Across Unknown South America

CHAPTER XXI

Naturally, over the expanse of water the sunrise was wonderful. The sky was well covered by feathery radiations from the north-east, which were intersected by striations shooting skyward from east to west and forming a charming design. The radiations from the north-east reached right across the sky as far as the horizon to the south-west. What astonished me most in Matto Grosso was the characteristic immobility of the clouds. In the day-time they remained sometimes for hours with hardly any changes or movement. As soon as the sun appeared, rendering the lower sky of a golden yellow and of vivid Indian red above, the northern part of the lagoon was enveloped in mist, which rose in angular blocks, vertical on the south side, slanting at a sharp angle on the north. These pointed peaks of mist remained immobile—as if they had been solid—until the sun was well up in the sky.

I went once more to gaze at the glorious panorama. In the morning light new and important details were revealed, such as a strange series of dykes of a prismatic shape, of which I could count as many as seven. Great transverse depressions or grooves—from S.S.E. to N.N.W., with a dip S.S.E.—could in that light be now plainly detected, and this time two great square castles of rock—instead of one—were disclosed upon the third range of undulations.

The high ridge to the south-west displayed a subsidence on a large scale in its central portion, where bare vertical red walls had been left standing on each side.

Then there were other curious concave depressions or gateways formed in the great table-land—which had for its marked characteristic concave curves on all its slopes.

On leaving camp—nearly at noon, after a serious quarrel and fight among my men, which left me worried to death by the petty nonsense and incessant grumbling of my followers—we journeyed at an elevation of 2,300 ft., finding shortly after an almost circular cuvette of deep grey cinders, 100 ft. deep (elevation at the bottom 2,200 ft.).

Twelve kilometres farther on we came upon another great depression extending from east to west, with an enormous belt of grassy land. There was the usual cluster of trees and palms in the centre, but larger than usual. To the south were campos—lovely prairies—with sparse and stunted trees—chiefly Goma arabica or acacias.

The elevation of the upper edge of the cuvette was 2,500 ft., that of the bottom 2,450 ft. We continued our journey on the top of the plateau, with slight undulations varying in height from 50 to 70 ft. Snuff-coloured soil and red sand were invariably noticeable on the higher points, and grey ashes in the lower points, where erosion had caused depressions.

Then, farther on, the plateau, with an elevation of 2,450 ft., was absolutely flat for several kilometres, and showed sparse vegetation and miserable-looking anæmic trees—the thin soil over solid rock affording them inadequate nourishment.

Eighteen kilometres from our last camp we came upon another oval basin (elev. 2,400 ft. above the sea level), extending longitudinally from N.N.E. to S.S.W. On its huge deposits of cinders grew deliciously green, fresh-looking, healthy grass, and a thick clump of burity palms, and birero trees of immense height and thick foliage. Those beautiful trees were called by the people of Goyaz "cutibá" and "pintahyba." They were marvellous in their wonderful alignment among the surrounding circle of gorgeous palms. The latter were in their turn screened in their lower part by a belt of low scrub—so that upon looking at that oasis one could hardly realize that it had not been geometrically laid out by the hands of a skilful gardener.

On the outer rim of the cuvette—away from the moisture—hundreds, in fact, thousands of cones, cylinders and domes, from 4 to 6 ft. high, the work of ants, could be seen, all constructed of bluish grey ashes.

We had here a wonderful example, quite sufficient to persuade the most sceptical, of the influence of agglomerations of trees in the formation of clouds. The sky was perfectly clear everywhere except directly above the extensive cluster of trees in the large cuvette. Quite low down—only a hundred feet or so above the top of the trees—there hung a heavy white cloud. It was a windless day. The cloud ended on all sides exactly where the trees ended, as sharply as if it had been cut with a knife. It looked exactly like a rectangular canopy over the luxuriant vegetation. This appearance was intensified by undulations in the lower part of the cloud, like festoons.

In proceeding across the immense circular cuvette I found that the central line of thick vegetation formed an angle. A streamlet of delicious crystal-like water emerged from among the trees. On its bank lay the skeletons of three mules, suggesting a tragedy.

On leaving the great cuvette we rose again to the top of the plateau, 2,550 ft. above sea level. On descending from a large dome to the west over red volcanic sand and red earth, half consolidated into rock easily friable under slight pressure, we were once more travelling across immense campos in a depression of fine cinders and earth, extending from north to south, at an elevation of 2,400 ft. We further traversed two other less important depressions, the deepest being at an elevation of 2,350 ft.

The jutting headlands of the plateau on which we had travelled were all most precipitous—nearly vertical—and of solid dark red volcanic rock.

A magnificent view next confronted us to the south. A huge black square block with a crater was before us, and there appeared what seemed to me to be the remaining sections of a huge volcanic vent and several smaller funnels. The lower lip of the crater formed a terrace. Then another wider crater could be perceived in a circular hollow of the spur of the plateau on which we had travelled, and which stretched out into the underlying plain. That spur extended from north-east to south-west, and in it two circular hollows of great size could be noticed, the sides of which were deeply fluted.

During the entire march that day we had seen quantities of violet-coloured deposits made up of tiny crystals, carbonized and pulverized rock and ferruginous dust.

Central Cluster of Trees and Palms in a Cuvette (Matto Grosso).

A Giant Wave of Lava.

On descending from the summit of the plateau, by a very steep slope, we saw many shrubs of sapatinho, a medicinal plant of the genus euphorbiaceæ (Euphorbia), growing in the interstices of red igneous rock, and among quantities of débris of marble, crystals, and eruptive pebbles.

During the night we had a magnificent lunar display. There was a good deal of moisture in the air, and mist. First of all a gorgeous lunar halo was observed, which later vanished to leave room for a most extraordinary geometrical design upon the partly moon-illuminated clouds and masses of mist. A most perfect luminous equilateral triangle appeared, with its apex downwards to the west and the half-moon in the central point of the base-line of the triangle above. On either side of the apex of the triangle faint concentric circles blended away into the sky near the horizon. Later in the night that curious effect disappeared and a multiple lunar rainbow of amazing beauty and perfection was to be admired.

In ecstasy at the beautiful sight, and in a moment of forgetfulness, I drew the attention of my men to the wonderful spectacle.

"That's the moon!" they answered, with a snarl. Talking among themselves, they contemptuously added: "He has never seen the moon before!" and they went on with the never-changing, blood-curdling tales of murders which filled them nightly with delight.

The streamlet flowing south, on the bank of which we camped, took its name of Sapatinho from the many sapatinho trees which were in the neighbourhood. It was a curious watercourse, which disappeared into a tunnel in the rock, to reappear only farther off out of a hole in a red lava-flow.

We had marched until late into the night, and it was not until we arrived and made camp that I noticed that Filippe the negro was missing. Several hours elapsed, and as he had not turned up I feared that something had happened to him. Had he been one of the other men I should have thought it a case of desertion; but Filippe was a good fellow, and I had from the beginning felt that he and Alcides would be the two faithful men on that expedition. I went back alone a mile or two in the moonlight to try and find him, but with no success.

At sunrise I ordered two men to go in search of him. The fellows—who had no mercy whatever even for one another—were loth to go back to look for their companion and his mount. When they eventually started they took a pick each to dig his grave in case they found him dead. Fortunately they had only been gone from camp a few minutes when I perceived Filippe riding down the steep incline.

The minimum temperature was only 55° Fahr. during the night, but it was so damp that my men felt the cold intensely, especially as there were gusts of a sharp breeze from the north-east. Moreover, in the deep hollow with thick grass in which we camped (elev. 2,200 ft. above the sea level) we suffered absolute torture from the swarms of carrapatos of all sizes, mosquitoes, and flies. The air and earth were thick with them. The water was dirty and almost undrinkable, as it passed through a lot of decomposing vegetation.

I was glad when Filippe reappeared and we were able to leave that terrible spot. Great undulations were now met with, 300 ft. and more in height.

Only 1½ kil. farther on we came to the Presidente stream, flowing south (elev. 2,100 ft.) over a bed of ashes, while its banks were formed of thick deposits of finely powdered yellow volcanic sand and dust.

We went over a huge dome covered with a stratum of brown sand, exposing on its western side a large wall of igneous rock with much-fissured strata dipping to the north-west. Immense isolated rocks showed vertical strata, demonstrating plainly that they had been considerably disturbed at some epoch or other.

We were on the bank of another stream (elev. 1,950 ft.) flowing south—the Capim Branco. We were then in another great and deep basin extending from north-west to south-east, in the north-western part of which could be seen on the summit of the rounded hill-tops and spurs an overlapping of rock, evidently produced when in a molten condition. In the south-western part of the slope encircling this great valley there stood another great barrier, formed also by a flow of molten rock curling over itself, as it were, and above this stood angular and pointed shoots of molten stuff of a subsequent origin. Large slabs of the latter could be separated easily from the underlying flow.

From the summit of that rocky prominence was obtained a lovely panorama of a great plateau, a portion of which had been eroded into a wall (E.N.E.) with three buttresses: another portion was gradually assuming a similar shape. The plateau had a great spur projecting westward. A crater had formed with a broken-up side to the west, leaving the conical-shaped remains of its fragmentary mouth. The plateau ended after describing a sweeping curve—almost a semicircle.

In the centre of the immense basin before us were successions of high undulations—like great waves—extending southward in parallel lines (east to west). From the point of vantage on which I stood I could count as many as eight of those huge lines of waves. Evidently at some remote period—it would be difficult to say how many thousands of years ago—that was a gigantic mass of molten stuff in commotion. In many places it was apparent that the great waves of molten rock had flowed over and partly overlapped the lower ones. In its higher north-easterly point the basin was wooded.

The great basin extended southward. In that direction all the lower ridges with their arched backs showed a depression or dip. On the S.S.W. two more great domes of wonderfully perfect curves were to be observed, and on the south-west stood an isolated gigantic quadrangular mountain of solid rock, with the usual buttresses in the lower portion typical of that region.

To the south-east a lovely square-shaped plateau of marvellously graceful lines stood prominent in the centre of the basin. In the same direction, only a few hundred yards off, was a most peculiar angular rock, which looked exactly like the magnified crest of an immense wave. That was just what it had been formerly—the wave, of course, of a gigantic molten mass of rock, set in violent motion by an immeasurable force. It was the terminal point of the great succession of rocky waves which we had skirted to the north in order to arrive at that point, and which extended from the great semicircle we had passed the previous day.

Strange Rock-Carvings of Matto Grosso.

At the terminal point of those rocky waves—or wherever the rock was exposed—it was evident that all those undulations had received a similar movement and had formed the great backbone range of rock, fully exposed in the last undulation. I had observed the continuation of this great rock crest the previous day in the basin previous to reaching the Capim Branco valley. There it crossed the spur on which I was—"Observation Spur," I shall call it for purposes of identification—almost at right angles. It seemed as if two forces had been acting simultaneously but in different directions, and at various points had come into conflict and eventually had overrun each other.

The last great rocky crest at Capim Branco, when seen in profile, looked like a huge monolith with a slight inclination to the south-east. The formation of the rock itself showed a frothy appearance, such as is common with any liquefied matter while in a state of ebullition.

It is quite possible, too, that the great wave of molten matter travelling from north-east to south-west, upon encountering some obstacle, had its run interrupted and had cooled down, while the upper portion of it, from the impetus received, curled over the summit of the arrested solidified rock below.

In fact, there was plenty of evidence to show that while the lower stratum cooled down other sheets of lava flowed above it, forming many successive layers. In the eastern part, where they were at an angle of 40°, these had cracked considerably in cooling. The central part of the great wave was entirely made up of vertically fissured strata. The lower half of the mass of rock showed markedly that it was an anterior wave to the upper.

There was a wide gap formed by the volcanic crack between this and the continuation of the undulations to the south-west, which got lower and lower. Perhaps before the crack occurred that hill was like the others on the east and west of it, padded with red earth. It must have become barren by the great shock which caused the surface of the earth to divide, and which no doubt shook the surface deposits down. In examining its north-eastern neighbour it could be seen that it actually tumbled over when the subsidence occurred, leaving a gap a few hundred metres wide.

A short distance beyond, on the S.S.E., was an interesting table-land sloping to the north-east, on the north side of which could be observed yet one more beautiful semicircular extinct crater. The rim, or lip of lava of this crater, had fissured in such a peculiar way as to give the appearance of a row of rectangular windows. The sections of the crater which remained standing showed two conical buttresses above massive cylindrical bases. From the crater started a huge, deep crack, 30 to 50 ft. deep and 20 to 100 ft. wide, which farther down became the actual bed of the stream. On both sides of this crack was a deep deposit of red earth and sand, the stratum below this being a solid mass of lava. The crater on the north-east side of the mountain had an inclination to the north, but was quite vertical on the south side.

Beautiful crystals were to be found in abundance on this mound, as well as great quantities of marble chips and crystallized rock in various forms.

On the side of this strange mound of rock I found some curious shallow caves, formed by great fissures in the rock. The vertical outer walls of these caves were painted white with lime dissolved in water. There were some puzzling carvings, which interested me greatly. I could not quite make up my mind at first whether those carvings had been made by Indians or whether they were the work of escaped negro slaves who had found shelter in those distant caves. In character they appeared to me Indian. Negroes, as a rule, are not much given to rock-carving in order to record thoughts or events. Moreover, those primitive carvings showed strong characteristics of hunting people, such as the Indians were. There were conventional attempts at designing human figures—both male and female—by mere lines such as a child would draw: one round dot for the head and one line each for the body, arms, and legs. Curiously enough—and this persuaded me that the drawings had been done by Indians—none of the figures possessed more than three fingers or toes to any extremity. As we have seen, the Indians cannot count beyond three—unlike members of most African tribes, who can all count at least up to five. This, nevertheless, did not apply to representations of footmarks, both human and animal—which were reproduced with admirable fidelity, I think because the actual footprints on the rock itself had been used as a guide before the carving had been made. I saw the representation of a human footmark, the left, with five toes, and the shape of the foot correctly drawn. Evidently the artist or a friend had stood on his right foot while applying the left to the side of the rock. When they attempted to draw a human foot on a scale smaller than nature, they limited themselves to carving two lines at a wide angle, to form the heel, and five dots to represent the toes.

The most wonderful of those rock carvings were the footprints of the jaguar (onça), reproduced with such perfection that it seemed almost as if they had been left there by the animal itself. Not so happy were the representations of human heads—one evidently of an Indian chief, with an aureole of feathers, showing a painfully distorted vision on the part of the artist. The eyes were formed by two circles in poor alignment, the nose by a vertical line, and the mouth, not under but by the side of the nose, represented by two concentric curves.

A figure in a sitting posture was interesting enough—like a T upside down, with a globe for a head and a cross-bar for arms. The hands had three fingers each, but there were only two toes to each foot.

It was interesting to note how the sculptors of those images caught, in a rudimentary way, the character of the subjects represented. This was chiefly remarkable in the footprints of birds and other animals, such as deer. They seemed particularly fond of representing deer-horns—sometimes with double lines at an angle. That was possibly to commemorate hunting expeditions. A frequent subject of decoration was a crude representation of the female organ; and one a magnified resemblance, angularly drawn, of an Indian male organ garbed in its typical decoration.

Weird Lunar Effect witnessed by Author.

The face of the rock was absolutely covered with drawings, many being mere reproductions of the same design. Some were so rudimentary that they were absolutely impossible to identify. One fact was certain, that those carvings had been made by men who were trackers by nature and who observed chiefly what they noticed on the ground, instead of around and above them. Thus, there were no representations whatever of foliage or trees, no attempts at reproducing birds, or the sun, the moon, the stars.

The most interesting of all, from an ethnological point of view, were the geometrical designs. They closely resembled the incised lines and punch-marks of the Australian aborigines, and the patterns common in Polynesia. Concentric circles—of more or less perfection—were common, some with a central cross of three and four parallel lines. Coils seemed beyond the drawing powers of Indian artists. Ovals, triangles, squares, the Egyptian cross (T-shaped), series of detached circles (these generally enclosed within a triangle, quadrangle or lozenge) were frequent. Even more frequent were the parallel incised lines, generally used as subsidiary filling or shading of other patterns, such as concentric circles, or sections of triangles or squares.

It may be noted that a certain intelligence was displayed by the artist in dividing circles fairly accurately into four and eight sections, the diameters intersecting pretty well in the centre of the circles. One pattern which seemed to take their fancy was that of an oval or a circle with a number of dots inside.

In examining the cave closely, inside and outside, I also found upon the wall, which was simply covered with those images, some curious marks resembling the letters H P, A P, and W , which seemed of a more recent date—perhaps left there by some missionary Father or native explorer, or by some escaped slave.

Just below the point where the stream Capim Branco entered the S. Lourenço River (elev. 1,800 ft. above the sea level), there was a most beautiful waterfall—the Salto Floriano Peixoto. Two minor falls, some 30 ft. high (Salto Benjamin) were also to be seen under arches of luxuriant vegetation, just above the point of junction of the two streams.

The roaring and foaming volume of water of the greater fall rolled over a vertical volcanic rock, about 60 ft. high and 60 ft. wide, with a small terrace half way up its face. The bed of the river—below the fall—was, like all the torrents of that region, of strangely shaped lava blocks. With the dense foliage, the innumerable caité, a medicinal plant with huge leaves, the festooned liane and creepers—all most verdant in the sombre green light filtering through the foliage and the moisture of the abundant spray from the fall—it was indeed a magnificent sight. In order to see it, however, one had to suffer a great deal, because in forcing one's way through the dense vegetation one got literally covered with carrapatos and carrapatinhos.

Above the falls, for some hundreds of yards, there were terrific rapids in the river, which flowed over a steep bed of yellow lava in terraces, over steps and over a fourth minor fall some distance off.

DISTANCES FROM THE ARAGUAYA TO CAPIM BRANCO

CHAPTER XXII

A Giant Quadrangular Block of Rock.

Rock-Carvings in Matto Grosso.

My men mutinied on hearing of my plan, which I had kept concealed from them. They acted in a most abject manner. They tried to compel me to return the way we had come instead of going forward. As I flatly refused, they claimed their pay and wished to leave me there and then. Without an instant's hesitation they were handed their pay up to date and told they could go. The men had not quite realized that they would have to walk back some 858 kil. to Goyaz, without food and without animals. Alcides and Filippe the negro had remained faithful, and on that occasion stood by my side. Unfortunately, Alcides, who had a most violent temper, quarrelled with Filippe over some paltry matter and drove him over to the inimical camp.

So that there I was—with only one man left. I am not much given to losing heart over anything. Alcides showed a strong heart on that occasion. He and I proceeded for three days to rearrange the baggage and mend the saddles, etc., in order that we two alone might take along the entire caravan of animals. I did not at all look forward to the extra work of packing all the animals twice a day, and twice a day unpacking them. The loads weighed about fifty pounds each, and there were some thirty of them. Then we should have to hunt for the animals in the morning—a job which meant that one had to ride sometimes for miles to track them and bring them all back to camp. This prospect, on top of the work I had already in hand of writing, taking astronomical and meteorological observations, photography, developing negatives, drawing, collecting and classifying botanical and geological specimens, which occupied all day and the greater part of the night, was a little too much for me. But such was my joy at having got rid of my unpleasant companions that I would have put up with any additional discomfort and inconvenience in order to get on. Alcides behaved splendidly on that occasion.

June 8th and 9th were absolutely wasted. The relief from the mental strain of constantly looking after—and being on my guard against—my companions was great. They were days of great happiness to me.

On June 10th Alcides and I were making ready to depart, with all the animals and baggage, when the four mutinous followers and Filippe the negro—most penitent—begged to be re-employed. Under ordinary circumstances I should certainly never have taken them back; but when one was hundreds of miles from everywhere, and had no possible way of finding a man, one had to be patient and make the best of what one could get. I gave them another chance—principally in order to save what I could of my baggage, most of which I was certain I should have had to abandon had I proceeded alone with Alcides.

The Capim Branco river was situated between two undulating ridges of lava.

I steered a course of 300° bearings magnetic (N.W.), beginning a steep climb at once through the thin forest of the plateau to the north. In many places the mules slid and rolled down the precipitous slope of igneous rock and marble débris, scattering the packs in every direction. It was a wonder they were not killed. We urged the animals on, we pushed and pulled them, we held them with all our might by the bridles when they began to slide. After many narrow escapes we reached the summit—an immense flat stretch of campos with stunted trees and delicious crisp air—quite delightful after the stifling atmosphere of the Capim Branco basin. The elevation above the sea level was 2,300 ft. On the summit of the plateau was a deep stratum of red soil. Having marched across the entire width of the plateau, we found, on descending on the opposite side, another series of dome-like mounds of crimson volcanic rock, with hardly any vegetation on them—joined together, and forming many headlands, as it were. Beyond an empty space—an opening in the landscape—a great barrier crossed the range of domes almost at right angles.

We descended through thick undergrowth, under big jatoba do matto (Hymencæa Courbaril L.) trees. The jatoba or jatahy wood has a high specific gravity, and is considered one of the woods with the highest resistance to disintegration in Brazil—as high as 1 kg. 315 gr. per square centimetre.

At 2,050 ft. we found a streamlet flowing southward. We were then in a grassy basin—another cuvette with two central tufts of thickly packed trees. We were lucky enough to see some coco babento palms, from which we shook down dates which were excellent, although somewhat troublesome to eat, owing to the innumerable filaments protecting the central large stone. These filaments stuck between one's teeth, and were most difficult to remove. The dates were the size and shape of an ordinary English walnut and extremely oily.

It was a real joy to see fine healthy trees again, after the miserable specimens we had seen of late. Even there, too, the powerful trees which emerged from the lower entangled scrub and dense foliage were greatly contorted, as if they had gone through a terrific effort in order to push their way through to reach the light and air. Liane innumerable and of all sizes hung straight or festooned from the highest trees or coiled in a deadly embrace round their branches like snakes. Nor were they the only enemies of trees. Large swellings could be noticed around most of the trees, caused by the terrible cupim (termes album) or white ants, carrying out their destructive work just under the bark. Many indeed were the trees absolutely killed by those industrious little devils.

As we marched through the matto, using the large knives freely to open our way, we had to make great deviations in our course—now because of a giant jatoba lying dead upon the ground, then to give a wide berth to a group of graceful akuri palms, with their huge spiky leaves. Those palms had great bunches of fruit. We were beginning now to find trees with fan-like extensions at the roots and base, such as I had frequently met with in the forests of Mindanao Island (Philippine Archipelago), where they were called caripapa and nonoko trees. The vines or liane were getting interesting, some being of great length and of colossal size, twisted round like a ship's cable.

We rose again to an elevation of 2,600 ft. On emerging from the cool dark forest and its refreshing green light, we found ourselves on another plateau with a slightly arched summit, of beautiful campos. From that height we looked over the immense undulating plain to the south. To the south-east we gazed upon a lower flat-topped plateau bounding the valley which, in great sweeping undulations from south-east to north-west, resembled an ocean with waves of colossal magnitude. We travelled across the slightly domed grassy plateau, and found on it a cuvette—only slightly depressed this time, but with the usual central line of tall trees with luxuriant foliage, burity palms and pintahyba trees. There, too, we had a surface stratum of red earth and fine brown dust, with an under stratum of grey ashes. Soon after we came to a second cuvette, and farther north a third could be perceived. In fact, the summit of that particular table-land was made up of subsidiary domes dividing cuvette from cuvette in succession.

In going down to 2,550 ft. we found a streamlet flowing northwest into the Rio das Mortes—or "River of Death." We were there on the great divide between the waters flowing south into the S. Lourenço and eventually into the Paraná, and those flowing north—after thousands of kilometres—into the Amazon. This little rivulet was therefore interesting to me, for it was the first one I had met flowing north since leaving the Araguaya—although not the first whose waters eventually flowed in a circuitous way into the Amazon.

That was a day of great domes—all of them with perfect curves. On them the grazing was magnificent. To the north a wonderful green dome, larger than the others (elev. 2,650 ft.), would have been splendid for cattle raising. Not a sign of life could be seen anywhere. Seldom have I seen nature so still and devoid of animal life. What immensity of rich land wasted! It made one's heart bleed to see it. There was everything there to make the fortunes of a hundred thousand farmers—yet there was not a soul! There was good grazing, plenty of water. There were no roads, no trails, it is true, but with a little enterprise it would be easy to make them. With a railway passing through, that now wasted land should become the richest on earth.

In a depression (elev. 2,450 ft.) we came to a streamlet also flowing north, which had made the soil extremely swampy. We had endless trouble in getting across, the animals sinking and sticking in the black mud up to their necks. One of the mules—more reckless than the others—actually disappeared, baggage and all, while madly struggling to extricate itself from the sucking slush and mud. It took all our efforts combined to save that animal. By the time we had all got across, men, animals, and baggage were a sight worth looking at—all filthy, absolutely smothered in black mud.

We rose upon yet another dome, and then descended to the Rio Manso or Rio das Mortes, the head-waters of which were not far from there, to the south-west, in the Serra da Chapada. The river was there only 15 metres wide, but too deep and rapid for the animals to ford, so we had to follow its bank in order to find a suitable spot. The River das Mortes flowed, roughly, first in an easterly then in a north-easterly direction, and soon, swollen by innumerable streams, became the most powerful tributary of the Araguaya River, which it met almost opposite the centre of the great island of Bananal. In fact, one might almost consider the head-waters of the Rio das Mortes as the secondary sources of the great Araguaya. The Rio das Mortes flowed, at the particular spot where we met it, due north, along the edge of the great dome. The elevation of the top edge was 2,470 ft.

We camped that night on the Riberão do Boi, a swift torrent tributary of the Rio das Mortes (elev. 2,250 ft.), having marched 30 kil. that day. The cold was relatively severe during the night—the thermometer registering a minimum of 48° Fahr.

We were travelling entirely by prismatic compass. My men—who had no faith whatever in what they called the agulha (compass)—swore that we were going to sure perdition.

"How can that agulha," said they, "possibly tell you where we can find beans (feijão), lard (toucinho), and sugar bricks (rapadura)?" "It is the invention of some madman!" said one. "It will bring us to our death," sadly reflected another. "If I had only known that we should be entrusting our lives all the time to that agulha," murmured a third, pointing contemptuously to the compass, "I should have never come. Oh, my poor mother and wife! And my dear little daughter six months old! Oh, shall I ever see them again ... shall I ever see them again?" Here followed a stream of bitter tears, wiped with the ragged sleeve of his shirt.

I thought that a cold bath would do them all good. I ordered them to take all the animals and baggage across the stream. It was a job of some difficulty, owing to the very swift current. A rough bridge had to be constructed over the most dangerous part. The water was freezingly cold.

On leaving the river we at once rose again over another great dome (elev. 2,350 ft.), from which we obtained a most glorious view of other grassy domes, smooth-looking and well-rounded, with a fringe of forest in the depressions between. Down below we could see the Rio das Mortes we had left behind. It came at that spot from the south-east, and after describing an angle turned to the north-east. From the north-west, at an elevation of 2,300 ft., descended the Taperinho, a small tributary which entered the Rio das Mortes.

We went over another domed mount, where I found a spring of most delicious water emerging in a gurgle from the very summit of the dome, at an elevation of 2,400 ft. On all sides we had beautiful domed prominences with wonderful grazing land.

Alcides—careless, like all the others, with his rifle—was nearly killed that day. His rifle went off accidentally, and the bullet went right through the brim of his hat, just grazing his forehead. But we were accustomed to this sort of thing—it had happened so often—and I began to wonder when bullets would really wound or kill somebody. Indeed, we had a guardian angel over us.

A Picturesque Waterfall on the S. Lourenço River.

We had descended into the belt of forest in the depression (elev. 2,270 ft.), where a streamlet flowed to the north-east into the Rio das Mortes. We were travelling in a north-easterly direction, owing to the formation of the country; but finding that it would take me too much away from my intended course I again altered our direction to a course due north. At an elevation of 2,480 ft. we went over an extraordinary natural bridge of solidified ashes and earth—a regular tunnel—under which passed a streamlet of delicious water—the Puladó Stream. The river emerged some distance off from under the tunnel. Curiously enough, while the vegetation was quite dense both above and below the natural bridge, there was no vegetation at all along the hundred metres forming the width of the bridge. Perhaps that was due to the lack of evaporation in that section, which supplied the trees elsewhere with moisture.

We rode over many domes of an elevation of 2,550 ft., and then over some that were smaller in diameter but of greater height. In the depressions between we invariably found rows of burity palms amidst other vegetation, and the characteristic heavily foliaged trees.

We encamped near a delicious spring of water on the very summit of a dome. The water emerged from a circular hole and was warm—so much so that the next morning, when my Fahrenheit thermometer registered an atmospheric temperature of 50°, steam rose from the water of the spring. Around the spring a curious conical mound of white finely powdered matter resembling kaolin had formed. This appeared to me to have formerly been a small geyser. The cone was broken on one side and the water did not come out with great force. A few yards down the slope of the dome another similar white cone was to be seen, with a great mass of granular ash-pellets and tufa, such as are commonly found near geysers or thermal springs. We called that camp Cayambola.

On the night of June 12th the minimum temperature was 50° Fahr., the elevation 2,430 ft. The sky was somewhat clouded, the clouds occupying four-tenths of the heavens. At sunrise we observed radiations in the sky—this time, curiously enough, from north-east to south-west, instead of from east to west. The longest and highest semicircle above us was in double filaments, and resembled an immense fish-bone.

We were supposed to be then in a country infested by cannibal Indians—swarms of them. My men were quite amusing in their fears. Four of them were troublesome and insisted on the whole expedition turning back in order to see them safely out of danger. I remembered on those occasions an old Italian proverb which said that to "women, lunatics, and children" the wisest thing is always to say "Yes."

So when they threatened all kinds of things if we did not return I generally answered that we would continue a little farther, then we would see; and from day to day this went on, making forced marches forward all the time—generally of from 30 to 42 kil. daily. The dissatisfaction among my men grew, nevertheless, considerable, and a constant watch had to be kept over them. Alcides and Filippe the negro showed great courage, and, whatever other failings they may have had, they invariably displayed extraordinary bravery from beginning to end.

Alcides' principal faults were his great wastefulness and violent temper and pride, which made it most difficult to deal with him. He had been entrusted with the commissariat, as with all my other occupations I could not be bothered to sort out and weigh the food for each man at each meal. Alcides would not understand that it was unwise, in a country where absolutely nothing was procurable, to throw away daily little mountains of rice and beans and preserved meat, after the men and our dogs had gorged themselves; and that perhaps it would lead some day to our dying of starvation. In confidence I had told him that we might be several months—perhaps a year—before we should be able to get fresh supplies. A little economy would perhaps save us all from disaster. I wanted everybody to have ample food, but I did not see the use of throwing away daily a larger quantity than the men actually ate. It was true that we still had ample provisions of all kinds for some eight months, but we must be prepared for all emergencies.

Alcides, who was extremely obstinate, would not hear of this. My remarks only made things worse. The waste from that day doubled, and looking ahead into the future it really broke my heart, as I well saw that we should have hard times in front of us—all because of the lack of common-sense on the part of my followers.

On leaving camp we climbed to the summit of another gigantic dome of green pasture land (elev. 2,500 ft.). We filled our lungs with the delicious air, slightly stirred by a fresh northerly breeze. Geographically, we were at a most important site, for it was from that point that the division of waters took place between those flowing eastward into the Araguaya and those flowing westward into the Cuyabá River. So that within a distance of a few kilometres we had visited the region—the very heart of Brazil—from which the waters parted to flow toward three different points of the compass.

From that point we rose still higher to the summit of a great table-land, absolutely flat and waterless for over 30 kil. The soil was red in colour, with slippery dried grass upon it and sparse, stunted vegetation. The trees seldom reached a height of 5 ft. They were mostly gomarabia or goma arabica—a sickly-looking acacia; passanto with its huge leaves, piqui or pequia (Aspidosperma sessiliflorum and eburneum Fr. All.), the fibrous piteira or poteira (Fourcroya gigantea Vent.), and short tocun or tucum palms (Astrocaryum tucuma M.). Occasionally one saw a passanto tree slightly taller—perhaps some 10 to 12 ft. high—most anæmic-looking.

After having travelled some 24 kil. from our last camp we came to a great expanse of taquary, a kind of shrub 3 ft. high with spiky leaves of a wonderful green colour.

We gazed upon the superb view of an enormous plateau to the west with deep indentations in its vertical sides. Huge spurs or rams of rock stretched out across the deep depression, separating the plateau to the west from the one on which we were standing. Both plateaux were of equal height, and had evidently at one time formed one immense flat surface. On our side the plateau showed a huge slip of red volcanic earth, with a lower stratum parallel to it of baked brown rock. Under it were white lime and ashes, in sections or drifts. In the centre of the valley formed by the separation of the two sections there remained a formidable crater—extinct, of course—with an arc-shaped wall standing erect in its centre, and other lower walls forming an elongated quadrangular channel from south-east to north-west in the bottom of the crater. Two conspicuous monoliths stood up behind the huge lip of the crater to the south-west at the bottom of the valley, and also other remnants of the great convulsion of nature which had once taken place there.

A Cañon of Matto Grosso.

Notwithstanding the constant annoyance of my followers, I really enjoyed my journey over the central plateau. The air was fresh and deliciously crisp and clear. One could see for miles and miles and distinguish the smallest detail in the far-away mountain sides, so pure was the atmosphere. This scene was unlike any in other countries. One could describe an entire circle around oneself, and nowhere did the eye meet a column of smoke rising above ground to indicate the presence of man. Not a bird was to be seen or heard, not a footprint upon the ground of any beast or creature of any kind. The silence of that land was most impressive. Our voices—as we spoke—sounded astonishingly and abnormally sonorous, in that region which for thousands of years had not been contaminated by sound. It seemed as if the sound-waves, undisturbed by the myriads of sounds which—as is well known—remain floating in the atmosphere in inhabited countries, were heard there in all their full and absolute purity. So much were we all impressed by this fact—my men unconsciously—that all the men began to sing, so pleased they seemed with the powerful vibration of their own voices.

To the north-west another lovely sight was before us—another huge plateau in dim greyish blue—barring the horizon. In front of it was one more table-land, more broken up, and sloping on the south side.

When we reached the north-east edge of the plateau we were travelling upon, we were treated to a fresh marvellous scene. Straight in front of us, on the opposite side of a deep depression—at 30° bearings magnetic—there stood one of the characteristic two-tiered table-lands stretching from east to west. Below us in the depression was an undulating line from north to south of great bosses or domes of exquisite grassy land, resting upon a kind of spur or peninsula jutting out from our plateau—but at a lower elevation—of which it formed part.

A formidable crack in the earth's surface extended from north to south on the east of the chain of domes, whereas to the east again of the giant crack was another row of domed hills, forming—when taken as a mass—an undulating terrace; then a vertical wall, above which rested the sloping side of the plateau on which we stood. It may be observed that the strata in the split vertical wall on our side was absolutely horizontal. On the summit of this rocky stratum lay a deposit, 30 ft. thick, composed of red earth and sand over yellow sandstone and ashes, and, lower, grey ashes compressed and consolidated. The lowest stratum visible on the face of the wall was of bright red-baked rock.

The great depression, taken in its entirety, extended from south-east to north-west. The huge crater was to the south-east. To the south-west there was an immense basin.

CHAPTER XXIII