The Washington herald., 1914-05-27

realize that he represents but q small
lpGrt Of the success. and that the success
lcould not have come without the loyal
land devoted work Of the mep with him
and under him. and too often they gel
no mention. no credit at all for the worl
that ID Jointly theirs and his.
Another thing ] want to, point out;
and wish had a map more Id the nature
OF circus poster. 80 that you could ZEE
exactly what am pointing out. These
are Al very pretty colors, but they con-
fuse the points that I want to make.
Here is the Amazon River. It waa
tdescended and discovered for the frs,
time nearly four centuries ago by the
early Spanish explorers and conquista.
tdores. whose feats were 20 phenomenal
that they make all the work OF all Of US
who have done anything ON that river
today seem child's play in comparison.
I say that meaning It literally.
Il Will take this otherwise perfectly
useless map to show you the geographical
location. Here IL where the Amazon
runs, from the Andes to the Atlantic.
The people who went up and down the
Amason speedily discovered the mouths
Of number Of rivers. One, two, and
| three centuries elapsed before they dis
covered anything about those rivers ex-
cept the mouths, and in the case of the
river Of which am going to speak, what
they did say about the mouth, was en-
tirely wrong.
Plans Changed in Brasil.
Il did not 90 down to South America
with any intention of making such an
exploration as this. When I go on on
trip do not Ike to make pictures for
myself Of what I am going to do. be-
cause do not know: but I had sup
posed that our trip would chiefly be .
sociological trip. and went primarily for
the American Museum Of Natural His
tory with that end In view. When I got
to Rio Janeiro, Mr.. Lauro Mueller, who
visited US last year. and who 10 the
minister of foreign affairs of Brazil, told
me that Of course, they would help me
to do what I wished. which was to 20
up the Papagaio and then down into the
Amazon, but that he thought he had
something which would appeal to me
much more: that the telegraphic COM
mission which had been working in the
Western portion Of Brasil-that is,
working about around there Indicating
on the map. had found that the best
existing maps-that Ii, the maps furnish
ed me when I went down as the best
modern maps, the maps drawn by Fell
lows, of the Royal Geographical Society,
were equally striking examples of the
fact that those maps were totally wrong;
that the whole region would have to be
remapped after the discoveries of the
teiegraphic commission, and that they had
found the sources of two rivers running
north. which went they did not know
where. One of those rivers, the smaller,
was called the Pineapple.
The other and larger one was called
the Duvida, the River Of Doubt, because
they did not know where II went out,
and he told me that the head Of the tele-
graphic commission, Col. Rondon. who
had for twenty-five years been engaged
in the work Of exploring that wild west
ern wilderness Of Brazil. would, IL I de-
sired, accompany me down that river
and see where 1t came out; and he said:
Now, we will be delighted to have you
do 1t. but, Of course, you must under
stand We cannot tell you anything OF
what will happen, and there may be
some surprises not necessarily pleasant
said: well, by George. that is Just |
what I would like to do, would be to |
make the try and see what would happen |
down the river |
Brasilian Commission Landed.
f'And now here want, with all the |
emphasis possible-and I wish that the |
Brazilian Ambassador were here to re-
port to his government what 1 say-I |
want with all the emphasis possible to |
attest that everything that we did this |
year was sequel to and was conditioned |
upon what the telegraphic commission of |
Brazil. under Col. Rondon and his asso-
ciates had done during the preceding |
seven years. We would not have known |
Of the existence of the headwaters of |
this river. We would not have crossed
he highland wilderness at all IL il had
not been for the work of that commits
'ion. All that We did was to put the cap
IN the pyramid Of which they laid deep
y wish that this body would pay some
would give some recogni-
ion, to the really remarkable work that
las been done by Col. Rondon and his
associates Of the Brazilian Taegraphic
during the last seven years;
work which, from the geographic stand
,oint, and from the standpoint Of the
development Of the natural resources of
he nation, is as noteworthy as anything
hat has been accomplished during the
anne length Of time anywhere In the
world.
They have had not too much recog-
ition in their own country. A prophet
) not without honor, you know, save In
is own country. They have had prac-
ically no recognition abroad. Il their
york had been followed even sketchily. it |
,ould have been impossible to have the
ind of map which represents the best
modern type Of map and is So full Of
aults., For instance, this large map here
a map by German photographers In
'raziL That is. believe. Mr.. Grosve-
or. the best modern map, is it not?'
Mr.. Grosvenor: Yes, 1t is" u
Col Roosevelt: That is the most au-
nentic modern map, and as say, is by
ernan photographers acting in Brazil.
his map that / went down with, and
-hich I hold in my hand, was by the
est English cartographers, probably not
ute SO good. 1t is stated on this map
lat 1t has undergone a thorough revi-
on to bring II UP to date. / will show :
ou in a minute what that revision has :
one. 1t purports to give with entire ,
.rtainty and accuracy the conditions Of ,
geographic data there in Western Brazil,
! the part into which I went. ,
"As soon as I got out from Manaos I !
INT to Mr.. Lauro Mueller a telegram :
what we had done. This tele- \
ram I have here. and I shall ask to /
ave II incorporated in the article which :
ppears in the magazine. but I will not
DIV read 1t to you, because I will re- !
eat in the course Of what I am about v
tell You more at length what I said h
this telegram. Now you cannot see n
lat map well / shall have to ask you, 9
ierefore, to accept Mr.. Grosvenor's h
atement that on this blackboard here v
am telling you with substantial accu- [
ICY just what that map purports to v
loW