This slim volume is based on a series of interviews the author had with Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon in 1957 when the Civilizer of the Sertão was ninety-two years old. Rondon, though in his dotage, still had vivid recollections of his earlier days. His most vivid memories were of his expedition with Theodore Roosevelt in 1913-1914 and the death of his favorite hound, Cahi, in 1919.
The entire career of Rondon is sketched. However, since the work lacks reference notes, it is difficult to ascertain when the author is basing his narrative on the Rondon interviews or utilizing uncited sources such as Roosevelt’s Through the Brazilian Wilderness. Nevertheless, the work clearly illustrates the influence of Benjamin Constant on Rondon and the other cadets at the Military Academy in the 1880s and the close relationship between noted postitivists such as Euclides da Cunha, Lauro Müller, and Rondon, all of whom had a dynamic vision of Brazil’s future. Rondon’s dedication to opening up the interior and providing a national communications system by constructing roads and laying telegraph lines appear as part of an overall positivistic plan. Rondon’s positivism also included legalism. Consequently, he remained loyal to constitutional president Washington Luiz Perreira in 1930 and resigned rather than support the revolutionary regime of Getúlio Vargas. He did, however, consent to serve from 1934 to 1938 as the Brazilian representative on the commission seeking to settle the Leticia dispute between Colombia and Peru. Here his knowledge of the Amazon and his diplomatic skills proved once again invaluable in the cause of peace, as they had earlier in dealing with the Indians. All in all, this book is a short, concise, and sympathetic summary of one of Brazil’s greatest figures.
