236 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



reclaimed without difficulty. One or two of the children 

 wore necklaces and bracelets made of the polished wood 

 of the tucum palm, and of the molars of small rodents. 



Next day's march led us across a hilly country of good 

 pastureland. The valleys were densely wooded, palms of 

 several kinds being conspicuous among the other trees; 

 and the brooks at the bottoms we crossed at fords or by 

 the usual rude pole bridges. On the open pastures were 

 occasional trees, usually slender bacaba palms, with heads 

 which the winds had dishevelled until they looked like 

 mops. It was evidently a fine natural cattle country, and 

 we soon began to see scores, perhaps hundreds, of the 

 cattle belonging to the government ranch at Tres Burity, 

 which we reached in the early afternoon. It is beautifully 

 situated: the view roundabout is lovely, and certainly the 

 land will prove healthy when settlements have been defi- 

 nitely established. Here we revelled in abundance of good 

 fresh milk and eggs; and for dinner we had chicken canja 

 and fat beef roasted on big wooden spits; and we even 

 had watermelons. The latter were from seeds brought 

 down by the American engineers who built the Madeira- 

 Marmore Railroad — a work which stands honorably dis- 

 tinguished among the many great and useful works done 

 in the development of the tropics of recent years. 



Amilcar's pack-oxen, which were nearly worn out, had 

 been left in these fertile pastures. Most of the fresh oxen 

 which he took in their places were unbroken, and there 

 was a perfect circus before they were packed and marched 

 off; in every direction, said the gleeful narrators, there 

 were bucking oxen and loads strewed on the ground. This 

 cattle-ranch is managed by the colonel's uncle, his mother's 



