n his
rifle, keeping the muzzle pointed constantly at me. On my suggesting that
he might point the weapon in another direction he roughly replied the
usual thing: "There is nothing to be afraid of, it is not loaded"--and he
proceeded to pull the trigger, the gun pointed straight at me, when I
leapt up and snatched it out of his hands. There was a cartridge in the
barrel and several cartridges in the magazine.

[Illustration: Author's Caravan across the Immense Prairies of
Matto Grosso.]

During the night the fusillade was constant. It was enough for the men to
hear a leaf fall. Immediately there was an alarm and the rifles were
fired. Once or twice the bullets came so unpleasantly near me that I
suspected they were intended for me. I thanked my stars that my men were
bad shots. To make sure of this fact, I one day had a shooting
competition. After that I became quite assured that it was sufficient to
be at the spot where they aimed to consider myself in absolute safety. It
was not so, of course, when they aimed somewhere else. I did not care to
take away the cartridges from them altogether, as they would have then
imagined that I was afraid of them--an impression which it would have
been fatal to let them entertain even for a moment. Each man was allowed
to replenish his belt each day to the extent of ten cartridges.

I have elsewhere referred to the absurd pack-saddles used in Brazil, so
heavy and unsteady when going over rough country, with the underpads so
difficult to adjust that the animals were soon a mass of sores on the
back, the sides of the body, on the chest and tail. I had other lighter
and more sensible saddles, but I had to discard them as the Brazilians
would not hear of using them, and I gave up in despair of teaching them
how to pack them. I eventually left those saddles behind.

The riding-saddles, too, were almost as absurd as the pack-saddles,
constructed as they were of innumerable and useless pieces of wood, iron
and leather. The stirrups were gaudy, and consisted of a regular shoe of
silver or other metal, into which you inserted the greater part of your
foot, or else of a much ornamented circular ring. The head-piece and bit
were also extremely heavy, clumsy, and highly decorated, for everything
must be made for show if it had to be used in Brazil.

It was not possible to associate in any way or be friendly with my men.
They were unpleasant beyond all conception. One could not say a word--no