i8o Through the Brazilian Wilderness 



turning again, we rode forward, casting shadows far be- 

 fore us. It was twenty miles to the next water, and in 

 hot weather the journey across this waterless, shadeless, 

 sandy stretch of country is hard on the mules and oxen. 

 But on this day the sky speedily grew overcast and a 

 cool wind blew in our faces as we travelled at a quick, 

 running walk over the immense rolling plain. The ground 

 was sandy ; it was covered with grass and with a sparse 

 growth of stunted, twisted trees, never more than a few 

 feet high. There were rheas — ostriches — and small 

 pampas-deer on this plain; the coloration of the rheas 

 made it difficult to see them at a distance, whereas the 

 bright red coats of the little deer, and their uplifted flags 

 as they ran, advertised them afar off. We also saw the 

 footprints of cougars and of the small-toothed, big, red 

 wolf. Cougars are the most inveterate enemies of these 

 small South American deer, both those of the open grassy 

 plain and those of the forest. 



It is not nearly as easy to get lost on these open 

 plains as in the dense forest ; and where there is a long, 

 reasonably straight road or river to come back to, a man 

 even without a compass is safe. But in these thick 

 South American forests, especially on cloudy days, a 

 compass is an absolute necessity. We were struck by 

 the fact that the native hunters and ranchmen on such 

 days continually lost themselves and, if permitted, trav- 

 elled for miles through the forest either in circles or in 

 exactly the wrong direction. They had no such sense 

 of direction as the forest-dwelling 'Ndorobo hunters in 

 Africa had, or as the true forest-dwelling Indians of 

 South America are said to have. On certainly half a 



