CHAPTER I 



The African Expedition and Its Objects 



IT is a difficult matter to follow the path of Theodore Roosevelt. 

 Not that it is in any sense a crooked path. It is, on the contrary, 



remarkable for its undeviating straightness. But the hero of 

 our work has cut so wide a swath in his course through modern 

 history, has found interest in such a multitude of subjects, has taken 

 a prominent part in so many fields of human endeavor, that one stands 

 almost appalled before the varied 

 panorama of his career. 



It is a fact of striking signifi- 

 cance, yet one thoroughly character- 

 istic of the man, that, after filling for 

 years one of the highest places in the 

 civilized world, as ruler of the great- 

 est of modern nations, he should leap 

 at one plunge into the heart of un- 

 adulterated nature, the realm of 

 native savagery, and exchange his 

 gladiatorial struggle in the arena of 

 politics for as strenuous a one with the 

 savage denizens of the African wilds. 



While proposing here to deal 

 with the whole story of his life, we 



seem drawn at the start to a late episode in his life's story as it became 

 developed, that having to do with his career as a modern Nimrod, 

 a fearless hunter of fearless beasts. The figure of the hunter has ever 

 stood prominent in history. In fact, history almost begins with it, 

 'for the image of Nimrod, "a mighty hunter before the Lord," stands 

 out in clear outlines before our eyes on the misty border line of history. 

 And here, at history's end, so far as the present day is concerned, 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



