I am reading TR's book "Through the Brazilian Wilderness". Here's a pict of a big brocket deer that TR took. With him is Colonel Rondon.

What a president to have a rreal warrior in a emasculated world of OBAMAS .Juan

Wacht Out Juan!!! I know that You hate the abortion legalizer and pusilnanimes antiguns but Mr. OBAMA is now the President of the United States and Who knowS? maybe some "Shaka -Zulu" roots will bloom and started to practized His ancestor sport ,maybe the NRA have try to convert him to the "Dark-side" and persuade Him inviting to a good hunt and NRA the conventions to show Him the spirit of the North American family´s tradition .

Just finished the book. TR, Colonel Rondon, Kermit, two naturalists, and about 16 local camaradas set out to map "the River of Doubt" of southern Brazil in 1908. Two months and 1000 KM later they had determined its route. Along the way they lost one man to drowning, one man to murder, and the murderer was left behind in the jungle. I recommend it, wonderful reading.

http://www.kshs.org/cool/jaguar.htm



http://www.bartleby.com/174/ (On-Line book)

I've not read it yet, but I seem to remember hearing that TR became ill on that expedition and asked to be left behind, and Kermit refused. Is this story in it?

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by Guillermo Amestoy:
Wacht Out Juan!!! I know that You hate the abortion legalizer and pusilnanimes antiguns but Mr. OBAMA is now the President of the United States and Who knowS? maybe some "Shaka -Zulu" roots will bloom and started to practized His ancestor sport ,maybe the NRA have try to convert him to the "Dark-side" and persuade Him inviting to a good hunt and NRA the conventions to show Him the spirit of the North American family´s tradition .

It looks to be a good read and I will look for one. Those were the days.

Guille. Juan is so right. We have gone from a country with true men like TR to one who is a fraud. We will suffer for this and I just hope we can recover. And Juan would enjoy a battle with men who have Shaka Zulu roots. But now, they have learned the business of money and political corruption and I doubt he would find a worthy opponent. Those days of truly courageous blacks are gone. I would love to see Juan, with just his knife, against Jesse Jackson with a long spear.

The NRA is facing the biggest battles in our history. The Democrats are in power and loving it....and the sad part is that a good many of them, are more corrupt than Mugabe.

It is too bad that dueling is against the law now. I would enjoy inviting a few of them out....

By the way, Guille, the Kenyan Obama may have the title, but he is not my President.

Bill Quimby,
Yes, Roosevelt developed an abscess on his leg and could not move by land, and only slowly by canoe. Many of the men were weak from fever, and TR feared that they would miss their rendezvous with a group coming up the main river. They had lost much of their provisions to accidents in the river and big game was scarce. They were eating monkeys and charatas and Brazil nuts. The occasional tapir seemed always to escape.

quote:

Originally posted by SGraves155:
Bill Quimby,
Yes, Roosevelt developed an abscess on his leg and could not move by land, and only slowly by canoe. Many of the men were weak from fever, and TR feared that they would miss their rendezvous with a group coming up the main river. They had lost much of their provisions to accidents in the river and big game was scarce. They were eating monkeys and charatas and Brazil nuts. The occasional tapir seemed always to escape.

What an adventure! I've got to read the book.

Bill Quimby

I have the book on my Ipod and listen to it while being hassled and held up by TSA and Usuck customs on my travels. Teaches me that things could be much worse and I need to toughen up.

I agree, Steve, great book. I believe it was 1915 or 1916 though. TR and Kermit were planning for Africa in 1908.

Some say that the River of Doubt, or as it was subsequently named, Rio Teodoro, killed TR. He died at home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, just a few short years after his return from what was, by his own account, a brutally difficult trip.

Some say poor planning and worse judgment of men and their character were to blame. Who knows?

TR and his loyal son, Kermit, were adventurers of the first rank.

A sad footnote is that Kermit, who was apparently prone to depression and the abuse of alcohol, killed himself with a pistol shot to the head while serving in the Army at a remote outpost in Alaska in 1943.

I have often wondered if the difficulties of following such a superhuman father might have been partly the cause of Kermit's depression.

Life is not easy for anyone.

MR,
The 1908 date stuck with me, but that was the year the trip was proposed to TR by Father Zahm. The actual expedition was in 1913.
Kermit was already in southern Brazil, building steel bridges. He had had an accident, receiving broken bones and teeth knocked out, shortly before TR arrived. I wonder if any of the bridges that Kermit built are still standing?

"TR and his loyal son, Kermit, were adventurers of the first rank."

As was TR Jr. The adventure that TR Jr. and Kermit told about in their "East of the Sun an West of the Moon" has never been duplicated, IMHO.

Bill Quimby