ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
large pin. When the carrapato was duly located — it is 
quite easy to see it, as the large body remains outside — 
the pin was duly pushed right through its body. The 
carrapato, thus surprised, at once let go with its clinging 
legs, which struggled pitifully in the air. Then with 
strong tobacco juice or liquefied carbolic soap, or iodine, 
you smeared all round the place where the head was still 
inserted. The unpleasantness of these various beverages 
immediately persuaded the brute to withdraw its head. 
You could then triumphantly wave the pin and struggling 
carrapato in the air. You were liberated from the un¬ 
pleasant visitor. It was not uncommon while you were 
extracting one — the operation took some little time — 
for two or three others to find their way into your legs or 
body. I fortunately possess blood which does not easily 
get poisoned, and felt no ill effects from the hundreds of 
these brutes which fed on me during the entire journey; 
but many people suffer considerably. My men, for in¬ 
stance, had nasty-looking sores produced by the bites of 
the carrapato. The mules and horses were simply swarm¬ 
ing with these insects, which gave them no end of trouble, 
especially as they selected the tenderest parts of the skin 
in various localities of the body to settle upon. Where 
an animal had a sore, it would soon be swarming with 
carrapatos near its edge. It would then putrefy, and 
maggots in hundreds would be produced inside the wound 
almost within a few hours. 
There was, near by, an old moradoria , a large patch 
of muricy trees (Byrsonima ), of which various species 
exist. These were not unlike small olive trees and pro¬ 
duced a small sweet fruit quite good to eat. 
We went for 22 kilometres through a forest with 
beautiful fan palms over 30 feet high. There was no 
animal life. We crossed three streamlets, the country 
between being undulating. Between the last two streams 
we came across rock showing through the alluvial de- 
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