I went to Brazil the second time in I^oirembe r 1929. On my previous 
visit in 1924*-25 Miss Rolfs and I ascended Caparao from the Minas side* 
Caparao, the highest mountain of Serro do Marj is a vast mass with several 
peaks, the highest of T^hich is Pico de Bandeira^ a little less than lO^OOC 
ft. We climbed Pontao Crystal about £00 ft. lower^ supposing it to be 
Pico de Bandeira until the clouds opened for a moment when we were on 
the summit of Crystal disclosing the higher peak which had been completely 
hidden. I had found a new Danthonia on the shoulder of Caparao as well 
as other interesting grasses and I wanted to visit the mountain aisain, 
earlier in tl-ie season and from the east side. The western side is 
devastado, the forests cut and burned, but the eastern side is still 
virgin rain forests 
Mrs. Mexia of the University of California ?^ho ai^rived in Rio shortly 
after I did joined me in this adventure* Of course, ?^e were told at Alegre, 
the end of the railroad, when we began bargaining for conveyance^the t it was 
nao posslvel para senhoras. But I^d heard that before, and bo had Mrs. 
Mexia^who had spent a month alone on the slope of Mt. McKinley in Alaska 
and had collected in little known parts of Mexico. We finally secured a 
truck for the next morning and had a few hours left to botanize before dark. 
I had a glorious find in a steep jungly wood^ Olyra sampaiana, described by 
Professor Hitchcock a year or so before from a specimen sent from the Museum 
at Rio. It was a ybtj peculiar species with milk white narrow panicle^ but 
I found it even more peculiar in havi ng tubers like little potatoes on 
its roots. The original specimen did not show this. While scrambling- up 'the 
slope seeking more specimens I saw^ about 8 feet away^the largest snake I ever 
saw 
outside a zoo. One who has been to Brazil is expected to tell about 
snakes, so I am glad to have at least one big one. I did not measure it 
