FILIPPE MISSING 
happened to him. Had he been one of the other men I 
should have thought it a case of desertion; but Filippe 
was a good fellow, and I had felt from the beginning 
that he and Alcides would be the two faithful men on that 
expedition. I went back alone a mile or two in the 
moonlight to try and find him, but with no success. 
At sunrise I ordered two men to go in search of him. 
The fellows, who had no mercy whatever even for one 
another, were loth to go back to look for their companion 
and his mount. When they eventually started they each 
took a pick to dig his grave in case they found him dead. 
Fortunately they had been gone from camp only a few 
minutes when I perceived Filippe riding down the steep 
incline. 
. The minimum temperature was only 55° Fahrenheit 
during the night, but it was so damp that my men felt the 
cold intensely, especially as there were gusts of a sharp 
breeze from the northeast. Moreover, in the deep hollow 
with thick grass in which we camped (elevation 2,200 feet 
above the sea level) we suffered absolute torture from the 
swarms of carrapatos of all sizes, mosquitoes, and flies. 
The air and earth were thick with them. The water was 
dirty and almost undrinkable, as it passed through a lot 
of decomposing vegetation. 
I was glad when Filippe reappeared and we were able 
to leave that terrible spot. Great undulations were now 
met with, 300 feet and more in height. 
Only one and a half kilometres farther on we came to 
the Presidente stream, flowing south (elevation 2,100 
feet) over a bed of ashes, while its banks were formed of 
thick deposits of finely powdered, yellow, volcanic sand 
and dust. 
We went over a huge dome covered with a stratum 
of broWn sand, exposing on its western side a large wall 
of igneous rock with much-fissured strata dipping to 
the northwest. Immense, isolated rocks showed vertical 
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