THE ROOSEVELT-RONDON EXPEDITION 
and forwarded by Lieutenant Lyra, who 
had charge of the survey of the river. 
This is far more satisfactory. On it 
the drainage of the whole region between 
the upper Paraguay and the Madeira 
is represented according to the surveys 
of Colonel Rondon’s expedition of 1909; 
on it, above all, is the first authentic 
representation of the new river. Here it 
has the verisimilitude of nature, but it is 
unfortunately on too small a scale to 
show much more than a general outline. 
What the geographer would like is a map 
such as that published on the scale of 
sixteen miles to the inch, of an expedi- 
tion through similar country from the 
Xingti to the Tapajoz, by the German 
zoologist, Miss Snethlage, whom Colonel 
Roosevelt met in Belem. But this is 
almost an ideal case; and it would seem 
proper to expect the desired information 
rather from the Brazilian party of the 
expedition, whose aim was _ primarily 
geographical, than from the American 
party, whose aim was primarily zodlogi- 
cal. Doubtless a satisfactory map will 
be, or has been, published in Colonel 
Rondon’s official report, but if it is as 
inaccessible as are the surveys of his 
previous expeditions, the present mate- 
rial will long have to satisfy our wants.! 
In discussing Colonel Rondon’s previ- 
ous explorations, Colonel Roosevelt says 
that they “received no recognition by 
the geographical societies of Europe or 
the United States.” This is indeed 
true — although they did not escape the 
vigilance of the leading German geo- 
graphical periodical. Inaccessibility of 
the official reports, even to the special- 
1 The authentic map of the river has just come 
to hand, since the above was written. It accom- 
panies the London Geographical Journal for 
February, 1915. It is on the relatively large 
scale of 64 miles to the inch and is reduced from 
a manuscript map supplied by Colonel Roosevelt, 
which is based on the surveys made by Lieuten- 
ants J. S. Lyra and Pyrineos de Sousa under the 
direction of Colonel Rondon.— W. L.°G. J. 
131 
ist, is the main reason. One of the great 
merits of Colonel Roosevelt’s book lies 
in the fact that he has made us familiar 
with the highly important work of the 
Brazilian Telegraphic Commission. The 
only original map showing the results of 
these explorations, which diligent search 
has revealed, appeared in a Rio de Janeiro 
newspaper, although it seems very prob- 
able that the ultimate source goes back 
to some official report. This delinea- 
tion, which was reproduced in the Ger- 
man periodical referred to, is incorporated 
on the accompanying map for the region 
between the upper Paraguay and the 
upper Madeira. To this have been added 
the new river as represented on the map 
of the Brazilian Telegraphic Commission 
accompanying Colonel Roosevelt’s book 
and the various features earlier referred 
to, in an endeavor to present as correct 
a picture of the region as possible. Ref- 
erence to any standard map or atlas will 
show how greatly it differs. 
The difficulties which further beset 
the conscientious interpreter of this 
important journey are well illustrated 
by the question of name. As soon as it 
developed on the expedition that the 
new river was a major stream and not 
simply one of the headwaters of the 
Gy-Paranaé or the Juruena, it was 
formally christened “Rio Roosevelt” 
by Colonel Rondon on orders received 
from the Brazilian government before 
his departure. Subsequently — because 
of the difficulty of pronunciation for 
Brazilians, it is understood — Colonel 
Roosevelt’s Christian name was sub- 
stituted. On two of the maps accom- 
panying his book this name is given as 
“Rio Téodoro.” This is the Spanish 
form; in Portuguese the name would be 
Theodoro. Although it is rather pre- 
sumptuous to question the accuracy of 
the name used by an explorer to desig- 
nate the object of his discovery, the 
