Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-05-28

washington, May 2b.-IrOClalmed TO-
night before great audience of scien-
lists from many cities as "the discov-
erer of river in South America one
thousand miles long" Col. Theodore
Roosevelt assured the National Geo
graphic society that he had put this
river on the map and challenged all
the photographers in the world to dis
prove his achievement.
The colonel had appeared before n
Washington audience on previous oc-
rasion as an explorer, but never as a
discoverer and he was cheered to the
echo as he declared that the cartog-
raphers and geographers of all ma
tons were wrong in their maps of the
wilds of Brazil, wherein he found and
traced the "Duvida River" or. as now
more Familiarity known, "the River of
Doubt"
Scientists, the colonel declared had at
tempted to dispute his discovery. Trac-
Ing on Il blackboard with a piece of
chalk, the river Of his finding, he de-
,lared emphatically;
RIVERS STAY PUT"
II say, We put it on the map and
mean what l say. No man has ever
yet shown this river. Scientists have
said we might have traversed the River
Tapajose, or the River Madeira, but the
fact is that some of our. party went
down one river and some went down
the other, while we went down a river
in between them which no map maker
ever saw. l can direct any man where
10 find this river, and rivers stay put 80
that the discovery we have made may
De verified"
The colonel described in detail the hard
ships of his trip into the Brazilian wilds
and particularly the hardships endured
m navigating the rapids of "the River Of
Doubt"
In the upper part of the river he said,
the rapids were so severe that it re-
CURED 10 days for the party to traverse
one degree from II As south to 1O:45 south.
During that hazardous trip they lost
nearly all their food and belongings.
HAD TO EAT MONKEYS.
I'VE were forced to eat monkeys to
exc out o',r rations," declared the COL
onel. Don't shudder, for l assure YOU
that after this experience, you might
leave me In the monkey house without
my making any mistake"
There were many Indians in the upper
reaches Of the Duvida, the colonel said
They were seemingly very timd and
in some cases, hostile" he added. Il
believe they We're hostile only because
they were timid, but 1t Is almost as un-
pleasant to be shot by a man because
he is afraid of YOU as If he killed you
because he dslikes you"
At the close of his statement, Colonel
Roosevelt offered to answer any quAs-
tions which any one In the audience
might ask After a pause, during which
no questions were propounded. he said:
No questions are asked me to my
face"
He presented a letter which he wrote to
DR. Muller after he left the jungle,
describing his trip.
The letter follows:
To His EXcellency,
The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Rio de Janeiro.
My dear General Lauro Muller:
l wish first to express my profound
acknowledgements to you personally and
to the other members of the Brazilian
government whose generous courtesy
alone rendered possible the Expedicae
SCleHtlIlCd ftOOSeNelt-1NOnOOn on, WISH
also to express my high admiration and
regard for Colonel Ropdon and his asso-
ciates who have been my colleagues in
this work of exploration.
In the third place l wish to point out
that what we have just done was rem
dered possible only by the hard and per-
ilous labor of the Brazilian telegraphic
commission in the UNEMPLOYED western
wilderness Of Matte Crosse during the
last seven years. We have merely put
the cap on the pyramid of which they
had previously laid deep and broad the
foundations.
We have had a hard and somewhat
dangerous but very successful trip. No
less than six weeks We're spent in slowly
and with peril and exhausting labor
forcing our way down there what seemed
a literally endless succession of rapids
and cataracts. For As days we saw no
human being.
In passing these rapids We lost five of
the seven canoes with which we started
and had to build other. On oYf our best
men lost his life in the rapids Under
the strain one Of the men went completely
bad, shirked all his work, stole his COM
1t F@I -