CHAPTER I 
The African Expedition and Its Objects 
I T 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, 
(19) 
THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
