The Highland Wilderness i8i 



dozen occasions our guides went completely astray, and 

 we had to take command, to disregard their assertions, 

 and to lead the way aright by sole reliance on our 

 compasses. 



On this cool day we travelled well. The air was won- 

 derful; the vast open spaces gave a sense of abounding 

 vigor and freedom. Early in the afternoon we reached 

 a station made by Colonel Rondon in the course of his 

 first explorations. There were several houses with white- 

 washed walls, stone floors, and tiled or thatched roofs. 

 They stood in a wide, gently sloping valley. Through 

 it ran a rapid brook of cool water, in which we enjoyed 

 delightful baths. The heavy, intensely humid atmosphere 

 of the low, marshy plains had gone; the air was clear 

 and fresh ; the sky was brilliant ; far and wide we looked 

 over a landscape that seemed limitless; the breeze that 

 blew in our faces might have come from our own north- 

 ern plains. The midday sun was very hot; but it was 

 hard to realize that we were in the torrid zone. There 

 were no mosquitoes, so that we never put up our nets 

 when we went to bed; but wrapped ourselves in our 

 blankets and slept soundly through the cool, pleasant 

 nights. Surely in the future this region will be the home 

 of a healthy highly civilized population. It is good for 

 cattle-raising, and the valleys are fitted for agriculture. 

 From June to September the nights are often really cold. 

 Any sound northern race could live here ; and in such a 

 land, with such a climate, there would be much joy of 

 living. 



On these plains the Telegraphic Commission uses 

 motor-trucks; and these now served to relieve the mules 



