ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
eyes were far back upon the skull. The bony dome of the 
palate was divided in the centre, and a similar separation 
was to be observed in the centre of the lower jaw, giving 
thus a great flexibility to the interior of the mouth. When 
measured, the length of the head was exactly one-third 
of the length of the entire fish. 
Other fish, too, were caught that day, called 
mandihe or fidalgo. 
The aspect of the country was gradually changing. 
During that day’s march we had gone over beautiful, 
open stretches of grassy land, with only a few stunted 
trees upon them. Bosquets or tufts of small palms or 
other trees were to be seen, raised on small mounds, 
showing how the country was gradually wearing itself 
down. Nearly every tree was raised on a mound of grey 
clay. Some fine specimens of Leocia trees, with their 
peculiarly distorted branches, were to be observed. 
Those great scavengers of Brazil, the Urubu, of 
which two varieties were to be found, the Urubu commun 
(Cathartes atratus) and the Urubu rei (Cathartes Papa), 
a cross between a vulture and a crow, were fairly plentiful 
now that game was more abundant in the country. They 
often pierced our ears with their unmusical shrieks. The 
urubu belonged to the vulture family and was found in all 
tropical South America. It had black plumage, some¬ 
what shaggy, with reddish legs and feet, and bluish, almost 
naked, head and neck. Like all rapacious birds of its kind, 
it lived entirely on dead animals and what refuse it could 
find about the country. Near farms these birds were 
generally to be seen in great numbers. 
We had a delicious breakfast of fish — really excel¬ 
lent eating — which set everybody in a good humour, and 
then we proceeded over slight undulations (elevation 
1,250 to 1,300 feet) through forest until we got to the 
Ponte Alto (High Bridge) River, so called because — 
there is no bridge whatever there! The Brazilians are 
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