River of Doubt Essay

            Theodore Roosevelt went to South America for two things: 1. to see his son, Kermit and 2. He was invited to speak at a conference. When Roosevelt got there he was asked by the government to go on a trip with the famous Col. Rondon. While they were trekking to the headwaters of the river, many of their donkeys died or were too exhausted to keep going, so they were left behind, already losing some of their supplies. When they reached the headwaters the canoes they had bought were leaky and unstable. This is what mainly caused the canoe that Theodore’s son was in, to flip, killing a paddler and losing vital supplies.

Though Kermit’s canoe was not the only one, many of the canoes flipped and caused Roosevelt’s party to lose more supplies. This still did not force Roosevelt to quit. They lived off of monkey meat and Hearts of palm in the jungle for the rest of their trip. Though it seemed like it, Theodore’s group was not the only ones in the jungle. Vicious natives were always watching the party and even attacked Rondon when he was out hunting. Instead of fighting Rondon had learned to give them gift to keep them away.

After a large gash was opened up on his leg after a boulder fell on him, Theodore suffered a terrible fever and malaria, which he never recovered from. Though they made it to the end of the river, it was not the end for Roosevelt. He collected over 2500 specimens for the Brazilian government to study. So grateful were they that they named the river, The Roosevelt River. With his death in 1919, many suspect it was the reoccurring malaria and constant high fever that he contracted in the jungle.