ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND 225 



blood. Now they are, for the most part, friendly. But 

 there are groups or individuals that are not. Several sol- 

 diers have been killed at these little lonely stations; and 

 while in some cases the attack may have been due to the 

 soldiers' having meddled with Nhambiquara women, in 

 other cases the killing was entirely wanton and unpro- 

 voked. Sooner or later these criminals or outlaws will 

 have to be brought to justice; it will not do to let their 

 crimes go unpunished. Twice soldiers have deserted and 

 fled to the Nhambiquaras. The runaways were well re- 

 ceived, were given wives, and adopted into the tribe. 



The country when opened will be a healthy abode for 

 white settlers. But pioneering in the wilderness is grim 

 work for both man and beast. Continually, as we jour- 

 neyed onward, under the pitiless glare of the sun or through 

 blinding torrents of rain, we passed desolate little graves 

 by the roadside. They marked the last resting-places of 

 men who had died by fever, or dysentery, or Nhambi- 

 quara arrows. We raised our hats as our mules plodded 

 slowly by through the sand. On each grave was a frail 

 wooden cross, and this and the paling round about were 

 already stained by the weather as gray as the tree-trunks 

 of the stunted forest that stretched endlessly on every side. 



The skeletons of mules and oxen were frequent along 

 the road. Now and then we came across a mule or ox 

 which had been abandoned by Captain Amilcar's party, 

 ahead of us. The animal had been left with the hope that 

 when night came it would follow along the trail to water. 

 Sometimes it did so. Sometimes we found it dead, or 

 standing motionless waiting for death. From time to time 

 we had to leave behind one of our own mules. 



