While at Minnehaha Creek I received the information that Colonel Theodore Roosevelt was shortly to embark on a voyage to South America; and also, much to my pleasant surprise, that I had been selected as a member of his expedition. The time remaining at our disposal was very limited, so we rather reluctantly gave up our intended visit to Kaieteur Falls and Mount Roraima, and returned to Wismar for our last work in British Guiana. A strip of land several miles wide on either side of the railroad connecting Rockstone and Wismar, is owned by Sproston’s, and the greater part of it has been cleared of forest. Instead of the dense growth of tall trees there are now impenetrable thickets of high slender sprouts and bushes. These jungles harbor almost every bird and animal found in the region, and while it is impossible to enter them for any great distance, we had not the slightest difficulty in making large and varied collections along the borders. One evening the superintendent of the line was returning from a tour of inspection, and as the motor-car in which he was riding slowly rounded a curve, a jaguar suddenly appeared on one side of the track; he promptly killed it with a shotgun as it was only a few yards distant. We returned to Georgetown, from which place Mr. Igleseder, who had been my assistant, started for New York, while I sailed for Barbados, where I planned to await the arrival of Colonel Roosevelt and join him on his expedition into the wilderness of Brazil. CHAPTER XIII FIRST WEEKS WITH THE ROOSEVELT SOUTH AMERICAN EXPEDITION The S. S. _Van Dyck_ of the Lamport and Holt Line, with Colonel Roosevelt and his party on board, arrived at Barbados on the morning of October 10, and late that afternoon pointed her nose southward toward Bahia. The plans of the expedition, with which I was immediately made acquainted, called for a rather short and not too difficult trip up the Paraguay River and down the Tapajos, having for its prime object the study of the fauna and collection of zoological specimens in the region traversed; but all this was changed within a very few days as we shall subsequently learn. Besides Colonel Roosevelt, the expedition consisted of Geo. K. Cherrie, Anthony Fiala, Jacob Sigg, Father Zahm, and myself. Bahia was reached on the 18th; Kermit Roosevelt joined the expedition at this place. The _Van Dyck_ remained at anchor the entire day, thus allowing sufficient time for a casual inspection of the city. Two days after, we arrived in Rio de Janeiro. The paucity of the English language does not permit of an adequate description of the natural beauties of the harbor and the city. All steamers entering the bay must sail through the narrow passage between the famous _Pão de Azucar_ and the mainland on the opposite side. The great loaf-shaped rock rises to a height of twelve hundred feet above the water; if one craves excitement, it is possible to ascend to the top in a small car travelling on steel cables.