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summit but whejo the dcuds lifted for a. few minutes we saw a hif^lier 
siiBiinit* We had climbed Pontao Crystal instead of Pico de Bancleira. But 
I made a fine collection. When I went to Brazil in 19E9 I planned to ascend 
this peak from the eastern ^de* Miss Mexia of the University of Calif omla. 
joined me for this trip through dripping rain forest s^, camping in the ??et, 
and spending two days in the cold rain up on the grassland near the summit* 
I got back to Rio with a tremendous harvest, made a trip out to the 
east end of the state of Rio, then struck into the interior stopping over a 
few days with the Rolfs at 7i?osa. It is marvelous what that school is 
doing for the country* iimbassador Morgan speaking of the Rolfs said it 
was th . most important work eyer done by an American for Brazil. In high- 
lands north and west I had glorious c3ays, finding many grasses I*d never 
seen growing before ♦ Once as I clajnbered up a rocky hill before me was a 
colony of a beautiful silvery Paspalum (my pet g©i!us) so exactly like the 
drawing I had made in Munich of the original, from x^hich it was described, 
that I recognized it at once. Such are the thrills that make one willing 
ro wndure all manner of insects, poor food and the rest. Near Diamantina, 
a city nearly 200 years old with stone-flagged roads, I explored tie ruggei 
mountains that used to be worked for diamonds and found grasses far more 
beautiful than diamonds. At the end of January I started fo^ Matto Grosso, 
the ^out west*^ of Brazil, making a few stops along the one railroad, then 
going south, 4 days journey by motor truck with a missionary moving to hi^ 
station among the' Indians near the Paraguay border. The truck stuck in the 
mud or needed fixing so often I had opportunity to ecaiect. Returning to 
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