The Highland Wilderness 189 



made under the supervision of Colonel Rondon by Lyra, 

 with assistance from Fiala and Kermit. Captain Amil- 

 car handled the worst problem — transportation; the 

 medical member was Doctor Cajazeira. 



At night around the camp-fire my Brazilian compan- 

 ions often spoke of the first explorers of this vast wilder- 

 ness of western Brazil — men whose very names are now 

 hardly known, but who did each his part in opening the 

 country which will some day see such growth and devel- 

 opment. Among the most notable of them was a Portu- 

 guese, Ricardo Franco, who spent forty years at the 

 work, during the last quarter of the eighteenth and the 

 opening years of the nineteenth centuries. He ascended 

 for long distances the Xingu and the Tapajos, and went 

 up the Madeira and Guapore, crossing to the head-waters 

 of the Paraguay and partially exploring there also. He 

 worked among and with the Indians, much as Mungo 

 Park worked with the natives of West Africa, having 

 none of the aids, instruments, and comforts with which 

 even the hardiest of modem explorers are provided. He 

 was one of the men who established the beginnings of 

 the province of Matto Grosso. For many years the sole 

 method of communication between this remote interior 

 province and civilization was by the long, difficult, and 

 perilous route which led up the Amazon and Madeira; 

 and its then capital, the town of Matto Grosso, the seat 

 of the captain-general, with its palace, cathedral, and 

 fortress, was accordingly placed far to the west, near 

 the Guapore. When less circuitous lines of communica- 

 tion were established farther eastward the old capital was 

 abandoned, and the tropic wilderness surged over the 



