ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
spikes, which seldom attained a height of more than one 
inch above the ground. It was terribly poisonous if 
touched. 
We went over three successive ridges (elevation 1,300 
feet). On the summit of each ridge we found a profusion 
of marble debris and even large blocks immaculately white 
or else yellow, probably rendered of the latter colour by 
contact with iron, plentiful in that region. 
On the summit of the sixth ridge (elevation 1,330 
feet), that day, we came upon large sheets of foliated 
rock, again almost absolutely vertical in its stratification, 
and great masses of thin slate plates or foliations ex¬ 
tending from east to west. 
Farther on, from a high point, 1,450 feet above the 
sea level, we could gaze once more upon a gorgeous, 
panoramic view of the marvellous scenery we had left 
behind — the great plateaux of rock as red as fire, and 
“ Church-rock ” looming high against the sky. We kept 
on rising upon various undulations; that day’s march was 
one of continuous ascents and descents. At 1,600 feet 
we found more masses of vertically foliated slate, ashes 
consolidated into easily friable sheets, and large quantities 
of beautiful marble. 
To the north and northeast we had delightful scenery, 
the pao d’arco trees in full bloom, of a reddish purple 
colour, adding greatly to the vivid colour-scheme of that 
view, with its cobalt blue of the distant mountains and the 
Veronese green of the campos in the foreground. Nearly 
all the ridges we had crossed which extended from north¬ 
east to southwest were well rounded, being fairly well 
padded with sediments of earth, sand, and ashes. 
We descended to 1,300 feet (above the sea level) 
through thin forest, in a valley where bamboo was abun¬ 
dant, as well as gamelleira trees with their winged roots 
of great size. The gamelleira was somewhat larger than 
the garappa or garabu . We found in that valley a beau- 
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