PREFACE 
S OUTH AMERICA is, to my mind, the “ Coming 
Continent ” — the continent of the future. Every¬ 
body knows the wealth of the Argentine, Peru, Chile, 
and Bolivia; but the interior of Brazil, the largest and 
richest country of all, not unlike forbidden Tibet, was 
perhaps better known a century or two ago than now. 
Few people realize that Brazil is larger than the United 
States of North America, Germany, Portugal, and a few 
other countries taken together. The interior is practically 
a terra incognita, although the ancient Jesuits and, at a 
later date, escaped slaves and native rubber collectors 
have perhaps found their way inland to a considerable 
distance. 
When I started on the trans-continental journey I 
did not take Europeans with me. It is not easy to find 
men who can stand the strain of so long a journey. I 
was also not surprised, although I was disappointed, not 
to be able to obtain suitable officers in Brazil to go part 
of the journey with me, so that I might be relieved of 
a portion of the tedious scientific work of the expedition, 
especially taking and computing daily astronomical ob¬ 
servations, to which much time has to be devoted. All 
the work of all kinds eventually fell upon my shoulders, 
and after departing I found myself filling the posts of 
surveyor, hydrographer, cartographer, geologist, meteor¬ 
ologist, anthropologist, botanist, doctor, veterinary sur¬ 
geon, painter, photographer, boat-builder, guide, naviga¬ 
tor, etc. The muleteers who accompanied me — only six, 
all counted — were of little help to me, perhaps the re- 
