THE ROOSEV ELT-RONDON 
Sepotuba. A heavy houseboat-full of provi- 
sions and luggage was towed alongside and 
we made slow progress. There is an end to 
all things of earth however, and the end of 
our river journey came on January 16. We 
had reached Tapirapoan, the furthest out- 
post on the frontier, and immediately prepa- 
rations were begun for our long dash across 
the chapadao of Matto Grosso. 
Tapirapoan presented a scene of festive 
gaiety upon the arrival of the expedition at 
that point. The large, open square around 
which clustered the low mud-walled huts was 
decorated with lines of pennants, while the 
American and Brazilian flags fluttered from 
tall poles. Flag-raising and lowering was 
always an impressive ceremony; everybody 
lined up and stood at attention while the ban- 
ners were solemnly raised or lowered, as the 
case might be, to the strains of martial music. 
A large number of horses, mules and oxen 
had been gathered from the surrounding 
country; the army of natives or camaradas 
who were to have charge of them and the 
impedimenta, had assembled, and the ware- 
rooms were filled with cases and bags of 
provisions and equipment. To organize 
properly a cavalcade of such large propor- 
tions required some little time, but within six 
days after our arrival order had been restored 
out of chaos and the first detachment of the 
expedition started. This included all of the 
Americans, and several Brazilians to whose 
number Lieutenants Jodo Lyra and Joaquin 
de Mello Filho had been added. Captain 
Amilear was to follow the next day with the 
remainder of the caravan. This division of 
the party was absolutely necessary as, on ac- 
count of the great quantity of men and ani- 
mals required, the expedition would have 
been unwieldly if it had attempted to move 
in one body. 
The first day’s ride was a short one. Early 
in the morning the men started to load the 
pack animals, many of which were apparently 
fresh from the ranch and had never been 
broken to work of any kind, so there was a 
good deal of confusion at first. But gradu- 
ally the men became more adept at their 
work, the mules and oxen quieted down and 
little squads left the corrals, wound up the 
trail and disappeared in a cloud of dust. We 
did not follow until noon. Our mounts were 
good strong animals; we had both horses 
and mules, and comfortable saddles were also 
provided by the Brazilian Commission. A 
SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION ay) 
four hours’ canter through brush and forest- 
covered country brought us to the Sepotuba 
again, quite some distance above Tapira- 
poan, and we crossed the stream on a pontoon 
ferry made by laying a platform of boards 
across three dugout canoes. There were a 
number of new palm-leaf houses on the river- 
bank, so these were used for the night’s camp 
instead of erecting the tents. 
Next day we were in the saddle by nine, 
riding through tall virgin forest with occa- 
sional stretches of sandy soil in which only 
low bushes grew. It was evident as we pene- 
trated farther into the interior that the forest 
zone was fast disappearing, to be replaced 
by the vast chapaddo.!. The heat was intense; 
there was no rain, and troublesome insects 
were lacking. At three o’clock in the after- 
noon we entered an old clearing. Formerly 
rice, plantains, mandioca? and corn had been 
cultivated here, but now the place was de- 
serted and overgrown with weeds. Kilo- 
meter 52, as the spot was called, had been an 
important camp of the telegraph commission 
while work was being prosecuted in that 
region, but had long since been abandoned. 
On January 23, a 32-kilometer ride took 
us to the site of an old Indian village, known 
as Aldeia Queimada. We were adhering 
closely to the telegraph line, following the 
wide swathe that had been cleared to protect 
the wires from falling trees and branches, 
except when a short detour was desirable to 
find a better crossing for some small stream. 
The country was of a gently undulating char- 
acter, covered with wiry grass and a very 
sparse growth of stunted, gnarled trees. This 
vegetation is typical of the chapadao. With 
the exception of a few small deer and a num- 
ber of birds (woodhewers and jays) there were 
no evidences of animal life. A clear, cold 
spring rippled over a pebbly bottom near our 
night’s camp. It was the last stream we 
should see which discharged its water (via the 
Sepotuba) into the Rio de la Plata system. 
Colonel Rondon had employed a number of 
motor trucks in constructing the telegraph 
line through this section of the country, sev- 
eral of which were still in serviceable condi- 
tion. It was therefore decided that a part of 
the luggage should be sent ahead on the cars 
as far as the trail permitted, and as there 
1 Chapadao: high, nearly level upland covered 
with scanty scrubby forest. 
2Mandioca: also called “‘manioc’’, 
sava-plant. 
the cas- 
