ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
down against trees and liane, and we had the greatest 
difficulty in extricating them again. 
There was a low range extending from north to south 
along the left bank of the Rio Manso. From a hill 1,470 
feet high above the sea level, on the right bank of the 
river, we saw a plateau in four terraces — the third of 
the line of plateaux we had seen on our preceding march. 
Upon getting higher we perceived to the south, beyond 
the four-terraced plateau, another plateau with vertical 
walls, and to the southwest a high, double-humped dome 
resembling Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Evidently one more 
of the innumerable, extinct volcanoes to be seen in that 
region. The mountainous mass extended in a more con¬ 
fused form farther to the southwest. On our side of the 
Rio Manso the country was gently undulating; in fact, 
it formed many parallel ridges of low, well-rounded hills 
with occasional deep hollows or basins between. One 
could not help being particularly struck by the wonderful 
regularity and strong similarity of the curves on the 
parallel hill-ranges, as if all had been turned out of the 
same mould. The hill-range we were on was 1,500 feet 
above the sea level. The others, excepting one or two, 
were lower. 
There was an absolutely flat horizon line to the north, 
with no mountain range in sight. The country opening 
up before us was from that point almost entirely made 
up of campos, with growths of trees, principally near 
streams in the valleys. We crossed a watercourse thirty 
metres wide and one foot deep at an elevation of 1,350 
feet. We called it the Palmeira, owing to the many palms 
upon its banks. Here grew many great caja or cajazeiro 
trees (of the genus Anacardiaceas), the largest and tallest 
trees I had yet seen in Brazil, and Garappa or Garabu 
(of the genus Terebinthacese) trees — very interesting on 
account of their peculiar winged roots. They resembled 
the nonoko , which were characteristic of the Polynesian 
840 
