ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
as there were many fallen trees among them and the rocks 
themselves were extremely slippery. 
It would not do to repeat in these pages the language 
of my men as they scrambled up and rolled down the 
numerous rocks — falling so clumsily that they always 
managed to injure themselves more or less. I was sorry 
for my loads, especially the instruments, which got 
knocked about in a pitiful way. 
We came across three distinct hill ranges of that type, 
over which we had to travel, the highest point being some 
300 feet above the level of the Tapajoz River. The last 
bit in particular of that hilly region was diabolically steep, 
with loose rocks which gave us no end of trouble. A 
beautiful little streamlet flowing east descended in cas¬ 
cades among those huge rocks. Eventually we reached 
the summit of the plateau, a huge flat expanse of dark red 
volcanic rock. My men were so tired that we had to camp 
on that elevation. Nothing but a few shrubs grew in the 
interstices of that great table of rock, which extended for 
several kilometres to the north. The barrier of rock, a 
spur of the great central plateau, was very interesting 
from a geological point of view. 
On August twenty-ninth we again marched westward, 
cutting our way through the forest, and found two stream¬ 
lets— one flowing south, the other north. Late in the 
afternoon we arrived at a spot where there was another 
great mass of rock, most troublesome for us. My men 
were discontented, saying that when they agreed to march 
through the forest they had not agreed to march over 
rocks-—as if I had placed these there on purpose to 
annoy them. They were extremely morose. I knew by 
their manner that I had fresh trouble in store. 
In the centre of that second immense table of rock 
I found a few pools of putrid rain-water in cavities. My 
men wanted to halt there, but I induced them to march 
along in hopes of finding a stream at the bottom of the 
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