154 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



August. For the last four months they lived exclusively 

 on the game they killed, on fruits, and on wild honey. 

 Their equipage was what the men could carry on their 

 backs. By the time the party reached the Madeira they 

 were worn out by fatigue, exposure, and semi-starvation, 

 and their enfeebled bodies were racked by fever. 



The work of exploration accomplished by Colonel 

 Rondon and his associates during these years was as re- 

 markable as, and in its results even more important than, 

 any similar work undertaken elsewhere on the globe at or 

 about the same time. Its value was recognized in Brazil. 

 It received no recognition by the geographical societies of 

 Europe or the United States. 



The work done by the original explorers of such a wil- 

 derness necessitates the undergoing of untold hardship and 

 danger. Their successors, even their immediate successors, 

 have a relatively easy time. Soon the road becomes so 

 well beaten that it can be traversed without hardship by 

 any man who does not venture from it — although if he 

 goes off into the wilderness for even a day, hunting or 

 collecting, he will have a slight taste of what his predeces- 

 sors endured. The wilderness explored by Colonel Ron- 

 don is not yet wholly subdued, and still holds menace to 

 human life. At Caceres he received notice of the death 

 of one of his gallant subordinates, Captain Cardozo. He 

 died from beriberi, far out in the wilderness along our 

 proposed line of march. Colonel Rondon also received 

 news that a boat ascending the Gy-Parana, to carry pro- 

 visions to meet those of our party who were to descend 

 that stream, had been upset, the provisions lost, and three 

 men drowned. The risk and hardship are such that the 



