had judged from the first moment I had laid eyes upon
them, those were really the only two men who were any good at all. "_Il
bon di si vede dal mattino_" (A fine day is seen in the morning), says an
ancient and very true Italian proverb; truer, perhaps, in its philosophy
with individuals than with the weather.

Many of my men's complaints vanished with the warmth of the sun--108 deg.
Fahr. at 1 p.m., with a maximum temperature during the day of 85 deg. in the
shade.

With the beautiful clear sky and a gentle breeze blowing, it was a real
delight to march. Only a slight whitish mist--always in horizontal
streaks--was to be noticed near the earth. The sky, although limpid, was
never of a deep blue, but merely of a pale cobalt. The dew was heavy
during the night and soaked everything, making the baggage, the tents
particularly, heavy for the animals to carry. We still kept at an
elevation of 1,250 ft., noticing, as we marched on, an isolated range of
hills extending from north-east to south-west and showing considerable
erosion at its south-westerly terminus. Two conical hills--one a broken
cone--stood on the summit of a flat plateau, the entire range, as well as
the summit of hills, showing eroded slopes with vertical wall-like
superior portions.

After leaving the stream at the foot of a range 1,450 ft. above the sea
level, on rising over a low pass I could observe to the north-east of
that range great blocks of eruptive rock much perforated, in which were
embedded pellets of yellow lava and of red and black baked igneous rock.
On examining the north-eastern end of the main part of the range it was
apparent that what remained standing before us was merely one half of a
circular crater, the other half of which had collapsed or had been blown
up by volcanic action. The bottom of the crater was subsequently filled
with alluvial deposits. There was there a grassy plain with a few
_burity_ palms. In the valley before us was ideal pasture land, which
will some day be of great value.

We crossed two cols (elev. 1,550 ft.) with a beautiful plain between.
Then we descended into a third lovely valley on the north side of the
outer wall of the crater. The grazing was perfect for the animals.
Clusters of vigorous, healthy _burity_ palms stood in great numbers in
the centre and at the sides of the valley. This great valley was bounded
by two ridges extending in a northerly direction--two spurs, as it were.
The rounded, channelle