o 1,400 ft. at our present camp, the highest elevation
between these two places being on a rocky hillock about 100 ft. higher
than those altitudes.

Our camp was on a streamlet flowing from south to north, of milky water
containing lime, which made our tongues and gums smart when we drank it.

Again on May 3rd we went through forest all the time, with wonderful
palms and many medicinal plants. Alcides had an extensive knowledge of
the curative qualities of the various plants. Various species of the
_Caroba_ (_Bignoniaceae_), very beneficial, they say, as a blood purifier,
especially in the worst of terrible complaints, were plentiful there.
Giant nettles, the _Ortiga_ or _Cassausan_, as it is locally called, were
also frequently noticeable, especially when we passed too near and were
stung all over by them.

We had risen to 1,200 ft. on the summit of a range called O Fogo. From it
we had another exquisite view of the mountain range called Bucainha,
which we had left behind to the east. It had a marked erosion on its
north side.

On the west side of the pass we found curious small domes as well as
pillars and other rocks of columnar formation. We had met during the day
many _Aricori_ palms, which, I was told, produced a sweet fruit excellent
to eat when ripe, in the month of November.

After a steep rocky descent we made our camp. We halted earlier than
usual. I was sitting outside my tent while my dinner was being cooked. I
could not help smiling at the warlike array which had been necessary in
order to make a start from Goyaz. The camp was a regular armoury.
Beautiful magazine rifles, now rusty and dirty owing to the carelessness
of the men, were lying about on the ground; revolvers and automatic
pistols stuck half out of their slings on the men's belts as they walked
about the camp; large knives and daggers had been thrown about, and so
had the huge, heavy, nickel-plated spurs of the men, with their gigantic
spiked wheels. These wheels were as much as two inches in diameter and
even more. It was the habit of Brazilians to wear the spurs upside down,
so that when they got off their mounts they had to remove them or it
would have been impossible for them to walk. Naturally, worn like that,
they were much more effective, and were intended to torment the animals
with greater success.

I reprimanded the men for keeping their weapons so dirty. One man
thereupon sat himself three feet away from me and proceeded to clea