HIGH PRICE OF LIVING 
A trail could be seen crossing the great undulating valley 
below us. It passed at the western terminus of the spur 
we were on. Evidently that was the trail connecting 
Diamantino with Cuyaba (the capital of Matto Grosso) 
via Rosario. The sight of a trail was most exhilarating to 
my men. Suddenly and quite unexpectedly we came upon 
a few wretched, tumble-down houses, if one may call them 
so, smothered in vegetation which grew everywhere. My 
animals themselves seemed astonished at the unusual sight. 
The horses neighed and the mules brayed loudly. Ma¬ 
sonry work perhaps suggested to them more substantial 
meals. Down a precipitous ravine, over large boulders 
and stumbling into big holes, into which the mules dis¬ 
appeared for a few seconds at a time ... we found 
ourselves in the main street of Diamantino. 
The village — the local people called it “ a city” — 
was the very picture of misery, yet to us it seemed as if 
we had dropped into the middle of London or Paris. 
There were a few resident traders, two or three Bra¬ 
zilians, two Italians, and a Turk. All were most hos¬ 
pitable and kind. The chief industry of the place was 
rubber, which found its way to the coast via the Paraguay 
River. 
Formerly Diamantino was a flourishing place because 
diamonds were found in abundance. Even now they can 
be found along the river, but the difficulty of access, even 
by the easiest way, and the great expense of living there 
have gradually depopulated the place, which was quite in 
an abandoned state when I was there. 
Here are some of the minimum prices which the 
rubber collectors had to pay for articles of necessity: 
Beans, Is. 6d. to 2s. per litre, 1 or about 4s. a pound; rice, 
2s. per litre; flour, Is. 4<d. per litre, about 4s. a pound; 
sugar, 5s. per kilo (2 pounds), rapadura, or sugar block, 
4s. per small cake; tobacco, 5s. per metre of twist; salt, 
1 A litre is a cube the sides of which are 3f inches. 
367 
