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WOODWORTH: GEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO BRAZIL AND CHILE. 17 
of European settlement such as characterised the period of the first 
third of the 18th century in the New England states and New York. 
The topography of this portion of Brazil, its inaccessibility, and the 
inutility to the older inhabitants of European origin of a large stretch 
of country along the ragged escarpment of the trap plateau accounts 
in large part for this lingering of a hostile primitive people in close 
proximity to the coast; encouraged and abetted by a more or less 
easy communication for the untrammelled native by larger bodies of 
indigenous folk in the hinterland of Parana, where, among the Coroa- 
das savage life remains in yet greater exemption from the restraining 
influences of advancing civilization. The extension of the railway 
from Porta da Unido southward across the trap plateau divides these 
people and promises to bring to an end a frontier struggle which has 
endured too long. 
Our pack-train having arrived at Rio Negro, we prepared for the 
expedition to Lages. The equipment for geological field work in 
this region is extremely simple. For the four members of our force, 
one light tent was provided, poles for which were cut from night to 
night in the forest surrounding our camp sites. The baggage was 
carried in wicker baskets or panniers lashed on pack-saddles. Our 
provisions consisted of prepared black beans, boiled rice, farinha 
meal, broad thin slabs of drief beef known as xarque, and a supply of 
powdered burnt coffee with which the proper quantity of sugar had 
been mixed. A few small pots and cooking basins completed the 
outfit. The business of camp life was equally simple. In the morning 
before mounting, black coffee and bread were served. Breakfast 
~ was eaten between 11 and 12 after a ride of a few hours, and a second 
substantial meal was prepared at night after establishing camp. 
Except for small supplies of corn (maize) obtained at long intervals 
at some farm house, the mules subsisted on the leaves of the bamboo 
and other tender foliage which they found along the route. Water 
and wood for the camp fire were everywhere in abundance. 
August 17th— There was a heavy white frost on the ground at 
Rio Negro at an early hour this morning. We set out promptly for 
the south, keeping track of the distance traversed by means of pedo- 
meters. A mule pace in Brazil is reckoned at 0.72 meters (2.36 ft.). 
The mule trail from Rio Negro to Lages traversing some thirty-six 
rivers and streams was cut through the forest in the middle of the 
18th century as a military necessity (V. da Rosa, 1905, p. 265-266). 
As far as the Rio Laurengo, the route lies over shales and yellow 
pebbly sandstones carrying an occasional erratic block. Beyond 
