Story time with Daddy Roosevelt: The Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition

Theodore Roosevelt is truly a man for the history books. Eccentric, wild but intelligent and caring; few men have as many stories and adventures to tell. I can truly imagine him as an excellent bedside storyteller. As such, I want to take you through one of his most famous expeditions: the Roosevelt-Rondon expedition in the Amazonian jungle. I will point out some interesting events and some fascinating thoughts he recorded throughout his journey. Without further ado, let‘s begin our own - through Uncle Teddy‘s words.

First things first, the Roosevelt-Rondon expedition was founded by the American Museum of Natural History of New York. Its claims were zoologistics (reporting exotic species) but mainly geographical. Indeed, the heart of the expedition would be to chart unknown territory in the Brazilian wilderness. Such claims were legitimately scientific in my eyes but they still didn‘t prevent Teddy from indulging in some big game hunting throughout. Our first stop is in Sao Paulo. Therein, Teddy would visit the “Instituto Serum-Thérapico“ dedicated to the study of poisonous snakes. Its director, Victor Brazil (yes - Brazil), had tested various antivenoms to a myriad of specimen‘s venom - whether alive or dead. Teddy‘s discussion with Brazil is quite notable. Indeed, Brazil explains that after years of searching for a solution to the dangerous poisonous snake populations in Brazil, he had found it in a snake itself of all things. The mussurama is a 4-5 foot long black snake with “a calm temper“ and harmless to man. What is most interesting about it is that it eats ONLY other poisonous snakes. It is immune to most snake venom to booth. Brazil would proceed with a demonstration of a mussurama gulping a jararaca - one of the most common and dangerous poisonous snakes in the region. By the way, the jararaca is only about a foot shorter than the mussurama.

After some days in Sao Paulo (and a quick detour through Uruguay, Argentina and Chile for other reasons), the expedition would begin trailing up Paraguay. On the menu: encounters with caymans, an ant-eater and plenty of piranhas. Teddy takes some time here to describe the savagery of piranhas. My favourite part is how he explains seeing the strange interaction between caymans in piranhas: caymans eat piranhas without any reaction until a cayman is wounded. Then the tables turn. Finally, Teddy takes some time to exclaim his joy in seeing so many exotic birds. These include the Jacanas, called the “Jesus Christ bird“ by natives since it walks on water. Teddy points out that, yes, scientists should be careful observers, but they should also be great narrators. Stating: “[…] as scientists no less than historians should note, that training in the writing of good English is indispensable to any learned man who expects to make his learning count for what it ought to count in the effect on his fellow men.“ An observer with the right quill can do more work than a collector to bring to life what he saw to future generations (like us).

The next chapter of the expedition would be dominated by jaguar hunts. Here, I want to point out an interesting tangent about jaguar habits. Teddy tells of many reports of distinct jaguar behaviours that are quite contradictory. It seemed that they sometimes lived almost exclusively on horses and cattle. Other times, they acted like pumas. Teddy found many to be quite gullible about fables on these big cats. He reports seeing similar behaviour with North American hunters discussing the puma, bear and wolf, and with African hunters speaking of the lion and rhinoceros. He warns us about such fables and wishes for habits of scientific accuracy in both observation and recording rather than what amounts to gossiping.

Up up and up they would go until reaching Brazil and its wilderness. Their first notable encounter here would be with bloodsucking bats and persistent clouds of insects. Here, Teddy describes that such nuisances are not only normal but expected when trekking in new country. This leads him to a tangent about the hardships encountered by explorers. The danger, privation and fatigue they must get through are not apparent to later travellers and settlers who would partake in the same path. Beating a path into something practical is in itself costly and trying. “The ordinary traveller, who never goes off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is carried by others, without himself doing anything or risking anything, does not need to show much more initiative and intelligence than an express package. He does nothing; others do all the work, show all the forethought, take all the risk—and are entitled to all the credit.“ We need to better appreciate the work and sweat of those long-forgotten that came before us.

Next, they would reach the beautiful Salto Bello Falls but not before encountering a huge colony of tiny spiders. Here, they would meet more natives - the Nhambiquara. Teddy would be fascinated by a ball game played by them. Oh, he didn‘t understand the rules (looks a bit like soccer maybe) but could only admire their strength and dexterity. Their journey would continue through the lands of the Nhambiquara - slowly but surely.

Finally, they would reach the climax of the expedition - untracked territory. With seven canoes, they began going down the aptly named River of Doubt. Destination? Unknown. Rapids and whirlpools would ensue. Sadly, they would lose one man called Simplicio to these. In the end, the river was 140 km and took 3 weeks to traverse. Going through the wilderness, they would continue to map new charts. Not long after, they would find strange inscriptions in the bedrock: four concentric circles with a dot in the center and, down below, four stacked M‘s. Colonel Rondon, who had experience with natives from around these parts stated that such scribblings were not from any of them. This made Roosevelt wonder about stories of long-lost civilizations that lived within the Amazonian jungle and the impact of Europeans on such lands. Sadly, they would reach some hardship of their own. They were forced to strip themselves of unnecessary supplies (including the canoes). Fatigue and fever stepped in. One man in their escort would crack - stealing food, killing another man and escaping through the jungle. The expedition didn‘t have the supplies and the energy to track the murderer. At last, about a week later, they would reach a signpost and then a house. The expedition had reached travelled country. It had come to an end. They had trekked through 300 km in 48 days. Relieved and rested, Teddy would say goodbye to his Brazilian friends and go back up to New York.

We have reached the end of Teddy‘s adventure of the day and thus, the end of this post. I hope you liked this exotic journey. May it inspire a journey of your own making - even if less ambitious than Teddy‘s. I am looking forward to it.

Until next time.

References

Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Theodore Roosevelt
Autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt