ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
the sun above and the lava below. The dogs were amusing 
enough, curling down quickly to rest wherever a mangy 
shrub gave the slightest suspicion of a shade. The men, 
more stupid always than beasts, were sweating and swear¬ 
ing freely, and thumped mercilessly on the rumps of the 
tired animals with the butts and muzzles of their rifles, 
in order to urge them along. 
The very sound of the mules’ neck-bells seemed tired 
and worn; its brisk tinkling of our days of vigour had 
given room to a monotonous and feeble, almost dead, ding 
. . . dong, at long intervals, well suggesting the ex¬ 
haustion of the poor animals, which were just able to drag 
along. The slightest obstacle — a loose stone, a step in 
the lava and first one animal, then another, would collapse 
and roll down, and we had to dismount and help them up 
on their feet again — quite a hard job, I can tell you, 
when the animals were nearly dead and would not get 
up again. 
As we went along, more and more headlands of the 
great plateau appeared before us to the west. We still 
went on descending on the top of the long spur of lava. 
When not too busy with our animals, and quite out of 
breath with the heat and stifling air from the heated rock, 
I sometimes glanced at the glorious panorama on both 
sides of us. When we had proceeded farther I ascertained 
that there were really two crescents contained side by side 
within a larger crescent. Under us to the south a vast, 
undulating plain stretched as far as the eye could see 
toward the southwest and west. On describing a revolu¬ 
tion upon your heels your eye met the other end of the 
larger crescent plateau to the northwest. The Serra do 
Tombador extended in a southwesterly direction from 
north of Diamantino to S. Luiz de Caceres, to the west of 
the Paraguay River. The height of the spur on which 
we were was 1,350 feet above the sea level. 
We had come in a great circle on the upper edge. 
366 
