped at

wood-yards on the west bank.
Indians worked around
At one such yard the Indians were evidently part

of the regular force. Their squaws were with them, cook-
them.
ing at queer open-air ovens.
a parrot and a young coati
small child had as pets
kind of long-nosed rac-
Loading wood, the Indians stood
coon.
the
One
logs
from one to the other.
in a line, tossing
These Indians wore
clothes.
On
this
day we got into the
of the day the deck
sun rose and

the
moon
set in
tropics.
Even
in the heat
was pleasant under the awnings; the
crimson splendor; and the nights, with
at the full,
were wonderful.
At night Orion
48
blazed overhead; and the Southern Cross hung in the starbrilliant
heavens behind
constellations paled;
But
us.
and
after the
moon
rose the
clear in her light the tree-clad
banks stood on either hand as we steamed steadily against

the swirling current of the great river.
At noon on the twelfth we were at the Brazilian boundary.

On this day we here and there came on low, conical
hills close
to the river.
In places the palm groves broke
through the belts of deciduous trees and stretched for

a mile or so right along the river's bank.
At times we
passed cattle on the banks or sand-bars, followed by their
handsome ranch-house, under a cluster of shady

trees, some bearing a wealth of red and some a wealth of
yellow blossoms; or we saw a horse-corral among the trees
herders; or a
close to the brink,
man
a herd of cattle
stopped
or
at
in
it
and a barefooted
and trousers leaning against the fence; or
in shirt
factory
with the horses
among
little
one
the palms;
or a big tannery or
came in sight. We
The owner was a Spaniard,
native hamlet
tannery.
the manager an "Oriental," as he called himself, a Uru-
The peons, or workers, who

wooden cabins back of the main
guayan, of German parentage.

lived in a long line of
building, were mostly Paraguayans, with a few Brazilians,
and a dozen German and Argentine foremen.

also some wild Indians, who were camped
squalid fashion of Indians
who
There were
in the usual
are hangers-on round the
man but have not yet adopted his ways. Most of

the men were at work cutting wood for the tannery. The
women and children were in camp. Some individuals of
white
both sexes were naked to the waist.
young
ostrich as a pet.
One
little girl
had a
O
be
_^
'
I
^
UP THE PARAGUAY
Water-fowl were
Our tame
muscovy ducks.
cies
and
when
We
plentiful.
birds
saw
large flocks of wild
come from
this wild spe-
absurd misnaming dates back to the period
its
misnamed
the turkey and guinea-pig were
fashion
49
in similar
our European forefathers taking a large and hazy
view of geography, and including Turkey, Guinea, India,
and Muscovy
outlandish,
as places which, in their capacity of being
could be comprehensively used as including
The muscovy ducks were very good eating.

Darters and cormorants swarmed. They waddled on the
sand-bars in big flocks and crowded the trees by the water's
America.
Beautiful snow-white egrets also
edge.
well back from the river.

green,
lit
full-foliaged tree of vivid
round surface crowded with these
its
had suddenly blossomed with huge white

worth
in the trees, often
seeing.
birds, as
flowers,
is
if it
a sight
Here and there on the sand-bars we saw
huge jabiru storks, and once a flock of white wood-ibis
among
On
the trees on the bank.

the
Brazilian
boundary we met a shallow
river
steamer carrying Colonel Candido Mariano da Silva Ron-
don and several other Brazilian members of the expedition.

Colonel
Rondon immediately showed
more than
all,
that he was
that could be desired.
he knew his business thoroughly, and
It
it
all,
and
was evident that

was equally
dent that he would be a pleasant companion.
evi-
He was
classmate of Mr. Lauro Miiller at the Brazilian Military
Academy.
Positivist
He
is
of almost pure Indian blood, and
the Positivists are a really strong body
as they are in
all
in Brazil,
The colonel's
been formally made members of
France and indeed
seven children have
is
in Chile.
the Positivist Church in Rio Janeiro.
Brazil possesses the
50
same complete
good fortune, do
intellectual as we, for our great
United
States,
and
my
Brazilian
as
Colonel
"libres penseurs."
in the
companions included
men who
Catholics and equally sincere

selves
and
liberty in matters religious, spiritual,
described them-
Rondon has spent
the last twenty-four years in exploring the western highlands of Brazil, pioneering the
way
and
for telegraph-lines
During that time he has travelled some four-
railroads.
teen thousand miles, on territory most of which had not
by
previously been traversed
civilized
three thousand miles of telegraph.
knowledge of the Indian
tribes
He
man, and has
built
has an exceptional
and has always zealously
endeavored to serve them and indeed to serve the cause
Thanks
of humanity wherever and whenever he was able.
mainly to
his efforts, four of the wild tribes of the region
he has explored have begun to tread the road of
They have taken
tion.
Christians.
It
the
may seem
first
becoming
steps toward
strange that
among
fruits of the efforts of a Positivist should
a theology.
much
But
in
a status as
up-
In the wilder and poorer districts
are divided into the
and "Indians."
is
at least as
first-
It represents the indispensable first step
ward from savagery.
men
is
the
be the conver-
sion of those he seeks to benefit to Christianity.
South America Christianity
civiliza-
When
two great
classes of
"Christians"
an Indian becomes a Christian he
accepted into and becomes wholly absorbed or partly
by the crude and simple neighboring civilizaand then he moves up or down like any one else
assimilated
tion,
among
his fellows.
Among
Colonel
Rondon's companions were Captain
Amilcar de Magalhaes, Lieutenant Joao Lyra, Lieutenant
Indians rolling logs at

From
a photograph by
Palms along the bank

From
wood
station
Kermit Roosevelt
of the river
a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt
UP THE PARAGUAY
51
Joaquin de Mello Filho, and Doctor Euzebio de Oliveira,

a geologist.
The steamers
halted; Colonel
and span
his officers, spick
cussed and agreed on
When
we took
visited
these
tea.
several of
white uniforms, came
in their
aboard; and in the afternoon

to talk over our plans.
Rondon and
him on his steamer

had been fully dis-
happened to mention
that one of our naturalists, Miller, had been bitten
by a
piranha, and the man-eating fish at once became the subject of conversation.
zilian taxidermists
My
piranha.
tell
Curiously enough, one of the Bra-
had
also just
been severely bitten by a
new companions had
story after story to
Only three weeks previously a twelve-year-
of them.
boy who had gone
swimming near Corumba was

Colonel
attacked, and literally devoured alive by them.
Rondon during his exploring trips had met with more
old
in
than one unpleasant experience
He had
lost
in
connection with them.
one of his toes by the bite of a piranha.
was about to bathe and had chosen a shallow pool

edge of the
river,
satisfied that
which he carefully inspected
none of the man-eating
fish
were
at the
until he
in
it;
He
was
yet as
soon as he put his foot into the water one of them attacked
him and
bit off a toe.
On
another occasion while wading
across a narrow stream one of his party

fish bit
him on the
was attacked; the
when he put
he was near the bank and
thighs and buttocks, and
down his hands tore them also;

by a rush reached it and swung himself out of the water
by means of an overhanging limb of a tree; but he was
terribly injured, and it took him six months before his
wounds healed and he recovered. An extraordinary incident occurred on another trip. The party were without
52

On
food and very hungry.
mited
and waded
it,
having
his
his
full,
mouth;
stunned, but in a
was a piranha and seemingly
it
moment
tion out of his tongue.

his life
it
recovered and bit a big sec-
Such a hemorrhage followed that
was saved with the utmost
occasion a
member
they
fish as
One man, Lieutenant Pyrineus,

tried to hold one fish by putting its
on the surface.
head into
stunned
in to seize the
floated
hands
reaching a stream they dyna-
of the party
difficulty.
was
off
On
another
by himself on a
The mule came into camp alone. Following his

track back they came to a ford, where in the water they
mule.
found the skeleton of the dead man, his clothes uninjured
Whether
but every particle of flesh stripped from his bones.
he had drowned, and the

or whether they had
They had
which made
fishes
killed
him
had then eaten

it
his
body,
was impossible to
say.
not hurt the clothes, getting in under them,

it
seem
These man-eating
they frequent.
fish are
But
that the piranhas
World caymans and

foes of
Africa.
man
likely that there
it
or,
had been no
struggle.
a veritable scourge in the waters
must not be understood by

for the
crocodiles
this
matter of that, the New-
ever become such dreaded
as for instance the man-eating crocodiles of
Accidents occur, and there are certain places where
swimming and bathing are dangerous; but in most places

the people swim freely, although they are usually careful
to find spots they believe safe or else to keep together and
make
a splashing in the water.
Rondon had met with various

experiences with wild creatures. The Paraguayan caymans
are not ordinarily dangerous to man; but they do someDuring
his trips Colonel
times become man-eaters and should be destroyed when-
UP THE PARAGUAY
The huge caymans and
ever the opportunity offers.

odiles
colonel
of the
knew
Amazon
are far
croc-
more dangerous, and the
of repeated instances where men,
had become
children
53
their victims.
women, and
Once while dynamit-
ing a stream for fish for his starving party he partially
stunned a giant anaconda, which he killed as

slowly
He
off.
said that
was of a
it
size
it
crept
that no other
anaconda he had ever seen even approached, and that

his opinion such a brute if
a full-grown man.
his dogs;
in
hungry would readily attack
Twice smaller anacondas had attacked
one was carried under water
but
for the
anaconda
One of his
men was bitten by a jararaca; he killed the venomous
snake, but was not discovered and brought back to camp
until it was too late to save his life.
The puma Colonel
Rondon had found to be as cowardly as I have always found
is
it,
a water-loving serpent
he rescued
it.
but the jaguar was a formidable beast, which occasion-
ally
turned man-eater, and often charged savagely when
He had known
brought to bay.
by a jaguar he was following
a hunter to be killed
in thick grass cover.
All such enemies, however, he regarded as utterly trivial
compared to the
dangers of the wilderness
real
torment and menace of attacks by the swarming
the
insects,
by mosquitoes and the even more intolerable tiny gnats,

by the ticks, and by the vicious poisonous ants which occasionally cause villages
deserted
by human
and even whole
beings.
These
insects,
districts to
be
and the fevers
they cause, and dysentery and starvation and wearing

hardship and accidents in rapids are what the pioneer explorers
have to
interesting.
fear.
The
The
conversation was to
me most
colonel spoke French about to the ex-
54
tent
I did;
guese;
but of course he and the others preferred Portu-
and then Kermit was the
interpreter.
we stopped
In the evening, soon after moonrise,
wood
at the little Brazilian
are about twelve
town of Porto Martinho.
Some
hundred inhabitants.
There
of the build-
were of stone; a large private house with a castellated
ings
tower was of stone;

matte, of which
there were shops, and a post-office,
and
stores, a restaurant
much
billiard-hall,
is
grown
Most of the houses were

which
many
trees rose,
sidewalks.
was a
It
clad inmates of the
roundabout.
in the region
them
of
fragrant.
hot,
still
walls, inside of
We
wandered
and along the narrow
streets,
evening;
was on the heavy December
doors and windows
air.
the smell of the
Through the open
we caught dim glimpses of the halfpoorer houses; women and young girls
whom
sat outside their thresholds in the moonlight.
All
we met were most
little
zilian
the captain of the
friendly:
the intendente, a local trader;
garrison;
trader and ranchman, a Uruguayan,
newspaper containing
who, as
voluble Spanish, was
ics);
my
much
liberty,
who had
Bra-
another
just received
speech in Montevideo, and
gathered from what
mocracy, honesty,
for
low, with overhanging, sloping
through the wide, dusty
tropics
and warehouses
and there were gardens with high
eaves;
his
for
understood of his rather
impressed by
my
views on de-
and order (rather well-worn top-
and a Catalan who spoke French, and who was ac-
companied by
eight or ten,
his
who
three languages
pretty daughter, a dear

said with
Brazilian,
much
little
girl
of
pride that she spoke
Spanish, and Catalan
Her
father expressed strongly his desire for a church and for a

school in the
little city.
UP THE PARAGUAY
When
55
wood was aboard we resumed our

was like glass. In the white moon-
at last the
The
journey.
river
palms on the edge of the banks stood mirrored
light the
We
in the still water.
sat forward
and
as
we rounded
the
curves the long silver reaches of the great stream stretched
ahead of
us,
and the ghostly outlines of
Here and there
distance.
hills
rose in the
prairie fires burned,
and the red
glow warred with the moon's radiance.
Next morning was
Occasionally
overcast.
we
passed a
wood-yard, or factory, or cabin, now on the eastern, the
now on the western,

Paraguay was known to men
Brazilian,
and
diers
priests
towns and
of European birth, bore sol-
and merchants
up and down the current of

forts rise
on
its
its
as they sailed
Mississippi at the end of the

in the
little
banks, long before the Mississippi
upper course, the settlements are much
and
and rowed
stream, and beheld
had become the white man's highway.
tury;
The
the Paraguayan, bank.
first
Now, along
like those
its
on the
quarter of the last cen-
not distant future
it
will witness a burst
much like that which the Mississippi saw when the old men of to-day were very young.
In the early forenoon we stopped at a little Paraguayan
of growth and prosperity
hamlet, nestling in the green growth under a group of low

hills
by the
turesque old stone

Spanish,
floats
guayan
fort,
the colonial,
over
On
river-brink.
it,
known
days.
as Fort
Now
the
hills
stood a pic-
Bourbon
in the
Paraguayan
flag
by a handful of ParaHere Father Zahm baptized two children,
and
soldiers.
one of these
it
is
garrisoned
the youngest of a large family of fair-skinned, light-haired
was a Paraguayan and the

mother an "Oriental," or Uruguayan. No priest had
small people, whose father
56
visited the village for three years,
respectively one
and two years of
and the children were
The
age.
sponsors in-
commandante and a married couple from

In answer to what was supposed to be the per-
cluded the local

Austria.
functory question whether they were Catholics, the parents

returned the unexpected answer that they were not.
Fur-
ther questioning elicited the fact that the father called himself
a "free-thinking Catholic," and the mother said she
was a "Protestant Catholic," her mother having been a

Protestant, the daughter of an immigrant from Normandy.
However,
it
appeared that the older children had been
baptized by the Bishop of Asuncion, so Father
Zahm
at
the earnest request of the parents proceeded with the cere-
mony.
They were good
people; and, although they wished
liberty to think exactly as they individually pleased,

also
they
wished to be connected and to have their children
connected with some church, by preference the church of

the majority of their people.
communities where there
is
very short experience of
no church ought to convince
the most heterodox of the absolute need of a church.
earnestly wish that there could be such an increase in the
personnel and equipment of the Catholic Church in South
America
as to permit the establishment of
earnest priest in every village or

far interior.
Nor
is
little
one good and
community
in the
there any inconsistency between this
wish and the further wish that there could be a marked extension and development of the native Protestant churches,
such as
saw established here and there
guay, and Argentina, and of the Y.
The bulk
of these good people
who
M.
in Brazil,
Uru-
C. Associations.
profess religion will
continue to be Catholics, but the spiritual needs of a more
UP THE PARAGUAY
or less considerable minority will best be
57
met by the
es-
tablishment of Protestant churches, or in places even of a
Church or Ethical Culture
Positivist
is
Society.
Not only
the establishment of such churches a good thing for the
body politic as a whole, but a good thing for the Catholic

Church itself; for their presence is a constant spur to
activity
and clean and honorable conduct, and a constant
reflection
on sloth and moral
each of these commonwealths
laxity.
is
The government
doing everything possible
to further the cause of education, and the tendency

treat education as peculiarly a function of
to
make
ligatory,
it,
where the government
and
free
in
is
to
government and
acts, non-sectarian, ob-
cardinal doctrine of our
own
great
democracy, to which we are committed by every principle

of sound Americanism.
liberty, for
There must be absolute
religious
tyranny and intolerance are as abhorrent in
matters intellectual and spiritual as in matters political
and material
conduct
is
and more and more we must
all realize
that
of infinitely greater importance than dogma.
But no democracy can
afford to overlook the vital impor-
tance of the ethical and spiritual, the truly religious,
ment
in life;
and
average good
in practice the
clearly to understand this,
ele-
man grows
and to express the need
in
concrete form
by saying that no community can make
much headway
if it
does not contain both a church and a
school.
We
took breakfast
the eleven-o'clock Brazilian break-
fast
on
Colonel Rondon's boat.
ing
more
plentiful.
and mud-banks
like
The ugly
logs,
Caymans were becom-
brutes lay on the sand-flats
always with the head raised,
sometimes with the jaws open.
They
are often dangerous
58
to domestic animals, and are always destructive to
and
it is
good to shoot them.
missed nearly as
many more
We
improve one's aim.
I killed
fish,
half a dozen,
and
throbbing boat does not
passed forests of palms that ex-
tended for leagues, and vast marshy meadows, where storks,

herons, and ibis were gathered, with flocks of cormorants
and darters on the sand-bars, and
stilts,
skimmers, and
About
clouds of beautiful swaying terns in the foreground.
noon we passed the highest point which the old Spanish conquistadores and explorers, Irala and Ayolas, had reached in
the course of their marvellous journeys in the
the sixteenth century
tlement in what
is
at a time when there was not a
now
a single English sea
half of
first
set-
when hardly
captain had ventured so much as to
the United States, and
cross the Atlantic.
By
the following day the country on the east bank had
become a vast marshy
plain dotted here
tree-clad patches of higher land.
a contrast to the fine weather
We
The morning was
we had
rainy;
hitherto encountered.
At one of the
passed wood-yards and cattle-ranches.
latter the owner,
and there by
an Argentine of Irish parentage,
who
still
spoke English with the accent of the land of his parents'
was the
time the Ameri-
nativity,
remarked that
can
had been seen on the upper Paraguay;
flag
gunboat carried
it
this
at the masthead.
first
for our
Early in the after-
noon, having reached the part where both banks of the

river
were Brazilian territory, we came to the old colonial
Portuguese fort of Coimbra.

hills rise,
one on either side of the
water-gorge between them.
guayans
It stands
in the
It
war of nearly
river,
where two steep
and
it
guards the
was captured by the Parahalf a century ago.
Some
*->
>.
On
Oh
-5
UP THE PARAGUAY
59
modern guns have been mounted, and there is a garrison

of Brazilian troops. The white fort is perched on the hillside, where it clings and rises, terrace above terrace, with
bastion and parapet and crenellated wall. At the foot of
the
on the riverine
hill,
with
plain, stretches the old-time village
In the village dwell several hun-
roofs of palm.
its
dred souls, almost entirely the officers and soldiers and their
There
families.
is
one long
The
street.
one-story, daub-
and-wattle houses have low eaves and steep sloping roofs
Under one
of palm-leaves or of split palm-trunks.
or
two
old but small trees there are rude benches; and for a part of
the length of the street there
is
a rough stone sidewalk.
graveyard, some of the tombs very old, stands at
little
As we passed down the
one end.
street the wives
and the
swarming children of the garrison were at the doors and

windows; there were
as
any
in
paralleled
was going on
with skins as
fair
Most were of intervening shades. All this

among the men; and the fusion of the colors
steadily.
Around the
were gathered.
Not
we passed some rounded green
trees,
village black vultures
long before reaching

their tops covered
time
girls
the northland, and others that were predomi-
nantly negro.
was
women and
it
with the showy wood-ibis; at the same
we saw behind them,
farther inland, other trees crowded
with the more delicate forms of the shining white egrets.
The
river
a long lake;
endless
there
never
now widened so that

it wound in every
marshy
plain,
clouds of storm.
The
direction
it
looked like
through the
whose surface was broken here and
by low mountains.
saw surpassed.
in places
We
The splendor
of the sunset
were steaming east toward
river ran, a
broad highway of mol-
60
ten gold, into the flaming sky; the far-off mountains loomed
purple across the marshes;
belts of rich green, the river
banks stood out on either side against the rose-hues of the

rippling water;
hung the
in front,
four miles before

it
stands,
cliffs.
We
we
dim and
tropic night,
On December
as
forged steadily onward,
vast.
15
we reached Corumba.
it
is
reached the west bank, on which
becomes high rocky ground,
The country roundabout was
saw gauchos, cattle-herders
cowboys
riding
For three or
falling
away
into
evidently well peopled.
the equivalent of our own

Women
along the bank.
were washing
and their naked children bathing, on the shore;
clothes,
we were
caymans and piranhas rarely ventured

near a place where so much was going on, and that accitold that
dents generally occurred in ponds or lonely stretches of the

river.
Several steamers
came out
to meet us, and accom-
panied us for a dozen miles, with bands playing and the

passengers cheering, just as
if
we were
nearing some town
on the Hudson.
Corumba
streets,
is
on a steep
some of them
scarlet flowers,
hillside,
with wide, roughly paved
lined with beautiful trees that bear
and with
well-built houses,
of one story, some of two or three stories.
most of them
We were greeted
with a reception by the municipal council, and were given

a state dinner.
The
fortable as possible
dows and
hotel, kept
stone
by an
floors,
high
doors, a cool, open courtyard,
Of course Corumba
is
still
Italian,
was
ceilings,
as
com-
big win-
and a shower-bath.
a frontier town.
The
vehicles
and mule-carts; there are no carriages; and

The water comes
well as mules are used for riding.
are ox-carts
oxen as
from a big central well; around
it
the water-carts gather,
UP THE PARAGUAY
and
their contents are then peddled
houses.
The
families
in their
return and take
them
accordingly done.
reach
around at the different
showed the mixture of races charac-
one mother, after the children had been
teristic of Brazil;
photographed
61
ordinary costume, begged that

in their
Sunday
clothes,
we
which was
In a year the railway from Rio will
Corumba; and then
this city,
and the country round-
much development.
At this point we rejoined the rest of the
very glad we were to see them. Cherrie and
about, will see
party, and
Miller had
already collected some eight hundred specimens of
mals and birds.
mam-
CHAPTER
III
A JAGUAR-HUNT ON THE TAQUARY
The morning
Rondon
Colonel
of
what
is
after our arrival
Corumba
at
to inspect our outfit;
asked
for his experience
necessary in tropical travelling has been gained
through a quarter of a century of arduous exploration

the wilderness.
It
was Fiala who had assembled our foodand supplies of
tents, cooking-utensils,
and
Sigg, during their stay in
everything in shape for our
end of
gest;
his inspection said
that
it
in
kinds,
all
and he
Corumba, had been putting
start.
Colonel
Rondon
at the
he had nothing whatever to sug-
was extraordinary that
Fiala,
without per-
sonal knowledge of the tropics, could have gathered the
things most necessary, with the
maximum
in the
of bulk and
of usefulness.
Miller had
swarmed
minimum
at
made
a special study of the piranhas, which
one of the camps he and Cherrie had made
Chaco.
So numerous were they that the members
of the party had to be exceedingly careful in dipping
water.
ward
up
Miller did not find that they were cannibals totheir
own
kind;
they were "cannibals" only in the
sense of eating the flesh of men.
When
dead piranhas,
and even when mortally injured piranhas, with the blood
thrown among the ravenous living, they were

unmolested. Moreover, it was Miller's experience, the
flowing, were
left
direct contrary of
and a commotion
what we had been

in
told, that splashing
the water attracted the piranhas,

62
63
whereas they rarely attacked anything that was motionless

unless
it
Dead
was bloody.
birds
and mammals, thrown
whole and unskinned into the water were permitted to

float
off
unmolested, whereas the skinned carcass of a
good-sized
monkey was
at once seized, pulled
under the
by the blood-crazy fish.

A man who had dropped something of value waded in after it
to above the knees, but went very slowly and quietly, avoidwater, and completely devoured
ing every possibility of disturbance, and not venturing to
But nobody could bathe,
put his hands into the water.
and even the

that
slightest disturbance in the water, such as
made by scrubbing
the hands vigorously with soap,
immediately attracted the attention of the savage

creatures,
find
who
little
darted to the place, evidently hoping to
some animal
in difficulties.
Once, while Miller and
some Indians were attempting to launch a boat, and were
making a great commotion

a naked Indian
him
as he struggled
Men
piranha attacked
belonged to the party and mutilated
and splashed, waist-deep
in the stream.
not making a splashing and struggling are rarely
attacked; but
in the
man
who
in the water, a
if
one
is
attacked by any chance, the blood
water maddens the piranhas, and they
assail
the
with frightful ferocity.
At Corumba the weather was

the comfortable
little
hotel
In the patio of
hot.
we heard
but
the cicadas;
did not hear the extraordinary screaming whistle of the
locomotive cicada, which

the house in which
had heard
in the
stayed at Asuncion.
gardens of
This was as
markable a sound as any animal sound to which
re-
have
listened, except only the batrachian-like wailing of the tree
hyrax
in
East Africa;
and
like
the East African
mammal
64
this
South American insect has a voice, or rather utters a
sound which, so far as

at
the beginning remotely suggests batrachian
The
first
affinities.
locomotive-whistle part of the utterance, however, re-
sembles nothing so
an
resembles any other animal sound,
it
heard
much
as a small
seems impossible that
it
it
when
can be produced by
steam
siren;
insect.
On December
17 Colonel
Rondon and
members
several
of our party started on a shallow river steamer for the
ranch of Senhor de Barros, "Las Palmeiras," on the Rio
We
Taquary.
went down the Paraguay
and then up the Taquary.
we
shallow
river
It
was a beautiful
aground
were
for a
several
few miles,
The
wound
trip.
times
through a vast, marshy plain, with occasional spots of
on which
land
higher
attractive bird
was the
these storks whitened
They were not
flying they
selves
many
There were
But the conspicuous and
stately jabiru
Flocks of
stork.
and lined the
the marshes
shy, for such big birds;
river
before
had to run a few paces and then launch them-
on the
overhead
grew.
Darters swarmed.
water-birds.
banks.
trees
in
air.
wide
Once, at noon, a couple soared round

rings, rising higher
and higher.
On
an-
other occasion, late in the day, a flock passed by, gleaming white with black points in the long afternoon lights, and
with them were spoonbills, showing rosy amid their snowy

companions.
and we
Caymans, always
called jacares,
killed scores of the noxious creatures.
swarmed;
They were
singularly indifferent to our approach and to the sound of
the shots.
Sometimes they ran into the water erect on
their legs, looking like miniatures of the monsters of the
prime.
One showed by
its
behavior
how
little
an ordinary
65
shot pains or affects these dull-nerved, cold-blooded creatures.
As
it
lay on a sand-bank,
It slid into the
bullet.
of a school of
was
hit
water but found
It at
fish.
it
itself in
holding
its
fish.
fish;
Some
when
and a second bullet
its
It seized
head above water as soon as
jaws had closed on a

of the crocodiles
the midst
once forgot everything except
greedy appetite, and began catching the

fish after fish,
with a long 22
killed
its
it.
shot performed most extraor-
Our weapons, by the way, were good, exThe outfit furnished by the American museum was excellent except in guns and cartridges;
this gun was so bad that Miller had to use Fiala's gun or
else my Fox 12-bore.
In the late afternoon we secured a more interesting
Kermit had charge of two
creature than the jacares.
hounds which we owed to the courtesy of one of our Argentine friends. They were biggish, nondescript animals,
dinary antics.
cept Miller's shotgun.
obviously good fighters, and they speedily developed the
utmost affection for
all
the
members
of the expedition,
who took care of them. One

name given the wild bush natives
He
semicivilized African porters.
but especially for Kermit,
we named
" Shenzi," the
by the Swahili, the

was good-natured, rough, and stupid hence his name.
The other was called by a native name, "Trigueiro." The
chance now came to try them. We were steaming between
long stretches of coarse grass, about three feet high, when
we
spied from the deck a black object, very conspicuous
against the vivid green.
mandua
It
was a giant
ant-eater, or ta-
bandeira, one of the most extraordinary creatures
of the latter-day world.
small black bear.
It
It
is
about the
size of a rather
has a very long, narrow, toothless
66
snout, with a tongue
can project a couple of feet;
it
it is
covered with coarse, black hair, save for a couple of white

stripes;
on
it
has a long, bushy
fore feet.
its
It
and very powerful claws
tail
walks on the sides of
but
its
its
a rather unpleasant enemy, in spite of
is
mouth,
these claws.
It
for
it
sometimes hugs a
foe,
ordinary method of defending
man
forearm, can rip open
gripping
itself is
or beast.
him
man
where he had been

he came up to
by
its
As soon
Several of our com-
in a rowboat,
by
one, which charged
the giant
him when
tamandua we pushed
off
and landed only a couple of hundred yards
distant from our clumsy quarry.
out most of
and we
at close quarters.
we saw
as
muscular
with a very ugly scar down his back,
hit
kill it
tight;
to strike with
panions had had dogs killed by these ant-eaters;

across one
its
can strike a formidable blow with
long, stout, curved claws, which, driven
came
are used
but the beast has courage, and
in digging out ant-hills;
toothless
with
fore feet
The claws
these claws curved in under the foot.
in a grapple
its
its
The tamandua through-
habitat rarely leaves the forest, and
helpless animal in the
open
plain.
it is
The two dogs ran ahead,
by Colonel Rondon and Kermit, with me behind

carrying the rifle.
In a minute or two the hounds over-
followed
took the cantering, shuffling creature, and promptly began

a fight with
it;
the combatants were so mixed up that
had to wait another minute or
We
risk of hitting a dog.
bank and hoisted
it
so before I could fire without
carried our prize
aboard the steamer.
just about to set, behind
back to the
The sun was
dim mountains, many miles
dis-
tant across the marsh.
Soon afterward we reached one of the outstations of

the huge ranch
alongside the
we were about
bank
corrals.
gauchos had come to meet
and
fires,
sat beside
to visit, and hauled
for the night.
and sheds and
place,
them
key and strumming
us.
where the
Several of the peons or
After dark they kindled
singing songs in a strange minor
guitars.
and hot.
light
up
There was a landing-
The
red firelight flickered
away from the
over their wild figures as they squatted

blaze,
67
and the shadow met.
It
was
still
There were mosquitoes, of course, and other
swarmed round every light; but the

steamboat was comfortable, and we passed a pleasant night.
At sunrise we were off for the "fazenda," the ranch of
M. de Barros. The baggage went in an ox-cart which
had to make two trips, so that all of my belongings reached
the ranch a day later than I did. We rode small, tough
ranch horses. The distance was some twenty miles. The
whole country was marsh, varied by stretches of higher
insects of all kinds
and, although these stretches rose only three or
ground;
four feet above the marsh, they were covered with thick
jungle, largely palmetto scrub, or else with
open palm
for-
For three or four miles we splashed through the
est.
marsh,
now and then
crossing
boggy pools where the
horses labored hard not to mire down.
was clad
in a shirt, trousers,
wore spurs on
little
Our dusky guide
and fringed leather apron, and
his bare feet;
he had a rope for a bridle,
and two or three toes of each foot were thrust into
little
iron stirrups.
The
with
pools in the
fish,
marsh were drying.
They were
filled
most of them dead or dying; and the birds had
gathered to the banquet.
The most
notable dinner guests
were the great jabiru storks; the stately creatures dotted
68
But
the marsh.
tered
and herons abounded; the former ut-
ibis
querulous cries
queer,
when they discovered our
The spurred lapwings were as noisy as they

always are. The ibis and plover did not pay any heed
presence.
to the
them
but the black carrion vultures feasted on
fish;
mud; and
in the
in the
pools that were not dry
small alligators, the jacare-tinga, were feasting also.
many
the
places
from the dead
stench
In
was un-
fish
pleasant.
Then
for miles
we
rode through a beautiful open forest of
slender
caranda palms, with other trees scattered
among them.
Green parakeets with black heads chattered
tall,
as they flew; noisy green
and red parrots climbed among
and huge macaws, some entirely
the palms;
blue, others
almost entirely red, screamed loudly as they perched in

the trees or took wing at our approach.
its cries
kept
its
companions
circling
If one
was wounded
naturalists found the bird fauna totally different
which they had been collecting
The
around overhead.
in the hill
from that
country near
Corumba, seventy or eighty miles distant; and birds

swarmed, both species and individuals. South America
has the most extensive and most varied avifauna of all
the continents.
On
although very interesting,

cies
mammalian fauna,
poor in number of spe-
the other hand,
and individuals and
is
rather
its
in the size of the beasts.
It pos-
more mammals that are unique and distinctive in

type than does any other continent save Australia; and
they are of higher and much more varied types than in
sesses
Australia.
But there
is
nothing approaching the majesty,
beauty, and swarming mass of the great
mammalian
Africa and, in a less degree, of tropical Asia; indeed,
life
it
of
does

not even approach the similar
mammalian
life
America and northern Eurasia, poor though

pared with the seething vitality of tropical
World.
of
this
life
69
North
is
com-
in the
Old
During a geologically recent period, a period ex-
tending into that which saw
man
spread over the world in
substantially the physical and cultural stage of
many
exist-
ing savages, South America possessed a varied and striking
fauna of enormous beasts

mastodons, horses of
sabre-tooth
many
tigers,
huge
lions,
kinds, camel-like pachyderms,
giant ground-sloths, mylodons the size of the rhinoceros,
and many, many other strange and wonderful creatures.
From some
cause, concerning the nature of
which we can-
not at present even hazard a guess, this vast and giant fauna
vanished completely, the tremendous catastrophe (the duration of
which
is
unknown) not being consummated
within a few thousand or a few score thousand years.

the white
man
When
reached South America he found the same
weak and impoverished mammalian fauna that

practically
until
unchanged to-day.
Elsewhere civilized
exists
man
has been even more destructive than his very destructive
mammalian
uncivilized brothers of the magnificent
life
of
the wilderness; for ages he has been rooting out the higher
forms of beast
and
in
our
life
in
own day he
Europe, Asia, and North Africa;

has repeated the feat, on a very
large scale, in the rest of Africa
But
in
for the
and
South America, although he
is
wanton slaughter of the most
largest, or the
most beautiful,
in
North America.
in places responsible
interesting
birds, his
and the
advent has meant
mammalian fauna. None

mammals, the graminivores, ap-
a positive enrichment of the wild

of the native grass-eating
proach
in size
and beauty the herds of wild or half-wild
70
and horses, or so add to the
cattle
There
scape.
every reason
is
interest of the land-
why
the good people of
South America should waken, as we of North America, very

late in the day, are
beginning to waken, and as the peoples
of northern Europe
partially
not
southern Europe
have
already
wakened, to the duty of preserving from impov-
erishment and extinction the wild
which
life
an asset of
is
such interest and value in our several lands; but the case
against civilized
man
in this
matter
anyhow, when the plain truth
is
grewsomely heavy
is
told,
and
it is
harmed by
exaggeration.
After five or six hours' travelling through this country

of
marsh and of palm
we were
heading.
overgrown
meadow, and
the ranch for which
In the neighborhood stood giant
trees, singly or in groups,
Ponds,
we reached
forest
with
with dense, dark-green

water-plants,
pastureland,
drier
lay
foliage.
head of
cattle
wet
about;
open or dotted with
many
palms and varied with tree jungle, stretched for

miles on every hand.
There are some thirty thousand
on the ranch, besides herds of horses and
droves of swine, and a few flocks of sheep and goats.
home
fig-
The
buildings of the ranch stood in a quadrangle, sur-
rounded by a fence or low stockade.
One end
quadrangle was formed by the ranch-house

high, with
whitewashed walls and
itself,
of the
one story
red-tiled roof.
Inside,
the rooms were bare, with clean, whitewashed walls and
palm-trunk
rafters.
There were
the unglazed windows.
We
and we feasted royally on
On
wooden shutters on
hammocks or on cots,
solid
slept in
delicious native Brazilian dishes.
another side of the quadrangle stood another long,
low white building with a red-tiled roof;
this held
the
71
kitchen and the living-rooms of the upper-grade peons,
headmen, the cook, and jaguar-hunters, with
the
families:
dark-skinned men, their wives showing varied
strains of white, Indian,
tumbled merrily
The
and negro blood.
children
and were fondly tended by
in the dust,
Opposite the kitchen stood a row of build-
their mothers.
some whitewashed daub and
ings,
wattle, with tin roofs,
These
others of erect palm-logs with palm-leaf thatch.
were the saddle-room, storehouse, chicken-house, and
The chicken-house was

for
the
their
to
allotted
stable.
Kermit and Miller
preparation of the specimens;
and there they
With a big skin, like that of the

giant ant-eater, they had to squat on the ground; while
the ducklings and wee chickens scuffled not only round
worked
industriously.
the skin but
all
over
of meat and catching
it,
ing on which
The fourth end of the quadcorral and a big wooden scaffold-
flies.
was formed by a
rangle
grabbing the shreds and scraps
hung hides and
strips of
drying meat.
Ex-
traordinary to relate, there were no mosquitoes at the
why
ranch;
cannot say, as they ought to swarm
vast "pantanals," or swamps.

heat,
it
was very
ings: sheds,
pleasant.
Therefore, in spite of the
Near by stood other
and thatched huts of palm-logs
ordinary peons lived, and big corrals.
were flamboyant
flowers
and
trees,
delicately
vivid-green
oven-birds haunted these trees.
in
build-
which the
In the quadrangle
with their masses of

cut,
in these
brilliant red
foliage.
Noisy
In a high palm in the
garden a family of green parakeets had taken up their
abode and were preparing to build

incessantly both
crawled
among
when they
the branches.
flew
Ibis
They chattered
and when they sat or
nests.
and plover, crying and
72
wailing, passed immediately overhead.
Jacanas frequented
the ponds near by; the peons, with a familiarity which to us
seems sacrilegious, but to them was entirely inoffensive and
matter of course, called them "the Jesus Christ birds," because they walked on the water.
strange bird
There was a wealth of

There were large pa-
in the neighborhood.
life
pyrus-marshes, the papyrus not being a

tenth, as high as in Africa.
Some
blackbirds.
own
fifth,
perhaps not a
In these swamps were
many
me
of our
uttered notes that reminded
Others, with crimson heads and necks and
redwings.
on a sway-
thighs, fairly blazed; often a dozen sat together
ing papyrus-stem which their weight bent over.
were
all
There
is
There
kinds of extraordinary bird's-nests in the trees.

still
America.
need for the work of the collector in South
But
believe that already, so far as birds are
more need for the work of

the careful observer, who to the power of appreciation and
observation adds the power of vivid, truthful, and interwhich means, as scientists no less than
esting narration
concerned, there
infinitely
is
historians
should note, that training in the writing of
good English
expects to
make
count in the
ralist,
to
*a
is
indispensable to any learned

his learning
effect
on
count for what
his fellow
the faunal naturalist,
men.
who
and
reptiles,
and vividly what he has

fulness than
country.
any mere
The work
ought to
The outdoor natu-
devotes himself primarily
study of the habits and of the
beasts, fish,
it
man who
life-histories of birds,
and who can portray truthfully

seen, could
collector,
do work of more use-
in this
of the collector
is
upper Paraguay
indispensable;
but
it is
only a small part of the work that ought to be done;
and
after collecting has reached a certain point the
work

of the
field
73
observer with the gift for recording what he has
seen becomes of far more importance.
The long days spent
"pantanal," were pleasant and interesting.
we saw
tamandua bandeira, the
the
swamp, the
riding through the
Several times
Ker-
giant ant-bear.
mit shot one, because the naturalists eagerly wished for a

second specimen;
afterward
we were
relieved of
all
sity to molest the strange, out-of-date creatures.
a surprise to us to find
necesIt
was
them habitually frequenting the open
They were always on muddy ground, and in the

papyrus-swamp we found them in several inches of water.
The stomach is thick-walled, like a gizzard; the stomachs
of those we shot contained adult and larval ants, chiefly
marsh.
termites, together with plenty of black
ments of
both green and dry.
leaves,
mould and
frag-
Doubtless the earth
and the vegetable matter had merely been taken incidentally,
adhering to the viscid tongue
Out
into the ant masses.
in the
when
make good
one lumbering
its
on
paws;
off at
its
and
black howler
It
is
by
It
flight.
a rocking canter,
was curious to see

the big bushy tail
back, evidently hoping to grasp a dog with

it
at its assailants.
also
escape
fight effectively,
One, while fighting the dogs, suddenly threw
held aloft.
itself
its
was thrust
open marsh the taman-
dua could neither avoid observation, nor

nor
it
now and then
reared, in order to strike
In one patch of thick jungle
monkey
sitting motionless in a tree top.
saw the swamp-deer, about the

a real
swamp
animal, for
papyrus-swamps, and out

in the water,
among
The tough
little
we saw
size of
we found
in the
it
We
our blacktail.
often in the
open marsh, knee-deep
the aquatic plants.

horses bore us well through the marsh.
74
Often
in crossing
bayous and ponds the water rose almost
to their backs; but they splashed and

essary
swam
Some were
The dogs were
through.
wolf of the neighborhood, a
lank animal, with
smaller teeth than a big northern wolf.
undoubtedly descended from
species of wild dogs, wolves,
These,
necset.
we
part from the big red
in
tall,
if
a wild-looking
of distinctly wolfish appearance.
were assured, were descended
is
waded and
The domestic dog
at least a
and
much
dozen different
jackals,
some of them
probably belonging to what we style different genera.
The degree
of fecundity or lack of fecundity between dif-
ferent species varies in extraordinary
and inexplicable fash-
mammals.
In the horse family,
ion in different families of
for instance, the species are not fertile inter se;
among
whereas
the oxen, species seemingly at least as widely sep-
domestic ox, bison, yak, and
species such as the

gaurbreed freely together
and
the lion and tiger also breed
arated as the horse, ass, and zebra
their offspring are fertile;
together, and produce offspring which will breed with either
parent stock; and tame dogs in different quarters of the

world, although
all
of
them
fertile inter se,
are in
many
cases obviously blood kin to the neighboring wild, wolf-like
or jackal-like creatures which are specifically, and possibly
even generically, distinct from one another.

wolf of the South American plains
the northern wolves;
it
and
it
is
The
big red
not closely related to
was to me unexpected to
find
interbreeding with ordinary domestic dogs.
In the evenings after dinner
we
sat in the bare
ranch
dining-room, or out under the trees in the hot darkness,
and talked of many things: natural history with the naturalists,
and
all
kinds of other subjects both with them

and with our Brazilian
simply "an
officer
and a gentleman''
honorably true of the best army

military service.
He
is
petent explorer, a good
officers
field naturalist
in
every good
hardy and com-
and
scientific
man,
With him the conversation
ranged from jaguar-hunting and the
"matto grosso," the great
the
not
is
in the sense that is
also a peculiarly
a student and a philosopher.
in
Rondon
Colonel
friends.
75
perils of exploration
wilderness, to Indian
anthropology, to the dangers of a purely materialistic industrial civilization,

nel's Positivism
and to
was
Positivist morality.
The
colo-
very fact to him a religion of hu-
in
manity, a creed which bade him be just and kindly and

useful to his fellow
men, to
live his life bravely,
bravely to face death, without reference to what he
less
believed, or did not believe, or to
The
men
what the unknown
native hunters
of mixed blood.
who accompanied us were swarthy

They were barefooted and scantily
and each carried a long, clumsy spear and a keen
clad,
machete, in the use of which he was an expert.

then, in thick jungle,
was
here-
might hold for him.
after
by
and no
we had
unwieldy spear, handling
and
to cut out a path, and
interesting to see one of them,
his
Now
it
although cumbered
his half-broken little horse
with complete ease while he hacked at limbs and branches.
Of the two
ordinarily with us one
was much the younger;
and whenever we came to an unusually doubtful-looking

ford or piece of
boggy ground the
elder
man
always sent
the younger one on and sat on the bank until he saw what
befell the experimenter.
In that rather preposterous book
of our youth, the "Swiss Family Robinson," mention
made
of a
tame monkey
called Nips,
is
which was used to
76
test all edible-looking things as to the healthfulness of
the adventurers
felt
doubtful;
resemblance of function
we
which
and because of the obvious
christened this younger hunter
Our guides were not only hunters but cattle-herders.

The coarse dead grass is burned to make room for the
green young grass on which the cattle thrive. Every now
Nips.
and then one of the men,
as he rode
ahead of
leaving the saddle, would drop a lighted
sock of
tall
match
us,
without
into a tus-
dead blades; and even as we who were behind
rode by tongues of hot flame would be shooting up and

a local prairie
fire
would have
Kermit took Nips

day.
He
off
started.
with him for a solitary hunt one
shot two of the big marsh-deer, a buck and a
doe,
and preserved them as museum specimens.
were
in the
They
papyrus growth, but their stomachs contained
only the fine marsh-grass which grows in the water and on

the land along the edges of the swamps; the papyrus was
used only for cover, not for food.
The buck had two
big
scent-glands beside the nostrils; in the doe these were rudi-
mentary.
On
this
day Kermit
also
came
across a herd of
the big, fierce white-lipped peccary; at the sound of their
grunting Nips promptly spurred his horse and took to his

heels,
explaining that the peccaries would charge them,
hamstring the horses, and
kill
the riders.
Kermit went
into the jungle after the truculent little wild hogs
and followed them
for
on foot
an hour, but never was able to
catch sight of them.
In the afternoon of this same day one of the jaguar-
merely ranch hands, who knew something of the

tracks^
of the jaguarwho had been searching
hunters
chase
for
rode in with the information that he had found fresh sign
AV
o
>->
SO
'2
J3
en
5;
e
'3

at a spot in the
swamp about
morning we rose
at two,
two
Next
nine miles distant.
and had started on our jaguar-
Colonel Rondon, Kermit, and
hunt at three.
77
made up
trailers or jaguar-hunters,
I,
with the
the party, each
on a weedy, undersized marsh pony, accustomed to trav-
and we were accom-
ersing the vast stretches of morass;
panied by a brown boy, with saddle-bags holding our lunch,
who
rode a long-horned trotting steer which he managed
by a
and
string through its nostril
We
carried each a long, clumsy spear.
Besides our
pack.
own two
The two
lip.
trailers
had a rather poor
dogs, neither of which
was used
to jaguar-hunting, there were the ranch dogs, which were
two jaguar hounds borrowed
well-nigh worthless, and then

for the occasion
from a ranch
six or eight leagues distant.
These were the only hounds on which we could place any
and they were
trust,
One was a white
bitch, the other,
They were
a gelded black dog.

tures with prick ears
As our shabby
by the two trailers.

the best one we had, was
led in leashes
lean, half-starved crea-
and a look of furtive wildness.

horses shuffled
little
away from the
ranch-house the stars were brilliant and the Southern Cross
hung
well
up
in the heavens,
to the right.
tilted
The
landscape was spectral in the light of the waning moon.
At the
across,
first
an
alligator, the jacare-tinga,
unconcernedly
floated
paws;
shallow ford, as horses and dogs splashed
evidently at night
hour we shogged along.

the
among
first
overcast.
dim gray
The sun
it
the
some
five feet long,
splashing
did not fear us.
hoofs
and
Hour
after
Then the
night grew ghostly with
of the dawn.
The sky had become
rose red
and angry through broken
clouds; his disk flamed behind the
tall,
slender columns of
78
the palms, and
The
monkeys howled mournfully.
birds
parrots, parakeets screamed at us
we
rode by.
Ibis called
bayous and ponds, where white
and thronging
and chattered
at us as
with wailing voices, and the plov-
they wheeled in the
ers shrieked as
The black
awoke. Macaws,
the waste fields of papyrus.
lit
We
air.
lilies
floated
waded
across
on the water
lilac-flowers splashed the green
marsh with
color.
At last, on the edge of a patch of jungle, in wet ground,

we came on fresh jaguar tracks. Both the jaguar hounds
challenged the sign. They were unleashed and galloped
along the
trail,
while the other dogs noisily accompanied
The hunt
them.
led right
Evidently
through the marsh.
the jaguar had not the least distaste for water.

it
had been hunting
for capybaras or tapirs,
Probably
and
it
had
gone straight through ponds and long, winding, narrow

ditches or bayous, where
to
swim
it
must now and then have had
for a stroke or two.
It
had
also
wandered through
the island-like stretches of tree-covered land, the trees at

this point being
is
mostly palms and tarumans; the taruman
almost as big as a live-oak, with glossy foliage and a
fruit like
an
olive.
The pace quickened,
burst into yelling and howling;
the motley pack
and then a sudden quick-
game had either climbed

thicket.
The former proved
ening of the note showed that the

a tree or turned to bay in a
The dogs had entered a patch of tall tree

jungle, and as we cantered up through the marsh we saw
the jaguar high among the forked limbs of a tarumanto be the case.
tree.
It
big, lithe,
at the
was a beautiful picture
the
spotted coat of the
formidable cat fairly shone as
pack below.
it
snarled defiance
did not trust the pack;
the dogs

were not stanch, and
I
feared
we might
the jaguar
if
lose
tance of seventy yards.

little
Springfield with
So
it.
came down and
I fired
was using
which
have
at once,
my
79
started
from a
favorite
rifle,
dis-
the
most kinds of
killed
African game, from the lion and elephant down; the bullets
were the sharp, pointed kind, with the end of naked
lead.
At the shot the jaguar
the branches, and although
but a score of yards before
up
it
fell like
staggered to
it
it
a sack of sand through

its feet it
sank down, and when
went
came
was dead under the palms, with three or four of the
bolder dogs riving at
The jaguar
is
it.
the king of South American game, rank-
ing on an equality with the noblest beasts of the chase of
North America, and behind only the huge and

tures
fierce crea-
which stand at the head of the big game of Africa
and Asia.
This one was an adult female.
It
was heavier
and more powerful than a full-grown male cougar, or African panther or leopard.
creature, giving the
It
same
was a
big,
powerfully built
effect of strength that
a tiger
pumas do not.
when we had it
or lion does, and that the lithe leopards and
by the way, proved good eating,

for supper, although it was not cooked in the way it ought
to have been.
I tried it because I had found cougars such
Its flesh,
good eating;
not try lion's
flesh,
have always regretted that
which
am
Next day came Kermit's

laneous pack with us,
all
sure
must be
We
turn.
much
in Africa I did
excellent.
had the miscel-
enjoying themselves; but,
although they could help in a jaguar-hunt to the extent of

giving tongue and following the chase for half a mile, cowing the quarry
by
stanch to be of use
their clamor, they

if
there
was any
were not
sufficiently
difficulty in the hunt.
80
The only two dogs we could
This was the black dog's day.
jaguar hounds.
in the
On
two borrowed
trust were the
morning we came to a
About ten
winding bayou.
long, deep,
the opposite bank stood a capybara, looking like a
blunt-nosed pig,
and
it
slid into
wet hide shining black.
its
Then
the water.
killed
it,
found that the bayou
extended for a mile or two in each direction, and the two

hunter-guides said they did not wish to swim across for
moment we came across

was hot, we had been travelling
dogs were much exhausted. The
fear of the piranhas.
Just at this
fresh jaguar tracks.
It
for five hours,
and the
black hound in particular was nearly done up, for he had
He
been led in a leash by one of the horsemen.
on the ground, panting, unable to catch the
lay
flat
Kermit
scent.
threw water over him, and when he was thoroughly drenched
and freshened, thrust
The game
old
hound
his nose into the jaguar's footprints.
at once
snuffed the scent he challenged loudly, while
Then he
down.
trail,
cat
swum
far
across the bayou.
what seemed a
Evidently the big
Soon we found where
distant.
Piranhas or no piranhas,
intended to get across; and

at
lying
still
staggered to his feet and started on the
going stronger with every leap.
was not
As he
and eagerly responded.
likely spot.
we tried to force our

The matted growth
plants, with their leathery, slippery stems,
it
had
we now
horses in
of water-
formed an un-
pleasant barrier, as the water was swimming-deep for the

horses.
sage.
The
latter
Kermit
were very unwilling to attempt the pas-
finally forced his horse
through the tangled
mass, swimming, plunging, and struggling.

of clear .water, through which
dogs splashed and
swam
we swam
behind
us.
On
He
left
after him.
a lane
The
the other bank
The brown boy on
the long-horned trotting steer, which he

string through
From
its
nostril
lip
a photograph by Kcrmit Roosevelt
Colonel Roosevelt and the

From
and
first
jaguar
managed by

they struck the fresh
trail
and followed
led into a long belt of timber, chiefly
it
81
at a run.
It
composed of low-
growing nacury palms, with long, drooping, many-fronded

In silhouette they suggest coarse bamboos; the
branches.
nuts hang in big clusters and look like bunches of small,
Among
unripe bananas.
some big ordinary

timber
the lower palms were scattered
trees.
belt, listening to
We
cantered along outside the
the dogs within; and in a
moment
a burst of yelling clamor from the pack told that the jag-
uar was afoot.
moments
These few minutes are the
in the chase,
The
will tree.
really exciting
with hounds, of any big cat that
furious baying of the pack, the shouts
and
cheers of encouragement from the galloping horsemen, the
what the quarry

is
all combine to make the moment one of fierce and thrilling excitement.
Besides, in this case there was the possi-
wilderness surroundings, the knowledge of
bility the
jaguar might come to bay on the ground, in
which event there would be a
slight
element of
might need straight shooting to stop a charge.
risk, as it
However,
about as soon as the long-drawn howling and eager yelping
showed that the jaguar had been overtaken, we saw him,

a huge male, up in the branches of a great fig-tree.
from Kermit's 405 Winchester,

brought him dead to the ground. He was heavier than
bullet behind the shoulder,
the very big male horse-killing cougar
whose
skull
ever seen;
shot in Colorado,
Hart Merriam reported as the biggest he had

he was very nearly double the weight of any
of the male African leopards
we
shot;
he was nearly or
quite the weight of the smallest of the adult African lionesses
we
shot while in Africa.
stout frame,
He had
the big bones, the
and the heavy muscular build of a small
lion;
he
82
was not
the
lithe
and slender and long
as with
tail,
all
was
jaguars,
like a
cougar or leopard;
short, while the girth of
body was great; his coat was beautiful, with a satiny

gloss, and the dark-brown spots on the gold of his
back, head, and sides were hardly as conspicuous as the
the
black of the equally well-marked spots against his white

belly.
This was a well-known jaguar.

indulged
in
floods he
had taken up
and had
occasionally
on one occasion during the
cattle-killing;
abode near the ranch-house
his
killed a couple of
cows and a young
hunters had followed him, but he had

for the time being
He had
made
The
steer.
his escape,
and
had abandoned the neighborhood.
In
these marshes each jaguar had a wide irregular range and

travelled a good deal, perhaps only passing a
in a
was
ily
day or two
game
given locality, perhaps spending a week where

plentiful.
and swim
Jaguars love the water.
They drink
greed-
In this country they rambled through
freely.
the night across the marshes and prowled along the edges
of the ponds and bayous, catching the capybaras and the
caymans;
for these small
pond caymans, the jacare-tinga,
form part of their habitual food, and a big jaguar when
hungry
if
will attack
and
kill
large
caymans and
crocodiles
he can get them a few yards from the water.
On
marshes the jaguars also followed the peccary herds;

said that they always strike the
fierce little
tapir.
wild pigs.
If in timber,
hindmost of a band of the
however, the jaguar must
as
it is
Elsewhere they often prey on the
for the squat, thick-skinned,
respect for timber,
these
kill it
at once,
wedge-shaped tapir has no
Colonel
Rondon phrased
rushes with such blind, headlong speed through and
it,
and
among

and trunks that
branches
brushes the jaguar

in the
off,
tough hide.
immediately
It
is
and
bull;
is
cautious about atwill at times,
it
scarce, kill every other domestic animal.
is
a thirsty brute,
drag
it
The jaguar
Cattle are often killed.
tacking a herd accompanied by a bull; but
where wild game
killed
the claws leaving long raking scars
meddle with a big
will not
not
if
83
and
if it kills
from water
far
will often
victim a long distance toward a pond or stream;
its
Rondon had once come
Colonel
across a horse which a jag-
uar had thus killed and dragged for over a mile.

also stalk
and
kill
seemed to be
less
whether
is
this
the deer;
in this
Jaguars
neighborhood they
habitual deer-hunters than the cougars;
generally the case
They
cannot say.
have been known to pounce on and devour good-sized

anacondas.
In this particular neighborhood the ordinary jaguars

molested the cattle and horses hardly at
and then to
kill
calves.
It
all
except
was only occasionally that
under special circumstances some old male took to

killing.
now
There were plenty of capybaras and
cattle-
deer,
and
evidently the big spotted cats preferred the easier prey
when
it
was
lions living
available; exactly as in East Africa
we found
the
almost exclusively on zebra and antelope, and
not molesting the buffalo and domestic cattle, which in

other parts of Africa furnish their habitual prey.
In some
other neighborhoods, not far distant, our hosts informed
us that the jaguars lived almost exclusively on horses and

cattle.
They
also told us that the cougars
had the same
habits as the jaguars except that they did not prey on
such big animals.
The cougars on
this
ranch never molested
the foals, a fact which astonished me, as in the Rockies they
84
are the worst enemies of foals.
my
It
was
interesting to find
and the mixed-blood hunters and ranch

workers, combined special knowledge of many of the habthat
its
hosts,
of these big cats with a curious ignorance of other
matters concerning them and a readiness to believe fables
This was precisely what
about them.
had found to be
the case with the old-time North American hunters in discussing the puma, bear, and wolf, and with the English
and Boer hunters of Africa when they spoke of the
and rhinoceros.
Until the habit of scientific accuracy in
observation and record
at
home
is
achieved and until specimens
and carefully compared, entirely truthful
are preserved
men,
lion
in the wilderness, will
and repeat as matters of gospel
whole-heartedly accept,
faith, theories
which
split
the grizzly and black bears of each locality in the United

States,
and the
or the jaguars and

into
several
habits.
and black rhinos of South Africa,
lions
pumas
species,
different
They
will,
of any portion of South America,
with widely different
all
moreover,
describe
these
imaginary
habits with such sincerity and minuteness that they deceive
most
listeners;
and the
result
sometimes
is
that an
otherwise good naturalist will perpetuate these fables, as
Hudson
did
when he wrote
capital observer
of the
puma.
Hudson was a
and writer when he dealt with the
nary birds and mammals of the well-settled
Buenos Aires and
knew nothing
at the
mouth
of the wilderness.
districts
of the Rio Negro;
This
is
no
ordi-
near
but he
reflection
on
him; his books are great favorites of mine, and are to a
what such books should be; I only

wish that there were hundreds of such writers and observers
who would give us similar books for all parts of America.
large degree models of
South American
South American jaguar
From photographs
puma
by Elzvin R. Sanborn

But
a mistake to accept
it is
him
as
85
an authority on that
concerning which he was ignorant.
An
our
interesting incident occurred
first
We
jaguar.
on the day we
killed
took our lunch beside a small but
deep and obviously permanent pond.
went to the edge

up some water, and something growled or bellowed
me only a few feet away. It was a jacare-tinga or small
I
to dip
at
cayman about five feet long. I paid no heed to it at the

moment. But shortly afterward when our horses went
down to drink it threatened them and frightened them;
and then Colonel Rondon and Kermit called me to watch
it.
It lay
on the surface of the water only a few
feet dis-
we threw cakes of mud

it, whereupon it clashed its jaws and made short rushes
us, and when we threw sticks it seized them and crunched
tant from us and threatened us;

at
at
them.
We
could not drive
it
away.
Why
shown such truculence and heedlessness

unless perhaps
another
little
when another
opened
its
it
it
should have
cannot imagine,
was a female, with eggs near by.
pond a jacare-tinga showed no

of
my
companions approached.
jaws, and lashed
its tail.
less
In
anger
It bellowed,
Yet these pond
ja-
cares never actually molested even our dogs in the ponds,

far less us
on our horses.
This same day others of our party had an interesting

experience with the creatures in another pond.
One
them was Commander da Cunha
(of the Brazilian
Navy),
companion.
They
capital
sportsman
and
delightful
of
found a deepish pond a hundred yards or so long and

thirty or forty across.
mans and by capybaras

aquatic guinea-pig,
It
was tenanted by the small cay-
the largest known rodent, a huge
the size of a small sheep.
It
also
86
swarmed with piranhas, the ravenous fish of which I have

so often spoken.
Undoubtedly the caymans were subsisting
largely
on these piranhas.
turned
if
any caymans were
was shot and sank

tacked
When
injured.
in the water, the piranhas at
But much more extraordinary was the

a
cayman about
five feet long
ranhas attacked and tore

the bank to face
the wound;
tacked
all
its
it,
then, as the
inexplicable.
any place
are in danger;
flesh.
We
if
Evidently they did not

it
was unwounded;
Their habits are in
saw men frequently bathing

is
never
safe,
a school of the fish appear swimmers
and a wounded man or beast
piranhas are in the neighborhood.
appears that an unwounded

dent.
out on
the soft parts, their terrible teeth cutting out
unmolested; but there are places where this
peril if
it
pi-
The fish first attacked

blood maddened them, they at-
but blood excited them to frenzy.
in
fact that
foes.
molest either cayman or capybara while
some ways
once at-
was wounded the
and actually drove
human
chunks of tough hide and
and
a capybara
and had eaten half the carcass ten minutes
it,
later.
when
But the tables were readily
Such accidents are
cient frequency to justify
man
rare;
is
is
in
deadly
Ordinarily
attacked only by acci-
but they happen with
much
it
suffi-
caution in entering water
where piranhas abound.
We
came across ponds tenanted by numbers

of capybaras. The huge, pig-like rodents are said to be
shy elsewhere. Here they were tame. The water was
They usually went ashore to feed
their home and refuge.
on the grass, and made well-beaten trails in the marsh
immediately around the water; but they must have travelled these at night, for we never saw them more than a
frequently
87
away from the water in the daytime. Even at

midday we often came on them standing beside a bayou or
pond. The dogs would rush wildly at such a standing
few
feet
beast,
or!
which would wait
were only a few yards
until they
The dogs
and then dash into and under the water.
would
really
also run full
funny to
tilt
into the water,
and
it
was then
and disappointment
see their surprise
at
the sudden and complete disappearance of their quarry.
Often a capybara would stand or

water, with only
its
blunt,
on
sit
dive, for capybaras
below the surface; and

tly
among
if
haunches
in the
short-eared head above the
surface, quite heedless of our presence.
would
its
But
swim with equal
if
alarmed
facility
they wish to hide they
it
on or
rise
gen-
the rushes or water-lily leaves with only their
In these waters the capybaras and small
nostrils exposed.
caymans paid no attention to one another, swimming and

resting in close proximity.
They both had the same
enemy, the jaguar.
in the sense that a
and
eat,
its
roundings
The capybara
hare or rabbit
is
is.
game animal only

The flesh is good to
amphibious habits and queer nature and sur-
make
it
In some of the ponds the
interesting.
water had about gone, and the capybaras had become for
the time being beasts of the marsh and the
they could always find
little
of water-lilies, in which to
lie
mud; although
slimy pools, under a mass
and
hide.
Our whole stay on this ranch was delightful. On the

long rides we always saw something of interest, and often
it was something entirely new to us.
Early one morning
we came across two armadillos the big, nine-banded arma-
dillo.
We
were riding with the pack through a dry, sandy
pasture country, dotted with clumps of palms, round the
88
trunks of which grew a dense jungle of thorns and Spanish
The
bayonets.
armadillos were feeding in an open space
between two of these jungle clumps, which were about a
hundred yards apart.
was
One was on
in a squatting position,
with
its
fore legs off the ground.
Their long ears were very prominent.
them.
The dogs raced
at
had always supposed that armadillos merely
shuffled along,
aced; and
and curled up
was almost
when
turtle gallop
as surprised as
if I
when menhad seen a
two armadillos bounded

rabbits.
One headed back
nearest patch of jungle, which
speed
for protection
these
run, going as fast as
at full
the other
fours;
all
and
it
ran really
too
for the
The other ran
reached.
fast,
off at
until
nearly
it
reached the other patch, a hundred yards distant, the dogs

in
immediately behind
cry
full
changed
mind, wheeled
its
like a bullet right
to seize
it
or stop
it.
in its tracks,
and turned to pursue
it
suddenly
and came back
Dog
through the pack.
it
Then
it;
after
but
dog
its
tried
wedge-
shaped snout and armored body, joined to the speed at
which
it
was
its
grasp
and
It
had run
it
to drive straight ahead
pursuers, not one of which could halt
through
it,
galloping, enabled
it
reached in safety
at speed about a
was much impressed by
this
its
it
or
thorny haven of refuge.
hundred and
fifty yards.
unexpected exhibition;
evi-
dently this species of armadillo only curls up as a last resort,

its
and ordinarily trusts to
build and
reach
its
its
armor give
its
it
speed,
and to the protection
while running, in order to
burrow or other place of
safety.
Twice, while
laying railway tracks near Sao Paulo, Kermit had acciden-
dug up armadillos with a steam-shovel.

There were big ant-hills, some of them of huge dimen-
tally
Nine-banded armadillo
Capybi
Collared peccary
From photographs
by Elwin R. Sanbor

through the country.
sions, scattered
stems of
built against the
numerous, render certain
sufficiently
that
did not here
come
any of the poisonous or biting ants which, when
across
They
Sometimes they were
We
trees.
89
districts uninhabitable.
are ordinarily not very numerous.
march
Those of them
and
in large bodies kill nestling birds,
at once
destroy any big animal unable to get out of their way.

It
has been suggested that nestlings in their nests are in
some way immune from the attack of these
The
ants.
experiments of our naturalists tended to show that this
was not the
They plundered any
case.
nest they
came
across and could get at.
Once we saw a small herd of

lowed by three
little
pigs
sow
peccaries, one a
fol-
they are said to have only two
young, but we saw three, although of course
one belonged to another sow.
The herd
it
is
possible
galloped into a
mass of thorny cover the hounds could not penetrate; and
when they were
in safety
we heard them
utter,
from the
depths of the jungle, a curious moaning sound.
On
fairly
one ride we passed a clump of palms which were

ablaze
with bird
hyacinth macaws;
color.
There were magnificent
green parrots with red splashes;
tou-
cans with varied plumage, black, white, red, yellow; green
jacmars; flaming orioles and both blue and dark-red tanagers.
It
was an extraordinary
collection.
All were noisy.
Perhaps there was a snake that had drawn them by

presence;
but we could find no snake.
persed as
we rode up;
the huge blue
The assembly dismacaws departed
in pairs, uttering their hoarse "ar-rah-h, ar-rah-h."
been said that parrots

the wing.
They
in the wilderness are
are certainly noisy
its
It
has
only noisy on
on the wing; and
90
those that
ordinarily
we saw were quiet while they were feeding; but

when they were perched among the branches,
and especially when,
as in the case of the little parakeets
near the house, they were gathering materials for nestbuilding, they were just as noisy as while flying.
The
were
water-birds
always
We
delight.
shot
merely the two or three specimens the naturalists needed
museum.
the handy little
for the
iru
and then
Springfield,
had thus gained by a
range, before
midable
The
tall as
man, show
the credit
great, splendid birds,
when wounded,
fight
their assailants, clattering their for-
One day we found
bills.
all
Kermit shot a jab-
a jabiru.
with the Liiger automatic.
and advance against
lost
series of inexcusable misses, at long
I finally killed
standing about as
on the wing with
killed a wood-ibis
the nest of a jabiru in
a mighty fig-tree, on the edge of a patch of jungle.
was
a big platform of sticks, placed
on a horizontal branch.
There were four half-grown young standing on

passed
it
in
the morning,
the early afternoon

out,
and we
bird
was present
when both parents were
was
was
with the small camera.
In
when we again passed
it
at this time.
its bill
It
It
was very
just as a
As we rode away the
the sun was
Only one parent
showed no
hot,
and
hen opens her
fear.
was returning
adequate idea of the wealth of bird
It
life
is
no-
its bill
it
had
hot weather.
young
birds
flight the
other
old bird and the four
to the nest.
suppose
bill in
were standing motionless, and with gliding

old bird
it
stood on a branch near the nest,
slightly open.
opened
it
also
it
tried to get photographs.
ticed that, as
We
it.
perched alongside; the sky was then overcast, and

not possible to photograph
It
hard to give an
in these marshes.

A
91
naturalist could with the utmost advantage spend six
months on such a ranch as that we

to do
some
but only a
collecting,
servation in the field
is
what
is
now most
should be pro-
receive reasonable
The books now most needed
protection.
Most
needed.
life
by law; and the mammals should
with the
Exhaustive ob-
little.
of this wonderful and harmless bird

tected
He would have
visited.
are those dealing
life-histories of wild creatures.
Near the ranch-house, walking familiarly among the

They
cattle, we saw the big, deep-billed Ani blackbirds.
feed on the insects disturbed by the hoofs of the cattle,
and often cling to them and pick off the ticks. It was
the end of the nesting season, and we did not find their
curious communal nests, in which half a dozen females lay
eggs
their
indiscriminately.
bywhich
ponds near
ibises
The
his
all
were
very tame, and so were
neck out
In flying, the
the small herons.
and storks stretch the neck straight
jabiru
in front of
also
splendid bird on the wing

in front,
downward curve
the
in
ibises
usually went in pairs, instead of in
flocks like the wood-ibis
the night herons and
The common
stretches
but there appears to be a
at the base of the neck,
The
due merely to the craw.
which
them.
slight
may
be
big slender herons, on the
contrary, bend the long neck back in a beautiful curve,

so that the
day
head
saw what
is
nearly between the shoulders.
I at first
thought was a small yellow-bellied
kingfisher hovering over a pond,
and
finally
plunging
to the surface of the water after a school of tiny

fish;
bill
but
it
One
proved to be a bien-te-vl king-bird.
wood-hewers, birds the
size
down
young
Curved-
and somewhat the coloration
of veeries, but with long, slender sickle-bills, were
common
92
in the little
garden back of the house; their habits were
those of creepers, and they scrambled with agility up, along,
and under the trunks and branches, and along the posts
and rails of the fence, thrusting the bill into crevices for
The
insects.
oven-birds, which had the carriage and some-
what the look of wood-thrushes,

on a
delightful friends
am
close acquaintance;
individual, not only in the extraordinary
they build, but in
all
domed mud
nests
their ways, in their bright alertness,
their rather jerky quickness of
With
calls.
come tame and
they are very
and curiosity about whatever goes on,
their interest in
and varied
would prove
sure
familiar.
movement, and
little
their loud
encouragement they be-
The parakeets were too
but otherwise were most attractive
little birds,
as they flew
to and fro and scrambled about in the top of the
behind the house.
noisy,
palm
There was one showy kind of king-
bird or tyrant flycatcher, lustrous black with a white head.
One afternoon
several score cattle were driven into a big
square corral near the house, in order to brand the calves
and a number of unbranded yearlings and two-year-olds.
special element of excitement
was added by
the" presence
of a dozen big bulls which were to be turned into draught-
oxen.
The
agility, nerve,
and prowess of the ranch work-
men, the herders or gauchos, were noteworthy.

skinned
men were
descent, although
of white blood.
obviously mainly of Indian and negro
some of them
They wore
fringed leather apron,

feet
The dark-
must have been
also
showed a strong
strain
the usual shirt, trousers, and
with jim-crow hats.
literally as
Their
bare
tough as horn; for when
one of them roped a big bull he would brace himself, bending back until he
was almost
sitting
down and
digging his

heels into the ground,
93
and the galloping beast would be
stopped short and whirled completely round when the rope
The maddened
tautened.
bulls,
and an occasional
steer or
cow, charged again and again with furious wrath; but two
or three ropes would settle on the
it
would go; and when
it
was
doomed
released
beast,
and down
and rose and charged
once more, with greater fury than ever, the men, shouting
with laughter, would leap up the sides of the heavy stockade.
We
stayed at the ranch until a couple of days before
Christmas.
Hitherto the weather had been lovely.
night before
we
It
left
there
was not unexpected,
season was overdue.
was a
for
The
started, in a couple of
torrential tropic
we had been
The
downpour.
told that the rainy
following forenoon the baggage
two-wheeled ox-carts, for the land-
ing where the steamboat awaited us.
Each
cart
was drawn
The huge wheels were over seven feet

high.
Early in the afternoon we followed on horseback,
and overtook the carts as darkness fell, just before we
reached the landing on the river's bank. The last few miles,
by
eight
oxen.
ground had been
after the final reaches of higher, tree-clad
passed, were across a level plain of low ground on which
the water stood, sometimes only up to the ankles of a
on
foot,
of us,
lie
sometimes as high as his waist.
many
Directly in front
leagues distant, rose the bold mountains that
west of Corumba.
Behind them the sun was setting
and kindled the overcast heavens with
Then
man
lurid
the last rose tints faded from the sky;
splendor.
the horses
plodded wearily through the water; on every side stretched

the marsh, vast, lonely, desolate in the gray of the halflight.
We
overtook the ox-carts.
The
cattle strained in
94
the yokes; the drivers wading alongside cracked their whips
and uttered strange
the carts rocked and swayed
cries;
huge wheels churned through the
as the
As the
faded
last light
we reached
mud and
water.
the small patches of
dry land at the landing, where the flat-bottomed side-wheel
The tired horses and

oxen were turned loose to graze. Water stood in the
corrals, but the open shed was on dry ground.
Under it
steamboat was moored to the bank.
the
slung their
hammocks; and
roasted, or scorched, slabs

sticks
and horse-herders
wild-looking ox-drivers
half-clad,
close
and
by they
legs of
lit
fire
and
mutton, spitted on
and propped above the smouldering flame.
Next morning, with
real regret,
we waved good-by
to
our dusky attendants, as they stood on the bank, grouped
around a
little fire,
beside the big,
empty
ox-carts.
A dozen
miles down-stream a rowboat fitted for a spritsail put off
from the bank.
The owner,
ranch, asked for a tow to
had with him
in the
countryman from a small
Corumba, which we gave.
boat his comely brown wife
smoking a very large cigar
their
two
He
who was
children, a
young
man, and a couple of trunks and various other belongings.

On Christmas eve we reached Corumba, and rejoined the
other
members
of the expedition.
CHAPTER
IV
THE HEADWATERS OF THE PARAGUAY

At Corumba
our entire party, and
all
their belongings,
came aboard our good little river boat, the Nyoac. Christmas Day saw us making our way steadily up-stream against
the strong current, and between the green and beautiful
banks of the upper Paraguay.
The
was jammed with men, dogs,
rifles,
shallow
steamer
little
partially cured skins,
boxes of provisions, ammunition, tools, and photographic

supplies, bags containing tents, cots, bedding,
saddles,
hammocks, and the other
and
clothes,
necessaries for a trip
through the "great wilderness," the "matto grosso" of

western Brazil.
It
was a
brilliantly clear day, and,
in that latitude
later on,
We
sat
it
and
was
cool
although of course
at that season the heat
and pleasant
was intense
in the early
morning.
on the forward deck, admiring the trees on the
brink of the sheer river banks, the lush, rank grass of the
marshes, and the
many
The two
water-birds.
one
Colonel Ron-
black and one white, stood at the wheel.
don read Thomas a Kempis.
pilots,
Kermit, Cherrie, and Miller
squatted outside the railing on the deck over one paddle-
wheel and put the
final
touches on the jaguar-skins.
satisfied himself that the
boxes and bags were in place.
was probable that hardship lay

day was our own, and the day was
It
ning the after-deck, open
Fiala
all
in the future;
pleasant.
around, where
95
we
but the
In the evedined,
was
96
we drank
decorated with green boughs and rushes, and
the health of the President of the United States and of

the President of Brazil.
Now
This
edge.
who
settler
mines;
soil.
and then we passed

willing to
there
is
field for
work can earn
water-power;
The country
a fine
ranches on the river's
a fertile land, pleasant to live
is
is
little
there
is
before in the Chaco, and
ate.
its
was a dear
It liked to
little
it
was
little
owl a month
them
travelling with
little bird,
in a
very tame and affection-
came
into the cabin,
noises as a signal that
up and perched on
trapped
It offers
rail.
be handled and petted; and when Miller,
especial protector,
queer
rich
has a great future.
it
Cherrie and Miller had secured a
It
abundance of
immigration and for agricultural, mining,
and business development; and
basket.
and any
There are
his living.
soon be opened by
will
in,
his
many mammals.
hand.
it
it
would make
wished to be taken
Cherrie and Miller had
Among them was
a tayra weasel,
whitish above and black below, as big and bloodthirsty as a

fisher-martin;
and a tiny opossum no bigger than a mouse.
They had taken
four species of opossum, but they had not
found the curious water-opossum which they had obtained
on the
rivers flowing into the
sum, which
is
Caribbean Sea.
This opos-
black and white, swims in the streams like
a muskrat or otter, catching fish and living in burrows
which open under water.

zled to
know why
Miller and Cherrie were puz-
the young throve, leading such an exis-
tence of constant immersion; one of
them once found a
female swimming and diving freely with four quite well-
grown young
We
in her
pouch.
saw on the banks screamers
big, crested
waders of
HEADWATERS OF THE PARAGUAY

archaic type, with spurred wings, rather short
no especial
affinities
meadow by
two
does.
They
These
are
tails
of white as in our whitetail
instead
and
In one
buck and
stared at us, with their thickly haired
on end.
raised
tails
bills,
with other modern birds.
pond we saw three marsh-deer,
97
black underneath,
deer.
One
of the
vagaries of the ultraconcealing-colorationists has been to
uphold the (incidentally quite preposterous) theory that

the
tail
of our deer
is
colored white beneath so as to har-
monize with the sky and thereby mislead the cougar or

wolf at the
critical
moment when
makes
its
spring;
marsh-deer shows a black instead of a white
this
yet has just as
much need
of protection from
ing coloration plays

deer, the
no more part
tamandua, the
puma than
it
flag,
its
but
and
enemies,
In South America conceal-
the jaguar and the cougar.
the
it
in the lives of the adult
tapir, the peccary, the jaguar,
and
plays in Africa in the lives of such ani-
mals as the zebra, the sable antelope, the wildebeeste, the

lion,
and the hunting hyena.
Next day we spent ascending the Sao Lourenco.
It
was
narrower than the Paraguay, naturally, and the swirling
brown current was,
if
anything, more rapid.
tropical trees, standing densely
together
by long bush ropes
slender and very long.
The
strange
on the banks, were matted

lianas, or vines,
Sometimes we saw
some very
brilliant red or
blue flowers, or masses of scarlet berries on a queer palmlike tree, or
an array of great white blossoms on a much
larger tree.
In a lagoon bordered by the taquara
bamboo
when they came to

mouths like seals, and made
a school of big otters were playing;

the surface, they opened their
a loud hissing noise.
The
crested screamers, dark gray
98
and as large as turkeys, perched on the very topmost

branches of the
Hyacinth macaws screamed
tallest trees.
harshly as they flew across the river.
Among
the trees
was the guan, another peculiar bird as big as a big grouse,

and with certain habits of the wood-grouse, but not akin
to
The windpipe
any northern game-bird.
of the male
is
very long, extending down to the end of the breast-bone,
and the bird utters queer guttural screams.
man
it.
dead cay-
floated down-stream, with a black vulture devouring
Capybaras stood or squatted on the banks; sometimes
they stared stupidly at us;
sometimes they plunged into
the river at our approach.
At long
little clearings.
intervals
we passed
In each stood a house of palm-logs, with
steeply pitched roof of
palm thatch; and near by were
patches of corn and mandioc.
The dusky owner, and
per-
haps his family, came out on the bank to watch us as we

passed.
in the
It
the thermometer
was a hot day
on the deck
shade stood at nearly ioo degrees Fahrenheit.
Biting
came aboard even when we were in midstream.

Next day we were ascending the Cuyaba River. It had
begun raining in the night, and the heavy downpour continued throughout the forenoon. In the morning we halted
at a big cattle-ranch to get fresh milk and beef.
There
flies
were various houses, sheds, and corrals near the
river's
edge, and fifty or sixty milch cows were gathered in one

corral.
among
Spurred plover, or lapwings,

the hens.
in the trees over
ashore.
familiarly
Parakeets and red-headed tanagers
our heads.
boat was moored at the bank.

breakfast over a
strolled
little
kind of primitive house-
A woman
stove at one end.
The boat was one
lit
was cooking
The crew were
of those which are really stores,

and which travel up and down these
rivers,
99
laden with
what the natives most need, and stopping wherever there

is
a ranch.
They
which many of the
are the only stores
They
country-dwellers see from year's end to year's end.
down-stream, and up-stream are poled by their crew,
float
or
now and then
a house with a tin roof;

or with
roofs,
roofs
This one had
tow from a steamer.
get a
others bear houses with thatched
made
The
of hides.
wound
river
through vast marshes broken by belts of woodland.
Always the two

to
tell
beast
had something of
naturalists
of their past experience, suggested
we came
crested, of
two
Black and golden
across.
different species
interest
by some
bird or
orioles, slightly
were found along the
river;
they nest in colonies, and often we passed such colonies,

the long pendulous nests hanging from the boughs of trees
directly over the water.
Cherrie told us of finding such
a colony built round a big wasp-nest, several feet in diam-
These wasps are venomous and
eter.
foes
irritable,
and few
would dare venture near bird's-nests that were under
such formidable shelter; but the birds themselves were

entirely unafraid,
and obviously were not
any danger of
in
disagreement with their dangerous protectors.
dark
ibis flying across
bow
the
deep, two-syllabled note.
We
of the boat, uttering his
Miller told
how on
the Orinoco
these ibises plunder the nests of the big river-turtles.

are very skilful in finding
her eggs, scratch
where the female
them out
saw a
They
turtle has laid
of the sand, break the shells,
and suck the contents.

It
was astonishing to
marshes.
They
find so
did not in any
few mosquitoes on these
way compare
the mosquitoes on the lower Mississippi, the
as pests with
New
Jersey
100
Red River of the North, or the Kootenay. Back

the forest near Corumba the naturalists had found them
coast, the
in
very bad indeed.
Cherrie had spent two or three days on
a mountain-top which was bare of forest; he had thought

there would be few mosquitoes, but the long grass har-
bored them (they often swarm
where there
is
in long grass
no water), and
at night
torment that as soon as the sun

under
his mosquito-netting.
set
and bush, even
they were such a
he had to go to bed
Yet on the vast marshes they

most
was
were not seriously troublesome
in
formed that they were not
any way a bother on the
in
places.
in-
grassy uplands, the high country north of Cuyaba, which
from thence stretches eastward to the coastal region.

is
at
any
rate certain that this inland region of Brazil,
including the state of

ersing,
is
It
Matto Grosso, which we were
trav-
a healthy region, excellently adapted to settle-
ment; railroads
will speedily penetrate
it,
and then
it
will
witness an astonishing development.
On
the morning of the 28th
ings of the great
we reached
the
home
build-
Sao Joao fazenda, the ranch of Senhor
Dom
Our host himself, and his son,

Joao the younger, who was state secretary of agricul-
ture,
and the
Joao da Costa Marques.
latter' s
charming
wife,
and the president of
Matto Grosso, and several other ladies and gentlemen, had

come down the river to greet us, from the city of Cuyaba,
As usual, we
several hundred miles farther up-stream.
were treated with whole-hearted and generous hospitality.
Some
miles below the ranch-house the party
met
us,
on a
stern-wheel steamboat and a launch, both decked with
many
flags.
The handsome white ranch-house
stood only
a few rods back from the river's brink, in a grassy opening
101
dotted with those noble trees, the royal palms.
Other
trees, buildings of all kinds, flower-gardens, vegetable-gar-
dens, fields, corrals, and enclosures with high white walls
stood near the house.

police,
with a band, were
detachment of
soldiers or state
and two
in front of the house,
flagpoles,
one with the Brazilian
American
flag
The
flag already hoisted.
was run up on the other
as I stepped ashore,
while the band played the national anthems of the two
The house
countries.
was
fort
all
held
much
and the com-
comfort;
the more appreciated because even indoors
the thermometer stood at 97 F.
and cooled the
heavy
rain
time.
Around the house the
fell,
In the late afternoon
air.
We were
riding at the
birds were tame: the parrots
and parakeets crowded and chattered
in
the tree tops;
jacanas played in the wet ground just back of the garden;

ibises
and screamers
distance
swamps
called loudly in the
little
off.
Until
we came
actually in sight of this great ranch-
house we had been passing through a hot,
fertile,
pleasant
wilderness, where the few small palm-roofed houses, each

in its little
very
many
patch of sugar-cane, corn, and mandioc, stood
One
miles apart.
of these
on an old Indian mound, exactly

form the only
hillocks
little
like the
origin.
These occasional Indian
mounds, made ages ago, are the highest

are
still
swamps
bits of
ground
Indian tribes in this neighborhood.
scaffoldings for drying the fish,
We
river,
in
There
of the upper Paraguay region.
Indian fishing village on the edge of the
They
mounds which
along the lower Mississippi, and
which are also of Indian

the immense
houses stood
passed an
with huts,
hammocks, and rude
tables.
cultivated patches of bananas and sugar-cane.
Out
102
in a shallow place in the river
the Indians stood to spear
was a
scaffolding
The Indians were
fish.
on which
friendly,
peaceable souls, for the most part dressed like the poorer
classes
among
the Brazilians.
Next morning there was to have been a great rodeo, or

round-up, and we determined to have a hunt first, as there
were
and
still
several kinds of beasts of the chase, notably tapirs
which the naturalists desired specimens.
peccaries, of
Dom Joao,
our host, and his son accompanied
a noteworthy family.
ics,
Born
in
Theirs
us.
Matto Grosso,
is
in the trop-
our host had the look of a northerner and, although a
grandfather, he possessed an abounding vigor and energy
such as very few
men
of
any climate or surroundings do
The son who was
All of his sons are doing well.
possess.
with us was a stalwart, powerful man, a pleasant companion,
an able public servant, a finished horseman, and a
skilled hunter.
He
carried a sharp spear, not a
Matto Grosso it is the custom

riflemen and spearmen to go in
in
turns at
shot
in.
fails
in
rifle,
for
hunting the jaguar for
him together when he

bay, the spearman holding him off if the first
at
to stop him, so that another shot can be put
Altogether, our host and his son reminded one of the
American ranchmen and
best type of
ranchmen who
planters and
field sports,
who
are capital
planters, of those
are adepts in bold
men
and manly
of business, and
who
also
often supply to the state skilled and faithful public servants.
The
hospitality the father and son extended to us
was patriarchal:
neither, for instance,
would
sit
at table with
their guests at the beginning of the formal meals; instead
they exercised a close personal supervision over the
feast.
Our charming
table.
hostess, however, sat at the
head of the

At
morning we
six in the
started, all of us
The day was lowering and overcast.

with
on
103
fine horses.
dozen dogs were
but only one or two were worth anything.
us,
Three
or four ordinary countrymen, the ranch hands, or vaqueiros,
accompanied us; they were mainly of Indian blood, and
would have been
called peons, or caboclos, in other parts of
but here were always spoken to and of as "cama-
Brazil,
They
radas."
men who were
among
were, of course, chosen from
the
hunters, and each carried his long, rather
heavy and clumsy jaguar-spear.
In front rode our vigor-
ous host and his strapping son, the latter also carrying a
jaguar-spear.
men and
The
bridles
and saddles of the big ranch-
handsome and
of the gentlefolk generally were
were elaborately ornamented with
The
silver.
stirrups, for
instance, were not only of silver, but contained so
much
extra metal in ornamented bars and rings that they would
have been awkward
for less-practised riders.
Indeed, as
it
was, they were adapted only for the tips of boots with long,
pointed toes, and were impossible for our feet; our hosts'
stirrups
were long, narrow
silver slippers.
The camaradas,
on the other hand, had jim-crow saddles and

rusty
little
But
toes.
well
iron stirrups into

all,
which they thrust
gentry and commonalty
and with the same
skill
bridles,
and
alike,
fearlessness.
hosts gallop at headlong speed over
their
and
naked
rode equally
To
see our
any kind of country
toward the sound of the dogs with their quarry
at bay,
them handle their horses in a morass, was a pleasure.

It was equally a pleasure to see a camarada carrying
his heavy spear, leading a hound in a leash, and using his
or to see
machete to cut
jungle,
all
his
at the
way through
same time and
the tangled vine-ropes of a

all
without the slightest
ref-
104
erence to the plunges, and the odd and exceedingly jerky behavior, of his wild, half-broken horse
most of the horses are apt to come

broken or
else of
on such a ranch
for
in the categories of half-
One dusky tatterdemalion
broken-down.
wore a pair of boots from which he had removed the
soles, his
bare, spur-clad feet projecting from beneath the uppers.
He
was on a
for
little
devil of a stallion,
which he rode blindfold
a couple of miles, and there was a regular circus
removed the bandage; but evidently
him that the animal was hardly

for a
man
it
when he
never occurred to
a comfortable riding-horse
going out hunting and encumbered with a spear,
a machete, and other belongings.
The
we were out we
eight hours that
spent chiefly in
splashing across the marshes, with excursions

into vine-tangled belts
and clumps of timber.
now and then

Some of the
We
bayous we had to cross were uncomfortably boggy.
had to lead the horses through one, wading ahead of them;

and even so two of them mired down, and
their saddles
to be taken off before they could be gotten out.
had
Among
the marsh plants were fields and strips of the great caete
rush.
These caete
marsh
plants.
horsemen.
flags
towered above the other and
They were
higher than the heads of the
Their two or three huge banana-like leaves
The
stood straight up on end.

orange,
red,
shaped and
and yellow
its
bill
large brilliant flowers
were
joined
solid string or cluster.
round these flowers; one

has
lesser
into
Humming-birds buzzed
species, the sickle-billed
especially adapted
shaped blossoms and gets
its
singularly
for use
in
hummer,
these queerly
food only from them, never
appearing around any other plant.
The
birds were tame, even those striking
and beautiful

birds
105
which under man's persecution are so apt to become
The huge
and shy.
scarce
jabiru storks, stalking through
the water with stately dignity, sometimes refused to fly

until
we were only
a hundred yards off; one of
them
flew
The
over our heads at a distance of thirty or forty yards.
screamers, crying curu-curu, and the ibises, wailing dole-
came even
fully,
in
The wonderful hyacinth macaws,
closer.
twos and threes, accompanied us at times for several
hundred yards, hovering over our heads and uttering their

In one
rasping screams.
howler monkey.
The
Not watching with

ling
wood we came on
place smelt almost like a menagerie.
sufficient care I
on which the venomous
brushed against a sap-
swarmed.
fire-ants
burnt the skin like red-hot cinders, and
More than once

small caymans
My horse
in the drier parts of the
making
way from one
showed that on
encountered jaguars or
We
their
human
left
little
They
sores.
marsh we met
pool to another.
The dead
car-
their wanderings they
had
stepped over one before
casses of others
the black
saw
it.
foes.
had been out about three hours when one of the
dogs gave tongue in a large belt of woodland and jungle
march through the marsh. The

other dogs ran to the sound, and after a while the long
barking told that the thing, whatever it was, was at bay
or else in some refuge.
We made our way toward the place
on foot. The dogs were baying excitedly at the mouth of
a huge hollow log, and very short examination showed us
that there were two peccaries within, doubtless a boar and
to the
sow.
left
of our line of
However, just
at this
from an unsuspected opening
moment
the peccaries bolted
at the other
end of the
log,
dove into the tangle, and instantly disappeared with the
106
hounds
cry after them.
in full
later before
we
was twenty minutes
It
With much
again heard the pack baying.
difficulty,
and by the incessant swinging of the machetes,
we opened
a trail through the network of vines and branches.
He was
This time there was only one peccary, the boar.

at
bay
The dogs were about
stump.
in a half-hollow
head, raving with excitement, and

use the
rifle;
it
was not
so I borrowed the spear of
younger, and killed the
This was an
fierce little
animal
possible to
Dom
Joao the
boar therewith.
akin to our collared peccary,
smaller and less fierce than

a valiant and truculent
his
its
little
white-jawed kinsfolk.
beast, nevertheless,
It
is
and
if
given the chance will bite a piece the size of a teacup out
of either
ties,
man
feeds
home
on
or dog.
It
found singly or
is
roots, fruits, grass,
in hollow logs.
hollow log
we heard them
and delights to make
young
makes an
When the two were
If taken
tionate and entertaining pet.
in small parits
affec-
it
in the
utter a kind of moaning, or
menacing, grunt, long drawn.
An
hour or two afterward we unexpectedly struck the
two jaguars and at once loosed the dogs,

Unfortuyelling, on the line of the scent.
fresh tracks of
who
tore off
nately, just at this
moment
of rain drove in our faces.
that the dogs lost the
trail
the clouds burst and a deluge
So heavy was the downpour
and we
lost the
dogs.
We
found them again only owing to one of our caboclos; an

Indian with a queer Mongolian face, and no brain at
that
could discover, apart from his special dealings with
wild creatures, cattle, and horses.

rags;
all
He
rode in a huddle of
but nothing escaped his eyes, and he rode anything
anywhere.
The downpour continued
so heavily that
we
Wood
From a photograph
ibis
by Elzvin R. Sanborn
Sariema
South American jabiru

From
a photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn
From
a photograph by Miller

knew
the rodeo had been abandoned, and
faces
for
the long,
dripping,
splashing
107
we turned our
homeward.
ride
Through the gusts of driving rain we could hardly see the

way. Once the rain lightened, and half a mile away the
sunshine gleamed through a
Suddenly
in this rift of
the leaden cloud-mass.
rift in
shimmering brightness there ap-
With
peared a flock of beautiful white egrets.

wing-beats
graceful
plumage flashing
the
birds
in the sun.
and were swallowed
in the
urged
their
They then
strong,
their
flight,
crossed the
rift
gray gloom of the day.
On
the marsh the dogs several times roused capybaras.
Where
there were no ponds of sufficient size the capybaras
sought refuge in
ran well.
flight
through the tangled marsh.
Kermit and Fiala went
speed, for a mile and a half, with
bayed
it
literally
bayed
it,
after
one on
foot, full-
two hounds which then
for the
capybara fought with
the courage of a gigantic woodchuck.
If the
pack over-
took a capybara, they of course speedily finished

a single dog of our not very valorous outfit
to overmatch
its
They
it;
but
was not able
shrill-squeaking opponent.
Near the ranch-house, about forty

was a jabiru's nest containing young
birds exercised themselves
up
in a big tree,
jabirus.
The young
feet
by walking solemnly round the
edge of the nest and opening and shutting their wings.
Their heads and necks were down-covered, instead of being
naked
like those of their parents.
a moving-picture of
Fiala wished to take
them while thus engaged, and
so, after
arranging his machine, he asked Harper to rouse the young
by throwing a stick up to the nest. He did so, whereupon one young jabiru hastily opened its wings in the desired fashion, at the same time seizing the stick in its bill
birds
108
It
dropped
when
it
it
at once,
with an
air of
comic disappointment,
found that the stick was not
edible.
There were many strange birds round about.

were not uncommon.
Toucans
have never seen any other bird
take such grotesque and comic attitudes as the toucan.
This day
big
saw one standing
pointing straight into the air and the
bill
the river and in the
with feet
like a
but, like so
iations
grebe and
bill
and
tail like
many South American
among
with the
also
tail
The toucan is a born comedian.

ponds we saw the finfoot, a bird
cocked perpendicularly.
On
in the top of a tree
other species.
birds,
The
fauna of South America contains
those of a darter,
with no close
affil-
exceedingly rich bird
many
species
which seem
to be survivals from a very remote geologic past, whose

kinsfolk have perished under the changed conditions of
recent ages;
and
in the case of
screamer, their like
many
species
is
swarmed
not
many,
known
in this
like the
hoatzin and
elsewhere.
Herons of
neighborhood.
somest was the richly colored tiger bittern.

species
were so unlike ordinary herons that
The hand-
Two
other
did not recog-
them as herons at all until Cherrie told me what they

were. One had a dark body, a white-speckled or ocellated
neck, and a bill almost like that of an ibis. The other
looked white, but was really mauve-colored, with black
nize
on the head.
When
perched on a tree
it
stood like an
ibis;
and instead of the measured wing-beats characteristic of

a heron's flight,
it
flew with a quick, vigorous flapping of
There were queer mammals, too, as well as

In the fields Miller trapped mice of a kind entirely
the wings.
birds.
new.
Next morning the sky was leaden, and a drenching

rain
as
fell
we began our
season had fairly begun.

still
109
The rainyFor our good fortune we were
descent of the river.
where we had the cabins aboard the boat, and the
ranch-house, in which to dry our clothes and soggy shoes;
humid atmosphere, hot and steaming,

they stayed wet a long time, and were still moist when we
put them on again. Before we left the house where we
but
in the intensely
had been treated with such courteous hospitality

est
the
fin-
ranch-house in Matto Grosso, on a huge ranch where
some
there are
sixty thousand
son of our host,
me
presented
Dom
head of horned
cattle
the
Joao the younger, the jaguar-hunter,
with two magnificent volumes on the palms
of Brazil, the
work of Doctor Barboso Rodriguez, one-
time director of the Botanical Gardens at Rio Janeiro.
The two
No
gift
more
appropriate, none that I would in the future value
more
were
folios
as a reminder of
in a
my
box of native cedar.
stay in
Matto Grosso, could have
been given me.

All
afternoon the rain continued.
that
pouring in torrents
when we
left
Lourenco and steamed up the

anchoring;
his
is
Cuyaba
latter a
was
for the
still
Sao
few miles before
Dom
Joao the younger had accompanied us in

The little river steamer was of very open
launch.
build, as
the
It
necessary in such a hot climate;
and to keep
things dry necessitated also keeping the atmosphere
The German
taxidermist
who was with
stifling.
Colonel Rondon's
party, Reinisch, a very good fellow from Vienna, sat on
stool, alternately
heat,
drenched with rain and sweltering with
and muttered to himself: "Ach, Schweinerei
Two
small caymans, of the
common
species,
!"
with promi-
nent eyes, were at the bank where we moored, and be-
110
trayed an astonishing and stupid tameness.

size of
in
any way
feet
Neither the
the boat nor the commotion caused by the paddles
from
They
affected them.
us, half
lay inshore, not twenty
out of water; they paid not the slightest
heed to our presence, and only reluctantly

peatedly poked
with clods of
at,
and
and even then one
sticks;
crawled up on shore, to find out

rid himself of the
re-
having been repeatedly hit
after
mud and
when
left
first
thereby he could not
if
annoyance we caused him.
Next morning it was still raining, but we set off on a

hunt, anyway, going afoot. A couple of brown camaradas
led the way, and Colonel Rondon, Dom Joao, Kermit, and
I
The incessant downpour speedily wet us to

We made our way slowly through the forest,
followed.
the skin.
the machetes playing right and

step, for the trees
creepers.
Some
Mosquitoes
left,
were tangled
up and down,
in a
at every
network of vines and
of the vines were as thick as a man's leg.
hummed
about
us,
the venomous
fire-ants
stung us, the sharp spines of a small palm tore our hands
afterward some of the wounds festered.
Hour
after
hour
we thus walked on through the Brazilian forest. We saw

monkeys, the common yellowish kind, a species of cebus;
a couple were shot for the museum and the others raced
Then we came
off among the upper branches of the trees.
on a party of
long-tailed,
big tree.
coatis,
which look
lanky raccoons.
like reddish, long-snouted,
They were
in the
One, when shot at and missed, bounced down
to the ground, and ran off through the bushes;
ran after
top of a
it
and secured
it.
He came
Kermit
back, to find us
peering hopelessly up into the tree top, trying to place
where the other coatis were.
Kermit solved the
difficulty

by going up along some huge twisted
fifty
lianas for forty or
and exploring the upper branches;
feet
down came
111
whereupon
three other coatis through the branches, one
being caught by the dogs and the other two escaping.

Coatis fight savagely with both teeth and claws.
saw one of them
told us that he once
feed on
on some
mammals,
small
all
large ones;
tling chase
they
through the
We
at full speed.
they broke away
birds,
kill
and
iguanas;
Miller
They
a dog.
kill
reptiles,
and even
Cherrie saw a rat-
trees, a coati following
an iguana
heard the rush of a couple of tapirs, as

in the jungle in front of the dogs,
headed, according to their custom, for the river;
One
never saw them.
and
but we
of the party shot a bush deer
very pretty, graceful creature, smaller than our whitetail

deer, but kin to
it
and doubtless the southernmost rep-
resentative of the whitetail group.
The
whitetail deer
using the word to designate a group
of deer which can either be called a subgenus with

species,
or a widely spread species diverging into
varieties
spread
down
is
the only North American species which has

into
South America.
It
and has outlying representatives
do not
and the specimen thus obtained furnished a
probable refutation of the theory.
had
just shed its small antlers.
The
It
was a buck, and
antlers are, therefore,
shed at the same time as in the north, and
it
appears that
they are grown at the same time as in the north.

this variety
now
Yet
dwells in the tropics south of the equator,
where the spring, and the breeding season
comes
in
has been contended that the species
has spread from South America northward.

think so;
many
many
for
most
birds,
at the time of the northern fall in September,
Oc-
112
and November.
tober,
migrant, and that
That the deer
has not yet been
it
long enough to change
its
have
South America
accordance
in
geologically doubtless very
changed their breeding season,
dered probable by the fact that

the time of
in
mating season
with the climate, as the birds

old residents
an intrusive im-
is
is
ren-
conforms so exactly in
it
growth to the universal
rule
which
obtains in the great arctogeal realm, where deer of
many
species
(its
antler
abound and where the
have long
much
its
forms show that they
The marsh-deer, which has diverged
existed.
further from the northern type than this bush deer
horns show a likeness to those of a blacktail), often
keeps
its
June or July, although
antlers until
grow them again
must not be
the
fossil
laid
in
on
August;
this fact,
cow caribou both keep
however, too
in its hoofs,
of
have grown long,
life,
begins to
much
stress
inasmuch as the wapiti and
their antlers until spring.
specialization of the marsh-deer,
shown
it
by the way,
which, thanks to
its
is
further
mode
swamp
semiaquatic
such African
like those of
The
antelopes as the lechwe and situtunga.
when we presented
monkeys to him, told

us that the females both of these monkeys and of the
Miller,
the
howlers themselves took care of the young, the males not
them, and moreover that when the young one
assisting
was a male he had always found the mother keeping by

herself,
among
away from
the old males.
On
the other hand,
the marmosets he found the fathers taking as
care of the
young
as the mothers;
if
much
the mother had twins,
the father would usually carry one, and sometimes both,
around with him.

After
we had been
out four hours our camaradas got

lost;
113
three several times they travelled round in a com-
plete circle;
and we had to
About noon the
rain,
them right with the compass.

which had been falling almost without
set
interruption for forty-eight hours, let up, and in an hour

or
two the sun came
found our rowboat.

worthless lot
out.
In
and the
it
We
went back to the
the hounds
rest of the
a motley and rather

Rondon and
stayed
on the chance that a tapir might be roused
and take to the

Kermit
and
party were ferried across
to the opposite bank, while Colonel

in the boat,
river,
river.
However, no tapir was found;
killed a collared peccary,
and
shot a capybara
representing a color-phase the naturalists wished.
Next morning, January i, 1914, we were up at five

and had a good New Year's Day breakfast of hardtack,
ham,
sardines,
hunt on
and
foot.
coffee before setting out
much
on an
feared that the pack
was almost
two or three
or quite worthless for jaguars, but there were
of the great spotted cats in the neighborhood and
worth while to make a try
for
all-day's
them, anyhow.
it
seemed
After an
hour or two we found the fresh tracks of two, and after
them we went.
Our party
Lieutenant Rogaciano
of
Matto Grosso, of
consisted of Colonel
an excellent
old
Rondon,
man, himself a native
two
Matto Grosso stock
others
of the party from the Sao Joao ranch, Kermit, and myself,
together with four dark-skinned camaradas, cowhands from

the same ranch.
We
soon found that the dogs would not
by themselves follow the jaguar
trail;
camaradas, although they carried spears.

one of our party
ance,
who
nor would the
Kermit was the
possessed the requisite speed, endur-
and eyesight, and accordingly he
led.
Two
of the
dogs would follow the track half a dozen yards ahead of
114
him, but no farther; and two of the camaradas could just
about keep up with him.
For an hour we went through
thick jungle, where the machetes were constantly at work.
Then the trail struck off straight across the marshes, for
jaguars swim and wade as freely as marsh-deer. It was
a hard walk. The sun was out.
We were drenched with
sweat.
We were torn by the spines of the innumerable
clusters of small
palms with thorns
We
like needles.
were
by the hosts of fire-ants, and by the mosquitoes,

which we scarcely noticed where the fire-ants were found,
exactly as all dread of the latter vanished when we were
menaced by the big red wasps, of which a dozen stings
will disable a man, and if he is weak or in bad health will
seriously menace his life.
In the marsh we were continually wading, now up to our knees, now up to our hips.
Twice we came to long bayous so deep that we had to
swim them, holding our rifles above water in our right
hands. The floating masses of marsh grass, and the
slimy stems of the water-plants, doubled our work as we
swam, cumbered by our clothing and boots and holding
our rifles aloft. One result of the swim, by the way, was
that my watch, a veteran of Cuba and Africa, came to an
indignant halt. Then on we went, hampered by the weight
bitten
of our drenched clothes while our soggy boots squelched

as
we walked.
There was no breeze.
sky the sun stood almost overhead.

in waves.
By noon
In the
undimmed
The heat beat on us
could only go forward at a slow walk,
and two of the party were worse
off
than
was.
Kermit,
with the dogs and two camaradas close behind him, disappeared across the marshes at a
out of sight, and
it
trot.
was obviously
At
last,
when he was
useless to follow him,
115
The two exand we left them
the rest of us turned back toward the boat.
hausted members of the party gave out,
under a
Colonel
tree.
much
were not
go for several hours more
fectly able to
go too
it
tired;
Rondon and Lieutenant Rogaciano

I was somewhat tired, but was per-
and we three walked on to the
fast;
did not try to
if I
river,
about half past four, after eleven hours'
with nothing to
We
eat.
soon after
it
hounds and
stiff
were soon on the boat.
party went back for the two
lief
reaching
men under
walking
re-
the tree, and
reached them Kermit also turned up with his
his
camaradas
had followed the jaguar
trailing wearily
trail until
behind him.
He
the dogs were so tired
that even after he had bathed them, and then held their
noses in the fresh footprints, they would pay no heed to
the scent.
hunter of
scientific tastes, a hunter-natural-
or even an outdoors naturalist, or faunal naturalist
ist,
interested in big
mammals, with a pack
of hounds such
with which Paul Rainey hunted lion and leopard
as those
in Africa, or
such a pack as the packs of Johnny Goff and
Jake Borah with which
hunted cougar, lynx, and bear
in
the Rockies, or such packs as those of the Mississippi and
Louisiana planters with

cat*
and deer
whom
have hunted bear, wild-
in the cane-brakes of the lower Mississippi,
would not only enjoy
fine
hunting in these vast marshes
of the upper Paraguay, but would also do

scientific
value as regards
all
in the tropics
real
the big cats.
Only a limited number of the

worked
work of
naturalists
who have
have had any experience with the
big beasts whose life-histories possess such peculiar interest.
Of
all
the biologists
who have
seriously studied the South
American fauna on the ground, Bates probably rendered
116
most
service;
but he hardly seems even to have seen the
animals with which the hunter

terests,
and those of the other
in other directions.
histories of the
His
in-
biologists of his kind, lay
In consequence, in treating of the
life-
very interesting big game, we have been
forced to rely either on native report, in which
largely
acutely accurate observation

fable, or else
sportsmen,
is
is
invariably mixed with wild
on the chance remarks of
who had
stand even what

there
fairly familiar.
is
travellers or
make them underobserve. Nowadays
not the training to
was
it
desirable to
a growing proportion of big-game hunters, of sports-
men, who are of the

big-game butcher
is
and Shiras type.
Schilling, Selous,
These men do work of capital value
for science.
The mere
tending to disappear as a type.
other hand, the big-game hunter
who
is
tant position than ever before, and
it is
On
more impor-
now
recognized that
he can do work which the closet naturalist cannot do.
big-game hunter of
this
in
The
type and the outdoors, faunal nat-
the student of the life-histories of big
have open to them
the
a good observer,
a good field naturalist, occupies at present a
uralist,
mere
mammals,
South America a wonderful
field in
which to work.
The
erally
fire-ants, of
have above spoken, are gen-
found on a species of small tree or sapling, with a
tail
They bend
body as they bite,

and head being thrust downward. A few seconds
greenish trunk.
the
which
the whole
after the bite the poison causes considerable pain;

it
may make
a tiny festering sore.
most extraordinary diversity
There
in the traits
achieves the perpetuation of species.
and predaceous
insects the prowess
is
is
certainly the
by which nature
Among
in
later
some
the warrior
cases of such
117
type as to render the possessor practically immune from

In other cases the condition of
danger.
normally be the
sacrifice of the life of
its
There
the possessor.
wasps that prey on formidable fighting
are
may
exercise
spiders,
which
yet instinctively so handle themselves that the prey practically

ing,
never succeeds
defending
or retaliat-
itself
being captured and paralyzed with unerring efficiency
and with
is
in either
entire security to the wasp.
On
absolute.
tically eager for a success
among
the termites, are
indifference to their
own
fran-
which generally means their an-
condition of their efficiency
the
safety
the other hand, these fighting ants, in-
cluding the soldiers even
nihilation;
The wasp's
security.
is
absolute
Probably the majority
of the ants that actually lay hold on a foe suffer death in
consequence;
certainly they not merely run the risk of
but eagerly invite death.
The
its
we descended
following day
the Sao Lourengo to
junction with the Paraguay, and once more began the
At one cattle-ranch where we stopped,

the troupials, or big black and yellow orioles, had built
a large colony of their nests on a dead tree near the primiascent of the latter.
tive little ranch-house.
The
birds were breeding; the old
ones were feeding the young.

naturalists found
many
In this neighborhood the
birds that were
new
to them, in-
cluding a tiny woodpecker no bigger than a ruby-crowned

kinglet.
They had
collected
nal monkeys, not as agile as
two were found
The
at that
early
hour
at
two night monkeys nocturthe ordinary monkey; these
dawn, having stayed out too
morning was always lovely on these
many
morning we saw a
birds
fine
and beasts were to be
marsh buck, holding
his
late.
rivers,
seen.
head
and
One
aloft as
118
he stared at
us, his red coat vivid against the
green marsh.
Another of these marsh-deer swam the river ahead of us;

I
shot at
it
as
it
landed, and ought to have got
it,
but did
As always with these marsh-deer and as with so

many other deerI was struck by the revealing or advertising quality of its red coloration; there was nothing
not.
in
surroundings with which this coloration
normal
its
harmonized; so far as
it
had any
effect
whatever
it
was
When
al-
ways a revealing and not a concealing
effect.
animal
was an additional
black of the erect
fled the
tail
the
revealing mark, although not of such startlingly advertis-
The
ing quality as the flag of the whitetail.
one of
forms, and with the ordinary whitetail custom of
its
displaying the white flag as
it
runs,
found
is
mediate neighborhood of the swamp-deer.

foes.
whitetail, in
Evidently
it
is
It
in the
im-
has the same
of no survival consequence whether
the running deer displays a white or a black
flag.
Any
competent observer of big game must be struck by the fact

that in the great majority of the species the coloration
not concealing, and that in

quality.
Moreover,
if
many
and
stripes have,
has a highly revealing
the spotted or striped young repre-
sent the ancestral coloration,
spots
it
is
and
if,
as seems probable, the
on the whole, some
evident that in the
slight conceal-
history of most of
ing value,
it is
these large
mammals, both among those that prey and those
life
that are preyed on, concealing coloration has not been a

survival factor; throughout
the ages during which they
have survived they have gradually

cealing coloration they
may
lost
whatever of con-
once have had
if
any
and
have developed a coloration which under present conditions

has no concealing and perhaps even has a revealing quality,
birds exercised themselves by walking

solemnly round the edge of the nest
From
jablru's nest
The young
a photograph by Harper
troupial nest
troupials, or big black and yellow orioles, had

built a large colony of their nests on a dead tree
The
From

and which
never would have had a con-
in all probability
any "environmental complex"
cealing value in
the species as a whole lived during
ment.
Indeed,
in
their
harmful
its
and
which
ancestral develop-
big waders and other water-birds
native surroundings, to find

often
their
in
seems astonishing, when one observes
it
these big beasts
119
strikingly
how
revealing
non-
utterly
coloration
is.
Evidently the various other survival factors, such as habit,
and
in
many
cases cover, etc., are of such overmastering
importance that the coloration

sequence whatever, one
rarely a factor of
The
any
way
is
generally of no con-
or the other, and
is
only very
serious weight.
junction of the Sao Lourenco and the Paraguay
a day's journey above Corumba.
From Corumba
there
is
is
a regular service by shallow steamers to Cuyaba, at the
head of one
fork,
of the other.
age to each
and to Sao Luis de Caceres,
The steamers
little
at the
head
are not powerful and the voy-
city takes a week.
There are other forks
Above Cuyaba and Caceres launches
that are navigable.
go up-stream for several days' journey, except during the
North of
dryest parts of the season.

lies
marshy
plain
the highland, the Plan Alto, where the nights are cool
But
and the climate healthy.
my
this
view that these marshy
healthy;
of course there
and
over,
plains, although hot, are also
numbers to be a
must be nets
The country
offers
it
wish emphatically to record
and, moreover, the mosquitoes, in most places,
are not in sufficient
night.
is
serious pest, although
for protection against
at
excellently suited for settlement,
is
a remarkable
field
for cattle-growing.
a paradise for water-birds and for
kinds of birds, and for
them
many mammals.
It
is
many
Moreother
literally
an
120
ideal
place
in
months or a
which a
year.
most virgin
field
It is readily accessible,
work, and the
field for
as well as delightfully attractive.
In
a steam-launch.
it
offers
an
The man should have
he could with comfort cover
it
al-
would be healthy
life
parts of the country from south of
Cuyaba and
could spend six
naturalist
Coimbra
all
to north of
There would have to be a good deal
Caceres.
of collecting (although nothing in the nature of butchery
should be tolerated), for the region has only been superficially
worked, especially as regards mammals.
man were
of the
But
if
the
only a collector he would leave undone the part
work best worth
The
doing.
region offers extraor-
dinary opportunities for the study of the life-histories of

birds which, because of their size, their beauty, or their
All kinds of problems
habits, are of exceptional interest.
would be worked
3d, as
saw
For example, on the morning of the
out.
we were ascending
in the trees
the Paraguay,
we again and again
on the bank big nests of
sticks, into
Some
out of which parakeets were flying by the dozen.

of
them had straws
big globular nests
we
could
In some of the
bills.
make out
several holes of exit
Apparently these parakeets were building or
or entrance.
remodelling
or twigs in their
and
communal
nests;
but whether they had them-
had taken old nests and added

There was so much
to or modified them, we could not tell.
of interest all along the banks that we were continually
selves built these nests, or
longing to stop and spend days where

flocks of scores of cormorants
trees,
forest,
were.
Mixed
and darters covered certain
both at sunset and after sunrise.
was no deep
we
Although there
merely belts or fringes of trees along
the river, or in patches back of
it,
we
frequently saw
mon-
^^ %l^/f >
>/:"..
...
"ij^BJ
'''^/A**
'5JIIP
/,
|
f
fe#^f
*< ii
UM&&L
%
-J
E<?fSfc
*.
Snake-birds and cormorants

Mixed
flocks of scores of
cormorants and darters covered certain
From photographs
trees,
by Harper
both at sunset and after sunrise

keys in this riverine tree-fringe
and black howlers of more
mans and capybaras
active
121
common monkeys
We
leisurely gait.
sitting socially near
saw cay-
one another on
At night we heard the calling of large

These were now the most common
of tree-ducks.
the sand-banks.
flights
of
the ducks, although there were
all
The evenings were
also.
many muscovy
pleasant and not hot, as
ducks
we
sat
was a waxing moon. The

screamers were among the most noticeable birds. They
were noisy; they perched on the very tops of the trees,
on the forward deck;
there
down among the branches; and they were not shy.

They should be carefully protected by law, for they readily
become tame, and then come familiarly round the houses.
From the steamer we now and then saw beautiful orchids
not
in the trees
on the
river bank.
One afternoon we stopped
at the
home
buildings or
headquarters of one of the great outlying ranches of the
Land and Cattle Company, the Farquahar syndithan

cate, under the management of Murdo Mackenzie
whom we have had in the United States no better citizen
or more competent cattleman.
On this ranch there are
some seventy thousand head of stock. We were warmly
greeted by McLean, the head of the ranch, and his assistant Ramsey, an old Texan friend. Among the other asBrazil
sistants,
all
Frenchmen.
equally
were
several
Belgians and
The hands were Paraguayans and
and a few Indians

goes
cordial,
hard-bit
armed and knows how
set,
each of
Brazilians,
whom
always
to use his arms, for there are
constant collisions with cattle thieves from across the Bolivian border,
and the ranch has to protect
itself.
These
cowhands, vaqueiros, were of the type with which we were
122
now
familiar: dark-skinned, lean, hard-faced
men,
in slouch-
worn shirts and trousers, and fringed leather aprons,

with heavy spurs on their bare feet. They are wonderful
hats,
riders
man
and ropers, and fear neither
nor beast.
no-
ticed one Indian vaqueiro standing in exactly the attitude
of a Shilluk of the White Nile, with the sole of one foot

against the other leg, above the knee.
This
is
a region with
extraordinary possibilities of cattle-raising.
At
this
a cannery;
ranch there was a tannery; a slaughter-house;

a church;
buildings of various kinds and
degrees of comfort for the thirty or forty families
made
flamboyants on the river-brink.

pets around the house.
among
lemon-trees and
There were
The most
who
and the handsome,
the place their headquarters;
white, two-story big house, standing
all
fascinating
spotted fawn which loved being petted.
all
kinds of
was a wee,
Half a dozen cu-
rassows of different species strolled through the rooms;

there were also parrots of several different species, and
immediately outside the house four or
undipped wings, which would

feet
and then
to the
and
same
come within
us
fly gracefully off, shortly
with
a few
afterward returning
They included big and little white egrets

mauve and pearl-colored heron, with a par-
spot.
also the
tially
let
five herons,
black head and many-colored
bill,
which
flies
with
quick, repeated wing-flappings, instead of the usual slow
heron wing-beats.
In the warehouse were scores of skins of jaguar, puma,
ocelot,
and jaguarundi, and one skin of the
toothed red wolf.
These were
all
big, small-
brought in by the cow-
hands and by friendly Indians, a price being put on each,

as
they destroyed the stock.
The
jaguars occasionally

horses
killed
and full-grown cows, but not
123
The
bulls.
pumas killed the calves. The others killed an occasional

very young calf, but ordinarily only sheep, little pigs, and
chickens.
There was one black jaguar-skin; melanism is
much more common among jaguars than pumas, although
once Miller saw a black puma that had been killed by Indians.
The patterns of the jaguar-skins, and even more of
the ocelot-skins, showed wide variation, no two being alike.
The pumas were for the most part bright red, but some
were reddish gray, there being
tism that
much
the same dichroma-
found among their Colorado kinsfolk.
The
jaguarundis were dark brownish gray.
All these animals,
the spotted jaguars and ocelots, the
monochrome black
jaguars, red pumas,

in the
same
at the skins
locality,
and dark-gray jaguarundis, were

with the same environment.
cats the coloration pattern,
vival factor.
The
in these
whether concealing or reveal-
of no consequence one
is
A glance
and a moment's serious thought would have
been enough to show any sincere thinker that
ing,
killed
way
or the other as a sur-
spotted patterns conferred no benefit as
compared with the nearly or quite monochrome blacks,

reds,
beasts
that
by
The
and dark grays.
bodily condition of the various
was equally good, showing that
is,
their success in
life,
was unaffected
Except white, there is no
their ability to catch their prey,
their several color schemes.
color so conspicuously advertising as black;
jaguar had been a
fine,
well-fed,
yet the black
powerful beast.
The
spotted patterns in the forests, and perhaps even in the
marshes which the jaguars so frequently traversed, are

probably a shade less conspicuous than the
red and gray, but the
puma and
monochrome
jaguarundi are just as
124
hard to
see,
and evidently
find
it
just as easy to catch
The
prey, as the jaguar and ocelot.
saw was spotted; the grown deer had
fawn which we
little
lost
the spots;
spots do really help to conceal the wearer,
it
if
the
evident
is
that the deer has found the original concealing coloration

of so
little
value that
it
has actually been lost in the course
When
of the development of the species.
these big cats
and the deer are considered, together with the dogs,

peccaries, capybaras,
and big ant-eaters which
same environment, and when we
tapirs,
live in the
also consider the differ-
ence between the young and the adult deer and tapirs
when
monochrome
(both of which
adult have substituted a complete or
partial
for the ancestral spots
it
is
evident that in the present
life
and
and
streaks),
in the ancestral
development of the big mammals of South America coloration
is
not and has not been a survival factor; any pattern
and any color
opment of the
factors.
may accompany
qualities
Indeed,
it
the persistence and devel-
and attributes which are survival
seems hard to believe that
in
their
ordinary environments such color schemes as the bright

red of the marsh-deer, the black of the black jaguar, and
the black with white stripes of the great tamandua, are
not positive detriments to the wearers.

dently not the case.
Yet such
is
evi-
Evidently the other factors in species-
survival are of such overwhelming importance that the

coloration becomes negligible from this standpoint, whether
it
be concealing or revealing.
The
cats
mould themselves
They take advanThey move with extraor-
to the ground as they crouch or crawl.
tage of the tiniest scrap of cover.
The other animals which try

such manner as to escape observation
dinary stealth and patience.

to
sneak
off
in

approach more or
most nearly
less closely to
On
count.
and
the ideal which the cats
Wariness, sharp senses, the habit of
realize.
when
being rigidly motionless

of danger,
ability to
there
is
the least suspicion
take advantage of cover,
seen at once.
marsh-deer out
avoid observation;
effort to
its
level of the grass
open makes no
in the
concern
is
purely to see
foes in time to leave a dangerous neighborhood.
of the neighboring forest skulk and hide and
The
dense cover to avoid being seen.

caries
make no
effort to
The deer
lie
by being
The
can face any opponent with
As
prowess
for the giant
am
in
either
collared peccary also
trusts to its truculence, but seeks refuge in a hole
ratus.
still
they trust for defence to their
gregariousness and truculence.
it
its
white-lipped pec-
escape observation
or motionless;
noiseless
all
the bare, open, treeless plain, whether marsh,
meadow, or upland, anything above the

is
125
its
where
formidable biting appa-
tamandua,
in spite of its fighting
wholly unable to understand
how such
a slow
and clumsy beast has been able through the ages to

and thrive surrounded by jaguars and pumas.
exist
Speaking
generally, the animals that seek to escape observation trust
primarily to smell to discover their foes or their prey, and
whatever moves and do not see whatever
see
By
region.
There were low
hills
was covered with dense

passed
we had
the morning of January 5
little
clearings
is
motionless.
left
the marsh
here and there, and the land
forest.
From time
to time
with palm-thatched houses.
we
We
were approaching Caceres, where the easiest part of our

trip
would end.
little
good.
We
had
lived in
much comfort on
the
The food was plentiful and the cooking

At night we slept on deck in cots or hammocks.
steamer.
126
The mosquitoes were rarely troublesome, although in the

daytime we were sometimes bothered by numbers of biting
horse-flies.
The bird life was wonderful. One of the characteristic sights we were always seeing was that of a number of heads and necks of cormorants and snake-birds,
without any bodies, projecting above water, and disap-
Skimmers and thick-
pearing as the steamer approached.

billed tern
were plentiful here right
in the heart of the con-
In addition to the spurred lapwing, characteristic
tinent.
and most interesting resident of most of South America,
we found tiny red-legged plover which also breed and are

The contrasts in habits between
at home in the tropics.
closely allied species are wonderful.
and bay snipe there are species that

in
Among
live all the
the plovers
year round
almost the same places, in tropical and subtropical lands;
and other related forms which wander over the whole earth,
and spend nearly
all
their time,
now
temperate regions of the far north,

perate regions of the south.
These
birds of the seashore and the river

lives in regions of
in the arctic
now
and cold
in the cold
latter
tem-
wide-wandering
bank pass most of their
almost perpetual sunlight.
They spend
the breeding season, the northern summer, in the land of

the midnight sun, during the long arctic day.
fly for endless distances
down
They then
across the north temperate
zone, across the equator, through the lands where the days
and nights are always of equal length, into another hemisphere,
and spend another summer of long days and long
twilights in the far south,
where the antarctic winds cool
them, while their nesting home, at the other end of the

world,
night.
is
shrouded beneath the iron desolation of the polar

In the late afternoon of the 5th
old-fashioned
we reached
127
the quaint
town of Sao Luis de Caceres, on the

of the settled region of the state of Matto
little
outermost fringe
Grosso, the last town
we
should see before reaching the
Amazon. As we approached we passed

black washerwomen on the river's edge. The
of the
villages
half-clad
men, with the
local
sloping foot of the
her moorings.
band, were gathered at the steeply
main
street,
where the steamer came to
Groups of women and
brown, watched us from the low

bodices were red, blue, green, of
white and
girls,
their skirts
bluff;
and
Sigg had gone
all colors.
ahead with much of the baggage; he met us
in
an impro-
vised motor-boat, consisting of a dugout to the side of which
he had clamped our Evinrude motor; he was giving several of the local citizens of
The
enjoyment.
prominence a
streets of the little
with narrow brick sidewalks.
The
white or blue, with roofs of red
ride, to their
huge
town were unpaved,
one-story houses were
tiles
and window-shutters
come down from colonial days and

tracing back through Christian and Moorish Portugal to a
remote Arab ancestry. Pretty faces, some dark, some light,
of latticed woodwork,
looked out from these windows;

for generations past,
windows
in
must thus have looked out of
the vanished colonial days.
here in Caceres the spirit of the

fine
its
the
new government
principal,
many
their mothers' mothers,
new
But now even
Brazil
is
moving; a
school has been started, and
an earnest
man
similar
we met
doing excellent work, one of
teachers who, during the last few years, have
been brought to Matto Grosso from Sao Paulo, a centre

of the
new educational movement which
for Brazil.
will
do so much
128
Zahm went
Father
Franciscan
to spend the night with
friars, capital fellows.
house of Lieutenant
comfortable
some French
spent the night at the
Lyra;
hot-weather
house with thick walls, big doors, and an open patio borLieutenant Lyra was to accompany
dered by a gallery.
he was an old companion of Colonel Rondon's explora-
us;
We
tions.
final
two of the
stores to
make some
purchases, and in the evening strolled through the
dusky
and
visited one or
streets
and under the
girls sat in
trees of the plaza;
women
the
groups in the doorways or at the windows,
and here and there a stringed instrument tinkled
in the
darkness.
From Caceres onward we were

Colonel Rondon's explorations.
For some eighteen years
he was occupied in exploring and

lines
entering the scene of
in
opening telegraph-
through the eastern or north-middle part of the great
forest state, the wilderness state of the
"matto grosso"
the "great wilderness," or, as Australians would call
"the bush."
unknown
Then,
in
1907, he began to penetrate the
He was
region lying to the north and west.
the head of the exploring expeditions sent out

Brazilian
Government to traverse
unknown
land;
to
map
it,
by the
for the first time this
for the first time the courses of
the rivers which from the same divide run into the upper
portions of the Tapajos and the Madeira,
affluents of the
Amazon, and
two of the mighty
to build telegraph-lines across
to the Madeira, where a line of Brazilian settlements, con-
nected by steamboat lines and a railroad, again occurs.
Three times he penetrated into
this absolutely
unknown,
Indian-haunted wilderness, being absent for a year or two

at a time
and
suffering every imaginable hardship, before

way through
he made his
to the Madeira and completed
The
the telegraph-line across.

Brazilian
Army and
him shared the

his
men
officers
and men of the
the civilian scientists
and the
toil
died of beriberi;
who
followed
Some of
wounded by
credit of the task.
some were
killed or
he himself almost died of fever;
the Indians;
129
again and
again his whole party was reduced almost to the last ex-
tremity by starvation, disease, hardship, and the overexhaustion due to wearing fatigues.
wild,
naked savages he showed a combination of
The
kindliness.
result
the few soldiers
first
He and
was that they ultimately became
guarded the telegraph-lines, and helped
his firm friends,
posts.
fearless-
good judgment, and resolute patience and
ness, wariness,
the
In dealing with the
left at
the isolated, widely separated
his assistants explored,
little
and mapped
for
and the Gy-Parana, two impor-
time, the Juruena
tant affluents of the Tapajos and the Madeira respectively.
The Tapajos and
the Madeira, like the Orinoco and Rio
Negro, have been highways of travel for a couple of centuries.
The Madeira
means of
ingress, a
Tapajos) was the chief
(as later the
century and a half ago, to the
little
Portuguese settlements of this far interior region of Brazil;
one of these
little
towns,
named Matto
original capital of the province.
Grosso, being the
has long been aban-
It
doned by the government, and practically so by
rising
tropical luxuriance of the wild forest.
The
mouths of the main

as a rule well
affluents of these
known.
mouth was known.

it
inhabi-
and church now
tants, the ruins of palace, fortress,
amid the rank
its
But
The
in
many
river itself
highway
rivers
were
cases nothing but the
was not known, and
was placed on the map by guesswork.
Colonel
Rondon
130
found, for example, that the course of the Gy-Parana was
map two
put down on the
degrees out of
He, with his party, was the

the
to traverse
first
He and
length.
its
its
to find out
first
upper course, the
his assistants
proper place.
its
to
first
sources,
map
its
performed a similar service
and
for the Juruena, discovering the sources, discovering
descending some of the branches, and for the
first
time
making a trustworthy map of the main river itself, until

its junction with the Tapajos.
Near the watershed between the Juruena and the Gy-Parana he established
named Jose
farthest station to the westward,

after one of the
his
Bonofacio,
chief republican patriots of Brazil.
couple of days' march northwestward from this station,
he
1909 came across a part of the stream of a river
in
running northward between the Gy-Parana and the Juhe could only guess where
ruena;
it
it
to be into the Madeira, although
it
entered the Gy-Parana or Tapajos.
which
it
flows
penetrated
it;
was, as to
its
some highway
it
on
his
Doubt.
was unknown, no
and as
length,
all
debouched, believing
it
was
The
civilized
possible that
region through
man
having ever
conjecture as to what the river
and as to
its
place of entering into
was mere guesswork, he had entered

sketch maps as the Rio da Duvida, the River of
river,
Among
the officers of the Brazilian
scientific civilians
Army and
who have accompanied him
the
there have
been not only expert cartographers, photographers, and

telegraphists, but astronomers, geologists, botanists,
zoologists.
and
Their reports, published in excellent shape by
the Brazilian Government,
make an
invaluable series of
volumes, reflecting the highest credit on the explorers, and
on the government
itself.
Colonel Rondon's
own accounts
131
of his explorations, of the Indian tribes he has visited, and

of the beautiful and wonderful things he has seen, possess
a peculiar interest.
CHAPTER V
UP THE RIVER OF TAPIRS
After
leaving Caceres
in the local
river
is
is
we went up
the Sepotuba, which
Indian dialect means River of Tapirs.
when
only navigable for boats of size
high.
It
is
This
the water
a swift, fairly clear stream, rushing
down
from the Plan Alto, the high uplands, through the tropical
lowland
On
forest.
the right hand, or western bank, and
here and there on the
left
bank, the forest
broken by
is
natural pastures and meadows, and at one of these places,
known
as Porto
mouth, there
is
Campo,
sixty or seventy miles
Here we halted,
a good-sized cattle-ranch.
because the launch, and the two pranchas

boats with houses on their decks
not carry our entire party and
above the
native trading-
which
it
towed, could
Accordingly most
outfit.
of the baggage and some of the party were sent ahead to
where we were to meet our pack-train,
Meanwhile the
rest of us
made our
first
at Tapirapoan.
camp under
tents
to wait the return of the boats.
The
tents were placed in a line, with the tent of Colonel
Ron-
at Porto
Campo,
don and the tent

dle,
in
which Kermit and
beside one another.
poles, stood the Brazilian

rise
and sunset the
flags
the mid-
In front of these two, on
and American
flags;
tall
and at sun-
were hoisted and hauled down
while the trumpet sounded and
Camp was
I slept, in
all
of us stood at attention.
pitched beside the ranch buildings.
near the tents grew wonderful violet orchids.

132
In the trees

Many
birds were around us;
Cherrie and Miller many,
many
133
saw some of them, and
They ranged from
more.
party-colored macaws, green parrots, and big gregarious
cuckoos
five
down
to a brilliant green-and-chestnut kingfisher,
and a quarter inches
long,
and a tiny orange-and-green
manakin, smaller than any bird
hummer.
We
have ever seen except a
saw a bird that
also
colored; a kind of whippoorwill

naturalists could only
We
really
which even the sharp-eyed
make out because
saw orange-bellied
squirrels
was protectively
moved
its
head.
with showy orange
tails.
it
common. We killed our first poisonous snake

(the second we had seen), an evil lance-headed jararaca
that was swimming the river. We also saw a black-andorange harmless snake, nearly eight feet long, which we
were told was akin to the mussurama; and various other
snakes.
One day while paddling in a canoe on the river,
Lizards were
hoping that the dogs might drive a tapir to

into the water a couple of small
in shooting
thrown over
their heads;
men was
and
all
they drove
bush deer instead.
There
them; we caught them with ropes
was no point
as specimens,
us,
for the naturalists
of us needed the meat.
needed them
One
of the
stung by a single big red maribundi wasp.
For
twenty-four hours he was in great pain and incapacitated

for work.
In a lagoon two of the dogs had the tips of their
bitten off
tails
by piranhas
hands told us that
in this
swam, and the ranch

lagoon one of their hounds had
as they
been torn to pieces and completely devoured by the ravenous
fish.
It
was a further
illustration of the uncertainty of
temper and behavior of these ferocious
little
other lagoons they had again and again
dogs
unmolested.
They vary
locally
monsters.
left
in
In
us and our
aggressiveness
134
just as sharks
and crocodiles
and
in different seas
rivers
vary.
On the morning of January 9th we
started out for a tapir-
Tapirs are hunted with canoes, as they dwell in
hunt.
thick jungle and take to the water
them.
follow
In this region there were extensive papyrus-swamps
and big lagoons, back from the

fled to these for refuge,
places
when hounds
it
river,
throwing
was exceedingly
off
and often the tapirs
the hounds.
In these
them;
our best
difficult to get
chance was to keep to the river in canoes, and paddle
toward the spot
in the direction of
the noise, seemed to be heading.
which the hounds, by
We
started in four ca-
Three of them were Indian dugouts, very low
noes.
water.
The
light, safe,
fourth was our Canadian canoe, a beauty;
roomy, made of thin
covered canvas.
went
slats of
canoe, together with two paddlers.
The
paddlers were natives of the poorer
in
wood and cement-
Colonel Rondon, Fiala with his camera,
and
good men.
in the
this
The bowsman was
class.
They were
of nearly pure white blood;
the steersman was of nearly pure negro blood, and was

evidently the stronger character and better
two.
The
man
of the
other canoes carried a couple of fazendeiros,
ranchmen, who had come up from Caceres with their dogs.
These dugouts were manned by Indian and half-caste paddlers,
and the fazendeiros, who were of nearly pure white
blood, also at times paddled vigorously.
All were dressed
in substantially similar clothes, the difference being that
men
or laborers, were
man wore
anything save a
those of the camaradas, the poorer

in tatters.
In the canoes no
On
horse-
back they wore long leather leggings which were
really
shirt,
trousers,
and hat, the
feet being bare.
y
The
great ant-eater
South American tapir

From
photographs by Elzvin R. Sanborn

simply high, rather
boots with the soles
flexible
spurs were on their tough bare feet.
among
gradation between and

groes,
On
and Indians.
135
off;
their
There was every
the nearly pure whites, ne-
the whole, there was most white
blood in the upper ranks, and most Indian and negro blood
among
the camaradas; but there were exceptions in both
classes,
and there was no discrimination on account of
All alike were courteous
The hounds were

and then
let loose
and
color.
friendly.
at first carried in
on the banks.
We
two of the dugouts,

went up-stream
for
a couple of hours against the swift current, the paddlers
making good headway with
their
pointed paddles
the
broad blade of each paddle was tipped with a long point,

so that
it
could be thrust into the
The
dugout against the bank.

almost like a wall, the
tall trees
man
In most places
it
to keep the low
tropical forest
came down
laced together with vines,
and the spaces between their trunks

jungle.
mud
filled
with a low, dense
could only be penetrated by a
With few exceptions the trees were

unknown to me, and their native names told me nothing.
On most of them the foliage was thick; among the exceptions were the cecropias, growing by preference on newwith a machete.
formed
leaf
alluvial soil bare of other trees,
bunches were, as
of sloths.
We
whose rather scanty
was informed, the
saw one or two
and a family of monkeys.
squirrels
favorite food
among
the trees,
There were few sand-banks
in
the river, and no water-fowl save an occasional cormorant.
But
as
we pushed along near
overhung and dipped
the shore, where the branches
in the
swirling water,
continu-
They were hanging from

river, and when our approach
ally roused little flocks of bats.
the boughs right over the
we
136
roused them they zigzagged rapidly in front of us for a
few rods, and then again dove
in
among
the branches.
At last we landed at a point of ground where there

was little jungle, and where the forest was composed of
palms and was fairly open. It was a lovely bit of forest.
The colonel strolled off in one direction, returning an hour
later with a squirrel for the naturalists.
Meanwhile Fiala
and I went through the palm wood to a papyrus-swamp.
Many
trails led
through the woods, and especially along
the borders of the
swamp; and, although
makers had evidently been

footprints of both tapir
print
much
and
their principal
cattle,
yet there were in
them
deer.
The
foot-
tapir
like that of a small rhinoceros,
We
the odd-toed ungulates.
makes a
being one of
could hear the dogs
now and
then, evidently scattered and running on various
They were
They would
ran away from
a worthless lot of cur-hounds.
chase tapir or deer or anything else that
them
trails.
as long as the trail
was easy
to follow;
were not stanch, even after animals that
fled,
but they
and they
would have nothing whatever to do with animals that

were formidable.
While standing by the marsh we heard something coming along one of the
game
paths.
In a
moment
a buck
of the bigger species of bush deer appeared, a very pretty
and graceful creature.

as
it
saw
us, giving us
It
stopped and darted back as soon
no chance
for a shot; but in another
moment we caught glimpses of it running by at full speed,

back among the palms. I covered an opening between
two tree-trunks. By good luck the buck appeared in the
right place, giving
and
fire.
me
just time to hold well
At the report he went down
ahead of him
in a heap,
the

"umbrella-pointed" bullet going
one shoulder, and
in at
The leaden
ranging forward, breaking the neck.

of the bullet, in the proper
mushroom
portion
or umbrella shape,
stopped under the neck skin on the farther
very effective
137
side.
It
is
bullet.
Miller particularly wished specimens of these various
bush
species of
deer, because
have not yet been
The
old buck.
satisfactorily
mutual relationships
their
worked
out.
This was an
antlers were single spikes, five or six inches
long;
they were old and white and would soon have been
shed.
In the stomach were the remains of both leaves and
grasses, but especially the former;
browser and grazer.
There were
the buck was both a

also seeds, but
no ber-
or nuts such as I have sometimes found in deers'
ries
This species, which
stomachs.
borhood,
is
is
abundant
in this neigh-
At
solitary in its habits, not going in herds.
time the rut was past, the bucks no longer sought
this
the does, the fawns had not been born, and the yearlings
had
by
left their
When
itself.
chased they were very apt to take to the
This instinct of taking to the water, by the way,
water.
is
mothers; so that each animal usually went
quite explicable as regards both deer and tapir, for
affords
but
them
it is
refuge against their present-day natural foes,
little
puzzling to see the jaguar readily climbing
trees to escape dogs;

in its habitat
for ages
any natural
seek safety in
its
have passed since there were
foes
But
trees.
has been kept alive by

sion
it
from which
is
it
it
needed to
possible that the habit
them on occaamong the beasts
seeking refuge in
from the big peccaries, which are
on which
it
ordinarily preys.
We hung the
buck
in a tree.
The
colonel returned,
and
138
who had been
not long afterward one of the paddlers
watching the river called out to us that there was a tapir
good distance up-stream, and that two of
in the water, a
the other boats were after
and the two paddlers dug
We
it.
jumped
into the canoe
their blades in the water as they
drove her against the strong current, edging over for the
The
opposite bank.
great rate, only
its
tapir
was coming down-stream
queer head above water, while the dug-
outs were closing rapidly on

cries.
As the
at a
it,
tapir turned
the paddlers uttering loud
slightly to
one side or the
other the long, slightly upturned snout and the strongly
pronounced arch of the

neck gave
it
head and upper
marked and unusual aspect. I could not

was directly in line with one of the pursuing
a
shoot, for
it
dugouts.
Suddenly
eagerly in
dived,
it
curved downward as
we gazed
crest along the
it
all
did
snout
the
being
slightly
There was no trace of
so.
directions; the
dugout
in front
it;
came
alongside our canoe and the paddlers rested, their pad-
Then we made out
dles ready.
the bank.
It
had dived
the tapir clambering up
at right angles to the course
it
was following and swum under water to the very edge of

the shore, rising under the overhanging tree-branches at a
point where a drinking-trail for
in the bank.
The branches
deep shadow, so that
it
game
led
partially hid
it,
down
and
a break
it
was
in
did not offer a very good shot.
My bullet went into its body too far back, and the tapir disappeared
in the forest at a gallop as if
bullet really secured

its
it,
by making
it
unhurt, although the

unwilling to trust to
speed and leave the neighborhood of the water.
or four of the hounds were
by
river, leaving the others yelling
this
Three
time swimming the
on the opposite
side;
and
Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel
We
hung the buck
From
Rondon with bush

in a tree
a photograph by Fiala
deer

as soon as the
on the
139
swimmers reached the shore they were put

and galloped
tapir's trail
after
giving tongue.
it,
we saw the tapir take to the water

up-stream, and after it we went as fast as the paddles
In a couple of minutes
far
could urge us through the water.

to head
down
We
were not
in
time
but fortunately some of the dogs had come
it,
to the river's edge at the very point where the tapir
was about to
and turned
land,
We
the dogs were swimming.
it
Two
back.
or three of
were more than half the
breadth of the river away from the tapir, and somewhat
down-stream, when
it
dived.
swim beneath the water

a hippopotamus, for
it
It
made an
astonishingly long
this time, almost as
from shore.
It
its
brain, while
it
was
me
river bed, but
that this was not
remain where
it
it,
until the
that the strong current would
down-stream over the

sured
shot
the
sank at once.
feared
thirty or forty yards
There was now nothing to do but wait

floated.
had been
passed completely under our canoe
and rose between us and the hither bank.

bullet going into
if it
was
until
it
so,
rose,
my
body
roll
companions
it
as-
and that the body would

which would be
in
an hour
They were right, except as to the time. For over

a couple of hours we paddled, or anchored ourselves by
clutching branches close to the spot, or else drifted down
or two.
a mile and paddled up again near the shore, to see
if
the
body had caught anywhere. Then we crossed the river

and had lunch at the lovely natural picnic-ground where
the buck was hung up. We had very nearly given up the
tapir
it
when
it
had sunk.
suddenly floated only a few rods from where
With no
body was hoisted
little difficulty
into the canoe,
the big, round black
and we
all
turned our
140

The
prows down-stream.
too
annoyance a
time, and
us any
now
skies
had been lowering
late to interfere
and beat upon
us.
for
some
with the hunt or cause
heavy downpour of rain came on
Little
we
cared, as the canoe raced
forward, with the tapir and the buck lying in the bottom,
and a dry, comfortable camp ahead of
When we
reached camp, and Father
he reminded
me
us.
Zahm saw the
tapir,
of something I had completely forgotten.
When, some six years previously, he had spoken to me in

the White House about taking this South American trip,
I
had answered that
Africa, but
could not, as
added that
America and that
if I
intended to go to
hoped some day to go to South
did so
should try to shoot both a
jaguar and a tapir, as they were the characteristic big-
game animals
of the country.
"now you've
heavy
"Well," said Father Zahm,
them both!" The storm continued

sunset.
Then the rain stopped and the
shot
until after
moon broke through the cloud-rack. Father Zahm and

I walked up and down in the moonlight, talking of many
things, from Dante, and our own plans for the future, to
full
the deeds and the wanderings of the old-time Spanish
conquistadores in their search for the Gilded King, and of

the Portuguese adventurers
who then
the mastery of the oceans and of the
divided with
unknown
them
continents
beyond.
This was an attractive and interesting camp
ways than
one.
The
vaqueiros with their wives
were housed on the two

tents were pitched.
tile-roofed
house
in
On
big,
more
and families
sides of the field in
one side was a
in
which our
whitewashed,
which the foreman dwelt
an
olive-
skinned, slightly built, wiry man, with an olive-skinned
141
wife and eight as pretty, fair-haired children as one could
wish to
see.
He
usually went barefoot, and his manners
were not merely good but distinguished.
Corrals and out-
On
the opposite side
buildings were near this big house.
of the field stood the row of steep-roofed, palm-thatched
huts in which the ordinary cowhands lived with their
dusky helpmeets and
children.
Each night from these
palm-thatched quarters we heard the faint sounds of a
music that went far back of civilization to a savage ancestry near
by
in point of
remote;
for
through the
moonlight,
we heard
time and otherwise immeasurably

still,
hot
air,
under the
brilliant
the monotonous throbbing of a tom-
tom drum, and the twanging of some odd stringed instrument. The small black turkey-buzzards, here always
called crows,
were as tame as chickens near the big house,
walking on the ground or perched in the trees beside the

corral,
waiting for the
offal of
the slaughtered cattle.
Two
palm-trees near our tent were crowded with the long, hanging nests of one of the cacique orioles.
We
lived well,
with plenty of tapir beef, which was good, and venison of

the bush deer, which was excellent;
and as much
nary beef as we wished, and fresh milk, too

this country.
ordi-
rarity in
There were very few mosquitoes, and every-
thing was as comfortable as possible.
The
was a big one. I did not wish to

kill another, unless, of course, it became advisable to do
so for food; whereas I did wish to get some specimens of
the big, white-lipped peccary, the "queixa" (pronounced
"cashada") of the Brazilians, which would make our coltapir I killed
lection of the big
complete.
mammals
of the Brazilian forests almost
The remaining members
of the party killed
142
two or three more

very
much
One was
tapirs.
a bull,
full
grown but
The
smaller than the animal I had killed.
The
hunters said that this was a distinct kind.
skull
and
skin were sent back with the other specimens to the Ameri-
can Museum, where after due examination and comparison
specific
its
solitary beasts.
Two
the case of a cow and

live in
Tapirs are
identity will be established.
are rarely found together, except in

its
spotted and streaked
dense cover, usually lying
down
in the
calf.
They
daytime and
at night coming out to feed, and going to the river or to
some lagoon to bathe and swim.
From
this
camp
Sigg
took Lieutenant Lyra back to Caceres to get something

that had been overlooked.
They went
in a
rowboat to
which the motor had been attached, and at night on the
way back
But
in
almost ran over a tapir that was swimming.
unfrequented places tapirs both feed and bathe
during the day.

big palm-nuts;
The stomach
of the one I shot contained
they had been swallowed without enough
mastication to break the kernel, the outer pulp being what

the tapir prized.
Tapirs gallop well, and their tough hide
and wedge shape enable them to go

dense cover.
foe,
They
tapir
is
through very
try to stamp on, and even to bite, a
but are only clumsy
The
at speed
fighters.
a very archaic type of ungulate, not un-
like the non-specialized beasts of the oligocene.
From some
such ancestral type the highly specialized one-toed modern

horse has evolved, while during the uncounted ages that
saw the horse thus develop the tapir has continued substantially unchanged.
Originally the tapirs dwelt in the
northern hemisphere, but there they gradually died out,

the more specialized horse, and even for long ages the
I
i
K-
^ppl
"
.
1TCA wi
P a o
yw
19
If
143
had vanished; and nowa-
rhinoceros, persisting after they
days the surviving tapirs are found
in
Malaysia and South
The
America, far from their original home.
relations of
the horse and tapir in the paleontological history of South
America are very curious.
Both were, geologically speak-
comparatively recent immigrants, and
ing,
different dates
The
later.
it
is
if
they came at
almost certain that the horse came
horse for an age or two, certainly for
many
hundreds of thousands of years, throve greatly and devel-
oped not only several different species but even different

genera.
It
was much the most highly
specialized of the
two, and in the other continental regions where both were
found the horse outlasted the
But
tapir.
the tapir outlasted the horse.
in
South America
From unknown
causes the
various genera and species of horses died out, while the

tapir has persisted.
The highly
specialized, highly devel-
oped beasts, which represented such a

development, died out, while their
full
evolutionary
less specialized
kinsfolk,
which had not developed, clung to
and
although the direct reverse was occurring
this
America and
in the
Old World.
It
is
and throve;
in
North
one of the innu-
merable and at present insoluble problems

life
life
remote
in the history of
on our planet.
I
spent a couple of days of hard work in getting the big
white-lipped peccaries
white-lipped
being rather a mis-
nomer, as the entire under jaw and lower cheek are white.
They were
said to be found
on the other
distance back from, the river.
side of,
Rondon had
Colonel
out one of our attendants, an old follower of
blood Parecis Indian, to look for tracks.

cellent
man, who dressed and behaved
and some
his,
sent
a full-
This was an ex-
just like the other
144
good men we had, and was called Antonio Parecis. He

found the tracks of a herd of thirty or forty cashadas, and
we started after them.

day we killed nothing. We were
the following morning
On
the
first
rather
too large a party, for one or two of the visiting fazendeiros
came along with
much wished
very
cary
their dogs.
is
doubt whether these
to overtake our game, for the big pec-
a murderous foe of dogs (and
One
to men).
men
of their
is
sometimes dangerous
number frankly
refused to
come or
to let his dogs come, explaining that the fierce wild swine
were "very badly brought up"
(a literal translation of his
words) and that respectable dogs and
go near them.
their dogs;
The
not to
other fazendeiros merely feared for
a groundless fear,
that the dogs could
men ought
by any
I believe,
as I
exertion have been dragged
into dangerous proximity with such foes.
man, Benedetto, came with
do not think
us,
The ranch
and two or three other
camaradas, including Antonio, the Parecis Indian.

horses were
swum
The
across the river, each being led beside
Then we
were saddled, and we
a dugout.
It
fore-
crossed with the dogs;
our horses
started.
was a picturesque cavalcade.
The
of every shade from white to dark copper,
native hunters,
all
wore leather
leggings that left the soles of their feet bare, and on their
bare heels wore spurs with wheels four inches across.
went
in single
file,
for
They
no other mode of travel was possible;
and the two or three leading men kept their machetes out,
and had to cut every yard of our way while we were

the forest.
The hunters rode
little
stallions,
in
and their
hounds were gelded.
Most
of the time
we were
in forest or
swampy
jungle.

we
Part of the time
145
marshy
crossed or skirted
one of them a herd of half-wild cattle was feeding.
and
storks, ducks,
were
ibises
In
plains.
Herons,
and we saw
in these marshes,
one flock of lovely roseate spoonbills.

In one grove the
they
as in Africa
fig-trees
were
killing the palms, just
In the gloom
the sandalwood-trees.
kill
of this grove there were no flowers, no bushes;
the air
was heavy; the ground was brown with mouldering leaves.

Almost every palm was serving as a prop for a fig-tree.
The
est
every stage of growth.
The young-
ones merely ran up the palms as vines.
In the next
fig-trees
were
stage the vine
in
had thickened and was sending out shoots,
wrapping the palm stem
in a
Some
deadly hold.
of the
shoots were thrown round the stem like the tentacles of
an immense
cuttlefish.
hooked into every
Others looked
crevice,
were
like claws, that
and round every projection.
In
the stage beyond this the palm had been killed, and
dead carcass appeared between the

trunks;
and
later the
fig-tree.
pools at the foot of the
murdered
if
Water stood
trees,
and of the
the dark stillness of the grove;
sentient beings
in
There was something
that had murdered them.

evil in
winding vine-
big,
palm had disappeared and the vines
had united into a great
and
its
it
black
trees
sinister
seemed as
had writhed themselves round and were
strangling other sentient beings.
We
passed through wonderfully beautiful woods of
palms, the ouaouaca palm

spelled in English.
slender,
wawasa palm,
The trunks
rose tall
as
it
should be
and strong and
and the fronds were branches twenty or thirty
long, with the
from the midrib
many
long,
tall
feet
narrow green blades starting
at right angles in pairs.
Round
the ponds
146
stood stately burity palms, rising like huge columns, with

great branches
that looked like fans, as the long,
blades radiated from the end of the midrib.
One
tree
stiff
was
gorgeous with the brilliant hues of a flock of party-colored
macaws.
Now
omous
Green parrots flew shrieking overhead.
and then we were bitten and stung by the ven-
fire-ants,
assailed
and
by more
ticks crawled
upon
Once we were
us.
serious foes, in the shape of a nest of
maribundi wasps, not the biggest kind, but about the

of our hornets.
We were
at the time passing
jungle, under tall trees, in a spot
through dense
where the down timber,
and thorns made the going
holes, tangled creepers,
size
difficult.
The leading men were not assailed, although they were

now and then cutting the trail. Colonel Rondon and I
were in the middle of the column, and the swarm attacked
us; both of us
were badly stung on the
face, neck,
the colonel even more severely than
and rode to the rear and

stung too; and
I
we went
was.
to the front;
at a rate that a
and hands,
He wheeled
our horses were
moment
previously
would have deemed impossible over such ground.
At the
close of the day,
when we were almost back
the river, the dogs killed a jaguar kitten.

trace of the mother.
her,
Some
There was no
accident must have befallen
and the kitten was trying to
was very emaciated.
at
shift for herself.
She
In her stomach were the remains of
some tendons from the skeleton or dried carThe loathsome berni flies, which
of some big animal.
a pigeon and
cass
deposit eggs in living beings

dents,
men
had
been at
it.
cattle,
dogs, monkeys, ro-
There were seven huge,
white grubs making big abscess-like swellings over
These
flies
deposit their grubs in men.
its eyes.
In 1909, on Colonel

Rondon's hardest
one to
five
trip,
every
man
147
of the party had from
grubs deposited in him, the
fly
acting with
great speed, and driving
its
The grubs cause
but a couple of cross cuts with
torture;
ovipositor through clothing.
a lancet permit the loathsome creatures to be squeezed out.
In these forests the multitude of insects that
bite, sting,
devour, and prey upon other creatures, often with accompa-
niments of atrocious suffering, passes

thetic
myth
belief.
The very
pa-
of "beneficent nature" could not deceive even
the least wise being
if
he once saw for himself the iron
Of course "nature" in
common parlance a wholly inaccurate term, by the way,
especially when used as if to express a single entity
is encruelty of
life
in
the tropics.
tirely ruthless,
individuals,
no
less so as
and entirely
regards types than as regards
indifferent to
good or
evil,
and
works out her ends or no ends with utter disregard of pain
and woe.
The
following morning at
sunrise
This time only Colonel Rondon and
and Antonio the Indian.

which
Two
it
We
we
started
again.
went with Benedetto
brought along four dogs
was fondly hoped might chase the cashadas.
them disappeared on the track of a tapir and we

saw them no more; one of the others promptly fled when
we came across the tracks of our game, and would not
even venture after them in our company; the remaining
one did not actually run away and occasionally gave tongue,
but could not be persuaded to advance unless there was a
of
man ahead
of him.
However, Colonel Rondon, Benedetto,
and Antonio formed a
trio of
hunters
who
could do fairly
well without dogs.
After four hours of riding, Benedetto,
who was
in the
148
lead,
suddenly stopped and pointed downward.
We
were
riding along a grassy intervale between masses of forest,
and he had found the fresh track of a herd of big peccaries crossing
from
left
The
thirty or forty in the herd.
caries
logs,
go
in
small peccaries go singly or
and when chased take refuge
in small parties,
hollow
There were apparently
to right.
where they show valiant

herds of considerable
fight;
size,
in holes or
but the big pec-
and are so truculent
move
that they are reluctant to run, and prefer either to
slowly off chattering their tusks and grunting, or else ac-
Where much persecuted the survivors

gradually grow more willing to run, but their instinct is
tually to charge.
not to run but to trust to their truculence and their mass-
They
action for safety.

kill
dogs.
They
inflict
a fearful bite and frequently
often charge the hunters and
have heard
men being badly wounded by them, while almost every

man who hunts them often is occasionally forced to scramble
of
up a
tree to avoid a charge.
man
being killed by them.
tree in
it.
up a
which the
But
have never heard of a
They sometimes surround the

man has taken refuge and keep him up
Cherrie, on one occasion in Costa Rica,

tree for several hours
by a great herd of three or four
hundred of these peccaries;

several of them.
was thus kept
and
this
although he killed
Ordinarily, however, after
making
charge they do not turn, but pass on out of sight.

great foe
is
the jaguar, but unless he exercises
tion they will turn the tables on him.
their
Their
much
cau-
Cherrie, also in
Costa Rica, came on the body of a jaguar which had
evi-
dently been killed by a herd of peccaries some twenty-four
hours previously.
hoofs,
The ground was trampled up by
and the carcass was rent and
slit
into pieces.
their

Benedetto, as soon as
changed
off his horse,

rifle
we
149
discovered the tracks, slipped
his leggings for sandals,
over his arm, and took the
trail
threw
his
of the herd, followed
by the only dog which would accompany him. The peccaries had gone into a broad belt of forest, with a marsh
on the farther side. At first Antonio led the colonel and
me,
of us on horseback, at a canter round this belt to
all
the marsh side, thinking the peccaries had gone almost
through
it.
occasionally
The dog only

Finally we
barked, and then not loudly.
But we could hear nothing.
heard a shot.
Benedetto had found the herd, which showed
no fear of him; he had backed out and
We
the shot had been
or
a signal shot.
three went into the forest on foot toward where
all
hot.
fired
We
move
fired.
It
was dense jungle and
stiflingly
could not see clearly for more than a few feet,
easily
Soon we
without free use of the machetes.
heard the ominous groaning of the herd, in front of
and almost on each
Then Benedetto joined us, and

the rear. We moved slowly forward,
side.
the dog appeared in
toward the sound of the

varied at times
us,
fierce
moaning grunts which were
by a Castanet chattering
Then we dimly made out the dark forms

moving very slowly to the
left.
My
of the tusks.
of the peccaries
companions each
chose a tree to climb at need and pointed out one for me.
I fired at
leaves,
the half-seen form of a hog, through the vines,
and branches; the colonel
fired;
I fired
shots at other hogs; and the Indian also fired.

caries did not charge;
erect,
three
The
walking and trotting, with
more
pec-
bristles
groaning and clacking their tusks, they disappeared
into the jungle.
and not one was
We
left
them clearly;
But a few paces on we came
could not see one of

dead.
150
my wounded
across one of
ones, standing at
palm trunk;
and
not even
wounded ones;
With eyes almost as quick and
trail
to the front.
killed
bay by a
The dog would

but here Antonio came
forthwith.
it
the
sure as those
of a wild beast he had watched after every shot, and

able to
the results in each case.
tell
tion to the one I
had
just killed I
He
Rondon and he
said that in addi-
had wounded two others
so seriously that he did not think they
that Colonel
was
would go
far,
and
himself had each badly
wounded one; and, moreover, he showed the trails each

wounded animal had taken. The event justified him. In a
few minutes we found my second one dead. Then we found
Antonio's. Then we found my third one alive and at
bay, and I killed it with another bullet. Finally we found
the colonel's. I told him I should ask the authorities of
the American museum to mount his and one or two of
mine in a group, to commemorate our hunting together.
If we had not used crippling rifles the peccaries might
have gotten away,
for in the
dark jungle, with the masses
of intervening leaves and branches,
it
was impossible to
be sure of placing each bullet properly in the half-seen
moving
beast.
tained wild
figs,
palm
of the peccaries
nuts,
the ride
we
in
killed con-
and bundles of root
beasts were covered with ticks.
least twice the
On
found where the herd had wallowed
The stomachs
the mud.
The dead
We
fibres.
They were
at
weight of the smaller peccaries.
home we saw
a buck of the small species
of bush deer, not half the size of the kind
had already
was only a patch of red in the bush, a good distance off, but I was lucky enough to hit it. In spite of
its small size it was a full-grown male, of a species we had
shot.
It

The
not yet obtained.
new
the
antler
antlers
had recently been shed, and
without thinking
by him a hundred and

worth while to take
it
we saw many of the beautiful violet

swamps were multitudes of flowers,
which I did not know the names.
I
growth had just begun.
stork let us ride
151
great jabiru
fifty
flight.
orchids;
yards
off
This day
and
the
in
red, yellow, lilac, of
alluded above to the queer custom these people in
the interior of Brazil have of gelding their hunting-dogs.
This absurd habit

are so few
is
doubtless the chief reason
hounds worth their
salt
kinds of hunting, where the quarry
Thus
peccary.
far
we had
more
in the
is
why
there
serious
the jaguar or big
seen but one dog as good as
the ordinary cougar hound or bear hound in such packs

as those with
which
had hunted
in the Rockies
the cane-brakes of the lower Mississippi.
when every dog
otherwise
thing
is
and
in
can hardly be
It
that shows himself worth any-
promptly put out of the category of breeders
the theory apparently being that the dog will then last
longer.
All the breeding
is
from worthless dogs, and no
dog of proved worth leaves descendants.
The country along

country, and some day
ment.
It
don only
this river
it
is
a fine natural cattle
will surely see a great develop-
was opened to development by Colonel Ronfive
cattle-ranch
is
or six years ago.
Already an occasional
to be found along the banks.
roads are built into these interior portions of
When
rail-
Matto Grosso
and
the whole region will grow and thrive amazingly

will the
terial.
so
The growth will not be merely maAn immense amount will be done in education;
railroads.
using the word education in
its
broadest and most accurate
152
sense, as applying to
child
and the man.
He
explorer.
both mind and
to both the
Rondon is not merely an

now a leader in the move-
Colonel
has been and
spirit,
is
ment for the vital betterment of his people, the people of

Matto Grosso. The poorer people of the back country
everywhere
suffer
because of the harsh and improper laws
In practice these laws have resulted in establish-
of debt.
grown up here and
ing a system of peonage, such as has
there in our
this matter;
own
nation.
radical change
and the colonel
is
needed
in
fighting for the change.
is
In school matters the colonel has precisely the ideas of our
men and women
wisest and most advanced
Cherrie
States.
naturalist
who
is
and explorer
not only an exceedingly
in the tropics,
oughly good citizen at home
is
board of the town of Newfane,
and Kermit and
colonel,
length,
and were
in the
I,
but
is
United
efficient
also a thor-
the chairman of the school

in
Vermont.
He and
the
talked over school matters at
in hearty accord as to the vital educa-
tional needs of both Brazil
and the United States: the need
of combining industrial with purely mental training, and
the need of having the wide-spread popular education,
which
is
ernment,
and must be supported and paid
made
for
by the gov-
a purely governmental and absolutely non-
by the
sectarian function, administered
out interference with, nor furtherance

reputable church.
The
colonel
is
of,
also
state alone, with-
the beliefs of any
head of the Indian
what corresponds roughly with our

commissioner of Indian affairs. Here also he is taking
the exact view that is taken in the United States by the
service of Brazil, being
stanchest and wisest friends of the Indians.
must be treated with
intelligent
The Indians
and sympathetic under-
Kermit Roosevelt
From
153
standing, no less than with justice and firmness;
they become
tic,
citizens,
and
until
absorbed into the general body
poli-
they must be the wards of the nation, and not of any
private association, lay or clerical, no matter
how
well-
meaning.
The Sepotuba River was scientifically explored and

mapped for the first time by Colonel Rondon in 1908, as
This was
head of the Brazilian Telegraphic Commission.
during the second year of his exploration and opening of
unknown northwestern wilderness of Matto Grosso.

Most of this wilderness had never previously been trodden
by the foot of a civilized man. Not only were careful
maps made and much other scientific work accomplished,
the
but posts were established and telegraph-lines constructed.
When Colonel Rondon began the work he was a major.

He was given two promotions, to lieutenant-colonel and
colonel, while absent in the wilderness.
most important exploring
trip,
His longest and
and the one fraught with
most danger and hardship, was begun by him
May
left
in 1909,
3d, the anniversary of the discovery of Brazil.
on
He
Tapirapoan on that day, and he reached the Madeira
River on Christmas, December 25, of the same year, having descended the Gy-Parana.
The mouth
had long been known, but
upper course
its
of this river
for half its
unknown when Rondon descended

who took part under him in this piece
length was absolutely
it.
Among
of
those
exploration were the present Captain Amilcar and Lieu-
tenant Lyra;
and two better or more
such wilderness work
it
would be impossible to
acted as his two chief assistants on our
party exhausted
all
men for
They
find.
efficient
trip.
In 1909 the
their food, including even the salt,
by
154
For the
August.
last four
on the game they
killed,
months they
on
Their equipage was what the

backs.
By
lived exclusively
fruits,
and on wild honey.
men
could carry on their
the time the party reached the Madeira they
were worn out by fatigue, exposure, and semi-starvation,
and
their enfeebled bodies
were racked by
fever.
The work of exploration accomplished by Colonel

Rondon and his associates during these years was as remarkable
as,
and
in its results
even more important than,
work undertaken elsewhere on the globe at or

about the same time. Its value was recognized in Brazil.
any
similar
It received
no recognition by the geographical
Europe or the United
societies of
States.
The work done by
the original explorers of such a wil-
derness necessitates the undergoing of untold hardship and
danger.
Their successors, even their immediate successors,
have a relatively easy time.

well beaten that
it
Soon the road becomes so
can be traversed without hardship by
any man who does not venture from
it
although
if
he
goes off into the wilderness for even a day, hunting or

collecting,
he will have a slight taste of what his predeces-
The
by Colonel Rondon is not yet wholly subdued, and still holds menace to
human life. At Caceres he received notice of the death
sors endured.
wilderness explored
of one of his gallant subordinates, Captain Cardozo.
He
died from beriberi, far out in the wilderness along our
proposed
line
of march.
Colonel
Rondon
also
received
news that a boat ascending the Gy-Parana, to carry provisions to
meet those of our party who were to descend
that stream, had been upset, the provisions
men drowned.
The
risk
lost,
and three
and hardship are such that the
155
ordinary men, the camaradas, do not like to go into the
The men who go with
wilderness.
the Telegraphic
Com-
mission on the rougher and wilder work are paid seven
much
times as
On
as they earn in civilization.
this trip
Rondon met with much difficulty in secursome one who could cook. He asked the cook on the
of ours Colonel
ing
steamer Nyoac to go with us;
little
but the cook with
"Senhor, / have never done
unaffected horror responded:
anything to deserve punishment
!"
Five days after leaving us, the launch, with one of the
native trading-boats lashed alongside, returned.
13th
we broke camp, loaded
ourselves and
all
On
the
our belongings
on the launch and the house-boat, and started up-stream

for Tapirapoan.
with
All told there were about thirty
dogs and tents, bedding and provisions;
five
beef,
growing rapidly
thing
jammed
It rained
skins
fresh;
all
fresh
and every-
together.
most of the
first
day and part of the
first
After that the weather was generally overcast and
night.
pleasant
for
but sometimes rain and torrid
travelling;
and
The cooking
sunshine alternated.
ing
less
men,
was done at a funny
little
it
was good cook-
open-air fireplace, with two
or three cooking-pots placed at the stern of the house-boat.
The
was a platform of earth, taken from anthills, and heaped and spread on the boards of the boat.
Around it the dusky cook worked with philosophic solemfireplace
nity in rain and shine.

skins of every shade
Our attendants,
and hue,
slept
up among boxes, bundles, and
most of the time, curled
slabs of beef.
the
men
slept too near
it,
An enormous
bow of the house-boat.

it made futile efforts to
land turtle was tethered toward the
When
friendly souls with
156
scramble over them;
and
them gravely used
for a seat.
it
in return
now and then one
Slowly the throbbing engine drove the launch and
The
unwieldy side-partner against the swift current.
had
risen.
Ahead
We made
of us the
river
street stretched in curves
between endless walls of dense tropical

passing through a gigantic greenhouse.
yellow-stemmed
its
about a mile and a half an hour.
brown water
rity palms, cecropias,
of
huge
trees,
figs,
was
like
Wawasa and
bu-
forest.
It
feathery bamboos, strange
low trees with enormous leaves,
tall
trees with foliage as delicate as lace, trees with buttressed
trunks, trees with boles rising smooth and straight to lofty

heights,
down
all
woven together by
a tangle of vines, crowded
Their drooping branches
to the edge of the river.
hung down to the water, forming a screen through which

it was impossible to see the bank, and exceedingly difficult
Rarely one of them showed
to penetrate to the bank.
flowers
large white blossoms, or small red or yellow blosMore
soms.
made
often the
lilac
flowers of the begonia-vine
Innumerable epiphytes cov-
large patches of color.
ered the limbs, and even grew on the roughened trunks.
We
saw
little
fishers flitting
bird
life
a darter now and then,
from perch to perch.
passed a ranch.
At one the
At long
large, red-tiled,
and king-
intervals
whitewashed
house stood on a grassy slope behind mango-trees.
wooden
shutters were thrown
The
back from the unglazed
windows, and the big rooms were utterly bare

not an ornament.
we
A palm, loaded with
not a book,
scores of the pendu-
lous nests of the troupials, stood near the door.
Behind
were orange-trees and coffee-plants, and near by
fields of
bananas,
rice,
and tobacco.
The
sallow foreman was cour-

teous and hospitable.
157
His dark-skinned women-folk kept
it was
owned by a company with headquarters at Caceres.
The trip was pleasant and interesting, although there
was not much to do on the boat. It was too crowded to
move around save with a definite purpose. We enjoyed
in the furtive
the
scenery;
Like most of the ranches,
background.
we
talked
in
English,
Portuguese,
bad
Some of us wrote. Fiala

hammocks, and other
equipment, suggested by what he had already seen.
French, and broken German.
made
field
sketches of improved tents,
Some
of us read books.
Colonel Rondon, neat, trim,
alert,
work on applied geoFather Zahm read a novel by Fographical astronomy.

gazzaro.
Kermit read Camoens and a couple of Brazilian
and
soldierly, studied
novels,
varied
a standard
"OGuarani" and "Innocencia." My own reading

from "Quentin Durward" and Gibbon to the "ChanMiller took out his
son de Roland.''
from the basket
and water.
in
little
pet owl Moses,
which Moses dwelt, and gave him food
Moses crooned and chuckled gratefully when
he was stroked and tickled.
we moored to the bank by a

little fazenda of the poorer type.
The houses were of palmleaves.
Even the walls were made of the huge fronds or
leafy branches of the wawasa palm, stuck upright in the
ground and the blades plaited together. Some of us went
ashore.
Some stayed on the boats. There were no mosquitoes, the weather was not oppressively hot, and we
slept well.
By five o'clock next morning we had each
Late the
first
drunk a cup of
evening
delicious Brazilian coffee,
and the boats
were under way.

All
day we steamed slowly up-stream.
We
passed two
158
At
or three fazendas.
we
one, where
the trees were overgrown with pretty
At dark we moored
at a spot
halted to get milk,

little
yellow orchids.
where there were no branches
to prevent our placing the boats directly alongside the
Most of the
party took their hammocks ashore, and the camp was
pitched amid singularly beautiful surroundings. The trees
were wawasa palms, some with the fronds cresting very
There were hardly any mosquitoes.
bank.
trunks,
tall
some with the fronds
ing almost from the ground.
The
some could not have been
length;
Bushes and
tall
grass,
seemingly
longer
ris-
fronds were of great
less
than
fifty feet long.
dew-drenched and glittering with
the green of emeralds, grew in the open spaces between.
We
left
at
had strayed
sailors
One
sunrise the following morning.
could not find the river;

ing his absence.
We
ficulty he forced his
He
and we
inland.
round and
got turned
started before discover-
stopped at once, and with
way through
of the
much
dif-
the vine-laced and thorn-
guarded jungle toward the sound of the launch's engines
and of the bugle which was blown.
when
who
the sun
strays a
is
behind clouds, a
In this dense jungle,
man
hundred yards from the
become hopelessly
without a compass
river
may
readily
lost.
As we ascended the river the wawasa palms became

constantly more numerous. At this point, for many miles,
they gave their
banks.
own
Everywhere
character to the forest on the river
among
trunks made them
their long, curving fronds rose
the other trees, and in places their lofty
hold their heads higher than the other trees.
were never as
On
tall as
the giants
among
But they
the ordinary trees.
one towering palm we noticed a mass of beautiful violet
159
orchids growing from the side of the trunk, half-way to
On
the top.
a
little
another big
tree,
not a palm, which stood in
opening, there hung well over a hundred troupials'
we
Besides two or three small ranches
nests.
day
this
The various houses and sheds, all

palm-thatched, stood by the river in a big space of cleared
ground, dotted with wawasa palms. A native house-boat
was moored by the bank. Women and children looked
passed a large ranch.
from the unglazed windows of the houses; men stood

front of them.
The
biggest house
was enclosed by a stock-
ade of palm-logs, thrust end-on into the ground.
and oxen grazed round about; and carts with

each wheel
made
in
Cows
solid wheels,
of a single disk of wood, were tilted on
their poles.
We made
our noonday halt on an island where very
trees grew, bearing fruits that
tall
Other trees
taste.
red
and yellow blossoms;
flowers
were pleasant to the
on the island were covered with
rich
and masses of delicate blue
and of star-shaped white flowers grew underfoot.
Hither and thither across the surface of the river flew

swallows, with so
much white
in their
plumage that
as
they flashed in the sun they seemed to have snow-white
The
bodies, borne
by dark wings.
grew
there were stretches of broken water that
swifter;
were almost
the
laboring
sobbed as with increasing
difficulty
rapids;
launch and her clumsy consort.
At
beside the bank, where the forest
permit
comfortable
camp.
current of the river
engine
it
his socks
and
shoe-laces.
and
urged forward the
nightfall
we moored
was open enough to
That night the ants
large holes in Miller's mosquito-netting,
voured
strained
ate
and almost de-
160
At
sunrise
of swift,
stretches
river;
we
There were occasional
again started.
broken water, almost rapids,
everywhere the current was
in
the
and our progress
swift,
The prancha was towed at the end of a hawser,

and her crew poled. Even thus we only just made the
was
slow.
more than one case. Two or three times cormorants and snake-birds, perched on snags in the river or
riffle
on
in
trees alongside
a few yards.
it,
permitted the boat to come within
In one piece of high forest
among
of toucans, conspicuous even
of their huge
bills
and the
we saw
a party
the tree tops because
with which
leisurely expertness
they crawled, climbed, and hopped among the branches.
We
went by several fazendas.

Shortly before noon
January 16we
reached Tapira-
poan, the headquarters of the Telegraphic Commission.
was an
attractive place, on the river-front,
gayly bedecked with
flags,
the United States, but of

in
our honor.
standing in the middle of
it
was
not only those of Brazil and

the other American republics,
all
There was a
and
It
large, green square,
it.
On
with trees
one side of this square
were the buildings of the Telegraphic Commission, on the

other those of a big ranch, of which this
is
the headquarters.
In addition, there were stables, sheds, outhouses, and corrals;
and there were cultivated
cows, beef-cattle, oxen,

will.
fields
near by.
Milch
and mules wandered almost at
There were two or three wagons and
carts,
and a
traction automobile, used in the construction of the telegraph-line, but not available in
time of our
the rainy season, at the
trip.
Here we were to begin our trip overland, on pack-mules

and pack-oxen, scores of which had been gathered to meet
Two
pranchas being pulled by launch with our baggage and provisions

The prancha was towed at the end of a hawser and her crew poled
From
a photograph by Harper
161
Several days were needed to apportion the loads and
us.
arrange for the several divisions in which
it
was necessary
that so large a party should attempt the long wilderness
march, through a country where there was not

for
man
or beast, and where
which
into a district in
prevalent.
Fiala,
it
was always
much
possible to run
fatal cattle or horse diseases
with his usual
efficiency,
food
were
took charge of
handling the outfit of the American portion of the expedition,
with Sigg as an active and useful assistant.
who
like the others
worked with whole-hearted
cheerfulness, also helped him, except
had
so far done the hardest
of the expedition.
They had
and two hundred and
birds
latter,
Cherrie and
and the best work

thousand
collected about a
fifty
and
zeal
when he was engaged
The two
in helping the naturalists.
Miller,
Harper,
mammals.
It
was not
probable that they would do as well during the remainder

of our trip, for
march
we intended
thenceforth to halt as
little,
as steadily, as the country, the weather,
and
and the
means of transportation permitted. I

kept continually wishing that they had more time in which
condition of our
to study the absorbingly interesting life-histories of the

beautiful
and wonderful beasts and birds we were
time seeing.
competent
now
Every
collectors;
first-rate
but
the
museum must still employ

think that a museum could
work of most
the immense wilder-
confer most lasting benefit, and could do
permanent good, by sending out into

nesses,
where wild nature
with the
men
all
gift of
is
at her best, trained observers
recording what they have observed.
should be collectors, for collecting
but they should

selves to see,
also,
and to
is
still
Such
necessary;
and indeed primarily, be able themset vividly before the eyes of others,
162
the
full
of the creatures that dwell in the
life-histories
waste spaces of the world.
At
ber of
this point
both Cherrie and Miller collected a num-
mammals and
birds which they
obtained; whether any were
new
had not previously
to science could only be
Mumammal
determined after the specimens reached the American
While making the round of
seum.
small
his
army
traps one morning, Miller encountered an
The
midable foraging ants.
moving with a well-extended
of the for-
species
was a
large black one,
front.
These
ants,
sometimes
called army-ants, like the driver-ants of Africa,
big bodies and destroy or
that
is
make prey
in
of every living thing
unable or unwilling to get out of their path in time.
They run
vance.
fast,
and everything runs away from
Insects form their chief prey;
little
resistance to them.
attracted to this
army
of ants
make
Miller's attention
by
of ants were biting
but did not try to use

assailants.
On
its
it,
astonish-
was
first
noticing a big centiped,
nine or ten inches long, trying to
number
their ad-
and the most dan-
gerous and aggressive lower-life creatures

ingly
move
and
flee
it
before them.
writhed at each
bite,
long curved jaws against
its
other occasions he saw big scorpions and
big hairy spiders trying to escape in the same way, and
showing the same helpless inability to injure their ravenous
foes, or to
defend themselves.
to a great height,
at once kill
much
But they
seem to imagine; days
ants climb trees
higher than most birds' nests, and
and tear to pieces any
they reach.
The
are not as
may
fledglings in the nests
common
as
some writers
elapse before their armies are
encountered, and doubtless most nests are never visited

or threatened
by them.
In some instances
it
seems likely
163
that the birds save themselves and their young in other
Some
ways.
nests
are
From
inaccessible.
others
probable that the parents remove the young.
is
it
Miller once,
Guiana, had been watching for some days a nest of ant-
in
wrens which contained young.

ing,
he found the
tree,
He
foraging ants.
Going thither one morn-
and the nest
at first
itself,
swarming with
thought that the fledglings had
been devoured, but he soon saw the parents, only about

thirty yards
gaged
off,
with food
in their beaks.
They were
en-
dense part of the jungle, coming out
in entering a
again without food in their beaks, and soon reappearing
once more with food.
new
Miller never found their
nests,
him certain that they were feeding

young, which they must have themselves removed
but their actions

their
from the old
left
nest.
These ant-wrens hover
in front of
and
over the columns of foraging ants, feeding not only on the

other insects aroused by the ants, but on the ants them-
This fact has been doubted;
selves.
them with the ants
in their bills
and
but Miller has shot

in their
stomachs.
Dragon-flies, in numbers, often hover over the columns,
down at them; Miller could not be certain he had

them actually seizing the ants, but this was his belief.
darting
seen
I
have myself seen these ants plunder a nest of the dan-
gerous and highly aggressive wasps, while the wasps buzzed
about
in great excitement,
to retaliate.
by
have
but seemed unable effectively
also seen
them
clear a sapling tenanted
their kinsmen, the poisonous red ants, or fire-ants;
fire-ants fought
and
have no doubt injured or
of their swarming and active black foes;
quickly did
away with them.
black foraging ants;
killed
the
some
but the latter
have only come across
but there are red species.
They
at-
164
tack
human
beings precisely as they attack
and precipitate
flight
animals,
all
the only resort.
is
Around our camp here
butterflies of gorgeous coloring
swarmed, and there were many fungi as delicately shaped
and tinted
as flowers.
The
scents in the
woods were won-
There were many whippoorwills, or rather Brazil-
derful.
ian birds related to them; they uttered at intervals through
the night a succession of notes suggesting both those of
our whippoorwill and those of our big chuck-will's-widow

of the Gulf States, but not identical with either.
There
were other birds which were nearly akin to familiar birds

of the United States: a dull-colored catbird, a dull-colored
robin,
and a sparrow belonging to the same genus
common
as our
song-sparrow and sweetheart sparrow; Miller had
heard this sparrow singing by day and night, fourteen
thousand
up on the Andes, and
feet
the songs of both of our sparrows.
wood-peckers of various
species.
semblance to any of ours.

little
its
song suggested
There were doves and

Other birds bore no
One honey-creeper was
re-
a perfect
gem, with plumage that was black, purple, and tur-
quoise,
and
brilliant scarlet feet.
Two
of the birds which
Cherrie and Miller procured were of extraordinary nesting
One, a nunlet,
habits.
bluebird.
It is
tail coverts.
to fly
It
in
shape resembles a short-tailed
plumbeous, with a fulvous belly and white

is
a stupid
away even when
little bird,
shot at.
and does not
It catches its
like
prey and
ordinarily acts like a rather dull flycatcher, perching on
some dead
its
tree,
swooping on insects and then returning to
perch, and never going on the ground to feed or run
about.
But
it
nests in burrows
which
it
digs
itself,
one
bird usually digging, while the other bird perches in a bush

Sometimes these burrows are
near by.
sand-bank, the sand being so loose that

it
does not cave
The
an angle.
about the
is
with a waxy red
bill.
The other
size
At
this
renheit
ture;
it
heaps a
camp
and the
a marvel that
feet,
and then
It
also
burrows
and
pile of sticks
leaves.
from 91
to 104
But there were
we
Brazilian dishes were delicious:
canja,
the best soup a hungry

in rather small pieces
a well-flavored but simple gravy.
Thanks
fared sumptuously,
Two
with plenty of beef, chickens, and fresh milk.
as a riding-beast
Fah-
very heavy, being saturated with mois-
to the neighborhood of the ranch,
and beef chopped
nun or
in the level soil,
no mosquitoes, and we were very comfortable.
rice,
rising
and over the mouth of
the heat was great

air
bird, called a
and there were many rain-storms.
chicken and
in the
of a thrush, grayish in color,
the burrow being five feet long;
the burrow
it is
nest consists of a few leaves and grasses,
and the eggs are white.

waxbill,
in the side of a
Sometimes the burrows are
running down about three
level plain,
at
in.
165
of the
a thick soup of
man
ever tasted;
and served with
The mule
allotted
was a powerful animal, with easy
me
gaits.
Government had waiting for me a very

handsome silver-mounted saddle and bridle; I was much
pleased with both.
However, my exceedingly rough and
The
Brazilian
shabby clothing made an incongruous contrast.
At Tapirapoan we broke up our baggage as well as

our party. We sent forward the Canadian canoe which,
with the motor-engine and some kerosene, went in a cart
drawn by six oxen and a hundred sealed tin cases of
provisions, each containing rations for a day for six men.
They had been put up in New York under the special
166
direction of Fiala, for use
when we
got where
we wished
to take good and varied food in small compass.

skins, skulls,
and alcoholic specimens, and
not absolutely necessary, were sent back
guay and to
New
York,
in
all
the baggage
down
charge of Harper.
All the
the Para-
The
sepa-
rate baggage-trains, under the charge of Captain Amilcar,
were organized to go
in
one detachment.
The main body
of the expedition, consisting of the American members,
and of Colonel Rondon, Lieutenant Lyra, and Doctor Cajazeira, with their baggage and provisions, formed another
detachment.
CHAPTER
VI
THROUGH THE HIGHLAND WILDERNESS OF WESTERN

BRAZIL
We
were now
in the land of the
bloodsucking bats,
the vampire bats that suck the blood of living creatures,

clinging to or hovering against the shoulder of a horse or
cow, or the hand or foot of a sleeping man, and making

a
wound from which
the blood continues to flow long after
At Tapirapoan there
were milch cattle; and one of the calves turned up one
morning weak from loss of blood, which was still trickling
from a wound, forward of the shoulder, made by a bat.
But the bats do little damage in this neighborhood compared to what they do in some other places, where not
the bat's thirst has been satiated.
only the mules and cattle but the chickens have to be
housed behind bat-proof protection at night or their
may pay
the penalty.
The
chief
lives
and habitual offenders are
various species of rather small bats;
but
it
is
said that
other kinds of Brazilian bats seem to have become, at least

sporadically and locally, affected
occasionally vary their

living blood.
One
by the
customary
of the Brazilian
example and
by draughts of
members of our party,
diet
Hoehne, the botanist, was a zoologist
me
evil
also.
He
informed
known even the big fruit-eating bats to

take to bloodsucking.
They did not, according to his
observations, themselves make the original wound; but
that he had
167
168
after
it
had been made by one of the true vampires they
would lap the flowing blood and enlarge the wound.

South America makes up for
relatively to Africa
its lack,
and India, of large man-eating carnivores by the extraordinary ferocity or bloodthirstiness of certain small creatures of which the kinsfolk elsewhere are harmless.
only here that
fish
no bigger than trout
kill
It
is
swimmers, and
bats the size of the ordinary "flittermice" of the northern hemisphere drain the life-blood of big beasts and of
man
himself.
There was not much ferge mammalian
life
in the neigh-
Kermit hunted industriously and brought
borhood.
in
an
occasional armadillo, coati, or agouti for the naturalists.
Miller trapped rats and a queer opossum

lection.
Cherrie
got
many
skinned their specimens in a
birds.
little
new
Cherrie
to the col-
and
open hut or shed.
Miller
Moses
the small pet owl, sat on a cross-bar overhead, an interested spectator, and chuckled whenever he
Two
wrens,
who bred
was petted.
just outside the hut, were
much
by the presence of Moses, and paid him visits of

noisy unfriendliness. The little white-throated sparrows
came familiarly about the palm cabins and whitewashed
houses and trilled on the rooftrees. It was a simple song,
excited
with just a hint of our northern whitethroat's sweet and

plaintive melody,
and of the opening bars of our song-
sparrow's pleasant,
homely
lay.
It
brought back dear
memories of glorious April mornings on Long Island, when

through the singing of robin and song-sparrow comes the
piercing cadence of the meadow-lark; and of the far north-
land woods in June, fragrant with the breath of pine and

balsam-fir,
where sweetheart sparrows sing from wet spruce
THE HIGHLAND WILDERNESS
169
and rapid brooks rush under the drenched and
thickets
swaying alder-boughs.
From Tapirapoan our
course lay northward up to and
across the Plan Alto, the highland wilderness of Brazil.
From
ically
the edges of this highland country, which
very ancient, the affluents of the
and of the Plate to the south,
flow,
Amazon
is
geolog-
to the north,
with immense and de-
vious loops and windings.
Two
days before we ourselves started with our mule-
train,
a train of pack-oxen
tools,
and other things, which we would not need
after a
month
left,
or six weeks,
the valley of the Amazon.

oxen.
Most
of
them were
loaded with provisions,
we began our
descent into
There were about seventy

well broken, but there were
about a score which were either not broken at

very badly broken.
culty,
and bucked
until,
all
or else
These were loaded with much

like
diffi-
Again and again
wild broncos.
they scattered their loads over the corral and over the
part of the road.
black,
The pack-men, however
and dusky-white
showed severity
it
copper-colored,
were not only masters of their
but possessed tempers that could not be
first
ruffled;
art,
when they
was because severity was needed, and
not because they were angry.
They
finally got all their
longhorned beasts loaded and started on the
trail
with
them.
On January
train.
Of
21
we
ourselves started, with the mule-
course, as always in such a journey, there
was
some confusion before the men and the animals of the

train settled
down
to the routine performance of duty.
In addition to the pack-animals
The
first
we
all
day we journeyed about twelve
had riding-mules.
miles, then cross-
170
ing the Sepotuba and camping beside

falls,
it,
below a
The country was
or rather rapids.
level.
series of
was a
It
great natural pasture, covered with a very open forest of

low, twisted trees, bearing a
cross-timbers of Texas and Oklahoma.
Oklahoma;
for stock-raising as
likeness
superficial
It
is
and there
the
to
as well fitted
is
much
also
fine agricultural land, while the river will ultimately yield
The
a fine country for settlement.
electric
power.
heat
great at noon; but the nights are not uncomfort-
is
We
able.
It
is
were supposed to be
season, but hitherto
The
with showers.
mosquitoes.
middle of the rainy
most of the days had been

astonishing thing
Insect pests that
and especially by
in the
settlers,
work by day can be
because they
,are
marshy
its
far less serious
and unpleasant
Hitherto, during
rest.
our travels up the Paraguay and
stood,
The mosquitoes
foes offer the really serious
problem, because they break one's
level,
varied
was the absence of
foes in the clearings than in the woods.
and other night
fine,
in this
tributaries,
tropical region of western
Brazil,
we had
by mosquitoes at all, in our

home camps. Out in the woods they were at times a
serious nuisance, and Cherrie and Miller had been subjected to real torment by them during some of their special
practically not been bothered
expeditions; but there were practically none on the ranches
and
in
our camps in the open
when marshes were

lightedby
close
their absence.
from coming to
this region
by.
fields
I
they teem.
and
ticks,
de-
fear of insect foes.

foes.
and of the beaten tracks of
There are
even
need not be deterred
This does not mean that there are not such

side of the clearings,
river,
was puzzled
Settlers
by the
by the
Outtravel,
poisonous ants, wasps
of

which some species are
and gnats.
really serious
menaces
merely mean that, unlike so
tropical regions, this particular region
is,
171
biting
many
flies
other
from the stand-
point of the settler and the ordinary traveller, relatively

free
from
The
original explorer,
working
and a pleasant place of residence.
insect pests,
and to an only
field naturalist
less
degree the hard-
or big-game hunter, have to face
these pests, just as they have to face countless risks, hardships,
and
This
difficulties.
professions or avocations.
States where
life
is
now
inherent in their several
is
Many
regions in the United
absolutely comfortable and easy-
going offered most formidable problems to the

a century or two ago.
We
error of thinking that the

terrible hardships,
and even the
must not
fall
first
explorers need not suffer
first
merely because the ordinary
settlers
explorers
into the foolish
who come
after
travellers,
them, do not have
to endure such danger, privation, and wearing fatigue
although the
first
among
the genuine settlers also have to
undergo exceedingly trying experiences.
and adventurers make
plorers
heavy
cost to themselves.
The
early
fairly well-beaten trails at
Ordinary
travellers,
with
discomfort and no danger, can then traverse these
but
ex-
little
trails;
incumbent on them neither to boast of their own
it is
experiences nor to misjudge the efforts of the pioneers because, thanks to these very efforts, their
pleasant places.
off
The ordinary traveller,

who on this beaten
the beaten route and
ried
by
own lines fall in

who never goes
route
is
car-
others, without himself doing anything or risking
much more initiative and

package. He does nothing;
anything, does not need to show

intelligence
than an express
others do
the work, show
all
all
the forethought, take
all
the
172
risk
and are entitled to
the credit.
all
are carried in practically the
He and
his valise
same fashion; and
for each
the achievement stands about on the same plane.
kind of traveller
is
If this
a writer, he can of course do admira-
work of the highest value; but the value comes

because he is a writer and observer, not because of any
particular credit that attaches to him as a traveller.
We
ble work,
all
recognize this truth as far as highly civilized regions
when Bryce
are concerned:
writes of the
monwealth, or Lowell of European

our admiration
man
for the insight
legislative assemblies,
and thought of the ob-
and we are not concerned with
server,
is
travels across Arizona in a
American com-
When
his travels.
Pullman
we do not
car,
think of him as having performed a feat bearing even the
most remote resemblance
to the feats of the first explorers
we
of those waterless wastes; whatever admiration
connection with his trip
is
feel in
reserved for the traffic-super-
intendent, engineer, fireman, and brakeman.
But
as re-
gards the less-known continents, such as South America,
we
remember these obvious truths. There

yet remains plenty of exploring work to be done in South
sometimes
fail
to
America, as hard, as dangerous, and almost as important

as
work such as has

now being done, by men and
any that has already been done;
recently been done, or
women
The
is
such as Haseman, Farrabee, and Miss Snethlage.
collecting naturalists
who go
into the wilds
and do
work encounter every kind
of risk and undergo
every kind of hardship and exertion.
Explorers and nat-
first-class
uralists
of the right type have open to
America a
field
them
in
South
of extraordinary attraction and difficulty.
But to excavate ruins that have already long been known,
173
to visit out-of-the-way towns that date from colonial days,

to traverse old, even
if
uncomfortable, routes of travel,
highway
or to ascend or descend
the Paraguay, and the lower Orinoco
worth performing, but they
are well
Amazon,
rivers like the

all
of these exploits
no sense represent
in
exploration or adventure, and they do not entitle the per-
former, no matter
much
how
and no matter how
well he writes
of real value he contributes to
any way with the
to compare himself in
wanderer, or to
criticise
no hardship or
human knowledge,
real wilderness
Such a performance
the latter.
worth heeding.
Its value
depends purely on observation, not on action.
The man
entails
does
little;
man
the
derer,
difficulty
he merely records what he
The
of the beaten routes.
He must have
He
is
only
true wilderness wan-
man
on the contrary, must be a
as of observation.
sees.
of action as well
body
and the
the heart and the
to do and to endure, no less than the eye to see
brain to note and record.
Let
me make
excellent
off
work
the beaten
it
of so
clear that I
many
trails.
men who have not gone

merely wish to make it plain that
of the wilderness explorer.
has
and has
its
its
place.
actions
of
From
It
is
place, just as the
Both stand
those
alleged
Savage Landor stands
not depreciating the
of the
work must not be put
this excellent
less,
am
in
with that
in the class
excellent work, neverthe-
work of the true explorer
in sharpest contrast
explorers,
with the
among whom Mr.
unpleasant prominence.
the Sepotuba rapids our course at the outset lay
westward.
The
first
day's march
lay through dense tropical forest.
away from the
Away from
river
the broad,
beaten route every step of a man's progress represented
174
slashing a trail with the
machete through the tangle of
bushes, low trees, thorny scrub, and interlaced creepers.
There were palms of new kinds, very
and
graceful, with rather short
plantains,
pacovas,
or
trunks of the
tall,
slender, straight,
and few fronds.
thronged the spaces

their boles
tall trees;
The wild
among the
were short, and their
broad, erect leaves gigantic; they bore brilliant red-and-
whose trunks
orange flowers.
There were
huge
There were towering
swellings.
trunks, whose leaves
made
trees
bellied into
trees with buttressed
a fretwork against the sky far
Gorgeous red-and-green trogons, with long
overhead.
tails,
perched motionless on the lower branches and uttered a

loud, thrice-repeated whistle.
false bell-bird,
which
bell-birds;
keeps
Heavy
it
rain
fell
is
We
heard the calling of the
gray instead of white
among
the very topmost branches.
we reached our
sunrise we climbed a
shortly after
Next morning
at
like the true
camping-place.
steep slope to
the edge of the Parecis plateau, at a level of about two
thousand
feet
above the
sea.
We
were on the Plan Alto,
the high central plain of Brazil, the healthy land of dry

air,
of cool nights, of clear, running brooks.
directly behind us
when we topped
we looked back over

mering
we
in the long
the
rise.
The sun was

Reining
in,
the vast Paraguayan marshes, shim-
morning
lights.
Then, turning again,
rode forward, casting shadows far before us.
twenty miles to the next water, and
in hot
It
was
weather the
journey across this waterless, shadeless, sandy stretch of

country
is
hard on the mules and oxen.
But on
this
day
the sky speedily grew overcast and a cool wind blew in
our faces as we travelled at a quick, running walk over the
immense
rolling
plain.
The ground was sandy;
it
was
/
/
/
Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel Rondon looking over the vast landscape
The ground was sandy, covered with grass and with a sparse growth of stunted, twisted trees, never more
than
From
few feet high
175
covered with grass and with a sparse growth of stunted,

twisted trees, never more than a few feet high.
were
rheas
them
ostriches and
small
on
pampas-deer
made
the coloration of the rheas
plain;
There
this
difficult to see
it
at a distance, whereas the bright red coats of the
little
deer,
them
afar
and
their uplifted flags as they ran, advertised
We
off.
saw the footprints of cougars and
also
Cougars are the most
of the small-toothed, big, red wolf.
inveterate enemies of these small South American deer,
both those of the open grassy plain and those of the

It
is
not nearly as easy to get lost on these open plains
as in the dense forest;
and where there
is
ably straight road or river to come back
without a compass
American
necessity.
the native hunters and
themselves
and,
We
to,
these
in
man
even
thick South
on cloudy days, a compass
is
were struck by the fact that
permitted,
for
miles
in circles or in exactly the
wrong
if
They had no such
forest-dwelling
a long, reason-
ranchmen on such days continually
through the forest either

direction.
But
safe.
is
forests, especially
an absolute
lost
forest.
travelled
sense of direction as the
'Ndorobo hunters
in Africa had, or as the
true forest-dwelling Indians of South America are said to
On
have.
certainly half a dozen occasions our guides
completely astray, and
we had
to take
regard their assertions, and to lead the

reliance
On
derful;
way
aright
to dis-
by
sole
on our compasses.
this cool
day we travelled
well.
The
air
was won-
the vast open spaces gave a sense of abounding
vigor and freedom.

station
command,
went
Early
in
the afternoon
made by Colonel Rondon
explorations.
we reached
in the course of his first
There were several houses with whitewashed
176
stone floors,
walls,
and
or
tiled
rapid brook of cool water, in which
The heavy,
They
thatched roofs.
Through
stood in a wide, gently sloping valley.
we enjoyed
ran a
it
delightful
humid atmosphere of the

low, marshy plains had gone; the air was clear and fresh;
the sky was brilliant; far and wide we looked over a landbaths.
intensely
scape that seemed limitless;
the breeze that blew in our
might have come from our own northern
faces
plains.
The midday sun was very hot; but it was hard to realize
that we were in the torrid zone. There were no mosquitoes,
so that we never put up our nets when we went to bed;
but wrapped ourselves in our blankets and slept soundly
through the
cool,
pleasant nights.
this region will be the
population.
It
is
home
good
of a healthy, highly civilized
From June
much
there would be
On
these
in
plains
to September the
Any sound
nights are often really cold.
and
and the valleys
for cattle-raising,
are fitted for agriculture.
could live here;
Surely in the future
northern race
such a land, with such a climate,
joy of living.
the
Telegraphic
Commission
motor-trucks;
and these now served to
relieve the
and oxen;
some of them,
among
for
especially
already showed the effects of the strain.

wild country with a pack-train
animals.
It
was strange to
in the wilderness
ilized
man
mission.
is
uses
mules
the oxen,
Travelling in a
not easy on the pack-
see these big
where there was not a
motor-vans out
settler,
not a civ-
except the employees of the Telegraphic
Com-
They were handled by Lieutenant Lauriado,
who, with Lieutenant Mello, had taken

our transport service;
competent men.
special charge of
both were exceptionally good and

The
we again rode on
following day
177
across the Plan
In the early afternoon, in the midst of a downpour
Alto.
of rain,
we
crossed the divide between the basins of the
Paraguay and the Amazon.
That evening we camped on
a brook whose waters ultimately ran into the Tapajos.
The
rain
heavily,
fell
throughout the afternoon, now
and the mule-train did not get up
But enough tents and

Fires were
us.
lit,
and
until dark.
were pitched to shelter
flies
after
now
lightly,
all
a fourteen hours' fast
of
we
feasted royally on beans and rice and pork and beef, seated
around oxskins spread upon the ground.
The sky
cleared;
down through the cool night; and wrapped

our blankets we slept soundly, warm and comfortable.
the stars blazed

in
Next morning the
trail
had turned, and our course
northward and at times east of north.
We
same
and stunted
high, rolling plains of coarse grass
led
traversed the
trees.
Kermit, riding a big, iron-mouthed, bull-headed white mule,

rode
off to
one side on a hunt, and rejoined the
line of
march carrying two bucks of the little pampas-deer, or

field deer, behind his saddle.
These deer are very pretty
and graceful, with a tail like that of the Columbian blacktail.
Standing motionless facing one,
they are hard to make out;
if
in the sparse scrub,
seen sideways the reddish
of their coats, contrasted with the greens and grays of
when they bound off

very conspicuous. They carefully
the landscape, betrays them; and

the upraised white
tail is
avoid the woods in which their cousins the

deer are found, and go singly or in couples.
can be
They
cious.
made out
still
at quite a distance, but
carried their antlers.
it
little
bush
Their odor
is
not rank.
Their venison was
deli-
178
We
came across many queer insects. One red grasshopper when it flew seemed as big as a small sparrow;
and we passed in some places such multitudes of active
little
green grasshoppers that they frightened the mules.
At our camping-place we saw an extraordinary colony of

spiders.
It was among some dwarf trees, standing a few
When we
yards apart from one another by the water.

reached
the camping-place, early in the afternoon
the
pack-train did not get in until nearly sunset, just ahead

of the rain
no
They were under
spiders were out.
leaves of the trees.
the
Their webs were tenantless, and
deed for the most part were broken down.
But
in-
dusk
at
they came out from their hiding-places, two or three hundred of them in
all,
and spin new webs.

sat in the middle;
eral sides
and
at once
Each spun
began to repair the old
its
own
circular web,
and
and each web was connected on sev-
with other webs, while those nearest the trees
were hung to them by spun ropes, so to speak. The
result
was a kind of sheet of web consisting of scores of wheels,

in each of which the owner and proprietor sat; and there
were half a dozen such sheets, each extending between two
trees.
The webs
could hardly be seen, and the effect was
of scores of big, formidable-looking spiders poised in midair,
equidistant from one another, between each pair of
trees.
When
darkness and rain
fixing their webs,
they were
still
and pouncing on the occasional
that blundered into the webs.

are nocturnal;
fell
out,
insects
have no question that they
they certainly hide in the daytime, and
it
seems impossible that they can come out only for a few
minutes at dusk.
In the evenings, after supper or dinner
it
is
hard to

tell
by what
the exceedingly movable evening meal
title
should be called
the members of the party sometimes told

Most
stories of incidents in their past lives.
men
ness across which
of
Rondon and Lyra
of varied experiences.
hardship and suffering of the
this
179
first trips
them were
told of the
through the wilder-
we were going with such
comfort.
On
very plateau they had once lived for weeks on the

Naturally they
fruits of the various fruit-bearing trees.
became emaciated and
feeble.
In the forests of the
Ama-
zonian basin they did better because they often shot birds
and plundered the hives of the wild honey-bees.
In cut-
ting the trail for the telegraph-line through the Juruena
basin they lost every single one of the hundred and sixty
mules with which they had started.
who
build the
first
Those men pay dear
foundations of empire
Fiala told of
the long polar nights and of white bears that
came round
the snow huts of the explorers, greedy to eat them, and
themselves destined to be eaten by them.

Cherrie's experiences
who
many
strange things;
more owing to the character of the man
things he
fact that he
past experience
Once we were talking about the

cavalry, and some one mentioned the
theory that the lance
emphatically;
own
subjects.
proper weapons for
the moral effect
himself.
had seen and done and undergone often
enabled him to cast the light of his
on unexpected
This
goes into the untrodden
wastes of the world must see and do
The
the party
fact that the latter-day naturalist
of the most vigorous type
still
all
had covered the widest range.
was partly owing to the
and
Of
it
is
especially formidable because of
produces on the enemy.
and a
little
Cherrie nodded
cross-examination elicited the
was speaking from
lively personal recollection
180
of his
own
when charged by
feelings
lancers.
was while
It
he was fighting with the Venezuelan insurgents in an unsuccessful uprising against the tyranny of Castro.
on
foot,
with
five
Venezuelans,
all
cool
He was
men and good
shots.
In an open plain they were charged by twenty of Castro's

lancers,
who
galloped out from behind cover two or three
hundred yards
It
off.
gave quarter and
in
was a war
in
which neither
side
which the wounded and the prisoners
just
Madero was butchered

in Mexico.
Cherrie knew that it meant death for him and
his companions if the charge came home; and the sight of
were butchered
as President
the horsemen running in at

in rest
sion
on
erately
and the blades

his
mind.
speed, with their long lances
full
glittering, left
But he and
his
companions shot
and accurately; ten of the lancers were
headlong haste.
cool
man
delib-
killed,
the
and the others rode
nearest falling within fifty yards;

in
an indelible impres-
with a
rifle, if
off
he has mas-
tered his weapon, need fear no foe.
At
this
camp
the auto-vans again joined us.
were to go direct to the

falls
first
They
telegraph station, at the great
Of course they
Father Zahm, at-
of the Utiarity, on the Rio Papagaio.
travelled faster than the mule-train.
tended by Sigg, started for the
falls in
them.
Cherrie and
Miller also went in them, because they had found that
was very
difficult to collect birds,
when we were moving every
and especially mammals,
day, packing up early each
morning and the mule-train arriving
late in the afternoon
or not until nightfall.
Moreover, there was
which made
to
it
difficult
it
much
work except under the
rain,
tents.
Accordingly, the two naturalists desired to get to a place
where they could spend several days and
collect steadily,

The
thereby doing more effective work.
181
rest of us con-
tinued with the mule-train, as was necessary.

It
was always a picturesque
broken, and again at nightfall
and
stringing in
when camp was

laden mules came
sight
when
the
were thrown down, while
their burdens
the tents were pitched and the
fires lit.
We
breakfasted
aluminum cups and plates being

round which we sat, on the ground or
before leaving camp, the
placed on ox-hides,
on camp-stools.
We
fared well, on rice, beans, and crack-
with canned corned beef, and salmon or any game
ers,
that had been shot, and coffee, tea, and matte.

usually sat
down somewhere
were nearly ready

duffel-bag
popped
war-sack,
as
old days on the plains.
writing-materials into
we would have
I
then
and when the mules
to write,
my
called
it
my
in the
found that the mules usually
arrived so late in the afternoon or evening that I could
not depend upon being able to write at that time.

course,
if
we made
a very early start
could not write at
At night there were no mosquitoes.
all.
Of
In the daytime
gnats and sand-flies and horse-flies sometimes bothered us

a
but not much.
little,
Small stingless bees
numbers and crawled over the

ling;
skin,
lit
making a
on us
in
slight tick-
but we did not mind them until they became very
numerous.
to cause
There was a good deal of
any
rain,
but not enough
serious annoyance.
Rondon and Lieutenant Lyra held many discussions as to whither the Rio da Duvida flowed, and where
its mouth might be.
"River of
Its provisional name
Doubt" was given it precisely because of this ignorance
concerning it; an ignorance which it was one of the purposes of our trip to dispel.
It might go into the GyColonel
182
Parana, in which case
its
course must be very short;
might flow into the Madeira low down,
it
which case
in
its
which was unlikely,
course would be very long;
or,
might flow into the Tapajos.
There was another
it
river, of
which Colonel Rondon had come across the headwaters,
whose course was equally doubtful, although

there
was rather more probability of
its
in its
case
flowing into the
name the Tapajos is known for its

upper half. To this unknown river Colonel Rondon had
given the name Ananas, because when he came across it
Juruena, by which
he found a deserted Indian
field
with pineapples, which
Among
the hungry explorers ate greedily.

colonel
and
work
little
hoped to accomplish on the
in clearing
the things the

trip
was to do
up one or the other of these two
doubtful geographical points, and thereby to push a
forward the knowledge of this region.

scribed in the
first
chapter,
my
marily in the interest of the American
History of
birds
New
Museum
pri-
of Natural
York, to add to our knowledge of the
and mammals of the
zilian wilderness;
tific
Originally, as de-
was undertaken
trip
little
and the
far interior of the western Bra-
labels of our
baggage and scien-
equipment, printed by the museum, were entitled
"Colonel Roosevelt's South American Expedition for the
American Museum of Natural History."

already
mentioned,
at
Rio the
Brazilian
through the secretary of foreign

Muller, suggested that
But, as
affairs,
have
Government,
Doctor Lauro
should combine the expedition
with one by Colonel Rondon, which they contemplated
making, and thereby make both expeditions of broader

accepted
the
interest.
pleasure;
and we found, when we joined Colonel
much
Rondon
proposal with
scientific

and
his associates, that their
183
baggage and equipment had
been labelled by the Brazilian Government "Expedicao

Scientifica
Roosevelt-Rondon."
the proper and
official
title
This thenceforth became

Cherrie
of the expedition.
and Miller did the chief zoological work.
The
geological
work was done by a Brazilian member of the expedition,
The astronomical work necessary
Euzebio Oliveira.
obtaining the exact geographical location of the
for
rivers
and points of note was to be done by Lieutenant Lyra,

under the supervision of Colonel Rondon; and at the
graph stations
this astronomical
tele-
work would be checked by
wire communications with one of Colonel Rondon's assistants at Cuyaba, Lieutenant Caetano, thereby securing a
The sketch-maps
minutely accurate comparison of time.
and surveying and cartographical work generally were to

be made under the supervision of Colonel Rondon by Lyra,
with assistance from Fiala and Kermit.
handled the worst problem
member was Doctor
Captain Amilcar
transportation;
the medical
Cajazeira.
At night around the camp-fire
my
Brazilian
compan-
ions often spoke of the first explorers of this vast wilder-
ness of western Brazil
hardly known, but
men
who
whose very names are now
did each his part in opening the
country which will some day see such growth and devel-
opment.
Among
the most notable of
guese, Ricardo Franco,
who
them was
a Portu-
spent forty years at the work,
during the last quarter of the eighteenth and the opening

years of the nineteenth centuries.
distances the
He
ascended for long
Xingu and the Tapajos, and went up the
Madeira and Guapore, crossing to the headwaters of the

Paraguay and partially exploring there also. He worked
184
among and with
the Indians,
much
as
Mungo Park worked
with the natives of West Africa, having none of the
aids,
instruments, and comforts with which even the hardiest

of
modern
who
He was one
explorers are provided.
For
many
years the sole method of
tion between this remote interior province
was by the
of
men
Matto
communica-
established the beginnings of the province of
Grosso.
the
of the
long, difficult,
palace, cathedral,
civilization
and perilous route which led up
Amazon and Madeira; and
Matto Grosso, the
and
its
then capital, the town
seat of the captain-general, with its
and
fortress,
was accordingly placed
When
to the west, near the Guapore.
far
less circuitous lines
of communication were established farther eastward the old

capital
was abandoned, and the
over the lonely

explorer
still
little
town.
tropic wilderness surged
The tomb
of the old colonial
stands in the ruined cathedral, where the
forest has once
more come to
its
own.
But
civilization
is
again advancing to reclaim the lost town and to revive

the
memory
found
of the wilderness wanderer
who
helped to
Rondon has named a river after Franco;

mountains has also been named after him; and
Colonel
it.
a range of
the colonel, acting for the Brazilian Government, has established a telegraph station in
what was once the palace
of the captain-general.
Our northward trail led along the high ground a league

or two to the east of the northward-flowing Rio Sacre.
Each night we camped on one of the small tributary brooks
that fed
it.
Fiala, Kermit,
and
occupied one tent.
In
"pium" flies, vicious little sand-flies, became bad enough to make us finally use gloves and headnets.
There were many heavy rains, which made the
the daytime the
185
The soil was more often

was slippery when wet. The weather
travelling hard for the mules.
clay than sand, and
it
was overcast, and there was usually no oppressive heat
At
even at noon.
staring skull
after
intervals along the trail
we came on
and bleached skeleton of a mule or
day we rode forward across endless
flats
the
Day
ox.
of grass and
of low open scrubby forest, the trees standing far apart
and
most places being but
in
of a horseman.
Some
orange, yellow, pink;
of
little
them
higher than the head
carried blossoms, white,
and there were many
most beautiful being the morning-glories.
flowers, the
Among
were bastard rubber-trees, and dwarf palmetto;
grew more than a few
ter
or
mammal
places
it
life;
was not
if
the lat-
were torn
feet high their tops
and dishevelled by the wind.
the trees
There was very
bird
little
there were few long vistas, for in most
among
possible to see far
trunks of the wind-beaten
little
a charm that would be
felt
Yet the desolate
trees.
landscape had a certain charm of
its
the gray, gnarled
own, although not
by any man who does not
take pleasure in mere space, and freedom and wildness,
and
in plains
the
rain.
standing empty to the sun, the wind, and
The country bore some resemblance
country west of Redjaf on the White Nile, the
to
home
the
of
the giant eland; only here there was no big game, no
chance of seeing the towering form of the
giraffe,
the black
bulk of elephant or buffalo, the herds of straw-colored

hartebeests, or the ghostly
shimmer of the sun
glinting on
the coats of roan and eland as they vanished silently in
the gray sea of withered scrub.
One
feature
in
common with
was the abundance of
ant-hills,
the African landscape
some
as high as a
man.
186
They were
red in the clay country, gray where
and the
sandy;
was
it
houses were also in trees, while their
dirt
At some
of the camping-places we had to be on our watch against
the swarms of leaf-carrying ants. These are so called in
raised tunnels traversed trees
the books
porters
the
because
Brazilians
and ground
call
alike.
them "carregadores,"
or
they are always carrying bits of leaves
and blades of grass to
They
underground homes.
their
are inveterate burden-bearers, and they industriously cut
and carry
into pieces
we had
we had
off
any garment they can get
at;
and
to guard our shoes and clothes from them, just as
often had to guard
all
These ants did not
termites.
our belongings against the
bite us;
but we encountered
huge black ants, an inch and a quarter long, which were

very vicious, and their bite was not only painful but quite
poisonous.
Praying-mantes were common, and one eve-
ning at supper one had a comical encounter with a young

dog,
a jovial near-puppy,
He had been
Cartucho.
from a character
I
suppose are
in
of Colonel
christened
Rondon's, named
jolly-cum-pup,
the
one of Frank Stockton's
now remembered
stories,
which
only by elderly people, and
by them only if they are natives of the United States.

Cartucho was lying with his head on the ox-hide that served
as table, waiting with poorly dissembled
his share of the banquet.
The mantis
ox-hide and proceeded to crawl over
it,
flew
it
down on
taking
from one corner to another; and whenever
menaced
impatience for
it
the
little flights
thought
itself
assumed an attitude of seeming devotion and
real defiance.
tucho cocked
Soon
it lit
in front of Cartucho's nose.
his big ears forward, stretched his neck,
cautiously sniffed at the
new
arrival, not
Car-
and
with any hostile

design, but merely to find out
whether
187
would prove to
it
be a playmate.
The mantis promptly assumed an
tude of prayer.
This struck Cartucho as both novel and
and he thrust
interesting,
The mantis
his sniffing black nose
dexterously thrust forward
the other armed fore
leg,
first
still
atti-
nearer.
one and then
touching the intrusive nose, which
was instantly jerked back and again slowly and inquiringly
Then
brought forward.
the mantis suddenly flew in Car-
tucho's face, whereupon Cartucho, with a smothered yelp

of dismay, almost turned a back somersault;
and the
tri-
umphant mantis flew back to the middle of the ox-hide,

among the plates, where it reared erect and defied the
laughing and applauding company.
On
the morning of the 29th
starting, because the rain
into the morning,
there had been
we were
rather late in
had continued through the night
drenching everything.
After nightfall
some mosquitoes, and the piums were a pest
during daylight;
where one
bites
it
leaves a tiny black
spot on the skin which lasts for several weeks.

slippery
mud
so that
it
one of the pack-mules
had to be abandoned.
fell
Soon
In the
and injured
itself
after starting
we
came on the telegraph-line, which runs from Cayuba; this

was the first time we had seen it. Two Parecis Indians
joined us, leading a pack-bullock.
hat, shirt, trousers,
and sandals, precisely
Brazilian caboclos, as the poor

ally
with
little
were
dressed in
like the
ordinary
backwoods peasants, usu-
white blood in them, are colloquially and
half-derisively styled
word
They were
caboclo being originally a
Guarany
meaning
in
"naked savage."
These two Indians
the employ of the Telegraphic Commission, and
had been patrolling the
telegraph-line.
The
bullock car-
188

and the
ried their personal belongings
The commission pays
they could repair a break.
which
tools with
the or-
dinary Indian worker 66 cents a day; a very good worker

gets $i,
No man
and the chief #1.66.
gets anything unless
Colonel Rondon, by just, kindly, and under-
he works.
standing treatment of these Indians,
who
often been exploited and maltreated
by rubber-gatherers,
made them the

has gathered them
has
cultivate
the line
at the telegraph stations,
where they
of mandioc, beans, potatoes, maize, and
fields
and the
is
He
loyal friends of the government.
other vegetables, and where he

raising;
previously had
entire
introducing
is
them
work of guarding and
to stock-
patrolling
theirs.
After six hours' march
we came
to the crossing of the
Rio Sacre at the beautiful waterfall appropriately

This
the Salto Bello.
Here there
is
is
the end of the automobile road.
The men
a small Parecis village.
work the
called
of the vil-
by which everything is taken across

the deep and rapid river. The ferry-boat is made of planklage
ferry
ing placed on three dugout canoes, and runs on a trolley.
we enjoyed
The Indian
Before crossing
cool
water.
swim
a good
village,
in the swift, clear,
where we camped,
is
placed on a jutting tongue of land round which the river
sweeps just before
it
leaps from the overhanging precipice.
The falls themselves are very lovely.

a wooded island, but the river joins
forward for the
final
plunge.
again before
There
forty or fifty yards, with a breadth

great;
Just above
and the volume of water
is
is
them
it
races
a sheer drop of
two or three times

large.
is
On
the
left
as
or
bank a cliff extends for several hundred yards below

the falls. Green vines have flung themselves down over
hither

its
and they are met by other vines thrusting up-
face,
ward from the mass of vegetation

in the perpetual mist
The
over the rock wall, rushes
bottom of a thickly wooded
among
ing
bow
at its foot, glistening
from the cataract, and clothing even
the rock surfaces in vivid green.

itself
189
throwing
long curves at the
off in
ravine, the white water churn-
the black bowlders.
at the foot of the
river, after
There
is
a perpetual rain-
The masses
falls.
of green water
that are hurling themselves over the brink dissolve into

shifting,
On
foaming columns of snowy
the edge of the
cliff
lace.
below the
falls
Colonel
Rondon
had placed benches, giving a curious touch of rather conventional tourist-civilization to this cataract far out in
the lonely wilderness.
beauty.
ise it
It
is
It
is
well worth visiting for
also of extreme interest because of the
that they had calculated that this

six
thousand horse-power.
see another fall of
are
many
much
prom-
Lieutenant Lyra informed
holds for the future.
fall
would furnish
Eight miles
off
rivers in this region
me
thirty-
we were
greater height and power.
its
to
There
which would furnish almost
unlimited motive force to populous manufacturing com-
The country round about is healthy. It is an

upland region of good climate; we were visiting it in the
rainy season, the season when the nights are far less cool
than in the dry season, and yet we found it delightful.
There is much fertile soil in the neighborhood of the
streams, and the teeming lowlands of the Amazon and
munities.
the Paraguay could

tage to both sides
civilization
and
readily
be
made
with immense advan-
tributary to an industrial
seated on these highlands.
has been built to and across them.
telegraph-line
railroad
should
190
Such a
follow.
line could
be easily
serious natural obstacles.
a trolley-line could
built, for there are
In advance of
construction
its
be run from Cuyaba to the
the power furnished
by the
latter.
Once
no
this
using
falls,
is
done the
land will offer extraordinary opportunities to settlers of

the right kind: to home-makers and to enterprising busi-
men
ness
of foresight, coolness, and sagacity
work with the
ing to
who
are will-
the immigrants, the home-
settlers,
makers, for an advantage which shall be mutual.
The
Parecis Indians,
ingly interesting.
cheerful,
ally
whom we met
They were
to
good-humored,
all
here,
were exceed-
appearance an unusu-
pleasant-natured
people.
Their teeth were bad; otherwise they appeared strong and
The colonel
was received as a valued friend and as a leader who was
He is raising them by deto be followed and obeyed.
grees
the only way by which to make the rise permanent.
In this village he has got them to substitute for the flimsy
Indian cabins houses of the type usual among the poorer
vigorous, and there were plenty of children.
field
laborers and back-country dwellers in Brazil.
These
houses have roofs of palm thatch, steeply pitched.
They
are usually open at the sides, consisting merely of a frame-
work
of timbers, with a wall at the back;
but some have
the ordinary four walls, of erect palm-logs.
mocks
in
are slung in the houses,
and the cooking
them, with pots placed on small open
ally in a kind of clay oven.
The
fires,
The hamis
also
done
or occasion-
big gourds for water,
and the wicker baskets, are placed on the ground, or hung

on the
poles.
The men had adopted, and were wearing, shirts and

trousers, but the women had made little change in their

A
clothing.
191
few wore print dresses, but obviously only for
Most of them, especially the girls and young

married women, wore nothing but a loin-cloth in addition
to bead necklaces and bracelets.
The nursing mothers
ornament.
and almost
all
the mothers were nursing
sometimes carried
the child slung against their side or hip, seated in a cloth
which went over the opposite shoulder of the
belt, or sling,
The women seemed to be well treated, although

polygamy is practised. The children were loved by every
one; they were petted by both men and women, and they
mother.
behaved well to one another, the boys not seeming to bully

the girls or the smaller boys.
naked, but the
both of the
girls early
little
Most
wore the
boys and the
of the children were
and some,
loin-cloth;
little
girls,
wore colored
print garments, to the evident pride of themselves

their parents.
and
life
In each house there were several families,
went on with no privacy but with good humor,
The man
consideration, and fundamentally good manners.
or
and
woman who had
nothing to do lay in a
hammock
or
squatted on the ground leaning against a post or wall.
The
or
children played together, or lay in
little
tagged round after their mothers; and
hammocks,
when
called
they came trustfully up to us to be petted or given some

small trinket; they were friendly
little
souls,
and accus-
One woman was weaving a

cloth, another was making a hammock; others made
ready melons and other vegetables and cooked them over
tiny fires.
The men, who had come in from work at the
ferry or along the telegraph-lines, did some work themtomed
to good treatment.
selves, or
hair,
played with the children; one cut a small boy's
and then had
his
own
hair cut
by a
friend.
But the
192
men was an
absorbing amusement of the
game
extraordinary
of ball.
In our family
we have always
relished Oliver Herford's
nonsense rhymes, including the account of Willie's
dis-
pleasure with his goat:
"I do not like my billy goat,

I wish that he was dead;
Because he kicked me, so he did,
He kicked me with his head."
Well, these Parecis Indians enthusiastically play foot-
them, but
rubber
about eight inches
two
ball,
and the
sides,
lifts
opponents.
in the air;
it
on
circular
is
and
The players are divided

much as in association foot-
a player runs forward, throws him-
first
butt,
much and
One or two
flat
Usually this butt
It
placed on the ground to be put in play
it
throws himself
catches
is
Then
This
being played
in diameter.
on the ground, and butts the
posite side.
never
own
its
use a light hollow
manufacture.
and stationed
ball
as in football.
self flat
They
tribe or people.
ball, of their
into
not only native to
is
have never heard or read of
by any other
up
The game
with their heads.
ball
on
lifts
when
it
rolls
the ball
is
toward the op-
on the ground,
and bounds toward the
of the latter run toward
his face
it,
ball
and
it;
one
and butts the
ball back.
back
curve well
it flies
in a
and an opposite player, rushing toward

his
head with such a swing of
his
it,
brawny
neck, and such precision and address that the ball bounds
back through the
air as a football soars after a drop-kick.
If the ball flies off to
one side or the other
back, and again put in play.
Often
it
will
it
is
brought
be sent to and
One woman was making

From
The mothers
a photograph by
hammocl
Kermit Roosevelt
carried the child slung against their side or hip, seated in a cloth belt, or
sling,
which went over the opposite shoulder of the mother
[A few wore print dresses
most
of
From photographs
them wore nothing but
by Cherrie
and Miller
a loin-cloth]

fro a
dozen times, from head to head, until
with such a sweep that
it
finally
Then
good-humored triumph
There
are, of course,
game
of civilization;
is
no such
and
many
be eight or ten, or
ball
arise
shrill,
from the
and the game instantly begins again with fresh
tors;
rises
it
passes far over the heads of the
opposite players and descends behind them.

rolling cries of
193
zest.
rules as in a specialized ball-
saw no disputes.
vic-
There
may
side.
The
more, players on each
never touched with the hands or
thing except the top of the head.
It
feet, or
is
with any-
hard to decide
whether to wonder most at the dexterity and strength

with which
it
down through
is
hit or
the
air,
butted with the head, as
it
comes
or at the reckless speed and
skill
with which the players throw themselves headlong on the
ground to return the

they do not grind
ball
off their
if
it
noses
comes low down.
Why
cannot imagine.
Some
of the players hardly ever failed to catch and return the

ball
if it
came
in their
neighborhood, and with such a vig-
orous toss of the head that
it
often flew in a great curve
for a really astonishing distance.
That night a pack-ox got

mit and
were sleeping, entering
at the other.
us; but
our
we
It
One
is
first
at one
of
though chewed
which Ker-
end and then
extraordinary that he did not
and underclothes
It
my
socks escaped, and
full
of holes,
was
still
waken
ox deliberately ate
slept undisturbed while the
shirts, socks,
rags.
into the tent in
chewed them into
my
good
undershirt, alfor
some weeks'
wear; but the other things were in fragments.

In the morning Colonel Rondon arranged for us to have
by the waterthunderous murmur, had been
breakfast over on the benches under the trees

fall,
whose
roar, lulled to a
194
in
our ears before we slept and when we waked.
could have been no more picturesque place

fast of
to see
such a party as ours.
what
is
now
even
rants
South America should
and
see the
two great
easy of access;
they
it
for the break-
who
really care
most beautiful and most characteristic of the
far interior of
this region,
All travellers
There
will
and
be made
in their
journey
visit
They
waterfalls.
are
as soon as the traffic war-
still
more
so; then,
from Sao
Luis de Caceres, they will be speedily reached by light
steamboat up the Sepotuba and by a day or two's automobile
ride,
The
with a couple of days on horseback in between.

t
colonel held a very serious council with the Parecis
Indians over an incident which caused him grave concern.
One
of the commission's employees, a negro, had killed a
wild
Nhambiquara Indian; but
really
it
appeared that he had
been urged on and aided by the Parecis, as the
members
of the tribe to which the dead Indian belonged
were much given to carrying
off
the Parecis
women and
other ways making themselves bad neighbors.

tried
The
in
colonel
hard to get at the truth of the matter; he went to
the biggest Indian house, where he sat in a
Indian child cuddling solemnly up to him,
hammock an
by the way
while the Indians sat in other hammocks, and stood round
about; but
it
was impossible to get an absolutely frank
statement.
Nhambiquaras had
made a descent on the Parecis village in the momentary
It
appeared,
absence of the
however,
men
that
the
of the village;
but the
latter, notified
by the screaming of the women, had returned in time to

rescue them. The negro was with them and, having a good
rifle, he killed one of the aggressors.
The Parecis were, of
The
kick-off: a player runs forward,
throws himself
flat
on the ground, and butts the
ball
toward the
opposite side
From
Often
it
will
be sent to and fro a dozen times, from head to head until finally
From
The game
it
rises
of headball played
by Parecis Indians
at Utiarity Falls
195
course, in the right, but the colonel could not afford to
have
men
his
It
take sides in a tribal quarrel.
was only a two hours' march across to the Papa-
gaio at the Falls of Utiarity, so
named by
their discoverer,
Colonel Rondon, after the sacred falcon of the Parecis.
On
way we
the
passed our Indian friends, themselves bound
both the
thither;
men and
the
women
bore burdens
the
burdens of some of the women, poor things, were heavy
and even the small naked children carried the
At Utiarity there
live hens.
a big Parecis settlement and a tele-
is
graph station kept by one of the employees of the comHis pretty brown wife
mission.
tress to a
has been
group of
made
little
Parecis
is
acting as schoolmis-
girls.
The
Parecis chief
a major and wears a uniform accordingly.
The commission has
erected good buildings for
employees and has superintended the erection

houses for the Indians.
Most
of the latter
still
its
own
of good
prefer the
simplicity of the loin-cloth, in their ordinary lives, but
they proudly wore their civilized clothes in our honor.
When
in the late afternoon the
men began
to play a regu-
match game of headball, with a scorer or umpire to

keep count, they soon discarded most of their clothes,
lar
coming down to nothing but trousers or a

or three of
Among
of
little
The
them had
their faces stained with red ochre.
women and children looking on were

girls who paraded about on stilts.
the
great waterfall
was half a mile below
though we had found Salto

perior in beauty
twice as broad;
Two
loin-cloth.
Bello, these falls
and majesty.
They
us.
a couple
Lovely
were far su-
are twice as high
and the lay of the land
various landscapes in which the waterfall
is
is
and
such that the

a feature are
196
more
striking.
few hundred yards above the
at an angle and widens.
river turns
shallows are crested with whitecaps.
expanse of flecked and hurrying water
umns
and broken by the wind the

grandeur.
The
From below
fall is
the
The broad, rapid

Beyond this wide
rise
the mist col-
and as these columns are swayed
of the cataract;
between them.
falls
forest appears
the view
is
through and
one of singular
over a shelving ledge of rock which
goes in a nearly straight line across the river's course.
But
at the left there
is
a salient in the
cliff-line,
and here
accordingly a great cataract of foaming water comes
down
almost as a separate body, in advance of the line of the
main
fall.
there
is
if
doubt whether, excepting, of course, Niagara,
a waterfall in North America which outranks this
both volume and beauty are considered.
fall
Above the
the river flows through a wide valley with gently slop-
ing sides.
Below,
it
slips along,
a torrent of whity-green
water, at the bottom of a deep gorge; and the sides of the
gorge are clothed with a towering growth of tropical forest.
Next morning the cacique of these Indians, in his

major's uniform, came to breakfast, and bore himself with
it rained most
It was raining heavily
entire propriety.
of the time and a few minutes previously I had noticed
the cacique's two wives, with three or four other young
women, going out to the mandioc fields. It was a picturesque group. The women were all mothers, and each
They wore loin-cloths or short
carried a nursing child.
Each carried on her back a wickerwork basket
supported by a head-strap which went around her foreEach carried a belt slung diagonally across her
head.
body, over her right shoulder; in this the child was carskirts.
*Jfe
Sz
**fc40
v^npp^
^-B
3gfe
ffff^f-",
V
>.
.'
-'-'-;> ""''V
*.\.
-.
<-}^>'
jf.
''
^'4
'-
<T
i'Jr-'f^
*v
:
'
,.
-"^
'
ill
lT
<7
/
v
The
I
Falls of Utiarity
doubt whether, excepting, of course, Niagara, there is a waterfall in North America which outranks
if both volume and beauty are considered
From
a photograph by Cherrie
this

ried,
against and perhaps astride of her
left
197
They
hip.
were comely women, who did not look jaded or cowed;
and they laughed cheerfully and nodded to us
as
they
way to the fields. But

them and the chief in his soldier's
breakfast was rather too striking; and
passed through the rain, on their

the contrast between
uniform seated at
incidentally
it
etched in bold lines the folly of those
who
even exceptionally good and pleasant-
idealize the life of
natured savages.
Although
it
was the rainy season, the
point had not been
difficult,
when
dry and at
the climate
practically
This
is
do the
is
no hardship
its
May
this
to October,
best, there
at all for travellers
a healthy plateau.
first
and from
up to
trip
would be
and
But, of course, the
visitors.
men who
pioneering, even in country like this, encounter
make payment with their

At more than one halting-place we had come
dangers and run risks; and they

bodies.
some
soldier or laborer of the
The grave-mound
and an uninscribed wooden
lay within a rude stock-
across the forlorn grave of
commission.
ade;
beaten,
marked the
forgotten
humble
man
life
gray and weather-
cross,
last resting-place of the
beneath, the
man who had
unknown and
paid with his
the cost of pushing the frontier of civilization
into the wild
savagery of the wilderness.
the conditions become less healthy.
At
Farther west
this station Colo-
Rondon received news of sickness and of some deaths

among the employees of the commission in the country
Beriberi
to the westward, which we were soon to enter.
nel
and malignant malarial fever were the diseases which

claimed the major number of the victims.
Surely these are "the
men who do
the
work
for
which
198
they draw the wage."
Kermit had with him the same
copy of Kipling's poems which he had carried through
At these
Africa.
dor; and
we
was one sunset of angry
there
falls
contrasted this going
down
splen-
of the sun, through
broken rain-clouds and over leagues of wet tropical
forest,
with the desert sunsets we had seen in Arizona and So-
Guaso Nyiro north and west of Mount
nora, and along the
when
Kenia,
changed
the barren mountains were
into
flaming "ramparts of slaughter and peril" standing above
"the wine-dark
It rained
during most of the day after our arrival at
Whenever there was any let-up the men promptly
Utiarity.
came
below."
flats
forth from their houses and played headball with
and we would
the utmost vigor;
listen to their shrill
we
They
dulating cries of applause and triumph until

interested
and
strolled over to look on.
baseball or football.
It
strange and exciting
by, one
little tribe
also
grew
are
more
game than an American boy
infatuated with the
is
with
is
an extraordinary thing that
game should be played
of Indians in
centre of South America.
If
what
any
is
by,^
un-
this
and only
almost the very
traveller or ethnologist
knows of a tribe elsewhere that plays a similar game, I

wish he would let me know. To play it demands great
activity, vigor, skill, and endurance.
Looking at the
strong, supple bodies of the players, and at the number of
children roundabout,
it
seemed
as
if
the tribe
must be
vigorous health;
yet the Parecis have decreased in
bers, for measles
and smallpox have been
By
ily
the evening the rain was coming
than ever.
It
was not
out of our belongings;
fatal to
in
num-
them.
down more heav-
possible to keep the moisture
everything became mouldy except
lonely grave
by the wayside
At more than one halting-place we had come across the
forlorn grave of
some
commission
From
Most
of
The Parecis dance

them wore on one leg anklets which
From
rattled
soldier or laborer of the
199
what became rusty. It rained all that night; and daylight saw the downpour continuing with no prospect of
The pack-mules could not have gone on with

march; they were already rather done up by their
cessation.
the
previous ten days' labor through rain and mud, and
it
until the
weather became better
before attempting to go forward.
Moreover, there had
seemed advisable to wait
been no chance to take the desired astronomical observa-
There was very
tions.
there
but
grass for the mules;
was abundance of a small-leaved plant
inches high
eight or ten
unfortunately, not very nourishingon which

muddy
In such weather and over such
they fed greedily.

trails
little
oxen travel better than mules.
In spite of the weather Cherrie and Miller,
Zahm and
whom,
to-
we had found awaiting us, made good collections of birds and mammals.
Among the latter were opossums and mice that were new
to them. The birds included various forms so unlike our
home birds that the enumeration of their names would
mean nothing. One of the most interesting was a large
gether with Father
Sigg,
black-and-white woodpecker, the white predominating in

the plumage.
Several of these woodpeckers were usually
found together.
They were showy,
and perched on twigs,
and
restless,
in ordinary bird fashion,
at least
noisy,
as often as they clung to the trunks in orthodox
pecker style.
The
prettiest bird
wood-
was a tiny manakin,
coal-
black, with a red-and-orange head.
On February
2 the rain let up, although the sky re-
mained overcast and there were occasional showers.

walked
off
distance,
with
from a
my
rifle
for a couple of leagues;
slight hillock, the mist
at
columns of the
that
falls

200
were conspicuous
The only mammal
in the landscape.
saw on the walk was a rather hairy armadillo, with a flexible tail, which I picked up and brought back to Miller
it
showed none of the speed of the nine-banded armadillos
we met on our
it
trotted about before
habits.
I
It
spent
saw me,
it
was new to the
much
Judging by
jaguar-hunt.
its
actions, as
must be diurnal
it
in
collection.
by the
of the afternoon
Under
waterfall.
the overcast sky the great cataract lost the deep green
and fleecy-white of the
sunlit falling waters.
showed opaline hues and
At
times,
all
and under
tints
all
it
it
and amethyst.
of topaz
lights,
Instead
was majestic and
beautiful.
Colonel
Rondon had given
women
those for the
the Indians various presents,
including calico prints, and,
especially prized, bottles of scented

their hair.
For
The men
would
string
for
clothing,
but not
them
of
all,
and appeared
as
cast aside
doubtless they
have appeared had none but themselves been
all
present.
Paris,
held a dance in the late afternoon.
this occasion most,
their civilized
from
oil,
what they
They were
absolutely naked except for a beaded
round the waist.
Most
of
them were spotted and
dashed with red paint, and on one leg wore anklets which
rattled.
number
carried pipes through
which they blew
a kind of deep stifled whistle in time to the dancing.

of
them had
his pipe leading into a
gave out a hollow, moaning boom.

or green or yellow
macaw
One
huge gourd, which
Many
wore two red
feathers in their hair,
and one
had a macaw feather stuck transversely through the septum of his nose. They circled slowly round and round,
chanting and stamping their
feet,
while the anklet rattles
*3
o

clattered
201
They advanced
and the pipes droned.
to the
wall of one of the houses, again and again chanting and
bowing before
They
it;
was
was a demand
told this
for drink.
entered one house and danced in a ring around the
cooking-fire in the middle of the earth floor;
was
told
that they were then reciting the deeds of mighty hunters
and describing how they brought
in
the
They
game.
drank freely from gourds and pannikins of a fermented
made from mandioc which were brought
drink
them.
During the
mained
in the houses,
first
part of the dance the
and
all
out
to
women
re-
the doors and windows were
shut and blankets hung to prevent the possibility of seeing

out.
But during the second part
came out and looked

danced when the
on.
all
women and
the
They were themselves
men had
finished,
The
have
to
but were overcome
with shyness at the thought of dancing with so

strangers looking on.
girls
many
children played about with un-
concern throughout the ceremony, one of them throwing

high in the
air,
and again catching
in his
hands, a loaded
feather, a kind of shuttlecock.
In the evening the growing
Anything approaching
cloud-rack.
put our
men
in a circle,
moon shone through
in
by a
good
fire
spirits;
fair
the
weather always
and the muleteers squatted
near a pile of packs, and listened to
a long monotonously and rather mournfully chanted song
about a dance and a
love-affair.
We
ourselves
busily with our photographs and our writing.

so
much humidity
in the air that
There was
everything grew
and stayed damp, and mould gathered quickly.

season
it is
a country in
worked
damp
At
this
which writing, taking photographs,
and preparing specimens are
all
works of
difficulty, at least
202
so far as concerns preserving
of the labor;
From
and a man's clothing
here Father
companied by
and sending home the
Sigg.
Zahm
is
results
never really dry.
returned to Tapirapoan, ac-
CHAPTER
VII
WITH A MULE-TRAIN ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND

From
this point
the land of
we were
still
we
started with the mule-train
Fiala and Lieutenant Lauriado stayed
ox-carts.
at Utiarity to take canoes
and go down the Papagaio, which
had not been descended by any
scientific party,
They were then
haps by no one.
wilder region,
On February
the naked Nhambiquaras.
the weather cleared and
and two
to enter a
and per-
to descend the Juruena
and Tapajos, thereby performing a necessary part of the
work of the expedition. Our remaining party consisted of

Colonel Rondon, Lieutenant Lyra, the doctor, Oliveira,
Cherrie, Miller, Kermit,
and myself.
On
we
the Juruena
expected to meet the pack ox-train with Captain Amilcar
and Lieutenant Mello;
the other Brazilian
the party had returned.
had now begun the
The pium
part of the expedition.

pest.
We
flies
The
entering.
the rains had
made
of
difficult
were becoming a
There was much fever and beriberi
we were
members
in the
feed for the animals
country
was poor;
the trails slippery and difficult;
and
many, both of the mules and the oxen, were already weak,
and some had to be abandoned. We left the canoe, the
motor, and the gasolene; we had hoped to try them on
the
Amazonian
rivers,
but we were obliged to cut down
everything that was not absolutely indispensable.

Before leaving
we prepared
203
for
shipment back to the
204
museum some
weapons and
collected.
of
macaw
utensils of the Indians,
These included woven
which Kermit had
fillets,
Enoerey; wickerwork baskets;
hammocks;
is
fillets
made
woven
belts;
and
feathers, for use in the dances;
a gourd in which the sacred drink
tles;
some of the
of the bigger skins, and also
offered to the
anklet rat-
flutes or pipes;
a belt of the kind used
by the women
carrying the babies, with the weaving-frame.
were Parecis
articles.
He
also secured
god
in
All these
from the
Nham-
biquaras wickerwork baskets of a different type and bows
The bows were seven
and arrows.
rows
feet long
and the
There were blunt-headed arrows
five feet.
ar-
for birds,
arrows with long, sharp wooden blades for tapir, deer, and
mammals; and the poisoned war-arrows, with sharp

barbs, poison-coated and bound on by fine thongs, and
with a long, hollow wooden guard to slip over the entire
point and protect it until the time came to use it. When
other
people talk glibly of "idle" savages they ignore the im-
by many of their industries, and the

extraordinary amount of work they accomplish by
mense labor
really
entailed
the skilful use of their primitive and ineffective tools.

It
was not
into the
until early in the afternoon that
drove with us a herd of oxen for food.

fifteen miles
little
we camped
brook.
years previously
trip
when they
to the Juruena.
*
It
was
beside the
at
started
We
After going about
swampy headwaters
of
the spot where nearly seven
Rondon and Lyra had camped on
the
discovered Utiarity Falls and penetrated
When
they reached this place they had
Pronounced "sairtown," as nearly

and pronunciation, I can render
spelling
we
"sertao," * as Brazilians call the wilderness.
as,
it.
with our preposterous methods of
ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND

They
been thirty-six hours without food.

deer
small deer
and
killed a
bush
ate literally every particle.
they lived on wild
The
For much of the time on
dogs devoured the entire skin.

this trip
205
fruit,
and the two dogs that
remained alive would wait eagerly under the trees and eat
the fruit that
was shaken down.
In the late afternoon the piums were rather bad at this
camp, but we had gloves and head-nets, and were not
and although there were some mosquitoes we
bothered;
slept
well
swamp
little
under our mosquito-nets.
uttered a peculiar, loud shout.
tree-frog in
air until
brayed
it
like
frogs
in
the
Miller told of a
Colombia which swelled
itself
out with
looked like the frog in iEsop's fables, and then

a mule;
and Cherrie told of a huge frog
Guiana that uttered a

through country
days.
in
short, loud roar.
Next day the weather was

for ten
The
like that
still
Our march
fair.
lay
which we had been traversing
Skeletons of mules and oxen were more
by the wayside we passed the

graves of officers or men who had died on the road. Barbed
wire encircled the desolate little mounds. We camped on
the west bank of the Burity River.
Here there is a balsa,
or ferry, run by two Parecis Indians, as employees of the
Telegraphic Commission, under the colonel. Each had a
thatched house, and each had two wives all these Indifrequent; and once or twice
ans are pagans.
All were dressed
much
like the poorer
peasants of the Brazilian back country, and
all
were pleas-
The women ran the ferry about

as well as the men.
They had no cultivated fields, and
for weeks they had been living only on game and honey;
ant and well-behaved.
and they hailed with joy our advent and the quantities
206
of beans and rice which, together with some beef, the
They
colonel left with them.
feasted most of the night.
hammocks, baskets, and

other belongings, and they owned some poultry. In one
house was a tiny parakeet, very much at home, and familiar, but by no means friendly, with strangers.
There
Their
houses
are wild
contained
Nhambiquaras
several of these
their
in the
neighborhood, and recently
had menaced the two ferrymen with an
The ferrymen had
attack, even shooting arrows at them.
driven
them
off
by
firing their rifles in the air;
and they
expected and received the colonel's praise for their

restraint;
for the colonel
is
doing
all
self-
he can to persuade
The
the Indians to stop their blood feuds.
were
rifles
short and light Winchester carbines, of the kind so universally used
by the rubber-gatherers and other adventurThere
ous wanderers in the forest wilderness of Brazil.
were a number of rubber-trees
in the
neighborhood, by
the way.
We
enjoyed a good bath in the Burity, although
impossible to
ing current.
make headway by swimming
they vary from things

flies.
The
like small
was
against the rac-
There were few mosquitoes.
hand, various kinds of piums were a
it
little
On
the other
too abundant;
gnats to things like black
small stingless bees have no fear and can hardly
be frightened away when they

but they never
bite,
light
on the hands or
and merely cause a
as they crawl over the skin.
slight
face;
tickling
There were some big
bees,
however, which, although they crawled about harmlessly

after lighting
if
if
they were undisturbed, yet stung
they were molested.
The
insects
fiercely
were not ordinarily a
serious bother, but there were occasional hours
when they

were too numerous
do
my
The
207
and now and then
for comfort,
had to
writing in a head-net and gauntlets.

night
we reached
the Burity
it
In the morning the mules
next day the rain continued.
were ferried over, while the oxen were
men
a dozen of our
rained heavily, and
whites,
swum
Indians,
stark naked and uttering wild cries
Half
across.
and negroes,
drove the oxen
the river and then, with powerful overhand strokes,
all
into
swam
behind and alongside them as they crossed, half-breasting
was a fine sight to see the big, longbeasts swimming strongly, while the sin-
the swift current.
horned, staring
It
ewy naked men urged them forward, utterly at ease in the

rushing water. We made only a short day's journey, for,
owing to the lack of
mules had to be driven
grass, the
off
nearly three miles from our line of march, in order to get
them
feed.
We
called Huatsui,
camped
which
is
Accompanying us on
for
headwaters of a
at the
little
brook
"monkey."
march was a soldier bound
With him trudged his wife.
Parecls for
this
one of the remoter posts.
They made the whole journey on foot. There were two

children.
One was so young that it had to be carried alternately by the father and mother.
The other, a small
boy of eight, and much the best of the party, was already
a competent wilderness worker.
He
bore his share of the
when camp was reached

sometimes himself put up the family shelter. They were
mainly of negro blood. Struck by the woman's uncomplaining endurance of fatigue, we offered to take her and
belongings on the march, and
the baby in the automobile, while

alas! this
it
accompanied
us.
But,
proved to be one of those melancholy cases where
the effort to relieve hardship well endured results only in
208
showing that those who endure the adversity cannot stand

even a
The woman proved
slight prosperity.
traveller in the auto, complaining that she
as comfortable as, apparently, she
a querulous
was not made
had expected; and
after
one day the husband declared he was not willing to have

her go unless he went too;
and the family resumed
their
walk.
In this neighborhood there were multitudes of the
big,
gregarious, crepuscular or nocturnal spiders which I have
On
before mentioned.
the afternoon,
arriving in camp, at about four in
ran into a number of remains of their
webs, and saw a very few of the spiders themselves sitting

in the
webs midway between
trees.
then strolled a couple
of miles up the road ahead of us under the line of telegraph-poles.
were out;
It
was
bright sunlight and no spiders
still
in fact, I did
not suspect their presence along
the line of telegraph-poles, although

so,
ought to have done
for I continually ran into long strings of tough, fine
web, which got across
my
face or
hands or
barrel.
rifle
returned just at sunset and the spiders were out in force.

I
saw dozens of
dividuals.
colonies, each of scores or
Many
the broad, cleared

the wire
since I
own
trail.
But most were dependent from
Each was
had passed.
wheel, and
all
in-
were among the small trees alongside
Their webs had
itself.
hundreds of
all
been made or repaired
sitting in the
middle of
his
the wheels were joined to one another;
and the whole pendent fabric hung by
fine ropes
from the
wire above, and was in some cases steadied by guy-ropes,
thrown thirty
them
feet off to little trees alongside.
until nightfall,
day's rest, their day's
and evidently, to them,
work had
just begun.
watched
after their
Next morn-
Tres Burity
From
The
kitchen under the ox-hide at

From
Campos Novos
a photograph by Theodore Roosevelt

ing
owing to a
desire to find out
what the
and
were as
facts
regards the ox-carts, which were in difficulties

Miller, Kermit,
209
Cherrie,
walked back to the Burity River,
where Colonel Rondon had spent the night.
It
was a
misty, overcast morning, and the spiders in the webs that
hung from the telegraph-wire were just going to their day

homes. These were in and under the big white china
Hundreds of spiders
insulators on the telegraph-poles.
were already climbing up into these. When, two or three
hours later, we returned, the sun was out, and not a spider
was to be seen.
Here we had to cut down our baggage and rearrange
the loads for the mule-train. Cherrie and Miller had a
most workmanlike equipment, including a very
and two
one
fly
light
was
flies.
One
allotted to
fly
they gave for the kitchen use,
Kermit and me, and they kept only

Colonel
the tent for themselves.

in
light tent
Rondon and Lyra went
one tent, the doctor and Oliveira
in another.
Each of
us got rid of everything above the sheer necessities.
This
was necessary because of the condition of the baggage-
The oxen were
animals.
so
weak that the
on the carts had to be abandoned.

mules had already been
days'
this
march from
country
all
is
country.
Utiarity.
on the road during the three

In the
first
expeditions into
was becoming very heavy.
and even
This state
due to the scarcity of forage and the type of
Good
grass
is
scanty, and the endless leagues of
sparse, scrubby forest render
it
exceedingly
difficult to find
when they wander. They must be turned

loose to roam about and pick up their scanty
the animals
absolutely
Nine of the pack-
the baggage-animals had died;
in our case the loss
of affairs
left
effort to bring
210
subsistence,
and must be given as long a time
as possible
to feed and rest; even under these conditions most of
grow weak when,
as in our case,
They cannot be found
corn.
and then hours must be spent
it
is
them
impossible to carry
again until after daylight,

in gathering
them; and
this
means that the march must be made chiefly during the heat
of the day, the most trying time. Often some of the animals would not be brought in until so late that it was well
on
in the forenoon,
perhaps midday, before the bulk of
and they reached the camping-
the pack-train started;
place as often after nightfall as before
many
conditions
of the mules and oxen grew constantly
weaker, and ultimately gave out;

to load
them
especially
and
heavy or bulky
little
was imperative
all
luxuries,
Travelling through a
luxuries.
is
it
and discard
as lightly as possible,
wild country where there

is
Under such
it.
food for
man
or beast
beset with difficulties almost inconceivable to the
who
know this kind of

man who only knows the
does not himself
especially to the
tion.
scientific
party of some
size,
man
wilderness, and
ease of civiliza-
with the equipment
necessary in order to do scientific work, can only go at

if
men who
the
all
actually handle the problems of food and
work thoroughly.
Our march continued through the same type of
transportation do their
high,
nearly level upland, covered with scanty, scrubby forest.

It
is
the kind of country
padao
and
pronounced
almost as
spelled shapadon.
in a beautiful spot,
if
to the Brazilians as chait
were a French word"
Our camp on the fourth
night was
an open grassy space, beside a
cool, rushing little river.
waded our
known
We
clear,
ourselves reached this, and
beasts across the deep, narrow stream, in the

late afternoon;
The
211
and we then enjoyed a bath and swim.
loose bullocks arrived at sunset,
the mounted herdsmen urged
them
and with
shrill cries
and across the
into
The mule-train arrived long after nightfall,

was not deemed wise to try to cross the laden an-
swift water.
and
it
Accordingly the loads were taken
imals.
over on the heads of the men;
naked
ewy,
figures
it
was
off
fine to see the sin-
bearing their burdens
broken moonlit water to the hither bank.

cool
and pleasant.
We
kindled a
fire
and brought
and
through the
The
was
night
sat beside the
Then, healthily hungry, we gathered around the
blaze.
rice,
and
a brook,
and
ox-hides to a delicious dinner of soup, beef, beans,

coffee.
Next day we made a short march, crossed
camped by another clear, deep, rapid little river, swollen

by the rains. All these rivers that we were crossing run
actually into the Juruena, and therefore form part of the
headwaters of the Tapajos;

river,
for the
and the basin which holds
immense extent of country.
its
Tapajos
is
a mighty
headwaters covers an
This country and the adja-
cent regions, forming the high interior of western Brazil,

will
tion;
surely
some day support a
large industrial popula-
of which the advent would be hastened, although
not necessarily in permanently better fashion,
if
Colonel
Rondon's anticipations about the development of mining,

especially gold-mining, are realized.
gion will be a healthy

tural
home
and pastoral population.
In any event the
for a considerable
Above
all,
streams, with their numerous waterfalls,
the
re-
agricul-
many
swift
some of great
height and volume, offer the chance for the upgrowth of a
number
of big manufacturing communities, knit
by
rail-
212
roads to one another and to the Atlantic coast and the
and Amazon, and
valleys of the Paraguay, Madeira,
ing and being fed
by the
dwellers in the rich, hot, alluvial
lowlands that surround this elevated territory.

of Colonel
Rondon and
feed-
The work
his associates of the Telegraphic
Commission has been to open
this great
and virgin land to
the knowledge of the world and to the service of their

nation.
In doing so they have incidentally founded the

Before their day almost
Brazilian school of exploration.
the scientific and regular exploration of Brazil was
all
done by foreigners.
But, of course, there was
much exwho were
by nameless Brazilians,
merely endeavoring to make new homes or advance their
private fortunes: in recent years by rubber-gatherers, for
instance, and a century ago by those bold and restless adploration and settlement
venturers, partly of Portuguese and partly of Indian blood,
the Paolistas, from one of
whom
descended on his father's
self
The camp by
this river
Colonel
Rondon
is
him-
side.
was
in
some old and grown-up
once the seat of a rather extensive maize and man-
fields,
by the Nhambiquaras. On this day

Cherrie got a number of birds new to the collection, and
two or three of them probably new to science. We had
found the birds for the most part in worn plumage, for
dioc
cultivation
the breeding season, the southern spring and northern
was
over.
But some birds were
tropics the breeding season
is
still
more
breeding.
fall,
In the
irregular than in the
Some birds breed at very different times from that

chosen by the majority of their fellows; some can hardly
north.
be said to have any regular season; Cherrie had found one

species of honey-creeper breeding in every
month
of the
Just before sunset and just after sunrise big, noisy,
year.
blue-and-yellow
macaws
flew over this camp.
enough to form a loose
plentiful
to
itself,
dant,
found
it
flock,
was an
interesting,
Although not an abun-
rest.
fauna which the two naturalists
mammals had been made.
of birds and
several species of opossums, mice,
Cherrie got
At
this
many
and
Miller trapped
which were new
rats
birds which he did not recog-
camp, among totally strange forms, he found
an old and familiar acquaintance.

brought
but each pair kept
upland country, where hitherto no collections
in this
to him.
They were
the two individuals always close together and
always separated from the
nize.
213
Before breakfast he
several birds: a dark-colored flycatcher, with
in
white forehead and rump and two very long tail-feathers;

a black and slate-blue tanager;
concealed white spot on
and
its
its
dull-colored mate;
lieved to be
new
them save
in
back, at the base of the neck,
and other birds which he be-
to science, but
any of our birds are
a black ant-thrush with a
whose relationships with
so remote that
technical language.
hard to describe
it is
Finally,
among
these
unfamiliar forms was a veery, and the sight of the rufousolive
back and faintly spotted throat of
northern Junes
made
Next day was

be brought
to
this singer of
us almost homesick.
brilliantly clear.
in until quite late in the
The mules could not

morning, and we had
march twenty miles under the burning
right in the hottest part of the day.
we looked back over

rolling stretches of
our
From
tropical sun,
a rise of ground
the vast, sunlit landscape, the endless
low
forest.
Midway on
our journey
we crossed a brook. The dogs minded the heat much.

They continually ran off to one side, lay down in a shady
214
place, waited until
and then raced

performance.
we
we were
several
hundred yards ahead,

and repeated the
after us, overtook us,
The
pack-train came in about sunset;
but
ourselves reached the Juruena in the middle of the
afternoon.
The Juruena
along
is
the
upper course.
its
name by which the Tapajos goes

Where we crossed, it was a deep,
stream, flowing in a heavily
rapid
We
rather steep sides.

balsa, a platform
were
on the usual
ferried across
on three dugouts, running by the force

There was a clearing on
of the current on a wire trolley.
each
wooded valley with
with a few palms, and on the farther bank were
side,
This
the buildings of the telegraph station.
by
country, and the station was guarded
is
a wild
a few soldiers
under the command of Lieutenant Marino, a native of Rio
Grande do
man
an
officer,
Sul, a
blond
man who
looked like an English-
agreeable companion, and a good and resolute
as all
must be who do
their
work
in this wilder-
The Juruena was first followed at the end of the

eighteenth century by the Portuguese explorer Franco, and
not again until over a hundred years had elapsed, when
ness.
the Telegraphic Commission not only descended, but for
the
first
time accurately placed and mapped
There were several houses on the

bank,
all
with thatched
roofs,
rise
its
course.
of the farther
some of them with walls of
them daub and wattle. Into

with two rooms, we took our belongings.
upright tree-trunks, some of
one of the
The
latter,
sand-flies
were bothersome at night, coming through
The first
morning, when it
the interstices in the ordinary mosquito-nets.

night they did this
was
cool
enough
for
got no sleep until
me
to
roll
myself in
my
blanket and

put on a head-net.
They were
of cheese-cloth.
or almost
all,
Afterward we used
215
kind
fine nets of a
hot, but they kept out
all,
of the sand-flies and other small tormentors.
Here we overtook the rearmost division of Captain
Our own route had
Amilcar's bullock-train.
order to pass the great
falls.
Captain Amilcar had come
direct,
overtaking the pack-oxen, which had
before
we
did, laden
He had brought
diverged, in
left
Tapirapoan
with material for the Duvida
trip.
the oxen through in fine shape, losing
only three beasts with their loads, and had himself
left
we reached there.
His weakest animals left that evening, to make the march
by moonlight; and as it was desirable to give them thirtysix hours' start, we halted for a day on the banks of the
the Juruena the morning of the day
It
river.
was not a wasted day.
and washing our
clothes, the naturalists
ble additions to the collection
black, blue,
veloped
In addition to bathing
and white jay
made some
including a
valua-
boldly marked
and our photographs were de-
and our writing brought abreast of the date.
Travelling through a tropical wilderness in the rainy season,
when
the
amount
of baggage that can be taken
is
not only a good deal of work, but
strictly limited, entails
also the exercise of considerable ingenuity
if
the writing
and photographing, and especially the preservation, of the

specimens are to be done in satisfactory shape.
At the telegraph
office
age of Lauriado and Fiala
with a misadventure.
below the
falls,
their provisions
we received news that the voydown the Papagaio had opened
In some bad rapids, not
many
miles
two of the canoes had been upset, half of

and
all
himself nearly drowned.
of Fiala's baggage lost, and Fiala
The Papagaio
is
known both
at
216
the source and the mouth;
to descend
unknown,
sent a plunge into the
did not repre-
it
as in the case of the
Du-
vida or the Ananas; but the actual water work, over the
part that was unexplored, offered the same possibilities of
mischance and
unknown
a swift,
wilderness.
It is a
disaster.
To
river rushing
through an uninhabited
descend or ascend the ordinary great high-
way rivers of South America,

Tapajos, and, in
hazardous thing to descend
its
such as the Amazon, Paraguay,
lower course, the Orinoco,
and easy, whether by steamboat or
is
now
so safe
big, native cargo-boat,
that people are apt to forget the very serious difficulties

offered
by the streams, often themselves great
rivers,
which
run into or form the upper courses of these same water
Few
highways.
and few more
things are easier than the former feat,
than the
difficult
latter;
and experience
ordinary travelling on the lower courses of the rivers
no benefit whatever
in enabling a
man
to form a
is
in
of
judgment
what can be done, and how to do it, on the upper

courses.
Failure to remember this fact is one of the obas to
stacles in the
way
of securing a proper appreciation of the
needs, and the results, of South
American exploration.
At the Juruena we met a party of Nhambiquaras, very

friendly
and
They were
sociable,
and very glad to
see Colonel
originally exceedingly hostile
Rondon.
and suspicious,
but the colonel's unwearied thoughtfulness and good temper, joined
to avoid
aid.
him
He
with his indomitable resolution, enabled him
war and
to secure their friendship and even their
never killed one.
personally.
He
is
Many
are
known
to
on remarkably good terms with
them, and they are very fond of him

not prevent them from
them
of
although
now and then
this does
yielding to tempta-
<

tion,
even at his expense, and stealing a dog or something
which
else
217
strikes
them
as offering an irresistible attraction.
They cannot be employed
at steady
work;
but they do
occasional odd jobs, and are excellent at hunting
up strayed
mules or oxen; and a few of the men have begun to wear

clothes, purely for
friendliness
ornament.
Their confidence and bold
showed how well they had been treated.
ably half of our visitors were men;
several were small
woman with a baby;

women and girls.
one was a
boys;
young married
Nowhere
in Africa did
we come
Prob-
the others were
across wilder or
more
absolutely primitive savages, although these Indians were

pleasanter and better-featured than
tribes at the
made and
same stage of
culture.
any of the African
Both
sexes were well-
rather good-looking, with fairly good teeth, al-
though some of them seemed to have skin
diseases.
were a laughing, easy-tempered crew, and the

as well-fed as the
They
women were
men, and were obviously well-treated,
from the savage standpoint; there was no male brutality

like that
which forms such a revolting feature
in the life
of the Australian black fellows and, although to a some-
what
less degree, in
the
life
of so
many
negro and Indian
They were practically absolutely naked. In many

savage tribes the men go absolutely naked, but the women
wear a breech-clout or loin-cloth. In certain tribes we saw
tribes.
near Lake Victoria Nyanza, and on the upper White Nile,
both
these
men and women were practically naked. Among

Nhambiquaras the women were more completely
naked than the men, although the difference was not

sential.
of
The men wore
them wore nothing
a string around the waist.
else,
es-
Most
but a few had loosely hanging
218
from
this string in front a scanty tuft of dried grass, or a
small piece of cloth, which, however, was of purely sym-
modesty was con-
bolic use so far as either protection or
cerned.
The women
anywhere on
did not wear a stitch of any kind
They
their bodies.
an ornament
as a string, or a bead, or even
They were
young
girls,
as entirely at ease
friendly animals.
All of
well-grown
and unconscious as so many
them
and talking
much
in their hair.
men and women, boys and
all,
dren, laughing
did not have on so
men,
crowded
women, and
around
chil-
whether
us,
we were on horseback or on foot. They flocked into the

house, and when I sat down to write surrounded me so
closely that I had to push them gently away.
The women
and
girls
their
often stood holding one another's hands, or with
arms over one another's shoulders or around one
another's waists, offering an attractive picture.
The men
had holes pierced through the septum of the nose and

through the upper
lip,
and wore a straw through each
hole.
The women were not marked
seems
like a contradiction in terms,
but
or
it
mutilated.
nevertheless
is
a fact that the behavior of these completely naked
and men was entirely modest.
It
women
There was never an
in-
They had
came simply
decent look or a consciously indecent gesture.
no blankets or hammocks, and when night

lay
down
in the sand.
Colonel
never wore a covering by night

cool slept one
were merely
on each
Rondon stated that they

or by day, and if it was
side of a small
fire.
Their huts
slight shelters against the rain.
The moon was
nearly
full,
and
after nightfall a few of
the Indians suddenly held an improvised dance for us in

front of our house.
There were four men, a small boy,

women
and two young
or
had been doing some work
grown
girls.
Two
219
of the
for the commission,
dressed,
one completely and one partially,
clothes.
Two
in
men
and were
ordinary
men and the boy were practically

two young women were absolutely so. All
of the
naked, and the
them danced in a circle, without a touch of embarrassment or impropriety. The two girls kept hold of each
other's hands throughout, dancing among the men as modof
and with the occasional interchange of
estly as possible,
a laugh or jest, in as good taste and temper as in
The dance
dance
in civilization.
round
in a circle, first
cally beating time
told
all
consisted in slowly going
way then
the other, rhythmi-
with the feet to the music of the song
The chants
they were chanting.
them,
one
any
were
there
were three of
measured and rather slowly uttered
melodies, varied with an occasional half-subdued shrill cry.
The women
continually uttered a kind of long-drawn wail-
ing or droning;
whether
it
am
not enough of a musician to say
was an overtone or the sustaining of the burden
of the ballad.
The young boy sang
the others.
was a strange and
It
better than
any of
interesting sight to see
these utterly wild, friendly savages, circling in their slow
dance,
and chanting their immemorial melodies,
brilliant tropical
in
the
moonlight, with the river rushing by in
the background, through the lonely heart of the wilderness.
The Indians stayed with
feasting,
us,
dancing,
singing, until the early hours of the morning.
suddenly and silently disappeared

did not return.
had gone
off
In the morning
we
in
and
They then
the darkness,
and
discovered that they
with one of Colonel Rondon's dogs.
Probably
220
the temptation had proved irresistible to one of their
and the others had been afraid to
ber,
interfere,
and
also
We
had
afraid to stay in or return to our neighborhood.
Rondon remarked
not time to go after them; but
num-
that as
soon as he again came to the neighborhood he would take
some
It
soldiers,
hunt up the Indians, and reclaim the dog.
has been his mixture of firmness, good nature, and good
judgment that has enabled him to control these bold,

warlike savages, and even to reduce the warfare between
them and the

laughter,
their
necessary
it
Parecis.
In spite of their good nature and
fearlessness
was not to
let
and familiarity showed how
them
are always required to leave
get the upper hand.
all
their
They
arms a mile or two
come into the encampment. They are

much wilder and more savage, and at a much lower cul-
away
before they
tural level, than the Parecis.
In the afternoon of the day following our arrival there
was a heavy rain-storm which drove into the unglazed

windows, and here and there came through the roof and
The heat was intense
walls of our daub-and-wattle house.
and there was much moisture in this valley. During the
downpour
looked out at the dreary
through the driving

slid
and
the lieutenant and his soldiers

late outpost of civilization.
much
and deadly
It
felt
muddy water
a sincere respect for
who were
is
holding this deso-
an unhealthy spot; there
malarial fever and beriberi
an
obscure
disease.
Next morning we resumed our march.

to rain and we were drenched when, some
we reached
houses, showing
rain, while the sheets of
past their door-sills;
has been
little
the river where
we were
It
soon began
fifteen miles on,
to camp.
After the
Maloca
or beehive hut of the
From
Nhambiquaras
A Nhambiquara
shelter hut
and
utensils
Their huts were merely slight shelters against the rain
From

we
great heat
quite cold in our wet clothes, and gladly
felt
crowded round a
which was kindled under a thatched
fire
This ferry-boat
shed, beside the cabin of the ferrymen.
was
221
so small that
it
could only take one mule, or at most
The mules and a span of six oxen dragging an ox-cart, which we had overtaken, were ferried
two, at a time.
slowly to the farther side that afternoon, as there was no

feed on the hither bank, where
ferryman was a soldier
Commission.
in the
we
The
ourselves camped.
employ of the Telegraphic
His good-looking, pleasant-mannered wife,
evidently of both Indian and negro blood, was with him,
and was doing

comfortless
all
little
she could do as a housekeeper, in the
cabin, with
its
primitive bareness of fur-
niture and fittings.
Here we saw Captain Amilcar, who had come back to

hurry up his rear-guard.
water,
by the swollen
We
river,
stood ankle-deep in
mud and
while the rain beat on us, and
enjoyed a few minutes' talk with the cool, competent of-
who was doing a difficult job with such workmanlike

efficiency.
He had no poncho, and was wet through, but
was much too busy in getting his laden oxen forward to
think of personal discomfort. He had had a good deal of
ficer
trouble with his mules, but his oxen were
still
in fair shape.
After leaving the Juruena the ground became some-
what more
hilly,
and the scrubby
forest
was
less
open,
but otherwise there was no change in the monotonous, and

yet to
me
rather attractive, landscape.
the ant-houses in the trees
were
as conspicuous
arboreal
as ever.
The
ant-hills,
ant-hills, so to
The
architects of
and
speak
some
were red ants, of others black ants; and others, which were
on the whole the
largest,
had been
built
by the white
ants,
222
The
the termites.
latter
than
taller
a horseman's head.
That evening round the camp-fire Colonel Rondon happened to mention how the brother of one of the
with us
snake.
Parecis Indian
Cherrie told of a
had been
soldiers
by a jararaca
narrow escape he had from one
killed
At night he used to set traps

in camp for small mammals.
One night he heard one of
these traps go off under his hammock.
He reached down
for it, and as he fumbled for the chain he felt a snake
strike at him, just missing him in the darkness, but actually brushing his hand.
He lit a light and saw that a big
jararaca had been caught in the trap; and he preserved it
while collecting in Guiana.
as
Snakes frequently came into
a specimen.
He
after nightfall.
killed
camp
his
one rattlesnake which had swal-
lowed the skinned bodies of four mice he had prepared

as specimens;
ways
he
which shows that rattlesnakes do not
Another rattlesnake which
feed only on living prey.
killed in Central
al-
America had
just swallowed
an opos-
sum which proved to be of a species new to science.

told how once on the Orinoco he saw on the bank
Miller
a small
anaconda, some ten feet long, killing one of the iguanas,

big, active, truculent, carnivorous lizards, equally at
on the land and
in the water.
home
Evidently the iguanas were
digging out holes in the bank in which to lay their eggs;

for there
them.
were several such
holes,
The snake had crushed
and iguanas working
its
at
and
prey to a pulp;
not more than a couple of feet away another iguana was

still
busily,
and with
entire unconcern, engaged in
mak-
At Miller's approach the anaconda

the dead iguana and rushed into the water, and the
ing
its
burrow.
left
live
The
ant-hills

From
taller
than a horseman's head

iguana promptly followed
223
Miller also told of the stone
it.
gods and altars and temples he had seen in the great Co-
lombian
monuments
forests,
and died out ages ago, and of which
flourished
He
ory has vanished.
and
of strange civilizations which
waterfalls,
and of
all
mem-
and Cherrie told of giant rivers
forests never penetrated,
and moun-
man; and
of bloody rev-
olutions that devastated the settled regions.
Listening to
tains never ascended
them
by
civilized
that they could write "Tales of
felt
ralists" that
Two Natu-
would be worth reading.
They were
short of literature,
such as ours always needs books

ing-matter consisted chiefly of
by the way
and
party
as Kermit's read-
Camoens and other Portu-
guese, or else Brazilian, writers, I strove to supply the
At the end of
deficiency with spare volumes of Gibbon.
we were
our march
and the rain was
would
there
sit
usually far ahead of the mule-train,

also
about under
usually falling.
trees, or
Accordingly
we
under a shed or lean-to,
if
was one, each solemnly reading a volume of Gibbon
and
no better reading can be found.
In
my own
case,
had been having rather a steady course of Gibbon,

varied him now and then with a volume of Arsene Lupin
as I
I
lent
me by
Kermit.
There were
many
swollen rivers to cross at this point
Some we waded at fords. Some we

crossed by rude bridges.
The larger ones, such as the
Juina, we crossed by ferry, and when the approaches were
of our
journey.
swampy, and the river broad and swift, many hours might
be consumed in getting the mule-train, the loose bullocks,
and the ox-cart over. We had few accidents, although we
once
lost
a ferry-load of provisions,
which was quite a
224
misfortune in a country where they could not be replaced.
The pasturage was
poor, and
it
was impossible to make
long marches with our weakened animals.
At one camp three Nhambiquaras paid us a visit at

breakfast-time. They left their weapons behind them before they appeared,
still
hid
swering
by the
and shouted loudly while they were

and
forest,
calls of
was only
it
after repeated an-
welcome that they approached.
in the wilderness friends proclaim their presence;
Our
advance marks a
foe.
naked, as usual.
One seemed
visitors
Always
a silent
were men, and stark

he was thin, and his
sick;
back was scarred with marks of the grub of the loathsome

berni
fly.
insect
them showed scars, chiefly from

But the other two were in good condition,
Indeed,
wounds.
of
all
and, although they ate greedily of the food offered them,
they had with them a big mandioc cake, some honey,
and a
little
One
fish.
puma-skin, with the
them wore a high helmet of

hanging down his back hand-
of
tail
some head-gear, which he gladly bartered for several strings

of bright coral-red beads. Around the upper arms of two
of
them were bands bound
deform the muscles
so tightly as to cut into
a singular custom, seemingly not only
purposeless but mischievous, which

tribe
and many
is
common among
are a
numerous
tribe,
covering a
But they have no general organization.
group of families acts for
itself.
his
camp and
Each
Half a dozen years pre-
viously they had been very hostile, and Colonel
had to guard
this
others.
The Nhambiquaras
large region.
and
Rondon
exercise every precaution to
guarantee his safety, while at the same time successfully
endeavoring to avoid the necessity of himself shedding
Now
blood.
they
most
are, for the
part, friendly.
there are groups or individuals that are not.

diers
have been
225
But
Several sol-
and
killed at these little lonely stations;
may have
while in some cases the attack
been due to the
having meddled with Nhambiquara women,
soldiers'
in
other cases the killing was entirely wanton and unpro-
Sooner or later these criminals or outlaws
voked.
have to be brought to
justice;
crimes go unpunished.
Twice
fled to
the Nhambiquaras.
work
for
soldiers
will
But pioneering
man and
both
neyed onward, under the
not do to
let their
have deserted and
The runaways were
The country when opened

settlers.
will
and adopted into the
ceived, were given wives,
white
it
beast.
will
well re-
tribe.
be a healthy abode for

is
grim
we
jour-
in the wilderness
Continually, as
pitiless glare of
the sun or through
we passed desolate little graves

by the roadside. They marked the last resting-places of
men who had died by fever, or dysentery, or Nhambiblinding torrents of rain,
We
quara arrows.
slowly
raised our hats as our mules plodded
by through the sand.
wooden
cross,
and
already stained
this
On
each grave was a
frail
and the paling round about were
by the weather
as gray as the tree-trunks
of the stunted forest that stretched endlessly on every side.
The
skeletons of mules and oxen were frequent along
the road.
Now
and then we came across a mule or ox
which had been abandoned by Captain Amilcar's party,
The animal had been left with the hope that

when night came it would follow along the trail to water.
Sometimes it did so. Sometimes we found it dead, or
standing motionless waiting for death. From time to time
we had to leave behind one of our own mules.
ahead of
us.
226
was not always easy to recognize what pasturage

the mules would accept as good. One afternoon we pitched
It
camp by
by the way, where the piums, the
a camp,
forest;
biting
a tiny rivulet, in the midst of the scrubby upland

small,
were a torment during the hours of daylight,
flies,
by
while after dark their places were more than taken
diminutive gnats which the Brazilians expressively
the
term "polvora," or powder, and which get through the

meshes of a mosquito-net.
smallest
The
was
feed
so
scanty, and the cover so dense, at this spot that I thought
we would have
great difficulty in gathering the mules next
morning.
But we did
afternoon,
we camped by
not.
few hours
a beautiful open
meadow; on
one side ran a rapid brook, with a waterfall eight

high, under
which we bathed and swam.
looked so good that
we
mules did not
and
the
trail,
and
like
it
it,
all
the
in
later,
feet
Here the feed
But the
expressed pleasure.
after nightfall they hiked
back on
was a long and arduous work to gather
them next morning.

I
have touched above on the insect
pests.
Men
un-
used to the South American wilderness speak with awe

of the danger therein from jaguars, crocodiles, and poison-
ous snakes.
trivial,
much
In reality, the danger from these sources

less
than the danger of being run down by
an automobile at home.
sect plagues
But
at times the
can hardly be exaggerated.
different species of mosquitoes,

disease.
is
There are many
torment of
in-
There are many
some of them bearers of
different kinds of small, biting
and gnats, loosely grouped together under various

titles.
The ones more especially called piums by my com-
flies
panions were somewhat like our northern black
flies.
They
227
At the moment
their bites
gorged themselves with blood.

did not hurt, but they
left
an itching
scar.
Head-nets and
gloves are a protection, but are not very comfortable in
hot weather.
stifling
mosquito-biers.
new land they
It
When
impossible to sleep without
is
settlers of the right
type come into
speedily learn to take the measures neces-
by
sary to minimize the annoyance caused
all
Those that are winged have plenty of kinsfolk
these pests.
much
in so
of the northern continent as has not yet been subdued
But the most noxious of the South American
by man.
have, thank Heaven, no
ants
nivorous foraging ants
and
tents,
North
in
At the camp of the piums a column of the
America.
fall,
representatives
we
for a time
for
went
it
made
its
feared
straight
it
appearance before night-
might put us out of our
through camp, between the
and our own sleeping-tents.
kitchen-tent
car-
column turned neither to the
However, the
right nor the left, streaming
uninterruptedly past for several hours, and doing no damage except to the legs of any incautious
near
man who walked
it.
On
the afternoon of February 15
we reached Campos
we had
This place was utterly unlike the country
Novos.
been traversing.
traversed
swampy
by
It
was a
large basin, several miles across,
several brooks.
The brooks ran
in
by a matted growth of tall

Between them the ground rose in bold
valleys, occupied
ical forest.
deep,
trophills,
bare of forest and covered with grass, on which our jaded
On
animals fed eagerly.
one of these rounded
hills
num-
ber of buildings were ranged in a quadrangle, for the pas-
turage at this spot

pied.
is
so
good that
it is
permanently occu-
There were milch cows, and we got delicious fresh
228
milk;
Most
and there were goats,
pigs, turkeys,
made
of the buildings were
roofs of
One
palm thatch.
or
and chickens.
of upright poles, with
two were of native
brick,
mud, and before these there was an enclosure with a few ragged palms, and some pineapple plants.
Here we halted. Our attendants made two kitchens: one
was out in the open air, one was under a shelter of ox-hide.
The view over the surrounding grassy hills, riven by deep
wooded valleys, was lovely. The air was cool and fresh.
We were not bothered by insects, although mosquitoes
swarmed in every belt of timber. Yet there has been
plastered with
much
fever at this beautiful and seemingly healthy place.
Doubtless when settlement
edy
will
was
interesting
is
sufficiently
The geology
be developed.
Oliveira found
fossil
advanced a rem-
of this neighborhood
tree-trunks which he
believed to be of cretaceous age.
Here we found Amilcar and Mello, who had waited
for us
with the rear-guard of their pack-train, and we enjoyed our
meeting with the two

service of
fine fellows,
whom
than
any nation could produce more
this kind of difficult
no military
efficient
and responsible work.
men
for
Next morn-
ing they mustered their soldiers, muleteers, and pack-ox
men, and marched

them.
We
Reinisch the taxidermist was with
off.
followed in the late afternoon, camping after
a few miles.
We
thence on the
trail
left
the ox-cart at
was only
Campos Novos; from
for pack-animals.
In this neighborhood the two naturalists found

birds which
we had not
uous was a huge
naked
face,
oriole,
hitherto met.
The most
many
conspic-
the size of a small crow, with a
a black-and-red
bill,
and gaudily variegated
plumage of green, yellow, and chestnut.
Very
interesting

was the
false
bell-bird,
There was
notes.
a gray bird with loud, metallic
akin,
woodpecker, no
also a tiny soft-tailed
larger than a kinglet; a queer

flexible bill;
229
humming-bird with a
slightly
and many species of ant-thrush, tanager, man-
Among
and tody.
vireo looking
much
like
unfamiliar forms was a
these
Cherrie collected a dozen perching birds;

ful little rail;
At one camp
our solitary vireo.
Miller a beauti-
and Kermit, with the small Liiger
belt-rifle,
handsome curassow, nearly as big as a turkey out of

which, after it had been skinned, the cook made a delia
cious canja, the thick Brazilian soup of fowl
which there
nothing better of
is
were new to the collection
no
its
and
than
All these birds
kind.
naturalists
had previously
this region
so
that the afternoon's
sented nine species
new
to the collection, six
worked
rice
work reprenew genera,
and a most excellent soup.
Two
days after leaving Campos Novos we reached Vi-
lhena, where there

at a small river
is
a telegraph station.
named by Colonel Rondon
of October," because he reached
discovered America
it
was
march
it
camped once
the "Twelfth
on the day Columbus
had never before known what day
companion
hill
which he had named
in the exploration.
The two
day and part of two others

was through beautiful country, and we enjoyed it thor-
days'
and once at the foot of a
after Lyra, his
We
really
one
full
oughly, although there were occasional driving rain-storms,
when the
every
one
rain
came
in
almost level sheets and drenched
and everything.
The country was
like that
around Campos Novos, and offered a striking contrast to

the level, barren, sandy wastes of the chapadao, which
is
a healthy region, where great industrial centres can arise,
230
but not suited for extensive agriculture as are the lowland

flats.
For these forty-eight hours the
trail
climbed into
and out of steep valleys and broad basins and up and
down
in
hills.
In the deep valleys were magnificent woods,
which giant rubber-trees towered, while the huge leaves
of the low-growing pacova, or wild banana, were conspic-
uous
in the
Great azure butterflies
undergrowth.
through the open, sunny glades, and the
flitted
bell-birds, sitting
motionless, uttered their ringing calls from the dark
ness of the columned groves.
The
hillsides
still-
were grassy
pastures or else covered with low, open forest.
brown above, with a light streak down

each side, was found hiding under some sticks in a damp
place in one of the improvised kitchens; and another frog,
with disks on his toes, was caught on one of the tents. A
coral-snake puzzled us.
Some coral-snakes are harmless;
huge
frog,
others are poisonous, although not aggressive.
The
authorities give an infallible recipe for distinguishing
by the pattern
although
it
best
them
of the colors, but this particular specimen,
corresponded exactly in color pattern with the
description of the poisonous snakes, nevertheless had no
poison-fangs that even after the most minute examination
we
could discover.
Miller and one of the dogs caught a
sariema, a big, long-legged, bustard-like bird, in rather a

curious way.
We
were on the march, plodding along
through as heavy a tropic downpour as
The
and uncomfortable as we
tune to encounter.
it
was our
were, was hiding under a bush
The dog
discovered
after the bird valiantly repelled him, Miller

it.
for-
sariema, evidently as drenched
to avoid the pelting rain.
seize
ill
it,
and
was able to
Its stomach contained about half a pint of grass-
At Vilhena there
hoppers and beetles and young leaves.
was a tame sariema, much more familiar and
any of the poultry.
It
The sariema
or dog.
was without the
(like
231
at
home than
least fear of
man
the screamer and the curassow)
ought to be introduced into our barnyards and on our

lawns, at any rate in the Southern States;
and attractive
looking, friendly,
met
some places
bird.
it
a good-
is
Another bird we
more intimate, and domesticates

itself.
This is the pretty little honey-creeper. In Colombia
Miller found the honey-creepers habitually coming inside
in
is
far
the houses and hotels at meal-times, hopping about the
and climbing into the sugar-bowl.
table,
Along
this part of
at a hasty glance
showed
me
that
He
much
of
what
seemed to be volcanic rock; but Oliveira
was a kind of conglomerate, with bub-
it
bles or hollows in
our march there was
it,
made
of sand and iron-bearing earth.
was a superficial quaternary deposit, formed by

erosion from the cretaceous rocks, and that there were
said
it
here no tertiary deposits.
He
described
structure of the lands through which

follows:
The pantanals were
the geological
we had passed
as
Along
of pleistocene age.
the upper Sepotuba, in the region of the rapids, there were

sandstones, shales, and clays of permian age.
country east of this contained eruptive rocks

ritic
diabase, with zeolite, quartz,
age.
With the chapadao of the
to a land of sand
and
The
clay, dotted
porphy-
and agate of
Parecis plateau
rolling
triassic
we came
with lumps of sand-
stone and pieces of petrified wood; this, according to Oliveira,
is
of mesozoic age, possibly cretaceous and similar
to the South African formation.
consider
it
as of
permian age.
There are geologists who
232
At Vilhena we were on a watershed which drained

the Gy-Parana, which
midway between
its
itself
runs into the Madeira nearly
sources and
we
ther along and northward
into
its
mouth.
little far-
again came to streams run-
ning ultimately into the Tapajos; and between them, and

close
streamlets which drained
to them, were
into the
Duvida and Ananas, whose courses and outlets were unknown. This point is part of the divide between the basins
of the Madeira and Tapajos. A singular topographical
feature of the Plan Alto, the great interior sandy plateau
of Brazil,
is
that at
its
westernmost end the southward-
flowing streams, instead of running into the Paraguay as
they do farther
east,
form the headwaters of the Guapore,
which may, perhaps, be

the Madeira.
upper main stream of
called the
These westernmost streams from the south-
ern edge of the plateau, therefore, begin
by flowing south;
then for a long stretch they flow southwest; then north,
and
finally northeast into the
Amazon.
According to some
exceptionally good geological observers, this
due to the fact that
is
probably
remote geologic past the ocean
in a
arm from the south, between the Plan Alto and

what is now the Andean chain. These rivers then emptied into the Andean Sea.
The gradual upheaval of the
soil has resulted in substituting dry land for this arm of
the ocean and in reversing the course of what is now the
sent in an
Madeira, just
what
as,
according to these geologists, in some-
familiar fashion the
having once been, at
least for the
course, an affluent of the
From Vilhena we
direction.
Amazon
Andean
has been reversed,
upper two thirds of
it
its
Sea.
travelled in a generally northward
For a few leagues we went across the chapadao,
233
the sands or clays of the nearly level upland plateau, grassy
stunted forest, the same type of
or covered with thin,
country that had been predominant ever since we ascended

the Parens table-land on the morning of the third day after
leaving the Sepotuba.
dipped into a basin containing the headsprings of
trail
the Ananas,
we
left
little
type of country and began to
There was
feed for the animals on the chapadao.
There was
in the forest.
made
this
not very high.
march through thick

less
Then, at about the point where the
forest,
Moreover, the continual heavy rains
the travelling difficult and laborious for them, and
they weakened.
However, a couple of marches before we
reached Tres Burity, where there

dreds of cattle,
were over.
There were piums
in plenty
quitoes nor sand-flies
very pleasant, save for
The
a big ranch with hun-
we were met by ten
difficulties
our serious
is
fresh pack-oxen,
by day, but
and
neither mos-
by night; and for us the trip was

moments of anxiety about the mules.
abundance of fresh
loose bullocks furnished us
beef,
although, as was inevitable under the circumstances, of a
One of the biggest of the bulwas attacked one night by a vampire bat, and next
decidedly tough quality.

locks
morning
his withers
were
literally
bathed in blood.
With the chapadao we said good-by to the curious,

gregarious, and crepuscular or nocturnal spiders which we
found so abundant along the
They have
offered one of the small problems with
Commission has had to

the dry season.
their
line of the telegraph-wire.
deal.
They
They swarm during
are not
which the
common
the rains; and,
in
when
tough webs are wet, those that lead from the wire
to the ground sometimes effectually short-circuit the wire.
234
They have on various occasions caused

in this
a good deal of trouble
manner.
The third
moment from
night out from Vilhena
we emerged
for a
the endless close-growing forest in which our
poor animals got such scanty pickings, and came to a beautiful
open country, where grassy
sional trees,
came down on
slopes, dotted
with occa-
either side of a little brook
which was one of the headwaters of the Duvida.
It
was
a pleasure to see the mules greedily bury their muzzles

in the pasturage.
Our
tents were pitched in the open,
near a shady tree, which sent out

side.
At
this
camp
its
low branches on every
Cherrie shot a lark, very characteristic
of the open upland country, and Miller found two bats in
wood of a dead log. He heard them squeaking

and dug them out; he could not tell by what method they
the rotten
had gotten
in.
Here Kermit, while a couple of miles from our
came
across
an encampment of Nhambiquaras.
were twenty or thirty of them

children.
men,
tents,
There
women, and a few
Kermit, after the manner of honest folk in the
wilderness, advanced ostentatiously in the open, calling out
to give warning of his coming.
Like surroundings
may
The early Saxons in England deemed

it legal to kill any man who came through the woods without shouting or blowing a horn; and in Nhambiquara land
cause like manners.
at the present time
it
is
against etiquette, and
may
be
very unhealthy, to come through the woods toward strangers without loudly announcing one's presence.
The Nham-
biquaras received Kermit with the utmost cordiality, and
gave him pineapple-wine to drink.

as usual;
They were
stark naked
they had no hammocks or blankets, and their
Yet they were
huts were flimsy shelters of palm-branches.
Half a dozen of the
in fine condition.
235
men and
a couple
of boys accompanied Kermit back to our camp, paying no
heed to the rain which was
slightest
bold and friendly, good-natured
and very
in their lips did not
and they laughed
least
They were
superficially
In feasting, the long reeds thrust
inquisitive.
through holes
at
falling.
seem to bother them,
at the suggestion of
removing them;
evidently to have done so would have been rather bad
manners
like
using a knife as an aid in eating ice-cream.
They held two or three dances, and we were again struck

by the rhythm and weird, haunting melody of their chantAfter supper they danced beside the camp-fire;
ing.
finally, to their delight,
and
most of the members of our own
and Brazilians, enthusiastically joined
party, Americans
the dance, while the colonel and
furnished an apprecia-
Next morning, when we

were awakened by the chattering and screaming of the
numerous macaws, parrots, and parakeets, we found that
nearly all the Indians, men and women, were gathered
outside the tent. As far as clothing was concerned, they
and applauding audience.
tive
were
One
put
in the condition of
of the
it
when
women
up the big
Adam
and Eve before the
carried a little squirrel
tree
monkey.
some distance from the
tents;
fall.
She
and
came scampering to her across the

grass, ran up her, and clung to her neck.
They would
have liked to pilfer; but as they had no clothes it was
difficult for them to conceal anything.
One of the women
was observed to take a fork; but as she did not possess a
rag of clothing of any kind all she could do was to try to
bury the fork in the sand and then sit on it; and it was
she called,
it
236
reclaimed without difficulty.
wore necklaces and bracelets
One or two of the children

made of the polished wood
tucum palm, and of the molars of small rodents.

Next day's march led us across a hilly country of good
pastureland. The valleys were densely wooded, palms of
several kinds being conspicuous among the other trees;
and the brooks at the bottoms we crossed at fords or by
of the
the usual rude pole bridges.
On
the open pastures were
occasional trees, usually slender bacaba palms, with heads
which the winds had dishevelled

mops.
It
was evidently a
we soon began
fine natural cattle country,
and
to see scores, perhaps hundreds, of the
cattle belonging to the
which we reached
situated:
until they looked like
government ranch
in the early afternoon.
the view roundabout
is
lovely,
at Tres Burity,
It
is
beautifully
and certainly the
when settlements have been definitely established.

Here we revelled in abundance of good
fresh milk and eggs; and for dinner we had chicken canja
and fat beef roasted on big wooden spits; and we even
had watermelons. The latter were from seeds brought
down by the American engineers who built the MadeiraMarmore Railroad a work which stands honorably distinguished among the many great and useful works done
land will prove healthy
development of the tropics of recent years.
in the
Amilcar's pack-oxen, which were nearly worn out, had
been
left in
these fertile pastures.
which he took
was a
off;
in their places
Most of the
were unbroken, and there
perfect circus before they were packed
in
fresh oxen
and marched
every direction, said the gleeful narrators, there
were bucking oxen and loads strewed on the ground.

cattle-ranch
is
managed by the
This
colonel's uncle, his mother's
A
From
Nhambiquara women and
Nhambiquara family
a photograph by
Kermit Roosevelt
"Adam
children
From photographs by
Cherrie
and Eve

man
brother, a hale old

active
and vigorous
face.
His
name
is
Matto Grosso, of
of seventy, white-haired but as
as ever; with a fine, kindly, intelligent
Miguel Evangalista.
He
is
a native of
and was
practically pure Indian blood,
dressed in the ordinary costume of the caboclo

trousers,
237
and no shoes or stockings.
hat,
Within the
shirt,
last
year
he had killed three jaguars, which had been living on the

mules; as long as they could get mules they did not at this
station molest the cattle.
It
was with
this uncle's father, Colonel
grandfather, that Colonel

first
seven years of his
born, and his mother

lived
on
Rondon
as
Rondon's own
an orphan spent the
His father died before he was
life.
when he was only
his grandfather's
cattle-ranch,
Then he went
He
a year old.
some
miles
fifty
Cuyaba with a
kinsman on his father's side, from whom he took the name
of Rondon; his own father's name was Da Silva.
He
studied in the Cuyaba Government School, and at sixteen
was inscribed as one of the instructors. Then he went to
Rio, served for a year in the army as an enlisted man in
from Cuyaba.
to live in
the ranks, and succeeded finally in getting into the military school.
After five years as pupil he served three years
as professor of
mathematics
in this school;
lieutenant of engineers in the Brazilian
back to
his
home
in
and then,
as a
army, he came
Matto Grosso and began
his life-work
of exploring the wilderness.
Next day we journeyed to the telegraph
station
at
Bonofacio, through alternate spells of glaring sunshine and
heavy
rain.
On
the
of Nhambiquaras.
to hunt, with
way we
We
stopped at an aldea
first
village
met a couple of men going
bows and arrows longer than themselves.
238
rather comely
young woman, carrying on her back a
wickerwork basket, or
creel,
supported by a forehead band,
and accompanied by a small

the village there were a
child,
number
was with them.
At
women, and
chil-
of men,
Although as completely naked as the others we
dren.
had met, the members of
this
band were more ornamented
with beads, and wore earrings made from the inside of

mussel-shells
They were more

met. The women, but
or very big snail-shells.
hairy than the ones
we had
so far
not the men, completely remove the hair from their bodies
and look more, instead of

The
chief,
fruit,
less,
indecent in consequence.
whose body was painted red with the
had what could
fairly
be styled a mustache and im-
and one old man looked somewhat
perial;
juice of a
like
a hairy
Ainu, or perhaps even more like an Australian black

low.
My
companion told me that
this
fel-
probably repre-
sented an infusion of negro blood, and possibly of mulatto

blood, from
runaway
when some
slaves of the old days,
of
the Matto Grosso mines were worked by slave labor.
They
also
thought
it
possible that this infiltration of Afri-
can negroes might be responsible for the curious shape of

the bigger huts, which were utterly unlike their flimsy,
ordinary shelters, and bore no resemblance in shape to

those of the other Indian tribes of this region; whereas
they were not unlike the ordinary beehive huts of the

agricultural African negroes.
There were
several huts or shelters open at the sides,
These were of
feet high opposite
were
and two of the
woven thatch, circular

with a rounded dome, and two doors a couple
big huts.
outline,
in this village
fifteen or
closely
each other, and no other opening.
twenty people to each hut.
in
of
There
Inside were

their
implements and
utensils,
239
such as wicker baskets (some
them filled with pineapples), gourds, fire-sticks, wooden

knives, wooden mortars, and a board for grating mandioc,
made of a thick slab of wood inset with sharp points of a
harder wood. From the Brazilians one or two of them had
obtained blankets, and one a hammock; and they had also
of
obtained knives, which they sorely needed, for they are
One woman
not even in the stone age.
shielded herself
from the rain by holding a green palm-branch down her

Another had on her head what we at
back.
to be a monkey-skin head-dress.
black monkey.
But
It stayed habitually
her forehead, and
its
arms and
it
first
was a
with
its
thought
little, live,
head above
legs spread so that
it
lay
moulded to the shape of her head; but both woman and
monkey showed some
reluctance about having their photo-
graphs taken.
Bonofacio consisted of several thatched one-room cabins,
connected by a stockade which was extended to form an
enclosure behind them.
number
of
tame parrots and
parakeets, of several different species, scrambled over the

roofs
and entered the houses.
by were the
curious, extensive
which ate the roots of

but pulling
In the open pastures near
it
grass, not
into the burrows
burrows of a gopher
rat,
emerging to eat the grass
by the
roots.
These bur-
rows bore a close likeness to those of our pocket gophers.

Miller found the animals difficult to trap.
aid of Colonel
Finally,
by the
Rondon, several Indians, and two or three
of our men, he dug one out.

eral surface galleries radiated,
From
the central shaft sev-
running for
many
rods about
a foot below the surface, with, at intervals of half a dozen
yards,
mounds where the
loose earth
had been
expelled.
240
The
and then
laterally for
about
The animal dug hard
ber.
down
central shaft ran straight
fifteen feet, to a
It
kind of cham-
when taken and
moved
slowly and awk-
it
showed vicious courage.
resembled our pocket gophers, but
was one of the most
feet,
to escape, but
put on the surface of the ground

wardly.
about eight
for
it
In looks
it
closely
had no pockets.
interesting small
mammals
This
that
we
secured.
After breakfast at Bonafacio a
men, women,
and children
number
of
strolled in.
us an exhibition of not very good archery;
was bent,
it
was at
Nhambiquaras
The men gave

when the bow
held so that the arrow pointed
first
upwards and was then lowered so that the arrow
straight
was aimed
at the target.
taken from other
had been
killed;
Several of the
tribes, after their
husbands or fathers
Nhambiquaras
for the
robbers and murderers.
women had been
Two
are light-hearted
or three miserable dogs ac-
companied them, half-starved and mangy, but each decorated with a collar of beads.
four wives apiece, and the
The headmen had
women were
the burden-bearers,
Most
but apparently were not badly treated.
were
dirty,
them
but some, especially among the
were quite attractive.
From Bonafacio we went about seven

rolling
of
although well-fed looking, and their features
were of a low type;

children,
three or
prairie
miles, across a
dotted with trees and clumps of scrub.
There, on February 24,
we
joined Amilcar,
who was camped
by a brook which flowed into the Duvida. We were only

some six miles from our place of embarkation on the
Duvida, and we divided our party and our belongings.
Amilcar, Miller, Mello, and Oliveira were to march three

days to the Gy-Parana, and then descend
Cherrie, Kermit,
and
I,
with sixteen paddlers, in seven ca-
and
noes, were to descend the Duvida,

led into the
find out
whether
it
Gy-Parana, into the Madeira, or into the Ta-
If within a
pajos.
and continue
it,
Rondon, Lyra, the doctor,
the Madeira to Manaos.
down
241
few days
led into the
it
Gy-Parana,
our purpose was to return and descend the Ananas, whose

outlet
was
also
Having
unknown.
this in view,
we
left
fortnight's provisions for our party of six at Bonofacio.
We
took with us provisions for about
rations, for
fish,
we hoped
in part to live
fifty
days; not
full
on
on the country
Our personal baggage
game, nuts, and palm-tops.
was already well cut down: Cherrie, Kermit, and
took
the naturalist's fly to sleep under, and a very light
little
tent extra for
any one who might
and the doctor took one of their own

that
we
carried were necessities
Rondon, Lyra,
fall sick.
tents.
The
things
food, medicines, bedding,
instruments for determining the altitude and longitude and

latitude
were
and
in
except a few books, each
compass: Lyra's
German, consisting of two tiny volumes of Goethe

Kermit's were in Portuguese;
Schiller;
English, included the last
of
in small
More's
Sophocles,
Epictetus, the
two
mine,
all
in
two volumes of Gibbon, the plays
Marcus
me by a
"Utopia,"
latter
lent
Aurelius,
friend,
Shipton of the regulars, our military attache at
and
Major
Buenos
Aires.
If our
canoe voyage was prosperous we would gradually
lighten the loads
by eating the
provisions.
accidents, such as losing canoes

losing
men
in
and men
encounters with Indians, or
If
we met with
in the rapids, or
if
we encountered
overmuch fever and dysentery, the loads would lighten
242

We
themselves.
for sport.
were
armed.
all
We
Cherrie had some to be used sparingly for col-
lecting specimens.
The
The food and
procure food.
all
reasonable
the arms
we
precautions against
starvation; but, of course,
very long and
unless
an attackonly to
others were to be used
the unlikely event of having to repel
sented
took no cartridges
difficult, if
if
we
in
carried represuffering
and
the course of the river proved

lost
our boats over
falls
or in
had to make too many and too long portages,

or were brought to a halt by impassable swamps, then
rapids, or
we would have
to reckon with starvation as a possibility.
Anything might happen.
We
were about to go into the
unknown, and no one could say what
it
held.
CHAPTER
VIII
THE RIVER OF DOUBT
On
down
February
27, 1914, shortly after
Doubt
the River of
selves in the
Gy-Parana, or after
or after three
We
unknown.
into the
quite uncertain whether after a
midday, we started
week we should
six
weeks
months we knew not where.
in the
were
find our-
Madeira,
That was why
the river was rightly christened the Duvida.
We
had been camped
close to the river,
that follows the telegraph-line crosses
it
where the
by a rough
trail
bridge.
As our laden dugouts swung into the stream, Amilcar and

Miller and all the others of the Gy-Parana party were on
the banks and the bridge to wave farewell and wish us
good-by and good luck. It was the height of the rainy
season, and the swollen torrent was swift and brown.
Our
camp was at about 12 1/ latitude south and 6o 15' longi-
Our general course was to be

northward toward the equator, by waterway through the
tude west of Greenwich.
vast forest.
We
had seven canoes,
small, one
leaky.
all
of
them dugouts.
was cranky, and two were
The other
three were good.
One was
old, waterlogged,
The two
and
old canoes
were lashed together, and the cranky one was lashed to

one of the others.
Kermit with two paddlers went
smallest of the good canoes;
with three other paddlers

tor, Cherrie,
and
I in
Colonel
Rondon and Lyra
in the next largest;
and the doc-
the largest with three paddlers.

243
in the
The

244
remaining eight camaradas
there
were sixteen
in
all
were equally divided between our two pairs of lashed canoes.
Although our personal baggage was cut down to the
limit
necessary for health and efficiency, yet on such a trip as
where
ours,
work has to be done and where food
scientific
twenty-two men for an unknown period of time has
for
to be carried,
it
impossible not to take a good deal of
is
and the seven dugouts were too heavily laden.
stuff;
The paddlers were
a strapping
set.
They were
expert
men of the forest, skilled veterans in wilderness work. They were lithe as panthers and brawny as
bears.
They swam like water-dogs. They were equally
at home with pole and paddle, with axe and machete; and
one was a good cook and others were good men around
camp. They looked like pirates in the pictures of Howard
river-men and
Pyle or Maxfield Parrish; one or two of them were pirates,
and one worse than a

working,
willing,
rather,
the
colored,
and of
and
of
olive
all
pirate;
but most of them were hard-
They were
cheerful.
Europe,
southern
intermediate shades.
the steersman, the headman, was a

Julio the
blood;
two
my
copper-
canoe Luiz
of pure Portuguese
disks,
He
was done by Colonel

Kermit
their assistant.
river
as
canoe with the sighting-rod, on which
one red and one white, were placed a metre

selected
place which
vistas as possible up-stream

fore
In
or,
and the third man, Antonio, was a Parecis Indian.
first in his little
apart.
black,
Matto Grosso negro;
bowsman was from Bahia and
The actual surveying of the

Rondon and Lyra, with Kermit
went
white,
might be
commanded
as
long
and down, and which there-
at the angle of a
bend; landed;
the branches which obstructed the view;
and
cut
set
away
up the
did
my
writing in headnet and gauntlets
From
"JU>
'
a photograph by
-"
'
Kermit Roosevelt
^-~E'"'>-
jB
~~
'-"His
3l
Colonel Roosevelt's canoe disappears
From
down
fct
the River of
Doubt
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

sighting-pole
incidentally
245
encountering maribundi wasps
and swarms of biting and stinging
Lyra, from his
ants.
station up-stream, with his telemetre established the dis-
Rondon with the compass took the

direction, and made the records.
Then they moved on to
the point Kermit had left, and Kermit established a new
point within their sight. The first half-day's work was
slow.
The general course of the stream was a trifle east
tance, while Colonel
of north, but at short intervals
it
bent and curved
toward every point of the compass.

a hundred times, and
we made but
literally
Kermit landed nearly

nine and a third kilo-
metres.
My
The
canoe ran ahead of the surveying canoes.
height of the water
made
the going easy, for most of the
snags and fallen trees were well beneath the surface.
and then, however, the

ples that
marked ugly
Now
water hurried us toward
swift
rip-
spikes of sunken timber, or toward
uprooted trees that stretched almost across the stream.
Then
the muscles stood out on the backs and arms of the
paddlers as stroke on stroke they urged us

past the obstacle.
away from and
If the leaning or fallen trees
were the
thorny, slender-stemmed boritana palms, which love the

wet, they were often, although plunged beneath the river,
in full
and vigorous growth, their stems curving upward,
and their frond-crowned tops shaken by the rushing water.

It
was
interesting work, for
no
man, had ever gone down or up

try through which
we were
hung from them
like
man, no white
this river or seen the coun-
passing.
forest rose like a green wall
were stately and beautiful.
civilized
The
lofty
on either hand.
The looped and
great ropes.
and matted
The
trees
twisted vines
Masses of epiphytes
246
grew both on the dead
trees
and the
Now
leaves like elephants' ears.
some had huge
living;
and then fragrant scents
were blown to us from flowers on the banks.
many birds, and for the most part

rarely we heard strange calls from the
not
or saw a cormorant or
My
the forest was silent;
depths of the woods,
ibis.
canoe ran only a couple of hours.
to wait for the others.
The axemen
for a
hundred yards
Our canoes were moored
cleared a space for the tents;
were pitched, the baggage was brought up, and
The woods were almost
kindled.
them ran
halted
we landed and made camp
where the bank rose sharply
to a level stretch of ground.

trees.
Then we
After a couple of hours more, as
the surveyors had not turned up,

at a spot
There were
fires
was no
they
were
Through
soundless.
old tapir trails, but there
to
fresh sign.
Before nightfall the surveyors arrived.
There were a few
piums and gnats, and a few mosquitoes
after dark, but not
enough to make us uncomfortable.
stingless
bees, of slightly aromatic odor,
daylight
lasted
and crawled over our
such tame, harmless

too
much
little
always tried to
The small
swarmed while
faces
and hands; they were
when they tickled

brush them away without hurtthings that
But they became a great nuisance after a while.

had been raining at intervals, and the weather was over-
ing them.
It
cast;
stars
but after the sun went down the sky cleared.
were
the west.
and we
brilliant
It
overhead, and the
was a pleasant
new moon hung
in
night, the air almost cool,
slept soundly.
Next morning the two surveying canoes

ately
The
after
breakfast.
lashed canoes pushed
An
off.
hour
I
later
left
immedi-
the two pairs of
kept our canoe to
let
Cherrie
THE RIVER OF DOUBT
247
we could hear a number of

The most interesting birds he
birds in the woods near by.
shot were a cotinga, brilliant turquoise-blue with a mahours
collect, for in the early
genta-purple throat, and a big woodpecker, black above
and cinnamon below with an entirely red head and neck.

It
was almost noon before we
We
started.
saw a few more
there were fresh tapir and paca tracks at one point
birds;
where we landed; once we heard howler monkeys from the

depth of the
As we
stream.
brown
and once we saw a big otter
forest,
in
mid-
and paddled down the swirling
drifted
current, through the vivid rain-drenched green of
the tropic forest, the trees leaned over the river from both
When
banks.
those that had fallen in the river at some
narrow point were very
two
fell
the
men
or where
tall,
it
happened that
opposite each other, they formed barriers which
the leading canoes cleared with their axes.
in
There were many palms, both the burity with

like
enormous
close
fronds
and a handsome species of bacaba,
fans,
with very long, gracefully curving fronds.
palms stood
its stiff
together,
In places the
towering and slender, their
stems a stately colonnade, their fronds an arched fretwork

against the sky.
the river.
When
Butterflies of
The day was
many
hues fluttered over
overcast, with showers of rain.
the sun broke through
rifts in
the clouds, his shafts
turned the forest to gold.

In mid-afternoon we came to the mouth of a big and
swift affluent entering
the Bandeira, which
some ten days
from the
we had
before,
It
was undoubtedly
crossed well toward
its
head,
on our road to Bonofacio.
The
Nhambiquaras had then

flowed into the Duvida.
right.
told
After
Colonel
its
Rondon
that
it
junction, with the added

248
volume of water, the

depth.
It
among
was
so high that
On
its
had overflowed and stood
it
Only the higher
the trees on the lower levels.
stretches were dry.
we had
widened without losing
river
we landed
the sheer banks where
to push the canoes for yards or rods through the
branches of the submerged
hacking and hewing.
trees,
There were occasional bays and ox-bows from which the

In these the coarse marsh grass grew
current had shifted.

tall.
This evening we made camp on a
flat
of dry ground,
densely wooded, of course, directly on the edge of the

river
and
five feet
above
was
It
it.
fine to see the
speed
and sinewy ease with which the choppers cleared an open
Next morning, when we bathed before
space for the tents.

sunrise,
we dived
into deep water right
and from the moored canoes.

sixteen
This second day we made
and a half kilometres along the course of the
and nine kilometres
The
from the shore,
in a straight line
following day,
March
I,
river,
almost due north.
there
was much
rain
sometimes showers, sometimes vertical sheets of water.
Our course was somewhat west

twenty and a half kilometres.
habitation.
of north and
We
passed signs of Indian
There were abandoned palm-leaf
On
we made
shelters
on
bank we came to two or three

old Indian fields, grown up with coarse fern and studded
with the burned skeletons of trees. At the mouth of a
brook which entered from the right some sticks stood in
both banks.
the
left
the water, marking the

point
we found
site
of an old fish-trap.
At one
the tough vine hand-rail of an Indian
bridge running right across the river, a couple of feet above

it.
Evidently the bridge had been built at low water.

THE RIVER OF DOUBT
249
Three stout poles had been driven into the stream-bed

line at right angles to the current.
The
in a
bridge had con-
sisted of poles fastened to these supports, leading
between
them and from the support at each end to the banks.

The rope of tough vines had been stretched as a hand-rail,
necessary with such precarious footing. The rise of the
river had swept away the bridge, but the props and the
In the afternoon, from the boat,
rope hand-rail remained.
monkey with
Cherrie shot a large dark-gray

It
tail.
We
and
was very good
eating.
camped on a dry
level space,
close beside, the river
handy.
The
trees
orderly hurry.
a prehensile
but a few feet above,
so that our swimming-bath was
were cleared and camp was made with
One
of the
men
almost stepped on a poison-
ous coral-snake, which would have been a serious thing, as

his feet
But
were bare.
fangs of these serpents
had on stout
unlike
It
foot
on him, and he
bit
my
and the
those of the pit-vipers
are too short to penetrate good leather.
my
shoes,
promptly put
shoe with harmless venom.
has been said that the brilliant hues of the coral-snake
when
in its native
coloration.
less
haunts really confer on
it
a concealing
In the dark and tangled woods, and to an only
extent in the ordinary varied landscape, anything
mo-
tionless, especially if partially hidden, easily eludes the eye.
But against the dark-brown mould of the

which we found
tion
was
this coral-snake its bright
distinctly revealing;
duller mottling of the jararaca
infinitely
forest floor
and varied colora-
more
so than the
and other dangerous snakes
In the same place, however,
of the genus lachecis.
on
we
found a striking example of genuine protective or mimetic

coloration and shape.
rather large insect larva
at least
250
we judged
it
entomologists
to be a larval form, but
bore
dry leaf which was
we were none
of us
a resemblance to a partially curled

fairly startling.
The
tail
exactly re-
sembled the stem or continuation of the midrib of the
dead
The
leaf.
flattened
body was curled up
and veined and colored precisely
at the sides,
The head,
like the leaf.
colored like the leaf, projected in front.
We
were
The
in the Brazilian highlands.
still
forest
we
did not hear such a chorus of birds and mammals as we
had occasionally heard even on our overland journey, when
more than once we had been awakened at dawn by the
did not teem with
It
life.
was generally rather
silent;
howling, screaming, yelping, and chattering of monkeys,

toucans,
There were,
macaws, parrots, and parakeets.
however, from time to time, queer sounds from the
and
after nightfall different kinds of frogs
tered strange cries and
calls.
At
dawn everything was
before
this
camp the
insects ut-
In volume and frequency
these seemed to increase until midnight.
away and
and
forest,
Then they
died
silent.
carregadores ants completely devoured
the doctor's undershirt, and ate holes in his mosquito-net;
and they
also ate the strap of Lyra's gun-case.
stingless bees, of
many
little
swarmed in such multitudes,

that we had to wear our head-nets
kinds,
and were so persevering,
when we wrote or skinned specimens.

The following day was almost without
delightful to drift and paddle slowly down
tropical river.
The
rain.
It
was
the beautiful
Until mid-afternoon the current was not
very fast, and the broad, deep, placid stream bent and curved
was northand more of the land was
in every direction, although the general course
west.
The country was
flat,
The Rapids
There were many
From
curls,
of Navai'te
falls
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

under than above water.
travelling
between stretches of marshy
We
passed a hillock.
At
and trogons.
it
we found
Continually
among
miles the water stood or ran
last
saw
forest
where for
the trees.
Once we
colored parakeets
brilliantly
it
began to run
camp two
or three of
We
rapids.
them accompanied us
to ex-
had made twenty kilometres.
soon found that the rapids were a serious obstacle.
There were
haps
pulled to the
moored the canoes, and while most of the men
right bank,
We
Faster
like a mill-race,
We
and we heard the roar of rapids ahead.
amine the
ourselves
the slow current quickened.
went, and faster, until
pitched
251
many
curls,
six feet high.
It
falls,
per-
would have been impossible to run
them, and they stretched for nearly a mile.
The
carry,
however, which led through woods and over rocks in a

nearly straight
line,
was somewhat
shorter.
It
was not an
easy portage over which to carry heavy loads and drag
heavy dugout canoes.
At the point where the descent was
steepest there were great
and conglomerate.
naked
flats
Over parts of
surface of fine sand, there
of friable sandstone
these,
where there was a
was a growth of coarse
grass.
Other parts were bare and had been worn by the weather
into fantastic shapes
one
projection looked like an old-
fashioned beaver hat upside down.

the naked
flats
of rock showed the projection of the ledge
through which the river had cut

rushed
down
channel.
and
In this place, where
its
course, the torrent
a deep, sheer-sided, and extremely narrow
At one point
it
was
for quite a distance not
less
than two yards across,
more than
five or six yards.
Yet only a mile or two above the rapids the deep, placid
river was at least a hundred yards wide.
It seemed
252
extraordinary, almost impossible, that
broad a river
so
could in so short a space of time contract
its
dimensions
to the width of the strangled channel through which
now poured
its
it
entire volume.
This had for long been a station where the Nhambiquaras at intervals built their ephemeral villages and
the
soil
with the rude and destructive cultivation of sav-
There were several abandoned old
ages.
tilled
fields,
where the
dense growth of rank fern hid the tangle of burnt and fallen
Nor had the Nhambiquaras been long absent. In

one trail we found what gypsies would have called a "palogs.
teran,"
a couple of branches
leaves to a branch;
arranged
had some
it
eight
crosswise,
special significance, be-
longing to that class of signals, each with some peculiar
and often complicated meaning, which are commonly used
by many wild
The Indians had thrown
peoples.
a simple
bridge, consisting of four long poles, without a hand-rail,
across one of the narrowest parts of the rock gorge through
which the
river
tribe of Indians
foamed
was
in its rapid descent.
called the Navaite;
rapids after them, Navaite Rapids.
found them to be
(in close
By
This sub-
we named
the
observation Lyra
approximation
to) latitude
44/ south and longitude 6o 18' west from Greenwich.
We
spent
in portaging
March
and 4 and the morning of the 5th
The first night we camped

where we had halted. Next
around the rapids.
in the forest beside the spot
morning we moved the baggage to the foot of the
rapids,
where we intended to launch the canoes, and pitched our

tents on the open sandstone
little
flat.
It rained heavily.
bees were in such swarms as to be a nuisance.
The
Many
small stinging bees were with them, which stung badly.
'a,
^
j
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

We
were bitten by huge
More
serious
shuda
flies
horse-flies,
the size of bumblebees.
annoyance was caused by the pium and boro-
during the hours of daylight, and by the polvora,
There were a few mosquitoes.
the sand-flies, after dark.
The boroshudas were the worst

blood at once, and
my writing
left
marks that lasted
put
up, with the rest of
it
excellent.
did
we had
so
named on the
our medicine, by Doctor
Alexander Lambert; he had tested
and found
for weeks.
Fortunately
head-net and gauntlets.
in
they brought the
pests;
with us several bottles of "fly dope"

label
253
it
north woods
in the
had never before been forced to
use such an ointment, and had been reluctant to take
with me; but

all
of us found
now
it
was glad enough to have
exceedingly useful.
under
an application wears
many
The
it.
half an hour or so,
ef-
and
when one is perspiring freely,

are times when minute mosquitoes
conditions, as
of no use; but there
it is
off after
and we
would never again
go into mosquito or sand-fly country without

fect of
it,
it
and gnats get through head-nets and under mosquito-bars,

and when the ointment occasionally renewed
one to get sleep or
of attainment.
flat,
rest
The
may
permit
which would otherwise be impossible
termites got into our tent on the sand-
ate holes in Cherrie's mosquito-net
and poncho, and
were starting to work at our duffel-bags, when we
dis-
covered them.
Packing the loads across was simple.
heavy dugouts was
labor.
The
logged ones was the heaviest.
Dragging the
biggest of the
two water-
Lyra and Kermit did the
men were employed at it except

and one man who was down with fever. A
job.
All the
chopped through the
forest
the cook,
road was
and a couple of hundred stout
254
six-foot poles, or small logs,
were cut as
and placed
rollers
With block and tackle the seven

dugouts were hoisted out of the river up the steep banks,
and up the rise of ground until the level was reached.
Then the men harnessed themselves two by two on the
drag-rope, while one of their number pried behind with a
lever, and the canoe, bumping and sliding, was twitched
through the woods. Over the sandstone flats there were
some ugly ledges, but on the whole the course was downhill and relatively easy.
Looking at the way the work
was done, at the good-will, the endurance, and the bullabout two yards apart.
like strength of the
camaradas, and at the intelligence and
the unwearied efforts of their commanders, one could but
wonder
at the ignorance of those
who do
not realize the
energy and the power that are so often possessed by, and
that
may
be so readily developed
in,
the
Another subject of perpetual wonder
is
men
of the tropics.
the attitude of cer-
men who stay at home, and still more the attitude of

certain men who travel under easy conditions, and who
tain
belittle the
adventurers
achievements of the real explorers

in,
of,
the real
The impostors and
the great wilderness.
romancers among explorers or would-be explorers and wilderness wanderers have been unusually prominent in con-
nection with South America (although the conspicuous ones
by the way); and these are fit

condemnation and derision. But the work of
are not South Americans,
subjects for
the genuine explorer and wilderness wanderer
with fatigue, hardship, and danger.

little
Many
knowledge talk glibly of portaging
and easy.
portage over rough and
as
is
of the
if it
fraught
men
of
were simple
unknown ground
is
always a work of difficulty and of some risk to the canoe;
5
s
.si 4
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

and
255
untrodden, or even in the unfrequented, wilder-
in the
ness risk to the canoe
is
a serious matter.
This particular
portage at Navai'te Rapids was far from being unusually

yet
difficult;
not only cost two and a half days of severe
it
and incessant labor, but
One
the canoes.
something
cost
it
in particular, the
journeying, was split in a
damage
in
one in which
to
had been
manner which caused us
serious
how long, even after being patched, it

Where the canoes were launched, the bank
uneasiness as to
would
was
last.
and one of the water-logged canoes
sheer,
went to the bottom; and there was more work
We
or
were
still
wholly unable to
what lay ahead of
per,
we
Round
us.
tell
The
or go north to the Madeira, or
the Tapajos, or
fall
to the
first,
it.
the camp-fire, after sup-
river
all
kinds of
might bend sharply
bend eastward and enter
Canuma and
Amazon direct.
into the
mouths enter the
its
in raising
and enter the Gy-Parana high up or low down,
to the west
one of
and
where we were going
held endless discussions and hazarded
guesses on both subjects.
filled
finally
through
Lyra inclined
and Colonel Rondon to the second, of these
propositions.
We
did not
know whether we had one hun-
dred or eight hundred kilometres to go, whether the stream
would be
waterfalls,
We
fairly
smooth or whether we would encounter
or rapids,
could not
tell
or
even
some big marsh or
whether or not we would meet
Indians, although no one of us ever
camp without
his
rifle.
the trip would take.
We
We
lake.
hostile
went ten yards from
had no idea how much time
had entered a land of unknown
possibilities.
We
of
started down-stream again early in the afternoon
March
5.
Our hands and
faces were swollen
from the
256
hires
and stings of the insect pests
and
it
river,
were
was
once more to be
a pleasure
where they did not come,

in
The
motion.
middle of the
any numbers, while we
in
Twice we
no serious obstructions.
slight riffles,
doubtless rapids;
in the
camp,
current was swift, but the river was
so deep that there were
went down over
at the sand-flat
which
dry season were
in the
and once we struck a spot where many
marked the presence underneath of bowlders

which would have been above water had not the river
whirlpools
been so swollen by the
rains.
The
distance
we covered
day going down-stream would have taken us a week

had been going up.
sometimes
in
The
course
wound
in a
if
we
hither and thither,
sigmoid curves; but the general direction was
As
east of north.
usual,
it
was very
and we
beautiful;
what might appear around any curve. In

the forest that rose on either hand were tall rubber-trees.
The surveying canoes, as usual, went first, while I shepnever could
tell
herded the two pairs of lashed cargo canoes.

always between
me
me and
the surveying canoes
until I passed the surveying canoes,
an hour or
until, after
so, I
ahead
then behind
of
me
had chosen a place to camp.
There was so much overflowed ground that

little
kept them
it
took us some
we found a flat place high

be dry. Just before reaching camp Cherrie shot
handsome bird somewhat akin to, but much
time this afternoon before
enough to
a jacu, a
smaller than, a turkey; after Cherrie had taken
body made an
monkeys; and the
its
excellent canja.
false
bell-birds
We
saw
around
this
and a quarter
long,
skin,
parties
of
uttered their ringing
whistles in the dense timber around our tents.

ants, an inch
its
The
giant
were rather too plentiful
camp; one stung Kermit;
it
was almost
like the
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

sting of a small scorpion,
and pained severely
for a couple
made twelve kilometres.

day we made nineteen kilometres,
This half-day we
of hours.
On
257
the following
river twisting in every direction,
running a
little
tree, to get
west of north.
honey.
The
tree
but in
the
general course
its
Once we stopped at a beewas a towering giant, of the
kind called milk-tree, because a thick milky juice runs freely
Our camaradas eagerly drank the white

I
fluid that flowed from the wounds made by their axes.
The taste was not unpleasant, but it left a sticky
tried it.
The helmsman of my boat, Luiz, a
feeling in the mouth.
from any
cut.
powerful negro, chopped into the tree, balancing himself
with springy ease on a slight scaffolding.

in a hollow,
The honey was
and had been made by medium-sized
At the mouth of the hollow they had
bees.
built a curious
entrance of their own, in the shape of a spout of

a foot long.
the
wax
At the opening the
stingless
wax about
walls of the spout
formation, but elsewhere
it
had become
showed
in color
and texture indistinguishable from the bark of the
tree.
The honey was delicious, sweet and yet with a tart flavor. The comb differed much from that of our honey-bees.
The honey-cells were very large, and the brood-cells, which
were small, were
tree I
came
tion.
upright
in a single instead of a
huge tree-toad, the
not squatted
dark
sides, exactly
flat
mon
its
size of a bullfrog,
was seated
on a big rotten limb.
the yellow brown of
harmonized
and dark patches on the

here in
By this
across an example of genuine concealing colora-
absolutely motionless;
its
double row.
log;
in color
its
It
was
back, and
with the light
the color was as concealing,
natural surroundings, as
is
the color of our com-
wood-frog among the dead leaves of our woods.
When
K,
258
I stirred it
up
it
with the disks of
jumped
to a small twig, catching hold
and balancing
its finger-tips,
itself
with
unexpected ease for so big a creature, and then hopped to

the ground and again stood motionless.
sign,
At about three
rent began to run
two decided
and Kermit shot a jacu
o'clock I
more
ripples,
was
We
the cur-
passed over one or
and then heard the roar of rapids
ahead, while the stream began to race.
We
drove the canoe
went down a tapir
into the bank, and then
led alongside the river, to

mile's
trusted
for the pot.
when
in the lead,
quickly.
it
We saw some monkeys
for safety to escaping observation.
and fresh tapir
Evidently
reconnoitre.
trail,
which
quarter of a
walk showed us that there were big
rapids,
down
which the canoes could not go; and we returned to the

landing.
All the canoes
had gathered
and Rondon,
there,
Lyra, and Kermit started down-stream to explore.
They
returned in an hour, with the information that the rapids
continued for a long distance, with
falls
and steep pitches
of broken water, and that the portage would take several
We made camp
days.
just
swarmed, and some of them

clearing
tall
away the
above
bit
the
forest for our tents, left several
straight as an arrow
curved fronds.
and
We
river almost exactly a
is
crowned with
Ants
Our men,
savagely.
and slender accashy palms; the bole of
fully
rapids.
this
palm
in
very
is
as
delicate, grace-
had come along the course of the
hundred kilometres;
it
had twisted
we were only about fifty-five kilometres north of

our starting-point. The rock was porphyritic.
The 7th, 8th, and 9th we spent in carrying the loads
so that
and dragging and
floating the dugouts past the series of
rapids at whose head
we had
stopped.
T3
'a
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

The
first
day we
camp
shifted
259
a kilometre and a half
This was a charming
to the foot of this series of rapids.
and picturesque camp.
It
where there was a
shallow bay with a beach of firm
little,
was
at the edge of the river,
In the water, at the middle point of the beach,
sand.
stood a group of three burity palms, their great trunks
Round
rising like columns.
the clearing in which our tents
stood were several very big trees; two of
Kermit went down-stream
trees.
them were rubber-
five or six kilometres,
and
returned, having shot a jacu and found that at the point
which he had reached there was another

fall,
rapids, almost a
which would necessitate our again dragging the canoes
over a portage.
of this
men
was glad because portaging

on the Diivida,
all
of
hard work, and the
them new
and some probably new to
fresh sign of paca, agouti,
is
So far Cherrie had collected
appreciated the meat.
sixty birds
tion,
Antonio, the Parecis, shot a big monkey;
science.
to the collec-
We
saw the
and the small peccary, and Ker-
mit with the dogs roused a tapir, which crossed the river
right through the rapids; but
no one got a shot
at
it.
Except at one or perhaps two points a very big dugout,

lightly loaded, could probably run all these rapids.
even in such a canoe
it
would be
silly
on an exploring expedition, where the
to
make
loss of a
But
the attempt
canoe or of
its
contents means disaster; and moreover such a canoe could
not be taken, for
it
would be impossible to drag
portages on the occasions

evitable.
when
it
over the
the portages became in-
Our canoes would not have
lived half a
minute
in the wild water.
On
down
the second day the canoes and loads were brought

to the foot of the
first
rapids.
Lyra cleared the
260
path and laid the logs for
while Kermit dragged
rollers,
the dugouts up the bank from the water with block and
tackle,
with strain of rope and muscle.
forces,
as over the
strength of
their
all
Meanwhile the
distance,
I strolled
also
uneven ground
it
men
heavy dugouts
to get the
joined
needed the united
colonel with one attendant
along.
measured the
and then went on a long hunt, but saw no game.
down
beside the river for a couple of miles, but
saw nothing.
In the dense tropical forest of the
Amazonian basin hunting
men who
Then they
very
is
especially for
difficult,
are trying to pass through the country as rapidly
On
as possible.
game
such a trip as ours getting
largely
is
a matter of chance.
On
the canoes and loads, with hard labor, to the
by the
little
The men used
some of which were twelve
immense
their
feet long
beach
Many
three palms where our tents were pitched.
pacovas grew round about.

leaves,
down
the following day Lyra and Kermit brought
and two and
a half feet broad, to roof the flimsy shelters under which
they hung their hammocks.
went into the woods, but
in the tangle of vegetation
it
would have been a mere
seen any big animal.
hazard had
were
and empty.
silent
many
birds of
tanagers,
Now
kinds passed
flycatchers;
as
Generally the woods
and then
little
wood-hewers,
in
troops of
ant-thrushes,
the spring and
similar
fall
troops of warblers, chickadees, and nuthatches pass through
our northern woods.
by the
river
the rocks and on the great trees
grew beautiful white and
sobralia, of sweet
my own
On
and delicate fragrance.
books seemed a
trifle
have found the day tedious
if
lilac
orchids
the
For the moment
heavy, and perhaps
Kermit had not
lent
would
me
the
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

Oxford Book of French Verse.
261
Eustache Deschamp, Jo-
achim du Bellay, Ronsard, the delightful La Fontaine, the

delightful but appalling Villon, Victor
Madame
Desbordes-Valmore's
her pillow, as dear

written
these
them
an unknown
I
read
On
and a
on the
little girl
in head-net
and gauntlets,
river in the
Amazonian
we
and
verses about a child as ever were
little
and many others comforted
the ioth
half,
lines
Hugo's "Guitare,"
me much,
sitting
as
on a log by
forest.
again embarked and
made
a kilometre
spending most of the time in getting past two
Near the first of these we saw a small cayman, a jacare-tinga. At each set of rapids the canoes were
more
rapids.
unloaded and the loads borne past on the shoulders of the
camaradas; three of the canoes were paddled down by a

couple of naked paddlers apiece; and the two sets of double
canoes were
down by
let
ropes, one of one couple being
swamped but rescued and brought safely to shore on each

occasion.
One of the men was upset while working in the
was cut against the
stones.
Lyra
and Kermit did the actual work with the camaradas.
Ker-
swift water,
and
his face
mit, dressed substantially like the
worked
in the water,
camaradas themselves,
and, as the overhanging branches
were thronged with crowds of biting and stinging ants, he
was marked and
we
all
suffered
blistered over his
more or
swarms of biting
The
of
flies
cot.
Every one
we had come down
from these ants;
Indeed,
while the
grew constantly more numerous.
termites ate holes in
my
less
whole body.
my
else
helmet and also
had a hammock.
in the
At
this
cover
camp
the river about 102 kilometres, accord-
ing to the surveying records, and in height
had descended
nearly 100 metres, as shown
although the
by the aneroid
262
figure in this case
is
only an approximation, as an aneroid
cannot be depended on for absolute accuracy of
results.
Next morning we found that during the night we had

met with a serious misfortune. We had halted at the foot
The canoes were moored to trees on the

bank, at the tail of the broken water. The two old canoes,
although one of them was our biggest cargo-carrier, were
water-logged and heavy, and one of them was leaking. In
the night the river rose. The leaky canoe, which at best
of the rapids.
was too low
in the water,
the wash of the waves.
they began to
roll,
must have gradually
It sank,
dragging
down
bursting their moorings;
morning they had disappeared.
filled
from
the other;
and
in the
canoe was launched to
look for them; but, rolling over the bowlders on the rocky
bottom, they had at once been riven asunder, and the big
fragments that were soon found, floating
the shore, showed that
called these rapids
It
it
was
in eddies, or along
useless to look farther.
We
Broken Canoe Rapids.
was not pleasant to have to stop
for
some days;
thanks to the rapids, we had made slow progress, and with

our necessarily limited supply of food, and no knowledge
whatever of what was ahead of
make good
time.
But there was no
to build either one big canoe or

raining heavily as the
directions for
men
good canoe
proved not very good for
camp;
us,
was important to
alternative.
two small
ones.
We
had
It
was
started to explore in different
which ultimately
to
the purpose were found
trees.
Three
splendid-looking trees, one of
diameter three feet from the ground.

diately
it
close
them five feet in

The axemen imme-
attacked this one under the superintendence of
Colonel Rondon.
Lyra and Kermit started
in opposite di-
Dragging the canoes over

From
a portage
a photograph by
by means
of ropes
Kermit Roosevelt
and
logs
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

Lyra
rections to hunt.
killed
two monkeys
gleamed
Toward
men.
the
for
nearly
full,
and the foaming
volunteers," that
enlisted in the service of the Telegraphic
view of the
fitting, in
Two
and health.
life
Rondon during
which time
of
his eight
men were
his
The
hardship, and hazard to
months' exploration
regulars,
from
in 1909, at
own
his
battalion
his
Miranda Ribeiro
naturalist
unknown
also ac-
wilderness, the colo-
party finally reached the Gy-Parana, which
on the maps was then (and on most maps
is
now) placed
an utterly wrong course, and over a degree out of
real
position.
When
weak with
fever that they could hardly crawl.
no baggage.
men were
so
They had
Their clothes were in tatters, and some of

almost naked.
no food except what

wild fruits and nuts;
little
if it
For months they had had
game they
shot,
had not been
dance of the Brazil-nuts they would

first
its
they reached the affluents of the
Gy-Parana a third of the members of the party were
the
es-
them had been with Colonel
foot through an absolutely
in
Commission
This was the year when, marching on
companied him.
and
toil,
they had
is,
were Lieutenants Lyra, Amarante, Alencarliense,
and Pyrineus.
nel
river
His four aides during the closing months of
of engineers.
this trip
it
and were highly paid,
pecially to do this wilderness work,
was
nightfall
like silver.
Our men were "regional
as
and Kermit
killed a jacu for us,
The moon was
cleared.
263
and especially the
for the great
all
have
died.
abun-
At the
big stream they encountered they built a canoe, and
Alencarliense took
command
course of the river.
Tanageira,
who
of
it
and descended to map the
With him went
Ribeiro, the doctor
could no longer walk on account of the
264
men whom the fever had rendered unable longer to walk, and six men who were as yet
well enough to handle the canoe.
By the time the reulceration of one foot, three
mainder of the party came to the next navigable river eleven
more
fever-stricken
men had
nearly reached the end of their
Here they ran across a poor
tether.
devil
who had
for
four months been lost in the forest and was dying of slow
He had eaten nothing but Brazil-nuts and the

insects.
He could no longer walk, but could sit
starvation.
grubs of
erect
built,
and totter feebly

and
in
it
for a
few
feet.
Another canoe was
Pyrineus started down-stream with the
eleven fever patients and the starving wanderer.
Rondon kept up
the morale of his
the forms of military discipline.

his bugle.
men by
carrying out
The ragged
Lieutenant Pyrineus had
his clothing except a hat
still
lost
bugler had
every particle of
and a pair of drawers.
naked lieutenant drew up
Colonel
The
half-
his eleven fever patients in line;
the bugle sounded; every one came to attention; and the
haggard colonel read out the orders of the day.
dugout with
its
load of sick
men
Then the
started down-stream,
and
Rondon, Lyra, Amarante, and the twelve remaining men

resumed their weary march.
finally struck a
were
literally
camp
When
a fortnight later they
of rubber-gatherers three of the
and entirely naked.
men
Meanwhile Amilcar had
ascended the Jacyparana a month or two previously with

provisions to meet them; for at that time the
maps
incor-
rectly treated this river as larger, instead of smaller, than
and
the Gy-Parana, which they were in fact descending;
Colonel
Rondon had supposed
the former stream.

ering
much
that they were going
down
Amilcar returned after himself
hardship and danger.
The
suf-
different parties
THE RIVER OF DOUBT
265
mouth of the Gy-Parana, where it enters

the Madeira. The lost man whom they had found seemed
on the road to recovery, and they left him at a ranch, on
met
finally
at the
the Madeira, where he could be cared for; yet after they had
him they heard that he had
left
On
the
2th the
men were
died.
still
hard at work hollowing
wood of the big tree, with axe and adze, while

watch and ward were kept over them to see that the idlers
out the hard
Kermit
did not shirk at the expense of the industrious.
and Lyra again hunted; the former shot a curassow, which
was welcome,
we were endeavoring
as
mize our food supply.

also.
We
in all
ways
to econo-
were using the tops of palms
spent the day hunting in the woods, for the most
by the river, but saw nothing. In the season of the

rains game is away from the river and fish are scarce and
turtles absent.
Yet it was pleasant to be in the great silent
forest.
Here and there grew immense trees, and on some
of them mighty buttresses sprang from the base.
The
lianas and vines were of every size and shape.
Some were
twisted and some were not.
Some came down straight
part
and slender from branches a hundred

curved
like
like long serpents
knotted cables.
The wind
rarely
few flowers or
when
avoid them
dant, and even
always to
around the trunks.
In the shadow there was
moved the
birds.
feet above.
hot,
humid
air.
Others
Others were
little noise.
There were
Insects were altogether too abuntravelling slowly
not to
it
was impossible
speak of our constant com-
panions the bees, mosquitoes, and especially the boroshudas

or bloodsucking
gle I
flies.
Now
while bursting through a tan-
disturbed a nest of wasps, whose
active;
now
heedlessly stepped
among
resentment was
the outliers of a
266
small party of the carnivorous foraging ants;

ing a branch
ants;
as I stumbled, I
and among
arrested
by the
all
these
now, grasp-
shook down a shower of
my
was particularly
attention
bite of one of the giant ants,
like a hornet, so that I felt
it
fire-
which stung
The cama-
for three hours.
radas generally went barefoot or only wore sandals;
and
their ankles
and
bites of the
boroshudas and ants, some being actually
feet
were swollen and inflamed from the
capacitated from work.
All of us suffered
more or
in-
less,
our faces and hands swelling slightly from the boroshuda

bites;
and
in spite of our clothes
we were
all
over
ticks.
Be-
bitten
our bodies, chiefly by ants and the small forest
cause of the rain and the heat our clothes were usually wet
when we took them off at night, and

put them on again in the morning.
All
just as
day on the 13th the men worked
ing good progress.
wet when we
at the canoe,
mak-
In rolling and shifting the huge, heavy
tree-trunk every one had to assist
now and
then.
The
work continued until ten in the evening, as the weather

was clear. After nightfall some of the men held candles and
the others plied axe or adze, standing within or beside the
great,
half-hollowed logs, while the flicker of the lights
showed the tropic
forest rising in the darkness
The night air was hot and

The men were stripped to
and ebony,
still
round about.
and heavy with moisture.
the waist.
their skins glistened as
if
Olive and copper

oiled,
and rippled
with the ceaseless play of the thews beneath.
On
work was resumed in

The canoe was finished,
the morning of the 14th the
a torrential tropic downpour.
dragged down to the water, and launched soon after midday, and
another hour or so saw us under way.
The
Manner
of dragging the canoes across a hilly portage
From
Making
The
the big canoe which was soon afterward lost
inside of the log has been hollowed out
From
and the men are
rolling
it
over to shape the bottom of the canoe
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

descent was marked, and
we
Several times
ing,
267
the swollen river raced along.
passed great whirlpools, sometimes shift-
Half a dozen times we ran over
sometimes steady.
were not high enough to have
rapids, and, although they
been obstacles to loaded Canadian canoes, two of them were
Our heavily
serious to us.
clumsy dugouts were
laden,
sunk to within three or four inches of the surface of the

and, although they were buoyed on each side with
river,
bundles of burity-palm branch-stems, they shipped a great
The two biggest rapids we only

each we had hastily to push ashore
deal of water in the rapids.

just
made, and
after
In one set of big ripples or waves
in order to bail.
canoe was nearly swamped.

is
ahead
come
out
out,
it
is
In a wilderness, where what
absolutely unknown, alike in terms of time,
is
and method
space,
we had no
for
how we would
idea where
get out, or
we would
when we would
get
of vital consequence not to lose one's outfit,
especially the provisions;
and yet
it
quence to go as rapidly as possible

be exhausted and the
complished by
therefore ripe
we
hazards,
my
is
of only less conse-
lest all
the provisions
final stages of
the expedition be ac-
men weakened from

for disaster.
On this
semi-starvation, and
felt
for our progress
it
occasion, of the
two
necessary to risk running the rapids;
had been so very slow that unless we made
was probable that we would be short of

food before we got where we could expect to procure any
up the time,
it
more except what

rains
and
that the
floods,
work
little
might
of pitching
the country, in the time of the

yield.
We
camp was
This evening the
five, so
finished in the dark.
had made nearly sixteen kilometres

east of north.
ran until after
air
We
in a direction slightly
was
fresh
and
cool.
268
The
in
For
good season.
down
dled
saw
est
following morning, the 15th of March,

six
kilometres
we
on the banks;
above the
and back from the
grow to enormous proportions, towering

were great rubber-trees
Then
threes.
started
and pad-
drifted
At times we
the swift river without incident.
lofty Brazil-nut trees rising
we
rest of the for-
river these trees
There
like giants.
also, their leaves
always in
sets of
the ground on either hand rose into bowlder-
strewn, forest-clad
hills
and the roar of broken water an-
nounced that once more our course was checked by dangerous rapids.
Round
a bend
we came on them;
a wide
descent of white water, with an island in the middle, at
Here grave misfortune
the upper edge.
befell
us,
and
graver misfortune was narrowly escaped.
Kermit, as usual, was leading in his canoe.

smallest and least seaworthy of
all.
He had
It
was the
in
it
little
except a week's supply of our boxed provisions and a few

fortunately none of the food for the camaradas.
tools;
His dog Trigueiro was with him.
Besides himself, the
crew consisted of two men: Joao, the helmsman, or

as
he
is
called
in
Brazil,
and Simplicio, the bowsman.
Both were negroes and exceptionally good men

Kermit halted
way.
his
canoe on the
left
ahead.
and Lyra walked down the bank to

Kermit took
his
in
every
bank, above
the rapids, and waited for the colonel's canoe.

colonel
pilot,
see
Then the
what was
canoe across to the island to see
whether the descent could be better accomplished on the

other side.
men
Having made
to return to the
his investigation,
bank he had
was headed up-stream accordingly.
left,
he ordered the
and the dugout
Before they had gone
a dozen yards, the paddlers digging their paddles with
all
THE RIVER OF DOUBT
269
their strength into the swift current, one of the shifting
of which
whirlpools
have spoken came down-stream,
them around, and swept them
whirled
that no
human power
so close to the rapids
As
could avoid going over them.
they were drifting into them broadside on, Kermit yelled

to the steersman to turn her head, so as to take
the only
way
them
in
that offered any chance whatever of safety.
The water came aboard, wave after wave, as they raced

down. They reached the bottom with the canoe upright,
but so
full as
barely to
float,
They had
toward the shore.
when another whirlpool

and hurried them back
filled
and the paddlers urged her
bank
nearly reached the
or whirling eddy tore
them away
to midstream, where the dugout
and turned over.
Joao, seizing the rope, started to
swim ashore; the rope was pulled from his hand, but he
reached the bank. Poor Simplicio must have been pulled
under at once, and
beaten out on the bowlders be-
his life
He
neath the racing torrent.

ever recover his body.
Kermit clutched
in Africa
surface;
his
his
rifle.
head and face
and when he rose at
his
away from the
The water beat his helmet

and drove him beneath the
last
he was almost drowned,
breath and strength almost spent.
but quiet water, and
his fa-
rifle,
In a minute he was swept into
the second series of rapids, and whirled
down over
we
and America, and climbed on the
bottom of the upset boat.

rolling boat, losing his
his
which he had done most of
vorite 405 Winchester with
hunting both
never rose again, nor did
He was
swam toward an overhanging
in swift
branch.
His jacket hindered him, but he knew he was too nearly
gone to be able to get
calm one
feels
it off,
when death
is
and, thinking with the curious
but a
moment away, he
real-
270
ized that the
utmost
his failing strength could
He
reach the branch.
reached, and clutched
do was to
it,
and then
almost lacked strength to haul himself out on the land.
Good
swum
alongside
Later
we
him through
the rapids, and now himself scrambled ashore.
It was a
very narrow escape. Kermit was a great comfort and help
to me on the trip; but the fear of some fatal accident beHe was to be
falling him was always a nightmare to me.
married as soon as the trip was over; and it did not seem
to me that I could bear to bring bad tidings to his beTrigueiro had faithfully
trothed and to his mother.

Simplicio was unmarried.
the
all
The
money
that would have been his had he lived.
following morning
erected to
mother
sent to his
we put on one
mark our camping-spot
side of the post
the following inscription,
in Portuguese:
"In These Rapids Died Poor Simplicio."
On
an expedition such as ours death
dents that
death are
where.
fere
is
one of the
acci-
may at any time occur, and narrow escapes from

too common to be felt as they would be felt else-
One mourns
with labor.
of the portage.
We
sincerely,
immediately proceeded with the work
From
rapids the distance
but mourning cannot inter-
the head to the
was about
six
tail
of this series of
hundred yards.
path
was cut along the bank, over which the loads were brought.
The empty canoes ran

with two
into a
down
the rapids without mishap, each
skilled paddlers.
swimming
One
of the canoes almost ran
tapir at the head of the rapids;
it
the rapids, and then climbed out of the river.
went
Ker-
THE RIVER OF DOUBT
271
by Joao, went three or four miles down

the river, looking for the body of Simplicio and for the
sunk canoe. He found neither. But he found a box of
mit, accompanied
provisions and a paddle, and salvaged both

into
midstream
after them.
He
also
by swimming
found that a couple of
kilometres below there was another stretch of rapids, and
them on the
following
left-hand
bank
that they were worse than the ones
and impassable
We
camped
There were
for canoes
them
many
shoot
in the tangle
them
a tiny
we had just
it
was extremely
and to
they were shot.
HowOne
if
new
to the collection.
of the species
known
with dainty but not brilliant plumage;
stars,
passed.
in the lofty tree tops,
beneath
hummer, one
just passed,
this left-hand side.
small birds here, but
ever, Cherrie got four species
was
we had
at the foot of the rapids
difficult to see or
find
on
to the foot he found
as
its
woodkind
is
never found except in the deep, dark woods, not coming

out into the sunshine.
shot
it
was feeding
got a very
Its crop
was
as brilliant as a cluster of jewels;
it
with ants; when
at a cluster of long red flowers.
handsome trogon and an
breast turquoise,
filled
its
He
also
exquisite little tanager,

its
throat was
lilac,
its
crown and forehead topaz, while above
was glossy purple-black, the lower part of the back ruby-
red.
This tanager was a female;
the male
a queer
is
more
hawk
can hardly imagine that
brilliantly colored.
The
fourth bird was
of the genus ibycter, black, with a white belly,
naked red cheeks and throat and red legs and feet. Its
crop was filled with the seeds of fruits and a few insect
remains; an extraordinary diet for a hawk.
The morning of the 16th was dark and gloomy.

Through sheets of blinding rain we left our camp of mis-
272
fortune for another
camp where misfortune
also awaited us.
Less than half an hour took our dugouts to the head of the
hand
side,
As Kermit had already explored the leftColonel Rondon and Lyra went down the right-
hand
side
and found a channel which
rapids below.
part, so
that they deemed
it
The
of the rapids was about a kilometre.
rea,
down
the
left
round the worst
possible to let
canoes by ropes from the bank.
being brought
led
down
distance to the foot
While the loads were
bank, Luiz and Antonio Cor-
down
our two best watermen, started to take a canoe
the right side, and Colonel
Rondon walked ahead
anything he could about the
by one
the
He was accompanied
river.
of our three dogs, Lobo.
to see
After walking about a
kilometre he heard ahead a kind of howling noise, which he
thought was made by spider-monkeys.

direction of the sound
he heard Lobo
yell
He walked
and Lobo ran ahead.
with pain, and then,
still
In a minute
yelping,
toward him, while the creature that was howling

proached, evidently in pursuit.
from Lobo, followed by
silence,
In a
in the
moment
come
also ap-
a second yell
announced that he was dead;
and the sound of the howling, when near, convinced Rondon
by an Indian, doubtless with

two arrows. Probably the Indian was howling to lure the
spider-monkeys toward him. Rondon fired his rifle in the
air, to warn off the Indian or Indians, who in all probability
had never seen a civilized man, and certainly could not imthat the dog had been killed
agine that one was in the neighborhood.
He
then returned
to the foot of the rapids, where the portage was

on, and, in
cis,
still
going
company with Lyra, Kermit, and Antonio
Pare-
the Indian, walked back to where Lobo's body lay.
Sure enough he found him, slain by two arrows.
One
ar-
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

row-head was
in the
273
him, and near by was a strange stick used
in
very primitive method of fishing of
all
these Indians.
who were
apparently two or three in number, had fled. Some beads
and trinkets were left on the spot to show that we were
Antonio recognized
its
The
purpose.
Indians,
not angry and were friendly.
Meanwhile Cherrie stayed
at the
wood
that would not float.
and the canoe was
lost,
new
and heavy, being made of
The next was
safely.
canoe, which was very large
at the
Luiz and Antonio Correa
foot of the portage as guards.
brought down one canoe
head and
the
In the rapids the rope broke,
Luiz being nearly drowned.
was a very bad thing to lose the canoe, but it was

even worse to lose the rope and pulleys. This meant that
it would be physically impossible to hoist big canoes up
It
even small
or rocky hillocks, such as
hills
quent beside the
many
rapids
had been so
we had encountered.
It
not wise to spend the four days necessary to build
fre-
was
new
we were, in danger of attack from the Indians.

Moreover, new rapids might be very near, in which case
the new canoes would hamper us. Yet the four remaincanoes where
ing canoes
would not carry
the loads and
all
all
the men,
no matter how we cut the loads down; and we intended to

cut everything
days.
We
down
We
at once.
had been gone eighteen
had used over a third of our food.
gone only 125 kilometres, and
it
We
had
was probable that we had
at least five times, perhaps six or seven times, this distance

still
to go.
amounting
fall;
when
We
had taken a fortnight to descend rapids
in the aggregate to less
makes a dangerous rapid

swollen and swift and there are obstruc-
a very few yards of
the river
is
than seventy yards of
fall
274
tions.
We
titude,
and therefore could make merely a loose approxima-
tion to
it,
had only one aneroid to determine our
al-
but we probably had between two and three
times this descent in the aggregate of rapids ahead of us.
So far the country had offered
We
cept palm-tops.
We
were
all
It
the
way
if
we were
of food ex-
canoes and one man.
who
shot well with
behooved us to go warily, but
speed possible,
The
lost four
country of wild Indians,
in the
their bows.
had
little in
also to
make
to avoid serious trouble.
best plan seemed to be to
march
thirteen
men down
along the bank, while the remaining canoes, lashed two and
two, floated
down
we found no bad
two or three days

and there seemed a reasonable
beside them.
rapids,
If after
chance of going some distance at decent speed, we could

then build the new canoes
preferably two small ones,

We
time, instead of one big one.
We
could.
permit; but
we now
I
struck off
for possible emergencies.

cot,
and
all five
under the big
abandoned.
down
of the comfort.
light tent for
The
last
of the others
swung
Each of us got
to
make
one person, kept
their
left
for
hammocks
two big and
his personal belongings
although there was only a
small diminution thus made; because
way
light fly;
box of surveying instruments was
to one box or duffel-bag
the only
we
Cher-
was given to me
This meant that we
fly.
heavy tents behind.

also
much
had been sleeping under a very
and there was another small
my
the baggage
were already down as far as comfort would
Kermit, and
rie,
left all
this
we had
a serious diminution
so little that
was to
restrict
ourselves to the clothes on our backs.
The
biting
flies
and ants were to us a source of
dis-
comfort and at times of what could fairly be called torment.
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

whom went
But to the camaradas, most of

only wore sandals
the
and
effect
barefoot or
and they never did or would wear shoes
was more
feet in pieces of
them became
275
They wrapped
serious.
their legs
canvas or hide; and the feet of three of
were crippled and could
so swollen that they
The
not walk any distance.
whose courage and
doctor,
cheerfulness never flagged, took excellent care of them.
Thanks to him, there had been among them hitherto but

one or two slight cases of fever. He administered to each
man
daily a half-gram
nearly
eight grains
of
quinine,
and every third or fourth day a double dose.
The
following morning Colonel Rondon, Lyra, Kermit,
Cherrie, and nine of the camaradas started in single
down
the bank, while the doctor and
double canoes, with
went
in the
camaradas, three of them the
six
valids with swollen feet.
went about three times
We
two
in-
we
and we
halted continually, as
as fast as the walkers;
traced the course of the river.

tual going in the boats
file
After forty minutes' ac-
we came
loaded canoes ran them without
to
some rapids; the un-
difficulty,
while the loads
we were again under
were portaged.
In an hour and a half
way, but
in ten
minutes came to other rapids, where the
river ran
among
islands,
and there were several big
curls.
The clumsy, heavily laden dugouts, lashed in couples, were

unwieldy and hard to handle. The rapids came just round
a sharp bend, and we got caught in the upper part of the
swift
water and had to run the
quence.
We
first set
in the leading pair of
of rapids in conse-
dugouts were within an
ace of coming to grief on some big bowlders against which
we were swept by
paddling hard
a cross current at the turn.
All of us
scraping and bumpingwe got through by

276
the skin of our teeth, and
managed
make
to
the bank and
moor our dugouts. It was a narrow escape from grave disaster.

The second pair of lashed dugouts profited by our
experience, made the run with risk, but with less risk
and moored beside us. Then all the loads were taken out,
and the empty canoes were run down through the least
dangerous channels among the islands.
This was a long portage, and we camped at the foot of
the rapids, having made nearly seven kilometres.
Here a
little river, a rapid stream of volume equal to the Duvida
at the point where we first embarked, joined from the
west.
Colonel Rondon and Kermit came to it first, and
the former named it Rio Kermit. There was in it a water-
about
fall
Here we found plenty of

good-sized, deep-bodied
Lyra caught two pacu,
fish.
fish.
They were
Antonio the Parecis said that these
heavy rapids
We
above the junction.
six or eight feet high, just
in
which there were
delicious eating.
fish
falls
never came up
they had to jump.
could only hope that he was correct, as in that case
the rapids
we would encounter
in the future
would rarely
be so serious as to necessitate our dragging the heavy dugouts overland.
Passing the rapids
we had
hitherto en-
countered had meant severe labor and some danger.

the event showed that he was mistaken.
were ahead of
The worst
But
rapids
us.
While our course
as a
whole had been almost due north,
and sometimes east of north, yet where there were rapids

the river had generally, although not always, turned west-
ward.
was
This seemed to indicate that to the east of us there
a low northward
across
projection of the
central
which we had travelled on mule-back.
plateau
This
is
the
THE RIVER OF DOUBT
277
kind of projection that appears on the maps of this region
Probably
as a sierra.
it
farthest points of these spurs

in
our course
were
ward from
its
now and then caused
(for the rapids generally
and
hills)
for the
and the
sent low spurs to the west,
moment
rapids
came where there
deflected the river west-
There
general down-hill trend to the north.
was no longer any question that the Duvida was a big

a river of real importance.
river,
ent of
some other
dark as to where
But we were
affluent.
came
it
was not a minor
It
out.
exceedingly improbable, that
It
was
still
was much more
the Tapajos.
that
it
It
likely,
size,
was probable, although
its
mouth.
it
entered
from
certain,
near
far
entered the Madeira low down, near
In this event
although again far from certain, that

prove to be the Aripuanan.
pear on the
ard
possible, although
but not probable, that
junction with the Amazon.
map
maps
any
of South America which

all,
its
its
it
point of
was
likely,
mouth would
The Aripuanan does not
as a river of
does not appear at
in the
entered the Gy-Parana, as
it
another river of substantially the same

It
wholly
still
afflu-
size;
ap-
on a good stand-
had with
me
its
name
although a dotted indication of a
small river or creek at about the right place probably represents
it.
lieutenants
stories
Nevertheless, from the report of one of his
who had examined
of the rubber-gatherers,
Rondon had come

est affluent of the
its
or
mouth, and from the

seringuerros,
to the conclusion that this
Colonel
was the
larg-
Madeira, with such a body of water that
must have a big drainage basin. He thought that the

Duvida was probably one of its head streams although
it
every existing
map
represented the lay of the land to be
such as to render impossible the existence of such a river
278
The
system and drainage basin.

that they had gone
many
was a
them the junction-point
from the west. Beyond
point where there
days' journey
series of
of
two
this
point was no one could say.
On
up the
river, to a
heavy rapids with above
large rivers, one entering
they had
of the hostility of the Indians;
don had directed one of
rubber-gatherers reported
difficulties
because
and where the junctionthe chance Colonel Ron-
his subordinate officers,
Lieutenant
by
Pyrineus, to try to meet us, with boats and provisions,
ascending the Aripuanan to the point of entry of
This was the course followed when Amil-
big affluent.
car had been directed to try to meet the explorers
1909 came
was a
its first
down
failure,
who
At that time the
the Gy-Parana.
in
effort
and the two parties never met; but we might
have better luck, and
in
any event the chance was worth
taking.
On
the morning following our camping
of the Rio Kermit, Colonel
Rondon took
by the mouth
a good deal of
pains in getting a big post set up at the entry of the smaller

river into the
Duvida.
Then he summoned me, and
the others, to attend the ceremony of
found the camaradas drawn up
in line,
its
erection.
"Rio Kermit" on
colonel read the orders reciting that
by the
it;
it
was evidently a great
the Rio Roosevelt.
Both Lauro
Miiller
on the subject, and
river,
To
and the
unknown
he formally christened
This was a complete surprise to me.
and Colonel Rondon had spoken to

I
the
direction of
the Brazilian Government, and inasmuch as the

river
We
and the colonel
preparing to read aloud "the orders of the day."

post was nailed a board with
all
had urged, and Kermit had urged,
strongly as possible that the
name be kept
as
me
as
Rio da Du-
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

We felt
vida.
that the " River of
good name; and

character.
279
But
it
my
is
Doubt " was an unusually

always well to keep a name of this
kind friends insisted otherwise, and
would have been churlish of
much touched by
me
to object longer.
and by the ceremony
their action,
At the conclusion of the reading Colonel Rondon

cheers for the United States and then for
and the camaradas cheered with a
mit;
me and
will.
it
was
itself.
led in
for
Ker-
proposed
three cheers for Brazil and then for Colonel Rondon, and
Lyra, and the doctor, and then for
Lyra
said that
all
Then
the camaradas.
everybody had been cheered except Cherrie;
and so we
all
gave three cheers for Cherrie, and the meet-
ing broke
up
in
high good humor.
Immediately afterward the walkers
march down-stream, looking
for
set
off
on
good canoe-trees.
their
In a
we followed with the canoes. As often

as we overtook them we halted until they had again gone
a good distance ahead.
They soon found fresh Indian sign,
quarter of an hour
and actually heard the Indians;
They came on
abandoned. The three
panic.
had each an entrance

opening.
left,
little
in
Indian fishing village, just
for a
man on
inside,
swarms of biting
but no other
all fours,
doubtless as a protecflies.
On
a pole in this
an axe, a knife, and some strings of red beads were
with the hope that the Indians would return, find the
gifts,
and
realize that
we were
friendly.
Indian sign on both sides of the
saw further
we came on
little
was broad but shallow,

the point of entrance rushed down, green and white,
river entering
at
from the
We
river.
After about two hours and a half
and
fled
low, oblong huts, of palm-leaves,
They were dark
tion against the

village
but the latter
east.
It
280
over a sharply inclined sheet of rock.
and we halted to admire
was a lovely
It
Then on we went, until,

when we had covered about eight kilometres, we came on
a stretch of rapids. The canoes ran them with about a
sight
it.
third of the loads, the other loads being carried on the
At the
men's shoulders.
as there were several
good canoe-trees near,
decided to build two rather small canoes.

stars
came out; but
we camped,
and we had
foot of the rapids
After dark the
deep forest the glory of the stars
in the
in the night of the sky, the serene
radiance of the moon,
the splendor of sunrise and sunset, are never seen as they
on the vast open
are seen
The
men began work on

canoe had been made of
following day, the 19th, the
The
the canoes.
wood
plains.
big
ill-fated
so hard that
was
it
difficult to
work, and so heavy
But these
that the chips sank like lead in the water.

trees
were araputangas, with wood which was easier to
work and which
Great buttresses,
floated.
or
flanges,
jutted out from their trunks at the base, and they bore
big hard nuts or fruits which stood erect at the ends of the
The
branches.
over
first
tree felled
was chopped
it
so
that
proved rotten, and moreit
smashed a number of
overthrowing everything, but
lesser trees into the kitchen,
not inflicting serious damage.
Hard-working, willing, and
tough though the camaradas were, they naturally did not
have the
We
skill
of northern lumberjacks.
hoped to
finish the
two canoes
in three days.
Among
the
space was cleared in the forest for our tents.

taller trees
grew huge-leafed pacovas, or wild bananas.
bathed and
piranhas.
swam
in the river,
Carregadores
ants
although in
swarmed
all
it
We
we caught
around
our
THE RIVER OF DOUBT

As many of the nearest of
camp.
we stopped with
fire;
281
we could
them got into
their holes as
but at night some of
our tents and ate things we could
ill
In the early
spare.
morning a column of foraging ants appeared, and we drove
them back, also with fire. When the sky was not overcast
the sun was very hot, and we spread out everything to
There were many wonderful
dry.
Yet
but only a few birds.
butterflies
in the early
round about,
morning and
late
afternoon there was some attractive bird music in the
The two
woods.
false bell-bird,
best performers were our old friend the
with
The
ant-thrush.
attractive
of ringing whistles, and a shy,
its series
latter
walked much on the
ground, with dainty movements, courtesying and raising

its tail;
or time,
and
its
in accent
and sequence, although not
in
tone
song resembled that of our white-throated
sparrow.
It
we had
had come along
was three weeks
River of Doubt.
We
since
started
its
down
winding course
about 140 kilometres, with a descent of somewhere
neighborhood of 124 metres.
We
us,
could not
tell
It
the
in the
had been slow progress.
what physical obstacles were ahead
nor whether the Indians would be actively hostile.
a river normally describes in
its
of
But
course a parabola, the steep
descent being in the upper part;
and we hoped that
in
we should not have to encounter so many and

such difficult rapids as we had already encountered, and
that therefore we would make better time a hope des-
the future
tined to failure.
CHAPTER IX
DOWN AN UNKNOWN RIVER
INTO THE EQUATORIAL

FOREST
The
mightiest river in the world
the Amazon.
is
It
runs from west to east, from the sunset to the sunrise, from
the Andes to the Atlantic.
The main stream
flows almost
along the equator, while the basin which contains

ents extends
many
degrees north and south of the equator.
This gigantic equatorial river basin
mense
forests
is
forest, the largest in the world,
filled
with an im-
with which no other
can be compared save those of western Africa and
Malaysia.
We
were within the southern boundary of this
was not merely
great equatorial forest, on a river which
unknown but unguessed

suspected
its
existence.
at,
no geographer having ever
This river flowed northward to-
ward the equator, but whither
it
would
go,
whether
would turn one way or another, the length of

where
its afflu-
it
would come
its
it
course,
out, the character of the stream itself,
and the character of the dwellers along
its
banks
all
these
things were yet to be discovered.
One morning while the canoes were being built Kermit

and I walked a few kilometres down the river and surveyed
the next rapids below. The vast still forest was almost
empty of life. We found old Indian signs. There were
very few birds, and these in the tops of the
We
saw a recent tapir-track; and under a

282
tall
trees.
cajazeira-tree
by
283
the bank there were the tracks of capybaras which had
been eating the fallen
This
fruit.
fruit
and
delicious
is
The
would make a valuable addition to our orchards.

tree although tropical
hardy, thrives
is
and propagates rapidly from shoots.

Agriculture should try whether
name was
would not grow
it
in south-
This was the tree from which the
ern California and Florida.

doctor's family
when domesticated,
The Department of
His paternal grandfather,
taken.
although of Portuguese blood, was an intensely patriotic

Brazilian.
He was
young man when the indepen-
a very
dence of Brazil was declared, and did not wish to keep the
Portuguese family name;

Brazilian
fine
names
is
tree
common
in
so he
changed
to that of the
Such change of family
question.
in Brazil.
it
Doctor Vital
Brazil, the stu-
dent of poisonous serpents, was given his
name by his
whose own family name was entirely
different;
brother's
name was
ning.
and
his
again different.
There were tremendous downpours of

a couple of hours
father,
rain, lasting for
and accompanied by thunder and
But on the whole
it
seemed as
if
light-
the rains were less
heavy and continuous than they had been. We all of us

had to help in building the canoes now and then. Kermit, accompanied
by Antonio the
the river and walked back to the
Parecis and Joao, crossed

little river
that had en-
tered from the east, so as to bring back a report of
Colonel Rondon.
by the
stars.
We
it
to
Lyra took observations, by the sun and

were
in
about latitude
21' south,
and due north of where we had started. The river had

wound so that we had gone two miles for every one we
made northward. Our progress had been very slow; and
until we got out of the region of incessant rapids, with their
284
attendant labor and hazard,
go much
On
it
was not
likely that
we should
faster.
March 22 we started in our six

canoes.
We made ten kilometres. Twenty minutes after
Here every one walked
starting we came to the first rapids.
except the three best paddlers, who took the canoes down
in succession
an hour's job. Soon after this we struck a
the morning of
bees' nest in the top of a tree overhanging* the river;
steersman climbed out and robbed
honey on the way back.
We
which we did not dare run

cranky dugouts.
low the
falls, fifty
having been
and a
half,
took us
six
in
came
lost the
to a small steep
fall
our overladen, clumsy, and
in
Fortunately,
deep canal which led
but, alas
it,
our
we were
able to follow a
a kilometre, returning just be-
off for
yards from where
it
had
started.
Then,
the boats and in motion only one hour
we came
to a long stretch of rapids which
hours to descend, and
we camped
it
at the foot.
Everything was taken out of the canoes, and they were
down
run
succession.
in
place they were let
most
At one
down by
ropes;
difficult
and even thus we
went down the
was an Indian
dry season.
right bank.
On
the opposite bank
village, evidently inhabited
The marks on
old fields in which maize,
grown.
The
forest
plentiful.
only during the
the stumps of trees showed
that these Indians had axes and knives;
trees
al-
lost one.
We
were
and perilous
beans,
and there were
and cotton had been
dripped and steamed.
Rubber-trees
At one point the tops of a group of
were covered with yellow-white blossoms.
bore red blossoms.
Many
of the big trees,
tall
Others
of different
kinds, were buttressed at the base with great thin walls of
The Upper Duvid;
Cherrie in his canoe

From photographs
by Kermit Roosevelt
285
Others, including both palms and ordinary trees,
wood.
showed an even stranger
The
peculiarity.
trunk, near the
from the ground, was
base, but sometimes six or eight feet
a dozen or twenty branches or small trunks which
split into
sloped outward in tent-like shape, each becoming a root.
The
larger trees of this type looked as
their trunks
if
were
seated on the tops of the pole frames of Indian tepees.
one point
in the stream, to
flying-fish.
It
our great surprise,
skimmed the water
like a
At
we saw a
swallow for over
twenty yards.
Although we made only ten kilometres we worked hard
all
The
day.
bank
to the
last
canoes were brought
at nightfall.
Our
down and moored
tents were pitched in the
darkness.
Next day we made thirteen kilometres.

told, a little over an hour and three-quarters.
were spent
ran,
all
Seven hours
in getting past a series of rapids at
portage, over rocky and difficult ground,
which the
was a kilometre
The canoes were run down empty a hazardous run,

which one of them upset.
Yet while we were actually on the river, paddling and
long.
in
We
down-stream along the reaches of
floating
water,
it
was very
lovely.
When we
swift,
smooth
started in the
morn-
ing the
day was overcast and the
Ahead
of us the shrouded river stretched between
air
walls of forest, half-seen in the mist.
up the
fog,
changed
and loomed through
first
to gold
it
was heavy with vapor.
Then
dim
the sun burned
in a red splendor that
and then to molten white.
In the
dazzling light, under the brilliant blue of the sky, every

detail of the magnificent forest
was vivid to the eye: the
great trees, the network of bush ropes, the caverns of
286
greenery, where thick-leaved vines covered
all
things
else.
Wherever there was a hidden bowlder the surface of the

current was broken by waves.
In one place, in midstream,
a pyramidal rock thrust itself six feet above the surface of
On
the river.
At home
we found
the banks
fresh Indian sign.
Vermont Cherrie is a farmer, with a farm

hundred acres, most of it woodland. As we sat at
of six
in
the foot of the rapids, watching for the last dugouts with
their
naked paddlers to swing into
sight
round the bend
through the white water, we talked of the northern spring
He
that was just beginning.
sells
cream, eggs, poultry,
potatoes, honey, occasionally pork and veal;
season
it
was the time
but at this
He
maple-sugar crop.
for the
has
a sugar orchard, where he taps twelve hundred trees and
many more in addition. Said Cherrie:

now for Fred Rice" Fred Rice is the
hopes soon to tap as

"It's a
hired
busy time
man, and
in sugar
time the Cherrie boys help him
with enthusiasm, and, moreover, are paid with exact justice for the
work they
the farm, although
do.
is
it
There
is
much
near Brattleboro.
wild
life
One
about
night in
early spring a bear left his tracks near the sugar-house;
and now and then
in
summer
the garden to keep the deer
Cherrie has had to sleep in
away from the
beans, cab-
in the forest,
but Cherrie
bages, and beets.
There was not much bird
life
kept getting species new to the collection.
he shot an interesting
little
ant-thrush.
At this camp
It was the size
of a warbler, jet-black, with white under-surfaces of the
wings and
tail,
white on the tail-feathers, and a large spot
of white on the back, normally almost concealed, the feathers
on the back being long and
fluffy.
When
he shot the

bird, a male,
it
was showing
was
this
white
before a dull-colored
off
little
and the chief feature of the
bird, doubtless the female;
display
287
The white
on the back.
spot
feathers were raised and displayed so that the spot flashed
"chrysanthemum" on
like the
was hard to
see,
feathers revealed
tion.
In the gloom of the forest the bird
been aroused.
ity has
was an
It
a prongbuck whose curios-
but the flashing of this patch of white

it
at once, attracting
immediate atten-
example of a coloration mark
excellent
which served a purely advertising purpose; apparently
was part of a courtship

up
feet
The
display.
bird
it
was about thirty
in the branches.
In the morning, just before leaving this camp, a tapir
swam
across stream a
nately
we
little
way above
could not get a shot at
An ample
it.
tapir beef
would have meant much to
with
days' rations;
fifty
We
us.
We
supply of
had started
but this by no means meant
rations, in the sense of giving every

eat.
but unfortu-
us;
man
all
full
he wanted to
had two meals a day, and were on rather short
commons both our mess and the camaradas' except when

we got plenty of palm-tops. For our mess we had the
boxes chosen by Fiala, each containing a day's rations for
six
men, our number.
a half, or at times
But we made each box
two days, and
when we had
caught some
fish,
we gave some
It
that everybody had enough.
have welcomed that

fruit
killed
tapir.
day and
was only on the rare ocsome monkeys or curassows, or
of the food to the camaradas.

casions
in addition
last a
So far the game,
We
would
fish,
and
had been too scarce to be an element of weight
our food supply.

difficult
in
In an exploring trip like ours, through a
and utterly unknown country, especially
if
densely
288
forested, there
counted on.
little
is
It
time to halt, and game cannot be
only in lands like our
is
own West
thirty
years ago, like South Africa in the middle of the last century, like East Africa to-day that
On
chief food supply.
this trip
game can be made the
our only substantial food
supply from the country hitherto had been that furnished
Two men
by the palm-tops.
down palms
cut
were detailed every day to
for food.
kilometre and a half after leaving this
on a stretch of big
The
rapids.
camp we came
river here twists in loops,
and we had heard the roaring of these rapids the previous
Then we passed out
afternoon.
of earshot of them;
Antonio Correa, our best waterman, insisted

the roaring meant rapids worse than any
tered for
know
and
was
right.
it
like a fish,
We
and
all its
along that
we had encoun-
"I was brought up
some days.
all
but
in the water,
He
sounds," said he.
had to carry the loads nearly a kilometre
that afternoon, and the canoes were pulled out on the
bank
so that they might be in readiness to be dragged
overland next day.
Rondon, Lyra, Kermit, and Antonio
Correa explored both sides of the

or left
river.
On
the opposite
bank they found the mouth of a considerable
river,
bigger than the Rio Kermit, flowing in from the west and
making
river
we
its
entrance in the middle of the rapids.
christened the Taunay, in honor of a distinguished
Brazilian,
an explorer, a
a writer of note.
and
soldier,
a senator,
who was
Kermit had with him two of
had read one of
retreat during the
This
his
also
his novels,
books dealing with a disastrous
Paraguayan war.
Next morning, the 25th, the canoes were brought down.

path was chopped for them and rollers laid; and half-

way down
who were
oversee-
as well as doing their share of the
pushing
the rapids Lyra and Kermit,
work
ing the
289
and hauling, got them into a canal of smooth water, which
much
saved
As our food supply lowered we
severe labor.
were constantly more desirous of economizing the strength
One day more would complete a month since

we had embarked on the Duvida as we had started in
February, the lunar and calendar months coincided. We
had used up over half our provisions. We had come only
of the men.
over 160 kilometres, thanks to the character and
trifle
number
of the rapids.
We
we had
believed
three or four
times the distance yet to go before coming to a part of
we might hope
the river where
to
meet
assistance, either
from rubber-gatherers, or from Pyrineus,
coming up the
river
food,
aside
the rapids;
been
known
three weeks before
it
we were
could not be
in straits for
from the ever-present danger of accident
and
still
if
our progress were no faster than
it
and
into the
went
it
We
in front.
had
in
could not even hazard a guess
The
river
was now a
seemed impossible that
Gy-Parana or the Tapajos.
into the
in
have several hundreds of kilometres of un-
river before us.
what was
river,
it
had been
If the
and we were straining to do our bestwe would
such event
at
he were really
which we were going down.
rapids continued to be as they
much more than
if
Canuma,
really big
it
could flow either
It
was
possible that
a big affluent of the Madeira low
down, and next to the Tapajos.

it
It was more probable that

was the headwaters of the Aripuanan, a river which, as
have said, was not even named on the excellent English
map
of Brazil
known
to
I carried.
Nothing but the mouth had been
any geographer; but the lower course had long
290
been known to rubber-gatherers, and recently a commission
from the government of Amazonas had part-way
not as
as-
cended one branch of
it
had gone, and,
turned out, not the branch we came
as
it
far as the rubber-gatherers
down.
Two
of our
men were down with
Another man,
fever.
was utterly worthless,
Julio, a fellow of powerful frame,
being an inborn, lazy shirk with the heart of a ferocious

cur in the body of a bullock.
The
others were good men,
They were under the

Pedrinho Craveiro, who was first-
some of them very good indeed.

immediate supervision of
class in
every way.
This camp was very lovely.
It
was on the edge of a
bay, into which the river broadened immediately below

the rapids.
There was a beach of white sand, where we
bathed and washed our clothes.
All
around
and across
us,
the bay, and on both sides of the long water-street
made
by the
flocks
river, rose
There were
the splendid forest.
of parakeets colored green, blue, and red.
Big toucans
called overhead, lustrous green-black in color, with white
throats, red gorgets, red-and-yellow tail coverts,
black-and-yellow
be a
Here the
bills.
soil
fine site for a coffee-plantation
open to settlement.
was
fertile;
when
idle,
to
wilderness, while there are such teeming
lie
it
will
this region
Surely such a rich and
cannot be permitted to remain
and huge
fertile
is
land
as a tenantless
swarms of human
beings in the overcrowded, overpeopled countries of the
Old World.
make
The very
rapids and waterfalls which
now
the navigation of the river so difficult and danger-
ous would drive electric trolleys up and
down
its
whole
length and far out on either side, and run mills and fac-
Ked-andYellow Macaw
EgTet
Toco Toucan

tories,
291
With the incoming
and lighten the labor on farms.
of settlement and with the steady growth of knowledge
how
to fight and control tropical diseases, fear of danger
to health would vanish.

for the first explorers,
followers,
land like this
and perhaps
In mid-afternoon
a hard land
immediate
for their
who come
but not for the people
is
after
we were once more
them.
in the
canoes;
but we had paddled with the current only a few minutes,
we had gone only
a kilometre,
front again forced us to haul
when
the roar of rapids in
As
up to the bank.
usual,
Rondon, Lyra, and Kermit, with Antonio Correa, explored

both sides while camp was
being pitched.
were longer and of steeper descent than the
The
rapids
last,
but on
the opposite or western side there was a passage
down
which we thought we could get the empty dugouts at the
them only a few yards at one spot. The

loads were to be carried down the hither bank, for a kilometre, to the smooth water. The river foamed between
great rounded masses of rock, and at one point there was
cost of dragging
a sheer
fall
pineapples.
of six or eight feet.
Wild beans were
We
found and ate wild
in flower.
At dinner we had
a toucan and a couple of parrots, which were very good.

All next
three best
day was spent by Lyra
watermen
in superintending
our
down
the
as they took the canoes
west side of the rapids, to the foot, at the spot to which

the
camp had meantime been
shifted.
In the forest some
of the huge sipas, or rope vines, which were as big as cables,
bore clusters of fragrant flowers.
The men found
several
honey-trees, and fruits of various kinds, and small cocoanuts;
they chopped down an ample number of palms, for
the palm-cabbage; and, most important of
all,
they gath-
292
ered a quantity of big Brazil-nuts, which
when
roasted
tasted like the best of chestnuts and are nutritious;
and
they caught a number of big piranhas, which were good

eating.
So we
to eat and
By
all
had a
feast,
and everybody had enough
was happy.
these rapids, at the
fall,
Cherrie found some strange
They were
carvings on a bare mass of rock.
made by men
Indians thereabouts
in
As
a long time ago.
make no such
far as
is
known, the
They were
now.
figures
evidently
two groups, one on the surface of the rock facing the
land, the other
The former were
nearly obliterated.
flat
were
latter
good preservation,
in
They
the figures sharply cut into the rock.
the upper
The
on that facing the water.
consisted,
upon
part of the rock, of four multiple circles
with a dot in the middle (), very accurately made and

about a foot and a half in diameter; and below them, on
the side of the rock, four multiple m's or inverted w's
What
curious
these
them, we could not, of course, form the
may
(flfc).
symbols represented, or who made

slightest idea.
It
be that in a very remote past some Indian tribes of
comparatively advanced culture had penetrated to this

lovely river, just as
men came
to
we had now come
to
it.
Before white
South America there had already existed
some rude, others
therein various semicivilizations,
advanced, which
rose,
immemorial
and then vanished.
ages,
flourished,
the history of humanity during
fairly
and persisted through
its
The
vicissitudes in
stay on this southern
continent have been as strange, varied, and inexplicable as
paleontology shows to have been the case, on the same continent, in the history of the higher forms of animal
ing the age of
mammals.
Colonel
Rondon
life
dur-
stated that such

figures
these
as
are
not found anywhere else in Matto
Grosso where he has been, and therefore
more strange to
known
river,
293
them
find
it
was
the
all
one place on the un-
in this
we
never before visited by white men, which
were descending.
Next morning we went about three kilometres before

coming to some steep
they were
rapids.
hills,
beautiful to look upon, clad as
in dense, tall, tropical forest,
Sure enough, at their foot
prepare for a long portage.
empty.
Even
so,
bend of the
among
rapids,
to haul
up and
The canoes we ran down

ace of losing two, the
In a sharp
ordinarily journeyed.
between two big
they were swept
curls,
the bowlders and under the matted branches which
stretched out from the bank.
current pinned
All of
other.
we had
we were within an
lashed couple in which
but ominous of new
They
filled,
and the racing
them where they were, one partly on the

us had to help get them clear. Their fas-
tenings were chopped asunder with axes.
Kermit and half
a dozen of the men, stripped to the skin,
made
to a small rock island in the
and
let
The
down
a rope which
rest of us,
above the canoes,
tied to the
outermost canoe.
up to our armpits and barely able to keep
our footing as we slipped and stumbled

in the swift current, lifted
men
among
tree.
Each canoe
in succession
rock island, baled, and then taken
two paddlers.
his
It
was hauled up the
down
in safety
by
was nearly four o'clock before we were
again ready to start, having been delayed

so
the bowlders
and shoved while Kermit and
pulled the rope and fastened the slack to a half-sub-
merged
little
way
just
little falls
we
their
heavy that we could not
see
by a rain-storm
across the river.
Ten
minutes' run took us to the head of another series of rapids;
294
we had
ahead of us; and we made camp in the
not matter much, as we were already
the exploring party returned with the news that
an
all
rain,
day's job
which did
drenched through.
to
make
fire sufficiently
for the rain
was
complete
it
in
hot to dry
falling.
still
boat, but, as at the

in a
was impossible, with the wet wood,
It
by a
our soggy things,
was seen from our
tapir
moment we were
circle
all
being whisked round
whirlpool, I did not myself see
time to shoot.
Next morning we went down a kilometre, and then

landed on the other side of the
river.
The canoes were
run down, and the loads carried to the other side of a

river
coming
in
from the west, which Colonel Rondon
tened Cherrie River.
Across this
huge tree
sisting of a
felled
we went on
little
chris-
a bridge con-
by Macario, one
of our best
Here we camped, while Rondon, Lyra, Kermit, and
men.
They were
ab-
Then they returned with
the
Antonio Correa explored what was ahead.

sent until mid-afternoon.
news that we were among ranges of low mountains, utterly

different in formation
from the high plateau region to which
the
we had come
first
rapids, those
belonged.
Through the
river ran in a gorge,
ately ahead of us.
that
it
difficult
first
to on the 2d of
March,
range of these mountains the
some three kilometres
The ground was
long,
so rough
immedi-
and steep
would be impossible to drag the canoes over
it
and
enough to carry the loads; and the rapids were so
bad, containing several

height, that
it
one of at least ten metres in
was doubtful how many of the canoes we
down them.
with much experience
who believed we could
could get
falls,
Kermit,
who was
the only
of rope work, was the only

get the canoes
down
at all;
man
man
and
it

was, of course, possible that
we should have
295
new
to build
ones at the foot to supply the place of any that were lost
or
left
In view of the length and character of the
behind.
portage, and of
all
the unpleasant possibilities that were
ahead, and of the need of keeping every pound of food,

it
was necessary to reduce weight
and to throw away everything except the barest
We
now we
way
every possible
in
necessities.
thought we had reduced our baggage before;
We
cut to the bone.
kept the
fly for all six
but
of us
to sleep under.
Kermit's shoes had gone, thanks to the
amount
in the
of
work
and he took the pair
my
spare pair.
one
set of
of socks,
water which he had been doing;
had been wearing, while
In addition to the clothes
wore,
kept
pajamas, a spare pair of drawers, a spare pair

half a dozen handkerchiefs,
pocket medicine-case, and a

spectacles, gun-grease,
little
be used at Manaos.
bag containing
my
cot, blanket,
wash-kit,
my
plaster,
my
spare
some needles
went into the
and mosquito-net.
my
my
purse and letter of
All of these
carried a cartridge-bag containing
and gauntlets.
my
bag containing
some adhesive
and thread, the "fly-dope," and

credit, to
put on
I also
cartridges, head-net,
Kermit cut down even
and the
closer;
others about as close.
The
last three
days of March we spent in getting to
the foot of the rapids in this gorge.
Lyra and Kermit,
with four of the best watermen, handled the empty canoes.
The work was not only

treme, but hazardous;
difficult
and laborious
in the ex-
for the walls of the gorge
sheer that at the worst places they
had to
cling to
were so
narrow
shelves on the face of the rock, while letting the canoes
down with
ropes.
Meanwhile Rondon surveyed and cut a
296
the burden-bearers, and superintended the portage
trail for
The rocky
of the loads.
for laden
the
trail
men
sides of the gorge
were too steep
to attempt to traverse them.
Accordingly
had to go over the top of the mountain, both the
ascent and the descent of the rock-strewn, forest-clad slopes
being very steep.
such a
trail.
opening
It
From
in the trees
was hard work to carry loads over
the top of the mountain, through an
on the edge of a
beautiful view of the country ahead.
cliff,
there was a
All around
and
in
front of us there were ranges of low mountains about the
height of the lower ridges of the Alleghanies.
Their sides
were steep and they were covered with the matted growth
of the tropical forest.
Our next camping-place,
at the foot
of the gorge, was almost beneath us, and from thence the
river ran in a straight line, flecked with white water, for
about a kilometre.
tween mountain
rapids.
It
Then
ridges,
it
disappeared behind and be-
which we supposed meant further
was a view well worth
seeing;
although the country ahead of us was,

such as to promise further hardships,
its
but, beautiful
character was
difficulty,
hausting labor, and especially further delay;
was a
serious matter to
men whose
and ex-
and delay
food supply was begin-
ning to run short, whose equipment was reduced to the
minimum, who for a month, with the utmost

made very slow progress, and who had no idea
toil,
had
of either
the distance or the difficulties of the route in front of them.
There was not much
life
in the
woods, big or
little.
Small birds were rare, although Cherrie's unwearied efforts
were rewarded from time to time by a species new to the

collection.
and
if
There were tracks of
we had taken two
tapir, deer,
and agouti;
or three days to devote to noth-
297
them we might perchance have killed

something; but the chance was much too uncertain, the
work we were doing was too hard and wearing, and the
ing else than hunting
need of pressing forward altogether too great to permit

us to spend any time in such manner.
to
come
This type of well-nigh impene-
in incidentally.
trable forest
is
The hunting had
the one in which
it
is
most
difficult to get
game exists therein. A couple of curassows and a big monkey were killed by the colonel and
Kermit. On the day the monkey was brought in Lyra,
even what
little
Kermit, and their four associates had spent from sunrise

to sunset in severe
and
moments dangerous
at
toil
among
the rocks and in the swift water, and the fresh meat was
appreciated.
The head,
boiled for the gaunt
feet, tail, skin,
and
and ravenous dogs.
each of us a few mouthfuls; and
The
how good
were
entrails
gave
flesh
those mouth-
fuls tasted
Cherrie, in addition to being out after birds in every
He was
moment, helped in all emergencies.

eran in the work of the tropic wilderness.
spare
gether often, and of
many
We
a vet-
talked to-
things, for our views of
life,
and
of a man's duty to his wife and children, to other men, and

to
women, and
to the state in peace
essentials the same.
and war, were
His father had served
all
in all
through the
War, entering an Iowa cavalry regiment as a private

and coming out as a captain; his breast-bone was shattered
Civil
by a blow from a musket-butt,
in
hand-to-hand fighting at
Shiloh.
During
this portage the
coming toward the
weather favored
us.
close of the rainy season.
day of the month, when we moved camp to the
We
On
were
the last
foot of the
298
was a thunder-storm; but on the whole we

were not bothered by rain until the last night, when it
gorge, there
rained heavily, driving under the fly so as to wet
However,
and bedding.
in the
damp
been uncomfortable;
On
cot
comfortably enough, rolled
I slept
Without the blanket
blanket.
my
a blanket
should have
a necessity for health.
is
the third day Lyra and Kermit, with their daring and
hard-working watermen, after wearing labor, succeeded
in
getting five canoes through the worst of the rapids to the

chief
fall.
The
sixth,
which was
frail
and weak, had
its
bottom beaten out on the jagged rocks of the broken water.
On
this night,
although
thought
my
had put
clothes
out of reach, both the termites and the carregadores ants
my drawers,
got at them, ate holes in one boot, ate one leg of
and riddled
my
handkerchief;
replace anything that
and
now had nothing
to
was destroyed.
Next day Lyra, Kermit, and

the five canoes that were
left
four days accomplished a
down
work
camaradas brought
their
to camp.
They had
in
of incredible labor and of
the utmost importance; for at the
first
glance
it
had seemed
an absolute impossibility to avoid abandoning the canoes
when we found
torrent at the
mountains.
how soon we
that the river sank into a cataract-broken
bottom of a canyon-like gorge between steep
On
April 2
we once more
started,
wondering
should strike other rapids in the mountains
the aneroid indicated, be so low
we should, as
we should nec-
essarily be in a plain
a journey of at
ahead, and whether in any reasonable time
least a
down that
where we could make
few days without rapids.
We
had been exactly a
month going through an uninterrupted succession of rapids.

During that month we had come only about no kilometres,
DOWN AN UNKNOWN
and had descended nearly 150 metres
we
canoes with which
had
and the
built,
which by
its
life
started,
of one
death had in
Colonel Rondon.
the
We
proximate but fairly accurate.*
RIVER
had
figures are ap-
lost four of the
and one other, which we
man; and the
In a straight
line
some
risk
of a dog
of
made more than

toil for
most
some of the party, and of
risk for
and some hardship
life
northward, toward
mile and a quarter a day; at the cost of bitter
much
life
probability saved the
all
our supposed destination, we had not
of the party, of
299
for all the party.
Most
of
the camaradas were downhearted, naturally enough, and
we really believed that we

and we had to cheer them up
occasionally asked one of us
should ever get out alive;

as best
we
could.
There was no change
We made
if
in
our work for the time being.
but three kilometres that day.
party walked
all
luggage until
we
the time;
Most
of the
but the dugouts carried the
struck the head of the series of rapids
which were to take up the next two or three days.

river rushed
The
through a wild gorge, a chasm or canyon,
between two mountains.
Its sides
were very steep, mere
rock walls, although in most places so covered with the luxuriant growth of the trees and bushes that clung in the
crevices,
and with green moss, that the naked rock was
hardly seen.
front,
sent
Rondon, Lyra, and Kermit, who were
found a small
level spot,
back word to camp
with a beach of sand, and
there, while they spent several
hours in exploring the country ahead.

* The
we made
in
The canoes were
first four days, before we struck the upper rapids, and during which
nearly seventy kilometres, are of course not included when I speak
of our making our way down the rapids.
300
run down empty, and the loads carried painfully along the
face of the
cliffs;
so
bad was the
that
trail
found
hard to follow, although carrying nothing but
The
cartridge-bag.
my
We
there were rapids as far as they had gone.
hope that the aneroid was not hopelessly out of
we
and
rifle
and that
could only
and
kilter,
should, therefore, fairly soon find ourselves in com-
The
paratively level country.

ited food supply,
was
telling
the spirits of the men;
severe
toil,
on a rather lim-
on the strength as well as on
Lyra and Kermit,
their other work, performed as
as
rather
explorers returned with the informa-
tion that the mountains stretched ahead of us,
that
it
much
in addition to
actual physical labor
any of them.
Next day, the 3d of April, we began the descent of these

sinister rapids of the
chasm.
Colonel
Rondon had gone
the summit of the mountain in order to find a better

for the burden-bearers, but
to go along the face of the

dition as that in
it
was
cliffs.
hopeless,
trail
and they had
Such an exploring expe-
which we were engaged of necessity
volves hard and dangerous labor, and perils of
To
follow down-stream an
to
unknown
river,
many
in-
kinds.
broken by innu-
merable cataracts and rapids, rushing through mountains

of which the existence has never been even guessed, bears
no resemblance whatever to following even a
fairly danger-
ous river which has been thoroughly explored and has be-
come
in
some
sort a
highway, so that experienced pilots
can be secured as guides, while the portages have been

pioneered and
trails
feature of the rapids
no one could
chopped out, and every dangerous

is
known beforehand.
foretell that the river
In this case
would cleave
through steep mountain chains, cutting narrow
its
way
clefts
in

which the
When
walls
cliff
rose
301
almost sheer on either hand.
a rushing river thus "canyons," as
we used
out West, and the mountains are very steep,
to say
becomes
it
down the river itself

portage them along the cliff sides,
almost impossible to bring the canoes
and utterly impossible to
while even to bring the loads over the mountain
how many times the task

when it will end, or whether
or
will
tell
have to be repeated,
the food will hold out;
every hour of work in the rapids

sibility of the
is
fraught with the pos-
gravest disaster, and yet
necessary to attempt
it;
and
a task
Moreover, no one
of extraordinary labor and difficulty.
can
is
this
all
it
imperatively
is
done
is
in
an unin-
habited wilderness, or else a wilderness tenanted only by

unfriendly savages, where failure to get through means
death by disease and starvation.
Wholesale disasters to
The
South American exploring parties have been frequent.

first
the
recent effort to descend one of the
Amazon from
a disaster.
as large as ours
Telles Peres.
thing
in
1889 by a party about
under a Brazilian engineer
officer,
Colonel
In descending some rapids they lost every-
canoes,
food,
medicine,
implements
except one officer
everything.
them died
and two men, who were rescued months
Fever smote them, and then starvation.
later.
rivers to
the Brazilian highlands resulted in such
was undertaken
It
unknown
All of
Recently, in Guiana, a wilderness veteran, Andre,
lost two-thirds of his
ness exploration
of wild nature
is
party by starvation.
Genuine wilder-
as dangerous as warfare.
demands the utmost
The conquest
vigor, hardihood,
daring, and takes from the conquerors a
heavy
toll
of
and
life
and health.
Lyra,
Kermit,
and Cherrie, with four of the men,
302
worked the canoes half-way down the canyon.

again
Again and
was touch and go whether they could get by a
it
At one spot the channel of the furious torrent was only fifteen yards across.
One canoe was lost,
so that of the seven with which we had started only two
given point.
were
and
left.
men
Cherrie labored with the other
also stood as
ing, of course
guard over them,
for,
no one could carry a
at times,
while actually work-
Kermit's experi-
rifle.
ence in bridge building was invaluable in enabling him to
do the rope work by which alone

canoes
down
shoes were rotten.
On
was
possible to get the
He and Lyra had now
been in
Their clothes were never dry.
Their
the canyon.
the water for days.
it
The
bruises
become
sores.
become
festering
of us.
Poisonous ants, biting
their bodies
on
legs
had
insect bites
had
their feet
some of the
and
wounds, as indeed was the case with

flies,
ticks,
wasps, bees were
a perpetual torment.
However, no one had yet been
ten by a venomous
serpent, a scorpion, or
although
we had
killed
all
of the
all
three
bit-
centiped,
within
camp
limits.
Under such conditions whatever is evil in men's natures

comes to the front. On this day a strange and terrible
tragedy occurred. One of the camaradas, a man of pure
European blood, was the man named Julio, of whom I
have already spoken. He was a very powerful fellow and
had been importunately eager to come on the expedition;
and he had the reputation of being a good worker.
like so
many men
But,
of higher standing, he had had no idea
what such an expedition really meant, and under the

strain of toil, hardship, and danger his nature showed its
He
true depths of selfishness, cowardice, and ferocity.
of
DOWN AN UNKNOWN
shirked
make him do
always
shamelessly
303
Nothing could
sickness.
and yet unlike
his share;
he was
fellows
He shammed
work.
all
RIVER
his self-respecting
begging for favors.
Kermit was the only one of our party who smoked;

he was continually giving a
who worked
camaradas,
little
but Julio,
it;
was always, and always
labor,
tobacco to some of the
in
The
under him.
especially well
good men did not ask for
and
who
vain,
shirked every
demanding
it.
work
do anything with him had to
Colonel Rondon, Lyra, and Kermit each tried to get
out of him, and in order to
threaten to leave him in the wilderness.

tasks on his comrades;
On
as well as ours.
He threw
all
his
and, moreover, he stole their food
such an expedition the theft of food
comes next to murder as a crime, and should by rights be

punished as such.
We
could not trust
him
to cut
down
palms or gather nuts, because he would stay out and eat
what ought to have gone

nally,
him
the
men on
into
the
common
store.
Fi-
several occasions themselves detected
Alone of the whole party, and
stealing their food.
thanks to the stolen food, he had kept
in full flesh
and
bodily vigor.
One
of our best
men was
a huge negro
Paishona corporal and acting sergeant

corps.
He
had,
pieces, so that
by the way,
named Paixao
in the
engineer
literally torn his trousers to
he wore only the tatters of a pair of old
my
when we lightened loads. He was a stern disciplinarian. One evening

he detected Julio stealing food and smashed him in the
mouth. Julio came crying to us, his face working with
drawers until
fear
gave him
spare trousers
and malignant hatred; but
told that he
had gotten
off
after investigation he
uncommonly
lightly.
was
The men
304
had three or four carbines, which were sometimes carried
by those who were not
On
this
their owners.
morning, at the outset of the portage, Pedrinho
discovered Julio stealing some of the men's dried meat.
Shortly afterward Paishon rebuked him
By
ging behind.
where the canoes were
down one
were
sitting
the last loads to be brought along the

still
in the
a load,
camp we had
left it
down
the
We
trail for
his load, picked
trail,
place
down, waiting
for
Pedrinho was
trail.
Paishon had just brought in
left.
on the ground with
returned on the
the
bank and then taken
tied to the
We
at a time.
we had reached
time
this
for, as usual, lag-
his carbine beside
it,
and
came
in,
put
another load.
up the
carbine,
Julio
and walked back on
muttering to himself but showing no excitement.
thought nothing of
it,
for he
was always muttering;
and occasionally one of the men saw a monkey or big

bird and tried to shoot
man
it,
so
it
was never surprising to
see
with a carbine.
In a minute we heard a shot; and in a short time three

or four of the
men came up
the
was dead, having been shot by

woods.
Colonel
trail to tell
Julio,
us that Paishon
who had
fled into the
Rondon and Lyra were ahead;
sent a
messenger for them, directed Cherrie and Kermit to stay
where they were and guard the canoes and provisions, and
an absolutely cool
and a couple
and plucky man, with a revolver but no
started
down
the trail with the doctor
rifle
of the camaradas.
Paishon.
He
where he had
We
soon passed the dead body of poor
lay in a huddle, in a pool of his

fallen,
own
shot through the heart.
blood,
feared
that Julio had run amuck, and intended merely to take
more
lives before
he died, and that he would begin with

who was
Pedrinho,
Accordingly
left.
ions, looking
the
camp
"My
I'll
unarmed
alone and
I
in the
pushed on, followed by
sharply right and
camp we had
my
compan-
but when we came to
left;
the doctor quietly walked by me, remarking,
eyes are better than yours, colonel;
point
305
him out
you have the
to you, as
if
he
rifle."
is
in sight
However,
he was not there, and the others soon joined us with the
welcome news that they had found the carbine.
The murderer had stood to one side of the path and

killed his victim, when a dozen paces off, with deliberate
and malignant purpose. Then evidently his murderous hatred had at once given
way
to his innate cowardice;
and,
perhaps hearing some one coming along the path, he
in panic terror into the wilderness.
tree
fled
had knocked
His footsteps showed that after
the carbine from his hand.
going some rods he had started to return, doubtless for the

carbine, but
had
fled
again, probably because the
had then been discovered.
It
body
was questionable whether or
not he would live to reach the Indian villages, which were
probably his goal.

never a
common
He was
feeling;
not a
man
to feel remorse
but surely that murderer was
in
him from
way through the empty deso-
a living hell, as, with fever and famine leering at
the shadows, he
made
lation of the wilderness.
his
Franca, the cook, quoted out of the
melancholy proverbial philosophy of the people the proverb
"No man knows
the heart of any one"; and then expressed
with deep conviction a weird ghostly belief

countered before: "Paishon
follow
him
is
had never en-
following Julio now, and will
until he dies; Paishon
fell
forward on his hands
and knees, and when a murdered man
falls
like that his
ghost will follow the slayer as long as the slayer lives."
306
We
We
did not attempt to pursue the murderer.
could
not legally put him to death, although he was a soldier

in cold blood
had
who
just deliberately killed a fellow soldier.
we would have done our

best to bring him in and turn him over to justice.
But we
were in the wilderness, and how many weeks' journey were
ahead of us we could not tell. Our food was running low,
sickness was beginning to appear among the men, and both
If
we had been near
their courage
Our
first
men
and
civilization
their strength
duty was to save the
were gradually ebbing.
and the health of the
lives
who had honestly been performing,

perform, so much perilous labor. If we
of the expedition
and had
still
to
brought the murderer
in
he would have to be guarded
night and day on an expedition where there were always
loaded firearms about, and where there would continually
be opportunity and temptation for him to make an
effort
weapon and escape, perhaps murdersome other good man. He could not be shackled while
to seize food and a
ing
climbing along the
cliff
slopes;
he could not be shackled in
the canoes, where there was always chance of upset and
drowning; and standing guard would be an additional and

severe penalty on the weary, honest
by overwork.
The
men
expedition was in
to take every chance possible that
already exhausted
peril,
and
it
was wise
would help secure
suc-
Whether the murderer lived or died in the wilderness

was of no moment compared with the duty of doing everycess.
thing to secure the safety of the rest of the party.
For the
two days following we were always on the watch against

his return, for he could have readily killed some one else
by
cliff
rolling rocks
down on any
sides or in the
men working on
But we did
gorge.
of the
bottom of the
the
not
DOWN AN UNKNOWN
him
see
until the
RIVER
307
We
had passed
morning of the third day.
the last of the rapids of the chasm, and the four boats
were going down-stream when he appeared behind some

trees
on the bank and
wished to sur-
called out that he
render and be taken aboard; for the murderer was an arrant craven at heart, a strange mixture of ferocity and
Colonel Rondon's boat was far in advance; he
cowardice.
did not stop nor answer.
the rear boats, for
kept on in similar fashion with
had no intention of taking the mur-
derer aboard, to the jeopardy of the other

party, unless Colonel
Rondon
me
told
members
that
it
of the
would have
to be done in pursuance of his duty as an officer of the
Government of Brazil. At the

halt Colonel Rondon came up to me and told me that
was his view of his duty, but that he had not stopped
army and
first
this
a servant of the
because he wished
expedition.
above
first
to consult
answered that for the reasons enumerated
we should
jeopardize their safety
the murderer along, and that

I
all
the other enlisted
dition,
if
and
in return
own governmental
men
of
by taking
the responsibility were
should refuse to take him;
Rondon, was the superior

of
as the chief of the
did not believe that in justice to the good
the expedition
mine
me
officer of
but that he, Colonel
both the murderer and
men and army
was responsible
officers
on the expe-
for his actions to his
superiors and to the laws of Brazil;
and
that in view of this responsibility he must act as his sense

of duty bade him.
Accordingly, at the next
back two men, expert woodsmen, to

bring
him
in.
They
*The above account

was read
to
of
and approved
find the
failed to find him.*

all
camp he
sent
murderer and
fc
the circumstances connected with the murder

by all six members of the expedition.
as correct
308
have anticipated
my
narrative because
to recur to the horror more than
turn to
my
After
story.
now
re-
that Julio had
fled,
we
necessary.
is
we found
do not wish
The murdered man
returned to the scene of the tragedy.
We
lay with a handkerchief thrown over his face.
him
buried
With axes and knives

the camaradas dug a shallow grave while we stood by with
bared heads. Then reverently and carefully we lifted the
poor body which but half an hour before had been so full
of vigorous life.
Colonel Rondon and I bore the head and
shoulders.
We laid him in the grave, and heaped a" mound
beside the place where he
fell.
We
over him, and put a rude cross at his head.

volley for a brave and loyal soldier
Then we
duty.
left
him
forever,
who had
fired a
died doing his
under the great trees be-
side the lonely river.
That day we got only half-way down the rapids. There

was no good place to camp. But at the foot of one steep
was a narrow, bowlder-covered slope where
cliff
there
was
possible to sling
spot was found for
time
little
it
hammocks and
my
cot,
cook;
it
and a slanting
which had sagged
until
looked like a broken-backed centiped.
by
this
It rained a
during the night, but not enough to wet us much.
Next day Lyra, Kermit, and Cherrie
finished their job,
and brought the four remaining canoes to camp, one leaking badly from the battering on the rocks.
We
then went
down-stream a few hundred yards, and camped on the opit
was
The men were growing constantly weaker under
the
posite side;
it
was not a good camping-place, but
better than the one
we
left.
endless strain of exhausting labor.
Kermit was having an
attack of fever, and Lyra and Cherrie had touches of dys-
Rapids at the chasm

From
We
bathed and
swam
in the river
From
although
a photograph by
in it
we caught piranhas
Kermlt Roosevelt

entery, but
all
water trying to help with an upset canoe

clumsiness bruised
my
sulting inflammation
had by
leg against a bowlder;
in the
my own
and the
was somewhat bothersome.
had a sharp attack of

care of the doctor,
While
continued to work.
three
309
now
but thanks to the excellent
fever,
was over
re-
it
in
about forty-eight hours;
but permit's fever grew worse and he too was unable to
work
for a
however.
We
day or two.
good doctor
is
could walk over the portages,
an absolute necessity on an
exploring expedition in such a country as that

in,
under penalty of a
bers;
frightful mortality
and the necessary
risks
among
them by the
the
and hazards are so
the chances of disaster so large, that there

for increasing
we were
is
memgreat,
no warrant
failure to take all feasible pre-
cautions.
The next day we made another long portage round some

rapids, and camped at night still in the hot, wet, sunless
atmosphere of the gorge. The following day, April 6, we
portaged past another set of rapids, which proved to be
the last of the rapids of the chasm.
we kept
passing
hills,
and feared
For some kilometres
lest at
any moment we
might again find ourselves fronting another mountain gorge;

with, in such case, further days of grinding and perilous
labor ahead of us, while our
Most
men were
disheartened, weak,
them had already begun to have fever.

Their condition was inevitable after over a month's uninterrupted work of the hardest kind in getting through the
long series of rapids we had just passed; and a long further delay, accompanied by wearing labor, would have
almost certainly meant that the weakest among our party
would have begun to die. There were already two of the
and
sick.
of
310
camaradas who were too weak to help the others, their

condition being such as to cause us serious concern.
However, the
and the
hills
gradually sank into a level plain,
river carried us
through
it
at a rate that enabled
us during the remainder of the day to reel off thirty-six

kilometres, a record that for the
Twice
my
canoe.
killed
swam
tapirs
first
the river while
time held out promise.
we
passed, but not near
However, the previous evening Cherrie had
two monkeys and Kermit one, and we
all
had a few
mouthfuls of fresh meat; we had already had a good soup
made out of a turtle Kermit had caught. We had to portage by one short set of rapids, the unloaded canoes being
brought down without difficulty. At last, at four in the
afternoon, we came to the mouth of a big river running in
from the
We
right.
thought
it
was probably the Ananas,
but, of course, could not be certain.
It
was
less in
volume
than the one we had descended, but nearly as broad;
its
breadth at this point being ninety-five yards as against
one hundred and twenty for the larger
river.
There were
rapids ahead, immediately after the junction, which took

place in latitude io 58' south.
metres
We
started.
two
told,
all
rivers.
We
had come 216
and were nearly north of where we had
camped on the point

It was extraordinary
of land between the

to
realize
unknown
by even a
hint on
any map.
We named
officer of
this big tributary
the commission
beriberi just as our expedition began.
We
a day at this spot, determining our exact position

sun,
river,
to the cartographers and not indicated
Rio Cardozo, after a gallant
had died of
here
that
about the eleventh degree we were on such a big

utterly
kilo-
and afterward by the
stars,
who
spent
by the
and sending on two men to

explore the rapids in advance.
311
They returned with
the news
that there were big cataracts in them, and that they would
form an obstacle to our progress.

huge
camp.
in
lovely;
for
This evening at sunset the view across
the broad river, from our
was very
also caught a
which furnished an excellent meal
siluroid fish,
everybody
They had
and
camp where
the two rivers joined,
time we had an open
for the first
space in front of and above us, so that after nightfall the
and the great waxing moon, were glorious overhead,
stars,
and against the rocks

gleamed
in
midstream the broken water
like tossing silver.
The huge
catfish
which the men had caught was over
three feet and a half long, with the usual enormous head,
out of
all
out of
proportion to the body, and the enormous mouth,
all
proportion to the head.
Such
fish,
their teeth are small, swallow very large prey.
although
This one
contained the nearly digested remains of a monkey.

ably the
monkey had been
seized while drinking
end of a branch; and once engulfed

there
was no
in that
We Americans were
escape.
Prob-
from the
yawning cavern
astounded at the
making prey of a monkey; but our Brazilian friends told us that in the lower Madeira and the
part of the Amazon near its mouth there is a still more
idea of a catfish
gigantic catfish
which
prey of man.
This
long,
in similar fashion occasionally
is
makes
a grayish-white fish over nine feet
with the usual disproportionately large head and
gaping mouth, with a
mouth
piraiba
itself is
circle
of small teeth; for the engulfing
the danger, not the teeth.
pronounced
in four syllables.
the small city of Itacoatiara, on the

of the Madeira, the doctor
It
is
called the
While stationed at
Amazon,
at the
mouth
had seen one of these monsters
312
which had been
by the two men it had attacked.

a canoe when it rose from the bottom
killed
They were
fishing in
a ground fish
for
it
is
and raising
itself half
out of the
water lunged over the edge of the canoe at them, with open
They
mouth.
killed
called in Brazil.
in
It
it
with their falcons, as machetes are
was taken round the
an ox-cart; the doctor saw
long.
He
said that
and said
it,
swimmers feared
it
it
city in
triumph
was three metres

even more than
the big cayman, because they could see the latter, whereas
the former lay hid at the bottom of the water.
Rondon
said that in
many
villages
Colonel
where he had been on
the lower Madeira the people had built stockaded enclo-
which they bathed, not venturing to
sures in the water in
swim in the open water for fear of the piraiba and the big
cayman.
Next day, April 8, we made five kilometres only, as
there was a succession of rapids.
We had to carry the
loads past two of them, but ran the canoes without difficulty, for
on the west
through the
still
forest.
side
The
were long canals of swift water

river
had been higher, but was
very high, and the current raced round the
islands that at this point divided the channel.
we made camp
at the
many
At four
head of another stretch of rapids,
over which the Canadian canoes would have danced without shipping a teaspoonful of water, but which our dugouts
could only run empty.
Cherrie killed three monkeys and
Lyra caught two big piranhas, so that we were again

of us well provided with dinner and breakfast.
number
of men, doing hard work, are
half-rations,
reasonably
meal that does
arrive.
most of the time on
they grow to take a lively interest
full
When
all
in
any

On
the ioth
we repeated
313
the proceedings: a short quick
a few hundred metres' portage, occupying, however,
run;
at least a couple of hours;
other rapids.
We
again
again a few minutes' run; again
made
less
than
five kilometres;
in
we had been descending nearly a metre for

every kilometre we made in advance; and it hardly seemed
the two days
as
if
this state of things could last, for the aneroid
showed
we were getting very low down. How I longed for

a big Maine birch-bark, such as that in which I once went
down the Mattawamkeag at high water! It would have
slipped down these rapids as a girl trips through a country
that
dance.
But our loaded dugouts would have shoved
their
The country was lovely. The

one channel, now in several channels,
noses under every curl.
now in
wound among hills;
wide
river,
in the sunlight;
the
the shower-freshened forest glistened
many
kinds of beautiful palm-fronds
and the huge pacova-leaves stamped the peculiar look of

the tropics on the whole landscape
it
was
like
passing
by water through a gigantic botanical garden. In the

afternoon we got an elderly toucan, a piranha, and a reasonably edible side-necked river-turtle; so we had fresh
meat again. We slept as usual in earshot of rapids. We
had been out six weeks, and almost all the time we had
been engaged in wearily working our way down and past
rapid after rapid.
Rapids are by far the most dangerous
enemies of explorers and travellers
who journey
along these
rivers.
Next day was a repetition of the same work. All the

morning was spent in getting the loads to the foot of the
we were encamped, down which

canoes were run empty. Then for thirty or forty
rapids at the head of which
the
314
minutes we ran down the
twisting river, the
swift,
two
lashed canoes almost coming to grief at one spot where a
threw them against some trees on a
swirl of the current
Then we came to another set of

baggage down past them, and made
small submerged island.

rapids,
carried the
camp long
after
dark
in the rain
who were
tience for those of us
from
No
fever.
one was
good exercise
still
in really
suffering
in pa-
somewhat
buoyant health.
For
some weeks we had been sharing part of the contents of

our boxes with the camaradas; but our food was not very
satisfying to them.
They needed
quantity, and the main-
stay of each of their meals was a mass of palmitas; but on

this
day they had no time to cut down palms.
We
finally
decided to run these rapids with the empty canoes, and they
came down in safety. On such a trip it is highly undesirable

to take any save necessary risks, for the consequences of
disaster are too serious; and yet if no risks are taken the
progress is so slow that disaster comes anyhow; and it is
necessary perpetually to vary the terms of the perpetual
working compromise between rashness and overcaution.

This night we had a very good
fellow called a pescada,
of a
fish to eat,
kind
a big silvery
we had not caught
before.
One day Trigueiro failed to embark with the rest of us,

and we had to camp where we were next day to find him.
Easter Sunday we spent in the fashion with which we were
altogether too familiar.
ten minutes
all
told,
the loads past rapids

the
balsa
We
only ran in a clear course for
and spent eight hours
down which
was almost swamped.
twenty-eight big
fish,
in portaging
the canoes were run;
This
day we caught
mostly piranhas, and everybody had

all
315
he could eat for dinner, and for breakfast the following
morning.
The forenoon
wearisome work; but
this
began to run
first
We made
The
following
The
day, April
which entered on our
rapids,
We
and usually tranquil
when we
started the view
was
a good
passed a
little
ran two or three light
and portaged the loads by another.
in long
and
we made
14,
We
left.
was soothing and
silence
run of some thirty-two kilometres.

river
fifteen kilo-
time in several weeks camped where
did not hear the rapids.
restful.
repetition of
late in the afternoon the river
in long quiet reaches.
metres, and for the
we
was a
of the following day
river ran
In the morning
stretches.
lovely.
The
There was a mist,
for a couple of miles the great river,
broad and quiet,
ran between the high walls of tropical forest, the tops of

the giant trees showing dim through the haze.
members
of the party caught
and a couple of jacu-tinga

size of
a fowl
so
many
fish,
and shot a monkey
birds kin to a turkey, but the
we again had
camp
of plenty.
dry season was approaching, but there were

drenching rains.
On
this
Different
still
The
heavy,
day the men found some new
nuts of which they liked the taste;
but the nuts proved
unwholesome and half of the men were very
sick
and un-
work the following day. In the balsa only two

were left fit to do anything, and Kermit plied a paddle all
day long.
Accordingly, it was a rather sorry crew that embarked
the following morning, April 15. But it turned out a redThe day before, we had come across cuttings,
letter day.
a year old, which were probably but not certainly made by
But on this day during which we
pioneer rubber-men.
able to
316
made
twenty-five kilometres
we found on
a half
the
left
two hours and

bank a board on a post, with
after running
show the farthest-up point which a

rubber-man had reached and claimed as his own. An hour
the
farther
planted
at
A., to
initials J.
down we came on
clearing; and we
No
cheered heartily.
little
one was
home, but the house, of palm thatch, was clean and
cool.
ings
couple of dogs were on watch, and the belong-
showed that a man, a woman, and a
and had only just

lar
a newly built house in a
left.
child lived there,
Another hour brought us to a simi-
house where dwelt an old black man,
who showed
We
innate courtesy of the Brazilian peasant.
the
came on
these rubber-men and their houses in about latitude io 24/.
In mid-afternoon
we stopped
at
another clean, cool,
The
picturesque house of palm thatch.
inhabitants
at our approach, fearing an Indian raid;
for
they were
come from the
absolutely unprepared to have any one
unknown
all fled
They returned and were most

and communicative; and we spent the night
regions up-stream.
hospitable
Said Antonio Correa to Kermit: "It seems like a
there.
dream to be in a house again, and hear the voices of men

and women, instead of being among those mountains and
rapids."
The river was known to them as the Castanho,
and was the main affluent, or rather the left or western
branch, of the Aripuanan;
the Castanho
by the rubber-gatherers only;

raphers.
We
it
is
is
unknown
name used
to the geog-
were, according to our informants, about
fif-
teen days' journey from the confluence of the two rivers;
but there were
whom
many rubber-men
had become permanent
along the banks, some of
settlers.
We
had come over
three hundred kilometres, in forty-eight days, over abso-
317
unknown ground; we had seen no human being, although we had twice heard Indians. Six weeks had been
spent in steadily slogging our way down through the inlutely
terminable series of rapids.
when we were on
realize that
of
But, after
existence.
before,
a river of about the size of the upper
Rhine or Elbe, to
its
was astonishing
It
grade had ever been on
no geographer had any idea

no
all,
civilized
man
of
any
Here, however, was a river
it.
with people dwelling along the banks, some of
whom had
lived in the neighborhood for eight or ten years;
and yet on
no standard map was there a hint of the
We
map
were putting on the
between
five
and eight
anan
is
if,
and
in
it
of which no geographer,
had even admitted the
possibility of the existence;
by
imaginarystreams,
we
started,
in
Europe, or the United States, or
for the place actually occupied
Before
of between seven
as should properly be done, the lower Aripu-
included as part of
by other
a river, running through
six degrees of latitude
any map published

Brazil,
river's existence.
it
was
filled,
on the maps,
by mountain ranges.
the Amazonas Boundary Commission
or
had come up the lower Aripuanan and then the eastern

branch, or upper Aripuanan, to 8 48', following the course
which
for a couple of decades
had been followed by the
rubber-men, but not going as high.

this
An
commission or of one of the big rubber-men, had been
up the Castanho, which

course, to about the
is
same
easy of ascent in
lower
we found out
while
ourselves were descending the lower Castanho.
The
lower main stream, and the lower portion of

ent,
its
latitude, not going nearly as
high as the rubber-men had gone; this
we
employee, either of
the Castanho, had
its
main
afflu-
been commercial highways for
318
rubber-men and
settlers for nearly
speedily found, were
easy to traverse as the upper
as
we had
stream, which
two decades, and, as we
just
come down, was
but the governmental and
traverse;
difficult
to
scientific authorities,
native and foreign, remained in complete ignorance;
and
the rubber-men themselves had not the slightest idea of

the
headwaters, which were
by
traversed
in length
civilized
at least,
perior, to the
men.
Evidently the Castanho was,
substantially equal, and probably su-
upper Aripuanan;
likely that the
country never hitherto
in
it
now seemed even more
Ananas was the headwaters of the main
stream than of the Cardozo.*
For the
first
time this
great river, the greatest affluent of the Madeira,
be put on the map; and the understanding of

tion and real relationship, and the clearing
problem of the sources of

ents of the Madeira,
all
its real
absolutely
these lower right-hand afflu-
was rendered
unknown
wilderness.
geography
esteemed
At
it
posi-
up of the complex
possible
by the seven
weeks of hard and dangerous labor we had spent
down an
unknown
was to
river,
in
going
through an absolutely
this stage of the
growth of world
a great piece of good fortune to be
able to take part in such a feat
a feat which represented
the capping of the pyramid which during the previous seven

years had been built
by the labor of the
Brazilian Tele-
graphic Commission.
We
had passed the period when there was a chance of
*I hope that this year the Ananas, or Pineapple, will also be put on the
map. One of Colonel Rondon's subordinates is to attempt the descent of the
We passed the headwaters of the Pineapple on the high plateau, very
river.
possibly we passed its mouth, although it is also possible that it empties into
But it will not be "put on the map" until some one
the Canama or Tapajos.
descends and finds out where, as a matter of fact, it really does go.
DOWN AN UNKNOWN
peril,
of disaster, to the whole expedition.
ahead to individuals, and some
risk
RIVER
ances for
of us; but there
all
now no
There might be
and annoy-
difficulties
was no longer the
hood of any disaster to the expedition
319
least likeli-
as a whole.
We
longer had to face continual anxiety, the need of
constant economy with food, the duty of labor with no
end
in sight,
It
and
bitter uncertainty as to the future.
was time to get
out.
The wearing work, under very
unhealthy conditions, was beginning to
tell
on every one.
Half of the camaradas had been down with fever and
were much weakened;

original physical
only a few of them retained their
and moral strength.
Cherrie and Kermit
had recovered; but both Kermit and Lyra

sores
on their
work.
fever
was
I
still
working
legs,
in
from the bruises received
The
worse shape.
hung on; and the
in the rapids
leg
had cut
of the
after effects
which had been hurt while
with the sunken canoe had taken a
The good
owe much,
open and inserted a drainage tube;
an added
whose unwearied care and kindness
it
water
in the
turn for the bad and developed an abscess.

doctor, to
had bad
still
charm being given the operation, and the subsequent
dress-
by the enthusiasm with which the piums and boroshudas took part therein. I could hardly hobble, and was
But "there aren't no 'stop, conductor,'
pretty well laid up.
while a battery's changing ground." No man has any
ings,
business to go on such a trip as ours unless he will refuse

to jeopardize the welfare of his associates
by any delay
caused by a weakness or ailment of
is
go forward,
tunately,
shape until
if
necessary on
all
It
his.
fours, until
was put to no such

we had passed the
test.
his
duty to
he drops.
remained
in
For-
good
last of the rapids of the
320
When my
chasms.
canoe-riding ahead of us.
came we had only
trouble
serious
It
man
not ideal for a sick
is
day stretched on the

the bottom of a small open dugout, under the
to spend the hottest hours of the
boxes in
well-nigh intolerable heat of the torrid sun of the midtropics, varied
but
by
blinding, drenching
downpours of
rain;
could not be sufficiently grateful for the chance.
Kermit and Cherrie took care of me
as
if
they had been
Rondon and Lyra were no
trained nurses; and Colonel
less
thoughtful.
The north was calling

north Rocky Dell Farm
and to Kermit the
we
could
side
now
call
see the
strongly to the three

to Cherrie,
was stronger
Sagamore
men
of the
Hill to
Dipper well above the horizon
up-
down, with the two pointers pointing to a north
below the world's rim; but the Dipper, with

In our
home country
now come,
spring had
me;
After nightfall
still.
star
all its stars.
the wonderful
northern spring of long, glorious days, of brooding twilights,

of cool delightful nights.
lark
Robin and bluebird, meadow-
and song-sparrow, were singing
home; the maple-buds were
red;
in the
mornings at
windflowers and blood-
root were blooming while the last patches of

lingered;
snow
the rapture of the hermit-thrush in Vermont,
the serene golden melody of the wood-thrush on

Island,
still
would be heard before we were there to
Each man to
his
home, and to
his true love
Long
listen.
Each was
longing for the homely things that were so dear to him,

for the
home
who was
people
dearest of
who were
all.
dearer
still,
and
for the one
CHAPTER X
TO THE AMAZON AND HOME; ZOOLOGICAL AND
GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION
Our
now
adventures and our troubles were alike over.
We
experienced the incalculable contrast between descend-
known and
ing a
unknown.
After four days
with us as guide.
passable
and one that
travelled river,
He knew
when we came
utterly
is
we hired a rubber-man to go
exactly
what channels were
to the rapids,
when
the canoes
had to unload, and where the carry-trails were.
was
It
all
we had gone through. We

for at night we stopped at
child's
play compared to what
made
long days' journeys,
some palm-thatched house, inhabited or abandoned, and

therefore the
men were
spared the labor of making camp;
and we bought ample food

ther need
palm-tops.
them, so there was no fur-
and chopping down palms
of fishing
The heat
for
of the sun
was blazing; but
for
it
the
looked
we had come back into the rainy season, for there

were many heavy rains, usually in the afternoon, but sometimes in the morning or at night. The mosquitoes were
as
if
sometimes rather troublesome at night.
In the daytime
the piums swarmed, and often bothered us even
were
in
when we
midstream.
For four days there were no rapids we could not run

without unloading.
Then, on the 19th, we got a canoe
from Senhor Barboso.
He was
321
most kind and hospi-
322
table
man, who
mandioc and
also
gave us a duck and a chicken and some
pounds of rice, and would take no payment;
six
he lived in a roomy house with his dusky, cigar-smoking
many children. The new canoe was light and

roomy, and we were able to rig up a low shelter under
which I could lie; I was still sick. At noon we passed
wife and his
the
mouth
the
left;
of a big river, the Rio Branco, coming in from
was about
this
ward we came to the
in latitude 9
first
Soon
38'.
after-
We
serious rapids, the Panela.
down the empty canoes, and

roomy house. The doctor bought
carried the boats past, ran
camped at the foot in a

a handsome trumpeter bird, very friendly and confiding,
which was thenceforth my canoe companion.
We had already passed many inhabited and a still
houses.
The dwellers were
larger number of uninhabited
rubber-men, but generally they were permanent settlers

also,
home-makers, with their wives and children.
men and women, were
both of the
Some,
apparently of pure
negro blood, or of pure Indian or south European blood;
but in the great majority
all
three strains were mixed in
They were most friendly,

Often they refused payment
varying degrees.
courteous, and
hospitable.
for
could afford, out of their
little,
to give us.
charge, the prices were very high, as

live
what they
When
was but
they did
just, for
they
back of the beyond, and everything costs them fabu-
what they raise themselves. The cool, bare

houses of poles and palm thatch contained little except
hammocks and a few simple cooking-utensils; and often
lously, save
a clock or sewing-machine, or Winchester
own
country.
fragrant roses.
They
rifle,
from our
often had flowers planted, including
Their only
live stock,
except the dogs, were
TO THE AMAZON AND HOME
323
They planted patches
a few chickens and ducks.
man-
of
dioc, maize, sugar-cane, rice, beans, squashes, pineapples,
bananas, lemons, oranges, melons, peppers;
and various
purely native fruits and vegetables, such as the kniabo
a vegetable-fruit growing on the branches of a high bush
which
is
They
cooked with meat.
get
some game from
the forest, and more fish from the river.
is
to the
and the church has ignored
governmental authorities;
them
no
is
indeed,
among them
barely known
representative of the government
even now their very existence
There
When
as completely as the state.
they wish to get
married they have to spend several months getting down

to and back from
Manaos
ally the first christening
and are always
and usu-
squatter's right
danger of being ousted by
in
men who come
unscrupulous big
city;
and the marriage ceremony are
They have merely
held at the same time.

to the land,
some smaller
or
in late,
but with a
title
The land laws should be shaped
technically straight.
so
as to give each of these pioneer settlers the land he actually takes
up and
cultivates,
and upon which he makes
home.
The
he
with his own hands,
tills
small home-maker,
who owns
is
his
the land which
the greatest element of
strength in any country.
These are
real
pioneer settlers.
No
wilderness-winners.
or thoroughly explored,
continent
by a few
is
They
made by
leaders, or exceptional
The
service.
thorough exploration and settlement,
a nameless multitude of small
most important
the true
ever really conquered,
men, although such men can render great

real conquest, the
are
are,
men
of
whom
of course, the home-makers.
is
the
Each
treads most of the time in the footsteps of his predecessors,
324
but for some few miles, at some time or other, he breaks
new ground; and
house
his
is
built
where no house has
Such a man, the
ever stood before.
have no strong desire
for social life
must
real pioneer,
and no need, prob-
ably no knowledge, of any luxury, or of any comfort save

of the most elementary kind.
The
pioneer
who
is
always
longing for the comfort and luxury of civilization, and especially of great cities,
whom we met
settlers
fruitful;
no
real pioneer at
were contented to
They had found
ness.
is
These
live in the wilder-
the climate healthy and the
soil
a visit to a city was a very rare event, nor was
there any overwhelming desire for
it.
In short, these men, and those
on the
all.
frontier
between
civilization
now playing the part

when over a century and
are
them everywhere
like
and savagery
in Brazil,
played by our backwoodsmen

a quarter ago they began the
conquest of the great basin of the Mississippi;
the part
played by the Boer farmers for over a century in South

Africa,
and by the Canadians when
less
than half a century
ago they began to take possession of their Northwest.
Every now and then some one says that the "last frontier"
is
now
to be found in
On
almost vanished.
be found in Brazil
United States
The
and
first settlers
settlers
came
Canada
or Africa, and that
a far larger scale this frontier
it
to Brazil a century before the
to the United States and Canada.
ish.
For the
to
at that time
last half-century
was almost
as
bad
first
For three
Portuguese
government
is
vanishes.
hundred years progress was very slow

lonial
has
country as big as Europe or the
decades will pass before
came
it
as
co-
Span-
and over there has been a
steady increase in the rapidity of the rate of development;
At the rubber-man's house
pdf ww~ *
^^r
_,__
-_-
-**mi
--~
sf ?
T - ^=-.-=
The canoe
T-
.^_^,-~=zr
^r-- 7^
rigged with a cover under which Colonel Roosevelt travelled
From
photographs by Cherrie
when
sick

and
this increase bids fair to
325
be constantly more rapid in
the future.
The
hunting for lands, slaves, and mines,
Paolistas,
were the
first
native Brazilians who, a hundred years ago,
played a great part in opening to settlement vast stretches
The rubber hunters have played a similar

part during the last few decades.
Rubber dazzled them,
as gold and diamonds have dazzled other men and driven
them forth to wander through the wide waste spaces of
Searching for rubber they made highways of
the world.
rivers the very existence of which was unknown to the
governmental authorities, or to any map-makers. Whether
of wilderness.
they succeeded or
them
settlers,
who
failed,
toiled,
Settlement began;
dren.
entered on
On
they everywhere
behind
left
married, and brought up chilthe conquest of the wilderness
its first stage.
the 20th
we stopped
at the first store,
where we
bought, of course at a high price, sugar and tobacco for

the camaradas.
ate,
In this land of plenty the camaradas over-
and sickness was
as
Cherrie's boat he himself
men who paddled
from that brought
boats, or batelaos
up-stream.
We
in
up
as ever.
In
and the steersman were the only
The
was very low, only what he

in nearly a
store-
still
had
year before; for the big
batelonshad
not yet worked as far
expected to meet them somewhere below
the next rapids, the Inferno.

brings
among them
strongly and continuously.
keeper's stock of goods

left
rife
his year's
The
trader or rubber-man
supply of goods in a batelao, starting
February and reaching the upper course of the river
early in
ties
May, when
the rainy season
is
over.
The
par-
of rubber-explorers are then equipped and provisioned;
326
and the
purchase certain necessities, and certain
settlers
them
things that strike
as luxuries.
nut crop on the river had

explorers
On
This year the Brazila serious thing for
failed,
all
and wilderness wanderers.
we made
the 20th
fifty-two
kilometres.
camped;
we were
place the great,
we had made,
Lyra took observations where we
the longest run
in latitude
beautiful
hundred metres wide.
marks showed that
were
At
was a
river
We
in the
8 49'.
in
camping-
this
over three
little
The
an empty house.
high water, a couple of months
back, the river had risen until the lower part of the house
was
flooded.
The
difference
between the
during the floods and in the dry season
On
the 2 1 st
level of the river
extraordinary.
is
we made another good
run, getting
down
to the Inferno rapids, which are in latitude 8 19/ south.
Until
we reached
we had run almost due
the Cardozo
north;
since then
north.
Before
we had been running
we reached
we stopped
these rapids
and got a
large,
pleasant thatch house,
roomy
as well as light boat, leaving both our
dugouts behind.
Above the
deirainha, entered from the
for the first time,
fairly
left.
it
The
two smaller
rapids
had a
ing, pioneering,
down.
over
country.
where other men have prepared the way.
we took our baggage down by
fall
would doubtless have taken
But we were no longer
unknown
Ma-
was very wild and rough.
several days to explore a passage and, with danger

labor, get the boats
at a
big and
rapids a small river, the
of over ten metres, and the water
Met with
west of
little
It
is
We
and
explor-
easy to go
had a guide;
a carry three-quarters of a
kilometre long; and the canoes were run through
channels the following morning.
At the
known
foot of the rap-

was a big house and
ids
and camped
store;
327
at the
head
were a number of rubber-workers, waiting for the big
way up from
boats of the head rubber-men to work their
They were a
These men lead hard
below.
brown daredevils.
of labor and peril; they con-
reckless
lives
tinually face death themselves,

in connection
with others.
sometimes have
Indians with
there
is
The
It
difficulties
whom
set
of
and they think

is
little
of
it
small wonder that they
with the tribes of utterly wild
they are brought
in contact,
a strong Indian strain in their
following morning,
after the
although
own blood.
empty canoes had
been run down, we started, and made a rather short after-
We
noon's journey.
rapids.
We
camped
day we ran nearly
way
an empty house,
fifty kilometres,
We
sweep to the west.

their
in
had to take the baggage by one
met
Next
in the rain.
the river making a long
half a dozen batelaos
making
up-stream, each with a crew of six or eight men,
and two of them with women and children
The crew were using very long
poles,
in addition.
with crooks, or rather
the stubs of cut branches which served as crooks, at the
With
upper end.
these they hooked into the branches
and dragged themselves up along the bank,

poling where the depth permitted
big as the Paraguay at
Corumba;
trast to the Paraguay, there
ran some rather

ing,
in the
stiff
morning.
The
it.
in addition to
river
was
as
but, in striking con-
were few water-birds.
We
rapids, the Infernino, without unload-
In the evening
we landed
for the
night at a large, open, shed-like house, where there were
two or three
pigs, the first live stock
than poultry and ducks.
some
eggs.
It
we had
was a dirty
seen other
place, but
we
got
328
The
we ran down some fifty

Carupanan rapids, which by observation
following day, the 24th,
kilometres to the
Lyra found to be
We
met several
batelaos, and the houses on the bank showed that the
settlers were somewhat better off than was the case farther up. At the rapids was a big store, the property of
latitude 7
in
47'.
who works on
Senhor Caripe, the wealthiest rubber-man

this river;
He
many
men we met were in his employ.

from the ranks. He was most kind
of the
has himself risen
and hospitable, and gave us another boat to replace the

last of
was
cool, clean,
With
all
The
our shovel-nosed dugouts.
large,
open house
and comfortable.
these began a series of half a dozen sets of rapids,
coming within the next dozen kilometres, and
all offer-
At one we saw the graves of four

men who had perished therein; and many more had died
whose bodies were never recovered; the toll of human
life had been heavy.
Had we been still on an unknown
ing very real obstacles.
own way,
pioneering our
river,
taken us at
would doubtless have
least a fortnight of labor
But
it
nels
were known,
class
waterman,
actually took only a
with us as guide.
all
cool, fearless,
and
peril to pass.
All the chan-
half.
Senhor Caripe, a
and brawny
as a bull,
first-
came
Half a dozen times the loads were taken
dragged
down empty,
day and a
the trails cut.
At one cataract the canoes were
out and carried down.
themselves
it
overland; elsewhere
they were run
shipping a good deal of water.
of the cataract, where
we dragged
At the
foot
the canoes overland,
we
camped for the night. Here Kermit shot a big cayman.

Our camp was alongside the graves of three men who at
this point
had perished
in the swift water.

Senhor Caripe told us
many
strange adventures of rub-
One
ber-workers he had met or employed.
working on the Gy-Parana, got
329
lost
and
of his men,
after twenty-eight
days found himself on the Madeirainha, which he thus
He was
discovered.
to start a
fire,
he had means
and he found abundance of Brazil-nuts and

Senhor Caripe said that the rubber-
big land-tortoises.
men now
in excellent health, for
did not go above the ninth degree, or thereabouts,
on the upper Aripuanan proper, having found the rubber

poor on the reaches above.
year previously
five
rubber-
men, Mundurucu Indians, were working on the Canuma

at about that level.
It
They made
descend.
is
a difficult stream to ascend or
excursions into the forest for days
On
at a time after caoutchouc.
one such
trip, after fifteen
days they, to their surprise, came out on the Aripuanan.
They returned and told

and by his orders took
their
"patron" of
their discovery;
their caoutchouc overland to the
Aripuanan, built a canoe, and ran down with their caout-
They had now returned and were

upper Aripuanan. The Mundurucus and
chouc to Manaos.
working on the
Brazilians are always on the best terms,

are even
and the former
more inveterate enemies of the wild Indians than
are the latter.
By
mid-forenoon on April 26
dangerous rapids.
good
will,
we had passed
The paddles were
plied
the last
with hearty
Cherrie and Kermit, as usual, working like the
camaradas, and the canoes went dancing down the broad,

rapid river.
The
equatorial forest crowded on either
to the water's edge;

it
was
still
hand
and, although the river was falling,
so high that in
many
places
little
completely submerged, and the current raced
islands
were
among
the
330
At one
trunks of the green trees.
mouth
o'clock
we came
to the
of the Castanho proper, and in sight of the tent
of Lieutenant Pyrineus, with the flags of the United States
and Brazil
flying before
and, with
it;
rifles firing
from the
we moored at the landing of the

well-kept camp. The upper Aripuanan, a
canoes and the shore,

neat, soldierly,
same volume
river of substantially the
as the Castanho,
but broader at this point, and probably of
less length,
joined the Castanho from the east, and the
here
two together
formed what the rubber-men called the lower Aripuanan.
The mouth
of this
was
on the maps, but only
We
indicated,
and unimportant stream.
as a small
had been two months
and sometimes named,

the canoes; from the
in
27th of February to the 26th of April.
The
750 kilometres.
river
teenth degree, to where

it,
it
from
map
had gone over
source, near the thir-
became navigable and we entered
had a course of some 200 kilometres
perhaps 300 kilometres.
Therefore
probably
more,
we had now put on
the
a river nearly 1,000 kilometres in length of which
the existence was not merely

the standard
It
its
We
maps were
seemed that
unknown but
impossible
if
was not
all.
this river of 1,000 kilometres in length
was
correct.
But
this
really the true
upper course of the Aripuanan proper,
which case the
total length
in
was nearly 1,500 kilometres.
Pyrineus had been waiting for us over a month, at the

junction of what the rubber-men called the Castanho and
of
what they
called the
upper Aripuanan.
(He had no
we would appear upon, or whether

we would appear upon either.) On March 26 he had meaidea as to which stream
sured the volume of the two, and found that the Castanho,
although the narrower, was the deeper and swifter, and

that in volume
331
surpassed the other by 84 cubic metres
it
Since then the Castanho had fallen; our mea-
a second.
surements showed
to be slightly smaller than the other;
it
the volume of the river after the junction was about 4,500
This was
cubic metres a second.
We
34'.
were glad indeed to see Pyrineus and be at his
attractive camp.
river
in 7
We
were only four hours above the
hamlet of Sao Joao, a port of
call for
rubber-steamers,
from which the larger ones go to Manaos
in
two days.
From
These steamers mostly belong to Senhor Caripe.

Pyrineus
we
little
learned that Lauriado and Fiala had reached
Manaos on March
On
26.
the swift water in the gorge
of the Papagaio Fiala's boat had been upset and
be-
all his
longings lost, while he himself had narrowly escaped with

his
life.
was glad indeed that the
were no
less rejoiced to learn
down
of the party that went

right,
and
and gallant fellow
The Canadian canoe had done very
had escaped.
We
fine
well.
that Amilcar, the head
the Gy-Parana, was also
all
although his canoe too had been upset in the rapids,
his instruments
Manaos on
and
notes
lost.
He had
Fiala had gone home.
April 10.
collecting near
all his
Manaos.
He had been
The piranhas were bad
reached
Miller
was
doing capital work.
and no one could bathe.
here,
Cherrie, while standing in the water close to the shore,
was
attacked and bitten; but with one bound he was on the

bank before any damage could be done.
We
spent a last night under canvas, at Pyrineus's en-
campment.
ered at the
It rained heavily.
monument which
Next morning we
Colonel
and he read the orders of the day.
had been accomplished
Rondon had
all
gath-
erected,
These recited just what
set forth the fact that
we had now
332
by
actual exploration and investigation discovered that the
whose upper portion had been
river
the
maps
of the Telegraphic
Duvida on
called the
Commission and the unknown
major part of which we had just traversed, and the river
known
to a few rubber-men, but to
no one
as the
else,
Castanho, and the lower part of the river known to the
rubber-men as the Aripuanan (which did not appear on

the
maps save
no hint of
as
its
its size)
mouth was sometimes
were
all
parts of one
indicated, with
and the same
and that by order of the Brazilian Government

the largest affluent of the Madeira, with
its
river;
this river,
source near the
mouth a little south of the 5th degree,

hitherto utterly unknown to cartographers and in large
part utterly unknown to any save the local tribes of Indians, had been named the Rio Roosevelt.
13th degree and
We
tions,
left
its
Rondon, Lyra, and Pyrineus to take observa-
and the
rest of us
embarked
for the last time
on the
we passed
very important rapids and ran down
little hamlet of Sao Joao, which we
canoes, and, borne swiftly on the rapid current,
over one set of not

to Senhor Caripe's
reached about one o'clock on April 27, just before a heavy

afternoon rain set
We
in.
had run nearly eight hundred
kilometres during the sixty days
we had
Here we found and boarded Pyrineus's

seemed
in
spent in the canoes.

river steamer,
our eyes extremely comfortable.
pleasant house
we were
greeted
In the senhor's
by the senhora, and they
were both more than thoughtful and generous

hospitality.
Ahead
steamer to Manaos.
tries
men
as
test;
and
in
which
in
their
of us lay merely thirty-six hours
Such a
trip
as that
by
we had taken
by fire. Cherrie had more than stood every

him Kermit and I had come to recognize a
if
"5,

whom
friend with
grow
333
our friendship would never falter or
less.
Early the following afternoon our whole party, together

with Senhor Caripe, started on the steamer.
took us a
over twelve hours' swift steaming to run
little
the
It
mouth
progress
down
to
of the river on the upper course of which our
had been so slow and
painful;
from source to
mouth, according to our itinerary and to Lyra's calculations, the course of the
stream down which we had thus
come was about 1,500 kilometres

miles, perhaps nearly 1,000 miles
in
from
length
its
about
900
source near the
mouth in the Madeira,

Next morning we were on the broad
13th degree in the highlands to
near the 5th degree.
its
sluggish current of the lower Madeira, a beautiful tropical

river.
There were heavy rain-storms, as usual, although
this
supposed to be the very end of the rainy season.
is
In the afternoon we
itself,
finally entered the
wonderful
Amazon
the mighty river which contains one-tenth of
all
w ater
It was
across,
we
entered
it;
and
indeed
could
not
tell
whether
where
we
farther
bank,
which
saw,
was that of the mainland
the
we
running
the
or an island.
We
of
the globe.
went up
it
miles
about midnight, then
until
steamed up the Rio Negro for a short distance, and

in the
is
a remarkable city.
south of the equator.
It
is
Sixty years ago
collection of hovels, tenanted
only three degrees

it
was a nameless
by a few Indians and
a few of the poorest class of Brazilian peasants.

is
one
morning of April 30 reached Manaos.
Manaos
little
at
a big,
handsome modern
ways, good hotels,
city,
fine squares
attractive private houses.
The
Now
it
with opera-house, tram-
and public buildings, and

brilliant coloring
and odd
334
architecture give the place a very foreign and attractive

flavor in northern eyes.
was due to the rubber-trade.
immensely
and
on,
it
will
noteworthy.
remu-
in
fertile
Miller,
He had made good
Manaos;
far less
undoubtedly
the Brazilian highland country
and glad indeed we were to

collections of
on the Gy-Parana, the Madeira, and

of
now
it.
Here we found
him.
It will
made with
lying south of
is
Amazonian valley is sure to go

be immensely quickened when closer conand
rich
nections are
This
some deany event the development of the
nerative than formerly.

gree recover; and in
growth to prosperity
Its rapid
entire collection of
his
Among them was
had seen on the
trip.
of very archaic type.
young have spurs on
birds
neighborhood
mammals was
really
interesting of the birds
This
Its flight
in the
see
the only sloth any of us
The most
he had seen was the hoatzin.
mammals and
is
their wings,
is
a most curious bird
feeble,
and the naked
by the help
of which
they crawl actively among the branches before their feathers grow.
They swim no
Miller got one or
two
less easily, at
nests,
the same early age.
and preserved specimens of
the surroundings of the nests; and he

records of the habits of the birds.
had
killed
for food.
made
exhaustive
Near Megasso
a jaguar
one of the bullocks that were being driven along
The
big cat
had not
seized the ox with
its
claws
by the head, but had torn open its throat and neck.
Every one was most courteous at Manaos, especially
Mr.
the governor of the state and the mayor of the city.
Robiliard,
the
British
consular representative,
and
also
the representative of the Booth line of steamers, was particularly kind.
He
secured for us passages on one of the
335
cargo-boats of the line to Para, and thence on one of the
New
and
The Booth people were most courteous
York.
good-by to the camaradas with
said
Barbadoes and
cargo-and-passenger steamers to
regular
The
regret.
parting gift
sovereigns; and I
to us.
real friendship
gave to each was
was rather touched to learn
in gold
later that
they had agreed among themselves each to keep one sovereign as a medal of honor and token that the
been on the
They were
trip.
a fine
obedient, and enduring.
Now
hard times; they were
from eating,
fat
set,
owner had
brave, patient,
they had forgotten their

at leisure, all
they
wished; they were to see Rio Janeiro, always an object of
men
ambition with
proud of their membership

Later, at Belen,
stamp; and they were very
of their
in the expedition.
said
good-by to Colonel Rondon,
Doctor Cajazeira, and Lieutenant Lyra.
my
Together with
admiration for their hardihood, courage, and resolu-
tion, I
had grown to
ship for them.
was glad
feel
a strong and affectionate friend-
had become very fond of them; and
to feel that I
had been
their
companion
in the
performance of a feat which possessed a certain lasting

importance.
On May
we
Manaos for Belen Para, as until

recently it was called.
The trip was interesting. We
steamed down through tempest and sunshine; and the
towering forest was dwarfed by the giant river it fringed.
i
left
Sunrise and sunset turned the sky to an unearthly flame
of
many
colors
embodiment of
where
man was
majesty to
his
above the vast water.

loneliness
It all
and wild majesty.
seemed the
Yet every-
conquering the loneliness and wresting the
own
uses.
We
passed
many
thriving, grow-
336
ing towns; at one
we stopped
to take on cargo.
The change
where there was growth and development.

since the days
when Bates and Wallace came
poor and utterly primitive region
is
there
is
no color
to this then
One
marvellous.
accompaniments has been a large European,
The blood
European, immigration.
is
Every-
of
its
chiefly south
everywhere mixed;
most English-speaking countries,
line, as in
and the negro and Indian
strains are
very strong; but the
dominant blood, the blood already dominant
in quantity,
and that
is
is
steadily increasing
its
dominance,
the olive-
white.
Only
ally
we were
in channels or
of the water was dotted with

Miller said that
tation.
show
rarely did the river
its full
among
little
much
width.
The
islands.
Genersurface
islands of floating vege-
of this
came from the
la-
goons such as those where he had been hunting, beside the

Solimoens
lagoons
toria
and with masses of water hyacinths.
lily,
filled
with the huge and splendid VicMiller,
who
was very fond of animals and always took much care of

them, had a small collection which he was bringing back
for the
An
Bronx Zoo.
agouti was so bad-tempered that
he had to be kept solitary; but three monkeys,

dle-sized,
family.
and
The
little,
big,
mid-
and a young peccary formed a happy
largest
monkey
cried,
shedding real tears,
when taken in the arms and pitied. The middle-sized

monkey was stupid and kindly, and all the rest of the
company imposed on it; the little monkey invariably rode
on its back, and the peccary used it as a head pillow when
it felt
sleepy.
Belen, the capital of the state of Para,
was an admi-
and almost
startling prog-
rable illustration of the genuine

which Brazil has been making of recent years.
ress
nearly under the equator.
beautiful city,
merely beautiful.
The
success in commercial
well policed a city as
ate zone.
The
all
it
not
is
It
life.
is
any of the
tell
all
of energy and
as clean, healthy,
and
the north temper-
size in
public buildings are handsome, the private
dwellings attractive;
cellent
But
It is
docks, the dredging operations, the
warehouses, the stores and shops,
there are a fine opera-house, an ex-
tramway system, and a good museum and botanThere are cavalry
gardens.
ical
337
stables,
where
lights
burn
night long to protect the horses from the vampire bats.
The
parks, the rows of palms and mango-trees, the open-
air restaurants,
give the city
the gay
its
own
under the
life
special quality
lights at night, all
and charm.
Belen
and Manaos are very striking examples of what can be

done
in the mid-tropics.
The governor
of Para and his
charming wife were more than kind.

Cherrie and Miller spent the day at the really capital
zoological gardens, with the curator, Miss Snethlage.
Snethlage, a
naturalist,
German
lady,
is
a first-rate
field
and
closet
and an explorer of note, who has gone on foot
from the Xingu to the Tapajos.
Most wisely she has con-
fined the Belen zoo to the animals of the lower

valley,
Miss
and
in
logical gardens.
consequence
know
Amazon
of no better local zoo-
She has an invaluable collection of birds
and mammals of the region; and
it
was a
privilege to
meet
her and talk with her.
We
met Professor Farrabee, of the University of

Pennsylvania, the ethnologist. He had just finished a very
difficult and important trip, from Manaos by the Rio
also
Branco to the highlands of Guiana, across them on
foot,
338
He is an adnow opening
and down to the seacoast of British Guiana.
men who
mirable representative of the
South America to
On May
and
sailed
scientific
knowledge.
we bade good-by
northward
Zoologically
the
are
to our kind Brazilian friends
New
Barbadoes and
for
York.
had been a thorough
trip
success.
Cherrie and Miller had collected over twenty-five hundred
about
birds,
hundred mammals, and a few
five
batrachians, and fishes.
much
for
of
them were new to
science;
of the region traversed had never previously been
worked by any
Of
Many
reptiles,
scientific collector.
course, the
most important work we did was the
geographic work, the exploration of the
unknown
river,
undertaken at the suggestion of the Brazilian Government,
and
in conjunction
work of
this
kind
with
is
its
ever achieved save as
As
long-continued previous work.
we
by Colonel Rondon and
graphic
was
it
is
have before
piece of
based on
said,
what
was to put the cap on the pyramid that had been
did
built
No
representatives.
his associates of the Tele-
Commission during the
six
previous years.
their scientific exploration of the chapadao, their
It
map-
ping the basin of the Juruena, and their descent of the
Gy-Parana that rendered
it
possible for us to solve the
mystery of the River of Doubt. On the map facing page

vii I have given the outline route of my entire South
American
trip.
The
course of the
new
river
is
given sep-
arately.
The work
of the commission,
much
the kind ever done in South America,
many
the greatest
is
work of
one of the many,
achievements which the republican government of
Sketch
This
map
of the unknown river christened Rio Roosevelt, and subsequently

Rio Teodoro, by direction of the Brazilian Government
map was
prepared by Colonel Roosevelt from his journal and the diaries of Cherrie and of Kermit
Roosevelt, the war having prevented the arrival of the map prepared by Lieutenant Lyra
the headwaters of the Cardozo or of the Aripuanan, or it may flow into the Canuma
or Tapajos ; it will not be put on the map until it is actually descended
The Ananas may be

Brazil has to
Brazil has been blessed
its credit.
average of her Spanish-American
sisters
way to republicanism by evolution

They plunged into the extremely
339
beyond the
because she
won her
rather than revolution.

difficult
experiment of
democratic, of popular, self-government, after enduring the
atrophy of every quality of

initiative
self-control, self-reliance,
and
throughout three withering centuries of existence
under the worst and most foolish form of colonial government, both from the
that has ever existed.
them
failed,
but that
and the
civil
standpoint,
The marvel is not that some of

some of them have eventually suc-
ceeded in such striking fashion.
when
religious
Brazil,
she achieved independence,
first
on the contrary,
exercised
it
under
the form of an authoritative empire, then under the form

of a liberal empire.
When
were reasonably ripe for
and
it
The
it.
great progress of Brazil
has been an astonishing progress
under the republic.
and
the republic came, the people
has
been made
could give innumerable examples
The change
illustrations of this.
that has converted
Rio Janeiro from a picturesque pest-hole into a singularly
and
beautiful, healthy, clean,

is
one of these.
Another
is
efficient
modern great
city
the work of the Telegraphic
Commission.
We
put upon the
map
a river some fifteen hundred
kilometres in length, of which the upper course was not
merely utterly unknown
to,
but unguessed at by, anybody;
known for years to

unknown to cartographers.
while the lower course, although
rubber-men, was utterly
the chief affluent of the Madeira, which

affluent of the
The
is
itself
a few
It
is
the chief
Amazon.
source of this river
is
between the 12th and 13th
340
parallels of latitude south
and the 59th and 60th degrees
We
of longitude west from Greenwich.

at
15'
about latitude 12
west.
After that
embarked on
it
south, and about longitude 6o
1/
its
course lay between the
entire
60th and 6 1 st degrees of longitude, approaching the latter
most
closely about latitude 8
encountered were in latitude
The
15'.
44',
and
first
rapids
we
in uninterrupted
succession they continued for about a degree, without a
At n
day's complete journey between any two of them.

23' the
Rio Kermit entered from the
Rio Marciano Avila from the
from the
io
24'
left,
at
io 58' the
we encountered
the
right, at
left,
22' the
18' the
Taunay
at
Cardozo from the

first
rubber-men.
right.
In
The Rio
Our camp at 8 49'

was nearly on the boundary between Matto Grosso and
Amazonas. The confluence with the Aripuanan, which
joined from the right, took place at 7 34'.
The entrance
into the Madeira was at about 5 20' (this point we did
not determine by observation, as it is already on the maps).
The stream we had followed down was from the river's
highest sources; we had followed its longest course.
Bran co entered from the
left at
38'.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
THE WORK OF THE FIELD ZOOLOGIST AND FIELD
GEOGRAPHER IN SOUTH AMERICA
Portions of South America are now entering on a career of great
social
Much
and industrial development.
as the outside world
is
concerned, of the social and industrial condi-
tions in the long-settled interior regions.
the
way
More remains
to be done, in
of pioneer exploring and of scientific work, in the great stretches
The only two
of virgin wilderness.
of like
remains to be known, so far
other continents where such work,
volume and value, remains to be done are Africa and Asia;

offers a more inviting field for the best kind
worker in geographical exploration and in zoological, geological,
and neither Africa nor Asia

of
field
The
and paleontological investigation.

venturous kind of
worth keeping
field
in
field
mind
geographer and
explorer
is
merely the most ad-
geographer; and there are two or three points

in dealing
with the South American work of the
field zoologist.
who now
Roughly, the travellers
visit (like
those
who
for the past
century have visited) South America come in three categories
al-
though, of course, these categories are not divided by hard-and-fast

lines.
First, there are
the travellers
who
skirt the continent in
comfortable
steamers, going from one great seaport to another, and occasionally taking a short railway journey to
some big
interior city not too far
from
by all intelligent men and

women who can afford it; and it is being taken by such men and women
with increasing frequency. It entails no more difficulty than a similar
trip to the Mediterranean
than such a trip as that which Mark Twain
This
the coast.
is
a trip well worth taking
which to a learned and broad-minded obsame chance for acquiring knowledge and, if he is himwith wisdom, the same chance of imparting his knowledge to
immortalized.
It is a trip
server offers the

self gifted
others that
cities
is
offered
by
a trip of similar length through the larger
of Europe or the United States.

343
Probably the best instance of
APPENDIX A
344
the excellent use to which such an observer can put his experience
is
by the volume of Mr. Bryce. Of course, such a trip represents

same kind as travelling by railroad from
Atlanta to Calgary or from Madrid to Moscow.
Next there are the travellers who visit the long-settled districts and
colonial cities of the interior, travelling over land or river highways
which have been traversed for centuries but which are still primitive
afforded
travelling of essentially the
as regards the inns
and the modes of conveyance.
Such travelling
is
the sense that travelling in parts of Spain or southern Italy
difficult in
or the Balkan states
is
Men
difficult.
travel in out-of-the-way places
and
women who have
a taste for
and who, therefore, do not mind
slight
discomforts and inconveniences have the chance themselves to enjoy,
and to make others
profit by, travels of this kind in
South America.
In economic, social, and political matters the studies and observations

of these travellers are essential in order to supplement, and sometimes
to correct, those of travellers of the
first
category; for
it is
not safe to
overmuch about any country merely from a visit to its capiThese travellers of the second category can
give us most interesting and valuable information about quaint little
belated cities; about backward country folk, kindly or the reverse,
who show a mixture of the ideas of savagery with the ideas of an ancient peasantry; and about rough old highways of travel which in com-
generalize
tal or its chief seaport.
fort
do not
who go up
much from those of mediaeval Europe. The travellers

down the highway rivers that have been travelled for
differ
or
from one to four hundred years
rivers like the
Paraguay and Parana,
the Amazon, the Tapajos, the Madeira, the lower Orinoco

category.
They can add
little
come
they are competent zoologists or archaeologists, especially

or sojourn long in a locality, their
scientific standpoint.
The work
is
of this kind.
and what Hudson did

of the
What
if
they
if
live
work may be invaluable from the
among the imforests and the Andean plafor the fishes of the Amazon
of the archaeologists
measurably ancient ruins of the lowland

teaux
in this
to our geographical knowledge; but
Agassiz did
for the birds of the
work that can thus be done.
Argentine are other instances
Burton's writings on the interior
of Brazil offer an excellent instance of the value of a sojourn or trip of

this type,
Of
even without any especial
scientific object.
course travellers of this kind need to remember that their experi-
ences in themselves do not qualify
them
to speak as wilderness explorers.
APPENDIX A
Exactly as a good archaeologist
may
345
not be competent to speak of cur-
man who
rent social or political problems, so a
as a tourist observer in little-visited cities
has done capital work
and along remote highways
must beware of regarding himself as being thereby rendered fit for

genuine wilderness work or competent to pass judgment on the men
who do such work. To cross the Andes on mule-back along the regular routes
is
a feat comparable to the feats
who by thousands
Switzerland.
An
of the energetic tourists
traverse the mule trails in out-of-the-way nooks of
ordinary trip on the highway portions of the
zon, Paraguay, or Orinoco in itself no
or to take part in exploring
more
unknown South American
on the lower Saint Lawrence
qualifies a
man
qualifies a
man
rivers
Ama-
to speak of
than a
trip
to regard himself as an
expert in a canoe voyage across Labrador or the Barren Grounds west

of
Hudson Bay.
hundred years ago, even seventy or eighty years ago, before the
was more difficult than at present

and the next; and, moreover, in
between
defining these limits I emphatically disclaim any intention of thereby
age of steamboats and railroads,
to define the limits
it
this class
attempting to establish a single standard of value for books of travel.
Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle"

written;
gories,
it is
one of those
is
me the best book
to
of the kind ever
which decline to go into
artificial cate-
and which stand by themselves; and yet Darwin, with
modesty, spoke of
had
classics
it
a profound effect
as in effect a yachting voyage.
on the thought of the
one of adventure and danger; and yet
it
his usual
Humboldt's work
civilized world;
his trip
tion proper.
He
for centuries
and traversed places which had been travelled by
lized
men
visited places
for years before
which had been
settled
and inhabited
he followed in their footsteps.
places were in Spanish colonies,
was
can hardly be called explora-
civi-
But these
and access to them had been forbidden
by the mischievous and intolerant tyranny ecclesiastical, political, and

economic which then rendered Spain the most backward of European
nations; and Humboldt was the first scientific man of intellectual in-
day many
of his scientific observations are of real value.
Bates came to the
Amazon just before the era of Amazonian steamboats. He never went
off the native routes of ordinary travel.
But he was a devoted and
able naturalist.
He lived an exceedingly isolated, primitive, and laborious life for eleven years. Now, half a century after it was written, his
dependence who had permission to
visit
them.
To
this
APPENDIX A
346
"Naturalist on the
Amazon"
is
as interesting
was, and no book since written has in any
and valuable as
way supplanted
it
ever
it.
Travel of the third category includes the work of the true wilderness
explorers
scientific
who add to our sum of

men who, following their
trodden wilds.
geographical knowledge and of the
several bents, also work in the unRondon and his associates have done much
exploration of unknown country, and Cherrie and
Colonel
in the geographical
Miller have penetrated and lived for
months and years
in the wastes,
on their own resources, as incidents to their mammalogical and ornithological
work.
Professor Farrabee,
man who
example of the
An immense amount
the anthropologist,
a capital
is
does this hard and valuable type of work.

of this true wilderness work, geographical and
zoological, remains to be
done
in
South America.
plished with reasonable thoroughness only

different workers, each in his
here and there a part of the
own
by the
It
special field.
work should be done
can be accom-
efforts of
It
is
very
desirable that
in outline
geographic and zoological reconnoissance as ours;
many
by such a
we would,
for ex-
ample, be very grateful for such work in portions of the interior of the
Guianas, on the headwaters of the Xingu, and here and there along
the eastern base of the Andes.
But as a rule the work must be specialized; and in its final shape it
must be specialized everywhere. The first geographical explorers of the
untrodden wilderness, the first wanderers who penetrate the wastes where
they are confronted with starvation, disease, and danger and death in
every form, cannot take with them the elaborate equipment necessary
in order to do the thorough scientific work demanded by modern scientific requirements.
This is true even of exploration done along the
courses of unknown rivers; it is more true of the exploration, which
must in South America become increasingly necessary, done across
country, away from the rivers.
The scientific work proper of these early explorers must be of a somewhat preliminary nature; in other words the most difficult and therefore ordinarily the most important pieces of first-hand exploration are
precisely those where the scientific work of the accompanying cartographer, geologist, botanist, and zoologist must be furthest removed
from
finality.
The
zoologist
who works
to
most advantage
in the wil-
derness must take his time, and therefore he must normally follow in
the footsteps
of,
and not accompany, the
first
explorers.
The man who
APPENDIX A
347
wishes to do the best scientific work in the wilderness must not try to
combine incompatible types of work nor to cover too much ground
in
too short a time.
There
is
no better example of the kind of zoologist who does
class field-work in the wilderness
than John D. Haseman,
1907 to 1910 in painstaking and thorough

a large extent of South
of fact he studied at
jects, as
lent
scientific investigation
and distribution of South American
may
first
over
known
to study the char-
fishes,
hand many other more or
first-
spent from
territory hitherto only partially
Haseman' s primary object was
or quite unexplored.
acteristics
American
who
but as a matter
less
kindred sub-
be seen in his remarks on the Indians and in his excel-
pamphlet on "Some Factors of Geographical Distribution
in
South
America/'
Haseman made
his long
journey with a very slender equipment, his
extraordinarily successful field-work being due to his bodily health and
vigor and his resourcefulness, self-reliance, and resolution.
His writings
by his accuracy and common sense. The need

of the former of these two attributes will be appreciated by whoever
has studied the really scandalous fictions which have been published as
genuine by some modern "explorers" and adventurers in South America; * and the need of the latter by whoever has studied some of the
wild theories propounded in the name of science concerning the history
are rendered valuable
* It
and
would be well
official
charges
repute, against
if
would investigate the formal

and gentleman of the highest
an official report to the Brazil-
a geographical society of standing
made by Colonel Rondon, an
Mr. Savage Landor.
officer
Colonel Rondon, in
Mr. Landor.
He states that Mr.
Savage Landor did not perform, and did not even attempt to perform, the work he had
contracted to do in exploration for the Brazilian Government. Mr. Landor had asserted
and promised that he would go through unknown country along the line of eleven degrees latitude south, and, as Colonel Rondon states, it was because of this proposal of his
that the Brazilian Government gave him material financial assistance in advance. However, Colonel Rondon sets forth that Mr. Landor did not keep his word or make any serious
effort to fulfil his moral obligation to do as he had said he would do. In a letter to me under
date of May 1, 1914 a letter which has been published in full in France Colonel Rondon
goes at length into the question of what territory Mr. Landor had traversed. Colonel
Rondon states that excepting on one occasion, when Mr. Landor, wandering off a
beaten trail, immediately got lost and shortly returned to his starting-point without
making any discoveries he kept to old, well-travelled routes. One sentence of the colonel's letter to me runs as follows: "I can guarantee to you that in Brazil Mr. Landor
did not cross a hand's breadth of land that had not been explored, the greater part of it
many centuries ago." As regards Mr. Landor's sole and brief experience in leaving a
beaten route, Colonel Rondon states that at Sao Manoel Mr. Landor engaged from
Senhor Jose Sotero Barreto (the revenue officer of Matto Grosso, at Sao Manoel) a guide
to lead him across a well-travelled trail which connects the Tapajos with the Madeira
ian Government, has written a scathing review of
APPENDIX A
348
of
life
ous criticism to be
an
which makes
obscure
difficult to tell
it
Modern
also.
and
scientific
all,
made on Haseman:
however, one
is,
the extreme obscurity of his
and writing
that a simple, clear, and,

tion of the best
work
is
is
would not have been

is
is
if
vital to the
thought
mean
that
it is
is
but ability to give
essential,
robbed of an immense proportion of
or obscure manner.
a pity to
what the thought
make
is.
it
above
and
produc-
Darwin and Huxley

they had not written
if
nothing to write about, entitles him to mere derision.

est
thought
keep in mind that
Ability to write well,
less essential.
his
historians and,
essential to clearness of thought
possible, vivid style
if
The thought
only
modern
in either science or history.
are classics, and they
good Engl

Sprache

teddy roosevelt

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

teddy roosevelt

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

swUHSi

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY KERMIT ROOSEVELT

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published October, 1914

SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS FOR BRAZIL, AND TO HIS

CAPTAIN AMILCAR, LIEUTENANT LYRA, LIEUTENANT MELLO,

INSCRIBED, WITH ESTEEM, REGARD, AND AFFECTION

an account of a zoogeographic reconnoissance

through the Brazilian hinterland.

Government: Expedicao Scien-

started from the United

was to make an expedition, primarily concerned

seum of Natural History of

This was under-

taken under the auspices of Messrs. Osborn and Chapman,

In the body of this

the scope of the expedition was en-

was given a geographic

consequence of the kind proposal of

the Brazilian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, General

body of the work

be found reference after reference

colleagues and companions of the expedition,

and enlarged form the

rendered possible only by the generous

assistance of the Brazilian

the most cordial friendship and

The Headwaters of the Paraguay

Through The Highland Wilderness of Western

With a Mule-Train Across Nhambiquara Land

The River of Doubt

Down an Unknown River

The Work of the Field Zoologist and Field

The Outfit for Travelling

Photogravure from a photograph by Cherrie.

mussurama swallowing the jararaca or fer-de-lance, after

boy with coati (coon-like animal) and parakeet.

Indians rolling logs at

Palms along the bank of

Cattle on the upper Paraguay River

Nips with the marsh deer. Returning to the fazenda (ranch)

Group The brown boy on the long-horned trotting steer, which he

A South American puma. A South American jaguar ....

on the way back to the ranch

South American jabiru.

Snake-birds and cormorants

cormorants and darters covered certain

both at sunset and after sunrise.

The great ant-eater.

South American tapir

Colonel Roosevelt and Colonel Rondon with bush deer

return from a day's hunt

pranchas being pulled by launch with our baggage and provisions

Salto Bello Falls

a sheer drop of forty or fifty yards, and a breadth perhaps three

One woman was making a hammock. The mothers carried the

which went over the opposite shoulder of the mother

of headball played by Parecis Indians at Utiarity

a player runs forward, throws himself flat on the ground,

doubt whether, excepting, of course, Niagara, there is a waterfall in

A lonely grave by the wayside.

of the Parecis Indians

whistle in time to the dancing.