APPENDIX B 361 



and heavy in meat. In the hot, moist climate fresh meat will not keep 

 and even salted meat has been known to spoil. For use on the Roose- 

 velt expedition I arranged a ration for five men for one day packed in 

 a tin box; the party which went down the Duvida made each ration do 

 for six men for a day and a half, and in addition gave over half the 

 bread or hardtack to the camaradas. By placing the day's allowance 

 of bread in this same box, it was lightened sufficiently to float if 

 dropped into water. There were seven variations in the arrangement 

 of food in these boxes and they were numbered from i to 7, so that a 

 different box could be used every day of the week. In addition to the 

 food, each box contained a cake of soap, a piece of cheese-cloth, two 

 boxes of matches, and a box of table salt. These tin boxes were lac- 

 quered to protect from rust and enclosed in wooden cases for trans- 

 portation. A number in large type was printed on each. No. I was 

 cased separately; Nos. 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7 were cased together. 

 For canoe travel the idea was to take these wooden cases off. I did 

 not have an opportunity personally to experience the management of 

 these food cases. We had sent them all ahead by pack-train for the 

 explorers of the Duvida River. The exploration of the Papagaio was 

 decided upon during the march over the plateau of Matto Grosso and 

 was accomplished with dependence upon native food only. 



The food cases described above were used on Colonel Roosevelt's 

 descent of the Rio da Duvida and also by the party who journeyed 

 down the Gy-Parana and Madeira Rivers. Leo Miller, the naturalist, 

 who was a member of the last-named party, arrived in Manaos, Brazil, 

 while I was there and, in answer to my question, told me that the food 

 served admirably and was good, but that the native cooks had a habit 

 of opening a number of cases at a time to satisfy their personal desire 

 for special delicacies. Bacon was the article most sought for. Speak- 

 ing critically, for a strenuous piece of work like the exploration of the 

 Duvida, the food was somewhat bulky. A ration arrangement such 

 as I used on my sledge trips North would have contained more nutri- 

 tious elements in a smaller space. We could have done without many 

 of the luxuries. But the exploration of the Duvida had not been con- 

 templated and had no place in the itinerary mapped out in New York. 

 The change of plan and the decision to explore the Duvida River came 

 about in Rio Janeiro, long after our rations had been made out and 

 shipped. 



