ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
On descending from the summit of the plateau, by a 
very steep slope, we saw many shrubs of sapatinho, a 
medicinal plant of the genus euphorbiacece (Euphorbia), 
growing in the interstices of red, igneous rock, and among 
debris of marble, crystals, and eruptive pebbles. 
During the night we had a magnificent lunar display. 
There was a good deal of moisture in the air, and mist. 
First of all a gorgeous lunar halo was observed, which 
later vanished to leave room for a most extraordinary, 
geometrical design upon the partly moon-illuminated 
clouds and masses of mist. A most perfect, luminous, 
equilateral triangle appeared, with its apex downwards 
to the west and the half-moon in the central point of the 
base-line of the triangle above. On either side of the apex 
of the triangle faint concentric circles blended away into 
the sky near the horizon. Later in the night that curious 
effect disappeared, and a multiple lunar rainbow of 
amazing beauty and perfection was to be admired. 
In ecstasy at the beautiful sight, and in a moment of 
forgetfulness, I drew the attention of my men to the 
wonderful spectacle. 
“ That’s the moon!” they answered, with a snarl. 
Talking among themselves, they contemptuously added: 
“He has never seen the moon before! ” and they went on 
with the never-changing, blood-curdling tales of murders 
which filled them nightly with delight. 
The streamlet flowing south, on the bank of which we 
camped, took its name of Sapatinho from the many 
sapatinho trees which were in the neighbourhood. It was 
a curious watercourse, which disappeared into a tunnel 
in the rock, to reappear only farther off out of a hole in a 
red lava-flow. 
We had marched until late into the night, and it was 
not until we arrived and made camp that I noticed that 
Filippe the negro was missing. Several hours elapsed, 
and as he had not turned up, I feared that something had 
292 
