ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
missions were destroyed, and the missionaries driven away 
or killed. 
Brazil occupies to-day in the world’s knowledge 
practically the same position that forbidden Tibet 
occupied some fifteen or twenty years ago. It was 
easier to travel all over Brazil centuries ago than 
now. 
The Bandeirantes became extraordinarily daring. 
In 1641 another slave-hunting Paulista expedition started 
out to sack the missions of Paraguay and make great 
hauls of converted Indians. The adventurers invaded 
even the impenetrable territory of the Chaco. But his¬ 
tory tells us that the Jesuits, who were well prepared for 
war, were not only able to trap the four hundred Paulista 
Bandeirantes in an ambuscade and to set free their pris¬ 
oners, but killed a great number of them, one hundred and 
twenty of the adventurous Bandeirantes thus supplying 
a handsome dinner for the cannibal Chaco Indians. 
Infuriated at the reverse, the survivors of the expedition 
destroyed all the missions and Indian villages upon their 
passage, not one escaping. They came to grief, however, 
in the end. Only a few returned home to tell the tale. 
That lesson practically ended the slave-hunting expedi¬ 
tions on a large scale of the Bandeirantes, but not the 
expeditions of parties in search of gold and diamonds, 
many of which were extraordinarily successful. Minor 
expeditions were undertaken, in which Paulista adven¬ 
turers were employed under contract in various parts of 
Brazil for such purposes as to fight the Indians or to 
break up the so-called Republic of the Palmeiras — an 
unpleasant congregation of negroes and Indians. 
The astonishing success which the dauntless Paulistas 
had obtained everywhere made them thirst for gold and 
diamonds, which they knew existed in the interior. They 
set out in great numbers — men, women, and children — 
in search of wealth and fresh adventure. Several of the 
16 
