208 ACROSS NHAMBIQUARA LAND [chap, vii 



to form a judgment as to what can be done, and how 

 to do it, on the upper courses. Failure to remember 

 this fact is one of the obstacles in the way of securing 

 a proper appreciation of the needs, and the results, of 

 South American exploration. 



At the Juruena we met a party of Nhambiquaras, 

 very friendly and sociable, and very glad to see Colonel 

 Rondon. They were originally exceedingly hostile and 

 suspicious ; but the Colonel's unwearied thoughtfulness 

 and good temper, joined with his indomitable resolution, 

 enabled him to avoid war and to secure their friendship 

 and even their aid. He never killed one. Many of 

 them are known to him personally. He is on remark- 

 ably good terms with them, and they are very fond of 

 him — although this does not prevent them from now 

 and then yielding to temptation, even at his expense, 

 and stealing a dog or something else which strikes them 

 as offering an irresistible attraction. They cannot be 

 employed at steady work ; but they do occasional odd 

 jobs, and are excellent at hunting up strayed mules or 

 oxen ; and a few of the men have begun to wear clothes 

 purely for ornament. Their confidence and bold friend- 

 liness showed how weU they had been treated. Probably 

 half of our visitors were men ; several were small boys ; 

 one was a woman with a baby ; the others were young 

 married women and girls. 



Nowhere in Africa did we come across wilder or 

 more absolutely primitive savages, although these 

 Indians were pleasanter and better featured than any 

 of the African tribes at the same stage of culture. 

 Both sexes were weU made and rather good-looking, 

 with fairly good teeth, although some of them seemed 

 to have skin diseases. They were a laughing, easy- 

 tempered crew, and the women were as well-fed as the 



