CAPIM BRANCO RIVER 
possible way of finding a man, one had to be patient and 
make the best of what one could get. I gave them 
another chance, principally in order to save what I could 
of my baggage, most of which I was certain I should have 
had to abandon had I proceeded alone with Alcides. 
The Capim Branco River was situated between two 
undulating ridges of lava. 
I steered a course of 300° bearings magnetic (north¬ 
west), beginning a steep climb at once through the thin 
forest of the plateau to the north. In many places the 
mules slid and rolled down the precipitous slope of igneous 
rock and marble debris, scattering the packs in every 
direction. It was a wonder they were not killed. We 
urged the animals on, we pushed and pulled them, we 
held them with all our might by the bridles when they 
began to slide. After many narrow escapes we reached 
the summit — an immense, flat stretch of campos with 
stunted trees and delicious, crisp air — quite delightful 
after the stifling atmosphere of the Capim Branco basin. 
The elevation above the sea level was 2,300 feet. On the 
summit of the plateau was a deep stratum of red soil. 
Having marched across the entire width of the plateau, 
we found, on descending on the opposite side, another 
series of dome-like mounds of crimson, volcanic rock, with 
hardly any vegetation on them, joined together and form¬ 
ing many headlands, as it were. Beyond an empty space, 
an opening in the landscape, a great barrier crossed the 
range of domes almost at right angles. 
We descended through thick undergrowth, under big 
jatoba do matto (Hymencoea Courbaril L.) trees. The 
jatoba or jatahy wood has a high specific gravity, and is 
considered one of the woods with the highest resistance 
to disintegration in Brazil — as high as 1 kilogram 315 
grams per square centimetre. 
At 2,050 feet we found a streamlet flowing southward. 
We were then in a grassy basin — another cuvette with 
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