AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



13 



of the cavalcade left us for Diamantina. We were delayed here several 

 days while Mr. Sceva made a fruitless side-trip to some limestone caves 

 at San Jose to prospect for fossil bones. We resumed the journey on the 

 24th, reaching Morro Velho July 7 and Lagoa Santa July 13, much of the 

 way by obscure and difficult roads. Here we spent several days, collecting 

 specimens and visiting the famous bone caverns 1 made classic by the 

 Danish naturalist, Dr. P. W. Lund, who was still resident at Lagoa Santa 

 and whom we had the pleasure of meeting. Six days later we reached 

 Trahiras, on the Rio das Velhas, where we disposed of our animals and 

 outfitted with a large canoe and boatmen for the voyage down the river. 

 This involved another delay of eight days although our river equipment 

 had been ordered in advance and was supposed to be awaiting our arrival. 

 But the delay had its advantages, for it enabled us to repack the collections 

 we had made en route for shipment to the United States and gave oppor- 

 tunity for making a large collection of fishes, besides obtaining many birds 

 and mammals. We received here also our first letters from home, letters 

 that had taken three months to reach us. 



We were able to secure a boat well adapted to our needs, a canoe 50 feet 

 in length and four in width, dug out of a single tree. This we rigged with 

 outriders and covered with canvas to protect us from the sun by day and 

 afford shelter at night. W T e named her the 'Gequitiba,' an Indian name 

 borne not only by the tree from which it was made, but by the fazenda and 

 village from which we outfitted. We also supplied ourselves with a smaller 

 canoe to serve as a tender. Our crew consisted of four boatmen, a cook, 

 and an English boy we had previously secured at Morro Velha, with St. 

 John and myself, making eight persons in all. 



Our journey from Juiz da Fora (distant about 120 miles from Rio) by 

 pack train to Gequitiba (or Trahiras), on the upper Rio das Velhas, was 

 made in twenty days of actual travel, the distance by our circuitous route 

 being about 300 miles, but the time occupied in outfitting for the two jour- 

 neys, and in various delays en route was much more, so that the time be- 

 tween our arrival at Juiz da Fora and our departure down the river was 

 about 50 days (June 9- July 31). 



On July 31 we left Trahiras to descend the river, reaching its junction 

 (Barro do Rio das Velhas) with the Rio Sao Francisco August 28. Our pro- 

 gress was greatly delayed by the low stage of water rendering the numer- 

 ous rapids difficult, and in some instances dangerous, to pass. Nearly every 

 day we lost several hours in exploring for channels that would permit the 



1 Mr. Sceva was left here to make further exploration, but his search for fossils was poorly re- 

 warded. 



