CHAP. IV] THE SAO JOAO FAZENDA 97 



was bare of forest ; he had thought there would be few 

 mosquitoes, but the long grass harboured them (they 

 often swarm in long grass and bush, even where there 

 is no water), and at night they were such a torment 

 that as soon as the sun set he had to go to bed under 

 his mosquito-netting. Yet on the vast marshes they 

 were not seriously troublesome in most places. I was 

 informed that they were not in any way a bother on 

 the grassy uplands, the high country north of Cuyaba, 

 which from thence stretches eastward to the coastal 

 re^on. It is at any rate certain that this inland region 

 of BrazU, including the state of Matto Grosso, which 

 we were traversing, is a healthy region, excellently 

 adapted to settlement ; railroads will speedily penetrate 

 it, and then it will witness an astonishing development. 

 On the morning of the 28th we reached the home 

 buildings of the great Sao J oao fazenda, the ranch of 

 Senhor Joao da Costa Marques. Our host himself, and 

 his son, Dom Joao the younger, who was state secretary 

 of agriculture, and the latter 's charming wife, and the 

 president of Matto Grosso, and several other ladies and 

 gentlemen, had come down the river to greet us, from 

 the city of Cuyaba, several hundred miles farther up- 

 stream. As usual, we were treated with whole-hearted 

 and generous hospitahty. Some miles below the ranch- 

 house the party met us, on a stem-wheel steamboat and 

 a launch, both decked with many flags. The handsome 

 white ranch-house stood only a few rods back from the 

 river's brink, in a grassy opening dotted with those 

 noble trees, the royal palms. Other trees, buildings 

 of all kinds, flower-gardens, vegetable-gardens, fields, 

 corrals, and enclosures with high white walls stood near 

 the house. A detachment of soldiers or state police, 

 with a band, were in front of the house, and two flag- 



