  A Swampy Valley—Impressive Scenery—"Church Rock"—Escaping before a Forest Fire—The Rio Manso—Difficulties of marching across Virgin Country—Beautiful Rapids On leaving camp (June 15th) I noticed that the hills on which I had found the fossils formed a semicircle to the west. Rising quickly to an elevation of 2,070 ft., we were in sight of two great table-lands which stood to the west. In crossing the river I found a number of other fossils, among which was one that appeared to be the petrified foot of an animal of enormous proportions. We soon crossed the little stream Lazinha, which flowed into the Pedra Grande. As we travelled over two ridges (altitude 2,100 ft. and 2,130 ft.) separating deep basins, and the weather cleared a little, the view before us of the entire line of natural gateways, with two additional pyramidal and prismatic peaks to the south, became more and more beautiful. There was a strong breeze blowing from the north-east. At an elevation of 2,150 ft. we found quantities of marble chips and blocks and great masses of ferruginous, froth-like rock. As we went along we obtained an imposing view to the north of an immense plateau in three terraces, the lower one appearing like the sea—it was so blue Central Brazil was certainly a country of flat sky-lines—so flat that often when the distance became of a pure cobalt blue one had the impression of overlooking an immense ocean, to which the green undulations in sweeping lines in the nearer foreground added the impression of great waves. It was indeed difficult to realize the stupendous magnitude of the scenes we constantly had before us. That day, for instance, the plateau to the north of us stretched across towards the east for 70° of the compass from bearings magnetic 320° (N.N.W.) to 30° (N.N.E.). Above the plateau was a strange effect of clouds—a succession of arrow-shaped, nebulous masses. We still came upon basins of grey ashes—cuvettes—but in that region these were deeper than those we had observed so far, had luxuriant grass, and in the moist centre the invariable line of burity palm and heavily foliaged trees. Travelling on a northerly course, and then to the north-west, we descended, after having marched 20 kil., into a basin (elev. 1,950 ft.) where a thick and wide deposit of fine white sand and minute crystals covered the deeper part of the depression. Then, farther on, the sand was replaced by the usual deposits of grey ashes which filled the remainder of the basin. A streamlet which had its birth in the centre of the basin flowed As we were marching by compass, with no trail whatever, we found ourselves entangled in a swampy valley with tall reeds, from which we had some difficulty in extricating ourselves. We eventually had to retrace our steps for six kilometres in order to find an easier way for our animals. After an examination of the country with my telescope from a high spot, I decided to go westward across a flat swampy plain of ashes, sand and water—most troublesome for the mules and horses. They sank deep into the soft ground and frequently rolled over, damaging saddles and baggage. One or two of my men had involuntary baths when the animals' knees gave way under them. As soon as we had emerged from that wearisome marsh the animals and men were so tired—although we had only gone 22 kil. from our last camp, without counting the deviation (28 kil. with deviation)—that I had to encamp on the bank of the streamlet FascinÁ, coming from the west. There we had the laborious task of spreading to dry all the articles that had got wet—including my bedding, tent, and a quantity of my clothing, which was not packed like all the rest in air- and water-tight cases. The stream FascinÁ flowed into the Rio Furnas and eventually into the Rio Manso to the north—the latter June 16th. Minimum temperature 54° Fahr.; elevation 1,940 ft. On leaving camp, after a good deal of trouble in recovering our animals in the morning, as they had strayed in all directions, we found ourselves travelling along the edge of a large grassy basin (elev. 2,000 ft.) extending from south-east to north-west, with a wonderful growth of burity palms; then upon a second basin (elev. 2,100 ft.) with deep deposits of ashes. We climbed higher, to 2,150 ft., where we found a third oval cuvette with a surface layer of ashes—merely a continuation of the preceding cuvette. We here resumed our northerly course, going through what the Brazilians call chapada, or high land scantily wooded. To the south-west we had a high plateau with round natural towers of red rock, resembling the walls of a fortress. Those red cylindrical towers stood all along the summit of the range—with immense square blocks of grey rock above them in horizontal strata. In the centre of that long range could be perceived a double-tiered crater and several grottoes. In its northern section the range was vertical, with red and yellow rocky walls over 300 ft. high. On the summit of that rocky stratum were other strata with a dip to the south. Half way up could be observed a red ledge about 10 ft. thick (also with a dip to the south) all along the entire length of the range. Colossal blocks and flows of lava were to be seen 300 yards east Evidently there was a crater in that northern part, the castle-like structure being merely formed by many superposed layers of yellow lava. Near the throat of the crater the lava was hard baked and of a bluish red colour. In the lower section the strata were each 6 ft. thick, under a smooth band, absolutely horizontal, 100 ft. in thickness. There were then two top layers, each 20 ft. thick, and four more layers each 4 ft. thick, and slightly wavy. The last ones were somewhat shattered, and displayed large blocks moved out of position—apparently by a volcanic explosion. In going round the northern corner of the range more similar buttresses, like towers, were disclosed—I could count as many as eight—projecting out of the immense vertical block of rock. Those buttresses were of brown and bright yellow rock. The range had a general direction from south-east to north-west. Great deposits of white sand and ashes were noticeable on the surface. In cuts and in the bed of a streamlet were strata of consolidated ashes in distinct layers one inch thick. The foot of the gigantic rocky mass was at an elevation of 1,700 ft. We were on a slanting plane forming a conical basin in continuation of the crater. To the north, where the basin opened, was a great stretch of cobalt blue in the distance, which looked just like a glimpse of the ocean. But We were now entering a region of the most impressive and weird scenery I had ever seen, except, indeed, in the Himalaya Mountains. Directly in front of us towered the Morro PlumÃo, a most striking giant block of rock several hundred feet high, standing quite alone, and resembling a church surmounting a mediÆval castle—not unlike St. Michael's Mount, only with land around instead of water. Even quite close to it the illusion was perfect. This wonderful natural structure of dark red rock was in perfectly horizontal strata, each 10 ft. thick, separated and clearly defined by whitish lines, which aided to give the illusion of a wonderful work of masonry. "Church-rock," as I called it—or "Spray-rock" (PlumÃo), as my men named it—stood majestically in solitary grandeur in the middle of a great subsidence of the soil. That great subsidence was in turn bordered by immense vertical cliffs of the same rock of which "Church-rock" was formed. Indeed, it was clear that the soil had given way, leaving only that great rock standing. Even my men—for the first time since they had been with me—were deeply impressed by that wonderful spectacle; so much so that they all took off their hats, as Brazilians always do in passing churches. We traversed the great depression, which gave us irrefutable evidence of what had taken place in that zone. The great rocky, plateau-like mountain to our left had split and fallen over on the north side, describing an arc of a circle of 90°. In fact, as we went along, in places where the rock under foot was exposed, Behind "Church-rock" to the north-west was a massive plateau, beyond which stretched an immense undulating depression with two outstretching spurs from south-west to north-east upon it. "Church-rock" was 26 kil. from our last camp. On the north side of "Church-rock," close to the conical hill upon which the giant quadrangle of rock rested, was a hump formed by huge blocks, the top one—a colossal one—just balanced, as if it might tumble over at any moment. Then on the side could be seen a lava-flow and huge masses of lava which had been shot up with great force and curled over, retaining the frothy appearance of its former state of ebullition. Strangely enough, even when seen from the side and from behind (N.N.W. view), "Church-rock" retained all the semblance of a castle and church perched up on that high pinnacle. From the N.N.W., besides the castellated towers which surmounted all, there appeared a perfect representation of a gabled roof over the body of the church, as well as the flying buttresses of the walls. Behind was a great cylindrical annexe with a semi-spherical superstructure, such as is often to be seen behind Roman Catholic churches. The illusion was really wonderful. Owing to the pools of water not far from "Church-rock" we called that spot Caponga de la LagÕa. A few hundred yards beyond "Church-rock" we came upon another extraordinary sight: a quad On looking back upon the great range of rock which ended abruptly near "Church-rock" (which, as we have seen, once formed part of it), a great semicircular cavity was disclosed on its western face. The summit of the wall around the cavity rested on an inclined plane, which in its turn rested above a vertical concave wall. The latter wall of rock had conical buttresses at the terminal points. West-north-west of the great wall was an immense depression. Only a conical hill rose above its last undulations. The upper edge of that depression was at an altitude of 1,550 ft. above the sea level, whereas the top of "Church-rock" was fully a thousand feet higher—viz. 2,550 ft. A Grand Rock. "Church rock." Church Rock. (Side view.) At the terminus of the first section of the cliff range, Next to the second section of the range, to the north, was a high mountain of two twin-pointed peaks, shaped like a badly-pitched tent. Then came another plateau, much eroded on its south side. Beyond was an immense black plateau on three successive tiers—and this one, unlike the others of which it was merely a continuation, had sloping instead of vertical sides. We had a nasty experience that day, which for the moment made us forget the beauty of that wonderful scenery. We were going through high scrub and stunted trees and tall grass, much dried by the intense heat—quite suffocating in the basin with the refraction from the huge rocks. A strong breeze sprang up, and we were delighted—when we saw, fast approaching, a dense black and white cloud rolling, as it were, along the ground. As it got nearer there were such loud crackling and explosions that it seemed like the volleys of musketry in a battle. My horses and mules pricked up their ears, lifting their heads high—sniffing, neighing, and braying. They became restless. Before we had time to realize what was the matter, we saw tongues of flames shoot out from the earth. Within a few seconds, with the wind which was blowing high, we For some little time it was all we could do to keep a few yards in front of the flames, the heat of which was roasting our backs and necks. At last, in a desperate effort, we managed to get slightly ahead, and when we descended—some of the animals rolled down—into a deep depression, we found ourselves clear of the smoke. The wind was unfortunately blowing the way we were travelling, but in that depression we were sheltered, and the fire would not travel so fast. Our We had unavoidably deviated several kilometres from our course, as the animals were beyond guiding under those circumstances. Eventually, after a considerable detour in order to avoid the flames, we went over several undulations—especially a peninsula-like spine of rock rising over a great depression, then between two twin mountains. We emerged on the bank of the Rio Manso, flowing northward on a pebbly bed. We crossed it where it was one hundred metres wide, but only 2 to 3 ft. deep. There was a thick growth of vegetation—a belt some hundred yards wide—on both banks of the river. The Rio Manso was there at an altitude above the sea level of 1,150 ft. I took observations for longitude, and latitude by double altitudes at that place. (Lat. 13° 53' S; Long. 55° 13' W.) I had to halt there one day in order to give the animals a rest, after the long and reckless march of the previous day—a distance of 42 kil. The source of the Rio Manso was to the E.S.E. some 120 kil. from the place where we crossed it. Where we encamped it received a small streamlet, flowing over a bed of laminated igneous rock and several successive strata of slate, which in some places were in a vertical position, in others at an angle of 40°. I noticed this vertical foliation and these laminated strata all over The Rio Manso, which flowed into the Cuyaba River, was not to be confounded with the Rio Manso forming the head-waters of the Rio das Mortes, which eventually threw itself into the River Araguaya. Owing to one of my animals having strayed away and the difficulty of finding it again in the tall grass and high vegetation, we were not able to leave camp until the afternoon of June 18th. Soon after starting on the march we went through a marvellous arch of thick foliage, creepers, bamboos, and akurÍ palms, previous to crossing a streamlet 9 metres wide and 1 ft. deep—flowing towards the west. We had no end of trouble near these streamlets, as they flowed between precipitous banks 50 to 70 ft. high. There was no trail. The animals frequently lost their footing over the slippery, steep slope, and rolled down, baggage and all, until they reached the bottom; or else they would sometimes stick half way down against trees and liane, and we had the greatest difficulty in extricating them again. Quadrangular Rocky Mountain connected by Natural Wall of Rock with the Vertical-sided Range in Background. There was a low range extending from north to south along the left bank of the Rio Manso. From a hill 1,470 ft. 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 south-west a high double-humped dome—resembling Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Evidently one more of the innumerable extinct volcanoes 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 chapada or growths of trees principally near streams in the valleys. We crossed a watercourse 30 metres wide and 1 ft. deep at an elevation of 1,350 ft. We called it the Palmeira, owing to the many palms upon its banks. Here grew many great caja or cajazeiro trees (of the genus AnacardiaceÆ), the largest and tallest trees I had yet seen in Brazil, and Garappa or Garabu (of the genus TerebinthaceÆ) trees—very interesting on account of their peculiar winged roots. They resembled the nonoko, which were characteristic of the Polynesian Islands and Philippine Archipelago, only the Brazilian ones never attained proportions so large. With endless trouble we had gone 20 kil. We had come to streams, where again, owing to the precipitous descents on the slippery high banks, several mules fell over and rolled down into the stream. One mule, particularly, had become very nervous on ap I had given strict orders that in places of that kind the more timid animals were to be unloaded, and the loads conveyed across on men's backs. My orders were always disobeyed. The result generally was that not only did the men have to carry the loads eventually, but we had to carry the animals as well. Endless time and energy were thus wasted. That is what happens to people who try to save themselves trouble. At sundown, after having witnessed a glorious view of the valley to the north, we descended rapidly amidst luxuriant vegetation of tall bamboos, akurÍ palms, and Wherever possible I took observations for latitude and longitude, in order to ascertain my exact position; an 8-in. sextant, mercurial artificial horizon and chronometers being used for the purpose. It is not easy to describe the torture I had to go through when taking those tedious astronomical observations. The glass roof of the artificial horizon had unfortunately got broken. I had to use a great deal of ingenuity in order to screen the mercury from the wind so as to obtain a well-defined reflection. No sooner was I getting a perfect contact of the sun's image and its reflection than some huge fly or other insect would begin to promenade on the mercury, disturbing its surface. Butterflies were even more troublesome, as they left upon the mercury—by the luminosity of which they were greatly attracted—sediments of multi-coloured powder and down from their wings and bodies. The mercury had to be carefully re-filtered before work could proceed. Then, what was worse, when both your hands were occupied—one holding the sextant, the other gently screwing the vernier—hundreds of mosquitoes, taking advantage of your helpless condition, buzzed round and settled on your nose, ears, neck, eyelids and forehead, stinging you for all they were Quadrangular Rocky Mountain showing Rocky Wall connecting it with the Neighbouring Range. Quadrangular Rocky Mountain showing Rocky Wall connecting it with the Neighbouring Range. Author's Caravan in the Heart of Matto Grosso. Author's Caravan in the Heart of Matto Grosso. We continued our march northward, the temperature in the sun being 105° Fahr. The minimum temperature had been 60° Fahr. during the night of June 17th, and 64° on June 18th. We crossed the Piraputanga River, flowing into the Rio Manso, and then passed over a magnificent flow of yellow, red and black lava, the Cambayuvah River, a tributary of the Palmeira. A beautiful waterfall tumbled over with a great noise into a pool, scooped out of an immense block of such hardened rock that even the force of that violent stream seemed to have had but little erosive effect upon it. The edges of it were as sharp as possible, instead of being worn smooth and rounded by the constant rapid flow of water. The rock had been hard baked, and was of a shiny black colour, almost as shiny as crystal. At the bottom of those picturesque rapids was a circular volcanic vent, the periphery of which had been blackened by the action of fire. The Cambayuvah followed a general course of south-east to north-west. We camped near that enchanting spot—most picturesque, but terrible for my animals, as the grazing was poor. My mules, when let free at the end of the march, stood helpless around the camp, looking reproachfully at us, and making no effort to go far afield in order to get something to eat. The poor things were quite exhausted. I saw well that they could not last much longer. My men were constantly worrying me, and saying that we were going to sure perdition. They had become painfully home-sick, and had they not been dead-tired too—more so, perhaps, than the mules In all my travels I have seldom come across men more helpless at finding their way about, or realizing in which direction they had travelled. Barring Alcides, none of them had any more idea whether we had travelled south, north, east, or west of Goyaz, than the man in the moon. Naturally I did not exert myself to enlighten them unduly, for there lay my great and only hold over them. I had fully realized that I was travelling with an itinerant lunatic asylum, and I treated my men accordingly. No matter what they did or said, I always managed to have things my own way. Never by violence, or by a persuasive flow of language—the means used by the average mortal. No, indeed; but by mere gentleness and kindness; very often by absolute silence. Few people realize the force of silence on momentous occasions; but of course few people know how to remain silently silent—if I may so express it—in moments when their life is seriously at stake. Silence is indeed the greatest force a man can use, if he knows how to use it. It is certainly invaluable in exploring, when naturally one is not always thrown into contact with the best of people. We were at a low elevation—only 1,300 ft. above the sea level. We were travelling over immense quantities of marble pebbles and volcanic dÉbris. We there made the acquaintance of the gramadin, a plant with curved 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 (elev. 1,300 ft.). On the summit of each ridge we found a profusion of marble dÉbris 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 (elev. 1,330 ft.), that day, we came upon large sheets of foliated rock—again almost absolutely vertical in its stratification Farther on, from a high point, 1,450 ft. 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 ft. we found more masses of vertically foliated slate, ashes consolidated into easily-friable sheets, and large quantities of beautiful marble. To the north and north-east 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 south-west were well rounded—fairly well padded with sediments of earth, sand and ashes. A Giant Dome of Lava. Campos and Chapada of Matto Grosso. Campos and Chapada of Matto Grosso. We descended to 1,300 ft. (above the sea level) through thin forest, in a valley where bamboo was abundant 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 beautiful grove of akurÍ palms, the palms being 10 to 15 ft. high. In going through—cutting our way with falcons—long heavy-bladed knives specially made for cutting through forests—we were much worried by spiders' webs of great size, from which we had trouble in extricating our heads and hands as we went along. Most interesting of all was the cepa d'agua—a powerful liana, four inches in diameter, festooned from the highest branches of trees, and which when cut ejected most delicious cool water. Then there was a tree called by the Brazilians "mulher pobre," or "poor woman's tree"—do you know why?—because from its juice it was possible to make soap, which saved the expense of buying it. There was a roundabout way of reasoning for you. Eighteen kilometres from our last camp we came to a rapid streamlet of the most limpid water, the Rio Mazagan (elev. 1,300 ft. above the sea level), four metres wide and four inches deep. When we drank it it nearly made us ill, so foul was its taste of sulphur and lead. The treacherous stream flowed into the CuyabÁ River. There were many tamburi trees of great proportions, handsome trees with clean, healthy white bark and minute leaves—at the summit of the tree only. In the forest, although the taller trees were generally far apart, none of them had branches or leaves lower than 30 to 40 ft. from the ground. The angico or angicu (Piptadenia rigida Benth.), which was quite plentiful, was also a good-looking tree of appreciable height and circumference. Upon emerging from the beautiful forest, quite clear underneath with only a few ferns, we crossed great campos—"campina grande," as my Brazilians called them. Skirting the forest in a northerly direction, we In the great undulating valley we left behind—as we now altered our course slightly to the north-west—was prominent a double-humped hill which rose higher than any other except in the north-west portion of the landscape. There a high chain of hills could be seen. When we crossed over the second ridge (elev. 1,400 ft.), strewn with yellow lava pellets, at the end of extensive campos we obtained an imposing view to the north. An elevated flat-topped table-land of great magnitude rose in front of us—a perfectly straight line against the sky, but terminating abruptly with three gigantic steps, with a subsidiary one upon the second step, at its western end. This plateau stood out, a brilliant mass of cobalt blue with great projecting spurs, like a half-section of a cone surmounted by a semi-cylindrical tower along the southern wall of the plateau. Then a strange hill mass of four distinct composite domed heights with minor peaks stood between the plateau and us—and extended, like most of the other ranges, from south-east to north-west. |
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