204 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



Arizona and Sonora, and along the Guaso Nyiro north 

 and west of Mount Kenia, when the barren mountains 

 were changed into flaming "ramparts of slaughter and 

 peril" standing above "the wine-dark flats below." 



It rained during most of the day after our arrival at 

 Utiarity. Whenever there was any let-up the men 

 promptly came forth from their houses and played head- 

 ball with the utmost vigor ; and we would listen to their 

 shrill undulating cries of applause and triumph until we 

 also grew interested and strolled over to look on. They 

 are more infatuated with the game than an American 

 boy is with baseball or football. It is an extraordinary 

 thing that this strange and exciting game should be played 

 by, and only by, one little tribe of Indians in what is 

 almost the very centre of South America. If any travel- 

 ler or ethnologist knows of a tribe elsewhere that plays a 

 similar game, I wish he would let me know. To play 

 it demands great activity, vigor, skill, and endurance. 

 Looking at the strong, supple bodies of the players, and 

 at the number of children roundabout, it seemed as if the 

 tribe must be in vigorous health; yet the Parecis have 

 decreased in numbers, for measles and smallpox have 

 been fatal to them. 



By the evening the rain was coming down more heav- 

 ily than ever. It was not possible to keep the moisture 

 out of our belongings ; everything became mouldy except 

 what became rusty. It rained all that night; and day- 

 light saw the downpour continuing with no prospect of 

 cessation. The pack-mules could not have gone on with 

 the march; they were already rather done up by their 

 previous ten days' labor through rain and mud, and it 



