sufficient for anything to be absurdly unpractical for them to do so. It
only led, as it did with me at first, to continuous unpleasantness,
wearying discussions and eventual failure if one tried to diverge from
the local habits, or attempted to eradicate deeply-rooted ideas.

Let me describe a typical Brazilian pack-saddle. It weighed, with its
inseparable protecting hide, well over 90 lbs. It was bulky and
cumbersome, most difficult to lift and set right on the animal's back. It
consisted of two great parallel, clumsily-carved, heavy U-shaped pieces
of wood supported upright on two enormous pads, at least double the size
and thickness necessary. The breast and tail pieces were of extra thick
leather of great width, which had the double disadvantage of being heavy
and of producing bad sores by their constant friction and hard, saw-like,
cutting edges. Then the saddle allowed the loads to hang much too low on
the sides of the animal's body. This naturally saved trouble and effort
to the men who packed the animals. Two of them simply lifted the loads
simultaneously on the two sides and hooked them to the saddle by means of
adjusted loops of leather or rope. Then came the difficulty of keeping
the loads in position, so that they would not shift back and forth. This
was done by passing a leather thong over all and under the animal's
belly, which was then squeezed beyond all measure. Result of this:
continuous trouble to pack rebellious animals, who knew what was coming;
painful marching for the animals, who thus had difficulty in breathing,
and therefore extra long marches, almost an impossibility without much
injury to them. We will not speak of sore backs, sore sides, sore chests,
and sore tail root--which was a matter of course after a pack animal had
borne for a few hours one of those torturing arrangements on its back.

I had tried to adopt lighter saddles of a more practical design, such as
I had used on other expeditions; but as this involved a different method
altogether of packing the animals, it led to much derision,
unpleasantness, and refusal to do the work except in their own stupid
way, so that in order to save time, expense and trouble I had to conform,
much against my will, to the Brazilian method. It was an impossibility to
induce a Brazilian of the interior to agree that any other way of doing
anything was better or even as good as his own.

A painful phase of human existence, as the country became more