HEADWATERS OF THE PARAGUAY 109 



rain fell as we began our descent of the river. The rainy- 

 season had fairly begun. For our good fortune we were 

 still where we had the cabins aboard the boat, and the 

 ranch-house, in which to dry our clothes and soggy shoes; 

 but in the intensely humid atmosphere, hot and steaming, 

 they stayed wet a long time, and were still moist when we 

 put them on again. Before we left the house where we 

 had been treated with such courteous hospitality — the fin- 

 est ranch-house in Matto Grosso, on a huge ranch where 

 there are some sixty thousand head of horned cattle — the 

 son of our host, Dom Joao the younger, the jaguar-hunter, 

 presented me with two magnificent volumes on the palms 

 of Brazil, the work of Doctor Barboso Rodriguez, one- 

 time director of the Botanical Gardens at Rio Janeiro. 

 The two folios were in a box of native cedar. No gift more 

 appropriate, none that I would in the future value more 

 as a reminder of my stay in Matto Grosso, could have 

 been given me. 



All that afternoon the rain continued. It was still 

 pouring in torrents when we left the Cuyaba for the Sao 

 Louren^o and steamed up the latter a few miles before 

 anchoring; Dom Joao the younger had accompanied us in 

 his launch. The little river steamer was of very open 

 build, as is necessary in such a hot climate; and to keep 

 things dry necessitated also keeping the atmosphere stifling. 

 The German taxidermist who was with Colonel Rondon's 

 party, Reinisch, a very good fellow from Vienna, sat on 

 a stool, alternately drenched with rain and sweltering with 

 heat, and muttered to himself: **Ach, Schweinerei !" 



Two small caymans, of the common species, with promi- 

 nent eyes, were at the bank where we moored, and be- 



