48 UP THE PARAGUAY [chap, it 



covy ducks were very good eating. Darters and 

 cormorants swarmed. They waddled on the sand-bars 

 m big flocks, and crowded the trees by the water's edge. 

 Beautiful snow-white egrets also ht in the trees, often 

 well back from the river. A fuU-foliaged tree of vivid 

 green, its round surface crowded with these bu-ds, as if 

 it had suddenly blossomed with huge white flowers, is 

 a sight worth seeing. Here and there on the sand-bars 

 we saw huge jabiru storks, and once a flock of white 

 wood-ibis among the trees on the bank. 



On the Brazihan boundary we met a shallow river 

 steamer carrying Colonel Candido Mariano da Silva 

 Rondon and several other Brazilian members of the 

 expedition. Colonel Rondon immediately showed that 

 he was all, and more than all, that could be desired. 

 It was evident that he knew his business thoroughly, 

 and it was equally evident that he would be a pleasant 

 companion, j He was a classmate of Mr. Lauro MuUer 

 at the Brazilian Military Academy. He is of almost 

 pure Indian blood, and is a Positivist — the Positivists 

 are a reaUy strong body in Brazil, as they are in France 

 and, indeed, in Chile. The Colonel's seven children have 

 all been formally made members of the Positivist 

 Church in Rio Janeiro. Brazil possesses the same 

 complete hberty in matters religious, spiritual, and 

 intellectual as we, for our great good fortune, do in the 

 United States, and my Brazilian companions included 

 CathoHcs and equally sincere men who described them- 

 selves as " libres penseurs." Colonel Rondon has spent 

 the last twenty-four years in exploring the western 

 highlands of Brazil, pioneering the way for telegraph- 

 lines and raUroads. During that time he has 

 travelled some fourteen thousand mUes, on territory 

 most of which had not previously been traversed by 



