Across Nhambiquara Land 233 



plums a column of the carnivorous foraging ants made its 

 appearance before nightfall, and for a time we feared it 

 might put us out of our tents, for it went straight through 

 camp, between the kitchen-tent and our own sleeping- 

 tents. However, the column turned neither to the right 

 nor the left, streaming uninterruptedly past for several 

 hours, and doing no damage except to the legs of any in- 

 cautious man who walked near it. 



On the afternoon of February 15 we reached Campos 

 Novos. This place was utterly unlike the country we 

 had been traversing. It was a large basin, several miles 

 across, traversed by several brooks. The brooks ran in 

 deep swampy valleys, occupied by a matted growth of tall 

 tropical forest. Between them the ground rose in bold 

 hills, bare of forest and covered with grass, on which our 

 jaded animals fed eagerly. On one of these rounded 

 hills a number of buildings were ranged in a quadrangle, 

 for the pasturage at this spot is so good that it is perma- 

 nently occupied. There were milch cows, and we got 

 delicious fresh milk ; and there were goats, pigs, turkeys, 

 and chickens. Most of the buildings were made of 

 upright poles with roofs of palm thatch. One or two 

 were of native brick, plastered with mud, and before these 

 there was an enclosure with a few ragged patms, and some 

 pineapple plants. Here we halted. Our attendants made 

 two kitchens: one was out in the open air, one was 

 under a shelter of ox-hide. The view over the surround- 

 ing grassy hills, riven by deep wooded valleys, was lovely. 

 The air was cool and fresh. We were not bothered by 

 insects, although mosquitoes swarmed in every belt of 

 timber. Yet there has been much fever at this beautiful 



