nic sand and
ashes, and in one place traversed a patch of shattered debris with
cutting edges of eruptive rock, and brilliant red or deep black pebbles.
Then again we saw masses of the usual ferruginous, much-perforated
rocks--many so absolutely spherical as to resemble cannon-balls.

To the west we could see before us lovely green
undulations--campos--with, in the centre, a curious hump that looked as
though due to subterranean pressure. In the distance was visible another
of those long flat-topped plateaus typical of Brazil, with a headland
which, owing, it seemed, chiefly to erosion, had become separated from
the main range. It resembled and was parallel with the second range of
the split mountains we had just left. Some nine kilometres from our last
camp we encountered the river Das Corgo, flowing south (elev. 1,150 ft.)
over a bed formed by an impressive great flow of solidified red lava
covered in some places by deposits of bright red earth. Beyond the river
we found ourselves again upon yellow sand and ashes.

Beneath a cirro-cumulus--or mackerel sky--again that day, wonderfully
beautiful because of its perfection of design, we were gradually rising
over the domed elevation we had previously observed, upon which we found
masses of tiny pebbles--what are known to geologists by the Italian name
of "puzzolana" or _scoriae_ reduced to a granular condition. Farther on,
travelling over other undulations, we sank into thick deposits of grey
and yellow volcanic scoriae, such as fine sand, cinders, and lapilli. At
the highest point (elev. 1,270 ft.) we travelled over deep sediments of
sand and ashes mixed together. All those undulations, as a matter of
fact, were above great buried flows of red lava, which were invariably
exposed to sight in the depressions, particularly in the beds of rivers.

Being a great lover of good water--to my mind the elixir of life, the
great secret of health and strength--I was always enraptured by the
deliciousness of the water in the streams we met. It was so crystalline
and limpid that one could not resist the temptation of drinking it, even
when not thirsty. I always carried slung to my saddle an enamelled tin
cup attached to a string so as to be able to procure myself a drink at
all the streams without getting off my mount.

Twelve kilometres from our last camp we came to a watercourse flowing
into a big stream at the bottom of the valley. Its bed was in overlapping
terraces of polished