6 
tiiiit I chased. The very short grass or sedge that covers this ir on-bo ttoiiBd 
..iarsh is fine and delicate, and foruis an adiiiirable cover for these 1 
long frogs which are alraost indistinguishable between its stems when 
tney have the sense to sit still. But they have a nervous temnerai'iBnt. 
it seems, and are impelled to jump about every five seconds, and if one 
can only succeed in seeing where they land, it is sometimes possible to 
seize them in the short interval befoi-e they are off again. Some holes 
a yard square had been cut into the hard ground to impound drinking- 
vmter for the herds of placid white zeb^us that were grazing at a little 
distance. Tnis water was deep red, the color of sassafras tea, and all the 
tadpoles that I caught ?^ere stained red by it.' 
* ( 
^ ^ The rivers run with' gold in Minas Geraes, From the train I saw strange 
rodent-like tunnels on the sandy shores of the Parah 3 l')a, and near them the 
big wooden sluicing troughs attended by 2 or 3 men and boys, who took 
enough gold in tnis primitive manner from the cloudy v/aters of the turbu- 
lent river to pa 3 ^ them amply for their labor. One of the oldest gold 
mines in Brazil is located at Morro Yelho, over a few njoun tain ranges from 
Bello Horizonte. This mine has been in operation for over a century and 
a quarter, and has now reached the 29th level at a dephth of over 8,000 
feet, and the teciperature is so great at this depth™138^F, in spite 
c? 
a 
y 
of cool water pumped in to cool the air — ty.at the rich vein which goes 
soon 
dov/n at a 45^ angle will/have to be abandoned. I was not allowed 
to -entei?- the mine shaft, for supers titution has it that if either a 
priest or a woroan enters a mineshaft, some terrible disaster will over- 
take the miners the next day 
