17
Presidente to Capim Branco 14 850
-----------
Total 509 450
===========

CHAPTER XXII

In Search of the Highest Point of the Brazilian
Plateau--Mutiny--Great Domes--Travelling by Compass--A Gigantic
Fissure in the Earth's Crust

I MADE up my mind that I would continue my journey westward no farther,
and would now proceed due north in order to explore the most important
part of the Central Plateau--the very heart of Brazil--precisely where
the great Rivers Xingu and Tapajoz had their birth. I believed that we
should there find the highest point of the Central Brazilian Plateau. I
expected to find in that region the most interesting portion of my
journey--from the geographical, anthropological, and geological points of
view. I was greatly disappointed from the anthropological aspect, since I
met no one at all; but from the geological and geographical I was
certainly well repaid for my trouble, great as the trouble was. We had
already ridden to a distance of 1,400 kil. from the nearest railway.

[Illustration: A Giant Quadrangular Block of Rock.]

[Illustration: Rock-Carvings in Matto Grosso.]

My men mutinied on hearing of my plan, which I had kept concealed from
them. They acted in a most abject manner. They tried to compel me to
return the way we had come instead of going forward. As I flatly refused,
they claimed their pay and wished to leave me there and then. Without an
instant's hesitation they were handed their pay up to date and told
they could go. The men had not quite realized that they would have to
walk back some 858 kil. to Goyaz, without food and without animals.
Alcides and Filippe the negro had remained faithful, and on that occasion
stood by my side. Unfortunately, Alcides, who had a most violent temper,
quarrelled with Filippe over some paltry matter and drove him over to the
inimical camp.

So that there I was--with only one man left. I am not much given to
losing heart over anything. Alcides showed a strong heart on that
occasion. He and I proceeded for three days to rearrange the baggage and
mend the saddles, etc., in order that we two alone might take along the
entire caravan of animals. I did not at all look forward to the extra
work of packing all the animals twice a day, and twice a day unpacking
them. The loads weighed about fifty pounds each, and the