Lost in the Shadow of Fame

by William E. Lemanski

  For a period of time they paddled on placid water that due to the heavy rains extended over large areas of the forest. However, as the river course continually dropped in elevation, the current began to accelerate. This increasing decline in the river’s flow began to present serious problems in both the speed and type of current and the nature of the river bottom. Although generally following a circuitous northerly direction, the river continued to drop, sometimes gently but they also began to encounter serious waterfalls. As the river narrowed and descended, dangerous currents, swirls and eddies would form, creating a turbulent maelstrom sometimes above, and sometimes below a falls. The fast current would water-wash the river bottom exposing rocks around which the water would violently swirl. This combined with the natural turns in the wild river made paddling the crude canoes difficult and sometimes impossible to maneuver without mishap. The river was so erratic that at one point it was over a hundred yards wide, then in less than two miles as it cascaded over rapids it narrowed to a width of less than six-feet.

  At this point the violence of the rapids were too much for the canoes to negotiate so a long portage was required. Moving the canoes around dangerous sections of the river on land was a backbreaking and time consuming project and became a frequent occurrence. The initial portage consumed the first three days in March as the men chopped a road through the forest and hauled the heavy, water soaked canoes around the rapids on log rollers. The men were harnessed two by two and with block and tackle dragged each while a man behind pried with a cut log. Up steep embankments from the shore the men labored, bouncing and pulling the log craft weighing close to a ton each, in stifling humidity and the occasional pouring rain. Slipping in the mud while being scrapped by the dense foliage, bitten and stung by insects the men toiled. Kermit participated in the slave-like labor along with the camaradas. The rough treatment of the canoes during the overland journey to bypass the rapids was not without mishap. Roosevelt’s canoe was split and another sank when being re-launched, requiring additional effort just to raise it.

  On the afternoon of March 5 the expedition again took to the river. The men were beginning to suffer from insect bites and stings they received while on land. Kermit was stung by a giant, inch and a half-long ant which Roosevelt said was like the sting of a small scorpion. The group was barely on the water one day when they again detected the roar of fast water ahead. They beached their canoes and after a reconnoiter of the river ahead once again made camp in preparation for a long, time consuming portage. “…the rapids continued for a long distance, with falls and steep pitches of broken water, and that the portage would take several days.”27 The next three days were spent in unpacking, hauling and repacking the canoes. After eleven days on the river and despite the expenditure of food, exhausting labor and time, the expedition only progressed a mere fifty-five kilometers north of their original starting point. Besides burning body fat and calories, exposure to wild animals and wild Indians and disease carrying insects, the potential for starvation never left their minds.

  Riding the river for short distances to the next set of rapids or falls, then portaging continued for days. The rough and ready Kermit, with the strength and exuberance of youth, worked alongside the camaradas in the water and on the heavy overland drags. His clothes became tattered rags and his body was scored with numerous blisters and the bites of stinging ants. The camaradas fared even worse while going barefoot or wearing only sandals. Two or three camaradas were so crippled from biting gnats they could hardly walk.28 One morning after camping at the foot of rapids, the men awoke to discover the river had risen during the night and swamped two of their seven canoes. The carelessness in their mooring was the cause and their loss was a disaster – they could ill afford any unnecessary delays. The only course of action was to establish a camp and prepare to construct new canoes. The preparation of a dugout canoe is a specialized and difficult task. Before beginning the labor of hollowing-out the center of a huge tree trunk with axe and adze, the appropriate tree must be found. Following that it must be cut down, trimmed and laboriously hauled to the camp even before the axe work begins. They worked day and night sometimes in the pouring rain and other times by candlelight. Roosevelt, Kermit and Lyra scoured the immediate forest for game to supplement their diminishing food supply. Kermit killed two monkeys, Lyra a curassow, Roosevelt bagged nothing.

  On March 14th their work was finally completed, and they took to the river covering close to sixteen kilometers. To attempt running minor rapids to make up lost time, they lashed bundles of burity-palm branches to the gunnels of the canoes for additional buoyancy which ran only inches above the water. The next day began with a short progress of six kilometers and then serious trouble befell the group. When men are exhausted and living on short rations in wretched conditions, both caution and judgment begin to fade.

  Death on the River

  Rounding a bend, the river widened into a series of dangerous rapids extending for about six-hundred yards with a small island splitting the river at the head end. Kermit was in the lead canoe, a small, tender craft with his dog and two camaradas, Joao and Simplicio. They were also carrying a week’s provisions along with some tools. Kermit beached the canoe above the rapids as others reconnoitered the river ahead on foot. Impulsively and foolishly, Kermit decided to paddle to the island to investigate a possible route on the other side. Deciding against either passage, Kermit and the camaradas turned about in the current and attempted to head up-stream while being turned sideways they became captive to a whirlpool of horrific flow. Although almost reaching shore by enormous effort, the canoe became swamped, and they were uncontrollably swept through the rapids into another whirlpool. The strength of the current flung the small craft back into midstream where the canoe capsized spilling the men and its cargo into the swirling water. Roosevelt would write later:

  “Poor Simplicio must have been pulled under at once and his life beaten out on the bowlders beneath the racing torrent. He never rose again, nor did we ever recover his body.”29

  Kermit managed to climb on top of the over turned canoe clutching his Winchester rifle when he again hit rough water. He was pitched into the current and continued to be swept through the rapids and pounded in the river’s fury.

  Having lost his rifle and having almost drowned, he was fortunate to have grasped an overhanging branch and pulled himself to shore. Joal, the other camarada with Kermit, and Kermit’s dog managed to swim ashore. The submerged canoe and rifle were never found but they did retrieve the provisions along with a paddle. In memory of the disaster at this spot on the river, the expedition erected a memorial sign: “In These Rapids Died Poor Simplicio”.30

  Shortly after leaving this tragic location, Kermit reconnoitered a few miles further down the river and once again spotted a set of rapids more treacherous than those that previously caused such havoc. A channel that bypassed the worst of the kilometer-long rapids was located. On the morning of the 16th, in blinding rain, the canoes were let down the channel on ropes the men walked from the river bank. While the men struggled with the canoes, Rondon and one of the expedition’s dogs, Lobo, began to explore the river ahead. While walking through the dense jungle, Rondon heard a strange howling noise that he mistook for the wailing of monkeys. Lobo ran ahead and when out of sight, Rondon heard the dog yelp with pain as the howling sound began coming closer. Lobo yelped once again and then there was silence convincing Rondon that the dog was dead, the victim of Indians. Rondon fired his rifle into the air to discourage any attack by Indians who probably had never come into contact with white men and then he quickly returned to the portage.

  Rondon and Kermit, in the company of two men returned to the site of the Indian contact and discovered Lobo’s body pierced with two arrows. Now the expedition was directly confronted with the reality of hostile Indians who probably had been lurking in the forest observing the small flotilla throughout their passage. This realization now imposed upon the group a heightened need for armed secu
rity. Although bearing firearms would be a great advantage to the expedition in any open, pitched battle, the forest Indians technique for hunting and in battle was to rely on the concealment of the jungle, attacking from stealth while silently employing poison-tipped arrows with deadly accuracy. The disadvantage of focusing on navigating the difficult river in unprotected canoes while on the open water and camping in the total darkness of the jungle at night exposed the expedition to the very type of warfare that the Indians excelled at. Portages would now have to be guarded with every man on alert.

  As the drama of the Indian attack was unfolding, the rest of the men were struggling to skid the canoes around the latest set of rapids. While lowering their new canoe into the swift water on pulleys and rope, one of the lines broke sending both the canoe and the irreplaceable tackle into the river. This new disaster compounded the numerous problems the expedition already faced. Besides the loss of the new canoe, now any future rough water they encountered requiring a portage would not be able to be bypassed without the critical block and tackle gear. Besides, they only had four canoes remaining; not enough to carry the men. The expedition, lasting eighteen days, was on the river and used over one third of their food supply. The group had travelled only 125 kilometers. Wasting additional days in cutting and building a new dugout was also out of the question. Their desperate decision was to lash the four remaining canoes in pairs and float them down the river while thirteen men walked the river bank alongside. With the overgrowth of jungle foliage bordering the river bank, this would be a difficult task indeed. Their hopes were to travel for a few days without encountering any dangerous rapids or falls, gaining enough distance to enable the delay of building yet additional canoes. Again, they were forced to abandon some of their remaining equipment. The torment of the incessant31 biting and stinging insects were also taking a serious toll on the scantily-clad camaradas. Roosevelt later wrote:

  “They wrapped their legs and feet in pieces of canvas or hide; and the feet of three of them became so swollen that they were crippled and could not walk any distance.”32

  Map the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition traveled exploring the River of Doubt.

  To relieve their suffering, the doctor administered medication daily. The next day was spent combining walking and portaging and occasionally risking a run through a set of dangerous, hair-raising rapids which fortunately, the group negotiated without mishap.

  At their next camp, after travelling almost seven kilometers, they came upon a small river entering the Duvida. The new body of water contained a small waterfall just before the junction and Rondon named the new flow after Kermit. The Rio Kermit was rich in fish. Besides feasting on their catch, the expedition’s hopes were raised when one of the camaradas claimed these fish never came up heavy rapids, thereby believing the trip ahead would be milder then that passed. He was mistaken; the worst rapids were yet to be encountered.

  Rondon, as a spit and polish military officer, was also keenly aware of the importance of the discipline of ceremony and daily routine for the morale of the troops especially when under stress. Although his men were clad in tatters, half starved and worked almost beyond endurance, he required the expedition to stand in military formation each morning as he officiously read the orders of the day. The discovery and naming of a new river was an event worthy of formal recognition. So the next morning, Rondon organized the men into ranks, read the orders of the day in front of a post he had erected bearing a board with “Rio Kermit” inscribed, commemorating the new stream. As part of his recitation, Rondon surprised Roosevelt when recognizing the Duvida as a great river, and by order of the Brazilian Government, he formally named their mysterious river of doubt, the Rio Roosevelt. Contrary to the Roosevelt’s disagreement with this honor, Rondon insisted and the men all cheered the event which raised everyone’s spirits. To this day, contemporary maps of Amazonia depict this lengthy river, still enshrouded in wilderness jungle as either the Rio Roosevelt or the Rio Teodoro.

  After spending hours with some of the group paddling half-loaded canoes down fairly gentle rapids as others marched along carrying the balance of their supplies, they established a campsite and decided to build new canoes once again. The continuous delays were becoming critical; always the specter of starvation haunted the men. In his diary for March 13, Cherrie recorded:

  “We went over provisions today. The men have sufficient for thirty-five and we have enough for about fifty days. It is estimated that we have about 600 kilometers to go. During the past fifteen days since starting we have averaged about 7 kilometers! (Due north we have only averaged about 2 ½ miles out of a possible 400!) At that rate we will be shy about 35 days food! There may be very serious times ahead of us.”33

  On March 19th the work began on two dugouts. Despite the insects being fought with fire, the camp site was rife with swarms of carregadores and foraging ants which continued taking a toll on the expedition’s meager supplies. Besides building the new craft, the three-day stay enabled the men to swim in the river while also catching the dreaded piranhas in the same water. During their three-weeks on the Rio Duvida, Roosevelt estimated the river’s elevation had dropped approximately 124 meters over a run of about 140 kilometers, which would account for the high incidence of fast water. Many of the rapids the expedition encountered would today be classified as dangerous whitewater for even modern canoes and rubber rafts managed by experts. While continuing in a generally northerly direction, the constantly looping river had consumed a disproportionate amount of time for distance covered, “The river had wound so that we had gone two miles for every one we made northward.”34

  Over the next few days the expedition alternated between walking the river bank while running the canoes empty, sometimes on ropes, sometimes empty with just paddlers, sometimes with a full portage. The weather alternated between incessant downpours, drenching everyone through, then miraculously sunshine appeared that steamed the water from their tattered clothes until the next downpour within an hour or two. They discovered abandoned Indian villages, and Cherrie shot the occasional bird for their collection. They dined twice a day drawing from their meager rations supplemented with palm-tops or rarely having the good fortune to shoot a monkey or catch a fish. The low caloric intake combined with the constant physical exertion in the harsh environment was reducing the men to walking skeletons.35

  Murder on the River

  After the many days of hard travel, at the end of March the expedition was departing the high plateau and entering a region of low mountain ranges as the river continued to fall. From passage through jungle covered land as the water stepped down in stages, it now began to cut through the hills in deep gorges. Their next challenge was a three-kilometer passage through a gorge with sheer rocky walls. The ground was too rough and the distance too great to consider a portage up the mountain and around this new obstacle; the only remaining possibility was to attempt to rope the canoes through the long defile. Against the opinions of both Rondon and Roosevelt, Kermit believed he could rope the empty canoes down the falls and through the gorge while he and a few of the deft-footed camaradas clung to the narrow shelves bordering the gorge. The daring work of handling the ropes and restraining the heavy canoes against the current below while climbing across the rocky sides and stepping through the numerous shrubs dotting the narrow ledge was both laborious and dangerous. Despite their best efforts, one of their six canoes was lost. As the rope-men negotiated the canoes down, the rest of the men cut a trail over the mountain and hauled the supplies up and down the steep, forest-clad slopes. In desperation to lighten their load, the men once again reduced their baggage.

  The next few days were a repeat of the harrowing experience in the gorge: running the canoes down the river empty while hauling the baggage on foot over a high, broken jungle trail. Roosevelt’s strength was giving out as he was able, only with difficulty to carry his rifle and cartridge bag while the men carried the remaining baggage. On this occasion, Rondon climbed a mountain borde
ring the river to possibly find a route suitable for hauling the baggage but his effort was to no avail; a struggle along the cliff face was the only alternative. Kermit exercised his rope skills with the assistance of Cherrie, Lyra and with a group of camaradas on the narrow cliff ledge. They were constantly wet with rotten shoes from their boat handling, their bodies were spotted with insect bites and festering wounds. Despite their best efforts, another canoe was lost.

  v

  As the last of the loads were being brought into their camp at the foot of the rapids, a shot rang out on the trail behind, shattering the jungle silence. Within a moment a group of the men came running into camp stating that Julio de Lima had just shot one of the Brazilian officers dead. As a whining complainer who shirked his work, Julio was reprimanded recently by the officer for stealing food. Roosevelt characterized him as: “… a fellow of powerful frame, was utterly worthless, being an inborn, lazy shirk with the heart of a ferocious cur in the body of a bullock.”36 When he saw his chance, the crazed Julio picked up a rifle and shot the man dead before retreating into the forest.

  Upon hearing of the killing, a shocked Roosevelt, Doctor Cajazeira and a couple of camaradas immediately began pursuing the murderer through the forest. Although armed with a rifle, when considering his poor eyesight, the ever-ready ex-President deferred to the doctor in leading the manhunt. They tracked the fleeing killer some distance after finding the rifle Julio dropped in his haste and then decided to let the jungle impose its justice on the criminal - if starvation didn’t take its toll, the wild savages might. The expedition was not in any condition to share its meager rations with a coldblooded killer while at the same time sparing men to guard him against the risk of additional killing. After scraping out a shallow grave at the murder site, the men placed the poor soldier’s body to rest and conducted a small ceremony over the grave. Roosevelt recorded “Then we left him forever, under the great trees beside the lonely river”.37 Three days later as the canoes continued downriver, Julio appeared on the riverbank pleading to surrender. Roosevelt, Rondon and the rest of the expedition passed him by ignoring his pleas. After consultation with Roosevelt at their next camp, Rondon decided to send two men back on foot to bring Julio in but they failed to find him. Whether the jungle consumed him or he fell to Indian arrows or found a tribe and became adopted was never determined.