210 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



subsistence, and must be given as long a time as possible 

 to feed and rest; even under these conditions most of them 

 grow weak when, as in our case, it is impossible to carry 

 corn. They cannot be found again until after daylight, 

 and then hours must be spent in gathering them; and this 

 means that the march must be made chiefly during the heat 

 of the day, the most trying time. Often some of the ani- 

 mals would not be brought in until so late that it was well 

 on in the forenoon, perhaps midday, before the bulk of 

 the pack-train started; and they reached the camping- 

 place as often after nightfall as before it. Under such 

 conditions many of the mules and oxen grew constantly 

 weaker, and ultimately gave out; and it was imperative 

 to load them as lightly as possible, and discard all luxuries, 

 especially heavy or bulky luxuries. Travelling through a 

 wild country where there is little food for man or beast 

 is beset with difficulties almost inconceivable to the man 

 who does not himself know this kind of wilderness, and 

 especially to the man who only knows the ease of civiliza- 

 tion. A scientific party of some size, with the equipment 

 necessary in order to do scientific work, can only go at all 

 if the men who actually handle the problems of food and 

 transportation do their work thoroughly. 



Our march continued through the same type of high, 

 nearly level upland, covered with scanty, scrubby forest. 

 It is the kind of country known to the Brazilians as cha- 

 padao pronounced almost as if it were a French word 

 and spelled shapadon. Our camp on the fourth night was 

 in a beautiful spot, an open grassy space, beside a clear, 

 cool, rushing little river. We ourselves reached this, and 

 waded our beasts across the deep, narrow stream, in the 



