ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
class Brazilians. The gentle way of speaking, the more 
harmonious language — Spanish instead of Portuguese 
— and the charming civility of the people, made travel¬ 
ling, even under those unpleasant circumstances, quite 
agreeable. 
It was cold, especially at night. Nearly all my in¬ 
struments had been badly damaged in our many acci¬ 
dents in Brazil, and I was unable to replace them either 
in Para or Manaos. Owing, therefore, to the lack of self- 
registering thermometers, I could not keep an accurate 
daily record of the maximum and minimum temperatures. 
After leaving Camp 93, we went over a really fearful 
trail, my mules being all the time chest-deep in mud. It 
was extremely hard work for the animals to get along. 
As is well known to any traveller, all animals of a cara¬ 
van when on a narrow path step in the footprints of their 
predecessors, so that on that trail they had sunk a long 
series of deep holes in the soft clay, which were con¬ 
stantly being filled by water sliding from the mountain 
side. In that particular part the mud had highly caustic 
qualities, which burnt the skin and caused irritation each 
time you were splashed. The muleteers who were walk¬ 
ing had their feet badly burnt by it, one man suffering 
agony from his blistered feet. 
Magnificent mountain scenery covered with luxuriant 
forest surrounded us as the trail wound its way along the 
high point on the top of the mountain range. We went 
only twenty-one kilometres that day from Pampas, hav¬ 
ing occupied seven hours to cover the distance, owing to 
the difficulties of the march. 
In the afternoon we were enveloped in dense fog 
which lasted the whole night, the cold being quite severe, 
and the more perceptible because of the humidity in the 
air. The trail here described a wide detour, which could 
have easily been avoided had another trail that went direct 
to New Bermudez been followed at the bottom of the 
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