24. Roosevelt nearly died on the expedition which resulted in the deaths of three men
One Brazilian porter died on the expedition, drowned in rapids encountered. Another was murdered by a porter who was then stranded in the jungle, never to be seen again. All suffered from hunger, and all except Rondon suffered further from malaria and other tropical illnesses. Roosevelt suffered a deep cut on a leg which quickly became infected, and likely would have died had the party not stumbled upon a party of men in the jungle to tap rubber trees, employed by rubber companies which harvested the substance to manufacture tires, newly in demand by the automobile industry.
Roosevelt was severely weakened by his infection and the effects of malaria, and when the group reached Manaus in Brazil he was finally given medical care. He recuperated slowly, and by the time he returned to the United States three weeks later, he was still weak and frail. He could speak only for short periods of time, and the booming voice and vigorous delivery had been reduced to a whisper. He nonetheless arranged several speaking engagements through the National Geographic Society to defend his claimed discoveries when they were challenged by critics who did not believe the expedition had found the river. A subsequent expedition proved that they had.
