ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
stretches—sometimes for 20 or 30 kilometres — of un¬ 
interrupted sand or ashes which covered such great 
expanses of that country? 
In the valleys, near water, burity palms were 
numerous. 
Overhead the sky was always interesting. The days 
nearly invariably began with a clear, speckless sky, but, 
mind you, never of quite so deep a blue as the sky of 
Italy or Egypt. The sky of Central Brazil was always of 
a whitish cobalt blue. That morning, an exception to 
prove the rule, we had awakened to a thick mist around 
us, which enveloped and damped everything. No sooner 
did the sun rise than the mist was quickly dispelled. In 
the late morning, about ten o’clock, clouds began to form 
high in the sky — not along the horizon, as is generally 
the case in most countries — and grew in intensity and size 
during the afternoon. Nearly every day at about sunset 
a peculiar flimsy, almost transparent, streak of mist 
stretched right across the sky from east to west, either 
in the shape of a curved line, or, as we had observed as 
recently as the day before, resembling with its side 
filaments a gigantic feather or the skeleton of a fish. 
In the State of Goyaz, it may be remembered, we 
had a more beautiful and complete effect at sunset of 
many radiating lines, starting from the east and joining 
again in the west, but here we had merely one single 
streak, dividing the sky in two. When the sun had long 
disappeared below the horizon, that streak high up in 
the sky was still lighted by its rays, becoming first golden, 
then red. The effect was quite weird. 
My men during the night went on another fishing 
expedition, but with no luck, partly due to the infamy 
of our dogs. They used as bait for their large hooks 
toucinho, or pork fat, of which they had started out pro¬ 
vided with a huge piece. They walked a good distance 
from camp to find a suitable spot. Unfortunately, 
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