io6 Through the Brazilian Wilderness 



bay, the spearman holding him off if the first shot fails 

 to stop him, so that another shot can be put in. Alto- 

 gether, our host and his son reminded one of the best 

 type of American ranchmen and planters, of those plant- 

 ers and ranchmen who are adepts in bold and manly 

 field sports, who are capital men of business, and who 

 also often supply to the state skilled and faithful public 

 servants. The hospitality the father and son extended 

 to us was patriarchal: neither, for instance, would sit 

 at table with their guests at the beginning of the formal 

 meals; instead they exercised a close personal super- 

 vision over the feast. Our charming hostess, however, 

 sat at the head of the table. 



At six in the morning we started, all of us on fine 

 horses. The day was lowering and overcast. A dozen 

 dogs were with us, but only one or two were worth 

 anything. Three or four ordinary countr)mien, the ranch 

 hands, or vaqtieiros, accompanied us; they were mainly 

 of Indian blood, and would have been called peons, or 

 cabodos, in other parts of Brazil, but here were always 

 spoken to and of as "camaradas." They were, of course, 

 chosen from among the men who were hunters, and each 

 carried his long, rather heavy and clumsy jaguar-spear. 

 In front rode our vigorous host and his strapping son, 

 the latter also carrying a jaguar-spear. The bridles and 

 saddles of the big ranchmen and of the gentlefolk gen- 

 erally were handsome and were elaborately ornamented 

 with silver. The stirrups, for instance, were not only 

 of silver, but contained so much extra metal in orna- 

 mented bars and rings that they would have been awk- 

 ward for less-practised riders. Indeed, as it was, they 



