to Christianity was a different matter. The Salesians had
made little headway in that direction.

"We are patient people," said Father Colli; "it will come in time.
Already the Bororos are beginning to join us in the church, where many
enjoy singing with us. They are intelligent and soon learn to sing."

I purchased, at almost prohibitive prices, many things from the
Salesians, principally food for my animals and men. Of course, in buying
one had to realize where we were, which made all the difference in the
price. I was glad to pay them the money and obtain the commodities.

The Salesians told me that while digging to make the foundations for one
of their buildings they had found--only 3 ft. under ground--in the sandy
soil several earthen pots of great antiquity, in excellent preservation,
as well as a fireplace with ashes and charcoal. The sand had evidently
accumulated in the valley below there owing to wind and not to water. The
frail pottery, imperfectly baked, would have crumbled away quickly in
moisture.

On May 20th (min. 58 deg. Fahr., max. 85 deg.) we were again off toward the west,
travelling over great domes of red lava, the higher portions of which
were covered by layers of ashes and red sand. We were at an elevation of
1,480 ft. in the deep basin of the Rio Barreiros and Rio das Garcas, but
we soon went over three consecutive ridges, 1,550 ft. above the sea
level, with delicious campos and a _bosquet_ of trees here and there. In
the arc of a circle extending from north-west to south-west we had in
front of us a beautiful view. Previous to reaching the third ridge, that
day, we also had behind us a wonderful panorama of the great plateau
described in a previous chapter.

On travelling over a fourth elevation we found ourselves upon another
immense dome of red volcanic rock, blackened on the surface, as if by
fire, and with the peculiar striations we had noticed once or twice
before. In this case there were cross striations as well, the direction
of one set of parallel marks being from north-west to south-east, of the
other set north-east to south-west, thus forming lozenges, each about 60
cm. across. All those lozenges were so regularly cut that the _ensemble_
gave the appearance of a well-made pavement. Then I noticed some peculiar
great cavities in the rock, like those formed by glacial action. In fact,
on a superficial examination, it seemed almost as if that region had
first gone through a period of