STEAM NAVIGATION 
we have already seen, during the time of Dom Pedro, the 
Emperor, there was even steam navigation almost all 
along the course of the upper Araguaya as far as 
Leopoldina, the port for the Goyaz capital. Several 
Englishmen and Germans and very many Brazilians had 
travelled on that river, where even military posts had at 
one time been established at intervals on its banks. 
So that, rather than be imposed upon and travel for 
hundreds of kilometres in so well-known a region, I de¬ 
cided slightly to alter my route in order to cover ground 
that was newer and infinitely more interesting and 
important. 
The Presidente’s friend, the highly revered Colonel, 
had also undertaken to purchase a number of horses and 
mules for me. “ The people of Goyaz, 5 ’ said he, “ are 
terrible thieves; they will swindle you if you buy them 
yourself. I will purchase them for you, and you will 
then pay me back the money. By to-morrow morning, 55 
he had stated, “ I shall have all the horses and mules you 
require.” 
This was on the day of my arrival in Goyaz. Twelve 
days after that date he appeared with a famished, 
skeleton-like horse — only one — for which he made me 
pay nearly double what I had myself paid for other 
excellent animals. 
I took care after that experience to beware of the 
“ revered and honest men of Goyaz. 55 Those who behaved 
honestly were generally those who were described as 
thieves. Everything is reversed in Brazil, and I should 
have known better. 
Let us have a look around the city as I saw it. Mules 
and horses were grazing in the principal square on a severe 
slope; the streets were paved in a fashion calculated to 
dislocate your feet or possibly break them if you hap¬ 
pened to be walking out after dark. There was not the 
slightest semblance of drainage in any part of the town. 
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