202 ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND [chap, vii 



so late that it was well on in the forenoon, perhaps mid- 

 day, before the bulk of the pack-train started ; and they 

 reached the camping-place as often after nightfall as 

 before it. Under such conditions many of the mules 

 and oxen grew constantly weaker, and ultimately gave 

 out ; and it was imperative to load them as lightly as 

 possible, and discard all luxuries, especially heavy or 

 bulky luxuries. Travelling through a wild country 

 where there is httle food for man or beast is beset with 

 difficulties almost inconceivable to the man who does 

 not himself know this kind of wilderness, and especially 

 to the man who only knows the ease of civilization. A 

 scientific party of some size, with the equipment 

 necessary in order to do scientific work, can only go at 

 aU if the men who actually handle the problems of food 

 and transportation do their work thoroughly. 



Our march continued through the same type of high, 

 nearly level upland, covered with scanty, scrubby forest. 

 It is the kind of country known to the BrazOians as 

 ' chapadao " — pronounced almost as if it were a French 

 word and speUed shapadon. Our camp on the fourth 

 night was in a beautiful spot, an open grassy space, 

 beside a clear, cool, rushing little river. We ourselves 

 reached this, and waded our beasts across the deep, 

 narrow stream, in the late afternoon ; and we then 

 enjoyed a bath and swim. The loose bullocks arrived at 

 sunset, and with shrill cries the mounted herdsmen 

 urged them into and across the swift water. The mule- 

 train arrived long after nightfall, and it was not deemed 

 wise to try to cross the laden animals. Accordingly the 

 loads were taken off and brought over on the heads of 

 the men ; it was fine to see the sinewy, naked figures 

 bearing their burdens through the broken moonlit water 

 to the liither bank. The night was cool and pleasant. 



