148 JUNGLE PEACE 



The jungles of South America were no nov- 

 elty to Colonel Roosevelt, but to be able to 

 traverse them over smooth, easy trails, in a com- 

 fortable temperature and with no annoyance 

 of flies or mosquitoes, was an experience which 

 none of us had enjoyed before. To Mrs. 

 Roosevelt it was all new — the huge, buttressed 

 trunks, the maze of lianas in tangles, loops and 

 spirals, the sudden burst of pink or lavender 

 blossoms in a sunlit spot, and the piercingly 

 sweet, liquid notes of the goldbird, " like the 

 bird of Siegfried," as she aptly said. The 

 coolie workmen in their Eastern garb, the 

 Akawai Indian hunters and their tattooed 

 squaws along the trail, all aroused that enthu- 

 siasm which a second meeting can never quite 

 elicit. 



Most memorable to me were the long walks 

 which Colonel Roosevelt and I took on the 

 Kaburi Trail, that narrow path which is the 

 only entrance by land to all the great hinter- 

 land lying between the Essequibo and Maza- 

 runi Rivers. Majestically the massive trees rose 

 on either side, so that while our contracted aisle 

 was as lofty as the nave of a cathedral, yet it 

 was densely shaded by the interlocking foliage 



