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Field Ethos
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By Caleb McClain
A shrill scream rang out through the Amazonian rainforest. Colonel Rondon knew these sounds well: calls of the native Cinta Larga peoples. The yells echoed through the dense underbrush ahead. The colonel gripped his gun, fearing that he was outnumbered. This simple hunting trip might be his last.
As he stood in horror, he heard the injured yelps of his own dog, pierced by the arrows of the Cinta Larga, the hunters following in pursuit. He fired a warning shot in the air. More yells responded. After 14 years of work in the most remote corners of Brazil, he knew that inaction was not an option. The colonel vanished into the bush and back to his camp, leaving the attacking party to trail his dying dog.
Just as the last shots of the American Civil War were ringing out, Cândido Rondon was born into tough times in western Brazil. By the age of two, both of his parents were dead, and he was passed between extended family members for his young life, surviving on whatever food they could catch or kill.
Into the Amazon
By the age of 16, Rondon had found his life’s calling: he would join the military. He attended officer’s school, graduating a second lieutenant, then became a teacher. His instructing days were cut short when the coup of 1889 erupted. Soon after, Rondon was ordered to lay telegraph lines throughout the unforgiving Amazonian basin. For five straight years, Rondon and his team carved their way across the western state of Mato Grosso, pacifying warring tribes and praying he would come home alive.
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt (left) and Col. Randon.
Colonel Roosevelt and the River of Doubt expedition.
After the lines were laid, Rondon was then tasked with building a 1,200-mile road from Rio de Janeiro back to Mato Grosso, a task that took another 11 years. During the construction of the road, Rondon found himself constructing more telegraphs to connect the continent while constantly playing peace agent between the tribes and the Brazilian government.
The average person would have considered this enough adventure by the time they hit their 40s, but not Rondon. Instead of returning to a quiet life with his wife and seven children, he continued mapping the vast expanses of Amazonia. It seems he preferred the jaguars, malaria, pumas, caimans, bullet ants, dysentery, mosquitoes, piranhas (one of whom made a meal of his big toe), hostile and even cannibalistic tribes, and sleepless nights of adventure to the mundane life of teaching and housework. It was on one of these expeditions that he discovered the headwaters of a peculiar river whose entire course was unknown. He named it O Rio da Dúvida—the River of Doubt.
A Rough Rider & the River of Doubt
After Theodore Roosevelt lost his bid for presidency under the Bull Moose Party, he was persuaded to do some exploration in South America, similar to his African trip of the prior decade. Roosevelt found this trip to be particularly exciting, as his son Kermit was already in Brazil building railroads. When given the option by Col. Rondon between an easier, well-charted river and this mysterious, unknown path, Roosevelt elected to accompany Rondon down the River of Doubt.
Of the 19 men who began the trip down the river, only 16 returned. Those who survived spent the entire 19 weeks exhausted, sick, and near starvation, as chronicled in Theodore Roosevelt’s “Through the Brazilian Wilderness” and Candice Miller’s “The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey.” It was on this voyage that Rondon found himself narrowly escaping the poisoned arrows and clubs of the Cinta Larga, his dog being sacrificed in his place. Roosevelt was not as lucky, contracting a vile infection in his leg, contracting malaria, and losing nearly 60 pounds. It was a trip he would never recover from.
After the expedition with Roosevelt, Rondon continued mapping and exploring throughout much of his life, only pausing when rebellions and revolutions popped up. Throughout his journeys, he promoted peace with all native peoples, even those who attacked him. Rondon was eventually promoted to Marshall, but also held other positions in the Brazilian government, including chief of the Brazilian Corps of Engineers, head of the Indian Protective Services, head of the Telegraphic Commission, and diplomat.
As Roosevelt himself once said, the man who chooses the strenuous life wins the ultimate triumph. Cândido Rondon received his triumph in gaining the heroic status of Lewis & Clark to Brazilians. At the age of 90, Rondon was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work protecting native tribes throughout the continent, although Albert Einstein recommended him for it years before. Despite the countless miles and near-death experiences of his perilous journeys, Rondon lived until the ripe old age of 92, with his name being forever remembered across his country.
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