deep or so, and all extending from north to south.

We saw some gorgeous red _araras_ or macaws of giant size. They were a
beautiful sight as they flew, with their hoarse shrieks, above our heads.

At sunset we were travelling along the north edge of a great grassy
depression wooded in its central pit--the line of depression and of the
central vegetation being from north to south.

[Illustration: Mushroom-shaped Rocks of Volcanic Formation.]

[Illustration: A Great Earthquake Fissure in the Terrestrial Crust
(Matto Grosso).]

We were treated to a glorious sunset. The entire sky had become of a deep
violet colour and Indian red, relieved here and there by golden tints,
with blue cloudlets of wonderful regularity in a line. Curiously enough,
the most brilliant colouring was to the east and not to the west, as
would have been expected. Eventually the entire sky became of a
glorious yellow, like a golden cupola--blending into a lovely emerald
green in its highest point overhead.

Again we found ourselves on another large dome of eruptive rock, in some
places reduced into fine tobacco-coloured powder, getting somewhat darker
in colour where the under stratum was of sand and soft conglomerate
easily crumbled under pressure, and containing pellets of black
ferruginous rock and grains of iron. Large blocks of iron rock were
exposed to the air in many places.

We arrived at the third Salesian colony of St. Jose or Sangrador, near
which was a small settlement of Brazilians--a bad lot indeed. One of my
best horses was stolen here, and I was never able to recover it. I
remained in that unpleasant place for three days, endeavouring to recover
the animal, but it was of no avail.

The Salesians had a handsome property, the agricultural resources of
which they were fast developing. Sugar-cane, mandioca, rice, beans, and
Indian corn were raised with success. Father Antonio Malan,
Inspector-General of the Salesians, arrived from the west, via Cuyaba. He
was an extremely intelligent and enterprising man--who should be
congratulated on selecting such excellent sites for the various colonies,
as well as for the sensible, businesslike fashion in which the colonies
were conducted. They were indeed the only few bright spots where the
light of civilization shone in those sadly abandoned regions.

Here are the meagre entries in my diary for the two following days:--

May 29th. Remained at Sangrador in search of missing horse. Temperatu