, thoughtful, simple and hard-working, they did
all the work in the house. They were a great contrast to the lazy,
conceited, vain male portion of the population. Certainly, in a
population of 10,000 people, I met two or three men who deserved respect,
but they were the exception.

If the men were so timid, it was not altogether their fault; they could
not help it. It was enough to look at them to see that no great feats of
bravery could be expected of them. They were under-developed, exhausted,
eaten up by the most terrible complaint of the blood. The lives in which
they merely vegetated were without any mental stimulus. Many suffered
from goitre, others had chests that were pitiful to look at, so
under-developed were they; all continually complained, every time you
spoke to them, of headache, toothache, backache, or some other ache. They
were always dissatisfied with life and with the world at large, and had
no energy whatever to try and improve their condition. They were
extremely polite; they had a conventional code of good manners, to which,
they adhered faithfully--but that was all.

[Illustration: Some of Author's Pack Animals.]

At the end of the fourteen days in Goyaz I had been able to purchase a
good number of mules and horses--at a very high price, as the people
would not otherwise part with their quadrupeds. Also I had collected
all the riding and pack saddles and harness necessary, a sufficient
quantity of spare shoes for the animals, a number of large saws, axes,
picks and spades, large knives for cutting our way through the forest,
and every possible implement necessary on a journey of the kind I was
about to undertake. Everything was ready--except the men!

Alcides Ferreiro do Santos and Filippe da Costa de Britto--the two men
lent me by Mr. Louis Schnoor in Araguary--upon seeing my plight were at
last induced to accompany the expedition at a salary of close upon a
pound sterling a day each.

At the last moment the Presidente came to my rescue. He supplied me with
six men.

"They are criminals," he said to me, "and they will give you no end of
trouble"--a fact fully demonstrated three hours later that same evening,
when one of them--an ex-policeman--disappeared for ever with a few pounds
sterling I had advanced him in order to purchase clothes. Another fellow
vanished later, carrying away some 40 lb. of coffee, sugar, knives, and
other sundries. So then I had two criminals less.

I packed my ani