Death on the River of Doubt: Chapters 4–6

Roosevelt’s son Kermit, who spoke Portuguese fluently, was also on the expedition—although he didn’t want to be there.

Like his father, Kermit was fearless. Ironically, this fearlessness scared his father, and it was a constant source of worry for him, especially when they were hunting lions, elephants, and rhinoceroses in Africa together.

While Kermit and his father shared similar interests and character traits, their personalities were quite different. Kermit was quiet, brooding, and not much of a talker. Where his father had the gift of gab, Kermit had a gift for learning foreign languages.

While Kermit and his father shared similar interests and character traits, their personalities were quite different. Kermit was quiet, brooding, and not much of a talker. Where his father had the gift of gab, Kermit had a gift for learning foreign languages.

And despite the heat and humidity, they were often forced to wear stifling head nets and gloves in order to protect themselves from the clouds of insects that hounded them. The worst were the piums, similar in appearance to a black fly, except the pium bit and sucked their blood. The bite itself didn’t hurt, but the itchy welt it left behind caused plenty of discomfort.

“Men unused to the South American wilderness speak with awe of the danger therein from jaguars, crocodiles, and poisonous snakes, in reality, the danger from those sources is trivial, much less than the danger of being run down by an automobile at home. But at times the torment of insect plagues can hardly be exaggerated,” Roosevelt wrote.

But most worrisome to Roosevelt was learning that Rondon had left behind food rations for his own men. Rondon thought nothing of it: He and his men would go without their rations to lighten the load.

Deprivation and hardship were just part of the job of exploring and surviving in the Brazilian wilderness.

Deprivation and hardship were just part of the job of exploring and surviving in the Brazilian wilderness.

“We took with us provisions for about fifty days; not full rations, for we hoped in part to live on the country—on fish, game, nuts, palm-tops. Our personal baggage was already well cut down...The things that we carried were necessities—food, medicines, bedding, instruments for determining altitude and longitude and latitude—except a few books,” Roosevelt wrote.

“We took with us provisions for about fifty days; not full rations, for we hoped in part to live on the country—on fish, game, nuts, palm-tops. Our personal baggage was already well cut down...The things that we carried were necessities—food, medicines, bedding, instruments for determining altitude and longitude and latitude—except a few books,” Roosevelt wrote.

“We took with us provisions for about fifty days; not full rations, for we hoped in part to live on the country—on fish, game, nuts, palm-tops. Our personal baggage was already well cut down...The things that we carried were necessities—food, medicines, bedding, instruments for determining altitude and longitude and latitude—except a few books,” Roosevelt wrote.

“No man has any 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 weakness or ailment of his,” Roosevelt wrote.

After killing the men with their six-foot-long arrows—the tips of which were poisoned with a plant extract called curare—the Nhambiquara buried them in an upright position, with their heads and shoulders sticking out of the ground.

From the time the first Portuguese explorer, Pedro Álvares Cabral, discovered Brazil in the year 1500, the Indian population was negatively impacted—from disease to enslavement to encroachment on their land and way of life.

Cut off from civilization, the Nhambiquara Indians were adept at hiding from plain view in the rain forest.

With the arrow still sticking out of his strap, Rondon fired his rifle into the air, scaring the Indians off. At first, Rondon was outraged. He and his men wanted to kill them, to gain the upper hand. “Why I never dreamed that such a treasonous attack could happen...I escaped a shameful death at the hands of traitors!” Rondon wrote in his diary.

With the arrow still sticking out of his strap, Rondon fired his rifle into the air, scaring the Indians off. At first, Rondon was outraged. He and his men wanted to kill them, to gain the upper hand. “Why I never dreamed that such a treasonous attack could happen...I escaped a shameful death at the hands of traitors!” Rondon wrote in his diary.

Drawing from his experience in establishing peace with the nearby Pareci Indians, Rondon knew the best approach was to gain the Nhambiquara Indians’ trust. To do this, he and his men needed to remain passive and peaceful—no matter what.

But the Nhambiquara, cut off from society in the rain forest, weren’t aware of Rondon’s decision. Although the explorers retreated, the Nhambiquara stealthily followed them.

In order to break through the communication barrier and begin peace negotiations with the Nhambiquara, Rondon set up a phonograph and played records. Like the Pied Piper, the music lured the Indians out of their hiding places and into Rondon’s campsite.

The Nhambiquara were nomadic hunters and gatherers with Stone Age tools. Rondon’s gifts of metal tools were a persuasive means of communication, allowing him to forge a fragile friendship.

“They are the most ferocious fish in the world,” Roosevelt wrote. “Even the most formidable fish, the sharks or the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves. But the piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves. They will snap a finger off a hand incautiously trailed in the water...they will rend or devour alive any wounded man or beast; for blood in the water excites them to madness.”

“They are the most ferocious fish in the world,” Roosevelt wrote. “Even the most formidable fish, the sharks or the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves. But the piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves. They will snap a finger off a hand incautiously trailed in the water...they will rend or devour alive any wounded man or beast; for blood in the water excites them to madness.”

Cherrie remembered the day he was attacked after slipping from a tree limb and slicing his arm open in the fall: “I realized that I was bleeding and that my blood would instantly incite an attack by the murderous fish...the lightning-like rapidity of the piranha left me little chance to escape unhurt...But I retained enough of my reason to know that my one chance of escape lay in keeping the fish at bay before they became crazed with the taste of blood...."

“The course is extremely tortuous...twisting and turning in every direction. The boatmen have some strenuous times in getting the boat around some of the curves,” Cherrie wrote in his diary.

After using his machete to hack his way through the dense foliage—all while getting stung and bitten by wasps and ants—Kermit would set up the sighting rod.

At the same time, Rondon used a compass to note the direction of the river. Later, Lyra, who was a cartographer, would plot the course and calculate the distance.

It was also becoming apparent that the possibility of supplementing their food rations with game, such as the tapir, looked bleak.

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning when Roosevelt, Cherrie, and Jose Antonio Cajazeira—the expedition’s “cool and plucky” medical doctor—climbed into the canoe they shared. It was the largest and most difficult one to maneuver.

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning when Roosevelt, Cherrie, and Jose Antonio Cajazeira—the expedition’s “cool and plucky” medical doctor—climbed into the canoe they shared. It was the largest and most difficult one to maneuver.

“They were expert rivermen and men of the forest, skilled veterans in wilderness work. They were lithe as panthers and brawny as bears. They swam like waterdogs. They were equally at home with pole and paddle, with axe and machete...They looked like pirates,” Roosevelt wrote.

“They were expert rivermen and men of the forest, skilled veterans in wilderness work. They were lithe as panthers and brawny as bears. They swam like waterdogs. They were equally at home with pole and paddle, with axe and machete...They looked like pirates,” Roosevelt wrote.

When Rondon first hired him to go on the expedition, Julio was enthusiastic. This was unusual, since many men viewed working for Rondon as a form of punishment. It wasn’t just the harsh and isolated wilderness that deterred them. Rondon was a strict disciplinarian, ruling his men with an iron fist.

His tough and authoritarian leadership style was necessary in the wild where disease, Indian attacks, and the inhospitable environment relentlessly threatened everyone’s lives. Rondon couldn’t risk a mutiny.

His tough and authoritarian leadership style was necessary in the wild where disease, Indian attacks, and the inhospitable environment relentlessly threatened everyone’s lives. Rondon couldn’t risk a mutiny.

If any of his men showed insubordination, Rondon was quick to put them in their place.

In comparison, Roosevelt's leadership style was much more approachable. Even though he couldn’t speak Portuguese, the former president’s gregarious nature broke through the language barrier. One way he showed his appreciation to the camaradas for their backbreaking work was to share a chocolate bar from his provisions. He did this every day at noon.

“He was a charming companion...He was what we Brazilians call a ‘pandego’...‘the life of the party,”’ said Rondon. “And talk! I never saw a man who talked so much. He would talk all the time he was in swimming [sic], all of the time during meals, traveling in the canoe and at night around the camp fire. He talked endlessly and on all conceivable subjects.”

“His interest was so whole-hearted and obvious that the shyest, most tongue-tied adventurer found himself speaking with entire freedom,” Kermit wrote. “Every one with whom we came in contact fell under the charm. Father invariably thought the best of a person, and for that very reason every one was at his best with him—and felt bound to justify his confidence and judgment.”