tant attention to watch for lost
baggage--besides the work of writing my notes as we rode along. The sound
of the dangling bells of the mules was monotonous to a degree, and so was
the aspect of the animals' tails swinging and slashing from one side to
the other in order to drive away tormenting flies. Occasionally, when
stung fiercely by a horse-fly, one or two animals would dash away wildly,
tearing off in their career low branches of trees and even altogether
knocking down good-sized trees, four or five inches in diameter.

This would seem impossible in any other country, but not in Brazil, where
the majority of the trees were nearly entirely eaten up inside by ants.
The roots, owing to the substratum of lava spread horizontally near the
surface, offered little resistance to side pressure upon the tree itself,
so that frequently even the weight of a man leaning against a tree was
sufficient to knock it down. I never shall forget how impressed I was the
first time I saw my men cut the way through the forest, slashing down
right and left good-sized trees with one swing each of their
_falcon_--heavy-bladed knives some 2 ft. long.

What terrific strength! I thought, until I happened to lean against a
tree, and down went the tree and myself too. Upon examination I found
that merely the bark remained, with a few filaments inside--the rest of
the interior having been entirely devoured by ants. Yet some of the top
branches seemed still alive, and had leaves. Again, even when quite
sound, those trees were extremely anaemic and soft, quite watery inside,
and could be cut almost as easily as celery.

This does not mean that all the trees of Brazil were worthless. No,
indeed. These remarks apply merely to that particular portion of Brazil
in which I was then travelling--where, barring the _burity_ palms in the
moist lands and marshes, the trees were mostly rickety and dwarfed, with
mouldy barks, malformed limbs, and scanty leaves. That is why, when we
came to the healthy mass of _burity_ palms and the lovely young grass,
one felt just the same as when, after having been through a hospital, one
emerges into the fresh air among healthy people.

That night we encamped on the heavenly meadow. We felt we had reached
Paradise. For the first time great flocks of parrots and
gorgeously-coloured macaws played about and enlivened the air with their
shrill whistles and shrieks, and flew over the palms, gently swung to and
fro by the win