e, stork-like, upon
one foot at a time I was able--this time undisturbed--to remove both
spurs.

"Take off your hat before entering," again shouted the policeman, as I
was still some fifteen yards from the door.

I really began to feel rather nervous, with all those orders grunted at
me. I wondered at the strange people who must visit the palace to have to
be instructed to such an extent before entering. I also stopped for a
moment to ponder whether I had taken off all that was necessary to enter
a palace where so much etiquette was required.

The moment I entered things were different. I was ushered into an
ante-room, where I had to go through a short cross-examination by some
police officers. Then, when they had made sure of my identity, they
immediately led me before the Presidente.

The Presidente greeted me with effusion. He was a most polished and
charming gentleman from Rio de Janeiro, had travelled extensively in
Europe, and could speak French and English. He roared heartily when I
told him of my experience outside his palace.

"They are all savages here," he told me; "you must not mind. The sentry
has orders to keep everybody away from the palace, as people come in the
afternoon and squat under my windows to jabber, and I cannot sleep. Those
orders, I assure you, were not meant for you. You will be my guest all
the time you are in the city, and I can accept no excuse."

The Presidente placed a small house near the palace at my disposal, and
insisted on my having all meals with his family--most refined, handsome,
exquisitely polite wife and daughters.

I presented the credentials I possessed from the Minister of Agriculture
in Rio and the Brazilian Ambassador in London, requesting the Presidente
to do all in his power to further the success of the expedition--I, of
course, paying all expenses. The Presidente, like most other Brazilians
of a certain age, was _blase_ beyond words. Nothing interested him except
his family, and life was not worth living. He believed in nothing. He was
an atheist because he had not been as successful as he wished in the
world, and attributed the fault to God. He cared little about the future
of his country. If his country and all his countrymen went to a warmer
place than Heaven, he would be glad to see them go that way! As for going
exploring, mapping unknown regions, studying the country and the people,
building roads, railways and telegraphs, it little mattered to him, but