^8 ROOSEVELT'S JOURNEY FROM UGANDA DOWN THE NILE 



At any rate Roosevelt and his followers were soon up and doing, 

 throwing off the soft blandishments of the Kampala type of civilization 

 and going on safari into the wilderness in search of something new 

 and strange. He was especially desirous of getting some specimens 

 of the white rhinoceros which he had sought for, as stated, in Sotik, 

 and in this effort it will suffice to say that he was here abundantly 

 successful. 



In this American invasion of Uganda there was one thing to be 

 avoided, the subtle assaults of the fevers and other enervating afflic- 

 tions to which the visitor to the tropics is exposed. Especially was it 

 needful to be on guard against one of these epidemics, that fatal sleep- 

 ing sickness which within a few years had laid twenty thousand of the 

 Uganda natives in the grave and was afoot for new victims who should 

 come within reach of the death-dealing tsetse fly. 



When Mr. Roosevelt set out for Africa at the close of his presi- 

 dential career many predictions were made that he would never return 

 alive. Some affirmed that the sleeping sickness would surely claim 

 him as a victim, others that he would fall before those nerve-racking 

 tropical fevers which few explorers had escaped and by which many 

 had been laid low. Still others of this weeping willow band of mourn- 

 ers were confident that some of the ravening beasts of Africa's clime, 

 the maned lion, the horned rhino, the trunked elephant, the mailed 

 crocodile, would with weight of paw, thrust of horn or snap of jaw 

 close the career of America's favorite son. 



These dismal forebodings were not without warrant. They were 

 based on the experience of many earlier travelers. But they little 

 disturbed the Roosevelt serenity and fortunately none of them were 

 realized. One rumor, indeed, came from Africa that he had been 

 killed, but like most such rumors it proved unbased. He passed 

 unscathed through the terrors of field and fever, and finally reached 

 the banks of the Nile in a condition of rugged health, such as few of his 

 predecessors had enjoyed. But this was largely due to the fact that 

 before his advent civilization had tamed that region of the tropics ahd 

 he was saved from the enervating and disheartening experiences of 

 earlier travelers, while every precaution to insure his safety was taken. 

 Only for the presence of such trained hunters as Selous and Cunning- 

 hame there might have been a different story to tell. 



