d be between the lovely
refined face of an aristocratic woman and that of a handsome massive
peasant girl.

Water was certainly not lacking in that country. We crossed the Rio
Striminho, then the Rio Stacco flowing from south-west to north-east into
a lagoon formed by the Rio Claro. We camped on the bank of the Rio
Stacco. The water was delicious.

[Illustration: The Araguaya River (looking North).]

[Illustration: The Araguaya (looking South).]

The negro Filippe killed a wild boar. My men had a great time preparing a
huge dinner. They absolutely gorged themselves. Personally I never
touch pig in any shape or form, as I cannot get over the idea that its
meat is poisonous for any thoroughly healthy person. It may, of course,
not be so to people who are not absolutely healthy. The very sight and
odour of it make me quite ill, and I fully share the idea of Mahommedans
that the meat--certainly of tame pigs--is most unclean.

As we went on we had good sport, my men taking the greatest delight in
fishing in the rivers on the banks of which we halted. The travelling was
easy over flat country. We made short marches for some days, in order to
let the animals recover their lost strength. In the river Las Almas
(elev. 1,250 ft.), 20 metres wide and 3 ft. deep, flowing north-west, we
caught a beautiful _pintado_ fish--so called because of its spotted
appearance. That fish possessed a huge flat head, with long feelers, two
on the nose--at the side of the nostrils, to be accurate--two under its
lower mandible. The mouth was enormous in comparison with the total
length of the fish, and could be opened at an extraordinarily wide angle.
Inside were most peculiar teeth in sets of twos, while the mouth was
lined with thousands of hard, tiny sharp points. The eyes were far back
upon the skull. The bony dome of the palate was divided in the centre,
and a similar separation was to be observed in the centre of the lower
jaw, giving thus a great flexibility to the interior of the mouth. When
measured, the length of the head was exactly one-third of the length of
the entire fish.

Other fish, too, were caught that day, called _mandibe_ or _fidalgo_.

The aspect of the country was gradually changing. During that day's march
we had gone over beautiful open stretches of grassy land with only a few
stunted trees upon them. _Bosquets_ or tufts of small palms or other
trees were to be seen, raised on small mounds, showing how the country
wa