I've turned down 3 prime chances to explore the dark continent, two of them were paid for! If the opportunity presents itself again I'll be a double fool for not pouncing on it forthwith. One of my heroes is Dr. Livingston of "Stanley I presume" fame. Between his writings, Hemingway's and Theodore Roosevelt's I've lived a thousand African adventures and through them vicariously tasted both the pith and the marrow of blood-earnest, life-or-death adventure. Not that I've lacked for my own mind you. It's just that these stories were the fuel that served as the questionable springboard that sent me flying into numerous tropical and western follies of my own concoction. Teddy R. was a top-notch explorer and a keen observer of flora and fauna and culture and custom...and was as handy with a pen as he was with his favorite gun - a Winchester repeating rifle. I find in Teddy a kindred spirit. Both of us have been on the trail of man-eating jaguars and we both have had our life-span shortened by a few years from tropical diseases (malaria & etc.) gained by following said trail of said man-eater. I have also experienced something that has disturbed my mental equipoise on various occasions when trying to relate my scientific socio/bio observations gleaned from years of being tossed around in the blender of third-world intrigue with other supposed intrepid and knowledgeable adventurers. In my varied travels to the hinterlands of central and south America in pursuit of creatures both living and dead (remember the grave robing?) I've noticed that the native hunters, woodsmen, ranchers, gauchos and would-be presumptive go-to authorities on the ways of the wild in any given territory are very often the most ignorant when it comes to the actual habits and behaviors and true knowledge of the beasts in their own backyards. Teddy observed this same thing. My heretofore well educated and well meaning collegues have been slow to ackowledge this ignorance in favor of the "sincerity over substance" argument. Well, chapter 3 (pg.55) of T. Roosevelt's
Through The Brazilian Wilderness puts my disturbed mental state at rest once again. Finally someone who understands why I refused to wait up all night for the for the ghost of the lion to appear.
These two ghost-like paintings are available for sale on eBay and
ETSY.
