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CHAPTER V. 



I START ON CAMP LIFE. 



In camp, on the Serra do Cortume, near Casa Grande, 

 August 1 8, 1883. At length I am in camp. On the 

 the bullock-cart arrived to take the impedimenta of the first 

 section to some place in this neighbourhood, which I had 

 to fix upon, and I was very busy distributing all our lug- 

 gage, instruments, etc., into three lots one to remain in 

 our rooms at Paraopeba, the second to go to camp, the 

 third to be conveyed by the bullock-cart to Brumado. The 

 cart was sent on ahead the same day, and I left early 

 the next morning, riding alone, as the men I had engaged 

 all seemed either unable or unwilling to depart till the next 

 day. I saw en route one ciriema (Cariama cristatd) and 

 one humming-bird, and nothing else remarkable. 



After about three hours' ride, I was joined by my future 

 cook, Antonio by name, when I was approaching Casa 

 Grande. This village is a very straggling affair, consisting 

 of a few small squalid houses, huts, and cabins scattered at 

 intervals for about a couple of miles at the side of the 

 road ; there is no church or chapel, and only one small 

 general shop. This apology for a village ends opposite 

 my camp, just before the ascent to the divide. 



Having given instructions for the ox-cart to stop near 



