Colonel Roosevelt (158 page)
Authors: Edmund Morris
10
a big affluent
KR diary, 28 Feb. 1914 (KRP); TR,
Works
, 6.237.
11
“very good eating”
TR,
Works
, 6.239.
12
After twenty kilometers
Rondon,
Lectures
, 72–73.
13
Curls, falls, ponds
TR,
Works
, 6.241. Rondon named these rapids Navaitê, after a tribe of Indians thought to be living in the area.
14
There was nothing
Rondon,
Lectures
, 74; TR,
Works
, 6.242–43; KR diary, 3 Mar. 1914 (KRP).
15
The next one
TR,
Works
, 6.243–44. The
camaradas
were classified as “regional volunteers” by the Brazilian Telegraphic Commission, and highly paid for their trouble.
16
On the morning
Cherrie diary, 11 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); Rondon,
Lectures
, 79.
17
There were spells
Rondon,
Lectures
, 77; TR,
Works
, 6
passim
.
18
When he floated
Rondon-Naylor interview,
The New York Times
, 6 Jan. 1929. Rondon added: “He was what we Brazilians call a
pandego
(man of constant good humor).”
19
“I never saw”
Ibid.
20
descent into the
TR,
Works
, 6.245; Rondon,
Lectures
, 79. Rondon listed 114 survey stations along the Dúvida.
21
By midday
The following account synthesizes the sometimes conflicting testimonies of TR in his
Works
, 6.257–59, and Rondon in his
Lectures
, 80–83, supplemented by Vivieros,
Rondon
, 409–10.
22
Rondon ordered
Rondon,
Lectures
, 80.
23
Kermit and Simplício clambered
TR’s account, based on what KR told him, makes no mention of Simplício’s presence on the upturned boat.
24
All of this
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 289.
25
“Well, you have”
Rondon,
Lectures
, 81.
26
He no longer made
Ibid.
27
It was clear
Diacon,
Stringing Together a Nation
, 43, notes that Rondon suppressed his rage against KR in later published accounts of the expedition, no doubt to avoid distressing TR.
28
AQUI PERECEU
Rondon,
Lectures
, 83; Vivieros,
Rondon
, 410.
29
To him, it said
Rondon,
Lectures
, 83; Vivieros,
Rondon
, 410; TR,
Works
, 6.259.
30
The portage began
Rondon,
Lectures
, 86; TR,
Works
, 6.260–61.
31
Rondon examined
Candice Millard has revealed that the Indians living alongside the Dúvida in 1914 were the cannibalistic Cinta Larga. Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 223–31.
32
Later that
TR,
Works
, 6.260.
33
Every dispensable possession
Ibid., 6.262–63.
34
“Our position”
Ibid., 6.264; Rondon,
Lectures
, 87–88; Cherrie diary, 16 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); TR,
Works
, 6.264.
35
Rondon decided
Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 154–62 and
passim;
Rondon-Naylor interview,
The New York Times
, 6 Jan. 1929.
36
On behalf
Cherrie diary, 18 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); Rondon,
Lectures
, 87–89; TR,
Works
, 6.267. According to Armelle Enders, it was actually Lauro Müller’s idea to honor TR in this way. Enders, “Theodore Roosevelt explorateur,” 9.
37
Roosevelt was taken
TR,
Works
, 6.268.
38
There was little
Cherrie diary, 19 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 297.
39
One morning
Rondon,
Lectures
, 92. Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 245 misdates this conversation.
40
“First of all”
The following dialogue is quoted in Vivieros,
Rondon
, 411 (trans. author). See also Rondon,
Lectures
, 91–92, and Diacon,
Stringing Together a Nation
, 44–45.
41
Clearing skies
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 298; TR,
Works
, 6.278 and
passim
.
42
On 27 March
Cherrie diary, 27 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); TR,
Works
, 6.xx, 281–82, 296.
43
Twelve years before
Morris,
Theodore Rex
, 141–49. In September 1908, TR told KR that his shin had never really healed. Kermit Roosevelt,
The Long Trail
, 37–38.
44
in the summer of 1910
See 610.
45
three black vultures
Cherrie diary, 27 Mar. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 308.
46
There was a
KR diary, 28 Mar. 1914 (KRP); Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 308; TR,
Works
, 6.282–83.
47
The Americans overruled
Rondon,
Lectures
, 99–100; KR diary, 28 Mar. 1914 (KRP).
48
Roosevelt kept
TR,
Works
, 6.283. TR gave his spare pair of shoes to KR, whose own fell apart because of constant immersion in the river.
49
Cherrie accompanied
Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 305–6. According to Cherrie, TR “had been ill intermittently” since about the middle of Mar., when he began to suffer from fever and dysentery. KR’s diary makes no mention of these earlier ailments, but he too began to worry about the condition of TR’s heart. It was characteristic of TR himself to say nothing of his 27 Mar. bruise except that “the resulting inflammation was somewhat bothersome.” (TR,
Works
, 6.296.) He was equally reticent about his later sufferings.
50
Together at
TR,
Works
, 6.284; Cherrie diary, 29 Mar. 1914 (AMNH). The phrase “arrow of light” is Cherrie’s.
51
When they descended
Cherrie diary, 2 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 301.
52
As if in
TR,
Works
, 6.283–86; KR diary, 30–31 Mar. 1914 (KRP).
53
By the time
Rondon,
Lectures
, 101; TR,
Works
, 6.263.
54
The following day’s
Rondon,
Lectures
, 104; TR,
Works
, 6.287–88.
55
“Worried a lot”
KR diary, 2 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
Biographical Note:
Archibald Roosevelt, Jr., in conversation with the author in 1988, speculated that TR “probably had—was born with—a bicuspid aortic valve like Cousin Kim’s [Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.], instead of the normal tricuspid. People with that problem often overcompensate for it in early life, but they get a telltale heart murmur—which is probably what TR’s doctor at Harvard heard when he warned him to lead a sedentary life. They also are susceptible to oral bacteria, which can lead to very high fevers and even endocarditis if the bloodstream is infected.” Both ABR, Jr., and KR, Jr., began to suffer from calcium buildup close to the aortic valve at approximately the same age as TR developed heart trouble on the Dúvida. ABR, Jr., interview, Apr. 1988 (AC).
56
The next morning
Rondon,
Lectures
, 104; TR,
Works
, 6.290.
57
Rondon took some men
The following incident is reported by TR in
Works
, 6.290–93, and Rondon in
Lectures
, 105–6, as well as Vivieros,
Rondon
, 416–17. Supplemental details come from Cherrie diary, 3 Apr. 1914 (AMNH).
58
He was a known
For an earlier knife-wielding incident involving Julio, see Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 91–92.
59
“We must go after”
Vivieros,
Rondon
, 416 (trans. author).
60
“Paixão is following”
TR,
Works
, 6.293. TR spelled Paixão phonetically as “Paishon.”
61
The murdered man
TR,
Works
, 6.295–96.
62
Late the following
Cherrie’s memoir of the expedition has caused some confusion among later writers as to when this attack took place. He dates it just after Rondon’s 28 Mar. announcement that the canoes were going to have to be abandoned. However, Cherrie’s diary makes no reference to TR becoming ill before the heart problems that afflicted him on 2 Apr. Millard cites an official report by Dr. Cajazeira stating that TR’s fever struck him around 2:30
P.M
. on 4 Apr. (The
River of Doubt
, 295–96). Rondon and KR confirm that the fever mounted that evening, and that TR lapsed overnight into delirium. (Rondon-Naylor interview,
The New York Times
, 6 Jan. 1929; Rondon,
Lectures
, 108; KR diary, 4 Apr. 1914 [KRP].) See also TR,
Works
, 6.296.
63
He had to endure
Cherrie diary, 3, 4 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); Rondon,
Lectures
, 108; TR,
Works
, 6.296. Cherrie gives TR’s temperature this night as “39.8° (Centigrade).”
64
He became delirious
KR diary, 4 Apr. 1914 (KRP); Kermit Roosevelt,
Happy Hunting Grounds
, 47; Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan, or a Vision in a Dream” (1797).
65
The doctor laced him
Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 295–96.
66
In terror
Kermit Roosevelt,
Happy Hunting Grounds
, 47. The pathetic fallacy implicit in KR’s reference to the “rushing river” and overnight deluge may owe something to his reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s fable “Silence.”
67
“The expedition cannot”
Vivieros,
Rondon
, 418 (trans. author). See also Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 253–54 and Rondon-Naylor interview,
The New York Times
, 6 Jan. 1929. TR told Charles Washburn in Jan. 1915 that he would have shot himself if he felt completely unable to go on. Wood,
Roosevelt As We Knew Him
, 261.
68
the sunless gorge
The adjective, borrowed from “Kubla Khan,” is TR’s.
69
“Bôa Esperança”
Rondon,
Lectures
, 109.
70
Dr. Cajazeira noted
Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 323; KR diary, 5 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
71
“Am in a”
KR diary, 4 Apr. 1914 (KRP).
72
“
Tenente!
”
Rondon,
Lectures
, 114. Reminiscing in old age to Esther Vivieros, Rondon gave Julio’s cry as “
Senhor Coronel!
” (“Mr. Colonel!”). His early recall is more likely to be accurate.
73
The sound of
Rondon,
Lectures
, 114; Vivieros,
Rondon
, 417; see also TR,
Works
, 6.294–95.
74
After a record
Rondon,
Lectures
, 110–11.
75
“The expedition is”
Vivieros,
Rondon
, 417–18 (trans. author). See also Rondon,
Lectures
, 114–15. The earlier account is much more discreet.
76
“Shut up!”
Vivieros,
Rondon
, 417. TR’s explosion is quoted in English.
77
“the duty of”
Rondon,
Lectures
, 114. An ailing Kermit, in his diary entry for this day, states that Rondon and Lyra had been “in a blind rage to kill” Julio three days before. If so, Rondon may have imputed some of his own excitement to TR when relating the incident to Vivieros. But all sources agree that after discovering Julio’s dropped rifle, Rondon declined to pursue him.
78
“Let the law”
Vivieros,
Rondon
, 418. See also TR,
Works
, 6.294–95.
79
Julio did not show
Rondon,
Lectures
, 115.
80
It was pleasant
TR,
Works
, 6.298–99; Vivieros,
Rondon
, 418. The phrase “gleam like tossing silver” is TR’s.
81
Roosevelt ate little
Cherrie diary, 8 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); Cherrie,
Dark Trails
, 305–6.
82
Rondon doubted
Rondon,
Lectures
, 110, 113; Millard,
The River of Doubt
, 322; Cherrie diary, 8, 10 Apr. 1914 (AMNH); TR,
Works
, 6.307. “There were a good many days,” Cherrie remarked afterward, “… when I looked at Colonel Roosevelt and said to myself, he won’t be with us tonight: and I would say the same thing in the evening, he can’t possibly live until morning.” Cherrie in TR,
Works
, 6.xix.
83
Maple buds
TR,
Works
, 6.301–2, 307.
84
“How I longed”
Ibid., 6.300.
85
On 14 April
Rondon,
Lectures
, 118; TR,
Works
, 6.303.