The River of Doubt (53 page)

On one occasion
Hermann Hagedorn,
The Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill
(New York, 1954).

“Dive, Alice!”
Ibid.

“Kermit is a great pleasure”
TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, June 21, 1909, in
Letters
, vol. 7.

He had disappeared
TR to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, Oct. 17, 1909, in
Letters
, vol. 7.

“Since I have been”
TR to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, July 27, 1909, in
Letters
, vol. 7.

“great comfort and help”
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

The three men successfully rode
Rondon,
Lectures
.

“exceptionally good men”
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
; see also Rondon,
Lectures
.

“the least seaworthy of all”
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

Realizing that their only
Ibid.

Fighting to
save Rondon,
Lectures
.

From their canoe above
George Cherrie,
Dark Trails
(New York, 1930).

When his dugout was swept
Theodore Roosevelt,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
(New York, 1914).

“beaten out on the bowlders”
Ibid.

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

Furious, and worried
Ibid.

After he was driven
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

As valuable as
George Cherrie,
Diary
, March 15, 1914, AMNH.

No sooner had
Rondon,
Lectures
.

“one hope left”
Ibid.

After a frantic search
George Cherrie,
Dark Trails
(New York, 1930); Kermit Roosevelt,
Diary
, March 15, 1914, KBRP.

“Unfortunately the moment”
Rondon,
Lectures
.

“very narrow escape”
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness

Although Kermit had joined
Ibid.

“Simplicio was drowned”
KR,
Diary
, March 15, 1914, KBRP.

“The loss of a human life”
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
.

“We may reach New York”
George Cherrie to Stella Cherrie, Feb. 26, 1914, AMNH.

“Certainly no one”
Rondon,
Lectures
.

“lets his soldiers die”
Quoted in Todd A. Diacon, “Are the Good Guys Always Bad?” Annual Meeting of the Southern Historical Association, Alabama, 1998.

“Death and dangers”
Esther de Viveiros,
Rondon: Conta Sua Vida
(Rio de Janeiro, 1958).

“perpetuated the name”
Rondon,
Lectures
.

“In these rapids”
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

The day before
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
.

At 7:00 a.m.
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

Having satisfied himself
Rondon,
Lectures
.

She had been raised
Donald F. O’Reilly, “Rondon: Biography of a Brazilian Republican Army Commander,” Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1969.

She finally taught herself
Author’s interview with Rondon’s grandchildren, March 25, 2003.

“This day brings us”
O’Reilly, “Rondon”.

At times he had
Todd A. Diacon,
Stringing Together a Nation
(Durham, N.C., 2004).

Now, contentedly walking
Rondon,
Lectures
.

The forest was
Ibid.

Certain that Lobo
Ibid.

Suddenly Lobo reappeared
Ibid. In retrospect, Rondon concluded that the whinny he had heard had been not a spider monkey but an Indian imitating its call. He also realized that, by running ahead of him, Lobo had saved his life. (TR, Address to National Geographic Society, May 26, 1914, NGS.)

He found the rest
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
.

While Rondon was gone
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

Rondon was deeply concerned
Rondon,
Lectures
.

By the time the five men
Ibid.

Scanning the forest
Ibid.

That arrow had been launched
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
.

“These melancholic reflections”
Viveiros,
Rondon
.

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

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

But as he examined these arrows
Rondon,
Lectures
.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their best hope
Alex Shoumatoff,
The Rivers Amazon
.

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

The mysterious Indians
Author’s interview with Cinta Larga.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The chief had to exhibit
Ibid.

The Cinta Larga would not
Chapelle,
Les Hommes.

Not only did the chief
Ibid.

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

In such small
Chapelle,
Les Hommes
.

Like women in most
Ibid.

As important as children
were Ibid.

Because the Indians
Author’s interview with Cinta Larga.

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

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

They would cut their hair
Ibid.

The men were sometimes forced
Chapelle,
Les Hommes
.

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

They could eat
Ibid.

The tribe drew a clear distinction
Ibid.

The Cinta Larga often tossed
Ibid.

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

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

“The only way”
Ibid.

For better stability
Ibid.

Their misery growing
Ibid.

They had already consumed
Ibid.

They limited themselves
Ibid.

“taste was not unpleasant”
Ibid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“When food was scarcest”
Ibid.

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

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

“Up to this point”
Rondon,
Lectures
.

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

Even better
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

The good mood
Rondon,
Lectures
.

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

“The camaradas”
Ibid.

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

Rounding a bend
Rondon,
Lectures
.

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

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

“could only make a small”
Rondon,
Lectures
.

They had not chosen
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
.

The trees that they
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

As the camaradas began
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
.

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

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

The tension between
TR,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness
.

After the men had set up
Rondon,
Lectures
.

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

“Mr. Roosevelt asked me”
Rondon,
Lectures
.

The point of Roosevelt’s talk
Ibid.

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